Include Video on Your Website

Include Video on Your Website

Video has become a marketing requirement for businesses. It is fast becoming the preferred way to find out about a product or service. Your visitors would rather watch a short video and find out what you do rather than read through an entire website.

Using video on your home page is a great marketing tactic. But we’re seeing many videos that are flops. Why? Because the business uses the video to talk about themselves, how long they’ve been in business, their products or services. Such a snoozer!
Your website visitors don’t care about your business, products or services. All they care about is themselves and their problems. If you’re talking about anything other than your prospect and their problems at the start of your video, you’ve lost their interest.

Focus on your target audience’s problem and how your products or services can help solve their problem. Use this opportunity to tell a story about a current customer that had the same problem and how you’ve solved it for them. Have your customer give a testimonial video. People love personal experience stories.

Have a Small Marketing Budget? Here are 3 Inexpensive Marketing Tactics That Work

Have a Small Marketing Budget? Here are 3 Inexpensive Marketing Tactics That Work

There are so many marketing strategies available to small business owners as technology evolves. As a small business owner, you must market your products or services effectively with a limited marketing budget.

You need to identify the best possible methods for your business and how to implement them. Here are three inexpensive marketing tactics that work for small businesses.

1.   Use Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Your company website is one of the most important tools if not "The" most important tool for promoting your small business. Potential customers often get their first impression of your brand when viewing your website.

SEO (search engine optimization) campaigns are created to have your website appear in the top search results of the primary search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing organically. This means, it is not shown in search through paid advertising, but in the organic search results. Organic searches are more trusted and yield a much higher click-through rate.

Google's free AdWords tool helps small business owners identify keyword phrases that yield the most traffic online. Those should be considered for optimization and SEO, but competitiveness should be kept in mind. At times, smaller niche markets are easier and faster to reach. AdWords will be able to provide all those details for your small business.

2.   Use Google Analytics

Do you know what is happening to your website and marketing efforts. Without factual data, you will not be able to measure your efforts. With Google Analytics and other third party tools, small business owners can quickly get reports, statistics, and measurements of their marketing efforts.

3.   Content Marketing

Content marketing is the creation of articles, blog articles, press releases, videos, and images, such as Infographics. Many small businesses neglect the importance of content marketing. It is a critical method of marketing, very results oriented, and also one of the least expansive techniques to market online.

By regularly adding new content to your website, you increase the search ranking. You show your customers and potential customers that you are an expert in your field when you share your knowledge through your blog.

What Is Your Point of Difference?

What Is Your Point of Difference?

Blue Dog Marketing works with many consultants, some of whom are in the same field of work. How do they stand out from their competition? How can a marketing firm, such as Blue Dog Marketing, partner with you to help your business be unique?

Every business needs to differentiate themselves from their competition. They need to have a unique point of difference.  If your business doesn’t stand out from the crowd, you will likely get lost in the general background noise of other similar businesses competing for attention.

Determining the point of difference is a challenge for many businesses. Competing on price is not generally a viable idea, so how do you find the one particular thing that sets your business apart from the rest?

Why is point of difference so important in your marketing?

Once you have identified your target audience, you need to determine how you are going to market to them. Although your marketing partner can help you with the tactics, you will need to decide how to present yourself to attract the clients you want. This generally means that you will need to let them know how and why you can meet their needs better than other businesses like yours.

How do I work out my point of difference?

If you don't have an obvious differentiator from your competition, one straightforward way to find out what you do differently is to ask your current clients. A few questions you can ask them include:

·         What is one thing that we do better than the others?
·         What made you choose us?
·         Would you refer us, and if so, what would you say?

You may discover that your strengths as a business are different than you previously thought. You may be meeting a need that you didn't know existed, without even realizing it. Try to get your customers to give you as many specifics as possible, including examples of times when your business has demonstrated the qualities they mention. Chances are there will be a common thread once you have spoken to a few of your clients, and you can use this to base your point of difference on.

Once you and your marketing partner have decided on your point of difference, you will have a solid foundation for your marketing strategy, as well as a clear idea of where to position your business and how to market to your target audience. Your point of difference will assist in forming your marketing message and help you stand out in a crowded marketplace.

3 Tips for Using Images In Your Content

A Picture is worth a thousand words. I’m sure you’ve heard this phrase before. It’s so true, especially today.

Images make it possible for people to absorb information quickly and understand the context of a message without having to spend the time reading. The average person would prefer to see something visual, than read about it. With all the different social media tools available today, such as Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, etc., the trend is to say it all in a picture.

Here are three tips for selecting images for your website or blog posts.

Relevant, Appropriate and Engaging

Imagery is very powerful and you want to make sure you select images that are relevant to the message you want to convey. The story you want to tell has to match what the image shows. If the subject of the image and the subject of the text don't align, your readers will be confused and unengaged.

Quality

Your readers should be able to easily identify what the subject of an image you are using is. Don't use images that are fuzzy, cut off or low quality. High resolution images should be used because they look the best.

Shareable

The idea is to provide images that people will want to like and share. Facebook and Pinterest are all about sharing images. The images you use should speak to your audience. The more your image and message speak to your audience and is relatable to them, the more shares it will get.

When you start to pick out the images you want to use, keep in mind that people are attracted to images that they can connect with emotionally, and tell a story.

Have You Found Your Target Market?

Have You Found Your Target Market?

When you started your small business, your main goal was to make your business successful, right? Many business owners do not spend enough time identifying who their target market is before they open their doors for business and started marketing. By doing this, your marketing efforts could go wasted.  

You need to go out there and search for your potential customers... they will not be looking for you. Once you have determined who your target market is, you can concentrate on where you can find them and how to interact with them in order for you to spread your message about your business.

You need to do your research and visit places where your customers are. Some of the places you could look are:

·         Social Media Networking- when searching on who to connect with, make sure it's your target market. Yes, it's good to get a lot of friends and followers on your social media accounts, but if they are not potential customers, why do you want to bother marketing to them?

·         Facebook and LinkedIn Groups- When you belong to these groups that consist of your target market, you have a better chance of being able to relate to them one on one and building up that trust that essential to making a sale.

·         Forums and Membership Sites- Google your target market and you'll be able to find forums and membership sites that are specifically targeted to your prospective customers. Review the rules, etc., and decide if you'd be a good fit and then join. Just don't forget to interact with the members once you do join!

·         Local Networking Events- Keep up with your local news to see when live events would be taking place that your target market may be interested in. Then show up and start building those relationships. Don't forget your business cards!

There are many other places you could find your target market at, but these suggestions should get your started. The more you get to know who your customers are and start building relationships with them, the more chances you have of them purchasing from you and returning to you for more in the future.

Do You Know What SEO Is and How to Use It?

Do You Know What SEO Is and How to Use It?

If you know that SEO stands for search engine optimization and the better your SEO is, the higher you will rank on search engines. So, now you’re a SEO genius, right?

Not so much. There's a lot more to SEO than that. Let me answer some of the most common SEO questions Blue Dog Marketing has heard.

1) What is SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. It refers to techniques that help your website become more visible in organic search results for the people who are looking for your brand, product, or service via search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

2) What's the difference between organic vs. paid results?

Organic results are the results that appear in search engines, for free, based on an algorithm. Paid -- or inorganic -- search results appear at the top or side of a page. These are the links that advertisers pay to appear on different search engines.

3) What are meta descriptions?

A meta description is the text that appears below your page in a search engine result that explains what the page is all about. In this example, the meta description is "Wordstream’s SEO keyword research tools can help you find the right…Your SEO keywords and phrases in your web content that make it…"

4) Should I optimize my domain name to include keywords?

Your primary domain should not include a keyword just for the sake of keyword optimization -- that can actually hurt your SEO. If your company name happens to have a keyword, that's fine, but don't go purchasing a keyword-filled domain name.

5) What is the right number of keywords on a page?

The “right" number of keywords on a page is the wrong way to think about keyword optimization.

There's no keyword density you should be aiming for. In fact, using a keyword too many times can penalize you in your search results because it looks like you are "keyword stuffing."

Keep your readers in mind and only use keywords when you need to. You'll find enough natural opportunities to include keywords that you don’t have to worry about reaching a random number. 

Tips to Make Your Website a Successful Marketing Tool

Tips to Make Your Website a Successful Marketing Tool

It's amazing how many companies still do not have an outstanding web presence. Many small businesses rely on their website to bring in new customers. However, many of these websites are poorly designed, have low quality content and no clear call to action. It is important to have a well thought out website to market your business successfully.

Let’s start with your home page – where potential customers first look at you. Your home page must tell a visitor everything about what you do in a clear, precise way. The written content shouldn’t be long. A few simple sentences or bullet points that say who you are, what you do and where you do it will suffice. Most web traffic doesn't go past the first page, so it is important that your visitors understand your business from the first page they visit.

Clearly display your phone number and any other details visitors might need to contact you. Too many websites hide these details away on some page with a link in the footer. You want to make it as easy as possible for potential customers to contact you. You can also add a contact us box onto your homepage so they don't even have to navigate away from that page to get in touch with you.

Use a short 60-second video on your home page. Video is fast becoming the preferred way to find out about a product or service. Your visitors would rather watch a short video and find out what you do than read through an entire website.

Keep it simple. Many websites today have big flashy banners and pages of text. Just keep everything simple and easy to read yet well thought out and informative.

There are loads more tips and tricks you can use to make your website into the best selling tool you have, however these few will help you on the way to having a great website.

10 Shoestring Marketing Tips

10 Shoestring Marketing Tips

I recently read a wonderful article by Jessica Swanson titled “50 Shoestring Marketing Tips.” (Read the entire article here - http://www.shoestringmarketinguniversity.com/50-shoestring-marketing-tips/)

Since 50 tips can make for a really long blog, I thought I’d share with you my top ten from her article.

1. Successful marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.
2. The minute you stop marketing is the minute your business stops growing.
3. The secret to small business marketing success? Relationships first, sales second.
4. Behind every successful small business, lies a great marketing plan.
5. If you don’t have a marketing plan, you might as well be playing archery in the dark.
6. Show your prospects how you will solve their problems, and you’ve consummated the sale.
7. A business grows in the exact proportion to its marketing efforts.
8. Small business success? It’s simple. Solve your customer’s problems.
9. Small business success is entirely dependent on your marketing efforts.
10. The customer doesn’t want your “sales pitch.” Instead they’re looking for a relationship.

Branding 101

Branding 101

Branding is the key to every small business' success today. Many marketing professionals suggest that setting a brand right at the start of establishing a business will work effectively for entrepreneurs.

Branding on design

Branding is often seen through designs on webpages or logos. Tag lines can also be used for branding. People are visual beings and they remember images more than words.

The elements of branding

Branding is keeping your logo and color themes consistent in all your marketing strategies. Your brand should be evident on your website. Also, printed flyers should take advantage of effective designing by using the color elements set by your company’s brand.

As for logos, you must incorporate an element that will make your business memorable, which calls for a design expert's eye and skills.

Offline marketing and branding

While the main area for getting your brand known is the internet, it's undeniable that offline marketing strategies are also beneficial, particularly if you're targeting a specific location. With this, you need a great branding strategy on your business cards, flyers and other promotional products. Good business cards are essential in promoting your business.