Guest Blog by Karen Wessels, co-founder of VA Connect & co-founder of SnappSales
We can all acknowledge that 2016 has been a phenomenal year, a year graced with fundamental business lessons, sprouting with opportunities and great networking sessions. So what does 2017 have in store for us? Do you have a marketing strategy in place for the New Year?
Marketing is crucial to the core of the success of your business. You may have a great product, offer an exceptional service, and have the best team, however, if no one knows about you how can they possibly buy from you? As a small business owner you more than likely have a small budget with limited time to get things done. It is therefore imperative to start planning now already for next year so that you can capitalize on time over this festive season.
Let’s take you through a few vital steps that will help you put together a winning marketing strategy.
Focus your energy on new business
There is a question in entrepreneurial circles that is heard over and over again. “Where should I focus my attention?” The answer, quite simply, is on getting new business. Every client you bring through the door adds to more positive cash flow, better testimonials, and a reason to remain in business. Use brand awareness and client engagement as part of your marketing goals. These are great ways to get new clients on board.
Adding value with goal setting
The first part in your marketing goal setting is to have a clear plan, a great understanding of what you would like to achieve with your marketing strategy. The next step is to set goals (milestones) on how you’re going to achieve each part of this new strategy. And naturally the kind of budget you’ll be throwing behind it. What is the lifetime value of every client you sign up? Let’s say your client on average spends R10 000.00 per year with you and they typically stay 3 years with you, then their lifetime value is R30 000.00. Make sense? Ask yourself the following question: How many new clients would I like to gain per month during my 2017 marketing campaign? When you understand that figure it will be easier for you to start building your marketing budget.
How to plan your marketing campaign
In order to plan for a great 2017, we need to take a look at the past year, see what worked and what didn’t work.
Once you’ve established the groundwork, ask yourself the following questions:
- We are posting regularly on social media yet we’re not converting visitors into new business. Can we do social media in a different way, or better or should we cut social media for the time being? Is our content converting enough or should we re-strategize with our content creator?
- We have a SEO Campaign in place and we’re driving traffic, but we get very few sales leads from our website. Is it time to redesign our website? Should the website content be rewritten? Are we using the right keywords in our industry for online search purposes?
- We have a great email marketing tool in place where we share informative tips with prospective clients and our existing base. Can we take our email marketing campaign up a notch? What deals can we offer subscribers to stick around for longer?
The idea behind these questions is to help you develop a more focused marketing campaign specifically for your target market. Start seeing your business and service offerings from a different perspective. It will yield great results being able to see your business from a prospective client’s perspective.
Remember to track all your data, number of visitors to your website for instance, percentage that converted to sales leads and the length of time it took. This data will help you refine and define your marketing campaign to help you get the calibre of clients you have always dreamed of.
Turn 2017 into your year!
Karen Wessels is the co-founder and COO of VA Connect, a South African virtual assistant platform that provides outsourced administrative support; and is also the co-founder of SnappSales, a company that generates quality sales leads for its clients. Prior to establishing both her companies, Karen spent over 10 years in different sales, marketing & admin support roles. This experience has equipped her with the invaluable skills required to run her two successful business ventures. Follow Karen on her Personal Website | Twitter | Facebook | Google+
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