Our top 10 tips in setting up a new business | Is marketing in your mind
Ok, you have set your company up at Companies House and have purchased your domain name to begin your businesses journey so we thought we would provide our Top 10 marketing tips to get your business off to a flying start.
Our Top 10 Marketing Tips:
- Create a website that clearly defines your offering. Less is more these days, speed to navigate and a clear offering are certainly important.
- Set up social media accounts for your business, make sure you brand these in the same way so they all have the same look and feel. People like consistency, we are often asked to produce brand guidelines for businesses small and large to make sure they have a set of rules for there brand. Things like type face and spacing and imagery consistency are all key.
- Good content, make sure your site has a purpose, great brands have a bigger purpose which is brought to life through their communications. Make sure your clients understand what you do, who you are and what you believe in.
- Capture your clients data, the ability to communicate on an ongoing basis with your customers is key. Offer freebies in return for newsletter sign up or free ebooks on topic related to your industry. Customers appreciate you helping them understand things, educating people is a great way to position your brand in peoples minds and they will come back when then help again. Start an email marketing plan and offer insight and value to your customers.
- Stay old school, some business traditions are worth keeping, we are great believers in producing high quality company letterheads, business cards, compliment slips and thank you cards. The ability to communicate in a professional way makes people realise you are serious about growing your business.
- Go to one marketing seminar every six months, admittedly its better to spend a day winning business but taking a day out here and there can really help you shape your marketing direction and pick up valuable insight. With so many people offering new business set seminars and marketing insight we recommend a day out to meet some industry professionals. The other great thing is that you can meet new business people which is always good to build your professional network. It’s surprising how sharing your challenges can help form new partnerships and opportunities, take a break and let some else help you grow.
- Register your business on as many local business directories as possible, there are companies who can do this for you such as our agency but if budgets are tight and we know they are when you are setting up we recommend this activity to help drive new customers to your site and also improve your search scores on Google, Bing and Yahoo. The more consistent your information is on the internet about your business the better you will perform online.
- When you sell or achieve something, however small, get a review on your site or business directory to say that you did a good job. As part of your customer service you can offer this link to your invoices, delivery confirmations to help build your credibility quickly.
- Meet up with a marketing agency in your area, we often meet new start ups. People realise that setting a business up and winning new clients, managing cash flow, people and premises has its challenges. A marketing agency can offer helpful advice and take some of your marketing activities off your workload as your business grows.
- Our greatest tip is find the marketing channel that is the most relevant to your target audience. Take time to learn how that marketing channel works. With the emergence of Vloggers/Bloggers on YouTube and many other online forums, the more you can understand how to interact with your audience the better. Marketing is not always about coming up with the clever campaign but fishing were the fish are swimming.