TWI’s Top Marketing Tips and Tools
Marketing your products and services effectively can be extremely challenging, especially if you are a small business with budget constraints. However, as most of you have probably discovered or will soon discover, a creative, well-planned, marketing strategy will help your business get the attention and engagement it deserves.
If you are struggling to devise a plan, think of new ideas or even know where to start when it comes to marketing, don’t panic! We are here to help and have even put together a list of our top marketing tips and tools to set you on the path to success!
1) Start with Why.
Develop a vision or mission statement that sums up why you’re in business. This isn’t what you do, or your USP, but why you do it. This will give you a strong base for any pitch, copy or even employee handbook. Simon Sinek has some good YouTube videos on this.
2) Know your Competitors.
At TWI, we know from experience that a regular competitor analysis is a crucial part of a marketing mix, and is essential in understanding where your business sits in the marketplace.We have laid out everything you need to know about performing an effective competitor analysis here.
3) Know your Audience.
Even if you are a B2B and a B2C supplier, you must understand the difference and adjust your marketing strategies accordingly to appeal to each target. Paying attention to tip 4 will help you to be more proficient at this.
4) Become your Brand.
Make sure every aspect of your brand shines through your marketing. Although you may adopt a different brand tone depending on who you are targeting, your brand voice should remain the same. It is who you are and what you stand for, not just what you produce. It’s your personality and just as your own personality doesn’t change whoever you are talking with, neither should your company’s.
MailChimp, for example, has a relaxed, welcoming and helpful tone that makes their email marketing services seem simple and reinforces their platform’s ease of use. Take this example from their website:
5) Answer the Questions your Potential Customers are Asking.
Make your company the authority they turn to before offering the solution. You can do this through a variety of marketing platforms; generating content that lets your audience know what they are missing. Answerthepublic.com is a useful tool to see what your audience is searching for.
Make sure your content is engaging enough to make the reader feel like you are talking to them directly. They want to feel like you have something to offer them personally to make their life better or easier. You may be circulating content on mass, but if it’s too generic, the messaging will lose its impact.
Read more about creating engaging content here.
6) Plan and be creative.
Just because one thing has always worked for you doesn’t mean you should be afraid to try new things. You don’t have to blow twice your annual turnover on one radical campaign, you can start small, perhaps running a few campaigns side by side and if you utilise tip 7 you should soon be able to track what works and what doesn’t.
7) Measure.
It’s important to know that your marketing investments are giving you a good ROI. There are lots of online tools that will help you to track traffic to your website, the success of your e-marketing and social media advertising, and they don’t have to cost a fortune.
8) Fail to plan, plan to fail.
Creative ideas are great but a full SWOT analysis at the start of any campaign plan will highlight any potential fail points before you start investing time and money. The SWOT enables feedback from all stakeholders and is a valuable process that will strengthen any marketing strategy. Additionally, the SWOT process gives the team space to explore additional opportunities that always have a positive impact on the planned campaign.
9) Be Social on Social Media.
To grow your social following, you actually have to be social. Identify the trending hashtags in your industry using something like RiteTag and get involved. This could involve posting tips, links or just leaving your ‘2 cents’ as Gary Vee would say.
10) Encourage Reviews and User-generated Content.
Reviews and user-generated content play a huge role in online purchasing decisions. Amazon is a huge testament to the power of product reviews. Trust Pilot is one of the leading review software providers– you can even set up a free profile for your business to start gathering reviews – this also helps with SEO and your websites ranking with Google. Customers like to see ‘social proof’ that you and your business are genuine.
11) Utilise your Employees in your Marketing.
If you want to successfully position your company as an expert, who is better to provide a ‘company voice’ than the staff you rely on to run your business day-to-day? Get your team involved in providing content for case studies, providing ‘top tips’ content for customers and if they’re happy to, show their face – especially if your company offer a customer-facing service.
12) Build Customer Relationships through E-mail Marketing.
According to the Email Addiction Report 2019, 83% of people prefer email as one of the channels to receive promotions from brands they trust. Believe it or not, e-mail marketing is still a highly effective strategy for building customer relationships. You can collect emails and build a list of potential customers by using website pop-up’s and contact forms.
If you have any questions regarding our marketing tips and tools or if you need some extra support in planning or fulfilling your marketing strategy, please contact us on 01473 326 907 for a chat.
