Branding, Marketing, Social Media
In today’s digital marketing world, staying on brand with your marketing can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. All it takes is a little planning ahead. Let’s look at a few tips that will help.
- Determine your brand and message. This should be done when setting up your business so this step should be easy!
- Refer to your style guide often to keep your color and logo the same throughout.
- It’s important to have one person creating your social media. Be sure to have your brand voice, tone, and imagery examples available.
- Schedule your posts in advance. This will help you keep on brand because you aren’t rushing trying to decide what to post at the last minute.
- Document your social media process for new hires. Include how and where to find content and images.
- If you have a team, assign one person to approve the content.
- Set your tone and voice and be sure it remains consist on all marketing outlets.
- Have a checklist to keep posts brand focused. Successful digital marketing cannot happen without guidelines.
Each platform handles information differently but if you follow the guidelines you have put in place, your marketing will convey your brand message in a way that will get you noticed!
Contact us should you wish to set up a time to discuss your marketing.
Marketing, Social Media
Marketing
This is the long awaited fifth post in the series that I promised several months back. I was so busy working in my business that I didn’t have time to work on my business. But that’s okay because helping clients with their marketing strategy is something I really enjoy!
While this blog series is titled 5 Easy Digital Marketing Steps to Get Your New Business Noticed, there are other marketing techniques to consider that will get you noticed. Let’s look at some of those other ways to market your business.
- In-person networking – When you are networking with other business owners, not only do you get to talk about what you do, you get to listen to what they do also. Listening is extremely important when networking.
- Promotional products – Find a unique promotional product, have your logo and URL printed on it, and share it at networking events and conventions.
- Word of mouth – This is probably the oldest form of marketing and it still works in our technology driven world today. Clients and customers are excited to tell others about the great service or product they have.
- Free samples – Give away samples of your product to influence customers to make a purchase. Be sure order information is included!
- Promotional marketing – This technique uses incentives for customers to buy such as contests, coupons, or free samples.
- Print – While print ads are going the way of newspapers, and you won’t see it listed on many sites as a marketing technique, there are still times when it makes sense. For instance, if you are sponsoring an event and they have a program, it makes sense to buy ad space. If you are a local business, purchase a block of space on the local high school sports calendar. It helps to remind members of the community you are there, and they can shop local.
Think outside the box and combine a few of these methods with your digital marketing. This concludes our series on marketing to get you noticed. Unless you have the budget like Coco-Cola, growing your business could be a slow process. But if you stick to it, set a goal and work towards it, you will make it.
Be sure to follow us on Facebook for other digital marketing tips!
Marketing
There was a time when one of the most preached phrases in marketing was “The money is in your list.” While that may not be everyone’s top phrase any longer, it’s still very true. Collecting email addresses from website visitors is a great way to keep in touch with your audience.
Lead Magnet
So how do you get people to just give you their email address? You must give them something of value in return. Give them something they can learn from in relation to your product or service, but also leave them wanting more. Don’t give away ALL of your secrets!
What is a CRM?
Now that you have them signing up, what do you do with the addresses you have collected? There are a vast number of CRM systems you can use. According to searchcrm.techtarget.com, Customer relationship management (CRM) is a term that refers to practices, strategies and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle, with the goal of improving business relationships with customers, assisting in customer retention and driving sales growth. CRM systems can also give customer-facing staff detailed information on customers’ personal information, purchase history, buying preferences and concerns.
Deciding which system is right for you.
There are many systems to choose from and each has its own unique features. To decide which system to invest in, you need to know what is the most important feature needed for your business. Is it automation or a tagging system? To me automation is the most important. Set it and forget it! All systems have it, but you may need to upgrade to the next level to enable this feature. A few things to consider before deciding on a system:
- Your budget
- List or tagging system
- Automation
- Drag & drop features
Systems to consider for small businesses
- Mailchimp – Probably the best “bang for your buck”
- Convert Kit – Probably the best for mobile use, but not the easiest to set up, limited styles
- Aweber
- Active campaign
- Constant Contact
What’s next?
Start sending new product announcements, newsletters, specials, and information that you think your audience will find interesting. This list should get the heads up on new items and specials before you announce it through other marketing channels. Monitor your open and link clicks stats to see what people are interesting and give them more of it. I recommend sending only one or two emails per month so as not to be labeled as spam.
This is another blog post that could go on for days so we just covered the basics. If you do not have an optin on your website to collect email addresses, you could be missing out on numerous opportunities. Contact me if you would like to discuss your lead magnet or CRM options in detail.
Next week we will cover getting started marketing in general. Once again we will be hitting on the basics because to cover all marketing we would need to write a book!
Marketing
Digital marketing includes social media marketing and all the individual networks that go along with it. As a business in today’s world, social media is a “must have”. Let’s look at the number of users you can reach with social media. Expandedramblings.com keeps updated stats on the number of social media users, here are a few of the networks:
- Facebook – 2.01 billion monthly active users
- Instagram – 800 million users
- LinkedIn – 500 million users
- Twitter – 328 million monthly active users
A complete list of networks is available at https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/how-many-people-use-social-media/#.WedhC2hSw2w
Even though social media is a “must have” if you are in business, that doesn’t mean you need to have a profile on every network. The best social network for you is the one where your target audience hangs out and that can vary from business to business. So, do some research to find your people.
Here are a few of the reasons your business needs to be on social media:
- Real-time communication – Customers can communicate freely with you in real-time. Often people will use social media to ask questions or thank you for a great product/service. It could work against you though if you have a disgruntled customer. Just be sure to reply quickly and address each situation individually.
- Brand awareness – By using social media consistently, you can keep your name in the forefront of your customer’s mind. Connecting with them basically on a personal level will keep your customers engaged.
- Promotions – What’s the point of social media if you can’t share new products/services? Share them with your following to help create buzz around your new item, but be careful not to do it in a salesy way, but in a more conversational mode. And be careful not to post constantly about new products or services, just sprinkle those posts in among the posts you are using to build your engagement and following.
- Increased SEO – Each new blog post that is shared on your social media networks helps to attract new customers, build your authority, and helps to increase SEO.
- Web site traffic – Successful social media will improve the traffic to your website. The more traffic you get the better your SEO ranking will be.
If social media seems a little overwhelming, there are many individuals and businesses that can help you get set up and teach you how to use it to your advantage. It will be well worth your time! Schedule your consultation with us if you would like to talk about letting us help you.
Next week we will focus on marketing automation platforms.
Marketing
Congratulations, you have decided to start a new business!
So, now that you have decided to start a new business, what’s next? More than likely you have a lot of questions. If you have done your research and know your next step, that’s great! When I started my business, I had no real experience in marketing and as the saying goes, “you don’t know what you don’t know”. I thought I knew what I was doing, until I started setting things up. Suddenly I realized I didn’t have a clue. I always say you are never too old to learn something new and that’s what I did. I read everything I could to learn how to build my website and promote my business.
While the “do it yourself” option isn’t for everyone, some people are like me in that they like to do it themselves. One of the problems when I finally decided that I needed to learn a few things was the terminology used in articles that I read was over my head. I felt like I had no clue what they were saying! Now I see other new business owners struggling with the same thing. With that in mind, I decided to start blog series to help other people who may be in the same boat and explain things in terms a novice would understand.
In this 5-part series we will cover:
- What’s in a name – Things to consider before deciding on a business name
- Building a website – Platform and branding/design options along with recommendations
- Setting up your social media – Which networks should you be one and what info to include
- Marketing automation platforms– Why you need one
- Other marketing – What, when, and how
Your business is unique. What works for me or for someone else may not be the best option for you.
Your business is unique. What works for me or for someone else may not be the best option for you. It’s difficult for someone to recommend what is best for your business until they have taken the time to familiarize themselves with the details of your specific business.
Watch for a new post in this series each Wednesday or add it to your feed reader. Once you have read each post take the time to research the options mentioned, then you can make an informed decision as to what is best for you.
Starting my own business was the best decision I ever made and while it’s not always fun, I still love it. I have also found that one of my favorite things in business is the set-up process. Deciding which systems to use, what platforms and social media networks I should be on and all the tech work involved to get a new business set up. I enjoy it so much I have now incorporated it as a service to help other people just starting a new business.
If you would like more direction in getting your new business systems in place, we offer different consultation packages, you can choose which one fits your needs. Click here to schedule a free 30-minute call to discuss these options.
It’s exciting started a new business and you will have ups and downs. But jump in anyway and enjoy the ride!
Facebook, Marketing, Social Media
The buzz around Facebook Live started last year with the talk of 2017 being “the year of the video” and so far it’s lived up to the hype. One of the biggest platforms for video is turning out to be Facebook Live and there are several reasons.
- It’s easy! Doing a FB live video can be as easy or as difficult as you make it. It can be anything from an impromptu comment you would like to make to your followers or a practiced, professionally filmed production happening live, i.e. workshop or conference.
- Your audience will love seeing the “real” you – Unplanned and unrehearsed live videos let your followers see you are a real person, the actual face behind your brand. It makes you seem more relatable. Take this opportunity to show some personality!
- Priority posting – FB now has over 1.7 billion, yes BILLION, monthly active users. With Facebook’s algorithm gives priority posting to live video this gives you an unrivaled opportunity to reach a wider audience. Your organic reach will be much higher with live video than with regular posts.
- More traffic – With the ability to reach more users, live video will drive more traffic to your Facebook page than standard video content or regular posts. Facebook said recently that live videos can drive 10 times more comments because of the real time connection with followers.
- Choice of page, profile, or event – You can “go live” from your personal profile, your FB page, group, or event an event if you responded as going. You will need to have the FB Pages Manager app to stream live from your Page.
- Lots of ideas to stream live – You can hold Q&A sessions, product demos, live steam an event, live tutorials and workshops, interviews, behind scene looks.
One of the most important things to remember when doing a Facebook live event is to be sure you have a strong WiFi connection or 4G. You want to be sure your viewers can see you!
So you might be thinking you’ve never seen a live video from me. This is one of those times when I use the phrase my mother used often…..Do as I say, not as I do! As I sit here and tell you it’s okay to just do a quick impromptu video, I think to myself that no one wants to see me without make up on! I don’t “get made up” on a daily basis. That’s just one of the perks from working from home. ? But you know what? It’s really just an excuse. Who really cares, right? So who’s with me? I’ll show you mine if you show me yours!
Marketing, Tech Tips
One of the most frequently asked questions I hear must be “What is a landing page?” immediately followed by “What are the benefits of a landing page?” A landing page is a webpage that you land on after clicking on a hyperlink. However, the definition goes a little deeper when discussing landing pages as a marketing tool.
When we talk about landing pages in marketing, we are usually referring to a webpage that has been designed to focus solely on a single objective. The reason it focuses on a single objective is so that potential customers will also focus solely on that one thing. No distractions of sidebars or a navigation menu that can potentially take them away from the page with your intended conversion goal. Landing pages are basically really short versions of sales pages. So why should you use one? Simply put, they increase your conversion rate.
Landing pages are generally used for inbound advertising campaigns. Most often you will see a landing page when you have clicked on an ad or a social media post if the business is trying to get your attention for a specific product or service. Using dedicated landing pages allow you to project a different voice for different products, unlike your home or services pages where you are trying to address several things. Even though your voice may differ on your landing pages, your overall branding should remain the same.
Another benefit of using landing pages is that it’s easy to split test different pages to see which gets the most conversions. Sometimes small changes in text or images will make all the difference between a successful campaign and a not so successful one.
When creating a landing page, there is a basic anatomy they all have in common:
- A primary headline that matches the ad or post you used to get people to click on.
- A supporting headline
- The hero image or video. (According to eyeviewdigital.com, using video on landing pages can increase conversion by 80%.)
- Short and concise content. Utilizing bullet points allows you to convey more information in a smaller space.
- A call to action that is big and bold.
- Social proof – One or two testimonials, optional
- Another CTA is optional
- A closing statement
Even though landing pages are kept fairly simple, you can take a little more creative license with background images, arrows pointing to relevant information, and colors. But remember, the main goal is to have the prospect focusing on your product, so don’t go too crazy!
Usually after I finish answering the first two questions above, I hear “Can you create one for me?”. My answer is always YES!
