For proactive businesses, the end of the year represents an opportunity for review and reflection. It’s a time to assess the past year’s marketing strategies, analyze successes and failures and devise new tactics for the year ahead. 

But, forging ahead without reviewing popular trends and industry strategies can keep your brand one step behind the industry leaders. Below are four effective strategies to add to your 2018 marketing toolbox to keep you competitive in your marketplace.

The telemarketer cold call has become vilified by people who value their time and do not like to be caught off-guard with phone calls from strangers. While impatience, skepticism and a disdain for cold calling is a likely culprit for this negative perception, a poorly written telemarketing script is also one of the top reasons these calls do not elicit a positive response. Learn how to create a telemarketing script that converts higher and facilitates a better experience for both prospects and agents.

Are you spending enough time marketing to your existing customers? It’s not uncommon for small businesses to spend most of their resources on acquiring new business, but the best way to get more business is to target existing customers.  

Imagine if, in five minutes or less, you could engage with all of your customers simultaneously. How would that positively impact your marketing? How much time and resources could you save and reinvest back into growing your business? 

Businesses spend millions of dollars marketing to consumers. US digital marketing spend is expected to reach 121 billion by 2021, and this doesn't include other countries nor offline marketing expenses. 

For insurance companies, business lead generation is critical and necessary for growth. But lead generation tactics can also be difficult to implement with so many to try and numerous opportunities for failure.

Leveraging the right strategies, however, can turn your business into a lead-generating machine. Below, we identified some of these proven lead generation strategies to propel your business forward and expose it to the people who need and want your services.

Marketing your automotive business is not as easy as handing out a flier or sending a quick email. It's more difficult to advertise your services because your customers may not actually need you until they have car troubles. And when that happens, they are likely not in the greatest mood. 

Do you know which of your advertising channels are generating the highest response? Do you know which ads are producing the greatest return on your investment? 

If you don’t know the exact numbers and you are unclear on your high and low ad performers, you are likely wasting money instead of generating a positive return.

Financial service companies are no strangers to pressure and uncertainty. Facing changing markets and growing consumer expectations can create a challenging work environment and make it difficult to please and attract consumers while earning enough revenue to expand and grow.

As a small business owner, brand awareness and visibility are top priorities as they help you build your customer base and get the word out about your products. Customer engagement is also key as you grow to help you keep current paying customers and encourage them to spread the word to others.

All three of these strategies (brand awareness, increased visibility and customer engagement) are critical to growing your small business. And SMS polling is one strategy that fosters all three without making a huge dent in your marketing budget.