Tag: small business marketing

DoesYour Business Stand Out From The Crowd?

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reputation marketing online

You need to stand out from the crowd!

SEO is a great marketing tool. Social Media is a great marketing tool as well. You have Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc. at your disposal.

Many businesses fill their feeds with discussions about how reliable and celebrated their products or services are. Many have the persuasive copy needed to convince people to buy from them.

All of these tactics are good. Nonetheless, self-promotion alone is not enough to make yourself known to your target market. This is where Reputation Marketing comes into play.

Reputation marketing is about building a positive online reputation, which allows you to use that stellar reputation to gain the trust of your target customers.

With reputation marketing, you now have more authentic content. Content that draws people’s attention to how reputable your business is!

As your customer is contemplating their next purchase, they go through a process to decide if they want to buy. Some of these stages include Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action. For some, this process is instantaneous, and for some, it could take months. Your reputation and reviews can help them jump into action!

Use reputation marketing and validate your potential customer’s decision to buy from you!

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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Rising to the Occasion with a Clear Digital Marketing Plan

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digital marketing strategy reasons

Do you have a clear digital marketing plan?

How much time a day do you spend with technology? According to CNN, the average American spends 10 hours a day in front of some kind of screen. With eight hours of sleep time, that means that more than 60 percent of your waking hours are spent in front of a TV, phone, or computer.

What does that mean for your customers? The best way to reach them is by embracing digital marketing. Most businesses have some conglomeration of tactics to create an online presence, but without a clear strategy, your presence can turn into random pieces of digital mess that does not contribute to converting customers.

We can help prevent that and help utilize this tool to reach your bigger business goals. A holistic approach means you never have to worry about some tactics going astray.

Still not sure if a digital marketing plan is for you? Well, here’s the best words anyone can hear when talking about business expenditures.

A digital marketing plan for your company can help increase your return on investment. It does this by improving your visibility to potential customers and increasing your sales.

Convinced you need to create your digital marketing strategy?

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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10 Ways to Promote Your Business with Social Media

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promote your brand using social media

Promote your brand using social media.

Are you putting social media to work effectively?

Follow these 10 strategies to reach social media success!

1. Choose the Right Platforms

Every business is different. Make sure you consider both your customers and your business. Find out what social media sites your audience uses most, and think about which sites are the best fit for your products, too.

2. Create Unique Content for Each Platform

Your customers use different social media sites for various reasons and purposes. Make sure you’re crafting content that reflects the strengths of each platform.

3. Create a Social Media Calendar

Get organized by creating social media calendars to help you post consistently and effectively.

4. Optimize Post Times & Frequency

For that calendar, make sure you incorporate the best times to post on each site and the optimal frequency of posts.

5. Encourage Engagement

Make sure your social media is social! Interactive posts will encourage your customers to engage with you.

6. Target Your Social Media Outreach Expertly

Go for quality over quantity with your outreach: utilize your business advocates, peers, and “big fish” influencers to your advantage.

7. Avoid Over-Promote Your Brand

Don’t give in to the temptation to directly promote yourself every time. Some experts recommend the 1-in-7 rule: for every 1 openly promotional post, make 6 content posts.

8. Share Video

Visual content, especially video, is a proven attention-grabber.

9. Build a Community Around Your Brand

Another common pitfall is trying to get the most followers possible. Instead, we recommend you focus on cultivating a loyal, engaged customer base.

10. Provide Value to Your Followers

To keep them engaged, give your customers something useful, whether you entertain or inform them. This will help you gain followers and spread your content to a wider consumer base.

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.

5 Reasons You Should Be Using Remarketing

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remarketing

Do you know what remarketing is?

Remarketing is a type of online advertising that allows you to recapture the interest of a customer who has previously visited your website.

After someone visits your website, remarketing allows you to follow them around as they continue to browse and then position your ads right in front of them! That’s a very effective marketing technique!

Five Benefits of Remarketing:

1. It provides a high return on investment. Costs for remarketing have reduced considerably in the last few years.
2. It is a very efficient and cost-effective method for small businesses with a tighter budget.
3. It continually reinforces your service or product to a likely buyer you know is interested.
4. It is a brand awareness tool as it keeps your brand in front of a potential buyer’s mind.
5. You can measure the effectiveness of your remarketing, so there are no surprises. You will receive reports on how your campaigns are performing, where your ads are popping up and what price you are paying.

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.

9 Tips To Improve Your Web Design

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improve your web design

Try these nine tips to improve your web design.

What makes an effective web design?

Is it the visual elements, or is it the functionality?

Truth be told it is a combination of both. As Steve Jobs once said, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

Websites with great usability and function tend to perform better on Google than those just with beautiful design. We want to show you 10 ways to improve your existing website to ensure you are getting the most bang for your buck.

Purpose and Function

An exceptional website has a clear purpose, and the function is evident and intuitive. The design of every element and how they come together as a whole should be derived from the purpose and function of the website.

Communication and Interaction

Internet users want information quickly. To ensure you are providing lightning-fast information, you should be clear and concise, using headlines, and subtitles to provide valuable information. Links to the email address or contact form, live chat, and feedback form should also be easily accessible.

Intuitive Navigation

Navigation is a core element in which your website is built upon. The navigation should make sense to your visitors whatever path they wish to take. Navigating from point A to C based on the customer’s journey should flow smoothly without any barriers or friction. Ensure your customers can find the information they are looking for within 3 clicks or less.

Design Consistency

Each design element should match throughout the entire website. This means your headlines, colors, and so forth should all have the same look and feel. Take the time to plan out every detail to ensure your message is consistent throughout.

F-Pattern design & Grid-Based Layout

Ensure your page elements are arranged in a way that is natural for the eye. Studies have shown that people view pages in an “F” shaped pattern. Arrange your content based on a grid to create content that is both aligned and balanced.

Typography and Readability

The text is one of the most vital elements to a website, providing users with necessary information, and providing content for SEO. Create visually engaging type by using attractive and readable typefaces.

Color palette and imagery

Use a well thought out color pallet to enhance your user’s experience. Use contrasting colors for the background and text, while implementing vibrant colors for buttons and headlines to draw the user’s attention.

Mobile-friendliness

The number of devices that users are viewing websites from has increased dramatically over the past few years. Ensure your website is built with a responsive layout.

Loading speed

Take the time to ensure your website is loading at lightning speed. User’s hate when it takes more than just a few seconds to load a page.

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 To Create Optimal Content and Customer Experience

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create optimal content

Here’s how to create optimal content.

On the internet, standing out poses a challenge, and at the same time, the best opportunity for creativity and bringing some attention to your site. Adding the extra “WOW” to your content will pique a customer’s’ curiosity, build their interest, and over the course of a few transactions, earn their loyalty.

This is achieved through web content that goes far beyond ordinary but without all of the sensory overload. Each aspect of your site should have its own purpose—from the background to the logo to the informative blog. Every part is a solid brick in the foundation of your establishment’s site.

Here are some possible “add-ons” to consider to make your site stand out:

– Demo/explainer videos
– Client testimonials
– A page for reviews
– Informational text that actually informs—as opposed to simply luring the client
– Interactive questionnaire
– Easy-to-follow graphics
– A healthy combination and balance of “all-the-above”
– The compelling story of your business began and most importantly, where it’s going

And don’t forget a user-friendly “contact us” page or even an option for a live Chat with a knowledgeable representative from your company? You’re only limited to your own and your team’s imagination.

So the time has come to set that staff meeting and do a plus/delta on your site’s current features. What’s working and drawing in an audience, and what’s not working? What is the purpose of each and every feature of your site? What are some viable changes that can be made? Who is your target audience? How can you make your site not only engaging but also user-friendly?

As you can tell, some guidance from an experienced digital marketing consultant should come in handy. You are the experts in your product or service; so allow some room for the marketing experts to help.

Essential Questions to ask about Customer Experience

User experience with your site can make or break your business. Think about it. A slow interface, a shopping cart that’s difficult to navigate, or even one small glitch can drive traffic away and steer potential customers toward the next result that showed up on the list of search results. So how do you keep this from happening?

Working with a knowledgeable and experienced team of designers and developers can make quite a difference in creating the best customer experience possible. When searching for such a team, you might need to keep a few ideas in mind such as;

– Can they reduce my site’s loading time?
– Can they create engaging content that includes images?
– Can they strike a balance between SEO and treating my audience like “real people”?
– Can they build a user-friendly check-out?
– Can they build a user-friendly customer service Chat and/or Email page?

Looking at these many aspects related to a customer’s experience is vital.

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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Local Business Alert! Local Search Results Will Give More Results

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get found on local search

Can you be found in local search?

On-the-go mobile users who are near you and who are searching for a product or service on Google at this very moment should find your business. But are they?

Are you visible in Google’s ‘Local Pack’ and expanded results?

Increased foot traffic, phone calls, or visits to your website should mean more customers for local business owners like you. That is why optimizing for local search results should be important.

Businesses listed in the Local Pack vary from the searcher’s location. If you are nearest to the searcher at the time of the search, then your business listing should appear there.

However, being closest to a potential customer searching isn’t a guarantee that you will come up in the search results. Your listing and your website must be optimized for local search.

Here are some of the important ranking factors based on a study by Moz:

Google My Business Listing Signals
Link Signals
On-page Signals
Citation Signals
Review Signals
Behavioral Signals
Personalization
Social Signals

https://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors

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.

Promote Your Business in 140 Characters or Less Using These 12 Tips

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280 characters or less

Or should we say, 280 characters or less?

Over 2 billion people in the world are connected through social media, with 20% of the world’s internet users having an active Twitter account.

Twitter is a great platform to boost your business.

Here are 12 ways to get started in promoting your business on Twitter today!

1. Implement Twitter Cards
You want every tweet to be unique and attractive, Twitter cards are a great way to do this!

2. Build Your Twitter Followers
If your Twitter followers are engaged and well targeted, increasing their number can benefit your business.

3. Identify Influencers and Engage with Them
When you engage with influencers — you’re creating the opportunity to gain more followers, more engagement, and more traffic to your website.

4. Use Twitter Lists to Manage Your Contacts
As you follow and connect with higher numbers of people, you need to organize them by categories.

5. Use Twitter Ads to Grow Your Email List
Use Twitter ads for lead generation by directing them to sign-up to your email list.

6. Use the Right Hashtags
Be careful with the hashtags you choose. It may seem that cramming as many as possible is the way to go, but studies show that posts with 1 – 2 hashtags have higher engagement than those with 3 or more.

7. Research Your Competitors’ Audiences
Find out who your competitors are interacting with.

8. Monitor Twitter for Keyword Mentions
Use tools that let users set up search columns so any mention of a particular word or phrase is immediately highlighted.

9. Setup UTM Tracking
UTM tracking adds additional info to links you share in order to track where people clicked on them and what happened after they clicked.

10. Use Your Pinned Tweet
Twitter allows you to pin one tweet at the top of your timeline. When anybody looks at their profile, they see that tweet first.

11. Use Great Headlines
Create clever headlines that stand out.

12. Use Twitter Analytics to Analyze and Optimize
Twitter Analytics let you see how many views and how much engagement your tweets get.

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.

Boom Your Business And Beat Bigger Brands

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compete with bigger businesses

Are you a Small Local Business?

Size doesn’t matter when you are offering bigger value and personalized services. What you need is to create more visibility online for the people who are looking for what you provide.

What are the advantages of being a small, local business that will enable you to compete with bigger businesses?

Here’s a short list:

Technology Tools

In no other time has technology made it easier for us to do business, communicate, promote, and expand our businesses on such a far-reaching scale. The Web, SEO, and Social Media Marketing allow us to market our businesses in the same way that bigger brands do.

Flexibility with Changing Conditions

Small business owners have way more flexibility to make immediate and necessary changes that are essential to dealing with changing local market conditions. For big businesses, recommendations go through many levels bureaucracy before decisions are made at the top. Execution suffers the same delays down to the personnel on the ground.

Personalized Customer Service

You have the opportunity to deliver personalized, unexpected and exceptional customer service.

How does it feel when you are served by the owner of a restaurant that you often dine at, and get asked if the food is good and what can they do to improve their menu?

There is something very warm and fuzzy feeling about local interactions for both owners and customers.

Access to Digital Marketing Expertise

There are no longer barriers to accessing digital marketing expertise when you can hire an expert by the hour to oversee your marketing strategy and activities.

Contact us if you want to seize the opportunities that digital marketing can offer and reclaim your domination in your own territory.

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.

Important Design Elements That Every Website Should Have

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Important Design Elements That Every Website Should Have

Every website can benefit from these important design elements.

There has been a lot of testing and research done over the past couple of years, and it’s no surprise that more people are using mobile devices to find products or services. The one thing that may or may not come as a surprise is that many businesses haven’t adapted to these changes, or even tested their website. Prioritizing user experience should be the first thing you or your website designer should do.

Any website needs to have design elements that make the website easily seen, and also make it easy to navigate should be on the top of this list. Many websites are starting to get rid of images because they take too long for mobile devices to load, if too many are used. However, if you do use images, they should be scaled down, and the images should use text, such as a card menu seen on Microsoft homepage. This one easy design element shows people what they are looking for quickly, and describes it easily.

And if you’re doing to use video or animation, then fast-loading cinemagraphs are the way to go for mobile devices. These small half-photo, half-animated clips, are quite popular, and load quickly. Make sure that your copy is relevant to the visitor quickly depending on their query, and what got them to your website in the first place. Give a quick big picture of what your site is all about, and what you offer the minute the customer gets there. Realize they may be on a mobile device, and test it, or have your website designer continually test and improve the experience.

Make your site easy to navigate, create different designs for the different sections, but use a consistent theme. Use eye-catching transitions from section to section to keep the user interested. And make sure the font for your copy can be easily seen. Visitors still do the quick scan, so if they quickly scan, make sure you grab their attention quickly. Use custom visual and iconography, or images and symbols, that tells your brand story and shows some personality of who and what your business is about.

All of these design trends are based on statistics. And with the statistics comes the realization that effective website design that makes life easier for users when they visit your site, should be the main goal of you and your website designer. Your competitors are optimizing their websites, if you don’t optimize your site, then you will be left behind.

If you would like to learn more about optimizing and using the latest design trends to improve customer experience, contact us today. We will be happy to help you deliver a great user experience.

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.

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