Posts

What Should Your Marketing Priorities Be As A New Business?

/in /by


A lot of new business owners are learning as they go, and have to figure things out quickly and in-depth to even get out of the starting blocks. And one of these items on the long list of to-do’s is marketing. Not just advertising, but branding, communities, and social media. Marketing isn’t something that can be overlooked or left to the last minute, nor can it be done in a half-hearted manner.

The way you market your business, in the beginning, will stick with your company forever. Think about it like building a box for a product that will be stuck on a shelf in a store. You have to make the packaging look as appealing as possible, perfect for the intended audience, and enticing to all. It also has to accurately, and honestly represent the product within the packaging, with no half-truths or promises that it can’t uphold.

Luckily, you’re not an inanimate object stuck on a store shelf – you can actually reach out and talk to your potential ‘buyers,’ create a relationship with them and would a reputation for being a good, honest product.

When planning your marketing strategy, you might be trying to work out what aspects deserve your attention more. Which sub-headings should sit above the rest and should be prioritized. Unfortunately, they are all almost as important as each other, the priorities shifting per business, however, here is our list of the most important aspects of marketing.

1. Reputation

We all studied The Scarlet Letter in school – the story of a girl who ruined her reputation by having intercourse before marriage. We’re not suggesting that we should act as they did in the book, but the lesson is still valid – a reputation lost isn’t easy to recover. As you begin your business journey, you need to set out a mission statement or motto – something that shows who you are, where you want to go, and what your company stands for. And you need to live by that statement.

If you declare that you can deliver a product anywhere, anytime, but can actually deliver within a 50-mile radius Monday to Friday, then you’re selling a lie and your reputation will be ruined before it has a chance to begin. Having a brand reputation overview will help you in so many ways – the foremost being the fact that you will see where your company need improving in these areas.

A good reputation can make up for the size of your company, your newness in the industry, and even the fact that your product might be more expensive than a competitor. People will pay for quality – and not just in the product, but in customer service, delivery, and any other dealing they have with you.

2. Branding

Creating a brand is more than just a color scheme and a name – although that is an essential part of the branding process. Branding is about establishing yourself as a company, and being recognizable by the public. You can do this through traditional mens like merchandise and packaging, but you can also look into sponsorship, like for like trades, and getting involved in local events.

A small company should always look to become involved in the local community. Your reputation will tie in with your brand here – your name will be promoted through word of mouth, and your reputation determines whether those promotions are positive or not. Get involved with charities, local festivals or competitions. Put yourself out there without being asked and help your local community where you can.

3. Reach

As your brand and reputation grow, as will your reach. It’s a natural process for good, successful businesses. However, don’t just leave it up to time to grow. You can easily expand your reach through research. Look at the areas and demographics around you – what isn’t being tapped into that you can? A coffee shop might see the need for a late night opening for students. A trunk company might think about expanding into smaller courier services.

There is always a new area to explore, a new audience to invite in. You can always count on a truck company to deliver huge quantities of goods, but what if one of your clients needs a quick influx of a certain product? This is where a smaller, quicker courier service would come in handy, and be a unique service you can use. A coffee shop will always attract students, so what about moms? Is there a mom and baby class nearby? If so why not reach out and offer half-price drinks to each mom after their class? That way you’re sure to get a new, regular group each week, who will spend hours chatting and drinking coffee.

4. Advertising

At the bottom of our list is advertising. Surprise! Yes, advertising is important – it is something that every business needs to do, but if you do the three previous points correctly, you don’t have to lean on it as a crutch.

When delving into the world of advertising, don’t just stick to online advertising; there is an entire world of tried and tested, physical advertising. Don’t ignore one to favor the other. They should compliment each other, with the same images, colors, and slogans. Your branding comes into focus here as people will, hopefully, recognize who you are and what you do. Look at successful companies like Nike and Starbucks; you know exactly what that little tick, and who that siren is, and what each company offers.

This list is, obviously, just a guide. Your business will demand that you focus on certain aspects first. But never let yourself forget the importance of marketing, and what a good campaign can do for your company. And, above all, start as you mean to go on – especially when it comes to your mission, promises and qualities.

Four Tips on Hiring an SEO Agency for Your Startup

/in , /by

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
In today’s business market, online brand visibility is key to getting your new start-up off the ground. No matter what type of products or services you are selling, the type of audience that you are reaching out to or your goals for your business future, it’s important to have a strong online presence in order to reach success. A strong visibility in search engines and the ability to showcase your expertise and knowledge about your industry online is key to building your customer base and improving customer retention and sales. One of the first steps towards building a strong online presence is search engine optimisation; search engines are one of the first places that customers will go when they are trying to find a brand like yours.

We’ve put together some top tips to help you choose the right SEO agency for the job.

Tip #1. Ask for Recommendations:

As a business owner, you probably spend some time networking and building relationships with other business owners and influential, experienced individuals in your industry. One of the best ways to find a good SEO agency is to simply ask around within your business circles for recommendations – chances are that you know somebody who’s hired an SEO agency before, and will be able to point you in their direction if they were satisfied with their work and believe they’d be a good choice for your needs.

Tip #2. Check Out Portfolios:

Before you make a final decision on an SEO agency, it’s important to take a look at their portfolio of past work to determine whether they are offering the kind of things that you are after. Most good SEO agencies, will display a portfolio that prospective new clients can easily access to get an idea of the kind of work that they do on a regular basis. Take the Lexel SEO agency in London as an example. They have a section on their site dedicated to case studies which their audience can browse through. This is something you should be looking out for whenever you visit an SEO agency’s website.

It’s also a good idea to look at how well any prospective agencies have been doing their own SEO; are they high up in search engine rankings themselves?

Tip #3. Understand What You Need:

When choosing an SEO agency for your business, it’s important to have a list of needs and requirements in mind to ensure that you make the right decision. For example, if you run a smaller, local business, then you’re going to prefer an SEO agency that specialises in conducting local SEO and improving your brand’s visibility within your local area.

Tip #4. Conduct a Background Check:

Finally, once you have determined a few SEO agencies that seem like a good fit for your needs, it’s a good idea to take a closer look into them. One of the best ways of doing this is to get information from past clients regarding their experiences with the company. You can often do this by simply searching for online reviews – third-party websites are the best place to look since you’ll often find more honest and reliable reviews there.

Did you find these tips helpful? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Which Lead Generation Tactics Get the Best Results

/in /by

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
The worst number in business is one. If you have just one source of leads, it is only a question of time when the price per click goes up or the targeting options change or the viewership of the publication changes.

Because of this, you want to have several lead generation mechanisms in place. This way, if something happens to one of them, the other ones will continue working for you and generating new leads. This article will introduce you to five tactics you can use in your business.

1. Media Buying

Media buying is the process of negotiating and purchasing advertising time and space.

The secret to successful media buying lies in knowing your audience. One of the biggest mistakes a marketer can make is to advertise a niche offer to a broad market. The ad campaign will be expensive and the response will be small. This is not how you want to run your campaigns.

You need to know the age of your buyers, their gender, level of education, income, family status and interests. You also want to know what publications they read, how they spend their free time and what websites they visit.

Once you have this data, you can start making intelligent choices about how and where you can advertise to them. One of your goals should be to find media that are not obvious to your competition. This way you will be able to purchase space and time at reasonable rates (because the competition is not yet there) and be the only advertiser in your category in that media.

If there are certain media that you would like to use for advertisements, but can’t afford, call them or email them and tell them how much you can pay. Often, you’ll be able to get a last-minute offer if one of their advertisers pulls out and they have some free time or space. Many media are very negotiable as to how much they will sell advertising for. This is not something they advertise upfront, but if you negotiate, you will often be able to get a great deal.

2. Affiliates

Affiliate marketing is a great way to market products and services because in affiliate marketing you don’t have to pay for advertising upfront and you don’t have any risks.

Typically, you pay for advertising or lead generation activities first. These activities generate leads. Then, you have to do the work to convert the leads into paying customers. If the work is successful, only then you get your money back and a return on your investment.

This is not how things work in affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketers do all the work for you. In exchange, you pay them a percentage of the sales or a pre-agreed amount per sale for all the sales that they make.

The best way to use affiliates is to scale your sales systems that are already working. Nobody wants to pay money to test something that is not proven. While you may get affiliates to test your offers, if they lose money, they will not work with you again. If, however, you have a system that works and need more leads or need to convert more leads, then working with affiliates is a great way to go. You will make more money and your affiliates will make money, which will make them want to work again with you in the future.

3. Social Media Marketing

Today there are all kinds of social media, from Pinterest to Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn. However, this does not mean that you have to be everywhere. You need to be where your customers are. If you are selling a consumer product, you probably do not need to be on LinkedIn. If you are a high-end executive recruitment boutique, then being on Pinterest may not be a good strategy for you.
Find out where your customers spend their time. Then, get in front of them.

The good news is that social media today offer a variety of tools and ways to reach prospects and existing customers.

Using Facebook Pixel or Google Tag Manager, you can mark everyone who visits your website or certain pages on your website. You can also create audiences based on sequences of pages that people visit, videos they watch, elements of pages that they click on and parts of the pages they scroll to. Then, you can retarget these visitors with custom ads on social media and other websites. The opportunities for marketers today are virtually unlimited.

4. SMS

SMS or text messaging can be a very effective way to target customer but you need to be very careful with how you use it. Today most people use text messaging to communicate with their friends and family. They don’t get a lot of advertising messages via text. For this reason, you want to only text them about something important. Reminders typically fall into the important category and work really well. For example, you can send a reminder about a webinar. You can also send a reminder about a demo or a sales call that you have coming up.

You can also offer your existing customers to notify them via text about special sales and events.

At the same time, sending regular updates and marketing messages via text messaging is probably not a good idea. Most people check their text messages very frequently and if you are sending them messages that they don’t find valuable, they may feel as if you are spamming them and interrupting them with no good reason.

5. Ringless Voicemail

Ringless voicemail is a relatively new technology, which is why it is extremely effective.

Ringless voicemail works only will cellphones. According to studies, over 90% of adult Americans own a cellphone, which means that you can reach virtually any person with ringless voicemail marketing.

Ringless voicemail works by completely bypassing cellular networks. It contacts the cellular provider directly via a business landline call and drops a message on the server of the cellular provider. The provider then moves the message to the server space of the recipient and notifies the recipient about the message. This way there is no call made to the recipient, no charges to the recipient and no interruptions.

When the recipient checks his or her voicemail, he or she can listen to the message. The message can be as long or as short as the sender likes. This means that you can create ringless voicemails that are really effective.

A ringless voicemail can have options that connect the recipient to a sales person or drive the recipient to a website. By using these options you can measure the ROI from your ringless voicemail campaigns and make sure that you are spending your marketing dollars wisely.

Four Ways to Control How Your Business is Perceived

/in , /by

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
In today’s global economy, competition is fiercer than ever, and businesses need to do everything that can to stand out from the crowd. Understanding and controlling how your business is perceived is crucial if you want to be sure you not only get the attention of your customers, but also leave the right impression.

Ask for feedback

Before you make any changes to the corporate image of your brand or business, you first need to understand what the current perception is. The best way to achieve this is to ask for as much feedback as possible. Don’t restrict your enquiries to your current customer base – they are likely happy with the status quo otherwise they would not be using you. Instead, find out how your brand is perceived by those currently making use of other services, especially those of your closest rivals.

In this digital age, the perception of your business matters more than ever as it is the fundamental reason why consumers choose one product over another. Potential customers don’t only want to be sure that they are getting good value for money for the products or services they buy, they also want to be able to feel good about what they are doing.

Use high-quality promotional materials

Bespoke printed folders with contents that perfectly match the nature of your business are a great way to ensure your company or services are perceived in the way you wish. They not only boost awareness of your brand but also its identity. The flexibility of the format means your folders can contain anything from price lists and press releases to sales brochures or vouchers for special officers. You can also adjust the size of your folder to enable it to carry a DVD or other multi-media material. Position these around your office and reception area; use them for meetings and give them to customers and clients.

Stay on top of your social media accounts

With the right combination of tweets, posts and stories, your social media accounts can help you connect with millions of people all over the world. However, one slip-up can have lasting repercussions. In 2014 a young employee of American Apparel tasked with finding a picture to fit in with a 4th of July celebration posted a picture of what turned out to be the Space Shuttle Challenger exploding to the corporate Tumblr account. The image was swiftly removed and an apology posted, but the damage had already been done with many perceiving the company to be insensitive and incompetent.

Keep on top of your social media and use your accounts as a means to connect with your customers. If a mistake is made, apologize.

Avoid complacency

The world continues to change at a rapid pace, but if your business insists on standing still and doing things the ways they have always been done, it will soon be seen as a dinosaur and get left behind. Always keep tabs on the competition and any key developments in the field in which you operate. By being aware of potential changes to the market well in advance, you’ll be in a position to ensure your products and services remain desirable for decades to come and cement a reputation for being a forward-thinking organization.

Business Events: Why You Need To Hold One!

/in /by

Event hosting is, without a doubt, one of the very best ways to promote a business, and yet, few businesses are taking advantage of this simple method of promotion. Companies from all manner of industries, from technology to beauty businesses, are hosting events, and are reaping the rewards from doing so.

A lot of small(er) business owners are under the common misconception that event hosting is something that is made for larger businesses. However, that isn’t necessarily the case – event hosting can be beneficial for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Arranging an event doesn’t require a huge budget, despite what you might have heard, so it’s a fantastic way of promoting your business regardless of its size and your budget. The events that you host don’t have to be overly lavish with hundreds of attendees, speakers, and lots of food and drink, they can be a more modest affair. Instead of hosting an event at your place of business, you can hire a venue, use event equipment rental, and outsource all of the other tasks that come with holding an event. The fact is that to be a success; an event doesn’t have to be expensive.

Now, onto the question of why you should host events in the first place. For a guide to all of the best benefits of event hosting, read on.

Brand exposure 

One of the major benefits of hosting business events is the brand exposure that comes with them. When you hold events, whether they are for other business owners or local people, they offer a fantastic opportunity to gain exposure within the local community. Your company’s name will be associated with the event that you host, promoting your business to a wider audience.

A more targeted audience 

The reason that business events can be such an effective method of increasing your customer base is because you have a more targeted audience to appeal to. The fact is that different event types attract different people, and the chances are that your business event will link to your business in some way, and will attract people with an interest in the industry that you are in. This gives you a more targeted audience to appeal to, and a better chance of boosting your customer base with relevant customers.

Chance to network 

Hosting a business event that appeals to both other business owners and the local community is a great chance to network. The fact is that these kinds of events not only allow you to get to know your customers and potential customers, but also other people within the local community who own and run businesses. You never know, one of these companies could end up being a good match for your business, and you may be able to forge a brand partnership because of it.

The fact is that hosting a business event is a great idea for a whole range of reasons, but especially because, if you take the time to plan it properly, it can be a fantastic way to network with other relevant people within the local community.