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.
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.
Once you build your brand, you are on your way to marketing it to the world to promote your business!
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.
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:
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.
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:
By utilizing these opportunities, you’ll have the knowledge and community to fund any business or marketing venture.
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:
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:
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.
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.
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 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:
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.
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.
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.
When measuring your performance, you need to be aware of key performance indicators (KPIs), such as:
Regularly monitoring these KPIs is essential if you ever need to re-strategize.
There are more ways than KPIs to indicate the growth of your business. Here are some ways you can do that:
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.
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.
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.
If you need more help marketing your business as a veteran, take a look at some of these resources we’ve compiled: