Marketing tips to up your game
When it comes to marketing, there are a few tried and true methods, but like everything, it is trial and error. What works for Joe down the road might not work for you. It depends on your products and your audience. It is often recommended to seek out a digital marketing agency that will work with your vision and be able to put some legwork in where it really counts. But, there are things you can do to prepare your business to hand off to an agency - and particularly if you are in the early days of your business.
Customers
You have to know who your customers are - or how are you going to find them, and sell to them? With great difficulty. Pay close attention to your analytics dashboard. You will be able to narrow down who is looking at your website, where they have come from - and of course what they purchased. Look for similarities in behaviours, and you will begin to get a very clear idea of where some of your efforts should be focused.
Provide space for feedback. You could do this by sending a quick follow up survey after they make a purchase, or if you want more of a conversation - make sure your social media pages are well managed and easy to find. Their opinions on your services will give you the room to grow and improve.
Highlight your BIG DEAL
People are creatures of habit - when they find a better product at a lower price, they will always go back to that seller. But, it is not enough for you to point out that you are cheaper than the X company. Comparison is excellent, but what you should be doing is highlighting the benefits of your product to the consumer.
If you aren’t opening up with a discounted price for a short while, but rather your price is set lower than your competitors, that is a bonus for consumers. Your quality is higher than everyone else's - of course, so say it. Combine those two things in your message. You are a better price and a higher quality - that is what people want to spend their money on.
You need to show people how you make their lives better.
More is more
A marketing budget is better to spend in multiple places. You have the details of your consumers so of course, you can plunge more money into those areas - but don’t disregard how much can be done via other methods. Social media takes the crown for almost all marketing now - BUT content marketing, radio, and even newspapers are worth more than a little consideration.
“Content marketing is more than a buzzword. It is the hottest trend in marketing because it is the biggest gap between what buyers want and brands produce.” - Michael Brenner
Public relations
It is always time for PR. Traditional marketing is selling your products - which is essential for survival, but PR has a firm place too. You can manage your own PR, or you can get an agency to handle it for you. They will be putting together press releases and more to send to relevant media outlets who may choose to run the story. This builds your brand and credibility - something you can’t do without.
Even a small startup company can garner some great coverage using blogs, influencers, local newspapers and more. The great thing about public relations is that most things are online which means when people are searching for your brand, they will be able to browse all of the good stuff that has been written about you.
Loyalty
As mentioned above, people are creatures of habit. They like to buy from the same places - they know the quality and the price of the items and they will head back. But, if you offer a loyalty programme, you are even more likely to see those people return. Offering discounts after the first purchase or randomly via newsletters - and generally, competitive pricing will mean that people will usually come back
Fail often
Failure isn’t a bad thing - if you learn from it. In fact, failing quickly and often will save you time working out which the best options are for you and your company - which is a great thing. You need to put your money and time into things that you can measure. And while most adverts will give you a small uptick in purchases, it doesn’t mean that it was from that specific marketing campaign. It could be a seasonal thing, it might be one person out there telling other people about your product - so don’t count your chickens.
Running campaigns in smaller, very distinct batches will mean that you can track those specific indicators and conversions. You can then compare all of the channels and cut out the channels and methods that aren’t working for you.
Be creative
The marketing landscape has changed rapidly. In fact, it is more friendly for start-ups than it has ever been. Social media platforms, in particular, have given everyone a voice - and it isn’t hard to learn how to use it to great benefit. Startups can really make use of all of the free information, techniques and platform offerings to maximise their message early on.
Combine that with the use of Canva or Picmoney for simple graphic creation, and Unsplash for free images and you can pull together a budget campaign in no time at all. Of course, if you want to amplify that you are going to need to consider an agency.
“Don’t be afraid to get creative and experiment with your marketing.” - Mike Volpe
Marketing is rewarding and a lot of fun. You can find new ways to sell your product to large audiences, and when you are going through all of your analytics - you might even find a few surprises and places, you can plunge some money. There are a lot of free tools that you have access too that can be very powerful. So have fun, experiment and see what works for you.