Starting a new business is often extremely exciting and at times overwhelming. Having started my freelance business in September last year, I’m speaking from experience! Now it goes without saying that there are A LOT of tasks to do when setting up your business. Such as registering your business and sorting your tax affairs! But regardless of the service or product, you offer, it is imperative that you attract customers. More importantly, you need to attract the right customers. This can be achieved by carefully considering how you wish to market your new venture.

This post is all about keeping things simple, whilst avoiding overwhelm in the process! Whether you choose to outsource the following or take the steps yourself, they will stand you in good stead! Before we get to the nitty-gritty, I would just like to take a brief moment to mention my service offer. I provide social media management and strategy, copywriting services and eye-catching graphic design to help get your business noticed online.

I love a creative challenge so please drop me an email to discuss how we can work together to grow your business.

hello@rachaelhope.co.uk

Get Blogged

When looking for a copywriter you should look for these 3 things: reliability, passion and experience. Having worked with Rachael for the past 6 months I can honestly say that she has these 3 things in spades. Especially passion. Not only does she produce excellent quality content which she has clearly dedicated time to, but she goes the extra mile to make sure the brief is 100% met. Rachael is friendly, creative and adaptable which makes her a delight to work with. I recommend her wholeheartedly.

Micaela Burr

Project Manager | Get Blogged

Useful Views Philanthropy

Rach has been an incredible asset to the Useful Views Philanthropy team. Her creative and thoughtful approach to our digital content is something that makes working with her an ongoing pleasure.

Abby Axelrod-Wunderman

Useful Views Philanthropy Company Founder

Talking Chair Ltd

I have found Rachael to be most professional and approachable offering a high-quality service. Rachael is talented in her line of work and demonstrates her ability with good humour, reliability and knowledge in her craft.

Vanessa Colman

Therapist & Proprietor

Panoramic Counseling, LLC

Rachael has been an awesome support as I launched my business. Did I mention she did all this from over an ocean!? I recommend Rachael to any small business looking to boost their web presence and branding potential.

Johnzelle Anderson

Therapist & Proprietor

Anyway, on with the show!

Get Clear About Your Ideal Client or Customer 

I know you have probably read this in a million other articles and blog posts online! But it is so important to get clear about your target audience. This will almost certainly evolve as your business grows, so rest assured that you are not permanently limiting yourself. However, for right now who is your product or service for? From a marketing standpoint, location is a great aspect to consider. This can really narrow down how you choose to market your business venture.

For example, my service offer can literally be provided to anyone in the world! Thank you internet, very cool. But maybe you are starting your own hair salon. This would be a bricks and mortar localized business. You might set a certain radius of where you would consider marketing to initially. Perhaps you would say a maximum of 15 miles away from your salon to make it feasible. You may also decide that you would prefer to market solely to your town or city.

Maybe you own a bricks and mortar clothing shop that caters to your local area for now. But in the future, you might consider expanding to include eCommerce within your business model. This would widen your scope greatly. But you will still have to decide between international and national shipping.

Once you have a handle on any location requirements, you can start to think about other elements. These could include demographics, or even hobbies and interests. Are you aiming your product or services at Millenials? Or those passionate about animal rights?

The clearer you are in the first instance the more effective your marketing strategy will be. This also helps your potential customers.

Get Clear About Your Brand Identity

Those with a keen interest in starting a business generally have a dimension of creativity to their personality. So this part is usually fun for prospective business owners! When working with clients, I also find this part really exciting, because I get to bring their vision into reality! BUT (and it’s a big but) this is so much easier for both business owner and potential designer if an ideal customer base has been thoroughly considered. This means you can make educated decisions based on who you are targetting.

Your brand identity is the face of your business. It’s the choices you make when expressing your service offer and brand personality to your customer base. It’s also how the outside world views your business, which is why it is so important to consider! People are making decisions about your business whether you are in the room or not. This determines whether they stroll on by, or decide to make contact.

The initial practical elements of your brand identity include your chosen colour theme, typography, and your strapline. These elements can then be translated either by yourself, or a specialist into the following areas:

• Logo
• Business Card
• Packaging
• Leaflets
• Digital Media
• Online Presence

Any designer worth their salt should help you translate the above in a way that can be utilized both on and offline. For example, a leaflet can physically be printed or shared digitally via email for example.

Representing Your Business Online

One of the biggest tools that can determine whether a business is a success or not, is the internet and social media. The internet has helped narrow the gap between larger corporations and start-up operations, unlike anything before it. Unlike traditional advertising efforts (newspapers etc.) you can monitor the effectiveness of your campaigns. This can be achieved by delving into your campaign analytics. It is then possible to see what works and what doesn’t and then adjust accordingly. Plus a lot of the digital marketing options out there are totally free for your business. There is always the option for paid campaigns of course.

If you have a specific niche or business, there could also be software out there to manage your marketing needs. An example is something like SaloniQ, which is aimed specifically at salon owners. Software such as this helps you to attract more clients, growing your business and leading you to see the results that you want.

However, this is not to say that traditional advertising shouldn’t have a place in your marketing strategy. For example, I have spoken to many businesses that rely on advertisements in local newsletters or pamphlets as they cater to an older demographic. In general, you won’t find the majority of this demographic hanging out online. But it truly is an exciting time for your business to get involved in the online world!

To put this in perspective in 2019 the following occurs in just a minute online:

• Facebook receives 1 million logins
• 347,222 people scroll Instagram
• 87,500 people are tweeting
• $996,956 is spent online

That’s just a snippet by the way. When you read the stats and figures it is quite astounding.

Inch By Inch & Life’s a Cinch

As with anything, it is better to start by honing in on one area of growth; especially if you don’t have assistance from an expert. There is nothing worse than feeling overwhelmed by your business. So give yourself permission to start with one platform that you can be consistent with and that also matches your business goals.

For example, if your business is localized, Facebook and Google my Business are both fantastic (and free) marketing options. Facebook tends to be the place that people go for local recommendations. Whilst Google my Business is a great placeholder until you can afford a website. It also has a great map feature that helps customers to easily find your business. If you own an Etsy shop, write a blog or sell arts and crafts, seriously consider Pinterest or Instagram. Pinterest and Instagram are both visually orientated platforms so are fantastic for anything visually based. They are also great for reaching a worldwide audience!

If you have already invested in a website, consider writing a bi-weekly blog post. Your writing should add value to your existing and future customer base. This is a great way to start building a connection with your audience. Having a business blog can also help with search engine optimization. Updating your blog will keep your website listing fresh in the eyes of the search engines. Plus each blog post can be optimized. Meaning that the right people will find your blog post and therefor your product or service!

FIN

As always I really hope that this post has provided you with value. Marketing your business correctly from the start will help to set you up for longterm success. As previously stated, this doesn’t mean that your marketing strategy can’t evolve as your business evolves. This is bound to happen.

In fact, many established businesses get ten years in and decide they want a total rebrand! Your business and in turn your strategies should always evolve as you grow as a person, or the market changes.

If you have any questions or feel that I have missed something vital, please do leave a comment below!

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