MDS Resource — Digital Ad Agency

Tag: your customers

  • Online Reputation Repair Can Be Avoided By Effective Online Reviews and Reputation Management

    Do You Know What People Are Saying About Your Business Online?

    What Is Online Reputation Management?

    Here’s Wikipedia’s definition of Online Reputation Management:

    Online reputation management is the act of monitoring, addressing or mitigating search engine result pages or mentions in online media and Web sphere content. It primarily involves tracking what is written about a client on the Internet, then utilizing sophisticated online and offline techniques in promoting positive and neutral content, while at the same time pushing down those links the sponsor may not want to show when their name is searched.

    Did you know the 2011 “Social Shopping Study” indicates that 50% of consumers spend 75% or more of their total shopping time conducting online product research? Furthermore:

    • 92% of Adult Buyers Regularly Check Online Reviews Before Purchasing
    • 70% of Consumers Trust Other Consumers’ Opinions That Are Posted Online

    Why Is Online Reputation Management Important?

    Marketing local business online flourishes because the whole world is coming online, too.

    1. Your prospects are online
    2. Your competitors are online
    3. Your customers are online
    4. That includes your unhappy customers, too!

    The Internet Has Changed Everything !?!?

    Local small business marketing has benefited in so many ways from the Internet. However, the online universe has also empowered consumers.

    • Before the Internet, businesses delivered their messages to consumers via one-way communication channels that they controlled (think – TV commercials)
    • Business NO longer completely control their message!
    • Thanks to the Internet, everyone comments on business messages via blogs, social media, customer reviews, etc.

    What Are People Saying About Your Business?

    Your company’s online reputation is being discussed:

    1. By former employees
    2. By bloggers
    3. On forums
    4. On social media
    5. In customer reviews

    Online Reputation Is Crucial For The BIG BOYS, Too!

    Don’t believe me? Google the company names for which these all too common
    namesakes sprang up:

    • www.walmartsucks.org
    • www.homedepotsucks.com

    What Are The Negative Effects Of A Bad Online Reputation?

    1. Bad customer experience
    2. Unresolved customer issues
    3. Bad reputation
    4. Lost revenue

    What Can Happen If You Don’t Repair Your Tarnished Online Reputation?

    Internet marketing for small business needs every advantage possible to succeed. A tarnished name puts you at great risk.

    1. You could lose existing customers
    2. New customers may be difficult to find
    3. Your business can suffer financial loss
    4. You could go out of business!

    What Happens When You Repair & Defend Good Reputation?

    1. Your positive good online reputation stands out from the crowd
    2. You will retain existing customers
    3. You will get new customers easily
    4. Your positive brand image will be credible & authoritative!

    How To Maintain Your Online Reputation

    Marketing your business online is about building and nourishing relatinships. So, too, is reputation management.

    1. Be proactive instead of reactive
    2. Monitor online conversations about your business
    3. Respond and interact with consumers online
    4. Regularly create and distribute positive content

    What Are The Benefits Of Actively Seeking Online Reviews?

    Actively seeking online reviews from satisfied customers is certain to:

    • Boost conversions, and
    • Provide feedback about your product or service

    Consumers trust and expect online reviews and, seeing them, will gravitate to your business.

    How To Get Customer Reviews To Build Or Repair Reputation

    Referrals and new sales leads continue to be your ultimate goal. What better way to build social proof than to ask for a review?

    1. Survey all of your customers for feedback all of the time
    2. Offer incentives in exchange for reviews (e.g., coupons, discounts, free samples)
    3. Ask customers to review products by placing calls-to-action on your product pages
    4. Send customers to your business listings on Google Places, Yelp, CitySearch, etc.
    5. Link your business listing profiles to your website

    Always Create Positive, Branded Content To Promote Reputation!

    Flood the first search engine results pages with positive, branded content:

    • Your well-ranked website must be the first result for your company name
    • On-going search engine optimization (SEO) for all of your webpages
    • Videos, press releases, photos, articles, etc. promoting your good name
    • Tips, tools, helpful tutorials & other useful content for your visitors

    Monitor Online Conversations For The First Line Of Reputation Defense

    Find out what people are saying about your business:

    • Do a Google search for your business name …
    • What do you find when you search for you?
    • Check articles, blogs, forums & customer review sites
    • Frequently check your own blog & website for comments
    • Pay close attention to the social network sites

    Reputation Repair Requires Response & Interaction

    1. Listen to what people are saying
    2. Be respectful
    3. Display a helpful & friendly demeanor
    4. Respond to both positive and negative comments
    5. Always quickly offer solutions to problems

    Why Respond & Interact To Fix Online Reputations?

    • It builds relationships
    • It allows you to actively manage & control your brand
    • It allows other people to see your point of view
    • It shows that you care

    You do care, don’t you?

    How To Repair Your Reputation

    Do you already have negative online comments and reviews?

    1. Make brand optimization your main focus
    2. Use SEO to drive negativity further down the SERP’s
    3. Create and publish videos, press releases & articles
    4. Create a blog — regularly publish fresh & unique content
    5. Engage in social media to build a loyal & eager following

    How to Improve & Fix Your Online Reputation

    1. Ask for negative reviews to be removed
    2. Promptly address issues
    3. Don’t ignore unhappy customers
    4. Don’t argue with customers
    5. Know when to walk away
    6. You cannot please everyone!

    Call Now
    Answer Questions: 612-235-6060

  • 10 Internet Marketing For Small Business Ways To Attract Local Customers

    Easy Ways To Attract Local Customers

    The Facts About Consumer Internet Usage

    This trend continues to rise and Internet Marketing for small business must get on board with this — or perish.

    • Most Consumers search online for local products and services.
    • Approximately 35% of all Internet searches are for local things.
    • There are more than 250 Million searches on Google alone every single day!
    • Online marketing is predicted to be at least 15% of all media ad spending in 2013.

    Internet technology is GREAT … But, it has caused Problems for Some Local Businesses! Here’s why:

    1. Consumers are using online search instead of yellow pages and newspapers when looking for local products and services.
    2. Some businesses still spend thousands of dollars on ineffective traditional advertising methods.
    3. And, some businesses are not yet investing in online advertising and marketing. Are you?

    As a Result …

    • Business expenses continue to rise while profits decline.
    • Local Businesses are struggling to get new and repeat customers.
    • Great customers are buying from Local Businesses well placed online.

    Here Are 10 Ways Your Local Business Can Connect With Your Local Consumers

    1. Connect With Search Engine Visibility

      • You must work hard to gain better search engine positioning and rankings.
      • You must search engine optimize your website using on-the-page factors, making certain that your money phrases are in your content.
      • You must search engine optimize your website using off-the-page factors, persuading other sites to link back to you.
      • Claim, verify and optimize your Google Places listing
    2. Connect With Your Professional Website

      • All Effective Websites MUST Have:

        1. An organized and easily navigable layout
        2. Fresh, relevant and compelling content everywhere
        3. A strong Call-To-Action on every page
        4. An integrated lead capture system
    3. Connect With Email Marketing

      • Local Internet Marketing Money Is In Your LIST!

        1. Email marketing is cost-effective, automated and easy to deliver.
        2. Email marketing helps you build trust and credibility.
        3. Email marketing allows you to generate business on auto-pilot 24/7.
        4. Email marketing statistics are simple to track.
    4. Connect With Mobile Marketing

      • There are approximately 4 BILLION Mobile users worldwide!
      • By 2014, Mobile Internet usage is expected to exceed Desktop Internet usage!
      • Business websites must be Mobile optimized to accommodate Mobile Internet on-the-go users too rushed to squint, zoom and scroll.
      • Text message marketing promotes and connects with local audiences on the go.
    5. Connect With Social Media

      • Search engine optimization (SEO) is NOT enough! Hang Out With Your Customers and Prospects Online …

        1. Consumers spend many hours on social media sites every single day.
        2. Building relationships on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube is necessary for business.
        3. Social media markets are so big, Facebook is the 3rd largest country in the world!

          1. China
          2. India
          3. Facebook
          4. United States
    6. Connect With Video Marketing

      • Online Videos are HOT … Perhaps, Too HOT To Handle!

        1. Videos increase your visibility in search results and positioning.
        2. Online videos help you develop trust and expert status.
        3. Videos increase conversion rates, website traffic and are the single most powerfl small business advertising!
          cVideos run on auto-pilot and set you apart from your competitors
    7. Connect With Publish Online Content

      • The Internet Revolves Around CONTENT! Effective Website Optimization Multi-Purposes Content Everywhere

        1. Publish keyword rich articles and blog posts related to your industry.
        2. Publish keyword optimized press releases to attract media attention.
        3. Publish content to online directories to drive traffic back to your website.
    8. Connect With Reputation Management

      • Do You Know What People Say About Your Business Online? Local Search Optimization Relies On The Social Proof Of Reviews & Testimonials!

        1. Pay attention to what is being said about your business online.
        2. Promote positive online reviews & testimonials about your business.
        3. A bad online reputation can negatively impact your business.
        4. Respond promptly and handle all negative remarks quickly.
    9. Connect With Online Classified Ads

      • Effective Marketing Local Business Is All About Promoting Your Business Everywhere Local Customers Hang Out

        • Online Classified Ad sites are free or are very low cost.
        • Craigslist is one of the most popular online classified ad sites.
        • Optimize your ads with effective keywords to show up in search results.
        • Images in your ads make them more attractive to consumers.
    10. Connect With Paid Online Advertising

      • Successful Internet Marketing For Small Business Quickly Learns Its Best Market From Paid Advertising!

        1. Paid online advertising is effective at gaining more exposure quickly.
        2. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is one of the most popular paid advertising methods.
        3. Google’s paid advertising platform is called AdWords.
        4. Facebook also has paid advertising to get in front of your best prospects.

Call Now
Answer Questions: 612-235-6060

  • How Local Small Business Marketing Creates Unlimited Opportunities To Be Found

    Local Small Business Marketing Solves Problems
    Local Small Business Marketing Solves Problems

    Local small business marketing sees every web page as another unique opportunity to be found. Traditionally, local small business advertising designed the home page like the dust jacket of a book and its table of contents. Usually any backlinks point directly to the home page, regardless what specific information the visitor was seeking. The only way to find and get to inner web pages is via the home page and elaborate menu navigations. Google and other search engines catalog web pages and their content. Every one of your web pages is an opportunity to be found for some specific content, keywords and phrases which introduce visitors to the rest of your website. Each blog post becomes another web page, another leaf on the tree that is your website. Blog software like WordPress facilitate categorization and tagging blog posts and phrases in your content which, in turn, provide additional opportunities for your content to be found and cataloged by search engines.

    Local Small Business Marketing Wants Great Customers

    Take a long close look at your very best customers. You know, those two or three customers who, if cloned ten times, would totally transform your business forever! If you had ten more of them you could simply fire the bottom ten customers, sleep better at night and you’d be ever so much more profitable at accounting time. Identify those factors in each of them that make them great customers. Imagine, if you will, one of your ideal buyers browsing the Internet looking for a solution to their problem which, unbeknownst to them is sitting right here in your hand. Their circumstances are far more than simply the keywords they type before clicking [Search]. Indeed, their circumstances include environment, education, age, family, ethnicity, geography, attitude, health and a host of other factors.

    Buyer Personae Love Local Small Business Marketing

    Why don’t you ask them why they bought from you? Why are they so loyal to you? Why do they keep coming back to you? What is your relationship all about? When you know your great customers so well that you immediately see them, or don’t see them, in a stranger you just met, then you have identified one of your buyer persona. Marketing ideas begin with the reality of your business.

    Aim High With Local Small Business Marketing

    If marketing is truly the relationship between your business and your marketplace, and every relationship begins with a single conversation, why would you ever intentionally go out of your way to start a conversation with somebody who does not fit your buyer persona? On the other hand, when you have an absolutely clear picture of your best customer in mind, if you meet a prospect identical to that best customer, what will you not do to convert them into another great customer? This isn’t so much a matter of scheming and plotting as it is an organizational principle. There are only so many hours in a day and only so many days in your life. Focus exclusively on those prospects most likely to become great customers. If you’re going to market anyway, aim high, aim at those that will benefit most from what you offer, from what you do best. So, when it comes to web pages, put yourself in your best prospect’s mind.

    Local Small Business Marketing Solves Problems

    What is it they most want to see? Paint them a picture of you and your company fully solving their problem. Tell them stories of how you have solved these problems for other people and how your customers benefit from your solutions. Everybody is an expert at something. When you go eyeball-to-eyeball with them across the sales table, you will tell them your most persuasive story. Put those stories in writing and publish them on your blog or web pages. Convert that to a video and syndicate it to Youtube and podcast it and publish it every way imaginable online. Seed the entire Internet with breadcrumbs, with stories specific to each persona’s needs … many will follow you and heed your call-to-action and convert from lead to prospect to great customer.

    Wasted Local Small Business Marketing Real Estate

    Small business marketing can’t waste web real estate. It’s not that you can’t create more. You cannot afford to confuse or mislead visitors. It wastes your time and theirs. Wasted web space is wasted effort that can produce nothing of value. If a web page does not have a specific purpose, if it is not intended for a specific buyer persona, it is more likely to turn away business.

    Call Now
    Answer Local Small Business Marketing Questions: 612-235-6060

    Call MDS Resource For Special Offer Now: 612-235-6060

  • Ten Ways Local Small Business Marketing Will Drive Eager Buyers To Your Door Day In And Day Out

    The Price Is Right For Local Small Business Marketing
    The Price Is Right For Local Small Business Marketing

    As if succeeding at small business weren’t hard enough simply making ends meet, local small business marketing can be quite perplexing, too. When you’re small, so is your budget. Eager buyers are shopping for solutions to their perplexing problems. So, where are they if they’re not here in your office? Here are ten local small business marketing tips to attract their attention.

    Buyer Personae Love Local Small Business Marketing

    1. Know your buyer personae. Who is your very best customer? Who is she? What does she do for a living? Where does she live, hang out and shop for groceries? How will she know the best solution to her problem? When you know your best customers exceptionally well, exceptional customers will come to you.
    2. When you know your best customers, it’s little wonder that pleasing them, too, is so much easier. One size never fits all. When you’re shipping to customers perfectly suited to your products and services, meeting and exceeding expectations is the norm. Match your offering to those who need it most and you’re guaranteed to-die-for word of mouth accolades for your local small business marketing.
    3. Local Small Business Marketing Builds Networks

    4. Regardless your small, medium or large company, networking is at the center of gathering targeted sales leads. Your local chamber of commerce is the logical first step out in your community. Who knows better what your business needs to succeed than other successful business leaders in your neighborhood? Sharing local referrals with them logically leads to reciprocal business.
    5. In the online world, LinkedIn.com is the world’s largest professional network. It has numerous groups and categories with local focus eagerly seeking local solutions. Best of all, every Fortune 500 company’s executive management is represented on LinkedIn. Prospecting is as simple as participating in groups where local prospects hang out online.
    6. Local Small Business Marketing Uses Social Media

    7. Apparently, Social Media is here to stay. Facebook, for example, is the third largest country in the world and its membership has twice the population of America. Keep your business page up-to-date with events, new offerings and encourage your customers to contribute opinions and share referrals online.
    8. Twitter is a mystery to many small business owners. How much can be said in 140 characters? The key is listening, listening and more listening. However, when you hear somebody comment on you and your brand you need to respond. Give thanks for kind comments. Appreciate the customer service opportunity to solve problems quickly when you hear about them.
    9. Local Small Business Marketing Is Continuous Improvement

    10. In business, learning from your mistakes and duplicating success are vital. At the end of the day, the purpose of your business is to profit by satisfying human wants and needs. As you get better at building strong relationships with those whose problems are best solved by what you offer, you will succeed at attracting more of those best customer.
    11. Continuous improvement means getting better and better at solving customer problems. Continuous improvement is also getting better and better customers, many of whom will refer you to others in need. The best possible local small business marketing results in great customers standing up in public and testifying to the greatness of your relationship.
    12. The Price Is Right For Local Small Business Marketing

    13. Don’t sell yourself short. Price is rarely the real reason a prospect goes elsewhere. When you provide enormous value to eager buyers shopping for your solution, price is no object. It’s not the pain as much as it is the consequences of not relieving that pain that matters.
    14. So, what is your benefit to your customers’ painful problem? How do they value that benefit? How much will it cost them to forego your solution? When you’re in front of your ideal buyers, yours is the perfect solution. Solve their problem and you’re a savior.

    Local small business marketing is all about exchanging the right solution at the right price. Driving eager buyers to your door day in and day out is easy once you stop trying to sell to everybody. Anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer and local small business marketing puts you everywhere they look.

    Call Now
    Answer Your Local Small Business Marketing Question: 612-235-6060

    Call MDS Resource For Special Offer Now: 612-235-6060

  • If You Are Marketing Local Business You Can Double Your Best Sales In Ninety Days Or Less

    Free Publicity Marketing Local Business
    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.

    Call Now
    Answer Your Marketing Local Business Question: 612-235-6060

    Call MDS Resource For Special Offer Now: 612-235-6060

  • How I Targeted Sales Leads And Burned Down The House With Sale After Sale To Eager Buyers

    Targeted Sales Leads Burn Down The House
    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

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  • How To Succeed At Online Marketing For Small Business With Any Realistic Budget

    Don't Ignore Online Marketing For Small Business
    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.

    Call Now
    Answer Your Online Marketing For Small Business Question: 612-235-6060

    Call MDS Resource For Special Offer Now: 612-235-6060

  • Give Me Ninety Days And You Will Be Successfully Marketing Local Business Throughout The Twin Cities

    Marketing Local Business Has Changed
    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.

  • Give Me Local Small Business Marketing And I’ll Whip My Dreams Into Profitable Business Over Night

    Dream Local Small Business Marketing Profits
    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?

  • Are You Marketing Your Business Online Unprofitably?

    Is Marketing Your Business Online Profitable?
    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.