How to Market a Small Business in a Big City?

Published on: 30 December 2020 Last Updated on: 05 September 2024

Big cities tend to have a highly competitive market base. As such, small businesses based in large cities like New York might find themselves at a loss when trying to develop a marketing strategy to engage a large audience with a relatively unknown brand. Market a Small Business in a large city like NYC requires a multi-faceted approach, and your plan should not merely emulate that of larger brands that may have much larger budgets.

There are plenty of effective marketing strategies available for every budget. Working with a professional digital marketing agency will give you an excellent return on your investment if you have a limited budget. If your business is based in the Big Apple, you may want to consider having a New York digital marketing company help you perfect these strategies as they know how to serve the market best.

1. Research

Conducting thorough and comprehensive market research services in Singapore should be the first step in your marketing campaign. The data you collect reveals vital information about your potential consumer base as well as your competitors. You can then use this information to tailor your marketing strategies to reach your audience best and stand out amongst the crowd.

Here are some of the objectives that market research aims to achieve:

Know Your Audience

This involves general information about your target audience—their demographic information, location, what they do, what they like, how they act, etc.

Identify Your Competitors

Knowing who your competitors are is vital to building brand awareness. Knowing your competitors means knowing what products/services they sell, their marketing strategies, and what kind of audience they target.

Spot Emerging Market Trends

Stay up-to-date about your target consumer base’s latest developments and mold your marketing campaign to remain on-track with those developments.

2. Create Quality Content

Content marketing is the strategic use of high-quality, relevant, and on-brand content like blogs, videos, or articles to market your brand or a product to a well-defined audience. Typical content marketing strategies include, but are not limited to:

This involves the consistent uploading of a relevant content on various social media platforms. This content can include images, videos, animations, stories, or even live customer service videos.

Blogs

Blogs are one of the easiest and cheapest ways to produce content on the web. It is essential that your blogs are creative, engaging, and contain original copy, not plagiarized from other websites. They should be well-researched and tailored to the specific audience that your brand is targeting.

Paid Advertisements

Sponsored ads require financial investment, but they can be a great way to reach a broader audience and ensure that your brand remains visible and relevant on the web.

Content marketing is an excellent way for small businesses to market their brand or product with a minimal investment.

3. Leverage SEO

Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is another vital aspect to consider when developing your digital marketing strategy. SEO involves curating your website and its content to rank higher in a search page result. With more and more businesses developing a web presence, having good SEO scores should be high on your marketing strategy’s priority list.

SEO isn’t always cost-prohibitive; the price for SEO implementation depends on who is setting it up and working on it. The initial investment can range from cheap to spendy, depending on what level of ranking you desire for your site.

If you decide to do SEO yourself, start by researching relevant terms and keywords for your industry. You can then add internal links and secure backlinks (another facet of content marketing), produce quality, highly-legible copy, write blog posts with numbered lists, and add relevant keywords throughout your website. Properly implementing SEO will establish your site as an authority and drive more traffic directly to you.

4. Have a Strong Digital Presence

When digital ads account for half of all ad spend, developing and maintaining a strong web presence is imperative for any serious small business. A robust online footprint includes both your business website as well as social media pages. It is a cost-effective way of building brand awareness in your target market base.

Developing and maintaining a business website should always be one of the top priorities of your marketing campaign. Your site will serve as the primary representation for your brand on the internet, which is crucial in building consumer loyalty and brand reputation.

For top-notch website creation, there are several options for you to consider. The first one is using CMS like WordPress. The second one is custom web development. For this, you can hire RoR developers, a UX/UI designer, and a project manager.

Additionally, social media can serve as an excellent digital marketing tool to reach a broader or more specific target audience. Social media serves as the vehicle to transport your brand to the masses and increase its visibility.

5. Generate Leads

When your marketing campaign loses its potency on a specific target audience, you’ll need to generate new leads that you can then use to either find a new audience or expand the one that you’re already targeting. Here are some ways to generate new leads:

Optimizing Your Landing Page

Use landing page strategies like implementing Call-To-Actions and write compelling headlines to improve your website’s traffic and conversion rates.

Lead Generation Software

As the name suggests, this software identifies and collects new leads from multiple sources. With the right software, you can generate quality leads that significantly boost your conversion rates and sales.

Data Validation Software

This is similar to lead generation software, but instead of crawling the internet for leads, it validates the information you already have. It works in one of two ways; it can either complete a batch validation analysis of a lead data spreadsheet or live as an API on your site’s contact forms and checks the data’s accuracy in real-time as forms are submitted. This can save time and effort when pursuing new leads.

Email Marketing

Email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective ways to generate brand awareness and boost sales. These include implementing newsletters, sign-me-up forms, or generating automated email ads for specific audiences.

Budget As a Tool, Not a Barrier

Small businesses should develop a very different marketing strategy than large corporations in a big city like NYC. Approaching marketing from a small business perspective is the best way to ensure the most effective use of limited budgets and resources. Your finances should never be a hindrance to achieving your marketing goals. With proper strategies and a bit of creativity, your marketing campaign can be just as impactful as your competitors’.

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Content Rally

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

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Custom Standup Pouches for Small Businesses

In 2018, the number of businesses that were using standup pouches increased by a high percentage. The custom printed pouches offer more to small businesses when it comes to convenience, affordability among other many other features. Gone are the days when businesses ignore the importance of proper packaging, small businesses are now investing more money into the packaging. The businesses that benefit the most from stand-up pouches are the companies dealing in food and beverage. Unlike the big companies, medium-sized and small companies can't sell a lot of merchandise in the retail stores. Due to this low sales return, many small businesses will focus more on cutting costs, and one of the sectors that suffer the most is the packaging. A small business owner will find it more affordable to use paper bags to pack their items. To add a little twist to the packaging, they will add a simple label on the packaging to brand their product. However, with time as the number of consumers grows, this form of packaging no longer seems like a feasible idea for your company. Your production quantity has to increase, and you have to adopt a new packaging strategy. Your old packaging style will be subjected to errors like wrong labeling or the paper bags getting torn and the products getting damaged. These simple mistakes within a short time start to bring losses in the production which cannot be ignored. At this juncture, most small businesses have no option but to adopt the custom stand-up pouches. What Are The Options Available With Stand-Up Pouches? Stand up pouches come with plenty of options, that a small business can utilize to make sure they deliver the best services in packaging their products. In addition to that, they come as a cost-effective option especially if you are a startup company. The standup pouches can be used in packing a wide variety of products. Compared to the ordinary paper bags, the standup pouches can withstand any form of roughness without getting damaged. The standup pouches cannot experience other challenges faced by paper bags like wrong labeling since they have the option of the company printing their label on the pouches. Label pasting or printing can be done anywhere and is also very cost-effective; you have a wide variety of printing options for your label. Depending on your production supply you can consider label pasting or label printing. The challenge with label pasting is that it is not very efficient when dealing with a large stockpile. Label printing offers a more attractive option. A small business can opt for custom printed standup pouches. The custom printed pouches are also cost-effective in the long run. What Are The Printing Options Businesses Can Consider? There are several printing options small businesses can consider. The printing options are high quality and offer flexible packaging options especially with food and beverage products. The printing of one’s product details has many advantages: it’s a useful visual marketing strategy, the printing of the brand in beautiful colors and letters increases the attractiveness of the packaging of your product, improved brand awareness, and lastly increased sales. Small businesses benefit from reduced cost in production by adapting standup pouches since the bags are very affordable. They are cheap and have low minimum run. If you compare the cost of a folded cartoon and that of standup pouches that are customized, you will find that the standup pouches are way cheaper. Since they are more reliable when it comes to protection of the product, then you don’t have to worry about your products getting damaged in storage or during transportation. The space used in storage when you sue the standup pouches is less compared to the other packaging options used by other companies. When picking your standup pouch design, it’s essential for your team to answer the following questions: 1. What kind of product is your small business producing and selling: How delicate is your product, what is the size of your product and what are the materials used in making your product? Simple facts like the perishability of product and the shelf life will play an important role in picking the best standup pouch design for your product. Each product has some logistics that must be taken into consideration when designing its packaging. 2. What is your target market? Who will be buying your product: Understanding the nature of your target market and their preferences is very important? For instance, the packaging you use when designing the packaging for men’s’ products will be fairly different than those used for those on women’s’ products. When surveying your potential clients, special things like age, sex, preferences, culture and religious boundaries have to be taken into great consideration. The ability to fully understand your customer will give you an idea of what packaging to use that they will find very attractive. If you are targeting the older generation, you will consider using larger texts in your printing, while a target market that is more affluent will want something that is classier and more luxurious. 3. How will your client buy your product: will the product be purchased in a retail store or online? Products that will be sold online don’t face the same stiff competition from similar products like the goods that are sold in a retail store. If you are products will be sold online then you don’t need to have extra space in the packaging as this will make the product to rattle a lot, or it will bend when being transported. If your products will be sold on the shelves of a boutique, then the packaging needs to eye-catching and cute. After answering these questions, you will have the opportunity to come up with different ideas on the ideal packaging to use. Product packaging is a practical tool since with the proper packaging you will be able to tell a story of your product. This means your story needs to very engaging, sensual, and awakens all the senses in a potential buyer. With the above questions fully answered your team will get a chance to come up with a packaging that will not only secure the product but also sell it to the current and potential buyers. Read Also: Building A Brand For Your Small Business 5 Ways To Reduce The Packaging Cost In Your Business

What Are the Alternatives for Small Business Startup Loans?

An investment can yield fruits or fail. There are so many risks involved when starting businesses and investors will always wish for the best. Small business startup loans are essential for your business to grow smoothly. However, where there is a less risky option, no one would hesitate to consider it. This is especially the case when it comes to financing startups. Small business investors may be reluctant to review the loan options for good reasons. For example, a loan is an obligation that has to be obeyed. If the investment does not yield profits, the owner must repay using other alternatives. In many cases, these loans have very high interest rates, and the total cost of borrowing may be too expensive for small investors. It is imperative to reduce the risks involved in borrowing funds, especially for startups. You come to think of the adverse effects a loan may have on your financial profile, and it becomes necessary to consider alternative options for financing your venture. Let us examine the scenario portrayed earlier. If the investment fails to be successful, it means the business cannot repay the loan. If you do not have alternative ways of settling the debt, you will default. As a result, your credit score will be negatively affected, and this reduces the chances of securing other loans in the future. Suppose you do not default but repay late, your credit history will still be damaged. Because of all these risks, it is important to consider alternatives for small business startup loans. Alternatives for Small Business Startup Loans: Alternative small business loans are more flexible with good credit requirements. Statistics show many small businesses are turning to alternative financing. As a business person, you will be confronted by situations that demand instant funding. Even though bank loans are perceived as the best solution in such cases, the truth is banks are often unwilling to offer loans to startups. That is why many are checking legit online loans like Instant Loan for fast-approval financial loans. Still, your venture might not meet the conditions required by banks, and if you are not careful, you may not salvage your business situation. You can turn to your retirement funds, dispose of a personal asset, or use your credit cards. Develop proper plans that can work well in your favor. While these options may help, several alternative funding options salvage the conditions in the best way ever. The following are some of the best alternative options for startups: Asset-based lending: In this arrangement, the asset you intend to purchase is held as collateral for the funds borrowed. Put differently; the lender becomes the owner of the asset until you repay the final payment. The two standard options in this category of financing include leasing and hire purchase. Business Angels: These are very wealthy and experienced individuals in the community who are often willing to invest in new businesses. They usually have prior understanding of how the industry operates and this is a significant factor in their decisions to invest in new ventures. The main problem with this type of financing is matching investors with small business owners seeking finances. The only ways the two can connect is through friends, family members, and business networks. The best thing with business angels is that they never seek control or management positions in the firm. They only perform advisory roles, and it is expected that they are consulted. Venture capitalists: If the risks involved are too high, the best alternative financing option is venture capital. It is always perceived as early phase sponsoring of new and young firms with the potential of growing quickly. Unlike business angels, venture capitalists are supposed to be involved in the management of the business. They always take some shares in the business. Their primary interest, though, is on the business growth and would be glad to see new small firms grow and become large. Nevertheless, venture capitalists do not finance all small businesses. They have criteria for determining which firm to fund. The following are some of the things they look for in a business before funding it: The quality of management Efficient corporate management Suitable investment structured. Venture capital can be the best way of financing startups. However, it comes at a cost because new investments always have high risks. If you do not want to lose part of your independence or shares in the business, then do not consider this option. Venture capitalists always aim at harvesting long-term financial gains. They may opt to harvest after a period of 5-10 years after making the original investment. Small business startup loans can make things complicated for your business. Family and friends: If other options are not applicable, you can always turn to family members and friends. Your parents brought you up and seeing you successful will make them happy. If your business is worth their trust, they can willingly invest in it. The good thing here is that parents will not push you the same way bank will if you delay payments. However, to maintain a healthy family relationship, respect your obligation and try to repay the loan on time. Do not put your family and friends into too many risks. Let them know all the risks the business faces before they decide to invest in it. The major problem with this option is that parents and friends will always feel they have to be consulted when it comes to spending because they loaned you. Crowdfunding: This is one of the best and common way of financing new ventures. It involves sourcing funds from friends, clients, family, and personal investors through an online platform. You give your idea to a large number of people, and you will probably find someone willing to finance your venture. It is often referred to as online fundraising and has helped many startups successfully. Small business Startup loans can make things easier for your business. Grants: Although it is hard to qualify for these types of funding, they are very beneficial because one will not have to repay them. They are usually provided by the government, though recently some small business associations provide individual grants. Conclusion: These six alternatives for small business startup loans discussed in this blog. Consider first the options that you will not be required to repay such as grants. If you need a substantial initial capital, you can go for venture capital and business angels. Whichever option you take, you will be better off than someone using bank loan options. Read Also: Benefits Of NBFC Business Loans 6 Top CRM For Small Businesses In 2019 6 Loan Mistakes Every Business Owner Must Avoid What Entrepreneurs With Bad Credit Need To Know Before Applying For A Loan? What Is The Future Of Digital Marketing In Regards To Shaping Up Small And Large Businesses?

How to Boost Traffic to your Small Business

We read about new startups coming up with their services and products on the market almost every day. The story of most of the entrepreneurs is same; a team of hard-working people coupled up and managed to string some money to get off the strip to finally cruise in the field of business. Unfortunately, most of them have to close up shop for numerous reasons. Being an entrepreneur, one should be able to learn so many things, all at once. Failure teaches a lot, and there’s always a way out of the mess in every field I can imagine of. Some make it to the next level, which is; a small business: one that has steady growth and ensured revenues. Since a considerable number of people have moved on from the offline world to the digital arena, business firms have to evolve their marketing strategies as well. Failing to do so will only make your business get out of the market in the end. To create a hurdle for failure on your way, the most important thing today is to opt for some affordable digital marketing services. Affordable is necessary to cut the overall costs because initially, most startups do not have enough financial resources. What digital marketing does is that it attracts people towards the services that you have to offer to them. The four primary pillars that digital marketing works on are content, communication, community, and commerce. Let us circle around these pillars in brief. Content : To enhance your visibility to the public, you need to have a presence on the platforms that people use frequently. You must spend a little deal of your precious time and money in buying a website which can be used to reach out to the people. But to be able to generate some customers from there, you need to put some content over there to lure the masses. Content Marketing does not directly promote the business. If done correctly, it attracts the targeted audience, which can eventually drive to profitable customer action. Communication : As it is said; it takes two to tango. Although it does not precisely fit into the context, the rough meaning it carries here is that you must not focus only on speaking. Give the visitors a platform to respond to you as well. This can be achieved through adverts, personal communication with people who seem to be interested, and social media. With the application of email address at almost forum, there’s a very thin chance that people will not go through yours when they open up their account. Community : This again is customer engagement but in a slightly different way. Because of the presence of social media, businesses have the liberty to interact with their audience to understand their opinions about them. Visitors can help you improve your services to an all-new level. These platforms occasionally make changes to their policies as a whole, so you must go through them every single time they amend. If you don’t manage accordingly, well, get ready for the consequences then. Commerce : Regardless of where people choose to buy a product, it all starts with the internet today. A significant number of people search for a product online and read about it in different places to know about it as much as they can before paying for it. Digital marketing commerce meets the needs of consumers based on how they research and purchase. Review sites are the places where people spend most of their time to read about the products, and then is the online shopping stores. People use multiple applications on their smartphones to look out for the product description as well. Summing Up : Traffic is the backbone of every business, and that is why it needs to be taken care of, for better growth. Enterprises survive in the competitive market only when they have enough customers. Note that you must never compromise your quality for quantity. While there are a lot of things like SEO, SEM, PPC, this article was about what exactly can digital marketing do for your business to grow over the years. Smart and hard work must go hand in hand to reach the top of the business ladder. Read Also : Money Borrowers, A Profitable Business Building A Brand For Your Small Business Google Maps Marketing: Guides On How To Boost Brand Advantage Why Every Business Needs Digital Marketing

How to Market a Small Business in a Big City?

1. Research