As a small or medium sized business, you may have noticed more and more of your competitors using Snapchat to create amazing marketing opportunities for their company. Although many marketers still think that Snapchat is a platform that mainly caters to teen girls, that hasn't been the case for a number of years. Recently, Snapchat has made major inroads with the key 25-34 demographic, allowing marketers to reach out to an audience that tends to have significant buying power.

To successfully market to these individuals, it’s important to understand what attracts them to Snapchat. Some major features:
Snapchat focuses on now. You read messages as you get them; there’s no worrying about what someone sent days ago. You just enjoy the messages you’ve got.
Snapchat doesn’t retain images. You can be as goofy or weird as you like, and know that the pictures can’t be used as blackmail later. If someone does screenshot your snap, you’re notified, and can address it with that person.
Snapchat is more casual than Instagram, and your grandma isn’t there, like she is on Facebook. This gives people the opportunity to be more silly and spontaneous without worrying about their image.
So why do businesses need to invest in this casual, low-key atmosphere in order to create a vibrant marketing campaign?

Free or low-cost opportunities

One of the big benefits of Snapchat is that it isn’t expensive to market through the platform. Sure, there are big campaign options that are pricey, but companies can also create custom Snapchat filters and geolocate them. This means that customers can use particular filters when they’re near your business. These options are low or no cost, meaning that even tiny businesses can get in on this option. Reward customers for sending snaps using your filter and encouraging their friends to follow you.

One-on-one communication rewarded

In many forums, companies aren’t particularly well rewarded for one-on-one communication on social media. Your initial Facebook post is almost always more important than the follow-up comments on the post. Wading into the comments to discuss your post is hardly ever worthwhile.

On Snapchat, however, customers find these one-on-one interactions to be incredibly motivating. Businesses can get a great deal of positive attention by encouraging customers to snap them back to get a promo code, to enjoy a flash sale, or to get a special filter that they can send to their friends.

Level playing field

On platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, you need to have a huge number of users to make enough impressions to justify the costs. This inherently rewards businesses that already have a large fan base. Snapchat, however, creates such small but important connections that businesses don’t inherently have an advantage just because they’re big. In fact, in some cases, being big can be a hindrance for companies trying to succeed with Snapchat marketing.

It is true, however, that there’s no real way to natively gain followers on Snapchat; if you want to let your audience know that you’re snapping away, you will need to advertise your username on other channels, bringing your most loyal users into the Snapchat fold that way. Companies use scavenger hunts, coded messages, and more to entertain and engage customers.

Unique possibilities for small, nimble companies

Small companies are particularly successful on Snapchat because they can make decisions so quickly. At big companies, with a deep marketing team and plenty of in-house photographers, Instagram and Pinterest might be incredibly successful platforms. But Snapchat rewards users who are a little off beat, who make customers feel like they’re behind the scenes, or seeing a very authentic picture of their favorite company.

Instead of having everything processed through multiple filters on Instagram, or a carefully edited piece appearing on a blog, Snapchat is 10 second videos offering a promo code, or the carefully poised CEO taking pictures with bunny ears. Customers react well to this silly presentation, and feel more connected to a brand or company as a result.

Businesses are finding more and more often that using fresh and interesting tools to connect with customers is more satisfactory for both the business and the customer. Small businesses in particular need to look for low or no cost advertising options so that they can work within their often paltry marketing budgets and create need and interest.

Snapchat offers all of these options, and all within the key Millennial demographic that most companies are currently chasing. By building relationships with these important customers, businesses can see returns for years into the future.