Want To Increase Sales? There’s almost limitless methods for doing so. And all those methods boil down to one thing:
Be in front of your audience when they need you.
That’s it. That’s the key to increasing your sales. Think about it, when you’re at a restaurant, do you care with the bathroom is? Not til you need it, right? Or an ATM. You likely pass dozens of them every day and don’t notice them, right? But what happens when you’re out of cash? Every ATM comes into focus. What’s more, you might scurry to find one.
So many small business owners don’t consider this when they market their business. They work hard on their vision and business plan. Then they focus on their offer and how best to communicate that offer to a target market. Ideally, they’re wanting to position themselves as an expert in a select niche market.
But no one cares that you’re an expert until they need an expert. In other words, no one cares that you can solve a set a problems until they are faced with those set of problems. Then, they go out and look for a solution.
As a business owner, you want to find the most effective ways to get your business, your expertise, your solutions in front of people when they need it.
I know what you thinking…how do I know when people need what I have to offer?
The simple answer is, well, you don’t. But you can spend time identifying a clear niche in which to spend your marketing efforts (and budget). And you can use search engines, forums, social media (blogs, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc) and your website to make yourself more visible to people as a whole. The more people know what you do, the more potential for your work to passed on to someone who needs it.
For instance, you can use SEO and SEM to target specific key phrases that people may be searching for when they’re looking to solve their problem. But be specific and highly targeted. If you train poodles, you likely aren’t going to get much return for optimizing your site for dog trainers. But if you optimize your site for poodle trainers in New England, now you have a specfic niche you’re targeting. And when people need their poodle trained, and live in New England, you’ll likely get found.
Same is true with social media. Use your blog and profiles on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, among others, to establish your expertise. Then openly share with people who you are, what you do and who you do it for. If they don’t need your services, they may know someone who does.
And there’s other approaches as well - forums, blog commenting, article submission, etc. The list goes on. Just remember that you want to present your expertise at the time when people most need it. If you allow that to be your guiding light, you won’t be marketing in the dark. And more people will buy - today, even.
Are you targeting your audience at the times they need you most? If so, how’s that working for you? And if not, why not? Let’s talk about it.
My name is Dawud Miracle and I'm a
23 responses so far ↓
Very good tips. I especially like the article submission idea. I submitted some to online sites such as ezinearticles and associated content. Many of the readers there are very supportive.
Great article, Dawud… loved the points about the social networking sites. One trap that I’ve found myself falling into is just not keeping up with them… joining everything under the sun, and then not properly maintaining profiles, updates, etc., because I didn’t have a systematic way of maintaining them. Even if people remember you from one area, it can tend to blow things if you don’t have current information out there.
Defining your target market to the most minute detail possible is essential for success in any business. Becoming an expert in your niche - being “in front of your audience when they need you” - can make a lot of difference. But, as is often the case in the internet, people may not always need your services right away. Providing service, i.e., useful and value-laden information, at a time when when people aren’t buying, creates an impression of commitment and professionalism. Engaging your audience (through the forums and the other examples you gave), even if they don’t need you or are not ready to buy for the moment is strategically important in promoting your service and your brand. Or as you said Dawud, “they may know someone who does.” Hopefully, when the time comes when they’re ready to buy, you will be the first in their mind. Thanks for this great article, Dawud.
As usual, I go back to basics.
What would you do in the real world? The key word is recall. Do everything you possibly can to enable a prospect to recall your name/brand.
This is need research and you can use some SEO softwares to getting best keywords that google search engine have written in their keywords database.
Dawud, excellent! Sometimes business concepts are extraordinarily simples, as is “Be in front of your audience when they need you.”
But therein lies the challenge! How does one do that? Blogs, forum and social networking participation, etc., as you point out. But…
I’ve been successful in reaching my audience, but I think it’s going to get more and more difficult to accomplish. As more and more people blog, participate in forums and social networking on the internet, it’s going to become even more challenging to stand out from the crowd. The volume will get louder and louder as more and more people jump on the PR/SEO bandwagon.
travel,
I’ve found the same thing.
Lyman,
That’s been my experience as well. That’s why I’ve been doubling efforts lately with Plaxo and LinkedIn. And it’s already paying off with inquiries and work. But best of all is the relationships.
How are you using social media to increase your revenue?
Mike,
Great points. I often suggest to my clients that they forget about a target audience and focus on speaking to one person. That way, people can feel like you’re speaking right to them.
Are you using social media, then, to grow your business?
Home Recording,
Exactly. You want to stand out. The best marketing I’ve seen is when I’ve needed something and have looked for a solution that I might have found months ago. Sometimes I’ll crawl all over the web to find that specific solution.
What about you, how do you usually select the solutions you use?
Mikes,
True. But don’t you think that we also need to connect with people and directly find out what their needs are?
Skip,
It is difficult, I think, if you consider the mass of people’s needs. But if you put yourself in front of lots of people constantly, those who need you now can act now. And those who need you later can find you when they need you. Isn’t that the whole idea? And isn’t that the way we can draw business on a regular basis?
I started doing article submission a few years ago with the sole intent to get backlinks to my website. I can’t tell you how many customers I have gotten from those articles! What a surprise.
Dawud, with your permission, I would like to address Skip Andersen. This issue was raised in the last blog - your blog is not your business!
When marketing to prospective legal clients everything is about availability when the client needs legal services. You can be everywhere marketing, advertsing, networking, participating on all media designed for socialization but when they call and you are not available it goes something like this:
I need a lawyer. I called you. You were not available. I called another lawyer. I no longer need you.
Thanks for the article! It makes so much sense but I never though about it like that. I didn’t see a point to having my own blog or using facebook but I get it now. I will be starting now! Thanks!
Thank you for the article. There’s a lot of information packed in it. I would just like to add that besides doing all the things you suggested, it’s also important to know how to track your results. Internet marketing is constantly changing. You need to know what works best for you and react quickly.
Thanks for the article. That’s very simple tips. And very easy to use.
You are so right, “no one cares that you’re an expert until they need an expert.”. The trick is that when looking for an expert, yours should be the product or service that is both visible and easily accessible. Very good post!
thanks for these easy but helpful ideas for marketing as well as to reach in the front of visitors.
Safety,
I get clients the same way. What percentage of your clients come that way?
Home Recording,
You always have permission to answer other readers. Please do.
Susan,
Do people wait to speak with you ever?
Sacramento,
How do you see yourself getting yourself in front of your audience when they need you?
Adam,
Absolutely. I have way too much to say about tracking that I can’t even get started in the comment box. Look for posts on tracking in the future.
In the meantime, what stats do you find most important to track for your business?
Submission,
Is there something there you’ll utilize?
Nicole,
How effective have been putting yourself in front of people when they need you?
Web design,
Certainly. Can you see yourself and your company utilizing any of what I’ve offered?
So Dawud, this means I have to make myself visible constantly? Because I never know when my target audience/market would need me. I guess this is where constant ethical SEO practice comes in right? I like how you laid out a very simple business principle that is often made to sound so complex.
Call Center,
It does. You want to make yourself as visible as you can without being annoying to your audience. It’s a fine balance.
Is it hard to find that Balance for you? And, will it be for others (beginners etc)? Thanks for the great article. I enjoyed reading.
Secret,
From time-to-time it has been. But with a wife and young kids who I want to spend every waking moment with, I have little trouble with balance these days.
You?
This article is so true. We offer article distribution services to help give you more visibility in less time. Drop by and check us out at Article Sender
The best way to improve your sales is provide great products or provide niche service which no one else offer or very limted provider is avaliable,
I also believe that good marketing would improve ones sales. You make yourself more visible to your target market with the marketing strategies that you use. With the strategies that I am using, I get to reach my target audience and I can say that it is really working for me.