Small Business Solutions: Your Advertising Essentials Checklist

Let’s face it – there are nearly 400 million small businesses worldwide. With this kind of competition and limited budget, building the perfect marketing strategy takes a lot of time and dedication. Don’t fret-no matter how small your business is, you can unlock higher sales and increase your brand visibility with targeted, cost-effective advertising strategies.

Here’s your advertising essentials checklist to expand your brand in 2022. 

Branded Everything

As a small business, you may think, “why bother branding?” It’s imperative you do not discredit the importance of branding for growing your business. Afterall, brand recognition is key for higher sales conversions. 

Here’s why:

-It is a visual representation of the value that your business has to offer.

-It builds trust and presents your business more professionally.

-It makes your business more memorable and recognizable.

-It complements your marketing efforts.

-It keeps employees motivated and presents a unified team front.

-It contributes to revenue generation through brand building and awareness.

As such, businesses of all sizes should focus on branding. Rather than generic promotional materials, customize your entire marketing arsenal from banners to business cards to reflect your brand. Consistently brand your business and you will see a boost in sales in no time. 

Stock Up on the OOH Essentials

Out-Of-Home (OOH) marketing will form the backbone of all your advertising campaigns. After all, your shelf signs and decals will only come in handy after the customer has left their home and made it to your store!

Here’s where items such as custom vinyl banners, brochures, flags, and flyers come into play. These products need to be placed or distributed at strategic locations to redirect some passersby from high-traffic zones to your place of business. As such, businesses often invest in OOH outlets such as roadside flags, entrance way banners, and storefront signs and decals to catch a potential customer’s attention. 

If you manage to strike the perfect combination of placement and content, these advertising materials will create a sense of intrigue, which will either have the customer looking up more information about your business or directly flocking to your store! 

Make Your Storefront the Showstopper

Once you have funneled customers from outside to your store, you must persuade them to come inside. The storefront is a sneak peek as to what your store contains on the inside. 

Apart from the usual displays, decals, window stickers, etc., have a strategy in place to deck your storefront with the changing times:

• Create seasonal storefront designs.
• Share short-term promotions with window decals and banner stands.
• Have employees stand outside to greet guests and pass out coupons.
• Host an outdoor product sampling or demonstration.

After all, about 95% of shoppers consider a store’s exterior appearance to be a factor while deciding on whether or not to shop from there. You can implement these storefront strategies to create an inviting atmosphere and bring in new business. 

Do You Have These In-Store Must-Haves?

If you want to turn store visitors into loyal customers, you need a few high-converting supplies to inspire purchases:

• Shelf signs indicate product benefits.
• Banners announce sales and ongoing promotions.
• Display stands tap into impulse buying or give a demonstration of new products.
• Floor decals to help with in-store navigation.
• Stickers and posters that educate shoppers on limited edition campaigns.

Small businesses can also use such in-store marketing products to build a connection with the visitors. As such, they can share their journey or feature local vendors in the spotlight. Essentially, these in-store must-haves will align with the changing requirements of your campaign.

Don’t Forget Online Advertising

While most of the pointers discussed so far primarily deal with advertising in the physical world, it must be tied up with online advertising to create a holistic environment. Apart from informing your loyal customers that you also have an online presence, it offers them the convenience of continued patronage from the comfort of their homes.

Even if you don’t have a dedicated website for selling your products, you can launch your online store over social media channels or through general marketplaces. Therefore, it is all about implementing various advertising techniques. The key to an effective advertising strategy is consistency. Keep your physical and digital storefronts looking polished and cohesive to build brand awareness. Once you implement these inexpensive strategies, you will see results.