5 Marketing Ideas for Growing Your Small Business in 2020

Samantha Bonanno profile picture
By Samantha Bonanno

Published
6 min read

Ready for 2020 to be a year of growth? Check out these five marketing ideas for your small business.

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Most of us look toward the coming year with questions. If you're a small business owner, you're probably asking yourself what 2020 has in store for your company.

If business growth is among your top goals for 2020, you'll need a smart, modern marketing strategy that both identifies prospects and builds loyalty among returning customers.

We're here to help.

5 marketing ideas to help grow your small business

Let's take a look at five growth marketing ideas your small business should consider for the new year.

1. Invest in a quality website/landing page

Whether you own a brick-and-mortar store or an online shop, the user experience on your website can make or break that pivotal first impression with potential customers.

Think of it like curb appeal when you're selling a house. A potential new customer could come across your business on social media or based on the recommendation of a friend, and they hop on their laptop or smartphone to see if you have a website.

To determine whether you need a website or a landing page for that critical first interaction, let's take a moment to understand the purpose of each:

  • A website is the main, interconnected set of webpages that your business owns. It might list your location, hours, and company story, or contain a digital catalog of goods and services.

  • A landing page is connected to a specific offer and is often designed to drive traffic to a specific marketing campaign.

Want more information on landing pages?

Check out Capterra's directory of landing page software.

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Your company website not only gives potential customers a sense of what your business has to offer but also how they can expect that interaction to feel. A webpage that's well-organized, helpful, and professional immediately begins establishing trust with your potential customers.


Need a crash course in website building and what software options are available? Check out Capterra's website builder software buyers guide.


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Screenshot of website builder PageCloud (Source)

2. Build your email list

While a professional, user-friendly website is important for making first impressions and establishing trust with customers, you probably don't want to rely exclusively on prospects stumbling upon your website all on their own.

To keep up in a competitive marketplace, businesses need to continuously grow. One of the best marketing tools for keeping up with growth goals is a strong email list.

A well-curated email list gives your business a direct line to prospects and existing customers who want to hear from you, offering you the opportunity to send out surveys, test out targeted messaging, and ultimately drive revenue.

Make sure your marketing team has the tools they need to curate a strong email list by checking your email marketing or CRM software for email list functionality (look for subscriber or list management).

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Tracking email list subscribers by campaign in Drip Ecommerce CRM (Source)

3. Reach out for reviews

If you've ever done a quick Google search for goods or services (e.g., women's running sneakers, dentist near me, best Thai food in Boston), in all likelihood you were looking for reviews.

Tons of customers use reviews to gather information about how other customers have felt about their interactions with a brand. BrightLocal's 2018 customer review survey reflected an undeniable trend:

  • 91% of 18-34 year old consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

  • 40% of consumers only take into account reviews written within the past two weeks (up from 18% in 2017).

  • 89% of consumers read businesses' responses to reviews.

These survey results should inform your business' marketing strategy in a few important ways:

  1. Make sure your business is available to be reviewed on popular review platforms. A quick first step in this process is to make sure your brick-and-mortar store is listed on Google My Business.

  2. When your business receives a review, respond to it! A response from the business owner either continues to build on an already positive customer experience or could help mitigate dissatisfaction and allow you to get to the bottom of what caused a negative experience.

You can also be proactive and reach out to your customers with a request for reviews. A great way to manage customer interactions and expand your business's ability to interact with the community is through customer experience software, which is often outfitted with functionality like feedback collection and live chat options.

For a deep dive into what customer experience tools can do for your small business, check out our article on the "6 Best Customer Engagement Software Tools".

4. Foster brand recognition on social media

A key tenet of growth marketing is to continually introduce/promote your business to prospective customers, and one of the best ways your marketing team can accomplish this in 2020 and beyond is to develop and execute a social media strategy.

There are a lot of excellent software solutions that can empower your business to build a robust social media strategy. A strong social media marketing and management strategy can get your business in front of the customers most likely to engage with your marketing content, helping you identify and hone in on customer personas.

What can social media software do for your business? Gartner defines social media management software and tools as "solutions that help marketing leaders collect and analyze social data, develop, publish and promote content, identify and engage with their audience, and track the performance and impact of these communications" (full article available to Gartner clients).

Marketing leaders are also reporting an increased investment in social media marketing, as reported in the Gartner 2019-2020 CMO Spend Survey.

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5. Embrace video, voice assistance, and other tech trends

Marketing technology is a fast-paced, ever-changing field. Don't let the pace of these technologies intimidate you; Advancements in marketing technology have made it easier than ever to engage with customers and grow your business.

Voice assistant technology (think your Alexa or Google Home device) is one such marketing tech trend. New mediums of search mean new SEO opportunities, and that could have big benefits for businesses that embrace it.

So, what can your business do to stay ahead of these marketing trends? Whether it's a new technology like voice search that changes how customers interact with businesses or new laws like GDPR that dictate how businesses can interact with and store customer data, your small business should:

  1. Keep up with the news. See what's getting coverage and what it's likely your peers and competitors are talking about.

  2. Watch the marketing software leaders. How industry leaders respond to trending technology can serve as a weather vane for smaller marketing teams.

  3. A/B test your new ideas. Think a new marketing technology or strategy might benefit your small business? Utilize the A/B testing feature in your marketing software to roll out experimental strategies.

Small business marketing ideas for today and tomorrow

To keep up in a fast-paced, highly competitive marketplace, your small business needs an agile, growth-minded marketing strategy.

These marketing strategies will put your team on its way toward building a smart plan of action for 2020 and beyond.


Note: The applications selected in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.


Looking for Marketing Automation software? Check out Capterra's list of the best Marketing Automation software solutions.

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About the Author

Samantha Bonanno profile picture

Senior Specialist Analyst @ Capterra, sharing insights about marketing technology and business trends. BA in English, SUNY Geneseo. Published in MarTech, Protocol, Marketing Profs. DC transplant, Upstate NY native. I love lively debates, strong coffee, and backpacking with my rescue dogs.

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