Marketing is tricky. Nobody denies that. But the idea that marketing is only for big companies with big budgets is a myth. You are just as capable of growing using marketing strategies, you just have to do the right stuff.
That’s why we’ve compiled a list to help you know whether you’re doing the right things for your business.
The golden rule: 7 touchpoints to success
This one underpins them all. Whatever you choose to do, your main objective should be to get as many positive touch points from your audience as possible.
In layman’s terms that means be loud, get out there as much as possible!
Touchpoints refers to the amount of times people interact with your brand. On average, you need 7 positive touchpoints before a prospect is ready to be sold to.
Note: these touchpoints can’t just be anything. They need to be information that helps position your brand in a way that makes it desirable, different and a better solution than your competitors. The idea is that by the end of your 7 touchpoints, your audience will know a lot more about you, and have absolute confidence in your product and your business.
Today, in the online world, it’s easier than ever to get these touchpoints with your audience. You can post consistently on social media, build an email list and communicate with your audience through email, use advertising, launch a viral media campaign, improve your SEO and more.
Obviously, depending on your budget, you can’t do them all. You are better off choosing the mediums where your audience are most likely to spend time. For most, that’s email, SMS and social media, and blog content.
So keep active on these mediums and get your 7 touchpoints. You can’t go too far wrong.
Keep a regular blog
Blogging is a long-term strategy to give your prospects more confidence in your brand (and getting those vital 7 touchpoints). If you can create an engaging, SEO optimized blog on your website, you’re onto a winner.
The best blogs help give your website topical authority, which means that when Google crawls through your website, it’s easily able to recognise what your website is about and rank you for relevant terms. This way you can start ranking on Google for keywords related to your product and get prospects to your website.
For more on SEO, check out Hubspot’s Ultimate Guide to SEO in 2021.
Additionally, your blog is a great store for additional information for prospects that want to know more. Sometimes, when your prospect is sniffing around for solutions, they’ll want to go deeper and understand more about your product before choosing it.
A blog is a great way to establish that confidence, showing that you know what you’re talking about.
You can even reference your blog in emails. For example, if you get enquiries, or questions pertaining to your brand, you can send them to the blog for answers.
Improve your local SEO
Imagine if one of your prospects Googled “printing services near me” and your brand came up. That’d be an incredible way of bringing people with buying intent onto your website.
Local SEO is all about optimizing your website and Google My Business profile to make sure that you come up when people search keywords like that.
Your first steps to turning Google searchers into customers are:
Make sure you update and optimise your Google My Business profile with accurate, up to date information – this will help you rank on Google’s local pack.
Encourage online reviews – when people are deciding what companies to buy from, they look at reviews. If you’ve got a lot of positive ones, you’re more likely to attract them to your website.
Make sure your business information or NAP (name, address and phone number) is consistent around the web, such as on directories like Yelp. This is a factor the Google algorithm looks at when deciding whether to rank your website.
Sign up to directories and build citations.
Make sure your website is functional and loads fast, and its pages include meta titles and descriptions.
Again, keep a regular blog!
For more local SEO advice check out Backlinko’s Local SEO Guide.
If you follow these steps, you’ll be on your way to getting another significant source of leads from Google. But just a warning, this isn’t a quick fix and ranking on Google is very competitive.
Build your email list
Email lists are a huge asset to your business. Being able to send marketing materials direct to your prospective audience is a powerful way to grow your business.
You should always be trying to grow your email list. There are a few ways you can do that, including:
building a pop-up on your website where people can sign up with their email address in exchange for a free asset, such as an ebook
offering discounts in exchange for an email address
For more ways to build your email list, check out Hubspot’s Guide to List Building.
Once you’ve built your list, you can use HubSpot to test creative email sequences with your prospects. You could test different promotions, or try out newsletter templates until you find out what works for you. Whatever you do, don’t forget to measure your results using tracking tools like Google Analytics!
Growing your business using marketing is all about getting out there and making sure you gather those 7 touch points from your prospective audience. In this blog, we’ve covered just a few ways that you can do that!
For a comprehensive look at how you can market your business and grow, download our guide to Marketing Quick Wins for Small Businesses.
