It may never be a cake walk for us who are 40+ to really feel comfortable with all this online marketing for our businesses because we did not grow up with an iPad and cell phone in our hands or watching YouTube and putting every second of our lives on Social Media. But the fact is that’s where our customers are… and that’s how they communicate and how they digest their information.
YouTube is what TV once was to us. And social media, blogs and online content is what newspapers, magazines and print mail once were to our generations.
The yellow pages has long been replaced by Google, and referrals from friends about products and services that you used to get at church, family gatherings and nights out with the girls have been replaced by all the social networking, and now are on steroids!!
EVERY single day we are privy to so many products, services and reviews being talked about that we can hardly keep up! But I bet chances are high that you’ve bought one or more things, visited one or more businesses, or used one or more services based on what you saw your friends talking about online. You may have even made purchases after seeing or reading reviews from complete strangers on YouTube, Google Reviews, reviews on Amazon and many other places. This is exactly what your customers are doing too!! So we gotta keep up!
It might not be fun to think about, but we are a tough generation, and we CAN roll up our sleeves and learn to compete in this new marketing world!! Don’t lose your customers, and potential customers, to lack of knowledge, or even fear, that can hold you back!
Here’s how to take control of your marketing going forward…
1- Know who your “ideal” customers are and where they are online. Which social media platform are they most likely to use? What types of groups are they in? What are their hobbies and interests? What age group do they belong to? What are their pain points, and what are their hot buttons that cause them to buy? This foundation will help you with all of your online (as well as offline) marketing.
2- Have a social media presence “where” your customers are. Study to find out how to best use that platform, not just to have a presence, but to get results! Others are getting results! You can too!! Get comfortable with 1 platform before moving on to the next, unless you have a team to help you, or unless you use tools for automation which can help you juggle and streamline your marketing.
3- Work Smarter, not harder…
Those last two things, having a team to help you market and/or using automation tools, brings me to my next point. Work smarter, not harder. If you can’t manage it by yourself, delegate it to someone in your company who is Social Media Savvy and who would be excited to take that on as a role in their job. You just want to make sure that anyone who is posting and representing your business or company has great grammatical and English skills, knows the types of post you would and would not want, and that they can do a great job representing your business. As good or better than you would!
If you don’t have any employees, or anyone who you think would fit this role well, you can always think about hiring a virtual assistant, a college intern, or even a very smart and responsible teen who already does social media like we brush our teeth! It just comes natural to them!
Yes, this may be a little investment for you, but I truly believe that spending just a little money weekly to make sure your message is getting out there consistently can be one of the BEST decisions you could ever make for your business!! Work smarter, not harder!!
4. Shift your mindset from “Advertising” to “engaging” and “influencing”. Traditionally we have been taught that marketing our businesses simply meant advertising. Putting out messages about our business, sales, and events to get people to want to walk through our doors or want what we are offering or selling.
With the new world of marketing, people don’t want to be “sold” to anymore. They want to be “engaged” and “influenced”!
To engage your audience means that you take the focus off of yourself and your business, and put it on your customers and potential customers. It’s about “them” now.
Let’s take a look at some ways that you can engage with your audience.
Ask for your audience’s opinion about something.
Ask questions or advice.
Post things that are Shareable.
Post things that evoke emotions.
Post things that get conversations started.
Post challenges.
Create groups for your audience to interact with you and others.
They need to see you as a real person, not just a business who is trying to get them to spend money on your product or service.
And what about influence?
Influence comes when people know, like and trust you. This comes when you are genuine. When you are transparent. When you show the “real” side you you or your business.
When you share with your heart, not with an advertising message.
When you take your visitors on a journey. When you show them solutions… solutions that YOU have gotten. Solutions that they can get too!!
Action challenge:
I want to challenge to to find out “who” your ideal customers are. This will help you to find out “where” they are at online. Once you have that in place, start working smarter, not harder, by finding a way to be consistent with putting your message out there either by using automation tools, or by delegating some of the work to someone else. And lastly, find some ways that you can shift your marketing from advertising to engaging and influencing your audience.
I hope this has been thought provoking and helpful! I would LOVE to hear your thoughts, how you are making some of these changes in your business, and what results you are seeing!