Top 10 Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses in Australia
Do you own a small business in Australia? Is your business not making profits as you had imagined? Are you in search of new marketing strategies to soar the profitability of your business venture?
Whether your business deals with food and beverage or you’re selling your own exclusive products, marketing plays a key role. And, what can’t be ignored is the amount of effort your competitors put into their marketing. That could be one reason why they’re making the big bucks while you’re struggling. It’s time for you to bring out the big guns and start attracting the customers your business deserves.
Don’t know where to start? Don’t worry! You’ve landed on the right guide. We’ve gathered the top 10 marketing strategies for small businesses that are struggling to make profits in Australia. Let’s get right into it!
How do Marketing Strategies Affect Profitability?
One successful marketing strategy can completely flip the switch and take a business owner from nowhere to the Forbes 100 charts. Effective marketing strategies will present your business to the right audience who are actually in need of your product. This increases the probability of selling the product/service.
Moreover, with long-term marketing, your business will shine as a brand. A brand has its own goodwill and trust. People will trust the quality of your product and will purchase it even if the price is a little higher. That is what other brands do. They all have luxury products from where they get a lot of profit compared to budget/cheap products. This is how marketing affects profitability.
10 Best Marketing Tips for Small Businesses in Australia
Here is a list of marketing strategies for small business owners:
- Improve your Google My Business (GMB) profile
- Share Short-Form Content on social media
- Create a Website and do SEO
- Invest in an Online Stores
- Ask for customer reviews
- Run Paid Advertisements
- Start a Loyalty Program
- Offer Incentives and Discounts
- Use Email Marketing
- Survey, Listen, Learn
Improve your Google My Business (GMB) profile
For local visibility, GMB profiles are crucial for every small business. It’s the first 3 results you see on Google with their map location when you search for ‘something near me’. It allows your potential audience in your local area to find you and contact you, physically or digitally.
There are many ways to improve your GMB listing such as including high-quality images, updating business hours and asking happy customers for reviews. Research shows 81% of consumers use Google reviews to evaluate a business and make buying decisions. By optimising your listing, you not only stand out from the competition but also attract more customers to your business.
Share Short-Form Content on Social Media
With people hooked on apps like TikTok and Instagram, short-form content has become quite popular these days. This is an excellent opportunity for businesses to create their own short-form content that’s engaging and invites interactions from their potential audiences.
If you’re good enough, your organic social media content can generate more traffic than a paid campaign. That is why, most owners use this marketing strategy for their small business to grow fast. So, invest some time in creating engaging video content as they are more effective these days.
Create a Website and do SEO
In this digital age, a website is your business’s digital face. Not having a website can severely impact your brand’s reputation and miss you out on a pool of leads and customers.
So, investing in a website is never a bad idea. Make sure your website reflects your brand and is optimised to rank higher in Google searches. This helps potential customers to find you easily.
Invest in an Online Store
Once you have a website, integrate it with an online store. It’s basically a website or a mobile app that allows your customers to order your products and services online. It’s like having your own e-commerce website. Get POSApt’s Online Ordering Solution to take your business online. POSApt is one of the best solutions for small businesses across Australia. Give it a try!
Ask for customer reviews
Once you get visibility, people will judge you based on user ratings and reviews. So, make sure to encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews. Positive reviews build credibility and trust, influencing potential customers' purchasing decisions. Having a good number of positive reviews on your GMB profile, Facebook, or even your website will convert visitors into customers.
Run Paid Advertisements
If you’re not able to get your efforts viral organically, you can always rely on paid advertisements. Utilise digital advertising platforms like Google Ads or social media ads. These allow you to create highly targeted campaigns that reach specific demographics and behaviours. Paid advertisements are effective during the initial stage of your business. Once your business is visible online, you do not have to invest in advertisements.
Start a Loyalty Program
Every strategy mentioned above helps majorly in attracting new customers to your business. But wouldn’t you say that attracting your existing customers to return again is also important?
Yes, you’re absolutely correct. For this, you can start a loyalty program to maintain customer retention.
Loyalty programs are one of the best marketing strategies for small businesses as they tend to attract more customers. Loyalty programs like “buy one get one free” and “Spend $1000 and get $100 discount”, etc. are quite popular in retail shops. You can implement such types of programs with the help of loyalty software or POS software. Don’t have one yet? Contact us and get POS software for your business.
Offer Incentives and Discounts
Besides a loyalty program, you can also run occasional discounts, and incentives to attract more customers. For instance, you can offer discounts for purchases over a certain amount and give in free samples with certain purchases.
Marketing tactics like black friday sale with 20% discount on every product are quite popular. You can implement this marketing strategy to incentivise people to go for those products over others.
Email Marketing
One of the most effective marketing strategies is email marketing with an insane ROI of 42:1 as reported by Constant Contact. So, build an email list and send regular newsletters with updates, promotions, and valuable content. It helps you nurture relationships with existing customers and potential leads.
You cannot just start doing email marketing as it is hard to find emails of your customers. That is where an online store comes in handy. Once you have your website set up, people will sign up to purchase your product. Later you can use these emails to retarget those customers by displaying your discounts and offers.
Survey, Listen, Learn
And lastly, as Stephen Hawking said, “One of the basic rules of the universe is that NOTHING IS PERFECT. Perfection simply doesn't exist... without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”
In the same way, you should always look for feedback to improve your small business. Implement surveys, listen to what customers have to say and learn from your mistakes to give better services. You can also integrate quizzes into your strategy using quiz plugins to engage customers and gather valuable insights for continuous enhancement. Every small improvement helps build a bigger brand.
How Much Does Marketing Cost for a Small Business?
Small businesses, that have just started selling should spend at least $1000 to $3000 a month on marketing. But if you have a good budget then you can definitely spend more to get high sales. In actuality, it's important for your marketing budget to align with your revenue. Here's a general guideline to separate your marketing budget:
- Spend 5% to 7% of your total revenue if you're focused on maintaining your current sales levels.
- Spend 7% to 10% of your total revenue if you're aiming to expand your business and stay competitive.
- Spend 10% to 15% of your total revenue if you're looking to dominate your target market
However, bear in mind that these numbers should be considered in relation to your competitors' marketing budgets. You can't seriously assert dominance if you're spending 15% of $100K while your competitor is investing 10% of two million dollars.
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Wrapping Up
Small businesses in Australia face unique challenges when it comes to marketing. However, with the proper strategies in place, your business can effectively reach your target audience and drive more sales. By implementing the above-mentioned marketing strategies for your small business you will start thriving in the Australian market.