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How to create a marketing plan for your small business - build a brand, target customers and set prices that will maximise sales.

The internet has transformed business marketing. No matter what you do, the internet is likely to be at the heart of your marketing strategy.

Social media is firmly established as a marketing tool. Having a presence opens up new lines of communication with existing and potential customers.

Good advertising puts the right marketing message in front of the right people at the right time, raising awareness of your business.

Customer care is at the heart of all successful companies. It can help you develop customer loyalty and improve relationships with your customers.

Sales bring in the money that enables your business to survive and grow. Your sales strategy will be driven by your sales objectives.

Market research exists to guide your business decisions by giving you insight into your market, competitors, products, marketing and your customers.

Exhibitions and events are valuable for businesses because they allow face-to-face communication and offer opportunities for networking.

Why email marketing is more important now than ever

You’ve probably heard it said a thousand times that the money is in the email list. Some of you may be on the fence about email marketing. Others may be searching for email list building ideas because you understand that the way of reaching people is shifting. You can no longer rely on search engines to bring you traffic, and social media algorithms seem to change with the wind.

Email marketing provides a direct line to potential customers

If you post something on social media, everyone can read it, not just those who are interested in your business. Many people search the web for things without any intention of buying them, and depending on your niche, those visitors can be of very low quality.

The people on your email list are much more likely to buy because they’ve already shown interest in your business. And, if they’re happy to give you their email address, they are saying they’re happy to receive your emails too. Imagine you’re in the pet care sector, and your email is all about pet care, everyone who subscribes will be more interested in your pet care products and services than the average person.

It’s that direct line that makes sales possible. You warm up the person by providing them with regular, useful information and updates, building trust all the time. The subscriber begins to trust you because they see you as an authority in your field. And that’s when the real magic begins. If people trust you and value your opinion, they’re far more likely to buy whatever you’re trying to sell them.

You aren’t beholden to the algorithms

An entire book could be written about social media and search engine algorithms. It’s clear that even the supposed social media experts don’t fully understand these algorithms. We are all at the mercy of the havoc caused each time there’s an update. If you’ve been making money online for any length of time, you will have heard someone whining about a social media or search engine update that has adversely impacted their website or social media account, and now they’re screwed.

You own your email list. It doesn’t matter if Pinterest shuts down your account tomorrow; you can still send email messages to your subscribers. Your earning potential isn’t held hostage by another company. You are the master of your own success. And, if something isn’t quite working, you can amend your messaging or tactics without recall to anyone else.

Your email subscribers can become repeat customers

There’s the potential to sell something to someone on your list for as long as they’re subscribed. It’s not unheard of for subscribers to make multiple purchases over several years once they are on your mailing list. If someone visits your site from Google, the likelihood that they’ll bounce back to the search engine is pretty high. That doesn’t happen nearly as often when you’re doing email marketing.

The mistake that many novice marketers make is thinking if a person doesn’t buy something immediately, they never will. The purpose of your email marketing campaigns is to hit many different pain points so that you’re able to address multiple needs over time, increasing the chance of a purchase. It might take you months before you’re able to hit the specific pain point a person is having, but when you do, that’s when you strike pay dirt. Everyone has different pain points, and it’s your job as a marketer to try your best to cover as many of them as possible.

Another thing to consider is that small sales add up over time. Unless you’re a B2B marketer, you might be pushing affiliate offers that have smaller payouts. For example, if a subscriber purchases something for £50, you might only get £15. These little purchases might seem like small potatoes, but they help increase the value of your subscribers. If you have tens of thousands of subscribers and they’re all making regular small purchases, you can see how that snowballs over time.

Track the performance of each subscriber to tailor your approach

The email marketing software used today is full of features, but most marketers don’t take advantage of them. You can see who is opening your emails, but you can also see which subject lines perform the best and what each subscriber clicks on.

You can also segment your list so that you tailor each email to a specific group of subscribers. Going back to our pet care business example, imagine you have a new line of dog coats. You could segment your list to remove the subscribers who have a cat, rabbit or any other pet that isn’t a dog. Tailoring your messages in this way can help you get better conversion rates as the messages are personalised to your subscribers specific interests.

Those businesses that take the time to directly target the right people with the right message will be the ones who will make the most money. Sure, it takes more work, but the effort pays off big time when you start to see the results. Remember, you can always outsource these tasks if needed, allowing you to focus more on the business side of things.

Funnel free traffic sources into long-term gains

The real power of email marketing is when you funnel free traffic sources from places like YouTube, Instagram, or blogs and get them to subscribe to your email list. Creating YouTube videos can help you send traffic through your funnel and generate subscribers for years to come. The best traffic sources for your email list often come from free sources. Sure, you can spend money to build your list, but expert list builders all agree free traffic is where the action is.

You offer the person something free in exchange for their email address, and then you send them a series of messages designed for fresh subscribers. After that, you study how they respond, and you send them messages based on how they interact with your content. The entire process from start to finish is something that you can repeat, scale, and optimise for increased returns over time.

Copyright 2024. Article made possible by eMail Ninja for AutoNoMail.

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