Choose your marketing avenues
While there are many available, consider your target audience when you are determining which to use.
Options include:
- a business website
- social media
- blogging
- brochures and flyers
- networking events
- print advertising
- word of mouth
- cold calling
- letter drops.
Set your goals and budget
Setting marketing goals will assist you in determining the objectives of your marketing initiatives. SMART is for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based, and this is what you should aim for.
You will also need to allocate a budget to your marketing activities. Your marketing budget will need to include elements such as:
- website development and maintenance
- search engine optimisation strategy
- design of branding
- printing of promotional material (business cards, brochures, signage, etc)
- advertising
- donations and sponsorships
- employing staff to undertake marketing activities.
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Nurture your loyal customers
Your success depends on your clients, therefore you should take care of them and reward their loyalty. Exceptional customer service may differentiate you from your rivals and keep customers coming back.
Strategies to build loyalty in customers include:
- communicating regularly with customers through social media, blogs or e-news
- providing after-sale follow up
- delivering on your promises
- going the ‘extra mile’ and providing benefits that exceed initial expectations
- using feedback and complaints as an opportunity to improve services
- listening to customers
- training staff in customer service and basic sales processes.
Monitor and review
To find out if your marketing efforts are producing the intended results, like higher sales, it’s critical to periodically assess and evaluate them. To make sure your actions are in line with your strategy, you should first assess your marketing plan every three months. As your company gains traction, you should reassess your plan if you launch a new product or service, a new competitor joins the market, or a problem emerges that impacts your sector.
Regularly analyzing your monthly sales numbers or keeping an eye on consumer behavior throughout an advertising campaign are examples of monitoring activities. In order to assess the success of your website or social media efforts, you can also access and evaluate free analytical tools.