Is your marketing stale? Are you not seeing the results you once were? Did you ever see satisfying results to begin with? If your answers to these questions are in any way dissatisfactory, it means you need to do something to reinvigorate your marketing efforts ASAP.
Fortunately, you are not alone. Even the largest and most successful marketers go through lulls and are forced to find ways to adapt, improvise, and overcome. There are proven ways to reinvigorate your marketing efforts and to give your business the boost it needs in order to help you realize your dreams.
Update Your Information
Let’s start with the basics. How current is your information?
You might be wondering what information you should be concerned with keeping current and updating. The short answer is, all of it. Your information needs to be current, and consistent across every platform. The last thing your business needs is a customer becoming frustrated with an out of use number or 404 messages coming from each of your links. To ensure consistency and customer satisfaction, make sure that your business information is current across your website and all social media platforms.
You will also need to take a little time to make sure that independent directories are also current on your business info. Double-check Google, White Pages, Yelp!, and others to make sure that customers are always being directed to the proper web address and contact info.
Beware of Outdated Data
In addition to keeping your information current, you need to make sure that the content you are putting out is still current as well. If customers come across data, tips, or articles that provide dated and irrelevant information, your own content can cause irreparable damage to your business’ reputation, regardless of how accurate the content was when it was initially published. In the digital age, what is true in the now can quickly become inaccurate in the “then”. Make sure that you are regularly reviewing dated content and flushing anything that has become invaluable due to age and/or changes in technology and the business world.
Re-Evaluate Your Audience
Just as your content and the tools at your disposal will change with age, your audience will shift with time as well. The audience that you began selling to will get older, the world they live in will change, and the means by which they meet their needs will shift. As a business owner or marketer, it is up to you to take the initiative and re-evaluate your audience from time to time. This doesn’t mean that you should target a different audience every day, but that you should be aware of your audience’s needs and how your strategies should change in order to meet their needs.
Focus
With the transitions, changes, and updates that come with a business (especially one based digitally), it can be easy to become distracted by too many changes and updates. There will always be new tools to try out, new demographics to covet, and new products to pitch. However, it is your responsibility as a business owner to steer your business in the best direction suited for your business.
Focus is key when marketing and managing a business. Understand your product and understand your audience. Don’t lose sight of what your audience wants or what your business has to offer. Remember that while the steps to get there may change, the end goal should not.
Re-Evaluate Your Emails
Email is still a valuable tool. Many marketers fail to even entertain the idea of emailing in the age of social media. However, email is still a highly profitable tool when used effectively, and especially when used in conjunction with social media and your independent website. Email lists are an effective way to reach out directly to your customer on a regular basis without having to put in extra manpower on the front end. Email continues to be a reliable tool for marketing and for continuously engaging your potential customers with whichever sales funnel you see best fit to meet their needs.
Take Advantage of Social Media
Email is a necessary tool, and so is social media. There are just as many individuals rooted in the “email only” camp as there are in the “social media only” camp. While tools such as email are effective, the reality of the matter is that the internet landscape has changed drastically in the course of even the last five years, due primarily to the onset of social media as an institution in everyday life.
Social Media needs to be managed with just as much intention and attention to detail as your website. In fact, social media requires more hands-on work. However, social media also provides you with direct access to a personal connection between your business and potential customers. It is a tool that your business cannot afford to not to use.
Show AND Tell
Remember the game you’d play in grade school, show and tell? How well would that game work if someone just told about their item instead of bringing it to class? The reality of the situation is that the class would quickly lose interest if the item-less explainer even managed to briefly capture their interest to begin with.
Marketing works the same way. You cannot just tell, you need to show. Customers need to be able to visualize what you have to offer them, as well as to know the specs and benefits that your product has over the competition. Don’t be afraid to utilize images and video to make your product pop. Let the customer see what you can do for them; don’t just tell them, show them.
Automate
Automation is your best friend. If you haven’t figured that out yet, then you are severely wasting your own time. In fact, you are costing yourself opportunities by not automating part of your marketing process. Every second you spend typing out another email or re-logging onto Facebook to make a post is a second you could have spent finding new leads, closing sales, or even counting your revenues.
Take advantage of the built-in automation tools provided by most social media platforms, email services, and host platforms.
Seek Out New Opportunities
If you are reading this, odds are you are already on the lookout for new marketing tips and opportunities. This a great place to start. However, this shouldn’t be your only stop while on the lookout for new opportunities. The simple fact of the matter is that you have to actively make a concerted effort to find and take advantage of these opportunities. The best way to seek out these new opportunities is to stay informed. Keep reading, keep researching, and keep asking questions. When you commit to keeping up with those three activities, you are ensuring that you are constantly exposing yourself to new ideas and new information. Keep learning and new opportunities will begin to jump out at you, placing yourself and your business ahead of the curve.
Don’t Treat it Like a Competition
Your marketing efforts shouldn’t be focused on someone else’s product. Sounds simple, right? Everyone should know that, and for the most part, everyone does. However, most people don’t practice that belief when it comes to their marketing. Too much time and energy is focused on comparing and contrasting their business from Company B.
If you are taking about someone else’s company instead of your own, you are only doing them a favor. While some contrast between your products and theirs is helpful and can help illustrate the need for your product, that contrast should never be the focus. Keep your audience’s attention on your product and what your business can do for them.
Your Customer Has a Voice Too
Your customer is an equal partner in your marketing efforts. Regardless of how much time and effort you’ve put into them, only the customer truly gets to decide whether or not they are successful. If the customer isn’t connected with your marketing, then your marketing isn’t effective. Remember that each customer has a voice in your business and that they also have a lack of voice. If you aren’t hearing from your customers, you have a problem. Either there isn’t any interest in your business or you aren’t providing a space for discussion that can only help you improve your relations with customers and the products you have to offer.
Handle Your Resources with Care
Unless you have an unlimited supply of cash and/or goodwill on hand, odds are that your resources are somewhat scarce. As such, they should be handled with care. This means that you must pay attention to your presence on the internet. Your website, your Facebook profile, and your email lists are all resources. If you aren’t treating them as such, you are likely to lose them. Handle your resources with care and understand that a bad reputation with one resource can quickly bleed into a bad reputation with others. Take care of and pride in your work and the results will surely follow.
Don’t Tackle the Problem from Just One Angle
There is no uniform solution for reinvigorating your marketing efforts. There is no one size fits all strategy that can guarantee you continued sales and climbing revenues. However, there are nearly unlimited solutions to your problem. It is up to you to decide which solutions work for you and which don’t. It is also up to you to keep looking for new angles to attack your marketing problems so that your business is operating with the utmost efficiency. Don’t be afraid to approach an issue, a platform, or a target demographic from a different angle. Try using different tools to reach different customers bases, and don’t be afraid to mix and match resources when need be.
Engage with Customers
Your Customers like to be heard. As important as it is for them to have a place to speak to and engage with your business on a conversational level, it is equally important for them to feel like they are being heard and listened to. Fortunately, it has never been easier than it currently is with social media. Your social media presence provides a direct line of communication between your business and your customers. Remember to listen to understand, do not listen in order to respond. Hear what they have to say and engage them on their level, offering positive solutions to any potential problems that arise.
Follow Up
Marketing is not a one and done type of deal. Just because you published one renowned article or viral video, or just because you currently have a stable customer base, doesn’t mean you can press pause on marketing. If you wish to market successfully and to continue to market, you need to follow up. Continue to check in on and tweak your existing content, profile(s), and customer relationships. Never stop seeking room for improvement, because you will always find it.
Utilize Your Catalogue
Take advantage of the content and presence you already have. Don’t be afraid to utilize the resources already available to you. As your catalog of content expands and grows, your well from which to draw quality marketing content grows too. Keep all of your content in rotation, making sure that new customers are exposed to everything you have to offer, not just what you’ve had to offer that day or that week. This doesn’t mean that you should rely solely on recycled content, but don’t be afraid to use it when applicable.
Conclusion
Marketing is hard. Sometimes the perfect strategy never pans out. Other times you just can’t seem to find anything that seems viable. However, there are always going to be reliable steps that you can take in order to achieve your marketing goals. Make sure to reinvigorate your marketing strategies every once in a while. Take the time to try out new platforms, tools, and resources. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box and try something bold. Put time and effort into your marketing and your business will thrive.
