Last Updated on Dec 24, 2019 by James W
Getting started as a new business can be tough, you’ve got competitors that have been in full swing for a while, that have teams of experienced and established people and loyal clients to prop them up. It’s easy to feel like a very small fish in an ever-increasing ocean and quickly lead to demotivation and frustration.
When launching a new business, there’s no need to cut prices beyond what’s affordable to encourage customers through your doors, instead focus on what you can offer better than or in addition to what your competitors can offer. With your strongest selling points decided, it’s time to start building your marketing plan;
Where Are Your Customers?
Marketing is both online and offline and while it’s advantageous to plan for both, focusing on where your customers are to start will require less resource than trying to cover all your bases at the same time. Research into the customer behaviors of your target market, do they prefer to find services and products online or are they more likely to get in the car and go downtown?
Knowing the types of content your target market regularly consumes will also give you an indication of where to put your paid advertising. If they are more online, using social and Google ads will be more efficient, whereas those who enjoy more physical content, such as magazines and newspapers, will be more likely to see and take notice of printed advertisements. You can get creative with your paid advertising too with influencers and video campaigns, just make sure your ads remain informative and don’t confuse the message you are trying to convey.
Identifying Online Campaigns
Getting found online can be tricky, with over 1.7billion websites and the number only increasing every day, building campaigns that get you noticed and increase traffic is important. If you are going to be focusing on online resource, it’s important that you have a website that looks good and works smoothly. Page load speeds should be kept to below 3 seconds and your website should work seamlessly across devices and browsers.
When creating content for your website, you’ll want to work around the searches of your target markets. For example, if you sell dog toys, you want to ensure your content contains plenty of reference to dog toys and other relevant and long-tail keywords. If you are offering a local service, you’ll need to include location specific keywords, such as Roof Repair Cambridge or SEO London, see here as an example.
Encouraging Conversions
Once you’ve got your online campaigns built and you start seeing your website traffic increasing, it’s time to consider how you can better encourage visitors into becoming long-standing loyal customers. If you’ve got head-turning products that are sure to be a hit, make sure these are front and centre on your homepage and that any informative content you have created points back to these products and their category pages.
CTAs or ‘Calls to Actions’ are buttons placed around your website that encourage customers to click, these can include ‘Buy Now’, ‘Shop Here’ and ‘Learn More’. They are normally instructional, telling the visitors to do something which will take them to one of your ‘money’ or service pages, where you can show off your top products and make the sale.
Starting a business is tough, but it isn’t rocket science and it certainly isn’t music theory. Before taking the plunge in your new business, make sure you have carefully researched your target audience and what makes them tick so you can get your business, product or service in the right places and start welcoming those new customers.
