Guides are concise “how-to” documents or playbooks that educate members on executing specific marketing tactics or strategies. They combine explanation with actionable steps, often referencing the above templates, checklists, or frameworks. These guides are tailored for NZ SMEs – written in clear language, addressing local scenarios (like NZ consumer behavior, regulatory context), and focusing on practical execution that a small business can handle. Here are 20 valuable guides:
Strategy & Planning
Guide to Crafting a Marketing Strategy (NZ SME Edition)
A step-by-step guide on building a marketing strategy from the ground up. It walks through understanding the NZ market, setting marketing objectives aligned to business goals, choosing the right mix of channels (digital, local, referral), and allocating budget. It references using SWOT and the Marketing Plan Template, helping even first-time marketers develop a solid strategy document.
Small Budget Marketing Guide
Specifically addresses marketing with minimal budget, a common situation for SMEs. It highlights low-cost and free strategies: optimizing organic social media, encouraging word-of-mouth referrals, using free tools (like Canva for design, free tiers of email or CRM software), and community marketing (events, local groups). It provides a list of “quick wins” that don’t require big spend but can yield results, empowering business owners to market smartly despite budget constraints.
Branding & Positioning
Guide to Branding Your Small Business
Covers the essentials of branding for SMEs. Topics include defining your brand purpose and values, creating a brand identity (logo, tagline, visual style), and establishing brand guidelines. It provides tips specific to NZ (e.g. incorporating Māori language elements or symbols respectfully if relevant, leveraging “Buy NZ Made” sentiment) and includes examples of strong local small business brands to illustrate concepts.
Digital Presence (Website & SEO)
Local SEO and Online Presence Guide
Focused on improving local search visibility. This guide advises setting up and optimizing Google Business Profile (critical for NZ local searches and Google Maps), getting listed in NZ online directories or local chambers of commerce, encouraging customer reviews (on Google, Facebook, etc.), and using local keywords on your site. Also touches on basics of broader SEO. It’s essentially a how-to for making sure a local business shows up when nearby customers search online.
Content & Social Media
Content Marketing Guide
A playbook for creating and distributing content that attracts and retains customers. It covers brainstorming content ideas (blog topics, videos, infographics) that address common questions or needs of your NZ audience, planning an editorial calendar, writing tips for blogs (including basic SEO), and ways to repurpose content across channels. Emphasizes storytelling and providing value, which helps build trust with the community. This guide pairs well with the Content Plan Template and Content Publishing Checklist.
Content Repurposing Guide
Teaches how to maximize content mileage. For example, take one blog post and turn it into a video, an infographic, a series of social media posts, and an email newsletter snippet. The guide provides step-by-step on identifying content that performed well in NZ context and adapting it for different channels. This helps SMEs with limited content creation capacity maintain a multi-channel presence by reusing what they have, thereby being efficient with resources.
Guide to Social Media Marketing (Kiwi Edition)
A detailed how-to on succeeding with social media as a NZ SME. It outlines choosing the right platforms for your audience (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok – with NZ user demographics for each), developing a content strategy (using the Social Media Calendar template to plan posts around NZ events), tips for engagement (like responding to comments, joining community groups), and guidance on paid social advertising. Includes case studies of NZ businesses that grew via social media, to inspire and inform.
Step-by-Step Guide to Running Facebook Live/Instagram Live Events
A how-to focused on live social media as a marketing tool. It explains how to plan and promote a live session (topic selection, event reminders), technical setup needed, engaging viewers during the live (Q&A, shout-outs), and post-live follow-ups (saving the video, sharing highlights). For example, a boutique NZ shop could do a Facebook Live showcasing new products. The guide helps make such an endeavor less daunting and more effective in reaching an audience in real-time.
Advertising & Campaign Execution
Guide to Facebook & Instagram Ads
A manual on social media advertising. It details how to use Meta’s Ad Manager: selecting campaign objectives, defining a target audience (like by NZ region or interests relevant to Kiwi culture), setting budget and duration, choosing ad formats (image, video, carousel), and crafting visuals and copy that resonate (with examples). Also includes tips on compliance with ad policies and the ASA. Helps SMEs confidently start advertising on social platforms to reach their local audience.
Guide to Google Ads for SMEs
A beginner-friendly manual on Google Ads (Search) specifically for small budgets. It explains how Google Ads works, how to perform simple keyword research (with NZ-specific keyword considerations), writing effective ad copy (using the AIDA model), setting a daily budget, and understanding basic metrics (CTR, CPC, conversion rate). The guide might provide a sample campaign setup walkthrough (with screenshots) for a hypothetical NZ business, and link to the Paid Advertising Checklist to ensure nothing is missed.
Launch & Events
Guide to Successful Product Launches
A how-to for planning and executing a marketing push for a new product or service. It provides a timeline of activities (starting months before launch) and marketing tactics at each phase: teaser campaigns, influencer or PR outreach (perhaps working with local bloggers or news if relevant), launch event planning, and post-launch follow-up. It integrates various tools (the product launch checklist, press release template, etc.) into a cohesive plan. Using a local lens, it might suggest involving the community (e.g. a soft launch event for local customers or early adopters in NZ).
Seasonal Marketing Guide
Helps SMEs prepare for holiday seasons and events. For example, a guide to maximizing the Christmas/New Year period (which is summer in NZ) with special campaigns, or leveraging events like Small Business Day, Matariki, or regional festivals. It covers choosing themes/offerings that fit the season, timing promotions (when Kiwis do holiday shopping), and coordinating across channels for a seasonal message. Could include a calendar of NZ holidays and ideas for each. The Seasonal Campaign Prep Checklist complements this guide.
Customer Engagement & Retention
Customer Retention & Loyalty Guide
Focused on keeping customers loyal. It outlines strategies like loyalty programs (point systems, VIP tiers), personalized follow-ups, exclusive offers for repeat customers, and great customer service practices. The guide might include examples of loyalty initiatives by NZ companies and templates for things like a simple loyalty card or referral program outline. Emphasizes that retaining customers is often cheaper than acquiring new ones, thus crucial for ROI.
Guide to Influencer and Partnership Marketing
Explains how small businesses can partner with influencers or other businesses for marketing leverage. It includes identifying the right local influencers (e.g. a popular Kiwi Instagrammer in your niche), approaching them with a collaboration idea, setting terms (free product, commission, etc.), and measuring results. For partnerships, it guides how to find complementary local businesses and create a win-win promotion (for instance, a café and a bookstore cross-promoting). These tactics can amplify reach cost-effectively.
Public Relations (PR) Guide for SMEs
A how-to on getting media coverage and managing public image. It outlines how to write a press release (with the provided template), build a media list (including local NZ newspapers, radio, and bloggers relevant to the industry), and pitch a story (with email pitch examples). Also covers handling media inquiries and doing interviews. By following this, a small business could land press that boosts credibility at no ad cost.
Analytics & Optimisation
Marketing Analytics & Metrics Guide
A tutorial on measuring marketing performance. This guide demystifies Google Analytics reports (traffic sources, behavior flow, conversions) and other analytics tools (Facebook Insights, email reports). It explains key metrics and what they mean – e.g. bounce rate, CAC (customer acquisition cost), ROI – and how to calculate or find them. Crucially, it teaches how to interpret the data to make decisions (e.g. if most web traffic is mobile, ensure the site is mobile-optimized; if email CTR is low, test new content). By understanding analytics, NZ SMEs can continuously improve their marketing.
Compliance & Risk Management
Guide to Marketing Compliance (NZ)
A plain-language rundown of marketing-related regulations to be aware of in New Zealand. It covers the basics of the Privacy Act (re customer data), the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act (for email/text marketing consent and unsubscribe rules), Advertising Standards Code (what you can/can’t claim in ads), and any industry-specific ad regulations. The guide doesn’t replace legal advice but ensures SMEs aren’t accidentally in breach when running their campaigns.
Additional Guides
Digital Marketing 101 for NZ Businesses
A guide that introduces key digital marketing channels (website, SEO, social media, email, online ads) and how to use them effectively on a small budget. It might feature stats about NZ internet and social media usage to contextualize why digital matters, and gives beginners a roadmap to get online visibility (e.g. setting up Google My Business, basic Facebook page, simple SEO tweaks). Acts as a primer linking out to deeper-dive guides on each channel.
Guide to Email Marketing & List Building
Teaches SMEs how to build an email list and run effective email campaigns. It covers lead magnets that appeal to NZ customers (e.g. a local tips ebook), setting up signup forms (and complying with NZ email consent laws), crafting engaging newsletters or promotional emails, and analyzing email metrics (open rate, click rate). It includes best practices like personalization and segmenting your list for targeted messaging. The guide references the Email Campaign Checklist and provides sample email copy for common scenarios.
Guide to Using AI in Marketing
Introduces how SMEs can use AI tools (like ChatGPT/DeepSeek) to augment their marketing. It provides examples such as generating content ideas, writing first drafts of blogs or ad copy, analyzing customer feedback sentiment, or customizing marketing messages. It also gives tips on prompt writing and cautions (quality control, avoiding over-reliance on AI). This guide aligns with the Prompt Library (Part B), showing members how to effectively use those AI prompts to save time and spark creativity in their marketing tasks.