As a small business or sole trader, it’s easy to forget the opportunities that are available. By taking advantage of these opportunities, your business can grow and flourish. You can use invoices to market to clients who have already shown they can pay. With that in mind, here’s a guide on how to do so effectively.
Branding on invoices
The Importance Of Branding On Invoices
Your brand is the public face of your business. That means that every business activity you engage in should be examined through the lens of your brand, and vice versa. If you take the effort to build a strong brand for yourself, every action you perform outside of it will be noticed.
A strong brand instils trust in your customers. Customers who trust your business are more likely to return and suggest you to their friends and family to your store/website.
You can’t control everything about your customers’ purchasing habits, but developing a brand identity for your business will assist build trust and understanding. Customers want to know what to expect when they buy from you, so having a unique, memorable brand will impact their purchasing decisions. Excellent branding results in loyal customers and, eventually, business success.
Developing a strong brand identity makes your company more visible in the market, which is especially important for small businesses.
Branded invoices lead to brand awareness
The key to growing your business is to improve your brand’s visibility by expanding its reach. While this seems to be a simple task, it can be difficult in a competitive industry.
Many small business owners will just download the first invoicing solution that appears in a Google search. A search-engine-generated invoice template can be insufficient for your business. Businesses who want something more simple and professionally designed can significantly benefit from an online invoicing software
Presenting a professional image to your consumers is one way to attract repeat customers. Invoicing software such as Invoice24 provides you with the tools you need to easily produce personalised invoices. The ease of use also saves you time and effort when creating a professional invoice. Each document is an opportunity to communicate and boost your brand. It’s easy to update your invoice or change it to appeal to a particular customer using invoicing software.
How to brand your invoices
Spread Brand Awareness
It’s easier than ever to generate customised invoices that boost your brand’s awareness and improve your bottom line. A well-designed and professional invoice is free of errors and sets you apart from other businesses. This should help make your bill a top priority to get paid.
An effective branding strategy involves a unified approach. Ensure that your invoice’s appearance matches your website, social channels, and other content. Colours, fonts, and a logo make you appear more professional and influence the client to pay your invoice on time.
Use Testimonials To Your Advantage
Testimonials are genuine statements made by customers that demonstrate your business’s successful work through the eyes of your customers. The more testimonials you obtain, the more effective your marketing strategies will be. It is beneficial to display positive reviews and attempt to improve your work if you receive negative ones.
It’s good to mention testimonials to your clients after your invoice or invoice email. Customers who are satisfied with your products/services may be willing to provide a testimonial. So make sure you have a special link and an easy way for people to provide testimonials.
Show that you can be reached elsewhere
If you want your business to succeed, you must be on social media. If you don’t, you’re passing up a huge chance to connect and interact with your clients. You can include all of your social media icons in your emailed invoices.
Thank Your Customers
A simple “thank you” can go a long way. It demonstrates that you genuinely appreciate the client’s or customer’s support
Marketing with invoices
Why are invoices good for marketing?
Invoices are used to ask for payment from clients that are willing to pay. Only people that use your service will receive an invoice from you. The more invoices you send to these clients, the more effective using invoices for marketing becomes.
Furthermore, as a small business, you often have direct contact with those who you send invoices to. This means you can ask for feedback or marketing opportunities directly, as well as lead them through what strategies you’ve used, if necessary.
Using invoices to market
Make invoices that bring clients back
Start by asking yourself when you’ve returned to buy something a second time, or buy another product from the same place. What made you come back and why?
Once you consider this, making invoices that bring people back is simple. Use strategies such as discounts, showing off other products, or providing resources the client might find helpful when using your product. You could even consider making subscription content like email marketing for interested clients.
Ask for referrals
Asking for referrals is a simple yet effective way of generating client interest. Simply leave a small piece of text under the full invoice asking them to recommend you where they can. If you think it’s applicable, you could even offer a discount in return.
You can still use this strategy if a client isn’t satisfied with your service. In the case where it’s the price they weren’t happy with, a discount would help. If the service wasn’t for them in general, they simply won’t use the reference. Because the strategy is such low risk, it can be incorporated into every invoice you make.
Ask for feedback
Use invoices as a way for clients or customers to give you feedback on the service you provided. The best people to ask for a review are those who have actively engaged with the service you provide. You can ask them to give you a review on a website, through talking or any other preferred method. This ensures that when you do market your product, you have the reviews to back it up, giving less reason to call marketing ethics into question.
Conclusion
Invoice marketing is an excellent technique because nobody can offer more than your paying clients. They have a strong ability to share your product, comment on its usefulness and have shown they are both willing and able to afford it.