Local Marketing in Raleigh, NC | Small Business SEO Raleigh NC
Hello again small business owners, managers and staff! We've been so busy of late it's been hard to keep up. Thankfully, we're back to helping you sort through all the noise in a fragmented advertising and marketing industry. When you think about local marketing, there's no doubt a lot of ideas that come to mind. Of course, those ideas cost time and money; so I'm sure questions soon follow. At Xperience4Higher, we pride ourselves in being small business experts. Whether your in need of SEO Raleigh NC small businesses or mobile-ready website design, we'll be there every step of the way. While we're committed to growing small businesses in our local area, we work with tons of companies in the Northeast, Midwest and California. So if you're reading this article and need some small business marketing help, don't hesitate to contact us for a free analysis! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming:-)
There are a number of considerations that go into creating the right marketing plan for your small business. There's also a flow that one should take into account when executing the strategy. Over the next several posts, we'll dissect each area and talk through exactly how you turn your marketing dreams into reality. First, let's look at the high-level activities that go into getting the word out about your business and thereby attracting new customers. As we mentioned, there's an order to things:
- Determine your goals for growth and establish a marketing budget
- Analyze your competition and understand your market space
- Decide which marketing mediums/channels are right for your small business
- Turn your strategy into an actionable plan (scope, time and cost)
- Execute your plan on a small scale
- LISTEN to your customers
- Measure your success and adjust your strategy
- Now, get ready to hit a homerun: PREPARE FOR GROWTH!
- Execute your plan to the fullest
- LISTEN to your customers
- Measure your success and adjust your strategy
- Repeat steps 9-11 so long as you want to stay in business
We'll breakdown the activities you'll work through as the next couple weeks unfold. Until then, begin to think and research. Think about how much you can afford to grow (given my physical space, ability to train staff, etc.). Think about what you could spend without putting yourself or your small business in a bind (typically, marketing will be about 5-15% of your operating budget AND remember your time is worth something). Research your competition. Just Google your business type and city/state. You'll find exactly who "gets" how to market their small businesses in your area.
Lastly, research advertising costs for your demographic. How much is a TV and/or radio campaign (one spot is NOT enough!)? What print mediums work in my area (newspaper, periodicals, ValPak, etc.), and how much do they cost? What does a typical internet marketing campaign cost in my area (local SEO, social marketing, mobile-ready website design, etc.)? If you're confused, contact our support team and we'll help get you quotes for FREE! From an internet marketing perspective, you should keep in mind the size of your city/target market and competitiveness of your industry will be the key factors in determining price. Raleigh, NC SEO campaigns are more expensive than Cary, NC SEO campaigns. As a Raleigh SEO company (among many other things), we understand the Raleigh-Durham area very well. That said, we have clients in West Philadelphia that follow exactly the same processes and receive the same excellent results as our Raleigh small business partners. So don't get dismayed if you're across the country from us. Give us a call, and we'll get you started on the path to growth.
