Online Marketing – David Lee-Schneider Marketing Consulting

Tag Archive for: Online Marketing

How To Find More Customers And Increase Sales

Your customers are the lifeblood of any business and without them, frankly, there is no business. But it can be challenging to find a reliable way to consistently attract new customers and increase sales.

Today, I want to share three simple strategies that you can implement in your business to grow your customer base, encourage sales, and ultimately, increase your profits.

1. Take Advantage of Social Media To Connect With Customers

Social media is a powerful tool that businesses can use to connect with their customers and generate leads. However, many business owners post content without a proven strategy.

To turn your social media efforts into actual sales, you need to get people to take action; so we need to tell them exactly what we want them to do next. Try to include a call to action in every post you publish to make it easy for your customers to take the next step.

Here are some examples:

Link to a helpful article or product page on your website for people to learn more
Link to a free download that helps your audience solve a specific problem
Link to a page where people can claim a free trial or discount
Link to your FAQ page to help answer your customers’ questions
Link to a testimonial page where people can read how you’ve helped others
Ask your audience to direct message your business

If you post once daily and start including a call to action in every one of your posts, you have just created 365 opportunities for your social media audience to move one step closer to a sale.

Pro Tip: If posting on social media is taking up too much of your time and headspace, download this free guide to completely automate your content strategy.

2. Publish Helpful Blog Articles That Answer Your Customers’ Questions

When people have questions, the first place they’ll look for answers is, of course, Google. But how do you make your business show up on the first page of the search results?

The answer is, by providing helpful content that answers any questions your customers might have. A blog is a fantastic tool for that. Many business owners believe a blog requires them to publish articles regularly, creating even more work for them. And while this may help, for many small businesses it is enough to have a handful of timeless articles on their blog that help customers with their purchasing decision.

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes for a second. What would they be searching for on Google? What questions or concerns do they have? What do they need to know before they can confidently buy from you? When you take these questions and answer them on your blog, you drastically increase your chances of being found online.

For example, if you are looking to grow your beauty salon, publish articles that discuss beauty tips, mistakes to avoid and how your products and services can help your customers achieve better results.

A blog is also a great tool to showcase case studies from previous customers, before and after pictures, valuable insights you have learned along the way and so much more. Publishing great content not only helps you rank higher on Google but also establishes you as a leader in your industry.

3. Look For Opportunities To Widen Your Circle of Influence

One of the fastest ways to grow your following is to partner up with other established businesses or communities that serve the same target audience as your business. By tapping into the customer base of other businesses, you can reach a large number of people without having to start from scratch.

Furthermore, by teaming up with other established businesses that share the same values, you instantly position yourself as a trusted alliance.

Here Are Some Examples:

Offer to speak at a local networking event
Ask to be a guest speaker on a webinar or podcast
Offer to write a helpful article for a publication or blog aimed at your target market

If you are selling a range of health products, for example, you could offer to give a free talk at a local health foods store. If you run a café, it might be as simple as giving a free coffee voucher to everyone at a large corporate office nearby.

Ask yourself, what existing audiences could you tap into to widen your circle of influence? What other businesses could you team up with and provide value to?

Pro Tip: Whenever you have the opportunity to connect with a new audience, try offering something of value at the end, so people can connect with your business and take the next step. Depending on your business, this could be a discount voucher, a free download, a helpful checklist or a complimentary strategy call.

Naked Wines made a genius move once when they partnered with Easy Pest Supplies and offered a $100 discount voucher to all their customers. At first glance, a company that sells wine online and an online store for pest supplies might not seem like a great fit. However, they share the same audience; homeowners who take pride in their homes and love to shop online.

Thinking outside the box can really pay off. Once you start looking, you will realise that there is an abundance of opportunities out there to reach more people, grow your customer base and increase sales.

Need help with scaling your business? Click here to book a free strategy call to discuss how an automated marketing strategy can help you find more customers and increase sales long-term.

5 Tips For Optimising Your Small Business Marketing Plan

Marketing

David Lee-Schneider Marketing

Marketing is essential for any small business. It’s the lifeblood of your business. But with the ever-changing digital landscape, it can be quite a stressful task to tackle and result in overwhelm. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, with a little bit of planning and effort, you can have a small business marketing plan that will help your business grow for years to come.

1. Define Your Goals

When creating a small business marketing plan, it is important to first define your goals. What do you want to achieve with your marketing efforts? Do you want to grow your business, reach new customers, or increase brand awareness? Once you have a clear understanding of your goals, it is easier to develop strategies that will help you achieve them.

Many business owners assume that in order to grow their business, they need to get more customers. However, if your business already has an established customer base it may be faster and more cost-effective to re-market to your existing customers instead.

2. Create A Targeted Strategy

Once you know what you want to achieve with your marketing efforts, the next step is to create a targeted strategy.

Some questions you might want to ask yourself include:

What are the specific channels and methods that will work best for reaching your target audience?
Which platforms are most effective and provide the best return on investment?
Which types of media do your customers prefer?
What tools or software will you use to achieve your targeting goals?

Once you have a targeted strategy in place, it is important to allocate the right amount of resources to each channel you choose to utilise.

3. Plan For Maintenance And Adjustment

No matter how well you plan, your marketing efforts will not be perfect from start to finish. In fact, it is likely that your strategy will need a few adjustments once it’s launched. This means that you will need to have a plan in place for maintaining and adjusting your marketing efforts.

Some things you might want to consider include:

How often should you re-evaluate your target audience?
What are the best times of year for advertising?
How do you handle it when one of your channels no longer works for you?
Can your strategy be automated or does it require ongoing management?

Remember to work smarter, not harder. There are lots of marketing automation tools available that allow you to implement “set and forget strategies” to free you up from having to actively manage them.

4. Set Your Budget And Timeframe

One of the most important factors to consider when creating a small business marketing plan is setting a budget and timeframe. By knowing how much money you have to spend and how long it will take to achieve your goals, you can create a plan that is tailored specifically to your needs. Additionally, creating a timeline can help keep you on track and prevent unnecessary (and sometimes costly) delays.

For most small businesses, every dollar counts and it’s important not to spend unnecessary amounts on marketing activities that don’t deliver results.

5. Implement Your Marketing Plan

A well-executed marketing plan can help your small business achieve its goals faster and with less effort. It’s important, however, to understand how the different aspects of your strategy connect and how to make them work in alignment.

Looking at marketing holistically creates leverage, meaning you will achieve a much greater rate of success while spending less time and budget.

In my 90-Day Marketing Transformation, I work with Australian business owners directly to implement a set of organic strategies that require very little to no maintenance and thus, make their marketing budget stretch a lot further.

In addition, I can help you automate time-consuming marketing activities, like social media content, lead generation and email marketing to free up valuable time and headspace, so you can focus on what you’re already great at – like looking after your customers.

But will this work for your business?

We have implemented marketing strategies for:

If you need help implementing a strategy that will help you attract more customers while saving you time, confusion and frustration, let’s have a chat. Book your free strategy call.

Conclusion And a Faster Way To Implement Your Small Business Marketing Plan

By following these five steps and planning out your strategy in advance, rather than approaching your marketing ad-hoc, you will significantly reduce the time and money you spend on marketing activities.

How Do You Market an Old School Window Tinting Business Online?

Marketing Case Studies

Window Tinting Online Marketing Strategy - David Lee-Schneider Consulting

Recently, I had the pleasure of doing my 90-Day Marketing Transformation with Scott and Melisa at Just Tinting in Bundaberg.

As an honest, old-school business that has been operating for over 30 years and values good old-fashioned customer service, the digital side of marketing had always felt a little intimidating.

Moreover, being on the tools most days doesn’t really allow much time and headspace to worry about managing social media, website, online reviews and all the other “online stuff”.

So, when running a traditional offline business, how do you transition from radio ads and the Yellow Pages to a successful online marketing strategy that gets tangible results?

Implementing a Digital Marketing Strategy for a Window Tinting Company

Time is always of the essence and most business owners simply don’t have the time and headspace required to run time-consuming marketing activities on top of their day-to-day trade. So, in the 3 months of working together, I helped Scott & Mel to put systems in place that require no management at all but allowed Just Tinting to really leverage the online space.

Big Picture and Strategy

We started with our initial kick-off strategy session over Zoom in which I pulled all of Scott’s knowledge out of his head and onto a mind map. This is a crucial step for me to really understand the business inside and out.

I’m always amazed at how much knowledge my clients have of their services and industry. Good marketing is all about showcasing that knowledge and using it to educate your customers to make better choices.

We also got really clear on who the ideal customer is, their specific needs and wants, and how to make the process of dealing with Just Tinting super easy for them. From getting in touch and finding answers to questions, to getting a quote – our goal was to streamline the entire customer journey.

Content & The Digital Ecosystem

From there, My team and I went on to create a whole lot of content that we could share in various ways, including:

On the Website
On Social Media Accounts
Blog Articles
and Email Marketing Campaigns

Content connects your business with your audience. It’s what helps guide people in their decision-making process before making any purchase. When we provide content that is relevant, engaging and educational, we begin to attract the right audience. Understanding the digital ecosystem and how we can leverage the various platforms helps us design a strategy that is truly aligned with our customers’ needs.

Website Design and Search Engine Optimisation

As part of Just Tinting’s 90-Day Marketing Transformation, we also built a brand new website with best practices in mind, that is both easy to use and mobile-friendly so that it looks great on any device. We optimised the site for search engines (SEO) so that it shows up on the first page of Google when locals search for window tinting online.

We targeted popular keywords like “window tinting Bundaberg” and “car tinting Bundaberg” for which Just Tinting now ranks on the first page.

Website Design for Window Tinting Company - David Lee-Schneider

Marketing Automation

But we didn’t stop there. We also automated the entire content delivery for a hands-off approach that doesn’t require the constant time-consuming management of various platforms. As a result, Scott and Melisa now have posts going out on social media and Google My Business multiple times per week – on autopilot – never having to worry about what to post and knowing that their content is always engaging, relevant and on-brand.

FREE DOWNLOAD:
How to Get FREE Exposure For Your Business on Google Without Paying For it
CLICK HERE

In addition, we made use of clever email marketing automation to keep in touch with customers and continue to educate them about the various areas of the business and how they can benefit from Just Tinting’s different services. It’s always easier to sell a different service to an existing customer than to acquire a new customer. Email marketing is a fantastic tool to help your customers to return to your business.

To help build and manage online reviews, new customers now automatically receive an invitation to provide feedback and leave a review for Just Tinting online. Social proof not only boosts the business profile and credibility but also helps to attract more organic traffic, resulting in steady long-term growth.

Together, these strategies work holistically to generate new leads every day and support Just Tinting in its mission to provide Bundaberg locals with window tinting and car paint protection of the highest quality.

Could you benefit from a fully automated marketing strategy that helps grow your business while freeing up time, budget and headspace? Then join my 90-Day Marketing Transformation.

Client Feedback

Here’s what Scott and Mel had to say after their marketing transformation.

“Before working with David on our marketing strategy, we didn’t really know where to start or how to start! We were unsure what information was best to post on social media that would appeal to our audience and drive sales. Knowing how to build a professional website that is unique to Just Tinting was also a major challenge.

After seeing the successful outcomes of many other local businesses that engaged David for their marketing, we knew he could help us achieve greatness, too.

As a result of the new marketing strategy, we are now generating more enquires and business. Our marketing approach is much more organised in the gathering of our customers’ details, who now receive professional automated responses to their enquires.

We would recommend David to any business, regardless of whether they are just starting out or already established. The results have been amazing and we now have a fantastic website, as well as witty and informative Facebook posts going out regularly.

We only had to invest a small amount of our time to gain these wonderful results!”

– Scott & Melisa Purkis, Just Tinting

How To Effectively Use QR Codes in Your Marketing

How-To, Marketing

David Lee-Schneider

QR codes have many different use cases and with a little creativity, the possibilities are endless. In this article, I share how to make the use of QR codes effective, things you’ll need to consider and common mistakes to avoid.

Ready? Then let’s delve in!

QR codes are a great way to remove the boundary between print and online media. QR code is short for ‘quick respond code‘ and the reason they have gained in popularity in recent years is that it’s much easier and faster for someone to scan a code using their phone than it is to enter a long URL into the browser bar.

Some time ago, you were required to have a special QR code reader app in order to scan one, but Apple, Google and Co have since integrated this functionality into their native camera apps, eliminating the hurdle of having to download a separate app.

5 Ways to use QR codes in your business and marketing activities

Here are a few ideas for how you can effectively use QR codes in your business.

1. Link to your menu or list of services

You can use QR codes to link directly to a menu or services page on your website. Many cafes and restaurants have adopted this technology, as it makes it a lot easier to update their menus on the fly without having to reprint them every time. Some even take it a step further and link to an online ordering platform, so customers can order directly through their phone.

2. Offer a free download, a free trial or a discount coupon

QR codes make a fantastic tool for lead generation. Whether you’re running a brick and mortar business with a shop front, a popup store or a market stall, you can use QR technology to link to a simple landing page where people can enter their details (usually their name and email) in return for a freebie. This is a great way to fast-track your lead generation – even on the go.

Here’s an example of a landing page for Jivi Spa & Beauty, a Brisbane Massage Spa that I have worked with.

3. Use it to let your customers make a booking or schedule a meeting

Know those times you have to email back and forth multiple times just to find a suitable time to meet? This can easily be avoided with a simple scheduling tool like Calendly, for example. Once set up, you can have the QR code take your customers straight to the booking page. You can have the QR code printed on your business cards, brochures, even billboards.

4. Visit a specific page on your website

Sometimes, you may like to explain or showcase more than fits on a brochure or product fact sheet. Using a QR code, you can link directly to any page of your website, allowing people to discover more about your services or products. There’s so much more you can do on a webpage than you could ever do in print. For example, you can embed videos, use forms to collect feedback or other information, offer an interactive quiz, display helpful charts or animations, and so much more to help your customers connect.

5. Link to your social media accounts

QR codes are a quick and easy way to connect your audience with your social media accounts. Link directly to your Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn account – or why not create a page that links to all of the above and more?

BONUS TIP:

One of the fastest ways to grow your audience is using a giveaway or competition. Use a QR code to a dedicated landing page where people can enter to win. If you don’t know how to create a professional landing page or add pages to your website, this can be easily achieved with a free Google Form.

Common mistakes when using QR Codes

Now that you know how you can effectively use QR codes in your business, let’s look at some common mistakes we should avoid.

1. Using a low-quality image

When printing low-quality graphics, they can quickly look unclear and become unscannable. When creating your QR code, be sure to download it in high resolution (300dpi or more) to ensure it looks clear when printed.

2. Using a transparent background

It’s important to have your QR code on a clean, plain background as many smart phones won’t recognise it if it’s transparent or colourful. Ideally, you want your code to be black on a plain white background for best results. If you are planning to display your code on a shop window, be sure to choose a opaque sticker, rather than a transparent one or people will have trouble scanning it.

4. Not testing your QR code before printing

It is advisable to print a sample of your brochure or business card to check if your QR code scans properly and actually takes people to the correct link. Especially when printing multiple marketing materials that use different codes, it’s easy to get mixed up. Test each one separately to make sure each code is in its rightful place.

4. Using QR codes on Facebook or in other mobile apps

The whole purpose of a QR code is to take people from one device onto their own smartphone. Posting a QR code on Facebook or Instagram makes little sense, as people are most likely be looking at it on their phone already. In this case, a simple clickable link will be more suitable.

For some of my clients, I have embedded a QR code to schedule appointments on their contact page. However, it only shows when viewed on a desktop computer. When the page is opened on a mobile device, it changes to a button they can simply click. Always consider the environment of the user and what the easiest next step would be to take.

Ask yourself if it will be easier for people to scan a QR code or if a simple link may be a more elegant solution.

How do I create a QR code?

Creating your own unique QR code is easy and fast. There are a number of websites available that let you create QR codes for free. Some even let you customise your QR code by changing colours, embedding a logo and more.

Note: The important thing is that you download the generated code in high resolution (300dpi or more) to make sure it looks clear and scans correctly when printed.

Here are a few websites offering free online QR code generators:

https://www.qrcode-monkey.com

https://www.qr-code-generator.com

https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com

Have you used QR codes in your business before? If so, how?

4 Steps To a Successful Marketing Strategy

Business Growth Hacks, Marketing

David Lee-Schneider

Marketing is a bit of a mystery for many small business owners. After all, most of us didn’t go into business to market and sell, but to do whatever we are great at and love doing.

But when we break it down, marketing really isn’t such an overly complicated thing. There are very specific steps you can follow to implement a successful marketing strategy in your business and set yourself up for success. More specifically, there are four pieces to the marketing puzzle.

Customer Journey: Attract, Convert, Close, Delight

The big marketing mistake

Most business owners make the mistake to try and “close” people before they are ready to buy. You can see this reflected in most advertising. Whether that’s on TV, on the radio, in magazines or online ads, the message is pretty much always “buy our product now!”.

But before someone is ready to do business with you, we should consider a couple of other steps and implement a system that helps us to turn strangers into visitors, visitors into leads and leads into customers.

Free Download: The 4 stages of a complete inbound marketing strategy

Inbound marketing strategy for small business - Small business marketing by David Lee-Schneider — Download 1-Page Marketing Cycle (PDF)

Let me explain each stage in a little more detail.

1. Attract

First of all, every business needs the ability to continuously attract new potential customers. No customer, no business. It’s pretty self-explanatory. We need to have visitors before we can have customers — whether that’s online or in-store.

Ways to increase traffic and get more visitors

Have a great website
Share valuable and relevant information on your blog
Search Engine Optimisation to attract organic traffic
Engaging Social Media Content (with the goal to drive people back to your website/blog)
Paid advertising (i.e. Facebook ads, Google ads, print ads, TV ads, radio ads etc.)
Joint Ventures (partnering with complementary businesses to help each other grow)

2. Convert

Secondly, we need to be able to somehow “capture” these potential customers, so that we can reach out to them again to build a relationship with them. This is where we talk about leads. People who have given us permission to contact them, but haven’t bought from us yet.

Ways to convert visitors into leads

Offer a free download (i.e. e-book, checklist, cheat sheet, discount voucher, video etc.)
Use optimised landing pages to increase your conversion rate
Split-test your free offer to identify the most effective one
Re-targeting ads to past visitors

3. Close

Thirdly, and probably most importantly, we need to be able to turn these leads into actual customers. Because all the visitors and leads in the world won’t help if we can’t get them to buy our product or service.

Ways to turn leads into customers

Use automated email sequences to nurture your leads and help them with their buying decision
Keep educating your leads to increase their understanding and awareness
Send out irresistible offers that will get people to take action
Use multiple channels to initiate a conversation with prospects
Re-targeting ads designed to move your leads closer to the purchase

Now, this is where most businesses stop. But there’s one more crucial step that makes your marketing strategy so much more effective.

4. Delight

Would your customers buy from you again? This is an important question that you should be able to confidently answer with a big fat “yes”. You want to wow your customers and aim to over-deliver, so that the great customer experience you deliver will be reflected in customer reviews, repeat business and word-of-mouth.

Ways to turn customers into advocates

Deliver a great and consistent customer experience
Aim to over-deliver and surprise your customers
Collect feedback to constantly improve your product or service
Invite those who gave great feedback to leave reviews on Google, Facebook or TripAdvisor
Showcase customer testimonials on your website and social media channels

This fourth step will close the cycle and, in turn, generate even more organic traffic, leads and customers, ultimately helping you to grow your business perpetually.

With these four elements in place, you will have built a strong marketing foundation that will allow you to take your business to new heights and maximise your return on every marketing activity in your business.