3 Powerful Yet Simple Ways To Boost Your Marketing
By Guest Blogger Aubree Franks
There is no doubt that marketing is a huge topic. Calling in aspects of psychology, neuroscience, and data analysis, it can become mind-boggling when trying to figure out what works by yourself. Then there is the fast-moving world of social media where a new platform or feature seems to pop up every few minutes, and, of course, we all feel the pressure to try it out for our business.
But amongst all the analytics, the white papers, and the demands of social media, are some powerful yet simple truths. These 3 approaches remain relevant, no matter what else is happening online.
Streamline your social
If you have been feeling overwhelmed by your social media marketing, then you are going to love this. I am going to give you permission to not be on all the social media platforms.
Unless you employ a large marketing team, it is not possible to be active on all the platforms that exist now and still do a good job of it.
It is more effective to focus your efforts on a few key platforms and leave the rest for the kids. That’s right, you don’t have to dance about on TikTok if you don’t want to. If you can’t see how it would benefit your brand, then trust your instinct there, because it probably won’t.
Focus on the right platforms
Now I’m not telling you to take the day off and relax – you do have a lot of work to do on social. But just focus on the right platforms.
Statistically speaking, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook still have the highest number of active users. They are key players for most businesses. But also consider where your own clients are most likely to spend their social scrolling time, because it can vary. Many e-commerce industries, from beauty to homeware, find that Pinterest does a lot of good for their webstore traffic. This is due to its highly visual nature; it's like window shopping. So put yourself in the shoes of your customer.
It can be a smart move to poll your existing customers once in a while to find out what platforms they use the most. When you streamline your social media efforts to the right places, you will end up getting more return for your investment.
Focus on email newsletters
A lot of people are surprised that email marketing is still relevant, but the statistics don’t lie. Email is highly efficient for customer retention and repeat sales. These things, in turn, are highly beneficial for your bottom line.
The marketing cost of finding new customers takes a toll on a small business. What moves the needle the most is repeat sales, where you have acquired the customer once and they keep returning to buy from you.
Sending an email newsletter is low-cost in terms of labor. And if those emails are landing well with your customers, the returns can be a real boost to your business.
How do you ensure that those emails land well? Try split testing your email subject lines to find what your customers want to open. Also, make sure that each email newsletter contains some value, like a story or a link to an engaging blog post. The idea is to send them something they enjoy, so that the next time you email them, they are more likely to open that email.
Plan ahead
If you aren’t in the habit of sending an email newsletter regularly, then try planning your content weeks ahead. Having a content calendar means you can plot out the offers you want to send each week. That does mean you will have fewer excuses not to send it, but more than that, you will have something to plot your KPIs against.
Say you need to sell 100 units of something before Easter. Perhaps you have seen that each email generates an average of 20 sales for that item. Now you know you need to plot back on the calendar 5 weeks before Easter, and send out a sales offer on that item every week for 5 weeks. This is something measurable, and when you can measure your results in marketing, you know where to spend more time and effort in order to hit your goals.
Clean up your image
When did you last look at your website’s image with a fresh pair of eyes? It helps to step back and put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Does the look and feel of the website entice you to buy a product or book a service?
If you have noticed the trend towards white backgrounds in web design in the last few years, then there is a reason for it. Research has found that white space on a website and even in small graphics like the logo impacts how professional we perceive a business to be. White space allows us to process what we are looking at more efficiently. It can also help to emphasize the main feature of the web page, by letting it take center stage without distraction.
Keep it consistent
It is important that whatever style and balance of white space you go with on your website is matched across all of your brandings. If you are going to clean up your online image, remember your social media graphics and your offline branding too. You could try Business Cards for business card design, and Canva for social media graphics, and then even get a social media assistant.
Take-Home Tips
To summarize these simple tips, let’s recap on the key points:
You get more return from your social media marketing when you streamline your efforts. Pick a few relevant platforms that your customers frequent, and put your energy there.
Email marketing is still very relevant, and highly cost-effective. Experiment with subject lines, and keep sending valuable content.
Keep your look clean and simple. Less can be more. Let your customers focus on the products and services by keeping some white space around them.
I hope this reassures you that amongst the craziness of the marketing world, some simple truths remain effective.
Keeping things simple can help you cut through the noise online. A virtual assistant in your private practice can help you keep track of your marketing efforts and implement your marketing strategy. And if you are offering something of value, keep emailing your customers about it. Because you have invested in the relationship and added value to them, they will come back to your business when they are ready.
