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Our clients

Our tips on marketing to SMEs

As an award-winning SME PR agency we have extensive experience helping clients sell payments solutions, accounting software, CRM software, finance, insurance, consultancy services and training to small businesses. We’ve learned a lot about what it takes to run a successful small business marketing campaign. Here are some of our key takeaways:

PR matters

Our latest data show that small business decision makers consume print, broadcast and online media to keep up to date with current affairs, but also for business advice and for discovering new products or services. And they like a broad range of media, from nationals to business and trade outlets (read about the top SME publications in the UK). This means that PR is an essential element of any SME marketing strategy.

So does SEO

In addition to media, our data reveals that SME decision makers are likely to start their search for new products or services on a search engine. This means that ensuring your website is properly optimised and that your PR strategy is focused on both brand building and link building, is pretty much essential to generating leads from the small business community.

Focus on the pain

Running a small business is hard. Really hard. Key people in SMEs are often time poor and feel pulled in multiple directions at once. To really capture their attention it’s important to focus on the issues that are top of mind for them and think about how you can assist small businesses in overcoming them.

Use case studies

We’ve found that founders and business builders love to learn from the experiences of their peers. That’s why case studies, focus groups and testimonials form a key part of any SME marketing strategy.

Diversify your thinking

The term “small and medium-sized enterprise” encompasses a broad range of businesses, from freelancers to stores to service providers to consultants. We find campaigns that drill down into a niche or vertical (such as hairdressers) are even more effective.

Keep your sense of humour

Yes, running a small business is hard. But most founders are also passionate about what they do. While messaging should focus on key pain points, we find that content with a lighter tone often goes down well with this demographic.

Don’t ignore social

Most SME decision makers use social media daily, making social key to any SME marketing strategy. From Facebook to reddit to Clubhouse, SMEs are social.

Use video where you can

Our research has revealed that video is an important medium for communicating with small business decision makers. Luckily we can recommend a great video company.

“We needed to launch Xero with a splash in South Africa so we brought TopLine on board to help us with that. From the moment I discussed the brief right the way through to working with the team to deliver results, it’s been seamless. The team are really smart, they know what they’re doing – they get on with the job and they get results which is ultimately what we need, so I couldn’t recommend them more. We were also seriously impressed by the quality of the case study videos that TopLine produced for us.”

Emma Izatt

Senior Communications Manager, Xero

Case Study

Launching Xero in South Africa

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Case Study

Digital strategy for lead gen

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Case Study

Generating leads in the small business community

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We are an SME PR agency that will help you generate leads and build your profile. Contact our CEO, Heather, for an informal discussion about how you can use digital PR to reach more small businesses.

Contact Heather