A great marketing plan is key to any successful business. After all, you could provide the best service in the world, but if nobody knows about it then you’ll never make any money.
With service-based businesses, marketing can be a little trickier, particularly in the online space. Getting the word out about a fledgling business is a real uphill battle, but once you get customers coming in, it does all start to feel worth it.
We’ve got some tips for businesses who are just starting out, as well as those that have reached a plateau and want to push past it.
Create Goal-Focused Content
The first rule to bear in mind with all your marketing is that views alone aren’t enough. You can have all of the traffic in the world on your website and an incredible SEO strategy, but until somebody buys something, it’s worth noting.
Unless, of course, you’re running a whole load of ads, or building followings for people.
Outside of those niches though, sales are the be-all and end-all. So, the next time you sit down to write the weekly blog post that you struggle with inspiration for, instead of starting with the topic, start with what you want to achieve with it.
Perhaps you want more customers to sign up for your six-week personal training course. You need to identify how you’re going to get people to do that, instead of your taster sessions, or your group workouts.
You could create an inspirational blog post on incredible six-week transformations, or write a scientific piece on how long it takes bodies to change. Apply this way of thinking to your own business and you’ll be surprised at how quickly you see results.
Make Full Use of All Reviews
If there’s one sector that really stands out for its pioneering marketing techniques then it’s the online gaming industry.
Making a decision on which site to use can be a little tricky for some players, but being able to read a great independent review can make the decision a whole lot easier.
There are whole sites that exist to create reviews for players to read and this can really work in the favor of those casino sites too.
Firstly, their link is appearing on an external site which can boost their SEO, and, secondly, the presence of a great review with a link to the website will lead new players directly to them.
As well as professional reviews, making sure that your customers leave reviews for you is another essential piece of marketing.
It’s one that you don’t have full control over, naturally, but making sure that you create the best customer experience possible, always asking your happy customers to leave a review, and regularly sifting through your reviews to iron out the flaws in the less-than-perfect ones is still going to net you great results.