In the United States, small businesses account for up to 99.9% of all businesses in the country. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are around 33 million small businesses in 2024 — that’s a lot!
If you don’t want to be part of the 20% of businesses that fail during their first year, you need to up your game and establish a strong brand.
But how can you do that when you’re just starting?
Here are some affordable strategies for small business owners to try in 2024:
1) Get Your Brand Identity Right
According to Edelman, 81% of buyers need to trust a brand first before they make a purchase.
So, right off the bat, you have to get your brand identity defined. What does your business stand for? Your mission, core values, and the personality of your brand.
Make sure that you have a clear vision for your brand and offer something that others don’t.
Your logo is the face and foundation of your brand identity. So make sure that it is memorable and represents your business well.
A well-designed brand identity is one of the ways to communicate that you are a reputable brand — not a shady business.
2) Skip The Fancy Packaging
Packaging accounts for around 10% of a product’s retail price. You don’t have to compete with big businesses when it comes to packaging.
Instead of spending your resources on hiring a packaging designer, why don’t you try handmade packaging instead?
Many small businesses, especially solo ventures, DIY their packaging and then use a sticker or rubber stamp with their logo as a design to mark the packages.
This method gives off a personalized feel which big businesses don’t normally do.
3) Talk About Your Products
According to Exploding Topics, 77% of consumers buy from the brands they follow on social media. Gen Z prefers to use Instagram and Baby Boomers use Google to learn more about the brands.
And if these statistics aren’t enough to convince you, around 65% of shoppers were influenced by a brand’s owner or their employees to buy a product.
Social media is the most affordable marketing tool you can have as a business owner. It’s literally free.
So, start creating a social media account or website for your brand and talk about your products.
A good example of this strategy is Pickled Stamps. A family-owned business selling customized rubber stamps in the US.
Pickled Stamps is actively publishing blogs on its website and uploading videos on social media platforms about its products. As a result, they were able to double their website’s traffic by up to 150% and it still continues to grow.
4) Collaborate With Other Business Owners Or Creators
After you’ve built an online presence, another affordable branding strategy is to collaborate with other businesses or creators.
Instead of talking about your products, you can exchange products with other businesses and creators and promote each other’s products or services. This is a great way to get more exposure for your brand and reach an even bigger audience.
Keep in mind, however, to avoid collaborating with businesses in the same niche or your actual competitors. This might confuse your audience and make it difficult for them to differentiate between the two brands.
Instead, try collaborating with businesses in complementary niches that have similar target audiences. For example, if you sell makeup kits, you can collaborate with make-up artists and enthusiasts.
5) Deliver Excellent Customer Service
According to Zendesk, 73% of buyers will likely switch to a competitor brand after multiple bad experiences.
As a business owner, keeping your current customers is as important as gaining new ones. If you want to keep your customers happy and loyal, you need to deliver excellent customer service.
This means responding quickly to their inquiries, providing them with accurate information, and resolving any issues they have promptly.
If you’ve been using social media for a while, you know that people often talk about their experiences on social media — and that includes products and services. If you keep your consumers happy, they are likely to recommend it to their friends and family.
That’s free marketing on your part.
As a small business owner, good customer service can be one of your biggest assets.
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6) Monitor Your Metrics
In the early stages of your business, you can experiment with a few marketing strategies to find out which ones work better for your niche. Once you find it, you can start focusing on that strategy and see how it affects your business.
The most effective way to figure out which strategy works is to monitor your metrics. You can find these metrics on almost all marketing tools like social media platforms, websites, and even in online marketplaces.
Monitor the analytics these tools provide and try to find out which strategies helped you gain new customers, boost your sales, or increase your engagement.
Saving money means saving your business. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to market your products or services.
Sometimes, marketing can be a hit or miss. So try to put all your eggs or money in one basket. Of course, some strategies cost money and get you results.
But if you can get similar results by spending less, why not go for it? Survival is more important than virality.
So if you haven’t tried these strategies yet, it’s time to give them a shot. They might not get you millions of views or followers overnight, but they will help you grow your business and make it more profitable.