10 Symptoms of an Unsuccessful Investigations Marketing Strategy

 

1. Your clients only come from one source. You should always ask new clients how they heard about you--it's one of the most straightforward ways of measuring your marketing efforts.  If they all come from one source you need to look into that success. Once you figure out what’s caused the response, incorporate that into the rest of your marketing strategy. 
    
2. No one’s sister’s friend’s cousin is coming to you. Even against digital marketing, social media, and online advertising, word-of-mouth is the fastest and most effective way to get new clients. If your customers aren’t recommending you or you're having trouble getting referrals, it might be time to hone in on your customer service techniques.
   
   
3. You don’t show up in a location-specific web search. Take a moment to search for your current city and ‘private investigator’. People usually search for services by location, so if you’re not in the results for ‘New York Private Investigator’ thousands of potential customers don’t know you exist. If you’re not sure how to improve your web presence, or have questions about how to show up in a location search, contact PInow and ask about Lawgical Local.
    
4. Your website is dated. An old website usually lacks the search engine optimization (SEO) needed to get organic search rankings. It also makes people more likely to wonder if you’re still in business.
    
5. You’re profits haven’t increased. Marketing is all about gaining exposure, clients, and income. If your profits haven’t increased or have taken a dip it’s time to rework your strategy.
    
6. You’re investing outweighs your profit. If you’re advertising on a billboard, that ad alone should bring in enough clients to more than offset the cost.
    
7. You’re not meeting your goals. It’s important to set goals that are realistic and measurable, but if you’re not meeting these goals you may need to take some time to analyze why your plan isn’t working.
    
8. You’re not setting goals. If you don’t have a plan for how you would like your business to grow, then your marketing plan is not effective. You need to have standards to measure success over a reasonable time period. An example of a marketing goal would be to increase sales by 10% over a six month period, or increase your Facebook business page likes by 25% during the holiday season.
    
9. You don't know your competition. In order to be effective, you need to know what your competition is putting out there and what's working for them.  You can also look at competitors to see what their marketing campaign is missing, or take note of things they've tried that haven't worked.
    
10. Your plan doesn’t evolve. If your current marketing plan has increased your profits and brought in more clients, you have a great base, but you can always improve your strategy. Whether it’s resubmitting your company to a local search engine, updating your website, or running a food drive, you should always look for new ways to get your name out. If you’re not looking for the next way to increase your profits, your marketing efforts might stall in the future. 

You don't necessarily need to scrap your ideas if your marketing efforts aren't working. If you’re not getting social media interaction, refine your posts. If you have an ad in the local paper, move it to a section that might get more results. Remember, getting results can take time, and trial and error is part of the process. Successful marketing can take a lot of effort, but when a steady stream of clients is coming through the door it can be worthwhile.

If you have questions about how to better market your investigations firm, want more information on how our products can help, or just want to bounce an idea off of a professional, contact PInow at (888) 997-4669.

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