What do I need?

[PH2012]

Ladies and Gents

I started my business back in October 2012 and finally got my website up and running in February 2013 (my business sells a service rather than a product).

I have added myself to Yell, Google, Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter and even Thomson Local.

I have had no enquiries despite this.

I'm just wondering what action I can take to try and get some leads.

I am considering sponsoring a charity at the moment to get my name out there but don't know if this would be money well spent.

To be honest, I don't really understand the difference between advertising and marketing and which would be best at this stage. I don't understand the difference between SEO or other website ranking products and which, if any, is any better than the other.

Any advice and help would be gratefully received.

 

[Pareto Associates]

Unfortunately, I can't help you with the SEO or Website side of things as I have little experience in this field.

However, I can explain to you that advertising is one component of marketing.

Marketing is loosely comprised of two parts Marketing Strategy and Marketing Operations.

Your marketing strategy is all about the market/industry, the customer etc...

Your marketing operations is your SEO, website, advertisement etc...

Where the two mix is your strategy dictates to your operations (in theory).


So what does this mean to you:

At the moment, it seems you are plucking random ideas out of the air e.g. sponsoring a charity, with out doing your strategy homework.

You need to understand how your potential customers think, how they operate, how they want to be approached etc...

 

[Rich Best]

Hi there,

As the other member said, I think you're lacking a direction when it comes to your marketing.

As I don't know what type of business you are running it's hard to give that advice but as an online marketer I can give you a little guidance on how to and not to use social media, improve SEO and various other aspects of marketing on the web.

You could take a look at a few blogs and teach yourself about social media and SEO, that would be a great start. We have a blog with lots of info so feel free to take a look at that then if you have any more questions send me a PM!

 

[ethical PR]

Try marketing donut

 

[Deleted member 138423]

Ladies and Gents

I started my business back in October 2012 and finally got my website up and running in February 2013 (my business sells a service rather than a product).

I have added myself to Yell, Google, Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter and even Thomson Local.

I have had no enquiries despite this.

I'm just wondering what action I can take to try and get some leads.

I am considering sponsoring a charity at the moment to get my name out there but don't know if this would be money well spent.

To be honest, I don't really understand the difference between advertising and marketing and which would be best at this stage. I don't understand the difference between SEO or other website ranking products and which, if any, is any better than the other.

Any advice and help would be gratefully received.

What service do you provide?

 

[Zach1810]

Ladies and Gents

I started my business back in October 2012 and finally got my website up and running in February 2013 (my business sells a service rather than a product).

I have added myself to Yell, Google, Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter and even Thomson Local.

I have had no enquiries despite this.

I'm just wondering what action I can take to try and get some leads.

I am considering sponsoring a charity at the moment to get my name out there but don't know if this would be money well spent.

To be honest, I don't really understand the difference between advertising and marketing and which would be best at this stage. I don't understand the difference between SEO or other website ranking products and which, if any, is any better than the other.

Any advice and help would be gratefully received.

Hi Phillip. Do you have much of a following on Facebook/Twitter?
I would look at building yourself as a trusted source..

I would certainly recommend sitting down and finding your target market. Then thinking of how you can do this.

Dependant on your service, its going to be different target market, and therefore offer you different strategies.

Hope that helps

Zach

 

[PH2012]

Thanks for all your replies so far.

When I set up the business I knew that my target market was solicitors, insurance firms, banks, local authorities and private individuals (however, I am unable to target specific individuals other than to say those who can afford my service).

For the above target markets (other than private individuals) I thought about how to target them. I thought about mail shots, however, I spoke to a competitor who was very helpful. He said that he tried this himself and got no response from anyone. When he spoke to friends within these industries he said that someone in the mail room would bin the mail shot before it got anywhere else or that, as they get so many, they bin the mail shot themselves. Therefore, I decided that it was a waste of money.

I thought about advertising in industry specific directories, however, the one I was looking at would cost me over £1000 a year!

For private individuals I did some market research and asked how they would go about finding my service. Google was the only answer I was given!

 

[ITsoldUK]

As above....

...stop chasing your tail, write a marketing plan and go from there.

Spend a good week (if not more) researching all aspects and in time, this week will save you years of wasted, meaningless effort for scant reward.

Regards
Daren

 

[MikeAppleton]

First you need to figure out if your lack of enquiries is a result of people not knowing about you or not believing in your service enough.

Get Google Analytics set up on your site or some other tracking script. This will tell you if you're getting visitors, and if you are, where you are losing them (you can refine your strategy around that knowledge). If the traffic is not actually coming, then you need to do some brand-building, getting your name out there. Registering at the local CoC will get you a lot of networking opportunities.

 

[User_is_Online]

Google Adwords ppc maybe ?

 

[Janelle]

you need more effort and patient. It takes time buddy

 

[Banksbroo]

Hi PH
Starting October and web site up and running by Feb is a good start. It can take quite a few months before you start to see any organic Google search traffic.

As someone said, get Google analytics or decent stats package up and running (not a page hit counter!), that will tell you how people are finding you, and what terms they are using.

Tell us here what you do! I understand you provide a service. But what service? Changing light bulbs or advising on hedge fund investment?

See all these adverts running at the side of the page? Well, no one is going to mind if you just tell us what you actually do!

Best of luck.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Get the potential customers names and then using hand written decent envelopes send your details to them marking "Private and Confidential" on the envelope

Enclose your printed flyer describing why they should see you and what benifit a meeting would be to them.

Try and find their home address by google or other directories and post there

Just think out of the box

If using PPC make sure you are only targeting your chosen area in google not the whole of the UK or Europe

 

[Marketester]

As above....

...stop chasing your tail, write a marketing plan and go from there.

Spend a good week (if not more) researching all aspects and in time, this week will save you years of wasted, meaningless effort for scant reward.

Regards
Daren

A marketing plan is the best place to start. You need to create a weekly, monthly, and yearly plan of what you want to achieve. From there you can break it down into how you will achieve each aim.

Without a marketing plan you will be aimlessly throwing your company information out to the wrong audience, at the wrong time, and through the wrong channel.

Also maybe take some more time to get to know your customers; when would they need your business, why would they need your business, and where would they need it.

 

[umamidesignforfood]

We have just recently done a very high-end mailshot to potential clients and advocates for our new brand - and we've got another less expensive one lined up soon. We wrote a blog on the process, which you might want to read. (can't post the live link but it's at blog.umamidesignforfood.co.uk/5-tips-to-deliver-old-school-marketing-with-a-twist)
If you want any help discussing marketing drop me a PM, always happy to help!