Are you thinking of getting some outside support for your marketing? Are you dazed by the minefield or suppliers or unsure where to start looking?

You wouldn’t buy a car before taking it for a test drive; so why do the same with your marketing? If you’re thinking of outsourcing some of your marketing this is the perfect opportunity to try an agency.

10 Treats that add value to your business

You have a choice of 10 treats that can really add value to your business. We don’t have time to offer a Treat for every business and therefore we’re only looking for serious businesses that really want to make the most from their marketing.

Click here to choose your Free Marketing Treat»

For businesses serious about marketing only

How can we do that? We ask one thing…if you’d like a Treat from us, some free marketing, then if you think we’ve done a good job with your Treat we’d like you to commit to having a meeting with us to discuss your marketing as a whole.

As a caveat you need to have at least £3,000 that you could spend on marketing in the next year. You don’t have to spend it with us; it’s just if you have at least that amount of money and are interested in a meeting to explore your options further you’re showing that you’re serious about marketing.

Click here to choose your Free Marketing Treat»

Do you have any cool marketing ideas? Post them in the comments below.

There are three elements to consider for onsite SEO:

1. The design of the site; use the latest standards like CSS and XHTML and set the site up in such a way that Google can easily read it
2. Identify your keywords and put these in your page title, heading tags, image tags etc
3. Ensure the content is keyword rich and matches your keywords. The more pages your site has the better too – a blog is a good way to increase this.

There is then offsite SEO – this is primarily how many other websites link back to your website.

You should also consider the authority of that website. Within Google’s algorithm it gives every webpage a ‘PageRank’. This is how authorative that page is. PageRank ranges from 0 – 10. Lots of links back to your website are good, getting links from websites with a higher PageRank is better.

1. What are your goals from email marketing in 2010?
2. How can you provide added value to your e-mail subscribers?
3. How will you ensure subscribers stay subscribers in 2010?
4. How can you make sure people stay engaged (that they actually read your emails)?
5. Why would someone sign up to your email newsletter, campaign or programme?
6. Within your email newsletters what is the proportion of information related to your company compared to hints, tips and resources?
7. How can you segment lists so emails are highly personalised and relevant?
8. What can you do to get more people to give you their permission to email them?
9. How can you integrate email marketing with your other marketing, particularly social media?
10. Do you have the right resources and partners to achieve your goals in 2010?

If you need any support with email marketing why not explore our lead generation or online presence propositions.

The Marketing Toolkit includes:

Giveaway 1: Marketing strategy and plan template
A structure for your marketing strategy which asks questions about the key points you need to think about.

Giveaway 2: Website design brief template
If You’re having a new website designed this template will help you answer the questions to make your website stand out, and give your designers the best brief possible.

Giveaway 3: 5 steps to creating a brand
A detailed step by step guide to create your brand. We use the same principles when creating brands for our clients.

Giveaway 4: Press Release template
A simple template for your press releases.

Giveaway 5: Social Media diary
A Social Media activity diary for you to follow on a monthly, weekly and daily basis.

Giveaway 6: 25 ways to market your business
A handy checklist of marketing channels for you to refer to in your next campaign.

Giveaway 7: Subscription to the Xander Marketing monthly newsletter
Receive free marketing articles, hints and tips on a monthly basis. You can easily unsubscribe at any time.

To receive your free marketing toolkit simply enter your name and email address below:

Before you begin:

• If you haven’t already; set up a Twitter account making sure you have a keyword rich profile and company branded background
• Set up a blog or use a web-based blog such as on Wordpress.com
• If relevant set up Facebook and LinkedIn accounts
• Sign up to Google alerts and receive emails informing you whenever anyone mentions keywords specific to your business, or even your business name

Daily (Tweets):

• Try and Tweet daily. You could link to an interesting article that you think your followers might enjoy
• Post updates on exciting new business wins
• Tell people what You’re up to

Your followers will most likely get 100s of Tweets feeding through to them daily, make yours stand out from the crowd and you’ll be the one they remember.

Weekly (Blogs):

• Plan your Blog titles at the beginning of the month
• Give your view on a current topic
• Comment on news headline
• Include keywords in your titles and content
• Remember to Tweet and Digg all your blog posts

Blogs show you have knowledge on your industry and they can put a ‘personality’ to a more corporate website. They are also an ideal way to generate traffic and increase your search engine ratings.

Monthly (Newsletters):

• Broadcast to your clients, contacts and subscribers
• Updates on the latest company news
• Include links to the past months Blogs ensuring everyone gets a chance to read your words of wisdom

Following this plan, over a year you will have provided 12 newsletters, over 50 Blog posts and at least 250 Tweets, each time putting your company’s name out there in the virtual world; that’s pretty good marketing!

If all of the above sounds good but You’re thinking ‘I just don’t have time to do it’, why not look at our Social Media in a Box proposition? Click here for more information.

Websites started as virtual brochures. 10 years ago this was ok, brochures were static, the web was new and mostly static, businesses had a spent a lot of money having brochures designed so turning this into a brochure website was fine, and it worked.

In 2010 brochure websites will get ignored. Talking about ‘we’ and ‘us’ will get ignored. Sales messages will get ignored. People care about themselves. “What’s in it for me” has never been more important than now. To stand out and be different you need to adapt!

So what can you do?

Think interaction, a hub of communication, one-to-many as well as one-to-one communication: Yes, you still need ‘brochure elements’ to your business, you need to tell prospects what your services or products are and why they should use you. But you need to combine this with blogs and Twitter feeds. You need to allow people to interact with your website from outside your website using tools such as RSS feeds or encouraging Twitter followers.

What is the one thing you want people to do next? A brochure website from 2000 would introduce your company and then expect people to click on the links within the navigation bar to explore the rest of the website. Now people spend less than seven seconds on a website. What do you want them to do next? don’t assume people will find what you want them to find. Look at these websites for examples:

• www.barackobama.com
• www.box.net

Think lead generation: When someone is looking at your website they are looking at your competitor’s websites at the same time. People will make decisions quickly. You need to convert them. You need to capture an email address and get people’s permission to send them information that is of value to them. What is on your website that is going to make someone want to contact you and work with you? More importantly what have you got that your competitors don’t have?

If your website needs to be brought into the new decade why not look at our Online Presence Proposition.

This can be the height of interest with that person. At that moment they want what you are offering. As time goes by though they start thinking, objections come along; do we really need this? What else is out there? Can we afford this? Time passes and they continue without your offering.

Yes, it is the job of the sales person to keep that person interested, following them up at agreed intervals. But how can marketing help? It can help by confirming to that person over and over again you are the right choice for them.

When you are in the sales process do you email your prospects; showing them what they could be missing? Telling them the longer they leave it, the longer it will take to get the benefits? These can be corporate marketing emails rather than personal ones from a sales person.

Do you write informative blogs convincing the prospect over and over again you are the right choice for them? Do you tweet regularly promoting not only your knowledge, but also new improvements to your product and service and the latest new clients to use your fantastic service or product?

If not, why not? You should. These repeated messages will help you convert prospects into customers when they need to be convinced. Create content, keep people excited and win new customers!

1. Measure everything

“Half of my marketing works, I just don’t know which half” is no longer valid today. With the shift to digital marketing you can measure just about everything – from how many people open your emails, to where your website traffic comes from, to how many websites link to your website, to how many Twitter followers you have.

Measure everything and then use the results to optimise your marketing.

2. If You’re going to produce content, commit to it

Ever been to a blog which has 3 posts in a week but then the last one was updated over a year ago? It’s very exciting to start a blog and post your knowledge to the world but it’s also time-consuming. What about Twitter – a flurry of tweets and then nothing – have you seen this before?

Social Media is great and it works; but it has to be done consistently over time. A blog that hasn’t been updated for months gives a bad impression. If you don’t have the time, outsource it.

3. Be strategic, not tactical

This week I fancy doing some direct mail, next week a bit of email and why don’t we think about Twitter as well? Sound familiar? Marketing should be a well thought through activity that helps you achieve your business objectives. Define your objectives and develop a way that marketing can support them.

4. Become an expert

You’re probably an expert in your field anyway as that’s why you set up a business. Use this expertise – blog about it, tweet about it, comment on news stories through PR, get on the radio, talk at seminars, write white papers…spread the word and people will find you.

5. Stay up with the trends

Marketing is changing and fast. Whilst pioneering marketers will talk about the end of direct mail, tradeshows and email marketing; these channels still have authority. New marketing like social media is here to stay; here are some trends to look out for in 2010. If you haven’t already, subscribe to our blog to ensure you keep up with the trends as the year progresses.