DIY Marketing Tips for Rohnert Park, CA Small Businesses

Marketing is one of the most important aspects of all businesses. But, when you’re a business on a budget, you can’t necessarily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year on a dedicated marketing staff. Fortunately, the digital age means you don’t have to, and you can get your marketing message out to the masses with the following tips shared by the Rohnert Park Chamber of Commerce.

Make a Plan

It is tempting to dive straight into marketing, especially if you’re comfortable with digital media and social networking. Don’t. In order to be successful, you need a clear understanding of your audience and a creative (but also clear) way to communicate your message to that audience. Start by writing a marketing plan. Once you’ve defined your target and secondary audiences, then you can strategically choose marketing platforms, colors, materials, and content to present there. 

Connect with Video Marketing

Although you may not be able to handle your business videos 100% on your own, you can find a video production company that can help you to capitalize on your personality to connect with your customers. You can use your videos to host a live Q&A session, hold a training workshop, or demonstrate a new product.

Utilize Social Media

Social media is one of the most productive marketing funnels (paths by which customers make purchases) in the digital age. Social media strategies are easy to adopt, and you can start with what you know. Your advertisements are easily customizable, and you can incorporate every aspect of your brand, including your fonts and logos. 

Social media is also a great tool for organizing community events. Eventbrite notes that businesses can even create recurrent events for deals and specials that take place on a predictable schedule. If you find social media intimidating, you can work with a digital marketing company to put together a strong campaign for platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Focus on Your Target Market

Whether you are working on a video marketing campaign or focusing on other marketing channels, such as billboards, you have to know your market. Do your research, and get to know what your customers actually want and where they are. Once you have this information, you will then easily be able to create content to spread across your digital marketing platforms that cater to your target demographic. Make sure that you are using multiple avenues to reach your customers so that you can put your information where they are instead of them having to seek it out.

Create Buzz for New Products

Let’s get this out of the way first: launching a new product is time-consuming, costly, and more difficult than many people give it credit for. Streamline the process by utilizing a market strategy template, which will give you quick access to your business plan and other insight into your new launch. Then, create buzz. Host giveaways, attend community events, and, if applicable, give away free samples to anyone who will accept them. Don’t be afraid to ask for reviews, because, as RevLocal explains, more than nine out of 10 shoppers read reviews and are likely to spend more when you consistently have good reviews.

You may find it helpful to turn some of the positive reviews and product giveaways into content that you can use on your website and in annual reports for your sponsors. Even with image-based file types, you can easily make it a PDF instead that would be easier for printing, saving, and posting on your website. All you need to do is add the files to the drop zone in the free conversion tool, and it will work its magic and produce a downloadable PDF file.

Change it Up

Sometimes, your marketing message changes, and you can’t rely on the same marketing platforms and funnels you once did. When you start to notice a decline in sales or waning interest, change things up. Look for different ways to reach your customers. For example, if you’ve been focused on social media, try leaving flyers in coffee shops. You can also utilize billboards, email, and snail mail marketing. Good advice here is to try everything once.

Change it Up

No matter which marketing tactics you try, you’ll know they’re working when you reach your goals. If you don’t hit these milestones, don’t be afraid to shake things up. Whether you’re just getting started with video marketing, you want to stick with social media, or you're learning how to define your target, you will never run out of potential ways to reach your customers. Once you know your message, it’s just a matter of finding out where to distribute it to.

Access even more great resources to help your business grow and thrive in our community by joining the Rohnert Park Chamber of Commerce.