How to Improve Your Marketing Efforts
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
If you run a small business, you’ll know that marketing is massively important and is actually one of the most crucial elements to get right. If you’re not marketing in the right way to the right people, your competition is going to get ahead of you, and when your business is small, it’s vulnerable, and not being ahead of the pack could spell disaster.
However, even if you are doing all the right things, it can still be hard to get noticed and shine when there are so many other small businesses all trying to do the same thing. That’s why you need to always look at ways to improve your marketing efforts so that you’re not just doing what you have to do, but you’re doing a lot more.
It can be a challenge to know what direction to turn in if you want to do this and find ways to improve your marketing efforts for all kinds of reasons, including your budget, not knowing what the right choice is, and being stuck in your ways. With that in mind, here are just a few ideas that can help you get started and make the changes in your business that are going to make a huge difference overall.
Have A Strong Brand Identity
A strong brand identity can help you market your business better in so many ways, so it’s definitely something to start with when you’re looking to upgrade your efforts. A brand identity is essentially your business’s ‘personality’ that sets it apart from everyone else and makes it unique – and memorable (which is hugely important).
Your brand identity isn’t just your logo or the colors you use in your branding (they are important, but that’s not the end of the story), but instead it’s about creating an emotional connection with your customers so they understand more about what your business does and how it can help them. You’ll need to think about your company’s goal, vision, mission, and what you can promise to your customers (and achieve).
As we mentioned above, the visual element of your brand identity might not be everything, but it does play a big role, so try to get this right from the beginning (it’s possible to re-brand, and it can be very successful, but it’s better to start on the right foot to give a good first impression), and if you need help, make sure you speak to an expert who will listen to what you need your brand identity to say and help create whatever it is you’re looking for.
Remember that a good brand identity can set you apart from all the rest, but it can also build up a loyal following of customers, so it’s well worth working hard on and getting right so that everything else can more easily fall into place.
SEE ALSO: What To Know About Building a Small Business Website
Have Good Content
Have you ever heard the saying, ‘content is king’? If you’re in business and you’ve done any form of marketing, you probably have, but perhaps you dismissed it as an old cliche that you didn’t really have to think about. If so, that was a mistake, but whether it’s a cliche or not, it’s completely true, and having good content on your website is a crucial way to improve your marketing efforts that will really pay off.
Content comes in all kinds of different forms, from blog posts, videos, and infographics to podcasts, eBooks, and more. The key to content marketing and making sure it’s successful is to understand your target audience and tailor your marketing to their preferences and needs. That’s why it’s so important to do your market research before you start to put a content strategy together because knowing your audience will essentially dictate what you’re going to say to them and how you’re going to say it.
What often works well is storytelling, so that’s something you can focus on if you’re not sure what kind of content to offer. If you can tell a story that guides your customers toward buying from you, they’ll be emotionally invested, and they’ll remember what you’re saying as well. That means that even if they don’t need what you’re selling right at this moment if they need it in the future, you’ll be the first name that comes to mind.
That’s why video can often be one of the best (and perhaps the best) ways to offer content to your customers. It’s easily sharable and extremely memorable, and when it’s done right, it can reach many more people than other forms of content possibly can. If you want to make a video, you’ll need to ensure it’s high quality, so invest in the right equipment and don’t try to cut corners. Something like a DJI Air 3 drone could be ideal, for example, because you’ll be able to get impressive shots that your competitors won’t even think of, let alone use themselves.
Although video marketing is important, don’t forget the power of the written word when it comes to content either – it can be exactly what you need to push forward. Again, written content like blog posts is easy for people to share, and when they’re looking for useful information, the written form is often what they’ll need. Plus, you can use keywords, links, and other elements of SEO to ensure your site gets in front of the competition when it comes to the search engine results pages, giving you yet another advantage over the rest.
Collaboration
When you run your own business, you might not want to get too many other people involved, especially at the start. That could feel like you’re losing control, and your business isn’t really yours anymore, so it’s clearly going to be off-putting.
However, collaborating with others and maybe even forming partnerships with them could be the right thing to do if you want to improve your marketing efforts. It’s true you’ll need to vet any potential partners thoroughly, and you’ll have to put some strong conditions (perhaps in contract form) in place so that everyone does what they’re meant to do and your business – and theirs – can be protected, but the potential benefits will often outweigh these slightly more negative aspects, and when you can see how your business could grow as a result, you’ll probably be keen to see who you might be able to collaborate with.
When you find the right people to team up with, you can expand your audience, and you’ll also be seen as more credible, all of which can help when it comes to growing your business, of course.
Collaborating can be done in lots of different ways, like co-writing an eBook, guest blog posting, co-hosting a webinar, or even working together to do competitions and giveaways. The point is that no matter what you do, when you find the right partner to work with, it won’t damage your business, and it won’t mean you lose any control – instead, it should help you grow, and you might be surprised at how open other businesses are to working with you, so asking certainly can’t hurt.
Always Use Social Media
How many times have you heard that you need to use social media more if you want to market your business in the right way? You’ve probably lost count, and there’s a reason why so many people talk about social media for business; it works. Even if it might seem like an extra job to add to your already long to-do list, posting on social media and engaging with your followers and customers is vital if you want to up your marketing game and produce better results.
Take the time to work out the best way to use social media and craft a strategy you can stick to that will help propel your business forward. The first thing to do is to make sure you’re using the right platform (or platforms) because there are so many to choose from, and even if they seem similar, they all do slightly different things, and they’ll all have slightly different users. Do market research to determine where your target market spends their time when they’re on social media, and then you’ll know which platforms you need to focus on – anything else will be a waste of time.
Once you know where you’re going to be posting your information, you’ll need to think about what you’re going to post. If you have a blog (which you should, considering how important content is, as we’ve mentioned above), you can repurpose that information and use it on social media. However, it’s often the platform that dictates what you should post, and something like Twitter/X or Facebook, which are text-heavy, would be different from Instagram, which is more about images, or Tik Tok, which leans towards video.
However, it’s often the platform that dictates what you should post, and something like Twitter/X or Facebook, which are text-heavy, would be different from Instagram, which is more about images, or TikTok, which leans towards video. While using social media, you will need stable internet connectivity to ensure you can constantly stay online, whether you are in the office or working from home. A seamless internet connection allows you to engage with your clients without any hitches. Engaging with customers online allows you to build relationships, gather feedback, and address their concerns promptly, enhancing their satisfaction and loyalty. It, in turn, boosts your reputation. If you’re looking for some of the best internet options in your area, you can search for internet providers near me online.
Whatever you choose to do and wherever it’s going to be posted, you’ll need to be consistent. Posting one great thing and then not doing anything else for weeks or months isn’t a great idea because even if you find new customers initially, that post will soon be forgotten. It’s far better to post every day, if possible, and potentially more than once a day, to ensure people don’t forget you and improve your marketing efforts immensely.
