Investments to advertising should be used wisely by both small businesses and huge multinational companies. Companies used to focus on making TV commercials or printing ads as a way to promote their products, but these methods are not the most effective ways to make gain customers anymore.
As little as a decade ago, it was nearly impossible for small business on a tight budget to have a reach outside their local or regional market. As technology has continued to evolve, the world has gotten that much smaller and that much easier to reach. Now, with some creative marketing, smaller startups are able to have a much bigger impact than previously possible.
Prior to just a few years ago, the idea that an advertisement could go viral was unheard of and the only way to reach a massive audience was to throw a ton of money for TV spots and hope for the best. Now even small businesses have access to tools that allow them to not only thrive but be able to compete with the big boys.
Marketing is a process requiring understanding of the strategies that work enhancing those that don’t. It takes time, which means businesses that made it on the first try are products of great luck.
Follow the Minimum/Maximum
Following the Minimum-Maximum principle, business owners are suggested to make the most revenue out of their least possible investment. There are investments that only add to your expenses but do nothing to improve your business’ status; you can avoid this by following the principle stated above.
Anyone will pick the shorter process if it yields the same results as a complex and long method. Do not think of this as avoiding work because in the end, you will still be providing the best quality services.
There are limitations to how much new businesses can show because they need to save funds, which means efficiency is key to making the most of investments.
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Earning Your ROMI
When the Minimum/Maximum principle is followed and becomes a success, the 90’s term ROMI or “Return on Marketing Investment” takes place as its result. When you translate it, it is basically asking how much would an advertising investment would give you back.
The standard ratio is 5:1 meaning you earn $5 for every $1 spent. This is the standard ratio, so start making changes if you notice that you are earning lower than this. If you are earning continuously and reaching approximately a 10:1 ratio, take a look at the techniques you did right and maintain them.
When you’re first starting out, your numbers won’t be great that’s why you need to start tracking them from the onset. Check failed campaigns just as you would with your successes because they contribute to your future business developments, as well.
Analytics
Thanks to ever-changing technology, even small business owners have access to a few basic tools that can give them a much deeper understanding of their customers and habits than has ever been possible. These are useful tools that help you know about the consumer and their behavior, such as age, visited pages, length of time they visited a page, and even which platform they are on.
There are many tools to choose from but Google Analytics is the simplest to use without falling short of features. This tool is a must-have if you want to be aware of the movements in your website. It is hard to judge clients accurately, but Google Analytics will present to you concrete data.
Facebook makes its money from ads and as a result, they go out of their way to make it as easy as possible for everyone to take advantage of the platform as a way to lure you into placing more ads. While the amount of information you can access on Facebook can be intimidating at first, the format is very logical and user friendly. They also make it simple to see how well your ads are working and calculate your ROMI since their reports show both paid and organic engagement.
There may be difficulties using these systems to track the real data especially if there has been huge changes since when your website was starting out.
That being said, this is often the first place you need to look when you want really know what’s going on with your website and your customers since the numbers don’t lie.
Identify your target consumer VS actual users
Customer behavior is important as it is to be used as basis when implementing a marketing technique. We’re not just talking about who you want to buy your product but who actually does and sometimes the two are very different.
Make this as an example: an online retailer or personalized plastic bags. A simple concept right? The goal, the target audience whom he was focusing all of his marketing on was the food service industry. Then he noticed that he was selling a lot of products in the states of Washington and Colorado and after doing more digging, he found out that this product was not only good for the hospitality industry but that it also fit the packaging requirements for the legal cannabis market. Upon finding this out, he focused on a new target market that now orders his products in bulk. There was no need to change the product because all that needs to be done was to make the marketing more suitable to a bigger target market.
Timing is Key
When you use social media for marketing, every move you make should be about your products. It could be a short post of gratitude or a photo of your products, they will help customers keep updated.
Posting should not be done without strategy because you need to know when your customers are more likely to click on your posts instead of just scrolling down.
Some sites will help you know which are the ‘best times to post’, but keep in mind that this does not apply to everyone. For this reason, it is necessary that you check the different marketing strategies you did and know whether they worked or not. If you’re marketing a product to people in the service industry, it’s rather pointless to post at 6 PM on a Friday afternoon since this is when most people of your customers are at work.
Since most people are too busy to be constantly posting on social media, there are programs such as Hootsuite that allow you to upload content and publish it on a schedule that you can plug in. This program is helpful for those who have target market across the globe and in different time zones because there is no need to wake up in the middle of the night to promote one’s content on different social media sites.
There is no need for constant posting if you have a few excellent posts that will definitely increase your customers. This works best if you know when your customers are more likely to buy your products. If you invest a great deal of money for promotion, you may lose it if you are not following an effective method.
Giveaways
Promos attract buyers and when you attach these with your logos, you will definitely get more consumers to visit your site. You can put this in bumper stickers or other kinds of advertisements according to the budget you have. You can print your logo to clothes, bags, phone case, and anything you think people will most likely use.
This is another situation where you really need to have a strong understanding of both your target audience as well as your actual audience since you want to make sure that whatever you’re giving away is used and not thrown away. Sports items for your holiday ornament buyers is not such a good idea. At the same time, if you’re marketing sunscreen, the frisbees are a perfect idea since it’s something that you use outdoors, at the same time that you need sunscreen.
The thing with giveaways is that you want to give your audience something that they want and will use while also acting a subtle reminder of you and your company.
Stay within reach
One of consumers biggest frustrations is not having access to information on demand. There are so many ads and people have so short attention spans to remember your brand. It helps when a person contacts you about your product and you respond immediately because it ensures the client’s purchase. If you are not too responsive with inquiries, your clients may look for another company that will provide them answers.
Responding to queries also let your customers know that they are an important part of your business and not just a tool to make sales. {A little bit of personal service via a personal email is a great way to help establish brand loyalty.|You can send a personal service message every now and then.|You can
In closing
There is no cure-all plan that will double your sales overnight and while some marketing strategies might work for some businesses, they might not be right for you, your business or your budget.
Regardless of the size of your company or what kinds of products and services you offer, a strong marketing plan that is well thought out and targeted is absolutely key to ensure that you are not only able to survive but to thrive and be a competitive factor in your industry.
Because of technology, there are tools that businesses can use to optimize their sales and gain more customers. These tools, with not being without a few flaws do take out a lot of the guesswork and if used correctly, can save you a lot of time and money over the long run while letting you focus on methods that work.
Experiential Marketing Seattle 