How to improve your marketing during lockdown
The Government is due to make further announcements about the national lockdown later this month, and many businesses are awaiting news about opening their doors once again to the public. With Cornwall expected to see a bumper summer for visitors once it is safe to welcome them, what can you be doing right now to ensure you stand out from the crowd this year?
Here’s some key tips on using this period of closure to prepare effective marketing and communications for this year.
Make the most of your website
Go through your website and make sure it’s performing effectively and represents your business in the best possible light. Check all of your pages are up to date, and make sure all of your links are working. If you need to do some updates, now is the time.
Take a look at your Google Analytics account and see how your website is performing. What are the most popular pages on your site? What isn’t working for you?
Have a look at the keywords that are being used to search for you. What are your customers looking for when they’re coming across your website?
Make sure you have some great imagery on your website - photography that reflects your target audience and shows the experiences they’ll have.
It’s worth undertaking an SEO audit of your website and looking at what improvements you can make to make sure you’re performing effectively on search. Work with a reputable agency to help you undertake this.
Invest in some new photography
Do you have an image bank of great shots you can call on to show your business off to its best advantage? How recent is your photography, and does it reflect you accurately? Have a good look at what images you have, and sort out what you would still like to use.
Check you have all of the relevant consent forms in place for the people in your photos - it’s vital to demonstrate that you have permission if questioned, so make sure you can trace the consent. Do an audit of your photography bank.
Commission some new photography for 2021. Use the great spring light to get some effective marketing images that you can use for effective marketing and communications.
Delve into your audience insights
Do you know your target audience? Have you taken the time to look at your customer data and research who your most loyal customers are? Do you have a portrait of your ideal customer - their likes, dislikes, behaviours, demographics and so forth? Now is the time to really get to grips with this information.
Many businesses make assumptions about their ideal customer. Undertaking this valuable audience research can give you insights into what your customers want, and can help you up your marketing game with clear segmentation and targeting to exactly the right people. It’ll help you work out how to target your advertising spend more effectively.
Look at effective collaborations
You can benefit enormously from partnerships with other local businesses. Visitor attractions often offer joint tickets or discounts if you’re visiting another local tourist attraction. Outdoor experiences may want to partner up with local cafes or restaurants to offer lunches or picnic options.
Think about other local businesses who align with your values and who may want to work together - can you come up with collaborations that can benefit you both?
Map out your seasonal campaigns and relationship marketing
Who are you trying to target and what are you trying to sell - and does it different throughout the seasons? Map out your activity for the year and think about what channnels you’re going to use, what your messaging and calls to action are going to be.
Get your content planner together
You can’t account for everything throughout the year, and some of your content is going to need to be reactive and short term. However, there are things you can plan and draft throughout the year - there will be activities, launches, events or occasions that you know you want to mark. There will be ways you can tell your story, members of the team you can introduce your customers to and things you want to showcase. Get a head start on drafting your content plans - it’s amazing how it will help you focus on the year ahead.
If you’d like to continue the conversation and discuss getting my support with your marketing and communications, please get in touch. You can email lauren@talktoroscoe.com or complete the Contact form on the website.
