When starting a small business, there are lots of expenses. You’ve got potential licensing costs, LLC or other filing costs, and then any tools or inventory comes next. Now you’re ready to begin operating, but you need to get the word out. The internet calls! Social media? Website? Print? Yes. Of course you need all of those things. But in which order?
The order of things is crucial.
If you’re ready to operate, a website is not just important, it’s the absolute first thing you need. It legitimizes your business and serves as a hub to connect all the other platforms to one source of truth: your own site. Therefore, you should construct a site that is, at minimum, a place for contact, service explanation, and a “hook” to attract customers.
Social media is your next step.
This is where you get to tell your story. Talk to your potential customers as if you already know them. Share about yourself, and about why they should trust you. You’re already connected to your ideal customer in so many ways; you just need to explain how. As a small business, you have an opportunity to be more personal and interactive.
Next is your Google Business Profile.
You can create your own – even if you want to keep your address private. If you have a service area, you can set that up in GBP, and not share your home or office address (wherever you house out of). For local Search Engine Optimization, nothing is more important than a fully functional, fleshed-out Google Business Profile. Take the time to set it up, answer all the questions, and be targeted in your responses. Organic local search is essential for a small business.
The Steps.
Below, I will expand on all the steps required when starting a small business. It’s quite extensive, so if you’re farther along in your process, don’t feel you need to indulge this “ideal order” as I’ve listed below. However, keep in mind there’s always benefit from digging deeper into the marketing process, and take what you will from the following:
- Name and Logo
- Please get a decent logo. This is so crucial that I can’t explain it fully in a short article. If you hire someone from Fivrr or Upwork, or even if you hire us, make sure that the deliverable is vector logos in multiple formats!
- Brand fonts and style
- When we design a website, the website has a style. Fonts, color usage, structure, etc. These same elements should be used for the style of the brand. Creating a brand style is very important to the overall visual direction of the company. Consistency across all platforms helps customers and potential leads recognize the brand, even without public displays of the brand name.
- A brand’s fonts and style can affect the entire business, for better or worse. Who is the target audience? Do they need a solid professional business persona to trust the brand, or would a more personal, approachable style give the brand more impact in the business niche?
- Website
- Just get it done. I’ve seen good sites and bad sites. And really terrible sites. The most important piece is content. If you have good content, people can find your site, and understand what services you offer. But honestly? Get a good site. Your small business doesn’t have to look small.
- A good website not only displays your content and services in a way customers can understand, but it looks like you. It looks like your brand. And it’s not distracting from the message. The message should be “I’m good at what I do, and here’s why” and if your site derails that communication, you’re going to suffer the consequences.
- Social Media and the Magic of Connected Accounts
- You may have accidentally entered the magical realm of social media, where everything feels like a curse or some sort of unattainable mysticism.
- Get all your accounts connected. Every site points back to your website. Every account also should be completely fleshed out with images, contact info, bio, etc. Connect your Instagram to your Facebook page and publish simulateously. Better yet, use a tool that allows you to schedule your social media posts across multiple platforms. Just make sure you funnel them all to your contact page.
- Google Business Profile
- Previously known as Google My Business, Google Business Profile is the holy grail of local businesses, especially those serving a local community from a physical address. Claim yours today! And if you don’t exit, create your GBP.
- Even if you don’t have a brick and mortar location, or feel like sharing your office location, you can still claim and leverage your GBP. Set a service area and hide your location address, and the Google overlords are still happy to display your information.
- Fill our your Google Business Profile as completely as you can, and if using one of the previously mentioned social media tools, connect your GBP and post the same posts there. While there’s no strong evidence this helps, it can’t hurt for zero effort, and shows the account is alive.
TLDR: There’s a lot to do.
Get started. Or get some help. That’s what we’re here for. We can help your small business with almost all the components listed above, or at least make it easier. Give us a call or book a meeting with us to discuss how we can help make your business a success.
