How Do I Market My Small Business

1. What's available? As recently as five years ago, every marketing pro in the world would have touted the importance of email marketing. It's still an incredibly useful tactic with some of the strongest returns, but is email what's best for you? Do you have quick access to a bunch of email addresses? Do you communicate with clients online or is most of it done in person? I'd never turn my nose up at an email list, but I'm not going to promise that would be more effective for you than a booth at the farmers market. If you were to try to bring in one brand new client tomorrow, would you email or talk to someone face to face?

2. Who are you selling to? It's an easy question with a complicated answer. No matter how diverse your clientele, they all want to buy your honey; that's a known factor, but how you spread the word is a different matter. We've all seen and heard bad TV and radio ads—we've also seen and heard good ones. The difference is a clear message directed at the right demographic. Whether it's a bench poster or a social media campaign, you need to deliver a message that resonates with your customers. You could spend a million dollars doing focus groups and trying to come up with a color scheme that subliminally makes people hungry for honey… or you could try out some honest, personal messaging and see how it goes. If the first ad doesn't seem to work, you keep adapting until something catches on.

3. Use free tools. Big businesses pay a fortune for social media marketing campaigns. You can spend as much money there as you like—a well-placed ad can be really effective—but you can also run your own account and spread the word for free. If you've got a slogan or a catchphrase you like, splash that over all your social accounts. Connect with other business owners to see if you can each do a free promo. If you're still in the early stages and word-of-mouth has worked so far, see if you can push that word-of-mouth action into the digital space.