All businesses, great and small, exist for one reason – to make money. Every decision or action that happens in the business is just one step on the way to the ultimate purpose of that business, that is, to make a sale. The difference between businesses that succeed and those that fail is the ability to sell.
As important as the processes of creating quality products and building organizational structures are, they do not form the bedrock of business success. The product is nothing if it does not win the attention of buyers. Unless people are willing to buy what you are selling, your entire effort in building the business is wasted.
That is why selling, along with everything that goes into making a sale, is the most important function in a business. As a matter of fact, every action the people in a business take will contribute to the business’ ability or inability to market its products or services successfully.
This is why successful businesses elevate the art of marketing to the level of strategy, says Funeral Home Media. Strategy is a systematic plan of action designed to increase the probability of success under conditions of uncertainty. Strategy makes your results more predictable in unpredictable circumstances.
How should you market your business?
In today’s world, most business is done on the internet. Even if the actual sale does not take place there, cyberspace is where your first contact with customers often happens. There are two things that need to happen to your marketing if your business is to consistently make its mark in the online space:
- Firstly, there must opportunities for that initial contact between your business and users of the internet. If buyers cannot find you online, how can they buy from you?
- Secondly, people who encounter your business online must come away with a good impression of the business and the products or services it is offering.
The ability of your business to repeatedly do these two things well is the foundation for successful online marketing. What are some of the strategies you can use to reach more people online and also impress them with the quality of what your business has to offer?
4 tips for successfully marketing your business online
1. Update your SEO game
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is where it all begins. This is what you do to define who you are on the internet. It is what makes it easier for people to find your business among the billions of businesses on the internet.
What is SEO? SEO is every step you take to improve the ranking of your business on search engine results pages (SERPs). A great SEO strategy ensures that when internet users enter a search phrase that relates to something your business does, your website or content will show at the top of the search result page. This is important because most internet users do not click past the first page of search results.
2. Engage on social media
A vast amount of time people spend on the internet is dedicated to social media sites. Social media offers the most effective platform for reaching the greatest number of potential and existing customers within the shortest time. But to succeed on social media, you must honor the purpose of those sites and why people use them.
The three reasons people come to social media are to be informed, inspired, and entertained. A social media strategy that values engaging with people above selling to them will be more successful in the long run. The goal of your social media strategy should be to build a community.
3. Become an authority through content marketing
People hate to be sold something but still want their problems solved. How can you get people to buy something that will solve their problems if you cannot sell to them? The answer is through content marketing.
Content marketing is about providing useful information that addresses customers’ pain points without an overt attempt to sell to them. This is often done by creating insightful blog posts or video content that answer the customer’s questions.
This kind of valuable content helps to build trust because it positions your business as an authority in that area. When that internet user is eventually ready to buy, they are more likely to remember and buy from your business.
4. Build an email list to foster conversations
Email is arguably the cheapest and most effective way to market online. When marketing on social media, the social media site plays the role of a mediator between you and the customer. Content marketing also depends on the ability of customers to find your content in SERPs.
With email, you have a direct communication line to the customer’s inbox. This kind of marketing is personal and people like it, especially if they signed up to receive your emails. But like content marketing and social media, email marketing is best used as a tool for engagement. With time people are more likely to buy from you if they have been sufficiently engaged.
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