How do you bring in new business?
Every brand is frantically trying to figure out the equation that balances their business with their customers needs.
Does your business have the best product? The best tool for the job? Yet you still may be at a standstill because you are having trouble bridging the gap between the customer and product.
Enter relationship marketing for your business.
I want to show you some valuable tips that will help bring your business closer to your target market while making the product relevant to their needs.
#1: Make Yourself Known
A lot of new local businesses that have brick and mortar shops will enter into the social media arena expecting everyone to already know what it is they do and what they can provide.
It’s important to understand that if you’re just starting out in your industry that you make yourself known to the people that are crucial to your business. There are a couple of ways that you can do that.
Have a plan for your brand on social media. Let people know what you do!Click To Tweet#1: Creating Content
One of the best ways that you can show people what your business is about is through the creation of great content.
Most people think this is simply writing blog posts all the time, but if you’re a business owner dealing with lots of clients, you may not have the time to sit down and write.
But don’t underestimate the power of a great piece of written content. It can build your brand’s trust level to your potential customer, all the while telling them what your expertise is. So, if you have the chance to write, by all means, write.
But if you don’t have the time to write, there are other ways to create content. You can do this through video posts, slide deck images you have snapped on the way to a business meeting, or as an audio tutorial as you do a certain task that shows someone how you do a certain thing.
There is a tee shirt company that I found on Meerkat called The Funky Fairy. This is a husband and wife business, and while you may think that watching these two work making tees is boring, they have found a great way to create awesome content and get their work done on time.
The key is to understand how you can push your content to your target market. And that, is strategic.
#2: Strategic Information
Being strategic in your creation of your content makes all the difference between a video/blog post just for fun and something the customer can take home with them.
In Mark Schaefer’s book The Content Code, he talks about a man that owned a winery in France. This business owner documented everything he did through video marketing. One would think that strategic information is a lot of promotion, but it’s actually connecting with your audience on a level that makes you relevant.
This business owner documented his family time, what he did on the weekends, and how he cried when a recent storm blew down a portion of his crop.
He made himself human, and we can all relate to that. A business that makes no mistakes is a business that lies to its customers. Make yourself relevant! The strategic information that you may find crappy, a potential customer will see something extraordinary in it and you will make that connection. That is content creation at its purest form.
Humility, gentleness, and helpfulness go so much further and open doors you cannot imagine. ~Ann TranClick To Tweet#2: Be Social
I realize that a lot of these tips are about time management. If you don’t have time to write a blog post, then you may not have time to get on social media. A lot of local businesses around my area can’t see the value in social media marketing because they can’t see themselves making the time for it.
This is a must if you want your business to succeed.
Once you have carved out a schedule for your social media plan, then you must do the deed and be social.
A lot of brands make the mistake of self promotion all of the time, but the key is to build relationships with who your target market follows. This may sound a bit backwards, but once you create this relationship, you now have access to their followers, who are your target.
People have a trust issue, and while relationship marketing is about being a hero to one individual at a time, it’s learning to pick the right individual to become a hero to.
If you can gain the trust of a representative of, say, Google, when they share your content, people automatically trust you because Google trusted you enough to share what you are doing.
Being social is the part where you have to come out of your shell a bit and engage honestly and truthfully to the people that want to hear what you have to say. A lot of people that do this kind of work are admittedly shy and introverted. Studies have shown that when you push yourself, you can come out of that stage while engaging with other people over time.
The most important part about being social is to be YOU.
Be human, be relevant, be accessible. Let the customer see you on social.Click To TweetFor people that are participating actively in the stead of a brand page, you should make sure that you understand the companies mission statement and goals. Find people that are trying to accomplish something that your company can help them with and then speak to them like an individual, not a brand.
Buffer does this the best over on Twitter. They are personal and friendly, and they also end their statement with their initials, so you know you are speaking with a real person.
Don’t believe me? Try it out for yourself and see if they don’t respond:
Buffer is the best when it comes to social media kindness and responding.Click To TweetThey do this effectively because they listen when people speak about a topic they are knowledgeable about. But the main part about their whole strategy is the listening. That’s what makes them so great.
#3: Be Listening
If you want your brand to be effective on social media, then you will listen when someone speaks. Are they speaking to your directly? About your product? Do they have a question? Whatever the case may be, time is of the essence. Social media has opened up new doors for brands on social to interact with the people that are interested. Don’t make them wait.
Here are some great tools that you can use to listen with:
There are others that you can use as well, just search for the right one for your business.
Hashtag hunt is also another strategy you will want to set up as well. With a hashtag you can insert yourself helpfully into a conversation where people may need your expertise.
There are lots of engagement happening, and someone asks a question about your niche every day (more than likely), all you have to do is hunt it down and show people that you can help them. Keyhole is a great tool to use to monitor things you want to actively comment and engage on so you don’t miss a thing!
The Final Word
Don’t make people want to gag when they see your brand coming. Overall, its about them and what you can give them. Take Rand Fishkin’s business model of the Moz brand; he has something that is of value, something that will help his customer’s get what they need, and he gives them the opportunity to try the product out for free.
What are you working on right now? What does your store sell that could improve the business lives of your target market? Let them take a peek at what you’re doing, so they can get a better understanding of what your brand can do for them.
It’s not as painful as you might think. Going back to Moz,
Moz’s average annual revenue per user is over $1300, with an average customer acquisition cost of less than $100. Groove article
That’s not too bad.
What can you do for your customer or follower? Take some time and write down some ideas that you both may benefit from if you became a little more effective at social media. What is that effectiveness? It is understanding what they need, giving it to them, and create loyalty with your followers.
I would love to know what you think. Do you have a small business question? Let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to help you!
Wade Harman
Latest posts by Wade Harman (see all)
- How This Entrepreneur Used Community To Build A Brand - April 26, 2018
- How A Freelancer Can Acquire More Clients Quickly - July 25, 2017
- The Steps to Take After Your Website Has Been Hacked - July 24, 2017