Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses: Boating Marketing Guide

Does your boating business need more sales? If so, you need to find ways to market your company. But if you’re concerned about your budget, there are marketing strategies for small businesses on a budget. Here are 12 effective and cheap marketing strategies.
Marketing your boating business effectively is not always easy but it is necessary. Especially if you want to see an increase in sales.
The challenge is to effectively combine a variety of strategies to get the best results. Finding the right combination is absolutely possible especially if you are consistent with what you do.
Statistics show that 34 percent of small businesses fail in the second year. This is completely avoidable if marketing is done correctly.
Here are some marketing strategies for small businesses that will assist you.
1. Have A Physical And Online Shop
Even if you are a small brick and mortar business, there is no excuse not to be online. Get your website up and place your products there.
These days there are several eCommerce companies that make it easy to set up an online store. Everything is virtually done for you and all you have to do is add your products and select how you would like to get paid.
There is no need to hire an eCommerce expert to drain your budget. The beauty of an online store is that you can expand your customer base to reach people worldwide instead of just your local community.
Your website should showcase your products in a way that makes it easy for people to customize their orders. A great example that you can view here is this sales page for Michigan wheel propellers.
2. Partner With A Giant
Getting online doesn’t have to be just an independent effort. Amazon.com makes it easy for you to start a store with them and take advantage of their customer base.
Many businesses have found that they have been able to thrive when they partner with this online giant. This is because you will have customers from all over the world at your disposal.
They also make it easy and affordable to promote your products through pay per click ads. The beauty of partnering with them is that once they see that you have sold a few products then the internal algorithm spots your potential and literally puts your product in front of the right people.
3. Social Media
It is impossible to talk about getting online with your business without mentioning the power of social media. Facebook advertising is a must for a small business. It’s easy, cheap and effective.
Target the people in your community so that they can know about your online business and what it has to offer. You can also target customers worldwide with your ads.
4. Direct Mail Is Still One Of The Best Marketing Strategies For Small Businesses
Contrary to popular belief, direct mail marketing is not dead. In fact, if you want to reach your local community this is one of the best ways.
Send out brochures to homes in your community to create an awareness of your business.
Show off your products and even offer coupons. Word is sure to spread that you are one of the best in the town.
5. Get Your SEO Right
Attach a blog to your online store and start optimizing it with the keywords you want to rank for in Google. If you have no idea how to do this there are several videos on YouTube that will teach you. There is also plenty of information online and in books.
One of the best strategies you can use is to target what is known as long tail keywords. Long tail keywords don’t bring in big traffic individually. However, when you combine several of them you get a lot of traffic.
The best thing about them is that they are usually easy to rank in Google. For example, instead of targeting a broad keyword such as “boating supplies” which is highly competitive. Target a long tail keyword such as “boating supplies in Santa Monica” or “boating supplies for small boats”.
6. Give Away Merchandise
Nothing spreads the word about your business like people wearing t-shirts with your business name prominently displayed. However, don’t think you have to break the bank to do this.
Instead of hiring a printing company and a designer. You can hire someone for five dollars on Fiverr to do your design. Join a print on demand t-shirt company.
There are several of them to choose from, add your design and buy your t-shirts at the minimum price allowed. It’s that simple!
Invest in promotional pens. They are cheap and affordable. They are also something that your customers and potential customers will use on a daily basis. This will give them plenty of opportunities to showcase your business.
7. Start Video Marketing
Video marketing is one of the best ways to spread the word about your business. Start your own YouTube channel and feature your products.
Get customers who have purchased from you to give video testimonials. Testimonials are ranked high among the best ways to get people to trust your business.
The best thing about Video marketing on YouTube is that it will not only draw in local customers but also pull in an international audience which means more traffic if you have an online store.
8. Use Referrals And Rewards
Start a referral program. People will often be willing to give you a referral if you ask them and even more so when you give them an incentive.
Give people discounts on their next purchase when they bring in a new customer. You can also give them reward points every time they make a purchase. These points can count towards discounts for other purchases.
9. Take A Closer Look At Your Competition
Examine your competition both locally and online. Nobody is perfect, find out what they are not giving their customers and do better.
Spying on the competition can be even easier if your competition has online reviews. Often people will say what satisfied them and dissatisfied them about the service or products they received. Use these comments to improve and market your business.
10. Email Marketing
If you are not working on building an email list then you need to get started. Once customers come into your business offer them an instant discount in exchange for membership.
Have a card ready for them to sign up. The card should ask them for their name and email address. More often than not they will be willing to oblige you. Once you have their email address you have the opportunity to market to them directly.
Use social media to build your list. Facebook is one of the best places to start your email marketing campaign. Think about how you can give value to your potential customers.
Whether in the form of discounts or free information such as an Ebook. The best thing you can do is give valuable information more than you market your products.
This may seem counterproductive. However, when you have the respect of those on your list, they will be more inclined to buy from you.
11. Analyze Your Strengths And Your Weaknesses
Get feedback from your customers. Pinpoint a specific area that you would like feedback in and do a survey online or in your physical location.
Be prepared to offer your customers a discount for their time or some other incentive. Once you have collected the information you need, use it to refocus or improve your marketing campaign.
12. Be In It For The Long Haul
Marketing can and will get frustrating. Not everything you try will work. Be prepared to fail. The most important thing is to be patient and not give up.
Try one thing at a time and at other times combine strategies. Try to network as much as possible while marketing. Follow people on social media who are in the boating business but are not your direct competition.
Learn from them and ask questions so that you can know what is working for them. Chances are it may work for you. It’s okay to copy ideas as long as you put a personal touch on them that will be of value to you and your customers
Final Thoughts
There is a lot to think about when you want to market your boating business. However, with so many marketing strategies for small businesses to choose from you may be a bit overwhelmed about where to start.
The best thing you can do is pick one strategy and do the best you can with it. If it works then build on it with another strategy. If it doesn’t work then you will need to try something new.
As you begin to work with the strategies you will find it easier to start combining several of then at once. Before you know it, you will have your marketing machine up and running.
Your business will start getting several sales and repeat customers. The key is to be consistent and not give up. Marketing is all about trial and error until you find what works.
If you would like more tips that will help you grow your small business, please visit our blog. We have valuable tips that will help you to make the right decisions for your business.
|