The seven top marketing strategies for small business. You are in danger of being left behind if you don't keep up with the market
Why pick just seven when there are hundreds
An interesting question with a three part answer.
First of all there is an ancient rule from the early marketers called the rule of SEVEN. The rule states that a potential customer must see your message at least seven times before they will commit to buying your product.
Seven may not be an exact number however in todays market your brand must be recognised and that will only be achieved with consistency.
Secondly, as a small business owner you simply don't have time to spend on a wide range of ideas and trends. Marketing takes time and money and both of those are usually in scarce supply.
Finally, and generally very true, only a few good ideas will work for you and get people through the doors at a reasonable cost. We all have different needs and opportunities so making the best of what we have is the key.
Your web page and SEO
This is the easiest of them all however also the most important.
Your web page serves many purposes and one of those is where to find you, or perhaps how to call you.
I don't want to go searching through a dozen pages to find a phone number or address.
If I am out and about and using my smart phone because I am lost I want answers now.
Ok, a lot of web builders will disagree with this and tell you it is all about the web experience. They say hide the contact details on page ten so we have to troll through wonderful pages to get there.
Sorry it is too hard, give me at least a phone number on the opening page so I can contact you.
Keywords
The second point is Keywords a vital part of SEO, does your site attract viewers to what you sell. If I want to buy a bush saw in Texas will I come up on page one of the search term? If not you aren't going to sell many bush saws.
Fortunately this is easily and cheaply outsourced in these days of competition. Let the experts do the work and you ask the questions, will I be on page one of the search terms for my business. if not please fix it. ( it may take a little while but get the action rolling now).
Your Google search address
This is your business highlighted when someone types is a search term, a nice picture, address and phone contact details and a five star rating.
This is a free service and one in which you should be active. let me give you an example:
If you go to bush saws in Texas there is no Google listing, in fact the highest searched term is the Stihl listing which is pretty generic. Therefore you will scroll the page looking for what you want.
However if you search bush saws in Nevada it is a whole different answer. The three Google listings are in your face and you probably won't search past them. It then comes down to your wording to be the best of the three.
A tip for you to get your five start ratings, I did this and it worked within a very short time.
I emailed a group of my clients and asked them for a good rating, in return I would do the same for them. All done in about an hour with great ratings and my 5 star badge of honour.
I competed the deal by returning the favour for all those that replied.
Include your local directories
I might add to this that there are often local directories that take up the first page of many search terms, particularly in say food.
Most of these directories will give you a free listing and all you have to do is ask and write a small script. The volume wont be massive however get a few directories working your way and it really adds to the count.
This is something you do once and it works long term delivering excellent results.
Your VIP club or Rewards program and collecting customer data
One of the most important assets your company can have is a comprehensive data base.
Not only will you use this on a regular basis it will have a value of its own adding to your business worth.
When you have a data base of clients you have lots of choices. You can email them, send a newsletter, write to them, call them and SMS them with wonderful offers.
It is important that we look at the clients lifetime value not just one off purchases. You want them coming back for years to come and only by staying in their face will you achieve this.
I have a favourite saying that says, “If they are not reading your stuff they are reading someone else's” and top of mind gets the Bickies. When they are gone they rarely come back.
Grab the data every way you can and at every opportunity and store it in your CRM system or even just an Excel spread sheet.
Carriers say on average a customer is worth $5.00 a month to you so if you have a thousand names and numbers it may well represent a sales income of $5000 a month or an extra $60,000 a year.
Newsletters are a cheap and easy answer
To compose and send a newsletter from a pre done template takes about an hour going slow.
This can be done every two weeks or even monthly to keep your customer base nice and warm. The idea is not to sell to them but to inform and entertain them however always have a buy button because we never know.
All my high flying customers do newsletters because they know they work. Even the local tyre service where I might visit every two years has a mail about car trends and what is happening in the motoring world.
Being a bit of a petrol head I read everyone because they are interesting. When it is time for new tyres they are my first port of call. Is it worth while?
Over a ten year period I may spend, with my families help, tens of thousands of dollars on rubber, so yes well worth the effort when they have a huge customer base.
Your Facebook page must be current and topical
Facebook is not dead by any means and is often used as a reference source. We look at what is happening and what is current and any comments people make.
Yes you can use it for advertising as well however at least post on it weekly at the least.
Again this can be outsourced if it is time consuming. Take a bundle of photos and add them on a regular basis with a few lines of promotional words.
It will not send them streaming into your business however it is an important touch that is cheap and reliable.
Now I want to spend a bit of your money
This is an optional choice and will need to be outsourced unless you commit a bundle of time to it. Re-targeting and Re-marketing are the two hot topics.
Re-targeting is chasing clients that have looked and gone. By placing a pixel capture on your website the caller details are recorded and next time they use that keyword your Facebook advert will pop up on the page, you pay a fee when your advert is clicked and hopefully you sell them something.
Re-marketing is after they have made a purchase and are all hot to spend money with you having got their trust. Because they bought a Bush Saw now they really need sharpening stones, or anti corrosion oil or maybe even a new battery driven chain saw to make life easy.
Again you generally pay on clicks.
Both of these are the latest trending products to produce a great return on expenditure.
However be careful and spend wisely because it can get away.
SMS will work faster and better than most media
Last but not least is my best value option. More here
98% of people read an SMS and depending on the offer many will reply straight back.
You need to have a compelling offer, be exclusive and have a time limit to take up the offer.
” Get 30% of the STIHL brush cutters while stocks last” VIP customer exclusive.”
It wont get everyone because they are not yet ready however you only need one or two to pay the way. SMS cost about $0.10 each so a thousand cost about $100. The question is how many brush cutters can you sell among your say bush clients.
My tip is to send a sample on the first run and see what happens, you may need to change a word or two to get better results for the final blast.
It helps to use first names and an opt-out within your basic 160 characters. A bit of practice and it becomes easy.
My conclusion on the Seven
Again, and I repeat. keep your marketing as tight as you can.
Everything takes your time away from the main project. However you don't have the option to do nothing so these are a compromise on the factors.
Time and expenditure over returns, an easy formula.
Your marketing is important so treat it properly.
Interesting article Peter with a great viewpoint. The number seven is often regarded as a lucky number and I think there isn’t any coincidence in that at all. Every tip you included in your article is a viable way to market yourself to your potential customers. Very rarely will your customer buy in to what you are offering the first time they see your offer. That’s why newsletters and social media are so important; just because they didn’t buy in right away doesn’t mean they aren’t interested.
Thanks Rachel for your great insight into the marketing. Yes seven is an interesting number that relates to good luck in many ways. My point was to limit your ways to market and maximise your potential. and seven seemed like an omen.
Peter H