7 Ways to Give Your Business the Boost It Needs
No matter how long you have been running your business, generating growth is something that you are always working on. For some areas of the market, this is a simple thing to do, but for others, it can seem downright impossible. Regardless of your circumstances, there are a few things that everyone can do that will help your business gain more exposure and generate more clients.
Create a Top-Flight Website
These days, one of the very first points of contact between potential customers or clients and your business is your website. Not only is it a vital method of highlighting your company and communicating who you are and what you do, but it can also give you credibility and authority. Having this credibility and authority is a key component of attracting new clients.
From the first moment they find your website, to the point that visitors have found what they needed, you are selling your business through how your website is put together and what it says. Luckily for you, your website can be created and managed pretty cheaply. Between your domain, hosting, and perhaps a WordPress theme, you can have an excellent lead and sales generating website for mere pocket change.
Become a Market Expert
In business, the proper focus is everything. Unfortunately, many business owners fear they’ll narrow down their target market too much and lose valuable potential customers. Targeting a slice or two of the market instead of the whole pie, however, is an excellent way of getting people to notice you and gaining a loyal customer base.
The best way to figure out what areas you should be focusing on is to become an expert in your corner of the market your business exists in. By becoming an expert in your industry or field, you’ll gain the knowledge you need to be viewed as a credible and reliable source. It will also allow you to make the connections that you need to build relationships with other businesses. That being said, becoming an expert will require some work. It takes much more than making a slick website and listing credentials. You must spend time researching, attending meetings, networking, creating a social media presence, and doing a number of other things to position yourself as an expert and trusted advisor.
This occurs all around you. Everywhere you look, business owners are engaging on social media, writing blogs, sending out email newsletters, and giving out white papers, all of which are amazing channels for positioning yourself as an expert and communicating with your target market.
Plan and Implement a Sound Social Media Strategy
Social media hasn’t been around for long, but it has become such a vital aspect of so many of our lives that it seems hard to remember a time when it didn’t exist. There are literally billions of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn users. To grow your business quickly and effectively, you need to find the optimal way to interact with them.
Although social media marketing was considered experimental or a fad not long ago, building a social media presence has become a necessity, not an option. No other platforms allow you to engage with the community and create brand awareness like social media. Whether you spend the time to post and engage yourself, assign the task to staff, or hire an outsourcer for this area of your business venture, the key is to develop a strategy that works specifically for your company and business goals.
Your interaction with clients and customers will vary based on the platform you are engaging them on. Twitter is really good for short announcements and answering questions, whereas Facebook is better for longer posts. Both of these platforms are good for including links to your website or other helpful areas. When using social media, make sure that you have a variety of posts so you can continually capture the attention of those around you.
Optimize for Conversions
Getting people interested in your business is one thing, but closing the deal is an entirely different animal. While there are tools, such as marketing automation software, that are designed to help with the conversion process, you should be examining every aspect of your plans to see how they are helping your business grow.
For example, a blog can be used to generate awareness for your business and help earn trust. Then, your website and social media can be used to encourage email list signups with the promise of special deals or additional information.
Armed with a prospect’s name, email address, and other basic information, you can develop a personalized marketing campaign and target him or her directly. Send out emails every few days providing additional information, deals, sweepstakes entries, and so on. If you have their phone number and mailing address, try direct mailing them a promotion or offer and following up with a phone call. Make sure that you don’t cross over into the realm of annoying businesses. Frequent phone calls to uninterested parties will generate the negative publicity that you really want to avoid.
Remember Your Existing Customers
Repeat customers are the best customers. After all, if they’ve already purchased from you, they’re more likely to come back, especially if they enjoyed their initial experience. One way to go about doing this is with a VIP or customer loyalty program in which you provide existing customers with incentives to buy again, such as rewards points, discounts, and early access to upcoming products.
As with optimizing for conversion from interested party to customer, you should make sure that your communication with customers is personalized. Ask them about their experience with your company, their experience with your products, and what they would like the next time. These efforts double as marketing and customer service, which has proven to be a very effective combination. When your customer thinks you care, they are much more likely to come back.
Create a Seamless User Experience
Once someone has found their way to your website or your business on a social network site, don’t disappoint. Nothing is worse than finding a website that seems interesting on social media that takes forever to load or has its navigation hidden. In addition to not frustrating your customers, the user experience on your website is a big part of your search engine ranking. Google doesn’t want to recommend a website that isn’t helpful for people, so they are going to give a higher ranking to better websites.
When considering how to improve your website, consider how people navigate around your website. It is important that they are able to find things easily. Place your navigation bar or menu near the top of the page. Consider using a different color or different font size to draw attention to it.
Create Helpful and Memorable Content
Not all content is created equal. As a business owner looking to grow your company, the ability to communicate your message in a coherent, friendly, and effective manner is paramount. If your content doesn’t distinguish you from your competitors, then it isn’t doing its job properly. Your content should educate your visitors and it should help establish you as an authority.
When you have good content, it is easier to make an impact on your field. Adding a blog to your website allows you to have a less formal way of dispersing information on the internet, and it has the added bonus of making you a more authoritative source. When you produce quality content on your blog, you are able to use these articles to increase your SEO power and attract more customers.
Bottom Line
While it may seem a little overwhelming at first, the most important thing about growing your business is focusing on your customers. When making decisions, ask yourself “How does this help my customers?” If you can’t see how it will, maybe it’s time to come up with some new ideas.
featured image: depositphotos.com
Geno is the Owner/Creative Director at Monterey Premier, a web design agency that specializes in Divi and is based out of Monterey, Ca. He is a Divi expert and is known for his Divi tutorials & tips on Quiroz.co and is an excellent source of knowledge for anything related to Divi. Geno is also a Canva expert and helps other Canva users with his tutorials and tips here on the Monterey Premier blog. He has been designing websites since 1996 and enjoys all things design, traveling, hanging out with friends, encouraging other believers, and experimenting with new technologies.
