Marketing your business can seem like an extremely hard task if you don’t know where to start.
There are specific processes you should be considering alongside a general approach to marketing and if you want your business to grow quickly and be recognised for its quality then you should start with these six tips for kick starting your marketing success.
1. Outstanding Website Design and Development
There is nothing so important as your website. Your website is a window to your business and it needs to wow everyone who visits it. It is the number one thing you have to get right to ensure your potential customers are interested and engaged with your brand. Your website is the base from which your brand identity is formed and your website should tick the following boxes:
Visually engaging: your site should be designed in a way which represents your brand but looks great and is designed to attract attention and keep it
Strong Call-to-Action: you site is designed to sell your product and service and you can only do this with quality copy. You need to include strong sales copy and an impossible-to-ignore call-to-action.
High conversion rates: Your website should be designed in a way which takes potential customers on a journey from casual visitors to engaged consumers and eventually, brand loyalists.
2. Invest in Marketing Automation
Not every aspect of your small business marketing can be automated but investing in a quality marketing automation system such as Hubspot or Marketo. These systems provide valuable automated processes such as forms to capture leads, databases for storing and organising contacts, integrated email marketing and lead scoring. Marketing automation is not something which can be left entirely on its own, as the name suggests, as you do need to effectively set it up and it allows you to quickly scale your marketing efforts. Rather than bringing in additional staff you can opt for an automation system and make a saving.
3. Build your Prospect List
It is possible to buy email marketing lists but it’s not ethical and it doesn’t look good. Organic list building can involve social media engagement, chatting to contacts and networking and it is a long-term process but it reaps much bigger awards.
The use of what is known as lead magnets is an effective way of organically growing your email list. Lead magnets simply work on the basis that you exchange valuable content for prospect’s information, or even just their email address. It could be you produce an eBook or webinar and send it out to prospects you provide you with their email address. They are the on your email list and you can potentially send further promotion and business-related offers in their direction.
4. Use AdWords
Google AdWords is one of the most powerful and flexible advertising tools out there. No, it isn’t free and yes, it does take a little time to get used to it but like with most Google products, there is plenty of advice out there. It’s especially useful for small businesses as you can set a tight budget for your campaigns. It is based on the keywords you choose, so you have a direct link to potential customers and your advert is put in front of them, only when they search for it.
You may have hoped your early advertising efforts could have been done for free but in reality, if you don’t invest in and start building AdWords campaigns as soon as possible after launching, you’re missing out on directly targeting your potential audience.
5. SEO
Search engine optimisation (SEO) sounds a lot more technical than it actually is. It works in a more natural way than AdWords and if you do your own SEO then it will cost you nothing but time.
SEO is long-term commitment for your business and it is a process which may take a number of months to reap rewards. Once it begins to work though, it won’t stop. SEO is the process of trying to ensure your website ranks well for specific keywords without paying for the privilege.
Successful SEO is about balancing on-page factors and off-page factors as these are combined together to give you a ranking and position you amongst the other sites which are attempting to rank for the same keywords. To succeed in SEO you need to have a website which is well designed, responsive, full of high quality, relevant content and you have to keep it fresh.
6. Social Media
Social media is a practically free method of getting the word out there about your business. It is your opportunity to show the world the personal side of your brand and engage with potential customers.
A good brand social media feed mixes up content from their website, with product or service promotion and plenty of engagement and sharing relevant information from other sites and influences. You will not succeed on social media if all you do is post links to your website.
Questions
If you would like to know more or have any questions about marketing your business then please get in touch with us.
