I always tell my clients that marketing is a very methodical process. You can’t wake up one day and immediately see unbelievable results.
But you can take daily steps towards refining your message, getting your offers in front of more people, and growing revenue. And that’s exactly what I teach in my Business Booster Workshop.
But today, I thought I’d share some of the fundamentals with you. I’ve seen these principles work over and over again with businesses in several industries from coaching to SaaS. They can help you establish a business and offering that talks to the right market and sets you apart from your competitors.
Are you ready to boost your business? Great. Here’s how.
1. Increase your awareness through learning
It is so important to know your stuff. You want to be in the know about everything that goes on in your industry. Is there a new, faster way of doing things? Learn it because your potential customers will ask.
The more you know about the products and services you offer, the more confidence you’ll inspire in your customers. Even if you’re not directly affiliated with the new developments, that knowledge will still serve you in the future.
2. Know your customer and your competition
Next, I believe it’s critical to read up on your customers and competitors because it has tremendous benefits. How?
Well for starters, understanding customer behaviour can shape everything from the layout of your website to the specific words you use in your copy. For example, businesses in the health niche use words that are very different from those in communications. Using these words in your copy immediately makes you appear as an expert.
Resources like social media, surveys, and questionnaires, and even recent studies are invaluable for learning about your customers.
Gaining awareness about your competitors is also an asset. Knowing what they are doing, and more importantly, what they avoid doing, can show you opportunities that you didn’t know existed.
3. Don’t be scared to ask for feedback
This feeds directly into what I was saying about understanding your customers. Here, you’re trying to get an overview of how your customers see your business. Remember that landing page you spent a ton of time and resources on? You’ll never know if customers like it without feedback.
And I say, ‘Don’t be scared’ because asking for feedback can be scary indeed. You may just find out that most of the marketing you’re proud of isn’t appealing to everyone else. In situations like these, it’s helpful to think of feedback as a blueprint for even better endeavours.
It helps you know what people want and makes it easier to give it to them.
4. Find the gaps and fill them in
There are many ways to find gaps in your market and most of them have to do with research, much like what you did while creating your business plan.
That may include getting even more feedback from customers on what they wish you were doing, watching what competitors are not doing, or if you have the budget, hiring outside resources to do the digging for you.
Sometimes finding the gaps is the easy part. Plugging them may require you to make uncomfortable changes in your business, including creating a new product or adapting existing ones. But when you take advantage of those gaps, the rewards can be phenomenal.
5. Create messaging that tells a story
Using your brand to tell a story can make you more relatable while also painting a clear picture of who you are and what you do. The more compelling your story, the more people resonate with and buy from you.
One of the best free tools I’ve come across for telling stories is the Mystorybrand. It helps you develop a compelling story by filling out a few simple categories. It helps you describe your target audience as being the hero of their story, and you’ll see how your unique offers fit into their journey.
One other thing to keep in mind when telling your brand story is simplicity. The best stories are simple enough for most people to understand. That’s why they tug at our heartstrings.
6. Capture leads and nurture them
Many business owners get excited here because the results are easy to measure in quantifiable numbers.
You probably have several lead generation tools already, from bonus pdfs to questionnaires and free webinars. But if you don’t nurture them, they won’t buy from you.
A simple and effective way to nurture your leads is to send them more valuable information about their interests. Did they fill a questionnaire? Share possible next steps. Did they download a bonus PDF? Offer them similar resources.
As you nurture, you can clearly see who responds and who doesn’t, deduce why you’re losing them, and make adjustments.
7. Remain top of mind
Staying top of mind makes you the first business that comes to mind when your audience thinks about your service area. Good thing is, social media makes it incredibly easy to remain top-of-mind. The key is to NOT drone on about how great your service is. You know you hate when other businesses do the same.
Instead, remain in your audience’s mind by sharing everything from helpful tips to some personal details. Did you have a long day and lose control of your to-do list? Share it because who doesn’t? If you found a helpful solution to the problem, share that too!
They’ll still know who you are and what you do. But now, you’re humanized and relatable.
8. Learn to close a deal
You can’t nurture a lead forever. At some point, you’ll have given them enough information to make an informed decision, and hopefully, you’ve shown them how your offer is the best solution for their problem.
The natural next step is to make the proposition and ask them to buy because the longer you wait, the higher the chances that leads will lose interest or buy from your competitors.
If you make the offer and they don’t buy, you can continue nurturing and try again after a while.
9. Manage the customer experience
Your customer experience extends through every area where people contact your brand These are called touchpoints and they include posts on your blog and social media, your website layout, checkout page, and more.
Your first step will be to analyze your business and find these touchpoints. Next, ensure that you project a consistent message across each of them.
Also, ensure that your brand promise shines through. If you’re trying to show clients a simple way to accomplish a task, make sure your website isn’t difficult to navigate.
10. Build loyal relationships
A lot of the things we’ve talked about include building relationships with your customers. Doing so keeps you top-of-mind and makes you their go-to person for the product or service you provide.
One critical way to gain loyalty is consistency. Be consistent with all your client-facing communications to establish trust and portray your reliability.
Another effective strategy is to underpromise and overdeliver. This way, you’ll always go over and above, improving your credibility and basically making you a rockstar in the eyes.
It’s a lot, I know
I know these ten tips are a lot. That’s why I’m dedicating an entire Bootcamp to helping you understand and apply them in your business for remarkable results. Click the button below to reserve your seat and let’s boost your business together.