Staying ahead for new opportunities.
Things are a-changing. New advancements. products, services, technology and the way we do business. Those that can stay ahead the curve are the ones who succeed over the long haul. Yes, it is only the second quarter, but small business owners and marketers are already planning for 2020.
Website
If you have already revamped your website, then you’re in good shape. If your website is three years old or older, it is time for revamp. Your website should be conveying what you can do for your clients in terms of solutions. Not about how great you are. Not how great your products are. You should be discussing about how you can solve their problems for them in 60 seconds or less. If it does not, it is time to re-work your content now.
Lead Acquisition
Is your website collecting leads for you? I do not mean, here, subscribe to our monthly or weekly newsletter. I am talking about gated content. Gated content can be in the following forms: e-book, lookbooks, white paper, free demos, or free consultations. How are you driving traffic to your website? There are many ways to drive traffic to your website. Are you maximizing the best ways to get the right people to your website?
Staying Engaged
Remember those leads? I am talking about those e-mails from those gated content. If you have not set up automated welcome emails and created some form of email sequence campaign that leads them to a close, you are losing out on converting them into a potential sale. Every email address you get should always be put into an automated, personalized welcome email. If you are not sending out newsletters – you’re missing out a chance of staying in front of your engaged customers at least once a month or weekly. Yes, if you get your subscribers to opt-in, they are your most engaged customers – more than your social media followers.
Social Media Marketing
Are you leveraging your social media the way it’s supposed to be? What is meant by this is that is there a strategy behind your social media efforts? Are you posting and tweeting just because you want x number of followers? That generates inconsistent and lackluster results. A strategy behind your social media does generate results. Sit down, determine what it is that you want your social media network to do for your business. Create your content and scheduling calendar, put it work, engage and measure. Also make sure you are in the right social media network where your ideal customers are.
Referral Marketing Strategy
We are all in the word of mouth business. Create a strategy to put it to work for you for next year. Those who leverage this will be ahead than those who don’t. Time to get creative. Think out of the box. Other than just sending out a thank you card or email and a gift, what else can you do to those who spread the word about you? How about a commission? A discount for additional services with you? Their friend receives a discount and your client gets a discount too, just for referring you. Put them on an email list – get creative with that mailing list on how they will benefit from your content.
Get Virtual
Yes, get with the times. People are getting busier. Lunch and learns are harder to get bodies into the conference rooms. Why not offer virtual lunch and learns? Online courses or webinars? Offer some of them for free. Offer some of them for a fee. This is your chance to be different from others who won’t foray into this arena. You can schedule this out in advance, share documents via e-mail with registered attendees and post webinar you can follow up with visits or one on one virtual calls.
Revenue
Is there anything that you currently offer that your clients love that can be “productized”? Packaged? Turned into something that can be productized for quick sale and made into a “revenue machine” for you that will potentially lead to other sales opportunities? Now is the time to develop it, put the strategy in place and execute the program.
Savvy and high performing business owners and marketers are always looking ahead to see what is new, paying close attention to their customers and adapting to changes. Those who adapt and adjust before anyone else are those who make it over the long haul.
If any of these thoughts has inspired you, please let me know. Send email to hello at scs-digitalmarketing.com or call 770-293-8900. SCS Digital Marketing.
Christine Laikind, founder of SCS Digital Marketing caters to professional keynote speakers, business coaches, and industry partners. She is also an advocacy speaker on web accessibility. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and going through the Smokey Mountains on the back of her husband’s motorcycle.