We don’t mean to intrude, but you’ve just landed on the perfect blog post for such a state of mind.

If you’ve had enough of punching time cards, having your meal times determined by a scheduling program, and answering to middle-management, then perhaps there’s no better time than now to turn those daydreams into reality.

There’s a lot to consider and plan for when becoming your own boss and starting an online business — like what kind of business will you start?

How to Start an Online Business

We live in a connected world, with the internet and technology enabling ample opportunities to start successful businesses online. If you decide to give up the office or retail life and become a digital entrepreneur, you’ll be in good company.

Online, home-based businesses are on the rise and are valuable sources of income for many. Depending on your needs and goals, your business may be a part-time side hustle or it could be your full-time venture.

Is starting an online business a good idea? Online businesses may require fewer investments as compared to brick-and-mortar businesses that require external facilities or a hired staff, and they offer a flexible work-life balance as it’s dictated by you. However, keep in mind that you may need to convert part of your home and living space to support your business, especially as it grows.

Let’s explore some online business ideas that you can launch with a little business planning and a website (and that aren’t MLMs.)

15 Online Business Ideas

Ready to be your own boss? With these business ideas, you can be.

1. Web designer

Web designers are in demand.

As brick-and-mortar businesses convert into online retailers, they all need websites. Business owners often don’t have the time to create and design beautiful, functional websites. Even with the advent of easy-to-use website builders, they seek outside counsel and assistance.

And it isn’t just small businesses that need web design help, large companies frequently hire design consultants to assist with their needs.

Web design is all about creating an intuitive, beautiful experience for the end-user, so if helping others and designing are your passions, this is a great business idea to consider starting from home.

2. Personal fitness trainer

The pandemic has shown us that traditionally in-person businesses can be successful online. You may be accustomed to going to a gym or studio to learn and instruct, but there’s nothing stopping you from doing that online, too.

A website, camera, and open floor space are all you really need to get started if you’re knowledgeable about proper exercise, motivation, and healthy living. Once you build your reputation and your business grows, you may find that you’ll want to start making house calls or letting your clients come to you.

Before starting a personal fitness training business, make sure to research local guidelines to determine if any special licensing is required.

3. Copywriter

Do you have a way with words? The ability to sway people by pen or keyboard? If yes, it’s time to give serious consideration to becoming a copywriter.

Great copy helps convert website visitors into customers, so website owners everywhere seek help writing content like FAQs and blog posts.

To attract those website owners and convince them to hire you, you’ll need to put your skills to work. Start by creating a website to showcase your strengths. Make sure to include an “About” page where prospective clients can learn about you, samples of your work, and make it easy for them to contact you — a “Contact Us” page is great, but your contact information should be discoverable from every page.

4. Interior Designer

Some people have an eye for style, and some don’t. If you do, why not help others create the living or workspaces of their dreams?

Someone, somewhere, doesn’t understand that houndstooth can’t be matched with plaid, or what color walls best pair with their flooring. Your stylistic expertise is what they need and they’ll be happy to pay for a consultation.

As with any business, social proof is important, so you’ll want to showcase your work on your website. Consider adding a blog to your site to keep your readers up-to-date with trends and inform them of what you’ve been working on.

5. Dropshipper

Have you thought about starting an online retail business, only to abandon your dream because you don’t have the funds to invest in a large inventory of products?

Dropshipping solves that issue for you. With dropshipping, you can sell products on your site without worrying about stocking and inventory. It works like this: When you sell a product on your site it’s purchased from a third party who fulfills shipping, so you never have to touch the product. These third-party sellers are normally wholesalers or manufacturers, and you’ll still make a profit from the sales.

Dropshipping means low overhead. You don’t have to purchase any products unless you’ve made a sale and it’s been paid for by the customer. This also gives you great control and flexibility when it comes to testing new products in your market. 

6. Personal chef

Does everyone rave about your cooking? Perhaps now is the time to turn your culinary prowess into a profitable business.

Depending on local regulations and guidelines, you can use your home kitchen to create nutritious, enjoyable meals for your clients. As your business grows, you may need to find a commercial kitchen and hire helpers, but the majority of your marketing, planning, and business work can be done from the comfort of your own home.

Happy clients and referrals will help your business grow, so don’t hesitate to create a website to show off your delicious meals and share information about your offerings.

7. Grant writer

Non-profit organizations rely on donations to fund their goodwill initiatives. There are many opportunities for them to apply for grants to receive funding, but oftentimes, the people behind the scenes are juggling many roles, and don’t have the time to write the incredible grant proposals they need to secure funds.

This is where you come in. Are you a master of pen and keyboard? Do you have a knack for laying information out concisely and persuasively? There are so many organizations vying for a limited amount of grants, that it’s imperative for proposals to be well-formatted and well-written.

There are many free resources online that can help you learn how to write the perfect proposal. Once you’ve nailed it, pitch your services to different organizations and create a website where people seeking grant writers can contact you.

8. Life coach

Does everyone in your friend group rely on you for advice? Do they seek you out for your sage wisdom on love, work, and any other number of personal and professional issues?

Sounds like you might already be a bit of a life coach. Life coaches aren’t therapists, but they do help individuals focus on the life they want, provide guidance and counsel, and help people to achieve their goals.

Some life coaches prefer to coach and speak to big crowds, but it’s a career that can easily be done from your home. While life coaches don’t technically need a license to operate, there are programs designed to help you become a life coach that offer certifications. As with any business, you’ll need to invest in your online presence to build your audience of prospective customers.

9. Blogger

Blogs and websites have democratized the information age, letting anyone who has an interest or is an expert on a topic hold court. Blogging is one of the most popular ways that people share information, and you can manage your blog from home or anywhere!

To be a blogger, you undoubtedly have to have your own site. To be successful, you’ll need to create fresh, interesting content that appeals to your audience. Encourage your readers to share your posts with their friends and on social media to grow your following.

As your blog gains more and more engaged readers, you can offer advertising space on your blog for additional income. If you’re seriously considering becoming a blogger, check out this post about what you need to know when starting a blog.

10.  Virtual assistant

Are you an organizational powerhouse? Have you been called “Type A” more than once? A virtual assistant position may be perfect for you.

Busy executives and business owners can reach a point where they’re inundated with responsibilities and don’t have the time to manage all their tasks. Appointments, emails, video calls — all of these things add up and are time-consuming.

As a virtual assistant, you’d be stepping in to provide the help and organization they so desperately need. You’d carry your tasks out at home, from scheduling meetings and appointments to replying to emails, fielding phone calls, and managing documents. And all of these things are easily achievable using cloud-based solutions. 

So, if you’re the type who plans everything from morning to sundown, you can have a lot of fun and find fulfillment as a Virtual Assistant. 

11.  Consultant

Someone, somewhere, needs your expertise. Consultants are experts in their fields, and they are paid to advise others in their field or to address specific issues others are facing. It’s not the same as a coach, who provides advice and motivation so you meet your goals.

Usually, consultants offer their services to businesses, although individuals sometimes seek out consultants, too. As a home-based consultant, you have the flexibility to determine your own schedule and rates, and there isn’t much overhead when starting your business. However, it takes time to build your clientele, so make sure you highlight your expertise and other relevant information on your site and include social proof where possible. 

12.  Instructor/Tutor

Covid-19 has changed the face of education, and now is a great time to start an online tutoring business. Parents everywhere are struggling to run their households, manage their careers, and act as secondary (or primary) teachers as their kids attend remote schooling.

If you’re knowledgeable and have a gift for teaching, why not help out in this time of increased need and get paid for it? All that’s required are a computer, a website, and a camera. You can conduct online lessons and tutoring sessions, and add helpful content to your site.

If you do well, your students’ parents will be your best advocates — touting your expertise and sharing your information with other parents in similar situations, and word-of-mouth is a powerful marketing tool.

13. Podcaster

Podcasts are insanely popular. In fact, almost 60% of U.S. consumers listen to podcasts.

If you like the sound of your own voice and think others may, too, then consider starting a podcast. All of us have stories to share and knowledge that we can impart to others.

To get started with podcasting, you’ll need the following:

• A quality microphone
• Software or tools to record audio
• Audio editing tools
• A website

To gain more listeners, try partnering with other more well-known podcasters or thought leaders as you get started. And don’t forget to encourage your listeners to leave reviews!

14. Domain Investor

You’ve heard of real estate investors, but did you know that domain investing is a thing?

Just like real estate properties, domains are great investments because a good domain name will only increase in value. Domain investing means buying domain names and then selling them for a greater amount.

Good domain names have to meet certain criteria, like being short, memorable, and brandable. Business owners will pay for the right domain name because domains are the core of a business’ digital identity. You’ll need to do your research before jumping into the world of domain investing, as you’ll be using your own funds to get started, and you don’t want to lose your money.

Luckily, there are many online resources that can help you get started with domain investing, and there are plenty of sites, like BuyDomains.com, that offer reasonably priced premium domain names which you can resell.

15.  Freelance Editor

Does the thought of correcting someone’s diction and syntax excite you? Do you have fond memories of red pens in the pre-digital era? Are you the person your friends rely on for reviewing and improving important documents?

Sounds like you’ll make a mighty fine freelance editor. Freelance editors take on many roles, from editing grammar to content, and even SEO.

To get started, you’ll want to create a site to showcase your work. Ask friends and family that have relied on you for editing services to provide testimonials, and reach out to businesses you think could benefit from your services. Your work as a freelance editor can be done from anywhere — at home, while traveling, or in a rented space, whatever you prefer.

Ready to start your online business?

There’s no better time than now to launch an online business. We hope these ideas have inspired you to get started and pursue your dreams!

Before investing your time and money in a new venture, it’s always a good idea to take the time to validate your business idea and create a business plan. This way, you’ll know exactly who your audience is, and the best way to conduct your enterprise.

Do you have any other online business ideas you’d like to share? Comment below!

Relevant, insightful, and well-crafted audio content delivered in a friendly yet authoritative voice can be an easy, intimate, and powerful way of connecting with different segments of the audience, educating them about your business and its products, generating brand awareness and love, strengthening your identity and eventually boosting your sales. 

If the numbers stated above don’t make a convincing enough case for the humble podcast as a worthy addition to your content marketing mix, the six compelling reasons mentioned in this article surely will.

However, before you get into making the most of your newfound passion, you must address the first step — building an identity for your podcast. This starts with registering a domain name. 

Instead of going the traditional route, consider getting a little creative and giving your podcast a meaningful and contextual online identity.

For example, if your podcast is more tech-oriented, you could register a domain name on .tech. If you’re talking about small business marketing or subjects like SEO and customer management, you could opt for .online or .site. If you’re speaking to creative professionals, or have something to do with housing, design, or outer space, you could opt for .space.

New domain extensions such as these add more character and flavor to your online identity and make you stand out. This ensures that your listener is impressed with you right from the beginning.

6 Ways Podcasts Supercharge Your Marketing

1. Easy and Inexpensive to Produce

It costs money to produce well-researched, high-quality, professional-looking content. But when it comes to podcasts, your production costs are far less than those for other forms, especially videos. 

You don’t need to hire a professional cameraperson or editor to create a podcast. A basic headset with a mic is all you need to get good audio quality. Podcast editing software such as Alitu and Audacity are fairly simple to use and there are enough tutorials on YouTube to help you get started (Audacity is also completely free).

If you are a good writer, you can write your own podcast script, one that channels your thoughts in your own voice and thus is more authentic. However, if you don’t trust your writing skills, hiring a freelance content writer from a platform such as Fiverr is also an option.

2. Stand Apart from the Competition

Content marketing is highly competitive. Almost every brand has a blog, a YouTube channel, and an active social media presence. Compared to these, podcasts are still relatively untapped, yet they have a fast-growing listener base. The number of podcast listeners globally has increased by 42% during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Moreover, research has shown that podcast listeners are dedicated to the podcasts they love. According to this 2019 report by Edison Research on Podcast Consumers, 52% of monthly listeners will listen to an entire episode. And, even though it is easy to listen to podcasts while doing something else, 70% of the listeners claim that, at least sometimes, they listen to podcasts while doing nothing else. 

This is your chance to stand apart from the competition, create simple, meaningful content, and connect with a niche audience that sees the true value of what you have to offer and has great potential to become loyal to your brand. 

3. Establish Your Authority

People nowadays look toward brands as more than just transactional entities. They gravitate towards companies that are experts in what they do, whose products and services are guided by knowledge and experience, who aren’t just in the business of selling but of truly understanding and satisfying their needs. 

This evolution of the customer-business relationship forms the crux of content marketing, and with podcasts you have an edge over other formats. As revealed in the 2019 Podcast Consumer study mentioned above, 74% of listeners say that they listen to podcasts to learn new things, while 71% do so for entertainment. By tapping into this medium, you can establish your brand’s authority not just as a business but as an industry expert and an authentic source of knowledge and entertainment. 

4. Better Engagement

Unlike videos and articles that require people to focus their sight and thoughts on a screen, podcasts can be consumed anywhere, anytime, and in conjunction with other activities. People can listen to them while driving, doing household chores, exercising, or just before bed. 

But ease of consumption isn’t the only way in which podcasts offer better engagement. This is a chance for you to also engage more personally with your audience. Through your voice, you are able to infuse your personality in your content, while a conversational tone makes your matter more relatable. It’s like a person is having a real conversation with you rather than reading an email from you. 

In fact, you should consider including real conversations in your podcasts to encourage audience participation. You can do this by incorporating live chats and Q&As, reading comments and feedback shared with you in real-time, and giving shout outs to people who are tuned in. All of this makes for a wholesome interaction that is missing from other forms of content.

5. Connect with New Audiences

Your podcasts can cover a range of topics all directly related to your business industry — such as trends, product reviews or tutorials, or other general interest topics. For instance, a bike company can have a fitness or travel podcast, while a travel company can have a nature or photography podcast. 

As the owner of a company, you can even leverage your personal brand to gain more customers for your business. For instance, let’s say that you’re an avid surfer who runs a sports equipment company. Talking about your passion for surfing on your podcast and sharing your expert tips and exciting experiences is all sure to help you attract fellow surfers. By identifying topics that interest different segments of your target market, you can reach new audiences and build brand affinity with them. 

If you’re collaborating with another brand on your podcast or inviting people to co-host or interview, you are also opening up immense opportunities for cross-promotion and tapping into yet another consumer base. All you have to do is make sure that all parties involved are actively sharing and promoting your podcast on their platforms.

6. Build Deeper Connections

When you’re talking to your audience through your podcasts, you are quite literally telling your brand’s story in your own words and in your own voice. The very nature of the medium makes it one of the most authentic, personal, and heartfelt forms of communication. It helps people see your brand in a more personable light.

Writing about your brand’s journey, the passions that led to it, the struggles you faced, and the successes you celebrated are good enough, but nothing beats the sentiments that a human’s voice can evoke. It helps people relate better, feel empathy, get inspired, and form a deeper connection with your business; and these are the kind of connections that transform into long-lasting relationships based on friendship and loyalty. 

Get Started with Podcast Marketing

Now that you are well aware of how a podcast can boost your marketing, it’s time to hone your speaking skills and put your voice out there! 

Ensure that you have the right recording equipment that does justice to your content and voice. Find a recording space that permits minimum disturbance. Look for the right music to complement your podcast’s theme and mood. If you’re looking for co-hosts or guests, try to find people who would appeal to your target demographic or whose demographic you’d like to connect with. 

Make sure you put out at least a few (typically three) episodes to start with, so that people who are curious to engage with you more get a chance to do so. This increases their likelihood of becoming your subscribers and potentially becoming your customers and brand ambassadors. You can experiment with different formats and episode lengths to see which ones work best for you. 

Remember that the key is to deliver great content consistently to entice people into coming back for more. 

Author Bio

Alisha is a Senior Content Marketing & Communication Specialist at Radix, the registry behind some of the most successful new domain extensions, including .STORE and .TECH. You can connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

It’s the end of September, folks. Can you believe it?

Soon, we’ll need to put out the pumpkins, draw out the broomsticks and black cats, and prepare for the holidays to come. Do you know what to expect?

It’s one thing to deck the halls with boughs of holly, but another to prepare your website and marketing plan for the holiday season. Today, we’ll explore why you need to participate in the holiday cheer, how you can plan for holiday sales, and ways to engage your site visitors and customers. 

Create a holiday marketing plan for your website

According to Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast, holiday sales are projected to “result in sales between $1,147 billion and $1,152 billion during the November-January timeframe.” Of the $1.1+ trillion dollars in holiday sales, $182-$196 billion is expected from e-commerce alone. That’s a 25%-35% increase from last year! And the Pew Research Center states that “Today, 79% of Americans say they make purchases online.” So if you’ve been dragging your feet on creating an e-commerce website, or have been putting off giving your website a festive facelift, there’s no time like the present. 

As autumn proceeds and the days get shorter and darker, people are on the hunt for the best deals and gifts to complete their holiday shopping. Let’s discuss how you can identify your goals so you can finalize your holiday marketing plan and attract these online shoppers.

Holiday goals for your website

Stop and think through your goals before making any changes to your site. What outcomes do you most want to see from your holiday campaign? Are you looking to:

• Drive new business?
• Increase repeat business?
• Focus on sales of a specific product?
• Increase site traffic?
• Something else?

It’s important to remember that you can have multiple goals as they are not mutually exclusive. Once you’ve identified what’s most important to you, you can cater your holiday marketing plan to include campaigns that support your goals.

Building your holiday marketing plan

Your plan serves as the guide to moving prospects through your marketing funnel so they become customers.

A marketing funnel represents the pivotal steps prospects take on their journey to becoming customers. Funnels are broken down into different sections. People start at the top of the funnel, drawn in by your marketing materials (like blog and social media posts), and proceed through to the last step of your funnel which represents a conversion. A conversion happens when the prospect takes the action you want them to take on your site (like making a purchase or signing up for your email list) and becomes a customer or subscriber.

Keep in mind that not everyone makes it all the way through your funnel. There are fewer and fewer people, or prospects, the deeper they go into your funnel. This is why it’s important to make sure your marketing plan is well thought out. You want to encourage as many people as possible through all the steps in your funnel. 

Know what holidays to plan for

Can you make a holiday marketing plan without knowing the key dates this season?

We didn’t think so. 

Here are some holidays to consider planning for:

• Thanksgiving — Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020
• Black Friday — Friday, Nov. 27, 2020
• Small Business Saturday — Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020
• Cyber Monday — Monday, Nov. 30, 2020
• Giving Tuesday — Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020
• Hanukkah — Thursday, Dec. 10 – Friday, Dec. 18, 2020
• Christmas — Friday, Dec. 25, 2020
• Kwanzaa — Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020 – Friday, Jan. 1, 2021
• New Years Eve — Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020
• New Years Day — Friday, Jan. 1, 2021

Drafting your holiday marketing plan

Have you stopped to think about your goals? Are they strategic and measurable?

Good.

Know what dates to plan for?

Good.

Let’s think through a holiday marketing plan together so you understand how to build your own. 

What’s your first goal? For this example, we’re going to set a goal of increasing our revenue by $10,000 this December.

Now that we’ve decided on a goal our next step in creating our plan is to determine the strategy we need to reach our goal. This strategy can actually be comprised of various different methods that can all contribute toward reaching the goal.

If we really want to increase our revenue by $10,000 then a couple of things need to happen. We should:

1. Focus on what products to highlight to drive more revenue
2. Attract more visitors to our site in hopes of converting them into customers

Marketing tactics to include in your plan

Once you know the pivotal actions you need to drive (for us, we need to increase site visitors and decide on a product to focus on to drive the additional revenue) you can figure out the tactics to do so.

Consider the following:

• Blog posts
• Social media posts
• Email marketing
• Coupons and discounts
• Contests and giveaways

But here’s the thing — just listing out your tactics isn’t going to cut it. As you think through your tactics try setting smaller goals for them, like in the following example.

Instead of saying, “I’m going to run a social media promotion offering 20% off my top-selling product to new customers” try setting a more specific goal.

This goal could look something like, “I will use a coupon code for my top-selling product to drive 200 new customer acquisitions by XX/XX/XX date.” This is called a S.M.A.R.T. goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.) Go ahead and create S.M.A.R.T goals for all the tactics you’ll use in your holiday marketing plan.

Creating your offer

Once you have your S.M.A.R.T. goals for your marketing tactics identified you can get down to the business of creating your offer(s).

It’s vital that you have a good understanding of your ideal customer and the audience that you’re looking to attract. Sure, you could run a contest where the winner receives a free weekend getaway to the Poconos, but if you sell financial planning consultations then what’s the point? You’re likely to have folks across all spectrums enter your contest and there’s no telling if the person who wins will be your ideal customer and continue a business relationship with you post-getaway.

Your offer should be relevant to your audience. So if you do sell financial planning consultations on your site, consider running a contest where the winner receives a free planning session to help get their finances under control in the new year. This offer is more relevant to the people who are in your audience.

Make your offers look good

As a professional, we’re sure you want to be taken seriously. In that case, presentation matters. Instead of writing a normal Facebook post to announce your offer, consider creating materials specifically for your offers. There are many free tools you can use like Canva. You can “use Canva’s drag-and-drop feature and professional layouts to design consistently stunning graphics.”

Don’t miss out on getting new customers by using outdated graphics when you have free options that help make your business and offers look good.

Measuring your marketing success

In order for you to understand the success of your marketing campaign, you need to implement a way to measure it.

Google Analytics is a great way to measure your website’s performance and figure out what campaigns are working and what might need to be tweaked for better performance.

You can check out our guide to Google Analytics here.

Ready for the holidays?

We bet you are.

We wish you the best of luck in creating your holiday marketing plan and running your marketing campaigns. Let us know what has worked for you and what hasn’t in the comments below. And if you have any other tips or tricks for making the most of the holiday season on your site, let us know!

No matter how beautiful and functional your site is, you can’t gain traction and build a successful business if no one knows about it. Sure, you can craft a few social media posts and create some flyers, but those ad hoc efforts won’t result in much if they aren’t part of a larger, strategic business marketing plan.

If you’re not a trained marketer, the idea of creating a marketing plan for your business can seem intimidating. Where do you begin and what’s included?

Rest assured, you can write a great marketing plan, and we’re going to help.

In this post, we’ll start by defining what a marketing plan is, then we’ll discuss the different elements that make up a marketing plan, and finally, we’ll provide tips so you can craft the best plan possible.

Creating a Business Marketing Plan

What is a business marketing plan? It’s a strategic document that outlines how you’ll communicate your products and services to your audience. It details what you’re setting out to accomplish, why you’re doing it, how you’ll get there, and in what time frame.

Marketing plans aren’t static documents, they are actionable guides that can and should be edited and reworked when necessary.  

Your plan helps take the guesswork out of connecting with prospective customers — it serves as a roadmap for your marketing efforts and ensures you aren’t throwing money away on random tactics. Unless you have plenty of disposable income (and who does?), you want to know that the money you invest in marketing is well-spent.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Keep in mind that no two marketing plans are exactly alike. Depending on your business and specific needs, you may end up with a more simple or complex plan. But regardless of its length and complexity, your plan should always be backed by research and data.

Let’s look at what you need to have prepared in order to write a business marketing plan. 

Preparing to write your business marketing plan

Before you sit down to write your marketing plan, you should have an idea of what data supports and informs it. Take a look at the following list and make sure to have this information handy as it will help guide the shape your plan takes.   

Your business’s mission statement

A mission statement sets the tone for your business. It’s a short, and to-the-point statement that describes the purpose of your business and it informs your business decisions.   

Ideal customer persona

Your ideal customer persona, also called a buyer persona, is like an archetype of your perfect customer. Creating a customer persona gives you a better understanding of their needs and how to address them.

This persona should include actionable information, like:

• Their demographics (age, income, location, etc.).
• Goals and challenges.
• Their interests.
• Any relevant behavioral traits.

Your customer persona should give insight into how you can better communicate with your prospective customers — from where you can find them to share your message (i.e. on social media) to what language you should use (for example, avoiding jargon and buzzwords.)

Target market information

Identifying your target market is a lot like identifying your ideal customer persona; however, there are a few key differences.

While they both involve demographics and psychographics, your target market deals with a broader group of potential and prospective customers. Your target market could be people in a certain age or income bracket, whereas your ideal customer represents a more segmented piece of that market. 

General market information

When we talk about knowing your general marketing information, we’re talking about your customers, competitors, suppliers, along with industry news and trends.

Look at your competitors, the businesses offering products and services similar to yours, and try to identify the following things:

• What are they doing well?
• What are they doing poorly?
• Do you know what their customers look like?
• What differentiates you from them?
• What marketing materials do they use?
• Where do they share their message?

Knowing these things helps you understand what works and prevents you from making their mistakes.

Have you taken the time to know your suppliers? What’s available to you and when? This helps you plan your inventory and can help as your business picks up and demand grows.

Keeping your finger on the pulse of your industry is always a good idea. It helps to know when there are new trends you can capitalize on, and it can provide insight into your own products and processes.

Your business goals

Your business marketing plan exists to support your business goals. It’s never a bad idea to restate your goals and come back to them often. This keeps them front-of-mind and helps you craft a marketing plan that ultimately supports your goals.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 

Business marketing plan elements

Now that you’ve prepared, it’s time to work on drafting your marketing plan.

Not all marketing plans look exactly the same — you can create email marketing plans, social media marketing plans, and various others. Below, we’ll provide a basic framework you can use to create a general business marketing plan, but feel free to customize or tweak it for more specialized marketing plans.  

1. Description of your business and goals.
2. Describe your target market and ideal buyer persona.
3. Defining SMART goals.
4. Marketing tactics.
5. Measuring success.
6. Roles and responsibilities.

1. Description of your business and goals

The first step in writing any business marketing plan is to lay the groundwork.

Your mission statement helps direct your business, and it helps direct your marketing plan, too. Don’t use your general mission statement in your plan; instead, adapt it so that you have a similar statement to set the tone for your marketing plan.

For example, HomeChef’s mission statement is “to make cooking fresh food at home as easy as possible.” That could be turned into a marketing mission statement by editing it so that it reads, “to engage an audience of amateur and time-starved home cooks, educate them on the joys of cooking, and turn them into subscribers of our service.”

In one fell swoop, you’ve both set out your mission statement and created a goal that the rest of your plan will help support. 

2. Describe your target market and ideal buyer persona

There are people out there who need and want your services, but they don’t know about you yet: Who are they?

Let’s continue with the example we used above — in that statement, we’ve identified that we’re looking to market to an audience of “amateur and time-starved home cooks.”

This section should address that market: Where do you find these people? What are their worries and how can your product or service answer their needs? What do they “look like” (demographics, income, etc.)?

This is also a good time to think about your competition. How do you stand out in your target market? Do you have a unique selling proposition (USP) that differentiates you from other similar businesses? If you don’t know what sets you apart then it’s going to be difficult to target your market and make sales.

All of this information helps you think of, discover, and revise your marketing strategies and tactics, which we’ll get into shortly. 

3. Define your S.M.A.R.T. goals

Smart goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. They make you think practically and realistically, breaking down lofty ideas into achievable goals.

Your marketing mission statement is a great starting place when drafting your specific goals. In our example, we said that our mission is “to engage an audience of amateur and time-starved home cooks, educate them on the joys and techniques of cooking, and turn them into subscribers of our service.”

Now, it’s your job to think of how that can be turned into more specific, actionable goals. We’ll share an example to give you an idea of how it’s done.

We know our target audience cooks at home, but they’re often at a loss for time and might not know all the proper cooking techniques. In researching their behaviors, we discovered that they use certain social media channels for meal ideas. With this information, we can create the following smart goal:

• Set aside one hour each week to create short videos that illustrate our simple, delicious recipes, and share those on social media to create interest in our service.

That goal shows you understand your need to create brand awareness and are sensitive to your ideal customer’s time and abilities, and that you know where to find them online. It also gives you a concrete, achievable goal that you can easily put into practice. 

4. Marketing tactics

Fundamentally, your marketing strategy is designed to promote your products and services so that you can convert customers.  

Your marketing tactics are the specific things you do to support your overall strategy and plan, and can be made up of many different activities, like the following:

• Public relations
• Online marketing
  • Social Media
  • Email
  • Website
• Sales and promotions
• Other marketing materials

You can use this section of your plan to detail the tactics and channels you’ll use to communicate your marketing messages in support of your smart goals. 

5. Measuring success

As a small business owner, you don’t have the time or energy to invest in wasted marketing efforts. Implementing KPIs, or key performance indicators is a great way to measure the efficacy of your marketing and helps you understand what’s working and what isn’t.

If one of your goals is to increase brand awareness through the use of social media, then you might want to consider social share of voice as a KPI. Social share of voice (SSoV) helps you understand how much people are talking about you versus others in your industry. If your SSoV increases on platforms where you share your marketing messages, you can assume that your strategy and tactics are working.

If you’re running a seasonal promotion on certain products, you can look to your click-through rates and conversion rates to see if they drove any increase in traffic and sales on your site. Google Analytics is a great, free tool that can help you understand your website performance. 

6. Roles and responsibilities

Do you require others to help support and implement your marketing plan? Use this final section to define what everyone’s responsibilities are so there’s no question or debate.

Implement your business marketing plan

And there you go! Using this guide, you should be able to craft a business marketing plan that helps direct your efforts so you can achieve your goals.  

Do you have any tips and tricks to share with other entrepreneurs as they craft their marketing plans? If so, share them in the comments below and let us know what’s worked for you.

You’ve developed your stellar business idea, worked on your plan, but wait… what’s this? You still need funding?

You have a plethora of options when it comes to small business or startup funding: Traditional lenders, alternative lenders, grants, and then there’s another thoroughly modern way of getting funds — online crowdfunding.

As some loans are becoming harder and harder to acquire, crowdfunding sites are seeing an increase in usage and funding.

So, what is crowdfunding? How can it help you launch your small business? That’s what we’ll discuss in this blog post. Stick around to learn about crowdfunding, tips for crowdfunding success, and the top ten crowdfunding sites for small businesses and startups. 

Crowdfunding your small business

Crowdfunding “is the use of small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals to finance a new business venture.” A big issue with traditional lending methods is that it can be incredibly hard to receive the capital you need to succeed. Unless you have proven success in business, positive cash flow, and great credit history, banks aren’t likely to approve your loan requests.

Crowdfunding is a great answer to this problem as it allows you to get backing from friends, family, established investors, and complete strangers who believe in your business. Crowdfunding has really democratized the world of small business and startup funding.

Before starting a crowdfunding campaign, it’s important to note that on many sites (but not all), if you don’t meet your crowdfunding goal you won’t receive the funding. That said, here’s how you can boost your chances of meeting your crowdfunding campaign goal. 

Tips for crowdfunding success

A great business idea alone won’t help you get the crowdfunding results you’re seeking. We’ve put together the following tips to increase your chances of running a successful crowdfunding campaign so you can fund your business. 

Preparation and planning

Crowdfunding isn’t a shortcut to launching a business, and people are wary of investing in half-cooked business ideas as they’re too risky.

If you haven’t already, now is the time to develop and vet your business idea and create a small business plan. 

Review successful crowdfunding campaigns

Time is money, don’t waste yours by reinventing the wheel. Instead of striking out alone, look to other crowdfunding campaigns to find what worked and what hasn’t, focusing on campaigns in an industry similar to yours.

Can you find any similar traits among successful campaigns? Perhaps they offered equity stakes in their small business or offered big rewards to initial investors. How did they present their campaign? Did they use lots of images and videos to convey their message and appeal? After reviewing these campaigns, you should start to notice common themes and elements. 

Familiarize yourself with the Terms & Conditions

It’s your responsibility and in your best interest to review different crowdfunding sites’ terms before utilizing them for your campaigns. Each site has its own billing policies or ways of collecting revenue, some sites may prohibit certain industries, and others may have certain age requirements in order to use their services. As you review, you may find one site’s terms more agreeable than another’s.

Be your own PR person

When it comes to crowdfunding, you are your biggest advocate. If people don’t know about your business and crowdfunding campaign, how are they going to invest in it? Here are a few ways you can work on your business and brand awareness:

• Create a website.
  • Where should people turn if they need more information about your business? Creating a website establishes your digital presence and not having a site is pretty inexcusable these days. If you don’t have a product or service to sell yet, focus on your “About” and “Contact us” pages. If you’re really serious, create a “Press” page that offers images and information that journalists and others can use in their features.  
• Your domain name should be relevant. 
  • Help motivate people to visit your site by making your domain name short, memorable, and relevant. If the .com you want isn’t available, don’t panic — there are multitudes of available TLDs for all sorts of industries. Can’t find the .com you want for your new yoga studio? Try the .yoga TLD. Is the domain you chose for your e-commerce store unavailable? Try .store or .online.
• Leverage the power of social media.
  • Social media is a form of social proof and helps you build your brand while keeping you in touch with potential investors and customers.
  • Encourage your friends, family, and followers to share news and posts about your business. It’s called social media for a reason — networking is essential!

You want people to know about your business so it can gain traction and get funding, so don’t be shy in promoting it and your crowdfunding campaign. 

Back your campaign before it goes online

Being the first person to do something can be nerve-wracking, and that includes being the first person to back your crowdfunding campaign. However, it’s easier to justify doing something when you see that others are doing it, too. Use this to your advantage by having some investors already lined up before your crowdfunding campaign goes live.

You don’t need professional angel investors — having some friends and family willing to donate at the beginning of your campaign works just as well to lend credibility to your business idea. 

Add a little character

Every good campaign uses facts to help support the appeal, but the great ones know that emotions matter, too. When a person finds your crowdfunding campaign, what do you want them to feel? What emotions should your campaign elicit? Excitement? Desire for your product? Write your crowdfunding appeal to influence the emotions you want someone to feel when reading it.

Show the people behind the scenes making it happen. Your investors want to know about the team that’s turning ideas into reality just as much as they want to know about your business. Ideas are great, but it’s the people that make them happen. 

What are the different types of crowdfunding campaigns?

Crowdfunding campaigns can be broken out into four main categories:

• Donation – when people donate money to your crowdfunding appeal and are promised nothing in return.
• Debt – any money pledged by your supporters is paid back (usually with interest) by a certain deadline. This is a lot like a traditional loan.
•  Rewards – in this scenario, you promise a certain reward based on the amount of money someone pledges to your crowdfunding campaign. You can offer services or products as rewards to entice people to donate funds. Consider offering different reward tiers with corresponding pledge tiers. For example, you can offer one reward to people who pledge between $10 – $100, a better reward for people who pledge $101 – $500, and so on.
• Equity – this is exactly what it sounds like. When you perform an equity crowdfunding campaign, you’re giving an investor a percentage of ownership in your business in return for funding. 

Top Crowdfunding Sites

GoFundMe

Since launching in 2010, GoFundMe is one of the most widely-used crowdfunding platforms. They describe themselves as the “world’s largest, free social fundraising platform.” However, one thing to note is that the platform is only free for campaigns in certain currencies and countries. Also, they apply standard transaction fees to debit and credit card transactions.

Unlike some other platforms that return funds to donors if you don’t meet your goal, GoFundMe allows you to keep whatever amount you raise. With “over $9 billion raised from more than 120 million donations,” you should take the time to review the platform to see if it’s a good fit for your needs. 

Kickstarter

Do you have an innovative product or service that you know will make a difference in your industry? Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform that helps “make ideas into reality.” Their mission is to “help bring creative projects to life.” This crowdfunding platform launched in 2009 and since then $5.3 billion has been raised for different projects with 188,101 of them being successful.

Kickstarter is all-or-nothing. If you don’t meet the funding goal for your project then your financial backers won’t be charged for their pledges and you do not receive any funds. Kickstarter charges a flat 5% fee from the funds your campaign collects, but only if it’s successful. If a project doesn’t reach its goal then no fees are charged. Also, they charge a standard payment processing fee of about 3%-5%. 

Indiegogo

According to their website, “Indiegogo is where early adopters and innovation seekers find lively, imaginative tech before it hits the mainstream.”

Indiegogo is both a crowdfunding platform and a marketplace. They help small businesses and entrepreneurs take their ideas from concepts to reality and even help you ship your products. They provide services and resources, including access to key partners for the duration of your project. Unlike some other crowdfunding sites, Indiegogo is there to support you for the lifecycle of your campaign and project. Since its launch in 2008 Indiegogo has successfully helped entrepreneurs bring over 800,000 ideas to life.

They charge a 5% platform fee, and that amount is based on the amount of funding you raise, not your ultimate project goal. They also charge a standard payment processing fee that’s dependent upon your location and currency, though it appears to hover around 3% for many currencies. 

Crowd Supply

Crowd Supply’s mission is to “bring original, useful, respectful hardware to life.” Like Indiegogo, Crowd Supply is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs from funding to delivery, and 100% of funded projects have been delivered to backers. They’ve got a great success rate, too — 70% of launched projects have achieved funding.

When you bring an idea or product to Crowd Supply for backing, you’ll see two “Launch Plan” options: Basic and Standard. Here’s how they differ:

Patreon

Patreon exists to “change the way art is valued.” Over 200,000 creators use Patreon to allow their “most passionate fans [to] support [their] creative work via monthly membership.”

To use Patreon you establish a monthly subscription rate (you can create tiers) for your fans and followers. When that amount is paid, they receive exclusive access to your content. Your supporters join a community that supports you and receive a behind-the-scenes look into your creative process. Patreon allows you to make recurring income — it’s not a one time backing or funding for your creative pursuits.

Like Crowd Supply, Patreon has different pricing based upon the plan you choose:

Crowdfunder

Crowdfunder is a place “where entrepreneurs and investors meet.” When you choose to use Crowdfunder you’re joining a community of over 200,000 members and 15,000 accredited investors.

This site is based around equity crowdfunding, meaning that you’ll need to offer an equity stake in your business in order to receive funding. Like most other crowdfunding sites, Crowdfunder offers resources to help you create the perfect crowdfunding appeal.

They also offer a few plans at different price points:

CircleUp

CircleUp allows you to create two types of crowdfunding campaigns: equity and credit. They are selective about the businesses they work with, but if you make it through their approval process then you’ll find an array of services available to you.

CircleUp focuses on helping small businesses find the right investor. Many traditional funding and loan opportunities aren’t made available to small businesses, and so they seek to fill the gap, primarily focusing on consumer brands.

Before you can start using their services, you have to apply here. 

Fundable

Fundable is designed around business crowdfunding, and they’re “dedicated exclusively to helping companies raise capital.”

The team at Fundable takes a hands-on approach to help customers, “from profile creation to marketing, [they’re] there at each step.” To date, people have committed $615 million in funding on their platform.  

It’s free to set up a company profile on Fundable, and a flat fee of $179 USD per month to fundraise. If you choose to run a rewards-type campaign on their platform then there’s a standard credit card processing fee charged by WePay, their payment processor. 

Republic

Republic recognizes that “many startups’ success depends on their ability to get funded.” They built Republic to address that, and their “funding portal and broker dealer are SEC-registered and members of FINRA.” And they support diversity. “25% of investments on Republic have gone to companies with underrepresented founders of color and 44% have gone to companies with a female founder.” The industry average is 1% and 13%, respectively.

As an SEC-registered business, their cost and pricing structure is a bit different from other crowdfunding sites. Find out more about how much it costs to raise money on Republic here.   

Wefunder

Wefunder has helped fund 451 startups and raised over $164.5 million. They’re the self-described “Kickstarter for investing,” the difference being that Wefunder lets people invest in your company with small ownership stakes whereas Kickstarter allows you to sell products. Right now, Wefunder is only available to businesses and startups located in the United States.

They don’t charge any up-front fees and offer to price match if you find a better offer elsewhere. Wefunder collects 7.5% of your total fundraised amount if your campaign is successful.

Ready to crowdfund your small business funding?

Crowdfunding is a great and thoroughly modern way to find and raise capital for your small business. 

There are a multitude of crowdfunding sites, many of which cater to specific industries and products, so don’t despair if you didn’t find a perfect solution in the list above. 

If you’ve run crowdfunding campaigns before, share your best practices with us in the comments below!

While every website needs a domain name, not every person who registers a domain name actually builds a site and uses their domain. So, it’s safe to say that there are far more than 1.74 billion registered domain names. 

It’s been over 35 years since the first domain name was registered in March of ‘85, and it’s become harder and harder for people to find the exact domain name they want. Many have already been registered, especially if they’re composed of words found in the dictionary and popular extensions.

So what’s a person to do?

First things first, just because a domain name is already registered doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to be unavailable for your use. There’s a big market of people who buy, sell, and invest in domain names that have already been registered, and more specifically, in premium domains. 

Premium domains have already been registered and are considered valuable — they’re shorter and keyword-rich, and that’s often reflected in their cost. Despite the initial investment, they could end up saving you marketing dollars over time as you won’t need to spend money slinging a second-rate domain name. 

But what other advantages do premium domain names offer? 

The benefits of using a premium domain name for business

Premium domain names give your business an advantage over the competition. Let’s explore how and why that is. 

Branding & Recognition

Branding your business is essential, and there’s a lot to a brand, including your domain name. Consistency is essential to your brand, and that includes having a domain name that speaks to what your business and site are all about. Premium domain names like food.com, cars.com, and vacation.com are all great examples of this, and put your business’s specialty and focus front and center. 

Marketing 

A great premium domain name gives your marketing efforts a boost. Since premium domains are often shorter and contain keywords, they’re easier to remember than a subpar domain name that’s riddled with hyphens and numbers. 

This all works in your favor when it comes to marketing, like word-of-mouth marketing, because your customers will have an easier time recalling your domain and sharing it with others. It also helps people retain and remember your domain name when they see it printed on materials, like business cards or flyers. In the long run, a premium domain name can save you money because people are wont to remember it — you won’t waste funds on constantly getting your mediocre domain name in front of peoples’ faces to try and cajole them into visiting your site. 

Credibility & Authority

In business, credibility is vital. In today’s digital age, a domain name is oftentimes the first interaction someone has with a brand. Your domain name can make or break someone’s first impression of your business and site. 

Let’s set the scenario: You’re looking to buy a new car and want to take out a loan, but you’re not sure who to work with so you hop over to Google and run an online search. Now, you’re going to see a TON of results — but what will you click on — a search result with a domain of loans.com, or a search result with a domain like car-loans1135s.com? 

When it comes to first impressions, premium domain names give you credibility and authority over the competition. 

Website Traffic

Premium domain names are more likely to get you direct, type-in traffic on your website. 

What this means is that people are typing your (short & keyword-friendly) premium domain name into the URL bar to search those keywords instead of using a dedicated search engine. And voila! They land on your site because your premium domain matches their search terms. Direct website traffic is a boon for your business — in fact, direct traffic is known to have high conversion rates. 

SEO Benefits

SEO can seem mystifying — is it a science? Is it some kind of wizardry? SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of optimizing your website so that it performs better in online search results. 

The whole point of SEO is to make sure that the sites that are most useful and relevant to the end user’s query surface first in the results. 

If your domain name is shorter and key-word rich, like with premium domains, it’s more likely to appear higher in the search results. Now, granted, you have to actually have a relevant website, too. Long gone are the days when just a keyword could grant you top placement. But if you have those keywords in your domain name and have a good website, your SEO potential grows drastically. 

How to purchase a premium domain name

Ready to make an investment in your business and website with a premium domain name?

You’ve come to the right place. You can purchase a premium domain through a domain name search on Domain.com, and we also recommend our sister company, BuyDomains.com, that specializes in premium domains. 

When you purchase a premium domain name you’re investing in so many aspects of your business: marketing, branding, SEO, and more. So what are you waiting for? Get a leg up on your online competition with a premium domain name today. 

If you think about advertising, it’s a lot like bragging, isn’t it? Except, in this case, you’re paying to talk about yourself and get your differentiator in your audience’s face. Sometimes, prospective customers get tired of hearing us talk about ourselves and if that’s the case, what alternatives do we have? 

Enter word of mouth marketing. If you don’t have a word of mouth strategy already defined, you’ll want to do that after reading this article. 

Get a memorable domain name so others can easily remember it and share it with their friends.

What is word of mouth marketing and why should I invest in it?

You’re probably wondering, “What is word of mouth marketing and how can it help me brag less about myself while inspiring others to talk about my business?” Dear internet reader, we’re glad you asked. 

Entrepreneur’s Small Business Encyclopedia defines word of mouth as:

Jay Baer, of Convince & Convert, takes it further and breaks word of mouth down into two buckets: proactive and reactive. How does he define the two? 

Reactive word of mouth: You can think of reactive word of mouth as similar to referrals. When someone is looking for a solution to their needs, they may ask their friends and family for a recommendation. Their family and friends react to their question by recommending a solution or business that they’ve used before and enjoyed. 

Proactive word of mouth: Proactive word of mouth is generally unasked for. An example of proactive word of mouth is when someone is so happy with an experience or service they tell all their friends about it — even if their friends aren’t asking for those details and recommendations — they’re proactively sharing that experience or recommendation.

Is one form of word of mouth, either proactive or reactive, better than the other? Both are great! Both will do wonders for your business. But if we had to rank them, we’d give the edge to proactive word of mouth. That’s because proactive word of mouth isn’t asked for — those people are willingly taking time out of their day to shout your praises and share your product just because they like you. When someone is that happy with your service, you know you’re doing something right. 

Does word of mouth marketing make a difference to my bottom line?

Developing a word of mouth strategy for your business can affect your bottom line in two ways.

1. Saves you money on paid advertising
   1. Remember, if you make your customers’ experiences great, they will brag for you and about you. (Subpar and good experiences won’t cut it. Work to impress.) This could lead to a reduction in how much you spend on traditional advertising. 
2. Brings in new business.
   1. In his study, Chatter Matters, Jay Baer discovered that “83% of Americans are more interested in purchasing a product or service when they’ve received a verbal recommendation from a friend or family member.” You need to kindle those conversations and make your business worth talking about!

How do I increase word of mouth about my business?

That’s a really good question, and we don’t blame you if you’re stumped. You can smile and thank every customer that walks in your door or visits your site, but that’s not enough. You can give them a good shopping experience, or a good website experience, yet that’s not enough either. 

In order for people to talk about your business, they need a good reason. Better yet, they need a great reason. Pleasantries and run-of-the-mill good experiences aren’t noteworthy — they’re expected. Ready for some good news? You don’t need to deck your store or site out in wall-to-wall neon colors and pull outrageous stunts to get attention. All you need to do is create a “talk trigger.” 

What’s a talk trigger? 

Jay defines a talk trigger as “a strategic, operational differentiator that compels word of mouth, reliably creating customer chatter on an ongoing basis.” Your talk trigger should be something you do, not something you say, to set yourself apart and make yourself, specifically your business, a worthwhile topic of conversation. 

In his book, Jay uses DoubleTree hotels by Hilton as an example of a business with a great talk trigger. Whenever someone checks into those hotels, they’re given a fresh chocolate chip cookie. What does this one action do for them in return? It gets about 25 thousand customers talking about their hotel on social media, in a positive light, per day. If you’ve ever found yourself talking about DoubleTree’s cookies, we hate to break it to you, but you were the walking talking advertisement for the hotel. And we bet you were happy to do it!

What makes for a good talk trigger? To explain, Jay lays out the four Rs:

1. Remarkable – Give them something worth talking about, and remarkable doesn’t necessarily mean BIG.
2. Relevant – If it’s not relevant, it’s not memorable.
3. Reasonable – You get a car! And you get a car! And you get a car! Doesn’t sound so reasonable now does it?
4. Repeatable – Talk triggers don’t work if only one or two people talk about them. They must be repeatable. 

Get a memorable domain name so others can easily remember it and share it with their friends.

Can I create a word of mouth worthy experience on my website?

We believe that you can, yes. However, in order to create a word of mouth worthy experience on your website, you’re going to have to cover your bases. Here are our some of our top recommendations to make your website worth talking about. 

• Design your site with your user’s experience in mind. 
  • How will they navigate your site? Are all the buttons visible and working on both desktop and mobile? Taking the time to work through these little kinks improves the end user experience, and will make them think more kindly of your site.
• Provide good content.
  • Good content is what keeps people on your site. A lack of it won’t inspire conversation. 
• Make sure you have the right hosting package.
  • If you expect a lot of website traffic, don’t choose the skimpiest hosting package. The more traffic your website receives the more bandwidth you need to provide a seamless, glitch-free experience to your visitors.
• Know your audience. 
  • You can’t provide a relevant talk trigger (remember the 4 Rs?) if you don’t know your audience. Get to know what motivates them and what they enjoy, and you’ll find it easier to speak their language and market to them effectively. 

What defines your word of mouth marketing strategy?

Your word of mouth strategy will probably look a little different from your neighbors’ and your competitors’ strategies — and that’s ok! People don’t talk about things that are commonplace and mundane. So let your differences shine.

Have you implemented any talk triggers or word of mouth strategies? We’d love to hear about what’s worked for you and what hasn’t. Let us know in the comments!

Pop Quiz: Where do you start?

A)    Digital Marketing

B)    Social Media Marketing

C)    Cold calling

D)    Direct mailers

E)    TV advertising

F)     All of the above

Our point is that it’s hard to know where to crack the marketing nut.

There’s so much information about marketing available at your fingertips that it’s overwhelming. We’re going to get down to marketing basics: what it is and how it’s done, to make life easier for you. Once we’ve covered the basics of marketing we’ll discuss different tactics that you can employ today and some that you can plan for.

Marketing, a definition

If you search Merriam-Webster you’ll find marketing defined as

Look to Dictionary.com and you’ll see

Marketing, in a nutshell, is about getting your product or services in front of people who will purchase them. It’s been around for generations.

You’ve heard of the ancient Greeks, right? What do you think they were doing when they loaded their goods into their carts and brought them to the agora? It wasn’t so people had something to look at, it was to get their products in front of prospective customers. Imagine a crowded Greek marketplace with multiple people selling the same product — they’re competing for the same customers. They need to cut through the noise and get the attention of the buyers so maybe they have a catchy slogan, or brightly colored carts, or a device to amplify the volume of their voice. These could be called ancient Greek marketing tactics.*

We doubt you’re pulling your goods to a crowded, hilltop market in Greece, so your marketing tactics are going to look a little different.

It all starts with the right domain. Get yours today at Domain.com.

An explanation of common marketing terms you’ll encounter

It’s hard to walk the marketer’s walk if you can’t talk the talk. We get it. Here are some common marketing terms you should know.

• Analytics– The information that you get from analyzing data or statistics.
• B2B– Business-to-business. If you sell products or services to other businesses, you’re in the B2B category.
• B2C– Business-to-consumer. If you sell products or services directly to consumers (including e-commerce, or online sales), you’re in this category.
• Bounce Rate– This measures the number or percentage of people who land on your website, but leave it after looking at only one page.
• Brand– A brand is a tricky thing to define. Here’s a good summary.
• Buyer Persona– A representation of what your ideal customer looks like: what motivates them, what are they trying to accomplish, what are their behaviors, and their demographics.
• Click-through-rate (CTR)- This measures the number of times someone clicks on your advertising or marketing materials. It’s a measurement of engagement.
• Conversion Rate– The number or percentage of people on your site who take the action you want them to take (make a purchase, get more information, sign up for your email list, etc.)
• Data– The statistics and facts you collect for analysis.
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)– KPIs describe the quantifiable ways you measure success. For example, if I were to send an email newsletter, I might choose open rate and click-through-rate as two of my KPIs.
• Marketing– We’ve got this one covered. If you’ve forgotten, see the start of this post.
• Marketing Funnel– A model of the path a prospective customer takes to become a paying customer.

Marketing tactics for your small business or side gig

What marketing tactics are best for you? There are so many that it can be difficult knowing where to begin. Unless you have a large marketing budget, you’re not ready for national TV advertising, so let’s look at other options.

• Email Newsletter– Email marketing is a great way for your customers (or prospective customers) to stay connected to you. Consider providing updates on sales, coupons, or special offers for your frequent readers.
• Podcast– What’s your expertise or interest? Can you provide value and insight to your customers by creating podcasts? Depending on your goals your podcast can vary from an entertaining overview of a recent comic (if you’re looking to drive engagement and build a fan base) or you can provide short, actionable tips and advice for your listeners.
• Blog– Blogs aren’t just for stay-at-home moms who share recipes. Writing blog posts increases your subject matter authority and can help your website rank higher in search engine results.
• Social Media– You don’t have to be on every single social media platform, but you should be where your customers, or potential customers, are. Share tips, tricks, offers, and build a community with your followers.
• Website– This is your home base. Your website should be built around the end user experience. Make it easy for your website visitors to find what they’re looking for or complete a purchase. If your website stinks, your marketing can only do so much.
• SEO– Search Engine Optimization. There are some great resources that exist to help you understand what you can do to rank higher in search engine results. There’s a lot to learn when it comes to SEO, so don’t get down on yourself if you can’t master it all in a day.

Keep in mind that no matter how you start your marketing efforts, you should go into it with an idea of what your customers look like and what motivates them; this is what allows you to cater your marketing strategy and tactics for success.

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Ready to take on your marketing?

The word “marketing” shouldn’t strike fear into your heart. Marketing has been around for centuries, and whether or not you realize it, you’ve probably already started marketing your business (word-of-mouth counts, so have you told anyone about your business?) Use our definitions of common marketing terms and suggestions for small business marketing tactics to jumpstart your marketing efforts today.

What else do you suggest a small business owner, or someone just starting a side business, do to start their marketing? Any advice that you’ve learned through experience? We’d love to know, so share it below in the comments.

*The author is no scholar on ancient Greece or Greek civilization. These events are dramatized as an illustration. Though, if you are an expert and have some background information to share, post it in the comments.

Depending on your business it may vary from purchasing a product, getting more information, subscribing to your blog, or donating money to your cause. When a customer completes the action you want them to take it’s called a conversion. You can encourage conversions by refining your marketing funnel.

We’re going to explain what a marketing funnel is, how to identify yours, and how you can improve your funnel for increased results.

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What’s a marketing funnel?

Marketing funnels represent the steps prospective customers take on their journey to becoming an actual customer. Funnels are broken down into different sections, each designed to represent a pivotal moment someone can have with your business.

They’re a way of understanding your customer’s experience. It starts the second someone learns about your business and it continues through the moment that they become a customer. Successful funnels encourage customer advocacy, loyalty, and repeat business.

A healthy funnel looks like this:

As you move down the funnel there are fewer people at each step. Not everyone who visits your site becomes a customer, right? Optimizing your funnel increases the number of people who make it all the way through. In order to refine your customer’s experiences and your funnel, you need to understand what happens at each step.

Breaking down the funnel

Each section of the funnel represents a pivotal moment in your customer’s journey.

Marketing Efforts/SEO: Your marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts aren’t technically part of the funnel, but they do influence the user experience and willingness to move through the funnel. Think of your marketing efforts as food for your funnel. Without any marketing or SEO efforts, prospective customers won’t know you exist and can’t find their way to your website. Marketing efforts can include having active social media profiles for your business, a blog, email newsletters, and any other content created for your site or products. Your marketing efforts directly affect awareness of your business or site.

Awareness: This lives at the top of the funnel and goes hand-in-hand with your marketing efforts. At this stage, people are finding your website and discovering what it is you offer. They’re learning about you on your own territory (your site or retail store).

Interest: Once someone’s aware that you exist, one of two things will happen: you’ll pique their interest or they’ll leave your site having decided that their needs can’t be met by your offerings. To increase the number of interested parties, make sure your site has clear CTAs (Call-to-Actions) and a good user experience. If you’ve explained and positioned your offerings clearly people will take greater interest in your services and move further down the funnel.

Evaluation: They’re aware, they’re interested, and now they’re seriously considering your product. Many things can happen in the evaluation step: prospective customers are trialing your goods or services, or perhaps they’re taking advantage of your free initial consultations. People at the evaluation stage are on the cusp of becoming paying customers.

Conversion: This is the moment you’ve been working for. Conversions happen when site visitors complete the action(s) you want them to take. Conversions can include purchasing an item or signing up for your webinars and blog posts. When someone converts, you earn a customer or client.

Loyalty and Advocacy: Sometimes, you’ll find loyalty and advocacy described as two distinct parts of the funnel, but they go hand-in-hand. Treating customers well and providing good experiences for them will earn you their loyalty and a loyal customer is a repeat customer. These customers are also more likely to recommend your product or service to people they know. Customer advocacy and recommendations can make a world of difference. Convince and convert did a recent study and found that “50% of Americans would choose word of mouth if they had to pick one source of information” — so provide an experience and product you’d be proud to have people talk about and recommend. Customer advocacy is free advertising for you!

Keep in mind that repeat customers go through the funnel every time they purchase an item from you. Don’t get lax with your website experience or product offerings, because you want them to make it all the way through the funnel each time they visit.

What’s your funnel look like?

Now that you know what a funnel looks like, put yourself in a potential customer’s shoes to explore your funnel. Ask yourself these questions:

• Where can they find out about my business?
  • Do you have enough of a digital presence for people to know you exist? Take stock of your social media profiles, marketing materials and efforts to identify and address any opportunities.
• Is my content interesting?
  • Pumping out content for the sake of having content isn’t a great strategy. Make sure your content speaks to your desired audience. Who do you want as a customer? What are their needs?
• Do I provide enough opportunities for engagement?
  • As people evaluate your product or service they’re going to have questions. You, or a support team, should be available to address them. Consider offering a free trial or consultation if you provide a service.
• What’s my checkout process like?
  • If your checkout process is clunky and cumbersome then you’re in trouble. You want your visitors to move seamlessly from evaluation to conversion.
• Am I encouraging happy customers to leave reviews and talk about my business?
  • Word of mouth brings in new customers. Encourage existing customers to leave a review on your Facebook page or other outlet where it can easily be found by others.

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Do what’s best for your business

Reviewing and optimizing your marketing funnel should increase your site traffic, spike visitor interest, and most importantly — bring in the customers.

Use the marketing funnel description we provided to understand the different steps along your customer’s journey. Once you understand what that journey looks like, pretend you’re a potential customer to evaluate your specific funnel. It wouldn’t hurt to ask a friend or person you trust for their feedback, too.

Do you have any tips or tricks when it comes to improving marketing funnels? Let us know in the comments.