As the New Year gets underway, it’s important that businesses wanting to grow are keeping their marketing methods up to date! We’ve put together our top 5 tips for marketing successfully in 2014:

Social networking

If you’re not already using social media for your business, then you NEED to start and take it seriously. Using Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, Google+ (any or all of them) gives you a perfect (and free) way to build relationships with potential and existing customers and engage in conversations in your area of expertise. If planned and executed properly, i.e. talking to your target audience and providing useful comments and advice, social networking is a brilliant tool to growing your new customer base.

Be Visual

If you’re solely online, you need to find a way to engage with those who visit your website to make them more inclined to buy your product or service. One way to do this is to use videos. They let the viewer get a better insight into the subject of the video, whether it’s the business owner or the latest product, so that they are able to understand and get a better sense of the product, service or business. Building a relationship, giving consumers an ‘inside’ view will make them feel connected to you, and in turn, more likely to give you their business.

Client Feedback

No matter how much YOU sing and dance about your business and products, nothing will encourage consumers to approach you more than the recommendations of your existing or previous customers. Ask your customers for feedback on your service and ask them to provide you with testimonials so that you can use them on your website. They will help to validate the high quality of your business and prove to potential customers that you’re worth doing business with.

Be Mobile

As mobile device subscriptions continue to grow (they’re predicted to reach 9.3 billion by 2019) it is vital that businesses align themselves with mobile commerce so that consumers are able to access them and purchase their products and services via mobile devices. Ensure your website is mobile responsive. Remember, as an e-commerce business, your website is your ‘shop window’ so it needs to be usable across ALL devices.

Content Remains King

Content marketing isn’t new, but the need for businesses to be saying something insightful and meaningful is more important than ever. Make sure your business has a unique message and that you portray out to the media, blogs and your customers. Compelling content needs to do two things: build a connection between you and the reader and call the reader to action. Understand the motivations of your customers and provide content around this.