Your small business is chugging right along and your marketing efforts have done pretty well, but you’re ready to take things to the next level. You wonder, what do marketing professionals do that I could implement in my company? Well, wonder no more. We’ve got some of the best practices in the marketing industry happening right now. And the great news? You don’t have to run a giant corporation to benefit from them.
- Get to Know Your Customers Before You Start Marketing.
Picture your business as a bicycle tire with your customer at the center. Everything you do, every spoke of your tire, radiates from that customer. So it only makes sense that you should know exactly who you’re marketing to before you waste any energy moving in the wrong direction.
Surveys and website analytics are excellent places to start getting to know your customers.
- When Others Zig With Their Content, Zag.
Content marketing is so 2011, so how can you stand out? The key is to deliver what your audience can’t get anywhere else. Get creative. Use Q&As, behind-the-scenes looks, and interviews to spice up what you post on your blog.
Once again, website analytics come in handy here because you can find out exactly which blog posts resonate with your audience.
- Take One Piece of Content and Expand It.
Think beyond the blog post. Content marketing opens up a whole world of possibilities and you should leverage them all; videos, ebooks, podcasts, and infographics just scratch the surface. Use blog topics as a jumping off point for a variety of content.
- Outsource What You’re Not Good At.
You may love managing social media for your brand, but have no time to do it. Or you may dread writing blog posts. Whether it’s a lack of time or interest, don’t forsake these useful marketing tools. Instead, hire someone else to manage them for you.
A perk of outsourcing is that you get access to some cutting-edge tools you might not have discovered on your own.
- Stay on Top of Customer Data.
Your CRM is no good if you don’t leverage what you’ve got! If you’re diligent about entering information about leads and customers, this is a data goldmine that you can then use to decide what sorts of products to add to your offerings, determine where you’ll market, and stay in touch with past clients.
Another neat thing about Insightly’s CRM is integration with other tools you’re already using, like email marketing and other marketing tools, so that data can take you even further in your marketing.
- Have a Crisis Management Plan.
No one wants to think it will happen to them, but PR crises do occur. How you handle one will determine your brand’s ability to bounce back quickly. Have a plan in place for what you’ll do if you make a major public mistake or get a nasty review on Yelp.
- Use a Content Calendar.
An editorial or content calendar can help you see the big picture in regards to marketing campaigns as well as dive into the specifics of what you’ll cover on your blog (or social media) in a given month. This helps you plan ahead and stay organized.
- Upgrade Your Marketing Tools.
What worked five years ago to market to your audience might turn them off these days. Consider the popup box. Years ago, these offended people and they’d leave your website. If you’re still using a popup from 1999, you’re probably not getting the conversion rate you’d like. On the other hand, if you use an upgraded version like SumoMe’s ListBuilder, you’ll be able to leverage modern technology that actually works to convert visitors into customers.
- Pay for Your Stock Photos.
Please stop using Creative Commons or just “some site” for your blog images. Yes, it can cost several hundred dollars a year to subscribe to a stock photo site, but it’s worth every penny if you attract more people with your professional-quality photos. PhotoSpin is an affordable site with a variety of images.
- Have Sales Talk to Marketing.
For some reason, sales and marketing departments rarely overlap. One doesn’t know what the other is doing, and that makes for problems down the road. Even if you’re a small operation and don’t have sales and marketing teams per se, still consider them two sides to the same coin, and have your efforts in both areas work together for the greater good.
These are just a few examples of marketing best practices that you can integrate into your small business.
At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a huge variety of verticals. Learn about Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.
