Even though it’s the holiday season right now, and you might be really busy finishing up the projects you need to complete before the year is over, it’s vital for you to set aside some time to plan your marketing strategy for 2014.
How will you keep your business on track? How will you surpass the competition in the coming year? Fortunately, you found this post. We’re here to offer you three small business marketing tips to help you get a jump on some of the necessary marketing activities you’ll want to do to make sure 2014 is even better for your business.
Tip #1: Take a good look at where your marketing dollars have gone
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This is probably the most important thing you can do. What marketing activities have you done this past year? Which ones gave you the best outcome, and which ones could have done without? If you haven’t had much of an Internet presence this past year, it’s a great time to get started on an optimized website that will take the place of that pricey Yellow Pages ad you spent so much money on last year. No one looks at the Yellow Pages anymore, anyway. Make sure you understand your budget, and be open to reallocating some funds to give yourself some room to market more in the areas that worked the best.
Tip #2: Check your online listings
The fact is, people will look to the Internet to find the products and the services they want. That means they won’t find you if you’re not there, and they really won’t find you if you have an incorrect listing. Did your business move in the last year? When you signed up for Yelp, did you check the listing to be sure all of the information is correct? It’s important for you to check these things out on a yearly basis, just to be sure all the information you want to be there is there.
Tip #3: Make sure you deal with negative reviews
Any business owner will tell you that the best way to avoid a negative review is to nip it in the bud before the customer even thinks to write one. Great customer service is the key to getting awesome online reviews. Of course, we all know a customer (or ten) who aren’t satisfied, no matter what you do for them. It’s impossible to avoid all negative reviews, so you’ll need a system in place to locate them and deal with them appropriately. Even though this takes a lot of time, you’ll find that when you’re able to make the customer happy, and prove that you are, other customers will think more favorably about your business.
If you’re looking for some help with your marketing in the coming year, we’d love to help you. You’ll be amazed at the tricks we have up our sleeves. For more information, contact us today.
