Marketing Your Small Business…

Let’s Chat About Marketing and More….

Hello there, welcome to all of my new comers and hello again to those who came by last week. I honestly received some good feedback from the last blog post about small business startups. If you read my last blog post, I told you I would be back with information on marketing, getting and maintaining clients and knowing the difference between motivation and discipline (this could really be another full blog).

So, you’ve thought about the business idea, you’ve even picked out exactly what type of business entity you would like, formulated your business plan or you may not have needed one. You have also opened your bank account because it is very crucial to your business especially for your tax purposes. Now you have your product and or service ready to go. What do you think is the next step? Yepppp, you’ve guessed right… finding clients, potential customers, because your vision was to profit and you can’t do that without those who are in need of your products and or service.

How do you go about marketing your business? Why you? Why should any client choose you when there are plethora of other business owners doing exactly what you do? What distinguishes you from the rest? Again, Why you? Now this is a question that would have been answered in your business plan, but for those who did not need a business plan for investors and or funding, let’s see how best we can answer this question. Remember I talked briefly about finding your niche in your business and build upon that. I stated that my niche is customer service. This is the platform I certainly want to build my business upon. I want people to feel good spending their money with Moore Bounce Events and Party Rentals. I want to leave a lasting impression on each of my clients long after I have completed their orders.

So let me take you through some simple yet effective marketing strategies I use. First off, I think I may have jumped the gun and not talk about websites. Every business must have a website. Most people are visual, in the service and or product industry they want to see your work and the service you provide, they want to see pictures to get an idea whether or not you are able to supply their need. A content management system (CMS) website is very important and a good choice because it allows you to upgrade as much as you want and also expand your site as you grow and allows you the ease of management. Websites do not have to be so expensive anymore. Find a trust worthy web builder or do it yourself if you feel comfortable with technology. You can build and manage your site using Wix (no content management) or a web provider like go daddy also offer site builders where you can build your own site and they do offer installation for CMS.

Also make sure you have a contact email and phone number and open accounts on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter etc. This will allow you to interact with people who are your potential clients. My favorite cost effective marketing platform is Facebook marketplace. I have spoken to so many potential clients who later became clients. Link all of your social media accounts to your website.  Make your business as transparent as possible because potential clients want to be sure you are legit. Are you still with me? Good. Let’s keep going…

Let’s put these marketing steps in order

– Get organized for Marketing: At this juncture, start putting your pitch together, know what you want to market and how you want to market it. Get your plan together. Your plan can always be tweaked as you go along, but it is important you have a blueprint to follow that will produce results. Results equals profit.

–Get a website: Having a website allows you to have an online presence strategy for effective marketing. A website also allows you to establish professional credibility. These are a few top notch web builders that I know and trust. Ironwebdesigns.com (Charles Merab), Myjaido.com (Kade Hill) and of course my very own hubby William Moore (moore2bounce@gmail.com)

–Leverage social media: Who’s not on social media these days? How many hours do we spend on social media being bombarded by the commercial world? Do not leave any opportunity on the table. Use every social media platform to your advantage. Make sure all of your social media platforms link back to your website because it actually helps with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) ranking.

–Set up and claim your business online: Once you start posting anything about your business online, different search engines will carry different information. You certainly want to control what type of information they are delivering to potential clients. Your Business reputation is on the line, therefore, you want to claim your business on each search engine and it is 100% free to do so. Do a check on each search engine and see what is being said about your business.

    -Use Google AdWords: Truth is Google AdWords works faster than SEO. Both Google AdWords and SEO are used to generate more traffic and leads to your website for potential sales. SEO ranking takes work. In order to rank higher on search engines it takes a lot of work. No wonder why SEO businesses charge so much because they are giving you top visibility on the web.  Your goal for SEO is to get to 100%, you’ll be surprise that your well put together website is only ranking at 15. To get your website seen and to increase traffic to your site for whatever business you do, you have to increase SEO ranking.

    -Create local awareness and establish a network: I wanted Moore Bounce Events and Party Rentals to be well known locally. One thing I did to establish network was to join the Chamber of Commerce in my area. This has offered credibility to my business and made it more desirable to potential clients. It has also opened the doors to marketing, networking, professional development and so much more.

    -Offer coupons or free products/services: Everyone likes free or a percentage off. You have to offer your potential client’s something to make them want to do business with you. Yes you want to profit, but most importantly you want to have repeat and recurring customers. I have come to find out that my clients love bundle deals, so I have put together a bundle deal that they enjoy.

    -Advertise: Last but certainly not least is advertising. Find a graphic designer who knows how to bring your vision to life. Study your target market and know how to reach them, know what peaks their interests. Use specific Ad words to capture their attention. Use all of your social media platforms to advertise. Also, how you treat your clients will determine how far your business will go by “word of mouth”.

***This is a pretty long blog post and I am going to end it here for now. We still have to get to “getting and maintaining clients” and knowing the difference between motivation and discipline. Remember to sign in and chime in. I truly want to hear from you. I sincerely hope this information helps as you are embarking on your business venture.

Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens [and influences] another [through discussion].” AMP