Marketing and business growth go hand-in-hand - but we sometimes forget how important it is to keep our marketing strategies fresh and engaging. Something that worked five years ago might not be working today.
I’d like to share with you five tried-and-try marketing tactics that you should be integrating in your marketing plan. I’m sharing these because they work, for both me and for my clients.
Marketing Idea #1: Harness the Power of “Google My Business”
I’m surprised how many business owners haven’t yet optimized their Google My Business page. It’s a completely free resource that serves a number of important purposes:
You can collect testimonials from clients. Google My Business allows you to create and share a link with your clients through a follow-up email after a purchase is completed. This is an easy way for happy customers to support your business - and you can collect their raving feedback for other marketing pieces.
When people search for your business by name, your Google My Business listing will help funnel people to your website.
By investing a little time to add pictures and information to Google My Business, plus asking for reviews, you’re creating a free way to promote all the things you offer.
Marketing Idea #2: Automate your Social Media
This one takes a little front-end work, but will save you so many headaches in the long run.
Set aside time to write out your quarterly marketing plan every few months. Jot down the topics you want to talk about and the content buckets that your audience is interested in. To determine the types of content you want to create, look at your recent social media analytics to see what is driving the most engagement.
Next, create the content and pair your captions with engaging brand photos. You can then use a scheduling program to “set it and forget it.”
While it’s a time investment, you’ll be so happy to wake up every Monday knowing that your social media is already dialed in for the week. You won’t have to spend time fussing and wasting time coming up with new ideas every week. Everything is fresh, cohesive, and on-brand.
Marketing Idea #3: Write a Blog to Increase Visibility
As a thought leader, blogging is a really important way to drive people to your website and give people another way to research you and understand your business. Blogging shows your audience how you feel about topics within your industry and how you’re different from your competitors.
Blogging also helps with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which is what drives people to your website using keywords and topics they’re already typing into Google.
Marketing Idea #4: Host an Event
This can be as simple as a happy hour or something more elaborate, like a sound bath or yoga session - which are two events I’ve hosted recently. The key to picking out an event is that you want it to be really relevant to your clientele.
Ask yourself: What does your client need? What are they struggling with the most?
When I planned those yoga and sound bath events, I had identified that my clients were struggling with stress management because of all the hats they wear. If you think that your clients might crave community after spending so many months apart, you could host a coffee and donuts networking event at a local establishment.
When you put together an event that your clients are excited about attending, you’re actually saving yourself a lot of time. Instead of running around to every single client that you need to get in touch with, you’re bringing them all together. They can all rave about you in person, and you can connect with multiple people in one place at one time.
Marketing Idea #5: Create and Maintain an Email List
An email list is the best way to give people an update on what you're doing and stay top-of-mind to the people that you’ve already impacted. Your list can include existing clients and people who have chosen to hear from you, like those who have downloaded your freebies.
Choose a frequency that you can maintain responsibly and reasonably. Can you commit to sending emails every week? Would once a quarter be more doable? Pick something and stick with it, because you want people to know they can rely on regular communication from you.
This email list is your gateway to being able to offer additional products, helpful advice, invitations to your social events, updates on seasonal changes within your business, new hires… really, it can be anything that would impact them or entice them to reconnect with you.
Email newsletters are a great way to be relevant and be connected in a different way with your client, especially because you can see who's opening those emails and understand who is going to be a warm lead for you.
I hope you found my take on these five marketing tactics to be helpful. If you’re interested in going deeper into marketing plans and how branding photography can play a big role, please get in touch.