DIY Strategies to Get More Leads, Grow Your Brand and Maximize Revenue.
As any business owner knows, sustaining a business is much harder than starting one. Long-term success requires daily business planning, process managing and client satisfaction.
Fair warning: This analysis of the percentage of small businesses that fail may shrivel your entrepreneurial spirit. Startups burn optimism as fuel, and cold, hard facts can render optimism inert.
According to latest The Better Africa report by Weetracker (an African digital media company), the top 10 countries that experienced the highest shutdown rates among start-ups were Ethiopia (75%), Rwanda (75%), Ghana (73.91%), Zimbabwe (66.7%), The Democratic Republic of the Congo (66.7%), Tanzania (62.50%), Nigeria (61.05%), Senegal (58.3%), Somalia (60.0%), and Kenya (58.7%).
Damilola Adewale, an economic researcher said that it is not surprising as most startups are basically set up due to lack of jobs.
“The high business mortality rate is due to factors such as poor marketing strategy, inability to identify the right consumers, no business plan, wrong business locations, inability to move with growing treads, managerial deficiency, poor visibility and their inability to conduct research in the market that they are operating,” - Adewale further added.
Sobering, isn’t it?
But it doesn’t have to be your brand's situation.
That being said, following our intense research and in a bid to help businesses across Africa thrive and maximize revenue, we've come up with this precise copy of "10 DIY Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Brand in 2024 and Maximize Revenue".
1. Launch A Business Website (If You Don’t Have One)
As of today, if you run a business that doesn’t have a dedicated website, just know that you are playing from way behind the curb. Building a website today is one of the first things to do when starting a business.
For the most part, the website builder WordPress is the most trusted platform for running a business website that can be hosted perfectly on your domain. WordPress has everything from niche-specific themes to choose from, free plugins to add additional functionality to your site (such as e-commerce or membership) and a thriving community of fellow WordPress users, plus you’ll find a ton of WordPress training courses that can help you expand your skills.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Another effective online marketing strategy can be seen in SEO - this works by bringing relevant traffic to a website organically. In other words, it doesn’t require a dedicated campaign budget. SEO is essentially a free marketing strategy.
That said, SEO strategies can get a bit technical to work on. However, they are easy to learn over time and can result in thousands of free qualified traffic to your business. As a pro-tip, consider mixing the pay-per-click and SEO methods to get a well-rounded coverage of online business growth and if you have your business with a physical location, consider Local SEO by claiming your business listing on google.
3. Integrate Website Analytics
Website analytics aren’t often associated with strategies for growing a business. Instead, analytics are seen as a technical skill that only data tech gurus can master. However, this simply isn’t the case. Website analytics (from Google Analytics to Facebook Pixels) and every thing in between, these are designed with businesses in mind. That said, the way your business can take advantage of analytics is by taking the time needed to properly integrate tracking on your website and learning how to interpret the data. Doing so will give your business access to metrics such as client interaction, amount of visitors, and other metrics that can be used to increase business growth from the website.
4. Enhance Your Social Media Presence
Given how large and popular social media platforms are today, it’s no surprise to see how they can also be used to grow a business. Social media is effective because it allows businesses to build personal and trustworthy relationships with clients.
On top of that, the amount of potential clients your business is exposed to, through social media is unmatched. Needless to say, make sure your business has dedicated social media handles on several different platforms. You may decide to focus on one platform that best matches your target market. This will raise your chances of finding a valuable client that contributes to scaling your business.
5. Build an Email Marketing System
One of the best and most effective ways to grow a business quickly is to build an email list. Clearly, that means you need to have a lead magnet. Why else would people subscribe to your list? And, with a lead magnet, comes the necessity for a sales funnel. Look into companies like Mailchimp, Aweber, ConstantContact, ConvertKit, Drip, GetResponse and others for building and managing your list.
6. Build a Sales Funnel
If you don't have a sales funnel, you're making a monumental mistake. Sales funnels can help to automate your business. It helps you to scale and grow quickly and easily. Sure, there's some front-end work involved. Obviously. But, once those processes are in place, it's smooth sailing from there.
Every sales funnel needs to be carefully conceptualized before it's created. Consider the different funnels first and foremost. Whether it's a service offer, a free-plus-shipping offer or a high-ticket coaching offer, it's important to build your automated selling machine to quickly scale and grow your business.
7. Online Advertising
After you make sure your business has a website up and your sales funnel is in place, the next logical step is to advertise online to reach more people. The only problem is that online business competition is just as competitive as traditional business competition. This is because businesses are fighting for a virtually endless supply of online clients.
This is where online advertising (we suggest retargeting campaigns) come into play. This strategy is effective in that it gives your business full control as to when and where to advertise. Perhaps the best part about it is that any business can set up an advertising campaign for as low as $5 a day. At that price, this strategy is a no-brainer to implement.
8. Create a Customer Loyalty Program
Loyalty program is a great way to increase sales. It costs up to three times more money to acquire new customers than it does to sell something to an existing customer. Other resources pin this number anywhere from four to 10 times more. However, any way that you slice it, acquiring new customers is expensive.
9. Attend Local & National Networking Events
From a traditional business standpoint, networking is still effective. The only difference is that businesses now have the option of networking online. Nonetheless, it will benefit your business tremendously by going to as many networking events as possible. Networking events can be at a local or national level, such as conferences, trade shows, meet-ups or workshops. Attending a new event will allow your business to form new business partners and clients.
10. Research the Competition
When going to market, and you're really looking to get your offer to the masses, you need to research the competition. You can get started with platforms like SpyFu and UberSuggest and it should work just fine, but you can also check out more platforms like Alexa, Similar Web, SEMrush amongst others. This is your chance for x-ray lenses into all landing pages, ad copy, and other stages of the funnel.
This allows you to uncover any advertiser's online strategy. Find the ads that have been running for the longest and emulate those. That's the quickest way you scale any business. If it's proven and it's working for your competitors, it's likely it'll work for you.
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Let's face it. Scaling your business is hard. It takes considerable effort. In the beginning, it means wearing different hats. It means dealing with sales and marketing. It means understanding taxes and corporate compliance. It involves having to interact with customers on a daily basis. And so much more. At the end of the day, it takes its toll on you.
If you're struggling to grow your business, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Sure, it's hard. But, what's the alternative? A life-sucking 9-to-5 job? Surely not. Okay, maybe you're longing for the security of a guaranteed paycheck. But, at what mental or emotional price will that come?
We truly understand how this feels and that is why we have created this full report with DIY strategies that has been tested and trusted but should you need a support system along the way, you can reach out to us.
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With ❤️ from the 360VA team.
Felix Owora
Growth Advisor / 360VA