These are unprecedented times, and there is enough panic, worry, and uncertainty to go around. Business has slowed or, in some cases, ground to a halt. Don’t get me wrong, there is good reason to worry, but you can either spend this time watching sporting games from the early 2000s, overeating, and bird-watching, or you can use this time wisely to do some marketing housecleaning.
Here are four actionable tasks you can do in this slow time to vastly improve your marketing for the future.
1. Audit and update your website
4. Update or create buyer personas
1. Audit and update your website.
Everyone knows how important it is for a business to have a website, but just having one isn’t enough. In our digital age, a business’s webpage is the face of the business, and the best way to get in front of and communicate with potential customers. Therefore, a website needs to function properly, be up to date, and be SEO optimized… oh, and look good. Take this time to audit your website, take a real good look at it through the eyes of your buyer personas.
Does your website look dated, does it have broken links, is it hard for visitors to find information relevant to them, is it responsive? A poor website can actually detract from your company, making you look inferior to your competition who has spent the time to create a website that looks fresh and gives the visitor a smooth experience, answering their questions, and addressing their needs.
Does Your Website Have These Five Things? Click to Learn More.
Look at your website from an SEO standpoint. Is your website using heading tags properly? Does your website contain internal and external linking? Is your website using description tags to their full potential? Do you have a sitemap? Are your images the correct size and have alt text? These are just a few important things that help search engines find and interpret your content, making it more likely for your website to appear in searches.
Optimize your content marketing strategy by periodically auditing your content.
2. Audit and develop your content.
Much like your website, the content your business produces and distributes says a lot about your business and can position you as an authority in your industry. Locate and audit all your content, make sure your content is up to date, accurate, and communicates your information effectively. Identify any opportunities to create new content or improve the content you have.
Remember all your content should provide value to potential customers based on your ideal buyer personas and leads them through the buyer’s journey.
Click Here to Learn More About Content Audits
3. Clean up your CRM.
It’s easy for your CRM database to be neglected when your business is running at full steam ahead, everyone is working so hard to achieve their goals of selling and marketing that they neglect this important tool. Now that things have slowed down, take the time to do the tasks that always get pushed aside.
Clean out your CRM of old contacts that never panned out, have left, or are obsolete. A cleaner customer database will yield you better results and metrics. You will be able to focus your money and efforts toward a more receptive audience.
4. Update or create buyer personas.
If while reading the earlier steps you stopped and asked yourself “what the heck is a buyer persona?” you’re in luck, we are about to discuss just that. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer. These are handy to have on hand because they give you an idea as to who your target audience is, their demographics, motivations, goals, issues, etc…
Buyer personas are used as a reference point when creating communications and content, you create the communications and content for these personas as if they were actual people. Well-polished buyer personas will allow you to speak to and address the needs of those who you want to communicate with most, potential customers.
These personas are created by research and educated guesses, the more you research and examine these personas, the better they become. Take this time to create or tighten your personas, do research, talk to existing customers. Have there been changes in your customer’s industries that will affected their buyer personas? This would be a good time to get these buyer personas in shape so you can have a sharper focus when you get back to business.
Click Here to Download Our Buyer Persona Template
These are just some of the many marketing tasks you could be performing during this slow time to vastly improve your marketing efforts during this slow time, but these will give you a great start and a leg up on your bird-watching competition.
Don’t waste this opportunity: take this slow time to improve your marketing focus and abilities; you’ll be glad you did.
If you have any questions as to how to perform any of these recommended tasks, or would like some help, feel free to contact us or browse our website for additional information.
