The experience of small business owners is unique and special. There’s a reason people want to buy from small businesses instead of Target, Walmart, or Amazon. People want to buy from people. Your marketing strategy should reflect this!

Here are four marketing tips for how to market your small business by telling your story. These tips will help you connect with your audience, tell your business’s story, and ultimately, boost your biz.

1. Connect with other small business owners

No one is willing to help you like a person who understands what you are experiencing! The community of small business owners — especially female entrepreneurs — is full of support, love, and encouragement.

Connecting with other professionals allows you to create a network you can rely on for business advice and support.

One of the best examples of this is Tiffany Napper’s Upleveler Society – a membership program for female CEOs who are ready to find genuine community and cultivate full, abundant careers.

Bonus: When you have a personal connection with someone, they are more likely to recommend your business to others. Connections are key in the world of entrepreneurship.

2. Tell your story

Figuring out how to market your small business is also about marketing your journey. Selling yourself is just as important as selling your good or service. When a person supports your business, they are directly investing in you. Telling your story brings a special element of humanity to your business.

⏰ How long have you been in business?
☁️ When did you first have a dream of entrepreneurship?
❤️ What connects you to your business?
⭐️ What do your employees mean to you?

There is so much to share when it comes to your story. Infuse your personality and your voice into your brand so that it’s clear: small businesses are run by people with big ideas.

Whether you’re telling your story on social media, in person, or throughout all of your marketing pieces, the key is to be personal and relatable while still being professional.

3. Partner with influencers

ICYMI: Influencers are kind of a big deal right now! This doesn’t just mean the star athletes sponsoring a sneaker or a singer promoting the skincare line that changed their life. There are Instagram influencers with 23 million followers, 230K followers, and 2,300 followers.

Being an “influencer” doesn’t necessarily mean that someone is “Instagram famous” — it just means that they have influence over a certain number of people!

Influencer marketing is an option for all businesses: whether you are Nike or a tiny online shop in South Dakota. Think of influencers as the 2021 version of a testimonial, but oftentimes more effective.

Here’s why: influencers have a dedicated audience that listens to them and trusts them, so they are essentially reaching out to your target audience FOR you!

Utilizing an influencer can increase brand awareness and increasing your bottom line — if you do it correctly. When figuring out what influencers to connect with, it’s key to make sure that their audience aligns with your ideal audience.

For the sake of argument, let’s say your business is a deli with award-winning corned beef sandwiches. Partnering with an influencer who’s vegan makes literally no sense — because their audience is not your audience. (Plus, they’d probably think you were crazy to reach out to them in the first place!)

4. Use the calendar to your advantage

You can’t effectively market your small business without plugging into the small business community.

Take advantage of celebrations like Small Business Saturday! You can plan events, launches, sales, and marketing campaigns around days when attention will be placed on small biz. Especially after such a difficult pandemic that challenged and shaped small businesses in a new and unprecedented way, people want to shop small.

By telling your story, supporting other small businesses, and strategically marketing your business, you’re telling people “We’re here! We’re small! And we’re awesome! Shop with us!” Now is the time to ramp up your marketing strategy— and the customers will follow.

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