One way to get more attention is through the power of online videos. Online videos are a great way to get your company more exposure and to get noticed. With the onset of sites such as YouTube, and Twitter, a video can be viewed by hundreds if not thousands of people in a very short period of time. Sometimes referred to as a “viral” video because people like it so much they share it with their friends.

Both consumers and small business owners go to online videos for three main reasons:

1) To find tutorials for learning new things
2) Product demos and reviews
3) To find answers to their questions

Source: Enterprise Council on Small Business

They may be looking for how to videos to help them along with a complex problem or they may be looking to view a product demo prior to spending the money on a new product for their company. It is always important to research any purchases prior to making them. Someone, somewhere will have done your research ahead of time, saving you the hassle of countless hours figuring out which product is best for you.

As YouTube has become a phenomenon around the globe, millions of people make, upload and view videos on a daily basis. YouTube has now surpassed corporate sites as the number 1 source of finding videos. And something you may not realize is that YouTube has become a sort of search engine overnight. If you need to find information on a topic there is likely a YouTube video that you can watch to learn more.

Uploading video to your company site is still important, but uploading your videos to YouTube is even more important. Make sure if you have are posting a video online that you use popular keywords that will ensure you get noticed within search results. Here is a list of some key pointers when using the power of video as part of your marketing.

A) Always keep your videos as short as possible !

People for the most part have short attention spans, if the video they are watching is not short and to the point they will lose interest quickly. Time is important and if your viewer feels as though watching your video is wasting their time, they are less likely to come back and view more videos by your company in the future.

B) Focus

Keeping your videos focused on your topic and reaching your point quickly will enable your viewer to feel that your video was informative and likely keep your company in mind for a future purchase. Just like in presentations the less information you convey in a short time the more people will remember. This is not the time to tell us everything about your product or service. Keep the viewer wanting more.

C) Using social media to your advantage

With the help of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc videos have a chance of going viral or at the very least attracting other’s attention. If your content is entertaining or light-hearted in the form of a short funny skit, informative demo or even a multi week webinar will keep your fans interested and coming back for more.

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Earlier today eMarketer reported on the findings from a recent white paper from marketing agency 360i which looked at the content of twitter messages from marketers. Why is this research interesting? Well the findings of the research indicated most marketers where communicating with only 16% of their consumers (which would include any followers). And the rest of the tweeted messages were about sharing information including new products, features and/or services.

However if you think about this data a bit more you may come to the conclusion that a lot of consumers are following brands on Twitter specifically to get access to this type of news and information. Marketers may just be using the right channel to communicate to an attentive audience. You will need to watch your follower counts to see if they go up or down based on your usage and what kind of content you are putting in your tweets. And remember to always try to respond to anyone trying to reach out to you using your @twittername mentions.

To read more about this report visit Boosting the Power of Marketers’ Tweets

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Using Google Insights combined with iGoogle’s Dashboard is a great way to easily keep track of search term frequency. In other words, what people online are searching for using Google. This is important because you can understand market trends as they happen, and with the default charting you can see if interest is going up or down over time.

Let’s review the following screenshot from my Dashboard I created using Google Insights. Once you have typed in a keyword search you will notice an iGoogle button that will look like this:

Once you click on that button you will then see your Google Insight chart or Keyword list on your home page for iGoogle. You can also click to set iGoogle as your home page in your web browser (shown in the screenshot below at the top).

Looking at the example you can see I am tracking small business marketing keywords, as well as Direct Marketing interest in Google searches over time. Of course this is just for illustration purposes, but you could also be tracking your competitors as keywords, their products, or even your own clients to see what they are publishing as content or news.

Now that you have saved all of these searches for quick review, you can also share this page with your co-workers using the Share Tab option. Or create multiple tabs within iGoogle to keep track of important keywords.

Google Insights is a very useful tool to judge if/when and how much people are googling keywords that relate to your business. Keeping tabs on competitors in order to stay on top of changes that may be taking place, and also as a tool to do your own research on a variety of topics. Including discovering common and related search terms. In some cases you may not even have thought of using keywords that your customers are using to find you. It may be in your company’s best interest to take the time to get to know Google Insights, see it’s potential in helping you make the most of your marketing dollars. Constantly providing fresh content and updating material may be the best way for your company to be noticed so that you have the upper hand against your competitors.

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Most small businesses go hunting to find that next new customer. Meaning that they put either a lot of energy, money or both into finding their next customer. When we say hunting we mean you are cold calling prospects, knocking on doors trying to find that one in ten opportunity that you are looking to land. In most cases, you won’t be sure if the person you talk to is even a potential buyer or not.

In general this is where marketing helps, there are those who can easily find new leads and those that have to work harder. If you are harvesting leads than you have your pickings and have probably spent your time working on your prospecting or lead generation strategies so new customers find you without you having to go out and look for them.  Sometimes this technique is referred to as inbound marketing and involves producing distributable content. If you spend some time creating useful resources that are not overtly sales pitches, you can attract potential customers easily.  In other words, they do not look like sponsored articles you have probably seen in magazines and newspapers, but instead provide useful information, such as benchmarks, market research, and even checklists.

If you put the time into creating these “satellites” people will find you and you will spend less time hunting for interested new customers.

Lets try to illustrate this concept using an example, let’s say I am looking to find a home inspector for my new home that I am considering. I will probably try to find information on local inspectors in my area. If I go to my favorite search engine and type in “home inspection checklist in california“., assuming I know nothing about inspecting a house I would probably be seeking out this information.

Now put yourself in the position of a home inspector in knowing that consumers are looking for information. Your satellite marketing could include a list of homes damaged due to local conditions such as drought, or heat, etc.  You could provide guides on what to look for when walking through your house or even how to choose your inspector carefully.

At first glance these informational products might seem trivial, however, if you think about it people looking to buy and those who are close to making a purchase will be reading these types of resources. If you have written them in such a way to make your business sound legit and knowledgeable then you will have customers contacting you when they are ready to make the next step and will identify themselves as a new lead.

Things to Keep in Mind

• Remember to ask how your new lead found you so you can focus your energy on effective resources
• Try to maximize the usefulness of your resources. Think about who may want to distribute this information, such as real estate agents who already are a trusted source of information, etc.
• Searching LinkedIn,  forums and twitter conversations,  you can usually find people looking for help or information.
• Record where possible who you sent information to, or if they asked for a consult. You may not have thought of this as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) but it really is fundamental to continuing your conversation with a prospective new customer.
• Videos travel fast on the internet, and also are shared frequently. If you can record a few videos 2 minutes or less in length on specific tips related to your industry you will have access to an estimated 100 M visitors per month on YouTube watching videos. You may not have realized there are a lot of educational related videos and tutorials on YouTube. All of these videos link directly back to you and establish yourself as an expert.

If you try to adopt this simple satellite marketing technique in your marketing more people will find you rather than trying to buy advertising in your local newspaper  where new customer potential may be limited.

Image Credit: foxypar4 (via Flickr)

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Recently I came across a new marketing framework created by April Dunford over on the Rocket Watcher blog. Which is a great resource for helping to market your start-up  business. But what struck me with this framework was how clear the ideas become when presented in this matrix. Below you can see what the marketing framework might look like, as it is currently in development.

Credit: April Dunford via RocketWatcher

If you are trying to get a handle on your small business marketing then this marketing framework may just be the checklist you have been looking for. Using this list you can make sure you have all of your marketing tactics working together. If you have feedback on how these areas may or may not help your small business please leave a comment.

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In a recent MarketingSherpa study, 1400 marketers reported strong email marketing results. What is probably most interesting is the percentages year over year. With the bulk of participants stating that email marketing effectiveness is increasing a little.

What are you seeing? Please leave a comment below with your thoughts.

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When you advertise online you need to define what you want to achieve. In marketing this is referred to as a conversion. You can think of a conversion in terms of your customer making an order, calling your business, signing up for a newsletter, etc. These are the goals you have in mind when you start advertising either online or offline.

For small businesses, advertising can be perceived as an costly expense, but if you don’t measure your return (ROI) you have no way to judge either way. Some business owners will even ask how much their marketing or advertising budget should be.  Then we have to go back and ask the fundamental question of what are you trying to achieve?.

Put another way,  how much must you spend to achieve your goal, and what does a conversion mean to you in terms of dollars.

Step 1: Decide what you want to achieve?
What do you want to have happen if someone responds to your advertisement. Is it to order your catalog or make a purchase? Starting with this, you can then determine where you might want to advertise or how to word your ad.

Step 2: Are you Spending on Search Advertising?
Studies have shown that small business use search engines to get found online, so you are probably already spending money on search ads. And if you are, then are you over spending? Or should you be advertising somewhere else? Without understanding how much a conversion is costing you in terms of advertising spending you will not know if there is a cheaper alternative.

Step 3: Have you made the conversion easy to do?
After you have generated interest and someone has responded to your ad do you make it easy to make an order, or find your catalog request form? These are key questions to ask yourself. If you have an effective ad but do not have a landing page or any easy to follow process after they click or respond to the ad you will lose customers.

Step 4: If you are heavily spending on one medium have you tried another?
Lets say for instance you only print flyers or advertise in the local paper. If you haven’t tried another audience or another medium such as paid search advertising or sponsorships how will you know if your returns for money spent is expensive or not. You might see better or worse results but then you will know if you are spending too much for each conversion or where you might be able to improve.

Step 5: Branding
Some people may suggest that all advertising is good because it gives you exposure in terms of brand awareness. However for most small businesses advertising is something that needs to generate results through conversions. If you are not getting conversions than it really doesn’t matter how much brand awareness you have. Perhaps you are marketing to the wrong audience, or using the wrong message. And hopefully you have made it easy to convert for those that wish to buy from you.

Image Credit: City on Fire (via Flickr)

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When you are about to send out a press release, or even publishing a new blog post you should definitely consider your timing too. Timing can be very important to maximize your announcement. Large companies tend to pick their announcement dates well in advance and they usually coincide with industry events or competitive announcements. But you too can use this technique to get more mileage out of your announcements.

Sometimes it is not enough just to have a great message, but you also need the right audience to capture their attention.

Perhaps some examples will help, imagine you are in the consumer electronics company and you have a new gadget that has been highly anticipated. What do you do? Well in the case of Apple they announced that in two weeks time there would be a big announcement. And for the two weeks that followed there was great anticipation and a lot of speculation of what it could mean. Exactly two weeks later they launched the iPad, a new product for the company and you were not even able to buy it yet.

Ok so you are not Apple and do not already have a cult following, but you could instead take advantage of recent news headlines. If you are selling cars you could take advantage of timing by speaking about product safety, since with the recent news of Toyota safety is once again taking over prime time news and television. Or if you have been watching the growing discussion about interest rates rising later on in 2010 you could use that opportunity to launch a new promotion.

In fact just today my mortgage company sent me an email asking me if I was thinking about the potential of rising interest rates and if I was interested in locking into a fixed mortgage before it happens. There it is, a perfect market timed marketing push.

What dates are key for your marketing messages?

Some key dates might center around conferences or trade events that you will be attending. If you release your announcement at these functions you can definitely make a splash and grab people’s attention. And if you’re lucky take attention away from your competition.

1. Watch the current news for ideas on what is going to get people talking today
2. Annual Awards where local businesses are recognized
3. Community Events
4. Holidays – Spring Break, Mother’s Day, etc.
5. Charity Events you might want to Sponsor or contribute a fund-raising prize

Image Credit: Redstamp (via Flickr)

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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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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:

• Do you need a Facebook Fan Page for your business?
• How to get more Followers in Social Media

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