In today’s lean economy, small businesses can gain an advantage over their competitors by first assessing where they stand and then implementing a few solutions to boost their marketing campaign. The key factor is to start with a marketing campaign that is interactive, where the opinions of your customers count and emphasize that you are listening to them. It is essential that customers know that you value their participation in business transactions. To get started, here are seven tips that will help small business owners gain momentum and achieve success.
one. SEO
Evaluate the search engine optimization of your business website. Even if you plan to hire an SEO consultant, it’s important for the savvy business owner to learn about SEO so that he or she can work with the consultant as a team. Two websites offer information to help interested people learn about SEO: Seobook offers a free course, “7 Days to SEO Success,” and Hubspot offers free eBooks, including “Learn SEO from the Experts.” Marketing software for small and medium-sized businesses can be purchased from Hubspot. Mike Volpe, director of marketing, places great importance on his blog because it is an integral part of his marketing strategy to drive traffic to his website.
2. Articles and Blogs
Write and publish articles and blogs to establish your position as an expert in your industry. When you provide articles on relevant information related to your industry, you will gain thought leader status and build credibility and trust. On your blogs, you can communicate and connect with customers. If a complaint is sent to you, view this negative comment as an opportunity and not a threat. You get to show the customer and other potential customers that you are a problem solver and that customer satisfaction is your priority.
3. Press release
Write a keyword friendly press release about your product or service. By submitting this press release to Google News and other websites, many people will read about your business.
Four. Market segmentation
Analyze your customer base and gain market segmentation insights. When selling a product, think about the profile and focus on what qualities are most important to the group of customers who are most likely to buy the product or service. I would design the advertising to speak to this particular group in their language to suit their wants and needs.
5. ebook
Offer an e-book with the information customers are looking for. This project is double. First, you’ll enhance your reputation as an expert in your field. Second, in this marketing effort, you will gain information about your customers. The subscription page will collect the customer’s name and email address. You may wonder what themes would appeal to customers.
For example, a landscaping company could write an e-book on smart gardening and offer the e-book for free on the company’s website with information on how many gallons of water it would save. The goal is for the client to create the project. The business owner might also provide price information for plants and materials, such as drip irrigation supplies. Chances are, after reading about the benefits of saving water and being environmentally friendly, the customer will call the landscaping company to do the actual work of installing the drip irrigation system and placing the hardy plants. to drought. To help customers, the company could also suggest the Home Depot website, where they could buy rain barrels to collect rainwater from the rainy season to water the garden.
6. Contest
Host a contest to attract lots of entries and additional customer data. For example, you can give away a laptop, iPhone or iPad. An opportune moment is the celebration of the anniversary of your business. The investment will bring returns that are multiple. First, you are promoting goodwill for your brand and business. People are generally very excited about contests and will most likely spread the word to family and friends. More importantly, as customers and potential customers enter the contest, add lots of names to your email list.
7. Junk mail
Traffic and customers are the lifeblood of a business. Do email marketing to reach more customers and potential customers. The collection of emails can be done in several ways. Tip #5 above (offer an eBook) and tip #6 (run a contest) are great ways to collect names and email addresses. If your business is a physical business in addition to your online business, face time with customers is also very important. In addition to good customer service, instruct your sales staff to ask for the customer’s email address and offer an incentive. Tell customers you’ll email them a coupon for 10% off their next purchase and notify them of special sales.
By implementing some or all of the tips above, your business will be more successful because you are using an interactive marketing strategy. The important benefit to note is that you are the enterprising business owner and are implementing proactive measures to gain an advantage over your competitors. Your customers will feel like they are part of the process because they have options and their opinions count.