You may be surprised to learn you now have an ageing website that needs a facelift or perhaps a complete re-do.
When it comes to attracting new clients and staff, a slow and outdated website won’t be doing you any favours.
No matter how busy it gets, not marketing your business should never be an option.
Busy-ness is a phase and eventually things slow down, and then what?
Over the years, Bold! has encouraged and assisted many clients to enter business awards. After all, there is nothing quite like winning an award that recognises your expertise and commitment to your craft to boost new business enquiry.
We recently wrote about finding the balance between creative and practical marketing communication, and here we tackle why it’s so important to be authentic in your business marketing.
There are changes in website-land and a bunch of new domain names have been released sans the .com in their suffixes and that could pose a threat to your internet identity.
Is your approach to business marketing creative, practical and authentic? If you can put a tick beside these fundamental marketing communication criteria, it’s very likely you’re winning the client engagement trifecta, and with it a legion of loyal, long-term clients while enjoying regular new business enquiries.
Here we explain our approach to creative and practical business marketing for small and medium sized business owners.
To ensure your business survives stagflation and the inevitable belt tightening by clients, it’s time to ramp things up.
We understand it’s at times like these, you’ve got a lot on your plate and it’s easy to focus your time and energy on managing operational matters and let your marketing slip. But businesses generally don’t succeed by keeping their expertise and services a secret. Here’s what you should do…
Before you invest big bucks in your marketing, it’s important to know how to spot an ideal client when you see one.
Knowing your ideal client’s profile and how you can help them is an important first step for creating a successful and profitable business. Not only will an ‘ideal’ client help you grow your business, they’ll also bring professionally rewarding work, appreciate your efforts and very likely pay you what you’re truly worth.
Good communication is the key to retaining client relationships because this creates trust, maximises your client’s ‘Lifetime Value’ and contributes directly to the success of your business.
In this article, we look at why it’s important to implement regular marketing communications, and how to do it.
With so much focus on what you can’t do at the moment, how about focusing on what you CAN do, right now, to keep your business top of mind with those who matter most – your clients.
Consciously dedicating time to your marketing is always important, not just during a pandemic. But since we’re in one, changing things up and creating points of difference is essential.
As a business leader, it’s important to help both existing and prospective clients to understand what you can do for them. And when it comes to providing that all-important evidence of ‘how’ you achieve results, sometimes describing your expertise is not enough.
Communicate, communicate, communicate
While the government is working towards no lockdowns and fewer restrictions, it looks like it’s still going to be some time before we can return to normal business operating conditions, if ever.
The reality is, you need to find a way to turn abnormal into business ‘as’ normal, and it starts with letting your clients know you’re here to help.
If you have thought about what will happen when you pass away, you’ve probably already considered actions like creating a will, electing a power of attorney or establishing a business succession plan.
One thing you may not have considered is what will happen to your social media accounts – personal and business. It may seem trivial, but for many of us, social media has become a big part of our daily lives. Here we provide details of adding a ‘legacy contact’ to your personal Facebook account or if you are the ‘face’ of your business, what you should do if you pass away unexpectedly.
“Just be yourself.”
We hear this phrase all the time but in business especially, it’s easier said than done. It’s important to stand out, but you also don’t want to alienate clients or appear unprofessional. The truth is, being yourself in business (and your marketing) is a balancing act.
Facebook’s sudden news blackout last week no doubt gave pause to the many Australian businesses that use the platform as part of their marketing and communications strategies. The move has had wide-ranging impacts on businesses, and not just those in the media industry.
We were recently reminded about how easy it is for specialist professionals to be overlooked by prospective clients.
We had met with an award-winning business with credentials up to their eyeballs, who enjoy preferred partner status for local government AND they have a raft of out-of-the-box innovative runs on the board… and yet, they found that the prospective clients who needed their help the most, constantly overlooked them. And often for lesser providers!
When it comes to Google business reviews or social media comments, sometimes people have a genuine concern or complaint, while others just behave like bullies.
Either way, the key is to actively manage your social media and Google business reviews and take swift action when comments and reviews take a negative turn. Keeping a cool head and acting quickly is vital.
We’ve been working with professionals for years and most of them don’t ‘sell’. They don’t like it or they won’t do it, especially now in these highly sensitive COVID times.
If this sounds like you, it’s time to find peace with how you go about bringing in new business.
Now, more than ever, your clients and prospects are looking for real and genuine support.
Simple and straightforward marketing communication creates meaningful connection with clients and prospects. Rather than overthinking your marketing, think about what’s most important for your clients and keep it real: reassuring, relevant and genuine!
Long before COVID-19 many businesses were already suffering a debilitating affliction that they were not even aware of. Called ‘client perceived indifference’, symptoms include clients experiencing a sense that their product or service provider doesn’t care much about them. And the cause? Poor client communication.
The key is staying visible. And that starts with communicating often and in a meaningful way.
If you are unsure about how, or you don’t have time to communicate with your clients, ask for help.
The holidays are over, the kids are back at school, routine has returned and decision makers have new perspectives after taking their brains off-line for a few weeks. It’s during February (and March) that the jobs put on hold until the new year need to be actioned.
If you don’t have a Google Business Listing, you could be missing out on the best FREE digital advertising you can get.
We know it sounds like a contradiction of terms, but marketing really doesn’t need too many bells and whistles and it certainly doesn’t need to be complicated. All you need are FIVE key resources, a dash of EDM and social media.
If your company’s business brochure is treated as a rarefied object locked in a cupboard and only bestowed upon those recipients considered worthy, you are most likely suffering from ‘precious brochure syndrome’. If this sounds like your firm, chances are your marketing collateral is gathering dust, not new business.
If you are sending out helpful information to your clients that clearly explains what you do, how you do it and why, but you don’t follow up to help your clients benefit from your advice, then this article is for you.
For most business owners eager to sell more products and services, it’s important to take a couple of steps back and establish the foundations for all your marketing, before jumping head first into a marketing program.
Just because you got straight A’s in high school English or you can write an articulate technical report, doesn’t mean you have the mettle to create successful marketing content.
You know the content on your website is important, but they’re just words – right? Wrong! Your website needs the right words – words that work for websites. Specifically, your prospective clients.
Words that address what you do, who you do it for, how you do it, and most importantly, why. Nailing your ‘why’ is the difference between prospective clients selecting your services over a competitor’s.
‘Tis the season to be jolly and after a big year, no one will blame you for wanting to take some well-earned time off. However, before you do, may we suggest that now is the time to prepare and sign off on your 2019 marketing program.
With the business award season currently underway, a number of our clients have recently been named as finalists, and even better, won awards for excellence.
Okay, so you have ideas for what you are generically calling a ‘strategy paper’, but before you get started there are FIVE important things to consider.
It’s one of the privileges of being a relationship marketing provider, we get to write a lot of Professional Profiles.
First impressions really do count. A tired and neglected business image will speak far louder than the words you won’t have the opportunity to say. As a business owner, you’ll be pleased to know that it is possible – without incurring great expense or investing too much time – to create memorable branding that’s not only good but BOLD.
If your business website isn’t mobile-friendly and secure, you need a new one. It’s that simple.
If you think your clients and customers aren’t on social media, think again. Statistics suggest otherwise (more about that later), but even if your clients aren’t social media savvy themselves, the people who influence them probably are.
If your goal is to make THIS year the year that you finally get your marketing program organised, but you’re worried about the cost, this tip is for you…
In 2017 my daughter, Olivia, turned 21 and so did Bold! It wasn’t long after she came along that my then home-based business was incorporated.
Artificial intelligence is a hot topic among financial services professionals. Financial planners are very aware of Robo Advisor and I recently attended a conference where the dinner presenter created an ‘Artificial Accountant’ in about 10 minutes.
Many businesses are using their marketing communication channels to demonstrate that they are EXACTLY the same as their competitors, rather than doing what marketing is meant to do, and differentiate themselves.
