Establish concrete, measurable goals. Do you want to see traffic to your website increase by 10% this year? Do you want to get 10% more referrals? Do you want to establish an effective social media presence? Do you want to build a book of business with landscapers? Be specific and try to establish milestones that you can track throughout the year to determine if your efforts are working.
Clearly define your audience. If you want to reach landscapers, don’t email all your commercial lines customers. Don’t put an ad in the local paper. These tactics are way too broad and won’t yield the responses you’re looking for. If you think your audience is “everybody in my community” try to narrow that down to describe a perfect client – maybe it’s “homeowners with cars, married and employed and their homes are worth more than $250,000.” This will help you craft a message that will speak to that audience and will be more effective than a general message to a general audience. Find out where they are communicating – are they on Facebook? Do they communicate through groups on Linked In? Do they have monthly meetings in town? When you know where and how they’re communicating, you can join in the conversation.
Honestly assess your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Are your CSRs great but your receptionist a little snippy to clients? Do you excel in servicing fire departments but don’t really know the healthcare industry? Once you know what you’re good and not-so-good at, you can promote the strengths and work on improving the weaknesses.
Establish a budget. Typically 2-3% of gross revenues should be allocated to marketing. If you can’t budget this amount of money to your marketing, establish a budget that stretches you, but doesn’t break the bank. Then, be deliberate about how you’ll spend that money. Don’t just decide to run a radio ad because your cousin’s friend works there and they are offering 30% off. Remember that many online communication options such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are free to use and can be very effective.
Choose marketing tactics that fit with your goals. If your goal is to increase name recognition, think about community event sponsorship, public speaking opportunities, and building a social media presence. If your goal is to sell more policies to landscapers,
investigate landscaping associations, online forums, direct mail and email lists and landscaping referrals.
Be consistent. Marketing is a long-term investment and it may take awhile for you to see results. The key is consistently reinforcing your messaging to the right audiences.
Measure results. This will help you determine what marketing vehicles are working for you and which ones you need to reassess. It will help you put your marketing dollars where you can expect results.
Clearly define your audience. If you want to reach landscapers, don’t email all your commercial lines customers. Don’t put an ad in the local paper. These tactics are way too broad and won’t yield the responses you’re looking for. If you think your audience is “everybody in my community” try to narrow that down to describe a perfect client – maybe it’s “homeowners with cars, married and employed and their homes are worth more than $250,000.” This will help you craft a message that will speak to that audience and will be more effective than a general message to a general audience. Find out where they are communicating – are they on Facebook? Do they communicate through groups on Linked In? Do they have monthly meetings in town? When you know where and how they’re communicating, you can join in the conversation.
Honestly assess your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Are your CSRs great but your receptionist a little snippy to clients? Do you excel in servicing fire departments but don’t really know the healthcare industry? Once you know what you’re good and not-so-good at, you can promote the strengths and work on improving the weaknesses.
Establish a budget. Typically 2-3% of gross revenues should be allocated to marketing. If you can’t budget this amount of money to your marketing, establish a budget that stretches you, but doesn’t break the bank. Then, be deliberate about how you’ll spend that money. Don’t just decide to run a radio ad because your cousin’s friend works there and they are offering 30% off. Remember that many online communication options such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are free to use and can be very effective.
Choose marketing tactics that fit with your goals. If your goal is to increase name recognition, think about community event sponsorship, public speaking opportunities, and building a social media presence. If your goal is to sell more policies to landscapers,
investigate landscaping associations, online forums, direct mail and email lists and landscaping referrals.
Be consistent. Marketing is a long-term investment and it may take awhile for you to see results. The key is consistently reinforcing your messaging to the right audiences.
Measure results. This will help you determine what marketing vehicles are working for you and which ones you need to reassess. It will help you put your marketing dollars where you can expect results.