When marketing your business your goal is probably to make more sales, right? Question is: how well are you executing your marketing with that goal in mind?
People buy from businesses they know, like and trust. So you should be visible (“know”), and you should have enough of the “like” and “trust” factors in place to actually convert your new traffic. Community involvement, for instance, can send a strong signal about what you’re passionate about and will probably make you and your company more “likeable.” Many people spend time on social media to make people like and trust them. However, you have to be careful what you say on your website or social media. I just read an article about how a personal rant in a company’s blog post went viral and caused quite a stir in their local community. The PR backlash caused a two-star drop in the company’s Yelp rating, due to many onestar reviews from angry local people, actively promoting the message “Don’t buy from this company.” A costly mistake.
Visual clues are also important in the perception (“like”, “trust”) of your business. What does your website look like, your business cards, or your storefront? And the way you and your staff dress will have an impact on how people think about your business.
But even when people do know, like and trust you, results on marketing investments can be disappointing. If that’s the case, you are probably spending money on the wrong type of advertising. Be honest to yourself: are you measuring and analyzing the results of each of your marketing efforts? Really? Because a survey from MarketingExperiments.com showed 89% of businesses make marketing decisions based on gut instincts rather than hard numbers. So next time you plan a marketing initiative, make sure to put measurable ROI in place, allowing you to decide what works, and what not – then you can eliminate the waste and ramp up the elements that give you the biggest results. If you know the numbers behind your efforts, it’s a matter of increasing the efforts for predictably bigger profits.
It’s all about optimization…
For more information call Nardo Kuitert at 519-787-7612.
