Social Media
We all know that social media has the potential to greatly improve the profile of a business and to generate sales. 3.2 billion people worldwide use social media and the younger you are the more likely you are to use it. It remains one of the best ways to engage with people on mobile devices. Given how expensive Google Adwords is it makes good business sense to invest some of your time developing your social media accounts instead.
It is tempting to contract out your social media marketing to third parties. Any agency can buy you a load of likes and shares but it is worthless if it isn’t real engagement with potential customers. In reality, there is simply no substitute for you the business owner and expert taking control and actively contributing to your social media channels. Stop putting it off and get excited about the potential for business growth these platforms offer. Don’t make it a big job, do a little bit each day and enjoy it.
Your starting point is getting to know and understand the social channels that you use. Set up a personal account first and start interacting. View a couple of up to date ‘how-to’ videos or podcasts so you quickly get an overview of all the things you can do and experiment. Once you have the basics licked set up your business account. Sounds like a lot of work? No it isn’t! It only takes a few hours over the course of a week to work it out so stop procrastinating and get on with it.
Your first job is to get some content on your business channels. Post about some of your products or offers, post a short video about one of your team members, post a testimonial or even better a video of a happy customer. Share posts, videos or images from other experts and businesses in your field. You don’t want to advertise the competition but there will be complimentary businesses whose posts will add to your own feeds. There is nothing wrong with capitalising on someone else’s effort to make your social media accounts more interesting.
Do not calendarise all your social media activity to one day a week or month. If a business posts multiple items within minutes it becomes annoying and you are likely to be unfollowed. Instead, post regularly but on different days. You can prepare your posts in advance if that is easier for you to manage.
Physical Visibility
We all know that a strong internet profile is essential these days. However, for many businesses a strong local physical presence is also vital. Car washes, beauty parlours, gyms, restaurants, takeaways, nursery schools……. all rely on passers-by seeing their physical location on their daily routes and realising that these businesses would be easily accessible to them.
Invest in large and high-quality signage. Window decals and over window signage are not expensive but make sure that you spend a little extra on the design so it looks really appealing.
If you have space, consider an advertising inflatable. They are not very expensive but they really make you stand out from the crowd. They can be fun, personal or even a giant version of what you are selling. They are also mobile so you can take them with you to fairs or conferences too.
Recommendations
Happy customers can be adopted as an enlarged sales team for you. People trust other people more than any business so personal recommendations are gold dust. There are lots of different ways to incentivise your happy customers to recommend you. You can have prize draws for recommendations and social media shares, offer discounts and free services.
It is also a good idea to periodically remind your customers you exist so they come back to for repeat business and continue recommending you. Send them a mailing or email every 6 months with some product news or a special discount. Even better give them a personalised mouse mat or phone case so they have a constant reminder of your business.
Know Your Audience
No matter what advertising methods you use make sure you think about your target audience first. Who are they, what is their age, do they work, do they do the school run, do they use health services, what is important to them?
An hour of careful thought will help you really target your marketing efforts effectively both in terms of what you choose to do and when and where you do it. If you want to commuters then renting some space next to a train station for an inflatable could be much better than putting one outside your business premises. If you are aiming at teenagers and young adults then using the most popular social media for these age groups is important. Young people don’t use Facebook and Twitter so get into Snapchat and Instagram. Conversely, if you want new retirees Facebook is a great place to start; see the graph below.
