The 3 key issues for every business wanting to increase sales and profits…
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We offer a range of marketing packages which cover all 3 of these issues – CLICK HERE to check them out
Let’s look at how it all works in more detail :
Step 1 – Getting targeted prospects to find you
Having a website is a bit like having a brochure. It doesn’t matter how beautifully designed it is – if it just sits in the stationery cupboard then no-one will ever see it!
The days of Yellow Pages and classified ads have long gone! They just don’t bring you customers any more.
Local advertising, direct mail and flyers doesn’t produce anything much either. Even tried local radio?
You can spend a fortune – and have absolutely nothing to show for it.
The good news is that marketing your website is much more cost effective – and will reach far more prospects and more targeted ones, if well done.
“Today, over 85% of customers look for local services and products on the internet first”
This is mainly via the search engines, which mostly means Google. So you need to make sure that your site ranks highly in the search engines.
This is the key to getting prospects and customers to find you. It’s known as search engine optimisation – “SEO”.
Search engine optimisation – SEO
The starting point is to identify “keywords” – the words and phrases your prospects and customers use when searching, which are relevant to your business. Then you need to come up on the search results for those keywords.
This means your prospects will be targeted – they are looking for exactly what you offer.
There are lots of different aspects to effective seo and it’s quite a complex area to get good results.
It takes time and it does have to be done consistently. (You want to stay on page one, having got there!)
Some of it is about the technical side of your website itself – making sure that you have the right keywords and other descriptions and codes embedded in your site.
It’s also about more general forms of internet marketing such as including your site in directories or publishing articles or videos on the internet – with links back to your site. These activities also send prospects and customers directly to your site – so you get a double benefit!
We specialise in getting good local search results. This is because the local search results come above the main search results on Google, so they are the first thing prospects will see. The good news is that generally it is easier and quicker to get good results for local services.
Step 2 – Converting more Prospects into Customers
Make sure your site is designed to be effective from a marketing perspective.
* Make it easy for visitors to find exactly what they are looking for
* Focus on the customer’s needs and benefits (not technical features)
* Include photos and info about you, your business and your team to build trust and credibility
* Have a clear Call to Action
There are so many sites which look wonderful but are completely ineffective from a marketing viewpoint.
Unfortunately most website designers are great at technical design, but have no marketing skills.
Build Great Relationships
This is the real key to all great marketing. Most people do not buy at the first contact.
(Traditional marketing wisdom says that it takes an average of 7 contacts).
So it’s really important to keep in touch and incentivise prospects to convert into customers.
One of the very best ways to do this – and still under-used – is to use email marketing. You can keep in touch with prospects regularly and send out offers so easily with a good automated email management system.
A simple email form on your site linked to your system is all you need – and if you do not do this you are missing out on so much opportunity to grow your business. All the big companies do this – because it works!
Social Media also offers huge opportunities to build relationships with prospects – we’ll discuss this in the next section.
Step 3 – Selling More to Customers
Build Even Closer Relationships!
Selling more to existing customers is also about building relationships and communication.
Everyone knows it’s much easier to sell to existing customers than to get new ones.
So here we are going to highlight the benefits of Social Media.
Twitter and Facebook (plus Linked-in for professionals) and also YouTube offer unparalleled opportunities to communicate with your customers (as well as prospects).
We just do not think you can do without social media today. Facebook now has more searches than Google – and if it was a country, would be the 3rd largest in the world – ahead of the US. And all these social sites are still growing incredibly fast.
Social Media
What is really important though, is that people spend a great deal of time on these sites – and you are able to contact them in a relaxed environment, rather than a formal sales one. On average Facebook users spend over 20 minutes on Facebook every day – and the average YouTube visitor spends over 14 hours a month on the site! So the potential is simply enormous.
The key to successful use of Social Media to understand and respect the environment you are working with. It’s essential to focus on building relationships by interacting, commenting and offering value – not by heavy direct selling.
So, setting up professional profiles and business pages on social media sites offers very exciting marketing opportunities – and so does using these sites for advertising. Facebook in particular enables you to set up very well targeted adverts based on demographics and interests.
Of course everything we said about email marketing to prospects applies to building customer relationships too.
SMS – Mobile marketing
Finally a quick word about mobile marketing – text messaging.
The use of mobile phones to access the internet is growing exponentially – and the trend is set to continue.
The latest form of social relationship marketing enables you to contact prospects and customers with special offers and incentives – and offers great opportunities for generating more business.
It is particularly suitable for restaurants and similar businesses.
Please do contact us for more information about mobile marketing.
To check out our marketing packages CLICK HERE now
