Have your New Years Resolutions already lost their sparkle? Well, Daylight Savings is here and it's going to be June before you know it, so dive in now and get your business's marketing ready for a long, hot, American summer.
Get Lean
Focus, prioritize, and plan. Sideline any distractions and commit to tactical, well-built, cellulite-free campaigns.
FOCUS
Be seasonal. Focus on those home performance issues that homeowners in your region are concerned with during the summer months. Here in Maine, for example, folks aren't concerned with energy bills or ice dams or comfort because Maine summers are, well, perrrrrfect. So, it's time to focus your marketing on what is of interest: property value, family health, winter problem prevention. Decide what climate-appropriate services your business should focus on this summer, and align all of your marketing for a clean, concise, consistent message.
PRIORITIZE
Now that you've focused your marketing message, what are the best methods to generate leads? There are a lot of options for marketing your business. Whatever your top three or five outreach efforts might be for the summer season -- Facebook, PPC ads, mailers, etc. -- make their success a priority.
PLAN
Lay out your goals, campaigns, calendar, and project ownership clearly. It's important to know up front how long it will take to execute each marketing effort so you can back-calendar accordingly and keep to deadlines. Have a CRM plan in place to respond appropriately to successful campaigns. Assign project ownership to help ensure those successes. And having a Social Media and Blog Content Calendar keeps content flowing and consistent with your marketing plan.
Get Toned
Tighten up these problem areas and your business's marketing performance will stay in great shape year-round.
NAP CITATIONS
We can't emphasize enough how important it is to make sure your company's Name, Address, and Phone number are consistent throughout the web. Tune them up now, please.
BRAND CONSISTENCY
Logo, website, mobile site, social media, images, tag line, mission, and messaging should be consistent across all platforms. Dump the old logo files, make sure your mission is clearly stated on social media and your website, get rid of any images or designs that don't live up to the quality of your brand, unify your color palette. Make it look goooood.
SERVICE AREA MAP
It's important for people and search engines to know where you do business, and this is a simple and visual tool to do just that. Plus you don't have to stuff your website's content with town and county names.
CONTENT
Evergreen content is really important, but fresh content is an essential element for websites that perform well and drive business. This is a great opportunity to liven up your blog with info about the summertime services you provide, as well as practice your link building. Here are some hand picked links for energy efficiency PROs to get you started.
SEO
Start with a Local SEO Checklist, great for small local businesses much like the ones we work with. These six steps will ensure that your site performs well in local search -- epic-ly important.
Take these get-fit-fast tips to heart this spring, and watch your dance card fill up this summer. And, as always, don't hesitate to give us a shout here at Energy Circle for a little personal training.
Now, which way to the beach?