Rosy's Six Tips 2015 (1)

Rosy’s 6 Tips to a Blossoming Small Business

Written by Meg Rose Russell

www.rosymarketing.com - facebook.com/rosymarketing - [email protected]

Tip 1: Set Your Strategy

Tip 2: Create Your Core Offering

Tip 3: Create Meaningful Content

Tip 4: Develop Your Online Presence

Tip 5: Consistently Generate Leads

Tip 6: Maintain Your Marketing

Think big, believe big, act big and the results will be big

At Rosy Marketing we believe growing a small business is something like growing a rose garden. You start with an idea, a seed. You need a perfectly prepared planting bed, plenty of sunshine and just enough water and fertilizer to grow a blossoming rose bush. If you don’t have the right amount of any one of the essential elements your plant will not thrive or could even die.

Similarly in a start-up or small business, it’s essential to set the strategy and direction for the business before diving head first into operations and trying to find new business. You must check your soil is fertile and prepared for planting your business seeds, before trying to generate new leads. In this paper we will give you our top tips to establishing the foundations for growing your business in a healthy, sus-tainable and organic way.

Rosy Marketing has developed 6 basic tips to creating a simple, effective and affordable marketing routine for your business that will help you find more customers, get more from your existing customers and save you precious time.

Marketing decisions should be driven by information, logic and strategy. Businesses that gather, analyze and use data to inform the development of long term marketing strate-gies and consistently implement the tactics in that plan will benefit from constant and dependable growth. This requires discipline, and in some cases, professional as-sistance. But we will get you started with our 6 tips and approach described below.

In this e-book we will cover setting your strategy, creating your core offers, the importance of meaningful content, developing your online presence, lead generation strategies and maintaining your marketing.

2







Set Your Strategy-Begin at the beginning by en-suring you set your marketing strategy before you start promoting

If you ensure your marketing strategy is ‘spot on’ from the start, you can use any number of different marketing tac-tics that are consistently implemented and monitored and be successful. Choose your ideal clients wisely, and identify your key points of difference between you and your com-petitors.

Good strategy is not only essential it’s, effective. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you work out your business strategy.

What type of business would you like?Defining your ideal client starts with taking a realistic look at what you actually offer and who really values and ap-preciates it. Many small businesses try to be all things to all people making it very difficult to really focus on or serve narrow market segments. It is through no fault of their own, but without a clear strategy and focus from the outset, it is difficult to know when to say ‘no’ and refer a potential customer on to another business when someone asks for help in an area that’s not your core business. People really appreciate this honesty.

If you are an existing small business, the best way to define your ideal customers is to review your existing customers. Who are the highest value customers? Who appreciates the value of what you are offering the most? Who do you enjoy working with the most? Now list the characteristics of these ideal clients into profiles and be as specific as possible.

Once you have done this, build your entire marketing strat-egy focused on attracting and retaining more of your ideal client base and less on those who draw you away from your core offering.


3







Why is your garden different and special?Developing your solid marketing strategy relies heavily on in-depth research and review of your offering, your target customer and what is different about your offering com-pared to potential substitutes. Many businesses, small and big alike, fall into the trap of believing that their product or service has no competition and therefore they do not need to do the work required in ensuring their products stand up.

Don’t fall into this trap!While your product is probably fantastic, amazing and su-per special, get clear on the following aspects. Write down your answers!

• Why is your product/service different from the competi-tion, and

• What makes it better? • Why should the potential customer in the market pick

you over another company offering something similar?

You may know in your heart your product is better and/or different, but if you can’t clearly articulate this in your mar-keting strategy you could be losing business.

Do your researchThe best way to ensure you differentiate your business is to do your research. Take the time to research your top com-petitors and your top customers. What are other business-es saying, offering and promoting? When you interview your existing customers, if you are not already in the habit of creating a feedback loop, start with some questions like this:

• Why did you choose us?• What is one thing we are better at than our competi-

tors?• If we could improve one thing, what would it be?• Do you recommend us to others, or would you?• If you would recommend us, what do/would you say?


4







Once you have set aside time to do the hard research, it’s time to benchmark yourself against your competition. What were the core differences between you and others that surfaced? What stood out from your customers’ research? Look for common service benefits and find a way to make your business benefits stand out against those with whom you compete.

Do this research and analysis as the first step in marketing your business. This is not easy, but is the most important step. Like the soil for the rose bush, your business strategy is the foundation for all of your marketing and sales tactics. Getting this stage right will help you capture new custom-ers, create higher value customers and generate sustain-able growth in your business.


5







Build your core offering to nurture your leads-This is about ‘watering’ to generate leads, nurture con-tacts, educate contacts, and grow new business

Know anything about marketing and sales? If so, you may be familiar with the concept of a lead funnel, where you aim to load heaps of leads into the top end of a funnel and you end up with a few new customers at the bottom. So, simply, you try to get as many leads dumped into the fun-nel as possible and the more sales you end up with.

However, with the introduction of things like Twitter, Face-book, Google, and a whole range of reviewing and ranking sites, the game is changing. Creating a successful market-ing base for your business now depends on creating an authentic customer experience and providing meaningful engagement throughout a longer and more involved cus-tomer journey.

There are many different coined and trademarked con-cepts littered throughout marketing literature, education and leading industry expert materials. But the core of these updated lead funnel practices focus on:• introducing depth and meaning from initial introduction

and awareness of your brand,• providing added layers of interaction and value through-

out the interest stage of a lead• encouraging the customer to try your offer by giving

something away and sharing success stories• giving an incentive for the customer to take action and

purchase• getting more from those who have purchased by nur-

turing existing customers to refer business, give posi-tive testimonials and provide feedback for continual improvement.

Try not to get too overwhelmed by this process. Basically, it is just important to understand and be aware that the

Tip 2: Build Your Core Offering

6







process from which a potential customer becomes aware of your business is like planting a seed in your rose garden. The rose bush doesn’t just grow and blossom overnight. It requires fertilizer, watering, sunshine, care and attention. Just like your marketing and sales tactics.

Here are some helpful questions to start developing the added value you can provide at each stage of your own customer journey, motivating your prospects towards pur-chase.

• Do you have free or trial offering?• Is there a starter offering?• Have you thought of a ‘make it easy to switch’ offering?• What is your core offering to take to the general public?• Have you developed add-ons to provide additional

value?• Membership based? Are there any members-only of-

fers?• Have you created any strategic partner deals?

Many business owners mistakingly believe they can just advertise and get sales. This may occasionally work, but in order to create a blossoming business with organic and sustainable growth you must execute a continuous plan that engages and provides value to potential customers along their entire journey with your business.

John Jantsch from Duct Tape Marketing, a leading market-ing expert in the small business space, has trademarked his own concept of ‘The Marketing Hourglass’™. He has some extremely helpful suggestions to systematically de-velop these crucial touch points, processes and product/service offerings for each layer of customer engagement leading towards sales. We recommend reviewing these suggestions and creating your own personal lead nurturing process that suits your business, customers and industry. Here are some of Jantsch’s helpful suggestions to start your thinking.


7







“Know - ads, articles and referred leadsLike- website, reception and email newsletterTrust- marketing kit, white papers, and sales presenta-tionsTry- webinars, videos, evaluations and nurturing activitiesBuy- fulfillment, new customers kit, delivery and financial arrangementsRepeat- post customer survey, cross-sell presentations, and quarterly eventsRefer- results reviews, partner introductions, peer-2-peer webinars and community building”

If you want to keep your customers, and get the most out of every potential lead, be sure to spend the time to cre-ate value at each stage and gently move prospects from awareness to interest, to desire, and eventually action.


8







Create meaningful content - Enrich the soil of your rose garden

Over the last ten years the idea of generating content as part of a marketing strategy has become not only best practice, but required practice. There are countless blogs, online article sharing, and social media promotions galore! The new developments of the internet and free web based applications have made it so easy that anyone can become a self-published author. So much so that search engines have now built this into their algorithms for search results. If you do not produce regular and original content through your website, you will be penalised as potential customers desert you for your competitors.

Not only that, but producing regular, original content helps to establish your expertise in your field, helps you engage with potential customers, and creates material you are able to then share through multiple mediums and pos-sibly create other resources to bundle at a later point. The main thing to focus on when creating content to share is to provide as much value as possible from your own business experiences.

Don’t over share, don’t flog other people’s material, or bombard your followers. Focus on creating a sustainable, consistent and scheduled content calendar that helps build trust and helps educate prospects in your area of expertise and industry. The latest industry polls suggest 20% of your content be brand related, and 80% be industry related.

Be trustedCreating content that builds trust can include customer case studies or testimonials shared through a blog or social media. Get your business listed through trusted sources on the web and get your customers reviewing your service and providing testimonials on a regular basis. Add content across multiple forms, not only written, but audio and video. Video is fast becoming the most trusted source of information for a business.


9







Be an educator• Top Ten Lists - Create a series of lists showing custom-

ers the top places to go to find specific pieces of infor-mation relating to your service, industry or profession.

• Videos- Creating videos has become a very effective way of sharing content. Try creating a how-to, or shar-ing an example of recent work.

• While White Papers are quickly becoming antiquated in many industries such as IT and Finance, they are still the industry norm. White Papers provide an opportunity to take an industry related topic and show your point of view and expertise in the arena.

• Workshops/Seminars/Webinars- workshop events are a great way of packaging up sets of information for potential clients. Benefits of these offerings are the low cost and limited time commitment. A seminar is a quick way for your customers to get a taste of what your business has to offer and get to know you a little better. Trying turning one of your blog series, white pa-per, or how-to videos into a series of seminars to gen-erate more interest and increase engagement.

• FAQ -Frequently asked questions are a great way to create new content for people who are looking for very specific things. Add even more value by giving answers to questions people haven’t asked but probably should have.

Be sure to build these into your marketing plan, and schedule them into your content calendar to regularly share content, adding value to your customers and increasing engagement and ultimately sales.


10







Develop your Online Presence -by preparing the site to plant your online garden

Just like planting roses, creating an effective and powerful online presence for your business takes a lot of preparation and planning. Take the time and spend the money to have a consistent and comprehensive online presence across not only a modern, responsive website, but also multiple social media platforms, website listings and networking forums.

Your online garden, including your website and digital inter-actions, now stands as the centre of the business market-ing world. What does this mean?

Today’s business owner must build a marketing strategy with online engagement at the centre, because most cus-tomers look for and make decisions about which business to choose by searching on-line – at least initially. Therefore, the majority of your marketing decisions must start and end with your web presence.

With an attractive, informative and easy to use website, your small business can create the strong marketing foun-dation it needs to carry your company’s marketing efforts into the next decade.

Online Location. Physical store location has always mattered, but now the online location for the local busi-ness has become just as critical. This includes more than your website. It’s your website, your business listings, your social media pages, your blog, your interactions with other blogs, your presence on online reviewing sites and building your online reputation through ratings and reviews.

Tip: Your lead generation should focus on being found in the right place at the right time by your right customers

Tip 4: Develop YourOnline Presence

11







Digital Promotion. Any media buyer or advertising execu-tive will tell you most businesses have shifted to paying for digital advertising over traditional print, television and radio. Why is this? Well, not only has a businesses’ online shop become the central focus of developing new sales, digital promotion and advertising is more cost effective and results can actually be tracked.

However, you still need to be wary when investing in digital advertising as it serves a specific purpose. The new face of digital advertising should be used to generate awareness about your informative and educational content.

Tip : Be sure to use your meaningful content as lead conversion and it should augment your websites’ information to give customers more value

Tip 4: Develop YourOnline Presence

12







Consistently generate leads -by picking a sunny spot for your seeds to grow

In the past small businesses followed a traditional formula of lead generation using advertising and conferences par-ticipation. However there is now a big shift away from this method as it is the most expensive, and is becoming less and less effective with the explosion of social media and re-ferral based buying decisions. We now live in an age where people prefer to find the businesses they choose to trade with using search engines, rating sites, and the information readily available online.

What does this mean for small businesses?This means businesses need to think more about being found, rather than finding new business. This means be-ing strategic, ensuring you have the right product offering, the right information, that you are visible in the right places, and you have all the answers in as many formats as pos-sible for your potential customer to engage with.

Have you given your customer a reason to engage with you? What are you offering on what levels to lead them towards a sale?

One can think about these activities as leaving rose petals leading toward your rose garden. You want to create ed-ucation-based materials and posts that can be promoted through social media as a soft entry point to your business and website.

This helps build trust in your brand, and enables you to continue the conversation online that can lead towards sales.

Tip: Take advantage of the power of information, networking, trusts, connection, and community to generate leads

Tip 5: ConsistentlyGenerate Leads

13







Lead generation deep dive- Tactics in detail.

Customer Referrals. Turning every customer into a referral is the most effective and powerful tool to continue generating new business for your company. If you ap-proach each new customer and project with the mindset of generating a referral you will not only provide the best cus-tomer service and experience for your customer but you will encourage them to tell others, and be your extended marketing team.

Public Relations. Public Relations has historically been and remains one of the most trusted, cost effective ways to generate new leads for your business. It is also one of the trickiest methods as it requires creating newsworthy infor-mation and establishing relationships with key journalists. Digital advertising. Lastly digital advertising is the only controllable lead-gen activity. Its benefits are that it is a highly targeted and easily measurable way to promote awareness of your wonderful content such as e-books, papers, videos and workshops. It is also the most expen-sive and least credible form of promotion, so be sure only to use it as described and as part of the overall marketing activity mix.

Tip 5: ConsistentlyGenerate Leads

14







Maintain Your Marketing: Schedule, automate and prune -Know when and how much to water

The lack of order, strategy and a systematic approach to selling is the biggest weakness for most small businesses. While we know and understand it’s hard to get around to marketing, it’s essential that you either find a way to build it into your routine or find someone to help you. Small business can create a marketing machine by scheduling, automating, and pruning.

Here are some secrets and tips to get your marketing done.

Scheduling-Make it a habit• Create a marketing plan that has clear timelines, sched-

uled activities and choose one marketing need at a time to dedicate time to.

• Content calendar-create a monthly/weekly topic to focus your content creation around and schedule out across 6-12 months

• Weekly reviews - once you’re clear on your marketing strategy, marketing itself becomes a set of projects. You can then focus on a group of projects, and then break those projects down into action steps or tasks.

Automating-Set up systems to help support your marketing• Auto-responders -set up automatic responders from

your website and your email so people will receive a timely response from you no matter how busy you are with other things.

• Email marketing systems - Instead of just sending emails through Outlook set up your business with an email marketing tool like MailChimp or Campaign Moni-tor. You can create segmented email lists, beautiful email campaigns and newsletters, and schedule cam-paigns for the future without you having to manually ex-ecute anything. Most of these tools also have the ability to track who opened, who clicked, and what people

Tip 6: MaintainYour Marketing

15







were interested in and are free or low cost. • Customer Relationship Manager- If you have multiple

people managing customer relationships and you hope to grow, these systems are core to your effectiveness. There are many low cost options to centrally manage your key customer information. One example is the product ‘Insightly’.

• Project management - Part of automating your market-ing activity is being good at managing your projects. As mentioned above, once your marketing strategy and plan are set, it becomes a matter of project managing the calendared activities. Using free tools like ‘Smart-sheet' and ‘Trello' is an excellent way for multiple mem-bers of your business to track what needs to be done.

Practice and prune until it becomes second nature.• Regularly interview customers - Build feedback into

your customer loop by setting up surveys through ‘Survey Monkey’ or ‘Google Forms’. This way you can continue engagement with your customers and get valuable feedback on what you are doing right, and what you can improve on. This is also where you can track how they found you.

• Review business stats - Regularly review your sales stats against your number of leads. What is your con-version rate? Is there anything during the process you think you can improve?

• Review activities and results - Use the statistics from your email marketing program, social media statis-tics and Google Analytics in your website to compare website traffic and behaviour to your scheduled market-ing activities. What activities were most successful in driving people to your website? How did these results match up against your targets?

Do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. Always tweak and try new things! Above all be sure you are clear on your strategy, concise in your message and audience, and consistent with your marketing activity and everything will be ROSY.

Tip 6: MaintainYour Marketing

16







About the AuthorMeg Rose Russell is a marketing consultant, artist, sports enthusiast and founder of Rosy Marketing.

Rosy Marketing provides marketing strategy and support for super small businesses, start-ups and social enterpris-es. We specialise in establishing your comprehensive online presence and setting up your small business marketing machine to help you find new customers and get the most from your existing customers.

Rosy marketing is about looking on the bright side, find-ing your key point of difference and helping your business grow from the ground up. From regular marketing man-agement of day to day marketing activities, to promotional campaign management and in depth market research we are marketing specialists that have the marketing skills and experience to help your business and your brand grow.

As a small business owner or budding entrepreneur you may lack the time or know how to build and nurture your marketing presence. But don't let that stop you from dreaming big, setting big goals and aiming for success.

We are here to help.

17

Rosy's Six Tips 2015 (1)

Documents

Transcript of Rosy's Six Tips 2015 (1)