You hear it all the time, your website is your biggest sales person. Yet due to the nature of the digital marketing industry the common question on most small business owners minds is, how to increase sales?
While you could hire qualified sales representatives using services like Ziprecruiter, Monster, and Indeed, you never know what you're gonna get when they hit the phones. This means you run the possibility of them not working out and paying recruiters and other job hunting services to hire more people to impact the biggest area of your business. You could also use more website sales that help you make money without paying anyone. The end game is that you're trying to increase sales, and need a consistent lead stream to be successful.
Your website is the biggest determining factor for how to increase sales online. But what does that really mean? Spend thousands of dollars on a new website, back-links, search engine optimization, and read Neil Patel's latest tips on how to rank your business? That seems like a very foolish plan that a lot of small businesses in particular fall into. You're going to spend countless hours wondering what the SEO professionals are doing and whether or not you've been duped by another Digital Marketing guru. Ultimately the headache is usually more stress than it is worth. In reality, digital marketing guru's are constantly learning and even they don't have all the answers.
"We have had many clients over the years fail because they are relying on bad digital marketing companies to help them make more sales online. Typically they are giving blanket responses like it takes 6 months to rank. We have the reports to show you're ranking for these keywords and should be generating more sales from your website here at any time. Lastly, this worked for our other clients we just need more time to get you results" - Owner, Koalaty Maketing
The bottom line is, due to not requiring any technical degree, since by the time you finish college for marketing you're already behind since google changed everything, it is hard to find a digital marketing company that you can trust to get the job done.
Common business models that a small business can find profit margins using are pay per lead, pay per sale, and pay per click marketing.
Small business marketing tactics include PPC, Social Media Advertising, Google Map Packs, and paying for leads. Until you have a name and brand that people can recognize they aren't going to be referring business to you. You always hear old school business owners saying, we rely on word of mouth advertising, we don't need a website, and digital marketing is a scam. While there is definitely merit to what they are saying, most of the reason people believe digital marketing is a scam is due to the fact they don't understand what they're paying for.
We sit down with clients and after an hour of talking to one of our sales representatives and breaking down exactly what it is they are paying us to do for them, they can not only make an educated decision on what they want for their business and feel much more comfortable paying for their small business marketing plan. Communication and transparency is what Koalaty Marketing pride's itself on and we enjoy going over the many different types of ways you can increase sales online. Website sales don't just happen because you want them to, you have to have a good team of digital marketers who want to help grow your site. The problem is that most good marketers are corporate marketing teams that have anywhere from 10 to hundreds of collective marketing geniuses making sure that they are collaborating and giving them the best chance of ranking for their terms.
Where does that leave your small business marketing team?
Small business advertising can only take you so far. Using methods such as pay per click, pay per lead, and social media marketing can be extremely cost inefficient, especially when they don't work out. This is because you're not getting a consistent lead source that is sustainable, once the money runs dry due to hitting a bad stretch of clients, or your competitors dry out your budget, you're left with nothing. When it comes to small business advertising you need a healthy mix of PPC, SEO, and social media advertising to be successful. The only other option is to pay a digital marketing company like you pay your sales representatives. By doing a pay per sale model you are able to apply a percentage of each sale to similar to when you pay a sales employee. While yes you still need to pay sales people to close those deals, you can now afford to pay them due to not having to consistently shell out resources to pay for clicks or dead end SEO tactics.
Website sales are how to increase sales online. But choosing the right company for your small business marketing greatly affects your small business advertising strategy, and ultimately determines your ability to make more sales. How to increase sales? A mixture of good sales representatives and website designers that help you convert shoppers into customers. It sounds basic but it's honest advice.