Why Not You? Taking Your Boardman, OR Business’s Marketing Into Your Own Hands

Marketing is a vital part of any business, but it can be expensive to outsource to a professional firm or hire an entire marketing department. For small businesses or businesses on a tight budget, this post from the Boardman Chamber of Commerce will show you how to successfully become your own marketing department.

Why It's Important to Revisit Your Marketing Strategy

The first step in becoming your own marketing department is revisiting your marketing strategy. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it's important to understand what strategies have worked well for you in the past and which ones haven't. Doing a thorough review of your previous marketing campaigns will give you a good starting point for developing new campaigns that are more likely to be successful.

Choosing a Marketing Message for Your Ideal Customer

Once you've revisited your marketing strategy, you'll need to choose a marketing message that resonates with your ideal customer. What are their pain points? What are their needs? What are their wants? Answering these questions will help you develop a marketing message that speaks directly to your target audience.

Learning the Various Marketing Channels Available

There are many different marketing channels available, and it's important to learn about as many as possible. This will allow you to choose the channels that are most effective for reaching your target audience. Some common channels include:

• Social media

• Email marketing

• Paid advertising

• Content marketing

• Referral programs

• Affiliate programs

Each channel has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it's important to choose the ones that best fit your budget and objectives.

Tools to Help With Your Marketing Efforts

One of the most challenging aspects of being your own marketing department is staying organized and keeping track of all the moving parts. Thankfully, there are now numerous tools available to help with this. Some great options include:

• Hootsuite: helps you manage all your social media accounts in one place

• Sprout Social: another great tool for managing social media accounts

• CoSchedule: helps with content creation and scheduling

• Buffer: helps with social media management and analytics

Working With Freelance Marketing Specialists

While it's possible to successfully become your own marketing department, it's not always easy — or even possible — to do everything on your own. That's where freelance marketing specialists come in. These professionals can help with everything from content creation to paid advertising, and they can often do so at a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time employee. Plus, you can use them on an as-needed basis, which gives you more flexibility and saves money. 

If you decide to go this route, make sure to vet each freelancer carefully before hiring them.   Check out online platforms like Upwork or Fiverr, or reach out to local colleges or universities to find talented students who are looking for experience in the field of marketing. Know that creative freelancers generally rely heavily on PDFs for, so try this free file conversion tool. With a converter, you can create files in programs you’re comfortable with and then convert them into PDFs before sharing them. Or vice versa - you can receive a PDF and convert it into a .doc file for easier editing. Either way, it will make working with your freelancer even easier.

Tracking the Effectiveness of Your Marketing Campaigns

The final step in becoming your own marketing department is tracking the effectiveness of your campaigns. Ruler Analytics explains that this will allow you to see what's working and what isn't so that you can adjust your strategy accordingly. There are numerous ways to track campaign performance, but some common methods include A/B testing, using Google Analytics, and surveying customers. By taking the time to track campaign performance, you can ensure that your marketing efforts are as effective as possible.

Learn, Revise, and Grow

Overall, becoming your own marketing department requires a fair amount of effort and planning. However, it is possible to successfully manage your own marketing campaigns if you take the time to revisit your strategy and use data to learn from your past successes and mistakes. Additionally, using tools to help with organization and tracking campaign performance can be extremely helpful. Combined, these strategies can help you take control of your marketing efforts and make them work for your company.

Membership in the Boardman Chamber of Commerce offers invaluable benefits to entrepreneurs in our community. Join us today!