Entrepreneurs-It’s that time of the year again, and some business owners may be planning their marketing efforts for 2019. Top business owners know their goals, and more often than not one of those goals is to increase sales and reach more customers. If this isn’t in your plans, you potentially risk your business slowly fading into oblivion. Even if you are really busy, there should always be future plans for when the business decelerates because at some point…it will. Peter Drucker once said, “Business has only two functions-marketing and innovation.”
One of your best ways to reach new customers is by implementing an effective and solid marketing plan. This could be through 1 or 2 specific tactics or utilizing dozens of separate marketing and advertising outlets. Ultimately, it’s up to you (or your staff) to decide what works best with your budget and what produces the best results. We’ll add that these 4 plans are just the tip of the iceberg on what all you can do for your business when it comes to marketing. There are a host of other advertising and marketing actions you can take to get the most bang for your buck. Really, there’s almost limitless possibilities to what you can do for your business. The following are pretty popular though. Let’s take a look at some ways you can make more money by marketing your company better.
1- Social Media.
Yep, social media, deal with it! Whether you like it or not, social media is a huge marketable platform and it looks like it’s here to stay for the foreseeable future. The trick is to take advantage of it, separate yourself, and stay ahead of your competition by creating an attractive and wide social media presence. How do you do this? Consistency.
Consistently posting to one or more of your social media outlets will ensure that you are ever changing. You can keep customers and potential customers up to date with industry news, products or services you offer, and engage them with what you do. Show your audience what makes your business different by consistently posting great photos and videos, articles, blogs, or even creating humorous posts. There are a few outlets that you can direct your time, energy, or money to and that could be Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter. You will have to work a little to see which attracts the most interest best for your business. Inconsistency or substandard posting will actually hurt your presence.
2- Website.
The company website should be constantly updated. Whether that is by adding images/videos, blogs, new content, offers, or just updating information about the business. It’s not really a marketing tool per say but it does give you that online presence that is almost certainly required in todays world of business. Google will drop the business listing for sites that sit stagnant and you always want to try and reach the pinnacle of page 1, if possible, so your business is more easily found. Besides, you owe it to your customers and the colleagues that you work with to keep your online presence fresh and professional looking. You don’t want that site looking and feeling like it’s from the 1990’s.
3- Direct Mail.
A direct mail campaign can be extremely beneficial to touching new customers and getting in front of past customers again. It can also be a horrid waste of money. It all depends on the look and feel of the mail piece, and the sale or call to action that is offered. Statistics show millennials actually enjoy direct mail when it is directly addressed to them. If this is a demographic you are trying to reach, you may want to set a budget aside and look into creating a fantastic mailer campaign that could seriously boost sales. Again, make sure the mailers are designed properly, have some eye-popping photographs, and present your offer in the best possible manner. Here’s a Forbes article by Steven Pulcinella from Forbes Communications Council and some stats from the United States Postal Service that discuss this.
4- Strategy.
This is more of an all-encompassing plan. Where are you going to put your hard-earned monies? How much are you going to budget? What sources will you use (billboards, mailers, social media, hand out flyers, networking etc) when you coordinate your marketing efforts? How is every printed piece or digital version going to look overall? We highly suggest contacting a reputable marketing firm when planning such a process. If they are good they will be able to help brand you correctly and implement creative ideas when strategizing.
If you need any help planning for 2019, drop 77 Design Co a line. We’ll be happy to help with a free marketing analysis.
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