1. Create a simple plan for the year ahead
If you google marketing plan, you will find lots of word or excel templates. Don’t worry you don’t necessarily need to fill in a marketing strategy document.
The point is that you know your business better than anyone else. Think about your busy times and make sure you are planning marketing activity and giving yourself plenty of time to get everything ready.
Conversely, if there are quiet times in your business – think about running promotions then to drive new business.
The time invested doesn’t need to be huge but it will pay dividends throughout the year, and allows you to focus on what you need to during the rest of the year.
2. Apply the 60-40 rule
It is tempting to put all your marketing budget into promotions and offers to tempt enquires and customers. But this will only create short term responses and you will find that you are continually having to repeat these campaigns. Marketers abide by the 60-40 rule with 60% of budget going into long term brand building with 40% on immediate activation.
Investing in your brand over time will ensure that your activation campaigns in the future are even more effective. Google encourages businesses to invest in brand awareness advertising and marketing as it increases your last-click attributes on google.
When a customer searches for a service online and they scan the list of businesses that come up, they’ll click first on the businesses they know and recognise. This is where your investment in brand campaigns really pays off and puts you ahead of your competitors.
3. Build your brand with good design
Whatever marketing mix is right for your business, your brand needs to be at the heart of it. Treat every engagement with a potential customer as you would a face to face meeting. You want to give the best impression possible and leave an accurate impression of your business.
Whether your business is fun and funky, sincere and solemn– good design can translate that into the customer experience.
4. Create compelling CTAs
A call to action or CTA is one of the most important concepts in marketing. This is telling your audience what you want them to do as a result of your marketing campaign.
Create an effective marketing funnel by telling your audience what to do next or more importantly why they should take next steps on their customer journey.
Is your website set up for new business? Direct responses to a specific web page which is tailored to the campaign.
The most popular is to promote a special offer or a discount prominently on your advert. Make sure it’s highly visible by making it your headline or put it in a brightly coloured flash or circle to catch eyeballs.
Growing in popularity and effectiveness is to hold an event that people can go to. This may be a customer event or a sale. Read the marketing case study to find out how one local business has made events a successful part of their marketing campaign.
If you want the phone to ring for people booking appointments, make sure your phone number is prominent in all your materials. Give them a benefit or something in return for calling you.
5. Track, track, track
Make sure that you capture any activity that results from your marketing – this will ensure that you can keep improving your marketing.
Online you can set up specific landing pages and add google analytics for free to your site. But you can also track the impact of any printed materials.
Custom URLs, specific phone numbers, unique discount codes for online purchases and QR codes are all great ways to track how many people take action on your printed materials.
We know that running your business s time-consuming and it can be tough to find the time to plan ahead. But applying these 5 simple tips will help you get ahead.
Talk to us to find out how we can help your business grow and generate new leads. Our media consultants will help you understand how to promote your business successfully in print and digital media. Most importantly they will show you create how to effectively use your marketing budget to reach new customers. We run regular advertising workshops for advertisers to show how to get the most response from your advertising.
Our professional creative design agency can also help you create professional and engaging marketing material. Our team’s experience in design and knowledge of the local audience will help you generate new business leads. We offer a design and marketing consultation to analyse the opportunities for your brand, so please contact us to book an appointment.
Call 020 8545 6777 or request a consultation.
