Entrepreneurship is a challenging endeavor, especially for Black business owners who are confronted by racial prejudice rife in the sector. Black Business Network founder Shari Leigh finds that around 51% to 67% of Black entrepreneurs experiencing discrimination. This includes difficulty getting financial assistance, which makes it even more challenging for most Black entrepreneurs to secure staff and specialists that can support marketing efforts. Fortunately, there are cost-efficient ways that can help you grow your business and brand. Here are four key marketing tips for Black-owned businesses in the UK.

Know your target audience through market studies

When marketing your business, identify your target customers and their preferences. By designing your marketing around this information, you are more likely to grab their attention and nudge them towards purchasing your products or services. Your market research should yield a profile of your user. Through demographic variables, you’ll be able to determine what messaging tone they tend to listen to, and which channels they often use to consume content.

On an industry level, you would also want to know the trends in your niche and what products or services your target customers currently prefer. To do so, study your competitors. Ask yourself: what strategies are they using that would apply to my business? By creating your business' messaging around the preferences, wants, and pain points of your target audience and the gaps in your competitors' efforts, you can work towards setting your brand apart from the rest of the industry.

Forge connections with customers on social media platforms

Social media undeniably help brands interact more with their customers and vice versa. But to forge connections that last, it is imperative that you observe some best practices. For example, posting content regularly increases your customers' awareness of your business. Meanwhile, we mentioned that part of the ABCs of marketing is earning the trust of your customers. This is something you can achieve by responding to customer queries accurately.

However, the most important practice is to leverage the power of thank you on social media. This simple gesture can help make your customers feel that they are important to you, motivating them to continue supporting your business. Even without marketing technologies, you can forge a relationship with a loyal customer base on social media with these few practices.

Establish authority in your niche with thoughtful content

With thoughtful content, you can grab the attention and loyalty of your target audience. Start by establishing yourself in discourse related to your product. Take UK-based company Soul Cap, which promotes diversity in swimming with inclusive swim caps made especially for voluminous tresses. It tailors its marketing content around its product encouraging more women of color to swim. This strategy helps Soul Cap grow into an authority and thought leader on the topic of making swimming increasingly diverse and accessible to more people. You can do the same with your own marketing efforts.

Click through for Instagram video post; Credit: @soulcapofficial on Instagram

Stand out with a functional and responsive website

Marketing aims to direct more people to your website so they can purchase your products or services. This means your website has to be easy to navigate on the customer's end. Take notes from the websites of Black-owned businesses like Telfar, Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen, and Bevel. These all-feature high-quality product photos and videos, an easy-to-spot navigational menu, and a responsive grid-based design.

More work needs to be done on an institutional level to help Black-owned businesses grow. In the meantime, these audience-focused marketing tips can help you maximise the growth potential of your venture despite limited resources and opportunities.