If you are a small business owner, you probably know by now how hard it is to make a mark in your industry without marketing. Competition in almost every niche is intense, and small businesses have to grapple with the challenge of limited budgets. What’s needed therefore, is an effective marketing strategy that can make your brand stand out even in the most crowded markets. 

Remember, marketing goes beyond just building a brand or getting more word-of-mouth publicity – you also need to have substance. 

Here are a few marketing strategies you must include in your marketing plan: 

1. Under-promise and over-deliver: Go out of your way to provide remarkable customer service, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at just how many customers you manage to pull towards your business, away from even the most seasoned players. 
   
   A new business is always looked at with skepticism by consumers, therefore you need to go that extra mile to inspire consumer trust. The best way to do this is to deliver more than you have promised!
   
   
2. Identify Existing Platforms You Can Leverage From: The Internet has made it easier for businesses to be found through various platforms like Google Local Searches, local retail search sites like Foursquare, Business listing sites, as well as online Agencies. Some of these sites have stringent listing criteria, which means a business gains brand credibility by the mere fact that it is listed on a certain site. 
   
   Since, most reputed listing sites and online agencies do a lot of marketing for themselves, by getting listed on them a small business can open a new door of access to its target market. 
   
   Therefore, one of the key marketing initiatives that any small business must take up, is indentifying the best business listing platforms and agencies in its niche.
   
   
3. Create An Online Presence: Today’s consumers gauge the credibility of a brand by measuring the extent of its online presence. And no, we don’t just mean making a website. Get yourself accounts on all the major social networks too and interlink your website with your social accounts for maximum visibility in search engine results.
   
   
4. Do a little bit of SEO work too: You don’t necessarily have to spend big bucks here! If you are on budget, use simple DIY strategies like posting a few articles every month, writing blogs for sites that allow guest posting, creating a blog section on your website and sharing and bookmarking all your content on social sharing networks, etc.
   
   
5. Identify your target audience for an effective social media marketing campaign: You know the customer base your product/service is ideal for. Study the demographics of the largest section of your consumers and target this group through your social media efforts – be it in the form of social accounts or advertisements on social networks. Social media is the most effective marketing strategy, because it lets you target your marketing efforts to the consumers who are most likely to do business with you. 
   
   Facebook advertising for instance, lets you adopt a laser-targeted approach to reaching your target market segmentations, be it in terms of demographics, professional profiles or even personal interests. 

Vani Chugh works as a Digital Marketing Consultant for RelocateXP - An online moving agency that connects businesses in the packing and moving niche with their target market.