Congratulations. You started up, and you lost sleep. You drank more coffee than you thought humanly possible. You kept going. And before you knew it, you scaled up, and you had other people (clients, employees) to talk to in addition to your mom. And now, there’s still not much sleep, but you’re ready do even more with your business or brand. It’s time to go big.In this guide, we’ve got everything you need to make sure you’re executing the day-to-day seamlessly, going above and beyond for your customers, for your product, and for yourself as a freelancer and small business owner. Go big or go home. And wouldn’t you rather go big and then home to the big home you earned? Yeah, you would.
We pretended Glengarry Glen Ross said it before, and we’ll do it again: always be optimizing! Enhancing and improving your products and services regularly can only save you headaches and help your business in both the short and the long term. And this doesn’t just mean making your site better looking (although you can totally do that, here. Take a look at ways to optimize your search engine marketing, e-commerce and site performance. Ensuring all of these are running as efficiently as possible promises your customers are getting the best experience possible.
At this point, you’ve got a good base of regular customers. They love the quality of your product or service, and you love seeing their orders pour in. And, according to Social Annex, loyal customers are worth up to 10x as much as their first purchase. So, how about rewarding them with exclusive promotions, special offers, and more? Give them some branded customer loyalty cards, where each customer is given a specific code, or bestow some exclusive brand ambassador swag on them, that’s for high-frequency, VIP customers only. There’s something about exclusivity that will drive people to spend that extra dollar or two, to let everyone know how special they are to your brand.
Speaking of swag, we know we’re all about digital, but sometimes good ol’ fashioned face-to-face marketing works wonders. So take you swag and business swagger out on the road. Find out the biggest and most reputable trade shows or conferences in your industry, and if it’s doable, plan on going.We know you love to hustle, and trade shows and conferences are a great way to network, build business relationships, and find new clients. It’s also a chance to physically put your brand in a place it might not otherwise be, and in front of audiences who may not normally see it. So when you hit the road, go prepared with banners, flyers and posters, and any other additional swag with custom branding you can think of. Those trinkets will end up in pockets and bags, and remind anyone who met you to stay in touch or look up your business. Cha-ching!
Have you thought about how you can optimize your social media presence? We know, we know. We’re starting to sound like a broken record with the whole optimizing thing, but going next level means EVERY level, including social media. And going next level could be as simple as corresponding with customers via social. Twitter reports that "Customers who receive responses on Twitter from a business are 30% more likely to recommend the brand to others, and 44% more likely to share their experience online and off." That's awesome. And they let just about anyone have a Twitter account these days, so you're already winning. Think about incorporating seasonal or on-trend skin or avatar designs in your social media pages. Or updating the type of content you’re sharing with custom gifs, whiteboard or animated videos. Looking for inspiration? Check out these five social tricks from Entrepreneur to boost your business.
In a time when even Grandma has a smartphone, the importance of building a mobile app to reflect your business or brand is essential. According to Statista mobile apps are forecasted to generate around 189 billion dollars in the US alone by 2020. Wanna get a piece of that pie? Go next level and enhance your brand or business with it’s own mobile app (LINK). Don’t think you can create the next Angry Birds? You can still bring big revenues to your business by increasing your mobile advertising budget. And if you’re looking for more inspiration, check out these 10 mobile apps that every freelancer needs.
Not to brag, but our community spans over 190 different countries, so, we know a thing or two about going global. The internet is an incredible tool that brings access to the world via our computers, and, surprise! can put more money in your pocket if utilized correctly. To understand the best ways to go global, check out these e-commerce trends, then learn how to stand out in a global marketplace so you can make a splash amongst other businesses in your industry. If you’re really ready to go next level, take a look into translating your products and services into other markets, here. Bien suerte!
Okay okay, we just said go global. But hyper-focusing on your local market can also provide big opportunities for your business. Take a look at these five effective local marketing ideas. When you’re done with that, create some local listings or hit the streets and put up flyers or posters around town. These things may seem so simple, and you may have blown right past them when you were establishing and scaling up your business, but turning your attention to your local market can be big for your bottom line. Also, the people love you! Look at you! You’re a business superstar.
Not to pick on Grandma, but she’s probably on Instagram, and that’s super, but it means in order to go next level, you need to look beyond social media. What’s the next cool thing? Is there a marketing tactic you haven’t tried, such as press releases, commercials, and audience promotion that can be distributed beyond your social channels. Do some research to learn more about your current and potential audiences for growth. You’ve struggled through endless work days and nights. You know going big with your business isn’t something that can happen overnight. It’s a mindset, and for a business as established as yours, you must always be optimizing. Keep looking for ways to better enhance and promote your product, and above all, keep doing. Have any tips or guidance we missed? Let us know in the comments below.
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