This month WillSuite is looking to help small businesses level-up their marketing efforts, so keep reading for some helpful tips and strategies.

Everything in this article contains tactics that you can begin implementing today.

The customer journey

A well crafted customer journey can do wonders for your business, many of the benefits include:

• Positive brand association leading to word of mouth
• Seamless experience for customers
• Always know where your clients are in the sales journey
• Adhering to tried and tested processes means guaranteed results

So let’s look at how we can create that ideal customer journey from start to finish. I’ve put together a handy diagram of how a typical customer journey could look.

The initial introduction to your client will most likely be the first step, this could be an email, phone call, in person chat, website form, online meeting consultation and so many more. From here it’s important to attribute different forms of potential interactions the client will have with your business. This can range from direct communication, newsletters, reminders and social media posts. If your client sees your business as authoritative, professional and excellent at on-going communication throughout the journey, the stronger the impact you and your provided service will have on the client. You will then reap the benefits through building a professional brand association, earning more 5 star reviews and making sure your customers give you repeat business down the line.

Let’s explore a few strategies you can put in place to build a great customer journey.

• Automated reminders and communication - Being able to send a reminder or notification to your client with just a click of a button that reflects where they are in the customer journey will give the client both peace of mind and security. For instance, with WillSuite you can update the client via SMS or Email to let them know their documents are being drafted, checked, approved and finalised. It doesn’t just stop there either, you can send these types of alerts for anything! You can create your own custom client journeys that can be as complex or simple as you’d like so get creative!

• Newsletters, information packs and mailing lists - Providers like Mailchimp allow you to create professional marketing material to send out to clients, so for instance you could create a helpful welcome email pack that links back to informative blogs on your website. For instance, “What are the benefits of getting my lasting powers of attorney in order?”. Not only is this an opportunity to educate the client, promote yourself as a position of authority, but also to encourage the client to enquire about other services you offer. It’s also a great way to increase conversion rates by advertising special offers and discounts.

It’s worth noting that all of these different strategies work together, as the more you do to get in front of the client, the higher chance of potential interaction.

Relationship marketing

The old adage, “Customer is king” springs to mind in this section, and it’s certainly still true. Existing customers can help to spread word of mouth, provide glowing 5 star reviews/testimonials, revisit your services in future and for the keenest clients they may even become brand advocates.

The way to start taking advantage of relationship marketing is to start building strong relationships with your existing clients for mutual benefit. This can be in the form of rewards and gifts for referrals/brand advocates for instance.

Active social media

Firstly, it’s important to not fall into the trap of posting on social media for the sake of posting, or posting content that mirrors that of your competitors. Create your own style and niche and post content that is both easy to produce as well as refreshing and engaging. Examples of this would be video content of either yourself or a colleague discussing current industry topics, educational content and more personal videos introducing members of the team. Posts can also be based around your work-day, such as where you’re travelling to and what you’ve been up to within the industry recently. Once you establish your social media presence, try engaging and interacting with your audience, particularly those who engage with your content the most regularly.

Unique selling proposition

Developing as many unique selling propositions as you can is a great way to assert your proposed “value” to a potential client. For example, a rival business may offer a mirror will and 4 lpas for an individual price, whereas you could stand out and offer a package deal with finance options available. On top of this, you could also stand out by adding further value through storage offerings and a reduced fee for renewals.

Copying your competitors?

It’s important to analyse what your competitors are doing, but it’s also vital to avoid the common mistake of copying them. Your main goal is to stand out from them.

Your competitors might be performing incredibly in all the areas you want to be, from social media to sales and lead generation but it’s important to resist the urge to follow in their shadow.

You might find that their marketing strategies are based on guesswork and copying others, which is something you certainly want to avoid.

If you’re struggling for content ideas, try and relate everything you post about to something you find interesting. Odds are the content will end up being more authentic, original and more engaging than many posting for the sake of it.

One great piece of advice would be to do a small bit of research before you make a post and study common best practices and look at examples of successful and engaging content as inspiration. That way you can be assured you’re following tried and tested methods that work.

I hope this article has provided you with some ideas and inspiration, to learn more about how WillSuite can assist with your marketing efforts, feel free to get in touch by emailing sam@willsuite.co.uk.

Thanks for reading!