In a business world littered with marketing advice, it may get a little confusing to know what to do to increase your company’s visibility. But one thing you shouldn’t do is lots of different things with no purpose or aim – this is the fastest route to a wasted budget. It may sound like a good idea to spend hours on building your social media following by tweeting every 5 minutes, but this is probably not the most appropriate route for your business.
Unfocused Social media, SEO or Pay Per Click advertising may be effective for some, but for many businesses, this scattergun approach fails to have an impact and leads to a lot of wasted time that could have been better spent elsewhere.
When it comes to the marketing there simply isn’t a one size fits all methodology. The best way to understand that best strategy for your business is to ask yourself one question – Who is my customer? Keep that customer in mind when creating your marketing strategy.
Plan consistent strategies
Put a strategy in place with your customers in mind. Think ahead, plan what you need to do, and keep doing it. Marketing works best when it’s consistent – you cannot just send one email and expect great results – whatever you do needs to build up and gain momentum. Measure the results.
- Try Email marketing – this often produces a much higher return on investment than social media, so put your time into creating an effective email marketing campaign where you can speak directly to followers. Grow your email list and write compelling and engaging emails, using words that appeal to your target market, that you send directly to the customer on a regular basis.
- Facebook allows you to get very specific in who you are targeting. Want to aim at women aged 25-40 in London who recently made a high-ticket purchase? Yes, you can target them. Or men in their 40s who love guitars and Apple products? Yes, them too. Facebook use data from individual’s Facebook activities to find out what their interests are, and you can use this to your advantage to reach a very narrow demographic of buyers.
Nurture your target market
- As Simon Sinek says, ‘Start with why’. Tell your customers why you are running this business and let them know why they are important to your success.
- Give your customers reason to trust you and never let them down.
- Analyse your current customers. Why do they buy from you? Use this information to focus your marketing.
- Find out where the leaks are in your marketing funnel. Where do people drop out and lose interest in what you are offering?
The more you can target and focus your campaigns, the more successful you will be in winning customers. This is the only way you will cut out the marketing fat and increase the visibility of your business to the people that matter – those who are going to buy your product or service – and ultimately, improve your bottom line.
Image credit: Petras Gagilas. Target.
