The Found Gen

Marketing That Works.

Growth

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Goal Setting for 2021

Key Things to Focus on For Business Growth

2020 throw a wrench in your spokes? Yeah, we know. It’s a sore subject. Moving on…

Basically, if you managed to complete a single business goal, let alone find the time or energy to create any, then you had a great year by apocalyptic standards. Go you! Take your wins where you can.

2020 took a lot out of us as humans and it raked many businesses over the coals. But we also found new opportunities to flex and pivot in directions that were unimaginable before. We survived, and 2020, for all its flaws, has made us more resilient and scrappier than ever.

But 2021 is coming and we need to get back on track. When the going gets tough, we get to planning. The best thing we can do for our businesses right now when the future seems uncertain is to set goals and map out a plan. We wanted to take some time and help you plan for the year ahead.

Here are 6 key areas that you can focus on for business growth in 2021.

Your online presence and e-commerce platform

When COVID struck we saw almost every aspect of business retreat to the safety of the web, apps and other uses of remote technology. So, how’s your website? Is it equipped to handle your customers’ needs if they can’t access you or your product in person? Do you have a solid online store? Are you engaging on social media and using the platforms efficiently? The pandemic changed everything about business operations and many of these changes are here to stay. Get yourself ready to take your business online.

Cost per lead

The total cost of generating one lead – what does it add up to for your business? You can typically make a calculation based on your advertising and marketing costs, but what about your time? Are you factoring that into your CPL? You need to know these numbers. Once you have a solid idea of your CPL, you goal for 2021 should be to increase your qualified leads and decrease your spending per lead.

Figuring out your marketing data

Analyzing website traffic, invoices, client information and communications, leads – every piece of information that you can target and track, you should be collecting. The more you understand your data, the more you know about your ideal clients and the way your business functions. By figuring out your data, you can find ways to save money, increase sales and revenue and hone in your competitive advantage.

If you don’t have a good data collection system, start by creating a process that is repeatable and scale-able. Be consistent with data collection, make it simple to do and constantly evaluate your data, as well as improving your system.

What actual/attainable goals can you identify?

By now the SMART goal acronym should be branded on your brain. But we’re going to hammer it home because it’s so simple yet so powerful. The most direct and manageable way to achieve your goals is the SMART way.

Specific. Clearly define your goal. Quantify your goals with realistic, data-driven numbers. For example, you want to gain 25 more leads per quarter, or see sales climb by 10%.

Measurable. The only way to know if you have reached your goals is if they are quantifiable. To know this, you need to have solid bookkeeping and data tracking already locked down.

Attainable. Sure, we all want to increase website traffic by 1000% and bring on 100 new clients, but if we set goals that are not attainable, we set ourselves up to fail.

Relevant. Your goals need to be relevant to your business growth and your brand. You could go a thousand different directions, but what is most pertinent to your needs this year?

Time-bound. Create a sense of urgency. Give yourself a deadline. Break down your goal into milestones so you know if you’re on track. By giving your goals target dates, you can keep on track with business growth and better plan for the future.

Keeping an eye out for changes and staying flexible

2020, we have you to thank for ensuring that we never take the status quo for granted again. The only constant in marketing (as in life) is change. Never forget this. And though this may be one of the most difficult facets of business to plan for, we have learned so much in the past year about adapting and remaining flexible.

The biggest favor you can do for yourself is to stay on top of industry news and all latest happenings in business. Build LinkedIn connections that are zeroed in on news relevant to your business. Sign up for industry newsletters. Do everything you can to stay informed.

Self and family care

Last but certainly not least, we want to encourage and remind you to take care of yourself. This means eating, exercising and sleeping well. It also means knowing when it’s time to put the business aside and focus on self and family. You won’t do your business any good if you’re a hot mess. You won’t do your family any good if you can’t relax and let go.

2021, our hopes are high, but not unreasonably so. Basically just suck a little less than 2020 and we’ll be happy.

Best of luck setting your 2021 goals. And, as always, let us know how we can help.

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What It Means to Market for Tomorrow

Building a brand takes work, but you already know that. You’ve put in the late hours, kept your nose to the grindstone, and seen your efforts pay off. But even though we all inherently know success takes work, and time, and consistent and persistent effort, many of us still fall into the mindset of thinking that we can magically wave our marketing wand and immediately solve our customers’ problems in the here and now.

Sorry to break it to you. That’s just not the case.

What Marketing Is Not

Marketing is not the antidote to your or your customers’ problems. It is not an 11th-hour attempt to solve a business strategy gone wrong. You know as well as we do that if you have poor customer service, a 5-star website and a quick smattering of social posts will not be able to save you.

Marketing for the Long Haul

What marketing is, however, is a long-term strategy that enables your business to stay ahead of the curve. It’s about planning ahead, keeping your eyes on the long view, and thinking strategically about the best ways to position your business and brand in the market today, tomorrow, and well into the future.

Marketing is putting in the time to maintain a consistent relationship with your customers, understanding their needs and values, and being aware of what’s coming down the pike.

After all, by developing close connections with your customers and consistently interacting with them, it means they’ll turn to you first when a problem does emerge on the horizon. Why? Because they’ve come to trust you, your brand, and what your business represents.

Marketing is important, dare we say essential, to the success of your business. As you look ahead, consider the ways in which marketing can augment and enhance the relationships you develop with your customers and be an important component of your entire growth strategy.

At The Found Gen, we’ve been helping businesses build their brands and tell their stories for more than a decade. Let us help you anticipate your customers’ needs and develop lasting relationships so you can continue to grow no matter what gets thrown your way (ahem, like a pandemic). Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.

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Five Strategies to Grow Your Business

5 Essential Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business

Remember the craziness of starting your business? The late night brainstorming sessions, deciding on a name and then a kickass logo, your inaugural client and all the lessons you learned from him, and the fear and relief you felt when you added your very first official employee?

The ups, the downs, the long nights and early mornings. But as the new normal settles in, you start to look at the big picture. Here are the key marketing strategies to grow your business over the long term.

SEO

When done right, a good technical SEO campaign will increase traffic to your website. It enables Google (and to a much lesser extent Bing) to best categorize your site so that you are showing up on the appropriate searches, and thereby attracting your target audience (here is a good primer on the three main steps to a strong SEO campaign).

A good technical SEO campaign should only take 3-6 months and only needs to be done every few years (ideally when you’re redoing your website) and is one of the essential marketing strategies to grow your business.

The rest of a good SEO campaign is just content (specifically blogs and other resources to your site) – and the more, the merrier.

Reputation Management

For some industries (notably restaurants and commoditized services like plumbers, electricians, and carpet cleaners), testimonials are a pivotal marketing strategy to grow your business. For professional services (like those provided by attorneys, CPAs, and consultants), testimonials better serve to boost your conversion rate.

Social Media

In short: social media is not right for every business. But it is an important one of the marketing strategies to grow your business available to you.

To oversimplify, social media is where people spend their time when they’re bored. It’s also where they go when they want to feel better about themselves. This creates a gigantic pool of potential customers all congregating in the same place – which is why Facebook is a close second to Google in driving online traffic. The trick is to get in front of the right people.

Blogging

Over the long run, blogging is the most important piece of digital marketing, period (read this if you want to read more as to why).  Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it accessible. So, the essence of a good SEO strategy is to create valuable information for your target audience and provide it via your site – like we do with the blog.

Email Marketing

The one thing you have the most control over in digital marketing is your email campaign. Facebook, Google, etc can change the rules whenever they want. This can cut you off from your audience and traffic to your site can plummet. But nothing can touch your email list – it’s the most direct connection you have.

What’s more – you can be a little more sales-driven over email. People come to your site for information (and then to make a decision), people use social media for entertainment. Sales pitches can anger them in both places, but they’re ok with it over email.

If you’re looking to generate leads with your marketing, you need a team to execute your strategy (and here are the questions you should ask a marketing agency before hiring them). Feel free to drop us a line if you want to learn more.