Consumers nowadays are not going to put up with your bs (business shortcuts 😂).
As a business, your priority is your customers, and your job is to satisfy their wants and needs. But guess what? Your competitors are doing so too.
We understand it’s hard for any business to reach potential customers, but there’s always a solution. The good news is that you can effectively use marketing tools to reach your target audience. The only bad news is, so can your competitors.
The difference between you and your competitors may be which one of you is using your marketing tools to their highest potential. Using your resources wisely can give you an edge in today’s competitive landscape.
Every business has a few pain points that they try to conquer. As a business, you may have thought you had a good thing when it came to marketing, but things aren’t going as well as they used to. What’s gone wrong?
Below is a list your business should take to ensure that they are appealing to your customers.
Your website
You only have one chance to make a first impression, and that’s with your website.
In today’s world, people comb the internet to do their homework about where they’re going to shop, which restaurant to go to, or where to take a vacation. Your website is often one of the first things a potential customer sees about you, and an unappealing website can result in them going elsewhere. The reality is your website may be doing more harm than good. Do you have high-quality images, a mobile-friendly site, and are you optimizing your site for search engines?
When it comes to adding images to your website, knowing the difference between image formats and which ones are best for certain images is crucial. For instance, there is JPG, PNG, and GIF. To break it down a little, you should only use a GIF for animations, a JPG for regular photo-like images, and a PNG that is suitable for transparency and logos.
Learn how DirectLync provides custom marketing solutions that build your brand and grow your business.
A responsive website is key for a happy customer. You need to understand there are fewer people on the internet using traditional PCs and laptops. Instead, they’re using smartphones, tablets, televisions, and even their watches, so it’s more important than ever for your website to be mobile-friendly. A responsive website means the website is easy to use, responds quickly, and is size adjustable. You don’t want to drive your audience away because your site is challenging to navigate, or your content is unreadable on a different device. This will hurt your ranking on Google if your site isn’t mobile-friendly. With an impactful and functional website, people will buy into your brand before they even come to your doorstep.
Not only do you need to have a responsive website, but you need to address search engine results. If you are not optimizing your website for search engines, it’s easy for potential customers to end up on your competitor’s website, looking at their goods or services instead of yours. Learn how to optimize your site with metadata.
Your social media presence (or lack thereof)
We are in the year 2020, and social media isn’t even at its peak yet. In saying that, if your social media presence isn’t there, neither are new leads. So, how can you use your social media platforms to land new leads?
If your website is a portfolio of your offerings, your social media is your voice.
Your social media platforms are how you connect on a personal level with your audience. For instance, your platforms should showcase your likes, opinions, vibe, and what people think about you. It also offers the ability to provide updates of recent news or offerings. An example of how you should present your company on social media and including that personal aspect as well is by including stories and client reviews. As well as, staying up to date on trends and holidays. It shouldn’t be all business; there is always room for a little fun. Check out the example below.
If you aren't active on social media or do a poor job reaching new audiences, your competition can take leads from you each day. While each social media platform offers a different angle to target your audience, you will benefit by knowing what time to post specifically for your audience on each platform.
Interested in learning more about how you can use Instagram for your small business?
Learn 5 Instagram Hacks here.
Your reputation (mis)management
The good old days of being able to hide your mistakes or shortcomings as a business are gone. Through social media and review sites, people can sing your praises or slam your products or services. Anyone with access to the internet can be a critic and impact how much or how little business you’re doing.
Your reputation is hard-earned. Nowadays, people who are looking for what you’re offering are seeking a trustworthy business. How you manage or mismanage your reputation can be the difference between appearing trustworthy or untrustworthy. Which would you prefer?
We highly recommend you pay attention to your online reviews, whether they are on Google, Yelp, Facebook, or Capterra. If you have a Google My Business account, you can easily manage your reviews right here in the account on your mobile device or computer. Now, your reviews may be good and/or bad, so make sure you take the right approach when responding. For a good review, be sure to say thank you. When responding to negative reviews, you need to,
- Be responsive to the problem
- Be kind and understanding (even through gritted teeth), and,
- Avoid pointing fingers, picking fights, or blaming others.
This is a two-way street. As your positive reviews increase, they crowd out the negative ones. Strategize a way to improve your service or product, support center, and other areas of weakness to increase your good and bad review ratio.
Your lack of email marketing
You need cost-effective ways to keep in touch with your customers, one of which is email marketing. Email marketing is a huge asset to building a personal relationship with your clients and audience.
In 2019 alone, 293.6 billion emails were sent and received each day. This figure is expected to increase to over 347.3 billion daily emails in 2022 (Orbelo). Because of that, email marketing is not going anywhere any time soon. Email marketing is an easy and effective tool to help your customers keep you in mind the next time they need your products or services.
How do you create an email that is valuable and useful, as opposed to an email that ends up being quickly deleted without ever being opened? Offer engaging information such as advice, specials, coupons, or deals. This may lead your audience to view your company as a valuable resource and may, in turn, increase the likelihood of interaction with your website and social media.
Learn some quick tips to design an eye-catching email campaign.
These tools can be used to your advantage. They can help steer potential clients your way, instead of having them wander into your competitors’ arms. And, they can make a big impact on your bottom line.
Digital tools are driving growth
Small businesses that effectively use digital tools to connect with their audience see a significant impact on growth versus a company that does not invest in digital. With limited employees and time in the day, you won’t need to stress over what needs to be scheduled, published, and analyzed.
- Experience 4x higher revenue than the previous year
- Earned 2x more revenue per employee
- 6x higher employment growth
Source: Deloitte
With the help of DirectLync's all-in-one marketing platform, you can be planned out weeks in advance and have the chance to breathe during the workday and work on growing your business. Not only is it easy to be organized, but you have more of an ability to build relationships with customers and grow your revenue.
It’s your turn. Win your customers back.
As a small business or any business at all, competition is fierce. But landing customers is all about building relationships, attracting, and giving your target audience what they want. Turn these four reasons from how you can lose customers into four reasons why you are landing your customers.
Updated on July 13, 2020
