marketing tips for small businesses

Zero Cost Marketing Strategies All Businesses Should Adopt

As many businesses struggle to maintain productivity during these challenging economic times, marketing is often the first expense cut from a shrinking budget.  It’s odd because one could make the argument that there is perhaps no better time for razor sharp marketing than during a recession.  That said, there are several tactics all businesses can do to improve their marketing without breaking their bank. These free marketing tips just might help close some much-needed business.

 

Review and Update Your Website

One upside of being in a recession is that it facilitates housecleaning.  One of those housecleaning chores should be the company website.  Updating the copy on your website is something that all businesses can do for free.  This is a time to review all written copy – home page, about page, team bios, service and product pages.  There has never been a more important time for your website to delivery accurate and easy to understand information about your services, products and team.

Next you want to review your website for contactability. Make sure your phone numbers are accurate and people can click-to-call from their mobile phones.  Make sure your address can be clicked for directions.  You also want to test the contact forms on your website.  Make sure these forms don’t have unnecessary fields.  Collect only the information that is critical.  You want to make it super simple for people to complete your contact form and request a callback, demo or appointment.  Make sure these forms look and behave well on mobile devices as well.

Next you want to refresh and create new content.  Change old stale images that were probably added to your website years ago. Create some new pages that talk about new services or industry news. Create content that your customers are looking for.  This not only makes your site more appealing, but it also helps your SEO.  Google likes websites that provide high quality content. Make sure your keywords are inserted in the content.  If you sell homeowners insurance in Los Angeles, make sure you write about “homeowners insurance in Los Angeles”. You can’t expect to show up in search results for keywords that are nowhere to be found on your website.

 

Review Your Social Media Sites

The same review should be done for your social media channels, Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn.  Review the copy to make sure it accurately describes your services and products. All of these social media channels have most likely implemented new features since you last reviewed your profile pages.  Review the contact options for each channel, perhaps you would like to redirect messages to yourself instead of a team member. Review these settings.  Change out the header image on Facebook that’s probably been there for years.  Give these channels a makeover and start posting. None of this costs even one cent.

Review your Google My Business listing (GMB).  This is integral to your organic search.  Make sure your NAP data is accurate.  There may be new categories or services Google has added for your business.  Update your hours if they have changed and create a post so your listing has some new content.  You’re GMB listing is what is displayed on Google maps when people are searching for your services.  It’s critical that this listing is portraying accurate information.

 

Email Marketing

Now is a great time to supercharge your email marketing. It’s never been more important to communicate with your current customer base.  Let them know any changes in services, hours or product availability. Introduce specials that show you care how the recession is impacting their business and offer solutions to help them navigate these murky waters.  Email marketing is often overlooked as a customer lead generation tool. Email marketing has an engagement rate 10 times greater than social media.  Many businesses forget that their email blasts are very easy for recipients to forward to someone else, amplifying your reach.

Being a business owner during a recession is stressful.  It requires laser focus to navigate, but also customer retention and recruitment.  All of these free marketing tips should be done on a regular basis.  There is no better time to salute your current customer base and sharpen your brand message on social media and websites.  Make sure every method to contact your business is tested and monitored. Incoming leads need to be handled quickly and with precision.

If you would like to discuss your current marketing challenges and needs, kindly shoot us a note or give us a call at (310) 706-4051.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

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