It’s well-known that small businesses face a host of challenges. They probably have to deal with problems that big startups do not even take into consideration. According to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20% of all American small businesses do not make it longer than the first year. If you’re still here for more than a year then you clearly have it in you. But still, some primers might come in handy. So let's explore some challenges you are likely to face and how marketing automation helps to mitigate them.
Small Business Problems
It is probably not surprising that lack of resources is one of the primary hurdles for most small businesses. All businesses tend to focus on operations over marketing due to an urgent need for the business to run! It's a terrible catch-22 because, in order to get sales, you have to advertise but to market, you need fewer sales to allow more bandwidth.
Here is how you can break this cycle to make it work in your favour.
1. Budget Constraints
This is a problem for small businesses. Yet many people are unaware of the vital compulsory marketing budget. The most common blunder owners make is not allotting some budgets strictly for marketing. You'll read an abundance of articles on how marketing in the age of social media, in particular, is likely to cost very little. It makes it seem like you will be hugely successful with little investment. Sadly, success in business is not free. Even if you plan on spending funds on ads upfront, time is money and marketing is time-consuming. Consider making someone responsible for these tasks. And factor the time spent on marketing into your budget.
2. A Small Team for Marketing
Regardless of the number of marketing tools you may encounter in a day, you must understand that trying to do it all with limited resources can leave you feeling frustrated. This will give only mediocre results. Marketing should be pursued as a core activity. And outsourcing particular tasks can be the solution to start turning recognition of your brand name into sales. In the present time, make use of independent contractors and freelancers as necessary so that you can hire later.
3. DIY is not always helpful
Nowadays, we use the exact same channels for personal use as businesses do for commercial gain. This benefit for business owners is compelling since even if you do not consider yourself to be overly tech-savvy, you can learn how to use these platforms by yourself. But do not make the rookie mistake of thinking that it’s simple.
Social marketers use audience building methods, work to increase engagement rates, and watch top-performing content to produce campaigns that convert. Email marketers test content, understand their particular email privacy regulations and monitor site visits to ensure the campaigns drive sales results. These are an integral part of a marketing strategy, and it's hard for even a seasoned marketer to handle all this by themselves. Keeping the fingers on the pulse of marketing is a big step, but bringing on competent specialists will lead to progress.
4. Lack of Consistency
Trust and proper reputation can be created with consistent branding and customer interaction. Clients who see inconsistent posts, emails, and other marketing tactics may have a hard time trusting or revisiting your brand. To avoid these problems, try creating a promotional calendar in advance. Or consider incorporating marketing automation to ensure there aren't any gaps in your campaign.
5. Content Game Must Be Strong
Inbound marketing is pivotal with regard to how to achieve success. This means that depending on your goals, you'll want to create content that will be useful, helpful, or entertaining. Inbound marketing focuses on making content that helps pull your target audience towards your brand. Articles, blog posts, photography, videos, or webinars are all examples of content. If you do not produce content, however, overcoming this hurdle can be the most challenging for small businesses. You may wish to hire a content strategist to create your quarterly or annual content strategy. You can then outsource them or handle them in-house.
6. Find Out the Right Talent
Owners and staff at smaller businesses wear lots of hats. It's not out of the ordinary to find the back office manager also running the Facebook page or the customer service representative also running Instagram. While that might be a temporary fix, it won't help the business grow. To launch a business, you'll need to hire marketing talent. So how would you go about finding different talents? If you're not hiring through a freelance directory, check out the expertise of fresh candidates.
7. Efforts Tied to Results
Businesses get stymied when they fail to link marketing actions directly to sales outcomes. Hiring a marketer or freelancer to track and optimize the performance of campaigns is one good way to see the return on your investment in marketing efforts. It also put your mind at ease that the marketing system is functioning properly and customers are getting the services or products that they expect.
Final Thoughts
Guaranteed that small businesses face problems but all businesses started small at some point. Marketing automation is a key tool that is serving small businesses and freeing up time by removing manual tasks. If you are looking to know more about how that happens, reach out to Helium CRM. A one-stop solution for all your marketing needs and lead management we do it all from email marketing to website building and conversations. Drop a line today and we will be more than happy to help!
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