5 Low Cost Ways to Promote Your Small Business

All small business owners want to make their business as well-known and as successful as possible. Today, it couldn't be easier to get the word out about your company because of the internet and social media.                     

Here are 5 easy and low-cost ways to promote your small business:

Advertise

Advertising is one of the easiest ways to get your small business known, although it usually comes at a cost. One of the best ways to promote your small business is by personalizing inexpensive pens or other give-aways with your logo and handing them out as freebies at events.

When you meet with a client, offer them a pen or a notepad, or whatever you had made with your logo. When you’re out, use your logoed items. Give them away. They won’t work for you if they’re safely stored in boxes in your office. The more people see your logo, the more recognizable your small business will be.

Network

Network as much as you can. The more people you meet, the more likely you are to meet someone who will become a client or can help your business in some way. Networking gives you the opportunity to discuss your business ideas with like-minded people and they are a way of learning more about the industry you are in from fellow professionals. Networking events are the perfect occasion for you to hand out your branded give-aways, like your personalized pens. They will ensure that your peers remember your business and they are a nice touch when meeting new people.

Business Cards

Business cards are a great way to promoting your business. They remind the people you meet of your business and brand, in the same way as your pens do, but are more informative as they include your contact information.

Social Media

Nowadays, a small business is foolish not to make use of social media. It is a free, fast and effective way of reaching out to current and potential customers.

Facebook allows you to set up a business page which other Facebook users may 'like.' You can have conversations with your customers, introduce new products and services and also use Facebook to educate them on your offerings.

YouTube is great since you can post a video for free and link it to your website. YouTube allows you demonstrate what your business does through a video. With over 1 billion unique users visiting YouTube each month, it is a brilliant way of reaching out to potential clients.

Website

Set up a website. Websites are a great place to display the products or services that you have on offer. As long as you make it simple to navigate and aesthetically pleasing, it will be beneficial for you in terms of advertising. The purpose of all the social media, advertising and networking is to drive business to your website. Once there, your website should capture the visitor’s attention and hold them there so they either purchase from you or contact you to start working with you.

Use these simple and inexpensive ideas to promote your small business. Good luck!

Do You Have a Marketing Strategy?

Is your marketing working for you? Do you have a lot of marketing tactics but not marketing strategy?  It’s probably because you haven't really grasped the difference between a marketing strategy and marketing tactics.

There is a huge difference between your marketing strategy and your marketing tactics. Marketing tactics are the social media (Facebook, blogging, Twitter) that you are doing. But, they are NOT marketing strategies. They are the things that you do to support your overall marketing strategy.

To better understand the difference, let's define what your marketing strategy is and what your marketing tactics are and the difference between the two of them.

Marketing Strategy

Your strategy is what you plan to do and the goal that you’ve set to achieve by a specific time frame. It's what you want to happen.

Marketing Tactics

Your tactics are the things you will do in order to make sure you’re your marketing strategy or "goal" is achieved.

This is the time of year when you should be working on your budget and your marketing strategy for next year. So, you need to get clear on what your strategy is so that you know where you're going. Then, you can set plans to use the appropriate tactics to achieve your set goal.

Do not be too broad with your strategy and especially with your tactics. Your strategy should be as specific as possible so that you know if and when you've actually achieved it and can move on to the next marketing strategy you want to implement.

When it comes to your tactics you want to be very specific on how they will support the strategy. You don't want to just say that Facebook will be one of your marketing tactics. But, what specifically will you do on Facebook to make it a tactic that supports your marketing strategy. The more specific you can get then the easier it will be for you to implement everything.

Top 5 Facebook Covers Website

You’ve created a Facebook business page for your small business and now you’re looking for a unique picture to insert in the cover section.

What is the cover section? It’s that large picture above your news feed page. There is a smaller picture to the lower left of it. The cover picture could be a picture of your business, a product or of you and your team. Of course, you may not have pictures available yet or you sell a service, so what do you post in this section? You can’t leave it blank…that won’t look too professional. Here are my top five websites that offer free Facebook covers.

11. MyFBCovers.com           

This site has more than 20,000+ Facebook covers in HD quality. You can choose one of their pre-created covers or, with this site, you have the option to create your own cover or a collage using your own pictures.

22. FBCovers.AlegriPhotos.com

This website is run by a professional photographer, Alex. He offers 10,000+ covers for your Facebook page that are professional quality photographs. He has many categories to choose from:

·         Abstract

·         Architecture

·         Business

·         Food

·         Industrial

·         Interiors

·         Nature

·         Science

·         Sports and Recreation

·         Transportation

·         Travel

·         Textures

33. ProfilePhotoCovers.com

This site has really great quality covers and you can easily make your own cover.

4. TimelineCoverBanner.com

This site allows you to create a cover using this clipart and backgrounds. You can get a more creative and customized cover without any watermarks.

55. FBookCover.com

With over 5,000 covers and 28 categories to choose from, this site make is easy to upload the cover to your profile page.

There are many more Facebook cover sites, but these are my favorites. Use them for your business page, and you can certainly find some fun ones for your personal page too!

Customer in the Spotlight: Theresa Downham

Selling houses and saving people money on their gas and electric bills seem to go hand in hand, so Theresa Downham is both a licensed real estate agent with Nothnagle Relators in and an Ambit Energy consultant.

Theresa began selling real estate in Wisconsin with her husband, Tom. For 10 years, they owned a Century 21 Real Estate brokerage. They moved to Florida and again worked as a realtor and home stager. Eventually, Theresa moved back to her home town of Rochester. She started with a move management/downsizing business for the first five years and that business evolved her back into real estate.

Theresa is a dynamic, knowledgeable real estate agent, so if you’re looking to buy or sell your home, contact her! She can also save you money on your energy bill! You can reach Theresa at 595-797-9321 or mtdownham@gmail.com. Check out her website, HometoHomeRealEstateServices.com, which Blue Dog Marketing created for her!

It’s Showtime!

Fall is traditionally when trade show activity increases. Blue Dog Marketing will be exhibiting at a few shows this fall. In preparation for the “trade show season,” here are some tips that will ensure you have a successful trade show.

Pick the right event

Make sure the trade show you’re looking to exhibit at is the perfect fit for your small business.

How do you find out if the show is the right fit? Trade show producers/organizations usually have statistics about attendees from past year such as titles of those attending , the number of attendees and companies represented.  Another way to find out about a show’s reputation is to ask past exhibitors for their take.

If you’re not sure about a show, don’t exhibit this year. Instead, attend the show and see if the attendees are your audience, talk to exhibitors and network while you’re there.

Be Visible

Having a booth at a trade show is great, but you want maximum exposure. Offer to speak at the event. If you have a topic that resonates with the conference theme and the interests of the attendees, presenting is a great way to be seen as an expert in your field.

Follow up immediately

Trade show work isn’t done when you take down your booth. You’ve collected names and email addresses from everyone who stopped by your booth. Send thank you notes out and mail the materials you promised.

Did you meet with potential partners or other people that you should connect with on LinkedIn? If so, send out those invitations to connect. As a small business owner, networking is something you should always be doing.

Now, get out there and have a great tradeshow season!

How to Create Your Business Tagline

A good tagline can help your small business stand out and be memorable. If your tagline is a simple and powerful message and your competitor just has a logo, you have the advantage of winning over targeted customers. The right tagline can dictate how you're perceived both externally and internally.

What Is a Business Tagline?

A tagline is one of the basic elements of an effective brand campaign. A slogan typically consists of a short sentence or a phrase that serves to reinforce your business's name and what you do.  Your tagline should tell your customers the benefits you offer them, show how you position yourself against your competitors, and make your business memorable to prospective customers.

Here are some tagline “Do’s” and “Don’ts”:

DO's:

·         Be original

·         Be memorable

·         Be simple

·         Be believable

·         Include a key benefit

·         Impart positive feelings for your brand

·         Differentiate the brand

·         Reflect your brand personality

·         Be strategic

·         Be competitive

DON'Ts

·         Use something in current use by others

·         Prompt a sarcastic or negative response

·         Be pretentious

·         Be negative

·         Be complicated

Brochure: Ideal Marketing Tool for Your Small Business

Having a brochure explaining your product or service benefits and offerings is becoming increasingly important today in branding as well as spiffing up corporate image for a growing number of small businesses. Brochures offer ideal marketing opportunities in terms of creating awareness and providing valuable information your potential customers need to make decisions.

And, they are easy to print. Today, printing technology has advanced in such a way that high quality printing is available at affordable prices.

Your brochure can be creative looking--making the cover page, for instance, very interesting and eye-catching enough to capture attention. Be sure to include your company logo and contact details

Your company brochure is a powerful sales tool and an excellent way to communicate key messages about your products and services. A well-designed brochure brings your small business to life.

Need help designing a brochure for your small business? Blue Dog Marketing can help!

 

5 Tips for Creating Your Own Videos

Videos should be part of your marketing mix. Videos are increasing in popularity, increase your SEO, engage potential customers and are easy to create. Your videos don't have to be big Hollywood productions to be engaging and effective.

Focus your efforts on video planning and marketing rather than video production. You don't need to use expensive camera equipment. Your web cam or smartphone can do the job just fine. If you need to do some editing, YouTube offers its own free video editor.

Here are five tips for creating your own videos:

1.   Keep it short. 60 to 90 seconds is best; no longer than 5 minutes.

2.   Focus on first 10 seconds. Here is where you have to engage viewers to make them want to watch the rest of your video.

3.   Maintain a fairly fast pace to keep the content punchy and interesting to watch.

4.   Lighting is important. Avoid windows behind you.

5.   Include a call to action.

Share your video

Once you've created your video, promote it everywhere! Upload your video to your YouTube channel, post it on Facebook, tweet it on Twitter, share it on LinkedIn and definitely post it on your website. You can even embed videos in your email marketing. If you have staff, encourage them to promote your videos on their social media channels. T

Leverage YouTube - it's free!

YouTube is a powerful and cost effective communication tool. Create a YouTube channel for your business and link your videos to your website. And like all your web content, your YouTube videos must be optimised.

1.   Give your video a title that includes your strongest keyword (relevant to the content).

2.   Complete the description with a short synopsis of what the video entails, including keywords and a link.

3.   Use tags that are true to the content of your video and include your business name too.

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dding videos to your marketing mix is easy and fun. If you need help with creating and marketing your videos, Blue Dog Marketing is here to assist you. Contact us at info@BlueDogMktg.com.

The Power of Video in Marketing Your Business

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. Don’t you think video really should be a part of your marketing plan?

Show me.

Because video is eye-catching, it can help you stand out from the crowd and draw in potential customers. Videos can clearly define your business more succinctly and in a much more interesting way then text. Video can bring a personality to your small business, while also demonstrating your authenticity. So if a picture speaks a thousand words, a video speaks a million!

Spread the word, umm... video!

Videos can be shared easily to help spread the word about your products and services. Create a YouTube channel and link your YouTube videos to your website, blog and all your social media. Links between your YouTube channel and website can boost your rank in search engine results. Use the video to encourage viewers to visit your website for more information.

What should my videos be about?

Different types of content work for different types of businesses. Here are some ideas:

1.   Customer success stories

2.   A brief company intro

3.   Product demonstrations

4.   Interviews clients and industry experts

5.   Record conference or seminar presentations you give

6.   Product reviews and testimonials

7.   "How-to" videos or short tutorials

8.   Introduce viewers to staff that have consumer contact, such as customer service. It's nice to put a face to a voice.