Review your website to ensure it is an effective hub of all of your marketing efforts. Use this website review checklist to walk through the important areas of your website, including design, content, SEO, security, device support and performance.
If you want your marketing to be effective, you need to treat marketing as a process – a series of actions to achieve your particular marketing goal. But unless you create a marketing system, your marketing process could be inefficient and inconsistent, producing results that are less than you had hoped.
Many small businesses feel that having a brand is not something necessary to successfully market their products or services. Some think it is something only large companies need. And although some might invest in a logo, they miss the fact that a brand identity is so much more than just the visual impression of your business.
People spend most of their marketing efforts driving visitors to their websites. It’s absolutely an important task. But getting people to come to your website is just the first step. Once they arrive at your website, you need a strong website call to action to ensure your visitors don’t leave without establishing some type of connection with your company.
There are advertising opportunities across all the major social media platforms to drive demand for your products and services that are well in the reach of many small business budgets. Whether you choose to advertise on Facebook, focus on Google AdWords or branch out into Twitter or LinkedIn, your ad needs to click through to a landing page created specifically for that campaign and designed to convert visitors into leads and ultimately into customers.
Did your marketing help you increase visibility, generate more leads or find new lucrative clients? Whether you feel your marketing was successful or not, it is the perfect time to conduct a marketing review prior to putting your marketing plan in place for the new year.
How do you view marketing when it comes to your business – an investment or an expense? If you pick investment, then spending money on creating a powerful web presence is something you will do willingly because you know it will help your business grow and succeed. If you pick expense, then you will cut marketing when things get a bit tight (if you spend on marketing at all) and make irrational decisions when it comes to your web presence.
Marketing personas are fictional representations of the different segments that make up your ideal customer. By understanding the unique characteristics and needs of these segments, you can structure your web presence – website, blog and social profiles and inbound marketing activities – content, social and search, that will better support the goals of each segment of your prospective buyer.
Customer service is more important to your marketing strategy today than many business owners realize. Because of brand exposure via social media, marketing needs to be concerned with the entire customer experience. Companies that provide excellent customer service strengthen their marketing by simplifying the task of tracking and managing the perception of your brand.
Recently I wrote about the true value in your value proposition because small businesses need to understand what it is they offer and why their market needs it. And you really need to define your mission statement is so you can communicate it to your target audience. Now we need to turn our attention to creating a strong brand, one of your most valuable business assets.
Planning Your Road to Success One of the things I do for my clients is simplify marketing so it eliminates confusion and enables the business owner to focus on what is important. But there is always a part of marketing that stresses many small business owners – i.e. determining their mission, goals, strategies and tactics. …
We just returned from our vacation in Aruba. We’ve been there many times and own a timeshare at the Marriott Surf Club. We go to just get away and relax – no site seeing, no golf – just reading, sunning, swimming and oh, yes a bit of gambling at night for entertainment. Of course, no …
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