Getting the marketing right for your business is crucial if you want to grow and thrive, yet it can be something that many business owners are concerned about, so much so that in some cases they don’t do anything about it at all, perhaps hoping that word of mouth will help them. Although word of mouth is indeed an excellent way to gain more custom, it can’t be relied on by itself – there are many other avenues that should be explored.
Producing an effective marketing strategy is definitely hard work, but once it is complete, it will boost your business hugely, and will certainly be worth the effort you put into it. Here are some great ideas about which strategies might work for the marketing of your business.
Email Marketing
Many of your customers are going to spend a lot of time in front of their laptops, smartphones, tablets and other devices. So by sending out an email that targets them directly and offers them information about your company, you can be sure that they will see it. Even if they click delete, they will still have your company name and logo in their minds (even if they don’t realise). Although, if you get your message right and offer great incentives to use your company, those emails are unlikely to get deleted after all.
Email marketing works because it can be directly targeted to the perfect individuals who are going to buy your product or services. You could even offer the people who sign up for your newsletter a percentage of your goods, or a free gift the next time they buy something. Make them feel as though they are getting something special just for them, and they will be more likely to sign up.
Be careful not to give too much away, however, the email marketing campaign has to work and cause people to spend money with you as well, otherwise you are giving away profits with no benefit. This is why monitoring your business and your marketing will come in useful. Using an app such as Instrumental will give you information about what’s working and what isn’t.
Start A Blog
Starting a blog sounds daunting, especially if you’re not a confident writer or you don’t have a lot of time. However, a blog can be a brilliant want to gain more customers so it is worth trying if possible. To save time, you could even create a blog from your customers’ queries and questions. Since you would be answering the question anyway (because this is good customer service and will help your reputation as a good company to deal with), answering in the form of a blog post that others can see, share, and get value from will be extremely beneficial.
A blog is a great way of keeping in touch with your clients and potential customers as well, as long as you remember to respond to comments. A well-written blog will bring them to your website and from there they may well explore other pages including your services. Hopefully, they will even get in touch about some work. At the very least, they will have spent time on your site reading your blog, and the longer the visitors spend on your website, the better you will rank in Google.
To gain even more exposure and to ensure that you always have something new to add to your blog you might also want to think about asking people to write guest posts for you. This could be done in the form of an interview, or you could simply ask a supplier (for example) to write about their product and how it is used in your business. It could be anything, and as long as it adds value to the information available about your company, it will be a success.
Use Social Media
Social media is a business owner’s friend when it is used right. Most of the time advertising through social media can be done for free (it is possible to boost posts, for example, by paying, but this is not always necessary) and as long as you – or a member of your team – keeps on top of what is happening, then it can be extremely successful.
Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are ideal ways for customers to contact your business quickly and efficiently, so make sure that you always respond (either publicly or privately) and answer any queries or allay and fears that they might have. Equally, if the post is something positive such as a good review or a compliment about your service, respond to that as well – it shows you are humble and grateful which can make you more approachable in a customer’s mind.
You can even host competitions through your social media pages which makes interaction even more positive, and if you can create a post that is shared by many people and that even goes viral, then that’s even better because your reach will be increased hugely.
Encourage Reviews
Getting reviews can be an excellent way of adding to your marketing strategy. Many people will look for reviews online before they commit to buying something from a company, especially a new one. Therefore, gaining as many reviews as you can is always a useful thing to do. These reviews will need to be authentic to make the biggest impact so you will need to encourage people who have used your business in the past to leave a review for you.
Some will write reviews without prompting because they have truly enjoyed your service or been impressed with your products. Some will need to be reminded, however. You can print a reminder on a receipt or invoice, you can post a call to action on your social media pages, or you can mention that you would like a review in your email newsletter. A quick reminder might be all it takes to get someone to write a review for you.
