The number of air-conditioner users has skyrocketed over the years, and so has the number of aircon service providers. What does that mean for your aircon service company in Singapore?

Well, now you’ve got a larger market but stiffer competition. The need for marketing your business has never been greater. One common mistake people make is marketing only during the peak season, i.e., the summer months. But the fact is; customer relationship building is not a seasonal thing. You need to keep your marketing endeavors active throughout the year. Here are some useful tips.

Define your target market

A larger market means that you’ve many different customer groups, from individual home owners to commercial building owners and property developers. While you can target all the groups at once, your marketing becomes more effective when you plan your campaign for a specific customer group. If possible, go to the next level and develop an ideal buyer persona for your service. This may require digging deeper into the customer info. For instance, you may want to target individual homeowners with an air-conditioning system older than 10 years. The more specific your target audience the more relevant is your marketing message.

Promote online

Importance of promoting your business online cannot be stressed enough. If you think you can bank on your offline networking alone to give you enough clients, think again. Until you build a strong online presence, you’d not know what you’ve been missing out. To tap the full potential of online marketing however, you need to hire an SEO expert. Search engine optimization techniques are ever-changing. Only an expert in the field keeps updated with the latest techniques. Launching a company website is the first step. Real SEO starts from where you stop thinking. From blogging to social media promotion and link building, there are many ways to boost your search ranking. So seek professional help for SEO.

Marketing your catering business doesn’t have to be stressful. In an earlier post, we touched upon the ways to market a new catering company. Once your company is up and running and have gathered some momentum, however, your marketing strategy should be upgraded. So here are some tips on how to market an already established catering business.

1. Use influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is when you utilize the authority of an influencer in your niche to market your services. For instance, if a lot of people follow a famous wedding planner for tips and advice, he is the influencer. If you post an article on his blog and link it back to your website, it would be helpful. You can also do guest posting for a popular wedding blog. All you need is to contact the owner and request him to post your article on their blog.

Since hundreds of people are already following the blog, there’s a good chance that some readers will contact you with a catering order. However, convincing the influencer could be a challenge. So offer them value first. For instance, if you can convince them that your article would give new information to his audience, then he’ll probably give you a chance. Make sure that your article links back to your website, so that you can boost your SEO. Speaking of SEO, it would be a good idea to hire an SEO consultant or digital marketing expert for the job.

2. Organize taste testing
When it comes to winning new catering contracts, nothing works better than getting your prospects to taste your best dishes. But it also helps in your marketing. For instance, keep updated about any news about upcoming corporate events in your city. Contact the event organizer and tell them that you want to organize taste tastings session for them. You can also organize tasting sessions in local open-house programs. This would cost you some bucks, but it’s a good way to promote your catering business.

The low entry barrier to Singapore’s catering industry means that there’s cutthroat competition. Whether you’re an established business or a food-catering unicorn, you need to stand out to be successful.

While the quality of your food and customer service matter the most, you cannot ignore the importance of marketing. People should know your existence before they can order, taste and review your foods. So here are some marketing tips.

Build a strong online presence
Now most people read online reviews before buying a product. People looking for a caterer do the same. If your catering business doesn’t have a website, develop one. And just having a website isn’t enough. Your website should rank higher in organic search results. Simply put, when people search the web for a catering service provider, they should find you in the first page of Google. To that end, you may need to do some online marketing and hire an SEO expert. There are many ways to boost your online presence. For instance, you can start a blog and post catering related news and articles on a regular basis.

Leverage the power of networking
As with any business, networking is crucial to marketing your catering business. You need to network with local clubs, wedding planners, corporate event planners, and event venue rentals, among others. To make your networking work, you should meet your prospects in person. Visit their office and offer them a discount if they order from you. If possible, carry samples of your best dishes with you and request them to taste your food. The idea is to build a human connection and win their trust. Remember, people do business with those they trust.

Create a loyalty program
Loyalty programs and incentives are a great tool to entice more clients to do business with you. You can also contact bridal stores and local agents and offer them incentives for referring new customers.

Just writing great blog posts or posting regularly is not enough. Success in blogging depends on several other factors. You need to know what keywords to use, where to insert your keywords and other SEO techniques. If you are concerned about the weak online presence of your blog posts, consider joining an SEO training course. You don’t have to be an SEO expert to run a blog successfully, but knowing the basics would help. In the previous post, we discussed some important steps you need to take for boosting the SEO of your blog. Here are some more tips.

1. Include a keyword in meta description

The meta-description shows up just below your title tag in the search result. It gives a brief overview of the link, making it easier for the searchers to understand what the post is about. Including a keyword in the meta data helps the search bots find your post when someone searched with the same or a related keyword. Google now allows 300 characters in the description. Make sure that you use up the full space. Also, try inserting the keyword in the first sentence of the description.

2. Avoid keyword stuffing

While using the right keywords is important for SEO, you should not force too many keywords into the post as this could harm your reputation to the search engine. The rule of thumb is to use less than two keywords per 400 words. If possible use some related words as well.

3. Optimize your images

Your blog post should also have some images. It is equally important to optimize your images for the search engine. Since search bots cannot recognize images, you should include a description of your image in the alt-text. It is even better if you can include a keyword in the alt text.

You know your blog posts can change the world, but nobody is listening! You’re disappointed – don’t know what went wrong. But hey….did you optimize your posts for the search bots? Perhaps no! Even if you did, maybe you didn’t use the latest SEO techniques.

Don’t fret, because improving SEO for your blog posts is not rocket science. With the right guidance from an SEO consultant, making your blog posts SEO-friendly should not be an uphill task. Here are some tips to optimize your blog posts for search engines.

Make your blog mobile-friendly

Most online searches are conducted from mobile devices. Some people still search from their PCs, but they are being outnumbered by mobile users. So making your website mobile-friendly is an urgent need. If your website is not mobile-friendly, every blog post on your website will have two URLs – one for PC users and another for the mobile users. That means any inbound traffic to your blog post will automatically split into two parts, diluting the value of the post to search engines.

Use long-tail keywords

With a long-tail keyword, it is easier to rank your post higher in the search results. Sure… the number of searches would be fewer, but you’ll get more relevant traffic through a long-tail keyword. But don’t go overboard. Using one or two long-tail keywords would suffice. Make sure that you choose the right keywords for the right post. If you’re not sure what keywords to use, consider hiring SEO services.

Use a keyword in the title tag

If possible, use a keyword in the title tag or headline of the post. This helps boost your post’s SEO. Ideally, you should include your keyword towards the beginning of your title. Google shows only the first 60 characters of your headline. If you have a longer headline, we recommend starting the title tag with the most important keyword.