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Essential Tools for Good Business Marketing

September 7, 2014

If you’re armed with the marketing essentials you can’t help but succeed in attracting new prospects and bringing in more business. Spend some time on getting your marketing toolkit in place and be prepared at all times.

Here are a few items to pack into your marketing toolkit:

  • A plan and a budget: Getting a plan that will support you for years to come is essential to keep you on track. It doesn’t need to be as thick as War and Peace, but it does need to be written down, clearly communicated to your team and acted on day by day — even when business is booming.

  • A great product or service: Advertising your business has no point if the customers don’t want, value or love what you have to offer. Make sure you do your research and listen to your customers before sending your product out to the market.

  • A professional brand: A brand is much more than a logo. It encompasses everything people see, hear, think and feel about your business. Invest up-front in developing a brand that stands out from the crowd. It’ll save you money and heartache in the long run.

  • Powerful marketing materials: Your business card, sales brochures, sales letters, website, signage, uniforms and car decal speak volumes about your business. Make sure they look professional and appealing at all times.

  • An elevator pitch: In the course of marketing your business you’ll get asked thousands of times ‘What do you do?’ Don’t make the mistake of boring the poor person who asked the question. Make sure you have a fun, interesting and memorable pitch ready at all times — and be able to deliver it in the time it takes to travel a few floors in an elevator.

  • A brilliant website: Your website must attract attention and give value to those who visit. Use it as a tool to retain and keep in touch with existing customers as well as for enticing new customers. The online world can be very scary to many small-business owners, but, if you don’t embrace it, you may find yourself out of business.

  • A simple database: The backbone of all good marketing is about building a solid database of past, present and future customers (prospects) so you can keep in touch and communicate regularly via e-newsletters, emails and phone.

What Can SEO Do For My Business?

May 16, 2014

What Can SEO Really Do For Your Business?

This questions seems to come up a lot in our initial meetings that we have with clients. Businesses want to make money – it’s as simple as that. You can invest in an amazing website, but nobody will see it if it’s not marketed properly. SEO is a key component after your website is finished.

We’ve worked with specific clients who were going through bankruptcy. One specifically client we worked with was filing for bankruptcy because their website sales were close to non existent. After investing in an SEO package, they were able to vastly increase sales because they were able to reach out to potential clients through search engine marketing.

The actuality of it is SEO can work for your business. If done correctly, your specific services can be made available on the 1st page of Google searches for that specific service which in return, increases sales.

Why Is Social Media Important For Businesses?

April 28, 2014

Some businesses choose to not invest in the utilization of social media marketing. Whether they are lacking time, or just don’t have the budget to hire a social media manager, they are making a huge mistake. The biggest thing to remember about the majority of the social media markets out there is that they are free. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all play a huge role in engaging potential customers, all while allowing you to gain a personal connection.

Some of the biggest benefits of using social media

These are the definitive benefits of social media marketing that are listed:

  • Increased exposure
  • Increased traffic
  • Developed loyal fans
  • Generated leads
  • Improved search ranking
  • Grew business partnerships
  • Reduced marketing expenses
  • Improved sales
  • Provided marketplace insight

The Success Gap

The success gap is widening between businesses that are using social media in an informal, ad hoc manner and those taking a more planned, strategic approach.

This has significant implications:

  • Businesses that use social media strategically are more satisfied with the results than ad hoc users, who are more skeptical about the value of social media.
  • Businesses that use social media as part of a planned corporate approach are 1.5 to 2 times more likely to anticipate revenue growth than ad hoc users.

Integrate

Social media is not an end unto itself. It MUST be integrated and work hand-in-hand with all your other marketing and PR initiatives which should be continued to reach all your marketing touch points and your ultimate success. These can include:

  • Email Marketing and growing your email list
  • Search engine optimization
  • Event marketing (speaking and networking)
  • Direct Mail
  • Online ads (Google Adwords)
  • Print display ads
  • Sponsorships
  • Mobile Marketing
  • Radio/TV Ads

 

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