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Best way to quickly advance your business using the internet. Times are sluggish, business is hard then take a few minutes to freshen up

The internet has changed your business so you need to change with it

As business owners, we plod along with the daily chores hoping for a good month. There is enough to do in a day without worrying about all that marketing palaver.

However, times have changed and it is time you changed with them.

If you do your strategy correctly you will take very little time to market your business to a new level. The truth is that businesses around you are taking the right steps to the market so your customers are slowly slipping away. Sales will be down and profits eroded even though you run a good business.

Marketing your business is simply being in front of them.

Customers now use some kind of internet access to seek products online. It may be social media, Google search, web page, newsletter, email, SMS or word of mouth therefore you must be at the front of their mind.

The general rule is to have seven forms of marketing going at the one time this is a multi-media blitz on the available market.

Some of these may be old-school methods however most will be around internet research.

Your type of business does not matter, how you market makes the difference.

I will give you an example from today. A real estate agent I have used in the past, emails a list of new properties available in our area every week. The email includes pictures, pricing, and visiting times or home opens. I generally scan the list looking at interesting properties before consigning it to the bin.
The same agent letter drops the neighborhood regularly, as I take these out of the mailbox it is but a short walk to the bin with hardly a glance at what they say.

What marketing is best for your business

There is no definite answer to this question however we will try and break it down.

The first thing to do is identify your typical customer.

• Are they male or female.
• What is the average age
• Where do they live.
• Do they have specific interests

Some will be easy to define, for example, a women's hairdresser.
A motor vehicle servicing outlet is broader so harder to build your avatar.
A baby shop will have a mostly female audience however grandparents are a large interest group as well as the 30-year old's

If you market to the wrong audience you are simply wasting money.

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Google search is the first port of call

Are you registered in Google search and shown with a five-star rating. If not why not?

First of all, it is free, secondly getting stars is not all that hard Just ask for them.
My day business needed stars so I emailed a dozen or so good clients and asked for a review.

In return, I would do the same for them. The job was done in about an hour and everyone was happy.

Keep your open hours current and your address bold. Add a couple of pictures and you are in business, the first job is done.

Is your website current and getting traffic.

Your website is or should be, access to buying products. However if it is not getting traffic, your chances are pretty slim of sales from it.

First of all, do your social media pages link to your site? these are delivery mechanisms that should bring new and interested subscribers to your products.

The three most important issues are:

• Using keywords correctly
• Making sure your SEO is correct
• Having a blog page
  • We could include paid traffic in this.)

Therefore go to Google analytics and see what traffic is coming to you. Then check what pages or posts are most viewed and look at the Keywords that capture the imagination of viewers.

If your answer is pretty dismal then maybe it is time for some help.

Best way to quickly advance your business using the internet and a newsletter

A newsletter is your most valuable property

This may surprise you because only a small percentage of businesses use them. However those that do will recognise the value they deliver.

These are a consistent client touch mechanism. So when they are ready to buy they will remember you as a trusted place to do business. It might be a month ahead or even a year however they will come.

If they are not reading your newsletter they are reading someone else's.

I use Constant Contact as my delivery partner, having tried many I now settle on just the one that is easy to use and pretty well hassle-free. There is a cost to this based on the number of subscribers but not the number of emails.

Consistency is king here, every two weeks or a month is necessary. Over sending matters little however under sending hurts your image.

Set up your newsletter so you plan well into the future. Write down a bundle of headings and then just pen some words or preferably get someone else to do it.
Remember you are not trying to sell things here you are just answering the common questions you receive.

You are building Like and trust the important elements of a future sale.

Best way to quickly advance your business using the internet and social media

Using Social Media in the best possible way

You should have a Facebook page, many will use it as a reference site to your business, so keep it up to date and make sure you have links to your web page.

Marketing on this media is different, you must understand who your client is and where they hang out.

Facebook is spread evenly across age and gender. However getting older age group.
Instagram is higher in females aged 20-45
Twitter is the higher educated and older age
TikTok is for kids
LinkedIn for business people and generally professionals.

Ok generalised I know however it does tell the story.

It is best to own one of these as your leading channel to market, spend on advertising or use it at least every day if not more often.

Social media takes time to do it properly and just copying from one to another does not work.

Will a blog post work for you

A good blog can collect thousands of readers all going to your web pages. A blog is a story on a single subject that will include links to a selling site.

So if your business is a plant nursery you will write about plants, and seeds, watering and seasons, compost, manure, and weeds, just about anything to do with the business. Specifically answering questions or solving problems.

The problem is that blogging takes time so it is often best to outsource the work to others.

You tube videos a must do

There is no doubt about the abilities of YouTube for your business, put quite simply it works well and consistently. It is searched nearly as often as Google and that's a lot of traffic.
It can be used as a sales tool, a branding option to show people how to do things, ways to do things and even the whys.
A Youtube channel is a necessity.

Best way to quickly advance your business using the internet with Short messaging

SMS Marketing is the unheralded winner

Ok, a small cost comes with this however the results are instant, people do not ignore an SMS.
They can ignore an email, not answer a phone call but 97% will open your mobile message and take an action.

Therefore estimating the effectiveness of your campaign is instant, This is ideal for trial marketing to a small group and gauging the response.

You will learn to use those 160 characters to get attention and set them up for a sale.

This may be the strongest asset in your armory so don't hesitate to use it well

Your customer list must be used to death

The most valuable asset you own is your customer list, these are the people that know you and even like you, so the final part of trust can be gained.

They follow your business because they are customers, part of your family so to speak thus they need constant nurturing.

The more often they see your name the more likely they will buy from you. Never be shy be quite the reverse bold, extravagant and consistently in their face.

Send them new material as often as you can by whatever means you have available to you.
They want entertainment, humor, answers to questions and important facts and they want it often.

Suck up to them, treat them like your most loyal friends and shower them with information.

If you think I am wrong just look at the major stores.

Where I shop for groceries email me, newsletter me, SMS me letterbox drop me make sure I am part of their rewards program by showering me with offers.
WHY?
Because they want my business and they don't want me to stray.

They value me and tell me every day so I feel special. I feel that I am cheating if I walk into the opposition store because they are my personal friends.

Well, I believe so anyway because they told me.

Treat your customers like that and they will stay the distance, ignore them and they shall become distant it is your call.

Best way to quickly advance your business using the internet and my conclusion

My Internet solution wrap up

No one thing will work every time and that is why we go for a multi-media blitz of information overload.

You may do a few of the above or even all of them but are you doing them properly. Are you getting results growing your subscriber base and increasing your sales? I think not or you would not have read this far.

Find a HERO method that works for your business and do it properly. Let it be the dance master and all the other methods the occasional partners that twirl when asked to.

Remember consistency will win the day.

Best way to quickly advance your business using the internet by Peter Hanley

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