Need Help Marketing?

Content Marketing is key for Small Business in 2010

Need Help Marketing — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:59:46 +0000

Content Marketing is key for Small Business in 2010 is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

According to a new survey conducted by Junta42, businesses are increasingly understanding the value of creating remarkable content. One of the key marketing themes predicted for 2010 will be centered around content marketing.

Most people think it is expensive to create content for their marketing program. But in fact it can actually be inexpensive to create if you can create it in-house instead. When you think about it the content could be as easy as putting together a presentation that you regularly take on sales calls and putting that content online. your content specific to your best value propositions. Then think about adding audio or video to your website. Even uploading your content to Slideshare.net is also a great help in getting more people to link to your website when they find the content useful.

Key Finding of the survey:

59% of the 259 marketers surveyed plan to increase their spending on content efforts, which compares to 56% in 2009 and 42% in 2008. This is an 11% increase in spending from 2008 to 2010.

So what does this mean for Small Business? Well if you look at the comparison of the use of content marketing spending between small businesses and larger sized businesses. According to the report, smaller companies are allocating 40% of their marketing budgets to content marketing, which is more than twice the amount of larger companies, who are allocating 18%.

Do you have content marketing in your plans for 2010? Discuss on Facebook

Image Source: Flickr – Danard Vincente

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Need Help Marketing? Now available on Facebook

Need Help Marketing — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:07:59 +0000

Need Help Marketing? Now available on Facebook is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

As part of the new year we are going to be extending the Need Help Marketing blog and adding a Facebook Fan Page. The reason for deciding to set up a Facebook page was to allow more people to interact with us where ever they might be. Since Facebook has a lot of people using it including businesses it makes sense to set up a space to make our resources available from within Facebook.

What this really means is if anyone searches for “marketing” or “help marketing” they are likely to find about the Need Help Marketing? blog. And some of us prefer to get updates from our friends while logged into Facebook.

Starting today you will now notice a prominent new button on the blog’s sidebar linking to our new Fan page. So if you are a fan of Need Help Marketing you can also add it to your own account.

Facebook Fan Page Link

If you are already a regular reader of our blog you can now interact with us through either posting comments or questions on our Wall or within the Discussions forum. Hopefully we can add compelling topics and discuss your most important marketing dilemmas. And having a discussion forum on Facebook allows us to interact with an even bigger community of your peers and other Need Help Marketing readers.

Need Help Marketing Page on Facebook

Our Need Help Marketing Fan Page allows you to keep up with the conversation and marketing blog on the “Notes” tab which will contain the same information available from the main website’s blog. So you can choose to read our content either on the website or within Facebook itself. Which will allow even more people to learn about the information and insight we provide. As well as engaging them to participate in an open discussion with other fans using their existing Facebook account.

We hope to see you on Facebook! Remember to become a fan and follow the group today.

Earlier posts about Facebook Fan Pages:

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Getting your Marketing ready for the New Year

Need Help Marketing — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:18:29 +0000

Getting your Marketing ready for the New Year is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Well the new year is here. And now that you are planning out your marketing plans for 2010. You are right?

This year you will see more and more companies take another look at their small business website. Even if you have not updated the content or resources in several years. With several tools on the market to make it easier to manage including adding a blog should be on the top of your list. Adding a blog will ensure you have interesting and relevant content for your customers and prospects to consume.

So the question will undoubtedly be asked “what is needed that is not already on your website?”.

The simplest answer is ask your current customers, they will probably be the users of your website to find important information like where you are located, and what your hours of operation are. However you probably have different audiences too such as new customers/prospects that have not purchased from you and are just taking a look to find out more. Obviously these two groups are going to be looking for different kinds of information to establish rapport with you as a company. One of the most recent trends in eco-friendly marketing to show customers that you are doing something to help the environment or to decrease your carbon footprint. If you are doing something like that do you advertise it on your website?

These are the types of questions you can ask internally. Such as what does our voice mail greeting promote, or when a customer is on hold which promotions are we communicating. Perhaps this is something that should be on the homepage of your website too. Mostly for consistency but also to get the word out to those that have not called and heard your greeting.

Sometimes your business will have an open house or sponsor or a community event in your area. Is this promoted on your website for everyone in your community to see? I think you would be surprised how many people find your website using a search site by searching for the event and not for the vendors attending. But it is definitely worth getting noticed and even more importantly associated with contributing to your local community.

Prediction: 2010 will be the year for getting local

Your competitors will definitely be opening up to local content on their websites, as well as starting a blog if they have not already. Because it establishes you as a credible authority in your industry as we have said in the past. So if you want to generate new leads for 2010 make sure you are creating interesting content and give it away to anyone who is interested. Meaning skip the barrier of requiring a registration to access content or newsletters. You main goal is to get your content to as many people as possible. So email it, tweet about it on Twitter, print it out for in-store availability if you get asked, etc.

Of course Need Help Marketing is here to help! Now in our second year we want to bring even more interesting content and resources to help your business succeed in 2010.

As always if you have marketing questions or ideas but are not sure how to execute them contact us at info@needhelpmarketing.com

Image Source: EmaStudios

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Most Popular Help Marketing Posts for 2009

Need Help Marketing — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:00:07 +0000

As the first year of this blog comes to a close, we wanted to share the best blog posts for 2009. Watch for more exciting content in the new year. And most importantly we would like to thank you for your active interest in our blog. Happy New Year!

Please remember to follow us on Twitter too, at @helpmarketing

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Small Businesses Raise Search Spend in 2009

Need Help Marketing — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:06:00 +0000

Small Businesses Raise Search Spend in 2009 is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Research from WebVisible shows that small business spending on search advertising has risen. This is primarily due to the effectiveness of this medium.

Average spending by small-business search advertisers was up 91% year over year and 93% quarter over quarter in Q3. The average number of keywords purchased was also up.

Worth noting is that Microsoft’s new search engine Bing also resulted in the highest click through of the top search engines. If you are not yet listed in Bing as a local business take a look at our earlier post on setting up a Bing Local Business Listing
Other research in the small business space also indicates that in addition to email marketing, search engine advertising will be increasing into 2010.

Key findings related to Search Engine ads and visitor actions include:

93.1% – Click through to a website
49.2% -Submit an email
49.0% – Print Landing Page

If you are new to search engine advertising then we would suggest you consider testing it out. Even if you have a small budget you can still run some ads and see what your results look like. In fact most companies take a small budget to try out new keywords to see what words perform the best, before they spend a lot of money on a longer term campaign.

Source: eMarketer

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Best way of using Links in Emails

Need Help Marketing — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:30:57 +0000

Best way of using Links in Emails is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

When you are sending out your next email campaign you should take a moment to review how you are using links in your email message. Remember when we are talking about links we mean the text links and not images or buttons within your email content.

Here are some useful tips to use in your next newsletter or announcement:

Links should be obvious and clearly marked meaning they should follow standard colors so they stand out from the actual content. This way you make sure if readers are just scanning they will see them.

Try to avoid the “click here” variety so links can be more relative. Example: Do you need help marketing? links to: http://www.needhelpmarketing.com
Using this technique will definitely lead to more clickthroughs, because you are asking the question and then linking directly to the answer this way.

Link to your website or blog content to promote different websites and different resources you may have available. Sometimes your website and blog will be on two different websites. Such as www.companyname.com and blog.companyname.com If you want to promote these resources you can cross link them. For example within your email newsletter you could list Top Articles or Most read articles X,Y, and Z.

Anaylze which Content or Links were most Popular to better understand your readers and their interests. In fact you might be able to get a lot of feedback from this exercise and determine which information is more valuable. Whether that be product information, company press releases and announcements or even industry news. When armed with this information you can create better and more read content on your next email message.

Permanent links add consistency for your standard contact us, unsubscribe link, share with your network, contact us on twitter. etc. Make sure they are always located in the same place in each of your emails to make them easier to find.

Some readers will be reading on their mobile phone – with more cell phones being able to read email messages this practice is becoming far more popular. So try not to use too many links but also try to add text for those reading the email with no images. You could include teasers to provide an intro to the content you are linking to. Example: “Top Brands recently revealed their marketing secrets” and then provide a link.

Links can be shared with others by either referencing your email message by forwarding it to someone else. Or perhaps the online version of your newsletter will be shared on Twitter or Facebook with others. Also if another website copies your material you will also see back links (links back to your site) to your website from theirs if you include embedded links so it can have its advantages for generating more click traffic. Ultimately leading to more website visitors on your site.

I am sure their other great ideas for using links in your emails so please do share some ideas in the comments below.

Photo Credit: knitsteel

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KnowEm – Designed to help you get started in Social Media

Need Help Marketing — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:00:22 +0000

KnowEm – Designed to help you get started in Social Media is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

More and more individuals and even more small businesses are venturing into Social Media. So how do you get started?

Well usually the first step is to reserve your online name just like you have a custom domain name for your company. Doing so will ensure your online branding remains the same across your websites, and into social media networks as well. But how do you know if your username is going to be available? This is where KnowEm Username Check comes in. KnowEm goes out and registers the username of your product, company or brand online across many social networks saving you the time and reserving your account for future use.

In their own words:

KnowEm allows you to check for the use of your brand, product, personal name or username instantly across over 340 popular and emerging social media websites. Grab your name before someone else does.

Quick Username Search

Put another way KnowEm is trying to help businesses to register their usernames on social websites in advance. Which is quite similar to what has been happening with domain names in the last couple of years. Having your domain names and variations of those domain names is important to prevent identify theft. Both in terms of your individual name as well as for your business.

An example of what your business profile might look like:

To date KnowEm has helped to register (reserve) 100,000 user profiles on behalf of their users.

Several pricing plans are available too for both initial registration to full registration and responding to the verification emails, etc. Plans for both Individuals and Companies are available.

At the very least you should be checking for the availability of your desired brand name. Because you may want to use it in the future on Twitter or Facebook to add to your marketing plans, thereby extending your reach. KnowEm and similar services are definitely worth looking into if you are not familiar with social media and which websites to focus on.

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Small Businesses still prefer Vendor supplied Business Advice

Need Help Marketing — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:37:44 +0000

Small Businesses still prefer Vendor supplied Business Advice is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Despite social media hype, SMBs still prefer resource centers and email newsletters as sources of business management advice

A recent study conducted by Bredin Business Information (BBI) concluded that small businesses are still responsive to their vendors’ business advice. So that got me thinking. How many email newsletters do I receive that contain good business advice? Versus a lot of marketing and promotional material. And what is a good balance of advice that should be in your company’s newsletter.

We are talking about How-To-Articles here that convey market knowledge to your newsletter audience and customers. It really made me think about how many How To Articles are sent in our company emails. And I came up a bit blank because newsletters usually include company announcements and case studies but nothing that are actionable in terms of a “How To” type article. Definitely something to consider for 2010 newsletter content submissions. I better get started writing now.

The other key takeaway was the mention of industry news and how Small Businesses prefer to receive this information from their vendors. After all that is the industry and business we are in. So something to think about for future newsworthy topics. In fact 86% of the responses indicated industry related content was of utmost important when hearing from your suppliers. After all your customers expect you to have the pulse on your industry and the new trends.

Read more about the key results in the press release.

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Higher Growth Businesses Spend More on Marketing and Shift Marketing Online

Need Help Marketing — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:26:07 +0000

Higher Growth Businesses Spend More on Marketing and Shift Marketing Online is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Recently Hurwitz & Associates released a new survey of north American small businesses defined as 1-20 employees.

There were a few key takeaways, including growing businesses were increasing spending on marketing. And marketing online was a growing trend for new areas of investment. Although this is not probably surprising because for small businesses marketing online and marketing locally really helps the bottom line.

When asked about their marketing practices a high percentage said they were using online tools including social media and email marketing. In fact more than 70% use social media (blogs, social networking, online communities/forums) and just less than 50% use email marketing.

“Email marketing is one of the best ways for small businesses to attract and retain customers while also growing revenue, which were two of the top business challenges identified by small businesses in the survey,” said Steve Adams, vice president of marketing for Protus, the provider of Campaigner. “The survey also showed the growing importance of email marketing and other Web-based tools in driving business growth.”

Download the full report: “Small Business Marketing Health Check”

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The Power of Social Sharing from Email

Need Help Marketing — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:27:30 +0000

The Power of Social Sharing from Email is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

As you can see from the below chart prepared by MarketingSherpa sharing email content via social networks really does have benefits. In a recent survey to a sample of 1400, 80% agreed there were two clear reasons to encourage email subscribers to share your email content.

The clear winners for sharing emails through social networks were

1) extending the reach of the email content

and

2) increasing your brand reputation and awareness.

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