For small business owners it is difficult. Ten years back the choices were simple. Yellow Pages, advertising in the local paper and a few flyers, brochures, and perhaps a spot on radio or a networking event. Here’s a view of what we have to consider today – And this is a summarised view.

Most obviously centres around digital technology and the net, which is good news for the small business owner, since the costs are generally much lower than marketing via traditional channels. However although Google, email and your website are the most important,  for some businesses, they will still need to allocate some annual budget for traditional print, broadcast and direct mail campaigns.

Marketing guru Dan Kennedy once noted “We’re in a war, and ALL channels are important today.”

The Human Factors

Oh, and let’s never forget the human factors. Here we talk of the tools of marketing. But people buy from people and your business and personality needs to be reflected in every communication you chose to use. Referrals and networking events are especially important for small business growth. But ensure before you leave you encourage everyone there to check you out online, subscribe to your business keyword, email newsletters, Facebook or Youtube channel. The incentive could be to go into a prize draw or a special offer. Once you’ve captured their details online, it’s easy to keep in touch.

Make the connections relevant and memorable. And have a good follow-up system in place. There’s now ample online tools we use that makes this task easy and painless.

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