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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
FEBRUARY 2017 images 17
10 TIPS for growing your online business in 2017
01. Ensure your website is responsive and mobile-friendly
More customers than ever before are shopping with a tablet/
smartphone and are looking for the best user experience possible
– your website should be up to the mark. Being mobile-friendly is
seen by Google as a strong factor when ranking a website.
02. Try new things on social media Many garment decorators
have a sporadic social media presence, posting pictures of the
odd interesting job only when it’s quiet. Embrace social media
and post interesting pictures, blogs and articles, run competitions
and engage with current or new customers. Think outside the
box to give someone a reason to follow you.
03. Write about your business When a customer lands on your
website, don’t let them think it’s just another print or embroidery
site: make it stand out with some interesting content. Write about
yourself and your business: its story, core values and USPs. A
website with a bit of personality and lots of interesting content –
regularly updated – will boost your search engine rankings too.
04. Blog away Often underrated, a blog is a great way to share
your knowledge, expertise and passion for print and embroidery.
Writing a blog is also great for social media, with interesting,
thought-provoking pieces likely to get followers clicking through
to your website. It’s a simple yet effective way to increase traffic.
05. Harness the power of LinkedIn If you aren’t on LinkedIn
then sign up: connect with like-minded people and join the dis-
cussions; connect with customers and search for potential new
customers. Grow a following and promote your business and its
qualities, and watch the recommendations and referrals grow.
06. Provide your customers with a simple-to-use site Cus-
tomers have more options than ever when browsing online
so your website needs to be easy to navigate. A complicated
website packed full of jargon and with an unstructured custom-
er shopping journey will scare shoppers away. Even a brochure
website needs to be clear and concise, and display all the relevant
information to help customers make an informed decision.
07. Set up the basics to get seen on Google Google My Busi-
ness is a simple tool that lets businesses share their information
with customers when they’re searching for local suppliers. It’s
quick and easy to verify your website with Google, so do it now.
08. Increase sales with email marketing Improve the way you
communicate and stay in touch with customers by using email
campaigns – a simple way to increase customer retention. Af-
fordable packages with easy-to-use design tools are available.
09. Create a secure checkout for your customer In Novem-
ber’s article we advised on how to take payments online securely
and successfully, and what to watch out for. Create a streamlined,
system for buying online so as to minimise email exchanges and
telephone calls and to improve online productivity.
10. Keep your product range concise and up to date Don’t
scare customers away by confusing them with hundreds of
garments that are hard to tell apart and are similarly priced. Make
their buying experience as simple as possible.
Andrew Langridge is from eTrader,
one of the industry’s leading suppliers
of websites to garment decorators
across the UK.
w
For me the big buzzwords for 2017 are ‘content’ and ‘relevance’.
How many of you are plagued by spam or irrelevant emails –
and are you guilty of sending the same to sell your products?
One gift distributor said to me recently, “Some suppliers we see
are really valuable: they come and train my staff, and come up
with relevant marketing campaigns for our customers. We have
no time for people that just want to drop in for a coffee and
show us a new catalogue.”
Video is already big, and YouTube is second for web searches.
It’s going to get much bigger in 2017 and if you don’t have
a video content strategy you will be left behind by your
competitors. Video is an effective educational tool as well as a
great way to tell your brand story. The BPMA has used this to
convey the power of promotional products through a really
engaging animation video that members could personalise.
Declutter your message. Millennials have a decreasing
attention span and need to understand you and what you are
offering in seconds. You need to be authentic and prove this.
If you have any questions or topics you
would like Gordon to address, please email
with
‘BPMA’ in the subject line.
BPMA: How will things change in 2017?
Online ratings continue to drive web and social traffic, but this
needs to be well managed.
I predict that we’re going to see greater automation of the
processes used to print promotional products as well as in the
way we communicate with our clients. If it’s not in the real
world, the virtual world will certainly catch up with us. Happy
promoting in 2017.
Gordon Glenister of the BPMA makes his predictions and suggestions for the year ahead