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Good marketing is focused on the long-term. It takes time to get your message to stick, to get people interested in what you do, to help them through the buying process and to create increasingly powerful marketing flywheels. There’s no way around this. And yet, most marketers are pushed to create short-term wins, too.
Not only do you have to implement a strategy that builds over time, but you also have to bring in revenue this quarter, this month or maybe even this week! That’s intimidating. But there are ways to create these quick marketing wins if you’re willing to be scrappy. Here are five ideas that have worked for us.
Related: 5 Marketing Tips for Brand Success
1. Email current customers asking for online reviews
Online reviews help you in four ways:
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They prove to potential buyers that you’re worth buying from
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They help you rank higher in Google search results and on other platforms
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They get you visibility on “best of” and “top vendor” lists
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They create an excuse to re-engage customers
That’s a pretty powerful combination, and it creates a virtuous loop where you earn good reviews that help you rank higher on a particular platform, get more visibility, bring in new customers, upsell customers and repeat.
So, send your customers an email asking them to leave you an online review, and be sure to include the link for them to do it. For most businesses, Google is probably the best platform to get reviews on, but it may also be Angi, Facebook, G2, Capterra or another — wherever your target customers are most likely to search for your products and services.
2. Optimize website page titles and meta descriptions to increase click-through rates
You probably have a lot of pages earning relatively little traffic. Open up your Google Search Console account, assuming you have one, and go over to Search Results (under Performance). Click the Average CTR and Average Position boxes so those analytics show, then click on the Pages tab. Now you can see how much traffic each page is getting from Google searches.
Look for pages that are showing up in search results a lot, but that people aren’t clicking on. I use the number of impressions to see which pages have the most traffic potential and consider editing the titles and meta descriptions of anything with a click-through rate (CTR) less than 2.5%. Make your existing pages more enticing to click, and you’ll earn more traffic without creating anything new.
Not sure what to say? Ask ChatGPT to optimize it for you. Don’t copy and paste its suggestions, but use it and other tools to help you brainstorm phrasings. Once you’ve made your edits, request reindexing for that page via Search Console. Usually, you can start seeing the impact of those changes within a few days.
Related: 5 Startup Marketing Mistakes Startups Must Avoid to Survive
3. Send a text to old leads
Most of your prospects don’t convert, and usually, it’s not because they chose a competitor. They just didn’t do anything. You’ve worked with these people before, so you have permission to contact them (unless they specifically opted out), and you know they’re a good fit for what you offer.
From your CRM or other sales software, filter your leads by who didn’t close, and either start texting prospects from your cell, or upload that list to a business texting service so you can send one message to everyone at once from your office phone number (this option is easier). A simple message works fine — like, “First name, hope you’re well. Still have any interest in xyz? Let me know how I can help. — Rep Name at Company”
As with all mass sales outreach, you’ll get a decent number of no’s and opt-outs. That’s okay. You’ll get enough prospects to re-engage that it’ll be well worth it. You’ll also typically get those responses in minutes or as soon as they see your text, giving your pipeline an instant lift.
4. Ask your customer-facing teams what they hear most
Your sales and service teams are a treasure trove of information that you should leverage to improve your marketing. Ask them what questions and objections they get most. Then create content to address those questions and objections. A few options include:
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Clarifying existing web copy
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Creating educational articles or videos on those topics so people can get answers before talking to your team
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Adding details to FAQs, creating PDFs or improving short training videos that reps can share with customers once they’ve reached out
The more questions and objections marketing can handle before customers talk to a real person, the better. This helps you bring in more prospects, close deals faster, make customers happier and even create upsell opportunities. Perhaps most importantly, your sales and service teams will feel the impact almost immediately, as they can stop answering the same questions over and over. Their lives will be made easier, and that’s a win for you, too.
Related: 7 Paid Marketing Steps to Fuel Your Startup’s Growth
5. Audit your ad spend by channel and customer acquisition
You probably have multiple ads or campaigns that are clearly bringing you no returns. Most marketers have these — ads you run for experiments that you forgot to come back and analyze, campaigns that you keep running as a “best practice,” and channels you’re invested in because you fear missing out.
Attribution tracking is never going to be 100% accurate, but go through your attribution software, customer surveys and other data. Make sure anything you’re spending money on is actually bringing you qualified leads and sales. If not, cut it. You’ll get the same results while spending less, and that “optimization” is a huge quick win.
