Small to medium businesses (SMEs) often face challenges when deciding between what marketing channels to use to reach their target customer. Small business owners often have limited time to create content and tight advertising budgets.
Using the right marketing tactics helps you build strong, real relationships with your customers. This can grow your brand visibility and increase your revenue.
Marketing is becoming more about building genuine connections with customers while leveraging the latest technologies to deliver more personalised, interactive, and immersive experiences.
Small to medium businesses that stay flexible, follow effective marketing strategies, and build strong relationships will succeed in the future. Whether it’s through AI, social commerce, or experiential marketing, the possibilities for SMEs are vast. The key is to be adaptable, authentic, and always keep your customer at the heart of your marketing efforts.
Here are some tactics you might want to consider when planning your marketing for 2025.
Personalisation
Artificial intelligence (AI) has made personalisation more accessible and powerful than ever. In 2025, small businesses should tap into AI-driven tools to create personalised marketing campaigns. Whether it's through automated email campaigns or personalised website experiences, AI can help you deliver the right message at the right time.
For Email Campaigns: Using AI tools to analyse customer behaviour to send tailored messages based on past purchases or browsing habits will help increase engagement and conversion rates.
For Chatbots for Customer Support: Implement AI-driven chatbots on your website or social media pages to assist customers in real-time, enhancing the user experience and increasing sales opportunities.
Social media
Interactive video content
Video marketing continues to dominate, and in 2025, it’s all about making your videos more interactive. Videos are a powerful tool to engage audiences, tell your brand story, and highlight your products or services.
Shoppable Videos: Add e-commerce features to your videos. This lets customers buy directly from the video without leaving the platform.
Interactive Video Experiences: Platforms like YouTube and TikTok are pushing interactive elements such as polls, quizzes, and clickable content. Use these features to engage your audience and gather insights.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing isn’t going away, but the landscape is shifting. Instead of working with large, mainstream influencers, small businesses should focus on micro and nano influencers in 2025. These influencers have smaller, but highly engaged audiences.
Micro-Influencers: Identify influencers in your niche with a highly engaged community. These influencers often have better conversion rates and more authentic connections with their audience.
Affiliate Marketing Programs: Set up a referral or affiliate marketing program with influencers to reward them for driving sales.
User-Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content is a strong marketing tool. Consumers trust their peers more than brand messages. In 2025, SMEs should create a strong strategy around building a community and encouraging UGC.
Brand Hashtags: Create a branded hashtag and encourage your followers to share their experiences with your products. Reposting UGC not only builds trust but also helps expand your reach.
Online Communities and Forums: Create a space for your customers to connect with each other and your brand. You can use Facebook Groups, Reddit threads, or your own platform.
Selling Directly on Social Media
Social commerce has been growing steadily over the past few years. This trend is expected to continue into 2025.
Big social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are leading this charge. They are improving and adding social shopping features. This is to meet the growing need for easy online shopping experiences.
As we look ahead to 2025, it is anticipated that these platforms will introduce even more innovative tools and functionality designed to facilitate direct selling. For instance, Instagram may enhance its shoppable posts and stories, allowing users to purchase products directly from their feeds with just a few taps.
Facebook could further integrate its Marketplace and Shops features, making it easier for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to showcase their products to a broader audience. TikTok, known for its engaging video content, might develop new ways for creators and brands to collaborate on shoppable content, turning viral trends into direct sales opportunities.
One of the most significant advantages of social commerce is that it enables SMEs to bypass traditional e-commerce websites, which often require substantial investment in website development, maintenance, and digital marketing. Instead, these businesses can leverage the existing user bases of social media platforms to reach potential customers more effectively. By selling directly on social media, small and medium-sized businesses can make shopping easier. Consumers can find, explore, and buy products without leaving the app they are using.
This direct-to-consumer approach not only simplifies the purchasing process but also fosters a more personal connection between brands and their customers. Social media lets businesses engage with customers in real time. They can answer questions, collect feedback, and create a community around their products. Additionally, the use of user-generated content, such as reviews and testimonials shared by satisfied customers, can enhance trust and credibility, further driving sales.
Social commerce is poised for significant transformation by 2025, with platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok leading the charge.
The ability for SMEs to sell directly to consumers through these channels represents a huge shift in how products are marketed and sold, making the shopping experience more accessible, engaging, and efficient for both businesses and consumers alike. As this trend continues to evolve, it will be essential for SMEs to adapt their strategies to harness the full potential of social commerce and capitalise on the opportunities it presents.
Instagram Shops & Facebook Marketplace: Utilise these platforms to set up a storefront and sell products directly from your social media pages.
TikTok Shopping: Take advantage of TikTok's expanding shopping features to turn viral videos into sales, reaching younger, trend-savvy audiences.
Voice Search Optimisation
With the continued rise of voice assistants like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri, optimising for voice search will become even more important for SMEs in 2025. Consumers are increasingly using voice commands to search for products and services.
Long-Tail Keywords: Focus on conversational, long-tail keywords that match the natural way people speak when using voice search.
Local SEO: Ensure that your business is listed accurately on local search platforms like Google My Business, especially for voice searches related to “near me” queries.
Sustainability and Purpose-Driven Marketing
Consumers, especially Gen Z and millennials, are becoming more conscious of the environmental and social impact of the brands they support. In 2025, purpose-driven marketing will be key to building brand loyalty.
Showcase Sustainability Efforts: If your business is environmentally conscious or supports social causes, make it a part of your brand story. Consumers want to support businesses that align with their values.
Authentic Storytelling: Don’t just claim to be sustainable—show it in your actions. Share your sustainability journey and milestones, and collaborate with eco-friendly influencers and organisations.
Market where your customers are
Use multiple channels
In 2025, delivering a seamless experience across all touchpoints—online, in-store, mobile, and social—will be crucial. An omnichannel marketing strategy allows you to meet customers where they are, providing a consistent experience across all platforms.
Integrated Campaigns: Align your marketing messages across email, social media, your website, and offline touchpoints like print or events.
Unified Customer Data: Use customer relationship management (CRM) tools to collect data from all channels and deliver personalised, relevant messaging.
Experiential Marketing and Local Events
Experiential marketing offers a great opportunity for SMEs to connect with customers on a deeper, emotional level. Hosting or participating in local events in 2025 can build stronger relationships with your community and create memorable brand experiences.
Pop-Up Shops and Events: Create memorable experiences through pop-up stores, live events, or community-sponsored gatherings. These provide an opportunity for customers to interact with your brand in a meaningful way.
Brand Activations: Whether at trade shows, festivals, or local meetups, bring your brand to life with interactive displays, free samples, and live demonstrations.
If you’d like help getting your marketing strategy and/or efforts off the ground - look no further. Virtual Marketers has a range of packages to support SMEs to have the best marketing team, focussed and results driven marketing by a dedicated team of experienced marketers.
Contact us for more information - we’d love to hear from you!
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