The influx of new marketing tools can be overwhelming for business owners, making it tough to know where to get started. And the universal business goal is to sell something, right?

Sales are typically accomplished by positioning your business in front of a target audience while offering a product or service that solves a problem or need for your customers. To accomplish this goal, one of the best things a small-business owner can do is take the time to develop different marketing campaigns that will set them apart from the competition.

Are you a small-business owner with little experience in marketing? No worries, we’re here to help! In this post, we’ll identify the seven different marketing campaign ideas for small business that will help you attract new clients and grow your business.

Targeted Marketing

Many small businesses don’t execute targeted marketing campaigns, despite the fact that targeted messaging has proven to be twice as effective at converting customers. Understanding your audience is the first step to a successful marketing plan. You should be able to create an accurate customer profile based on data you’ve collected, thereby allowing you to target campaigns using demographics, traits and other behaviors.

Here are some methods for gathering information about your target audience:

• Review your contact database and try to uncover trends about how existing customers found and engage with your business.
• Create forms on your website to capture important customer data.
• Ask your sales team about feedback on the leads/customers they interact with most.
• Interview your customers or prospects to discover what they like about your product or service.
• Send a survey to your existing customer database to gather further information.

Once you’ve built an ideal customer profile, make sure your marketing copy reflects the kind of customers you want to work with. 

Search Engine Optimization

Many business owners find Search Engine Optimization (SEO) intimidating. But with so much online competition, it’s important to understand SEO and how to leverage it. And lucky for you, there are plenty of ways to make your business stand out from the online crowd using SEO.

If you run a local business targeting local clients, one of the most powerful strategies available to you is adding your business information to Google My Business (GMB).

For example, when searching “advertising solutions near me,” this is what is displayed:

What you are seeing is Google My Business listings above the typical organic search results. Adding your business information to GMB provides your small business the opportunity to attract highly qualified leads without spending a dime on paid advertising. Google My Business immediately gives your small business credibility and visibility.

Other SEO options include keyword research about your target audience. Using Google’s Adwords Keyword tool you can search for the best keywords for your brand and find related keywords for your target audience. Finally, you should also implement on-page SEO as part of your SEO strategy and make sure your website has been optimized with targeted keywords.

Content Marketing

If people are going to invest time and money in your business, they’ll want to know beforehand whether your business is going to help them. What better way to do this than by starting a blog?

Demonstrating your thought-leadership and business expertise using content marketing will help solidify relationships with visitors who are more likely to convert into paying customers.

In addition, relevant content is extremely important when it comes to ranking online. The more often you publish content that includes your desired keywords, the more likely you are to appear in search results. And the more your appear in search results — you guessed it — the more reach you have to new customers. In fact, 18 percent of marketers say content marketing has the greatest commercial impact on their business. Just another reason to add content marketing to your marketing plan.

Social Media Marketing

Social media platforms now offer businesses unprecedented opportunities to reach new customers. Social media can help you increase traffic, improve your search engine rankings and engage with potential customers. And as you know, there are a number of different social channels that offer huge audiences to your business, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and SnapChat.

Depending on your target audience, some social media platforms are more suitable than others. Persistence and consistency is also important to a successful social media strategy as it will increase your reach and exposure to new audiences. If you’re a local business, create a Facebook business page so people can find your location and hours. For any business, having up-to-date social media accounts will help you get found and should definitely be included in your marketing plan.

Email Marketing

While not everyone engages with social media, just about everyone has an email address. This is what makes email marketing so effective. Most people who visit your website, social channels, etc. will probably not buy from you right away. So, capturing contact information such as email address is a great idea for additional marketing and lead-nurturing opportunities.

Building an email subscription list allows you to display your authority by providing valuable content, promotions and offers to potential customers or existing ones via email. Other benefits include:

• Low cost
• Automation features
• Targeting/segmentation
• Immediate communication
• Global reach
• Easy to track and analyze

Brand Awareness / Media Attention

Do you need to make your small business stand out among the local competition? (Of course you do.)

While much of the world has moved online, print media is still a popular and worthwhile advertising vehicle. And in some markets, print media still thrives. In fact, as recently as 2014, retail customers cited print materials as the chief source of information behind their purchasing decisions.

Small businesses thrive when they engage their local community, and what better way to do it than by advertising in your local media outlets? That being said, print is best used in conjunction with online marketing strategies to act as a complement and to create better brand awareness.

Join Local Business Groups and Events

Joining a local networking group or attending an event will give you the opportunity to meet and connect with other like-minded people. While there are a lot of general entrepreneur groups, there might also be some niche-specific groups or meetups in your area. These groups are a great way to bounce ideas off other smart people, share referrals, find talent and identify new opportunities. Attending these events can also help you expand your network in the community you call home.

Try finding these events online using tools like social media or meetup.com. Your local newspaper will most likely advertise community events and meetups as well.

Well, there you have it. Building your marketing plan may seem like a daunting task, but it will reward you in the form of new customers and a growing business. Remember that utilizing several strategies and tactics will increase your marketing success.

What marketing strategy has given you the most success? Share your stories in the comments below.