Internet marketing has been around for some time now. And it is a growing industry. Today, more than ever before, businesses feel the need to market their products online. This is because more than half the world’s population today includes people who are internet users. Broadly, internet marketing can be classified in 7 categories:
- Search engine optimization
- Search engine marketing
- Social media marketing
- Content marketing
- Email marketing
- Affiliate marketing
- Pay per click advertising
Out of these 7 categories, social media is at every business’s disposal. A business owner may not have the knowledge of search engine optimization, but who does not use social media? That is one of the reasons why a lot of business owners assume that they can handle their own social media. They think that marketing their products and services online is the same as posting images on their personal accounts. That’s a delusion. It takes a team of dedicated and skilled people to make a social media campaign work. Everyone can create content, but it all comes down to creating content that can generate sales conversions.
If you are just starting out in the internet marketing industry and are wondering how to create social media marketing proposals and get top ranking business on Google, prepostseo is the place for you. However, this post should serve you as a step-by-step guide on how to win clients for your social media marketing agency.
Approaching clients
Before you go on creating a client proposal, you first need a client who is willing to set up a meeting. There are several ways you can approach social media marketing clients. One of the obvious ones is to start networking. The more people you have in your social circle, the more people they can connect you with who may require social media marketing. Just talk to people. Ask them if they know someone who’d be interested. If that is not working out for you, what better way to find social media marketing clients than social media itself?
Start browsing on social media. See if there is any business that needs social media marketing. If you find one, leave them a message. Say hello, then introduce yourself and your agency. List down all the pros and cons of the client’s current social media marketing techniques. If you can, leave a short media audit as well. In short, leave a message that would create an impact. At the end, tell them that you’d like to set up a meeting.
Meeting clients for the first time
Once you have a client who is willing to meet you, you’d set a meeting. Remember that the first meeting is always kept general. Of course, you will go in with your research but that is only one side of the story. You don’t know the insights and statistics from the business owner’s side. Go in the first meeting knowing that you are not only giving away information but also noting down a lot of it. Here is what to talk about in the first meeting.
- Competition
Your client is bound to have a few competitors. It could be that your business is a monopoly. That is fine as well. Just make sure that you have done your research on the client’s competitors. But the same questions you will ask your client. Who are their competitors? Are they doing better than the competitors? How can they do better than their competitors?
- USP
USP stands for unique selling point. Every business must have it. If not, you must create it. Ask your client what is their USP. How do they differentiate their business from their competitors? Why should a customer choose them over their competitors?
- Segmentation
Every business has a market. And that market has divisions. This categorization can be done on various accounts. The first is demographical segmentation. If your client is an ice-cream parlor owner, do you think they can tell you if majority of their customers are children or adults? Because once you know who your client’s customers are, it helps in creating advertisements that convert better. Likewise, there is psychographic segmentation. Here, you are looking at the interests of your customers. So, in the ice-cream parlor example, your customers enjoy sweet taste. Based on this information, you create better campaigns.
- Pain-points
Every business solves a problem. The more problems it solves, the better it serves the customers. Imagine that your client is a dry-cleaner. What problems does a dry-cleaner solve? A dry-cleaner saves people time by doing the laundry for them. Note down all the pain-points your client’s business is helping.
These are just a few topics to discuss in the first meeting. Since you will be creating a proposal after the first meeting, you also need to know what your client wants from you. Therefore, ask your client what sort of services are they looking for. Do they need consultation or are they looking for a full-service? What are the marketing strategies they are already implementing? What strategies do they think work the best for them?
Creating a social media marketing proposal
After the first meeting, you have a lot of data noted down on the client. You know what sort of services the client is looking for and you have information on how their business is functioning. Now you have to create a social media marketing proposal. The proposal shall have two components. The first component will have information on how you propose to help the client’s business and the second part will include information on how you will charge the client for your services.
Social media strategy
Your social media strategy should include your whole plan on how you think you can help your client’s business. Start with branding. Does their Facebook have a business story? Is their cover photo and profile image okay? Do you think their logo needs to change?
Then come to the posting plan. How many posts should be shared per week? What sort of content will you share in those posts? Will their posts have a color theme? Are they trying to create user engagement from the content or do they want sales?
Now talk about sales. How many sales are they getting? How can you increase their sales? Do they need to create a video advertisement?
You will also need to add some concrete content ideas. You can’t just go in and tell them that you will create a post about Christmas. Give them a sample. Tell them what the graphic will look like. You need to show your client that you are not just talking sales but you also have the potential to execute your ideas.
Remember that social media marketing is much more than Facebook. We are just taking Facebook as an example. Depending on the client, you will need to pick your social media marketing platforms. If it is a B2B client, you might need to focus more on LinkedIn.
Pricing plan
The next portion of your social media marketing proposal is your pricing plan. After the first meeting, you will know how to go about pricing your client. Create at least 3 plans that you will offer.
Signing the client
Your goal with the client should be to get the deal signed by the end of second meeting. But it may be that your client needs more time to think before they make the final decision. That is alright. Give them their time.
Conclusion
If you follow the above guide, you should be able to win clients for your social media marketing services. Make sure that you are communicating with your client well. Be confident. Another thing to note to is that a lot of your ideas take time to generate. You don’t want to go to a client meeting and giveaway all the information you have. In some cases, clients exploit this information. They don’t sign a deal with you but they use your insights to grow their business. This is why you should know about nondisclosure agreement. It is an agreement signed between the client and the service provider that ensures that the client does not get to use the service provider’s ideas without first purchasing them from the agency.
