Top Tips for Marketing Your Business – Part 2

Laying the foundation of your company is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. You need something strong to build upon. Having a solid marketing foundation will only help.

Over this and my previous articles, you will have read 4 valuable tips for marketing your startup… and they aren’t necessarily what you think –

In the previous article you read,

• Find out why you need to really understand what you’re doing before you get started.
• Know why you need to be open and honest from the get-go.

And in this article, you’ll find out…

• If social media marketing is part of your marketing plan (and it should be) – read how to fine tune it.
• Discover why marketing automation will save you time and a big headache.

Tip 3: Fine-Tune Your Social Media Marketing  

Many business owners that use social media as a part of theirbusiness’ marketing plan fall into an avoidable trap. They (mistakenly) believe they should actively participate on every social media platform, all the time – 24/7/365. Let me let you in on a secret: being everywhere online is an exhausting and inefficient use of your time. You’ll spread yourself so thin you won’t be effective.

There are many reasons why you should take the time to choose the best social media platform(s) to market your startup. Here are two you’ll want to consider when you fine-tune your social media focus.

• Social media marketing takes time. Perhaps you’re a business owner who only has a small amount of time to devote to using social media each day. Wouldn’t you agree that it makes more sense to spend your limited time learning how to effectively use one or two platforms – then using them successfully for marketing – rather than taking on all of them, even if you’re audience isn’t using one (or 2 or 3)? As you know by now, there are a lot of platforms out there and each has its own unique characteristics. With only a few hours every day, you could easily become overwhelmed trying to learn and use them all.  Instead of spreading yourself thin over the entire web, figure out the platform(s) your target audience use most, and spend time really learning those and become active on those as well. Fine-tuning that focus allows you to increase the quality of your company’s online presence while maximizing your time.

• Remember the “social” in social media marketing. You can try all you want to bend a platform to meet your own needs, but you must remember that using social media in your marketing efforts involve much more than posting – it’s about building relationship. You could easily spend all your time curating, creating, and posting unique content for your company’s social media platforms. All too often, doing these things take up nearly all of your time. As a result, you may miss out on real opportunities to build the relationships your potential and current clients crave more than just your ubiquitous presence on social media.Provide content and participate on social media, of course, but make sure you also value your audience and their time.

• Don’t forget the images.  A picture can tell a story faster than reading words on a page. A picture can emphasize an important topic being discussed. A picture can create new trends.  A picture can create positive results for social media marketing, and… a picture can change the way you communicate on social media. There are a few things to consider when selecting your image:

Get Permission. With the rise of social media, every user is a publisher but many share images without the consideration of consent or even knowledge of the copyright laws. Copyright laws are set in place to protect the original authors creations from being stolen or used with the intent of benefiting someone else. While social media is still trying to work out the kinks of copyright laws, it is important that your business does the most they can to ensure they are following the rules. Using your original work is the easiest way to avoid copyright issues.

Grab Attention. If you’ve been on social media for a while now, you know that to grab the attention of your audience is a must for customer engagement and the key to success. Photos are a great way to catch your customers eye. Using images will break up the clutter from the other content that is surfacing throughout social media.

Make it Relevant. When picking a photo for your marketing campaign or even a simple status update it is important to connect with the topic at hand as well as connect it to your customers. When you make a photo relevant it will help your customers understand what it is you are saying and why you want to say that.

Drive it Home. After the customers have discovered the relevance then you are able to really drive home your message. Your photos can inspire your customers to engage in your message or even take action.

Tip 4:  Using Marketing Automation Tools

Many business owners and marketers use marketing automation tools for lead generation and conversion needs. Dozens of tools currently exist to help businesses generate leads, nurture leads, close leads – and all sorts of marketing activities in between. The companies that use these tools report benefits such as increased leads and improved closing rates.

For the most part, using automation tools makes sense. These tools can make a business owner’s job easier and more efficient. For example, some businesses use them to tackle the less exciting parts of business, such as lead generation. As a result, the business’ owners and/or marketers have more time to engage in more hands-on lead generation and lead nurturing activities, as well as handle any issues which may arise among their existing clients. Owning a startup, you already know how important lead generation is to helping your company get off the ground.

A word of advice: if you choose to use marketing automation tools, make sure you aren’t relying solely on the tools to do all the work. Building relationships with potential and current clients still stands as one of the most important parts of marketing.

As you get your business off the ground and running, the four tips you’ve read over this and my previous article should help with that marketing foundation your company needs to take off.

Your business is your baby – you want to nurture it and grow it much like a gardener does with a rose bush. Of course, you’ll have to tweak things as you go or modify these tips to fit your need, but no matter what, your company needs to have a strong marketing foundation or it simply won’t take off.

What other tips would share from experience that would help strengthen a marketing foundation?