10 Things To Help Your Business in 2020

We’re currently experiencing a time like most of us have never seen the likes of before. Many businesses are closing down but there are steps that you can take today that will help your business hit the ground running when everything starts to go back to normal.

1. Look at your website as a visitor

You need to be really honest with yourself when doing this. If you were the person who needed the services you provide,

• – what would you search on Google firstly, and assuming that they land on your website,
• – would they know how to navigate it in order to get the information that they need, which in turn leads to your website completeing it’s main goal,

Your website should have a goal. It is not there just to look good (although it should). The number one priority of your website should be that it helps you to achieve your goals, such as somebody submitting their details on your contact form so that you can book them in for a session?

Make sure to do this on your phone as well as your desktop/laptop as your website visitors are using both devices and it is incredibly important that your website can work for you by making it an enjoyable and easy site for your visitors to interact with,

2. Apply for Grants and Supports

Available in Ireland only but we’re sure if you do some research in your own country/area that you’ll find there are supports available for you to allow you to grow your online presence.

For example, I know that in  Ireland, business owners can apply for grants via their Local Enterprise Office (LEO). Some of these business supports include the Trading Online Voucher, which offers support of up to €2,500 towards a new website for your business.

3. Track Your Website Results

This is where you see the proof that your website is an investment for your business, not just an essential ‘cost’ in this day and age. If you have a website just because you think it is something you need to do to stay relevant but then don’t use it to your advantage, that is like buying a car and never using it, but it is nice to look at every now and then.

4. Set up your online profiles

This is something that is incredibly important in regards to Google being able to verify your business, which in turn gives them stronger trust signals and they will show you to more people in search results.

You don’t need to become a social influencer, please do not assume that is what we are asking you to do. If you don’t have a Facebook page, create one, it will only take a moment and there will be endless amounts of YouTube videos to walk you through how to do that.

If you already have your business set up on social channels, make sure you are taking this time to post something valuable to your followers, such as something they can do at home to help their situation until you are available to see them.

One last note on this, please don’t worry if you have little followers, focus on providing value to the people who are following you, they’ve already said they ‘like’ your business, so focus on providing value to that community.

5. Make content people can consume at home

As mentioned in the point above, this is a great opportunity to give your website visitors or social media followers an exercise they can do at home that will assist them in their situation until you are available to see them. This is important as it puts you as the authority in their eyes and helps to build trust with them that you have the knowledge to help them ease the situation they may be currently dealing with before you can see them.

For example, we have created free PDF of 5 Things you can do to help your business, and that allows us to provide value to anybody who may be interested.

6. Google Ads and Facebook Ads

You don’t have to learn how to run these ads or become a marketing expert. This section of the article is more so to make you aware of the powerful targeting options that are available to assist people in finding you.

Some of these targeting options are:

• – Location
• – Interests
• – Search Words Used
• – Age
• – Gender

You can make a combination of the above to run a very targeted ad. The secret here is to craft an ad that when somebody sees it they say to themselves “oh, this is extremely relevant to me and the exact solution I was searching for”.

Avoid industry jargon when creating your ads, put yourself in the shoes of the person who will see it, remember that they don’t have the knowledge that you do in this field.

Last point on Google Ads (sometimes called SEM) and Facebook Ads (sometimes called PPC) is that you can review the data to see how your ads are performing. Take what is working and double down on this and this will allow for greater future success.

7. Google My Business (Google Maps)

If a customer is looking to find where you operate your business from and can’t, they will get incredibly frustrated. Taking the time to set up your business on Google Maps is an easy process and will be incredibly beneficial for you in the future.

8. Contact (e-mail) your past and current clients

Most businesses have built up a database (no matter how big or small) of their previous clients. This gives you the opportunity to get in touch with them using an email marketing service such as MailChimp, which is free to use for the first couple of thousand emails uploaded to it.

We can already hear you saying “but what about GDPR”? – Not to worry as contacting previous clients who have given you their email address is 100% allowed, especially as MailChimp adds an unsubscribe link to the end of every email that is sent out on your behalf. MailChimp does this to allow your business to be fully compliant with GDPR, giving you peace of mind when contacting previous clients.

9. Come up with promotions

Many business owners we have spoken to in the past take advantage of this and they can see the positive returns from it. 

As an example, if one of your sessions with a client has a cost of €75, you could try offering a bulk of 5 sessions pre-paid for €335, which is a saving of just over 10% to the client.

You need to consider your ALV (average lifetime value) of a client when putting these offers in place. Do you usually see somebody do 1 session with you, or a maximum of 2, 3 if you’re lucky? This type of promotion enables you to improve the ALV of a client, therefore bringing more money into your business, allowing you to grow further and help even more people in the future.

10. Keep a positive mindset

We all know being a business owner has ups and downs, and as I write this article, the world is currently facing the Covid-19 pandemic and many business owners are scared of what will happen to them.

Please understand that now is the perfect time to focus on everything I have mentioned in this article as when the world goes back to normal, and I promise it will, you will have already hit the ground running and had a head start on all of this, which is all there to bring value to your business.

I really appreciate you taking the time to read this article and I truely believe it will bring value to your business.

If you would like to discuss having a modern and effective website (or digital marketing strategy) that drives results please contact us.

Stay safe!