Guest Article Marketing your own business can be time consuming and costly. As a business owner you have limited time with often a tight budget. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to execute a marketing plan. Below are seven low-cost ways to market your company without forfeiting quality.
The three main social platforms you can use to promote your social media for free are Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. All you need to get started is a solid social media plan, content writing skills, and/or video making skills. However, you can always use your staff or interns for this if they have a higher skillset. Just remember, quality content counts. A single post on your social media profiles can make the difference between hundreds of clicks, comments, and shares versus none.
Writing blog posts or press releases that interest your customers is another great way to promote your business online. Plus, the more attention your articles get, the more traffic it can drive back to your website and advertise your company. If you’re a real estate company, you can write anything from securing home loans to finding the perfect home in your area. Remember, the more specific you make the topic of the article, the more it can market your company. You should also include a short blurb about you and your business with your article to allow potential customers to know how to find you.
Word of mouth is still the most popular marketing tools used for business, large and small. Creating your company’s own referral program is a great way to reward customers and get them talking about how professional your business is. Plus, you don’t have to spend a lot for customer rewards. You’ll be surprised how excited people get for small discounts, free t-shirts, or even movie passes.
Sending out weekly or monthly emails to your valued customers is a great way to market new products or simply tell your consumers how much they mean to your company. Plus, offering special deals in return for reading the email is a great way to reward your customers. However, make sure that you are providing helpful content to your readers. You don’t want to message your customer too much do that they unsubscribe from your list. The last thing they want is to feel pressured into buying a product or be bombarded with irrelevant news from your company. Make sure to keep it as light and interesting as you can.
Using branded promotional products is a great way to boost brand awareness and ensure potential clients remember your business. Give them away for free to potential customers and clients or use them to draw a crowd at business conferences. Whenever they see the product, they will remember your company and what you do. You can remain in the forefront of their mind when looking for or recommending a company like yours, which will surely increase sales.
When using cross-promotion, also known as buddy marketing, you create an agreement with another business to promote each other. For example, you may agree to post an ad for the other company in your email newsletter if they agree to do the same. This is a fantastic way to spread the reach of your business and reach an entirely new audience. It might be in your best interest to seek out companies in the same industry, though not ones that offer the same sort of product. This way, you can run joint promotions. For example, if you teach art classes, you can cross promote with an art supply store and run a contest together. This is less expensive than running a promotion on your own and will require less effort on your part since you will be sharing responsibility and the cost.
Every document you send out, both physical and digital, should be branded with your logo and pertinent company information. Yes, this is for more than just your business cards. Every document that you send out should contain your company name, logo, website, and contact information. You can even add your slogan onto your documents to be even more memorable. This info should be placed in the letterhead on digital and physical correspondences. You should also update your email signature to contain this information, too. You can even add links to your company’s social media profiles so your clients can connect with you there, too. Be sure to take every promotional opportunity given to you. About the author: Ryan Bridges is a contributing writer for Alamo Tees & Advertising. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family and running. The post 7 Low-Cost Ways to Market Your Company appeared first on Succeed As Your Own Boss. from http://succeedasyourownboss.com/7-low-cost-ways-market-company/
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If you pay attention, you’ll notice a quiet revolution happening in the world of marketing. Mobile is quickly becoming the go-to channel for a variety of strategies designed to reach your customer. If you’re not using mobile yet, you will soon be. Here are 7 trends to take notice of to start developing a strategy to add mobile to your marketing mix in 2018.
It’s been predicted that in 2018, people will spend about 36 minutes watching videos on their mobile devices, where they’ll spend just 18.5 minutes on non-mobile devices. That’s reason alone to invest in mobile video content and mobile advertising for your brand. With different formats for mobile video ads, there are a variety of ways to engage with your audience, as well as get them to click to your website from the device that has their attention throughout the day. Remember less is more, keep videos under two-minutes to gain traction.
This is far beyond having a responsive website. It’s a given that your website design will adapt based on the device it’s being viewed on. Mobile SEO is about how your mobile website focuses on core ranking, indexing and leveraging mobile keywords. Keys to success are the following:
Also know that in 2018, Google will rank search results based on the mobile friendliness of websites too, so if you’re planning on updating your site keep mobile top of mind.
You may have optimized your website for desktop searches, but you’ll need to take another gander to make sure it’s mobile friendly in terms of search, too. Because so many searches for local businesses happens on mobile devices with intent to buy, it’s imperative that your website content uses keywords to attract local customers. Consider long-tail keywords, that include the neighborhood your business is located in within those keywords. Also know that voice search is huge with mobile, so people are searching differently. Rather than typing in “restaurant best steak Philadelphia,” a user might voice search with Siri, Amazon Echo or Google Home “What’s the best place to get a cheesesteak in Philly?” Knowing this, you can use these semantic search phrases in your SEO to better reach your mobile audience.
Mobile apps have been all the rage for years, and they’re not going anywhere. While not every business needs to invest in the expense of designing an app, they can be beneficial for many industries including restaurants, lifestyle bloggers, fashion, art, health and fitness, and of course productivity/software businesses. But your app better be worth it. People aren’t willing to give up precious data to a hog app that runs in the background. Before diving in, ask yourself what your purpose is in building an app. How will it better serve your customers? Are you prepared to invest in marketing the app to boost users? What’s your end goal? Having a mobile app strategy will help you be successful in this endeavor.
You may be focusing on creating great content on your blog, but you need great mobile friendly content too. Why? Because Google now searches apps for content and shows it in search results. Having valuable and up-to-date content in your mobile app may help you attract more app users and customers simply because Google will acknowledge it, so divert some of your content marketing efforts to that mobile app.
Whether you want to boost use of your mobile apps, get people to redeem mobile coupons, or have users share your content on social media, mobile gamification can help. People like challenges. Imagine a marketing campaign where you enter anyone who opens your app every day for two weeks into a drawing for a vacation. Or giving a coupon to anyone who shares your content on Facebook. By requiring people to make tiny efforts, you can have a huge impact on your mobile marketing.
Mobile pay-per-click ads can help you connect with the millions of smartphone users who are searching on their phones for businesses — especially local ones. Beyond mobile video ads (which should be no more than :15-:20 seconds) are growing in popularity. There’s growing interest in Google shopping ads which are pay-per-click ads that allows you to show up in Google search results even if your target is blocking ads. Facebook ads, are now mobile friendly, and can help you boost engagement of your Facebook page through mobile use. With over two-thirds of Facebook traffic being mobile, there is far more available inventory to optimize. There are other mobile ad options to consider, like banner ads, retargeting ads, display ads within app content or on mobile websites. The key is: go mobile with your ads, because that’s where your audience is. If you truly care about reaching your target audience, don’t ignore mobile. Instead, choose one or more of these up-and-coming mobile marketing trends and see how they affect your bottom line. You may just find mobile to be the next marketing boost for your business. The post 7 Mobile Marketing Trends for 2018 appeared first on Succeed As Your Own Boss. from http://succeedasyourownboss.com/7-mobile-marketing-trends-2018/ Learning how to properly bill time can be a tricky concept to master. In this guide, we uncover the 10 best free time tracking software options that can ensure accurate billing to your customers, or accurate payment to employees/contractors who have performed the work. Here is our list of the 10 best free time tracking… The post 10 Free Time Tracking Software Options For Entrepreneurs appeared first on . from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/free-time-tracking-software/ A secured business credit card is backed by a deposit and acts like a normal business credit card. Business owners with poor credit or limited credit will find it easier to qualify for a secured credit card when compared to an ordinary business credit card. Secured business cards can help you establish business and personal… The post Best Secured Business Credit Card for 2018 appeared first on . from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/best-secured-business-credit-card/ Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9 pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Dianna Geairn is the Irreverent Sales Girl and is known as the champion of the salesperson who goes out every day to make something happen for themselves, their families, and their clients. For more information: www.isalesgirl.com. SmallBizLady: FOR THOSE SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS WHO DON’T KNOW, WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY PROSPECTING? Dianna Geairn: Prospecting simply refers to the act of reaching out to people who could become customers and do business with you. Some people do it by attending networking events, some by email campaigns, some by telephone, some through social media, and others by direct mail. Prospecting means any activity you do to keep a steady stream of new revenue coming in the door. SmallBizLady: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS TO HAVE A PROSPECTING PLAN? Dianna Geairn: I find that far too many small businesses suffer from the “feast & famine” syndrome. One-minute business is booming and the next they are desperately trying to find new customers or new streams of revenue. Effective prospecting plan helps to Avoid Feast and Famine Syndrome by helping them to: 1) Minimize Risk of Losing a Client, 2) Consistently Grow Revenue and 3) Uncover new revenue streams revenue that might have not considered. SmallBizLady: WHAT ABOUT BUSINESSES THAT SELL ITEMS ON-LINE? HOW DOES PROSPECTING FIT INTO THEIR MODEL? Dianna Geairn: Even businesses who drive most of their purchases from marketing activities (like eCommerce businesses) need to constantly grow their network and find new partnership opportunities – even if they never act on them. Selling products online? Speak with large retailers to sell your product thru their channels to prevent losing business. Explore affiliates who could be promoting your products to highlight your company, product, and expose you to new audiences. Prospecting is about creating new opportunities to do business in expanded ways. Get creative! SmallBizLady: ALMOST NO ONE I KNOW LIKES PROSPECTING? HOW CAN SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS MOTIVATE THEMSELVES TO PROSPECT? Dianna Geairn: Most business owners don’t like to prospect because they feel uncomfortable intruding on someone’s day and asking them for something they may not want to give. I get that. Business owners need to remember the difference their products and services make for their super-happy customers. Remember that YOUR PROSPECTS ARE COUNTING ON YOU TO FIND THEM. They don’t know you’re there and need what you offer. Make it your mission to find those people! They will love you for it. SmallBizLady: WHY DO PEOPLE HATE TO PROSPECT? Dianna Geairn: Prospecting is hard. I’m not gonna lie. Not every connection you make is going to want to do business with you and that can feel like rejection. It’s not – but it can feel like it. It’s vulnerable. But, mostly people don’t like to prospect because they don’t know 1) What to say 2) Who to say it to & 3) When to say it. A good prospecting plan helps with all three of these items. SmallBizLady: HOW DO THEY FIGURE OUT WHAT TO SAY? Dianna Geairn: People need to consider three things when they are figuring out what to say. 1 – They need a “trigger event” – or a reason to reach out. 2 – They need a low-risk offer that is easy to say “yes” to. And, 3 – they need to understand their Value Proposition. Figuring out what to say is the most important thing – everything else flows from there. SmallBizLady: LET’S START WITH THE TRIGGER EVENT – WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT? Dianna Geairn: To find the trigger event – ask yourself “What is happening in THEIR world that would cause them to make a change?” It’s easiest when you think about your current customers. What happened suddenly to make your offer important to them? A mom didn’t need a stroller until she found out there was a baby on the way. When she did find out – she became an ideal person to target – if you’re a baby stroller company. SmallBizLady: THAT MAKES SENSE – WHEN THEY’VE FIGURED THAT OUT – WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THE “OFFER” AND THE “VALUE PROPOSITION” Dianna Geairn: Sure. Rarely do people buy on the very first contact. Prospecting is about opening the door for a conversation. So figure out a low-risk offer that makes it easy for them. A8b It could be meeting for a coffee, or taking a short survey, or a free (short) consultation. Always be ready to share How Your Customers Are Better Off Because They Did Business With You. That’s your value proposition. SmallBizLady: NOW THAT THEY KNOW WHAT TO SAY – WHO SHOULD THEY SAY IT TO? Dianna Geairn: This is where you want to create a list of people you want to reach out to. You will NEVER be reliable to reach out to one person and then figure out who the next person will be. It takes too much mental energy. Figure it out all at once and then start working on your list. SmallBizLady: HOW CAN PEOPLE BUILD THAT LIST? Dianna Geairn: There are free ways & ways that cost a bit of money. The best place to start is w/current & past customers/partners. Reach out to them with the intent to re-connect and see how they’re doing. Find ways they can expand their business with you or ready to do biz again. Create a list of 100 people in your network. They don’t have to be directly related to your business. Just reach out to them and let them know what you’re up to – opportunities often arise from these casual conversations. Get creative – a million ways to get in front of your ideal customers, think about what they need, and where to find them! SmallBizLady: NOW THAT I HAVE A LIST – WHEN SHOULD I REACH OUT TO THEM? Dianna Geairn: Put your plan together. To be effective, you must be consistent. I find that people are reliable to do one of 3 things.
Figure out what type of person YOU are & make a promise to yourself about time, number of hours, and activities you will do. SmallBizLady: ANY OTHER IDEAS FOR STARTING A PROSPECTING PLAN THAT WILL REALLY WORK? Dianna Geairn: Yes. Get an accountability partner. Someone else who needs help sticking to a plan – any plan. Pick someone who will not let you off the hook and who you feel comfortable calling them out when they’re not keeping to the plan. If you miss a week – or you need to tweak the plan – don’t worry. Just get back on track ASAP. You’ve got this! If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9 pm ET; follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter. Here’s how to participate in #SmallBizChat: http://bit.ly/1hZeIlz The post How to Prospect for your Small Business appeared first on Succeed As Your Own Boss. from http://succeedasyourownboss.com/how-to-prospect-for-your-small-business/ While ecommerce growth looks rosy, small online retailers know that making a sale is not always easy. Even if you can get consumers interested enough to visit your website, you have to prevent shopping cart abandonment in order to grow your business. In this article, we explore the reasons why shoppers abandon their carts plus… The post 15 Shopping Cart Abandonment Statistics That You Should Know appeared first on . from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/shopping-cart-abandonment-statistics/ A loan backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) can be the least expensive way to get capital for many small businesses. They typically offer small businesses lower interest rates and longer terms than other financing options. Our SBA loan calculator will help you see just how affordable your SBA loan can be for… The post SBA Business Loan Calculator appeared first on . from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/sba-loan-calculator/ Commercial real estate loan rates remain at near all time lows, making now a great time for small business owners to purchase or refinance commercial property. A variety of different lenders make commercial real estate loans. This article covers how commercial real estate loan rates work and the interest rates that different types of lenders… The post Commercial Real Estate Loan Rates appeared first on . from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/commercial-real-estate-loan-rates/ There are three primary types of SBA loans: SBA 7A Loans, SBA Express Loans, and CDC/504 Loans. SBA 7A loans and SBA Express loans can be used for a wide variety of purposes, including growth capital and refinancing. CDC/504 loans, on the other hand, are specifically for the purchase of fixed assets like real estate… The post SBA Loan Rates – Current Interest Rates and How They Work appeared first on . from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/sba-loan-rates/ Welcome to the Fit Small Business QuickBooks Online training course! In this lesson, we’re going to cover how to reconcile bank and credit card accounts in QuickBooks Online. You can follow along on your own QuickBooks Online account. If you don’t have one already, click here to sign up for a free 30-day trial and… The post How to Process Bank Reconciliation in QuickBooks appeared first on . from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/bank-reconciliation-quickbooks-online/ |
AuthorHello I am Teri Crawford 26 years old living in Toronto, Canada. I have recently finished my MBA and planning to start my own business. Archives
November 2018
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