“Overwhelming” – a word I hear over and over again from Small Business Owners about the world of Online Marketing.
“I wish someone would just tell me what I need to do and I’ll go do it” – is another thing I constantly here.
The problem with this – there are a lot of people telling you to do a lot of different things! And yes, there are 100s of ways businesses can market themselves online. Some will suit your business, some will not.
So instead of adding a bunch more things you should be doing, I’m going to simplify it down to what I believe is the most effective way to get more business and at a very minimal cost.
All it involves is 3 simple steps:
- Create Something your Audience is Interested In (other than your products/service!)
- Get them to Sign Up
- Nurture them & Eliminate Barriers to Purchase
So what does all that mean? Let’s dive deeper.
No. 1 Create Something your Audience is Interested In
The most popular example of this is an email opt-in or “lead magnet” – something your audience needs to sign up to get emailed out to them.
The key here is that it not only needs to appeal to your audience but it also needs to provide them with some sort of quick win.
If you want some ideas I have another blog post which gives over 20 ideas you can choose from.
BUT it doesn’t just have to be an email opt in. Maybe you think you can provide extra value through a community like your own Facebook Group? So in this the case the group is what your audience will be interested in.
No. 2 Get them to Sign Up
Here’s where you need to spread the word about your offer. But this doesn’t need to be difficult!
Just start with the below:
- A Sign Up Form or Promo for your Group on your Website (See this blog post for more on ways to get people to sign up)
- A Pinned Post and Cover Image on your Facebook or Twitter Accounts
- A Mention of the offer in your Bio on your Social Media Accounts
- The occasional Social Media Post
No. 3 Make them Feel Understood and Welcomed
Once you have them on your email list or as a member of your community, it’s time to offer your audience some value.
But this value should be strategic. It should form a bridge that moves them from interested bystander to purchaser.
The key to this is to identify what barriers are holding them back from purchasing. What questions do they need answered? What do they need to be convinced of? How do you need to make them feel?
Once you have identified the key things put this together into an automated welcome email sequence or through convincing posts or videos in your group. Then at the right time make an offer to your paid product or service.
(For more on email sequences see this blog post).
So now you can see that increasing your sales doesn’t necessarily mean you need to work harder or promote more or offer more discounts. You can create a simple formula that will help create sales on autopilot.
Optional Extra’s
The beauty of this system is that once you have it in place it is simple to add things to it to increase it’s effect even more.
The first you can add is additional content. This can be in the form of a blog, a video, a long form social media post, great photos or a FB live. You can add this as a bridge between any promotions and your freebie. In other words, you create a post on social media promoting a blog post, someone goes to the post and then within that post they see a signup form for your freebie.
The second is to add extra emails to your strategy. This can include weekly updates/value bombs (I hate the word newsletter!) and special campaigns or promotions you run at different times through the year.
The third you can do is of course promote, promote, promote. This can be a promotion of the freebie itself or of the content you created above. There are many ways you can do this but the most popular include creating social media posts, advertising, creating Pinterest Pins, sharing in threads in Facebook Groups, Public Relations and working on things like SEO. (Check out this post on 54 ways to Promote your Business for Free).
Finally, you can utilise the power of collaboration, networking and influencer marketing. This is all about creating connections with other people and helping each extend your reach. The key to this is to be genuine. The simplest way to do this is to voluntarily share their social media posts onto your platform in the hopes they will return the favour. But it can also include more formal collaborations like product swaps for your photos, guest posting on other sites or conducting joint promotions.
