Having a marketing strategies that really work, is all about making yourself stand out amongst a sea of competitors and coming out on top, the most victorious seller of them all. With technology constantly changing the game when it comes to marketing, it’s getting increasingly difficult to combat your rivals in the same field. We’re here to give you some of the best strategies and tools in today’s fast paced marketing game so that you don’t fall behind.
[success]1. Research[/success]
Find out who your competitors are. Do extensive research on what they offer, what their marketing plan is, and how much time they devote to their selling strategies. More often than not, somewhere in their plan you can find a loophole, a weakness, and expose it. Use this information to your advantage. Perhaps they aren’t exactly social media savvy and are having a hard time getting to their audience via social media platforms. That’s when you go on a social media blitz, taking your marketing to the next level with hashtags that link directly to your business and website or creating a contest that can only be entered via your Facebook fan page or Pinterest. Or maybe your competitors are ignoring a certain age group and aren’t marketing to them. You should take that information and market directly to that age group, generating all the business that they are literally handing to you. It sounds brutal and sneaky, but when it comes to owning a business, that’s exactly what it is – business, nothing personal.
Why should customers choose you? If you’re offering the same products/services, of the same quality, for the same price as everyone else…what is it exactly that makes you stand out? Make a list of how your business is unique then use the top 3 from that list and build it into your marketing strategy. For example: You have an industrial carpet cleaning business but you’ve also got about 50 other companies in your area that are essentially your equals. You have to find a way to set yourself apart in order to drive up the number of clients you have. Maybe you use all green products and are more environmentally friendly than your competitors. Perhaps you offer a deal to repeat customers – get your office carpets cleaned 4 times and the 5th time is half-price! The possibilities are endless, you just have to get a little creative. This is also a prime example for when SEO comes in handy. Finding a niche market is a beautiful thing and knowing how to market directly to them is priceless. SEO is an excellent strategy to use for niche marketing as well as broad marketing.
[success]3. Service[/success]
There is nothing more profitable than honest-to-goodness customer service. This factor, more than anything else, will make people come back as repeat customers. Go above and beyond for the people that are choosing you instead of your competitors. Make them feel like they are a part of the process. Have member cards or a mailing list for people that want to know about special promotions when it comes to your business. Form relationships with your clients and make sure you’re listening to their suggestions – people are telling you exactly what they like and don’t like, you should be taking notes! Most of all, always be helpful, even if you know there’s no immediate profit for you and your business. Helpfulness is always appreciated and will ensure that customers remember you gave them the best possible service because you wanted to, not because you had to. Train your staff to do the same.
[success]4. Problem Areas[/success]
We’ve talked about finding the weaknesses of your competitors, now it’s time to look internally. What’s missing from your business? What are your loopholes and missing links? And most importantly, what can you do to fix it? Being in a vulnerable state is an open invitation for other businesses to trample all over you and knock you off of your 1st place platform. One of the hardest things to do is admit you have problems, but the sooner you do, the sooner you can find a solution for them. This is when networking comes in handy. Get tips on what other people are saying about your business, follow any trends that could affect your sales, and keep an ear to the ground for any up-and-comers that could be a threat. Staying vigilant is important in staying on top, no one has ever become successful and thought their work is done. You may be number 1, but now you have to keep that title.
[success]5. Over – Marketing[/success]
It does exist. Going too far with your marketing can have the opposite effect for your business, being too in your face about anything turns people off. It’s easy to get caught up in all the platforms you’re using to get noticed but a great way to control all of those platforms at once is through some sort of cloud method. If you can link all your marketing to back to your website and run everything from there – great! Or if you prefer to keep your marketing strategies separate you can use certain programs like Hootsuite to link up all your social media and apps like “Campaign Calendar” that organize, color-code, and share your marketing campaigns specifically to how you set them. The important thing is to have a system and stick to it. Of course, if you can, having a marketing team also helps, which brings us to Number 6…
[success]6. Team Effort[/success]
Let’s face it, you can’t do it alone. You know that saying, “It’s takes a village to raise a child”? Well, it takes a team effort to execute a great marketing strategy. If you have no idea what you’re doing – there’s no shame in that – but there are tons of people out there willing to help you get your business noticed. That’s why investing in a meeting with a marketing consultant or getting a quote from a professional company can put things into perspective. You may not be a marketing whiz but you can certainly plan how you would like things to go and trust that a team of professionals will make it happen for you.
Really liked the topic, specifically when you talk about over marketing. I’ve heard using hootsuite can orgnize your campaign but Less people will see it. What are your thought on that?