Small business owners all throughout Canada strive to grow their businesses each and every day. As a result, they each embark on advertising campaigns in efforts to expand their reach and grow their customer bases. However, not all marketing strategies are smart ones. It’s incumbent upon small business owners to truly understand what makes their target audiences tick.
So what are some smart marketing strategies that can help to grow your small business? Here are three ideas:
1. Implement a referral program.
There’s no better type of advertising than word-of-mouth promotion. When you have happy customers tell other people about your business, those recommendations go a long way. The average person recognizes that a genuine referral is one based on a happy experience.
Invest some of your marketing budget on implementing a program that rewards customers for referring other people. Come up with a clever way to incentivize your customers. Offering discounts or even free items to those who bring other people into your store with them is one idea. You may even want to tie in your social media marketing strategies by making note of who tweets or posts referrals about you.
2. Step up your social media game.
To branch off of that last point, it’s important that all small business owners make use of the Facebooks, Twitters and LinkedIns of the world. These platforms are where countless consumers go to express their likes, dislikes, needs and wants. To have your hand on the pulse of the buying public, it’s important that you are engaging with potential customers on a regular basis.
Invest some of your advertising dollars into a social media marketing campaign. If necessary, go out and hire an expert in the field – someone who can update your profiles for you, write innovative and informative blogs and create an interactive atmosphere on each of your social media accounts. This is going to significantly increase the number of visitors to your website, allowing you more opportunities to convert leads into buying customers.
3. Promote your gift cards.
Gift cards automatically give your company a strong new revenue stream. Canadian consumers love gift cards as they make buying gifts for loved ones incredibly easy. They eliminate the worry to find the right size, the right colour or the right style of gift. A gift card, of course, allows a recipient to get anything his/her heart desires!
Invest some of your marketing budget in a campaign that exposes the fact that your store sells gift cards. Be sure to adorn your place of business with signage that advertises that you have gift cards for sale. As well, make sure you display your gift cards in highly visible areas of your store, most notably, the checkout counter!
At Canadian POS Corporation, we make it easy for small business owners in Canada to begin selling gift cards to their customers. Our experience has taught us that gift cards encourage repeat business, attract new customers and boost sales all year long!
For more information about how to begin selling gift cards in your store, call Canadian POS Corporation at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.