Marketing is one of the most important aspects of any business, from the very small to the very large. Marketing provides value to your customers through educating them about your products and services and helping them discover your brand and what you can do for them. How do you market effectively? This guide on marketing will give you everything you need to know to create awareness and drive sales through effective marketing tactics.
Introduce your audience to a need they didn’t know they had
When marketing a product, whether it’s a new gadget or trendy handbag, you want customers to buy it because they saw its value. You need them to think, Oh my gosh, I didn’t know I needed that until now! If you can introduce people to an undiscovered need and give them a solution at just the right time when they need it most, that’s exactly what happens. Think about how Apple created awareness for their iPad by introducing it as magical and revolutionary. Apple built an audience of fans who crave anything new from Apple because they trust that every new product will be amazing! Even if your product isn’t quite so groundbreaking, you can still build excitement around it by creating demand for something that wasn’t previously available. If your local grocery store has run out of avocados one week before Cinco de Mayo, you might see an increase in avocado sales because someone creates awareness around avocado-related products (like guacamole) or promotes all things Mexican food during May 5th through 7th. The same thing applies to business owners: Letting potential customers know there is a demand—even if they don't currently see one—can help you create sales where there were none before. So instead of telling consumers why they should buy your products, show them why everyone else is buying it too! That's where increasing brand awareness comes into play. Branding involves everything from company identity to visual presentation and message delivery. Increasing brand awareness simply means raising customer interest in your company, which leads to more sales for you!
This process doesn’t happen overnight, but with a little creativity and effort on your part, you can drive customer interest in your business. Some ways to do that include advertising campaigns (both online and off), social media updates, contests/giveaways/freebies/promotions, community involvement events and strategic partnerships with businesses in related industries. And remember: A well-rounded approach works best!
Give them proof you can help
You might want your potential clients to look at your list of past clients, or you might want them to see how successful past marketing campaigns have been. Either way, link back from your website to some testimonials, or better yet a page where they can browse through all your past work. This will help them trust that you can really make a difference for their business. If you don’t have any case studies or testimonials yet, don’t worry—just tell people about your qualifications in a short paragraph on your site. That alone should give them confidence in your abilities. (Just be sure not to overdo it with self-promotion!)
Provide some education
People come to sites for information. The goal is that by providing helpful, relevant information on your site you will convince them it’s worth sticking around. Be sure to add in links that allow readers who need more help finding what they are looking for. Most often they will be able to navigate themselves, but sometimes a little nudge or extra help never hurts. When you are creating content or SEO-ing a page make sure it is clear what keywords you would like associated with your site and make sure they are easy for search engines (and users) to find. Whenever possible link out in your writing so people can get back up-to-date information quickly if needed. Make sure all content has been edited and proofread before being published. Make sure all images have alt text when appropriate. Make sure all pages are indexed correctly by Google and other search engines. Link to yourself from outside websites as much as possible, especially industry related ones where you want to show off your expertise.
Show them how they can start using your product or service today
It’s not enough to just write about your product or service. You have to show them how they can start using it right away. This means that you need to give examples, case studies, demonstrations, images, pictures or anything else that will help them get a clear picture of what it is you are talking about. If you’re writing about car insurance then explain exactly how much more affordable it is if you drive a safe car and mention that rates increase exponentially for those who have been involved in an accident so they should avoid that at all costs. It might sound obvious but include relevant links wherever possible so they can take immediate action. That’s what will keep people coming back to your site time and time again.
Conclude with a call-to-action
A call-to-action (CTA) is a web page element that draws attention to an immediate action your readers should take. It may be a button, link, or even just text—anything you want your visitors to act on. Your CTA can invite users to sign up for an email newsletter, download your app or whitepaper, try out a demo, register for a live event or webinar, or whatever else makes sense for your business. You might have multiple CTAs on your site depending on what stage in your sales funnel you’re trying to drive traffic toward. Just make sure it’s clear what each one does! The last thing you want is for people to click on a CTA only to find they’ve been redirected somewhere unexpected.