Use Marketing to Grow Your Business

Many small businesses are so busy doing business; they rarely have time to do the marketing.  How do you use marketing to grow a business? Let's look at some things a small business can do:

First, understand your current customers very well. Who are your customers and what do they like about your product or service?  Why do they choose your particular product or service over another? Is there something unique about what you do or what you offer that keeps them coming back? In reality, your customers have a need that you are meeting. Understand what that is and you will be able to find other people with the same need.

Next, you need to identify your target market segments. Based on who is already doing business with you, you can target specific markets that would be good candidates.  You must have a detailed picture of your target audience in order to create optimal content for them.  The best way to understand your audience is to build buyer personas.  Personas are fictional representations of your ideal customers, based on real data about customer demographics and online behavior, along with educated speculation about their personal histories, motivations, and concerns.  Keep in mind that you should come up with multiple segments that could be possibilities.

Third, prioritize your target market segments according to the easiest ones to reach. They may not be the largest segment, but if it's easy and inexpensive to build awareness with them, you will have a higher return on your investment. Then you can move on to the next one. It may be that you can reach them directly, which is even better. Whenever you have the opportunity for direct contact with potential customers, you can design more effective marketing to talk directly with them.

Fourth, create a strategy for reaching the identified target segments. If there is not the opportunity to contact the segment directly, you will need to review ways the targets in the segment take in information. You want to again find the least expensive ways to get your company's products and services recognized by the market segment. This could include traditional media, social media, electronic media, publicity or others. It could even include partnerships with other companies that have direct access to the market segments you are trying to reach. Then take that information and create a strategy that can be executed over a defined period of time. This would include the creative and messaging as part of the strategy that will resonate with the intended audience.

Lastly, execute your strategy effectively. Once you have a strategy in place, it's important to execute over a defined period of time. Remember that marketing takes time to be effective and allow expectations to match. Otherwise, you may be disappointed.

Effective marketing is an ongoing effort. It's an investment and it will take time to see a return on the investment. You may need to pivot your efforts as you see the results of the different segments you are targeting. But, if you continue to work through these steps, you will be successful at marketing and successful in business.  Remember, if you’re too busy to create and execute this marketing strategy, Blue Dog Marketing is here to help you. 

 

Promote Your Business to Local Media

Getting the word out about your small business is important to increase awareness about your business and attract new customers.  And it doesn’t have to be expensive.  When you have new or announcements, write up press releases and submit them to your local TV stations, radio stations and newspapers.  These channels can be the absolute best promotion you can get. And the fact it's free makes it even better.

In the Rochester, NY area, we have a quite a few radio and TV stations, a daily newspaper, and several smaller papers and magazines.  All these media outlets are looking for content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year   and they’re interested in your news because you’re local.

People read the morning paper and talk about it to others throughout their day.  Radio stations have thousands of listeners.  And both TV and radio stations have web sites that increases the visibility your stories.

Make your press release interesting.  Put the most important information first so it captures the editors attention.  Be sure to include your contact information so reporters can reach you if they have any questions.  Include your website, your email address and phone number. 

Once you have a story covered by a local media outlet, plan to submit a new story in one year. Editors will be happy to hear from you in one year because enough time has passed so they can do another story on your business.

Local PR is your easiest and most powerful source of free promotion. Keep your eyes open for anything happening with your business that might be of interest to your local media.

How to Put Your Tactical Marketing Plan in Place

All successful marketing campaigns have one thing in common: they start with a plan.  The best marketing plans are ones that are tactical and consist of a series of actions aimed at growing sales in an organized and well thought out manner. 

Here are tips on how to put your tactical marketing plan in place.

·         Determine Your Marketing Objectives

Depending on the type and size of your business your marketing goals will want to be traced back to sales or more customers. Increasing the value of sales per customer can be an alternative way to focus on increasing sales and, often times, is more effective.

·         Define Your Target Market

 

    Segment your target market based on customer demographics by creating a target persona.   The best way to understand your audience is to build buyer personas.  Personas are fictional representations of your ideal customers, based on real data about customer demographics and online behavior, along with educated speculation about their personal histories, motivations, and concerns.

      You can develop personas following these 3 steps:

     -         Segment by demographics

     -         Identify their needs

     -         Develop behavior-based profiles

·         What Is Your Current Market Position?

    

     Before you decide where you are going, look at where you've been. Consider why and how your customers do business with you. Look at how you are perceived in the marketplace.

·         Which Marketing Strategies to Use?

     

    There are many marketing tactics available, and successful, for small businesses to use.  Here are some to consider including in your marketing plan:

o Advertising – television ads and print ads in local and industry       publications

o Direct marketing – email or traditional mailings to a customer/potential customer list

o Sales promotion – will you discount any of your products during the year?  Decide which product(s), when and how much the discount will be.

o Appearance of your staff – get your brand out by having your staff wear shirts with your logo and website on them

o Sales literature – what literature do you need to promote your products or services?  Think about where you would use this printed material – tradeshows, mailings, or even sitting by your cash register.

o Sponsorship – sponsors local events, such as Chamber of Commerce events and charity events in your area

o Communication methods – determine how you will communicate with your customers and potential customers.  Will you email them?  Post stories/information on your Facebook business page or your blog?

·        Develop and Monitor Your Action Plan

     Include a timeline of when things each marketing action should be started     and concluded.  A great marketing plan isn’t useful if you don’t track and evaluate your marketing strategies.  A tactical marketing plan is a living document that will change and grow with your business.

How to Market a Small Business?

 

Small businesses differ from multinational corporations in many ways but most differently in terms of finances. Marketing strategies for a small business vary too.  Small businesses work on a stringent budget and their marketing strategy therefore must not absorb too many finances.  So, how do you market a small business?

Today’s technology has allowed small businesses to gain visibility and accessibility without too much of a financial cost. The Internet is the most economical and effective means of reaching prospects and advertising your business. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, help create awareness and bring leads to a small business.  These sites only require time and effort to be successful.

Every small business should have a dedicated website.  A website is a place to drive your leads from social media sites and to give detailed information about your products or services.  Having the right strategy for search engine optimization, combined with a well-designed site can increase your business.

Small businesses can either struggle to create and implement a marketing plan or they can hire experts who have the “know-how” to apply technology with time-tested marketing strategies to help them. 

If you’re a small business, don’t struggle with your marketing.  Reach out to experts.  We take pride in making you successful!

Are You Using Social Media for Your Marketing Yet?

Most businesses use marketing to promote their products or services. If you want to reach more potential customers than ever before, consider including social media as part of your marketing plan. The low cost of participation and the huge number of potential customers available should make getting in to social media a priority for every business owner.

If you want to know why social media marketing is important, you just need to look at the numbers. Facebook currently boasts over eight hundred thousand users, while Twitter has about three hundred and fifty thousand users. While not every one of these users will be in the market for your product, it does give you an easy way to get in contact with more people than would otherwise be possible. The other number that is important is the number zero - that is, the cost for joining one of these networks. While there are always costs associated with social marketing, the low initial buy-in makes it easier than ever for a small business to use the services for marketing purposes.

If you want to take advantage of social media marketing, you have to go in with a plan. While any business can set up a profile page, it takes a seasoned professional to really take advantage of what most platforms have to offer. If you want to do this, the best way to move forward is to hire a marketing firm to help you.

If you want to make sure that your business stays competitive, you have to get on the social media bandwagon. It will take time and effort to fully exploit, but doing so may drive more traffic to your business than ever before. There is no perfect way to market and no sure-fire way to gain customers, but making use of social media is a great way to minimize your marketing costs while still allowing you to focus on the important aspects of your business.

 

How to Keep Your Marketing Plan Current

Having a complete and current marketing plan in place is essential for a small business to become successful.  When it comes to staying ahead of the competition, small business owners should always review and bring improvements to their marketing plan on a yearly basis.  The lack of a plan can lead a business to a disastrous failure in three to five years.

Here are some steps to help you update your current marketing plan or to create a marketing plan, if you don’t have one.

Step 1: Understand Your Market and Your Competition

The first step is to understand your competition and market. Many small businesses launch a business based on what they think is a great product without understanding what the market wants. Avoid making the mistake of failing to study the market and the competition.

Some factors to consider when you are looking at what your target market wants:

·         The size of the market segment

·         Market share required to break even

·         Who is your competition?  Yes, it’s OK to check out your competition!

·         Consider the demand

 

Step 2: Understand Your Customer

You need to figure out who your target customer is.  Some questions to ask yourself are: Who are your customers? What do they want? What motivates them to buy?  The best way to understand your target customer is to build buyer personas.  Personas are fictional representations of your ideal customers, based on real data about customer demographics and online behavior, along with educated speculation about their personal histories, motivations, and concerns.

Step 3: Develop a Strong Marketing Message

When developing your marketing message, you need to make sure you tell your prospects not only what you do, but you also need to persuade them to buy. You should have two types of marketing messages; the first message should be short and to the point. This is your “elevator speech”, a short 60 second response when asked you what you do.

The second message can and should be more elaborate and detailed.  It will give your prospects all that they need to know about the features and the benefits of your product.

Step 4: Determine Your Marketing Mediums

When determining your target customers, you must also look to see where they are.  Are they on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube or other social media sites?  If your customers are there, then you need to be there too.

Besides social media, small businesses should also plan their marketing/sales campaigns for an entire year.  These can involve email campaigns, direct mail campaigns, and hosting events or sales.

Step 5: Set Your Marketing Goals

It is critical that you set goals for your marketing. Your goals should be measurable, realistic, and achievable.

Step 6: Develop a Marketing Budget

Many of your marketing plans can be free (just your time spent) when looking at using social media.  Other marketing costs that you should budget for are your website (consider updating costs too), any ads in publications, product brochures or pamphlets and tradeshows/events.

Conclusion

Your marketing plan should be a living document.  Review it yearly and keep it current so your business will be successful. 

Social Media Tips for Small Businesses

You want your small business to have a social media presence.  Your customers and potential customers are on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and so on, so it makes sense that your business should be on these social networks too.  It's a great, and inexpensive, way to reach your target market.

These social media tips are designed to help you set up and manage your social media presence as a small business. 

1.  Decide which social media network to join

Just because you read about certain social media networks having millions of users, doesn't mean you should necessarily be on that site.  Search the various social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, to see if people are already talking about your business on these sites.  Look at your competitors on these sites too.  Yes....it's OK to do that!  See what type of presence your competitors have.  If your competitors are there, you might want to be there too.

2.  Set up profiles on social media sites

When you decide which social media networks you want to join, be clear and to the point about what your business is and why you're on the network.  Fill in all the descriptions about your business with clear, tight explanations about what you do.

3.  Keep your promises

On Facebook, in particular, do what you promised.  If you promised your fans a discount to "like" your page, you'd better deliver.  It's not enough for Facebook fans to "like" your business page.  You must engage with them.  One of the reasons that small businesses are so successful on Facebook over larger businesses is because small businesses behave more like a friend on Facebook.   When a fan comments on one of your postings, acknowledge them.  A simple reply of "thanks" can go a long way in nurturing a good relationship with your fans.

4.  Don't push your products

Of course you're using social media to increase your sales, but no one likes a pushy sales person.  Content on social media networks can include information about your products, but also share industry news, great customer stories and even profiles of your employees.   Post great pictures of your products, store, customers, and events.  When you share pictures or videos, be sure to add descriptions or captions.  You get the idea....keep it fresh and interesting.

3 Easy Ways To Make Your Online Content Engaging and Attract Prospects

 

Marketing is scary for many small businesses.  You know your product, but not always how to market it correctly.  Today, the internet has opened many more avenues for small businesses to market to their target audiences.  However, if your marketing copy does not attract and keep your prospects' attention, any promotional material used after that is pointless. The goal for effective online content is to engage the prospect and grab their attention.

Here are three easy ways to ensure that your online content is engaging and prospects are attracted to your business and respond to your marketing materials.

1. Understand that it's not about you.

If you look at most small business marketing copy, you may notice a lot of talk about the people who work there. However, beyond the "about" section most prospects are not interested in reading copy that is dominated with the frequent uses of the words "we," "our" or the company name repeatedly.

The problem with this type of language is that it doesn't appeal to prospects because it comes across as self serving rather than concentrating on what the prospect stands to gain from becoming a client or customer of the company. After all, your prospects are only concerned about their own needs and desires and how well your product or services produces results. A great strategy for incorporating prospects into your marketing message is writing copy that reads more conversational and less like an essay. The usage of words such as: "you," "your" and "you're" will personalize your message and make it reader friendly.

2. Address a common problem and/or need held by the average prospect in your target group.

First, you must identify the common problems or challenges held by your targeted prospects before writing any effective copy to market to them. If you don't know your prospects' problems, you'll have a difficult time writing content that gets their attention. Before you attempt to write promotional copy, make certain that you have accurately identified the primary challenges and concerns that your prospects have. Here are a few questions to consider: What value are you providing for your customers? What are the interests and likes of your target demographic? Once you have this information, you can create copy that speaks directly to your prospects. Your copy will then be more relevant and engaging to them.

If you're interested in learning about your prospects' thoughts, needs and challenges one very effective way to obtain answers is to survey them. If you're actively building a mailing list, simply ask your subscribers about their most pressing issues related to your product or service. Once you have a targeted list of prospects, you can then adjust your marketing efforts to cater to the primary needs held by that group of people.

3. Provide education-based content, high value and results.

The best way to engage your prospects is to educate them. You have the ability to become an invaluable and trusted resource to your prospects by giving them educational information that helps address their problems related to your product or service. Therefore sharing your knowledge will create value in your prospect’s mind for your content and your services. If you share your knowledge, both in your marketing materials and face-to-face meetings, you will move a lot faster in the know-like-trust barometer. Each time you offer expertise, give insight or answer a basic question, you further establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Many small businesses are very hesitant about offering free advice or educational content because they fear that their prospects will become window shoppers or 'do-it-themselves' types and never pay for their coaching services. Don't worry about this scenario. The prospects who want and need your services will value the information you provide and are more likely to hire you once you have demonstrated your knowledge, expertise and value.

Finally, post testimonials to your web page.  This demonstrates "social proof" of people who have used your advice and obtained positive results. Testimonials verify your expert status. 

 

Don't Let Social Media Control Your Business And Your Life!

 

One of the pitfalls of using social media for internet marketing is that too often people find themselves bogged down with the general maintenance of it and the time needed to maintain all your social media sites.  So, you’re familiar with the time crunch. The time crunch is what you discover when you are making your rounds and find you have little time for anything else. For instance you've been advised on the wisdom of making regular posts for your website, regular blogs, updating your Facebook page and tweeting your message.

So how do you use this vast array of social media sites, keep them all updated and current with your information and still have time to actually run your business? By working smart, not hard.  Determine four different times during your day in which you will quickly log into to your Facebook, twitter, Google+ or whatever, make your posts and go back to work. You might want to designate a half hour to an hour total, for maintaining your social media connections. And outside of your workday you simply don't touch it no matter how many exciting responses you see. Learn to control it, without letting it control you

If you blog, you can take time to write several blog posts and schedule them.  This way, if you blog 3 times a week, you can take one hour to write all that week’s posts (and maybe more!) and they’re done for the week.

If you schedule your social media time (and stick to it), then you can maintain contact, post regular updates, and still put the hours in on your business that you need to. A good timetable might look like this. First thing in the morning while having your coffee you hit up all your sites, Facebook, twitter, etc. Then make any posts you need, keep everyone updated then get to work. Then right after lunch make another quick round of checks, responses and posts.  Then check again around 3:00 and a final one at 6:00. What you’re doing is making your rounds at precisely the same time your customers are logging on and checking their accounts. Most people check things out first thing in the morning, then on breaks, lunch and around two or three, and then once they get home around six. You are hitting your peak times, and getting the most bang for your buck. It's simple, efficient, and a brilliant use of time management. Remember, work smart, not hard!

 

Your Marketing Plan for 2013

The new year is here and by now your marketing planning for 2013 should be well underway.

While you determine your budget, assess your resources, and begin to create a timeline for implementation, keep in mind the marketing plan should focus on a process that begins with detailed information about your customers.

Good customer research can form the basis of a solid campaign, keep strategies on target and eliminate waste of both time and dollars.

That research will help you create a strategic objective in line with real facts and corporate goals. It may include helping to increase sales by 20 per cent, building brand awareness with targeted organizations by 30 per cent or more, generating thought leadership through social media, or determining which strategies will be needed to launch a new product or a new service.

A review of your efforts in 2012 is often a good place to start.

Did your firm meet your sales objectives as a result of your marketing strategies and tactics? Did you connect with customers and prospects in a way that brought them to your website and/or created more conversation on the street? Did it encourage prospects to set-up a meeting with a member of your team and end in an agreement to do business together, either now or in the future?

Once you ascertain which portions of the program worked and which ones did not, you can begin to make adjustments.

You may decide that your current marketing plan is highly successful and only minor adjustments need to be made going forward.

Conversely it may be determined that the plan produced results that could only be labeled "disappointing".

For many businesses the results can fall somewhere in the middle. Some techniques probably worked well or at least produced acceptable results. Others were totally ineffective.

Some firms, including many small businesses, have plans that can be called highly "fluid". They may or may not have an actual documented program, preferring to try things as they come along.

These companies may purchase an advertisement in a newspaper for a six week run, bounce over to a radio station for a two-month schedule and then try a low-budget campaign on television simply because it sounded like a good deal. Then, based on sketchy results, they start that process all over again looking for some type of magical marketing formula.

Instead companies should focus on a planning initiative that begins with solid information about their customers. This includes understanding the demographics and psychographics of the purchaser.

In the business to consumer sales situation it is easier to determine the make-up of the customer base. Charge cards, sales receipts, and email lists will tell you where your customers live, their approximate age, frequency of purchase, most popular items bought etc.

The business to business marketplace can be more challenging. A customer may be giving a portion of their budget to your firm but spending larger dollars with another competitor. They may have misperceptions about your products or services. They could be unhappy with their current sales representative and ready to spend their entire budget with another company.

Customer research can reveal areas of concern as well as successes with existing clients. It can help determine important background information about purchasers including age, education, and reading habits such as trade journals, business journals, online publications etc. It can also form a profile of potential buyers as you enter new markets or business segments.

Armed with the proper amount of customer background a company can create a solid and targeted marketing plan. One that is not "hit or miss" but well documented and well thought-out, forming the basis for success in 2013.

 

A Couple Essential Rules of Social Media Marketing

 

There are 2 Essential Rules of Marketing that you must follow if you want to be successful in today’s market.

Each one is just as important as the other and you have to make sure you are doing both of them to see the results that you want to be successful. Let's take a look at the 2 rules now:

1. Use Social Media Everyday

You must reach out to current and potential customers every day. If you do not have a social media presence, that’s okay.  The beginning of the new year is a good time to start. You can build your social media presence in a lot of ways. You can build it by shooting videos and posting them to YouTube, posting on Facebook and Twitter and Google Plus, which are my favorite social media venues. You can do banner ads, sponsored stories and ads on Facebook; the list can go on and on. The most important thing to do is to take that first step and be where your target market is.

2. Build a Relationship with Your Social Media Followers/Fans

When you are building a relationship with your followers/fans by tweeting, shooting a video or doing a blog post, the most important thing is to be yourself. Let your customers and potential customers see that you are a real person, talk about your family, what books you are reading, your struggles, your successes. Post photos of what is going on in your life and in your business. Once you start to let them know that you are real person the faster you will build a solid relationship with your followers/fans and the more they will grow to like and trust you and listen to you when you are ready to sell things.

Keeping these 2 rules of social media marketing in your mind every day and implementing them daily will not only start to create momentum in your business but will earn you the income that you desire.

3 Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

2013 budgets are tight, but nowhere more than in small businesses. Today, you need to be creative in your thinking, be willing to spend some time developing a marketing plan, and designate jobs to staff, hire a marketing firmt or do it yourself. It all depends on your time and your budget. The following are some tips to get you started.

Write a Newsletter - You need to tell everyone why your business is better than your competition. What better way than in a newsletter. A newsletter is an inexpensive way to promote your business.  It should not just be an advertisement for your business; it needs to be about you, your business beliefs, your employees and more. Write about upcoming events that you’re holding or are involved in, how to use your products in different ways, or write about your staff. Focus an article on one employee each month. Give free tips on how to do something related to your business without selling your business.

Create a contest on your website - Many people enjoy contests. Run a contest every quarter. You don't have to give away anything expensive.  The prize could be one of your products or a gift card for your business.

Join local organizations to network - Networking online is one thing, but networking in person is better. You get a chance to meet different people from different businesses. Many will complement your business. When you speak to these people be sure to listen to what they do, what their position in their company is and how they advertise. If your businesses are in a similar niche but not competitors, you might be able to exchange web links, which puts you higher in search engine page rankings. You might even combine your marketing strategies into one mailing and split the costs.  Consider joining a local Chamber of Commerce to meet other small business owners.

Now you have the idea. Just use your imagination to increase traffic to your store or to your web site.

Cultivating Clients using Drip Marketing

When you have found a potential customer or want to retain the clients you already have, as a small business owner, you can use a variety of marketing strategies to stay on the customer's radar. One of these strategies is called drip marketing. If used properly and cultivated carefully, this can build a strong customer base and improve brand recognition.

Set Goals
As with any customer relationship marketing plan, it is important to set goals at the beginning of a drip marketing campaign. The goal can range from promoting brand recognition to increasing the number of repeat customers that use a service regularly. Businesses with reasonable goals have greater success. While instant gratification is a natural tendency among companies trying to survive and succeed, it is often the slow and steady approach that builds trust among potential clients and provides quality lead generation with long-term financial rewards.

Which Media to Use
There are several different media for sending marketing messages to clients. The most popular is email. Well-accepted for its low cost and strong saturation, email campaigns are only effective when you have the right contact address and sends a message that people want to read. While email messages may oftentimes wind up in someone's junk mail or trash bin, part of a drip marketing strategy is to make sure that that doesn't happen. Opt-in programs and discretionary use of contact information help to ensure a higher success rate. Other media for this strategy include a social media approach and direct mail advertising. While they are more time consuming and can be more expensive, they are also more effective for certain audiences.

Timing
The most critical aspect of a successful drip marketing campaign that has a solid contact base is the timing. While a pre-determined time frame for each stage of the campaign is easier to set up and maintain, many businesses find that targeting potential and return clients based on their behaviors creates a more successful conversion rate. Bombarding a contact at the wrong pace or the wrong time can serve as a turn-off rather than an incentive. As a result, this marketing method is often best left to the professionals, rather than the do-it-yourself approach for business owners.

Message
Part of the success of this strategy comes from giving your clients and potential clients information they don't already have and sharing details that they don't already know. Carefully formulated messages that educate the consumer can help businesses to achieve their goals over the long term. Describing high quality products and services with in-depth detail for higher line investments is typically more effective than pounding potential clients with information that they already know about lower level purchases.