Marketing effectively is an essential part of the overall success of your business. If you do not invest enough time, money, and research into your marketing, you may never reach the kind of return in sales that you should have, or indeed deserve. Marketing, however, is an evolving beast. It needs to change as the customer changes. You need to find a new way to entice people into buying your products. To have a great marketing strategy, you need to thinking strategically, be able to align content with what the customer thinks and feels, and you need to be able to test and monitor the results. Here are a few ways you can improve your business strategy.
Monitor Your Competition
To understand how you fare against your competitors you need to check out their products and services and watch what they are doing and how they position themselves in regards to getting onto the heart of their customers. What are their core messages, and are they focused on things such as ethical or social issues? You could also do a deeper analysis by asking your customers what they see as the differences between you and your competitor. This will help you create better marketing material going forward. You could also use things like Open site Explorer and analyze you and your competition that way. You could secretly shop at your competitors. Watch how your customers refer to brands. There are many ways you can use the information your competitors make public to your advantage.
Use a Variety of Platforms
When it comes to marketing, you need to diversify. You need a social media presence that’s for sure. This way, you can talk directly to potential customers and become more engaged. It helps you look more modern and approachable too, giving you that human air. You also need an app. If you do not have a mobile app, you are already falling behind. Apps are great to help you market your products. You can create notifications that simply pop up on people’s phones. Also, your logo or icon will be visible to anyone who downloads your app whenever they open their phone. You news some more traditional forms of marketing too, so radio, T.V, billboards, events, etc. Do not plow a lot of money into one platform and forget the rest. Additionally, you need to create the right KPI (key performance indicators) to monitor how each platform is performing. Once you have discovered where you make the biggest impact, perhaps you could focus a little more resources in that area.
Local Events
Many customers who visit you will be from the local area. So it is important that you try and include them in your business. Hosting an event or asking the local council about local events you could hold a stall at could be a great way to interact with the local audience. Depending on what your business is, you could have an interactive area where you show families how to create something, or use something. You can also give away some great freebies with your logo printed on them. If you plan on holding an event, you need color flyer printing to make your business look more professional and enticing. Do not scrimp on local advertising as it may well undermine your products. Always ensure you position yourself as an expert in the field you work in and answer questions in-depth depending on the asker. Also, think about visiting local networking events and make sure other business owners see you in this light.
Branding
Branding is far more than just a simple logo and some pretty colors. It is much deeper than that. You need a fully-fledged business culture and value system these days so all your marketing material can be linked. Many companies work on a company culture where all employees are in the know and understand the core purpose of the business. It is a direction of travel. You need to think about core values and ethical things that all your key messages on social media marketing can hang off of. There is no point saying something ethical on a social media post, for example, and not having it backed up by content on the website. You need a well-thought-out, comprehensive and coherent branding strategy. This is where really understanding your target customer comes into its own. What motivates your customer, what problems are you solving in their lives, etc.? If you can align your brand to match these needs, it will definitely help you generate more sales as a result.
Work with Professionals
Finally, why not work with professionals if you feel like you need a helping hand? Many people have the knowledge and insight to help your business soar. Companies like Marcus Hansen Consulting know what works and what doesn’t and can help you achieve great things quickly. If you are looking for someone to help with networking events or flyer printing, some companies can also do these elements of marketing. It is always worth speaking to people in the industry first before making any commitments, though, as it will give you an understanding of how much it might cost and what would be the best route.
