Stage 5 – Marketing campaigns

Launching marketing campaigns and other incentives to attract new business can be a daunting prospect – it’s often said that in marketing, 50% of the budget is wasted… the trouble is we don’t know which 50% it is! Times have changed and it’s now easier to track open rates, page views and bookings.

Newsletter marketing

Most businesses collect customer details – these are incredibly valuable and can be used to communicate with the customer, keep them updated on what’s happening in your business and make them aware of any offers they might be interested in. The idea is that through mail shots, you can make a one time customer into a regular customer.

One newsletter per month is generally enough for most businesses, although you can also send flash offers or sales that are only available to subscribers or which run for a limited period.

Social Media campaigns

Allocating a spend per month on social media is a good idea – from this, you will be able to decide what network your target audience uses and where to focus your spend. Ad tools such as those offered by Facebook allow you to target specific age groups, locations, and interests,  giving your ad maximum exposure and the best possible chance of hitting new customers.

Writing content

A regular blog feature on your website is great for attracting new visitors to your site, it offers something to read on a specific topic but also invites people to take a look at your other services.

Press releases

Sometimes it’s not easy to catch the attention of the press, so it is useful to build up local contacts in the media and invite them to any events or open days you might be promoting. This will aid you when pushing out press releases about changes in your business.

Posting on Social Media

Text should all be well-written and in a format that your target audience can understand. Always try to write in the same tense and using similar terminology so your readers get to know and understand your style. Each post should include the following elements:

• Headline
• Call to action
• Photograph
• Contact

Photography

Keeping all of your photography in a similar style allows viewers to recognise at a glance that the image belongs to your brand. This can be more difficult to achieve when taking the photos yourself, however, camera phones work well and the image quality is easily good enough for use on social media.

Print copy marketing

Deciding on what to include in a brochure or on a flyer can be difficult – once printed, it can’t be changed, so make sure you check each word and sentence carefully. For a flyer, for example, we would include the following information.

• Headline – what am I promoting?
• Tagline – a little more detail
• Photo – relevant, striking image
• Body text – info on where, when, how and why
• Contact – how to book or get in touch
• Details – social media and website addresses