Planning on launching a new business in 2019 and want to know the best ways to market it? Or perhaps you've got an established business and are looking for marketing ideas that will help you grow in the year ahead?
In this guide we'll the best marketing ideas for small business success in 2019.
Idea 1: Make email an integral part of your marketing plans
Have you ever bought anything from Amazon? Of course you have. Have you then bought more products because of the regular emails that land in your inbox? Again, the answer is probably yes.
And have you ever researched a product online, found a reputable looking website selling what you need but not been quite ready to buy and so instead you signed up to their email newsletter to receive news of special offers? Again, it's likely that you have.
Email marketing is an incredibly powerful tool. You can use it to attract new customers and to sell more to people who've already bought from you.
So in 2019, make sure you sign up for GoDaddy's Email Marketing tool and start using it. You can read this guide to get started with email marketing.
Idea 2: Crush it on the local SEO front
Ever searched for a term like "coffee near me" and wondered how businesses get to appear on the map result at the top of Google?
Well, although there's no magic formula guaranteed to propel your business to the top of such local searches, there is one thing all businesses must do if they want to have any chance of appearing in those results: Set up a Google My Business page.
Google My Business is like a social networking site for businesses. When you create your profile, you'll be able to add things like your location and opening hours (vital for local search) along with photos and menus or lists of services.
Customers will also be able to leave reviews of your business so you can see what people think.
Google My Business is free, and if you're using GoDaddy Website Builder on a Business Plus or Online Store package, you can actually create your page from your dashboard. (And loads of information from your site will be transferred over to Google My Business, making set up quicker and easier.)
If you haven't yet launched a business, you should consider using GoDaddy Website builder to create your site, so you can get on Google My Business at the same time.
Oh, and if you are running a local business, you should seriously consider setting up a profile on relevant listings sites such as Yelp, and Yell. That way you'll have even more chance of being found by potential customers.
Idea 3: Get started with content marketing
If you're new to doing business online, you may not have heard the phrase "content marketing", but you'll almost have certainly seen some while using the internet.
Put simply, content marketing is the act of promoting your business by creating interesting and useful bits of content.
This can be anything from blogging to video creation. This may sound expensive or even intimidating, but done well content marketing can be a great low-cost way to connect with the audience you want to reach.
Learn more about how to start content marketing for your small business in this guide.
Idea 4: Get to grips with keyword research
Keywords are the lifeblood of good SEO. If you don't know what search terms people are using to find businesses like your, then you won't know which terms you need to rank well for in search engines to let people find you.
Understanding keyword research will take a bit of effort, but it could make a world of difference to your business.
You can learn about getting started with keyword research in this guide.
Idea 5: Rework what already worked
If you've been running online marketing campaigns for a while it can feel like new ideas are hard to come by.
The good news is you don't always need new ideas to come up with a marketing campaign that works.
Revisit old content, ad campaigns, email campaigns and so on to see what worked well in the past.
You can then give your successful campaigns a refresh (updating imagery, statistics, links and such like) and relaunch them.
If you're feeling brave, you can also try revisiting old campaigns that didn't work so well to see if you can fix what went wrong.
Idea 6: Prepare for the growth of voice search
Voice search is already here and it's only getting bigger. The rise of smart speakers and personal assistants (Siri, Alexa and the gang) could change the way search works.
The good news is that preparing for a future where more of your potential customers are using voice search doesn't involve turning things on their head, although you will need to make changes.
A great way to do this is by understanding the kind of questions that your potential customers are asking online. Tools like Answer The Public and Quora are a good place to start with this.
Once you know what questions are being asked, you can answer them.
You'll also need to get to grips with structured data to help voice assistants understand the content on your website.
There's a good beginner's guide to structured data here.
It also seems that Google is starting to prefer video content for voice searches that start "how to", which brings us on to our next idea.
Idea 7: Video marketing
Video marketing isn't new, it's been used effectively for decades offline, and more recently online.
The big difference with video marketing heading into 2019 is that it's never been easier or cheaper for small businesses to create high-quality video.
In fact, as you're reading this article you probably have a device with an HD video camera in your pocket or on your desk next to you. You might even be reading this article on a device with a HD video camera.
Your smartphone, combined with a tripod and some video editing software can help you make low-cost marketing videos that really help people. (The "how to" videos we touched on in the last section are just one example of this.
You can learn more about getting started with video marketing in this guide.
Idea 8: Spruce up your visuals
Whether it's product photos or graphics to spruce up your social media ads, great-looking images are a must if you're to convince people that you're someone they want to do business with.
As with video, it's easier than ever to create or take quality images.
If you want to learn more about taking quality product photos, you can do so in this guide.
While this article looks at low-cost ways you can create quality graphics without having to become a fully-fledged designer.
Idea 9: Get to grips with Chat bots
Social media chat bots can help you interact with existing and potential customers in new and interesting ways.
You could use them to help cut down on the number of customer service queries you have to handle by creating a bot to handle frequently asked and straightforward questions.
You might even create one that helps identify the best product for a potential customer to buy based on their needs.
Chat bots won't replace the human touch completely, but done well they can be a good way to interact with customers as long as you take the right approach.
Idea 10: Don't forget about live video
Live video is the area where video and social media collide. Facebook and Twitter both offer users the chance to go live and it's a great way to connect with people when you're running an event, or even just attending one.
It can be difficult to make a splash with live video, but this guide should help you get started.
Idea 11: Level up your analytics knowledge
As a bare minimum, you should have Google Analytics account and know how to use it to understand basic things about your website and the people who visit it.
But GA is a very powerful tool, and if you're only using it for the basics you're really missing out.
So dig deeper into GA and learn about things like goal setting and alerts. You can get more advanced with Google Analytics by following this guide.
Whatever your plans for 2019, these marketing tips should help you find new potential customers.
