So many times, when I ask people what they’re doing to market their business, I hear the same responses. “Facebook. Twitter. Relisting on Etsy.”
Answers like these concern me, and not just because relisting on Etsy really isn’t marketing. (That would be like saying bringing inventory from the stockroom to the shop floor is marketing. Which it’s not.)
No, the reason these answers concern me is that if the only marketing you’re doing for your business is through social media, you’re missing something. Notably, you’re missing marketing that brings new traffic into your business.
Facebook and Twitter are what I would refer to as customer engagement marketing strategies. Their predominant function is to help people get to know your business better. To build trust, so that you can convert them from lookers to customers. Or from one-time customers to repeat buyers.
But in order for Facebook and Twitter to pay off, you have to have potential customers to engage.
And to do that, you have to spend some time on traffic generation marketing strategies. Traffic generation is all about bringing new eyeballs (or eyeballs that have forgotten that you exist) to your business’s website. And it’s essential to the growth of your business.
Three traffic generation strategies you should add to your marketing mix are:
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – SEO is about making sure when someone is searching for a relevant topic online, they find (and choose) your site. There are numerous strategies for improving your SEO, from making sure you’re optimized for keywords to blogging to video, and it’s important that you spend some time on each. (Note: After hearing some of you express your complete frustration with SEO on last week’s post, Meredith from Smaller Box put together an amazing free resource on SEO for beginners.)
PR (Public Relations) – So many crafters make the mistake of thinking that the only way to get press is to wait to be found. But PR should be a major part of your traffic generation strategy. Part of your marketing time should be focused on pitching blogs, magazines, newspapers, and even TV shows to cover your products or your business. (Another note: Meredith also has an AMAZING new e-book out on getting publicity for your business. I’ve been using it to craft my own PR strategy and it’s proving invaluable.)
Guest Posting – Guest posting is the new black. If you want to build link love back to your site, guest posting is a great option. Major blogs get hundreds of product pitches every day. But what they don’t get as often are people wiling to provide good content. Writing a quality guest post can be as good as getting a blog to cover your product in terms of bringing traffic back to your site. (Just make sure you’re focusing on blogs read by your target market.)
Facebook and Twitter do play an important role when it comes to sales and marketing, but if they’re the only marketing you’re doing, it’s time to branch out. Start adding in some strategies to bring more traffic to your website and you should see your marketing efforts have a bigger impact.
One more note: This summer, I’ll be offering a home study version of my Marketing for Makers e-course for those of you who were unable to take the class because of timing or cost. Marketing for Makers covers every aspect of marketing your biz, from identifying your target market, to making sure your website converts, to employing both customer engagement and traffic generation strategies. And, I’ll be releasing it just in time to help you create a marketing strategy for the upcoming holiday season. If you want to be the first to know when it’s available (and score a special discount) make sure you’re signed up for the email list below:
Zoe | A Quick Study
So right on, Megan! In particular, I’ve found guest posting to be really effective for my business (especially since it’s business-to-business, so there are a lot of great blogs that appeal to my target market).
Beth Millner
When guest posting, should it be new content? An article not already on my own blog?
megan auman
Hi Beth –
You want it to be new content. You can certainly build on an idea you’ve posted about on your own blog, but the bulk of the article should be new.
April Pilhorn
Thank you so much for the SEO for beginners resource. I’m just starting my new business and I know SEO is important but every time I read up on it I become confused. Hopefully this guide will break things down for me (and not make my brain hurt).
Christine Gierer ~Handmade Results
I wholeheartedly agree Megan. Facebook. Twitter. Relisting on Etsy. That’s what I hear too. Those strategies are easy, but not the most effective.
SEO and Guest Posting are awesome strategies. And PR is great too – although being on the shyer side I’ve always shied away from the limelight.
For those that are a little more shy too, I’d add a couple other strategies to your list that I’ve been using very successfully and that are HUGELY underused in the Handmade biz…
1. Followup – as in email followup.
You can great relationships with your customers and potential customers if you can get them on an email list.
And not just to sell them things either! I love asking my subscribers for feedback and for what products to put out next. They end up being my best word-of-mouth marketers too!
2. Partnerships with other people with email lists and large blog readerships.
Be friendly and contact others who sell to your target market.
You can refer people to each other, promote each others products, and even better, if your margins allow it, set up affiliate programs so that you can offer commissions to those that refer people to your products, and earn commissions on anyone you send your partner’s way as well. It’s a win-win for everyone, and more people learn about you and what you offer that much faster.
Andrea Mansfield
I love when you said, “guest posting is the new black”! I can’t stress this enough. Building an emotional connection to a blogger’s readers bridges your brand to an audience already tuned in. Much easier than trying to scream your message at ears turned away 🙂
Thanks for the post!
Andrea
brand & bloom
Starr Ashcraft
Sorry if this sounds like a silly question….but can you give an example of guest posting? Do you mean, for example, that I would offer to write a blog post on someone’s blog whose audience is a good target for my product? And is it better to write about non-related topics to your own products? Or maybe a little of both?
THANKS! Megan – I love reading your blog. Still trying to find that fine line of balancing production time vs marketing/research time vs my full time job time. It’s tough but I hope to really get my head in the game the rest of this year and make an impact to my business. Your blog topics are definitely helping in this effort!
Starr
linda
Ooo, I had not thought about these clearly distinct avenues of marketing…people do usually just say marketing very generally and get stuck doing the same things as well – perhaps marketing to the same people who will never convert?! Thanks for sharing this information! Looking forward to your Marketing for Makers home study!