As entrepreneurs, it’s important to understand the power of sales and marketing to propel your business, raise your visibility, and drive growth.
How do you master sales and marketing if selling yourself feels uncomfortable, you don’t have a big marketing budget, or you feel overwhelmed by all the tasks involved in business promotion?
Let’s look at five actionable steps you can implement in your business today.
What makes your business unique?
Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is what sets you apart from your competition. It’s the reason your customers and clients choose you over everyone else. Spend some time working out what your UVP is.
- What makes your product or service different?
- Why are you the person your target audience should work with?
- What promise can you make to your clients?
Define your UVP and ensure it resonates with your ideal clients. It can be helpful to write this out as a short statement explaining why your audience should choose your business. Remember, it’s not about describing your products or services but more about the solution you provide that will transform the lives of your audience.
“Cultivating your value proposition in life is the way to move forward. You are the raw material of your own destiny.”Bryant H. McGill
Leverage social media marketing
Love it or hate it, social media is a powerful tool for reaching and engaging with your target audience. Each platform provides an opportunity to share your brand personality and valuable content that resonates with your audience while speaking directly to your ideal clients.
Entrepreneurs often overwhelm themselves by trying to be everywhere. Stop! Choose two or three social media platforms where your target audience is most active. If you have a great visibility strategy in place, you can appear to be everywhere, even when you’re not.
If you are a photographer, you may find your audience spends more time on Instagram. A business coach would benefit from having a presence on LinkedIn. Nutrition experts delivering services for menopausal women may find Facebook a better option.
Don’t guess which platform to use. Speak to your audience, do a thorough ideal client review, find out where they hang out online, and show up there. Use a platform you are comfortable and confident on. Spending hours creating TikTok videos is pointless if you don’t enjoy that platform or your target audience is elsewhere.
Consistently post relevant and engaging content and participate in conversations online to build a community around your business brand. Remember, consistency doesn’t need to mean daily. It can be a weekly Monday Motivation post or a Friday recap. Don’t forget to engage… if you don’t feel like posting content, simply comment on content you find engaging and relevant to your target audience.
Always be mindful that your social media marketing has nothing to do with you and everything to do with your target audience. It’s all about customer growth.
“Content marketing is like a first date. If you only talk about yourself, there won’t be a second one.” David Beebe
Email marketing campaigns
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to nurture leads and convert them into customers. You can deliver personal messages directly to your audience’s inbox. Remember, your list is the only thing you own. If your social media platforms went down overnight, you still have access to your audience via your email marketing.
Building your email subscriber list is an ongoing process. It takes time, but it’s worth the patience. To build a successful list, you start by offering value, usually via a lead magnet, such as a download, free eBook, or mini course.
Within your customer relationship management (CRM) platform, where you send emails, you can segment your list based on your audience’s buying behaviours. Tags allow you to send targeted emails tailored to specific needs, interests, and offers.
Spend some time thinking about a lead magnet you can create to attract your ideal client to your email list. What solutions do you offer? Can you turn your FAQs into a free download?
Data-driven insights
Analytic tools like Google Analytics or social media insights can provide a valuable glimpse into your target audience’s behaviour, preferences, and buying patterns.
When you gather this information, you can begin to tailor your marketing strategies to meet the needs of your audience. It will help you improve your customer service and also provide support where it’s needed.
What information should you be looking for? Here are two areas you can start with:
- Engagement data – refers to the likes, comments, shares, and reactions to your social media content so you can track the success of your posts.
- Demographic data – refers to the age, gender, and location of your followers. This information helps you confirm that you are reaching your target audience.
By analysing your data, it can help you understand what type of content resonates with your target audience. From this, you can create more relevant and engaging content to boost your visibility and build lasting and loyal relationships.
Content marketing
Content marketing is about creating and distributing valuable, relevant content to attract and engage your target audience. It helps establish your authority in your industry and builds trust with your audience.
Here are some of the different types of content marketing you can use:
- Blogs
- Emails
- Social Media
- Paid Ads
- Podcasts
- Videos
- eBooks
- Case Studies
- Website Copy
Start a blog, create informative videos, or launch a podcast that addresses your target audience’s pain points and interests. Consistently produce high-quality content that provides real value.
Start by doing some keyword research (what language/words/phrases is your target audience using to search online?), then decide on your content format (eBook/podcast/etc). Once you know what you want to produce, write and design your content, and then share it across your platforms.
“The most successful marketers are those who find a balance between creating enough content and keeping quality high.”Shaema Shazleen Katib
The benefits of having a marketing strategy
A well-crafted marketing strategy is essential for your business success. It provides a roadmap for achieving your goals and ensures visibility and consistent brand messaging. But why is building a marketing strategy so important?
- It increases your brand awareness, helps you reach a wider audience, and creates a strong brand presence.
- It enhances your customer engagement, especially when using targeted marketing efforts to build connections with your audience.
- It boosts sales, helps you create more effective sales tactics, and drives higher revenue.
- With a strategy in place, you can track performance and make adjustments.
Mastering sales and marketing is essential for your business’s growth and success. By implementing the actionable steps shared in this post, you can help your business to thrive. Every step you take in improving your sales and marketing efforts brings you closer to your target audience, greater visibility, and a successful business.
Woman Who Inspires Network
Each month, Woman Who hosts the Woman Who Inspires Online Network, and tickets to our July event are now live.
Monday 1st July 2024, 9.30am – 10.30am (BST)
Book your ticket HERE
With Woman Who events, networking, inspirational speakers, and learning will be included with this month’s theme, Sales and Marketing.
In business, we need to network to increase our contacts and our pipeline of work for the future. Whether you network online or in person, you can share your networking tips and learn new ones.
“I’m delighted to see the return of the Woman Who Inspires Network. Yes, it’s great to host face-to-face events but I believe strongly in considering sustainability and the environment. It is possible to host successful networking events online whilst considering the environment, efficiency of time, and inclusivity. Hosting this network online allows me and those attending to make new connections, form collaborations, and build relationships nationally, and beyond. I hope to see you at an event soon.” Sandra Garlick MBE, Founder of Woman Who