Small Business Marketing – How to Improve.

As with most small businesses, marketing to the right audience is essential to ensure you are always attracting new customers. If you use the same strategy religiously, you may see short term benefits, but in the long run, your strategy could become stale, leading to your customers getting tired of your business.

To stay one step ahead of your competitors you must always keep up with the latest marketing trends and advances in technology to keep your customers on their toes and interested in you.

Your current marketing strategy may be working well, but there is always room for improvement and no business, no matter how big or small could complain about gaining even more new customers/clients.

How do you improve your marketing?

Reviews/Testimonials

Most people when purchasing a product/service will do some research to ensure that this is the exact product/service that they need. They will then check out the reviews or testimonials to ensure that the product/service is reliable, good quality and produces exactly what it claims to. Therefore, it is absolutely vital that you drive any reviews or testimonials from your existing or regular customers, to help gain the trust of a prospect. You can put these reviews everywhere: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, your website, Yell, the list goes on and on. As long as they are easily accessible by any prospect they will help to drive sales, gain trust and make your website even more effective than it currently is. Reviews and testimonials are one of the oldest but most effective forms of marketing and it is essential that you get regular reviews to show the excellent service that your business is providing.

Research your Competitors

Is your marketing strategy not bringing in as many leads or customers as it used to? Yet a competitor seems to be booming and gaining new customers by the minute? Check them out. There is no harm in researching a competitors marketing strategy, especially if it more successful than yours. This will give you new ideas and open your eyes to types of marketing that you thought may not work within your industry. It will also show you what areas of your marketing strategy has become stale. You can then update your marketing strategy in whatever way you see fit, to gain a competitive advantage over that competitor and other competitors within your industry.

Networking

Customers and clients are not always going to come to you, and aside from marketing campaigns such direct mail, email, social media and cold calling, how are you going to attract new prospects and make them wary of what you can provide for them? Networking. Face to face contact, conversations and meetings have always been and is still the best way to win new business. Therefore, it is a must to attend networking meetings, local events, fairs, whatever is it that may be relevant to your business to get in front of prospects and convey to them what it is you do and what it is that makes your business better than your competitors. This will help you build a contact list, create new relationships and spread the word of your business. Even if the people there don't require your product or services, one of their clients or customers may need what you have to offer and thanks to that event, they know who you are and what your business does and now they can recommend you to their customers/clients. This will almost certainly gain you new business and if you aren't regularly attending events and meetings then we highly recommend that you do.

Become a local influencer

You are the professional and expert to go to about topics within your industry. So why not let everyone know that. Write blogs, attend specialist groups, approach businesses, magazines and local newspapers and offer advice or to write articles to show everyone your knowledge and skillset when it comes to the industry that you and your business are in. This will take time and effort but once you are established as the go to professional in your local area for your particular profession, you will reap the rewards. You will be getting recommendations left, right and centre and will be a key influencer within your community, with businesses lining up for advice and the services that you offer to help them improve. Don't get us wrong this is a long-term marketing strategy, but if done correctly, it can be one of the most rewarding and effective marketing strategies in the modern day. Start today by simply contacting a few specialist groups or by starting your own blog. It could be the start of something great for you and your business.

For more information on any of the above or if you are interested in marketing services contact us now on 01934 643961 or email info@equinoxmarketing.co.uk