We receive this question often, and it’s a hard one to answer because it depends on the business. Here are a few things your business or organization can focus on when you are just starting to market it.
Tip 1: Create a Website
If you haven’t done this already, you need too. Websites are used to communicate with your customers. They introduce who your business is, what the business does, and why it does what it does. Today, people are consistently on their mobile devices searching for topics on the internet. A web presence is something you must have. According to Google Stats, 40,000 searches are performed every SECOND on the internet. Even if you are a small family owned restaurant, it is important to have a basic website so customers can locate your business. Try beginning with WordPress. It’s an easy, do-it-yourself website platform. In fact, the web page you are reading right now, was created through WordPress.
Tip 2: Make Sure Your Website is Mobile Responsive
Mobile responsive means your website will automatically adjust to different screen sizes such as desktop computers, tablets, or mobile phones. Talk with your web developer and ask them if your website is mobile responsive. If it’s not, pay the cost to make your website mobile responsive. 90% of search engine results come from Google, and 52% of searches come from mobile devices, i.e. tablets and cell phones. This means, it’s very important to watch what happens on Google. Google wants to offer its users a good experience when they search for things. Since 52% of searches comes from mobile devices, Google will give your website a low-quality score if your website is not mobile responsive. A low-quality score means, Google will not show your website in search results if your website is not mobile responsive; resulting in lower potential clientele.
Tip 3: Set up Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization or SEO, is a critical key component to being found when someone searches the World Wide Web. SEO is used to help drive traffic to your website.
The Searching Process
- Someone searches a word or phrase on Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.
- Search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) then need to search through billions of web pages to find similar words or phrases to the ones the searcher inputted into the search engine.
- Within seconds, results appear on your screen.
How do search engines provide you results in just seconds of you typing a word or phrase?
SEO!
There are several things that must be done in order for your business, organization, brand, or community web pages to become search engine optimized.
Become search engine optimized today!
Tip 4: Set up Social and Professional Networking Accounts
Social and Professional Networking are very powerful tools, if used correctly. Start small by understanding which social and professional networking sites your target audience(s) may use. Then, set up accounts with the sites your target audience(s) use. This may take time as you may not know what your target audience(s) use. Do your research about your target audience(s) and choose the correct sites to use.
Tip 5: Email Marketing
Start with what you have and can afford. Use email marketing to reach the people who have subscribed to wanting to know more about your business. Be creative and legal about how you can collect email addresses and how you use them. If you are just starting out, you may want to create a free gmail account or yahoo account until you can invest more into a service such as Constant Contact or Mailchimp.
Send monthly or bimonthly emails to your current clients and those who requested more information from your call-to-action form on your website. Remind your clients that you are still available for their needs. Emails may include content from your upcoming promotions to articles that will interest your current audience to community service projects your business participates in.
Start small here and build. Email marketing is very important in today’s content marketing world.
Tip 6: Advertising
Newspaper ads, television ads, radio ads, Facebook ads, oh my! Where to begin? Is your head swirling here? Do not worry, we can assist!
First thing to do when it comes to advertising is set a budget.
“We don’t have a budget.” – Not the first time we’ve heard that phrase.
Start by putting 10% of your profits into a marketing and advertising budget. Then, revisit that list you made from step 4 about what communication platforms your target audience uses, and start advertising on those platforms. If your key target audience is 65+ males who enjoy being outdoors and fishing, then you probably don’t want to advertise on SnapChat, which is predominantly used by middle school students. Be strategic here and spend your money where your audience is.
Tip 7: Blogs
Once you have a good handle on steps one through six, your next step is to create blogs, also known as “content marketing.” Good blogs are between 300 and 800 words and focus on the needs and wants of the consumer. It is ideal to create two blogs a week, however, for new businesses that can be daunting. Begin by creating one blog once a month until you have more time and more people to create blogs for you.
Don’t just write them yourself either.
Have other people in your business to write some and maybe even your current clientele. Are you a school with alumni? Have some alumni write about their experiences within your school. Blogs should live on your website to create more search engine result traffic. The more content you have about your business, organization, or community, the more likely your website will show up in search results.
Enjoy making videos? Create video blogs and post those to your blog page as well.
Content marketing has many benefits and can help you become a leader in your community.
Start Small
These 7 tips will all take time to do, however, the results are worth it. After you improve your marketing strategies by incorporating these 7 tips, you will develop a natural instinct that will help drive more customers and clients to your business.
Breath, and prioritize. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your business, organization, brand, or community.
“If you build it, they will come.”