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There’s always a trade-off between long-term marketing and short-term financial goals, but there are some small business marketing tactics you can implement today that will deliver short-term results while setting you up for long-term success. Here are five of them:
1. Re-engage cold leads and get them on the system
Your customer relationship management (CRM), your email inbox, and even your direct messages on social media are full of old leads. These people were once interested but didn’t buy, so they moved on. But things might have changed, and it’s worth checking. So, check.
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Make a list of contacts you lost contact with 3-6 months ago
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Send them a quick message via email, SMS, or social media to re-engage them (examples below).
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If you already have tools, create an automation to send a message to unconverted leads every 1-3 months.
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If you don’t have an automation tool, add sending campaigns on a regular basis to your to-do list.
A simple message you can send is “Hello [First Name]Last time I talked about [Company Name] can help you [accomplish your goal]Maybe now is a good time to take it more seriously? Hopefully it’s working!’ You won’t re-engage all your cold leads, but you’ll get a good number of them quickly.
Related: 5 ways to get fast marketing results
2. Ask for Google Reviews (and earn more)
One of the best marketing strategies for small businesses to succeed now and in the future is to get more reviews. For most businesses, the best platform to get reviews is Google. If you get more Google reviews than your competitors, you can rank higher in Google search results and get more customers. To get more Google reviews, follow these steps:
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Get your Google Reviews link (go to your profile and[レビューをさらに取得]to copy the link)
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Once you’ve finished interacting with your customers, ask them to leave a review
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Contact us via SMS, email, verbally or in person using the QR code
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Make sure you respond to all reviews
Asking for reviews should become a standard process, but if you’re new to getting reviews, you can start by sending out email and SMS campaigns to all your customers asking for their feedback as an initial boost.
3. Create backlinks (external links) to your website and key pages
Earning backlinks from other websites linking to your website is one of the most effective ways to increase your search rankings and get referral traffic from those websites. The best part is, most small businesses don’t do this so the results are easy to understand.
Most small businesses can focus on a few areas to gain quality backlinks.
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Local business directories, such as chambers of commerce
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Business review platforms such as Google, Yelp, Better Business Bureau, Bing Places, Yellow Pages, TripAdvisor, and Angi.
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Contribute articles to local news stations, community magazines, association newsletters, industry blogs and other digital media outlets
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Offer to contribute quotes to other articles they are writing.
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Consider sponsoring a non-profit organization, government agency, or sports organization. Most organizations will have links to sponsors on their website.
“Top [my industry] Corporate [my city]” ” will also give you some listings that are worth getting a backlink from.
Related: How to Build SEO Backlinks: A Beginner’s Guide
4. Opt them in to future marketing efforts
To market effectively, you need to grow a subscriber list. Building a list takes time, but you can quickly set up a way to sign up subscribers. The easiest place to start is with a contact form that will get your customers buying or becoming leads. Collect mobile numbers and email addresses, and have a checkbox for people to opt in to marketing communications from you.
Blog popup forms that appear after 60 seconds or about halfway down the page and exit intent popup forms on product pages are both very effective at capturing new subscribers. Most CRMs, website builders, and email marketing platforms have these options.
SMS opt-ins are also becoming increasingly popular (because they work). Have your customers text a keyword to your number to opt-in to deals and other updates in exchange for 10% or 20% off their next purchase. In most cases, you can set up any or all of these options in just a few minutes. What does fast, effective marketing look like?
5. Post daily and be actively engaged on social media
Your target audience spends their time on social media, so you need to invest time in social media marketing, creating content and engaging with them. Choose one platform where your target audience spends the most time. If you don’t know what to say or do, here are some ideas to help you:
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Take all the questions your customers and employees have and create posts that address each one.
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Share what you do, why you do it, who you do it for, and how they benefit from it.
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Showcase a day in the life of someone in your or your customer’s shoes
Your social media posts don’t have to be too professional or flashy. Some audiences prefer something a bit more simple. Depending on the platform, you can post just text, a short video, one or a few photos, or whatever you see fit.
You should also be proactive in commenting on other people’s content and starting conversations, as this will help you build a connection with them and also tell the algorithm to boost you and your content the next time you post.
don’t forget: Good marketing doesn’t have to take a long time to produce results, and by implementing these small business marketing tactics you’ll see results faster than your competitors.
Related: 5 steps to creating profitable content marketing