We all want our businesses to do better, grow more and be more successful. To do that, we have to stay in the black, keep income flowing in and keep our customers happy.
As you’re working to grow your business, you have to keep your bottom line in mind. What can you do to make sure you’re making the money you need to keep your business strong and thriving?
It makes sense, right? You want more money, you need to sell more of your offerings to new audiences. The question is - how do you get in front of the right people, create interest, and make sales?
Using digital marketing, you can attract people who fit your ideal client profile, get them over to your website, show what differentiates your service, and move them toward a final purchase decision - then get paid!
When you’re choosing how to manage your digital marketing strategy, you have the option to use organic or paid tactics and strategies - committing either your time or your money to growing your customer base. The best, most long-lasting growth will come from a combination of both - here’s a rundown on what we like about each option.
The biggest benefit of paid digital marketing is that it gets you visibility fast.
Think about this - let’s say you pour all your mind, heart and knowledge into writing an amazing blog post or landing page. It captures every nuance of a specific feature of your service, and it answers all the questions your ideal customers might ask.
Even the best content probably won’t rank on the first page of Google search results right away. It’ll take time for people to read it, access it, and recognize its value, and for the search engine to use its algorithmic magic and boost your visibility.
Paid search, on the other hand? You can spend some money and land yourself in the sponsored ads section at the top of the first page within a few hours.
Does that mean paid search beats organic every time? No, definitely not.
Each side has its benefits for marketing your business. If you’re only serving up ads to your prospective customers, they’re not getting a chance to understand your offering and educate themselves on it. Nurturing your potential customer relationships through organic content, on the other hand, can result in 20 percent more sales opportunities and buyers who spend 47% more than non-nurtured customers.
Your goal with paid digital advertising is to create awareness, to get people into your marketing funnel, and get them interested in what you offer and why you matter.
The best way to do that is to drive them to your website where they can read your content and learn more about your products and services. Your ads, then, need to go where your ideal customers are browsing and consuming content, so you can attract their specific attention, instead of advertising to a wide audience and seeing less focused results (aka spending more money for fewer leads).
That can mean:
Search engine marketing - Bidding for keywords on search engines like Google (definite leader in the market), Bing and others.
Social ads - Depending on your ideal buyer, your social platform of choice may vary. If you’re in the B2B world, LinkedIn may be the best fit for you. If you’re selling something targeted specifically toward women, Pinterest may be your ad platform of choice (71 percent of global Pinterest users are female). You can also consider advertising on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and more.
Influencer marketing can fall into the paid digital advertising category as well, since you’re using your influencer partnership to create awareness. However, be aware that influencer relationships (often on platforms like Instagram and TikTok) can increase your reach and engagement but may not lead directly to sales.
With organic digital marketing, you need to be ready to put in the time and be patient, using your knowledge of your product or service and buyers to create relevant, useful content.
One of the biggest benefits of organic digital marketing is that you’ll see long-lasting results from it. Unlike an ad that runs for the length of your campaign, then disappears, your organic content remains available online, increasing your visibility and positioning you as an expert.
As an example, the first organic result from a typical search engine query earns more than 30 percent of the clicks, so creating content that answers the right questions for the right people can really boost awareness and position you as an expert.
Organic digital marketing requires finding different avenues to tell your story, differentiate your product and highlight how customers use and love you.
The platforms and channels you can use are numerous - but the end goal for all is still to get people to your website so they can learn about you, then make a decision to use your product or service. Some options that might fit your business include:
Search engine optimization - creating on-page content for your website that answers questions online searchers have.
Social media:
YouTube how tos, tutorials, guides and testimonials
Facebook posts and Facebook Lives
Instagram posts, stories and IGTV
LinkedIn posting, groups and virtual events
Networking - both online and offline networking through personal contacts or interest groups
Writing - guest blogging and cross-promoting for other sites, writing for publications
It’s our recommendation that you choose a few platforms that really fit your audience, then grow your following and expertise there, rather than trying to post haphazardly across every available social media network.
It’s easy to forget, but your best customers are the ones you already have. Instead of only chasing new customers and spending time and money trying to attract their attention, look for ways to deepen the relationship with your existing customer base.
Go back to them and offer new products and upsells. You may be surprised at how happy they are to buy from you again, but you shouldn’t be...if you have a great product and a great customer experience.
Think about it this way. Let’s say I love Starbucks, and Starbucks knows that every Thursday morning, I grab a nitro cold brew on my way to work.
Is it easier for Starbucks to try to attract a new customer to come in or drop by and wait in a long drive-thru line for whatever new frappuccino flavor they have on offer or, is it easier for them to maybe offer me a protein box or a petite vanilla scone?
Which sale is more likely to happen? The one where they already have a captive and invested audience.
Getting a new customer can be 6 to 7 times more costly than retaining the ones you already have, so making the most of that existing relationship can have a huge positive impact on your bottom line.
Communication is key. Stay in touch with them and keep your relationship strong, even when you’re not asking them to buy from you.
Email them with updates, new products and promotions. Send them discount codes - whatever it takes to attract them back to your site and get them to remember what they loved about your product or about their interactions with you.
If you’re B2C or if you’re selling a physical product, one thing that worked for a client was putting something into the client’s physical package. When they received their purchase in the mail, they also received some information about other items the client had on offer.
The result from this focus on existing customers? An eye-popping $150,000 in additional monthly revenue.
One more thing to remember about selling to existing customers. They know you. You’ve got to keep it real with them.
If they’re not re-buying from you, take a look at the customer experience you’re providing. Pay attention to their feedback and to the data that may tell you stories that your customers aren’t - about where they're experiencing pain points or where you’re not quite meeting expectations.
Obviously, you can boost revenue by raising your prices. There’s a sweet spot though, between where you can get customers to pay more and where they start looking for other options.
So, how do you find the right price point?
First, if all your customers are saying yes to your offers, you’re probably pricing yourself too low. Take a look at where your competitors are landing and whether you’re undercutting them substantially, then consider upping your rates.
Second, ask your customers. Talk to your most loyal customers about the value they get from you and how it compares to others. You won’t ask them straight up, “Would you pay more for this product/service?” - no one is going to say yes to that.
But you can ask them about what they’ve seen, why they’ve chosen you - pay attention to whether they’re labeling you as a “great value”; that might be code for cheaper than others, and you might have room to adjust your pricing.
If you’re set on pricing and don’t have much wiggle room, your next option is to take a look at your expenditures and see whether you can lower them.
What does your overhead look like? Are you paying for office space, technology, etc.? Many companies are making technological advances and streamlining processes - take a look at some of the new options out there.
For example, many small business owners use Canva to create social media images for their company. Canva has recently made some upgrades to offer video creation and social media scheduling. If you’re paying for multiple platforms to provide these services, you might consider consolidation and save on a few different annual subscription fees.
When you’re reducing overhead, make sure you’re able to maintain your work and product quality. It won’t do you any good to make changes to your business expenditures if decreases in work output cause you to lose customers.
Can you decrease the cost of goods sold without decreasing quality? It depends. You might find other opportunities for cost cutting, including:
Negotiating with suppliers
Finding suppliers with lower price points
Changing out packaging or other supplies
Buying in bulk
Bartering with others
All your cost reductions don’t have to apply to physical goods either.
You may be able to reduce costs by using your advertising spend differently and evaluating which platforms work best and drive more business. You may be able to work out a cross-promotion with another business so you each benefit from each other’s advertising/communications and audiences.
And, one of the best ways to save money/decrease costs is to streamline and automate programs and processes.
You can set up processes that save you time - an automated cart abandonment email is one example. You gain an additional touchpoint with your customer and boost the possibility that you get that sale. In fact, 30 percent of all cart abandonment emails lead to a visit back to your site and a purchase.
So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and start making more money, saving more money, and boosting that bottom line! Need help putting any of these tips into action? Let’s talk about how Rising Ranks Digital can support your business and help you achieve your goals.