5 Small Business Marketing Tactics to See Results This Quarter Five quick and effective small business marketing strategies that can yield both short-term results and long-term success.

By Kenneth Burke Edited by Chelsea Brown

Key Takeaways

  • Re-engage with past leads who have gone cold.
  • Ask for (and earn more) reviews on Google. This will help you rank higher in search results and attract more customers.
  • Build backlinks for your website and key pages. Earning backlinks is an effective way to increase your search rankings and earn referral traffic.
  • Get people to opt into marketing communications from your business.
  • Post content daily and engage with your audience on social media.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

There's always a push-and-pull between long-term marketing and short-term financial goals, but there are several small business marketing tactics you can implement today that will bring you short-term results while also setting you up for long-term success. Here are five of them.

1. Re-engage leads who've gone cold, and put a system in place

There are plenty of former leads sitting in your customer relationship manager (CRM), email inbox or even your social media direct messages. These people were once interested but didn't buy, so you moved on. But things may have changed, and it's worth checking. So check.

  • Create a list of contacts who went cold 3-6 months ago

  • Send them a simple message by email, SMS or social media to re-engage them (example below)

  • If you already have the tools, create an automation to message unconverted leads every 1-3 months

  • If you don't have tools to automate, just put it on your to-do list to periodically send campaigns

A simple message you can send is: "Hi [First Name], it's been a while since we last talked about how [Company Name] could help you [accomplish your goal]. Is now a better time to consider that more seriously? Hope you're doing well!" You won't get every cold lead interested again, but you'll get enough, and you'll get them fast.

Related: 5 Scrappy Ways to Create Quick Marketing Wins

2. Ask for (and earn more) Google reviews

One of the best small business marketing tactics to see results both now and later is to earn more reviews. For most companies, the best platform to earn reviews on is Google. If you have more Google reviews than competitors, you'll rank higher in Google search results and win more customers. To get more Google reviews:

  • Create a Google Business page

  • Get your Google review link (go to your profile, select "Get more reviews," and copy the link there)

  • After you've finished working with customers, ask them to leave you a review

  • Ask via SMS, email, verbally and/or by using a QR code in person

  • Be sure to respond to every review

Asking for reviews needs to become a standard process, but if you're new to earning reviews, you can start by sending an email and SMS campaign to all of your customers asking for their feedback to give you that initial boost.

3. Create backlinks (external links) for your website and key pages

Earning backlinks — where other websites link to yours — is one of the most effective ways to increase your search rankings and also earn referral traffic from those websites. The best part is most small businesses aren't doing this, so it's easier to see results.

Most small businesses can focus on a few areas to earn quality backlinks.

  • Local business directories, like those from your Chamber of Commerce

  • Business review platforms, like Google, Yelp, Better Business Bureau, Bing Places, Yellow Pages, TripAdvisor, Angi, etc.

  • Contribute articles to digital outlets, like local news stations, neighborhood magazines, associations' newsletters and industry blogs

  • Offer to contribute a quote to those outlets for other articles they're working on

  • Consider sponsoring nonprofits, government organizations and athletics — most will put a link to sponsors on their website

A quick Google search for "Top [my industry] businesses in [my city]" will also show you a few lists that are worth trying to earn backlinks on.

Related: How to Build SEO Backlinks: A Beginner's Guide

4. Get people to opt in for future marketing

You need a growing subscriber list for effective marketing. It takes time to build that list, but you can quickly set up ways for people to subscribe. The easiest place to start is on your contact forms, wherever customers purchase or become a lead. Make sure you're collecting cell phone numbers and email addresses and that you have a checkbox for folks to opt into marketing communications from you.

Blog pop-up forms that appear after 60 seconds or halfway down the page and exit intent pop-up forms on product pages are both very effective for getting new subscribers. Most CRMs, website builders and email marketing platforms have these options.

SMS opt-ins are also increasingly popular (because they work), prompting customers to text a keyword to your number to opt into deals and other updates, in exchange for 10% or 20% off their next purchase. In most cases, you can set up any or all of these options within just a few minutes. How's that for quick and effective marketing?

5. Post daily on social media and proactively engage

Your target audience is spending time on social media, so you should spend time on social media marketing, creating content and engaging with them. Choose the one platform where your target audience spends the most time. Not sure what to say or do? These ideas will help get you started:

  • Take all the questions you get from customers and employees, and create posts addressing each question

  • Share what you do, why you do it, who you do it for and what benefits they'll get from it

  • Show a day in the life of someone in your position or in your customer's position

These social media posts don't have to be super professional and flashy. Some of your audience will even appreciate things a little less refined. Depending on the platform, you can post just text, a short video, a picture or a few, or whatever else feels right.

You also need to be proactively commenting on other people's content and starting conversations. That helps you build connections with them and also tells the algorithms to give you and your content a boost the next time you post.

Don't forget: Great marketing doesn't have to take a long time to pay off. Implement these small business marketing tactics, and you'll see quicker returns than your competitors.

Related: 5 Steps to Create Profitable Content Marketing

Kenneth Burke

Entrepreneur Leadership Network® Contributor

Vice President of Marketing

Kenneth Burke has written over 1,000 articles on business growth and helped companies from pre-launch startups to billion-dollar businesses achieve their goals. He's also a champion for Chattanooga, TN and always open to a new book recommendation.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business News

'I Love Doing Product Reviews': Bill Gates Stepped Down from Microsoft in 2020, But Admits He Still Spends 15% of His Time Working at the Company

In a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, Gates also said he is still close with Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella.

Living

9 Ways to Attract Good Energy Today and Every Day

Good energy can boost our feelings of well-being, dissolve feelings of anxiety and improve communication.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Business News

Elon Musk's DOGE Is Hiring People Eager to 'Work Long Hours' to Eliminate 'Waste, Fraud and Abuse' in the Government. Here's How to Apply.

The Department of Government Efficiency is hiring U.S. citizens to help cut spending and headcounts in the federal government.

Business News

'Everyone Can Profit From It': What Is DeepSeek? China's 'Cheap' to Make AI Chatbot Climbs to the Top of Apple, Google U.S. App Stores

DeepSeek researchers claim it was developed for less than $6 million, a contrast to the $100 million it takes U.S. tech startups to create AI.

Business News

Uber's CEO Says Drivers Have About 10 Years Left Before They Will Be Replaced

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says the jobs of human drivers are safe for the next decade, but after that, another type of driver will take over.