Do you think your product or service is awesome? Would competitors cower if customers discovered the usefulness of your product? Is the only thing holding you back is getting more customers through the door?
Marketing is a critical aspect for any business. Most think that it takes thousands of dollars to get it going but it can be done inexpensively if you’re willing to put in the time. Don’t feel intimidated by large and well-established competitors. Follow these 5 simple techniques and watch your business start to grow.
1. Have Measurable Goals
I’m sure you’ve heard about the importance of measuring your activities but do you have systems in place to do that? Like many of us, you’re probably inundated with tasks like emails, phone calls, client meetings and interoffice drama and you’re not measuring your goals. You’re counting on your activity being enough to cover it. Let me speak from experience: odds are, it isn’t. We do what we like to do and avoid what we don’t like. Measuring your goals gives you a clear picture of where you need to spend your time. You want to keep your goals S.M.A.R.T.:
- SPECIFIC: Answer the 5 W’s: Who, what, when, where and why
- MEASURABLE: Measuring is done in quantifiable units – 5 tablespoons of flour, 25 miles per gallon, 10 cold calls a day. Determine what your measuring stick will be.
- ATTAINABLE: Your goals should be achievable. 10 hand-written notes per day is doable. 1,000 isn’t.
- RELEVANT: Focus on goals that will help your business in the long run.
- TIME-BOUND: Someone once said that a goal without a deadline is a dream. Deadlines hold you accountable. If they didn’t, I never would have turned in my junior year term paper on the Mayan empire. Your time-frame should put pressure on you but not be impossible to accomplish… or ATTAINABLE to accomplish.
2. Blog About Your Industry
Business expert Bob Burg says, “People do business with people they know, like and trust.” This sage advice proves itself over and over again. My wife and I just bought a new car and we drove 2 hours to a dealership to buy from a friend of ours. Bernard is a trusted friend and we knew he’d give us a good deal on the vehicle. Have you ever gone out of your way to do business with someone you already know and trust?
A blog helps you build trust with strangers. When done right, a blog will carve you out as the expert in your field and build trust with the reader. Even if that reader has never walked into your office before, he or she is making a judgement about you based on the content of your blog. Here is the amazing part: once you’ve established that trust, price becomes a minor factor in the decision making process. The sale is yours to lose.
3. Keep Your Website Updated
The overwhelming majority of customers go to the web to do research before making a buying decision. If you’re reading this blog, you’re part of that majority. People make decisions about the trustworthiness of your website and offerings within fractions of a second. While you can overcome those initial feelings with great content and an amazing product, it puts you in a position where you need to “catch-up”. Why do that? Give an amazing first impression by updating the design of your website every few years and correcting all the errors on your site no matter how small.
Those are 3 ways we’re trying to improve our footprint in the web design firm space in Denver. What advice would you give?