Common Challenges and Solutions For Small Business Marketing

We know that running a small business is no small task! In fact, we specialize in working with small businesses to meet their online marketing goals, and we do so with an understanding of what you are going through. Schmooz Media is a small business itself. While we go for remote offices over storefronts and strategy reports over e-commerce sites, we get it—the daily struggle is real.

Working in this exciting facet of business, Schmooz has learned what some of the major stumbling blocks are for small business at each step of their online marketing journey. It is our job to help you along that journey, and help you step over those blocks to reach success.

Challenge #1: Getting started

We have learned, from in working with a wide variety of business owners, that taking the first step is often the biggest hurdle to starting an online presence. While it can be simple to start a Facebook page or Instagram account, reality can start to push its way in: your content is getting lost in the millions of posts that are going out each day, your posts aren’t seeing the reach or engagement you were expecting, a few negative Yelp reviews are bringing you down, your business simply does not have the man-power to put out regular content, and you’re not getting a return on the investment you are putting in. Put simply, digital marketing can seem like too much work with not enough payoff.

Schmooz Solution:

It’s a hard truth—people will be talking about your brand online whether you are there to see it or not. In 2015 (and beyond!) not being present on digital media is no longer an excuse for missing the key insights that all the data and analytics can provide. More than just expanding your brand awareness, social media engagement can share essential business marketing insights both on and offline. You can glean what is working for your business and what’s falling flat with simple social listening and you can drive traffic, engagement, or purchases by publishing targeted content.

Starting out online is not as scary as it seems—this can be seen by the multitude of businesses with a digital presence. However, having a friend to guide you through the muddy waters of social media best practices is invaluable. While it may seem like a good idea to throw a few images onto your Facebook page, creating a strategy for your online marketing will cover all of your bases—by letting us do the leg work, you’ll have a strategy that outlines the basics of brand voice, tailored content, building the right audience, post scheduling, social media platforms presence, and how to do it all within a budget.

Check back next week for “CHALLENGE #2: What To Say” in a Schmooz series about digital marketing for small businesses!