EnviroColor Inbound Ideas
Posted by Sean Kennedy on Thu, Jan 28, 2010 @ 10:21 AM
Having been a part of growing small business for the past year there are many lessons I have learned. Some are obvious, but I feel the need to repeat them anyway. Here at EnviroColor® we strive to provide deliver a product and service that the customer believes in completely. We attempt to exceed the customers "expectations" to keep that customer loyal in a very competitive market place and we try to do these things consistently. OK, so everyone knows this and they are doing the same things, so what has helped us grow in this struggling economy. My one word answer is marketing. Inbound marketing to be specific. By learning to optimize your website (SEO), using social media to get your message out to the masses and following up responsibly with the leads that these techniques generate are essential for all start ups. There are several tools available ranging in price and the metrics and feedback they provide.
Google, where 80+% of internet searches are done has unbelievable tools and are free. Taking the time to learn the how's, what's and why's can make a tremendous impact. And speaking of small company growth, businesses that specify in inbound marketing are popping up all over the place. My favorite is Hubspot. You can go to their site and have them "grade" your website for free. Their platform is easy to use and the amount of advice and tools for you to use are second to none. My only issue is the cost. It seems they must pay their marketing mavens and gurus well based on the cost of their service. I feel it is worth it, but if you plan to use Hubspot make sure to budget your dollars and time appropriately. I came in know absolutely nothing about SEO, social medial, landing pages, keywords, etc. I don't claim to be an expert now, but at least I have a real concept of how the search engines spiders work, writing blog articles that someone might actually read and using Youtube, Facebook and Twitter effectively. SEO is a moving target. It seems what is important for a high ranking today may mean nothing tomorrow. If you are a small business owner and have a website, have Hubspot grade it and learn what you can do to improve. Like I said, my expertise lies in exceeding our customers' expectations by providing products and services they believe in and doing this consistently. I need to focus on pine straw, mulch and grass paint and the advantages they provide. I let the inbound marketing experts help me with the rest. I look forward to your feedback and ideas.
Cheers.