Why is Marketing Important for My Business?
At their core, most businesses seek the same things: build positive interactions and relationships with customers, consistently retain old customers and reach new ones, and increase revenue and make more money. Businesses take many different approaches to try to reach these goals. One of the most important aspects involved here is marketing! No matter your business model, industry, location, or goals, your marketing plays a very important role in your business’s growth and success.
Using Marketing to Build positive customer interactions
Customers choose products and services because of brands. If you brand is trustworthy, authentic, and one that customers believe in, customers will be much more likely to purchase from your business. Today, thanks to social media and other digital platforms, businesses like yours can build a brand and digital presence that is much more personal and authentic when communicating with customers.
Build More Individual Connections
One of the most valuable ways you can use social media is to build individual connections with individual people. When you post on social media, people will interact with your content. Be sure to interact back! Responding to comments and continuing conversations are great ways to build brand equity with customers and potential customers. People remember interactions where they feel important. When your brand singles out their comment and continues the conversation, you’re making them feel important.
Share More Real Content
Social media gives you a unique opportunity share more of the “real life” that happens in your business. Sharing content that helps you connect with people on more relatable levels can be a great way to build great customer interactions. People want to connect with people, and you can share content that makes people want to connect with your brand. One of the best things you can do to create real, connecting content is to film your day. Post “A day in the life” videos, post snippets of interactions in your business, share stories about your people. The more real and people-focused your content is, the more real connections you can build with customers.
Use Marketing to Reach New Customers
One of the best things successful marketing can do is get your brand in front of potential new customers. Increasing traffic to your website, social media platforms, and blog are great ways to get new people familiar with your brand. To achieve your desired increases in traffic, you can focus on two things. Identifying your target audience and utilizing digital ads to get more of your target audience to see your brand.
First, you need to figure out who your target audience is. Increasing traffic towards your brand is only helpful if those people are interested in what you’re offering. If lots of people visit your website, but nobody is converting or purchasing your products, then the additional traffic isn’t really benefitting you. You can perform simple marketing research using the analytics tools on social media and your website hosting platform to see which groups of people are visiting your site the most, submitting contact forms, and making the most purchases. Once you know your target audience, you can create ads that cater to those different groups of people using content that appeals to them.
Use Marketing to Retain Current Customers
You can also use simple marketing tactics to retain the customers that you already have. One of the most important metrics in any business is customer retention. Typically, it’s much cheaper and simpler for a business to retain an existing customer than it is to acquire a new one. Plus, if your customers are returning, there’s a good chance that your products and services are high quality and your brand already has some equity over your competition. Here’s how you can use marketing to retain your current customers.
Follow Up After Purchases
Like we’ve said, customers appreciate a personal touch from a brand. After someone makes a purchase, send them a thank you email or include a thank you card in their order when it’s shipped. The more personal and “real” you can make it, the better. If you’re including a card in their order, hand writing it is a great touch. If you’re using email, use their name to thank them personally.
Create Offers Only Available to Past Customers
A great way to retain customers is to create value exclusive to them. Offering discounts or special offers that are only available to past customers are great incentives to keep customers coming back time and time again. Remember, you don’t want to push customers away by being “salesy” or “pushy” for additional purchases, so planning when to create new offers is very important.