The Definitive Handbook for Veterans Advertising Their Business

Veterans face unique challenges when re-entering civilian life after serving in the military. However, it can be an excellent opportunity to start anew and build a business. Their military experience may even prepare them as business owners by providing a wealth of leadership, problem-solving, and strategy skills.

One thing the military doesn’t always prepare its veterans for, though, is specific hard skills they’ll need for business ownership, primarily advertising and marketing skills. As such, many veteran business owners leave this essential cornerstone of the business to the wayside. If you are a veteran business owner, fret not. Use this guide to help you kickstart your business through top-tier marketing strategies.

Building a Strong and Authentic Brand

When we say “brand,” it’s often synonymous with your business itself. However, it’s also a term used to describe how your business presents itself to your customers and desired audience. Building a strong brand is essential because it clearly demonstrates what your business does, its values, and its goals.

You can go about building a solid brand by:

 Clearly defining and communicating your business values and mission statement: This may seem small, but outlining your values as a business and your mission statement can help direct your marketing goals in the future.

• Outline your goals: When first starting out, it’s best to keep your goals small, concrete, and tangible. Your goal may even be something as simple as achieving a 10% conversion rate with your audience.
• Create a logo and visual elements: Punchy visuals help your brand stand out. It’s also essential to use these visual elements to connect to your veteran status, as it can help resonate with more audience members who are either veterans themselves, loved ones of veterans, or veteran supporters.

 Once you build your brand, you are on your way to marketing it to the world to promote your business!

Leveraging Your Veteran Status

Some veterans may not see the value in highlighting their veteran experience when marketing their business, but it can be a great selling point for customers. For example, you can apply for a Veteran Small Business Certification (VetCert), which will connect you with government contracts and federal aid to help support your business.

 Marketing your business as a veteran-owned business can also allow you to connect with veteran groups who will help market your business to other veterans, providing an innate group of loyal customers. To further propel your business, you can offer military discounts to customers who may come from these veteran groups as an incentive.

Business Resources for Veteran Entrepreneurs

Marketing isn’t for free. As an owner, you likely have plenty of other things to do, and your time can quickly translate into money. Still, it’s not best to neglect marketing efforts simply because you can’t afford to do them. Luckily, there are several different financial assistance options you have, such as:

• Financial assistance programs: The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Veteran Advantage Loan Program, the Veterans Business Fund, and the Office of Veterans Business Development offer various loans and grants to help reduce the financial burden marketing can cause.
• Crowdfunding platforms: Platforms like GoFundMe allow you to connect with supporters who may be interested in your products or services or simply want to help a veteran in need.
• Investors: Many investment firms, such as Veteran Ventures Capital, are often eager to support veteran entrepreneurs by providing low-interest loans for a small stake in the business. To reach out to these associations, you’ll need to provide a business plan, value proposition, and goals. From here, investors can decide whether or not your business is worth investing in.

Even if you have enough money to fund your business venture initially, you may need to find more investors eventually to help support your business. After all, there may be times you’ll need to go back to the drawing board when finding new marketing strategies, which can be costly.

Marketing and Business Development Programs

Even once you find the funding, you may not have the know-how to apply these finances to your marketing efforts. Because of this, it may be best to build your education on marketing. Luckily, there are plenty of free resources you can access as a veteran to develop this knowledge, such as:

• Veteran Business Outreach Center (VBOC) programs: This program provides education and resources for veterans starting their businesses. This can be essential if you need more experience in marketing or business development.
• SCORE Mentoring for Veterans: SCORE is a network of veterans compiling their knowledge and resources to help guide other veterans when starting their businesses. They also offer workshops and networking events to gain a sense of community when starting your business.
• Government contracts: Government contracts are agreements the federal government provides to a set number of veterans each year to provide training, education, and finances for business owners. Each contract may vary, so looking at the agreements before applying is essential. To apply, you must first gain certification with the VA’s First Verification Program and then register in the System for Award Management to find your desired government contract application.

By utilizing these opportunities, you’ll have the knowledge and community to fund any business or marketing venture.

Mastering Digital Marketing Strategies

Digital Marketing is one of the most potent forms of marketing today, especially if you’re trying to grow your veteran-owned business. A large part of sales takes place online. According to Statista, 62% of commerce sales are expected to occur online in 2027, and online marketing is the best way to attract these kinds of sales. As such, consider the following strategies:

Optimizing Your Online Presence

To market online, you must first build your digital presence. This provides the opportunity to better explain your business’s history, especially as a veteran-owned business. Doing so will help build trust and credibility with your audience and help you reach a broader audience. The best way to optimize your online presence is to do the following:

• Make your website user-friendly and SEO-optimized: Make sure your site is mobile-responsive for anyone searching for your business on a smartphone. Additionally, use search engine optimization (SEO) methods on your website by using relevant keywords and meta descriptions and creating quality content. This will increase your chances of people finding you naturally online with Google searches.
• Social media marketing: Each platform serves a different purpose and audience, so tailor your content accordingly. Facebook is ideal for finding a loyal audience, while Instagram excels at visual storytelling, making it a great place to showcase your products and services. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is perfect for professional networking and connecting with other businesses, veterans, or potential partners.
• Email marketing: You can also build your brand by emailing current and new customers about discounts and offers. Once you find a reliable emailing list, you can create emails or regular newsletters based on the customer’s personal preferences to catch their attention.

All of these efforts don’t happen overnight. They take time to cultivate. Digital marketing is also a constant evolution. If different digital marketing channels become popular, don’t be afraid to adapt to increase your chances of broadening your audience.

The Power of Paid Advertising

Paid advertising can be a cash cow if you do it correctly. In 2022, paid advertising brought in $154.1 billion in revenue for businesses nationwide. To take advantage of this revenue, you have to choose a channel to invest in paid advertising. Many use Google Ads, as you can display ads to those actively searching for your services. However, it can be highly competitive, so you must use specific keyword strategies beforehand and monitor your conversion rates. That said, Google ads are often the most effective platform — users are more likely to click on an ad on Google than any other channel.

However, ads on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn can still be valuable because you can target a specific demographic, which can be essential for a veteran-owned business. You can publish veteran-specific content to help illustrate your states and appeal to new audiences. When doing publishing ads on these platforms, it’s best to create visually appealing graphics that can help draw attention to your brand.

However, not everyone who is interested in your brand through paid advertising will convert into a customer. As such, nurturing these leads by personalizing your messaging, offering discounts, and sending exclusive content to draw them in is essential.

Effective Traditional Marketing Techniques

Just because a large percentage of sales and conversions occur online doesn’t mean you should neglect traditional marketing techniques. In fact, traditional marketing can be more valuable in some ways. It’s often more memorable, leading to a loyal customer base and brand recognition among your audience.

Direct Mail Campaigns

Direct mail is one of the most powerful examples of traditional marketing. In opposition to email marketing, direct mail is often less competitive, meaning customers will have a physical memento of your business that isn’t as easy to ignore as a flooded email box. Often, direct mail involves delivering postcards, flyers, and pamphlets to your target audience to spread the work of your business. To create an effective direct mail campaign, keep these tips in mind:

• Design a visually appealing postcard: Visually appealing graphics, high-quality images, and a concise copy indicate that you’re a professional business.
• Utilize discounts, coupons, and other offers: Discounts and other coupons are a great way to incentivize customers to use your product or service.
• Use a mailing list: Mailing lists often have updated contact information of your audience’s address, ensuring you deliver your marketing material to the correct address.

It’s also important to use tracking codes to analyze the response rate of your direct mail campaign. This data can help you evaluate which designs work best and when a different method may be best.

Networking and Community Engagement

Word-of-mouth marketing is a great example of traditional marketing that stands the test of time. Word-of-mouth marketing includes everything from interpersonal recommendations and networking with your local community and other veterans. To build your network, you must look to certain associations that can help propel your brand.

For example, the National Veteran-Owned Business Association (NaVOBA) is an online network of veteran business owners that can collaborate to help grow their businesses. Not only that, but they also host events where veterans can meet up and advertise their businesses, and experts can speak to provide inside information about marketing and business strategies. These events are crucial, as you’ll be able to get tips from other veterans in starting and owning a business, as well as find potential partners.

These associations also provide space to give back to other veterans. If your methods end up working, you can share this insight with others to help grow the community.

Measuring Marketing Success

When marketing your business, you can’t do so mindlessly. If you do, you’ll continue with efforts that don’t actually provide results. The best way to avoid this is to measure your results continually.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Marketing

When measuring your performance, you need to be aware of key performance indicators (KPIs), such as:

• Customer acquisition cost: This is the average cost of all the funds needed to provide for a new customer, including expenses related to marketing and sales. Keeping it low while maintaining high-quality leads is crucial for maximizing profitability.
• Conversion rate: This KPI tracks the rate of your audience members who see your marketing materials and decide to purchase your services or products. A higher conversion rate indicates that your audience sees your marketing efforts and is motivated to purchase.
• Customer lifetime value: This is the total revenue you can expect from a customer throughout the relationship. If you sell products that they’re only likely to buy once, the value may be lower, while if you sell services they will continually buy, the value is high.

Regularly monitoring these KPIs is essential if you ever need to re-strategize.

Tools and Techniques for Measuring Success

There are more ways than KPIs to indicate the growth of your business. Here are some ways you can do that:

• Google Analytics: Google Analytics offers detailed insights into website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. You can set specific goals and track key metrics to see which marketing strategies drive the best conversion rates on your website.
• Social media insights: Like Google, many social media platforms offer built-in analytical tools to help you evaluate engagement on your content. Your follower count, likes, and shares often indicate whether your content resonates with customers, helping grow your business.
• Customer feedback: Reviews, surveys, and social media comments can be ways in which customers offer their opinions on your products and services. Responding to this feedback positively and making direct changes because of it is a great way to indicate to customers that you care about them.

Along with these strategies, it’s essential to monitor your sales. If you see more sales after posting more videos on Instagram, you can conclude that that specific strategy is worthwhile.

Continuous Improvement and Adaptation

If you notice no growth in a marketing campaign, it’s essential to change. Check your KPIs and sales results regularly — monthly, quarterly, or yearly — to see whether your strategies work. Remember that external factors like market conditions may affect your sales more than your marketing efforts.

If you performed the same campaign in a lucrative market, for example, it may perform better than if it performed in a poor market. Still, it’s important to stay flexible in these scenarios. Look to your competitors to see what they’re doing well. Are there ways you can improve? Is there a new target audience you can tap into? How can you better illustrate the brand of your veteran status? These are all questions you should ask to find success.

Your Path to Success as a Veteran Entrepreneur

As a veteran entrepreneur, diving into the marketing world with little experience can take time and effort. As such, don’t neglect it. Instead, find ways you can evolve even further with Cactus Mailing.

Resources For Marketing Your Veteran-Owned Business

If you need more help marketing your business as a veteran, take a look at some of these resources we’ve compiled:

Digital Marketing Training and Tools

• Coursera: An online learning center where you can take digital marketing courses for minimal to no cost.
• Udemy: An online academy where you can take digital marketing courses and learn about essential digital marketing strategies.
• Hootsuite: This tool enables you to manage your social media activity by scheduling posts, overseeing social media interactions, and providing measurements of your social media marketing efforts.

Traditional Marketing Tools and Services

• Cactus Mailing: Cactus Mailing offers a variety of postcard designs for marketing your business and mailing lists for finding the right audience.
• Canva: Canva is a digital design tool for creating postcards, flyers, pamphlets, and other traditional marketing materials.
• Google My Business: To increase foot traffic to your business, create and update your Google My Business listing with your hours, contact information, photos, and responses to reviews.

Networking and Promotion Platforms

• LinkedIn: Not only can you connect with other investors and business owners on Linkedin, but the site also has veteran networks, so you can partner with other veterans or promote your business.
• Veterans in Business Network (VIBN): VIBN is a network of veterans that offers resources, newsletters, and events for veterans to build and promote their businesses.
• National Veteran Small Business Coalition: This coalition is a non-profit that supports veterans through various newsletters, educational material, and networking events.

Marketing Grants and Assistance Programs

• Veteran Business Outreach Center (VBOC) Program: This program offers education and mentorship to veterans and family members who want to run a small business.
• SCORE: SCORE offers mentorship and workshops for all small business owners but offers some for veterans specifically.
• Veteran contracting assistance program: If you are a service-disabled veteran, you can apply to this program to qualify for government-assisted contracts that will enable you to operate your business.