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Simple Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs|Simple Marketing Tips for EntrepreneursEveryone knows that entrepreneurs, working on their startup enterprises, have a lot of different tasks to juggle. As well as representing their firm in business meetings and conversations with clients and customers, the entrepreneur is also asked to oversee all elements of their business – from their accounts and finances through to the strategy and planning that leads an industry toward its goals. As such, entrepreneurs need to know the shortcuts and the tricks to each part of their business – and this article is all about getting the most out of your marketing strategy without spending undue time on advertising and marketing.

Use Apps and Programs

Many entrepreneurs choose to outsource all of their marketing responsibilities to those businesses that they can trust to build them a workable strategy. While this works in practice, in principle, it can sometimes be a waste of money in the early lifespan of a startup.

A better solution is to make use of the digital tools available to generate shortcuts for your team when they’re marketing your brand and your products. Simply search for marketing tools, and use them to cut down your research, content design and strategy development time when marketing.

Or, you could get the best of both worlds by using AI marketing services. These companies, rather than taking over all of your marketing responsibilities completely, offer an automated AI-powered marketing tool that uses deep learning to analyze your customer’s interests. This data can in turn be used to create a strategy tailored to your marketing objectives and your brand. If your business is growing and you’re struggling to keep up with the marketing needs of your company, this may be a good option.

SEO Boosts

Another element of your marketing strategy that it’s crucial to get right is the SEO approach. If you have a marketing professional on your team, this is one of the primary areas of focus that you’ll want them to concentrate on throughout the week.

Above and beyond the usual marketing tips for SEO, though, it’s worth considering investing in Spanish SEO assistance – so that your firm can tap into the millions of Spanish speakers in the US and abroad. Competing in this space is far easier – a great way to conquer this large market.

Social Media

It’s incredible how much you can achieve with an hour on social media when you’re looking to share your product and your brand with a specific demographic of consumer. You can target adverts incredibly specifically on the likes of Facebook and Instagram, and you can get into the feeds of your target consumer on YouTube with ease.

All of this takes a little investment in targeted advertising, but this is the sort of investment which pays off almost immediately, with big hits on your website and your social media pages. For time-pressed entrepreneurs, social media is a great ally in your attempts to market your products.

Website

Finally, it’s incredibly important that you’re proud of your website. You should certainly hire a trustworthy professional to help you build out your site, ensuring that you’re on-trend and looking professional for consumers who visit your corner of the internet.
Remember, too, that this is your home on the internet. It’s the foundation that you’ll build upon. As such, it pays to get some aspects of your website right the first time – like the page structure and the color scheme and branding. Invest in this part of your business to see your traffic convert to more sales over time.

Busy entrepreneurs should make use of the above tips to ensure their marketing is second-to-none in their first few months of business.

Fun Ways to Market Your Brand

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Market your Brand|Fun Ways to Market Your BrandMarketing is one of the most crucial elements of growing any business, whether it’s established or brand new, big or small. Without effective marketing campaigns, all of your hard work goes to waste. You could spend years trying to get seen, struggling to make sales, and feeling frustrated. Many entrepreneurs even give up.

For bigger businesses or those with more money to spend, marketing is often one of the first jobs that they consider outsourcing to the experts. This is undoubtedly a worthwhile investment, and one that can grow your audience, build trust and drive sales enormously.

Unfortunately, however, for many newer or smaller businesses, this isn’t an option. They are forced to use their own skills and learn as much as they can, or to rely on the talent already in their company.

The good news is, with the tremendous growth of social media and internet usage, it’s easier than ever to market your brand. Digital marketing allows you to reach a far wider audience, find your people and build your brand, without spending vast amounts of money.

The better news is, it doesn’t have to be boring. Effective marketing isn’t all about writing content for your website or hitting those social media share buttons. There are some more creative and fun ways that you can boost your business. Here’s a look at some of the best.

Get Out into the Community

Most modern marketing methods, and certainly lower budget methods, focus on digital marketing and online campaigns. While these can be exceptionally useful, there is still value to marketing in the real world and getting off the computer. Some of the most fun marketing methods are actually out in your local community.

Work with Local Businesses

If your business sells to or works with the local community, working with other companies can be a great idea. Attend, or start, regional networking events, get to know other business owners and look for ways that you can collaborate. Even if it’s just supporting each other online, and meeting to share ideas, it could be useful.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Market your Brand|Fun Ways to Market Your BrandCommission a Mural

If you’d like to get more creative with your marketing, what about commissioning a mural? Find a talented local artist to paint your logo or an image that is personal to your business, on the side of your building.

Hit the Streets

Chalk drawings on the footpaths might not last very long, but they will certainly get noticed. Pick an area with passing footfall, or close to your premises, and draw quirky pictures or quotes on the sidewalk.

Flyers and Posters

Flyers and posters might seem old-fashioned, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t still be fruitful. Flyers and even business cards can work well, as they are something tangible that people can walk away with. They don’t need to make a brilliant first impression or communicate information quickly. The recipient can take them away to process later.

Sponsor Events

Sponsoring events and working with charities on their events and fundraisers is a brilliant way to both get your name out there and also to build a reputation as a caring brand.

Have Fun with Clothing

Clothing is made to be seen. It’s probably safe to say that unless you are a clothing brand, or have a trendy logo, people are unlikely to buy clothing with your name on. But that doesn’t mean that they won’t wear them, and so advertize your business, if you give them away for free. Have t-shirts printed and put socks in goodie bags at tradeshows and conferences. Click here to look at some cool options.

Think Outside the Box with Sponsorships

When you think about sponsoring someone, as a brand, you might think of well-known brands on the front of sports shirts or at stadiums. But, many groups, businesses, companies and community spaces are seeking sponsorship to help them to make money, especially in the current climate. Think of sponsorships that could benefit your business, even if they aren’t closely related to what you do, and reach out to local teams, charities, events and community spaces with a pitch.

Host a Contest

Social media dominates many of our lives. We’re continually checking feeds, updating photos and videos, and checking in with our favorite brands and celebrities. Chances are, your audience is online a lot, and they are looking for creative and fun ways to spend their time.

So, give them something to do, that also gets you extra shares and attention. Host a photo or video contest, asking your followers to share photos or videos around a theme or their favorite images of your products. Offer the winner a small freebie to increase entries, and don’t forget to engage.

Attend Trade Shows

Trade Shows are both a great way to increase your audience and sell yourself, and to meet other businesses and suppliers who could be useful to you. Be creative with your stall, advertising your best products or services, and using props and banners to grab attention. Give away cool goodies, such as those socks, or stationary, and wrap them in a tote bag for some easy advertising, and make sure you are ready to answer any questions that anyone might have for you.

Be Controversial

Content marketing with a blog, either separately, or one your website, is a great way to gain traffic from search engines and reach a significant audience. But, it’s often the more controversial posts and opinions that get noticed. Obviously, this is a risk, and you may alienate some people, but your true fans are likely to share your ideas, and it will certainly get people talking about, and so googling your business.

Most businesses and entrepreneurs will need to experiment to find the marketing methods that work for them. Your audience might not respond to everything on this list, and some things will undoubtedly be more effective than others. Don’t be scared to try new things and remember to give campaigns and ideas a chance before giving up on them and moving on to the next.

How to Maximize Your Online Visibility

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Online Visibility|How to Maximize Your Online Visibility There are very few businesses without some kind of presence on the internet nowadays, but that does not necessarily mean that all of these businesses are getting tangible benefits in return. It is easy to waste a lot of time on digital marketing with no real return on the investment, but that is not a reason to shy away from it altogether. Whether you are trying to establish your brand, attract inquiries, or boost profits, you need to maximize your online visibility. This guide outlines effective marketing activities you can adopt to ensure you stand out from the crowd in a digital marketplace and attract the perfect customers.

Write a blog for your website

One of the best ways to increase your online visibility is to ensure your website has a blog. The blog is your space to show existing and potential customers your expertise, experience, skills, personality, and value. Your blog posts should be unique, helpful, informative, and/or entertaining. Every blog post you create is an exclusive page which adds to your website’s presence on the internet and increases the likelihood that you will rank for keywords relevant to your business.

Blogs should be posted regularly but avoid posting content for the sake of keeping to a schedule if you have nothing new or useful to add. All the content should be of high quality, even if that means you only publish once a month. If you are concerned that your writing skills are not up to scratch, consider hiring a freelance writer to create content for your blog, which you can check for accuracy afterward.

Share and curate relevant content

You can also share content which other businesses or individuals have published, (as long as you acknowledge your source) you could add you own points of view or commentary to add value, or simply direct your followers or visitors to useful content elsewhere on the internet. If you find helpful content that is relevant to your business, try commenting, and starting a conversation. By sharing useful content, you are not only increasing your visibility but also showing yourself as an expert in your field who is in touch with the industry and customer needs.

Invest in search engine optimization (SEO)

There is no denying that SEO is a complex topic with many digital marketing agencies devoted to the practice. Essentially, it involves applying specific techniques to the design of a website and the creation of content to boost your website in search results. This can include, but is not limited to:

  • Writing high-quality content which is centered on keywords and phrases relevant to the business and searcher intent
  • Using descriptive and unique page titles which include the desired keyword
  • Include keywords in anchor text when linking internally
  • Writing a descriptive alt tag for images using the keyword or phrase
  • Writing a high-quality meta description for each page to encourage searchers to click on your page rather than your competitors.

SEO can be a time-consuming task as the goalposts are constantly being moved in terms of what search engines are prioritizing. This is why so many companies turn to specialist SEO companies such as serendipity-online-marketing.co.uk to stay on top of SEO trends and maximize their visibility.

StrategyDriven Online Marketer & Website Developer Magazine


Encourage customer reviews

Customer reviews have never been so powerful. Whether the review or comment is left on social media, an official review site, or on your website, positive and negative reviews can make or break a business’ reputation. Unfortunately, most satisfied customers do not go out of their way to praise a company, but customers with complaints are much more likely to voice them. The more positive customer reviews you can attract, the better for your business, so it is essential to have a strategy for acquiring them. For example, you can ask customers for reviews by email or put a feedback form on your website.

You may get negative reviews, but these are not the end of the world. In fact, if you can respond and try to resolve the issue, it will show that you are committed to excellent customer service standards. Also, a company rarely has an entirely positive set of reviews without customers suspecting that they are fabricated, so some negativity is natural and healthy if you deal with it appropriately.

Embrace social media

It is true that not all social media platforms are right for every business, but rarely, a business does not find at least one to be useful – if used correctly. Social media profiles can appear in search engine results, boosting your visibility, so your profiles must be branded and professionally written. When your social media profiles include links to your website, you are also increasing traffic, which will again boost your rankings. You should be focusing on posting high quality and engaging content that encourages interaction – it is not necessarily about how many likes or followers you have.

3 Top Tips for Building Your Business’ Online Brand

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Online Brand|3 Top Tips for Building Your Business’ Online BrandDo you want your business to become instantly recognizable in the eyes of both your target consumer base and the wider audience? If so, it’s absolutely imperative that you make a conscious effort to build your business’ online brand. The sooner you perform this all-important task, the sooner your company will become an easily identifiable figure in its industry.

To find out about three top tips for building your business’ online brand, be sure to read on.

Write a powerful mission statement

If you want to build a brand that is capable of resonating with your target audience for years to come, you must have a powerful mission statement at hand right from the off. This will provide your brand with the strong foundations it needs to be able to stand the test of time going forward.

When writing out your brand mission statement, be sure to put the following advice into practice:

  • Keep the statement short and concise
  • Think about the future and your long-term goals
  • Don’t make any false promises
  • Find out what other people associated with your business think about your statement before you go ahead and publish it
  • Never be afraid to rewrite or make changes to your statement as time goes on

Choose a tone of voice

The tone of voice that you use whenever you post new content to the web will make or break your ability to build an effective online brand for your business. You need to choose your tone carefully, as one wrong move in this instance could result in you alleviating a portion of your target consumer base. If that were to happen, your reputation as an inclusive business would take a hit and, ultimately, your sales turnover would be negatively affected.

To ensure that your tone of voice hits the mark right from the off, you must do the following:

  • Get to know the wants, needs, and expectations of your target audience
  • Identify and/or define your business’ core values
  • Know when to be formal, when to be serious, and when to be matter-of-fact

Harness the power of social media

Social media is one of the best platforms that you can use in your bid to build your business’ online brand. Harnessing the power of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram will allow you to communicate your brand directly to your target audience members, which in turn will help you to avoid instances of miscommunication and misunderstandings.

If you want your maiden voyage into the world of social media advertising to prove successful, you shouldn’t attempt to go it alone. With a Facebook advertising agency such as MV3 Marketing by your side, you will stand a much better chance of running a social media branding campaign that actually resonates with your target audience.

If you’re determined to take your business right to the very pinnacle of its industry, you’re going to have to build a strong and recognizable brand for it sooner rather than later. When you decide to take on this all-important challenge, be sure to remember all of the advice and information laid out above.

A Guide to Marketing Your Business: 2020 Edition

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Marketing Your Business 2020|A Guide to Marketing Your Business: 2020 EditionMarketing is an integral element for any business. From recent startups to long established organizations, continual promotion is necessary for a number of reasons. It allows a brand to become visible to new potential customers, it keeps them in the consciousness of current customers, and it can bring instant awareness to new products or services.

With this importance in mind, here’s a quick guide on marketing your business in 2020.

Conduct market research

Research is the basis for any solid plan. To develop a marketing strategy that will deliver results, you need to gain a deep understanding of your customers. What makes them tick? Which marketing methods convince them to purchase items? How have their tastes changed with current trends?

One of the best research methods is to look at the competition. See what they’re doing right and wrong, and use this information to your advantage.

Decide on a USP

When marketing a business, you have to decide on what to promote. While this can be the brand as a whole, the most effective plans are those that focus on a unique selling point. You have to provide potential customers with a reason to check out the business, and a USP helps to stand out from the crowd.

As for what the USP can be, this could be an affordable service or product with exceptional quality. If you are running an exclusive discount, say 30% off an item for one week only, this could help draw prospective customers in.

Select your tools

Picking the right marketing tools is, obviously, an essential aspect of advertising. Fortunately, there are many options available in that regard. Consider the following picks:

  • Social media
  • Pay-per-click ads
  • Content marketing
  • Email campaigns
  • Word-of-mouth
  • Flyers
  • Exhibit stand

Plus that’s just scratching the surface. Certain picks will require more money than others, and their level of effectiveness could differ on a business-on-business basis. Yet with the right research, you will have a firm grasp of which are the best choices.

Set a budget

Now you have the plan and tools in place, there’s one last element required before you can launch your marketing campaign: the necessary funding. The set budget for a promotional strategy can vary widely. It can cost thousands on a monthly basis, or it might not even require any money at all.

If outside financing is required, however, one of the best options is to acquire a loan. If your credit rating is in bad shape, Now Loans shows you can still acquire funding this way despite the hurdle.

Analyze the results

Even when the marketing campaign is well underway, there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done. You have to closely analyze your advertising ventures and see what’s producing results – and what isn’t generating conversions.

By studying these marketing techniques, you can constantly refine and improve your campaign. As with any component of business, you need to change with the times. A promotional tactic might become obsolete overnight, for instance.