As any business startup knows, it is not the quality of your product or service that is the tricky thing to perfect, it is your ability to get the world to know about it. The advent of social media, blogs and websites should, in theory, make your chances of being discovered all the more likely. However, there is fierce competition amongst small businesses to appear on the first page of search engine results, and it can be hard to know where your business fits in. There is a range of techniques that can help you boost the online marketing potential of your business.
Social Media
It is vital that your business is visible on social media. Set up a Facebook page, sign up to Twitter and log on to Instagram. Provide your potential customers with high-quality content that they want to read and share. Get blogging. Tell them about the benefits of your product and how it can save them time, money or make their lives more efficient. Tap into the emotive aspect of their lives and get them thinking about your product.
Don’t flood your social media channels with low quality and worthless content. Your potential customers will be put off by the mindless stream of comments generated from your account that is clogging up their feeds.
Email Marketing
A well-crafted email marketing campaign is worth its weight in gold. Don’t just launch into a hard sell. This is the quickest way to find your email straight in the bin. Talk about you, your company and how you feel that you can help your customer. Take a look at utilizing one of the many email marketing platforms to manage your campaign freeing up your time to concentrate on other areas of your business. These platforms often deploy a deeper level of analysis and can inform you of how your recipient engaged with your email. Did you convert the email to a website hit, Facebook like or a sale? They can tell you, allowing you to adapt your marketing campaign as needed.
Website
Your website needs to be uncluttered, relevant and intuitive. Once a customer has landed on your page, you don’t want them to leave in frustration because they can’t navigate around it. At the very least have your menu in a prominent position, make it obvious how a customer can contact you and have all of your links to social media easily accessible.
If you are selling products, ensure that the photography is high quality and shows your product from all angles. If spelling is not your forte, ask a friend or colleague to proofread your product descriptions and other content that will be uploaded onto your website. You want to show off your brand in the best possible way. Spelling and grammatical errors just aren’t going to cut it.
So maybe it’s time to sit back, take stock and reflect on the marketing strategy for your business. By refreshing your online presence, you may see an increase in your customer base and an upturn in sales.
