If there is one thing the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us, it’s that people want to get back to normal as soon as possible. In order to do that, we need to be providing them with solutions to help them get through the day-to-day, and that is where your marketing efforts come in.
Now is a good time to be thinking about establishing a marketing business, because there is so much demand for marketing services during these trying times. According to Statista, the labor market for marketing, advertising, and promotions professionals is set to grow 27% year from 2021 to 2025, and the number of people actively seeking employment in the field is expected to increase by 25% during that time.
With the pandemic seemingly behind us, it’s time to get back out there and get back to work
If you’re considering becoming an independent marketer, here are some tips on how to start your business and build your brand:
Do Research
Before you start any kind of business, you need to do your research. In the same way you would with any other kind of new venture, you need to take the time to learn about the industry you are entering and the type of people you are competing with. You should also familiarize yourself with established marketing practices and the various digital platforms available to effectively grow your business.
Even in these trying times, there are still plenty of opportunities for growth, so don’t get discouraged if your first attempt at generating revenue through marketing doesn’t immediately pay off. Instead, keep researching and learning, and eventually, you’ll find your niche.
Set Your Budget
Once you’ve determined your niche, you can begin to set your budget. There are plenty of marketing tasks that cost money, so you’ll need to decide how much you can spend on marketing per month before you start generating revenue. You also need to consider the type of marketing you’ll be doing; traditional advertising like TV commercials and billboards, for example, cost money, but generate little to no return on investment.
The good news is that you can still conduct traditional advertising, but you’ll need to find a way to measure its effectiveness. If you’ve never done so, now might be a good time to start testing and analyzing various marketing campaigns to determine their impact. It’s also essential that you determine how much you can afford to spend on each component of your marketing plan. If you want to hire a market research firm to help you with this process, do it.
Hire Help
Now that you’ve determined how much you can spend on each component of your marketing plan, it’s time to hire help. You don’t need to hire the whole team of McKinsey & Co., but rather, you can use the resources you have available to you. Your existing social media accounts, for example, can be used to conduct market research and gain insight into your target audience. Alternatively, you can hire a market research firm to create a buyer persona and conduct surveys to determine your target audience’s needs and wants.
Whether you decide to go the DIY route and use the resources available to you or opt for a more traditional approach and hire outside assistance, make sure that you consider the pros and cons of both options. You can never have too much information when it comes to marketing and business, so make sure you’re always thinking of new ways to improve your game.
Plan Your Content
Speaking of improvement, you must also prepare yourself to create more content. You don’t need to have a blog with multiple tiers per month, but it would be beneficial to create and release content frequently. The good news is that you can use your existing social media accounts to quickly ramp up your content creation.
If you’re lacking in ideas, consider using a content planner to help you come up with fresh content for your blog and social media accounts. With someone else in the office, it’s also easier to plan content and ensure that you are consistently providing content that will be interesting and engaging to your audience. If you need some inspiration, consider using tools like Buzzsumo and Hootsuite to easily and efficiently find content that is performing well and can be replicated or improved upon. Better content means more opportunities to grow your business.
Use SEO
Last but not least, we have SEO or search engine optimization. To put it simply, SEO is the process of affecting the rankings of your website or blog in search engines like Google and Bing. Generally speaking, the better your SEO is, the more traffic you’ll receive from organic search results. As a marketer, you can help improve a website’s SEO by following the guidelines set forth by Google and Bing.
SEO can be very complex and is generally considered a profession in and of itself, which is why you need to hire an SEO expert to help you get your business off the ground. However, you can still do it yourself with a little bit of knowledge and an excellent understanding of SEO fundamentals.
If you want to become an SEO expert, you’ll need to consider pursuing a graduate degree in marketing or business, as well as gaining hands-on experience through internships and volunteering. You’ll also need to become extremely knowledgeable about digital marketing and analytics in general, as well as the various platforms, like Google Analytics, which can be used to track the performance of your SEO efforts. Finally, it is a plus if you can develop an understanding of web accessibility, making sure that all of your website’s content and design are meeting the needs of as many people as possible. This includes providing text descriptions for images, ensuring that your site is mobile-friendly, and utilizing color blind mode for those who are experiencing discomfort with color.
If you’re looking for a marketing job after graduation, be sure to check out over 80 marketing jobs and earningsponsorships that are available now. With more and more people turning to the internet to research and find content, the demand for quality SEO work will continue to rise.
If you’re looking to start your own marketing business or are seeking advice on how to improve your current marketing efforts, reach out to us! We are always available to help, and we’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Good luck out there.