How do you market your business?

How do you market your business? It’s all about the marketing! Marketing is the most important element of your business!

You don’t even have to have a good product to make a lot of money. If you have good marketing, well, there is no limit to how much money you can make. Look at McDonald’s. They don’t have the best burgers in the world. Their marketing that is spot on! Think about ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ – one of the worst written books ever, and it sold millions and was made into a movie.

How do you market your business?

So, how do you get the word out about your business, your book or your art?

You need to focus on a solid strategy.  Many people focus on the ‘likes’ on their Facebook Page in a hope that one day there will be enough for people who will actually buy.  Did you know that between 0 and 2% of those who have ‘liked’ your Page actually see your posts in their newsfeed?  Facebook should only be ONE of your platforms to market your product.

Some political analysts believe that Hilary Clinton focused too much on Facebook.  She spent millions on her Facebook campaign, and missed out on a large portion of the electorate who enjoy reading the newspaper or listen to the radio. Her team did very little traditional marketing during her campaign. Her message did not reach many who would’ve voted for her.

Here are some ideas:

Inside your business

1. Invest in a new laptop.  You do need to have access to up-to-date technology to help you market your business.  Many hope to just manage on a mobile phone – and this will just not do it!
2. Get a website FIRST.  This is often an expense a small business can’t always afford, but you can do this free to start with.  Get yourself a free WordPress blog.  Your url will be www.nameofyourbusiness.wordpress.com but you can at least get started.  You only need one page to start with, which is YOUR STORY.  Tell your community about YOU, what inspires you, what makes you tick.  The 2^nd page will be your blog.
3. Blog – and REGULARLY! We live in an Information Age – the world wants CONTENT.  They do not want to be sold to all the time.  We are bombarded with sales all day in scores of formats and on so many different platforms.  Give your community INFORMATION. 
4. Set up a newsletter.  This is also free to do using services such as Mailchimp (who will charge you once your email list gets to the thousands). Having an email list is really very under-valued as a marketing tool. Your newsletter needs to be so interesting and exciting, that people want to open it every time you send it.  You use a newsletter to gain a community’s trust. Did you know that people are more likely to buy from a newsletter than from a social media post? This should be much higher on your priority list than even social media.
5. Set up a Facebook Page for your business.  Do not use your personal profile to market.  Your friends and family are not your target audience and they get sick of your posts telling them what you are selling.
6. I do think Instagram is your next step – simply because so many people are on it, and it such a fun, creative space.  It is the platform where posts are more likely to convert to sales than Twitter and LinkedIn.

Outside your business

1. Get a press release / advertorial into your local paper.  You might want to pay someone to write it for you if you aren’t confident enough to do it yourself, but this can be as little as £30. Let the local community know you are there and open for business. If you are a specialist, why not offer to write a regular column in the paper?
2. Get your business listed on Google Maps.  This is great when people have location services switched on, on their phones.  They might even start seeing your social media posts in their newsfeed because of it. Freaky!
3. Contact your local community radio and tell them you would like to come in an tell your story. Community radio stations are always looking for content, so they would love having you in to chat about who you are and what you do.
4. Join your local Chamber of Commerce, business groups or creative group.  Membership is not huge, but it is a great way to network, meet other business owners in the area, and many Chambers and groups offer training opportunities. Members also refer each other, and you could find some collaborating opportunities. Take every opportunity to speak at their events too. This will put you ‘up there’ as someone who is a specialist in your niche.
5. Get as much training as you can. Sign up for local courses, online courses or workshops. The more you learn the quicker your business will move forward. (Check out training and community at the Content College)

Just Do It!

Whatever your business – retail, delivering services, a creative – each of these points will help you market your business.

Now, take a step back from the day-to-day running of your business, and put time aside to get each of these implemented.  Putting this at the bottom of your ‘to do’ list, means you will forever be on the hamster wheel and not make any progress, move forward and grow.