As the old saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. If you want your business to succeed, you have to invest time, energy, and resources into promoting it. But if you don’t know where to start or how to do it right, that investment can quickly turn into a wasted effort that has little payoff. Whether you’re looking to promote an existing business or are planning on starting one, take note of these essential dos and don’ts of successful marketing so you can give your company the boost it needs.
Do understand your market
Do understand the market. It is the most important thing to know about your business. The more you know about who your potential customer is, the better you can tailor your marketing efforts to suit their needs.
Do conduct market research. This means looking at both quantitative data (such as demographics) and qualitative data (such as opinions). There are many tools available online to help you with this step, such as Google Consumer Surveys or SurveyMonkey Audience.
Don’t overlook traditional marketing techniques like word-of-mouth marketing, print advertising, or public relations campaigns. These techniques have been around for a long time for a reason – they work!
Don’t expect overnight success
I know what you’re thinking. I have a great product that people will go crazy for, I just need to get the word out. This is the time when I have to break it to you – success doesn’t happen overnight. The truth is you’ll need to put some serious time and effort into marketing your product before your efforts will pay off. Making a plan for a marketing strategy is crucial because it helps you focus your energy on what needs to be done, instead of wandering around aimlessly or getting stuck in one particular task.
Don’t give up when things don’t seem to work right away. You might not see an immediate response from your customers, but if you keep at it long enough, they’ll notice eventually!
Do use great photos
It’s important to remember that waiting too long before you start marketing your company will only cause you to lose potential business. It might be tempting to wait until you have a large customer base before investing in advertising, but this is a bad strategy. The truth is, the sooner people know about your brand, the more likely they are to spread the word.
Don’t wait too long to start promoting your brand
Don’t wait too long to start marketing your brand! Marketing starts the minute you decide to start your business, so don’t put it off until later. If you wait, you may find yourself trying to catch up on all that missed time when it is much more difficult to promote than when you started.
Do constantly update your content
One of the most effective ways to generate more sales is by consistently updating your content. This means that you should have a marketing plan, be mindful about what you post, keep it relevant to your target audience, and promote your posts on social media. Remember that content isn’t just written; it includes videos, photos, infographics, etc. You can also include links in your posts so that people who find value in what you’re posting will want to click through to other pages on your website or blog.
Don’t spam people with ads
While it may be tempting to add your logo to everything you do, don’t spam people with ads. When you post a photo on Instagram with your product in the background, for example, keep your company name out of the caption. If you want to include a call-to-action for another social media profile, direct people there instead of tagging them in it. This will help you avoid flooding their feeds with too much information and make sure they are only getting things from you that they’re interested in.
Do keep track of where your traffic is coming from
When it comes to successful marketing, you want to make sure that you are doing everything in your power to make sure that people can find your blog post. This starts with optimizing your post for search engines. One of the best ways to optimize a blog post is by making sure that it has a clear title and attention-grabbing introduction. You should also include keywords throughout the body of the blog post.
Do optimize your blog posts for SEO
To optimize your blog posts for SEO, you will want to make sure that you are using keywords in the title, body, and tags on your posts. It is also a good idea to include links to other articles or blog posts related to your post topic so that people can find more information about the topic they are interested in. You should also link out to other websites in your posts where appropriate. Remember not to overuse keywords or use them inappropriately- if they detract from readability, then they’re doing more harm than good!
Do use social media platforms properly (i.e. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.)
To use social media properly, you need to know your audience. If you’re targeting a younger demographic, then Facebook or Instagram are better options than LinkedIn or Twitter. It’s also important not to post too often. You want your followers to look forward to what you have for them next, but not feel overwhelmed by the barrage of posts in their feed. It’s also important that your marketing efforts on social media are fresh- it’s never a good idea to just post links to other sites all day long with no original content of your own. Posting unique content will increase the likelihood that people will engage with you on social media as well as increase the likelihood that they’ll share your posts with their friends and followers.
