Planning
Sales & Marketing
To be successful in marketing you first need to realize there is a difference between Marketing & Sales. And most tradesman are far better at Sales than they are at Marketing.
Sales is the goal to persuade a prospect to purchase your service. Marketing is the goal to identify customer needs, create services to meet those needs, then promote and advertise to generate leads. These leads then filter to the selling cycle.
So before continuing, just agree there is a difference since you need to spiritually separate the topics as independent business issues and you will be well on your way towards marketing success.
Planning
Too many companies create a website only to be disappointed with lead generation results.
Many times it is not the programmers fault since programmers are generally more versed at keyword analysis and webpage tech terms as opposed to marketing strategy.
Many times it is not the owners fault neither since they were inadvertently not really clear on the objectives of the business, and there lies the challenge.
Time and money are also a factor, and many times people shoot for short term results without realizing they should target just a little more investment for on-going success.
SEO
It takes just a little time to learn what it takes to have a website found by search engines.
And even if you are working with your own programmer or outside firm, it is still very advantageous to understand the basics. The reason is you then can accumulate content (testimonials, pictures, video and more) to support the technical side without necessarily needing to understand the details.
This is one topic that is not going away anytime soon, and a little knowledge will allow you to position to be so far ahead of your competition, and programmers will enjoy working with you even more too!
How Do I Learn
There are a few options depending on the size of your business and available finances too. Another consideration is whether you are just looking to address one individual issue, or jump start your existing website, or possibly create a brand new website with a clear intent to dominate your local market while seriously positioning against the local competition.
Regardless of size and finances, MyOnlineToolbox has options to help you get your marketing moving forward.
Lead
Marketing objectives should include the need to get good leads while ensuring you project a good image for people to want to contact you.
Think about the leads coming next week, but POSITION for the leads next month, next quarter and next year. It comes so fast, and that is your secret to success, realizing to position for tomorrow.
We want you to not become dormant with marketing until things slow down, a common mistake. A little education and planning allows you to passively maintain your marketing so the quality lead generation opportunities stay consistent through many business and seasonal cycles. It is the best way to grow your business and be ahead of the competition for a long period of time.
