Marketing your business during COVID-19 and beyond (Part 1/3)
Welcome to our 3 part marketing guide, supporting SMEs with their marketing activity during and beyond COVID-19.
In this article (part 1.) we’ll be looking at –
- Creating or updating your Marketing strategy and plan to ensure you are seeing a ROI
- Updating your website to stay current
- Listing your business on ‘Google My Business’ and ‘Google Maps’ to increase visibility in search engine results
The good news is that more people are spending time online than ever before, and there are plenty of simple ways to reach your customers digitally without breaking the bank.
Discover what you as a business owner can do right now to improve your Marketing efforts and make sure you are not missing out on opportunities and potential sales.
Marketing Strategy & Plan
For many small businesses it’s quite often difficult to put together a marketing strategy and plan. This may be due to lack of time or the skills needed to produce something that will be effective when marketing your business. Start by thinking about who your target audience are, which marketing channels they use and how they might want to receive information.
For example, if you’re selling computer games online, your target market is more likely to be a younger audience using Facebook, YouTube, Tik Tok and Instagram. They will engage with your post on a mobile phone rather than desktop. They will also much rather watch a video than read content.
You might want to explore tools and platforms that will help you to manage and deliver your marketing campaigns. For my target audience Canva and Unsplash are tools I use to source and create images and graphics. I also use Hootsuite to manage my social media activity. Do some research online or check out your competitors and identify which tools are the best for your business. For paid tools, many of them will offer a free trial.
Creating a Marketing plan is going to help you to focus and be more confident about the delivery of your campaigns. Use content calendars to schedule activity like social media posts and blogs.
Your strategy should should always be reviewed and refined where needed. Google Analytics (when connected to your website) provides key information to how your marketing is performing.
If you’re regularly posting on social media, each channel provides their own key insights to how your audience have engaged in your posts. Have your videos performed better than images? Are your audience more engaged in the evening? We’ll be covering more on this topic in our next article.
Website Refresh
Could your website content do with a refresh? Are their additional services/products you have been thinking about promoting but just haven’t had the time? Now is the time to review your service offering and start pulling together content and imagery to actively promote these to your target audience.
It might be that your business has been servicing customers face to face and now could be a good time to start an online store. There are many small businesses right now doing exactly that, so don’t get left behind. It’s also not as expensive as you might think and the rewards, pretty good!
How are you currently collecting customer and prospect data? Are there opportunities on your website to start collecting data from your website visitors? It might be a downloadable guide, a sign up to your newsletter button or running a competition. When collecting data it’s important you follow GDPR guidelines – make sure you have a privacy policy on your website and you have an ‘opt in’ tick box.
Google My Business
Increasing your visibility on Google as a local business has never been more important for sustained growth. If you’re a business serving local customers (or any business in fact) and you’re not listed on GMB do it right now. It is a platform that every local business owner should be aware of and using.
Your GMB listing appears in the top right-hand side of Google results which is a prominent listing. It’s a listing that most certainly stands out to users when displayed, and these are eye-catching listings you don’t want to be missing out on.
It’s also a quicker way for potential customers to find your location, information about your business, read your reviews, see your latest business updates and more importantly ‘get in touch’.
Without a GMB listing, you also won’t appear on Google Maps. Google Maps is intended to help those looking for directions as well as to discover businesses and locations.
Online reviews are one of the main methods of influence in 2020 so you should be taking advantage of these on Google. Once your account is set up, you can send your customers a link so they can leave you a review. Here’s a guide I have written on ‘How to leave Google reviews’. Five-star reviews stand out, so you may want to ensure you are sending this review link to the right people! Reviews are also a key ranking factor, so another reason why you can’t afford to dismiss this opportunity.
Due to special hours, physical closings, and limited travel, consumers are performing even more “near me” and “open now” searches on Google during COVID-19.
It’s important to make sure your Google My Business profile is up to date because when Google users search for your business, they will have the correct information. Have your business operating hours or service offering changed? Could you update your profile to include COVID-19 details about your business? If you look current, you’re more likely to convert prospects into customers.
Also, when writing your business description don’t forget to include important keywords that relate to your business.
You might also want to use this opportunity to post onto your Google My Business page. Unlike social media platforms where users are leisurely scrolling, consumers on Google are actively seeking. Google My Business posts help you to get your business updates and special offers in front of potential buyers who are ready to engage. There is a COVID-19 update here too which will help to push your profile in front of potential customers.
Google My Business Insights
On your GMB page you’ll be able to see important insights into –
- How many times your profile, photo and posts were viewed
- How people have searched to find your business
- The engagement levels your profile is generating
- Key audience data including age range, gender and country
- Metrics for how many website visits, phone calls and direction requests
Get the basics right and utilise as many of the features listed above as possible, and you will already be one step ahead of the competition and more importantly increasing your brand visibility and winning new business!
