Insight

August

18 2014

8 Tips for Creating a “Social Business” (Part 1)

Having a “Social Business” is different than just being on a “Social Network”. In order to be social on a social network, you must have a “social business”. In this blog post, I will share tips 1-4 for creating a social business. The inspiration and original content for this post is provided by Evan LePage. Originally posted on HootSource.

Tip 1- Evaluate Your Social Goals

Ask yourself the following questions:

What social networks does your company currently reside?
What social networks do you plan to reside in the future?
What social goals does your company have?

Avoid considering social in a vacuum. Take the time to understand where it best fits your organization and how to integrate it into your company goals. You’re not reinventing wheels for social, just using it to make the ones you have turn faster.

Tip 2- Organize Control Over Social Assets

While you want to centralize control over your social platforms with a social tool like a dashboard, you want to de-centralize the conversations you have over them. To do that, you need to empower your team to engage your customers in conversation directly.

Your social tools should also be able to grow along with you, by being flexible to facilitate even further decentralization, expansion, and conversation.

Tip 3- Listen & Learn

There’s no question. People are talking about your organization or your industry. Don’t let your organization get left behind. Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos once described your brand as, “what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Today, not only do you have an opportunity to be in the room but to take an active role in the conversation itself.

Good search practices start with monitoring for mentions – the good, the bad and the ugly – of your organization, but can also focus on topics related to your business where you may wish to become an influencer. With social, it is also possible to monitor certain users or organizations closely without them knowing you’re listening.

Gather your feedback. There are some interesting disconnects between consumers’ and businesses’ perceptions on why people engage with organizations via social media:

73% of businesses feel consumers want to learn about new products while only 51% of consumers give that as a reason.
61% of businesses think consumers want to be part of a community while only 22% of consumers support that thought.
61% and 55% of consumers want discounts and to purchase something respectively.

Better monitoring, listening and analysis of conversation and feedback could lead to programs to close these gaps and build more empathetic, customer-centric relationships.

Tip 4- Engage to Build a Community

While each brand will have it’s own communication style, there is a right way and a wrong. The most important thing you can do is to acknowledge the voice of the customer, really hear and respect what they are saying. If what you’re hearing is a complaint, let them know a resolution is being sought, then follow through on that resolution to the best of your organization’s ability. Once again, don’t consider social in a vacuum. Integrate your response with existing channels and let the most appropriate channel lead the way to resolution.

Listen and pick your moments. If sales are a priority, nurture potential leads with relevant and helpful content. Make sales through engagement. The age- old sales maxim, “Make a friend first, a sale second” still applies to social, only even more so due to social’s ability to amplify positive, or negative, experiences.

Give advice. Hilton Hotels takes an entirely non-sales oriented approach with @HiltonSuggests by taking an engagement for engagement’s sake position. Hilton monitors online conversation for travelers looking for recommendations all over the world. Acting as a quasi global concierge, @HiltonSuggests steps in to offer accommodation advice to travelers whether a Hilton is a viable option or not.

Perks don’t hurt. 61% of consumers use social to look for discounts. Social is obviously a great way to highlight promotions and deals, but make them appropriate and relevant to your brand. For example, why would a bakery give away an iPad? Promotions of this kind are common and can build vanity metrics such as Likes or Follows, but those need to be balanced with engagement. How engaged are iPad fans with bakeries? Fans of customized cakes are much more likely to be highly engaged and even influential to a fledgling bakery. Fewer more influential followers trump hordes of deal hunters every time. With Hootsuite’s custom URL parameters, our bakery could even track conversions arising directly from their posts to Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn and put that iPad to use around the office.

Original content provided by Matt Foulger. Originally posted on HootSource.

Summary:

Social is here to stay and to maintain a competitive advantage, businesses need to stay abreast of this ever-evolving space. Hootsuite Pro helps teams engage with audiences and analyze campaigns across multiple social networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn from one secure web-based dashboard.

Sign up for a 30-day FREE trial

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Business, Marketing, Social Media

August

11 2014

5 Must-Haves for Social Media Management

Image Source: copyright Hootsuite

Social media has grown from a curiosity to an integral piece of a company’s strategy in the space of only a few years. Nearly overnight, companies have brought on whole teams of specialists to craft effective social media strategies and manage multiplying numbers of social media accounts. Companies are hungry for better social media tools to engage their followers. Below is a list of five features key to delivering on a social media strategy.

1) Scheduling

Social media doesn’t sleep, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to! Ensure your social media management tool of choice allows you to schedule messages in advance. So even if you’re in New York, you can schedule messages out to your customers in Tokyo during their workday.

If you want to take scheduling to the next level, look for a tool that offers the ability to schedule large batches of messages at once. This will be a super useful time-saver when it comes to managing campaigns or contests that require heavy messaging around a certain period of time.

2) Geo

When it comes to interacting with your customers, those in different locations may have different needs, speak different languages or follow different trends. You’re going to want a tool that optimizes your searches and filters your searches by language to help you curate relevant content for different demographics.

3) Keywords

Social media is also an effective way for businesses to keep their finger on the pulse. Setting up keywords or search streams provide insight into what is trendy among your customers. This can help you develop a marketing strategy that focuses on customer’s lifestyles and personal preferences.

Keywords are useful for keeping track of competitors’ activities but they’re also useful for tracking brands that are complementary to your offering. If your product is often purchased in conjunction with another product, keep an eye on the complementary product’s social media activity to take advantage of promotions or recent sales, as these are potential leads ready to be converted.

4) Collaboration

It takes two to tango especially when it comes to being social. Collaboration is key when it comes to developing and executing an effective social media campaign. Ensure your social media management tool enables you to seamlessly collaborate with your team to ensure you execute an integrated social media management strategy.

5) Reporting

Gone are the days of social media purely being about ‘building buzz.’ It is now a line item in budgets as companies invest resources in these channels and there is an expectation for reports which show ROI for social media outreach.

Make sure your tool has the ability to analyze important metrics such as click-through rates on shortened links, clicks by region and top referrers. It’s also important to have access to Facebook Insights and Google Analytics.

The most effective tools will provide the ability to access in-depth granular metrics on the efficacy of your social media programs. This will allow you to determine which messages resulted in the highest number of conversions, which platform is providing the greatest return and which time of day is most effective to drive traffic.

What it takes to go Pro?

Sign up for a 30-day FREE trial

Written by Matt Foulger. Originally posted on HootSource.

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Business, Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized

July

08 2014

How to use Email Marketing to Grow Your Business

Are you using email marketing to promote your business?

Are you thinking about using email marketing in your marketing strategy?

This blog post covers four types of email marketing strategies and how you can use them to grow your business:

E-Newsletter– An Email Newsletter (E-Newsletter) is an email created in a newsletter format and emailed to a list of your email contacts who have opted-in to receive information from you on a consistent basis (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.).
There are many variations of e-newsletters including plain text e-newsletters or html e-newsletters. The look and feel of your e-newsletter is up to you, but it should be consistent with your brand. Although the look and feel of the e-newsletters will vary for each company, most of the time there are key components included in an e-newsletter. The components usually include the following information in some way:
- Intro– An introduction from the company or person who publishes the newsletter. The intro is the lead into the email and usually includes a brief update and then leads into the rest of the newsletter
- Article/Blog Post Preview– Many e-newsletters link to the company’s recent blog post which covers the topic in more detail, so the first few sentences or paragraph of the blog is placed in the e-newsletter and the reader would have to click on a link in the email to read the entire article or blog post
- Event Announcement– Many companies choose to include any announcements of upcoming events in the e-newsletter. These events could be live in-person events including conferences, seminars, workshops, etc. or online events like webinars or teleseminars. This will be included in the e-newsletter with a link to the event page where people can register for the event.
- Special Promotions- This could be promotions from your company of promotions from partner companies. The promotion offer is listed and the reader can click on the banner or link to get additional information. The link usually takes the reader to a sales/promotional page to get more information regarding the special offer
- Inspirational Quotes– These are popular and many companies like to include them in their e-newsletter
- Testimonials- Many companies like to showcase testimonials in their newsletters because it is a great way to show your audience why people love your product or service and people tend to look favorably on testimonials.
- Videos– A link to a video is great to include in an e-newsletter. If you have a company video or a video that your audience would find useful, you can include the video image and link to the actual video in the e-newsletter.
E-Newsletter Tips:
- Be sure that the content in your e-newsletter is 80% educational/entertaining and 20% promotional.
- Limit the information to no more than four topics for each newsletter.
- Keep the e-newsletter clear and concise and make sure that the information does not appear cluttered to the reader.
- Have a strong call to action at the end of each section (i.e. “click here to read more…” “click here for more information” “sign-up today” etc. )
Promotional Emails– The specific purpose of this email is to promote ONE thing. This could be an event, a special company promotion, etc. You want the information to stand out, so you create a specific email dedicated to just this one topic. This is also known as a stand-alone email. This type of email is great to use if you have one topic or you want your audience to focus on one thing. The one thing could have several parts, but the email itself focuses on only one topic. For example, if you are having a special sale and you want to focus your readers’ attention on the special sale, although you may have several items on sale, the focus of the email is the one topic of the sale.
Promotional Email Tips:
- Be sure to focus on only one topic
- Have a strong call to action at the end of the email (i.e. “buy now” “limited time” “click here for more information” “sign-up today” etc. )
- Make sure you are clear on what you want your reader to do
Autoresponder– An Autoresponder Email is a series of emails that is sent to a person when they sign-up for something. This could be when they sign-up to join your email list, when they sign-up to get a free download, when they sign-up for a webinar etc. The action of signing up and therefore opting into the list creates an automatic response (or autoresponder) that is a series of emails that are sent to the individual over a period of time. Autoresponders are great because you can set it and forget it. Once you create the series any time someone opts into that particular list, he or she will receive the emails automatically and you only had to create it once! AutoResponder Tips:
- Make each email in the series timely and relevant
- Provide valuable information before you promote your product or service
- In a series of 4 emails, 3 should be informative and educational and the 4th one can be a promotion (always provide value first)
Drip Campaigns– Drip campaigns are very similar to autoresponders in that they are a series of emails. The difference is that a drip campaign does not have to be initiated by a person opting in. You can create a campaign for a specific group of people already on your email list and drip them information over a period of time. Drip campaigns are great to promote an event or a special company promotion to your entire list or a portion of your email list. Similar to the autoresponders, once you create the emails you just set it and forget it as the series of emails will be dripped out to your list over a period of timeDrip Campaign Tips:

Make each email in the series timely and relevant
Make sure each email has a strong call to action

Are you using any of these email strategies? If not, what other email marketing strategies are you using?

Be sure to download this checklist with 21 tips on how to get amazing success with email marketing!

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Uncategorized

June

23 2014

Business Blog v. Business Website

It may seem like a silly question, but what is the difference between having a blog and having a website? And when it comes to your business strategy, do you need both?

With the popularity of blogs and social media, some companies are thinking they may not need a website. Although a business can be successful without one, I feel it is important to have one. Your website is your home base, the place on the internet where your company/brand lives. All other places on the internet like blog platforms, or social networks are places that you rent space, so if you are serious about your business you don’t want to just RENT, you want to OWN!

WEBSITE

According to dictionary.com, “A website is a connected group of pages on the World Wide Web regarded as a single entity, usually maintained by one person or organization and devoted to a single topic or several closely related topics.” Your website really is the place where people will go to learn about your company. Since people go there to learn about your company, your website should include the following:

The story of your business, including the who, what, where, when & how
A showcase of your products and/or services
Appropriate messaging directed to your target audience
A way to capture leads by offering an email opt-in form
A way to convert your visitors to purchases with the use of links to sales pages
A way for people to contact you
Connections to your social media networks
Connection to your blog

BLOG

So what is a blog and how does it differ from your website?

According to dictionary.com, “A blog is a website containing a writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites.” Your blog is where you express your opinions and share your insights about your particular topic with your audience. Your blog should be used for the following:

To show your expertise
To offer advice, tips, techniques related to your products and services, or your industry
To build an audience
To subtly promote your products and/or services
To build a community
To spread the word about your business
To capture leads when people subscribe to your blog
To convert visitors to purchase your product or service by using links to sales pages

So now that you know the difference between your website and your blog, do you need both? It depends! If you want to be known as an expert in your industry and you are committed to consistently blogging (posting articles) on your blog, then blogging should be included in your online marketing strategy, but if you are not sure you will have the time to consistently blog and be committed to maintaining your blog, then you should not start a blog. Although it has many benefits, blogging is not for everyone!

On the other hand, having a home base for your business/brand is important, so I feel having a website is a MUST for a business while having a blog is OPTIONAL.

So what do you think, does a business need a blog and a website? Do you have a business blog and a business website?

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Uncategorized

June

10 2014

The best way for people to know, like and trust you online!

We’ve all heard the saying, “People do business with people who they know, like, and trust“. I find that one of the best ways for people to get to know you, like you, and trust you ONLINE is by BLOGGING.

So what exactly is blogging some may ask, according to dictionary.com, a blog is a website containing a writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites. I will also add that a blog allows others to communicate with those writers by commenting on what they have posted!

First let’s take a look at a brief history of blogging. The first “blog” started in 1994 and was known as Links.net, and the term “weblog” was coined in 1997, a few short years later “weblog” was simplified to just “blog” in 1999.*

So how can blogging help your business? Well, the fact that a blog allows you as a business owner to write about your experiences, observations, and opinions, helps people to know more about you, your business, your business style, and the culture of your company. Therefore, helping you to build on the “know” factor in the know, like, and trust formula.

In addition, the content that you post on your blog helps people to figure out if they “like” your style, your information, your point of view. This helps with the “like” part of the know, like, and trust formula.

And thirdly, how consistently you post, how much you care about providing valuable information to your readers, and how knowledgable you are about your topic helps to build the “trust” part of the know, like, and trust formula.

In addition to helping you build your know, like, and trust factor online, blogging also helps you to become known as an expert in your field, which can lead to more business for you.

There are also technical reasons to blog for you business which includes Search Engine Optimization. Now I am no SEO expert, but the basics of how blogging helps with your SEO is:

It allows your website to stay current. Search engines prefer to share up to date information with the people searching for a particular topic, and if your blog is posting current information about a particular topic this could help you to rank higher in the search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.
The use of keywords in your blog can also help with your SEO. If someone is searching for a particular keyword and your website ranks high for the use of the keyword organically (existing on the page), then this can help you rank higher in the search engines.
When people find the information on your blog useful and link to it from their websites, this creates backlinks to your website, which is great for SEO.

This is a short and simple list of how blogging helps with SEO, as SEO is a whole other topic that could be a whole blog itself (and as I mentioned, I am not an expert on SEO).

So what do you think? Do you think blogging is one of the best ways for people to get to know, like, and trust you online? Are you using blogging in your business?

* Source- New York Magazine

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Uncategorized

May

25 2014

7 Ways to Successfully Promote Your Next Business Event

If you have consistent events to promote your business, you know that it can be challenging to get people to attend. Here are some tips on how you can successfully promote your next business event:

Create an online Event Page– this page will be the central hub for the information about your event. The event page will include the details of the event including date, time, location, RSVP ability, etc. A great tool to use to create an event landing page is Constant Constant’s Essential Toolkit which includes the online event creation tool (used to be EventSpot). Learn more…
Send an event email to your email list- Evites are great because they are easy and convenient. You should send between 3 to 4 emails before the actual event. The first email should be a “save the date” email, the second email should be the actually event invitation, the third should be a reminder email, and the fourth one should be a “don’t miss out email”. I recommend starting this series of emails four weeks before the event. You can also use the Constant Constant’s Essential Toolkit to send event emails to your email list.
Send an old-fashioned invitation in the mail– People receive so many emails that sometimes an e-vite can get lost in the shuffle. Sending an actual invitation in the mail can be more costly (card, envelope, stamp, etc), but it is almost a guaranteed way to make sure people actually see your invitation. A great tool to use to automate the sending of cards is SendOutCards. SendOutCards is an online greeting card and gifts company. The system allows you to upload the information for your contacts, select an invitation from their card gallery, or create a card from scratch, customize and even personalize the card, and then it will be printed, stuffed, and mailed out to your contacts for you. Learn more…
Create an event on Facebook– Facebook is a great social network to promote events. When you create an event within Facebook, it makes it easy to invite people via Facebook, and also makes it easy to promote the event via Facebook. You can include a link to your actual event page on the Facebook page, so everyone is directed to one event page.
Create an event hashtag (#Event)– Using an event hashtag helps to create a buzz for your event. This especially works on social networks such as Twitter and Instagram, but can also work well on other social networks like Facebook. It makes it easy for people to search for comments or pictures regarding the event, and is also a great way for people to start conversations about the event and make connections before, during, and after the event.
Promote your event on several social networks– Although Facebook is one of the largest social networks, you can get a lot of success by promoting your event on various social networks where your target audience may exist like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, etc. A great tool to use to automate your social media posts is hootsuite. You can load all of your event posts in the system and schedule them to go out over an extended period of time on various social networks. Learn more….
Offer special event promotions- another great way to get more people to your event is to offer a special incentive. This incentive could be anything from a swag bag, to a special drawing, to a discount, etc. People always like to know that they are getting something for FREE or they are getting a great deal.

What techniques do you use to promote your business events? What other tools would you suggest that helps to promote events?

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Uncategorized

May

08 2014

Top 7 Types of Events That Can Grow Your Business!

When it comes to growing your business, it is important to have consistent events to showcase your product or service. There are many types of events that you can have to increase brand awareness both online and offline.

Here are 7 types of events that can help to grow your business:

Tele-seminars– Tele-seminars may not be considered a typical business event, but it is a great way to grow your business and your email list. The great thing about tele-seminars is that they are fairly easy to implement. All you really need is a telephone and a conference line! There are tons of conference call companies that can host hundreds of people on the line at one time. Tele-seminars give you an opportunity to educate individuals on your particular product, service, or industry. They are also a great way for you to introduce your program, product or service as a solution within the marketplace. Some conference call tools include:
Webinars– Webinars are online events that are great to increase your brand awareness and provide value to your community. Webinars are a little more technical than tele-seminars because of the need to show the visuals via a website, but with so many easy to use webinar tools it’s not difficult to host a webinar for your business. Webinars are a great way to educate your community and provide value while promoting your business, service or product. Some webinar tools include:
Grand Opening Events– If you have a physical store front, or an office that is open to the public, having a grand opening event is a great way to announce yourself to your local community. Most chambers of commerce offer grand opening ceremonies for local businesses that are new to the area and are members of the chamber. The grand opening event is a great opportunity to showcase your business, products, or services to the local community.
Launch Parties– If you are launching a new website or new product line, why not have a party to let everyone know about your new product or service? Launch parties are a great way for people to learn more about your product or service and also create a buzz about your business.
Customer Appreciation Events– Showing your customers how much you appreciate their business by having a special event to thank your customers is a great way to get repeat and referral business.
Workshops/Seminars– No matter what type of industry your business may be in, hosting an educational workshop or seminar and giving good tips, tools, and techniques on how people can use your product or service can be very beneficial for a company.
Conferences/Expos– Hosting a large conference can be a lot of work, but it is definitely a way for you to grow your business. Every industry has annual conferences and expos, and people are always looking for ways to learn more and to network within their industry, so creating a conference or expo is a great way to grow your business.

Are you consistently having events to promote your business? If so, what events are you having? What other types of events would you add to the list?

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Uncategorized

April

30 2014

7 ways to use Relationship Marketing to grow your business

According to dictionary.com, Relationship Marketing is a marketing strategy in which a company seeks to build long-term relationships with its customers by providing consistent satisfaction. There are several ways that a company can provide consistent satisfaction by using Relationship Marketing tactics.

Here are 7 ways to implement relationship marketing tactics in your business:

Offer EXCELLENT customer service. When a customer purchases a product or service from you, you should go above and beyond to make sure that the customer is happy with your service.
FOLLOW-UP after the purchase– Many companies do not do this, so it will put you way above the rest if you decide to do this. Depending on the product or service you offer, be sure to follow-up with the customer a couple of weeks after the purchase to ask them how they are enjoying the product and to see if they have any questions. This is a great opportunity for you to build up trust and loyalty with your customer. Some people don’t want to do this in case the customer has a compliant about the product or service. However, I think this is a great way to reach out to them and solve the issue if they do have one.
Send a customer satisfaction SURVEY– In addition to a follow-up phone call or email, sending a customer satisfaction survey to get feedback on how they felt your company’s customer service was is a great tool for you to show that you care about the type of service being offered, and to get valuable feedback and shed light on areas in your service that may need improvement.
Send a “Thank You for Your Business” Card– This may seem old-fashioned, but it is a way for your company to really stand out by sending each customer a “Thank You for Your Business” card in the mail. It shows your gratitude for their business and solidifies the new relationship.
Send an “Anniversary” card or email– This is a great way for you to stay top of mind. Send your client an email or card that marks the anniversary date of when they used your service or purchased your product. An anniversary card or email is also a great way to send a special offer that encourages repeat business (i.e. $10 off your next purchase, 20% off, etc.)
Send a Birthday card- This is a nice way for you to stand out. Most people no longer receive cards in the mail for their birthday, so receiving a card from your company is a nice way to stand out and stay top of mind with your customer.
Send a Holiday card and/or email– There are several holidays that many people celebrate throughout the year. Sending a special email or card to your customers on the holidays is a great way to stay top of mind. Adding a special holiday offer (i.e. $10 off your next purchase, 20% off, etc.) can be a nice touch.

Do you use relationship marketing in your business? If so, what other strategies do you use to implement your relationship marketing?

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Uncategorized

April

07 2014

7 Surprising Ways to Get Repeat & Referral Business

It is a fact that one of the best ways to grow your business is by building the relationship that you have with your current customers. Most small businesses overlook this fact and concentrate on new customers and new business, but don’t neglect your existing customers because they can really help you grow your business.

In this blog post, I will cover 7 surprising ways you can get repeat and referral business from your current customers:

Send your customers a birthday card. Yes, I am talking the old fashioned in the snail mail birthday card. Now a days, so few people take the time to send family, friends and customers physical cards that it would be a welcome surprise for your customer to receive a card from you. Depending on the size of your customer database, this could be an expensive undertaking, so I suggest if you cannot send a birthday card to every customer, make sure that you send one to your most loyal and repeat customers. It’s a great way to show that you care about your customers, and it’s a great opportunity to add a special offer for additional products or services. I get a birthday card and a $10 off gift card from a popular women’s apparel store every year, and most of the time I go in the store to use my gift card. I am pretty sure this strategy is working for this retail store because I continue to get a card every year.
Send your customers an anniversary card. You should have the date that your client started using your services on file, so wouldn’t it be great if you sent an anniversary card close to the anniversary date? It is a great way to stay top of mind, and to stand out in your client’s mind. An auto dealership used this strategy and sent out anniversary cards to all customers who had purchased a vehicle from the dealership each month. The card included a discount to use their auto parts & service department. It was a great way to strengthen the relationship with the customer and get them to come in for additional services.
Send your customer a “Thank You for Your Business” card. Whenever you close a deal or get a new account, it is the start of a new business relationship. Why not show your customers how much you appreciate this new relationship and send a thank you for your business card. You will be surprised how this can make you stand out as a business and strengthen the new business relationship. Paying attention to the little details also makes customers more encouraged to send referral business to you because they know you will treat the person who they refer with as much care as you have treated them.
Send your potential customer a “Thank You for Your Time” card. Sometimes you may not get the business on the first appointment. That’s why it is important to follow-up with the prospect with a card thanking her for her time. This will allow you to stand out and when the customer is ready to make a purchase because you took this additional step, your chances of being the one to get the business is much higher.
Send your customers holiday cards. Whether it is one of the popular holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, Independence Day, or one of those less popular holidays like President’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, etc. take the time to send your customers a holiday card for the holidays that you feel would be appropriate. I know I have said this before, but people just don’t get a lot of cards anymore, so receiving a card from your company on a special holiday can really make your company shine!
Send a customer a life milestone card. Sometimes you may know of a special event that occurred in your customer’s life, like the birth of a grandchild, or the graduation of a child, or an engagement or marriage. Whatever the special occasion may be, sending a nice card to your customer to recognize the milestone is great way to build the business relationship and for you to stand out as someone who cares about your customers.
Send your customers a special invitation to an upcoming promotional event. Having consistent events to promote your business is always a smart thing to do, but making sure you send a special invitation to your VIPs, loyal, or repeat customers is sometimes overlooked. Receiving an email about an event can sometimes get lost in the shuffle, so sending an invitation via the mail can help your event to stand out and will keep your company and the event top of mind for your customers.

You will notice that the common element for each one of these tips is to send a card! A great system to use to automate the sending of cards and gifts for your clients is SendOutCards. SendOutCards is an online system that allows you to select a card, customize the card, add the contact information for the recipient or upload a list of contacts, and hit send. The card will then be printed, stuffed, and mailed to the recipient(s) all by the click of your mouse. In addition, you’re able to keep track of all the cards and gifts that you send because the system keeps a record of everything for you.

For more information go to www.SendOutCards.com If you decide that you want to use the system to send your cards and gifts, you can use id#155454 to join.

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Business, Business Development, Business Events, Event Marketing, Marketing, Small Business, Uncategorized

March

31 2014

How to Create a SIMPLE & EFFECTIVE Marketing Plan

You may have heard that all small businesses should have a marketing plan, but did you know that very few actually take the time out to create one. The task of creating a marketing plan may seem daunting and intimidating, but you can create a simple and effective marketing plan by answering the following 8 key questions about your business:

Who is your target market?

You’ve probably heard this before, but it is VERY important to understand exactly who your target market is for your product or service. When it comes to understanding your target market, it is not limited to just knowing the demographics like the age range, gender, geographical location, income level, etc., but also knowing the psychographics of your target market. This includes items such as belief system, personality traits, attitude, etc.

Once you understand the demographics and psychographics of your target market, then your marketing effort becomes much easier!
What is the problem that your target market has (as it relates to your product or service)?

List specific problems that your target market has as it relates to your product or service. Imagine how these problems make your target market feel stressed out, overwhelmed, uncertain, etc.

Once you fully understand how your target market feels, you will be better able to communicate effectively to your target audience!
How does your product or service solve that problem?

Be sure to focus on how the benefits of your product or service solves their problems. You can mention some product features, but the benefits are what people are interested in. Benefits focus on the advantages i.e. your product makes a person look younger, become healthier, etc. and features focus on the characteristics of your product or service i.e. over 10 years on the market, fast acting, etc.

Your message should be 80% about the benefits of your product or service, and only 20% about the features!
Why should they buy from you and not your competitors? What is your unique selling proposition?

These are the things that make you and/or your company different. Your customers want to know what makes you better than your competitors.

The more able you are to effectively communicate why your company is the best solution, the better your marketing efforts will be.
Where is your target market?

You need to find out where your target market is located geographically and specific locations. This could include local (cities, counties, etc.), international (countries). Places could include associations, festivals, groups, organizations, etc.

Find out where your target market is in large quantities, so you can reach them in large quantities.
How do you reach your target market?

Are you reaching out to your target offline through networking, advertising, media, or online through your website, social networks,blogging, etc.

You should have several ways both online and offline to reach out to your target market.
When do you reach out to your target market?

Create a marketing calendar. Plan out the next 90 days, 6 months, to a year of marketing activity. Schedule your activity daily, monthly, quarterly, and stay organized.

Plan out your marketing activity in advance in order to successful execute your marketing activities.
What do you say to your target market?

How you communicate to your target market can make the difference between success and failure. Use messaging that your target market can understand and relate to.

Use appropriate messaging that your target market can relate to. Know the best keywords and buzz words to use in your content.

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Uncategorized

Tip 1- Evaluate Your Social Goals

Tip 2- Organize Control Over Social Assets

Tip 3- Listen & Learn

Tip 4- Engage to Build a Community

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Who is your target market?

What is the problem that your target market has (as it relates to your product or service)?

How does your product or service solve that problem?

Why should they buy from you and not your competitors? What is your unique selling proposition?

Where is your target market?

How do you reach your target market?

When do you reach out to your target market?

What do you say to your target market?

Why should they buy from you and not your competitors? What is your unique selling proposition?