It’s hard to believe summer is over and fall is officially here. Tans are quickly fading and soon enough, the leaves will put on their brilliant colour display.

While summer is often a time for rest and relaxation, there’s no better time than fall to update, refine, and educate. Here are three things you should be doing to get a head start with your small business this fall.

Update your website

A business’ online presence can have a massive impact on its success. In this day and age, the majority of customers will visit your website or check out your social media channels before making a purchase. Having a strong website can be make or break for generating more revenue, and is something you shouldn’t ignore.

If it’s been a while since you last updated your website, don’t fret. There are a few quick housekeeping items you can tackle for short- and long-term wins.

• Invest in new, high quality header imagery. If high quality stock photography isn’t suitable for your business, consider hiring a professional photographer to create custom shots specific for your brand. Since it’s usually the first thing that your visitors see, your header image can really help set the tone and theme of your site.
• Update pages with new and relevant information. It’s important to update your brand assets (including your website) as your business grows. Chances are the content you launched with could use a little sprucing up. Now’s the time to add any new information about your business to your website, while ensuring current content is still relevant.
• Invest time in proper SEO. Have you ever searched for your business online? If so, did you think, “Why isn’t my website showing up on Google?” There are a lot of factors that play into why a certain site or page appears in the top spots on Google, but in order to rank higher in search you need to leverage the power of SEO, or search engine optimization. SEO strategy usually consists of a few things, including buyer persona research, keyword research, and on-page SEO research. These three areas can help you learn how your target market is searching online, and position your business to get discovered by the right people.
• Blog regularly. Blogging is a great way to generate organic traffic, particularly for those prospects who have not reached a purchasing decision yet. Furthermore, it can establish credibility in your space and position you as a thought leader. Even if you only publish once a week, it will improve your website’s visibility and help educate your potential customers on why they should trust your company. Once you start writing, you can add a call-to-action on your posts for visitors to subscribe to your blog and receive emails. This is a great way to start collecting leads and offer information to potential customers.

Stay on top of marketing trends

Small business owners need to stay on top of the latest marketing trends or they risk falling behind. On top of which, social media sites and search engines are constantly rejigging their algorithms, so you need to be up to date to maintain your visibility and reach.

• Pay attention to trends on social media. With billions of potential customers using various platforms daily, social media is a powerful business tool. Social media marketing can help you engage with potential customers, build brand awareness, and promote your products. If you have the means, consider hiring a social media manager with community management experience. On top of posting content on a regular schedule, community managers stay up to date on trends across various platforms.
• Use video when appropriate. According to HubSpot Research, more than 50% of consumers want to see videos from brands. Additionally, most social media apps, like TikTok and Instagram are promoting more visual layouts. To keep up with these trends, it’s a good idea to invest in a video marketing strategy.
• Monitor ad performance. If you’re running paid ads, pay attention to the latest developments from whatever platform you’re advertising on. Since the algorithm is always changing, it can affect ad visibility and reach.

Stay focused

Above all, when it comes to getting a head start with your small business this fall, it’s important to stay focused. While it’s tempting to do everything all at once, it’s easy to take on too much. Instead, stay focused on your original business purpose, rather than trying to be everything to everyone.

Consider this question—what is the biggest weakness or oversight in your marketing that’s prohibiting your growth? Set a performance goal around that one key area and focus your resources on the activities and tactics that will achieve that one objective. When you’ve made progress toward that singular goal, expand your efforts or pivot to other initiatives.

This type of relentless focus helps ensure you’re dedicating time and resources to strategies that will actually move the needle forward for your business, and give you the best ROI.

If you want to get a head start with your small business website updates this fall, Campfire Digital Marketing can create a customized strategy for your business. Our team can also make personalized recommendations about other aspects of digital marketing based on your needs, goals and budget. Please contact us today to get started.