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October
13 2015

5 Types of Email Content that Get You Awesome Results

5 Types of Email Content that Get You Awesome Results

Email Marketing can be a great way to grow your business, stay top of mind, and nurture your leads, but getting real results from your email marketing can be difficult. 

After sending many emails and working with companies in different industries, I have noticed that there are five types of email content that get you the best results.

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  1. Video

    Video by far always gets the most engagement in email.  When sending emails to prospects or clients,  be sure to include a relevant video that will resonate with your audience.

    The key to a successful video is to Keep It Super Short (KISS).  The most effective videos are less than 5 minutes.  People are busy and don’t necessarily have the time to watch long videos, so it’s better to keep it short and sweet.

    When I placed this short (less than 2-minutes)  video, the 3 C’s of Email Marketing, in my monthly email newsletter, it received the most engagement.  Check it out:

  2. Blog Posts

    Informative blog posts always get high engagement in your email, and email is a great way to remarket your blog posts to your email list.

    Pick your top performing blog posts, and include it in your emails when it is relevant to the theme of the email.

    The key is to peak your audience’s interest by including the first few lines of your blog post in your email, and then linking them to the entire blog post on your website.

    Some people include the entire blog post in the email, but I think a better strategy is to include the first few lines, and then have them click to read more.

    I prefer this method because it allows you to track how many people were interested in reading more, you can measure what topics get the most engagement in your email, and it shortens the length of your email (the longer your email the less likely people will read the entire email).

  3. Images

    Most people are very visual, so including relevant images in your emails can help to increase your engagement.

    Information Graphics (Infographics) are great images to create and include in your emails.

    Most Infographics are very long, so including the beginning of an infographic and encouraging your audience to click to see the entire infographic is a great strategy.

    Even if you don’t create the infographic yourself, if it will resonate with your audience, there is no harm in including it in your email and giving credit to the source and linking to the source of the infographic.

    Linking to the infographics for companies who complement what you do, or even affiliate companies can be very useful for your audience.

  4. Audio

    In addition to the items listed above, audio also receives high engagement in your email, so if you don’t have a video to share with your audience, try including links to audio.

    Not everyone loves to read information, so when you offer information in various formats including audio, you are able to get the attention of individuals who prefer to listen to your content instead of having to read or watch it.

    This is why Podcasts are so popular and are a great medium for coaches and consultants.

  5. Special Offers

    Providing great content in your email like videos, blog posts, images, and audio is always a good idea, but having a compelling offer that resonates with your audience is even better, because that is where you make your sales.

    So be sure to send out emails that include relevant special offers or promotions.  If the offer is something that resonates with your audience you will see engagement with offer, which leads to more business for you.

Are you using any of these types of content in your email?  If so, what content works well with your audience.  Be sure to comment below.

Also, don’t forget to download the the Marketing Essentials Checklist of 21 Things You Must do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Email Marketing.

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on 5 Types of Email Content that Get You Awesome Results  |  in Email Marketing, Email Results, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Uncategorized
September
22 2015

How Often Should You Post on Your Business Blog

How Often Should You Post on Your Business Blog

One of the questions I get when its comes to blogging for business is how often should I post on my business blog?

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Some people would say it’s important to blog every day, or it’s important to blog at least three times a week.  This may be a good strategy for a professional blogger, but your business is not blogging,  you should be blogging for business as a part of your marketing mix, so you should take a different approach to how often you blog.

I feel the answer to that question differs for each business.  If blogging is part of your marketing mix, you have to decide how much time you or someone on your team can dedicate to consistently posting on the business blog.

Depending on the decision that you come up with for your business, this will determine how often you should blog.  However, as a rule of thumb, I would say you should try to put new content on your blog at the very least twice a month.

New content on your blog is important for various reasons:

  1.  It keeps your blog from getting stale–  Nobody wants to visit a blog and the last post was from 3 months ago, so to make sure that your content stays fresh it would be important to post at least every two weeks.
  2.  You rank higher in the search engines when you have newer content. Search engines like to provide browsers with more recent information, so the more updated your blog is, and the newer the content on your blog, the more likely you are to rank higher in the search engines.
  3. Promoting your new content helps to bring consistent traffic to your website.  Having a business blog and promoting your blog posts is a great way to get traffic to your website.  The more you post the more traffic you will get.
  4. When done correctly, your new content can also help to create new leads for your company, so the more content you put out, the more leads you can expect to get for your company.

However, it’s not just important to have new content on your business blog, but it’s just as important if not more important, to promote the older content you have on your blog, so in addition to creating new content for your blog, you should also have a plan to promote the older content that you have on your blog.

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For example, if you decide to post on your business blog at least twice a month, then after just one year of posting at least twice a month, you will have at least 24 pieces of content that you can repurpose and share on your social media networks, your email list, etc. 

So no matter how often you post on your business blog, it is important to have fresh content (at least twice a month), and it’s important to promote both your new and old content in order to get more traffic and get more leads for your business.

Do you have a business blog?  If so, how often do you post on your business blog?

 

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on How Often Should You Post on Your Business Blog  |  in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Uncategorized
August
11 2015

5 Reasons You Should Be Using Text Message Marketing

5 Reasons You Should Be Using Text Message MarketingAlthough text messaging has been around for a while now, using text messaging as a part of a company’s marketing mix is a fairly new concept for most business owners, coaches, and consultants, but the potential of text message marketing is huge.

So why should you be using text message marketing in your marketing mix?  Let’s examine some of the benefits of text message marketing:

  1. A large percentage of consumers use cell phones on a daily basis, and many people send and receive text messages on their cell phones.  In fact, text messaging has become an easy and efficient way to communicate, so sending text messages to your own opt-in list would be an easy and efficient way for you to communicate with your clients or prospects.  Did you know that:

“86% of consumers send or receive a text message every week”  source-  EzTexing-SMS Marketing Statistics

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2. If you would like your marketing messages to be read, then text message marketing is one of the best channels to use to ensure your message will be received and read by your audience, check out these statistics:

“95 out of 100 of your customers who have opted into your text messaging program OPEN and READ your mobile messages within 3 mins.”  source-  Forbes-  Pulling Back The Curtain On Text Message Mobile Marketing

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3.  Text Message Marketing is one of the most affordable marketing channels.  Text Message Marketing services range from free, to a couple of cents per text, to a low monthly fee depending on what Text Message Marketing Service you choose to use, making it one of the most affordable marketing channels you can use.

4.  People often take immediate action with a text message.  Unlike other marketing channels, text message marketing tends to be immediate and people tend to take immediate action regarding a text message (i.e. respond, download, click, etc.), so if you are looking for immediate results, you may want to consider text message marketing.

“30% of consumers interact with a brand via text message.” source-  EzTexing-SMS Marketing Statistics

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5.  Text Message Marketing is easy to use.  Once you sign-up with a Text Message Marketing service, and you have built an opt-in text message list, sending text messages to your audience is super simple.  Just log on to the platform, compose your message, click send, and your message will be received by the individuals on your opt-in list within minutes.

Are you using text message marketing in your marketing mix?  If so, what other benefits do you find from using text message marketing? 

Interested in using text message marketing, check out the EZTexting Platform.  And see how you can start using Text Message Marketing in your marketing mix. 

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on 5 Reasons You Should Be Using Text Message Marketing  |  in Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Small Business, Text Marketing, Uncategorized
July
21 2015

5 Easy Ways to Use Social Listening to Grow Your Business

5 Easy Ways to Use Social Listening to Grow Your Business

Listening is an important skill to master in both your personal and professional life.  Being able to listen carefully can improve your personal relationships, and being able to listen carefully to the needs and wants of your customers, clients, and prospects can improve your business.  However, many independent business owners, coaches, and consultants have not mastered the art of social listening.

A great way to listen to your customers, clients, and prospects is to conduct surveys and polls to gain valuable insight, but one way to listen that most companies are not taking advantage of is listening on social media, so how can listening on social media grow your business?

Here are five ways social listening can grow your business:

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  1. Listen to the posts people are making in your community (i.e. posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.)  Sometimes you can find your next customer right in your own backyard just by listening within your community.  I have gotten more business listening to people in my community on social media over any other social media marketing method.   When someone posts a question or concerns that you are able to answer, be sure to reach out to the individual and let them know that you can help.  The key is to take the conversation offline. The post may start in a public arena such as a public post on Facebook, but you should move the conversation to a direct or private message, and then move to a meeting either on the phone or in-person.  The reason why this technique works so well, is because when someone expresses a need on social media, and you have a solution, it’s almost guaranteed business for you as long as you handle it correctly by taking the conversation offline to learn more and offer your services as a solution.
  2. Listen to the posts people are making in online groups.  This  could be LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups, etc.  I have found more success listening to comments people make in various Facebook groups, especially if you belong to groups that have your ideal target audience, every once in a while someone may post about being in need of someone who offers your services.  Seeing those posts and responding, can be a great way to get new business.  Similar to listening in your own community, the key here is to take the conversation offline to close the deal.
  3. Listen to the comments people make on your platforms.  This could be comments made on your social media posts, or your blog posts.  If someone takes the time to comment, be sure to listen to their comment and even respond to their comment.  Taking the time to do this nurtures that relationship you have with your fans and followers, and if your response if valuable and helpful sometimes that same person who commented could become a customer.  
  4. Create online polls and poll your fans and followers.  Another great way to listen to your audience is to ask questions.  Social media is a great place to conduct market research.  You can create a simple poll and ask questions that will help you understand your target audience better.  For example, a good poll for me would be “What social network do you use the most for marketing your business?”
    1. Facebook
    2. LinkedIn
    3. Pinterest
    4. Google+
    5. Other

By asking this simple question and getting responses, I will then better understand what social networks my audience is using, and I could create blog posts about that particular network, or even create a program or course that talks all about that particular network, but I would never know what my audience uses unless I polled my fans and followers and listened to their responses, and then took some type of action based on their responses.

5.  Create online surveys and survey your fans and followers.  Similar to an online poll, an online survey can provide you with invaluable information regarding your fans and followers, so why not create an online survey and post it on your social media channels and encourage your fans and followers to complete the short survey.  The insight you gain from that survey can help you in so many ways.  You can use the information to:

  • Find out how you are perceived
  • Learn what your audience struggles with
  • Create new products, programs, courses with the information you receive
  • Create your next promotion
  • And so much more…

Are you using social listening to grow your business?  If not, be sure to schedule a FREE strategy session so you can learn how to use social listening in your business.  Click Here to contact us and schedule your session today!

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  2 Comments  |  in Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized
June
23 2015

How to Create a Simple and Effective Email Marketing Plan

How to Create a Simple and Effective Email Marketing Plan

If you plan to grow or promote your business online, then email marketing should be an essential part of your marketing activity.

One of the best ways to be successful with your email marketing effort is to create an effective email marketing plan.

Your email marketing plan doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective, in fact, in this post I will walk you through the outline for a simple and effective email marketing plan.

Step 1-  Define the purpose of your email marketing campaigns

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In this part of your plan, you should:

  • Identify who you are trying to reach (customers, prospects, partners, etc.)
  • Define why you are trying to reach them (to stay top of mind, to provide education, to create brand awareness, to get sales, etc.)
  • What are you trying to achieve from reaching this group of people via email?

Step 2-  Define your email marketing goals

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This part of your plan should cover your email marketing goals:

  • Start by listing your overall goals:  more sales, relationship building, stay top of mind, communicate special promotions, get referrals, etc.
  • Then list the more specific goals you would you like to achieve through email marketing (i.e. get two new clients per month, get three referrals per month, etc.)

Step 3–  Select Your Email Marketing Strategy

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When it comes to email marketing you have several options on types of email marketing campaigns you can create.  Pick the strategies that make sense for your business.

Your strategy could include the following types of email campaigns:

  1. E-Newsletters- An informative e-mail that goes out to your contacts periodically. This could be monthly, bi-weekly, weekly, etc.
  2. Autoresponders– A series of e-mails that automatically go out over a period of time based on someone joining your e-mail list or being added to your email list.
  3. Drip Campaigns– A series of e-mails that automatically go out over a period of time for a specific promotion, or a specific event, etc.

The difference between an autoresponder and a drip campaign is that an autoresponder is a response from an action someone has taken (downloading an eBook, White Paper, Checklist, etc.).  While a drip campaign is a series of promotional campaign emails sent to your list not based on an action they have taken, but solely based on a specific promotional campaign.

The most successful email marketing plans have a combination of types of email marketing strategies.  The e-newsletters work well to stay top of mind because they are consistently going out over a period of time, but the auto responders and drip campaigns work well too because they are usually tied to a specific product, promotion, or services that you would like to generate some business for, so decide what types of campaigns will work well for you business.

Step 4: Create an Email Marketing Calendar

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The next step in your email marketing plan is to create a calendar that maps out all of your emails over an extended period of time.  The time period could be the next 60 days, 90 days, 6 months or even a year.  Your calendar should include the following:

  1. Month/Send Date–  What month and date will this specific email be published to your list?
  2. Email Topic–  What is this specific email about
  3. Type of Email–  Is it a newsletter, or part of a series of emails for an autoresponder or drip campaign.
  4. Email List–  Who will this email be sent to (prospect list, customer list, partner list, combination of lists, etc.)

Taking the time to strategically think through your email marketing effort will help you to create successful email marketing campaigns. 

Are you currently using email marketing in your business?  Do you have an email marketing plan?  If you need assistance creating an successful email marketing plan, contact us to schedule your FREE Email Marketing Success Strategy Session.

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on How to Create a Simple and Effective Email Marketing Plan  |  in Business, Business Development, Email Marketing, Marketing, Small Business, Uncategorized
June
09 2015

The #1 Reason Businesses Struggle to Get Results from Email Marketing

The #1 Reason Businesses Struggle to Get Results from Email Marketing

I recently sent out a survey to my audience, which included the question, “If you are using email marketing in your marketing mix, what do you struggle with the most when it comes to your email marketing?”  The responses varied, but the #1 thing that most business owners, coaches, and consultants said they struggle with was staying consistent.

It’s easy to start sending emails to your list, but it’s hard to stay consistent, and only when you are consistent with your email marketing will you get results, so I decided to put some tips together on how you can stay consistent with your email marketing.

  1. Create an email marketing plan–  in your email marketing plan you will outline your email marketing goals, types of emails you will be sending (e-newsletter, autoresponders, drip campaigns, etc.), how often you will send your emails, when you will send your emails, your email flow, specific topics, etc.When you have a plan, you are better able to execute and to stay on task with getting your emails out.Many business owners, coaches, and consultants, skip the step of creating the email marketing plan, and then they don’t have anything to refer back to and therefore, they become very inconsistent with their efforts.
  2. Select a specific day and time that you would like your emails to go out–  this can be really helpful in staying consistent with sending out your emails.  For example, my monthly e-newsletter goes out the second Wednesday of every month, because I know that it goes out the second Wednesday of every month, I plan my activities around that time frame to make sure that the e-newsletter goes out.In addition, after a couple of years of testing days and times, I figured out that on average I get the best open rates on Wednesdays after 3:00 pm, so now I schedule my e-newsletter to go out the second Wednesday of every month at 3:30 pm.Knowing the time and date my email needs to go out, helps me to stay consistent.
  3. Put it on your calendar–  if you put your publishing dates on your marketing calendar you will be forced to make sure you get your emails out, because you now have a deadline that you have to send out your emails.  If it’s not on your calendar, you will tend to forget to send it out, or because you don’t have a deadline, you will continuously put it off, so place it on your calendar so you can stay consistent.
  4. Plan your topics-  included in your email marketing plan should be what topics you plan to write about and promote in your e-newsletter.  The information you will be sending in the series of emails for your autoresponders, and/or  drip campaigns should also be included in the plan.  When you’ve planned out your topics and information, it makes it much easier to create your emails and to stay consistent.

So, if you create an email marketing plan, set a day and time to publish your emails, put it on your calendar, and plan out your topics in advance, these four things can help you to stay consistent with your email marketing.

Do you have an email marketing plan?  Do you need help with creating your email marketing plan?  We can help, contact us for a FREE email marketing success strategy session.

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on The #1 Reason Businesses Struggle to Get Results from Email Marketing  |  in Business, Business Development, Email Marketing, Email Results, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Uncategorized
May
26 2015

8 Mistakes to Avoid when Blogging for Business

8 Mistakes to Avoid when Blogging for BusinessAs an independent business owner, coach, or consultant, you already know the importance of creating a platform, and being known as an authority or expert in your field.  When people view you as an expert in your field, you start to attract more clients, instead of having to find clients, clients are finding you.

One of the best ways to become known in your field is to consistently create or curate awesome content, and the best platform to do that is on your own blog.

However, starting, maintaining, and keeping up with a business blog can be difficult.  In this blog post I cover the 8 mistakes to avoid when blogging for business:

Mistake #1-  Not creating a blogging plan

I know I say this all the time, but no matter what type of marketing activity you choose to participate in, you must create a plan for that activity, so if you decide you are going to start a business blog, you have to have a plan for your blog.  The plan should include answers to the following questions:

  • Who is your target audience?
  • What topics do you want to cover?
  • How often will you blog?
  • What will your calls to action be?
  • What are your blog goals?

Mistake #2-  Not having a specific audience in mind

If your blog is for everyone, then it really is for no one.  You have to be specific in who you are talking to, and who you are trying to reach with your blog posts, that is why selecting your target audience is the first thing in your blog plan.

Mistake #3-  Not choosing specific topics

Random blogs aren’t successful unless maybe you’re a celebrity blogger, but even celebrity bloggers keep their blog topics around what they are known for or what they enjoy.

When creating a business blog, select up to five main topics that you want to be known for.  All of the topics should fall under or supplement your business.  For example, I blog about Marketing.  There are 1001 ways you can market your business, but I mainly focus on my four key topics, blogging, social media, texting, and email marketing.  If I blog about something outside of these topics, it always falls under my main topic of marketing.

Mistake #4-  Not being consistent with how often you publish your blog

This is something that a lot of independent business owners, coaches, and consultants struggle with.  They decide to start a blog, and at first they are pretty consistent with blogging, but as the weeks and months go on, and things get busy, their blogging becomes inconsistent.  The weekly blogging turns into monthly blogging, the monthly blogging, turns into every other month.

When you decide on how often you are going to blog (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.), you must stick to that schedule.  Figure out what works best for your business and stick with it.  Blogging daily is a difficult task for the average coach or consultant, weekly is a little more realistic, but can still be hard to keep up with,  bi-weekly is a good schedule for starting out or if you feel that’s the most amount of time that you can dedicate to blogging for your business.  Once a month is the least amount of time that you should commit to blogging for your business.

Mistake #5-  Not having strong call to actions

I have been guilty of mistake #5 for the first few years of blogging.  One of the goals of your blog should be to have your readers not only view you as an expert in your field, but to also have them take some type of action.  Having strong call to actions with each blog post helps you to achieve your goal.  If your goal is to build your email list, then you should have strong call to actions within your blog post and/or on your page about joining your email list.  If your goal is to promote an upcoming event, then you should have strong call to actions throughout your blog post about the event (the event should also relate to the blog post topic).  If your goal is to promote a product or service that relates to the blog post, then you should have strong call to actions throughout you post about the product or service.

Mistake #6-  Not having goals for your blog

Having a blog is great for many reasons as already mentioned, but not having a goal for your blog is a big mistake.  Is the goal of your blog to create brand awareness, if so, how do you measure brand awareness? Do you measure brand awareness by the amount of views on your blog posts?  Is your blog to showcase you as an authority or an expert?  If so, how do you measure becoming known as an authority or expert?  Establishing and setting goals will help  you to achieve the results you are aiming for with your blog.

Mistake #7-  Having someone else write your blog who doesn’t understand your company voice, story, or goals

We are all busy, so it is okay to have someone write or contribute to your business blog, but if that person doesn’t understand the tone or voice of your brand, this could be a huge mistake.  You want the feel of your blog to stay consistent, so if someone is writing or contributing to your blog, they have to understand the tone of your blog, the voice of your brand, and the goals of your blog.  Otherwise they could do more harm than help in your business.

Mistake #8-  Not promoting your blog posts

Just because you write it, doesn’t mean they will read it!  You have to promote your blog posts on your other platforms.  If you have an email list, you should promote your blog posts to your email list.  If you are on social media, you should promote your blog posts on social media.  You need to promote your post several times to get the exposure you need, and for people to actually read your posts, so be sure to promote, promote, promote!

Are you blogging for business?  Have you made any of the mistakes listed above?  Be sure to comment below and share your blog with us, by listing it in the comments below.

If you need help with coming up with a Blogging Plan, we can help!  Be sure to contact us for a FREE Blogging Success Strategy Session 

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  2 Comments  |  in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Uncategorized
April
28 2015

6 Super Quick Ways to Grow Your Business Using Text Marketing

6 Super Quick Ways to Grow Your Business Using Text MarketingAs an independent business owner, coach or consultant, you know the importance of staying in contact with your customers and prospects, and having a plan to consistently stay connected can help you grow your business.

There are several ways that you can stay in contact with your customers and prospects,  (i.e. social media, email marketing, phone calls, etc.).  However, Text Message Marketing is one of the only methods that allows you to effectively, efficiently, and easily reach your customers wherever they are, and whenever you need to.

[Tweet “Text Message Marketing is one of the only methods that allows you to effectively, efficiently, and easily reach your customers”]

Here are 6 Super Quick Ways you can use Text Message Marketing to help you grow your business:

  1. Appointment Reminders–  If you set appointments for your consultations or sessions, then using text messaging to remind your clients of their appointments is a great way to confirm the appointment and remind your client at the same time.  Texting clients the day before an appointment not only reminds them, but also gives them a chance to adjust their appointment if they need to.  You can even send text messages about appointments that haven’t been made but need to be scheduled.
  2. Mobile Coupons–  We all like to know that we are getting a good deal, so why not use text message marketing as a way to send out good deals to your loyal customers.  Mobile coupons generate an immediate response when you create a call to action with a time limit.  You can use a push campaign to send out text messages to your list with a unique mobile coupon code.  The customers can then show this code at your office or enter it on your website to obtain the discount.You can also do a pull campaign in which individuals send a text to a short code and they are then added to your mobile coupon list.  Types of discounts you could offer include: 
    1. Bonus offers
    2. Percentage off
    3. Flash sales
    4. Not sure what discount to offer?  Use technique #5 “Text to Vote” to run a poll and find out what offer is more attract to your audience.
  3. Promotion Announcements–  Running a special promotion for customers or prospects?  Create a text message that you can send out to your mobile list.  You can create special promotions around:
    1. Holidays
    2. Seasons
    3. Exclusive Deals
    4. VIP Promotion
    5. Rewards/Loyalty Programs
  4. Text to Join–  is a great way to build both your mobile phone number list and your email list.  You can have someone text a word to your short code and then respond with their email address.  This kills two birds with one stone by having them join your text list and your email list with one transaction.
  5. Text to Win–  People love contests, so why not offer a text to win contest.  Allowing people to actually enter the contest via text message.  Be sure you have the contest rules available online for people to be able to refer to the contest rules.
  6. Text to Vote–  This method became popular from talent shows like American Idol and The Voice, which allows the audience to participate in the results of the show by texting their vote for their favorite artist.  You can run similar promotions by having people vote for their favorite product, service, coupon idea, etc.

Are you using text message marketing in your business?  If so, what methods are you using, and has it helped you to grow your business?

Do you need help with creating a text message marketing plan, getting started with text message marketing, or taking your text message marketing to the next level?  Contact Us and let us help you!

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on 6 Super Quick Ways to Grow Your Business Using Text Marketing  |  in Business, Business Development, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Text Marketing, Uncategorized
March
24 2015

The Secret to Successful Social Media Marketing

The Secret to Successful Social Media MarketingMost business owners, coaches and consultants know that social media marketing has become an important part of a company’s marketing mix.  However, it can be difficult to successfully market your business on social media with all the noise and clutter on the various social media networks, so how can you successfully market your business on social media?

In this blog post, I will reveal the secret to successful social media marketing for business owners, coaches and consultants.

The secret to successfully marketing your business on social media is…….. to know your audience and to have a social media marketing plan.

You have to think of social media as a tool that you can use to help serve your target audience by publishing amazing content that resonates with your audience, and less about promoting your business on the platform.

The first step to any successful social media marketing effort is to create a social media marketing plan.  Your plan should include the following key elements:

Once you have created your social media marketing plan, then the secret is to consistently publish content that resonates with your target audience.  The rule of thumb is to make sure that your content is 80% Entertaining/Conversational/Educational, and only 20% Promotional.

Entertaining post can be humorous posts that your audience can relate to. A great website for humorous posts is somecards.com.  On this website you can find humorous cards that may resonate with your target audience and post it on social media.  For example, now that spring has officially started, a humorous post would be something like the one listed below:

someecards
Humorous posts like this can spark engagement from your audience.

Conversational posts are a really great way to connect with your audience.  Asking questions that your audience would be interested in answering can spark conversation and engagement for your post.

Filling in the blank statements are also a great was to initiate conversation with your audience.  If the filling in the blank is interesting enough for your audience, they would be interested in filling in the sentence.

As a business owner, coach of consultant, you are very knowledgeable about your field so having Educational posts not only helps to educate your audience on your topic, but also helps to showcase your expertise.  Publishing posts of your blog, and relevant articles, tips, tools and techniques on social media works really well.  Statistics and Infographics that provide good useful information to your audience also work really well.

However, one of the reasons for being on social media is to get business, so you don’t want to neglect posting some promotional items on social media.

These items can include special deals and promotions you may have going on, but one of the best things you can do on social media is to promote joining your email list.

Although social media is a great tool to build relationships and make connections, it is important to have your social media work hand in hand with your email marketing so encouraging your social media followers to join your email list should be an important part of your social media marketing strategy.

Have you found success on social media?  If so, what do you feel has been the secret to your success on social media?

Need help with your social media marketing?  Be sure to get your copy of the Top 21 Social Media Marketing Tips

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on The Secret to Successful Social Media Marketing  |  in Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Small Business, Social Media, Uncategorized
March
09 2015

What’s The Best Social Media Platform For Your Business?

Social Media Marketing

When it comes to Social Media Marketing, as a small business owner, coach or consultant, it can be confusing as to what social media platform you should be on.  In this post, I will cover the two main things you need to consider when deciding on a social media platform for your business.

1.  Your Target Market

The first and one of the most important things you need to consider is your target market.  In order to decide the appropriate social media platform that you should be on, you need to decide what social media platform your target market is on in large quantities.

Each platform attracts a different type of demographic and can also attract a different pyscographic, so it is important for you to truly know your target market including their demographics and pyschographics before selecting the right platform for your business.

A great resource to use to find out the demographics of the most popular social media platforms is the Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms by Pew Research Center. This article explains in detail the demographics and usage of key social networking platforms.

The following chart from the article shows the percentage of online adults who use Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter, from 2012-2014.

Social Media Graph
Although Facebook has the highest percentage of use by online adults, it may not be the best social network to be on to reach your specific target market.

For example, if you are targeting women between the ages of 40-50 who make over $50,000.  Your chances of connecting to that target market is stronger on Pinterest than Facebook, so you may want to consider Pinterest as a part of your overall Social Media Marketing Plan.

However, there is something else that you must consider when deciding on the right social media platform for your business.

2.  Your Business

Some platforms showcase certain types of businesses better than others.  For example, Pinterest and Instagram are visual platforms, therefore they lend themselves well to companies that have very visual products.

Companies in the home decor, wedding, fashion, beauty, or food industries can do well on Pinterest because than can visually inspire their followers with the pins they create for their products.

On the other hand, companies who are more service oriented and their products are less visual have to be more creative on Pinterest to attract their target audience because their products are less visual, so creating visuals such as picture quotes or infographics would be an option for service-based businesses on Pinterest.

If your business is very content and news driven, then a great platform would be Twitter.  As a micro-blogging site, Twitter is really great for companies that have a lot of content, articles, blog posts, etc.  It can help drive traffic back to that content on your website or blog.

Of course Twitter is also great for starting conversations with people in your industry or your clients and customers, so if content and conversations are good for your business, Twitter is a platform you should consider in your Social Media Marketing plan.

So when deciding the best social media platform for your business, be sure to pick a social media platform that your target audience is on in large quantities, and one that will help you to do a good job of showcasing your business.

What social media platforms are you?  How did you decide what social media platforms are right for your business?  Be sure to leave a comment below and let us know.

Also, be sure to download our checklist 21 Things You MUST Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Marketing!

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on What’s The Best Social Media Platform For Your Business?  |  in Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Small Business, Social Media, Uncategorized