January 2018 - Agapi /NEXsteps

To Hire or Not to Hire a Full-time Marketing Director?

January 29, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, building your business, entrepreneur, freelance, marketing, marketing consultant, marketing director, marketing strategy

Should you hire a marketing director?

To get your digital marketing performing at its optimum, you would need a Marketing Director to oversee the strategy and implementation. However, a Marketing Director would cost you $11,000 to $15,000 a month. This is a huge cost to businesses, especially for most small business owners like you.

As with any HR activity, there is additional work required of you to hiring a Marketing Director.

Job Description Preparation
Job Posting/Advertising Cost
Interviewing
Background Checks
Qualification/Certification Checks
Evaluation
Employment Agreements
Onboarding and Training

Do you think hiring a marketing consultant to perform a marketing director role for your business at a rate of $125 an hour for a few hours a month would make more sense?

This is a win-win solution. What do you think?

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

Why You Should Optimize Your Website

January 26, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, Google, google search, marketing strategy, rankings, web design, website, website marketing

An optimized website means that it is structured, coded, designed, and has content published in a way that will allow Google to rank it.

Why is this important? Well, if Google can read your website correctly and interpret your content then it will understand the product or service that you are selling and so present it to your potential customers searching on the Web.

So, how do you ensure your website is optimized?

Certain basics need completing such as keyword research, great content, and some technical criteria that a consultant can help you with such as tags, architecture, crawlability, among many other things.

Every worthwhile endeavor takes some amount of effort. Such is the case with optimizing your website to gain more visibility and traffic.

Think about your own experience when searching for information or a particular product. You will most likely click on the top results on the first page never bothering to check the second page when a list of results appears on the screen that “matches” what you’re looking for.

In today’s fast-paced world, customers have access to more information than ever, and they want results quickly. This means that they will choose from the top of the list, which is where you want your site to be.

Optimizing your site can get you there. This ongoing process requires regular maintenance and changes.

SEO rapidly evolves. So keeping up with the changes with your SEO consultant will give you an edge over your competitors.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

Organically Building Your Brand: Content Marketing on Linkedin

January 22, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, building your business, growing your business, linkedin, marketing strategy, online marketing, social media, social media marketing

How to build your brand with content marketing on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn has many marketing tools that can be used to grow your business. Using these tools to raise awareness for your business, its credibility, and its impact will put you on the path to building your brand in an organic way. Here is a brief guide on some of these tools and how they work.

LinkedIn Company Page

Catch the eye of your prospective customers with a Company Page. It should be a place where you can engage your target audience with things relevant to them such as links to your best white papers, e-books, case studies, how-to content and thought leadership content. Your Company Page should spread your company’s overall message by publishing content you know your target audience will want to see.

Showcase Pages

You love your business and think of many different parts of it as equally important in their own ways, but does your audience know that? Showcase pages are for creating a distinct platform for each aspect of your business that has its own message to share with its own target audience. By giving each part of your business its own distinct voice, you can extend your LinkedIn presence to reach the audience it needs to reach.

Long-form Posts

Should you go long on LinkedIn? The answer is yes! Publishing long-form content can position you as an expert and thought leader on the subject, giving your business credibility and authenticity. Another benefit to writing your own posts is giving a chance for like-minded professionals to interact and contribute while simultaneously spreading your message. If your post becomes a hot topic of discussion it will be a trending topic where it can be distributed and recommended to a much broader audience, giving you even further reach than before!

These tools and more are part of a larger LinkedIn toolbox that can help your business grow in an impactful way.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

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How Accreditation by the Better Business Bureau Increases Sales

January 20, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, BBB, better business bureau, building trust, building your business, client retention, trust

How Better Business Bureau Accreditation Builds Consumer Confidence

The Better Business Bureau is a non-profit accrediting organization that gives its stamp of approval when a business meets high standards of quality, responsibility, and trustworthiness.

So why is this BBB logo so important? Recent studies have shown that 8 out of 10 consumers recognize the BBB seal, and when they see it displayed on a website or business, it instills confidence and trust.

And those consumers are likely to purchase based on this. Reviews are important online, but 90% of consumers don’t bother hunting for a lot of reviews and will read less than 10 reviews before forming an opinion.

Most of those consumers are going to go right to the Better Business Bureau first. And sometimes that one review is enough to make their decision. But what if your business is not accredited? This could actually hurt your business as becoming accredited shows that you’re a company that is accountable and can be trusted.

And a company that is trusted, makes more profit.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

Follow-up with your Potential Customers through Ad Retargeting

January 18, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, online marketing, remarketing, retargeting

What is ad retargeting?

When it comes to remarketing, some businesses have no idea what it means, or the benefits that it can bring by getting visitors (who left your website empty-handed) back to your website and purchasing what they were looking for.

It is important for a business to take every advantage that there is to convert a potential customer or client into a happy and satisfied customer. But this isn’t the only benefit of remarketing.

In fact, you can get some pretty interesting data by showing different ads to a customer who leaves your website and goes to another website.

This type of remarketing can serve to the visitor a reminder that they are looking for a certain product or service, and if they are moving around the web looking for this product or service from someone else, there is a good chance they might see your ad and return to convert. For example, you could show a different ad group to visitors that leave your website with a discount if they return to get what they were looking for. This strategy works so well that you are likely to see a 2-3 times increase in click-through-rates for these ad groups.

It might sound like a complicated process, but if you are already using Google AdWords, then you can take advantage of Google Ad Retargeting. These ads will be shown on other websites through the Google Content Network which are amazingly effective.

The benefits of a solid remarketing campaign strategy, and having Google Retargeting setup correctly are huge. The benefits range from having your ads in front of people when they are finally ready to buy, a much larger scale reach as these ads are shown on over 2 million websites, and much more efficient pricing, easier ad creation, and so on.

And there are many different ways to remarket with Google Adwords besides this. There is video remarketing, remarketing for mobile applications, having remarketing lists for search ads, and email-list remarketing which works by uploading your list of email addresses you have collected from your visitors.

When anyone on this list are signed into YouTube, Google Search, or Gmail, they will see your ads.

If ad targeting or remarketing is something you haven’t been doing, then don’t wait a minute longer to get started.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

8 Reasons Why You Need Google Analytics for Your Website Today

January 16, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, Google, google analytics, how to grow your business, marketing, marketing strategy, online marketing

Why do you need Google Analytics for your website?

As business owners, we must ensure that our marketing efforts are worthwhile.

We need to make sure that our website’s design and structure is at optimal levels to maximize our marketing campaigns.

Having someone on your team that can analyze your website traffic data will help ensure that your efforts are worth every little bit of time and money you spend on marketing.

Installing Google Analytics makes acquiring this information easier than ever. Understanding this information will help you strategize and improve your marketing efforts.

Here are 8 simple ways to use Google Analytics to advance your business to next level:

1. Identify the Sources of Your Traffic

Use analytics to track the traffic on your website. This will help you understand what sources send the most traffic to your business.

2. Determine the Path that Leads to Conversions

Determine what pages are driving conversions for your business. Conversions could be making a sale, the download of a white paper, a filled out contact form on your website or one of many other actions that positively impact your business.

The quality of your traffic relies on if you’re bringing the right buyer personas to your website who are genuinely interested in your company’s offerings.

3. Understand Which Relevant Keywords Drive Traffic

Analytics informs you how your business is ranking for key search queries.

Ranking highly for the most important long-tail keyword phrases related to your business can drive quality visitors to your website on a regular basis, which is why marketing around these search phrases is essential for your business.

4. Understand Time on Site

Start by understanding how engaged your visitors are by using the engagement report to better understand their time on site.

The reason why this is so important is that the longer someone is on your website, the more likely they’ll perform an action with your business whether that’s a download, completing a transaction, etc.

5. View Multi-Channel Funnels to Locate Understand a Visitor’s Path

The multi-channel funnels report in Google Analytics is one of the most important to monitor. It provides an overview of the most common paths to conversions. Take a look at which funnels are driving the most activity for your business and try to spur more movement across these channels.

6. Know Which Device Users Drive Results

Improve the quality of your ongoing traffic by analyzing and catering to where your traffic is coming from –desktop, mobile or tablet devices.

7. New vs. Returning Visitors

This report is important to monitor regularly to see if your existing audience is continually returning to your website, while also informing your business of your audience growth over time as seen through new visitors.

Ideally, there should be a healthy balance of both new visitors and returning visitors to inform the quality of your website.

8. Manage Your Backlinks

This can help your business understand what websites are linking to your site, which is a major factor that Google and the other search engines take into consideration when ranking your website and driving traffic to your business.

Your backlink profile is a crucial factor to help ensure that only quality websites are linking to your business and that you’re building trust with your customers and the search engines.

Be sure to learn more about how to use Google Analytics to improve your website and your business.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

Marketing Hype And The ICO – What You Need To Know

January 15, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter building your business, growing your business, marketing, marketing strategy

The media has finally caught up with the crypto-world and now cryptocurrencies and ICO’s are getting attention.

But what is an ICO? And what can you believe about the marketing hype?

First of all, an ICO is to the crypto-world what an IPO is to the traditional stock markets. They offer an opportunity for a business to raise money, but instead of shares, investors purchase tokens.

As described in Nasdaq.com:

An Initial Coin Offering, also commonly referred to as an ICO, is a fundraising mechanism in which new projects sell their underlying crypto tokens in exchange for bitcoin and ether. It’s somewhat similar to an Initial Public Offering ( IPO ) in which investors purchase shares of a company. Aug 10, 2017

And, just like the traditional stock market, there are shady operators who are looking for an opportunity for a ‘pump and dump’, so it’s extremely important that investors and potential investors do their due diligence. When looking at ICO options, take the following points into consideration:

1. Does the company/start-up have a viable product?

Without a product, what will sustain the business? It’s not enough to have an idea; do they have something that will actually bring value to the investors and provides a solution to an existing problem.

2. Check out their website.

What is the business’s website like? Is it aesthetically pleasing? Does it have all the pertinent details relating to the business easily accessible – things like the business, the team, a roadmap? Can you download their whitepaper for review? Or is their website all about shilling for their upcoming token sale?

3. Are they communicating with the community through social channels?

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn – the old standard social channels – are important to build communications and trust in the community. But the crypto world should also be engaging through channels like Redditt, Bitcointalk, Discord, and Telegram. A successful ICO is about more than hype, but it still needs to be widely seen to launch successfully.

4. What do the token metrics look like?

How many tokens will be created? How many will be circulating? How are they allocated? Is there a vesting requirement for employees? What will the coin price be at the ICO? If you are looking to get a good return on your investment, make sure the numbers work.

5. Check the ICO ratings on third-party sites.

There are many sites in existence that will provide their rating on various ICO”s. Sites like ICObench, and Cryptobriefing provide reviews by a panel of unbiased experts. See if the ICO you are reviewing rates favorably, and if not, why not.

6. Don’t fall in love with the company.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t like what the company represents, but, like with any investment, make sure that you are looking at it with your head and not your heart. Know when to hodl them and know when to fodl them.

Bottom line is that there is a lot of interest and attention on ICO’s these days. And all of them are doing their best through their marketing efforts to get you to put your BTC or ETH with them. Cut through the marketing hype and look closely at your options. There are tons of ICO’s to choose from, so don’t be afraid that you’ll miss out.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

Catch More Customers with a Customer-centric Web Design

January 13, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, building your business, client engagement, designing a website for marketing, marketing, marketing strategy, online marketing, web design, website marketing

Looking to catch more customers?

You’ve done your research, and you know what your customers want. You worked hard to bring about a good product that you know will solve their problems, *it* is ready for the market and you know the market is ready for *it*.

Now the only question is, do you have a customer-centric website where your products can be promoted and showcased?

If the answer is no, then there are some factors you need to consider when designing a site such as…

1. Buyer’s persona – who’s the target audience for this product? Who would realize its value the most?
2. Buyer’s journey – what does your customer have to go through to finally get your product in their hands?
3. Ease-of-use – ultimately, is the website for your product easy to use? Or is it fraught with hard to navigate pages that could put buyers off?
4. Answers questions – Are there plenty of chances to learn more about your product in an easy, accessible way? Don’t be vague, customers want to know what they’re buying.

These factors and more should all be considered when designing a website where your products will be sold. Want to learn more? We’d be glad to help.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

← Previous

Should you hire a marketing director?

As with any HR activity, there is additional work required of you to hiring a Marketing Director.

An optimized website means that it is structured, coded, designed, and has content published in a way that will allow Google to rank it.

So, how do you ensure your website is optimized?

Digital marketing success stories.

Dacia and Facebook

The Girl Scouts and Twitter

How to build your brand with content marketing on LinkedIn.

How Better Business Bureau Accreditation Builds Consumer Confidence

What is ad retargeting?

Why do you need Google Analytics for your website?

The media has finally caught up with the crypto-world and now cryptocurrencies and ICO’s are getting attention.

Looking to catch more customers?

Reputation management is key to building trust online.