Ideas to market your small business
We recently came across this article of advice from “Shark Tank” star, Robert Herjavec. In the article, the outlines 5 tips for small businesses to market themselves. We couldn’t agree more -- and here’s why:
‘Target your customers where they hang out on social media.’ Seems simple enough, but you would be shocked at how many small businesses we encounter that do not fully understand who their client is or where their client spends his or her time. As a result, small businesses will sign up for every single social media platform, spreading themselves so thin that not a single one is working for them.
‘Don’t be afraid to sell online.” Are you selling your product or service online? A recent client insisted their clientele would not want to pay online for training courses. We did a test case and implemented a very simple PayPal functionality (you can buy a Wordpress plugin for as little as $50) for one of the class offerings -- 19 out of 25 total participants ended up using the PayPal functionality, which ultimately saved so much more time and money by reducing overhead costs of invoicing, following up and processing payments.
‘Use stunning imagery to grab customers’ attention’. I can personally attest to this. In my first start up/ pet project, Wicked Candle I was doing everything on my own. Unfortunately the iPhone photos of my products just weren’t cutting it. I hired Fifty One Hale photography to do some product shots. Trust me on this, you think it’s too expensive but it will pay for itself in no time. I uploaded new photos to my Etsy page and was getting sales from people way outside my network. The only thing that changed was the professional photography.
‘Market to your customers how they would like to be marketed to.’ Very similar to our response to the first point. You need to know who your customer is before you can understand how to reach them or communicate to them. Dalziel & Company starts every single engagement by analyzing the customer first.
‘Hire a marketing agency to do more of what you love.’ Yes, yes and so much yes for this one. Let’s say you bill out a rate of $600 a day doing what you love. If you took one day a week, month, etc. to study up on the latest marketing trends you are literally losing all of that money you could be billing out. If you invested that into a marketing agency full of experts who already know the how-to’s - what kind of results would you see?
Click here to view the original article from Entrepreneur.
To see how Dalziel & Company might help you implement these ideas for your small business or brand, check out our service offering and schedule a complimentary initial consultation.
