Winter is here and with it comes a great time to reflect on fresh starts and new ideas to ramp up your marketing efforts.

Website Refresh

Haven’t given your website any love lately? Not getting the traffic you used to get when you first launched that bright and shiny new site? Now is a great time to determine what is working and what isn’t.

• Is your contact information and location easy to find? Is your site engaging and easy to navigate? If you haven’t invested much time or resources into your website lately, there’s no time like the present. If you created your website yourself, it might be worth the investment to seek out a professional for design and even content creation. Your website should flow and tell an easy-to-read story of your business and your product. It should also be current and kept up-to-date with information on new products, services and need-to-know information about your business.
• It’s also important that you are controlling your SEO and meta-tags and creating relevant and timely content to keep that traffic to your site flowing and growing. Blogs drive traffic to your site – show your knowledge about your business, product and services by becoming an authority in the field and you’ll not only be a source of information but a trusted business to turn to when customers are ready to buy.

Targeted Communications / Emails and newsletters

Just because you’ve got your templates down and your email lists compiled doesn’t mean you never need to look back.

• Make your communications look on point by keeping the design clean and crisp. Include your company log and links to your social media channels, refresh the look and feel of your template to show your contacts that you are constantly growing and striving and on top of things.
• Watch how your subscriptions are holding. Are certain communications getting more traction than others? Does the frequency of communications affect their reach? Revisit what you send out, to whom, and when. Determine if a more targeted approach in regard to what time /day communications are sent and if targeting communications to specific buying segments will result in a more positive and successful interaction.
• And don’t forget to keep up on your email customer list. Continue to grow and expand your audience by gathering email addresses of targeted consumers at promotional events and new customers of your product.

Social Media

Most every business now has  Facebook page, a Twitter account and a presence in all the key social media sites.  But just because you’re there doesn’t mean you’re getting attention. Make yourself known and use the tools available to you to get heard.

• Get creative. Showcase your products in action with a Facebook Live video. Not only do you get to show your main event in its best light but you also can personalize it. Using video allows you to speak directly to your consumer, in your own voice.  So have fun with it!
• Get snap happy! Instagram and Pinterest are great for having fun with your business. It’s often easy to set up your presence and just as easy to not give them the attention they deserve over time. Schedule times throughout the week to get new content out there – it takes such a short time commitment to be an active voice in social media so don’t miss out on a great opportunity to reach out directly to those who are part of your social media circle.

It’s sometimes the little nuances that make the difference between getting passed over and getting  attention. If you make time to periodically revisit your marketing channels, you’ll be a current and timely voice in your field.