Every business owner needs a marketing budget and it looks different for each individual business. If you have a hot dog stand, a guy dancing in a hot dog costume is GREAT marketing…for those in the immediate vicinity of the guy dancing in the hot dog costume. How do you reach a wider audience? How do you let people know when “Hot Dog Dancer” will be making an appearance? If more people know about Hot Dog Guy, more people will show up, take pictures, share on social media, tag you, and thereby increase your visibility to an organic audience (instead of relying on sponsored ads and boosts).
That’s the basic rundown of how social media and email marketing works. Now, we’ll break down both of those things to illustrate how, when and why they should be used, sometimes in conjunction with the other.
Social media marketing is just that. It needs to be something “grabby” that will often catch public attention. Alternating humor, “realness” (i.e., “Meet our staff Mondays”, or “Here’s the family backstory on why we started”), and education about your business gives a fully fleshed-out personality to your social marketing. Facebook, instagram, TikTok and all of those platforms help to give your audience immediately up-to-date information about what is going on with your business. It’s also incredibly interactive which is a great way to boost visibility. Use social media marketing as a way to truly engage with your community, not just customers!
Email marketing campaigns aren’t as interactive. However, they are a great way to prepare your audience for upcoming events, month-long specials, and are an opportunity to more fully explain services to a specific audience. They’re completely customizable with your own graphics (which we just so happen to be able to do in-house with our graphic design subscription) which can keep your branding super consistent. Consistency BUILDS BRANDS. We can’t say enough about it!
Obviously, social media marketing and email marketing work best hand-in-hand. “Follow us on Social Media to receive a 5% discount on your next service” and “Subscribe to our newsletter for a chance to win tickets to our next event” are effective ways to gain a following. It covers the most ground when it comes to reaching your demographic. They also both have very effective tracking and analytical tools to meter which posts and emails do well so you can tailor your marketing to better serve you.
We can also do all of this for you! We know that having a small business is like trying to herd cats, so let us take a few things off of your plate for you as things pick back up! Being busy is good! It doesn’t have to drive you crazy!
