By: Lori T. Williams, Owner/Managing Attorney of Your Legal Resource, PLLC
Is it time for a marketing makeover? When was the last time your website was updated? Are you still using the same tri-fold brochure you created 10 years ago?
Recently I was evaluating my own marketing materials for my consulting services. I was considering keeping one piece, and adding another piece to explain a new consulting service I created. I had to ask myself whether every word in the prior marketing piece still reflected the current business model. There were enough changes over the last few years, as I honed my services to address my ideal client’s needs, that I decided to create two new ebrochures and scrap the old one.
Professional service providers and other small business owners need to stay up to date on their marketing materials to reflect what’s going on in TODAY’s business. Have you developed any new services or lines of business in the last few years? Does your marketing material reflect that?
Linda Anger, Owner of The Write Concept, a 13 year-old marketing, design, and communications company advises professionals to update their print collateral annually, or sooner if a major change has occurred. “Effective marketing generates momentum. It should engage the reader and cause them to want to learn more about you and your services.”
It’s a process and may look something like this for the business owner:
- You mention an event you are hosting, to generate buzz amongst your online friends and their friends, including Twitter Followers, and those folks who “Like” your Facebook Page.
- As your online community grows and the buzz begins, they start to fill your pipeline and your bank account.
Photo Credit: http://dngraham.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/online-marketing-pipeline1.png
Linda also advises you keep three things in mind, as you create and refine your marketing plans:
- The 80/20 rule: 80% of your Tweets and FB posts should be informative or educational material your prospects and clients really want to read. Only 20% should be “promo” material for your goods or services.
- If you are posting the same info multiple times over several days (such as an event notice), change up the title or lead-in material.
- The Momentum generated by Marketing should ALWAYS come back to YOU—that is, to your main website, blog, email, or some other “call to action” location.
According to Kentaro, a web design and web marketing agency located in Ann Arbor, MI, whose founder is a recent Crain’s 20 in their 20’s award winner,
” The successful marketer of today and beyond is flexible, resourceful, on top of online trends, plugged in to conversations happening on social networks, and ready to change course at the drop of a hat. She’s building relationships with bloggers, webmasters, and fans/followers. And she’s good at communicating the importance–and returns–of online marketing to even the least-technical of clients. But she’s also got one ear to the ground at all times.”
Does that sound like you and your business? If you can use some help, let us know. We work with many marketing professionals who can help you fill in what’s missing from your marketing plan.
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Linda Anger and The Write Concept work with small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to engage and inspire their prospects and clients with marketing that matters. She was NAWBO Greater Detroit’s 2011 “Pioneering Spirit” Award Winner, and is one of the founding members of Motor City Connect. Linda’s articles have appeared in Multicultural Law Magazine, Black Engineer Magazine, and Profiles in Diversity Journal. Her poetry and fiction has appeared in Almost Touching (Plain View Press, 1996), Still Crazy Literary Magazine, and a variety of other small-press journals. To learn more, visit www.thewriteconcept.com. Follow Linda on Twitter (@TWCinMI), Facebook (Linda Anger – Personal Page, TheWriteConcept – business page) or subscribe to her blog.
