3 Creative Marketing strategies to increase sustainability in Baltimore small businesses

New businesses are popping up every day in Baltimore, and it’s a beautiful sight to see. We need new businesses to increase the economic power in our city and to attract new visitors and residents. CNN Money has ranked Baltimore #10 as one of the best places to launch a business but what does that really mean?

As we are attracting new businesses, we have to ensure we are keeping them here. It takes strategy and consistency to ensure that businesses have the right tools, knowledge, and resources to maintain their businesses. Having start-up capital is extremely important but knowing how to sustain after the start-up capital is equally important.

If you ride in any neighborhood in Baltimore, you will find hidden business gems. You probably don’t notice many because you aren’t paying any attention. Most of the time these are the businesses that are just making it. It’s the small businesses that can not access loans or capital. These are the businesses with great ideas but lack the knowledge to properly position themselves for success.

So how can businesses survive in Baltimore? One way is to ensure they understand how to implement creative marketing and branding. Marketing is the heartbeat of all businesses, and great strategies are needed to scale and increase revenues.

I compiled a list of three ways any business in Baltimore can use creative marketing strategies to grow their business and increase their revenues.

1. Use local influencers to promote your business. Influencers have become extremely popular in how big businesses are growing. Socialfollow.co has helped many people to grow their follower count and therefore the platform from which they can promote products, and this is the perfect marketing tool for a range of products, especially as you can easily identify target markets. Long gone are the commercial ads on television but now the social media ads that show real people utilizing the product or service being marketed. Baltimore has a great influencer community that is constantly growing. Small businesses can tap into that community to increase their reach and revenue. It’s a great way to show a different light on Baltimore and the talent in Baltimore. To try and get in touch with an influencer that could promote your new business, you could consider contacting an influencer marketing agency to see if they could match your business with an influencer in the specific industry. That should ensure that more people hear about your business. Social media is one of the best ways to market these days. Don’t forget old school methods too, like giving out free promotional materials to everyone and anyone, think Custom Water bottles and pens. This is still a valid form of marketing, even if it does seem a little outdated.

2. Leverage partnerships with other local brands. Let’s work together. Working together strengthens our community’s and broaden our reach. Find local brands that align with your vision and mission and work together. When our business community understands the value of collaboration over the competition we can be extremely strategic in the way we attract new investments in Baltimore. It’s nothing like having an endorsement from members of your own city.

3. Leverage the Baltimore scenery. Baltimore has amazing scenery and history, and those things should be highlighted through local businesses. Leveraging the scenery does provide a different view of Baltimore and will attract tourists and new customers.

Baltimore has the opportunity to support the small business community. There are other ways we can spread the goodness of our area, such as via leaflets from MyCreativeShop and events, but these are for another day. It’s important that we continue to educate the community so that they are successful. Implementing these three strategies can help change the trajectory of our small business sustainability.