Grow Your Company With Digital Marketing
If you are looking to grow your company with digital marketing, we made this article for you. Created by WiseGuys Digital Marketing, How To Grow Your Company with Digital Marketing: The Ultimate Guide.
Focus On Your Hedgehog Concept When Marketing Your Company
The first thing you need to do when growing your company is to identify what one thing you can focus on and be the best in the world at it. In Jim Collins best-selling book Good To Great, he explains the importance of finding and understanding your hedgehog concept.
“Are you a hedgehog or a fox? The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. The fox is a cunning creature, able to devise a myriad of complex strategies for sneak attacks upon the hedgehog. Day in and day out, the fox circles around the hedgehog’s den, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. Fast, sleek, beautiful, fleet of foot, and crafty—the fox looks like a sure winner. On the other hand, the hedgehog is a dowdier creature, looking like a mix-up between a porcupine and a small armadillo. He waddles along, going about his simple day, searching for lunch, and taking care of his home.
The fox waits in cunning silence at the juncture in the trail. The hedgehog, minding his own business, wanders right into the path of the fox. ‘Aha, I’ve got you now,’ thinks the fox. He leaps out, bounding across the ground, lighting fast. The little hedgehog, sensing danger, looks up and thinks, ‘Here we go again. Will he ever learn?” Rolling up into a perfect little ball, the hedgehog becomes a sphere of sharp spikes, pointing outward in all directions. The fox, bounding toward his prey, sees the hedgehog defense and calls off the attack.
Retreating back to the forest, the fox begins to calculate a new line of attack. Each day, some version of this battle between the hedgehog and the fox takes place, and despite the greater cunning of the fox, the hedgehog always wins.”
Is Your Company Ready To Grow?
Most companies these days are like the fox. They have plenty of tools and tactics, but they do not have one simple quality that they are best at, unlike the hedgehog, which can fend off almost all attacks with one simple move.
You can be just like the hedgehog when you can define your target market and deploy all of your assets and resources to helping this particular group of people. Choose your target market, and be the best in the world at one thing. However, if your company is more like the fox, take a step back and understand what your business can be the best in the world and then choose the market that falls within that service.
Some of the most outstanding companies in the world are more like hedgehogs. They’re simple, dowdy creatures that know “one big thing” and stick to it. Most companies, on the other hand, are more like foxes. They’re crafty, cunning creatures that know many things but lack constancy. Does a heart specialist charge more than a general doctor? You bet, but you will gladly pay more for the heart specialist because you know he will give you the best answer.
Choosing Your Target Market To Grow Your Company
Now that you understand the importance of choosing your target market, let’s break down how to choose one for your business. There are two main factors that you will use when identifying your target market. The first factor is the amount of potential clientele in the marketplace, and the second factor is the return on investment you will generate from this particular market.
Let’s say you own a conference center. You look at the past three years of all of the clients you have hosted, and you notice that business conferences bring, on average, 70-80% more profit than all of the other events. Upon this finding, you decide to target people that influence the decision-making process on where to have their business conferences. Your Target Market Profile might look like this.
Business Conference Target Market Profile:
- Owner/CEO/Event Coordinator of Company
- Size of Company: $4,000,000 + a year
- Employee Size: 40+
- City: Kansas City and surrounding area
- Event with Highest ROI: Two-day seminars
Now that your target market is determined, you can now filter out all of the other events and focus solely on the business conferences. You can design a landing page and spend all of your marketing dollars dominating this corner of the market.
Your conference center is “The Best Place To Have Business Conferences!” You are simply the best of the best for business conferences, and everyone knows it. This, in turn, will enable you to work less but make more.
To bring in consistent results from your marketing campaign, you must consistently communicate the right message to your target market. Your target market must also associate themselves with you.
Communicate The Unique Problem You Solve
Your target market has unique struggles and problems that you can solve; all you need to do is identify and communicate them. If you cannot point to your target market and say, “That is my target market, this is their struggle, and this is how I solve their problems. I am an expert in this field, and I am their best option.” You will be another company in the background, a commodity. This is the worst place you can be if you are trying to grow your company.
A common misconception that I run into a lot is that my clients think their target market is a particular person. This is not correct. Your target market is who you serve; each person’s individual qualities don’t matter as much. All that matters is that they have unique problems that you can solve. Most of your target market will share some of the same qualities when you boil it down, but remember, as long as this person has unique problems that you can solve, they are in your target market.
How To Grow Your Company By Influencing Your Target Market
Starting with the newest level of our brain, the neocortex. This part of the brain is in charge of analytical thought and language. It can understand complicated information, like facts and figures, but does not drive behavior.
Most of the companies that are running advertisements focus on the neocortex. They focus on all of the logical reasons someone should use their company—things like price and warranty, to name a couple.
The middle two sections comprise the limbic brain. The limbic brain is responsible for all of our feelings, such as trust and security. It is also responsible for most human behavior and decision-making but has no capacity for rational thought or language.
This part of the brain can sense when danger is coming, even though you cannot explain why. “Gut feelings” or just being completely sold on a product or person without genuinely understanding the reason is your limbic brain at work. This is the part of the brain that helped humans evolve as a species.
Grow Your Company By Communicating With The Limbic Part Of The Brain
To grow your company with marketing, you need to understand how to bypass the neocortex and communicate directly to the limbic part of the brain. No matter how much money you spend on marketing or how much time you spend on creating your keyword list, if your ads communicate to the neocortex instead of the limbic part of the brain, all of your campaigns will flop. You can make sure that your company always produces the right message by creating a Key Human Driver Statement.
Here are the eight ways you will be able to get in touch with the limbic brain. Choose which one your business satisfies. Below is what Drew Eric Whitman calls “Life Force 8!” in his bestselling book, Cashvertising.
- Survival, enjoyment of life, life extension
- Enjoyment of food and beverages
- Freedom from fear, pain, and danger
- Sexual companionship
- Comfortable living conditions
- To be superior, winning, keeping up with the Joneses
- Care and protection of loved ones
- Social approval
You must step back and ask yourself, at the most basic level, what does my company do?
- Does your company create products that help people live a longer, heather life?
- Do give people freedom from fear, pain, or danger?
- Can your company help people feel superior?
- Does your company provide care and protection for loved ones?
- Can your company help your clients get social approval?
- Does your product help your clients get
- sexual companionship? (This is a huge one! If you can link your business back to this in any way, do it!)
- Does your company help people live comfortably?
Remember, your Key Human Driver Statement is just your guide to reaching the limbic part of the brain. All of the marketing pieces that we create will link back to this simple message to ensure that we speak to the limbic part of the brain, not the neocortex.
We will never put out an advertisement that says, “My company XYZ will help you enjoy freedom from fear, pain, and danger!”
For example, people don’t buy insurance. They buy freedom from fear, pain, or danger! People do not buy a Rolex to tell the time. It’s a statement. It’s keeping up with the Joneses or being superior! Every business solves human desire. We need to identify the human desire that you fulfill, so later on down the road; we can build off of it to create our marketing campaigns.
Key Human Driver Statement For Business Growth
My Company serves________________________ (Target Market) to ensure that they ___________________,(Life Force Eight Desire) and I will make sure that my target market will be able to identify with this message in everything I do!
Now that you have a solid grasp on this concept take notice of which advertisements actually speak to the part of your brain that drives decision-making. On average, I will only see one or two advertisements out of the hundreds that I see daily that are set up correctly and talk to the limbic brain. The rest are simply garbage.
Reminder: no one will see this except you and your marketing team. This is just the starting point that all of your advertising campaigns will stem from! This whole point of this process is so that you will always be able to come back and check and make sure that one, we are focusing on our target market and two, it is speaking directly to the limbic part of their brain.
Should Your Business Have A Website?
Yes, your business needs a website in today’s day and age! A good way to look at your website is your online storefront. These days so much research is done online that you must make sure that your website is something you are proud of. You would never let a potential client come into your office or storefront when it is disgusting; make sure they don’t see an outdated or absent website!
What Does It Take To Have A Good Business Website?
One of the most common questions I get from my clients is, “what makes a good website?” Now, before I answer this question, I always hit them with a follow-up question. “What are you looking to get out of it?” You see, what makes a good website is having it achieve what it was created to do. If you created a website to generate leads and, for some reason, never generates leads, then the website sucks!
Your site needs to have a purpose, and once you have identified that purpose, you can build a site around that. When you just want to show off previous work, client testimonials, and the services you provide, there is simply no need to buy a massively expensive website.
Where Should Your Business Website Be Made?
Here at WiseGuys Digital Marketing, we use WordPress exclusively for creating our customers’ websites. WordPress websites consist of around 43% of the entire internet, and for good reasons. WordPress websites are the most customizable and are amazing to optimize for search engines.
Tools such as GoDaddy and Wix are great for starters, but here at WiseGuys Digital Marketing, we do not recommend them for long-term growth and prosperity. If you are looking for a drag and drop option for WordPress, use the plug-in Elementor. We love using this tool, and it is very easy to learn as a beginner! With that being said, you want a professional to ensure your online home is representing your company in the best possible way. WiseGuys can help walk you through the process if you have any questions!
Grow Your Business with Local Search Engine Optimization
Local SEO is vital for almost every business because nearly 46% of Google searches are done with local intent, meaning that people are looking for products and services in their city. Also, the term “Near me” has grown 150 percent faster than traditional search terms. (Google)
Google uses different ranking factors to determine the results it pulls up for local searches. Below are the different sets that Google uses to rank your local listing.
- The location that the person is searching from
- Name, address, and Phone citations
- Presence of Google My Business listing
- Keywords used in Google My Business profile
- The sentiment of online reviews
- Keywords used in online reviews
- Number of “check-ins” at that location
- Shares on social media
First Ranking Factor: The Location The Person Is Searching From
The first factor on our list is “the location the person is searching from.” This is the most fundamental characteristic of Local SEO. When you are looking for a Pizza restaurant to go to, you are not interested in seeing results from Seattle if you are in Kansas City. When you search for “Pizza Near Me,” you will get the closest pizza joints.
Second Ranking Factor: NAP Citations
The second factor on the list is “NAP Citations.” As I stated briefly in the section prior, NAP stands for name, address, and phone number for your business. Why is this important? You see, this is how Google confirms that all of your business information is correct. The more often they see the NAP citations, the more confident they are with promoting your business. That is why it is crucial to get consistent NAP citations on as many reputable websites as you can! A few websites include Facebook, Yelp, and Google Business Profile.
Third and Fourth Factor: Presence of Google My Business
The Third and Fourth Factor on our list is the Presence of Google My Business listing and the Keywords used in Google Business Listing. Here is the most current information on optimizing your Google Business listing.
Google Business Profile Optimization SEO 2022 || How To Rank Google My Business Page #1 Quickly!
Fifth Factor: The Sentiment of Online Reviews
The Fifth Factor on our list is “The Sentiment of Online Reviews.” Now, you might be wondering, “Why are reviews so important to have?” Here is why. Over 15.4% of the way Google Ranks you is based on how many reviews you have and what rating they are. If you have no reviews or a bunch of one-star reviews, you are simply not going to rank as high.
Sixth Ranking Factor: Keywords used in Online Reviews
The Sixth Factor on our list is “Keywords used in Online Reviews.” What does that mean? For example, if you are a pizza restaurant in Kansas City, a perfect review would look like, “ABC Pizza here in Kansas City is the best! I cannot wait to come back!” Whenever possible, try and get your client to include the city and primary keywords you want to rank for!
Seventh Factor: Number of check-ins at the location
The Seventh Factor on our list is the “Number of check-ins at the location.” This can happen on pretty much any social media site or Google. For example, a health club by my house offers 10% off to people who check-in via their Facebook page. With this method, they get views from the person’s Facebook friends, which helps them rank higher on local searches. Smart.
Eighth Factor: Shares on Social Media
The Eighth Factor is “Shares on Social Media.” This is also why it is crucial to post content and information on your Facebook page that your target market will interact with and share.
What do you think is the most important factor that Google uses when ranking businesses online? Google My Business signals. That is why it is important to make sure you take the time and show your GMB profile a lot of attention. Generate a massive amount of reviews and continuously update and add photos to your GMB profile.
Always remember, Google is notorious for changing the qualities they look for when ranking sites. Make sure you are checking to make sure the information in this section is accurate and will help you rank higher on Google For Local Searches.
How To Grow Your Company With Facebook
Before we talk about Facebook’s technicalities, I want to make sure you understand how you need to approach this platform. Believe it or not, there is a specific way you need to handle Facebook so that you can grow your page and get introduced to new clientele.
What is the best way to approach Facebook? Think of it this way. Facebook is a place where people escape from reality, a place to relax, a place to socialize and catch up with friends. You need to treat it like you are at a party.
Treat Facebook Like A Party To Grow Your Company
Let’s imagine for a minute you are going to a party to catch up with some friends that you haven’t seen in a long time. Assuming that you are like me, the first thing I am going to do is to make sure I look as presentable as possible. Pick out an outfit, get a haircut, all the basics to ensure I am looking my best. It simply does not make sense to show up looking like you just rolled out of bed, right? This is the first step to making sure your Facebook page is contributing to the end goal is making sure it is aesthetically pleasing.
Now that I have the perfect outfit, I head out the door to go to the party. I am more than excited to be able to catch up with old friends. When I arrive, I greet all of my friends and grab a drink from the bar. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot one of my old buddies I used to play soccer with and ask him how he is doing. Rather than telling me about his wife and kids, he starts pitching me on his services that he is currently selling.
After he gets done, I tell him to give me a call later. I then say to him that I am just trying to relax and catch up with some old buddies. Now I know this sounds farfetched, but this is how you need to treat Facebook. Do not try and sell to people that are just trying to relax. Focus on building relationships instead.
When we get to the section on postings, I will explain how to approach this situation so you don’t confuse and scare off potential clientele.
What to post on Facebook?
What is the main goal we need to focus on to ensure success on Facebook? Interactions. Without interactions, Facebook will not let your post see the light of day. The more interactions you get, the more people will see your post.
Here are the best ways to get people to interact with your post. The key methods are:
- Sentimental Posts. Posts of kittens or puppies, posts of kids, posts about a charitable cause.
- Utility. Post that explains “How to do” stuff, especially things that are counter-intuitive or funny.
- Funny. Humor is big on Facebook. Posting jokes, funny quotes, videos, images. Anything to get people to laugh.
- Surveys, polls, contests. Ask your audience a question, and getting them to use the comments to answer will generate a lot of interaction. A great way to generate a lot of comments is by asking a trivia question, and the first person to answer the question correctly gets a prize of some sort!
- Quotes. Sentimental, humorous, make you think quotes
- Giveaways. As an example, “Like this post to be entered for a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!”
One of the first things I do when creating a plan for my client’s Facebook page is to see what their competitors are doing and improve on it. What do they have for their header? Is their logo clean in their profile picture? What posts get the most interaction? You’re not just copying what they are doing; you are observing and improving.
If you notice that every time they post something about their employee of the month, they get a good amount of interaction, you need to use that and improve on it. How? One example off the top of my head would be Employee Pet of the Month? Or Customer Pet of the Month?
You should never, ever, just copy and paste a post from your competitor. Take their idea and create something completely new and original from it. We need to look at Facebook as a place where people relax and escape from reality, and your job is to assist them with that.
We just want eyes on your brand, simple as that. Later on in this book, I will show you how to bring on clients with this platform, but for now, I want you to focus on entertaining them!
Share On Facebook
See a funny post about a dog? Share it on your Business Facebook Page. Exciting article about your industry? Share it. You might be asking yourself, “Can I ever post about my business?” Of course, you can! It’s important not to overload your target prospects with boring information that they couldn’t give two cents about. My rule of thumb is to use the 80/20 rule. For every four posts, you can create one self-promoting post.
Below is a list of my favorite posting ideas, make them your own, and expand on them! Make sure you also find a way to infuse them to get the best interactions for your business.
- Ask questions, and start discussions. (Do you like…? Are you a fan of…?)
- Tell your story or a story of one of your customers
- Dig into problems that you solve
- Post on holidays (including “holidays” such as National Taco Day!)
- Promote products or services
- Share a special offer
- Show customers enjoying your products and services
- Client testimonials
- Show off product features with infographics
- Share inspirational quotes in picture form
- Funny images
- Share hints, tips, and tutorial
- Show behind-the-scenes
- Highlight your charitable side
- Share popular meme
- Jump on fads in popular culture
- Add snack-sized data
- Post about what is trending
- Expert Tips
- Snippets from your blog
- Throw Back Thursdays
- Post a poll
- Business books
- How-to guides
- Infographics
- Ask followers about business decisions
Try to post videos at least once a week with the ideas I shared with you above. Videos are essential to connect with your followers and build a real connection. Your video does not need to be extremely long, nor does it have to be professional. Most cameras that come with most smartphones these days have more than enough quality to create a short video of yourself.
When to post on your Business Facebook Page
The question that I always get asked is “When is the best time to post?” and for a while, it was indeed up in the air, but now, Facebook has made it easy for us to see when it is the best time to post for our industry with Audience Insights. Not only does it give you the best time to post, but what days of the week to post, and what content is the most popular.
Grow Your Business with Search Engine Optimization
Growing your business with Search Engine Optimization is not an overnight process. With that being said, it is well worth the time and effort when you finally reach your destination. An entire book could be written on the subject of SEO, so I am going to outline what to look for when choosing a digital marketing company to grow your organic ranking with search engine optimization!
When meeting with the digital marketing company, ask them what their strategy will be. Make them show you what steps they will take to increase your ranking online. Ask them to bring case studies and previous victories. Since SEO can take 6-12 months to see results, you want to ensure the company you hire is not going to waste your time!
Using Google Pay-Per-Click Ads to grow your business
SEM or Search Engine Marketing is a little different than social media marketing. Instead of introducing yourself to the target audience, you are getting placed in front of people searching for something based on the keywords they use. Don’t overthink it. Just stick to the basics so that you can grow your company with digital marketing!
When you search on Google, what do you see?
A bunch of advertisements that focus on the features of their business, the how. That won’t be us. We’re different. We’re better. When we search on Google, 90 percent of the time, it is just information gathering. We are just trying to learn more about a product or service. When creating our headline, our job is to catch all of these “drifters” so that we are the first choice when they make a decision.
Your headline is going to be the same, but with one modification. Let’s say that people are searching for “best bikes” or “bikes near me.” In our headline, we can put “The Six Ways to Live a Longer, Happier, and Healthier Life on a Bike.” You don’t need to introduce the idea to people that are already searching for a bike; they know they want a bike; now you just have to paint yourself as the expert and hit the emotional buttons!
Imagine that you are in the market for a bike, you go on Google and search “Bikes for sale,” and you have the option between these three headlines; which one are you most likely to choose?
- “Buy Your New Bike Here. BikeSellers Direct”
- “Cheap Bikes For You! Free Shipping!”
- “Bikes For Sale! The Six Ways to Live a Longer, Happier, and Healthier Life on a Bike.”
The last choice is a breath of fresh air, and almost had me convinced that I needed a bike, and I wrote it myself! What are the underlying benefits of your product or service? You should already have this created, right?
Always Remember When Marketing Your Company
- Emotions over logic
- Choose benefit over features
- Explain the why, sell the how
Always understand that no matter where you are marketing, the results come from understanding human tendencies and how to influence their decisions.
If you are not 100% sure about setting up and launching the campaign, hire an expert, or watch online tutorials on how to do it. Since you have all of the content, you can most likely get a pretty good deal from a digital marketing company. Just make sure you are using an established company that knows what they are doing so you can grow your company with digital marketing
Digital Marketing Books To Help Grow Your Company
WiseGuys has written two books on digital marketing, the first is Marketing Secrets of the Ultra-Wealthy, this book will teach you everything you need to know to grow your company with digital marketing. Get the book here today!
The second is Quit Competing, Start Dominating. Below is a video we created that goes over the FOCUS Marketing Method in detail! Learn Grow Your Company with Digital Marketing!
Conclusion on How To Grow Your Company With Digital Marketing
If you need professional help to grow your company, reach out to us here at WiseGuys Digital Marketing. We have the tools and experience to take your company to the next level. You can also contact Cooper Saunders directly at 816-708-0814! We hope you enjoyed our guide on How To Grow Your Company with Digital Marketing: The Ultimate Guide.
