You don’t always need to make huge changes in your business to grow. Sometimes, small pivots can be just as effective. Here are some tips to help you understand what it takes to adapt and make incremental adjustments.
Let your personality shine through. As a business owner, are you involved with the local community or a nonprofit organization? Have you created a company culture where employees enjoy coming to work and feel valued? For years, many business owners have kept their personal and company brands separate. But your personal brand could be an asset to your business.
Build your management team. As your business grows, a business owner can reach capacity. We start off in business wearing all the hats, but there are only so many hours in a day. As a business matures, owners must decide if they will begin to invest in key personnel – a good attorney, accountant, marketing support, IT staff, and HR. Lack of this commitment to move forward will leave a business stuck. Savvy business owners realize there may not be the budget to bring on senior staff as they outgrow the ability to do it all. However, a fractional manager brought on as an outside consultant can be most effective. The fractional manager is laser-focused on their skill area and can quickly assess the situation while delivering results.
Invest in marketing. Building a brand requires investing time and resources into creating awareness. I often hear “I’ve been in business for 4 years and people don’t know we’re here.” To gain customer awareness, you have to invest in a website that becomes your business’s digital front door and in traditional and social media to communicate with potential customers where they get their information. Not having an internet presence is as bad as a retailer having a bad location and no outdoor signage. No one knows you are there to meet their needs.
Know your customer. It is not enough to be out there in cyberspace, you have to be able to reach the right people. Being where they are is integral to pushing them along the buying continuum so they understand who you are, believe what you offer, and then try your product or services. Marketing is not a cost to a business, it is an investment. Without it, you have no chance to connect with those who you want to buy from you.
Review Your Email Marketing Strategy to be giving valuable information that people want to read. Make sure to utilize a mobile-friendly template. “Email marketing should address how you can make [the recipient’s] life better today, even if it is in a small way,” Dave Charest, director of content marketing at Constant Contact. “You can demonstrate urgency by positioning your products and services in a way that addresses new and changing customer needs, not by pushing discounts and products down their throat. Email marketing is all about sharing the information [the recipient] needs in the way they prefer it, which includes tone, length, and time of day.”
Are you ready to invest in your business? To learn more about these and other marketing strategies, contact the Edmiston Group, or call 724-612-0755.
About the Author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh based marketing consulting firm providing senior-level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long-term basis. Core areas of service are business development strategies, website creation and management, social media management, marketing, strategic planning, and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business. Contact the Edmiston Group today to learn how we can bring fresh ideas to help grow your business.