When starting a business, it is not uncommon to feel completely clueless about everything. Things can be even more challenging if you are a student trying to manage your work and study schedule.
And as such, every chance you get to celebrate the success of your business can do wonders for your motivation.
That is why, in this article, we are going to share some milestones that your business needs to achieve in terms of marketing. Some of these can be hard to achieve; nevertheless, they will help grow your business in the right direction.
Milestone 1. Your First Paid Marketing Ad Generates Positive ROI
So, you have already registered your business and created an online website. That in itself is something to celebrate. But, now what? The most important goal is to find customers, and now is the time to turn to the market. For most new businesses, the toughest part is gaining brand recognition.
The easiest way to address this is to launch a paid marketing campaign. Once the ad is created, you can entrust it to the advertising channel, sit back and relax. This approach can be immensely helpful for students, as it can take off the pressure a little bit. Instead, students only need to dedicate some time initially to come up with the ad idea. For this, you can easily find time using paper writing service and delegating your assignments to subject experts.
Moreover, most paid channels require you to pay per click, meaning you do not have to set aside a large budget initially. That being said, there is no guarantee that your first paid ad will generate customers.
This is why you need to try and test a few formulas until you have found them right now. Once you have found the right advertising campaign, it can run autonomously in the background. Alternatively, business owners can also turn to social media influencers – which is another way of paid marketing.
Instead of simply opting for influencers with a large number of followers, also consider whether their audience group matches your target consumers. These influencers also need to have an active, engaged following.
Regardless of the approach, you should aim to get a positive ROI from your campaigns.
Milestone 2. Your First Sale to a Stranger
As a business owner, you might have already made some sales before you even set up the website. But often, this might be within your friends or family circle. However, your first sale to a complete stranger can be invaluable.
This is where the paid marketing strategies we discussed above can come to aid. With a successful campaign, you are bound to find new customers. That said, finding the customer alone is not enough. Many people, including ourselves, tend to add items to the shop cart and leave it, never to complete a purchase.
Therefore, you need to ensure that your website is completely optimized to help your customer through every step of the sale. For instance, you can show free samples so they would be enticed to make the purchase. You can also redirect them to other products which might be related to their potential purchase.
The aim is to keep them interested and encourage them to buy your products.
Milestone 3: Get a Positive Customer Review
Your customer funnel does not end with them making a purchase. Instead, you will need to use your first sale as the opportunity to forge a connection and encourage them to come back. For example, you can add a personal note of appreciation and ask them to leave feedback.
If the review is positive, you could even ask them for a public testimonial for your website or for third-party channels. To go one step further, you can also ask them to send a video or photo – which you can then use as user-generated content across your social media pages.
Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/w79mIrYKcK4
Milestone 4: Positive ROI from Organic Marketing Channels
Earlier, we discussed how you should focus on getting positive ROI from paid marketing. After achieving the above milestones, it is time to turn your attention to organic channels. This includes social media and content marketing. You will have to learn the basics of this before you plunge head first.
As students, you might be using social media a lot; however, that does not mean you know how marketing works. Instead, it is best to invest some time in understanding some of the core aspects such as SEO, marketing funnel, key marketing metrics, and more. You can also get creative here by offering contests on your social media channels or running a sale.
Milestone 5: Automate Your Marketing
After a while, you will get the hang of how to run organic marketing channels. But you might still be tempted to look over every minute detail – which can be a tiring way to run a business in the long run. This is why it would be a break to let automated marketing systems run your channels.
For example, there are several apps that now help you automate virtually all parts of your business. These tools will help you send emails and schedule posts – so that every step of the campaign will run automatically.
Moreover, these tools will also help you measure the success of your campaigns stage-by-stage, so you can know which parts need improvement and which are functioning seamlessly.
Milestone 6: Retain Customers
For a business to be truly successful, it needs to build customer loyalty. And achieving this milestone can be the most rewarding experience. Not only will you get repeat customers this way, but you are also likely to build a marketing channel.
So, the question is how to achieve customer loyalty. Unfortunately, there is no loophole here. Consumers lean towards businesses that offer top-notch products and excellent services. If you are able to consistently provide excellent service and products, your business will start to reap the benefits.
Of course, this requires dedication and a lot of time. You will need to have a basic understanding of the evolving needs of your customers and provide them with valuable solutions. For students, it can be an incredible challenge to take on – as it can easily take long-term commitment and time.
Milestone 7: Daily Orders
This is not an easy milestone to achieve. Moreover, the likeliness of this will also depend on the time of product you sell and your target audience. However, once you have managed to pull your business off the ground, you can easily figure out if you have succeeded in it.
For instance, you might come across your product being mentioned more across channels or that you receive more engagement on social media. You can also measure things from the types of reviews you get. After all, positive reviews mean that your customers are happy and are likely to come back.
This also means that you might have to revise your business mode multiple times and reconsider the costs. After all, now you have to think of not only the cost of production but also of marketing and running the business itself. The lower the customer acquisition cost, the more effective your marketing strategy is.
In a nutshell, setting milestones can help you have a clear idea of what your next goal is. Moreover, it is important to reward you for even the small successes – so that you will feel driven to move ahead and work through small failures.
