As a business owners, we know how easy it can be to lose sight of your business goals. Sometimes you spend so much time dealing with the day-to-day, or focusing on the next project, you have little time to check if you’re still heading on the right track. With that in mind, it’s worth taking time out to revisit the basics in order to achieve marketing success:
- Make a plan
If you do not know where you want to be you cannot decide how to get there. You rarely just jump into your car and drive with no destination in mind, so plan your pathway to marketing success. Think about where you want the business to be in five years and then begin by planning the steps that will get you there. Here’s a good place to start…
- Know your customer
Sounds obvious but you always need to keep in mind who your customer is or, if not who they are now, who you are trying to appeal to. With this in mind you can set out to make decisions that you know will appeal to them. Know them, what they like, how they prefer to communicate and why they would use your service or buy your products. A good way to start is by asking them – whether that’s via a survey or, heaven knows, by good old face-to-face!
- Know your brand
A brand started as a way to distinguish one person’s cattle from another and that’s not so different today. It still identifies your product or service from another.
Your brand is everything from your logo, brochures, packaging, website and uniform, to the tone of voice you use in your promotions. In short, it’s your company’s DNA. With this in mind what does your brand say about your business? A good litmus test to formulate your brand’s personality is to imagine it as a famous person. Who would it be? What do they look like? How do they communicate? More importantly, do they relate well to your customer base or is there a disconnect?
- Take stock
Think about all of the areas where your customer comes into contact with your brand. This could be anything from a business card, store signage, a show stand, a social media post or website, right through to your employees’ sales patter.
Do all these areas of contact reflect your brand’s DNA or are they standing out for the wrong reasons? In other words, is your brand communicating to customers in a consistent way? Which brings me nicely to…
- Communicate
One of the easiest ways to build your business is through word of mouth so get ‘talking’.
Tell the people you meet about what you do. Network. Get social, post and chat on suitable social media channels about your business. Offer advice and give helpful tips to build trust in your brand. But don’t forget to communicate with your own people too!
Utilise free online tools to increase traffic to your website; such as Social Media, Yoast (SEO) or Google Ads. But above all, be clear in your communications! It sounds obvious, but so many businesses don’t state clearly what they do. Research the specific search terms that your potential customers would use to find your service and make sure they appear in your website content.
- Convert leads
Think about how you convert a contact into a positive action. If you are driving traffic to your website is it clear what you want them to do once they arrive? Think about a strong call to action to increase your conversion rate. Do you want them to call you, buy a product or sign-up for something?
- Quality without compromise
Make sure that once you attain your customer, you offer the best product and service you can. Things can go wrong sometimes but never compromise on customer service. After all, the test of a good business is how you deal with a problem so always leave your customer with the best possible experience. A happy customer is a loyal customer so ask them for a Google Review!
