10 ways to transform the marketing of your business in 30 days
Embrace social media – it’s here to stay and those businesses, even small and medium-sized businesses, that choose to ignore social media will be left behind in the near future
Set up a Facebook Page (not profile)
Set up a Google+ Page
Set up a company Twitter account
Set up a LinkedIn Company Profile
Start to use all of the above
Explore video marketing – the number of videos watched on YouTube and other video channels such as Vimeo will blow your mind. The benefits of video marketing are massive: more traffic to your website, higher profile and awareness of your business, greater credibility and authority, and the biggest, free way to expose your business to your existing and potential customers there is, bar none!
Image is all: get your branding, corporate literature, sales literature, exhibition materials and website reviewed – professionally – and re-designed to be congruent with who you are as a company and how you want to position your company in the minds of your existing customers and potential customers
Get your website optimised to increase the number of visitors to it, increase the probability that people will engage with your business, and eventually become customers
Get a mobile friendly website – more people now search the internet via their mobile phone or tablet than a PC or laptop! Research shows that consumers are more likely to buy from a business with a mobile friendly website than one that only has a main website
Get a marketing plan – a list of marketing activity that can be undertaken month-by-month for 12 months. You will be amazed at how quickly you will reach the goals for your business with a marketing plan!
Review your existing customer database: can you cross sell other products or services to them? It’s much cheaper to sell to your existing customers than try to find new customers. Can you upsell them i.e. to encourage them to purchase either more products, or products on a more frequent basis, or products of a greater total value?
Review your value proposition i.e. what value do you offer your customers? List all the benefits of your products, services and your business offers customers and how these differ from your competitors. Put these benefits in your sales and corporate literature, on your website and in your social media profiles. Make sure your sales team knows these benefits by heart!
If you don’t sell via the internet, you should. Virtually all businesses can benefit massively from a ‘shop on the internet’. Initially, some businesses start via eBay or Gumtree but eventually need their own e-commerce website.
Commit to investing time and some resources into regular marketing activity – preferably from a marketing plan. Generally, it’s quicker, easier and far more affordable to outsource your marketing than employ someone in-house, at least initially. You will be surprised how quickly regular, focused marketing brings results.