Tag: marketing strategy

Market Your Business Without Breaking The Bank

Nancy Boisvert Newsletter , , , , , , , , ,
don't break the bank

As a small business owner or an entrepreneur, you have to closely guard your cash flow to be successful.

But guarding the purse strings is not the same as refusing to spend your cash appropriately to build your business.

The important thing is to be strategic with your spending and make sure that your investments pay off.  You don’t have to blow the budget to make a big impact. In fact, there are lots of ways to market your business $400 or less, assuming you are willing to put in a bit of sweat equity.

Here are six easy to implement and inexpensive marketing strategies:

1. Do your market research. I’ve repeated numerous times just how important it is to research your market. The more time you invest and the more you refine your ideal client, the better you can focus your marketing efforts and target them to the appropriate audience. Also be sure to check out what your competitors are doing. Be strategic. Don’t try to compete with big players with an established brand, but analyze your field to see where weaknesses or gaps exist in the marketplace and take advantage of these.

2. Use email to your advantage. There are many email marketing platforms out there that offer free accounts up to a certain limit of subscribers or emails per month. And if you purchase a plan through an email marketing provider they are generally very inexpensive. Email marketing is a tactic that works. Many studies have proven that email is the preferred channel for clients and prospects to receive communications. But remember that nobody likes spam. There are rules in place that specify how you can legally prospect for business. Be sure that you are coloring in the lines.

3. Timing is everything. Most consumers search for a product or service online. Ensure that prospects who land on your website can access the information that they need to make a buying decision quickly and efficiently. Nearly all new websites are already optimized for mobile devices, but if you have an older same be sure that you have a mobile ready version available. Remember that nearly half of all browsing is now done on mobile devices.

4. Make sure you can be found. As noted above, most consumers go online to research products and services prior to making a purchase. As a small business owner or entrepreneur, make sure that you do keyword research and appropriately integrate search engine optimization (SEO) into the content of your site. Used appropriately, SEO can result in favorable SERP, or search engine result placement, in organic search results. When searching online, few people bother to look beyond the second page of results, so be sure that you are able to be found.

5. Use social media. But be strategic. Hundreds of social media sites are in existence, but there are only a small handful that are used regularly by the majority of people. When you did your research, you should have identified which of these social networks your prospects are most likely to use. Create profiles on those social networks and interact with your prospects and clients on the sites. Remember that these are places where people will post comments though, and make sure that you are interacting. You could consider making a small investment to sponsor posts on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook or twitter. All of these platforms allow you to target your ideal market as well as set a daily limit, ensuring that you do not overspend.

6. Expand your team. No, I’m not talking about hiring when you can’t afford to do so. Instead, I’m referring to the concept of creating strategic alliances. Sharing contacts and working with other businesses who can complement your offerings cannot only increase your brand awareness, but can also help you grow your business much quicker than you could on your own. Again, play fair. Make sure that the alliance works both ways.

Until next time…

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

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

Secrets To Marketing Your Business

Nancy Boisvert Video Blog , , , , , , ,
marketing your business

Summer is over!

Okay, even though the season is not yet officially over, Labor Day always seems to signal that summer is now a thing of the past. Now that holidays are over and kids are back in school, everybody seems to be getting back to business.

And now that we’re back to business, it’s a good time to focus on how to properly market your business. Last year we created a video series that presented five proven strategies to market your business. These strategies include things like building your brand, networking, using social media, etc. As we march forward for the final third of the calendar year, take a few minutes to check out our videos and see if you are utilizing all of these marketing tools to your advantage.

Watch our video series here, or watch on YouTube.


Until next time…

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

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

Improve Your Email Open Rates – Part 2

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writing engaging copy

Learn the secrets to writing engaging copy.

In our last post, we talked about the important role that the subject line plays in your email open rates.

But getting the subject line right is really only half the battle. It’s really just a few words, acting as a headline, to draw the attention of your audience. Now you have to provide interesting and engaging copy to your audience.  And that can be a lot more difficult!

Review these seven tips to help write engaging copy for your audience:

1. Be sure to keep your copy short. After all, this is an email, not an article or an e-book. If your engagement is suffering, heavily edit your copy. Less is more.

2. Write as though you are writing to a friend. Make your email personal and don’t be afraid to add some humor, if appropriate. Your readers want to interact with a human, after all.

3. Write your email as though you are writing directly to another person. Use the word “you”; it provides a powerful personal connection to your reader. Remember, your email should come across as a two-way conversation.

4. Write your email quickly. When you let the words flow, it helps your email come across as more natural and inviting. You can always edit once you have your ideas and your content written.

5. Don’t to follow a script. If you use the same technique with every email, your content comes across as staid and boring. Spice it up, and use emotive words.

6. Use different greetings. Write whatever comes naturally. Call people by their name, or use “hi” or “howdy”. Friendly greetings will create an immediate response from your reader. Avoid being mechanical.

7. Occasionally, write longer copy when you feel like it. It’s good practice and can help improve your sales. But remember, only do this open occasionally. Changing it up keeps your audience wondering what you’re going to offer next.

Until next time…

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

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

Improve Your Email Open Rates – Part 1

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email open rates

We all know the stats. Open rates for emails often suck.

In an era when inboxes are flooded with emails on a daily basis, all screaming for attention, how do you get noticed?

Email communication is the norm. But getting people to open your emails and to engage with the content is a challenge. In an effort to help you improve your open rates, we’ve decided to post a three-part series on improving your email open rates. Today, in Part 1, we are offering you seven tips to help you write enticing and engaging subject lines.

Your subject line may just consist of just a few words but, just like the headlines in print media, it is the most important part of your email. If you haven’t captured the reader’s attention and created some intrigue, it is unlikely that your email will be opened.

Here are seven tips to help you with your subject lines:

1. Be sure that you are offering your audience something of value. Avoid providing rehashed content that can be found anywhere on the Internet.

2. If you have something great to offer, be direct. You don’t need to add fluff.

3. Get your readers attention by creating some intrigue. Don’t reveal the whole story.

4. Make sure that your subject lines are personal. Treat your reader like a friend and your email is more likely to be opened.

5. Don’t get hung up on grammar. I know, I’m one of those folks who is a bit of a stickler for correct spelling and grammar. But in some cases it pays to be more conversational. You’re not writing an essay; you’re communicating a message. Just be sure that your message is clear and that you’re not confusing people (for instance, affect and effect have completely different meanings).

6. Experiment with your subject lines. Regardless of the email service you use, you should have the option for A/B testing. Try out different lines and see what gets you the best open rate.

7. The golden rule is to always offer quality content. If your subscribers are used to getting great content from you, you’re more likely to get a great open rate even if your subject line isn’t the best.

Until next time…

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

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

5 Ways To Improve Client Rentention

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client retention

Do you have loyal customers?

It’s one thing to obtain a client; it something else to keep that client.

There have been statistics as long as there have been sales. Depending on your industry, the rates might vary slightly, but overwhelmingly the statistics support the case for keeping your customers happy.

It costs a significant amount more, both in time and actual cash, to obtain a new client. However, once you have obtained that new customer, the costs to service and maintain that customer are markedly less. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense to ensure that you are retaining your customers?

Ask yourself the following five questions to see if you can improve your client retention rates:

1. How do your customers currently use your products or services? It makes sense that the more your clients are using your products or services, the more likely you are to retain them. Keeping your clients informed and engaged is a key element of client retention.

2. Do your clients know about all of the features products and services that you offer? Be sure that you are communicating with your customers on a regular basis, keeping them informed of the full scope of your offerings. If they don’t know that you can provide them with an additional service or benefit that they need, they may look elsewhere.

3. What’s the likelihood that your client would recommend your company to a friend? It’s true; referrals and testimonials are the best form of flattery. If your customer is happy with your services and would be willing to tell a friend about you, you are likely to retain the client – at least as long as you continue to provide them with the quality of service that they have come to expect from you.

4. Is there anything that would make your customers stop doing business with you? Communication with your clients is not only important as a means to keep them engaged with you, but is also an essential part of making sure that you are providing the services and products that will keep your customers loyal to you. Ask your customers if they are happy with your services. Find out if you are meeting all of their needs and expectations, or if there’s anything else that you can do to help them.

5. What, if anything, would your clients change about your company? Again, communicate, communicate, communicate! Phone your clients. Email them. Send out surveys. Ask questions, even if you’re not sure that you want to know the answers. If you are not meeting the needs and expectations of your customers, you can be guaranteed that they’ll find what they need somewhere else.

A happy customer is a loyal customer. And a loyal customer will bring you referral business. Treat your customers with respect and let them know that they matter.

Until next time…

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

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

5 Ways To Optimize Your Forms

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optimize forms

Are your forms working?

Following up on our last article, where we discussed the creation of better converting landing pages, we thought it timely to address the issue of optimizing the forms that appear on your site.

There has been a lot of trial and error, and a lot of research about how to create the best form to obtain opt-ins on your landing pages or website. It stands to reason that the form that works best for your needs is the one that is tailored specifically to your product or service offering. For instance, if your form is intended to invite a prospect to receive a quote or an evaluation of some sort, the form would obviously require more fields than if you are simply looking to gain email addresses for your mailing list through an offering of a free white paper or e-book.

Every day, we are invited to download free reports, e-books, white papers, etc. And, every day, we make decisions about whether we think that the value we will receive is worth the cost of our email address. Just like you, I have either declined the offer or have submitted my email address in order to receive the offering, only to unsubscribe later when I find that I’m receiving too many emails. But retaining prospects and clients on your email list is a subject that is separate from today’s focus.

So, back to making sure that your forms are actually working for you.

Review the following five points to optimize your forms:

1. Make sure that you have the right number of fields on your form.  As mentioned above, make sure that the number of fields on your form is appropriate to what you are offering. If you ask for too much information, your opt-in numbers will suffer.

2. Ensure that your forms are fully accessible to users who use a keyboard instead of a mouse.  Drop-down options are great, but you have to make sure that if somebody is using a keyboard that their arrow keys are fully functional for the form.

3. Test your forms.  Make sure that your forms work correctly and smoothly across all devices, screen sizes, and browsers. If your form does not display properly to some users, they will become frustrated and will give up.

4. How intuitive are your forms?  If the user makes a mistake when filling out your form, does it display error messages allowing them to correct the mistake immediately?

5. Is there anything about your form that would discourage the user from completing the process?  Let’s face it, we all are looking for forms that are simple and self-explanatory. We don’t want to have to work simply to provide someone with access to our email.

Using online techniques to market and promote our businesses is essential in this day and age. Encouraging people to become repeat visitors to our sites and to sign up for our offerings is an important component of online success. Make sure when you are developing your forms that you review these five elements to make sure that you are making the users experience as simple and as seamless as possible.

Until next time…

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

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

5 Ways To Ensure Your Ads Are Effective

Nancy Boisvert Newsletter , , , , , , , ,
advertising

What do users think of your ads?

Technology has changed the way that we target and advertise to our business prospects.

More and more, we are living in a digital world. And, more and more, we are relying on digital advertisements.

PPC (pay per click) and social media advertising have changed dramatically in the past few years. Learning to advertise online and to hone in on your ideal client is becoming easier, but it can still be tricky. Competitive keywords and business sectors can be very expensive and, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can watch your online advertising budget evaporate before your eyes.

Because of this, it often makes sense to hire someone who is well-versed in online advertising.

But, as I always say, it is in your best interest to always know and understand a little bit about every function within your business to ensure that you are getting good value for your money. No, I’m not saying that you need to be an expert, but having a general understanding will ensure that no one is taking advantage of you.

One of the first things you must do is discover where your target audience is most likely to be reached in the global marketplace. Once you have determined this, determine a budget for your online advertising spend.

It is now possible to really drill down and hone the audience that will see your ads. But you still must find that balance between using the keywords that are most likely to get results, and how much it costs per click for those keywords.

Once you have figured out your target market and your daily spend, it is also important to create ads that will appeal to your target audience. After all, there’s no point in advertising online if people aren’t clicking and converting.

The following five questions will help you learn what people think of your ads:

1. What is the mindset of someone who comes across your ad for the first time?

If you understand a bit about the psychology and the motivation of the people you are trying to reach, you are more likely to create an ad that will attract their attention.

2. What is it that people notice about your ad?

Finding out what draws them in, and what they like and dislike will help you develop on and that is more likely to obtain clicks from your target audience and convert them to clients.

3. Are your ads appearing helpful or do they look “spammy”?

People are more likely to click on an ad that appeals to them in some way and is not overtly cramming a sale down your throat.

4. What is it about the design or the phrases that catches the user’s eye?

Remember that design will attract or repel, and make sure that your wording entices people to engage.

5. If you are using Google AdWords as part of your strategy, what entices users to click on your ad?

Google still dominates the land of search, and it can be difficult to be noticed, so make sure that you are designing your ad in a way that will be noticed.

A properly managed online advertising campaign can be very effective. But it can also take some time to determine what keywords and what strategy works best to attract and convert the appropriate audience. Allow about three months of trial and error before you expect a great ROI, but after you find what works, you can find this to be an effective advertising tool for your business.

Until next time…

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

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

5 Ways To Ensure Your Content Is Effective

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effective content

Is your content being read?

We are all familiar with that proverbial saying, “if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a noise?”

Well, we can apply the same question to our content.

You can spend all kinds of time, money, and effort compiling and posting content, but if no one reads it, what’s the point?

Creating relevant content that speaks to your target audience, as well as presenting it in an attractive and easy to read format is critical to gaining readership and loyalty online.

We have put together five questions to ask yourself to ensure that your copy is effective and is being noticed by your target audience.

Check out these 5 questions:
              • What does your homepage tell people about what you are offering? Always try to think like a first-time visitor to your website. Make sure that your homepage is designed in such a way that it clearly represents your brand and your offerings. This will ensure that visitors to your website will know immediately if this is a site that they wish to explore further.
              • Is your content written for consumption by the average reader, and free of jargon? Every industry and profession has its own jargon. We converse regularly with our colleagues and our peers using this jargon. But sometimes we can get so used to speaking in these terms that we forget that those folks not involved in our industry or profession don’t understand what that terminology means. If your clients and prospects understood this jargon, chances are they wouldn’t need you. Make sure you are communicating in plain language to your prospects and clients.
              • Does your choice of language within your content “speak” like your target audience speaks? Aside from simple common sense and personal experience, there is times of research out there that proves that when you communicate in the same terms and language is your intended audience, you create a better rapport. By building this relationship, you build trust and community among your audience, which translates to more readership and a loyal client base.
              • Are your calls to action effective? Content without a call to action is nothing more than an article or an advertisement. Let’s face it, 99% of us are using online methods and strategies to promote our businesses and convert visitors to customers. Make sure that you would include a clear, effective CTA within your content. Measure the effectiveness of your CTAs with the use of analytics and software tools such as heat maps and content analysis.
              • Are you effectively communicating your unique value proposition? Differentiation of your business from all others offering the same or similar products or services is the key to building your business and keeping clients. Review your website content regularly to see that your message is clearly defined. But sometimes we are too close and can’t really see how it is being perceived. Consider polling some of your clients to see if they believe that a first-time visitor to your website could define and describe your UVP in their own words

 

  • Until next time…

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

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

7 Ways to Test Your Customer Experience

Nancy Boisvert Newsletter , , , , , , , ,
customer experience

How does your user experience measure up to your competitors?

None of us can afford to stand still in business. If we aren’t continuing to grow and to learn new ways to interact with our clients, we’re dead in the water!

The global marketplace has defined how we interact with our customers. There is really no such thing anymore as a captive audience. Technology and how our clients and prospects interact with our businesses continues to evolve.

The seven questions in this article can help you evaluate how your user experience compares the competition.

One of the more important metrics is to evaluate your performance over time. To help measure this, ask these three questions;

1. Has your customer experience changed since you run your last test?

2. Is your customer experience improving, especially as compared to your competitors?

3. Can you attribute the changes to something you changed on your site, something different about your products or services, or changes within the market?

By asking these three questions, you will be able to evaluate how your company continues to adapt to new realities within the marketplace.

But we must also evaluate how our clients are accessing our businesses online. Mobile now accounts for over 60% of all searches, and this continues to grow and to change the way that we are interacting with our clients and prospects. Therefore, it is equally important that we understand and evaluate the customer experience across the different channels.

The following four questions will address those issues;

1. What does the interaction between your business and your client look like on their smart phone, desktop, tablet, and in person?

2. Regardless of how your client is interacting with you, is there experience consistent?

3. Should your client need to access or complete a process across multiple devices, does it happen smoothly and efficiently?

4. Which of the various channels do your users consider their primary choice?

Understanding how your users are interacting with your company, and how seamless and simple their experience is, will give you a leg up on your competitors. Put yourself in the shoes of your clients and prospects, providing them with the same type of experience that attract you.

Until next time…

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

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

Know Your Competition!

Nancy Boisvert Newsletter , , , , , , , , , ,
know your competition

How Do You Measure Up To Your Competitors?

Who do your clients and prospects prefer?

Let’s face it… a free-enterprise based economy provides the environment for a number of businesses to exist within the same industry. Take a look at fast food hamburger joints as just one example. There are multiple choices, yet all of them have carved out their niche.

As entrepreneurs and business owners, we should not fear competition. Competition is what makes us focus our business on our specific target market, and drives us to do better for them.

As consumers of product, we are all familiar with what happens when a monopoly exists; often, we end up with higher prices and substandard service. And although we may dream of cornering the market in our given business sector, competition is healthy and keeps us always working to provide the best customer service and to keep current with trends and improvements within our industries.

Reviewing and improving our businesses is key to ensuring our long-term growth and sustainability.  Reaching out to your clients and prospects is the best way to gauge how your business is viewed.

The following seven questions should help you determine how you measure up to your competitors:

1. If your clients and prospects are familiar with other businesses providing the same products or services as yours, which do they prefer?

2. What is it that makes them prefer one company over the other?

3. What company do they believe does the better job of explaining the product or service offerings in a clear, concise way?

4. Which company does a better job of convincing the client or prospect to convert?

5. What is it that people like or dislike about your top competitor’s newest product or service?

6. What would convince them to switch to your company?

7. What is it that you are doing that might convince your current customers to switch to one of your competitors?

Keep this list handy and refer to it often. Consider polling your clients on these questions at least once a year to ensure that you are continuing to provide the types of products and services that keeps them in engaged with your company.

Competition is not the enemy; becoming complacent in your business, is!

Until next time…

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

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

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