Some things that you need to 'consider' for your business
Consider
Thirty seconds, that’s how long you have to impress a new customer.
Our job is to make that time memorable.
Does your site look professional and offer information that your clients will be interested in, or is it still in the 90’s acting only as a listing? Consider your goals for your website. Are these clearly communicated and accomplished? What do you want the website to do for your business?
Your website is a reflection of your business. If it’s out of date, visitors will assume your business is out of date. If it is impersonal, your prospects will think you have impersonal customer service. If it’s partially complete with pages that say, ‘Coming soon’, they will think you can’t finish a project.
Who is your
target market?
Most businesses aren’t focused. They presume that potential clients already know everything about their business. Your marketing needs to speak directly to your target audience.
You need to focus, think about this, do you work with lots of corporate clients or maybe manufacturing, farming, SME or start-ups? Who are the clients that bring in your most business? You should aim your marketing to attract more of these clients.
Let’s say your top five clients bring in €25k per annum to your business. What would your business look like if you added another five or ten clients like them? Would another €25k to €50k every year make a big difference to your business? What are you currently doing to target these new customers?
Your website is your office front door
The way people find your business has changed drastically over the last decade. Prospective clients are much more likely to use search engines or check out your website.
How many of you look on the web for information about a business? You probably do this almost every day. Think about this. Do you check out a website first before you go an visit the business?
Would you be pleased to have potential clients visit your website? Does it represent the quality and values of your business?
Outbound versus Inbound Marketing
Ultimately, the best marketing strategy for your business will be the one that works. Always try new things while you continue to do the old things that are working. Remember, audiences change, too. What worked last year might not work this year. People get tired of seeing the same thing.
Technology adds new features and ways of connecting with people. That said, the most important strategy would always be: experiment, measure and repeat.
Would you be pleased to have potential clients visit your website? Does it represent the quality and values of your business?
”Outbound marketing is interruptive as it pushes itself at an audience, whether the audience wants it or not.
TV/radio ads, telemarketing, banner and display ads, newspaper and magazine ads, and cold calling are all examples of outbound marketing. Outbound marketing has fallen out of favour in the last couple of years. Oversaturation, especially on the internet, caused people to start ignoring display advertising.
”Inbound marketing is a relatively new marketing concept where marketers attempt to 'pull' in potential customers with interesting content.
Inbound marketing involves creating blog posts, marketing hooks, social media, videos, podcasts, email/print newsletters, and other content that people actually want to read. If the content is engaging, customers interact with it, reading and sharing. They come away with a positive impression of the company that influences later purchasing decisions.
