Have you formed a successful startup and made it through the first several years? This is a great milestone, but now it’s time to start expanding.
One of the most important elements of growing a business is creating and maintaining a solid marketing strategy. Without one, there’s no way to set yourself apart.
However, your strategy needs to evolve alongside your business. If it doesn’t, you’ll end up treading water and becoming irrelevant.
If you suspect this is happening to you, keep reading. We’re going over ten tips for improving your marketing strategy in the coming year.
1. Get Serious About Social Media
There’s a good chance you already have social media accounts for your business. However, if there’s little to no activity on them, they aren’t doing you any good.
Start sharing content regularly. This can be in the form of blog content, upcoming promotions, or links to articles related to your industry. Adding this type of content stimulates customer interaction and makes your business memorable.
You should also consider doing occasional promotional giveaways via social media. Offer discounts or free items to the first person who shares your post with twenty people.
2. Start Blogging
Content is now a driving force for businesses looking to rank higher in search engines. Adding a blog to your website is the best way to get high-quality content out there quickly.
Publish weekly blog articles your target customers would find useful. This helps establish you as an authority in your industry.
Make sure your articles are well-written, contain relevant outbound links, and have appropriate keywords. Google will reward you by ranking your website higher in search engine results pages.
3. Overhaul Your SEO
If your website isn’t getting the traffic you want, it’s time to refresh your search engine optimization strategy. Think about hiring a professional to help you out.
You’ll need to start by performing an audit on your website. This will tell you which pages are performing well. The ones that aren’t will need new keywords.
It’s also important to ensure your website is mobile-friendly. If it’s now, it won’t perform as well in search engines.
4. More Emphasis on the Customer Experience
The type of experience you provide your client base has a direct impact on your business reputation. Today, it’s critical to provide fast, convenient service and good customer support.
Whether you sell your products online or from a brick and mortar storefront, you need to know if there are hiccups in the process. Ask your customers to fill out a survey to discover where you need to make changes.
Furthermore, your website should seamlessly direct clients to pages where they can take action. If it doesn’t, you’re missing out on business.
5. Consider an Affiliate Program
Affiliate marketing is now a very effective lead generation and sales technique. It involves working with partners who you reward for bringing in new customers.
During an affiliate program, marketers promote your goods and services. When their efforts pay off, you get more sales and they get a commission.
There are plenty of affiliate marketing networks that can help you get started. You can also approach social media influencers on your own.
6. Video Marketing
Today, people want to receive content as quickly and efficiently as possible. Video is the best medium for achieving this.
Making high-quality business videos and publishing them on your site, YouTube, and social media is a great way to get in front of more eyes. Invest in professional video production and you’re sure to see a return on investment.
Create videos informing the viewer about your business services. You can also focus on individual products so potential buyers get an in-depth look at how they work.
7. Start Analyzing Data
If you’re not looking at metrics related to your current marketing efforts, there’s no way to know where you need to make improvements. It’s time to start analyzing website traffic along with data related to your other marketing campaigns.
Familiarize yourself with Google Analytics. This is a great way to see where traffic to your site is coming from.
You can also employ surveys to find out how people found your business. This will clue you into the areas you need to target more during future campaigns.
8. Target the Right Audience
Have you been casting a wide net and trying to reach as many people as possible in hopes of converting more customers? If so, it’s time to start narrowing your focus with certain campaigns.
You’ll first need to create a customer profile. This defines the type of person who has a use for your products and services.
You’ll then need to determine the best channel to reach these people. For example, if you have a young audience, you’ll probably want to focus on social media. If your client base is older, e-mail newsletters may work better.
9. Understand Your Competition
When was the last time you had a look at how your competition is marketing themselves? If it’s been a while, you need to do a new competitive analysis.
Examine your competition’s online presence and find out how they’re branding themselves. You’ll also want to pay attention to how well they rank in search engines.
If your image seems outdated compared to theirs, it’s time to rebrand. You’ll also want to beef up your marketing efforts in areas where they’re dominating.
When doing this, remember not to copy. The goal is to find out what they’re doing and do it better.
10. Align Your Marketing Strategies
Each of your marketing campaigns needs to be consistent. This helps build a strong consumer perception of your brand.
You also need to ensure your marketing strategies align with your business goals. This helps you avoid spending time, effort, and money on marketing campaigns that don’t make sense.
Start Improving Your Marketing Strategy Today
In today’s competitive marketplace, business growth isn’t possible without effective marketing strategies. If your campaigns are getting stale, it’s time to act.
Use the tips discussed above and start improving your marketing strategy today.
We hope this article has helped you out. Feel free to browse our site for more small business content.
