For small businesses, marketing can sometimes feel like a challenge. Often small businesses have less resources, less time and less help to create your campaigns than a bigger business might have. But that’s okay. With a little creativity and strategic thinking you can also create campaigns that drive attention, engagement, and real growth.
And whether you’re launching a new product or aiming to increase brand awareness, a well-thought-out creative campaign can be a huge boost to your business.
Ready to get started? Here are a few creative marketing campaign strategies that can help give your small business a leg up.
Creative marketing campaign strategies for small businesses
Host an interactive event
When you have a small business, your community is the centre of everything. Engaging with your audience in real time can help you build a sense of community around your brand and more brand loyalty with your customers and clients.
If you have a storefront or connection with a local venue, consider hosting a physical event. Although these take more effort to plan than virtual events, the connection factor is much higher.
To get started, figure out what kind of event can bring your community together while still highlighting your expertise or solving a potential problem for your customers. Some in-person event ideas are:
- Workshops
- Influencer get-together
- Family fun day
- Market day
- Producer/supplier highlight
- Game/trivia night
Some virtual ideas are:
- Live Q&A session
- AMA (Ask Me Anything)
- Virtual class or webinar
- Social media live giveaway
These types of events build relationships with existing customers and attract new clients who may be interested in your business.
Harness customer content
User-generated content (UGC) involves encouraging your customers to post and share photos or reviews of your products or services. This type of content is trustworthy (people love a review!) and builds social proof by showing real people using or experiencing your product/service in real life. It also increases engagement and brand awareness for potential customers who might be on the fence of buying from you.
Some ways to encourage your customers to post their photos or experiences:
- Create a branded hashtag
- Feature posts/reviews/UGC from customers on your social media
- Add reviews to your website
- Run a contest where users share photos of themselves using your product, and the best photo wins a prize
- Run a themed hashtag campaign, where people can share content related to your business under a specific hashtag
- Use interactive features like polls or giveaways to engage your followers and generate buzz
- Use videos / reels and the like with challenges for stitches with customers
It can also be a great idea to collaborate with influencers (especially micro/niche influencers) but check regulations to see if you need to address this in the caption (and it might be a good idea to do so regardless). Influencers already have established trust with their followers, making them a valuable asset for promoting your brand.
If you do decide to work with influencers, do your homework and make sure they’re the right fit and content style for your brand. And confirm (in writing) all their requirements, any costs involved, and what exactly they will be providing you.
These are some very low or no cost ways to create a sense of community while also promoting your products/services.
Create a sense of urgency
Creating a sense of urgency through creative marketing campaigns can encourage your customers to take action. How this is done depends on your business model. For example, a retail business could promote a limited-time offer or flash sale. This is possible even if you only keep a small amount of stock on hand, as you can control how much surge in purchases your inventory can handle.
For a non-for-profit, for example, you could highlight a current need such as natural disaster recovery, specific needs for homeless in winter, or new laws affecting wildlife habitat, and a pathway for your customers to get involved. You’ll want to be sure to get involved as well.
Promote your campaign through socials, email newsletters, your website, and with marketing collateral if you have a physical location. Make sure the offer is compelling and creates enough motivation to prompt immediate action.
Tell your story
Does your business have a unique origin story, interesting suppliers, or compelling people behind your products and services? Why not share behind-the-scenes content about a product and how it reaches the people who need it most.
Or, if your business is trying to be environmentally friendly, highlight your efforts through production and distribution. Or show the effects of your donations to charities. 64% of consumers today are ‘belief driven’. That means that they want to support businesses that align with their values. Appeal to socially or eco-conscious consumers who want to make a positive impact with their purchases.
Consumers love connecting to businesses, and creative storytelling is a great way to create a memorable brand. Use social media, blogs, and video content to share your story in an authentic and engaging way.
Capture attention with creative marketing campaigns
These are just a few suggestions, but there are many other creative marketing campaign strategies for small businesses that you could use. The goal is to capture attention and connect you directly with potential customers so you can get ahead of the competition.
Of course, if you’re not sure where to start, we can help! Just get in touch and let’s get started today.
Planet Marketing provides practical and sustainable marketing advice – helping you determine what marketing suits your business best.
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