With every client we work with at Your Digital Solution, we start by asking “Tell me what you do and who your ideal clients are?” And the response we get can be surprising, amazing, confusing … anything but clear and focused.
This is a big issue!
Without being clear and focused, you can’t digitally market your business effectively. You need to be laser focused on what your business does, who your ideal customer is and why people choose your business over others.
Think about how you look for services…
Take a moment to think about how you search for things in Google or Bing (I know, who uses Bing, but if I don’t include this someone asks me “what about Bing?!”).
We all search for a “thing in a place” or a “fix to our need”. Some simple examples;
- Plumber in Hendra
- Car dealer near me
- Remove a stain from carpet
- How to set up a will
So when we talk about our business we need to consider that this is how people are now trained to search for services. You need to make WHAT YOU DO fit with how people TRY TO FIX things in their life.
What I do is ‘special’…
I want a dollar for every time I get told a business or service can’t be explained like that. “I just don’t fit in one box”. Great, it doesn’t matter. People are looking for what they know, and THEY are fitting you in a box.
So reduce what you do back to however many single needs you meet, and then ensure you market to ALL of them. For example at Your Digital Solution in Brisbane, we help businesses grow, but no one is looking for that exactly. They are looking for the various tools we are experts in to help them grow.
Despite knowing we do a lot more than the following, we need to do marketing for Business Advisory, Website Design, Search Engine Marketing/Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Google Ads Management, Facebook Advertising/Social Media and Reviews Management. Because that is what people are searching for.
Tell your story in Content Marketing
Then if we do want to educate the market on the broader sense of what we do and how we help people, we do content marketing. And go outbound with advertising, email marketing or sharing of blog posts (like this one) to intercept people that might not be actively looking for us yet.
And be consistent
Once you have your story down about what you do and who you do it for, you can then be consistent over time. And that is at ALL levels. Be sure to get clear and focus on;
- Who you are; what you are about
- Who you help and what the benefits are for them
- Where you operate (geographical and industry sector)
- Why people choose you over others
Keep it simple and get started
Be sure to use non-expert language. Make sure someone who has never engaged with your business or service can still understand why they need you.
And be sure your company details and company descriptions are consistent on ALL business listings, business directories and any other meta-tags on your website (title, description, keywords) and especially your Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP). Especially important with the rise of Google My Business and the importance of local and geo-based search. More on this next time.
As always any questions – please reach out. We love helping business owners get the most out of their digital marketing and are happy to spend time to help you work out what your next best step might be.
To your success,
Mark Jones
