Marketing is one of those things that everybody thinks they know something about. After all, every day they are exposed to it through emails, phone calls, direct mail, web ads and more. What they don’t see is the strategic thinking that goes into designing campaigns that reach them with the right message, in the right medium, at the right time that stimulates their interest to act.

For more than 20 years, I’ve worked with small business owners to create successful marketing campaigns to grow their businesses and educate them. Based on that experience, here is What Every New and Small Business Should Know about marketing strategy:

So much has changed over the years when it comes to marketing online. It used to be enough to have a good looking website. Now, it’s so easy to build a website that almost anyone can do it. My teenage daughter built one for $6 a month with easily available tools.

Yes, a site should be attractive, but the overriding purpose behind the design must be to attract the market segment you want.

At Cazarin Interactive, we view a website as a “Digital Sales Channel.” We take that term very seriously because we believe your website should be part of your sales department. Rather than hire a sales rep for $60,000, you could upgrade your website and have your Digital Sales Channel achieve those sales.

To drive sales, your website needs to be creative and attractive. It should differentiate you from competitors. There should be a clear call to action, such as an enticement to fill out a form or pick up the phone.

Your website needs to be the hub of all your sales efforts. It needs to tie in with social media, direct mail, Google Ad Words and other advertising. That is the Digital Sales Channel.

Search engines reward websites that have changing content with higher rankings. Make changes on at least a monthly basis. Add a page or a blog article. If your website isn’t evolving, it will look outdated and be harder to find in a search.

Never forget that your website is often the first Impression for prospects. Old and outdated content can be seen as neglect. One of our newer clients has a beautiful building because they want to impress their high-end clients. Their website, however, was atrocious.

They didn’t realize that making a bad first impression online can turn off prospects rather than leading them to take the next step to buy.

If people are searching online for your products or services, they are also checking your competition. Follow their example. Visit your competitions’ websites to learn what they are showcasing. See if you can glean any insights that might benefit you.

Then, like a prospect, compare the first impressions of the sites. If you are on the losing end of the comparison, it might be time to update your design.

If what I’ve said about using your website to drive revenue is true, then it is also true that a website that produces sales is an asset that can increase the value of your company.

A great example of this one of our clients. After we built their Digital Sales Channel, sales increased by 1,100 percent. When the time came to sell the business, they were able to get a higher value because the website was the engine that produced that growth.

Take a few minutes and take a good, honest look at your website. Ask yourself if it could do more to support and drive sales. What kind of first impression do you think it presents? Think about what you could do to improve your search ranking. Check out what your competitors are doing.

Start thinking of it as a Digital Sales Channel and as an asset.

–NBM Business Advisor