Tuesday, May 10, 2016

90 (Celebratory) Tips To Become Marketing Royalty

Hello and welcome to a very special blog put together for a very special occasion. This week, the UK is celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday (her actual birthday is in April – but when you’re the Queen you get to have two birthdays every year, and Ma’am has always preferred to host her national celebrations in May. Now that’s power!!).

And so, as the world sets about blowing up balloons and preparing the jelly and ice cream ready for the 3-day party (beginning on Thursday), we thought what better way to contribute to the celebrations than to offer up 90 marketing tips for you lovely people.

So, here we go. Happy birthday, Your Majesty. Here’s a marketing tip for every candle on the cake – don’t forget to make a wish!

 

90 Celebratory Tips To Become Marketing Royalty

  1. Never be afraid to explore new ideas – “We’ve always done it this way” is a sure fire way to fall behind the competition.
  2. Always consider the reach of your appeal. It may be that there is an untapped section of your industry which could do with your services. Spread those wings wide.
  3. Don’t start a campaign when you need more business/money – by then it’s too late. Have a strategy in place for the year.
  4. Identify the best times of the year to advertise and exploit them. It may be that advertising in July brings double the returns that advertising in December does. Watch carefully and react.
  5. Formulate your marketing strategy and then revisit it regularly. It’s a fast paced world and what works today might not be a winning formula for tomorrow.
  6. Keep in regular contact with your clients so they don’t feel you have taken their money and ran. They want to feel important and this will help considerably.
  7. Speak with your customers who are happy and ask them to write you a testimonial. Potential clients will feel safer if others have recommended you.
  8. Don’t be afraid to share testimonials on your website as well as social media.
  9. Take the time every so often to ask your clients what they think and how you can improve your service. Even if they are quite happy, the attention will make them feel important and realise that you are there to help.
  10. If your client has come from another company, ask them about their experience. It may be that they have had a negative one due to a lack of communication or something else. It’s an easy way to ensure you don’t make the same mistakes.
  11. Try and find a domain name that is catchy. If your DN reads like the complete works of Shakespeare, no one is going to remember it. Short and catchy is key!
  12. Make the most of social media. It can be free or at least very cheap to spread your name and positive reputation far and wide.
  13. Your social media will be a major part of your marketing strategy. Work hard on it daily.
  14. Always engage with your social media following. People like to know that there is someone else at the other end of the line and not just bots.
  15. When marketing your company with social media posts use images as they gain more engagement than posts without images.
  16. Look carefully at which social networks work best for your business. If Pinterest works, use it, but don’t spread yourself too thin only to find that you haven’t got enough time in the day to manage your profiles properly.
  17. Use scheduling software to post to various networks – stopping work to post once per hour isn’t a viable use of your time.
  18. Try and keep your scheduling looking natural. If you are posting a news article from another site within your niche, post your own comment as well, as this shows that you are making a personal contribution to the discussion and encourage others to comment.
  19. Ask questions on your social networks. This will encourage responses and help grow your audience more rapidly.
  20. While we all know the customer isn’t always right, listen and respond to complaints on your social media politely and do what you can to help. If you become abusive or just ignore or delete complaints, you can ruin your reputation in an instant. Remember, bad reviews spread quicker than good reviews.
  21. Cross promotion – If you can take the time to cross promote your social networks it can be a very cost effective and rapid way to increase your audience without paying out money. It may be that you have a large Twitter audience but are struggling to grow your presence on Facebook – in this scenario, be sure that you’re using Twitter to advertise your Facebook output as well.
  22. Update your social media profiles regularly. It may be that your services have evolved or just that a refresh can give you a new and more interesting look.
  23. Hijack big events – just like we’re doing now! It’s Queen Liz II and Sir David Attenborough’s 90th birthday this week, so we can be sure that there will be trending hashtags related to these events that can be piggy-backed.
  24. Keep your eyes on social media to see if you can market the moment. Reactive marketing is a great way to gain your brand mass exposure very quickly.
  25. Set your Twitter accounts to send a message to followers offering your services when they hit the blue button. If they have followed you, there is a good chance they are interested in something you have to offer. Use this as an opportunity to advertise your latest special offer or to promote a new service you provide.
  26. Use analytics tools such as Twitter Analytics to see which of your social media posts are performing the best, and then tweak your ongoing content so that it’s optimized for engagement.
  27. Create a giveaway – if you use social media you’ve no doubt seen the “like and share this post to be entered into our prize draw”. This can rapidly grow your online audience and help spread your good name across the net.
  28. Respond to enquires quickly. Evidence shows that businesses who respond quickly are far more likely to make a sale than those who don’t.
  29. Avoid over self-promotion. You’re more likely to gain valuable followers if you view yourself as a thought leader. People won’t follow you on Twitter if all you do is post your own blog and links to your site. Be the go-to account for those looking to keep informed of the latest industry information.
  30. Sponsor a local event. It may be that your clients are often within your area. As such it doesn’t do harm to be seen supporting local causes or charities.
  31. Put your name forward to speak at events within your industry. It’s a great way to show your knowledge and to advertise your services.
  32. Attend events within your industry. Networking can bring in serious revenue if do it properly and make lots of new contacts worth exploring.
  33. Make sure you’re writing whitepapers or free eBooks that can be downloaded from your website – this is especially good for positioning yourself as a thought leader.
  34. Publish a case study of a successful client whose business has improved thanks to your services.
  35. Keep one eye on the strategies adopted by the competition – what’s working for them could work for you.
  36. Trial and error – while press releases may be a winner for others, that doesn’t mean they’ll work for you. Don’t be afraid to give things a try, but learn from the results.
  37. Never undervalue your services. If your product/services are of a high standard, serious companies will be prepared to pay for the potential returns.
  38. Offer a range of services and prices to accommodate all budgets.
  39. Offer premium or pro service that goes beyond your main one – you’ll be surprised how many pick the middle one rather than the very cheapest.
  40. Never be scared to approach ex-customers and ask them why they left. There may be valuable lessons to be learnt – plus, you may find that with a different strategy you can get them back on board.
  41. Create some content that’s quirky, catchy or even gimmicky that is specific to your business/niche. Maybe a thought of the day, or a weekly tips section offering something valuable and memorable.
  42. Write an advertorial. If done regularly, your local newspaper may give you a discount if you commit to a few weeks/months.
  43. Hire a professional to SEO optimize your website. It could be that you’re not getting much business because you’re on the third page of Google. An expert can help change that.
  44. When hiring an SEO professional look into white, grey and black hat strategies. You’ll want to go with white hat for the long term. Black hat strategies can cause you problems down the line and a Google penalty could see you disappear altogether.
  45. Be patient – very often in marketing, strategies can take a period to start showing returns, so you may have to be a little more patient than you’d like to be.
  46. Keep your blogs regular – whether you blog on your site daily, weekly or once per month, try and publish them on the same day as readers are more likely to come back if they know there’ll be something to read on a specific time or day.
  47. When blogging keep it friendly and easy to understand. Never use 10 large words when one small word will do.
  48. If you are writing your own blogs, learn how to write for the net. From contractions to sub headers, writing for the net is different to writing for publications and must be done properly.
  49. Employ the services of a professional blogger if need be. Don’t try being a Jack-of-all-trades. A professional will know how to write engaging content readers like that’s optimised for the web.
  50. Include images in your blog. There’s nothing worse than dense text with nothing visual to break it up.
  51. Approach your local university or college about an intern. This is a great way to employ someone to work on your marketing without overspending. Plus, you get to give something back. If they turn out well, they may be a great investment in your marketing strategy.
  52. Give your opinions in groups and online forums. From Google Plus communities to LinkedIn groups and Twitter chats, you can be spreading your name far and wide and showing your knowledge at the same time.
  53. Send Christmas cards (if relevant) or other cards to commemorate big events. Remember, these little things will keep customers feeling valued. Marketing isn’t just about attracting new customers, it’s about retention.
  54. If you have any local clients take them out to dinner or similar. A once per year investment may pay much larger dividends over the long term
  55. Try and help clients whenever possible. Even, sometimes (and within reason) if you’re not getting paid for it. They will repay you with their extended loyalty and the word-of-mouth reputation boost you will receive.
  56. Blogging gets people to your website. Once there, they have a much higher chance of actually staying.
  57. Offer discounts for cash up-front deals. This is good for the bank account and will stop customers cancelling midway through the service.
  58. Offer easier ways of paying such as monthly or weekly. As long as the client is paying, make life easy for them. People don’t like anything too complicated when they are busy running their own business.
  59. Don’t use your blog to big-up yourself too much. Readers won’t return to your site if all you ever do is ramble about how great you are. Look to writing thought leadership pieces and build your reputation, readers will then come to you for your knowledge and be more likely to share your content.
  60. That said – don’t be afraid to put a Call to Action (CTA) at the end of each blog. That way you’ve given value and sneaked a little ad in at the end.
  61. When blogging, link to your own content as well as others’. If someone is reading your blog and are then directed to another thought leadership piece by you, they may be more inclined to spend money on your services since you’re clearly an expert.
  62. Write quality content. Blogging has a number of advantages when it comes to marketing as it can help elevate your position on Google as well as get you valuable backlinks. So try and stay away from generic 500 word pieces and write something that’s valuable and isn’t just created for the purposes of keyword stuffing.
  63. The more you can blog the better. It will drive traffic to your website as well as help your Domain Authority (DA). You can never write a quality piece too often.
  64. Never leave the house/office without your business cards. Business opportunities can come at the most unexpected moment and you never want to pass up an opportunity because you’ve written your phone number down on a piece of paper and the potential client has lost it.
  65. Offer existing clients something new when you can. Clients can become bored and sometimes disillusioned with the effects of your services. Revisiting your offer and tweaking it from time to time can’t do any harm at all.
  66. Make sure your email signature also has links to your social profiles etc. It’s free advertising and a must.
  67. List your most well-known customers on your website. If you’re providing a service that you’re selling to Microsoft or Apple, make sure everyone knows as this will instil confidence in your services.
  68. Give limited special offers – “first ten customers only”, that sort of thing – as this create a bit of free excitement about you and your offerings.
  69. Sign write your personal car as well as company vehicles. You never know when the driver behind you may be looking for the exact service you provide.
  70. Rather than lose money with special offers by offering a discount, offer something free on top of the service. If you’re offering a blogging service that gives one blog per week at a fixed rate, don’t offer a discount on your monthly rate, offer something free on top- such as social sharing – so as to not lose any money.
  71. Exchange services with other businesses in order to boost yours. Not everyone has a budget for marketing, especially when startups are struggling for money. Help each other out with expertise rather than hard cash.
  72. Network – not just online. Frequent those physical locations and events where you know there are people that could help you out. Buy them a drink, chat them up a bit, and make connections.
  73. Run competitions to get your services for free. It doesn’t have to be permanent. Maybe you can offer a free service for a week. It can often be a great way of potential clients that they need you. If it works keep doing it.
  74. Make an email list and look at the various ways to grow it rapidly. Such as advertising on social media.
  75. Offer quality guest posts to other sites from within your niche that include a link to your website. The free advertising can be well worth it, as well as increasing your online presence.
  76. Make sure your website looks professional. If your site looks cheap it doesn’t give the best first impression. Hey, it may be that your funds are limited at first and so you have to use a template. But when the funds do allow, a snazzy smooth running site will attract more sales.
  77. Include photos of your staff on social media and your website. Remember, people want to know there is a face behind the service with a real life personality.
  78. Make sure your website has a FAQ section. Some potential clients won’t like to ask questions in fear you might start pressuring them – and some of us are just plain shy. People like to be able solve problems without having to pick up the phone or send an email as well – so be sure to enable this as much as you possibly can.
  79. Email or send a brochure to existing clients with any new and existing services. It may be that you have other products or services that they haven’t taken advantage of yet.
  80. Join a local town chamber of commerce. As well as networking, you may be able to gain new clients or swap services. Plus, word of mouth is a great free marketing tool.
  81. Local chamber of commerce not working for you? Start your own brunch club and try and market it to your own potential clients.
  82. Find a specific directory within your niche and advertise there. Some people head straight for these directories before employing a business’s services.
  83. Advertise any awards you have won. This is no time for being shy. If you’ve won “best supplier of the year”, tell everyone about it. After all, customers want the best, don’t they?
  84. Find newspapers and online platforms that offer discounts for first time advertisers. Use them once and then monitor the effects. Dip your toe in the water with several different publications and see which one works best for you.
  85. Offer to speak at a local college or university on your subject. Or offer a free online educational service.
  86. Host a Twitter, Facebook or Blab chat and try and get as many people as possible involved. This will take time to build up, but will be hastened if you manage to get the odd celebrity or celebrated industry expert involved.
  87. Use video. Video is fast becoming one of the most important tools for the marketer. Whether it’s a YouTube channel, a regular Vine or a new venture on Periscope, get your face out there.
  88. When offering freebies, always ask for an email address and any other contact details you can. This will help increase your email list rapidly, which will be another great way to get the word out about how great your products are.
  89. Revisit your entire marketing strategy often. The digital world changes quickly, and what’s working today won’t necessarily work tomorrow- make sure you stay ahead of the curve with all of your marketing efforts.
  90. Print out this list of or bookmark it on your computer so that you can revisit it regularly. After all, not even the Queen herself could possibly remember all 90 of these suggestions.

Phew. That was a lot of work! Thank goodness she’s only 90 this year. But have you got any more? Please share below.

The post 90 (Celebratory) Tips To Become Marketing Royalty appeared first on GetResponse Blog - Email Marketing Tips.

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