Having a product or service that people will fall in love with is an imperative part of the successful business puzzle. That said, all of your awesomeness is lost on prospective customers if they don’t even know you exist. Marketing can be an expensive endeavor but only if you let it. With a little innovation and some well-placed appearances where your audience is most likely to look, you can make prospects fall in love with you.
1. Have 5 Conversations a Day
It seems simple enough, right? If you have a brick-and-mortar business, you’re probably already having dozens of conversations every day, but each of those meetings is occurring with people who have already discovered how great you are. Talking to prospective customers is just as easy, but you have to go to their world instead of waiting for them to walk through your door.
So, how do you do this?
You might be surprised to find that there are tons of ways to engage in conversations in cyberspace without spending endless hours online. Each of the following tools offers you a way to socialize with ease. Whether you’re creating lists of folks so you can quickly navigate social media feeds, or you’re configuring all of your social media sites into a single place for easy access, you’ll find your goal of five daily conversations is completely attainable with a little assistance.
Use the power of Twitter Lists to organize your Twitter followers and engage with new ones. This will easily allow you to gain access to the people who will find your updates most valuable, and you’ll be able to chime in on some conversations with like-minded folks.
2. Embrace Reviews
We all love getting amazing reviews — they’re certainly good for the small business soul. If you get great reviews, be sure to acknowledge the fact that someone took time out of their busy schedules to spread the good word about you. Keep in mind that bad reviews can be just as helpful as good reviews when it comes to winning over your prospects, so you’ll want to pay attention to both sides of the coin. Future customers in today’s market spend a good deal of time researching companies they’re considering giving their hard-earned money to. If you have great reviews, that bodes well for your business (naturally), but if you have negative reviews that you take the time to acknowledge, you can win over a huge fan base of otherwise skeptical customers.
So, how do you do this?
Set aside an hour or two a week to peruse your reviews and comment on any new feedback. Be sure to check in with Yelp!, Facebook, Google+, and any other sites where you might have left your mark with customers. Take a moment to thank anyone who had something great to say, but try to avoid canned responses in favor of personalized messages that actually speak directly to the author. If you have negative reviews, don’t overlook them! Take a moment to assess the complaint, and address the reviewer by apologizing (in whatever manner seems appropriate), and leave your contact information so prospective customers can see that you care about making your consumers happy.
3. Show Off Your Awesomeness
You obviously have something great to bring to the public; otherwise, you wouldn’t have a business. It doesn’t matter if you offer a product or a service, you have vital insider information that can help your consumers. If you’re willing to share this stuff with the rest of the world, your marketing efforts can reap huge rewards. Find a way to show your stuff with live how-to guides that will give your users a firsthand look at the finished product. You may be a hair stylist, a lawn care provider, a clothing retailer, or any other business — the key is finding things that your audience will find important, then showing them how to use their resources to their fullest.
So how do you do this?
Embrace the world of YouTube. Create a channel for your company, and make periodic appearances with detailed how-tos that your consumers can use to better utilize your brand. You don’t need a ton of video equipment. In today’s world, you can simply use your smartphone to produce beautiful videos worthy of Google searches and Facebook shares.
Now it’s your time to shine! Have you been successful at making prospects fall in love with you by using simple DIY marketing initiatives? We’d love to hear how you wooed your audience in the section below!
