Ready to make 2015 the best year for your business? No question, marketing your small business has fundamentally changed in the last  years. If you haven’t changed your marketing tactics in relation to those changes, now is the time.

Here are 6 crucial tactics that will help your small business succeed in 2015.

1. Social Media, You’ve got to be there.

Here’s the thing. Whether you like it or hate it, social media is probably where your audience is. Don’t believe it? If you haven’t seen the 2014 version of the Socialnomics video — do yourself a favor and spend less than 3 minutes watching it.

Social Media is a great way to reach your ideal customers where they are at. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google Plus are more than worth exploring. Which ones you need to implement will depend on your business, but some combination of these is necessary to help your small business succeed in 2015.

2. Email Lists are King.

As great as social media is, let’s face facts…you are not in control maintaining your connection with your audience. Although it’s unlikely, Facebook could shut down tomorrow, and you would have lost all your access to your fan base. What’s more likely though (than Facebook shutting down) is that your account might get deleted or frozen. Either way, you don’t control that connection. When you build your email list, you’re building a list of individuals who are interested in what you have to say, how you say it, and (potentially) becoming customers of your company at some point in the future.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t invite you to join our amazing community – click here for our FREE Breakthrough Tool to help you position your business for unprecedented success in 2015.

3. Your Website Needs to be the Backbone of Your Small Business.

If your small business doesn’t have a website, it’s LONG past time to get one. Websites need to be the center of all your marketing efforts. Have a sale? Make sure you have a landing page on your website for it. The more that you can use your website as the jumping off point for how your small business shows up in the world, the better off you’re going to be. And your website doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest, but you do have to be able to make changes to the content, consistently and regularly.

4. Pay Per Click — Yes Really.

I know, you’ve probably tried Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and you decided it didn’t work, right? Well, there are two problems with that assumption. First, you may not have used the right PPC platform paired with the right message. Second, PPC is only as good as your landing page on your website is. If your landing page doesn’t compel your target audience to take the next step with you — you’re wasting your money in PPC. Try fixing those to things and you’ll find PPC is one of the most scale-able and responsive ways to advertise your business.

5. Set Your Small Business Up for SEO Success.

Yes, real SEO (the ability to be found for what you want be found for in search engines) is both time consuming an expensive. It’s the holy grail in today’s online marketing world. There are two halves to the equation when it comes to SEO, Onsite SEO and Offsite SEO. The good news is that you can control the Onsite SEO yourself, by simply investing a little time and energy on your website. Making sure each pages has at least 300 words, that you’re using keywords, and filling out your meta information for the page. Invest a little time in learning this critical skill now, and your results in the long-term will thank you for it.

And when you’re ready to pursue Offsite SEO, make sure you pick a good partner. You can do as much damage to your site rankings as good when you engage in Offsite SEO.

6. Brand Strategy is the Most Important Element.

Finally, having a brand strategy is the one crucial tactic you can’t afford to skip if you want to position your small business for success in 2015. If you can’t answer the question: “What does your business do” in under 30 seconds, you need a better strategy. While it might be fun and interesting to play with lots and lots of different aspects to your business — you can really only focus on one thing to be successful. It doesn’t have to be all you ever focus on, but it does have to be one thing at a time. If you can do that, you’ll save money, enhance your results and ensure your business’s success in 2015.

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About the Author:

Tisha Oehmen

Tisha Oehmen is a professional brand strategist and a leader in the branding field. She has been named a member of the Global Guru’s Top 30 Brand Gurus. She is also the co-founder of Oregon-based Paradux Media Group and the best-selling author of the book, Finding Brand: The Brand Book Tutorial.

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