Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective, and there’s never been a better time to invest than now.

Marketing in the post-lockdown marketplace

The primary purpose of marketing is still the same as it ever was; to make sure as many potential customers know what your business does, what you offer, and how they can find you. Lockdown meant the society came to a grinding halt for several months, but things are beginning to open up again now and customers are keen to start buying once more. You need to make sure your business is there for them.

Investing in your marketing budget now will pay dividends in the long-run, and allow your business to reap the rewards of an improved customer base while your competitors are still floundering. When it comes to marketing there’s no room for procrastination, so you need to get started on a tailored marketing campaign to make sure your customers know that you’re open and ready for them once more.

Can you really afford to invest in marketing?

The simple answer is yes – and the more important question is, can you really afford NOT to? Your business will have missed out on a lot of custom over the months it was closed, or seen a dramatic fall in customers if you were one of the few allowed to stay open.

It’s time to provide your business with a fresh marketing campaign to ensure that customers not only know that your business is open, but that you have taken the necessary steps to ensure it’s as safe as possible for them to shop or engage with you. Marketing communications now have to provide some COVID-specific reassurance to provide customers with the peace of mind they need in order to start buying again.

Your business can definitely afford to invest in a marketing plan because the best marketing plans are tailored from the ground up, which means you will work with a marketing specialist to determine what the ideal marketing program looks like for you and your business. That means taking into account your current business finances to see what you can afford, as well as focusing on achieving your goals.

For more information on a tailored marketing plan, and to learn just how affordable it could be, contact the specialists at Elite Marketing Services today.

The post Why Post-lockdown is the Right Time to Invest in Marketing your Business appeared first on Elite Marketing Services.

What Is Social Media Marketing?

It’s highly likely you’ve already heard of social media marketing and may have been drawn into it as a customer yourself at some point or another. But it’s always worth establishing its basics if you’re going to venture into the area on behalf of your business.

Put simply, social media marketing is any marketing campaign that takes place on a social media platform – for example, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. Common social media marketing activities include:

• Crafting content for your own business social media platforms
• Generating engagement through your own social media platforms
• Collaborating with social media influencers
• Paid social media advertising

Ultimately, achieving a positive following on social media provides you with a space where you can advertise and promote your goods and services to your target audience, as well as establish and maintain your own brand image. You can maximise engagement with your brand and convert a high number of sales.

Effective Marketing via Social Media

Many of us have engaged with social media on a personal level, but marketing your company and brand through social media requires more planning in order to prove effective. So, here are a few tips and tricks that will help you to manage your social media accounts effectively and market well through this medium.

Be Mindful with Every Post

You need to be careful what you post on social media. Offensive content can alienate your audience and can draw negative associations with your brand. Always be mindful, always be ethical and always be aware when it comes to your content.

Be Careful with Your Collaborations

Nowadays, collaborating with social media influencers is often considered a marketing essential. Social media influencers are essentially individuals who have a huge base of followers on social media platforms. If they post your goods or services on their feed, you’ll find that your products and brand will be exposed to a huge number of people and you could generate enhanced awareness and potential sales through this practice. You’ll likely have to put time into finding an influencer who has a following that matches your target demographic. But work with influencers needs to go beyond ticking this simple box. You also need to be careful who you collaborate with. Check potential collaborators’ history, ensure they don’t hold any controversial views and ideally opt for someone reliable and who is relatable to your specific target audience. You don’t want to find your brand attached to and associated with someone who could potentially offend your customer base.

Develop a Posting Schedule

You need to post regularly in order for the social media platform to show your content to as many people as possible. Infrequent posting can make people lose interest in your page. At the same time, you don’t want to spam people’s feeds, as they may grow frustrated with your content constantly taking up their entire feed and they may unfollow you. Instead, come up with a routine schedule and stick to it. Look up times when your target demographic are most likely to be checking their social media feeds and post during these key hours for maximum exposure.

These are just a few simple tips and tricks that can help you with your social media marketing campaigns. By implementing the right strategy that suits your business, it can yield excellent dividends for your brand and business growth.

For any further information or advice, don’t hesitate to contact us.

The post Effective Social Media Marketing appeared first on Elite Marketing Services.

Grow Your Business

Whatever stage you’re at in your business and where you’re considering outsourcing, there’s often one really overarching reason for it, you want the business to grow. Or maybe the business is gradually growing itself and you’re starting to get overwhelmed with everything? That’s where a marketing consultant comes in and can help. Rather than struggling or wondering how you’re going to get everything implemented, outsource to a consultant. Your marketing will be developed for you and you can then focus on driving the growth forward.

Harness Expertise

One of the biggest and most appealing benefits of hiring a marketing consultant is the level of expertise they bring. It’s safe to say that you’re not going to be an expert at everything. Yet, a consultant will be in their specific field. And when you hire them, you get the benefit of harnessing years of their knowledge, skills, and experience. This will all be applied to your marketing operations – and yes, it will all show in your business results.

Gain Your Time Back

This point is often overlooked but it’s incredibly important – because time is of the essence. We all wish we had more time, don’t we? And when you choose to outsource your marketing to an expert, you can stop spending hours trying to master your own marketing. Precious hours you could be using to push sales, reach out to investors, or applying your skills to the things you are great at doing.

Save Money!

Now, this one can seem like an oxymoron, but stick with it. Hiring a marketing consultant will actually save you money. Yes, you’re paying out on an expense for the privilege, but you have to remember that you’re getting so much in the longer term. Not only does having your time back mean you can work on new ideas to make money or push the business forward, your cost per acquisition will be lower! An expert consultant will get the marketing planning and campaign management finalised in half the time because it’s their specialised skill set, not yours. The cost of hiring an experienced, professional consultant also works out cheaper than hiring an in-house marketing manager.

Increase Your Bottom Line

Finally, you’ll find that when you choose to hire a marketing consultant, you’re able to easily and fruitfully increase your bottom line. When it comes to marketing, the aim of the game is always to add value to your customer base, gain that competitive advantage and increase revenue. And when you hire a specialist consultant, you’ll get dedicated and knowledgeable input into your marketing. By creating the right campaigns, curating the most impactful tactics and ensuring that performance is optimised, hiring an expert will ensure that you generate healthier profits.

For any further information or advice, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

The post Why Outsource a Marketing Consultant? appeared first on Elite Marketing Services.

You need to come up with some of the best ways of being able to raise brand awareness, secure leads, and achieve sales goals. This is especially prevalent when you are looking at how you can take your business to the next level. These are some of the key activities that you need to consider and implement that will benefit you significantly when it comes to an effective B2B marketing campaign. 

High-Value Content

As a successful business, you need to understand that content is everything when it comes to marketing. Thus, you need to look at your website and make sure you utilise high-value long-form content as much as possible. Creating engaging and informative content makes a massive difference to the success you can potentially achieve. Also, bear in mind that long-form content (1,000 words+) is much more effective at generating interest and leads than short-form, most likely because it is more engaging.

Email Marketing

There is a reason why email continues to endure as a strong marketing strategy, in spite of the fact that it was one of the first forms of online marketing. Ensure you think hard about what it takes to make the most of this and try to craft the ideal email marketing programme to effectively communicate and appeal to both individuals and groups. Indeed, email marketing is seen as the most effective form of digital marketing, offering a potential ROI of more than 120%.

Social Media Marketing

Social media is a powerful online marketing tool for modern businesses and is definitely a tactic your business should be maximising and making the most of. Effective and successful social media marketing campaigns, utilising platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter requires time and so if you don’t have the necessary skills in-house, you may want to consider out sourcing to a specialist marketing consultant in order to help you create and generate increased interest, awareness and sales enquiries for the business. It is proven that social media marketing often provides an improved ROI than other forms of marketing, so this is something you need to make sure you make use of right now. 

Employee Engagement

Your employees are one of the strongest tools you have as a business, and they can be integral when it comes to B2B marketing. There are plenty of ways in which employee engagement can help you to market your business better, and this is something to consider. Sharing content online and across social media is a good place to start, but you also need to make sure you utilise your employees as the primary connections to spread the word about the business. 

These are some of the primary tactics to consider when it comes to implementing the most effective B2B marketing campaign. If you can do as much as possible to keep these tactics in mind and integrate within your plan, you will realise enhanced results and grow your business brand within your particular target markets.

For any further information or advice, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

The post Effective B2B Marketing Tactics appeared first on Elite Marketing Services.

• Generating sale leads
• Driving website traffic
• Boosting a particular post, e.g. a blog
• Promoting an event
• Promoting a competition
• Enhancing brand awareness within your local area

As with any marketing campaign, you need a plan in place.  For a Facebook advertising campaign you need to determine these key factors before commencing:

Budget – How much you want to spend each month, this can be calculated on a per day basis, e.g. £2, £5, £10, etc.

Objectives – What do you want your ads to achieve for your business?  As per above, this could be to generate more enquiries or drive more visitors to a particular web page

Target Audience – Who do you want your ads aimed at?  With Facebook being the largest social media platform in terms of users, this means there is a huge amount of data that is available for advertisers to select and utilise with their ads.  A small selection can include:

• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Job Title
• Industry Sector
• Plus, a wide range of interest that may prove relevant to your business.

Message – When creating your ads. you need to ensure you have a strong message that will induce and encourage your target audience to take action, e.g. click a link or send a message.  Your ad copy needs to be succinct and to the point NOT at all too lengthy and ‘texty’.

Creative – You are competing with many other businesses that are advertising on Facebook, this means you need to ensure your Facebook advertising stands out and catches the eye.  Use good quality, engaging images that will set your particular ads apart and induce people to take action.

Call to Action – Once a target visitor sees your ad, what do you want them to do?  Options may include:  Send you a message (You can now add your WhatsApp number to a Facebook ad.), call you, fill out a form, email you or visit a particular website or landing page.

Measurement – Your Facebook advertising campaign needs to be continually monitored and measure to ensure your ad. spend is being optimised and you’re receiving the best possible ROI.  You may need to tweak the copy, change some images or adjust the targeting criteria but don’t just set up an ad and leave it.  Keep monitoring it to ensures it performing at the best possible level.

Facebook advertising, when developed and managed effectively can prove a highly effective marketing tactic for your business and you don’t have to spend a fortune to start seeing positive results.  Just ensure the above factors are considered and developed to get the best from your budget.

This is a brief overview of how Facebook advertising can help your business.  Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you require any further advice, or need assistance in managing your Facebook Advertising campaign.

Best Regards,

Darren Martin

Marketing Consultant – Elite Marketing Services

Measurable Marketing. Results That Exceed Expectations.

The post Facebook Advertising – Cost Effectively Generate Sales Leads appeared first on Elite Marketing Services.

If you’re an SME that operates within the Construction sector, then it’s probable that you don’t have a huge marketing budget like the global PLC organisations.  However, as a business you still need to effectively promote your business in order to boost a positive brand awareness, increase website visitors and to maintain a healthy sales funnel.  None of the following suggestions below are new, they are online marketing tactics but when implemented correctly can prove highly cost effective and deliver the desired results ……

1. Make Social Media a useful, interactive platform

Much of what happens socially can also work in a business context. People show pleasurable activities, keep in contact with friends and family, reconnect with those who have moved away from their social circle. Business-wise, these translate to promoting successful work projects, keeping current customers up-to-speed on innovations, possibilities, and news, while reminding past customers of what might still be of use to them.

Social media is also a terrific channel for offering advice, promoting job opportunities, answering problems and even overcoming negative comments.

Please come and view Elite Marketing’s latest news and developments on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

2. Develop regular blogs

Writing regular, informative blogs is an excellent way of positioning your company as an authority and expert in its field.  Compose blogs that are relevant to the construction industry, that add value and offer specific issues of interest to the reader.  When adding each blog to your website, gradually your awareness and positive image increases, and you’re positioned as the ‘go to’ business for your specific products and services within the industry.  Also, creating regular, fresh content is loved by Google and so your website’s SEO performance will also improve.

3. Consider creating a business YouTube channel 

Why not consider creating a series of videos that can provide detailed demonstrations of a civil engineering project through its key stages; or a specific action successfully completed on a construction site. Other videos can show how the company is a solution-provider for a series of problems or on-site situations which often arise. Testimonial quotes or interviews from satisfied customers, in similar or at least comparable situations to those viewing it, are much more powerful when presented in a live-action format.  Again, utilising YouTube as a key media channel is beneficial to your SEO performance.

4. Craft a regular newsletter

This can be sent via email to specific subscribers through email; customers and prospects (or even paper-based if that’s their preference) and can also be available through the company’s own website. Various company topics within your newsletter can be covered; important events, new customer projects, charity initiatives your company is involved in, employee developments, new product developments.  Other useful areas that can be discussed can include: industry problems and worries, advising of upcoming legislation, offering specific tips and the like. In this way, recipients appreciate the value gained from spending time reading it. There should also be a hook (call to action) to encourage them to contact the company, visit the website, or a particular page on your site, e.g. your blog.

5. Make use of specific landing pages within the company website

Too often, after an online search, carried out for a specific purpose, a potential customer clicks through to a company website and is greeted by no more than a generic homepage. Frustration ensues as they try to locate exactly where they want to be – often a click back to the search follows, and a potential customer lost. Appreciating the key reasons why contact might be made, and then creating a specific landing page for that subject, quickly engages those website visitors. These should then ask for involving action, from clicking through to a specific service, project needs, or location information, or provide a swift and simple way to contact that business.

Your construction marketing strategy doesn’t have to costs a fortune but through these and possibly any other relevant tactics, your civil engineering or construction company can enhance brand awareness, encourage website traffic, gain sales enquiries and improve that all important competitive advantage.

Best Regards,

 Darren Martin

Marketing Consultant – Elite Marketing Services

Measurable Marketing. Results That Exceed Expectations.

The post Construction Marketing – 5 Cost Effective Marketing Tactics appeared first on Elite Marketing Services.

Struggling to find useful, engaging content to publish regularly via your social media platforms?  This guide will provide you with thirty content ideas that will help to boost your social media presence, effectively engage your audience and improve your brand’s social media performance.

Stand out from your competitors:

Variety

Developing and publishing a wide variety of different content types helps to improve your audience reach and engagement.  Mix it up; use images, text, videos, infographics, use different forms of media to get your message across and build a strong relationship with your audience.   Help to improve your brand’s credibility, reputation and authority.

Get Your Message Out There!

So, what are you waiting for?  If you don’t promote your business and shout about your achievements and developments, then no one will.  Get your social media marketing working for your business, post regular content updates, engage with your audience and boost your brand awareness!

Try not to over-sell. Instead look to inform, add value and encourage your audience to engage with you and your business.  Publish content that is relevant to your target audience and positions your business as an authority in its field.

Measure and Improve

Social media, like any form of marketing activity needs to be regularly reviewed and monitored.  Are you achieving your objectives?  Is your audience growing? How are your levels of reach and engagement?

Use Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn insights to identify how your posts are performing, what’s working, what isn’t.

By regularly measuring your social media performance you’re then able to make any necessary adjustments that can improve your social media campaigns.

As a starting guide, regularly monitor the following elements each month:

• Page likes / followers
• Audience reach
• Page views
• Engagement levels
• Video views

Need More Advice?

We hope this guide helps you improve your business social media campaigns and deliver the desired results.  If you do require any further advice don’t hesitate to contact us.

Elite Marketing Services

www.elitemarketingservices.co.uk

The post Thirty Social Media Content Ideas appeared first on Elite Marketing Services.

Lead prospecting

Lead prospecting can be both frustrating and time consuming, so any strategy to speed up the process is welcomed. LinkedIn is an ideal tool for prospecting in a variety of ways. Proficient use of LinkedIn will enable your sales team to build connections, identify the decision makers within companies and create a link prior to cold calling. Investing in LinkedIn training for your sales force could well be one way to help generate the leads you need.

Lead conversions

Converting leads can be another challenging area for sales teams and often creates client and prospect frustrations when salespeople adopt a standard, generic sales pitch. It’s important to encourage members of your sales team to research businesses prior to making any sales pitch. This way, the sales pitch can be personalised to suit the client’s business and will be more geared towards meeting their goals.

Ongoing training

Providing ongoing training for sales teams can make all the difference to sales and helps your employees achieve their full potential. One cost effective training solution that is easy to implement is call recording. Call recording offers opportunities to analyse calls and identify areas in which improvements can be made. Listening to recordings of colleagues’ calls can also help provide members of sales teams with tips and sales techniques.

Staff engagement

Keeping your sales force motivated and engaged throughout the day can be difficult but is extremely important within the sales environment. One way to maintain an upbeat attitude from sales teams throughout the day is to introduce gamification. Gamification is a rewards-based system which turns everyday jobs into challenges. Providing a leader board and making regular updates throughout the day can energise the salesforce and help create increased levels of team spirit.

Elite Marketing Services provide professional marketing consultancy services to SMEs in the B2B sector. We can help drive your business growth and produce the results you need. Contact us for more information.

Best Regards,

Darren Martin

Marketing Consultant – Elite Marketing Services

Measurable Marketing. Results That Exceed Expectations.

The post Useful technologies for B2B sales teams appeared first on Elite Marketing Services.

The decision making process

The first difference you need to be aware of is that the buying process and cycle for B2B website visitors is much longer than from those within the B2C sector. People looking to buy something for themselves will have a need, find a site that fulfils that need and then purchases whatever they need. However, with B2B visitors you need to focus on generating leads from long-term customers. This means focusing on content that gets people to sign up for a newsletter or download a useful guide that will help demonstrate why you are the best company for everyone in their business. Basically, after finding you on Google, it’s unlikely a business will make a purchase there and then.

Selecting your keywords

Because there are so many key decision makers within the buying cycle of B2B, you need to realise that your search terms will often need to be more targeted and tailored to a range of different needs. For example, a marketing manager might search for “digital marketing software cost”, whereas the technical IT department will be looking for “digital marketing software specification”. So, you should write content that appeals to a range of different departments, rather than just one select group.

Be patient with link building

Building links for a B2B website can be a lot harder than for B2C. With B2C, you can interact with people on social media, build new contacts and write plenty of guest posts. However, with B2B, it is often a slower process and will require you to be patient and work on building connections slowly. Writing outstanding content that other businesses find genuinely useful and insightful is the best way to succeed.

If you’re in the process of designing an SEO strategy for your business right now, then it’s easy to get overwhelmed. However, don’t panic as you’re not alone. Plenty of other business owners go through the exact same process and there are ways to succeed. That’s where we come in. At Elite Marketing Services, we understand B2B marketing services inside and out and are always looking for new businesses to support and help grow. To find out more get in touch for a chat – www.elitemarketingservices.co.uk

Best Regards,

Darren Martin

Marketing Consultant – Elite Marketing Services

Measurable Marketing. Results That Exceed Expectations.

The post Understanding the key differences between B2B SEO and B2C SEO appeared first on Elite Marketing Services.

1 – Fix Your Sales Funnel

For many businesses it is too easy to fall into the trap of using a ‘leaky bucket’. If your website is not properly tailored to capture clients when they arrive at your marketing funnel, then you will lose potential clients and will have to spend more to generate leads. Driving increasing amounts of traffic to a website that is not properly optimised is tantamount to filling a leaky bucket to keep it topped up. Fix your funnel first to convert more traffic.

2 – Email Marketing 

Email marketing really has stood the test of time and is still one of the best methods of generating leads. By implementing email marketing automation, connecting your CRM will enable you to send highly targeted emails to leads without significant interaction. This allows you to keep following up on leads automatically without allowing them to disappear through the hole in the leaky bucket.

3 – Content Marketing

Content marketing is one of the best ways to generate B2B leads and should be a key element in your B2B marketing strategy. By creating good quality content and offering it for free to clients you will be able to both build trust and generate interest. Videos, infographics, blogs and even micro sites can all serve to raise your profile and improve your online presence and generate sales leads.

4 – Search Marketing (SEO)

The best leads possible are the ones that come to you already looking to do business, so having an effective search marketing strategy is vitally important. Being easy to find your business via the internet increases the chances of turning interested visitors into leads and thus having a positive effect on your revenue. If you don’t have a dedicated in-house marketing resource, using the services of a professional marketing consultant can help to improve your B2B lead generation and search engine optimisation.

5 – Social Media

Social media is often seen as a poor channel for B2B lead generation, but it all depends on your marketing strategy. If you send out endless self-promotional drivel then you will struggle to generate any leads. If, however, you use social media channels to support your content marketing and search marketing then this can be a valuable lead nurturing platform.

If your business operates in the B2B sector and you’re struggling to create an effective lead generation strategy, please do get in touch and we’d be happy to discuss your particular needs and business goals.

Best Regards,

Darren Martin

Marketing Consultant – Elite Marketing Services

Measurable Marketing. Results That Exceed Expectations.

The post 5 tips for improved B2B lead generation appeared first on Elite Marketing Services.