Sarah Groves, above, co-owner and director of Catalyst
In a dire economic climate that looks set to worsen next year, the priority is to cut costs and ensure that every pound of investment pays off. That's why it's never been more important for SMEs to go beyond vanity measures and make sure their marketing is right.
With a recession on the horizon, rising interest rates and a sharp decline in consumer confidence seemingly inevitable, it's clear why cutting costs and increasing efficiency will be top priorities for SMEs.
Instinctively, some may respond by cutting their marketing budget, seeing it as an ideal but trivial expense. However, this can often be a serious mistake. After all, in our ever-evolving online world, a solid digital marketing strategy is essential to generating leads, conversions and sales. Done right, it can make a huge difference in communicating certain products or services to your target audience and helping small businesses compete with big brands. With this in mind, reducing your marketing spend will often result in lower exposure and results, decreasing your traffic in the process.
Instead, it doubles down on showing how every small marketing investment pays off, while using that insight and insight to inform and improve future marketing efforts to drive continued growth.
The good news about this is that in today's data-rich world, there are more evidence-based approaches to lead generation and measurable business growth. The bad news, however, is that with so many different online business metrics out there, it can be difficult to know where to start.
When it comes to doing it right, it's the metrics that really impact your profits and growth. To do this, you need to find the real source of your potential customers. While search engines may be the first thing that comes to mind, the truth is that there are many options, including PPC, SEO, direct to website, email marketing, social media, events, referrals, advertising and PR.
More than just looking at the numbers, evaluate which sources are providing quick returns and which are providing slow returns to your business. Your CRM software should be able to help with this. For example, HubSpot has dashboards and reports that make this process easy. It's important to combine the two, because one without the other will lead to peaks and troughs in the sales cycle, and both are equally valid.
The next step is to determine if your business is taking advantage of the opportunity. For example, does your website provide an engaging, engaging, easy and intuitive digital experience? The reality is that the internet doesn't offer second chances, so it's important that your website is designed to attract, excite and convert. Additional considerations include content. is it good Does your content have useful content like blogs and guides? Is there evidence like a case study? Finally, it's about lead generation, from calls to action, including data collection options and contact forms.
Therefore, it can sometimes be overwhelming to find out that your business is not what you thought it would be. But it is important not to rush. Use a scientific approach. Change one element at a time and measure the results. This will help you better understand what works and what doesn't, expand the conversation and support the data. For example, if a particular ad isn't performing well, you can stop it or try a new creative. Also, if some keywords don't work, further research and analysis can suggest better substitutes to adapt to changing customer behavior and trends.
Finally, don't forget to take your customers on a journey. Having an open and honest conversation with your customers and taking the time to learn exactly what they think and want from your brand can pay off in the long run. Consider the feedback, see how you can implement it, adjust it and measure the impact. This process must be ongoing to ensure that your brand and marketing results are maintained.
Every small and medium-sized business wants to know if their latest marketing campaign is making an impact. While vanity measures may look great and impressive on paper, the danger is that they can be misleading and lead to bad decisions that can cost you. Instead, SMBs should take the time to regularly review and even question their marketing metrics, adjust their digital marketing strategy accordingly and keep the customer at the center. This way they can make sure that when the commercial impact is significant - the numbers really add up.
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