Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’
5 Social Media ‘No Nos’
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Social Media on February 2nd, 2012
When social media is done right it can add tremendous value and voice to your clients’ marketing plan. Unfortunately, there are still so many businesses that are missing the mark and solely using it as an extension of their brochure or sales pitch.
Here are five big mistakes still being made when businesses do social:
1. Being generic
Your posts need personality and your engagement. This doesn’t mean you should air all your dirty laundry, be negative, or relay a play-by-play narrative of your day’s events. It’s more about being human, and not appearing to be an automated robot churning out posts.
It also means you should avoid sending the same content all the time over all your networks. Think about your audience and the networks they frequent and tailor your message to them. This demonstrates that when you reach out to people, the interaction is directed to them.
2. Not writing for your audience
It’s fun to share things that interest you, but keep in mind, that if you want to attract the attention of prospects and others, you need to share information and updates that you know will be of interest to them. This is one of the major misunderstandings of social media. It’s not about you!
3. Not interacting enough
It’s so important to maintain a good level of engagement with your connections, as well as responding to what people are saying, asking, and commenting on. Showing that you care will demonstrate to others that you take your connections seriously and strengthen your network as a result. So many still treat social media as a broadcast platform. Which brings us to number 4…
4. Using the space for advertising
You will destroy your network in a flash by constantly promoting your services and products. Social media is a platform for building, expanding and maintaining relationships, so directly selling to people will distance you from them. Keep any ‘selling’ to about 10% and the rest to 90%.
5. Not listening
Listening is vital to any relationship, and social media is just that. It is not a one-way system, so be aware of what people in your network and potential network are saying. Tune into their needs, feedback, and struggles. While many companies fear any negative comments about their business, it’s essential to monitor your social voice and address any concerns as they happen so you can circumvent any long-term affects.
What about you? What particularly irritates you about companies that don’t quite get social right? Let us know by commenting below or posting it on our Facebook page!
What Are Your Advertising Resolutions?
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Social Media on January 5th, 2012
With the cusp of a New Year upon us, it’s common for us to start to plan resolutions in our personal life. Perhaps you want to lose weight, get in better shape, or stop smoking. But what about your advertising methods? Couldn’t they use a little resolution list as well?
Will you use video this year?
Video is a great way to reach customers, yet fear often stops people from utilizing it to its fullest potential.
With the latest changes to the YouTube homepage, the experience is more of a social feed now, which gives marketers a powerful opportunity to enhance their brand exposure.
Rich media, in conjunction with video, is now more effective than simple Flash. When considering rich media campaigns, also think about including video to increase intent.
Will you start to mix social media with your display advertising?
Making display ads social increases the conversation with your customers, which is the top goal for all new media.
Do you try making your social media pages a primary destination rather than the website? How about setting up banner ads for interaction rather than broadcast only?
Social sharing is now becoming the norm when it comes to ads, blog posts, and even websites.
Are you going mobile with your ads?
I know you’re afraid, but its inevitable – users are now moving more and more to a multi-screen experience via desktop, mobile, and display and marketers must create these experiences in order to keep up.
Most mobile advertising now includes location-based strategies automatically – learn to use them creatively.
Remember – there’s no one right mix for every customer or client. By constantly being aware of your social media presence, you can evaluate the right person, the right timing, and the right message for your business.
Social media is not going away any time soon, but it will keep refining itself. Are you doing the same with your message?
4 Ways to Do Holiday Marketing Right
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Social Media on November 15th, 2011
Many businesses write off December as a marketing black hole and our clients are not unique.
Perhaps putting holiday marketing on hold means you could be missing a great opportunity to connect with your prospects. This may be a time to connect with people emotionally about what you do.
How can you use this typically overstressed time of the year to get creative about getting your message out?
A seasonal twist to your business
Ask yourself – what do people need from me during the holidays? How can I tie end of year ideas, holiday giving, or new beginnings into the product or service my business offers?
Gift certificates
Can you bundle a taste of your services and solutions into a small package and create gift certificates to give or let people buy? Think of what might be added as an upgrade or bonus and get very creative. People will be talking about you the rest of the year!
End-of-the-year and “What’s New” letter
You can get a little personal here. People like to see what you’ve accomplished, but they also look forward to how they’ll benefit from your work in the upcoming year. What’s coming up for you – do you have a new product or service you’re working on, a workshop, or a new strategic alliance you want to announce?
Focus on Social
Like social media’s “online” virtual cocktail, you probably won’t sign that large deal or get tons of new clients during a holiday social gathering. During holiday parties, people are usually relaxed about having a good time. So instead of thinking about all the deals you won’t make during the holidays, focus on the spirit of the season and build relationships. When the season is over, you can call on your networked party connections and evoke the good feeling of having been at a holiday party together, then translate that into a conversation about how to further the relationship.
With a shift of perspective and a little creativity, you can consider the holidays a wonderful time to build new relationships and breathe fresh ideas into your business.
What unique thing do you like to provide during the marketing “blackout”?
Helping… the Future of Marketing?
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing on November 3rd, 2011
Marketing is ultimately doing your best to tie interests to actions. Linking interest and action hopefully will create a prospective customer, which is called “filling the top of the funnel.”
There are 3 ways to fill the top of that funnel:
Top of Mind Awareness
Maintain a consistent presence in the marketplace of messaging, with ongoing advertising and promotions so that customers think of you first when they are ready to purchase whatever product or service you provide.
This is an expensive way to fill the funnel, as you have to always be present in the marketplace. It’s also getting harder to consistently reach audiences and make yourself known amongst all the competition.
Frame of Mind Awareness
The second way to fill the top of that funnel took off with the advent of Yahoo!, and then Google. In the “frame of mind awareness” approach you create content that makes it easier for your company to be found via search and social media, and wait for the leads to roll in.
Keep in mind that you don’t create demand with inbound marketing, per se, you just fulfill demand that exists organically.
Social Awareness
There is now a new way to fill the funnel that may be the best of both worlds.
With social awareness, you seek to have the prospective customer allow you inside their circle of trust, where you become a valuable resource for them. You are the go-to person in all things relating to your business.
Then, when the customer is ready to buy, they don’t have to go find you, because you’re already there.
Many companies argue that it is counter-intuitive to give away your help for free. Remember: sell something, and you make a customer. Help someone, and you make a customer for life.
In a world where every prospective customer is facing an invitation overwhelm, where every business is asking people to follow their tweets, read their blog, or watch their videos, you must resist the temptation to communicate solely and endlessly about your company, hoping for a quick sale.
By helping your customers learn the very services you offer you become a trusted friend and you can succeed in a world where the balance of marketing power has swung dramatically in favor of the customer.
How do you help your prospective clients and customers?
Five Best Tips for a Marketing Website
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Social Media on October 20th, 2011
There has been a great discussion going on in one of my favorite LinkedIn groups recently – What are your five best tips for a marketing website?
I saw some great viewpoints, strategies, and suggestions that I agree with 100%! But there were also vital points missed in the discussion, as a lot of people focused on the technical aspects only. So here’s my two cents on tips for a great marketing website:
- Be clear about who you serve. Is your business trying to be everything to everyone? Who do you help the most with their problems? A lot of businesses fear that having a niche will limit their exposure or lessen the opportunity for more clients, but it is the opposite. When you know your audience you know what their exact needs are. You are the expert, the go-to person for that specific client base in your industry.
- Be clear about what you do. When people go to your website, do they know what it is that you do? Is it spelled out that you have the exact, unique solution your clients are looking for? Upon the first viewing of your home page there should be no doubt in your prospective clients’ minds how you can help them.
- Have a call to action. People need to be told what to do next. Does your marketing message start out strong and fizzle at the end? Have you given your customers a wonderful appetizer but failed to tell them how to get the whole feast? Or maybe you’ve given the whole smorgasbord on your website and they have no reason to contact you for more. There is a balance of providing helpful information without giving away all your services – does your website reflect that balance?
- Be interactive. Give your audience a chance to express their needs, viewpoints and opinions. Your customers and clients want to be the star of your business – it’s imperative that you provide a place for them to do so. Make it easy to find your Blog, Facebook, Twitter, and any other social networking links so they can easily join the conversation.
- Simplify. The times have changed. Complicated, fluffy marketing websites that are laid out like a brochure are no longer relevant. Your website should be clean and simple, with clear-cut navigation and a prominent call to action. Less is more is the mantra of today’s market.
What about you? How do you make your marketing website stand out? Let us know by commenting below or sharing it on Facebook.
5 Ways to Make Your Blog Stand Out
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Social Media on October 12th, 2011
According to Wikipedia, as of 16 February 2011, there were over 156 million public blogs in existence. How do you make yours stand out above the rest? Here are some tips:
Keep it simple. Gone are the days of designing a website that has every possible factoid about your company in a complicated brochure format. Make your design clean and simple so that people will know what you’re offering in the first three seconds.
Deliver consistent content. Starting a blog with award-winning posts won’t matter if you let it go stale. Pick a frequency to post and create a loose editorial calendar for your topics and then stick to it. There is no faster way to lose your audience than to become inactive.
Use visual aids. Photos break up the text in your blog posts, as well as offer a way to connect with your readers through emotions and sometimes even humor. Also remember that in today’s information overload society people scan articles rather than read them. You are at a disadvantage if you are relying solely on your content to keep people interested.
Be a resource. It’s tempting to talk about your latest news, services, and products, but if you deliver free, helpful information about everything related to your specialty, you will keep your readers coming back for more.
Don’t write a term paper. Businesses are often afraid to express their unique voice and opinions in blogs, fearing they will look less professional. The reality is that anyone can deliver information. It’s your expert spin on what’s going on in your market that people are truly interested in.
What about you? How do you make your blog stand out? Let us know by commenting below or posting on our Facebook page!
Affluents Right at Home in the Digital World
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Demographics, Marketing on September 27th, 2011
In a recent survey about lifestyles and attitudes, 79% of affluents shared that in the last decade their lives have become quite intertwined with technology, including digital advertising. Almost 60% said they took action as a result of seeing a digital ad, including clicking, searching for more information, buying the product online, or going to a retail store to purchase.
Agencies have traditionally felt this group was the hardest to reach through any media, especially TV and radio. However, they are actually the heaviest users of digital media, spending at least six hours more a week than the general population.
What does this mean?
The paradigm has shifted; you can expect affluents to respond to digital advertising and even share information about them so they can have a more personal online experience.
They still seek clever and attractive ads that entertain, but affluents look for balance and relevancy, as long as it is on their terms and they are not repeatedly interrupted with ads that demand immediate action.
5 Reasons Newspapers Aren’t Dead
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing on September 21st, 2011
This is the digital age. Print is dead. Newspapers are long gone. Get with the program.
We disagree.
Sure, we specialize in websites, effective social media campaigns and eMedia. But that doesn’t mean we’ve abandoned our roots – it’s not that black and white. There are lots of reasons to balance traditional and new media in your marketing plan; here are 5 reasons you shouldn’t necessarily cut newspapers from your budget:
Content isn’t always free. The popular consensus is that you shouldn’t have to buy a paper when you can read everything online. Here’s what you don’t realize – many online newspaper sites give you a teaser excerpt to an article and then make you pay a subscription to read the rest.
If a newspaper’s website isn’t mobile-friendly, forget it. Many people today access email and websites through their Smartphone. If you think it’s hard to scroll down 10 pages to read an article from a monitor, try reading top news from your blackberry or iPhone. Do you have the patience?
You can still read a newspaper in more places than you can your laptop. Think about how many places you can tuck a newspaper and tote it along for convenient reading. ‘Nuff said.
Reading the Sunday paper over coffee isn’t the same digitally. It’s Sunday morning. There’s a fresh pot of coffee brewing and you decide to enjoy the Fall weather on your back porch. Do you bring your laptop and log on to your favorite newspaper’s website? That doesn’t exactly paint the serene scene you first envisioned.
Digital coupons haven’t quite caught up. We know there are some of you out there that still like to spread out the pages of coupons from the paper and clip away. There are some establishments that are now accepting mobile coupons, but it’s going to be a while before it is widely accepted and stores and restaurants have the capability to go 100% digital like that.
Do you think newspapers are obsolete? Do you still read them?
Why Your Blog Makes People Go Away
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Social Media on September 20th, 2011
There’s one web design mistake that is a death sentence for your blog… clutter!
Do you have tons of widgets, plugins, social media profiles, links, badges, ads, and more clogging up your sidebars? As if this weren’t enough of a confusing turn-off, do you have one of those rude pop-up windows that crawls across the screen while your readers are halfway through a compelling post? OY!
It’s the same thing we tell our clients that have just bought a billboard: LESS IS MORE.
What do you absolutely NEED visitors to do to grow your business? Do they need to see your whole Twitter feed running down the side of your blog in order to decide to call you or sign up for your services?
In most cases, you need visitors to subscribe to your email list, so that’s what you should focus on. Kick the rest of the baggage to the curb! Clutter-free sidebars will outperform their busy counterparts every time.
What should be in your sidebar?
You should have an opt-in form for you newsletter, links to popular articles, and a list of resource pages, which are sort of “advice” pages that highlight your best content around your expertise. Within these pages, they should link to several of your best articles on the topic you’re addressing to help people get the exact information they are looking for.
Why a resource page? Your articles are your most popular pages. When people are done reading them, they often look for what they can do next. People who visit these pages are now warmer leads and are more likely to sign up for updates from you: a.k.a. a captured lead.
What about you? Does your blog offer way too many distractions? Do people leave before exploring your class-A content? Do you convert readers to list subscribers or do they abandon ship?
Try cleaning house and let us know how it works!
How Do You Keep Your Readers from Jumping Ship?
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Social Media on September 13th, 2011
Most social media and email marketers are obsessed with how large their followers, fans, and email lists 
are. It’s a numbers game to them, but are they truly speaking to the right people?
Growing your list is imperative to your business, but so is nurturing the loyal subscribers you already have. How are you rewarding them for following you? Do you engage them or simply focus on the percentage of increase each month?
For real estate, you’ve heard that location is everything; for new media marketing it’s targeting. I’d reference sounding like a broken record, but iPods don’t get stuck : )
By targeting your audience, you have a chance to really connect with them, to find out who they are and what really matters to them.
When you do write to this targeted group, be sure and let your personality show. Marketing is no longer talking “at” your subscribers, rather conversing “with” them.
Is your content relevant?
Even if you spend time refining and targeting your readers and tweeters, if your content is not relevant to them they will delete you or unsubscribe faster than you can say, “Sign up for my free report”.
Always remember to put yourself in the reader’s shoes when you create updates and newsletters. Its not about what matters to YOU, its about what’s important to THEM.
