Get Your Marketing off to a Flying Start in the New Year /
Before we jump in and think about your marketing efforts for the upcoming year, take a moment to look back at the previous year. Which social media posts performed best? Which was your highest performing page on your website? What was your bestselling product/service? It is well worth spending some time on this as it’ll stop you wasting your efforts in the year to come, and show you what to carry on doing. Many equine businesses overlook the importance of setting goals and objectives, so at least take this time to think of some New Year’s resolutions for your business!
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR
If you sometimes struggle for content ideas, then why not use this January as an opportunity to share highlights from your previous year. It’s always good to look back at all the positive moments that have happened and to celebrate even the small wins, so why not share or re-share these with your followers?
If your business doesn’t already use a content calendar, we’d strongly recommend you start using one now so you can be prepared for certain events over the year. For example, you may want to do a 7-day countdown until a new product launch, or have a special Valentine’s Day marketing campaign planned.
WEBSITE ‘HOUSEKEEPING’ CHECKS
Regularly maintaining your website can help keep your website looking good, but also help SEO ranking. Here are five ‘housekeeping’ tips to help make sure your customers will be getting the best experience while visiting your website this year:
Update any images that could do with a freshen up. As your brand develops, you may have images that look out-of-date or are no longer compelling to your customers.
Check for broken links. Broken links can have a damaging impact on your website’s SEO; however they are inevitable when moving or removing pages, or you may have links to other websites which no longer exist. Don’t forget to check your social links too!
Check your site speed. The quickest way to do this is to visit here and enter your URL.
Check your copyright year is up-to-date. Most websites display a copyright statement in the footer area, so if yours hasn’t automatically updated, ensure this is correct to assure visitors your business is active.
Update your testimonials. It can be easy to forget about adding new reviews to your website, but this is a great way to continuously showcase your trustworthiness.
EMAIL MARKETING STRATEGY
Did you know that email marketing has the highest return-on-investment than any other marketing channel? But before you start planning your email strategy for the New Year (and although it may sound boring) do invest some time in tidying your inbox, whether that’s filing them into folders or deleting irrelevant emails. Tidy inbox, tidy mind!
If we can give you just one top tip for your email campaigns, it is to design your emails for quick and ‘skimmable’ reading, as most people scan their emails rather than reading word-for-word.
GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PROFILE
A Google Business profile is great for so many reasons… it increases visibility and credibility of your business, and it’s completely free! It is estimated that Google processes around 63,000 search queries every second, and you want your business to be as visible as possible from these searches. So here are a few tips for updating your profile for the upcoming year (or head over here if you haven’t set up a profile yet).
Ensure your NAP (name, address, and telephone number) are correct. Google values accurate information so ensuring these are correct and consistent across all your channels is an easy way to boost SEO.
Make your profile more attractive by adding some recent images of your business and also publish Google posts or updates more often.
Respond to any questions or reviews to signal that you are a trustworthy and active business.
Although it’s never the wrong time of year to put together a marketing strategy, let’s embrace this new year with optimism and motivation for our businesses! We want to help you, so if your equine business needs help with any areas of digital marketing and design, get in touch or book a free discovery call.
