Smart Marketing Ideas for Q4

If you are a small or medium sized business owner and are looking to grow your business in the last quarter of 2024, but have limited budget, you're not alone. Running a full service sales funnel agency in the UK we have seen it all happen. With over 130K SMEs already folded, you'll need to make some tough decisions. But cutting your marketing budget should not be one of them. Here's how you can utilise smart marketing instead.

• The below list is not comprehensive and should not be taken as a business advice. Always seek professional help when it comes to planning and budgeting.

1. Automations

If you don't have the budget for a big sales team, and no time to reach out, automation will be the best option to increase your conversion rates. You will be able to have a conversation with your leads without having to call them all the time. From getting insights about your website traffic to understanding your buyers' behaviours, you can make smarter marketing decisions in Q4. Use a CRM that works with your analytics tools and automate tasks through smart integrations. Zapier is an essential tool and one of our favourites.

2. Smart Use of AI

I have created a few posts about the use of AI in marketing, and it is great for research, but not too good with emotional intelligence. Yes, you can automate tasks and get insights, but take everything with a pinch of salt. Whatever AI thinks is relevant might not be for your audience. You know them better than anyone.

However, AI can be used to get content ideas, reply to marketing emails, or even take the edge off an email to a client who just really got on your nerves...

AI will tell you which hashtags are the most popular in your industry, but they will not represent your brand as well as you would.

And certainly don't use AI for writing blog posts for SEO. It's a complete suicide in our books. You can, however, repurpose existing content with AI.

3. Engaging Conversations

After the lockdown and the huge impact of AI, people do appreciate having a conversation with a business. Whether it's a phone call, personal email, or a question to help you understand them better, it will help you build meaningful relationships.

The good news is that you don't have to be on the phone 24-7, and don't need to hire a client engagement team, either. We know that your budget is tight in 2024. Instead, use online tools and software to create conversations and understand your market better, so you can offer everyone a better fit later down the line.

Our favourite tools to implement when it comes to relationship building are Typeform and ScoreApp. We've just recently become ScoreApp implementation partners, so we can help you with this project, too.

Automating communication frees up time in your calendar to work ON your business and create a long term marketing strategy.

4. Lead Segmentation

It doesn't matter which industry you are in and what type of software you are using to capture your leads. We generally work with what clients already have in place; from Mailchimp to Hubspot and GetResponse. However, at the same time, if they don't have a lead management system, we can also set up a ActiveCampaign automation with lead segmentation in mind.

5. Improving Your Lead Quality

Qualifying your leads early will help you improve your lead quality. At the same time, it will save you time and resources, so you are not chasing those who are not in the position to make a buying decision.

This is something many SMEs struggle with. One of the smart marketing ideas we recommend them is to qualify their leads as early as possible. If people are never going to buy, there's no point them being on your list. Lead quality improvement is something that will make your business and marketing and sales operations leaner in 2024.

6. Email Marketing

It's shocking to know that the majority of businesses ignore email marketing fearing that they come across spammy. Even those with a loyal following have been shying away from sending out regular newsletters to avoid unsubscribes...

You cannot survive the storm of 2024 without email marketing, unless you're getting a lot of referrals or don't need more business. If you are in one of those situations, why are you reading this edition of my newsletter? Asking for a friend!

Email marketing is one of the highest ROI (return on investment) marketing activities, but you've got to do it right. You'll need to set up the sequences, funnels. and automations well and test and tweak them regularly. In return, they will get you loyal readers and more conversions.

7. Creative, Standout Brand Messages

I understand that SMEs don't have the budget to compete with big companies. The good news is that you don't need it, either. Social media and viral marketing has levelled the playing field for SMEs. All you need is a strong brand persona, some creativity, and a way to communicate your USP in an effective way.

Sounds easy, right? It's not that complicated once you know what you're doing. Being clear about your ideal clients, your unique selling proposition, and your strengths and weaknesses is a good place to start. A marketing SWOT will help you see clearer, so you can get on with brainstorming creative, standout brand messages.

Just a word of warning: some smart marketing ideas will come to you while driving or in the shower.

Conclusion

I hope you've found some value in this edition of my LinkedIn newsletter. If you have anything to add, please find the comment section below.

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