Many people work in what many people perceive is a boring industry. Accounting, Landscaping, Information Technology, Insurance, Human Resources or even Mortgage Lending are all industries that do not excite people at a dinner party; but these businesses need to be promoted just like any other business. Typically, these businesses operate in a portion of the economy that other businesses cannot do without. Accounting, insurance and IT are just a few good examples of this. Information Technology may not be fun to talk about on the weekends, but when the computer system is down at your business not much business is taking place. For that reason, businesses that operate in these boring industries need to either hire people within their business or an outside agency to promote their business properly to find the right people who may need their services. Here are 5 ways you can promote your business if you do operate in a boring industry.
Content Marketing
According to Forbes.com, Content Marketing is: ‘a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action’. In a boring industry this can be a great way to reach customers who may not want to be sold to in their other parts of their life.
Many business owners who operate in a boring industry find that creating videos, blog posts, social media posts and other online content can be the best way to distinguish yourself from the competition. All of these tactics give you another way to present your business to potential customers in the way in which the want to receive the information.
Blogging
Blogging is one of the least appreciated and underused tactic to promote your business. Blogging, if used correctly, can establish your business as the foremost thought leader in whatever industry you operate. Take an industry like workers compensation insurance. This is a coverage that is required by law for almost all businesses who have employees. For this reason, regardless of whether a business owner wants to know about this topic they have to buy coverage once a year. If you periodically post advice about this subject it is a way to give your potential customers something for nothing and establish a good first impression. It can also separate you from the competition if they are already a customer of a competitor. If they find you are answering questions their current provider has never brought to their attention it can be a great way to get your foot in the door with new clients.
Creating compelling content on your website
In addition to blogging on a regular basis, creating compelling content on your website can also set you apart from your competition. If you do not have a good website that gives a potential customer a reason to come to the website, stay on the website and eventually buy something from you; then everything else you do online may not matter. Ultimately, the main goal of your website is to capture the attention of your potential customers, give them some bit of information they need and eventually convert those customers to customers. Many websites answer necessary questions for their visitors through a frequently asked questions section (FAQs’). This portion of your website should focus on answering questions your website users may have about your industry. Answering these questions for free adds to the credibility of your brand in the eyes of your potential customer.
That content should answer questions.
If you use your marketing efforts to answer questions your customers and potential customers desperately need answered, you can create the ultimate first impression. This can work whether you are promoting your business via traditional measures or via digital marketing. Whether you are using a commercial on the radio, a billboard on the side of the highway or a promoted post on Facebook; you need to be answering questions your customers need answered. Take a question like what is workers compensation? If you have a first time entrepreneur who does not know this is a required coverage you just answered a question they did not even know they had. By giving them this information for nothing you just made the ultimate first impression. This is especially important
Do not write with highly technical inside business jargon.
If you are promoting a product in the sailing industry, it may be appropriate to use the term sheet. It is equally important to explain that a sheet is the piece of rope used to connect and control the movable corners of a sail. If you do not explain this, you are excluding a portion of your customer base who may not be familiar with the terminology within the industry. This can go for any industry or term. If you plan to use an acronym, you better be able to quickly explain what that acronym is and do it in a way that does not bore highly experienced readers nor offend people new to the subject. The point of your content is to take something a potential customer does not understand and help them understand it better. The point is certainly not to make them more confused.
BIO
Mitchell Sharp is a Marketing Associate for Workers Compensation Shop.com. Mitchell has extensive knowledge of workers’ compensation and cyber liability insurance. His passion is in using his knowledge of commercial insurance, social media and content marketing to benefit the small business community.