Whatever a business is selling, marketing is built on some very simple foundations, i.e., identifying what your target customers want or need and communicating or illustrating why your product or service is the solution they’re looking for.
It sounds simple enough in principle, but the world of marketing is a diverse and often confusing place. It’s difficult to know which marketing methods are going to be the most effective, and motorcycle enthusiasts are a varied bunch, to say the least. To help you make some sense of it all, here are 4 possible way to market your motorcycle business and, ideally, increase your sales.
Get Social
Social media is one of the most effective ways to reach a wide audience if you can produce content, posts, and images which strike the right balance between entertaining, informative and commercial. Make a Facebook page, set up a Twitter profile or an Instagram account and start engaging with potential customers in the places they spend most of their time nowadays. Once you’re set up ask your existing customers, friends, family, staff, and suppliers to connect or follow you there to kick start your audience. You can then start to connect with their followers and friends.
Make sure the social media content you post is relevant to your audience. For example, you could create videos on motorcycle maintenance or tips for riders, and you should promote new products, events or special promotions. Social media is most effective when you can link it directly to your ecommerce website, where visitors can either make a purchase or at least find out more about your business.
Build an eCommerce Platform
If you don’t have an ecommerce website, i.e. you don’t sell anything online, you should investigate it as another sales channel. Most people shop or at least research their purchases online nowadays, so if you’re not putting yourself out there as an option you could be missing out on sales. The ecommerce platform you use should be intuitive but also simple for you to manage on a day to day basis. Ensuring you are working with the best ecommerce platform is essential. You may be working with Magento, currently. If you’re already using Magento but think your business could benefit from a simpler and more affordable ecommerce platform, consider migrating from Magento to another ecommerce platform like Shopify Plus.
Try a Referral Program
Referrals or word-of-mouth marketing encourages your existing customers to tell others about your business. The best way to incentivise people to do this is to offer reward in return for referring another customer (who buys something) to you. The reward could be a gift card or a discount off their next purchase. You could even partner with another business such as a mechanic’s garage or a racetrack and offer them incentives for sending customers to your business.
Attend (Or Run) a Promotional Event
The automobile industry runs events throughout the year, and they are perfect opportunities to get your business in front of your ideal customers. Find a motorcycle show or a rally which is relatively local and take your merchandise and motorcycles along. Have printed marketing materials on hand so people can take a physical reminder of your business away with them. These events are also great opportunities for networking with other businesses in the industry.
Of course, you could always set up your own event and invite people along. If your business is celebrating a milestone or a new product launch, take the opportunity to make it a special occasion. You should tell the local press as they may well want to cover the event, and you’ll get some free advertising too.