The return on investment of social media by MDGadvertising. This infographic also tells you what are the social media channels with the highest ROI figures according to marketers who actually measure their ROI. What do you think?
If you would like to discuss your social marketing needs in greater detail, give me a call @ 208.995.9437 or send me an email so we can discuss how I can help you. Free 1-hour consultation available. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.
Jason Squires has put together a thoughtful list of 10 Reasons Why Small Business Can’t Ignore Social Media. It provides all the evidence any small business needs if they were still curious whether or not to take the dive. What do you think? Is there any reason why a small business should not be active in social media?
If you would like to discuss your social marketing needs in greater detail, give me a call @ 208.995.9437 or send me an email so we can discuss how I can help you. Free 1-hour consultation available. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.
The folks over at Creative Content Experts came up with a neat infographic about the difference between search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM). What do you think?
If you would like discuss SEO or SEM in greater detail, give me a call @ 208.995.9437 or send me an email so we can discuss how I can assist you. Free 1-hour consultation is available. Have a great day and thank you for stopping by.
Check out this infographic by the Social Media Research Team at Convonix, which will sum up the importance of mobile internet as a marketing medium. What do you think?
If you would like discuss mobile marketing in greater detail, give me a call @ 208.995.9437 or send me an email so we can discuss how I can assist you and take advantage of my free 1-hour consultation. Have a great day and thank you for stopping by.
If you would like discuss digital marketing in greater detail, give me a call @ 208.995.9437 or send me an email so we can discuss how I can assist you and take advantage of my free 1-hour consultation.
If you would like discuss content marketing in greater detail, give me a call @ 208.995.9437 or send me an email so we can talk.
In order to develop a successful small business, you want to have a healthy balance between internal and external marketing efforts. Internal marketing is marketing that is directed at your current client base, and external marketing is directed at those that are not yet using your products or services.
External Marketing Tips
1) Volunteer
It is almost not considered a marketing tip since there are so many other rewards received besides growth in your business. You could easily put the idea of volunteering into a success category of its own, as there are many reasons why it’s good to get involved in supporting others.
2) Monthly Talk
Can you get out of your office and speak somewhere? You may need to get creative, depending on what kind of small business you’re in.
3) Local Network Meetings
Getting involved in local groups like the Chamber of Commerce can be beneficial.
4) Press Releases
If you’re in a non-metro area you may find some great rates are available in your local newspapers. Online opportunities are growing and you may want to consider Internet based services.
5) Bulk Mail
You can get a permit for bulk mailing and get lists of target data for businesses and persons in your community. If you don’t want to do large quantities of bulk mail, you can put together a list of businesses in your area that would be most likely to refer, and send them regular mailings.
6) Signage
Is there any place outside your business location that you can do advertising? Can you get affordable signage down the street? While billboards in a large metro area might be out of the question for a small business, there are opportunities to advertise on bus benches, phone booths, shopping carts, car washes, and neighboring buildings. Get out in your local community and take notes on the places you find are displaying small business advertising.
7) Bulletin Boards
These are boards you’ll find inside local coffee shops, laundromats, health clubs, neighborhood markets, and car washes. While I’m not recommending you be a board spammer, this is a free method to get your information out in the community. Bring plenty of your own thumbtacks and leave some extras behind for good business karma.
8) Certificates
Certificates are great for giving to local charities, local sporting events, fundraisers, and other local businesses. They are easy to make and there’s a number of ways you can use them to share good will in your community. Be sure to check local and state laws when it comes to certificates and expiration dates.
I help companies in Boise and beyond get the most out of their external marketing dollars.
Give me a call @ 208.995.9437 or send me an email so we can talk.
I have heard from some people that a picture is worth a thousand words.=)
And more often than not, an awesome picture is definitely going to have more of an impact than 1,000 words, but what if you use them together?
I think that only means more awesomeness. By using a photo that goes great with your words, you will enhance and give personality to the marketing material you are creating. Using images that get noticed is just as important as having clear and concise copy. There are several sites on the Internet that offer free stock photos so check them out to see if you can find the right picture to help make your copy stand out even more. Of course, if you are too busy to find photos and create words, please contact me and I will be glad to help out. Give me a call @ 208.995.9437 or send me an email so we can talk. Have a great day.
Is your company facing increased pressure to get their message to the right audience. Is there a way to take control of your company’s advertising and maximize your return on investment?
If the answer is yes, then now, more than ever, you need to make every marketing dollar count.
Getting the most out of your marketing dollars is especially important in today’s economy. A company’s decisions need to show a return on investment, and drive targeted traffic to their business. Chances are your company has a great website that they paid a lot of money to have built. But what good is a beautiful website if your target audience cannot find you anywhere online? With the power of the Web, companies have the opportunity to employ their website as a marketing vehicle to increase sales, acquire new clients, build rapport with current clients, and reach their target market.
I help companies get the most out of their marketing dollars.
Give me a call @ 208.995.9437 or send me an email so we can talk.
Below is an awesome article from Ian Lurie about all the experts out there in the social media field. Enjoy.
If you know more than 5 people, chances are you now know someone who declares themselves a social media expert. How can you tell if someone’s claim of expertise is legit? Here’s my quick quiz. Ask each question and take the appropriate action:
If the expert answers ‘no’, that may be OK. Follow up with something like ‘Oh, you’re using Posterous instead?’. If they look at you blankly, end the meeting there. No sense wasting your time.
If the expert answers ‘yes’, get the address and go look. If they’ve been blogging for less than 2-3 years, and there’s no explanation like “I had to move my blog”, again, end the meeting.
Any social media expert has been somehow participating in the conversation for a long time.
“6 months ago”. Yeah. OK. Bye.
“2 years ago”. Hey, not bad. Worth a chat.
“In 1992″. Er. Um. They’d better be referencing BBSes and Usenet.
“Blogging and Twitter and stuff”. Excuse yourself for a bathroom break and don’t come back.
“All of the conversations going on between people and people and businesses and such online”. Not bad.
“A trendy term to describe a new kind of mass media”. Totally acceptable.
“Voting something to the front page of Digg using my proxy server and 35 computers”. Flee the scene, and get to a minimum safe distance as soon as possible. The Digg brigade may be on its way. Whatever you do, don’t hire them. While this is a valid tactic (I guess), it’s not a campaign. Nor does it generate long term results in most cases.
“Developing a great message and then reaching out to people, while giving them an incentive to ‘pass it on’”. Yeah, OK, keep ‘em around.
“I have this great software that will put a link to your site on 21,000 forums and 10,000 blogs…”. Push them down the garbage chute. Don’t be seen with them in public.
“Huh?” Hopefully your next step is obvious.
“Google alerts”. Not bad, but wait and see if they add in stuff like subscribing to Twitter searches and the like.
“I use a 3rd party tool”. Fine, but make sure they do more than plug in some keywords and wait for e-mails. A human being needs to review what the tool reports or its worthless.
“Oh, shut up”. Perfectly OK, especially if the expert turns purple for a moment first. They’re just sick of hearing this question, which means they’ve been around the block a few times.
“It’s complicated, but here’s a high-level view…”. Nice!!!
“I track clicks from Twitter”. Nope, sorry.
“I auto-follow 20,000 people on Twitter”. If you’re OK with it, kick them in the groin for me. If not, nod politely and move on.
“I follow interesting, relevant people on Twitter, comment on relevant blog posts and try to get into the conversation”. Home run. Try not to weep with joy.
“We need to figure out the campaign first”. Good answer. Give them a hypothetical campaign to be sure, but clearly you’re on the right track.
“Yes, I’ll get you 1000 links and 20,000 clicks”. See number 7, first action.
“Yes, that I’ll work my butt off for you”. I like it.
“No, because we’re marketing to people, and it’s hard to say what they’ll like/not like, or what might happen in the world that will affect behavior”. Also good.
“Oh, I read this book I bought from Amazon.com”. Wargh. By the time that book went to print it was out of date. No go.
“I’m always learning”. Good answer.
“I read a lot of blogs, and try to use as many different tools as I can”. Also good.
“I go to conferences”. Yeahhhhhh. Might be OK. Answers to the other 9 questions should tell you.
“It doesn’t”. Slap them and tell ‘em that’s from Ian.
“It builds links”. That’s half the answer.
“It builds relationships that turn into links later”. HIRE THEM NOW.
“I hate writing”. Cough.
“Oh, I try to but I don’t have much time”. Cough. Cough.
“Every day”. DING DING DING. A winner!
There you go. An instant social media expert evaluator. Sort of like a Cylon Detector, but hopefully more effective.
By the way, print a copy of this. If you get word-for-word answers, you might think twice.
Matt Shifley: Marketing Specialist 