SME Start-Up Marketing Guide

This should be done in tandem with the above, as insight here should influence your proposition and could lead to significant change.

Before investing the time, energy, and resources in a new venture, and certainly before any marketing activity, it’s essential to understand the current market and your target audience. This knowledge will help define marketing messages and channels, as well as more business-oriented aspects such as forecasting.

• Market trends – current trends and consumer behaviour within your target market – both physical (technology, distribution channels, pricing, etc) and emotional (branding, advertising, popular attributes, etc.).
• Competitor analysis – who are your competitors (they don’t have to be within the same sector), what are their strengths (pricing, distribution, service), what are their weaknesses?
• Audience definition – try to define your target audience as much as possible both quantitatively (age, gender, location, socio-economic group – absolute aspects) and qualitatively (interests, attitudes – emotional aspects). 

Building on your customer proposition and research (steps #1 & #2), now’s the time to create your identity and develop your core messaging prior to developing any marketing material.

This should include:

• Business name/trading name – if you’re focused on a particular product or service, it might be worthwhile to try and incorporate this into the trading name of the business.
• Identity – at its simplest, a logo (a means of easily visually identifying your business), but should also include colours, preferred fonts (avoid “Comic Sans”), and tone of voice.
• Core communication messages – the messages you want to communicate to every customer every time they interact with your business (for example, value, quality, and the like).

Defining your identity and core messaging at this stage will make the next steps easier to plan and implement, as well as making everything more consistent (consistency is key in effective marketing). 

Please see our Branding Services for SME’s page.

In today’s digital world, an effective online presence is a non-negotiable essential. Even if your business is “offline”, being online is a necessity, even if only for providing validation for prospective customers.

Website

Your website will be the core foundation of your online presence. Invest the time, energy, and resources into making it as good as possible.

The website should, as a minimum:

• Communicate – your proposition, identity, and core communication messages clearly and concisely, including details of your products and services.
• Be user-friendly – easy to navigate and use, especially on mobile devices.
• Provide contact details – phone number, address, email, social media addresses, etc.
• Be Search Engine Optimised (SEO) – to allow search engines to index the site correctly (SEO is very competitive; if you provide a local service, focus on that).
• Have clear Calls to Action (CTA) – tell your visitors what you want them to do, pick up the phone, click on a link, visit the store, etc.

For many businesses, their website will be their “showroom” (an online space that is solely dedicated to their business, free of other distractions) – like in a real-world showroom, the greater the time visitors stay there, the more reasons they have to revisit – the more likely they are to convert to a customer. 

Additionally, the website should allow for full integration with other forms of marketing communications and strategies, for example:

• Social media (see below).
• Content marketing (see below).
• Email marketing (see below).

Social media is increasingly becoming a key aspect of any business’s marketing strategy. Done well, it can be transformative for a business in terms of reaching target audiences, building brand awareness, generating leads, and increasing engagement and retention. 

The first challenge is to choose the platforms you wish to use and that are most appropriate for your target market:

• LinkedIn – ideal for B2B marketing and professional networking.
• Facebook – broad reach, suitable for community building and customer engagement.
• Instagram – Visual storytelling, popular with younger demographics.
• X – real-time updates, excellent for customer service and industry news.
• Pinterest – visual inspiration, great for lifestyle, DIY, and e-commerce.
• TikTok – short, engaging videos, popular among Gen Z.

The second, and bigger, challenge is to develop your audience:

• Develop a content strategy – define what messages you want to communicate and what content your target audience will be interested in (social media is content-driven). Initially at a generic level (categories) and then as granular as possible (specific) into bite-sized chunks of content appropriate for whichever platform you are focusing on.
• Develop a content calendar – consistency is key. Plan content well in advance to maintain a regular posting schedule that will maintain and build interest within your audience. 
• Engage – actively engage with your audience, responding to comments, reposting content, and asking questions.

Social media can be transformative for a business, but it needs investment in time and resources to deliver that benefit. 

Like all marketing activities, your social media activity needs to have an objective, for example:

• Build brand awareness.
• Develop engagement.
• Lead generation.

CTAs (calls to action) should focus on achievable and measurable outcomes, for example, clicking through to your website.

Content marketing is the process of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a defined audience.

Very much a bedrock to successful social media marketing, where the content can be shared and leveraged through various social media platforms, but also a strong foundation for developing the SEO of your website (allowing people to find your website via search) and, additionally, can be leveraged into other media as well (for example, flyers, brochures, etc.).

Examples of content marketing include:

• Blogging – start a blog on your website. Write articles that address common questions, provide industry insights, and showcase your expertise.
• Video Content – create videos demonstrating your products, sharing customer testimonials, or providing how-to guides.
• Infographics – design infographics to present complex information in an easy-to-understand format.
• E-books and Whitepapers – offer in-depth resources that provide value to your audience in exchange for their contact information.

This blog post is an example of content marketing – its objectives are to provide quality content for SEO purposes on our website, as well as content to be shared on social media. 

Content marketing is all about adding value to your proposition – giving your target audience something they can take value from. In return, your business gets interest, trust, and engagement, all of which can be used for lead generation.

the most effective means of direct marketing available to small businesses. No other marketing channel allows for such direct one-to-one communication.

With the rise of data protection laws (GDPR) and the like, building an effective customer database – the lynchpin of email marketing – is increasingly challenging. Note, though, that the law is different for business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing than it is for business-to-business (B2B) marketing – with B2B being less constrained.

Data protection laws are likely to preclude startup B2C businesses from initially using email marketing directly, as they are unlikely to have an adequately permissioned list to market to (although they can partner with a business that does). However, given email marketing’s effectiveness, it is essential that any business takes action from day one to build an effective and permissioned marketing database.

For example:

• Collect website visitor permissioned email addresses via contact forms
• Collect email addresses through social media and events
• Incentivise signup by offering discounts or other distinct benefits (for example, access to content).

Once a suitable marketing database has been established, it doesn’t have to be huge; you will have the ability to send targeted one-to-one direct communications to your audience. These could be regular newsletters to maintain mindshare in your business, or very specifically targeted offers and incentives to key customers.

Note that most email marketing software allows for virtually unlimited customisation of individual emails, making this process easier than ever.

e majority of SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), they will need some form of physical collateral.

This requirement will vary by business type and the level of interaction with the intended target market (i.e. a physical shop/café and the like will have increased requirements). 

But as a suggested minimum, think of the following:

• Business cards – with at least your name, business name, and contact details (ensure the business has a dedicated email address and telephone number). Don’t be scared to think outside the box to add value to your business card
• Flyer/brochure – something that summarises the business, its core proposition, and key benefits that can be handed out face-to-face.
• Stationery – letterheads/compliment slips and the like – things that will make your business look professional when using any printed material.
• Invoices – if your business uses physical invoices (or electronic, for that matter), use them to get a marketing message across.  

Don’t underestimate the potential value of other physical items in how your business presents itself to your customers – from things like signs and nameplates to branded clothing, depending on your business sector, they can make a significant impact.

Business, any business, is all about relationships. Relationships with your customers, but also with similar businesses and organisations. For startup businesses, networking can be one of the most effective means of reaching a wider audience with their product or service, as well as a primary source of lead generation. 

Additionally, networking – the development of relationships – can provide advice and guidance, especially in niche or local markets.
Consider doing the following:

• Join local business groups and participate in chambers of commerce, as well as industry-specific or local groups.
• Attend Networking Events – attend conferences, trade shows, and networking events to connect with potential customers and partners.
• Collaborate with Other Businesses – partner with complementary businesses for joint promotions or events.

Advertising can be a highly effective means of generating awareness of your business (product or service). However, care needs to be taken in targeting advertising to maximise the return on investment – advertising in the wrong place to the wrong people is a waste.

There are a lot of variables at play in effective advertising – the medium, the message, the creative, as well as the call to action, for example.  
Nowadays, advertising can be broken down into four broad categories:

• Online search advertising – the classic pay-per-click (PPC) advertising you see on search engines. This can be highly targeted at specific search terms as well as demographics and regions, and can be very cost-effective – only paying when the advert is clicked. Cost per click through can vary according to demand for certain keywords – if you can be very specific, the cost per click may be pennies, but for more generic and competitive terms, the cost can skyrocket.
• Online social media advertising – as the name implies, advertising on social media channels such as Facebook, X, and YouTube and the like. The key benefit of advertising on social media is that it usually allows for precise targeting of advertising to specific audience demographics. 
• Online banner advertising – the “traditional” form of online advertising, where you pay to have a banner advertising your business on someone else’s website. Depending on your business and the media you’re advertising with, this again can be very effective – especially for local and niche products and services.
• Print advertising – occasionally overlooked in favour of online advertising. Traditional print advertising, in local papers or specialist magazines and the like, can still deliver effective results, especially if combined with other local marketing activities.

The key factor in getting results from advertising is defining your target audience as precisely as possible, and then matching the media you are going to use to that audience. 

Also, don’t necessarily underestimate the value of alternative advertising such as outdoor banners and posters (especially good if targeting local audiences), sponsorship of local events and the like, or leaflet distribution.

One of the greatest challenges faced by startups is trust. 

Quite simply, do potential customers have trust in the new business to deliver the product or service at the advertised price and quality? In many ways, trust is one of the most important aspects of any successful business.

Positive customer reviews, recommendations, and testimonials have the power to transform a business.

A business startup should consider the following:

• Seek reviews/ratings/testimonials/feedback from all customers (ideally with permission to share their experience)
• Consider setting up profiles on review websites such as:
  • Google reviews
  • Yelp
  • Trustpilot
  • Checkatrade
• Have a testimonial page on your website and other marketing materials, sharing key customer viewpoints
• Encourage customers to share their experiences on social media.

Depending on your business type, also consider in-depth case studies, which can demonstrate how the business works and delivers value to its customers.

This guide outlines actions that an SME startup can take to help successfully market itself. Much of it is common sense, and whilst the above actions are relevant to all business types, their importance will vary for each business, depending on their sector, target market, and the like.

The above actions do not assume a large budget, but they will take an investment in time to get right (sometimes a scarcer resource).

But one final thing to remember. Successful marketing of a business is not a “one-touch” activity; it’s a continual activity. It’s not something to be ticked off and forgotten about; it’s something that needs constant review, constant tweaking, and constant adaptation. For an SME startup with so many other demands, this can easily be forgotten.