marketing – Growing Forward

If your business isn’t seeing the level of success that you know that it can, then you need to do something about that. The more that you put it off, and the less that you do to rectify whatever is wrong, the longer your business is going to struggle. In the end, this could result in you losing your business if you’re not careful. The good news is that you can start taking steps right now to ensure the future of your company, you just need to know where to start.

Luckily, we’re here to help with that. Down below, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the ways that you can stop holding your business back, and start doing better so that you can see better results. Would you like to find out more? Feel free to read on.

Know What Your Business Needs

We’re going to kick things off by looking at what your business needs. Do you have any idea what this is? Do you have any idea where your business is struggling and what you’re not providing for it? If not, then that’s a huge problem. As the business owner, it’s your job to ensure that your business has what it needs in order to see success, and if this is not happening, it falls squarely on your shoulders.

There are plenty of articles online that you can read about the basics for your business, and we’re going to be covering some of them down below, but you need to do your research. The more that you know, the easier it’s going to be to see success. Start with equipment, then move onto other things, making lists as you go so you know what you need to purchase.

Work On Your Leadership

A lot of people struggle to look at themselves as a potential problem, but that’s not a good way to run a business. You need to look at all of the elements, and that includes you even though it can be tough to assess yourself. If you feel as though you’re not even remotely the problem, we do recommend that you have a private individual who has nothing to do with your business come and assess your leadership.

If it turns out that you’re not doing as well as you could be, then it’s time to take action. There are leadership courses that you can take that have been designed to help you be the very best leader you can be. Once you’ve completed these, hopefully you will find it easier to manage your business, moving forward in the best way possible.

A Solid Website

Have you given much thought to your website? If not, then that’s an important area that you’re not going to be able to ignore for much longer. Your business site is one of the first things that most people see, and therefore is the first impression that many get of your business. If you’re not careful, you’re going to drive people away before they get to know much about your business, causing you major problems in getting the sales that you need.

So, you need to undertake an evaluation of your website. Look at the aesthetic and see if this is pleasing, look at the functionality of the website to check if this is an issue, and more. It might be the case that you’re going to need to hire a professional to completely redo your website, creating something that appeals to users, and keeps their attention, while also keeping the feel of your business.

Create Your Own App

Do you have an app for your business? If you don’t, then you could be missing a trick here. It’s all well and good to optimize your business for mobile use, but you’ve still got to do more than that. You’ve got to make sure that you have your own app so that people can use this effectively, encouraging them to purchase whatever it is you’re selling.

Everyone has apps these days, and you can’t be the only one who doesn’t. For example, there are dumpster rental business apps for businesses who provide this service, there are gaming apps for phones, design apps for phones, and so much more. You need to be developing your own app for the sake of your business, and if you don’t, you will continue to lag behind.

Research Your Target Audience Better

A key area that companies forget about is their target audience, which sounds silly, but it happens. It’s not just a case of researching the target audience when you first begin your business and then not needing to do it anymore, as the wants and needs will change over time. You need to make sure that you are continuing to give your customers and potential customers what they want, otherwise they’re going to go and find a business that does.

Ideally, you should be conducting regular research, keeping up to date with market trends and more. If you feel as though you can’t do this, or you wouldn’t do it to the right standard, you need to make sure that you are hiring someone who can. There are outside individuals who are happy to do this for you, so find one of them and get a report compiled for you. This way, you get all of the information that you need, but you don’t have to worry about finding it yourself, which is a huge stress off of your plate.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the things that you can do to stop holding your business back and start doing better. We know that sometimes it feels unfair that it all falls on your shoulders at the end of the day, but it’s your company. The success and failures are yours, and they impact you the most, so pushing towards success is important.

Rachel Howe is someone I know through the social media platform Brazen. Back then it was a virtual place to meet other Young Professionals. Recently I had a client who asked me for a SEO recommendation so I scoured through LinkedIn and contacted Rachel to gauge her interest. Long story short, my client hired Rachel and everyone is happy. Since SEO can be an intimidating subject, I’ve asked Rachel to share her thoughts in the following interview:

1) Tell us a little bit about how you got started in SEO.

Well, what can I say? I don’t think anyone can say that they grew up wanting to be a search engine optimizer when they were a kid. Especially since the internet is less than half a century old! I did what I think most people who entered the profession ended up doing, I kind of fell into it. When I was a kid I used to want to be an artist or a veterinarian. I quickly realized that I was no good at science and biology. And, while I enjoy art and have taken a few college art classes, I knew that it wasn’t something I was passionate enough about to do day in and day out (not to mention when you’re putting yourself through college, being a starving artist just won’t cut it.). So, I studied marketing. I could see myself as a businesswoman and marketing combined my interest in using my creativity and business interest. I had no idea what I wanted to do though. When I graduated, I ended up working in the corporate setting for a couple of years. I knew that I couldn’t keep that up. It was just too draining. So I did things I liked like writing and marketing. I set up my own blog and started blogging about internet marketing. Soon after I got my first agency job at a small agency here in Milwaukee. And the rest is history ☺

2) What are some misconceptions about SEO that you’d like to clear up?

I think the SEO industry is interesting because there are people out there that give it a bad rap. There are “black hat” SEOs that try to game the system and make a quick buck, which are the biggest culprits. But there are also people that just think that you slap a few title tags on a site, stuff some keywords on the page and voila! The site is SEOed. While that would be great, it also does the profession a disservice. It is a profession for a reason. People make their livelihoods out of it and a lot of work goes into doing great SEO. It’s a large combination of things including understanding algorithms, code, marketing principles, PR and having good business sense. There’s a lot of work that goes into it, so my hope is that by bringing transparency in combination with education, we’ll shed more light into this up and coming, complex industry.

3) On your site, you talk about creating meaningful connections vs. solely driving sales and leads – why is that important?

A lot of people will tell you they can make you a ton of money with SEO and get you to the top of Google for “xyz” terms. The chances of them delivering on that is low. Yes, it is definitely possible, but there really are no guarantees with search engines. Things change all the time and you can only really estimate and put your best foot forward. Even if they could get you to the top and let’s say they convert here and there. Are they repeat purchasers, or just a bunch of one-timer purchasers or visitors? Because if all you get is one time purchasers or visits, you’d really be missing out on a valuable segment of your market, which is repeat purchasers. And going after that is a better use of your marketing dollars and time.

If you think about how search engines like Google evaluate websites, it’s really almost like evaluating a business as if it were the brick and mortar itself. You have to be a good, credible business in the real world and that translates on the internet. Which is largely due to the relationships you build and how you run your shop. So, it’s really important to think about the broader perspective when you get into marketing your business online, or anywhere for that matter.

4) If you had to sum up what you do in one word, what would it be? Why?

Marketing. At the end of the day, great SEO is more than just getting higher rankings. It’s helping people market their products and services.

5) Describe to my readers what it’s like working with you & why they should hire you!

I like to think that I’m easy to get along with and at the end of the day, I want to help people with marketing and growing their business. I think big picture, but I’m also practical. I don’t tell people what they want to hear, I tell them what they need to hear so we can focus on getting results. If you want to work with someone who’s honest, hard-working and cares about getting you results over a paycheck, then here I am! (of course, I want a paycheck, but you get the point 😉