Social media tips for small businesses

Small businesses looking to take advantage of social media have been given some valuable advice by an online marketing expert.

Research by payment provider Sage Pay has found that customers visiting an online store through a social media site are ten times more likely to buy something than other users, once again highlighting the importance of services such as Facebook and Twitter.

According to Tania Jackson, managing director at Red Idea, small businesses are at an advantage when turning to social media and she had some advice for them.

She said: "You have to come across as informative, knowledgeable and full of expertise but also show a little bit of your personality, by talking about an office party for example, otherwise it’s just like another website full of information and no one wants that.

"You really have to look at the brand strategy as a whole, but if you get it right it will bring customers through the door."

A survey by Econsultancy and digital agency Guava recently demonstrated that 81 per cent of businesses now market themselves on Twitter, while 78 per cent use Facebook.

Social media tone 'crucial for marketers'

The tone of voice adopted by companies using social media helps determine how successful their marketing is through this channel, one expert has claimed.

Tania Jackson, managing director at Red Idea, said that small businesses must portray themselves as being specialists in their field if they wish to attract new custom online.

She commented: "You have to come across as informative, knowledgeable and full of expertise but also show a little bit of your personality.

"Otherwise it's just like another website full of information, and no one wants that."

Ms Jackson said the control exercised by small business marketers in particular should enable them to keep the tone of social media consistent, something larger organisations may struggle with.

"You really have to look at the brand strategy as a whole, but if you get it right it will bring customers through the door," she said.

Earlier this year, marketing industry expert Jon Maddison claimed that social media and email marketing benefit each other, and help create integrated advertising campaigns.

Written by Mark Hainsby
Link: http://ow.ly/27NCH

Search Engine Marketing and Optimisation

One of the best ways to attract potential customers to your website is to feature high in the free listings of search engines like Google. Because these 'organic' listings are not paid for and - to an extent - reflect your popularity, potential customers tend to trust them more.

You can improve your chances of appearing above your competitors in the free results through 'search engine optimisation' (SEO). If you combine this with pay per click advertising (PPC) on search engines, you will greatly boost the traffic to your site
- and increase your chances of making sales.


Your search engine marketing strategy

Search engines are one important source of website traffic for many businesses.
Alternatives can include promoting your website directly to existing customers (including using traditional offline marketing methods), or buying PPC advertising on websites your target customers are likely to visit.

If you expect your target customers to use search engines, consider the competition. You should be able to anticipate the keywords and phrases your potential customers will enter into a search engine and feature these on your site and in your pay per click campaign. If your competitors are using the same keywords, however, it might be difficult to get a high ranking.

You'll also need to decide how much you are prepared to spend on search engine marketing and what website traffic is worth to you.


Basic search engine marketing

For search engine marketing to work, search engines need to know of your site's existence. Search engine submission is a simple way of doing this, and is usually free for the major search engines.

But you will need to make sure that your website contains the right keywords and phrases. If it doesn't, your site will not appear on the results of a search using that keyword.

You should also make sure that online business directories, such as Yell.com and the Open Directory (http://www.dmoz.org/), are aware of your site. If you take out PPC adverts on a search engine, your site will appear on the first page of results even if many other websites are higher in the free search engine rankings.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

SEO involves using keywords and phrases intelligently on your website while generating good content that other sites are happy to link to. It will improve your ranking in the free listings on search engines.

Using the right keywords and phrases in prominent places (such as page titles and section headings) can boost your ranking for any search using those words. Links from relevant websites will increase your profile further - particularly if they are highly-ranked themselves. Encourage other sites to link to you; simply offering interesting content is generally seen as the best way to achieve this.

You'll probably have to keep testing and developing your approach to search engine marketing to keep yourself high up in the listings. Quick fixes like 'stuffing' your pages with keywords generally do not work: the search engine software will not be fooled.

Mistake-Proofing Your Start-Up Business

With so many people out of work during this recession, it should come as no surprise that many are thinking about starting their own businesses. And with so many jobs moving offshore, even people who are still employed might consider starting a business as a back-up plan. Even if you’re the owner of a successful start-up, the recession might have you worried. So how can long-standing business owners and first-time entrepreneurs survive these tough times? There’s an easy way to mistake-proof any business – all it takes is a little time using free online tools and search engine research with Google.

Mistake 1: Not Listening to the Voice of the Customer
Most entrepreneurs become enchanted with an idea and pursue it without thinking it through. They end up with a garage filled with unsalable merchandise and wonder what went wrong. Others open a store and name it something cute, like a hair salon named Curl Up And Dye. Or they start an Internet business but don’t bother to understand what customers really want. Why do they fail? The answer is simple; they didn’t understand the “voice of the customer.” Businesses large and small can collect and analyze the voice of the customer to understand what customers want and how to deliver it. Toyota uses this to design better cars, and you can use it to design a better product or service.

First, figure out where the crowds of customers are going and then get in front of the crowd. In the old days, this would involve lots of market research, focus groups and money. Today, these answers can be easily found on the Internet for free with Google’s key word tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

Let’s say you want to start a pet food bakery that makes healthy treats for dogs and cats. Just search Google’s keyword tool for “pet bakery” and “pet food.” You’ll quickly discover that there are over 500,000 searches a month for “pet food” but only 8,000 a month for “pet bakery.”

There are also 33,000 searches a month for “wellness pet food.” From this one might conclude that “pet food” is too broad and would have to compete with the big chains; “pet bakery” is too narrow; but “wellness pet food” might be just the niche to explore because these customers are probably willing to pay a premium.

Mistake 2: Not Speaking Your Customer's Language
As learned from Mistake 1, customer language can differ from our own. Based on the search terms above, it might be smarter to name your store “Wellness Pet Food” (customer language) instead of “Bow Wow Biscuits” (your language) because that’s what the crowd wants. Don't paraphrase (using healthy instead of wellness); use the customer's exact words. Then check domain name availability for “wellness-pet-food.com” or “wellness_pet_food.com.” If it's available, register it (try a site such as www.GoDaddy.com); if not, try adding other key words likely to attract customers such as your location.

Be aware that Google cannot identify compound words, so registering a site like “WellnessPetFood.com” won’t be as effective as “Wellness_Pet_Food.com.” Separate the words with a dash or underscore to improve the site’s search engine ranking.

This "get in front of the crowd" strategy also works for service businesses. Let’s say you are a hypnotherapist in Denver with “HypnoDenver.com” as your site. Many other hypnotherapists in town also have hypnosomething.com as their site name. What are prospects searching for? They don't want “hypnosis;” they want to “stop smoking” or “lose weight.” Domain names like “Stop-Smoking-Denver.com” and “Lose-Weight-Denver.com” would be a great start.

With more than 100 million Internet users in the U.S. and billions of Internet-capable cell phones, no business can afford to ignore the power of the web. Even if you don’t plan on having a Web site, you will want to own the domain name to prevent others from using it. And if the business succeeds locally, having the domain name will make it easy to expand into a regional, national or global Internet business.

Mistake 3: Not Making Your Product or Service Better, Faster and Cheaper
Too many entrepreneurs try to enter an already crowded market. Search the Internet for your product or service to find out how many competitors are out there. When searching for the key words, "pet food Denver," Google finds 726,000 results. "Wellness pet food Denver" yields 149,000 results. If Google reveals too many competitors, consider another line of business. If Google reveals no competitors, that can be just as bad. Someone, somewhere should be offering a similar product or service. If not, there are no customers.

“Pet food” for example, is crowded with low cost super chains. From the voice of the customer perspective, customers want you to be better, faster and cheaper than the competition. Are you more innovative? Do you provide better customer service? Are you more effective and efficient? When customers can't distinguish one business from another, they default to the familiar or low cost one. If you’re not sure what customers want in a particular product or service, start by asking your friends, family, neighbors, and even people on the street. Capture their responses. In general, are they saying:

• “I want better ________ (e.g., pet food).”
• “I want cheaper ________ (e.g., cell phone service).”
• “I want faster ___________ (e.g., healthcare, service, delivery, repair, etc.)

Then ask: “What is the competition offering (better, faster or cheaper)? What can we do differently?” If you can’t answer these questions, neither can your customers.


Mistake 4: Not Testing the Business Concept
Once Google has revealed what customers want (in their language, not yours) and you’ve identified a unique value proposition from the voice of the customer (better, faster or cheaper), it’s time to test the concept. For this, Google offers another powerful tool: Adwords (adwords.google.com). Google makes its money by putting ads around its search results. Many entrepreneurs use Adwords to test business and marketing concepts before they throw a lot of money at it.

Tim Ferriss, bestselling author of “The 4-Hour Workweek,” used Adwords to test various titles for his new book. He bought pay-per-click ads using various titles (Adwords will alternate them for you) and each ad took the Internet user to a different Web page about the book. Ferriss let the “wisdom of crowds” choose the best title for him.

All of this research might take a few weeks and a few hundred dollars, but it’s a lot cheaper than wasting your hard-earned money on a doomed startup.

Mistake 5: Not Bootstrapping the Business
Most people start looking for a "business loan" (3,350,000 Google searches) before they think about a "business plan" (1,500,000 searches). Entrepreneurs don’t always need a lot of money to get started. If Mrs. Robin Andrew's third grade class at Pelham Elementary School in Pelham NH can start The Bow Wow Biscuit Company (www.bowwowbiscuits.org), you can too.

If the business is a product, don't make 10,000 of them. Put up a Web site; bake a few in your kitchen and sell them online or give away free samples to test the response. Or make a prototype and get people to try it and provide feedback. Post-it™ notes are a classic example of this and look at how successful they are. When customers start clamoring to buy your products, then get money to do a production run.

If the business idea is a service, print some business cards (carefully crafted with the crowd's keywords and phrases) and pass them out at local business meetings.

This is how entrepreneurs bootstrap businesses that grow. It's also how they avoid sinking huge sums of money into bad ideas. This “crawl-walk-run” strategy works as well for new businesses as it does for new babies.

If the first business idea doesn't click, try another one. Walt Disney went bankrupt several times before succeeding … but then again, he didn't have Google. Good luck with your start-up!

Text by Jay Arthur, the KnowWare Man. Jay is author of "Double Your Profits: Plug the Leaks in Your Cash Flow." To plug the leaks in your cash flow, sign up for free Lean Six Sigma lessons online at: http://www.qimacros.com/freestuff.html

What is Digital Marketing?

What is Digital Marketing?

Wherever I go, people ask me: What is Digital Marketing?

My answer is simple and clear: Digital Marketing is a new and essential marketing tool for today's businesses. It is not about the hard sell, it is about engaging with your customers, understanding their needs and building relationships with them.

Why so much talk about social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked IN and others? Because these are part of the digital marketing mix.

In order to understand your customers, it is advantageous to listen and engage and in the digital age, there is no better way than through Social Media interaction. By doing so provides a key new opportunity for business to research their target market, through both personalised engagement, and to enable the measurement of success of this interaction through quantification techniques, for example through real time numeric data on who has read and/or visited your site.

So why doesn't every business seek to utilise such a useful tool? Is it too complex? Too time consuming?

No. That is where we, at Red Idea, can help you.

But what to do?

Should I blog? Should I send a newsletter? Should I set RSS?

Yes, you should if you have something to say, and want your message to be out there. If you know your market and know your clientele, you will add value to your customer community by sharing knowledge and becoming recognised as THE specialist in your business sector.

How should I go about embedding this in my marketing strategy?

This is only a brief introduction to digital marketing. In developing a digital marketing strategy, full utilisation of the range of digital media should be considered, including the internet, television, radio and mobile platforms. Commentators agree that these technological developments and opportunities are key in driving business growth in today's marketplace.

Save both time and money by employing us to advise, guide, and set up the necessary tools for you to fully benefit from our expertise in designing and implementing digital marketing strategy.

If you have more questions, we are here at Red idea to help you.

Pitch your business in minutes

Potential investors and customers don't have time for lengthy presentations - they want to know what you're offering, fast. Pitching your business in a snappy, confident way can be the difference between a sale and a snub.

1. Be confident: confidence makes it easier for people to believe in you. Smile, make eye contact, use relaxed gestures and be enthusiastic without being over the top.

2. Practice your pitch in front of the mirror, family, friends, colleagues and anyone who will listen. Take note of their feedback.

3. Keep it brief: listeners lose interest in long presentations. Give them the essentials and invite further questions after your pitch.

4. Vary your pitch according to your audience: investors will be interested in how you plan to make money, customers will be more concerned with the benefits to them.

5. Clarify your unique selling proposition: your audience needs to understand why your business is different from others in your sector. When you introduce yourself, say what makes you special.

6. Focus on your solution: what are you proposing with your pitch? What problem will you solve? Why should they invest or buy from you?

7. Stick to headline points: outline your key messages swiftly and avoid lengthy explanations. You can fill in the detail later.
8. Simplify: make your product accessible by describing it in layman's terms. Don't use technical terminology unless your audience has specialist knowledge.

9. Show awareness of your market and acknowledge competitors. Demonstrate that you know what they're up to and how your offer compares.

10. Invite questions: after your initial pitch, invite questions from your audience. Be prepared to prompt them by asking some of your own - about their needs in particular.

11. Anticipate: knowing your audience will enable you to have ready answers to hand to likely questions.

12. Listen: listen to what they have to say and answer their questions clearly and calmly. Don't be defensive if you feel you are being quizzed or pretend to know what you don't - if you don't have an answer, admit you don't know and offer to find out.

13. Thank your audience for their time and hand out business cards and marketing material. Invite your audience to contact you if they think of something else they want to know or if they would like to meet you again.

14. Make notes afterwards and learn for next time: what worked well? What didn't? What questions were asked? Be prepared to adapt or even completely change your pitch in order to make it work better each time you deliver it.

Cardinal rules

Do:

* show confidence in yourself and in your business
* encourage a two-way dialogue
* be brief, clear and to the point
* differentiate your business

Don't:

* be aggressive or pushy
* use industry jargon
* talk over people
* get defensive under questioning

Distribution and Channel Strategy

A good distribution strategy will identify the best sales channels for your firm and tell you how to exploit them. It can open up new opportunities, fuel growth and dramatically boost your takings and profits.

Your distribution channel requirements

If you sell food, the chances are you sell it face to face, either through a shop or delivery service. Customers want perishable goods quickly and they usually want to see what they're getting.

But selling face to face can be expensive and it might not be the most efficient or profitable way to reach your customers. If you sell software, for instance, you probably sell via online downloads.

Many firms find it more cost-effective to sell through other companies rather than direct to the end-user. A stapler manufacturer will probably sell through an office supplies wholesaler rather than individual stationery retailers. Even service providers use partnering strategies - a carpet-fitter working alongside a carpet retailer, for example.

Your choice of sales channel will also be influenced by what you want it to do. You might need a channel that showcases your product, for instance, or provides installation and customer support. If you want to build relationships with end-users, you'll need a sales channel that gives you direct control.
Distribution strategy preferences

The right distribution strategy will fuel your business growth. Working with sales agents and companies with established customers, for example, is an excellent way to expand into new markets where the cost would otherwise limit your ability to reach customers.

The degree of control you want to retain is important, too. By working with a sales agent you can control your pricing and perhaps establish a direct relationship with the customer. If branding matters to you, work closely with a small number of distributors rather than selling through too many different intermediaries. The same selective approach applies if you need to invest in your distribution channels - by giving sales agents product training, for example.

Distribution channel management

An effective distribution strategy will enable you to use your sales channels effectively and maximise profits. Focusing on a small number of sales channels lets you invest in each one and build strong relationships with key intermediaries.

A strategic approach to distribution will also identify conflicts and minimise them. For example, if you sell your product directly online and through other offline retailers, you will find yourself in competition with your own distributors.