How often do you market your business? Is it something that you proactively do each day?
Actively marketing your business each day is a wonderful thing to build into your daily routine. By doing so, will ensure you survive the slumps in business.
We recommend that you should do at least one marketing activity each day – if you have time to do more than even better!
A good rule of thumb is that the marketing you do today will reward you in 2-3 months time. So in the short term whilst you might be really busy, can you afford to not market your business? You need to plan in advance in case something unexpected happens. You never know when you could lose a big client or hit a slow patch in your business, so you are best to proactive.
Otherwise, you are most likely going to scramble and pop out a piece of marketing that doesn’t fit with your message.
I know this from experience and I can assure you it isn’t fun and can cause you unnecessary stress.
I know you don’t have a lot of time so here are some quick, easy and effective marketing ideas for your business.
Reconnect with past clients
If you have worked with someone previously it is now time to get in touch with them.
Just promise me that you won’t try to sell them anything!! And please don’t just send them a generic newsletter and hope this will suffice. This needs to be a personal note, from you to your client.
A quick email or even better – a phone call. All you want to do is touch base with them and see how they are travelling with business.
Pencil this into your diary as a priority and spend 10 minutes per day, 3 times per week and
This marketing tip will not only increase return business but it will increase the chance your client will refer to you. It is surprisingly simple and something that not many businesses do anymore.
Spend time where your clients are
Spend some time thinking about where your clients are hanging out. Is it Facebook or an industry forum perhaps?
Wherever you think they will be, then you need to be there.
Don’t try and get sales while in a forum (unless asked of course) but hang around there and chat with people. Answer any questions that you might be able to answer and generally just be helpful.
People do remember those who have helped them out and ideally you will be the first person they think of when it comes to your service offerings.
Try to limit your time to 10 minutes if you can. These things can eat into your time quickly.
Network with your competitors
Honestly, this has been one of the most successful things I have done in my business. When I first started out in business I made a point to join as many industry forums and networks as I could.
It is amazing how much I learnt from these networks and also the relationships I made in them are still going.
You don’t even need to join a network to do this – Social Media will work just as well. Mingle with your competitors (don’t stalk them or copy what they do) but just start a conversation with them.
They will most likely love having someone to ‘talk shop’ with and you increase your chances of them referring business to you if they can’t take a client on.
Create a quick blog (or video) and answer a Frequently Asked Question
Your customers can be a great source of information, especially when it comes to your marketing.
Let’s start with making a list of questions people ask you when they are looking for a service provider like you. Then make a list of questions that people SHOULD ask but generally don’t ask.
Select one question at a time and answer it.
You can answer the question using a blog article or perhaps a YouTube clip (preferably embedded into a blog article). Just choose the format you are most comfortable with and go for it.
Not only is this is a fantastic way to create content for your website but Google loves it as well.
Create your social media content
Social Media is still a fantastic way to keep in touch with people, but most struggle with creating content and posting each day.
I love to create my content for the week at the one time. It is so much more effective from a time management perspective and really keeps you focused.
Choose a day of the week (I love Sundays) and use that as your content day. You will literally only need 20 minutes to come up with your posts and then use the scheduler tools in Facebook so they go out automatically.
Do remember to check your social media channels each day to keep up with your engagement on your posts.
Create something of value and gift it to your database
I love this idea and it is really effective with email marketing.
People love to get things for free, particularly something useful that will help them in business. Create something that is quick for you to put together and send it to your list as a gift from you to them.
Don’t ask them for anything in return just send it to them. If you want to create a conversation from this email then ask them to respond back to you with feedback. It is such a great way to get people engaging with you.
Answer support questions with videos
This one is probably more of a value-add rather than a marketing idea but works wonders in my business.
If you haven’t heard of Jing before then I suggest you get a copy. It is one of my favourite productivity tools I use all the time.
I use this is when a client asks me a support question or perhaps wants some feedback on their marketing materials. Instead of spending my time replying with a long-winded email I open Jing and do a screencast and answer their question.
There are so many reasons why I love doing this for clients:
- It is quicker for me to answer in video form than typing a response
- My client loves the personal touch the video provides
- My client can keep the video to use at a later date
Write a case study on a client
Case studies are an awesome way to reach out to potential clients.
Google love case studies as well and best of all you are using real examples of results you have achieved.
Ask a client if you can interview them for 5 minutes and ask some questions about the work you have done for them. Some examples are;
- What they needed (what project you completed)
- How you fixed their problem
- A quick snap shot of your client’s feedback (testimonial)
- What results did the client achieve due to your work (i.e. 110% increase in sales)
Offer a free trial
Free trials work really well for those with a product.
Some people can be very wary of free trials so they need to be done carefully.
Create a great call to action on your website and offer a free trial. Choose a time period you are happy with that fits in well with your product.
Once people sign up, use this period to stay in touch with them and make sure they are happy with your product.
Over to you now! I want to hear your marketing ideas that have worked for you.