Is Something Holding Your Business Back From Success?
Last year, Infusionsoft conducted a survey of more than a thousand small business owners about their business and marketing strategies. The survey asked what their goals for the coming year were, and here were the top three mentioned most often:
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Driving Sales, Retaining And Re-Engaging Customers, And Building Awareness To Capture New Leads.
Marketing plays a big role in achieving all three of those goals listed above, yet the technology integration industry has been slow to adopt many of the top marketing strategies, such as blogging or mobile-friendly websites. Why is that? We’ve found it typically comes down to one of three main reasons.
1. “We Operate On Referrals”
For most companies in this industry, referrals are their bread and butter. You add a home automation system to one property, the homeowners show it off to all their friends, and those friends decide that automation is a must-have for them. It’s a good business model, but it has a few drawbacks.
It’s not very consistent or reliable, and those referrals could dry up pretty easily, leaving you without any new business coming in. More importantly, most referrals still want to do some basic research about your company before giving you a call. And if they can’t find your website (or worse, they do find your website and aren’t impressed with the branding/messaging you provide), they might decide to go with someone else. A nice website with informative, engaging content is there to help give those referrals peace of mind that you’re the right choice.
2. “Marketing Costs Too Much”
Certain marketing efforts are indeed pricey. A fulltime salary for a marketer on your team is a huge business investment, even if you do get the benefit of fresh content and a social media presence out of it. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that all marketing initiatives are expensive. Start small with what you can afford. Instead of hiring a full-time writer, use an agency for simple projects, such as one blog post a month or a newsletter that goes out every quarter.
It’s important to remember why businesses choose to do marketing in the first place. It’s not because their pockets are overflowing with cash and they just need something to throw money at. Rather, marketing is most important when you’re in need of new business. In other words, it takes money to make money. If you don’t invest in helping people find your business, then your business will not grow.
3. It Didn’t Work For Us In The Past
The versatility of marketing is both a blessing and a curse. With so many different methods of getting your company’s name out there, it’s possible to come up with a strategy that fails. But on the other hand, there are plenty of other marketing strategies that could be far more effective for your unique organization.
If you tried a marketing initiative of some type and it didn’t work, the answer is not to quit marketing altogether, but to analyze the data and strategize a better approach.
Perhaps your monthly newsletters weren’t effective because your email contact list didn’t have quality leads. Perhaps your weekly blog posts weren’t showing up on Google because your website wasn’t properly configured for SEO. Whatever the reason, there is a marketing strategy out there that can work for your company. You just have to find it.
There is a lot to consider when it comes to online marketing for this industry, so for a more in-depth discussion of the different aspects that are most relevant to your business, feel free to give us a call or chat with one of our online team members by clicking the window below.