Marketing is one of the most important components of any business strategy – if you aren’t marketing yourself effectively, then you will never be achieving everything that your business is capable of. A common mistake that businesses make when they are devising their marketing strategies is to assume that all they need to do is increase their spending and they will be able to achieve anything.
In actual fact, it is better to get smart about your marketing and to choose the most efficient marketing techniques you can think of, instead of just spending more on the same failed objectives.
Make Sure You Are Registered with Local Listings
When most of us want to find a business that we know the name of, or find the name of a business that offers the products and services that we need at that time, we will go straight to Google to search for relevant keywords. Any business that isn’t listed on Google is missing out on a lot of potential traffic, both physical and digital.
Of course, you want your business to be listed amongst the results when people search for your business or brand online, and you can help this process along by investing properly in your SEO. However, there may also be people who are looking for your business itself, not just your website. If your business operates out of physical premises that customers can visit, you will want to be included in Google’s local listings so that you can be easily tracked down by curious customers.
All you need to do to make this happen is fill out the relevant form – Google has its own confirmation process that can be done via physical mail or via a phone call. Other search engine providers, such as Yahoo! also offer their own local directories and listings, so it is worth completing the process for each, as it won’t take you very long.
Use Social Media to Its Full Effectiveness
Social media is the most powerful marketing medium available to businesses today, bar none. It doesn’t matter what type of business you run or what services you provide – you can always benefit from maintaining a presence on social media. However, if you are only maintaining a presence and not making an effort to engage with and interact with your audience, you will be wasting a golden opportunity.
Having a profile on social media platforms means that when people search for your business name, they are likely to see your profiles relatively near the top of the results page. It also means that if users on those platforms search for keywords that are relevant to your business, then they are more likely to come across your profile.
There are now several different social media platforms for businesses to choose from, and most will aim to maintain profiles on at least a couple of different platforms. Different social media services tend to attract slightly different demographics, and also each favour different styles of content. In order to get the most out of the platforms that you do use, and maximise customer engagement, you need to choose the right platforms and the right content for your business.
You might also want to consider whether it is worth automating some of your social media activities using bots. Bots are automation tools that can be used to automatically update your social media, add new content, and even interact with other users. By scheduling these actions for the same time every day, you can build a consistent routine that your audience and your marketers will appreciate.
Build a Helpful Homepage
Your website’s homepage is like your digital store window; it is the first thing that a visitor will see and will therefore shape their initial impressions of your business and brand. Of course, there is no single approach that will work every time here, so you need to think about your business and your audience when you are designing your homepage.
For example, you need to strike a balance between providing a new visitor with all the information that they need to get started with your business while also avoiding overwhelming them with an excessive amount of information all at once. You also want a newcomer to your website to be able to find their way around as easily as possible. Good website navigation is a hugely underappreciated aspect of modern web design.
For example, consider a business like Utility Bidder, which provides price comparisons for British Gas business rates with other suppliers. As soon as you land on their homepage, you will see a list of suppliers that are included in their price comparisons, along with a hamburger menu that will show you all the different utilities that they can compare prices for. You want your audience to be able to give your page just a quick once over before they know what to click and where to go.
Start Your Own Blog
Adding a blog to your website is a fantastic way of increasing traffic and adding value for existing users. Maintaining a blog that records any news and updates about your business, as well as wider news about your industry and other subjects of interest to your audience, means that people will have a reason to come to your website even when they don’t want to buy anything.
A blog is also a great way of improving your SEO, as it gives you the freedom to add whatever content you need to work in your most important keywords. It is important that you update your blog regularly and ideally to a set schedule. If you do it right, you might even be able to start generating extra revenue via guest posts or direct advertising on your business’s blog.
Anyone can put together a professional-looking website with relative ease using the myriad tools we now have at our disposal. However, simply making a website is not going to be enough; you also need to market it properly. If your website is integral to the functioning of a business, it is imperative that you have a solid marketing strategy in place before you begin.
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