“No money. No time.” Four little words that come up every time we talk to a small business about their marketing strategies. And here are the four words we always counter with: “You’re already doing it.” You developed a product or service: that was a marketing activity. You tracked down customers: that was a marketing activity. You convinced them to buy your product or service: that was a marketing activity. You’ve been marketing since day one, doing it yourself and doing a good job. But at what point do you decide to do a better job, and how will you go about it? Agency59 has decades of experience working with both national brands and small businesses. Based on their collective experience, A59’s Marc Cooper (Partner) and Jason Dojc (Director of Strategy) take you through marketing tactics that small businesses can do themselves (there are more than you might think), and outline how ad agencies can further help entrepreneurs grow their businesses when the time is right.

1. D I Y M A R K E T I N G F O R S M A L L B U S I N E S S E S

2. 2About A59
58 40+ 360
YEARS
IN BUSINESS
SUBJECT MATTER
EXPERTS IN B2B, B2C AND
NFP MARKETING
CAPABILITIES ACROSS
STRATEGY, CREATIVE,
MEDIA AND ACCOUNT
MANAGEMENT
“FEEL IT OR FORGET IT.”
°

3. 3Table of Contents
1. Positioning
2. Your website
3. Search
4. Content

4. PositioningBecause your customers need to know who you are and what you do

5. 5Positioning
Start with how you would describe your business
What do you do?
I run a business
that…

6. 6Positioning
Anatomy of a Positioning Statement
Product / Service
Target
Job to be Done
Benefit #1, Benefit #2, and Benefit #3
Competition
Our
Help(s)
Who wants a
By
Unlike

7. 7Positioning
Pain relievers Gain creators
Determining your Positioning
and

8. 8
Never have time to get
flowers and don’t know
which ones to get
• Order online
• Curated flowers
Positioning
Determining your Positioning
Pain relievers
Gain creators
and

9. 9Positioning
Never have time to get
flowers and don’t know
which ones to get
• Order online
• Curated flowers
Determining your Positioning
Pain relievers
Gain creators
and
Happy significant other
• Easy to use online order form
• Ready made selection of
relevant bouquets
• Same day delivery

10. 10Positioning
Anatomy of a Positioning Statement
flower shop
busy people who don’t know much about flowers
to buy and have flowers delivered
using our online web form, having a selection of flowers matched to
occasions and personality as well as same day delivery service
the green grocer at the corner
Our
Help(s)
Who want
By
Unlike

11. 11Positioning
When to think about getting the agency involved
• Refining the language of the positioning
• Struggling to come up with one using the simple
steps we outlined
• You’ve added a new product or service to your
offering and need to see how it fits in the mix

12. Your WebsiteBecause every business card has a www.something

13. 13Your Website
Create your own website

14. 14Your Website
Use a ready-made theme from a popular platform

15. 15Your Website
What is more important than who is
building your site, is what is on your site.
What information are they looking for?
What job are they trying to do?
• When are you open?
• Where are you?
• What products do you carry?
• How can I buy?
• I’m intrigued but tell me more
• Why should I believe you?
If you’re going to go in alone… start with the user

16. 16Your Website
Analyze, test and learn
Review the pages on your website:
• Is one keeping their
attention more?
• Does one have a high
bounce rate?
• Are they coming back? (look
for return users)
• How many visits are needs
before they convert?
• Can you shorten the path
and increase conversions?

17. 17
Your Website
More
complex
functionality
When to get the agency involved
If your site requires complex
functionality, e-commerce,
the handling of sensitive
data or you need help
analyzing data to optimize
the user experience then an
agency can help.

18. SearchBecause you need to be found

19. 19Search
Sales: You finding customers Search: Customers finding you

20. Who’s the target for
fresh cut flowers?
People looking for flowers

21. 21Search
I’m searching for X We have X
Start with how people search for you
Your website needs to use language that reflects the way people search.

22. 22Keyword tools
answerthepublic.com/
ubersuggest.io/
soovle.com/
trends.google.com/trends/
advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-ca/solutions/tools/keyword-planner
adwords.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/
These are some great tools that small
businesses can use to better understand
what people are searching for and the
keywords they use.

23. 23Search
Figure out how people search
As an example,
changing the
language on a
florist’s website
from “we deliver
flowers” to “we
send flowers” could
provide that florist
up to an additional
28,000 search hits
a month.

24. 24Search
When to get the agency involved
• Need help with content
• Customer search behaviour
• Competitive environment

25. ContentBecause you always have something to say

26. Content marketing doesn’t have to be hard

27. How much time do you have?
If you can find an hour a
day, or an hour a week
or even as little as an
hour a month in your
calendar, you can get
started with content
marketing.

28. What does your customer want to hear? (Where you can lend a credible voice)
As outlined in the Search section, you
can start with what your customer is
looking for – the same keyword tools on
slide 22 can help with this.
Make sure that you have the
opportunity to be credible on the topic,
if not, move on to the next topic.

29. Maybe your customers can do it for you?
Tom Sawyer was able to get his friends
to paint this fence, and drive demand to
be part of the experience. Similarly, you
can get your customers to create
content for you like posting reviews,
pictures, videos of your products or
service in action. Sometimes it can be
just as easy as asking them to do it.

30. 30Content
Only have a
little time?
Curate content and give your opinion
Creating your own content

31. 31Content
Creating your own content
Have more time
to spend?:
Create original content

32. 32
What suits
your style
What your
customers
want
Your Content
Content
When choosing your content style
and format ask:
• What suits your style? (What
do you feel comfortable
producing, such as creating an
Instagram post or a podcast)
• What type of media do your
customers want? (a top 5 list,
a long-form video etc.)

33. 33Content
Content style and format
• Best way to figure out
what your customers want:
• Watch what content your
customers/prospects are
engaging with online
• Look at your competitors
or industry sites and social
channels for cues
• Test it on your sites
and channels

34. 34Content
When to go with an agency
• Need customer
insights
• Resources/scale
• Production value

35. T H A N K Y O U
w w w . a g e n c y 5 9 . c a