Keep your marketing going over the holidays

Keep your marketing going over the holidays

As the holiday season approaches for a lot of small business it becomes the busiest part of the year. So, in effect just because a break is coming you don’t slow down your activities. In fact, you often work harder.

So why does everyone think that you should slow your marketing down at this time? It should be the opposite.
This is the time when you should be ramping up your marketing. It is during the slow times that you need to start to action things. This is the time when you spend time on your business as during the year it has been spent in your business.

So, here’s what you should do.

• Start putting together your plan for next year. Who are you going to target? What new areas do you want to increase your business in?
• Start working on your content. Get your stories written and put them in your ‘Content Schedule’ so that when everyone is back you are ready to post. If you don’t have a content schedule by now, then I suggest you start one.
• Have a look at your current communications, refine it, get it ready for the new year.

Although it may seem the wrong time to put effort into your marketing, it’s the time you should be ramping it up.

Remember, good Marketing doesn’t stop just because everything else does.

Ways you can manage your Marketing activities

Ways you can manage your Marketing activities

In this training, I will introduce ways you can manage your marketing activities. There are methods and some documents that will help you stay in control. You have come this far but it is important that you do not lose momentum. It is like starting any project, it is always exciting at the start, but after a while this excitement wains and starts to become a chore. If there is one thing that I want you to take out of this training is this, Marketing is not just ideas and creativity, it is procedures and structures.

The processes of Marketing

Whenever we start a new client at Assertive Marketing the first thing we do is have weekly meetings. This allows us to work with you and do all the things that are needed to get the marketing up and running. Everything that we have done in our training so far has been following the methods that we follow with all our clients. After the planning is done then we need to look at the activity and management of marketing. Treat it like you now have a marketing department. The principle behind this is that you will learn the discipline of marketing. I have many clients who say, “do we have to meet every week, I don’t have time for marketing”. My answer is always the same. “Yes, we do!”. The point of having these meetings it is to get you into the habit of marketing. To get you to take a little time each week to think about your marketing. If we can start with one hour per week, then after a few months you will continue to allocate that time for your marketing.

The discipline of Marketing

This is what will and does happen. Let’s say we have a meeting at 10:00 on Wednesday morning every week for about 8 to 12 weeks. What will happen is that every time you approach the meetings there are certain things that you will think about and do before, during and after the meetings. You may have to prepare something for the meeting or do something during or after the meeting. As the weeks go by this habit will form and you will automatically keep doing it. This is what I call the discipline of marketing. You create a discipline that forces you to act and do certain things. Then you keep doing them. Now you keep the momentum and the good marketing that your business deserves.

Enforcing the discipline

This discipline that you are now involved in will help you to keep the marketing going. It now needs some physical aids to help you stay on track. The way that I enforce the discipline is to work with these meeting times and I have also introduced some documents that keep you on track. There are 2 main documents that I will always use, and they are the Marketing Action Plan and the Marketing Action Calendar. By working with these documents, you can make sure that everything is done and followed through.

What is Marketing for Small Business

What is Marketing for Small Business

What does Marketing for Small Business mean? I was at a football club reunion the other week and a friend asked me what I did. I said to him that I run a marketing company. He looked at me and said, “yeah but what do you do?”. So I started to tell him all of the things that I do. He looked at me with confusion and said, “I didn’t understand a word of what you just said”. I then thought about how many other small businesses out there are confused about what marketing companies do. So, I’ll explain.

Marketing Communicates

A marketing company will help you communicate your business to the right audience. That means we understand what your offer is, who your potential customers are and find the best way to get your message to that potential customer. It’s as simple as that.

It is how we do this that becomes confusing. For example, there are digital and traditional ways. Let’s break that down:

Traditional

Traditional marketing is print advertising, sales promotions and physical items that help promote your message.  For example, brochures, handouts and talking to people.

Digital

Digital marketing is getting your message out there online. Methods used are websites, Google optimising and online advertising on Google and social platforms.

What should a good marketing company do for you?

Firstly, they should understand your business, your market and why people will buy your product or service.

Then we find out the best way to get your message out to your audience via the best method be it digital or traditional.

How are you Currently Promoting your Small Business?

How are you Currently Promoting your Small Business?

How are you currently promoting your small business? You need to do an analysis of what you are currently doing. If you are advertising anywhere or even what social media sites you are on. I often find that businesses will often forget that they are doing any kind of advertising or social media. You must remember that any kind of activity is communicating something to the market. So, if there is a website or social media page that you have created (especially if it is your personal account) you must now look at what you are communicating. Going through the Why or Purpose statement will help you to formulate the correct message as it will show you what your company is all about.

What is the current advertising?

Go through your current advertising and promotion and find what you are doing on:

Social media platforms

List down all the activities you are doing online and why you are doing them:

  • Facebook
  • Linkedin
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Email campaigns

Are there any campaigns that you are running now or newsletters to your customers? If so have a look at what messages you have been sending.

Local marketing

List down all the things you are doing within your local environment such as advertising in local papers or magazines.

Communication strategy and promotion

From your Why or Purpose statement you can set out what your key messages will be. Be clear with the message that is going to the market. These statements will be put on all your communications including website, any sales documents as well as any advertising that you may be conducting. It allows you to be confident that your message is not misconstrued. Clear and Concise.

To Do:

Now what you should be doing is going back to the list of communications that you listed before and see what you are saying. Is it communicating your Why or Purpose? If not, then you need to change them all so that they do reflect your Why or Purpose. A big mistake that a lot of businesses make is to always be communicating what their industry is communicating. You must remember that a potential customer may not know the ins and outs of your industry. So talk to the customer.

What have we learned?

  • You need to do an analysis of what your current communication is.
  • Remember that any kind of activity is communicating something to the market. So, if there is a website or social media page that you have created (especially if it is your personal account) you must now look at what you are saying.
  • Going through the Why or Purpose statement will help you to formulate the correct message as it will show you what your business is all about.
Analysing Your Target Customers

Analysing Your Target Customers

Analysing Your Target Customers

Establishing who is your perfect customer by going through your current customers. If a customer is good to deal with then look for more like them. 9 out of 10 times these customers will be aligned with your own company values. They think like you do. From this information, you can start to work out your target customer. Things to do:

  • Make a list of potential businesses that will fit into what you offer
  • What value will they gain from your business?
  • What are their needs?
  • Does your product or service fit into that need?
  • Can you satisfy or fulfill that need?
  • Continue to add other potential customers who fit into the profile

It is important to note that not all of your customers will be that perfect one. By profiling the good customers, you can find potential customers that are similar. Here are ways to do that:

Customer What needs do they have? What product or service fulfills that need?
Customer A Need A Product A, C
Customer B Need B Product B

The next step is to analyse your own products to see what will be able to fulfill these needs.

Your key Features and Benefits

Make a list of the key features and benefits that your products/services will offer this potential customer.

Product/Service Features Benefits
The name of the product What are the features of this product What benefits can be gained from this product
     

It is always good to make a list of the features and benefits as this will allow you to create any marketing documents that may be used in the selling and promotion of your products. The next step is to take these benefits and features and match them with the customer.

Customer Needs and Fulfilling Them

Now that we have established what we offer and why we offer it we can now match them with what the customer’s needs are. There is never a successful sale unless the product/service that you offer matches the needs of the customer. Keep doing this until the products are satisfying the needs of your target market. It is important to note that not all products will be perfect for every customer. If your product does not fill the need then do not offer it.

Customer Need Product to satisfy need Benefit to the customer
Customer A Need B Product B Will satisfy Need B by doing…
       

This process looks complicated but if you know your product and your market, and I know you do, then this is simply a matter of writing it down.

What have we learned

  • Establish who is your perfect customer.
  • Go through your current customer list and find out who that customer is.
  • If this customer is good to deal with then it is a good idea to start to look for more like them.
  • They will most times be aligned with your own company values. They think like you do.
  • From this information start to design the target customer.
  • Make a list of potential businesses that will fit into what you offer.
  • What value will they gain from your company?
  • What are their needs?
  • Does your product or service fit into that need?
  • Can you satisfy or fulfill that need?
  • Continue to add other potential customers who will fit into the profile.
  • It is important to note that not all of your customers will be that perfect one. By profiling the good customers you can find potential customers that are similar.
The Digital Plan

The Digital Plan

The Digital plan

The digital plan or strategy that you embark on will also be determined by what goals you want to achieve. We suggest that you embark on a digital strategy to build brand awareness and create sales in a wider area. By using the following techniques, you can successfully market your business with minimal expenditure. The idea is that you build the business and then put marketing spend back in when the time is right. This strategy is based on the following methodology. Your digital platform is created from many assets such as your website, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms.

The Digital Platform

“Facebook continuously modifies its algorithm, which is out of your control. Fans may or may not see content depending on this algorithm”.  Joe Pulizzi

The digital platform is all the assets put together as a form of communication with your market. This is all social media, Google search facilities and any other blogging sites that you may have. As we are dealing with small business I will assume that you have a website and are currently dabbling in at least one form of social media such as Facebook. Many businesses make the mistake of thinking that social media sites like Facebook should be the focus of their digital marketing. This is not the right way of going about it, and if you are doing so I recommend you stop it now and re-evaluate your strategy. Your website is the most important asset you have, and all traffic should somehow be directed to it. Other social media platforms are run by other entities and businesses. Make no mistake Mark Zuckerberg owns Facebook and all the material on that platform. Once you have put something on Facebook you have no control over it. This goes for all the other social media sites. If the owners change their rules and policy, you have no say in the matter.

Picture. 1. Your Digital Platform

Your website is the most important of these assets as it is the only one that you own and can really control. All elements must lead back to your website. The basis of this plan it to increase the value of this asset so that it becomes a viable selling tool for your business.

Your Website

Having a website is an essential part of marketing your business. If designed correctly, your website can be one of your most valuable assets. The stats are clear that most people will do their research before they contact any company. In fact, 81% of shoppers conduct online research before making big purchases (retailing today 2014).

How do I Build My Website?

Starting your website is like hiring an employee. First, ask yourself, what is the purpose for my employee? What should this employee be doing for my business? You hire an employee for a specific reason and know exactly what you want the employee to do. A website is no different in that essentially it is working for you. But unlike an employee, websites never sleep, are always available, and can network constantly across the globe to millions of people.

Reasons for having a Website

There are many reasons for having a website as they can serve many functions for your business. Here are a few of the main reasons that a website is designed for a business.

Sell products and services

Having a website that is easy to read, easy to navigate, and is informative about your products, services, and prices is essential to the success of your business. When you offer your products online, keep the customer in mind. This is your chance to show them the quality of your products and the ease of shopping with you. Websites offer consumers the chance to look at all your products, order products that might otherwise be out of stock, request more information, easily compare prices with other businesses, and gives them a chance to provide you feedback or check your ratings. Your products and services are also available 24/7 and are easily accessed.

Generate Leads

By building a web presence online, your customers will have one more way to find and interact with you, as well as research your products and services. If they like you, they’ll become brand advocates and share your business with their social network. A link is easy to share online, and you may find that your business’s customers are doing all the work for you. Leads will generate themselves. A website reaches customers that may have never known about your business otherwise. You can even increase their chances of finding you by taking your business to social media. Marketing through platforms like Facebook, Linkedin and other social media are great ways to establish your business’s reach. Always make sure that it is done as part of your Content Marketing Plan.

Establish credentials

Your website is just the same as a store window. When a customer looks through it, they should see what they want and know that they have come to the right place for it. Your website is your brand name, your image, and your customer service. Everything conducted online is an extension of what your business provides its customers in person. When you design your website, allow customers to comment on, rate, and review your products and services. Consider establishing a blog to inform your readers and entertain them so that they may share your brand through social media. Your website is often where customers will go to review your credentials. Make sure that you are knowledgeable of your products and services. Keep an eye on your competition. And have a friendly, and regular presence online, where marketing through social media has great potential. Customers want to know that you are both approachable and available.

Take the First Steps

If you think it’s time to start building a new website or making a change to your existing one for your business, begin by forming a vision for what you want to accomplish with it. What will be the purpose of this website? What kind of voice or style will it have? What are your customers looking for when they want your products and services? This once again can be taken from your Why or Purpose statement. You can also look at your market research into your competitors and target markets.

The website technology

Most of the small business websites that we deal with are created within the WordPress technology. As a small business this content management system will allow you to create good, sometimes sophisticated websites. The important thing is that it also allows you, the small business owner, the ability to make your own simple non-structural changes. However, I would recommend that you do not try to create the site from scratch on your own. It is very time consuming and most small business owners do not have the time to dedicate to this task. Once again work out your budget and research who can help you put the website together. This will be an investment, but the website will pay for itself in the long run.

Definition:

A plugin is an additive to your website that allows you to do something beyond the norm. For example, there are SEO plugins that allow you to manage your SEO activity.

When you have your website, here are some things that you must ensure you do.

To do:

Make sure all links to external sites to be opened in a new tab. – this will keep a visitor to your site on your website instead of taking them away. Once they move on they may not come back.

Website Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO is how well your website is ranked and therefore can be found on Google and other search engines.

Definitions:

Organic SEO – Increasing Google ranking by generating interest to your website.

Paid SEO – Paying for Google advertising

The following is a strategy on how to increase your websites SEO in a competitive market. There are 2 ways in which Google ranking can be increased, they are Organic (doing things that attract links and references to your website) and Paid advertising (paid Advertising on Google search pages).

Organic SEO

The essence of a good organic SEO is by making your website worth looking at and relevant to a searcher on Google. The following strategy is how we propose to do this:

Meta Description and Keyword Discovery

What goes on behind the pages of your website. The goal of this initiative is to get your website on to the first page of Google search. Here are some definitions and explanations.

Definitions:

SEO Title This is the HTML tag or main heading. It is the first thing that you see in a Google search.

A Meta description is a description about what the web page is.

Keywords are phrases that describe what you do.

These are strategically placed behind the website to help search engines find your site. I will use the Assertive Marketing website as an example.

SEO Title is “your products or services – Your Company name” Ours is “Affordable marketing services – Assertive Marketing Melbourne”.

Meta description is “We provide your product and your services to your area and surrounding areas” So ours is.” Affordable marketing services to small business designed to fit your business. Good marketing services in Melbourne, Hallam, Berwick, Victoria” 

Keywords is “your products or services” Ours is “Affordable marketing Melbourne”

To do:

Find the right description and keywords that are being searched and mixing that with what the top companies are using then adding them to your website. This is a laborious process and takes time.

  1. Find what keywords the competitors are using and add them to your website.
  2. Add a SEO content manager plugin to your website to help manage the keywords (We suggest Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress)
  3. Regularly change and modify these descriptions and keywords to keep them at the forefront of the search engines and the changing market.
  4. Keep repeating the process.

Measurement

Getting your website to the first page of the search page. Then getting it to the top 3.

Note: SEO is a long-term commitment and cannot be done overnight. It takes months and continuous manipulation to get this right and still needs constant working. Once you get it right the rewards will follow.

On-page Optimization

This is what is on your website, what everyone can view. Is it interesting, informative and to the point? Can someone who is looking for your products or services find exactly what they are looking for and are able to do something about it?

What we have learned

  • The digital platform is all the assets put together as a form of communication with your market. This is all social media, Google search facilities and any other blogging sites that you may have.
  • Your website is the most important of these assets as it is the only one that you own and can really control. All elements must lead back to your website.
  • The digital strategy that you embark on will also be determined by what goals you want to achieve.
  • The basis of this plan is to increase the value of this asset so that it becomes a viable selling tool for your business
  • We suggest that you embark on a digital strategy to build brand awareness and create sales in a wider area.
  • By using the techniques, you can successfully market your business with minimal expenditure.
  • The idea is that you build the business and then put marketing spend back in when the time is right.