There are some marketing tips which will help you grow your business…and then there are some absolute marketing essentials which you cannot afford to do without:
1) Get a website
Your website is the base around which all of your marketing efforts should revolve. Most of your online marketing will probably point consumers in that direction. Quite a lot of your offline marketing might too. Today, many customers simply will not trust a business that doesn’t have some sort of website. Price wise, you can build a website relatively cheaply. There is a huge range of easy-to-use website tools and creation services available and almost every franchise opportunities will come with a website. These days, many of these services do the job for you or make it so easy that you need almost no technical skill to create your own website. Remember, there are some things you simply cannot skip when it comes to website design:
- SEO
- Branding
- Customer-centric design
- Clear presentation
- Functionality
2) Grow your email marketing list
Email marketing is easy enough to write off as spam if done incorrectly. However, done right, it’s one of the most effective and cost efficient marketing channels for growing your business. The challenge is in building and growing your email marketing list. Use other marketing channels, social media and offline events being popular methods, to offer people incentives for signing up to your mailing list. A little incentive – such as small free e-book you’ve created for the job – can go a long way. Of course, it’s also important that you have high-quality content to offer them as well as sales emails.
3) Build your network
A network of relationships and partnerships is invaluable in business. It’s also the reason why many people consider buying a franchise over a standalone business. After all, a franchise comes with its own ready to use network! When building your businesses network, plan to do it early. Try to give as much as you take. If you can offer free services or products in exchange for mentoring or insight – or vice versa – you’ll be off to a good start forming long-term relationships of good faith. There are also huge opportunities for most businesses when it comes to joint promotion with other companies in their local area. If you’re starting from scratch interacting with a potential partner, begin slowly – perhaps with some online interaction – and then meet in person to become more familiar if the other party seems willing.
4) Join social media
Love it or loathe it, social media is one of the best marketing channels to help grow your business. Some businesses owe their entire success to social media! As a franchisee, you may find your franchise owner tightly controls your social media reins. Often for good reason as the potential for disaster (through the viral spread of poor customer relations events) if social media accounts are mismanaged is significant. Starting to manage your own social media from scratch can be a challenge. But as long as you try to give your audience value – posting content which isn’t just for sales – and interact with them honestly and authentically, you’ll be off to a good start. The direct message opportunities which most social media platforms offer are excellent, but be very wary of mismanaging them.
5) Start a blog
One of the best ways to generate the high-quality content you need for your email marketing and social media platforms is through your blog. If you’re not writing a professional blog, it’s time to get started. There are huge SEO benefits even before you start using the free authority blogging sites – like Medium or LinkedIn – which will give you an instant reach. Be sure that the content you create gives your audience value. Don’t be shy. Show off why you’re the best at what you do and the quality people can expect when they start to use you.