Happy New Year!
Do you make New Year Resolutions for yourself?
How about for your business?
Want to resolve to improve your marketing efforts for 2012?
We think that’s a fabulous resolution, and we’d love to help you stick to it and really make it happen this year! Matter of fact, that’s why I’m writing this post, to give you a mini road-map to boost your marketing efforts. For more detail on creating a marketing strategy and avoiding common marketing mistakes, download your FREE copy of our e-book
The 13 Biggest Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them!
Below are 7 Tips to Help You Improve Your Marketing Efforts:
1. Increase Your Reviews and Testimonials
Love it or hate it, you can’t deny the power of review websites. Today’s consumer reads review sites and researches before they decide contact a business. Typically they contact the businesses with the best reviews and testimonials, then they choose who they feel is best. If your business isn’t on the review sites, you may be losing business without even knowing it. It’s time to ask your current and past customers to write a review, if they’ve been happy with your product or service.
2. Incorporate a Mobile Marketing Strategy
It’s 2012 and iPhones and tablets are being purchased like crazy. What this means to you is, more consumers are using a mobile device than ever before. How does your site look on a mobile phone, mobile device? Is it mobile friendly and easy for a mobile user to navigate? Are you using mobile coupons, QR codes, and SMS text messaging? There’s a mobile world happening, and if your business isn’t reaching the mobile consumer, you could be losing a chunk of business. Did you know that over 84% of people use a mobile device at home? It’s not just when they’re on the go.
3. Email Marketing
If you’re not leveraging the power of communication that email marketing provides, you’re losing business. You might choose to send a monthly newsletter, an article that your prospect or customer would benefit from, or send a special deal to your VIP e-mail list; communication with your customers and prospective customers is important! Email Marketing helps build and maintain relationships. It can be great for customer retention, and it can really support customer loyalty!
4. Re-evaluate your Marketing Materials
If you haven’t updated your website, your business cards, or your brochures in several years, then it may be time for an update. Today’s consumer is different; they don’t like corporate messages and slogans; they want transparency. Today’s consumer wants to know you, your business; business is more personal than it was before. Do you let your business’s personality shine? Does it show in your website and your marketing materials?
5. Get Social
If you have social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter, be sure to be active and engage in conversation with your customers, prospects and fans. It’s easier to maintain social momentum than it is to start and stop …start and stop etc…. Remember to ask questions, and interact; don’t use it a platform to just shout out and promote.
6. Double Check Your Advertisements
Re-read the verbiage you have in your ads; are your ads powerful direct response ads that compel the reader to contact you? …or are they blah, just general information ads?
7. Test and Measure
Test, measure, and tweak all of your marketing efforts. Many businesses just leave their marketing efforts as is, rather than taking the time to see how each individual marketing effort is performing. Test, track, and measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, and be willing to make tiny changes and test those changes. This is the key to creating effective marketing efforts. It’s time to evaluate what’s working and what’s not. Sometimes it looks like a particular marketing effort isn’t working, but it just needs to be altered a bit… be willing to tweak and refine!
Perhaps it’s the perfect time to work with a marketing company, like Evotive. We love helping businesses improve their marketing efforts and grow their business. We do offer a free consultation, so you can get to know us a bit more; it’s the no sweat way to finding out if we’re the right fit for your business.
Hope you find these 7 tips helpful. Explore, experiment and have some fun as you turn up the heat on your marketing efforts this year.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I really have gotten hung up on the mobile marketing one. It’s just one I haven’t delved into like I should. Thanks for a great list!
Bryan Thompson recently posted..What Do You Do When You Don’t Feel the Love Anymore?
Hi Bryan. Thank you for stopping by today.
When you’re handling business development and marketing all on your own the key is do what you can, take small steps and know that you won’t get all the “should’s” done.
Awesome marketing tips. Thank you for sharing your expertise.
Angela Artemis recently posted..7 Tips to Finding Your Breakthrough Idea
Thanks Angela
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