A new year has begun so we look at 7 Really important ideas for planning in small business that will take you ahead of the pack
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Table of contents
Your business needs to get a lot smarter just to compete
Marketing is dynamic and that means pedaling like mad just to keep up with the group.
Here we look at a handful of items that will make a difference to your year.
Blogging is the new media
There is no better way to explain your product than with a well-written blog. However, with a blog every few seconds, you need to be a lot smarter to be on page one
According to the newest 2020 data, a staggering 4.4 million blog posts get published daily. Now, while it's true that only about 2% of bloggers post on a daily basis and about 1% of them post more than once a day, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Unknown
Getting read is the name of the game and this can be helped by five important inclusions.
| The number of posts | One a day is great | Often better than fewer |
| The Keyword | Use a great tool | Jaaxy |
| Your headline | It must be exciting and appealing | MonsterInsights |
| Meta description | The art of writing | 160 appealing words |
| Analytics | Understanding what you are doing | MonsterInsights review |
Keywords
The keyword or key-phrase as it has become is the search term that finds your blog. I use a tool to determine traffic and competition to ensure that I have a chance of being read. I have written about various tools for you to consider
There again I also looked at an analytics and blogging tool that would also make my heading structure more appealing.
I use the MonsterInsights program to make sure I do this right. I tried about twenty different styles before I received a score I would use. It is the difference between being read or ignored.
Email marketing is still king
Don't let them tell you any different, emails come in every day making offers you must read.
However one thing stands out more and that is the consistent use of a newsletter, this amplifies your branding and maintains all important client contact.
It is an educational tool as well as an entertainment media far more than a selling tool. Once a fortnight or once a month is necessary to maintain front-of-mind appeal.
I use Constant Contact as my carrier because the templates are easy and they have proven to be extremely reliable over many years
7 Really important ideas for planning in small business with Social Media
Social media works
We all know about Facebook and Instagram and how you need to post consistently to achieve results. Advertising is still all the go and reaps rewards for those doing it properly. It really needs to be consistent and follow your brand strategy to get the best results.
However, have you considered re-targeting and or re-marketing for your business. Both of these are getting great rewards as they pop up beside search terms and social media posts.
Re-marketing is those crazy follow-me ads that pop up after searching a term or niche. They really are intrusive however they are not personal and don't really know a lot about you. It is simply one in the background using pixels to set up the system.
Re-targeting is when you have purchased and they want you to spend more so they bombard you with offers that you can't refuse. Once a customer you have a weakness for a future purchase.
These are both paid programs however they can provide high rewards.
Video is searched as often as Google
Ok, I exaggerate because Google still gets a few more searches however YouTube is fast catching up and in fact beats Bing and Yahoo combined. Therefore if you are not considering Video for your business you are missing a whole bundle of traffic.
This was traditionally a hard and expensive procedure to make a professional video but with the advent of smartphones and tablets, the world changed.
Online shopping is the current norm
The covid-19 year has driven online shopping to a new level, I know this as articles arrive at my house with regular monotony. My wife is a convert and with some Covid-based restrictions, it makes life easier for instant buying. Hey, we have five kids and partners and twelve grandchildren so a few presents to shell out for.
My daughter bought a women's dress shop that operates in a strip located in a small town so the opportunity for a big increase in sales is limited, The first thing she did was set up an online shop that would take the business out of the confines she operated in. The business has bought in customers from surrounding towns as well as big-city sales thus increasing turnover.
The lockdown
During a recent lockdown period, the online location continued despite the shop being closed to customers. All was not lost.
She chose to use Shopify when she set up however the WordPress plugin called Woocommerce will do the same thing at a lesser cost. Therefore if you are unsure you can get training for this at Wealthy Affiliate in their free program or take a subscription service with Shopify.
My conclusion
First of all, I could go on for hours and many of my posts will help with other subjects that may enlighten you on options that are more pertinent to your objective.
however, staying ahead of the curve is vitally important and that's why programs like Monster Insights assist you in your marketing plan.
secondly, I have used MonsterInsights read timer, Page contents tool, headline analyzer, and of course the link to analytics so all my stats are on the front page
They provide a bundle of free training, a newsletter, good support, and many separate tools to assist with websites and blogging. Therefore I could not be without them.
Finally, if you have not done your plan now is the time to start.
7 Really important ideas for planning in small business by Peter Hanley
A written plan is essential for success
When your marketing matters
