But, according to a consumer study conducted in May, 97% of respondents check their personal email account every single day. In contrast, only 59% claim to update their Facebook status every day.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am in no way suggesting that you, or any small business, abandon your social media efforts and concentrate soley on email marketing. What I am suggesting is that you merge the two as much as possible. Don’t think of email and social media as totally separate and distinct channels. Instead, try to incorporate social media marketing into your email program and weave your email and list building efforts into your social media marketing.
Email marketing expert David Daniels has outlined a few points to keep in mind when incorporating social media into your email program:
Consumer Email Behavior: Leveraging Social in Email Marketing
“Email is an integral part of social marketing. Email was the first social networking tool. Email is our digital fingerprint; you need an email address to have a Twitter account or most social accounts…if you’re going to do anything online, email is a …”
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2207399/consumer-email-behavior-leveraging-social-in-email-marketing
I especially like points #6 and #7 – we put these issues front and center when we’re creating new marketing strategies for our clients:
6. Don’t start with more than what you can maintain.
7. You should be using social to drive prospects to your website.
The truth is, social media can be extremely time consuming. And there’s a good possibility that your target audience is active on more than one social media platform. But your social media efforts will be so much more effective if you build up a strong presence on one platform rather than several weak profiles on multiple platforms. This is especially important if you’re working with a consultant to get your social media marketing program up and running. The consulting firm will most likely have a staff member dedicated to developing and initiating your social media presence. But will you be able to maintain those efforts when you take over your accounts? So start small, be realistic about how much time and/or staff you can devote to social media, and don’t bite off (or let the consultant bite off) more than you can chew.
As for point #7, keep in mind that, regardless of the channel, email marketing and social media marketing (and mobile marketing, and telemarketing, and augmented reality marketing, etc etc etc) are still marketing. It’s great to have conversations with your prospects and listen to what your clients are saying and all the other benefits of going social, but if there is no result to your bottom line, you’re just wasting time and money. You need to take control of your efforts, have an end goal in mind, and track and measure everything – and the best way to do that is by driving your prospects to your website. Social media platforms will come and go, terms of service will constantly change, but your website is your domain where you make the rules.
If you haven’t incorporated social into your email marketing yet, or if (egads!) you’re thinking of dropping your email marketing altogether, give us a call at 888-660-0062. We’d love to help you get started with a fresh new program that will reach your target market and impact your bottom line.
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At first glance, it seems that Google+ Local is a small business owner’s marketing dream come true. But several of our clients have been unhappy with the new review system (and to be honest, I prefer the standard 5-star system myself). Personally, I’m not thrilled with the navigation and several of the Modern Image staff members are less-than-enamored with the account creation process.
But I’d venture to guess that the new Google+ Local is going to be hanging around for a while, so we all might as well get used to it. The truth is, once you get the hang of all the new features and processes, I’m pretty sure you’ll grow to like it.
Here’s a great snapshot by Search Engine Land of the pros and features of the almost-new Google+ Local:
Helping Or Hurting: The Debate Over Google+ Local
“It’s been two months now since Google replaced Google Places with Google+ Local. The reactions thus far have been mixed: SEOs hailed it as a revelation for small businesses, while consumers were left scratching their heads over the new Zagat system.Search Engine Land”
http://searchengineland.com/helping-or-hurting-the-debate-over-google-local-128847
So there you have it – Google+ Local in a nutshell. What do you think? Do you prefer the original Google Places setup, or do you expect Google+ Local to have a great impact on your business? We’d love to hear your opinion.
And by the way, if you’d like some help in setting up your Google+ Local account and pages, please give us a call at 888-660-0062 or contact us at any time.
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The beauty of online marketing is that it is so easy to target exact audiences who are actively looking for what you’re offering. Through PPC, like Google Adwords, you can put your advertisement right there in their faces where you know it will be seen.
And while this is undoubtedly a great marketing strategy vital to the success of any business, it still has its flaws. Â For one, PPC ads are generally displayed at the far right of the screen where they may not be noticed by your intended audience.
And there’s also the phenomenon of “banner blindness” which refers to the fact that many web surfers are oblivious to anything that equates to an ad.
Creating Attention on Social Media Sites
The majority of internet users today use the web to interact with friends and the world at large via social media sites, and if you want to make the most of online marketing, you need to pay attention to current online activities, and start making waves on Facebook and Twitter.
Marketers are recognizing the superiority of social media sites when it comes to engaging with prospective clients. Unlike other forms of web marketing, social media is “interactive” rather than “interruptive”.
When people log onto a site like Facebook, they look at the things that interest them and their friends. So, if user X logs on and sees that his friends A, B and C all “like” a page, he is most likely going to head over. You are marketing to a community that shares a common interest.
With social media, you can get people talking, sharing and liking your product or service without even realizing they are actively helping you market. With social media, your marketing message can easily go viral, especially when it’s not presented as a marketing message.
Getting Started with Social Media Marketing
Obviously you will need to create profiles for your business on all of the leading social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are all massive communities and good places to get started. Then, you need to make sure that people are aware that you have a page, so be sure to market your new online presence in your newsletters, on your website, in your email broadcasts, even in your print and radio ads. Invite clients, vendors, employees, family and friends to link with your new social media profile to get the ball rolling.
Next up, create a dynamic and interesting page. Use all of the media options available to get people talking about your profiles – videos, freebies and competitions are a great way to do this. Finally, be sure to update regularly, keep it fresh, and you will see the results before you know it!
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Another interesting point revealed by the survey was the fact that businesses find social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn are excellent sources for driving website traffic.
I know you’re probably thinking “yeah, so what, I’ve known that for years.” But the survey went on to find that, while companies recognize that their websites are their most important marketing tool, and they realize social media is a great way to drive traffic, they’re still not quite sure how to turn that website traffic into solid sales leads. Which is kind of ironic, because the majority of businesses surveyed also said that generating good, productive leads was their number one marketing concern.
So, the use of social networking is seen as an excellent method for creating and then developing sales relationships. The immediacy of the internet as a communication platform allows for prompt interaction with prospects that turns web traffic into potential sales leads. And, while the businesses being surveyed couldn’t quite pinpoint the exact number of leads that came through their social media efforts, they still weren’t ready to abandon social media and website traffic generation.
After all, even a small increase in leads that are generated through the company website can have a big impact on the balance sheet. Even if these leads are entirely anecdotal.
Most businesses acknowledge that, with the proliferation of mobile devices, the trend for doing business online can only increase into the future, making web marketing strategies the most vital aspect to a company’s marketing. Not to mention that it is also one of the least expensive media for advertising that is available. Because websites are able to be updated easily and as regularly as is needed, the internet has an obvious advantage over the more traditional media.
So it seems that many small businesses are embracing the web and social media as a crucial marketing tool, and they realize the importance of having a web presence, even though their results are not definitive.
Does any of this sound familiar? You know your website is critical, you know you need to maintain a social media presence to get traffic to that website, and even though you can’t exactly account for the ROI, you just know you “need to be there”?
If that sounds like you, it might be time to create an online marketing strategy. There are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind when developing your strategy.
Most important is to focus on the customers and to make doing business as simple as possible for them. Make sure that you clearly demonstrate the value that your product or service has for potential customers and use the content of the website to generate leads by directing buyers straight to the information that they are interested in.
A good strategy will continue to adapt and evolve with its marketplace, making it vitally important to keep up with the latest internet trends and networking sites. Consider your typical sales cycle when planning to convert web traffic into actual sales and create a strategy that will move online prospects through that cycle on an automatic basis.
Finally, if developing marketing strategies and web design aren’t your strong points then don’t be afraid to get specialist help so that you can be sure that your company’s website and internet marketing is as effective as it can be. (Please feel free to contact us if you’d like to discuss how we can help.)
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Etiquette is a dying art, which makes its application a powerful tool for standing out in a crowd. It’s politically incorrect to create a Facebook fan page that touts your business by starting out high-pressuring your personal friends to “Become a Fan” using the “Suggest to Friends” Facebook feature. It is self-defeating and runs opposite of all that “social” implies.
Lures that Reel ‘Em in
Emily Post would approve of using your email list of subscribers for sending an invitation to the party at your place. Let your subscribers know they are important by welcoming their participation on your fan page, beginning with an informative description of your place. Let them know what’s in it for them, and what they will gain and/or learn by becoming a fan. Encourage them to join your endeavor with an incentive.
Make your fan page “you” by dressing up the lure with your own tone of voice and phraseology. Try things like “Write on our Facebook Wall” as opposed to the standard verbiage “Join our Fan Page” that’s normally expected. While you won’t be able to edit the standard Facebook buttons, you can definitely design your own fan gate page that matches the look and feel of your own personal branding.
Add a link to your fan page in your email signature rather than the standard self-promotional link that most small business owners use. Add wording to the link that would encourage interactivity and drum up excitement in joining the group.
Casting your Line
If you have a number of regular “friends” (friends don’t have to be fans and fans don’t have to be friends) who might be interested in becoming fans, but you don’t want to be overly promotional.
In the event you want to engage the support of your Facebook friends on your fan page, incorporate a brief, friendly, informative “mini bio” in the field beneath your profile picture. Adding a link is a good idea that requires the logistics of formatting the URL with http:// for clickable access. A limitation on the character count requires brevity and foregoing the www’s.
Print media is a powerful business tool. Make sure every item of your print media, including business cards, letterhead and newsletters display your Facebook fan page link and logo, loud and clear.
The ever-present Facebook Share Button offers easy accessibility for connecting via your personal profile. Go to your fan page, and click “Share plus” spot at the bottom left column. Keep in touch by adding newsworthy commentary on your fan page related to exciting updates, changes and incentives. Use this opportunity to invite friends to join.
Hook, Line & Sinker
By linking your Twitter account with your Facebook fan page, your fan page content will automatically be posted to Twitter. You have control over postings through the ability to edit, selecting from Events, Notes, Status Updates, Links and Photos.
If your business has physical headquarters, promote your presence on Facebook with a highly visible plaque, up-close and personal, in your store. Don’t be stingy with instant rewards for joiners.
Using the @ tag fosters connecting through communication via your personal profile wall. The process is simple when you’re a fan of your own fan page. Take the opportunity to connect with friends with a friendly update that includes an @ tag for creating a subtle hyperlink in which your friends have the option to click and engage.
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Whether you’re just starting your new business, or attempting to expand a well-established business into more markets, email marketing could be a game changer. Aside from being a very green form of marking, (no paper wasted on your part), it’s also extremely cost effective and easy to track and measure.
It’s probably obvious that without an acceptable number of email subscribers, the range and circulation you might be wanting for your marketing message will be out of reach. So here are a few tips to help maximize your email subscriber database.
Understand the Importance of Belonging
Understanding the importance of a human being’s need to belong to a group is the first key element in building a subscriber list. People want to see that others have become committed to your website, blog, etc., so they get that warm fuzzy feeling when they decide to hand over their email address. There are several ways to can use the “need to belong” phenomenon in growing your email list:
- Display subscriber testimonials on your subscription page
- Display post comments of other subscribers
- Display number of times visited, twitter followings, etc.,
- Make subscribers feel as they are subscribing to a specific community
Be Direct
If you’re anything like me, then you hate when people waste your time by beating around the bush. So be direct. Much like making an executive decision, speak in the active voice rather than the passive.
Don’t ask or demand people to subscribe, rather find a direct middle ground, such as: “Enter your email now to get started.” A trick to this is start the request with a definitive verb/command like, “Download your free e-book now”, rather than inanimate phrase, “Free E-book inside.”
Don’t Make Subscribers Regret Subscribing
Realize that your subscribers are a special asset; don’t take them for granted and don’t confound their in-boxes with emails that aren’t at all what they originally signed up for. Even without an actual purchase, this can still conjure up feelings of buyer’s remorse, and is also a good way to lose subscribers.
So keep the content of the email as close to the original promise. Keep the amount of emails minimal; people don’t like seeing fifteen emails from the same person in a two hour span. And always give the option to unsubscribe. It comforts people to know they could always opt out, and it keeps you compliant with Can-Spam regulations.
Understanding your readers on an emotional and psychological level will always make you prepared for moments when that subscribers list is thinning out and it’s time to recharge. More importantly, subscribers find it imperative to subscribe to a good product and this is what they are looking for when they decide to hand over email addresses. So be sincere and good luck.
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If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought, the good news is that you don’t have to get fancy and extravagant with your marketing and advertising materials in order for them to be effective. In fact, some of the most successful marketing is often a bit “dull”. So, rather than trying to get overly lavish, just keep these few tips in mind:
Focus On Only One Point
Many small business owners try to get more bang for their buck from their marketing campaigns, so they try to cram in as much as possible. They try to sell multiple items in one campaign, or speak to several different audiences in the same message.
But your marketing campaign will be more effective – and actually easier to create – if you focus on only one point at a time. That doesn’t mean you’re limited to selling only one product or service to each customer. In fact, after the first sale, you should definitely start marketing the next product or service to your new customer. Just do it one product at a time.
Present your Message in Alternative Places
You don’t have to get extravagant and blanket the entire universe with your message in order to reach the limited few who might be interested. Instead, go to where the limited few are.
Sure, if you place your billboard on the side of a bus, it’s going to get seen by a lot of people. But how many of those people are going to care about what you have to offer? And do you really want to spend the money reaching those people who don’t care?
Instead of macro, start thinking about micro-messaging. Break your target audience into small segments and present your message to these micro-populations instead. Do you have a client segment that are avid knitters? Start posting in the Knitting and Needle Work community forum. If you notice a segment of your clients all go to the same church, place an ad in the church bulletin. By creating many smaller segments, you can still reach a large number of prospects, but you’ll be doing it on a micro-scale – and spending micro-money. Adding up the expense to micro-advertise in multiple places will still be less expensive than one big bulletin board on the city bus. And it will be more effective because it will allow you to create a more targeted message.
And speaking of targeted message, that brings us to our third point…
Make the Conversation a 2-Way Street
When creating extravagant marketing campaigns, most businesses spend the majority of time and budget trying to get the presentation right. The photographer is high-end, the lighting has to be perfect, the copywriter is top-notch and on and on. They get so wrapped up in presenting their own voice, they forget about the customer’s voice.
But today it’s so easy to create an open dialogue between yourself and your prospects, and it doesn’t have to be lavish or expensive. Social media allows for two-way interaction before, during and after the sale. Your website can include a Q&A forum. Webinars and on-line presentations are even available now to fit within an entrepreneur’s budget. These channels are all relatively easy and inexpensive, and they speed up the “know, like, and trust” timeframe.
So when you start thinking about your 2012 sales goals, don’t get overwhelmed thinking about the over-the-top marketing campaigns you’ll need to create. Instead, scale back your message, micro-size your segments, and develop an open dialogue, and you’ll be amazed at the results you get within a much smaller budget.
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Chances are that you will have been blocked by some internet service provider (ISP) which makes it virtually impossible for you to send any email message to certain addresses. At this point it hardly matters whether the recipient in question is one of your longest serving customers or not, as long as his ISP has blocked you, your emails will not reach him. This can have a huge negative impact on your business and so the first question we have to ask is how people who are not spammers end up being blocked by an ISP.
Actually there are two main causes of email deliverability problems that you need to worry about. These are spam traps and spam complaints. If your email ends up in a spam trap you will almost certainly get blocked.
But what is a spam trap? This is a special email address used by ISPs and other receivers to catch SPAMMERS. Usually the email address will be one that is not used or accessed by any human and so clearly there is no way you will have received any permission to send email messages to that particular address. And so this will be conclusive evidence that you are a spammer and the ISP will promptly block all your emails.
Sometimes ISPs will use email accounts that have been abandoned to identify spammers to block. This is where you will get caught if you do not look after your list on a regular basis and go for long periods without sending out any communication to your list.
Either way these spam traps serve the same purpose;Â and the result will be that you will be completely blocked by that particular ISP from sending any emails in their direction. So if a large percentage of your opt-in email list uses that particular ISP, an equally large percentage of your emails will not be delivered.
The only way out would be for you to remove the offending email addresses. This is not very easy to do because ISPs will never reveal their spam traps.
The other cause of email deliverability problems are persistent spam complaints against you. While no ISP will block you just because of a single spam complaint, that they will take action if they feel that they are too many spam complaints against you. How many is too many? Each ISP has their own standards and criteria but mostly it will be one spam complaint for every 1,000 emails you send out. In most cases they will start off with a temporary punishment like blocking you for a short period, say 72 hours. However if the spam complaints are persistent then there is a chance that they will take the drastic step of blocking your ip address on a long-term basis.
One key thing you can do to minimize your chances of ever ending up in a spam trap is to avoid purchasing email lists. While not all email lists being sold out there are bad the truth is that many of them will usually have outdated email addresses thus dramatically increasing the chances of your email address ending up on somebody’s black list which will greatly harm your email marketing efforts. Build your own lists and make sure that they are all double opt-in.
The other precaution you can take is to ensure that the email lists you build are in constant use and that you do not stay for more than 3 months without communication with your subscribers. Actually, the more regular your emails, the lesser the chances of you ending up in trouble with ISPs. Regular would usually be weekly or every two weeks.
You should also remember that when you stay for long periods of time without sending emails to your lists and then you suddenly resume, chances are high that some of your subscribers will have forgotten about you and will be quick to file spam complaints.
Always remember that your sender reputation is key to the success of your email marketing campaigns and so it makes sense to take every possible precaution to maintain an impeccable reputation and to stay away from the deadly wrath of ISPs.
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This is where PR, or public relations, comes into play. You use PR to create a relationship with the public in regards to your small business. Public relations are vital to the success of your business. Businesses that have no PR tend to go unnoticed and ignored until the lack of profits drive them into ground. PR campaigns are often compelling because of the implied “social proof”. It’s easy and cost-effective, so don’t let your competitors be the only ones using PR tactics.
Reaching Your Target Market
With PR, you have various choices for spreading your message to your prospective target market. One of the best ways to get started with PR is by creating an email newsletter. Email newsletters are simple to prepare and they extend a continual form of communication with your clients and prospects. They can work right beside social media which, since it allows for direct communication with the public, can also be labeled as a method of PR. An email newsletter is really one of the most fantastic tactics for creating efficient PR. Two things you want to consider when planning your newsletter are consistency and quality.
Besides newsletters there are many more traditional strategies that will help your business get noticed. Distributing a press release is probably the most widely-used method of PR. Like email newsletters, press releases are inexpensive as well as effective. Local newspapers are constantly on the lookout for local news stories. There are sections in every local paper, such as the lifestyle section, that are always interested in showcasing local small businesses.
TV coverage is another method of public relations. Local news crews are known for working with small business on their campaigns. Stories that would entertain a wide audience have a better chance of getting television coverage. Try to think of ways you can tweak your story to have a wider appeal, or to tie into current events.
Another great tactic to add to your PR campaign is radio coverage. Just as local television news stations are always looking for small snippets to fill the morning run, so are local radio stations. Radio stations are often easier to target than television shows since their audience generally fits a particular demographic.
Writing Your PR Release
A media release is basically a write up, sent to media outlets, in order to announce your news. Simply sending your media release is not a guarantee of press coverage; but without one, you are certainly guaranteed no coverage!
Your media release can be constructed in similar fashion, no matter what type of coverage you’re trying to get. First and foremost, it’s imperative that your story is news and not a sales pitch in disguise. Keep in mind, you’re trying to connect with your audience through the use of a human interest story, not by directly selling your products or services. Your story should have wide appeal, or should be specifically targeted for the media outlet that you’re sending it to. Your story should be factual rather emotional, but still appealing and interesting. If you think creatively, you should be able to find a news angle for many of your regular business activities. If you can tie your media release into a current event – even if the event is not directly related to your story – you will have a better chance of getting the story picked up.
Public relations is a great tactic to add to your small business marketing plan. It is easy and inexpensive, and one of the quickest ways to get information about your business, your product or your services out to the general public.
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Photo by lisaclarkeOptimization is one of those things that website owners constantly hear about, but most don’t take the time to really understand it. Website optimization seems too technical and too confusing, so it can be easy to ignore the essential steps of optimizing your blog.
However, poorly designed and maintained websites drive away repeat readers, and low rankings in Google and other search engines ensure that few new readers find your articles. Since most small business owners start blogs in hopes that prospects and potential customers find their posts helpful or enjoyable, a lack of traffic almost always ends in the blog fading into the black abyss of cyberspace. In other words, no readers, no point in continuing to write your blog. Which is a shame, because a blog is truly an awesome small business marketing tool.
The good news is, there are some quick and easy things you can do to optimize your blog, encourage continued readership, and increase your search engine rankings:
I’m assuming your blog runs off a standard platform like WordPress or Blogger; but that doesn’t mean you’re limited to the standard, over-used templates. Make your site stand out by hiring a web designer or finding a customizable template. With a little bit of research, it is quite easy to tweak design elements and color schemes. Make sure the look and feel of your blog match the branding of your business. And always keep user experience in mind when you pick your font, color scheme and other design elements. While you want your site to be custom, you also want it to be user friendly and professional. There are a lot of sites out there, and if your blog is not easy to read and navigate, finicky readers will look elsewhere. Also, make sure important links, like your RSS feed, are easy to find on the main page.
Also, I recommend buying your own domain name. By doing all of this, you are making sure your site is unique-that it’s not, “Just another WordPress blog.”
Once your site is set up, start in on content. Content is what continues to bring in readers. It is important to user proper grammar, spelling, and paragraph breaks. This is especially important if you are cutting and pasting your posts from other source, such as Microsoft Word. When you copy your posts from other software, you can end up with strange paragraph spacing and odd characters. Always use the “preview post” feature before publishing your article.
It is also important to post new material regularly. Set up a schedule that works for you, and use the “Publish Later feature that is built in to most blogging platforms. This will allow you to set up several posts ahead of time and have them “drip published” to your blog at regular intervals. Readers like dependable blogs with regularly published articles, and the search engines do too.
Once you have a well-written post, make sure you use descriptive tags and proper categories. If you include pictures, give them descriptive names, as people also use search engines to look for images. Once you’re happy with the entry, ping sites, such as Technorati, to let them know you have new material available.
In order to optimize your posts for search engines, use permalinks that include your post title. The default permalink setup for many blogs includes generic numbers, such as /?p=123. This tells search engines nothing about the content of your article. Also, always manage your spam and trackbacks. If you have a bunch of low quality links on your website, it will negatively affect your search engine ranking. Plug-ins like Akismet helps tremendously.
Now that you have the basics down, keep following these simple guidelines, and your site ranking will continue to increase over time. The more you do to ensure optimization for both your readers and the search engines, the faster your blog will pick up new subscribers and better rankings.
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