Are You Using Newsletters?

Why should you bother writing a newsletter? Are newsletters relevant in today's information marketing world?

If you are not doing a newsletter, you should be. A newsletter can secure new business, repeat business and create many connections. It can establish you as the expert in your field. A well-crafted newsletter contains more details than a blog but not as much as an eBook. It is something that can be read in a few minutes over a coffee, and most importantly, is worth reading.

No one will read everything you write, but when they have that need for your product or service they will remember you because you’ve kept top of mind with them.

How often should newsletters go out? Keep in mind, writing and publishing a newsletter takes a great deal of time. Some small businesses do produce a newsletter once a month. For others, once a quarter is sufficient. Like blogging, once you pick a schedule, stick to it.

Should your newsletter be electronic or paper? Email is the easiest of course. A print newsletter involves a commitment to production, design and budget but can be extremely successful. You have to choose which format is best for your small business.

Blue Dog Marketing assists many clients with writing and producing newsletters. Let us help you!

4 Blogging “Bumps in the Road”

Writing a blog post is a lot of work. And there are many things that can trip you up when you’re writing one.

Here is a list of four bumps and how to avoid them.

Writer’s Block.

Anyone who writes blogs gets writer’s block occasionally. Choosing the topic for your next blog is usually the hardest part. Once you’ve got a topic, writing is pretty easy. So, how do you come up with a topic that is relevant and of interest to your audience?  Keep up to date in your field. Read other blog posts and association publications to get inspired. We keep electronic copies of articles that inspire us. Use these article topics to get you thinking. Do you agree with what the author says? If not, why not? Well, write about that!

Create a Catchy Title

The title of your post is its first impression to potential readers. You want to create a title that entices people to read your post. Have fun with alliteration. And try to optimize your SEO.

Formatting

Make your blog attractive to read. Don’t just post a huge block of text. No one will read that. Use headers, paragraph breaks, bulleted lists and images. Make sure you have plenty of white space allowing eyes to rest.

Use Statistics

Incorporating relevant data into your blog post adds credibility and increases your authority. Make sure you attribute the original source. And be sure the data is relevant. When was the research conducted? The more recent, the better.

3 Simple Marketing Tactics to Attract New Clients

Some small businesses invest a great deal of their marketing budget into advertising, which can be expensive and not always reach your target audience. Radio, television and newspaper ads are great ways to get your message out to as many people as possible.

However, this mass marketing eliminates the personal connection you want to create with your customers. Radio, television and print ads are usually very general in content and used for informing people about sales and promotions.

As a small business, your marketing should be about building relationships with your customers. There is a place for mass media, but if your budget is tight, here are three simple marketing tactics you can immediately implement.

1.     Newsletters – Collect the email addresses of your customers when they purchase your product. Use this information to stay in contact with your customers and keep them informed about what you’re doing, new products, promote sales and events, and even introduce new employees.

2.     Network – get out of your office and meet new contacts. Attend local Chamber of Commerce events. Join an association and get involved. You’ll meet potential new clients and alliance partners at networking events.

3.     Blog – Become the “expert” in your field by blogging about your business. Your voice will be heard by many people when you blog.

Marketing is necessary for your business to grow. Implement several different tactics consistently to see results.

Use Events as Part of Your Marketing

You have done the work to determine who your target audience is. There are multiple ways to reach them. One fun way is to host your own events.

When you host, you have control over the guests, the format, the selling and marketing around it. That's what makes this such a great strategy.

Some reasons for an event:

·         a celebration of something (anniversary of your company, holidays)

·         a launch of something (product, service, book, etc)

What is the purpose of hosting an event? You want to meet new contacts and thank your current customers. Ask your guests to invite a friend or colleague who may be interested in learning about your company or has a business or challenges similar to theirs.

Your goal is to create a great experience for your customers and your new guests, and send the right messages to the people you are trying to get to know and turn into prospects.

Make it a quality event - don't skimp.

Events can be part of your overall marketing strategy. Have all your marketing components mesh for your event to be successful.

Need assistance planning and executing a corporate event? Give Blue Dog Marketing a call….we’re here to help you!

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!