Creating a top marketing strategy for your business can be the life blood of your business success. After all … you can have the best services, the best products, and be the best in your industry but if no one knows anything about you it will do you no good and your business will ultimately be a failure.
I’m sorry to be so harsh but it is a cold hard fact that you need to realize in the very beginning … marketing needs to be one of your main priorities … businesses need customers to survive and marketing is how you get in front of the people you want to serve. I think this is normally the biggest challenge that most business owners have… so today I wanted to share with you a few marketing strategies you can put into place right away to get the exposure you need to grow and prosper in your business this year.
Core Marketing Strategies To Include in your Marketing Plan:
- Social Media Marketing ~ In today’s business world this is a must … things have changed and consumers now expect businesses to have a social media presence. Studies show that they are actually looking for this presence before they make buying decisions in some cases. Consumers love to research before they buy and social media is a great place for them to do this … to evaluate past customer experiences, customer service issues, new products, ongoing sales, you name it and the consumer wants this type of interaction from the brands they choose to do business with. I recommend having a good presence on at least the big 3 ~ Facebook, Twitter, and Google +. Depending on the type of business you have you may also want to add in LinkedIn and Pinterest as part of your overall social media strategy.
- Good Search Engine Optimization ~ What’s one of the first things you do if you are looking for a place to buy something? You Google it right?! That is what your potential customers are doing too … so you need to position yourself and your business website to be found when your potential customers are searching for you. You do this with proper and effective search engine optimization campaigns for your website and business brand online. Do your keyword research and get found for exactly what your target customers are searching for.
- Mobile Marketing ~ The world has gone mobile and your business needs to keep up. Studies show that a large % of consumers are using the web from a mobile device … that means if your website is not mobile ready you are losing customers. There’s nothing worse then searching for something on your phone while out and about and landing on a website that you can’t read or access because it’s not compatible with your mobile device … what do you do … you move on to the next option right .. don’t let that happen with your potential customers … have your site ready when they are searching for you.
- Blogging ~ No matter what type of business you have, adding a blog component can be a really effective strategy to build a relationship with your potential customers. In today’s new age of marketing the social aspect is huge in winning over consumers to brand loyalty … letting them get to know you a little on a higher level is a great way to do that. Now that doesn’t mean that you have to reveal all of your families deepest darkest secrets … you actually don’t even have to talk about yourself personally at all (although it does help … believe or not people want to get to know you!) Your blog can be all about your business … but use it in a way that lets your readers have an indepth look into what you and your company is all about. Incorporating a Blog into a plain old informational website can give you that warmth your consumers are looking for that their competitor just doesn’t have. Think about it … you can get a businesses contact information anywhere … but having an inviting look into what they are really all about gives you a whole other level of trust.
- Email Marketing ~ It surprises me when I meet with new businesses at the amount of them that don’t have a follow up system in place … This is such a huge key to ongoing success and most businesses just don’t consider it a playing factor in their marketing strategy .. this is a huge mistake. Creating a way to continually stay in touch with your customers and potential customers can truly be a make or break decision for some businesses. Not all consumers are ready to buy the first time they come across your business or services … actually in fact the majority won’t be … so you need a way to capture their contact information and stay in touch. If you are constantly staying in touch with them providing helpful information that they are interested in then you will be “Top of Mind” when they are finally ready to make that purchase.
These are the core marketing strategies to put in place … once they are in place you will have the foundation for a strategic marketing plan that you can add onto when you are ready. The list is huge of other effective strategies to implement including article marketing, video marketing, solo ads, PPC, FB ads, guest blogging, forum marketing, print ads, direct mail, Joint ventures, and the list goes on … but remember focus is key … try getting one marketing strategy in place and making it effective, and then move on to the next. You don’t have to do 20 strategies at once to be effective … even just a few done correctly can be more then enough to get your business moving upwards and onward to more profitability!
To Your Success!
Kate Wilber
The Marketing Momma