101 Marketing Ideas For Small Businesses

Your market is the people you’re going after. People who want what you have to offer. People with their dreams, hopes, fears and desires. It is vital that you know your market better than anyone else, which brings me to one of a few key lessons you should keep in mind when looking at your market.

 1.    ​Power Of A Well Selected Market: Stop Playing Blind Archery, Define WHO It
        Is.
 2.    Precision Target Marketing: Get detailed on who resides where and how to
        target them. Example: Homeowners vs Renters, or Value of the customer by
        income.
 3.    Power of Starving Crowd: Go where there is a hungry starving market.
 4.    Power of a small market: Your customers aren’t everyone.
 5.    ​Power of niche marketing: Start small, and target a niche that your product
        or service can help the most.
 6.    ​The Power of Mailing Lists: Find your local market on SRDS and be a
        detective.

Having basic material and customer resources can help propel your business in many different ways.

The more people know about you – the better, and if you’re starting out this will allow you to get a bunch of leads to come running to you.

 7.    Build Your Site: A well-built website that shows up on Google, and has good
        rankings amongst your local customers.
 8.    Business Cards: You can create business cards that are well crafted,
        designed, and show what your business is about.
 9.    Hand-Raisers: Create mini-sales letters or hand raisers that you can send via
        direct mail to your targeted prospects.
 10.  Following Up With Prospects: The money is in the follow up, and following
        up with your prospects multiple times creates a higher response for your
        business.
 11.  Creating Product Funnels: Using product or ecommerce funnels can help
        you get more search and get higher AOV (Average Order Value) with upsells,
        downsells, etc.
 12.  Creating Service Funnels: If you’re selling skincare, or power washing, or
        any service locally, you can create a funnel to generate leads.
 13.  Create A Lead Magnet: A Lead Magnet is something you give out for FREE to
        a selective audience in return for their information. Think of their name,
        phone number, email, for a free pdf on how to clean your car, if you run a car
        washing business.
 14.  Free Content Vault: To post on social media, sites, and even use it as a lead
        magnet for certain customers.
 15.  Books, Brochures, And Booklets: You want to give things out that people will
        hold onto, read, and eventually buy. Think of these books, brochures or
        booklets as long sales letters.

This is one of my favorite ways to acquire new customers —I’ve used this tool for decades to target potential customers.

Nowadays many, and I’d go as far as most, meaning over 90% of business owners, do not use direct mail.

Yet some of the largest companies I know still do. People think it’s all social media nowadays, to which I’d love to argue and debate. I think you should be doing both.

 16.  Grab a list from SRDRs & Hone In On Your Prospect: With Direct Mail you
        have to be a detective.
 17.  Create A Multi Piece Sales Letter For Your Prospect: I always create hand-
        raisers, which is a letter that gets mailed out to a little over 5,000 people each
        time. I am looking for about 0.5 - 1.5% reply rate, to which I send a long-form
        sales letter.
 18.  Create A Follow-Up Series: In my Magnetic Marketing System, I share my
        multi-step follow-up process.
 19.  Use Gifts: One of the things Gary Halbert used to do, which as he liked to say
        it made him “Mucho Fungolas”.
 20.  Send Notecards To Current Customers: Letting them know how much you
        care, this works great during holiday promotions.
 21.  Send Notecards To Past Customers: This is a great way to reactivate old
        clients, customers, or patients – which can ultimately increase your revenue.
 22.  Send Books To Potential Leads: Sending books can be a great way to get
        new business, especially if you’re in the high ticket space.

Advertising or what I like to call Direct Response Advertising, helps get your message across to newer people.

With direct response, you can have a certain call to action that will help go through your funnel and eventually buy.

This also helps you track the percentage of viewer who have clicked on your call to action or not – therefore making it visible to you – whether your campaign or ad or funnel is working or not.

 23.  Radio Ads: You can advertise your business locally to people driving in cars.
 24.  Rent A Local Billboard: Although I rarely think they work – you have to
        have a great message on it to stand out.
 25.  Paid Ads On Facebook: One of the most profitable ways to currently generate
        new revenue.
 26.  Paid On Google: You can start a PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaign on Google to
        show up on top.
 27.  Paid Ads On Youtube: Another channel that has great value in running
        advertising with video.
 28.  Paid Ads On LinkedIn: A little expensive – although can be great in a
        corporate setting.
 29.  Paid Ads On Reddit: As I always say – go where your competitors aren't –
        and I highly doubt they are running reddit ads. If you’re a restaurant, I would
        recommend Yelp.
 30.  Paid Ads On Twitter: The Tesla Wizard has bought this brand, and as of this
        current article, Twitter or (X) is going through a bit of a roller coaster – so ads
        are cheap.
 31.  Paid Ads On TikTok: Good for kids to generate lots of views, and cheap
        leads.
 32.  Ads In Your Local Newspaper: You may think this no longer works – but
        with older folks, they still prefer newspapers. Just like I don’t use a laptop,
        this works the same.
 33.  Ads In Your Local Booklets: I usually walk into a local grocery or gas
        station, and they always have little booklets laying around talking about
        “best homes in XYZ city”. Having ads on local booklets, especially if you’re in
        the real estate market can be a good idea.
 34.  Buying Ads On Cars: Oldie but a goldie, buying ads on cars can be helpful to
        promote your local business, whether it’s a restaurant, real estate, pet store,
        bar, etc.
 35.  Ads on Community Magazines: Creating ads inside of Community
        magazines that reside in public libraries or popular local stores that have
        walk-in traffic.
 36.  CTV or DOOH: Connected TV or Direct Out Of Home advertising can be
        useful, although it is more of a play on brand than direct response.
 37.  Advertise On Pinterest: Can be great for local clothing or retail stores.
 38.  Advertise On Public Transportation: I’ve seen this done very well in the Real
        Estate market and it works really well.

Once you’ve got people into your world, you’ve got the leads, you’ve built a list of a few hundred if not a few thousand hot prospects, it’s time to utilize email.

Email is a crucial part in our Magnetic Marketing System.

 39.  Create an opt-in page on your site or funnel: This will offer you a way to
         build your list.
 40.  Utilize Lead Magnets: Remember the lead magnets you created earlier?
         Now’s the time to use those to build your list even faster.
 41.  Sending regular emails: Regular emails that build relationships and the
        know, like, and trust can go long ways and create a higher likelihood of the
        prospect buying.
 42.  Sending Weekly Newsletters: Newsletters can be a great way to engage
        your audience, send reports and updates regarding the market, your
        business, product or services and more.
 43.  Crafting A Super Signature: If you ever looked at my emails, they all have a
        super signature.
 44.  Using A Proper Email Service Provider: I recommend using a service
        provider that is secure, and gets your emails delivered.The Magnetic
        Marketing team uses the ClickFunnels 2.0 system.
 45.  Utilizing Multiple Promotions: I am a huge fan of Christmas in July
        promotions. Everyone saturates the market with Black Friday and other
        strategies, but finding other holidays to use as a promotional tool helps you
        stand out from your competitors. If you want to know more about Holiday
        Promotions, you can access my ‘Holiday Promotion’ course inside of our
        Diamond Membership.
 46.  Automations: Using automations to create workflows that send your
        potential prospects new emails without you being there.

Hosting events, information summits, and yearly conferences can be vital to your business.

It not only creates a lot of influence and shows you’re an expert, but also a great way to get people into a room with four walls, no clocks, and no distractions. If you create prizes it can attract a lot of people.

Admittedly, it has been one of the most profitable ways to upgrade your current clientele into the next level.

If you want to see it in person, I recommend you come to our SuperConference where I teach you how to do exactly that.

 47.  Host A Show: One of the best ways to acquire new customers is entertaining
        and then selling.
 48.  Host An Online Event: Hosting an online event can help you get more
        exposure.
 49.  Host An Offline Event: One of my favorite ways to get people within the 4
        walls and sell ‘em. They almost have to pay attention, no time clock in the
        room, and all they got is YOU in front of the room.
 50.  Host A Summit: Summits can be great for new or current clients who want
        to upgrade to your next level of the value ladder. This is done with more than
        one person involved. Usually 15 or so speakers all together, putting on an
        event.
 51.  Host A Webinar: A seminar but on the Web. Typically an hour or so long,
        with a well crafted offer at the end.
 52.  Host A Challenge: As you may have seen, Magnetic Marketing has done a
        few challenges such as, How To Write Like Dan Kennedy.
 53.  Create A VSL: A sales letter in video format. Usually used to get people to
        book a call if they are interested in what you have to say.
 54.  Create A Product Launch Series: This is created by Jeff Walker, but the idea
        is, you create hype and have people go through 3 videos, and at the end there
        is pitch. The reason this works is because the value is given upfront, but in
        my opinion, it’s just a long-form sales letter.
 55.  Anyone Who Joins The Event Shares The Event: Have the attendees sharing
        the event.
 56.  Create VIP Section: VIP is only for a small limited number of attendees, they
        get special care. They also pay more.
 57.  Create A Continuity You Sell To The VIP Members: If you look at any of our
        events, each has a VIP section with continuity tied to it. It’s one of our most
        profitable ways to create monthly recurring revenue.
 58.  Create Prizes: Prizes attract crowds. It’s been happening since the Houdini
        days, and it’ll still happen now.
 59.  Create Contests: Recently, Russell Brunson created something called Funnel
        Games, which is a contest of Funnel Builders who built Funnels, and ran
        traffic to see who won. It attracted a large crowd and everyone was hyped
        about what had happened.
 60.  Bring Celebrities: If you can – celebrity marketing can be a great way to
        attract new members to ANY of your events.
 61.  Start A Podcast: Podcast can be a great way to acquire new customers or
        build your brand. You can listen to our podcast here.
 62.  Do A Joint Venture To Host An Event: You can always partner up with
        someone to make it easier, cheaper, and more attractive when hosting an
        event.
 63.  Use Swag Bags: Inside of Swag Bags, you can host your free booklets and
        promotional cards.
 64.  Buy A Booth: If it’s a large event, you can invest into a booth that allows you
        to promote your product or service.

The internet is quite broad – many use it to watch cat videos, while others mindlessly scroll on TikTok.

Your ability to stop their search and get them to click on your ad or video is crucial. Here are a few ways to utilize Internet marketing in your business.

 65.  Start a YouTube Channel: YouTube can be a great platform to create content
        because it allows a lot of free traffic to be there. YouTube favors great content,
        so you have to make sure you are utilizing content people want to watch and
        stick to the very end.
 66.  Create Posts On Instagram: You can create images for your Instagram to
        build your brand.
 67.  Create Reels On Instagram: Instagram currently favors reels and can get you
        a lot of organic traffic.
 68.  Write Posts On Facebook: It’s almost like writing a blog but on Facebook.
        You can add up to 5,000 friends on Facebook so having the right selected
        market on there is important. Most people add their friends, we add
        prospects.
 69.  Create A Facebook Community Group: Facebook favors having a
        community and gives it a lot of free exposure. While your Facebook posts
        may not go to your entire 5,000 list of friends, with a community there is a
        higher percentage that it does.
 70.  Start Writing On Twitter: Don’t sleep on this – Twitter has come a long way
        and can be utilized for a great amount of promotion.
 71.  Host Community Events On Online Platforms: You can do mini-lives every
        week inside of your community to share what’s upcoming and more.
 72.  Read Trends: Use Google Trends or look at local news to get an idea of
        what's happening and use that to your advantage.
 73.  Use Local Trends To Create A Buzz: I always create a buzz around current
        events. Especially politics. Or whatever is on the news.
 74.  Watch Your Analytics To See What’s Working: In Direct Response, analytics
        is the most crucial aspect of any business – you want to see what’s working,
        what needs to change, and how you can improve over time.

Affiliate Marketing or what I like to call a multiplier effect, is a great way to grow your brand. It’s a way to get their audience to become your audience. What you're about to see is how we make it a no-brainer for the affiliate to promote our offer. We created EVERYTHING for them, and you should too!

 75.  Create A List Of Affiliates: I recommend creating an affiliate army that can
        get behind your product or service.
 76.  Promote Products From ClickBank: It's a site with multiple affiliate products
        you can promote. You can also get affiliate ideas from there as well.
 77.  Create A List Of Software You Use: I’m sure you use certain software that
        you may give to your audience. Being affiliated with them and using an
        affiliate program can almost pay for the software you are using. Therefore it
        can be free.
 78.  Create Ads For Your Affiliates: You want to create ads and make it easier for
        your affiliates to promote your products.
 79.  Create Content For Your Affiliates: To make it easier for the affiliates to post
        for you.
 80.  Create Email Swipes For Your Affiliates: One of the key things we do inside
        of my Magnetic Marketing.
 81.  Create Online Sales Funnels For Your Affiliates: Giving them funnel swipes
        helps convert leads.
 82.  Create Sales Letters For Your Affiliates: Write out sales letters that are to
        convert into sales.
 83.  Create Contests For The Affiliates: Having contests can help them be more
        motivated to promote your product or service.
 84.  Giveaway Memberships: Giving away your continuity or memberships to
        top affiliates for a limited time can be a great prize – plus they may join after
        having gone through it.
 85.  Go LIVE for Affiliates: Going live and bringing them on is a great way to
        keep engagement and seeing their progress.
 86.  Host Classes For Affiliates: Creating classes for affiliates is a great way to
        help teach them even if they are a beginner.
 87.  Create A Small Mini-Course For Affiliates: Showing them how to start
        affiliate marketing.

These are additional ideas you can utilize inside of your business – that way you can get more exposure and generate more leads and business.

 88.  Use Charitable Events: this is how you can give back to the community and
        promote your business. It helps your customers feel you’re human and care.
 89.  Create Order Forms: For people who are interested in buying, always create
        order forms and send it in the mail, via email or on your website.
 90.  Create A Marketing Letter: Just like our NO B.S. Newsletter, you can create
        your very own marketing letter.
 91.  Create Endorsements Letters: If you get people endorsing you, or your
        product or service – you can turn those into postcards or mails.
 92.  Use Testimonials: I always say – proof is king, and you need lots of it.
 93.  Go To Trade Shows: This can be easy to acquire new clients or build new
        relationships.
 94.  Buy Coaching: Buy coaching from people who are ahead of the game and
        can give you ideas on how to grow your business.
 95.  Create Professional Discounts: At times, which is often rare, but you want to
        create discounts on certain products to get a lot of front-end sales.
 96.  Use Small Publications: Use your local publications to get your business
        listed there.
 97.  Use Large Publications: You can get on large publications and be featured in
        articles in New York Times or Yahoo or others. This can build a lot of
        credibility.
 98.  Create FAQs: Have Frequently asked questions underneath your site or
        funnel can help your customer understand how his or her product will be
        delivered. Or if your customer has common questions regarding your product
        – they can be listed on your FAQ to enable their purchase of your product
        much faster and easier. In copy we like to have answered all questions before
        a customer makes a decision. FAQs help with most of their questions and
        answers it quickly.
 99.  Have Feedback Forums: This helps make sure you are giving what your
        customers want most. You don’t have to do everything they say — but
        sometimes this can be crucial to making newer sales.
 100. Create A Process For Sales: Having a Sales Process is crucial to any
        business. Some of the worst businesses I know have none. And some of the
        best businesses I know have the best sales process in the world.
 101. Never Outsource Your Marketing: I have a big saying that you should never
        outsource your marketing. It’s not to say and do not outsource the work – but
        what I do mean is the strategy piece. You know your business better than
        anyone else in the world. You create the strategy – let others follow it.

So there you have it – 101 marketing ideas for your business – if you ever want more, you can always visit our community Facebook group, or join our inner tribe starting with our NO B.S. Newsletter.

If you are already a member and want to upgrade, you can join our Diamond Membership, and if you want even more attention and a closer look at your business…Insiders’ Circle is a great way to be with a small number of members.