My Top 5 Marketing Activities for Startups and Small Businesses

Hi, I'm Giovana. I spent the last 4 years figuring out the marketing strategy for a small, Florida-based startup called Jaycon Systems. Unlike many tech startups you hear about, we did not get any VC funding to grow. Most of our growth was organic where we invested a portion of our own cash flow in activities related to marketing and sales.

Every business evolves with time, no matter what industry you operate in and how big or small you are. With the exponential growth in technology, businesses have to adapt in order to survive, and having information be the forefront of this technological revolution, it's no wonder that learning what marketing tactics work for you will be crucial to the survival of your business. Potential customers have so much information at their fingertips… So how do you ensure your information comes across to them at the right time? And on top of that, how do you ensure they trust the information they receive?

You will be surprised to know that people are more likely to trust someone they know regarding a product than someone they don't know who may be an expert in that field.

So with that being said, it turns out that what has given me the most positive results as a strategist at Jaycon Systems is a combination of different touchpoints, both online and offline, throughout a customer's journey. I found out that the combination of relevant information and trust-building activities is the most powerful cocktail for small businesses trying to compete with the big sharks who have tons of money to spend on marketing activities.

If you are not familiar with user experience terms, get to know them: Touchpoints are the pre-planned interactions between a potential customer and a brand; Customer journey is the set of steps customers take in order to buy from or interact with a brand.

Providing Service Excellence

Providing service excellence or building a great product doesn't seem to get associated with marketing strategy too often, but if you take a second look at it, you will understand why it should be part of your strategy. There are many marketers and salespeople out there claiming that they can sell the unsellable. There are also entrepreneurs who think their product is so amazing that there is no marketing needed in order to sell their product. Whatever your product is, the reality is that marketing becomes much easier when the product or service you're selling is good. When you strive to put out a good product and a great customer service, customers are more inclined speak to their friends and family about it, and thus end up being a free salesperson for your company.

The best way to generate free marketing is to exceed your customers' expectation by offering a great product backed up by a great customer experience.

Connecting with Potential Customers In-Person

Over the years we have noticed that our customers are on average 2.5x more likely to close a deal with Jaycon if we have met them in person. It all has to do with trust. Given that small businesses don't have the reputation that big businesses have, we have to spend a bit more time meeting and greeting people in order to build rapport. Like I mentioned earlier, people give preference to their immediate network, so if somehow we are able to become part of that network by talking with them during events, meetups, business parties, and conferences, then we will be a bit closer to earning their trust. It's important to remember that when we talk to potential customers, we talk with them and not to or at them. People love to talk about themselves, so make sure you ask just enough questions to show that you are genuinely interested in them as a whole — and not just on the sale that you may make after that conversation is over.

Having a Good Website

I can't stress enough what a difference a good website makes when trying to convert customers. Unfortunately — or fortunately for businesses who are good at it — customers tend to assimilate your website's quality to the level of quality of your product or service. I have seen numerous business who do amazing work but have a poor website. I wonder how many customers they may be missing out. At Jaycon we ask all customers the reasons they chose us over our competitors, and numerous times we have heard that our website had made a difference in their decision.

But don't panic if you don't have the budget to go all out on a website. You actually don't have to spend a ton of money. Tools like Squarespace, Wix, and Wordpress cost no more than $40/month and provide you with a variety of templates to choose from plus a graphical user interface that any non-technical person will be able to understand and use.

Having [Many] Positive Google Reviews

It's hard to rank high on Google — just because you have a website or some sort of web presence doesn't mean you will show up in someone's search results. But Google takes reputation into consideration, so even if your website isn't super popular, its algorithm for local search results will take into account your online reviews. That means that if you get mostly 4 or 5 stars from enough customers (the more the better of course), Google will show your business first in the map even when someone is closer to another location that is ranked lower than yours.

So whatever your sales process is, ensure to always ask for a review once you have delivered the product or service. To get mostly positive reviews, you may want to informally ask them how their experience was before sending them the link, so if they felt dissatisfied, you still have an opportunity to make it right before they write their review. Or if you are automating the review system, tell your customer that if you plan on giving your company less than 4 stars, to please contact the customer service department in order to ensure their experience was positive.

Tip: For your customers to leave reviews on your page, you have to create a Google My Business page. And if you are wondering how to generate a link that automatically goes to the review page, here are the instructions.

Publishing [Relevant] Content Frequently

I said it before and I will say it again — it's hard to rank high on Google. Their algorithm takes into consideration so many factors. If you want to learn what these are, check Google’s 200 Ranking Factors: The Complete List. Out of all them, there is one factor has a lot of weight and you have complete control over, and that's content. Not only does it help you rank higher on Google, but it also shows expertise when you choose to write about topics that are important to your audience. It also helps reduce customer service load — some of your content may be written exclusively to answer questions people call your company to inquire about. Good, original, and relevant content also helps improve organic traffic if people like your piece and share it others; you're also more likely to have linkbacks because people refer back to your content.

At Jaycon, we have gotten numerous customers from pieces that explain the technology that we work with, and many of them thank us for explaining it so well. And it's not always a numbers game — our articles never got millions of views, but it got enough views to persuade a good percentage of the readers to close contracts with us.