The “why” behind the marketing for business growth is simple: you want to ensure more people are aware of and interested in your solutions. You want to engage your target audience. You want to expand your reach, strengthen revenue, and, of course, make those sales. 

The “how” is more challenging. Questions as to how to market a service or product, and how to market yourself as a brand, loom large as you navigate the growth stage of your company. 

What can you do – today or in the near future – to facilitate business growth? When it comes to marketing, there are several steps you can put into action:

  • Create High-Quality Original Content

Developing and sharing informative, educational, and relevant content is one of the most critical steps in marketing for business growth. Content marketing helps accomplish a number of goals, from raising awareness to driving conversions to increase profitability.

While the blogging craze of the early ’00s has simmered down, make no mistake: this is an invaluable brand tool. Consumers read three to five pieces of content before making a purchase decision, and they are savvier than ever. They are hungry for information. When you provide it, you position yourself as a trusted authority. You’re not making a sale: you’re educating. This is the difference great content makes.

At the same time, you also drive traffic to your website and begin to cultivate those all-important backlinks, which improve your search engine result visibility. If you’re wondering how to market a service or product, the best way to start is by giving your audience pertinent information.

  • Employ Search Engine Optimisation (‘SEO’) Best Practises

SEO is alive and kicking; arguably, it’s more important than ever as the search and competitive landscapes grow increasingly crowded. SEO is the science of improving the quantity and quality of traffic to a website via search engines. You are essentially shining a spotlight on your brand’s digital presence.

SEO is a multifaceted field, so it is critical that you focus on:

  • On-page elements that raise your status, including targeted keywords and keyword phrases, optimised titles, and metadata, optimised images, and captions, optimised URLs, etc.
  • Backlinks. These are sites that link back to yours, thus increasing your authority – and your ranking in the results pages.
  • Site performance. Think speed, load times, user-friendliness, security, etc.

 

  • Strategise Your Social Media Efforts 

Everyone loves a good cat video or funny meme. But social media for brands is more than popping up a catchy post (though that’s good too!). It’s all about strategy. 

Use these platforms to expand your reach, promote new products/services, engage your community, and, crucially, share information that is useful to your audience. Social media is geared towards interactions; you’re not a talking head, but rather a voice leading a conversation in your space. As with content, prioritise quality, originality, and authenticity. 

Be sure to create a content calendar, posting with regularity and linking back to your website. Always respond to comments and inquiries – and remember, this is a perfect forum for asking questions and generating useful feedback that you can use to fuel business growth.

  • Don’t Neglect Email Marketing

Email marketing has the single best ROI of any other marketing technique, which may come as a surprise to many. But think about it: how often do you check your email? Do you rely on it to convey critical messages? To do business? You, and billions of other people. This makes it a prime place to concentrate your marketing efforts.

At the same time, our inboxes are all cluttered, and we have developed exceptional filtering skills. To stand out, your email communications need to be relevant and targeted. They need to compel people to take action. Personalisation is essential, as are triggered or drip campaigns. These send the right email to the right person at the right time – and lead to completed calls to action and conversions.

  • Go Multimedia

Great content doesn’t exist solely in the form of blogs, articles, whitepapers, and ebooks. In fact, other mediums deliver exceptional results. Create:

  • Videos. Everything from tutorials to day-in-the-life videos captures your audience’s attention and compels them to take the next steps with your brand.
  • Podcasts. These are on fire; everyone loves a good podcast. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to disseminate relevant information and engage the people who will help grow your business. 
  • Webinars. This is your chance to solidify your position as an authority in your field while educating people on your offerings. Brainstorm catchy topics, and leverage them into conversion opportunities. 
  • Gated content. Reserve some of your best thought leadership for gated content. You don’t necessarily need to have people pay for this content (but you can); instead, you can offer it in return for contact information or another completed Call to Action.

Let’s find out how effective your marketing is by taking our business marketing test. https://hastings.actioncoach.co.uk/business-tools/business-marketing-test/