Improve your marketing in 60 minutes or less

Review your social media bio on all of your social media accounts such as Instagram, Linkedin and Facebook.

Your bio is a short description of who you are and should include any important information that your customers need to know – like what you offer, your location, opening hours and a strong call to action.

Make sure your bio includes any relevant links. These may include links to your:

• website
• online shop
• newsletter sign up page.

Quick and cheap marketing often relies on social media to reach customers so keeping your bio and links up to date is an easy way to ensure your social media is effective.

Reviews and testimonials are a great way to build credibility, and they can be used as a form of free advertising to promote your business.

You can simply reach out to your regular customers with follow up emails asking for a review. It’s important to know, you can only do this if you have the customer’s permission to email them.

If you see your customers in person, make it easy for them to leave a review. Give customers a direct link or add a QR code that links to a review website on your receipts.

Creating a strong visual identity across your marketing products and social media is essential to build:

• brand recognition
• trust in your brand
• a clear differentiation from competitors.

Spend 30 minutes reviewing your products and social media, ensuring they look cohesive and professional. As part of your review, ensure you define your brand elements:

• colour palette
• fonts and graphic elements
• photographic style.

If you have extra time, create some branded templates to ensure you stay consistent!

Market research allows you to gain insight into your customers, their needs, and your competitors strategies. It helps identify who your customers are, the channels they use and how your business can meet their needs.

There are several ways you can start researching your market:

• read existing data from government data, industry reports or news articles
• run a survey either online or in person
• asking for feedback from customers
• review your online reviews and sales records.

Some research is better than none, so if you’re short on time, just pick one research activity!

The best way to ensure your marketing is effective is to create a marketing plan.  Use your marketing plan to:

• decide on your marketing messages, channels, tools and activities
• set goals and time frames for marketing activities
• set up a marketing budget
• evaluate if your marketing activities were successful.