How to Promote Your Business

To be the best, you have to learn from the best. 

Because local businesses with winning marketing strategies know the secret sauce to success — and you need the recipe. 

In other words, to achieve marketing success, you need to study what the best marketers do differently. Then, implement those tactics into your strategy. 

The first thing you need to know is that mature marketers see the most revenue growth.   

At 6.4% year-over-year revenue growth, there’s no doubt the most knowledgeable local businesses experience the highest return.

However, this cohort represents the minority, with only 7% of all affiliates falling into this group.

That means 93% of affiliates have room to improve their marketing skills — and their revenue growth.

If you’re not a marketing expert (and most local business owners aren’t), you probably have room to grow. Which is a good thing — it means you have major potential to boost your revenue. In fact, you can achieve up to 56% more revenue if you implement the right marketing strategies.

So, how do you get better at marketing? You can start by identifying the tactics the most mature marketers use to drive results. 

(And don’t worry, we did that part for you.) 

Here’s how to promote your business according to the best in the biz. 

The State of Local Marketing is an annual report series that serves as the industry standard for local marketing data, providing channel marketers with actionable takeaways to activate their local partners. By analyzing affiliates’ marketing behaviors and their impact on revenue growth, these reports uncover valuable insights and optimizations marketers can implement into their channel strategies. This year, we surveyed 1,147 channel partners and added 211,347 data points to the millions that already make up our benchmarks.

“Less is more!” 

You’ve probably heard this phrase a million times to describe a million things — makeup, decor, accessories. 

We hate to break it to you, but this absolutely doesn’t apply when it comes to your marketing strategy. 

In marketing, more is more. (Doesn’t have that same ring to it, does it?) 

TOFU. MOFU. BOFU. 

These abbreviations may sound like absolute nonsense, but they’re crucial to consider when building your marketing strategy. Each describes a different stage of the marketing funnel and how you can move customers toward a purchase. 

Here’s what you need to know: 

The savviest local markers use a combination of top-, middle-, and bottom-of-funnel marketing tactics to drive customers to make a purchase. 

On average, the most savvy marketers use 3.9 TOFU tactics, 3.9 MOFU tactics, and 1.9 BOFU tactics. 

The verdict: You need a mix of TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU tactics to see the best results. Otherwise, your consumers will get stuck in the marketing funnel and won’t have the information they need to confidently take the next step. 

So, even if your strategy includes 9 marketing tactics, but they’re all top-of-funnel channels, you will likely struggle to drive conversions.  

That’s why it’s not just about the number of tactics you use — they also need to be spread across the funnel to pick up consumers across every buying stage and guide them toward a purchase. 

It's the moment you’ve been waiting for. 

Let’s give it up for the most effective marketing tactics you need to promote your business.

What tactics do the best marketers swear by? 

Here are the top three marketing channels they perceive as most effective.

Referral programs are used by 61% of savvy marketers. This tactic relies on a powerful marketing force that’s often underestimated: customer endorsement. When it comes to buying products, people tend to trust customers’ opinions more than a brand’s word. That’s why customer referrals offer a great way to gain consumers’ trust (and business).

Also coming in at 61% usage are purchased leads. By buying leads, you add more prospects to the top of the funnel that could potentially turn into paying customers. Acquiring prospects through purchased leads is much faster and easier than finding them organically, which is why it’s so high on marketers’ radars.

Finally, the most-used marketing tactic is direct mail at 73% usage. In a highly digital world, direct mail offers a means of cutting through the noise.

By investing in these highly effective tactics, you can expect a better ROI for your business.

Here are a few tips on how to implement referral programs, purchased leads, and direct mail into your strategy: 

• Referral programs: Incentivize your customers to refer new clients by gamifying your referral program. For example, if you refer a friend, both of you will get 20% off your next purchase. 
• Purchased leads: It’s crucial to have a strong lead-nurturing strategy in place to convert prospects into customers. Be sure to respond to leads fast, personalize your outreach, and write strong copy that makes your offers irresistible. 
• Direct mail: Maintain an accurate and up-to-date mailing list to ensure you don’t spend money sending mailers to false leads or old addresses. 

Now that you know the top three marketing tactics, let’s dive into the world of paid media. 

According to the best local marketers, paid media is your friend.

(It might even be your BFF.) 

Paid media is the friend you can rely on when you’re in a pinch (especially if you need to drive more revenue). 

Paid media tactics are widely utilized by savvy marketers, with paid search and paid social clocking in at 36% and 61% usage, respectively.

Though paid media efforts require more marketing spend than, say, email or organic social, paid ads generate the most results — fast. These tactics target customers who are most likely to buy and do so quickly and in high volume. Plus, paid media platforms like Google Ads and Meta provide excellent visibility into paid ad performance, making them highly measurable.

Before you hop on the paid media train, keep in mind that, like any marketing campaign, optimizations will likely be needed to find what works for you. Be sure to track your ads’ performance to determine what’s resonating with your audience and what’s not, then adjust accordingly to get the most out of your ad dollars.

Over the last few years, it’s probably felt like your business needs to be on social media.  

And that’s true... to an extent. 

As it turns out, fewer local businesses are using organic social media each year.

The data shows that organic social usage dropped from 71% to 58% between 2022 and 2023.

Local businesses feel a lot of pressure to be on social media. But the reality is that this tactic is very high-input and relatively low-output — in other words, the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze.

Organic social can be amazing for your business — if you get it right. But getting it right is often expensive and takes a lot of trial and error. And because social algorithms are always changing, your strategy should be, too. So, unless you’re going to make a strategic bet on organic social... it’ll probably take up a lot of your time and not drive the best results. Sound familiar?

Now, that’s not to say you should eliminate this tactic from your marketing strategy completely.

To see the most revenue growth, you have to use paid and organic social media to promote your business.

The data reveals that marketers who use organic social see 4.3% revenue growth, and those who use paid social see 3.5%. But businesses that use both tactics experience 5.1% revenue growth.

That means you can drive up to 46% more revenue by incorporating both tactics into your marketing strategy! 

Although organic social media isn’t a super high-output tactic, it’s still useful for building customer loyalty, boosting awareness, and even influencing consumers to buy products. So, instead of throwing in the towel on your organic social strategy, rethink the best use of your funds — because together, organic and paid social are a winning combination.

Here’s the truth: You get out of your marketing what you put in.

So, if you invest minimal dollars, you’ll get minimal results.

The opposite is also true.

Marketers who invest in their marketing see the highest output.

The data reveals that those who spend 8% or more of their annual revenue on marketing achieve 6.4% revenue growth. On the other hand, marketers who use 1% or less of their revenue on marketing see less than 3% revenue growth.

The solution here is clear: You need to spend more on marketing to bring in more revenue. In fact, you could see up to 611% more revenue growth just by increasing your marketing budget!

We know what you’re thinking: That seems like a lot of money. But the return is well worth the investment. That’s why you should allocate at least 5% of your revenue to marketing. Plus, if you’re part of a corporation that offers MDF or co-op funds, you can also invest these dollars into your campaigns.