If you are ready and prepared with a good set of marketing tools and essentials, you will naturally succeed in attracting new clients and customers and bringing in and retaining new business. If you spend a little time in getting your marketing toolkit sorted and in place, you will find it all happens a lot more organically. Here are a few things that we think every business should have ready to hand.
Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash
A budget and a plan
Having a solid marketing plan written down will support you as you grow your business from strength to strength. It does not need to be pages and pages long, but it does need to be clear, concise and lay out what you intend to achieve, how you expect to do it and the date by which you want to meet particular goals. It is also essential that you share your plan and your vision with your team, if you have one, so that you are, quite literally, all working from the same page. You also need to make sure you have a realistic budget to work from. There is little point in writing down a list of pie in the sky ideas and dreams if your budget is small and inflexible. Remember, marketing is one of, if not the most, critical parts of your business, and the budget for it should reflect this.
Quality Marketing Materials
Business cards. Letterheads and sales letters. Brochures and leaflets. Websites and blogs. Uniforms. Office decor and stationery. Car decals. All of these need to be top quality and professional and convey the values and offerings of your business. – You could also consider the SMS marketing tool that’s proven for enterprises – we are all glued to our phones these days, so it is one way of reaching a broad audience fast! Branding should be consistent across them, and available all of the time – you never know when you are going to come across an excellent networking opportunity!
An elevator pitch
Throughout your business life, you will be asked time and time again ‘What do you do?’. Spending half an hour going into great lengths about your business is likely to bore the person who has asked. Instead, work on your elevator pitch. If you were stuck in an elevator with this person, for a minute or less, what would you tell them? Make it fun, make it memorable and make it interesting.
A good website
In our digital world, your website is probably the first thing people are going to look for, so it is critical that you give it the attention that it deserves. Use it as a tool to bring in new customers, but also to bring them back week after week, month after month, and remind them why they chose you in the first place to do business with. For many customers, it will be their first point of contact with you, so keep it sharp and respond to inquiries and technical issues as quickly as you can. Websites can be scary, particularly if you have no experience, but you will find that it will be one of the most essential tools for your business.