MDS Resource — Digital Ad Agency

Tag: eager buyers

If You Are Marketing Local Business You Can Double Your Best Sales In Ninety Days Or Less
Free Publicity Marketing Local Business
How does your business survive without local buyers shopping for what you offer? Marketing local business may seem daunting, that you’re at a big disadvantage to the big boys. You probably don’t have an online shopping cart and you create great customers eyeball-to-eyeball. Unlike international behemoths like Amazon and Target, you have a service area issue. Although, you’ll service buyers who travel hundreds of miles to you, your ideal customer lives within a 10 or 50 mile radius. Is this your business?
You’ll be excited to hear that you’re not limited in the ways you can market yourself locally. Yes, I know, most business owners don’t specialize in marketing. This whole advertising thing has become a sinkhole for money you’d rather reinvest back into the business. After placing a few ads all over town, putting your company listing in the yellow pages and networking with your Chamber of Commerce and Lions Club, you’ve probably run out of advertising ideas. Times are tough, traditional advertising is more expensive and, near as you can tell, your return on advertising budget approaches zero. On top of everything else, Dorothy the yellow pages rep and Toto the local SEO geek are pestering you to get online, saying all you need is to be numero uno on Google and a million website visitors. That’s it — nothing more — right?
Not.
It’s true, as we learn to search and find what we want on the Internet – when we want it – we respond less and less to offline media. As consumers, we have definitely changed the ways we shop and buy. We no longer sit around waiting to be told what to buy and what’s available for purchase. Million dollar Super Bowl commercials are mere entertainment now, so why spend wheelbarrows of money on traditional and ineffective advertising? Get with the times, marketing local business benefits greatly from the following tips:
Marketing Local Business Online
Anticipate eager buyers shopping for you online and everywhere they look you are there. Remember yellow pages? Similarly on the Internet, there are directories that catalog local companies by location, by advertising and by customer reviews. These local online directories are quickly becoming popular resources for buyers to find local companies. Little to no cash gets your company listed in these directories. Advertise your company in as many locations as practical to gain maximum exposure. Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Bing Local, MerchantCircle and Yelp are but a smattering. There are also industry, thematic and cultural directories, too.
Free Publicity Marketing Local Business
It’s always vital to announce your business organization, activities and events to your community on a regular basis. This is more than simply telling everybody that you’re still in business. Survival and success are NOT the same thing. New products and services demonstrate that you’re interested in and responding to your customers’ evolving needs and desires. Your blog, Facebook, Twitter, MerchantCircle and even LinkedIn are great places to post your news. Press releases, news releases and media announcements are easier and cheaper done now than ever before. There are many sites online catering to your PR needs. When eager buyers see that you not only have what they’re searching for, but you also have an even newer model, they’ll likely tell their friends about you.
Marketing Local Business Customers Love Coupons
Consider the fact that people love to save money — don’t you, too? — coupons can create great customers. You don’t have to worry about complicated sales pitches, just offer them a discount for trying you out. Instead of direct mail or printing fliers, save yourself the distribution expense and publish coupons on the Internet. With billions of searches on the Internet every month, be creative and put your promotion everywhere your eager buyers are looking. Try mentioning a coupon in your blog post, experiment with QR codes people will scan with their smart phones and consider social media. Internet sites like Groupon, Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp and MerchantCircle are only the tip of the iceberg. Get them in the door and you have the opportunity to create another great customer!
Can your business survive with local buyers? Yes and marketing your local business online is easy and fun! You’re not limited in the ways you can market locally. By marketing local business effectively you can double your best sales in ninety days or less.
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Answer Your Marketing Local Business Question: 612-235-6060
24 January 2011
How I Targeted Sales Leads And Burned Down The House With Sale After Sale To Eager Buyers
Targeted Sales Leads Burn Down The House
Wanna hear a story of how one entrepreneur easily attracts targeted sales leads and creates a sales inferno? There’s no rocket science in duplicating this story and its success. If qualified leads are a means to your serious business growth in 2011, this is an outline of examples.
Share Your Story With Targeted Sales Leads
Reread the first line of this article. I bet you’re pretty good with your story. Put a good business owner eyeball-to-eyeball with a qualified prospect and odds are good they will hammer out a deal. Great stories have long been among the most effective sales tools. Why? Stories are an effective way to establish rapport and to build a relationship with your prospect. Take great care in crafting your story about you, your business and products and service. Your story adds personality, depth and substance to your brand. Good, bad or otherwise, you are building your brand in the prospect’s mind and what she remembers when you part is her brand recognition.
Your website, social media and other interactive online gathering places are opportunities waiting for your story. A big difference between the Internet and offline media is the window of opportunity. Tell your story in a journal article, tell your story over the phone, tell your story at a seminar — how long is your story available to be heard? Next month’s journal has new stories. Only those on the other end of the phone line can hear you. When you and everybody leave the seminar, your story leaves, too. Tell your story in a blog post, tell your story on Youtube, tell your story on Facebook — now, anybody any time can stumble across your story … today, next month or ten years hence.
Give Targeted Sales Leads Reason To Return
Even better, divide your story into chapters and publish them over time. Cliff hangers work on television and they’re great for breaking your story into bite-sized pieces. This will keep those most interested coming back time and again for more and more and more of your compelling story. Consider also repurposing your story properties into different online media such as video, podcasts, audio, articles, blog posts, etc. Some of your best prospects prefer video, some prefer audio, some prefer text … some may digest it all. Furthermore, syndicate each of these various story properties across multiple sites. Remember Hansel and Gretel? The more bread crumbs you scatter across the Internet, the more likely that a great new customer will find one and follow it back to you.
One common mistake I made was limiting where my business can be found. By publishing content only on my website I was dependent on the search engines to find enough of it before they ranked me high enough for me to be found. It’s easy to promote your story to a larger audience by writing guest posts on other blogs, participating in forums and webinars, being interviewed online and contributing to social media Q&A. Your story reaches an audience you wouldn’t normally reach through your website alone. In the case of online interviews, you have the opportunity to answer questions and focus on your solutions to real problems in the real world.
Targeted Sales Leads Are Searching For Solutions
Highly targeted sales leads are interested in you because they have a problem and they come to know that you have a solution to their problem. They are interested in you and your company to solve their problem. What can you do for them?
Let your story tell them how you have solved similar problems for real people. Tell them how your customers have benefited from your product and service. These case studies build credibility and kindle the first sparks of trust in prospects. Outline the struggles you went through, the experiments and the successes you’ve had with great customers. Give away How-To articles that help people with the basics. Mention similar situations that might also benefit from what you do best. Refer to testimonials and endorsements made by your best customers regarding this success.
Targeted Sales Leads Are Hot For Your Story
How easy is it to attract targeted leads online and create a sales inferno? There’s no rocket science in telling your story to eager buyers. Put you eyeball-to-eyeball with a qualified prospect and odds are you will close the deal. All you need to burn down the house is to gather targeted sales leads around your bonfire and tell a great story.
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Answer Your Targeted Sales Leads Question: 612-235-6060
21 January 2011
Secrets Of Local Small Business Marketing – Funnel Eager Buyers Through Your Sales Funnel In Droves
Diversify Local Small Business Marketing
Local Small Business Marketing Thinks Big
The first secret of local small business marketing is to not think like a small business. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if your brick and mortar business made you money even if none of your employees showed up for work and your door never even opened? Do you sometimes have nightmares of your company shutting down because your referral system dried up and blew away? If you answer yes to either of these questions, then you must consider the benefits of building an inbound marketing system to anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer and everywhere they look you are there. Instead of tossing and turning at night, with these cutting edge methods of marketing your local business you’ll sleep like a baby and your company will thrive. If the old saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” applies to you, you may want to consider a total overhaul. Changing your marketing strategy can mean the difference between reaching new record sales highs or shutting down and filing for bankruptcy.
Imagine for a moment marketing in a way that targets your best customer in her natural environment. Offer her valuable information that she’s already seeking for free. Imagine she’s so delighted by what you’ve given her that she returns time and again to pay you for what you do best. Sounds like a dream does it? Unfortunately for many businesses stuck in their ways, that is all successful business will ever be — a dream. Let’s face it, the profits of traditional marketing tactics — yellow pages, newspaper ads, telemarketing, etc. — are drying up and blowing away. Where did all of the customers go? Yes, the economy is dragging; but, we all know, consumers are still consuming. So, where did they go?
Local Small Business Marketing Prospers Online
The second secret of local small business marketing is to stake your claim on the Internet. Why the Internet you may be wondering? The Internet is where consumers gather to search, to buy and to share their experiences with other consumers. Web searchers are becoming more sophisticated everyday. Everyday, more and more people search the Internet to find and buy more and more. As we learn to search and find what we want on the Internet — when we want it — we respond less and less to offline media. Literally, billions of searches are conducted every singe month by eager buyers looking to purchase locally. More to the point, when was the last time you flipped through your yellow pages?
Diversify Local Small Business Marketing
The third secret of local small business marketing is to diversify your online promotional portfolio. Ten years ago, it was extraordinary simply to publish your online business card. Woo-hoo! You were on the Internet and everybody was so proud and excited and everybody told everybody that your business is on the Internet! Today, your online business card is a fossil. Nobody cares about your company, except you. What have you done for me lately?
Promote your company on interactive social media sites like Facebook and YouTube. It’s no longer enough to trumpet your features and advantages to the world. As we learn to search and find what we want on the Internet we respond less and less to intrusive messages. I am a consumer and when I’m in the market for a new thing I will search for it. What’s in it for me? When I find your interesting product or service, I’m going to ask my online brothers and sisters about you. I’m going to check you out on LinkedIn; and then I’m going to do the same for your company. I’m likely to watch your and your competitors’s videos and read all of the articles I can find published online. How many fans Like your fan pages and Like your blog posts?
Local Marketing Is Effective
Are you still thinking like a small business? What if none of your employees showed up for work and your door never even opened? What if your nightmares came true and your business dried up and blew away? Inbound marketing anticipates eager buyers shopping for what you offer. Changing your marketing strategy can mean the difference between reaching new record sales highs or shutting down and filing for bankruptcy. Local small business marketing is effective online because it funnels eager buyers through your sales funnel in droves.
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Answer Local Small Business Marketing Question: 612-235-6060
18 January 2011
Secrets Of Marketing Your Business Online: The Easiest Way To Be Found Everywhere Eager Buyers Look
Marketing Your Business Online Is An Opportunity
So, you have a business and you’ve finally taken it online. Everything is ready to go. The website is up and looking to win a trophy! Forms are working and email, too. You hired an extra hand to answer the phone and greet newcomers in your door. All your best features and advantages are bulleted and bold. You spent a load on all of this, including that SEO guy who said all you’ll ever need is 1st place on Google.
But, where are the new customers? Everybody everywhere promised you, Build it and they will come! Yes, it’s true, you’re really Google numero uno for a keyword you wanted. And, it’s also true that you’re getting a bunch of online visitors showing up on your homepage, at least for a couple seconds. What more can you expect? Darn it! Where are your new customers? Is this Internet marketing thingy all hogwash, only a cruel hoax, a costly scam?
Nobody seems interested in your website or your business or what you have to offer. Sure, you have the gosh darned prettiest website in the world — you shelled out lots to make that happen! You have pages of content full of information about your products and, yet, your website fails to make sales. Where, then, have you gone wrong? Marketing your business online is critical for any business, small or big. Unless you tell the world about it, until you are found, how is anyone supposed to know?
Targeted Leads Come From Marketing Your Business Online
How you market online is key to filling your sales funnel with targeted leads that convert to great new customers. The Internet has not so much changed marketing as it has transformed the way we consume. As we learn to search and find what we want on the Internet — when we want it — we respond less and less to offline media. Therefore, anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer and, when they search, everywhere they look you are there. Ergo, it’s crucial that your business is found on the search engines; but, that’s more a factor of what they type than what you want them to type.
Once you’re found by eager buyers searching for you — what then? Think about your own searches and buying patterns. Suppose you search for a four-slice toaster. Google, for example, presents a search result page with ten “organic” results. Each of these includes a headline of up to 60 bold characters followed by a description of up to 160 characters. Has that ever sold you then and there? Of course not! You start at the top, numero uno, and decide among the ten which to click and follow the link. Follow that link — whither? If it takes you to my homepage and you need to search again for four-slice toasters, how likely are you to continue and buy from me? Rich, rewarding and relevant content remains king. When I give you exactly what you expect after following my link, are you more or less likely to become my customer?
Make Marketing Your Business Online Drop Dead Simple
Once I’ve got you, targeted lead, on my site and you find what you’re looking to buy, how can I make it drop dead simple for you to buy from me? If you are confused, if you don’t instinctively know what to do next, if I don’t simply ask you to take that next step, what’s to keep you from simply slipping away? At this point, marketing your business online draws a play from the age old offline playbook. Conversion is a function of your Call-To-Action, plain and simple. Once you’ve found what you want and I make it simpler to follow my yellow brick road than wander off into the jungle, this is where great new customers are made.
Marketing your business online is about four decisive factors:
1. Targeted Leads
2. Relevant Content
3. Call-To-Action
4. Conversion
Marketing Your Business Online Is An Opportunity
Once you know your buyer personae, it’s easy to give them what they want. Follow relevant, compelling content with a simple and clear request, whether that be call me, come in for a demonstration or sign-up for our newsletter. If marketing is about relationships and every relationship begins with a single conversation, then conversion is more about continuing a good conversation with a great new customer. Marketing your business online is about the opportunity for unlimited conversations.
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Answer Marketing Your Business Online Question: 612-235-6060
15 January 2011
WARNING: New Sales Leads Will Ignite Your Business Into A Bonfire Through Which You Cannot Sleep
New Sales Leads Burn Brightly
The Internet is the prime tool for generating new sales leads today. You may have heard this a million times before and ignored it, but I’m really serious. The old ways of getting sales leads flat out do not work anymore. There’s little spark left, far more smoke than flame. Honestly, how antiquated can the old ways be?
Are New Sales Leads Scarce?
How many new customers did you make last month due to yellow pages or telemarketing? Does anybody really watch commercials on Tivo? Although trade fairs are still viable for promoting interest in your booth visitors. Am I the only one questioning the quantity of quality leads trade shows produce? Perhaps, it’s best to use offline media as kindling for a new, hotter fire.
A Multitude Of Quality Leads
Really, the most effective way to get new sales leads today is on the Internet. Not all website visitors are online leads; and not all sales become customers. But, with billions — billions more than millions — of online page views every month, your sales can explode practically overnight. The trick is visibility, findability and conversion. These are the embers from which your bonfire will roar to life. You need to get your business seen by as many eager buyers as possible.
Call New Sales Leads To Action
That’s why the Internet is just so great! Honestly, how many people will actually read your yellow page or newspaper ad? How many eager buyers will stop by your booth at a trade show? Anticipate how eager buyers shopping for what you offer seek you online and what’s stopping you from being everywhere they look? For example, thousands of people are searching Google for your products and services every single day. You need to ask these visitors to stick around, to interact with you and call them to action. Which is easier seen, an open flame or the glimmer of an old reflection?
Start A New Sales Leads Frenzy
Internet marketing can be far, far cheaper than any traditional marketing. When some tactic disappoints you, simply change your message mid-campaign until you find that glorious log that really stokes a fire. Well, of course you want new sales leads! What are you going to do with great leads once you have them? After you give them free information, collect their email address and receive their permission to help them, you need to nurture these prospects and convert them to great customers.
Fan the flames. Create a frenzy of eager buyers clamoring for your attention. Let new sales leads compete with each other to become your next greatest customer.
New Sales Leads Burn Brightly
The Internet is the location of new sales leads today. You’ve heard this million of times before. You ignored it. The old ways of getting sales leads have burned out, far more smoke than flame. If you want to party all the way to the bank, start an Internet fire with terrific customers. Let new sales leads dance around the online inferno you create together. Let them fan the social media flames and, together, you celebrate successful business with new sales leads.
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Answer Your New Sales Leads Question: 612-235-6060
12 January 2011
How To Succeed At Online Marketing For Small Business With Any Realistic Budget
Don't Ignore Online Marketing For Small Business
Are you a small business owner? Do you want to see a lot more customers coming to you in 2011? Certainly, every business owner I’ve met answers these in the affirmative! What’s your plan to grow your business with great new customers?
Clearly, every new customer is a function of new leads in your sales funnel — we know this as conversion. And, every new sales lead is a subset of the number of eager buyers shopping for what you offer who are exposed to your business — we know this as marketing. Admit it, the numbers of people exposed to your business depends on marketing strategy, tactics, advertising, etc. Times change and so has effectiveness of traditional marketing tactics and offline advertising. Whereas, telemarketing, yellow pages, newspaper ads and other previously effective tactics are seriously lame today, online marketing for small business produces more targeted sales leads everyday.
Don’t Ignore Online Marketing For Small Business
Most small business owners ignore online marketing, because they don’t understand how the Internet has dramatically changed consumers. Furthermore, many unwary businesses have been duped into costly schemes to fool Google and other search engines. Have you been duped into believing that #1 on Google first page or a million website visitors in a month are ends in themselves? How do they add to your bottom line? Here’s a clue: work both of them into a business plan, pass it on to your banker and ask for a business loan. Point is, show your banker a plan to get more targeted sales leads calling you on the phone and then they’ll talk money. Google itself and random website visitors do absolutely nothing to grow your business.
Fortunately for you, this Internet thingy has totally changed the way we consume! No longer flipping through yellow pages or browsing the Sunday Trib classifieds, eager buyers shopping for what you offer are on the Internet right this second searching for you. Every time they search they receive a search results page. If you’re not on that page, they will buy from somebody else. Online marketing for small business has one goal: everywhere they search they find you there.
Affordable Online Marketing For Small Business
Fact is, effectively marketing your business is now possible with any realistic budget:
- Email marketing has long been the favorite of Internet marketers, perhaps because it’s the online equivalent to direct marketing. Done right, instead of intruding in the Inbox, you ask and they grant you permission to nurture them and keep them informed with current and relevant information. Keeping permission marketing foremost in your mind, think of events, specials and successes that you’d appreciate knowing about your favorite vendors. Your customers and prospects will appreciate the same about you.
- Online articles are another great way to increase awareness of you, your business and, especially, those special things you do that benefit your customers. Do you remember fondly thumbing through a magazine, reading interesting articles and clipping some articles so you can refer back to them later? The Internet is several magnitudes greater than any paper magazine. This very minute somebody is reading an article about your product and service and today she’ll bookmark it and maybe tell her friends about it. Have you ever tried to find a article in a magazine you threw out a long time ago? That won’t happen online, because it’s always available to be found, 24/7, 365 days a year.
- Social media is all about family, friends and vacation pictures — right? No. It, too, can be tremendously effective in putting your business in front of eager buyers. Facebook membership alone is the third largest country in the world: China, India, Facebook, USA … In 2010 it’s been reported that the largest growing Facebook demographic is middle aged women. Again, keep in mind how online marketing for small business is primarily about developing relationships with your marketplace. What better way to start a conversation with a new prospect than at a huge party? Facebook, for example, is a neverending party of friends, family and coworkers, and they’re all talking about what’s on their minds. Strike a positive chord with just one, and they’ll tell somebody about you, and on and on.
Follow Online Marketing For Small Business To Success
Online marketing is about branding. The more people recognize your personal name, your business name and your place in the community, the more likely that one of them converts into a customer. Notice how we haven’t mentioned traditional advertising agencies and TV commercial production crews — the prohibitive prices of traditional marketing simply are not necessary online. It’s more about leaving thousands and thousands of bread crumbs from your business throughout the Internet. Whenever some eager buyer happens on one crumb while shopping for what you offer, Hansel and Gretel will follow the trail to your door. Like all marketing, the only goal of online marketing for small business is to create customers.
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Answer Your Online Marketing For Small Business Question: 612-235-6060
9 January 2011
Give Me Ninety Days And You Will Be Successfully Marketing Local Business Throughout The Twin Cities
Marketing Local Business Has Changed
Marketing local business is not as simple today as it was in the past. A long time ago, it seems marketers promoted local business by putting ads in the yellow pages and buying ad space in the local newspaper. Business has gotten very hard in The Twin Cities. Eager buyers no longer look at the newspaper ads to shop for products and services. Today most consumers start by doing an Internet search before they buy. What will happen when you anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer? Knowing what they type into the search box, what’s keeping you from appearing everywhere they look?
Marketing Local Business Online
Take roofing for example. Drop by Google.com and search for the following:
- twin cities roofing
- minneapolis roofing
- saint paul roofing
As I write this, the search engine results pages all show one thing in common: that gorgeous map! Local business results are your key to marketing local business successfully.
There are three sections to each Google search results page:
1. Pay-per-click advertisements at the top and down the right side;
2. Local business results and that gorgeous map above the fold; and
3. Organic or natural search results everywhere else.
So, each roofing company has at least three (3) chances to show on each page. And, take note, this is only Google! We’re not looking at Yahoo!, Bing, Facebook or any other search results. Is Your Website Marketing Local Business?
Consider your own company website. You may have paid big bucks to publish your online business card — did you? Did you pay for pretty? Or, did you intend to pay to produce more customers? How many new customers did you get last month because of your pretty website? What is your return on that investment?
What about your website content? Is it relevant to your visitors? Is it compelling them to take action and buy from you once they’re on your pages? What would persuade you to buy from you? Are you calling them to action on each page? If you don’t ask them to call you, what do you expect them to do? Not calling you, not buying from you and going away may be exactly the message they’re getting from you.
As a local business, what are you doing to make sure that eager local buyers know that you exist? How would you find your company if you didn’t know about it? Remember that cool map? Google will only place you in the local business results after they recognize that your business is local to that search. What is your service area? As a Minneapolis roofer, how interested are you in Duluth business? Or, business in Fort Lauderdale? The best marketing local business strategy pulls customers directly from your local community. Even if business thousands of miles away can be good, won’t local business be better?
Marketing Local Business Has Changed
Marketing local business online is not that different from marketing offline. Eager buyers want to taste, hear, smell and feel your products and services. Give them a great reason to walk through your front door and they’ll come to check you out. There are rating and review sites providing places for your customers to express their feelings about your business. Claim your business listing on social rating and review sites like Google Places, MerchantCircle, Yelp, Angie’s List, etc. With half a reason to stand up in public and tell the world about your remarkable work, many customers will do just that.
How much of that do you want?
Community involvement will certainly build your brand quickly. The more your neighbors talk about your business, the sooner marketing local business brings them to you. Marketing local business is different today than in the past. Today most consumers start by doing an Internet search before they buy. Anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer and, of a sudden, everywhere they look you are there. In fact, marketing local business online is different: it is effective.
Marketing Local Business 90 Day Challenge
Give me ninety days and you will be successfully marketing local business throughout the Twin Cities.
6 January 2011
Who Else Wants Targeted Sales Leads? Targeted Sales Leads Can Only Result In Better Customers
Targeted Sales Leads Result In Better Customers
Are Targeted Sales Leads A Secret?
I ignored telling my buddies about this, thinking that they’re already aware, until one day one of my buddies approached me and asked, “How can I increase my sales?” I was stunned. You should have seen my eyes when I heard her question because I always thought every business owner knows that the best way to increase sales is to get in front of eager buyers. I’d so much rather be in front of an eager buyer shopping for what I offer than tire kickers or garage salers. Targeted sales leads are the best gauge of eager buyers I know.
Of course, whenever I generate targeted prospects, I invariably get better customers and better deals at close. You know what I mean … people ready to buy anything you’re selling. During economic crisis, businesses begin the crunch and spiral, too, into financial crisis — even the doctors and lawyers. While most of the successful entrepreneurs that I know are walking away with fat envelopes day after day, they’re all reporting increased sales. How can this be?
Whether you’re a doctor, carpenter, mover, salon manager or whatever business you own online or off, this is not a secret — sales leads are your life blood. The secret is not that you need targeted sales leads; rather, how are you going to target the sales leads you seek? The only secret is finding out the simplest and fastest way to target leads for your business. Even better, find an affordable way to keep your best prospects lining up at your door waiting to be sold!
Targeted Sales Leads Make A Beeline
Imagine inbound marketing is you putting out the honey trap, a special honey appealing only to eager buyers shopping for what you offer, and everywhere they look they see your honey. Is it any wonder that they make a beeline to you? Can you imagine any better customer than those that call you up and ask, “I’ve tasted your honey. Tell me more. What can you do for me?”
I guess I’m one of those successful entrepreneurs. Expert coach and successful businessman for over 10 years now, I figured out 7 years ago how to continuously generate solid buying leads for any kind of business. Right now, I’m working with several local business owners to increase their sales and improve their business by creating a neverending stream of targeted sales leads. And, on top of that, thanks to the Internet and inbound marketing, all of this fits within business budgets that most are already spending:
- What’s your return on yellow pages investments?
- How many new customers did you get from your last newspaper ad?
- What percentage of your website visitors actually paid you money?
Better ROI Than Targeted Sales Leads?
I help business owners who are disturbed about poor return on advertising investments. May I ask you a question? I talk with a lot of business owners. Lately, the two biggest problems I’ve been hearing are too few targeted leads and how to achieve serious business growth in 2011. Do either of these ring true with you?
Why waste sales time on those who are not likely to buy from you? Yea, sure, you’re persuasive and sometimes you close an unwitting prospect. Be truthful, how good a customer has she been? Optimize your conversion rate with cheap targeted sales leads and appreciate how good customers benefit your business.
3 January 2011
Give Me Local Small Business Marketing And I’ll Whip My Dreams Into Profitable Business Over Night
Dream Local Small Business Marketing Profits
If local small business marketing is unfamiliar to you, look at it this way. The target of every business is to get the word out to the maximum number of people to maximize marketplace exposure. In business, market exposure correlates with sales.
Go Online With Local Small Business Marketing
Today in our cyber era, having an effective online presence is of utmost importance. As people spend more and more time in front of the computer, chances are better and better that they will search online for the products and services that they will buy. The Internet allows small business owners to display your expertise directly to eager buyers. Unlike traditional media like billboards, television advertising and Yellow Pages, with online media local small business marketing no longer requires huge amounts of money.
Local Small Business Marketing Is Affordable
It’s true! There are some really cool ways to promote your local business, many of which are free, to attract the targeted leads you desire. Here are some of the methods:
- Create web pages that feature keywords specific to your particular products and services. What do we mean by “keyword?” Anticipate what eager buyers type into the search engine box before they click [Search]. Savvy buyers are getting savvier. With local small business marketing you want to attract local customers.
- Make sure to choose terms that people will look for to find local products and services. For example, if you own a Detroit furniture business, you don’t want to target phrase “furniture.” It’s too generic. Google it yourself and see 257 MILLION web pages containing that word. Instead, Detroit buyers will type the phrase “detroit office furniture” and search. Now I find 700 thousand competitive web pages and also that local map featuring local furniture merchants.
- Build a blog and they will come. Your blog is the ideal way to tell your story and interact with an interested audience. You know? I know you’re great telling your story and persuading prospects sitting across the table from you. Write each blog post that way, as if you’re eyeball-to-eyeball with the largest possible audience. And they will hear your story today, tomorrow and next year — when they’re ready to hear it. Once you’re done writing your post, bookmark it in social book marking sites like Digg.com and StumbleUpon.com to promote even more traffic.
- Last but not least, don’t forget a Facebook fan page. Now that Facebook is the third largest country in the world (China, India, Facebook, United States …) your Fan page facilitates keeping up with your customers regardless where they are. Local small business marketing benefits from Facebook patrons Like-ing your page and telling the world how great you are. Local patrons frequenting Facebook are more likely to pay attention to your local business when privy to your popularity. Additionally, Facebook facilitates instant communication with your audience whenever you do something noteworthy, like a special event or a special promotion.
Dream Big With Local Small Business Marketing
As local business marketing becomes easier and more familiar to you, eager buyers will notice. To maximize marketplace exposure your local business must be found. In business, market exposure correlates with sales. What do you have to lose by dreaming big and making local small business marketing an overnight sensation?
31 December 2010
Are You Marketing Your Business Online Unprofitably?
Is Marketing Your Business Online Profitable?
In this world we live in today there are tremendous opportunities to market your business online. It can be very confusing to navigate this online world and make sound decisions that maximize the value of your marketing efforts. To help you solve these struggles, below are several ideas to take away and implement right away to bring you more success.
Social Media Enhances Marketing Your Business Online
Social media is all the rage lately, and for good reason. Today Facebook is the third largest nation in the world with 500 million users: China, India, Facebook then the United States. It’s one of the best places to expose your business. Facebook makes this easy through the creation of Facebook Pages where visitors looking for more information about your business can find you. Setting up your business Page is simple and can be finished in a matter of minutes.
Twitter has created a massive audience that is quickly growing to 200 million users. It’s becoming one of the first sites people visit when they log onto the Internet. Not only are people reading other people’s messages for personal amusement, but they conduct searches to discover new businesses and new products.
These are two of many different online media available for marketing your business online. This interaction with your customers will benefit your company by highlighting concerns where you can respond immediately. You can put out fires when they’re only smoking, before they grow into a real problem.
Understand Your Customer To Solve Their Problems
While ideas of creating the next Chia pet might seem like a good idea, they don’t solve anyone’s problems. The best way to grow your business is to focus on a niche audience and solve their real world problems. Once you have discovered their problems, you deliver products that are truly needed. Through social media in which those niches participate, time spent marketing your business online will return profit.
Marketing Your Business Online Is A Story
Your “story” is more than a buzz word when it comes to marketing your business online. Consumers are quick to ignore pitches and fake product reviews. They will listen intently to a story from a user and how they used a product to solve a problem. You know how good you are eyeball-to-eyeball with prospects — your story should be specific and related to directly to your prospect’s need. Online, too, this builds trust in people for you and your business. Build on your relationships with customers through your social media efforts.
Online Marketing Demands You Listen Then Engage
Listening to your customers’ conversations about your business and your competitors is extremely important. If customers talk about you in social media, no response to their requests and problems will adversely affect your business popularity. Customers demand to be heard more than ever! Listen carefully to what is said, then develop a sound response. Rushing to conclusion is never a good idea and further confuses the marketplace.
There are many other ways you can market your business online effectively. These tips will help transform your marketing effort into something modern and effective. Interacting with customers has never been easier than online. Marketing online is far cheaper compared to traditional marketing media.
Marketing Your Business Online Is Where Your Customers Are
It is always best to go where the people are. Right now, eager buyers are shopping online for what you offer. They’re all online waiting to hear what your business has to say. They’re listening for your stories and eager to engage with you. What are you waiting for? Start marketing your business online today.
28 December 2010