I'm sure you’ve heard the below lines a million and one times over the past few weeks… ‘These are troubling times’ ‘These are uncertain and worrying times’ ‘These are unprecedented times’ And they are.
They absolutely are for every single person. Whether you’re worrying about your family, your friends, your colleagues, your finances, your business prospects – you’d be incredibly hard pushed to feel anything but overwhelmed and that’s completely understandable. At Aggressive Growth Marketing (AGM), we’re working hard to support local businesses to continue through and beyond the pandemic crisis we’ve all currently found ourselves in. Something we’re really adamant about is ensuring you are staying in the spotlight and continuing the conversations you were having beforehand, even when your business circumstances have changed. So, here’s my top tips to help you stay in the spotlight:
If you’ve had to close your premises and perhaps put some aspects of your business on hold, don’t stop your marketing efforts. Your customers are there and they still have problems which you may have the solution to. They’ll continue to need you long after this is all a distant memory, so keep up with your marketing plan and ensure you’re still as prominent as ever within their feeds. PLUS, with social distancing on the cards for a while yet, social media usage is even greater than it was before.
Take a look at the marketing content you had planned over the coming weeks and see how you can adapt it without taking away from your initial goals. If there’s something you physically cannot offer right this second then look at how you can offer it in the future, engage with your target audience, look at what your competitors are doing and figure out how you can take it one step further.
What do your customers or clients need from you right now? None of us are mind readers (unfortunately) however, now is a great time to do some research around your target market. Don’t be afraid to be straight up and ask them what they want and need to see from you and then collate these answers to adapt your plans (as discussed above)
Is there an aspect of marketing you’ve been meaning to dip your toe into but you’ve struggled to find the time or space to do it? Have a go now: for example, video’s rank incredibly highly on social media engagement, it’s easy to do (you can film it on your phone), you can add subtitles using apps such as Kapwing, and you can even edit using apps depending on whether you’re iPhone or Android.
It’s been incredibly interesting to see how many businesses have moved their initial face to face business online, and they’ve managed to do so quickly and effectively. Networking has moved into the world of Zoom calls, and personal trainers are keeping the world fit from their living rooms. We’ll soon (hopefully) be returning to a sense of normality, however it’ll be a different kind of normality. We’ve seen this pandemic shake up our industry and now we’re looking forward to seeing what parts of these changes can be taken forward once businesses reopen and staff return to work. Make a list of which aspects you’ll be returning to normal and which ones you’ll be looking to adapt and keep virtual in the future.
Invite your past and current customers to share their experiences, your products and your services themselves. This is a great way to gain additional and altogether authentic content to use on your website and your social media. It also builds credibility, what better feedback for your potential target audience then seeing what you do in action. You can tell people how fantastic you are, OR you can show them.
As an expert in what you do, you’re in a prime position to offer advice on your market. For example, providing tutorial videos, a great way to show your skills and knowledge around what you do on a normal basis.
Use the time to look at what you’ve done in the past and really get to grips with what has worked, what hasn’t and why that’s the case. We’re passionate about data-based creative marketing here at AGM, because how can you get the results if you don’t have the facts, figures and statistics to back it up along the way? Social media and website analytics are a great way to start understanding how you’ll be adapting your marketing both long term and short term. We’re looking forward to seeing your results! 
Kelly Bolton set up Aggressive Growth Marketing back in 2007, initially working for herself. The agency moved to premises in Preston in 2018 and specialises in delivering growth programmes and sales and marketing strategies for business. She joined Boost’s Growth Mentoring programme and gained leadership and HR management support from mentor Martyn Jones.
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