Top marketing tips to kickstart your business growth

I recently did a webinar to a group of business owners to give a whole host of useful marketing tips. The audience ranged from freelancers / self-employed to small and medium sized businesses.

Whilst many of the tips may be simple or things that people already know, they are often things that people don’t think about in detail, don’t plan or don’t take time to step back and look at these things again further into their business journey. For example, when was the last time you looked at or amended / updated your Google My Business Listing??As business owners and their teams get so engrained in the day to day of the business, they often don’t step back and go back to basics as things change.

So, whatever your marketing stage, here are some quick marketing tips and takeaways or a list of things to go back and check as part of your marketing mix.

1)?????Your website

Now I know this may seem obvious but having not only a great looking website that truly reflects your brand and your business is crucial. But what many business owners forget to think about is the user journey and user experience of their websites. Have you asked people to test your website? Friends, family, colleagues, customers? What was their feedback? Could they find what they wanted easily, did the navigation and links all work or if it’s an e-commerce site, was purchasing as seamless and easy as they expected.

There are some amazing ready-made designed templates on website builders like:

·??????Wix

·??????GoDaddy

·??????WordPress

·??????Web.com

So, if your website is a bit out of date, lacking in personality – spend time on updating it. Also if you haven’t been on your own website for a while, then go and look again and get other people to test is for you.

2)?????Your Google My Business account

For those that don’t know what it is, it’s your official business listing on Google. (The box that appears on the right-hand side of Google results with all your business details in it). If you run a business, then not having a Google My Business account, just isn’t an option.

To maximise your business opportunities, you should have a fully completed account. Over 65% of people will use Google My Business details to find a business. It integrates with Google maps and will ensure that your business appears on maps as well. Think about your business description wisely and use keywords that people looking for a business may search for.

Make sure you’ve completed all the information such as:

·??????Telephone number

·??????Address

·??????Website

·??????Operating Hours

But then don’t forget to add photos and other functionality like book an appointment, book a table if it’s relevant to your business. To maximise your account, get customers to leave you Google reviews, these will be displayed on your Google My Business listing also and will aid SEO of your website.

3) Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO (optimising your website and content for Google search) is a specialist area but some simple tips you can utilise when doing anything on your website – these are things that Google use to rank your website:

·??????Make sure your website is mobile friendly

·??????Use keywords in headings, sub headings, URLs & content

·??????Add links to other pages on your website

·??????Add links to other credible websites with relevant content

·??????Get back links from credible sites e.g. online directories

·??????Get online Google reviews

·??????Regularly updated content – blogs, news

4) Social Media

Social media can be a great way to market your business and can come at little or no cost. However, many businesses don’t maximise their use of social media or just don’t do it well.

My top tips on social media are:

• Don’t try to do them all at once – start with one and do it well.
• Think about if your target audience is on that channel before you launch into it. Choose the channels where your customers are likely to be.
• Keep your social channels up to date.
• Don’t make them your only route to market.
• Remember they control who sees your content – they all have complex algorithms that decide who sees your content.
• Don’t just use it as a broadcast channel – Engage, like, share, comment, leave recommendations and show appreciation for others.

5) Email marketing

Although we’re all bombarded by marketing emails (despite GDPR) and in some cases, engagement rates have been decreasing. Email marketing should still have a part to play in your marketing mix. It’s still a quick, easy, and cost-effective route to market and when done well can produce results.

The biggest barrier to many companies doing email marketing is obtaining email data. Always remember the value of data as a foundation to your marketing, without it and an audience, even the best campaigns or content won’t produce results. So my tips are:

• Collect email addresses from wherever you can - Business cards, LinkedIn, websites.
• Save them in a spreadsheet or free CRM system – I use free HubSpot as a CRM system
• Use free email marketing software – Software like Mailchimp, Sender, HubSpot. Don’t use Outlook (you’ll be in danger of getting your main domain blacklisted if people complain you’re spamming them, and it won’t easily deal with the legalities around opt outs that are required on marketing emails.
• A lot of the software above will give you ready designed templates, meaning you can produce great looking branded emails, without a huge amount of design expertise.

6) Content creation

If you’re on social media channels, have a website or want to do email marketing then good quality targeted content is key. My tips are.

• Write from the perspective and in the language of your target audience.
• Only write content that is relevant and will resonate with your target audience.
• Step back over time, look at your content and think if it's positioning you correctly.
• Content doesn’t have to be long – sometimes less is more and on social media that’s true.
• Look at similar businesses for inspiration.
• If time is a problem, aim to create quick social posts, rather than long blogs or article.
• Blogging good for SEO – can be 200 words+ but the longer the blog, the better for Google SEO.

For many people just coming up with an initial idea of what to write is the sticking point. For social media, a few ideas are: Your business, your journey, tell a story, share your knowledge, tips and tricks, latest offers, testimonials. For more social media content inspiration download my 60 Content Ideas for Social Media?.

Many business owners aren’t natural writers and if you’re not that’s fine. Writing engaging content is a skill. Look at it like other things in your business (like your accounts, your insurance etc) and consider outsourcing it a professional. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune and will save you potentially hours of time. One of the biggest things I get asked in my consultancy work is to provide content for clients. Having someone with knowledge of your industry already can really help and someone who understands you as an individual too.

7) Advertising

Whether it’s online or offline, advertising can still be highly effective for many businesses as part of their marketing mix.

If budget is tight and you’re aiming at a defined geographical area, then local advertising isn’t always expensive.

My biggest tip about advertising is: Think about your audience – be targeted with where you advertise. It’s easy to be sold advertising space or online advertising, but don’t waste your budget if the people you want to target won’t see it.

Online advertising through Google Ads and social channels can be highly targeted (if you know what you’re doing and how to set it up). Often with setting up online advertising, to target the right people, it’s the parameters you tell the platform not to include that counts to ensure your advert hits the right people. Just ensure you set clear parameters and budgets.

If you’re just starting out with online advertising, then you may have an opportunity to claim small amounts of free online advertising credits. Google, LinkedIn etc.

8) Networking / Talk to people!

My final marketing tip is just talk to people. Whether you do this through networking groups, co-working groups, meeting other like-minded business owners or professionals. Not only can it advance your business growth, but also your own knowledge and development.

Look out for sector specialist groups / events if you target particular sectors. There are some great networking organisations like Business Buzz, BNI, Chambers of Commerce. Some are membership and some are pay as you go. Their formats will vary, with things like Business Buzz being very informal networking (no scary 60 second pitches or pressure) whereas something like BNI is more structured and more controlled. Pick groups that appear to you.

There’s a myriad of marketing channels and tactics you can use to boost your marketing and business growth. The key thing is firstly to define your target audience – no business can target everyone, you just won’t succeed, so be specific and then you’ll be able to work out exactly where to put your marketing time, effort, and budget to hit that target audience.