Why it pays to make marketing part of your firm’s DNA

Marjorie Scardino, the former CEO of Pearson Group, famously advised firms looking for business success to “Have a plan, execute it violently and do it today”.

As we reach the summer holiday months, it’s time to gear up for your autumn marketing campaigns. It’s an increasingly competitive market, so thinking and planning now will help you get a head start in developing new and profitable business for the months ahead. Here are some tactics you might want to be thinking about.

Develop clear marketing objectives

What does success look like? Deciding what your goals are will help you create the right strategy to deliver the results you’re looking for.

Whilst your first priority is likely to be to have a contact strategy to protect and nurture your existing clients, you’ll also need to have in place an on-going and well-thought-through marketing strategy designed to produce a steady flow of new business opportunities.

Adopting a ‘little and often’ approach to marketing, rather than going for fewer, bigger campaigns, means it’s less likely to be postponed or pulled if you get busy, and will mean you won’t risk being overwhelmed by receiving all your responses in one go. Sending a small number of mailers each week to develop a steady stream of new contacts won’t become a daunting chore, more a vital part of your core business activities.

Keep visitors coming back to your website

Research has shown that when a person views a website, they decide within thirty seconds whether to continue viewing the page or go to another site. Consequently, it’s never been more important to make sure that your site instantly connects with visitors, draws them in and makes them want to access more information about what you have to offer.

The best websites are eye-catching but simple enough to be navigated in seconds. Your home page should provide ready access to your areas of expertise, team profiles and biographies, contact information and links to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. News and opinion pieces should be prominently displayed, giving visitors the opportunity to gather up-to-date information about your firm quickly and easily, with a minimum number of page clicks.

Produce newsletters that audiences truly want to read

Newsletters should be eagerly-anticipated, timely, topical, an easy and pleasurable read and, most importantly, should leave the reader wanting to contact you for more information.

Research has shown that good layout and design pay dividends in reader engagement. Making sure articles are presented in a professional format with easily-digestible amounts of text, good structure and the use of subheadings and bullet points can make them a good and informative read.

Make your presence felt on social media

Many business people have yet to dip more than a toe into the social media space. However, integrating it with your blogs and website can be a powerful way to create a presence, network, win referrals and help people get to know what services you have to offer them.

With so many people now using LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter in a business context, having a social media presence is becoming increasingly important. Many potential clients check out an organisation’s on-line profile as part of their screening process, so it’s important to be easily accessible.

In addition to having a corporate presence on these sites, encourage everyone to participate. Tweeting interesting, relevant and shareable information will drive traffic to your firm’s account.

By Margaret Emmens