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New Year Strategy, A New Start For Social Media Marketing

New Year Strategy, A New Start For Social Media Marketing

Another year gives new opportunities to reach new goals, set new targets and create even more success in your business than you ever have imagined before.

It’s the perfect time to revisit your business plan and the marketing strategy that you have been following over the past 12 months and to see what new strategies you can put into place for the next 12 months ahead.

If you take a step back and think about where you were this time last year, how much have you progressed or achieved in those 12 months? You may even surprise yourself, not realising that you completed so much, evaluating can be a great process to go through in order to set new goals and achieve even more in a given timeframe.

 

Start with business goals and objectives

If you have one long term objective for your business, what would that be? Now break that down into achievable goals that you can work towards in smaller bite-sized periods.

  • What steps do you need to make in order to reach each goal?
  • How can marketing help you get there?

goal setting for a new year and a new strategy plan

SMART goals

The most essential ingredient in making sure your marketing will have a positive effect in your business goals and objectives is to ensure that you are making your goals SMART.

  • SPECIFIC – Focus on one clearly defined metric. Set concise goals that sum up what you want to achieve, how you will get there and by when.
  • MEASURABLE – Have a way to measure the outcome of your actions.
  • ACHIEVABLE – Make the goal achievable, attainable and realistic.
  • RELEVANT – Ensure the goal is going to benefit your business, relevant to your overall plan.
  • TIME-BOUND – Set a time that the goal should be achieved by, in line with business objectives.

When you’re setting out your marketing goals, filter them through the SMART process and direct them through each of the key points in order to create a goal that is in line with your business’s overall plan, it has benefit and purpose, it can be measured and it will maximise the impact when it is achieved. The more specific you are with your goals and how you’re going to action them, the bigger the impact will be when you get there.

When we break down each goal and step, we can give it proper recognition and attention. Our marketing efforts can then be broken down even further to match our goals and ensure we give each point its own marketing funnel.

 

new year, new start for your business social media marketing - create a strategy that will produce results

Make social media marketing fun!

The clue is in the name “social”. Your online marketing should be enjoyable, not a chore, and play a part in showcasing and allowing potential customers to discover who you are, along with getting to know more about you.

  • What do you love about your business? Shout about it!
  • What do you want customers to know about you? Share it!

When you put real life emotion and authenticity into your voice, people get to know the person behind the brand, giving them opportunity to love what you’re about – eventually getting into your sales/lead funnel that will help you grow your business.

 

Make social media engaging

When you’re having fun and sharing what’s important to you and the business, entice people to engage with your content. And this often needs to be spelled out – they don’t necessarily know to take action, unless you ask them to.

Ask them to click through to your website, to drop a comment, to give feedback, to give opinion. People are more likely to engage when they’re invited to do so. And think about what you want them to do when they do engage, where do you want them to end up and what expectation do you have from them seeing your post?

Social media is all about the engagement. You could have 100 likes on a Facebook post just because an image looks pretty but are they actually engaging with the message you’re giving and are they ready to take action from that piece of content? How can you change the way you say something or the look / feel of your content to catch their attention for the better, and reach your ‘ideal’ audience?

strategy and goal setting to create new year business success

Create a social media strategy

In everything you do or produce within your marketing remit, there has to be a plan or strategy behind it. A marketing strategy will help you pull everything together, give you direction and clarity on who you’re targeting, who you want to reach, why you’re doing it and how you’re going to perform the actions. A strategy guides and keeps you on track and gives you the opportunity to measure results, whether successful or not and steers the path to a better result by a given time frame.

The idea behind a strategy means that you get to know, understand, love and add value to your audience. It means that you’re not wasting time doing something that has no goodness for your business but gives you the steppingstones to really dig deep into your audience, your target market and can give them exactly what they are looking for. You can provide solutions to their pain points and provide value into their situations, even when they don’t know they need it!

So, if you’re looking to start this year with a plan, purpose and a mission, how are you going to get there? Can you put strategy into your social media marketing and give this year the opportunity to take you to new heights? Yes! We love to help you get there. Contact us and let’s talk about making this year, YOUR year for business success.

And as a free gift to you, we’d like to offer our free downloadable social media checklist, just in case you’re happy to go it alone. We’d rather give you a little step up than send you away with not knowing where to get started. Enjoy 😊

 

Why Blogging is Important For Business

Why Blogging is Important For Business

If you own or run a small business you could be asking yourself whether it’s worth the time and effort in writing a regular blog. Our answer to that question is “Yes!”.

Blogging is an inexpensive marketing material that can be used over and over again and can be used for driving traffic to your website, highlighting your industry experience or even reaching new and potential clients. It’s an all-round marketing tool that is definitely worth the effort.

In our opinion it is one of the most valuable marketing tools that you can keep in your arsenal. If you’re not yet blogging for your business, it’s time to start! If you’ve not got the time, either a) create time or b) outsource this task – it’s extremely important for your business and for business growth.

Here are our top 7 reasons why blogging is important for business:

Personal Development

While the purpose of blogging is for your audience, it’s a great place to enhance your own personal development. Blogging can open up opportunities for you that you were not expecting and allow you to express your interests and passions to an audience that is really hungry for your content.

The more you write, the more knowledge you have. The research that is involved in writing opens up a world of industry knowledge and can help build your confidence and share opinions.

It can be challenging to write a blog but when you are passionate about a subject, you have the power to express who you are and what your values are.

 

Tells a story

A blog is a chance to tell your brand’s story, it’s a chance to offer insight and background of who you are and what you value, offer and represent as a brand. You are able to share ideas and customer experiences, challenges and how you’ve overcome them. You can share about the staff or team that make up your business and what experience they bring to the company. There’s so much you can do to highlight your brand’s ethos and showcase everything that you have to offer – make the most of the opportunity to talk about your business and then use your blogs on your social media platforms so that it can be seen by as many people as possible.

 

Builds an audience

Blogging is a place where you can create value and build an audience of people who are interested in what you have to offer. You’re not writing for just anyone, you are writing for people who want to hear what you’re talking about. Aim your words to those people, this may not be exactly what you would want to hear, but understanding your audience and providing value to their needs will increase your readership and help you stand out as a thought leader.

 

Builds discipline

Getting in the habit of writing is a good thing! It builds discipline and routine into your marketing plan and gives you something to focus on, on a regular basis. Whether you set yourself a weekly task or allocate one day a month to writing, it shapes you into a writer’s mindset and gives you good practice.

 

why blogging is good for business marketing

 

It boosts offline marketing

When people see the content you’re writing, the value that you’re providing, this can often lead to offline opportunities. Speaking at events, writing for magazines or articles, writing a book. It allows your voice to be heard outside of internet circles and enables you to do bigger things with your content. Blogging is not just about bringing people to your website (although that is a large part), it is about showcasing who you are, what your business represents and the industry knowledge that you have. Use your blog to delve into different areas that you may not have been able to in the past. With your confidence and discipline building, push yourself to do more with your business and speak to a wider audience.

 

Cost effective

Marketing can be expensive with all the different aspects that you could be paying for, however blogging is completely free! The only cost is your time and as a business owner, building marketing into your business plan is a must. By blogging you’re not paying for magazine space, you’re not paying for a TV or radio advert, you’re not even paying for banner adverts (in this context), you are simply writing content for your website which has the potential to be seen by many people, and the more you blog, the more people will see your content. Once your content is out there, it’s there forever which is an extremely cost-effective way to market your business!

 

Blogging is inspiring

When you start to write, you start to see more opportunities in the world around you. You become inspired by what’s around you, what you see and hear and the things happening in the world. Even just walking down the street can give you inspiration for your next blog post!

There are many reasons to blog for your business and if you are a small business, this is your chance to have a voice and to be heard in a busy online world. Make your voice count, allow your business to stand out over your competition and attract customers by being an inspiration and giving value and knowledge in all that you write about.

If you’d like to provide a blog for you business but are not sure where to start, we offer a content marketing package and can write your content for you! There’s really no reason not to blog! If you’d like advice or help moving forward, get in touch.

What Are Your Priorities In Business And In Life?

What Are Your Priorities In Business And In Life?

It’s so easy when running a business to get carried away with the things that need to be done that you can forget about life happening around you.

How often do you put business or work ahead of other important aspects thinking that it doesn’t take up much time – but actually it can be detrimental to your personal life?

This leads us to think about whether we are truly happy in what we are doing – are we really getting the work-life balance that we set out for in the first place. And if the answer to that is no, then is it time to put priorities in place to be able to enjoy the important things that are happening around us?

Listening to a motivational speaker recently at a business conference, we were asked the question: “If you had to choose two things out of the following, what would they be?”

WEALTH / HEALTH / HAPPINESS

This is such a valuable question to ask ourselves and especially as small business owners or startup businesses, we can get caught up in the road of trying to be successful by earning every penny that we can. But this can be at the detriment of our health or personal lives. The love of money can get in the way of the small things in life. It can take over and it can become an obsession, if priorities are not put in place.

Health and happiness are vital – the wealth can be earned along the journey if you’re achieving your goals.

  • So are you happy in the direction your business is going?
  • Are there better ways of doing things to achieve a better work-life balance?
  • Could you improve on your priorities in order to make yourself happier and enjoy the things that are happening around you?

Take time to step back and work out what’s important. Yes, you have a business that you love and you have a passion for it to succeed. That passion can be the motivation to keep you going and to push you to new heights and to new targets and is great for any entrepreneur or business owner wanting to get ahead and see results. But you also have a passion to see your children growing up, not missing the important part of their lives because you’re too busy chasing your dream. You also have family and personal circumstances that need you, that rely on you and that value time spent with you.

Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years? Don’t be that person that looks back with regret. Don’t wish that you’d done things differently when you have a chance NOW to make those changes and to make priorities that will impact your whole future.

Take time right now to understand who you really are and to understand what you really want from your business and from life. What direction do you want your business to go in. Is there a better way of managing tasks and daily routine? Are you coping with the way things are running right now – at the precise moment? These are all questions that should be asked on a regular basis with ongoing responses and being adaptable and flexible to make life easier.

Happiness is so important in business. Being happy in what you do gives you passion. Passion gives you motivation and motivation pushes you to get results.

ARE YOU HAPPY?

This sometimes is even a question that we cannot answer. It’s easy to say ‘I’m ok’ when really we’re not. We push through each week trying to accomplish everything that comes our way and sometimes all we need is a bit assertiveness to say no and that we need help.

So going back to the original question; what are you priorities? What can you do to turn your life / business around to make yourself happy and more motivated and to know that you’re loving EVERY part of your life?

Don’t miss out on precious time – the small things matter – take time to work out what’s best for your business and your life and the priorities that will make them all work together for good.

If you’re a business owner and have overcome these things, we would value your comments below in what has worked for you..

If you’re looking for a spare pair of hands to help with the daily routine tasks that you know are important but you’d rather not spend time on – get in touch, we’re here to help at the click of a button.

Add Value To Your Business To See Success

Add Value To Your Business To See Success

There are many things you can do within your business to get someone’s attention but to keep their attention and to build relationships means taking a further step. Building a business and to engage with customers online requires a trust and dedication, hard work and empathy. You need to understand your customer and take note of what it is they are looking for. From that point on you will be able to provide solutions and offer services that will be tailored to them.

All this is wrapped up in ‘giving value’.

Giving value to a customer is vital to retention and success rates.

“Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.” ~  Anton Chekhov

When you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and you have put plans in place for the steps of how you’re going to achieve it, then you will see the fruits of your work.

There are many ways in giving value in your business. If you’re unsure of how to go about it, take a step back to outline what it is you are really doing within your business and what your ultimate goals are. If you can put these down on paper, you can then start to look at how the people around you – your customers, your colleagues – will be impacted by what you do. What can you do that will make them feel valued?

Understand your customer

Connection with a customer and getting to know their needs, what they are searching for, will build trust in your relationship. If you go about it the right way, a customer will confide in you and tell you everything. Once you understand them and they know that you are really interested in what they need, they will come back to you each time. Providing value comes in many forms but understanding boosts value.

Offer quality

Again, there are many things you can do to gain the attention of a potential customer but someone that goes above and beyond and provides quality rather than quantity will see better results. If you know what other’s are offering in your niche, go a step further and provide more. Show that you care about the outcome and that you want to build a lasting customer relationship that means as much to you as it does to them.

Believe that you can

Believe in what you are offering, know that you if you have a product or service that is yours – own it! Believe that your product is the best and that people do want to buy from you. If you doubt in yourself, then this will come across in your business. Be confident and know that you can add value to someone else.

Make it personal

Depending on what type of business you are running, providing a personal touch can often go a long way. A quick email to see how someone is getting on or a social media post congratulating a new customer can be valued dearly. People appreciate thought and when you go above and beyond to show that their customer journey is valuable to you, they know that they are in good hands.

Your customers are the lifeblood of your business and without them, you wouldn’t have a business. Therefore do what you can to add value wherever you can and believe in yourself.

Here at KJP Creative we offer 1-2-1 coaching services for those people who are just starting out in business and require a little nudge in building confidence and knowing how to build their online presence. If you’d like to know more, please get in touch!

 

Winning The Race: Are You Ready To Be The Best

Winning The Race: Are You Ready To Be The Best

A few weeks ago I went to watch my daughter’s sports day. It was a brilliant afternoon, the sun was shining and the atmosphere was great.  It was different from other sports days we’d been to and instead of sitting down and watching each race in turn, we followed our class around a circuit while they all did their individual class races in their team colours.

What struck me most was the enthusiasm and commitment from both participants and the parents on the side lines.

The children were so focused and dedicated to winning their race with the finish line in sight and the parents were great sports at cheering their teams on.

Even at the end of the day when they announced which team had won, all the children and parents were supportive of every team and every person who had taken part.

All the races and the enthusiasm got me thinking…

How can we apply this to our lives and our business?

Questions we need to ask ourselves:

  • Are we REALLY focused on winning the race?
  • Are we REALLY set on achieving the end game in what we set out to do?

Solutions we need to realise:

  • Winning comes with hard work and determination.
  • Winning requires a goal and ambition in place in order to achieve.

But also we need to know where the start line is and how to get on the right running track and to stay on the right path.

 

Have a mentor or a coach to inspire and motivate you

 

Having a mentor, leader or coach can really and truly help you succeed. Keeping you going along the right path and showing you which directions to go that have been proven time and time again – having that mentor and a team around you is a key to success.

Perhaps you’re a marketer already, perhaps you’ve been trying so long to find that one true system that will work for you – or perhaps you’re just starting out in this field and need a little guidance in what you’re doing. Whichever person you are, you’ve come to the right place to get on track.

It really is great to see people working together, to have a community and a support group to lean on. On your own it can very lonely and you might lose sight of the winning line, you might end up on different paths of the running track and run into troubles. I’m here to give you comfort that you’ve got a team, you’ve got support and you’ve got a mentor to go alongside you. And in time you can turn the tables and be a mentor to others.

I’d love to hear from you if you’re looking for a mentor or coach and you’d like to be part of a community where you can learn from each other and build a winning business that you can be proud of, that will give you financial freedom and that you can really say “Yes, I’ve passed the finish line… AND WON”. Wouldn’t it be great to know that you can replace your day to day income, you can live a lifestyle of dreams and achievements and you’re totally open to new and exciting opportunities?

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