Business Tips

16 outreach marketing ideas for small businesses in 2022

February 14, 2022

Marketing for a small business can truly be a nightmare, especially when you see all of the multi-million dollar industry giants spending tons of cash on their own marketing strategies. In such a situation, it is easy to feel hopeless and begin thinking that there is no way out.

But, fortunately, hope is not lost if you are a small business looking to market your product or service without spending a lot of money. When it comes to outreach marketing ideas, small businesses have several advantages.

Firstly, they are often more agile and can more easily adapt their marketing strategy to changing conditions. Secondly, they can be more personal and engaging, as they usually do not have the same level of bureaucracy as larger businesses. Finally, they can be more creative and innovative in their marketing efforts.

Outreach marketing can be an effective way to spread the word about your business or get some links back to your site. Therefore, keep reading and find different concepts that you can use to build relationships with other people who are interested in similar things and can help you get the word out about your brand.

Outreach marketing ideas for small businesses on a budget

The following outreach marketing ideas are creative enough to attract attention, yet all of them are based on solid marketing foundations, so you can rest assured that they will actually produce results. Moreover, they are all tried and tested by experts in the field and are already proven to built amazing relationships with other content curators as well.

LinkedIn is a great place to utilize outreach marketing. But, for best results, we follow a few steps. Firstly you need to identify your target audience. Once you have a good idea of who your target audience is, you can start thinking about what type of content and messaging will resonate with them.

Next, make sure you create valuable content that speaks to their needs and interests. Make sure your content is relevant, interesting, and useful for your readers, and spread the word online. The best way to do this is by creating LinkedIn articles either directly on the platform, or by sharing new content from your blog as a post.

You can also share your content on LinkedIn Groups or other discussion forums and send direct messages related to your outreach campaign. This will give you an opportunity to connect with potential customers in a non-intrusive way.

Lastly, don’t forget to analyze your efforts. Using LinkedIn analytics tools can help you learn more about how people are engaging with your business’ LinkedIn page, as well as what types of posts they’re most interested in seeing from you moving forward. When you know what works, don’t be afraid to increase the frequency of similar updates in the future.

David Wurst, Founder of WebCitz

HARO

One of the most effective outreach marketing ideas is the usage of HARO to increase backlinks, in an attempt to improve a site’s SEO. This method is popular with marketing firms because of the potential it has to generate media coverage and industry buzz surrounding any product or service.

By signing up to HARO, marketers can keep track of potential opportunities where reporters and journalists are looking for interviews and quotes about specific topics. Once an interview has been conducted, there is a very high likelihood that it will be published on one or more authoritative websites. This gives both the interviewed subject and their company exposure through media coverage and quality backlinks.

Brandon Schroth, Founder of Reporter Outreach

Reach out to popular podcasts

My go-to outreach marketing tactic has been to build a list of popular podcasts in my niche and pitch myself as a guest to each of them via email. While the audio content generates plenty of value from a brand awareness standpoint, links to the podcast episodes are often added to various websites, along with a link to my website.

This creates value from an SEO perspective, as these count as backlinks with potentially high domain authority. These links can also help to drive organic traffic to my website.

Andrew Helling, Editor-In-Chief and Owner of Rethority

Develop relationships with local bloggers and journalists

I have found that the best one of the many outreach marketing ideas for my business is to develop relationships with local bloggers and journalists. I can provide them with interesting and relevant information to feature on their blogs or publications.

In return, these bloggers and journalists are likely to share this information with their significant number of social media followers.

This has helped raise awareness for my business as an expert in my field.

- Find bloggers who cover topics related to your business
- Identify the blogs that have the biggest reach
- Reach out to the bloggers and offer them information or products to review
- Follow up with the bloggers after they’ve published their reviews
- Thank the bloggers for their help in promoting your business

Ralph Chua, Owner of The Funnel Brother

Email and social media marketing

There are plenty of outreaching marketing ideas we tried and proved to be effective for small businesses. However, for us, the most effective is email marketing. Email marketing allows you to target a specific audience and send them tailored messages about your products or services. Another effective tactic is social media marketing. Social media platforms will enable you to connect with potential customers and build relationships with them.

Outreach marketing strategies, such as email or social media marketing, prove effective for small businesses because they allow them to connect with customers. Social media platforms allow you to build relationships with your target market by engaging them in conversation and providing them with valuable content.

Paula Glynn, Director of Search Marketing and Digital Strategy at Pixelstorm

The use of social media is not just for social interaction but is an important tool to boost the visibility of small businesses to potential customers. The use of Facebook and Instagram will
build relationships with our friends and followers that will engage with our product in a cheap and convenient way.

As we connect to them, we may also target their own friends or followers that will help to increase our brand visibility. We don’t have time to talk directly to them but as we post and share our product to these platforms day by day, they might help us to engage with our business.

Thus. for us it is social media marketing that is the most effective outreach marketing idea that helps us build the relationship. Just reach out to our audience, quality over quantity, post great content, integrity, and love what we are doing.

Michael JanBaldicana, SEO Specialist at Dream Chasers

Personalized outreach and cold campaigns on LinkedIn

As a marketing manager specializing in SMEs, I have to be really creative when it comes to outreach marketing ideas. In B2B, the most effective tactic we use is a personalized outreach that combines both cold email outreach and social media. Like most marketers, I always relayed on inbound to accomplish my goals. However, as an SME marketer, I have to be mindful not only of my targets but also the budget and resources available.

I spend over 60% of my modest marketing budget on MarTech and the rest towards cold campaigns on LinkedIn. My favorite strategy is to run campaigns to spark engagement and attract new followers to our LinkedIn page.

Each campaign targets a very precise audience that fits our target persona. Towards the end of the campaign, I learn about my new followers, their businesses, and ways animation can help accomplish them. I carefully review their content to date to explore any gaps filled by creating a video.

It’s worth mentioning that each email is carefully crafted for each recipient. As a results-driven animation studio, we genuinely care about the results we can provide to our clients – hence why I only approach prospects where I see a real opportunity. I never do spammy email blasts or annoying follow-ups twice a day, which I think can do more harm than good in outbound marketing.

Sandra Kaminska-Paciorek, Marketing Manager at Nibble Video

Reach out to influencers

Media influencers have taken the globe by storm, and as a marketer, I’ve chosen to use the power that influencers wield to increase brand awareness while still providing excellent customer service.

Our most recent effort to raise brand awareness and engagement included a freebie that they were encouraged to share with their followers. This worked because we got more social media followers and traffic.

You must exercise extreme caution if you intend to use influencers to promote your product or service. You must approach the appropriate influencer with the appropriate audience. You should research the influencer’s background and make sure they’re in your niche.

Tony, Founder of Profitable Venture

Giveaways

Offering free products or services by organizing giveaways on social media is another one of the proven outreach marketing ideas. They should be done routinely, such as offering t-shirts, caps, magic mirrors, or spa treatments to your consumers. Make sure you have eye-catching logos and pictures on your website and social media accounts to get people’s attention.

Moreover, you can also showcase your top sellers or best-selling items to further influence people’s buying decisions. Giveaways are the perfect way to build brand recognition, so you must leverage this marketing strategy before it becomes ineffective.

Rambabu Thapa, CEO at Orka Socials

Content marketing

One of the outreach marketing ideas that worked for my business and I will recommend to small businesses is leveraging content marketing. I have dedicated time to creating content that the target audience finds most engaging. However, bringing something new to the table is not always easy. So, one trick I have learned is to repurpose my content in multiple ways.

For instance, I share an infographic on one platform while a video on another. This increases my content ROI in a more strategic manner compared to other ways used earlier.

Also, I have realized creating a blog for a small business is a brilliant way to build brand awareness. You can share your original content regarding products and services on it. Moreover, implementing an effective SEO strategy can help find your target audience.

David Morneau, CEO and SEO Strategist at Breeeze

Focus on local SEO

Our favorite outreach marketing strategy is to focus on Local SEO, which is a form of SEO that includes location-based keywords and phrases. These location references should be in the website description or paragraph headings. Instead of paying for expensive ads, we use location-based search terms combined with target keyword phrases. For example, you can reference “marketing agency in ABC area” as well as “marketing agency” and “ABC area”.

Brenton Thomas, Founder, and CEO of Twibi

Embrace automation

With the changes to businesses that have taken place over the past couple of years, the competition online is now fiercer than ever. Many companies that were not competitors previously may now have become just that. Achieving a wide online reach, especially as a small business, can be challenging, and one tactic that we would recommend is to make use of automation.

Small businesses are often apprehensive about automation, worrying that it will mean they lose the personal touch. However, used with care and consideration, marketing automation tools can be a powerful way to increase your ROI, keep your brand consistent, and provide data to help you fine-tune your campaigns. By taking advantage of ways to carry out marketing ‘hands-free’, you can free up time and resources to focus on other areas of your business and all your new customers!

JM Littman, Director of Webheads

LinkedIn and Facebook groups

One of the best outreach marketing ideas you can find and we do in our organization is harnessing the power of LinkedIn and Facebook groups to connect with our target audiences.

We created groups that don’t advertise what we offer. Instead, we focus on building relationships with others and use them to get their thoughts and potentially become loyal customers. We create customized content that will resonate well with the members of these groups and encourage them to invite like-minded individuals who would learn from us.

Ezra Cabrera, Content Marketing Manager at SMB Compass

Personalize your emails

Make the subject line personalized by using the recipient’s name. It will make the recipient feel that it’s from someone they know and is not a business email. Make casual subject lines as it grabs more attention of the customers and is more compelling to get a response.

Start your email by showing gratitude towards your customers for making their first purchase, using your service, or for checking out your business profile on any social media platform. In the From part, it’s better to write the person’s name, post, and company name. Only mentioning the company’s name makes emails look more sales and promotional.

Content of the email should provide solutions to the customer’s and client’s problems, queries, and doubts. It should be informative and at the same time relatable to the needs and requirements of the customers.

Rahul Vij, CEO at Webspero Solutions

Be authentic

One of the rising marketing trends for 2022 is customers wanting authenticity from brands. They’re not only looking to connect with the product but the founders, the story behind how and why it started, and more.

Customers are looking for brands to show “who” they are by sharing the story about how the brand got started, their culture, the people behind the brand, and how they are helping make a difference in their customers’ lives.

This kind of authenticity helps humanize your brand and make it feel more approachable and trustworthy. This will be particularly important for larger corporations that can sometimes feel disconnected from their customers. Being able to connect with your audience will undoubtedly give you a better chance to do marketing outreach successfully.

Maegan Griffin, Founder, CEO, and Nurse Practitioner at Skin Pharm

Word-of-mouth marketing

Outreach case studies provide word-of-mouth marketing that builds trust with potential customers and helps elevate the reputation of our business. Clients will always give the most meaningful marketing material because it’s their honest review of your product or service.

These studies serve as an organic way to collect customer-centric content that you can then share on your website and social media channels. But they’re also an effective means of educating prospective buyers on your product’s various uses, features, and benefits. Spotlighting use cases as a separate tab in your About section can be a much more effective sales tool than an old-school cold call.

Shaunak Amin. I’m the co-founder and CEO of SnackMagic

Branding

When you are just starting your company and website, the best thing you can do is to create a solid sense of branding. The key to using branding to help make your website and business successful is to create a different and unique experience for your customers. Secret messages inside our packaging to an insert cart sharing the story about how Journ started that is signed by our founders help surprise and delight customers.

By remaining consistent and authentic with your branding throughout the various channels you use, it helps to establish your brand as one that is different and unique and one that will always strive to surprise and delight.

Sara Shah, I’m the Cofounder and Co-CEO of Journ

Conclusion

Generating high levels of traction is never a bad thing, especially for the betterment of your business. You might not see instant results from the outreach activities you engage in, but the good news is that most of the outreach marketing ideas suggested above are free or inexpensive to implement. If used wisely, these ideas can help small businesses grow and remain competitive in a competitive marketplace.