33.7 million small businesses currently operate in the United States, accounting for nearly 100% of all businesses. However, only about 66% of small businesses survive for two years on average, while only 50% are still around five years down the line. Failing to implement a solid marketing strategy is a key reason why businesses fail. By devising an effective marketing strategy tailored to your target customers, your business will stand out and gain a competitive edge.
Identify Your Target Customers
Without knowing who your target customers are, you won’t be able to successfully tailor your marketing strategy to them. An easy way to identify your target customers is to learn about your existing customers. You can do this by looking at your website and social media analytics. If you use Facebook ads, for example, visit the Facebook Insights section while Google Ad Words users can click on Google Audience Insights to find out about their audience. These tools can give you insight into vital information such as, customer demographics, location, page frequency, page likes, affinity audience, and inmarket audience. With these insights, you can also find out data about people who’ve purchased a similar product or service to yours or who’ve liked pages similar to your business. You can also find out how many people who live in your local area interact with your page. In turn, you can better understand who your target customer is — meaning the people most likely to purchase from you — and better create targeted ads that appear in front of your target audience exactly when they need them.
Use Local SEO
SEO is a valuable tool that can help you stand out in a saturated market as it means your business will appear higher up in the search engine results. Moreover, local SEO is an important strategy to target potential customers in your local area.
For example, if you own a law firm, updating your Google My Business page is a simple yet effective way to strengthen your local SEO. Focus on providing complete and detailed information about your firm that matches what your target clients are searching for. For example, rather than using the term “attorney”, aim for specifics like “estate planning attorney” or “divorce attorney”. This will help narrow down a competitive field and boost your ranking in the search results. Additionally, asking your customers to leave reviews further optimizes your Google My Business page and attracts local customers. Always thank customers for their reviews and promptly address complaints that may crop up.
Embrace User-Generated Content
User-generated content helps you appear authentic and attracts loyal customers. 60% of consumers say user-generated content is most authentic — three times more authentic than brand-created content — and 86% prefer purchasing from authentic companies. Hashtags are an easy way to implement user-generated content.
Come up with a catchy, relevant hashtag and prompt your customers to use it when they talk about your brand online. In turn, you can repost or reply to customers who use your hashtag. This is an excellent way to spark engagement and build community. Customers typically love getting surprise mentions from brands and 51% of them are more likely to either engage with and/or buy from brands as a result, a recent Stackla survey reveals. In addition to helping build relationships with customers, user-generated content can also get your business in front of a wider audience and increase the potential for viral posts.
Tailoring your marketing strategy to your target customers is essential to stand out and catch their attention. Identifying your target customers and implementing local SEO and user-generated content can help you win customers and get ahead of the competition.
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