The current state of marketing is very exciting with emerging technologies bringing people closer together giving everyone a chance to voice their opinions. This connectivity has fostered a new form of gossip that when used correctly can boost your brand and just as quickly take you out for good.
Does your brand have it or not? How the public perceives your brand is a driving force that will lead to strong sales numbers or the path to bankruptcy. Often times entrepreneurs are caught up in the competition and will only send messages that their product or service is superior to the competition. While that kind of marketing is necessary at times the main focus of your brand should be to cultivate a unique personality that customers can relate too.
By now you might already have a social media presence. Maybe a Facebook page or Twitter account. But are you taking the time to focus on social media? If not? Why aren’t you? Social media is considered by some to be nothing but a pool of bros and princesses showing off their biceps posing for the perfect selfie. They would be right, but remember that bro obsessing over his six pack is also a potential customer and you have the ability to communicate your brand’s marketing messages directly to him. A clear focus on social media has massive potential to drive customers to you. The above infographic demonstrates the sales funnel to include social media and how it works to benefit your business to focus on social media and feed the funnel.
Are you listening enough; to customers, employees, and market trends? Often times we get over zealous with the sales approach that we forget to really listen. I know it can be difficult to slow down once you set up your Wazala store and you’re in the zone, but lets look at the benefits of listening first.
Social media and internet networks have given small businesses even more speed and agility to craft promotions, marketing strategies, and sales pitches. Even though speed in industry is a great advantage with it comes a feeling of disconnect from customers if not done properly. Messages and pitches can feel extremely rushed and attack customers in a flurry of convoluted nonsense. This kind of marketing strategy can damage your brand.
Work smarter for your business by utilizing technology and online tools. The fate of your small business is in your hands. By working smarter you can optimize your online store and website efficiency. Running a business is difficult and often times is a twenty four hour a day job. Mastering the a few tools can help increase efficiency and saving you money and time.
Google Adwords has become a necessity for all serious business owners and a staple in digital marketing campaigns. Adwords allows you to target your marketing messages at specific customers using keywords. With Adwords you know exactly where every penny goes and how that investment is influencing sales. You can see how customers react to different keywords and which result in sales. In the past, marketers would have to cast out a wide net of ideas and hope that it catches without any direct feedback from customers. Now with Adwords you can get immediate data and adjust your marketing strategy to optimize sales and conversion rates.
One of the greatest things about starting a business today is the sheer amount of data that we have access too. Market research is big business and costs millions of dollars to set up focus groups, case studies, and surveys for businesses to gather data on consumers. Luckily for us, we have Analytics to give us data on our customers for free. With analytics we can see who is visiting our website, where they come from, what products they like, how long they stay on the site, what pages they liked, and what pages they didn’t like. All of this amazing data about customers from analytics helps shape the quality of your website and increases conversion rates.
Utilizing the power of analytics you can test different ideas on your customer base. Using A/B testing you can find out what your customers like better and optimize every aspect of your website to fit. This kind of testing allows you to get the most out of your efforts and gain important insights about your customers. Along with A/B testing, analytics allows you to add a greater feel of personalization to your website. You can know what your customers are looking for and optimize your store to suggest products based off of your data. This in turn will lead to more conversions and a happier shopping experience for your customers.
With just a few tools and a bit of effort on your end you can optimize your website to fit your clients needs and grow your business. Give it a try and let me know how it has helped.
The age of the internet has changed the way we consume goods and do business. Online sales allow customers to shop 24 hours a day and 7 days a week giving business owners more earning potential. New business plans must include online sales strategies and digital marketing to stay competitive as consumers demand the convince of online shopping. I am going to dive into the this space and touch on key factors in e-commerce. Welcome to online sales 101.