When it comes to marketing, a lot of businesses make the mistake of leaving it to the end of their budgets and business plans – just like pie is left for dessert – when in actuality it holds a lot of weight on the success of the business.
When you take a look at your own business marketing pie, here are the eight most important pieces. Each on their own is great, but when you put them all together, the results will expand your bottom line immensely (pun intended).
- Web Presence: Your website is your first marketing opportunity for most new customers. Make sure your website is attractive, clearly presents what you do and who you are, and provides social proof of success. Your online presence, branding and marketing materials are a great place to start in  building your marketing message and attracting clients.
- Customer Relationships: This is the most active and important piece of your pie. Keeping your current customers happy and engaged with you and your business is the most profitable area of marketing. Happy customers stay loyal and also bring new customers. Continually find ways to bring value and service to your existing customers in unique and personal ways. Customer success is quickly becoming the epicenter of the marketing department.
- Social Media: Stay active with your community – even if it’s just an image or a quick update. Social media presence is now becoming the indicator of life in a business. People do business with people, and social media is the No. 1 place where people are interacting. Keeping content fresh on your social media profiles indicates an active online presence. It also becomes a place for quick customer support, and if comments and requests are missed, it can look poorly on your business reputation.
- Content Creation: Creating content that is valuable to your users not only builds engagement and loyalty but also helps build your website value to search engines and will increase your organic traffic as you increase in your search engine ranking. If you’re looking for a long-term marketing effort that pays big dividends for your business, rich, informative content is a great investment.
Read more at www.businesscollective.com…
Arash Asli is a co-founder and CEO of Yocale.com, an online scheduling and marketing platform for small businesses.
BusinessCollective, launched in partnership with Citi, is a virtual mentorship program powered by North America’s most ambitious young thought leaders, entrepreneurs, executives and small business owners.
For many small business owners, taking time off is a great opportunity to spend time with family and friends but also a chance to take a step back from day-to-day business operations and look at the parts of their business that they appreciate as well as what needs to be addressed.