All small business owners...
It's easy to waste money on marketing. It’s a flipping minefield out there with agencies calling day and night about their ready made 'solutions' and myriad magical ‘gurus’ offering to share their snake oil remedies to digital woes.
Fact is…you can’t buy successful ready made marketing off the shelf.
So, how do you know marketing is going to work before you spend time and cash on it? Ultimately the answer to this question is ‘you don’t’, but you can quite easily find your particular recipe for success if you use the right ingredients and by following some tried and tested steps.
Goals
Work out the growth you need from new and existing customers to hit your target for the year. Don’t have loads.
Story
Try and tell someone in the office your company's story. If why you exist; who you exist for; what makes your products or services better than everyone else and how you do things does not trip off the tongue then it’s time to get your story straight before you spend a penny. In marketing speak this is called ‘brand development’. And no, it doesn’t mean you need a new logo.
Customer groups
Consider your current customers. Split them into some chunky groups and give each one a name that best describes their characteristics. Include as much information about them as possible. What do they like to do? How old are they? Where do they live and work? Which social media do they use the most? etc.. You can create a simple spreadsheet or database to capture their particular features. This in marketing speak is called 'customer segmentation' and it helps you figure out the best ways to get them to hear your story.
Communications
Looking at each of your customer groups, think about what you want them to do. How many new ones do you need to find? How many existing ones do you need to upgrade? Write it down in easy to understand language. Break down your targets by the different customer groups you developed in step 2. Now write down how are you going to get them to do what you need them to do? What has worked best in the past? Have a specific plan for each group.
Sums
Prioritise your budget based on the biggest areas of opportunity first. You may only be able to afford to go after one of the groups. This is fine. Spread your money too thinly and you risk attracting no-one. Do some quick common sense maths. How many new customers do you need to recruit to pay back the investment (at average margin remember)? Is the activity likely to achieve what you need? Will the number of people seeing the marketing be high enough? The number of customers who respond to your marketing is a small fraction of the total number who see it; sometimes as low as 1%. You can find average conversion rates for a wide variety of activities online.
Test
Before you dive straight in, test what works best. Dip your toes in the water by investing a little amount in a particular activity. See what happens. Once you find something that works well for you, try different messages, images and layouts. Some ways of pitching your business will work better than others. Try a few different things and see what works best. Then do more of it.
Time
Too busy doing your own job? Just need someone to take care of it all? We can help. For your tailor made marketing plan give Nick a call on 07580 085150 or email nick@warrenandwarren.co.uk