MARKETING

HAVE A MIND SET OF BUYING CUSTOMERS

If you’re not marketing your business, then you are losing out on a huge number of potential customers. In this article, I want to talk into 2 different avenues of marketing. These are Marketing for new customers and Marketing for recruitment.

Marketing has become much easier than it was in the past. A lot of marketing campaigns can be automated once initially set up. Yes, this will cost time and money, but don’t look at it as a cost, more of an investment.

In the world of information marketing there are 2 types of online marketing. Interruption marketing and attraction marketing. Interruption for example, is a Facebook ad targeted at you while you are browsing the newsfeeds. Attraction marketing for example, is Google Pay Per Click where the customer is actively looking to buy/research your product or service.

Let’s first look at Marketing for new customers: When a typical business owner thinks of marketing, his limiting belief system says to him, “oh no, this means I have to spend money”, which is true, but we have to change our belief and mind set. A mind set of investment. We are in the business of buying new customers. Not only do we have to spend money, but also give away information for free which help, educate and build the trust to develop a relationship with potential new customers.

Customers are there to be targeted both online and offline. Yes, we live in a world where the internet is a very powerful tool and an easy way to target your audience, but there is also an audience waiting off line. While everyone else is focused on online marketing there is a large proportion of customers waiting to have something delivered through the door. This is where the lumpy mail comes in. People still love getting things in post that they can touch and feel, but as with any marketing, we need to test and measure to see what the results are telling us.

So, ask yourself this question… How many marketing strategies do you currently have in place? Is that enough? Can you do more? Any business should have at least 8 different forms of marketing.

Here are just a few: Pay Per Click, Direct Response Marketing, Social Media Marketing, telephone marketing, direct lumpy mail marketing through the post, TV & radio advertising.

The aim, is to get started. Test everything and see what gives you the best returns. However, marketing is changing at a very fast speed. So be open minded for new and different ways to market to your potential customers. For me, Google Pay Per Click is by far the most effective for the wet leisure industry. Along the way to finding out what works best for us, we have spent a lot of time and money but this hasn’t been in vain, as we now know the best strategies to reach our customers.

As Google Pay Per Click works brilliantly for my ecommerce business, Gavin Bradbury uses the power of Facebook marketing which is producing extraordinary results. Do some research within your industry and model what others are doing well, then decide what strategy will work best for your business.

It’s very important to get the marketing right, but we also need to be mindful of our website or landing pages. These both need to be mobile responsive. 60% of internet usage is now done via mobile/tablet rather than desk tops and it’s on the rise. Your website needs to be easily readable via a mobile, without having to zoom in and out. Remember the 8 second rule… Customers will only stay on your website for 8 seconds unless they are engaged.

The second form of marketing I feel is also very important for the growth of any business, because if you nail the marketing and your business grows, you’ll then need new employees and this is where Marketing for recruitment comes in.

In my companies, we are constantly marketing for new talent. In my last article, I spoke about how important employees are for growth. Be strategic and anticipate who and when you will require new people to drive your business forward. Marketing for future employees can put you one step ahead of not only yourself, but also your competitors. You will already have a pool of talent to choose from when positions become available in your company. Being one step ahead in business is essential if you want to reduce making wrong decisions. A wrong decision can cost you a lot of time and money. I’ve seen this first hand when businesses have to put bums on seats and square pegs in round holes. They are ill prepared for either growth or departures, and it just doesn’t work, not if you want to be the best, and when you are the best, you attract the best.

Test everything and see what gives you the best returns

To attract the best people, they need to know that you are recruiting. One advert might just catch someone’s attention and give them something to think about. Our best employees have come from LinkedIn and Indeed marketing. You can choose to advertise on these platforms both Organically with a post, or Pay Per Click with sponsored ads. The good thing about Pay Per Click is that you are in control. You can target specific people and also control your spending by setting a daily/weekly budget, and you can stop a campaign at any time.

We get approached by agencies pretty much every day. Personally, I’m not a fan. The fees they charge can be extortionate to say the least, and who’s to say they won’t come back for your employee in the future when another company is looking to fill a similar position. Hence my scepticism. Be very choosey and picky where you market for your future employees, especially if you want to attract the best.

The whole marketing game can be a mine field, but don’t let this put you off. It’s all about thinking and planning a strategy and then getting started and executing it. As the marketing world evolves so will your business, if you are actively participating. There are a lot of ways to market, so be mindful that it is impossible to do them all at once. Like everything in business, it’s a process. Personally, if you’re not doing Google Pay Per Click you are missing out on a huge number of customers actively looking to spend money on your products or service. Market experts are calling this the gold rush era. Similar to when Google Ads was first launched nearly 15 years ago, when a lot of smart businesses got cash rich.

Marketing is a smart and fast way to financial freedom. If you do anything today in your business, make sure marketing is the number one priority and don’t be afraid to invest some of that hard-earned cash.