Let’s face it, business isn’t always booming. Sometimes a little extra effort is required to jump start some action. Here are some ideas to get you going…
1. Blog
Maybe you were expecting something a little fancier or a little more out there? Sorry to disappoint but sometimes it’s the basics that are best. If you Blog more often, it will help you generate more traffic, boost credibility, connect with your audience and generate more leads.
B2B companies that Blog generate 67% more leads.
61% of US consumers have made a purchase because of a Blog post.
The stats support the suggestion, my friends. Get blogging! Remember: make sure your posts are compelling, informative, insightful and don’t forget to add a graphic you can use on social media to promote the post and never forget to include your call to action.
2. Get Social
Get active on social media but be strategic and focused about it. Target specific groups that you think are the perfect candidate for your product or service. Do custom messages for this segmented audience, in addition to any broad/general messages you are already posting. The reason social media doesn’t generate results for most business is because they fail to be strategic about it.
Your social plan should include:
a. A outline of your target demographic so you know who to go after.
b. A list of questions they have, so you can answer them.
c. Topics they are interested so you can engage them.
d. Hashtags that you know they use, so you can tap into conversations.
e. An editorial calendar that outlines all the holidays and events that you want to highlight and use in your marketing.
f. A way to generate leads (landing pages to drive your social traffic to).
g. Time to build your followers, just feeding posts to the public is not enough, you need to network and actively grow your audience.
h. A plan to connect with influencers.
i. A spirit of community and reciprocity. Never be all about you – share and promote others, really connect and engage (the efforts will come back to you, trust me)
3. Delve into Content Marketing
Content Marketing is all the rage, it’s the latest craze and buzzword. But don’t be fooled into thinking it’s not important just because it’s the latest trendy word to toss around. Content marketing is one of the basics of marketing. It is sharing knowledge to capture the trust and interest of your prospects to turn them into leads and customers. Content marketing should talk to prospects at each stage of the buying process. It should offer value and insight. It should have a clear and strong call to action. Some should be free as a way to draw traffic in and some should be “gated” behind an opt-in as a way to get leads onto your mailing list. Content marketing takes many forms. You can create PDF reports to build your mailing list, use that same content to create slideshows that you can post to slideshow sharing sites to tap into a new audience. You can use video (and transcripts of the video to get written content) to reach your audience and excite them.
4. Increase email marketing
Don’t believe the cries of the death of email marketing. It is still highly effective (especially when you pull social media into the mix). If it’s not working for you, focus on your subject lines to improve the open rate and make more compelling, targeted offers. Add links to your most popular social media posts, share tips, break news, offer special discounts, feature or highlight customers to show appreciation. There is so much you can do with a little creativity. Use your Editorial Calendar here as well, so your messaging is consistent on Social and in email and Blog posts.
5. Split test to improve the results of your pages
You likely already have traffic visiting your site. Make the most out of that traffic by split testing to incrementally improve results. Quick explanation of split testing: If you had two possible headlines for your webpage but couldn’t decide which one to use, you could run an A/B split-test in which half of your visitors would see Headline A, and the other half would see Headline B. You could then total the orders from each page and determine which headline brought you the best results. Google allows you to do this for free from within Google Analytics (just go to Experiments, your webmaster can help you set it up). It’s a great way to increase the sales from the visitors you already get.
6. Optimize your site for better rankings
This won’t happen overnight but it’s still well worth your time and attention. Make sure your site comes up when people are searching for your product or service. Trust me, I know how frustrating Google is and I also know that “not everyone can rank on the first page” and “the big guys are likely to dominate, shutting the little guys out” – BUT there are creative ways to tap into rankings and traffic. If you focus on creating content that answers questions and that is specific and detailed, you are more likely to rank for “long tail phrases” – which are simply longer and more specific phrases that also convert higher than broad and generic phrases. Which brings me to my next point…
7. Add new keywords to the mix to create more exposure
Searchers are getting more sophisticated all the time; they search in more detail and with more precision. They also ask questions of the search engines more than ever. Using a great tool to identify these new keyword opportunities is essential if you want to tap into all the possible traffic in your market. Don’t forget with the increasing popularity of voice search, the queries people use are more conversational, less stilted and longer than they ever were before. Getting your hands on this keyword information is so valuable.
8. Offer special promotions to existing customers
Email past and existing customers with a new special promo that is just for them. It’s a great way to generate some quick revenue. It’s always easier to get someone to spend money with you a second time than it is to find a new customer (assuming they were satisfied the first time around). A side note: if customers don’t use your product or service, you are not going to get repeat business so make sure you have some after-sale marketing in place designed to get them to consume what they bought and prime them for reordering or trying new products/services in the future. Think of all the items you ordered or bought that have been thrown in a drawer or closet and never used. Just because people buy things, doesn’t mean they will use them. So educate and market after the sale and it’ll pay off in the future.
9. Implement upselling strategies in your shopping cart or cross-selling offers on your thank you pages
It’s worth repeating, it’s always easier to get more money or repeat money from a customer than it is to find a new one, so don’t ignore this “low hanging fruit” opportunity. Add promotions and special offers during the sales process to increase your revenue per client. It’s a great way to add more revenue without really adding cost.
I know I promised you 9 items, but you’ve been such an attentive reader, I wanted to throw in a bonus for you. ;)
10. Host A Contest
Contests are a great way to generate buzz and leads. Your contest doesn’t have to be elaborate or complex, it can be as simple as getting people to post a pic of themselves with your logo or product or doing something you instruct them to do and then pick a winner. The key to hosting a contest is having the details in place – be sure to promote the heck out of it, be sure you know what your goals are (do you just want exposure, do you want to gain social media followers, do you want people to register to participate and get on your list?) and be sure you test everything so the user doesn’t experience glitches that will just frustrate and alienate them.
There are countless other ideas and strategies, pick one or two that you want to focus on and get things going. I also suggest you keep a running list of ideas and opportunities so you can pull from them when you need to create some action for your biz.
If you want to do it all (go for it, that’s awesome!) consider prioritizing the items. Which ones will get you the biggest return? Which ones can you get in place the quickest, so you can start seeing some results while you work on some of the bigger ones?
As always we welcome questions and comments!
