Marketing is a broad term. How you market your business is unique and personal to you. While reading business blogs and self-help books is helpful, they will not give you all the answers. Entrepreneurship is a constant learning process. As trends change, so will your marketing strategies. To prepare for inevitable changes, there are certain questions to ask yourself. While some of these questions seem basic or confusing, it is essential to know the answers to move forward. Whether you are asking yourself or your team, here are 14 questions about business marketing you shouldn’t be afraid to ask.
What Is Not Working?
While this question is hard to ask, it is a crucial one. Are your sales flattening? Is staff morale at an all-time low? Are you having trouble getting customers in the door? If so, it is time to ask yourself, what isn’t working? It is hard to admit you are making mistakes, but every business owner makes them. Being in denial of your problems gets you nowhere.
Have a team meeting or ask customers for feedback. Write down their comments and start working on ways to improve. Your solutions might be simple, like re-designing your storefront or giving your staff a pay raise. However, they are commonly more complicated than that. Whatever your case is, acknowledging your issues is the first step towards a solution.
How do I Know What My Audience Wants?
Knowing your audience’s preferences is essential to your success. Without knowing what they want, you will not know how to market to them. There are many ways to see what your audience wants. Start with your user insights. Most social media and website platforms track certain user data for this exact purpose.
See which posts yield the most engagement from your audience. Track how many users visit your website daily. Run a few promotions or introduce new products and see how your audience responds. While gaining insights into your audience takes time, it is vital when growing your business.
Do I Need to Increase Prices?
Common mistake business owners make in the beginning is lowballing their prices. While offering lower prices is a great way to get an influx of customers, you end up cheating yourself. You and your team work hard, and it is pertinent to pay yourself what you deserve.
In fact, if your prices are too low, potential customers may be wary of your quality. Ensuring your revenue covers expenses is especially vital. While maintaining profit, in the beginning, is hard, you should not be funneling all your profits back to cover expenses.
How do I Run a Successful Promotion?
Running promotions is business marketing 101. Without promotions, how will customers find you? What incentives are you offering to increase revenue? While every promotion is different, here are some key elements to consider:
- Set Goals: What are you trying to achieve with your promotion? Figure out how much product you want to sell or how many new clients you want to gain. Knowing your goals will help you measure your success.
- Keep it Informative: Nowadays, consumers do not want to hear car salesman-like pitch. Keep your promotion informative and friendly without sounding desperate for sales.
- Create Demand: Limit your promotions to a short window of time to incentivize customers to act now.
- No Spamming: There is a difference between building anticipation and spamming. Send out an email campaign, post to social media and update your website, but do not overdo it. Your potential customers do not want their inboxes flooded or their social media feed overpowered by your posts.
Should I Increase My Online Presence?
In the digital age, the answer to this question is always yes! The more online platforms you use, the wider your audience. Do not limit yourself to just posting on Facebook or relying solely on your website. Start an Instagram account. Easily link it to your Facebook account and post to both platforms simultaneously.
Build up your Linkedin account for more lead generation. Start a Twitter for casual conversations and quick updates. Create an email newsletter to keep customers updated on promotions. Start a blog to drive traffic to your website and increase your SEO. However, you want to do it, increasing your online presence is a must for business marketing.
Do I Need to Outsource?
Marketing is a daunting task that is hard to do alone. Luckily, digital marketing agencies like Business Marketing Engine exist to help entrepreneurs market their businesses. As a business owner, you have enough to worry about without dealing with marketing. Outsourcing with an agency lets you work with marketing pros who know the ins and outs of business success.
Most agencies offer social media management, web design, copywriting and branding assistance. Agencies and business owners typically collaborate on monthly goals and promotions, then the pros get to work. Save time and ensure your content looks professional by considering outsourcing.
Am I Doing too Much Work?
Starting a business means you have a million different tasks to complete. As your business grows and your team becomes established, ensure you are delegating tasks. Your team is there to support you, so do not be afraid to shift your workload if you are overwhelmed. Taking on too much work leads to entrepreneurial burnout.
Entrepreneurial burnout can lead to other health issues like anxiety and depression if not resolved. Delegating tasks to team members is the best way to lighten your workload. If you are a solo entrepreneur, consider simplifying your business model, hiring employees or outsourcing.
How do I Measure My Success?
Measuring your success depends on what your goals are. What are you trying to achieve with your company? How much money do you need to cover monthly expenses? Success also depends on the happiness of your employees and your customers. Here are a few tips for measuring your success:
- Employee Evaluations: Take time to meet with your employees each month to check in with them and ask for feedback. They may know more about daily operations, so their feedback is vital.
- Customer Feedback: Look at customer reviews and testimonials to look for areas of improvement. Incentivize customers to leave feedback by offering discounts.
- Financial Statements: Keep detailed track of your monthly financial statements to see if there are any ways to save money. Also, see if you need to increase prices or cut back on expenses to cover costs.
- New Customers: How many new customers are you gaining each month? How many new clients signed a contract? Make sure these trends are going upward.
When do I Post on Social Media?
Social media is sometimes harder to navigate than it looks. With competition at an all-time high, businesses have to do more than just post a photo every couple of days. Luckily, most social media platforms offer detailed insights on peak posting times. Peak posting times differ for each social media platform.
For example, Instagram users are more active during lunchtime hours and evenings. Linkedin users are more active during weekdays before lunchtime. Once you know your peak posting times, schedule your posts in advance to save time.
How do I Start a Blog?
Blogs are not only a great tool for SEO, but they enhance your reputation as an industry leader. Starting a blog is easier than ever. Most website hosting platforms offer blog features for easy posting and media editions.
Not sure where to start? Research other blogs in your industry or hire a copywriter. Give your copywriter a topic. The copywriter will take it from there, ensuring you have the best content possible. Post to your blog regularly to boost website traffic and connect with your audience.
How do I Keep up With Trends?
Marketing trends change constantly. With the end of the year approaching, now is the time to research marketing trends for 2021. Staying in the loop is crucial for staying on top of trends. It is easy for entrepreneurs to isolate themselves and focus solely on the task at hand.
Take time each month to research new trends and see how they fit into your business. Follow industry leaders on social media to keep up with them. Attend webinars and speaking engagements whenever possible. Set up a Google trend alert to be notified when relevant topics are trending.
How do I Stay Ahead of My Competition?
Staying ahead of your competition is essential for the growth of your business. What sets you apart from them? Why should customers choose you? Using your marketing tools, ensure customer satisfaction and keep up with your competitors.
Brand awareness is one of the easiest ways to stay competitive. Make your brand recognizable so customers remember you. Ensure your products are uniform, high-quality and priced fairly. Keep your attitude friendly and informative to keep customers coming back. Build a reputation that your audience relies on.
Should I Start Doing Email Campaigns?
While email is no longer the king of online communication, it is still a great marketing tool. Email campaigns allow you to send updates, deals and offers to your clientele. Email campaigns also help to diversify your audience, especially if they are not active on social media. Most website platforms offer email campaign assistance. Easily import contacts, use graphics and add action buttons.
Am I Doing Everything I can to Market My Business?
Marketing your business is a constant challenge that requires work and research. Ask yourself this question regularly to research for any areas of improvement. There is always room for growth, so do not be afraid to try a new tactic or ask for advice.
Do you need help marketing your business? Business Marketing Engine is here to give you the tools you need to succeed. From copywriting and branding to social media and web design, we are here to help you market your business properly. Contact us today to get started.