Marketing your business is a process similar to a home renovation. You need a general contractor to call the shots and make everything fit together. Learn why having a marketing general contractor is critical to the success of your business.
A simple marketing plan is your road map for achieving your goals and guiding your decisions throughout the year. It consists of both a marketing strategy and an action plan. Learn how to create a plan for your business.
A simple marketing plan that outlines all the important pieces needed to successfully and consistently market your business is something every small business should create. Whether you want to focus solely on inbound marketing or you want to integrate online with off-line marketing activities, there are 10 important reasons why your small business needs a simple, realistic marketing plan.
How well do you know your customer? What motivates them to buy and why? The more you understand your customer, including their needs, wants, challenges and values, the better you can communicate with them.
What can small businesses do to stand out in a crowd? The market has become extremely noisy. Getting your ideal client to notice you is difficult. But correctly positioning your brand and communicating it to your target audience can get you noticed.
Small business owners tend to view their businesses very tactically. A SWOT analysis can help you evaluate your small business and the surrounding business environment that can affect its overall success.
Any business owner that feels marketing is an expense and not an investment is probably going to have a difficult time keeping the business profitable. To be successful, you need to develop a mindset that views marketing as an important investment regardless of the state of the economy or other external factors.
One of the hardest exercises for small business owners is to figure out where they should focus to grow their business. Business owners are sometimes afraid to focus for fear of leaving money on the table. But to try to be everything to everybody, you confuse your audience and never achieve your true purpose.
Today’s climate has every business looking at ways to change the way they market their business. This is especially true for home services businesses. Homeowners need quality landscapers, electricians, plumbers, HVAC services and remodelers. When they need them, they will go online to find one.
It’s the time of year where posts on marketing trends are more than abundant. You can find plenty of posts on digital marketing trends. But as I was working on my content audit, I came across a couple of posts on small business marketing trends for the years 2013 and 2014. As I reviewed these, I noticed something very interesting.
We’re all busy running our businesses. We have plenty to do. When it comes to marketing, we need to focus on the essential marketing activities that can generate leads and sales.
You know you need to market your business to become or remain visible to your target audience. But like most small businesses, there are more pressing priorities of operating a business that demand your attention. Your time will be spent on operational issues and you will struggle to find the time to do any marketing at all, until you realize that sales are dependent on creating visibility and generating demand for your product or services.
As long as I have been in marketing, I’ve heard my share of excuses for why small businesses don’t invest in marketing. These marketing myths when constantly repeated, become reality. Small businesses have many opportunities to attract their ideal client if they put these marketing myths aside and create a practical marketing plan that will work for their business.
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.
Businesses need to take precautions when providing access to your digital marketing assets. Learn the risks some businesses take and what can happen if you trust them with the wrong service provider.