Marketing Tips

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How to choose a website design service

Before you can choose a website designer, you need to understand what type of site you need, how much money you have and how much you can do yourself. Then you need to vet them like you would most vendors. Read more

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How to do market research

We launched a website called Dempsee to help startups and small businesses learn all about market research. It also contains helpful links we've find to low and no-cost consumer and industry data. There are a few surprises too.

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How to follow up with someone you met at a networking event

• Address the person by name (check your spelling).
• Start by reminding the contact how and where you met.
• Mention something in common or something you talked about; perhaps an issue they had that related to what you offer.
• Explain very briefly how what you do fits in with that — like one sentence.
  
• You may want to provide them with links or attachments to information that's helpful to them or relates to what you discussed.
  
• For the "call to action," depending on how hot the lead is, you could simply suggest they look at your site’s home page…or, if you think there’s a better page to link them to within your website, use that. This is where having an article they could read would be a great follow on. And that’s where the whole idea of the FAQ’s come in (writing articles to answer what people ask most). For example, if people really have a problem with "X" and want to know what can be done instead, put your response down in written form as an article — a quick read. Include simple bulleted suggestions to help them fix that problem. Then, create a web page or blog post with that article, and link them to that next step on their “buyer’s journey.” And while they’re there, the hope is that they take a look at the rest of your site. It also gives you an opening for a follow up…i.e., ”I hope you found the article useful. If there are any questions I can answer, let me know."
  
• And then of course, if they’re a hot prospect, you may want to try to arrange a meeting instead.

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For better marketing results, start at the beginning

The "promotional mix" is a way to understand communications strategy. I'll use the example of podcasters to explain it. The mix has 4 components: personal selling, like asking guests to tell people they're going to be on a show; advertising or the things you pay for, like brochures, buttons, media time, etc.; public relations or "earned media" which leverages other people's eyeballs -- this may include articles in blogs, blog posts, social media engagement, etc.; and sales promotions, which includes sampling, discounting, etc. -- like giving people clips of your show to entice them to listening to a longer program. They all have a role to play, and it's important to understand the differences between them. For example, how your listeners respond to an ad vs. a blog post. 

But the first step in any good strategy is to write down your goals, i.e., the number of listeners or subscribers you want to gain within a particular timeframe. Clearly outline your target audience. Then, think about a budget (time and money) and the best way to allocate it. And finally, put together a promotional calendar, so you're promoting at the ripest moments. 

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Create an integrated marketing plan that consists of "traditional" and "digital" promotional methods for best results

The difference between traditional and digital marketing is that the latter defines techniques involving computerized devices, such as computers and smartphones. Everything else is considered traditional: TV, radio, print (i.e., newspapers), out of home (i.e., billboard), signage, printed materials, etc. To promote a business successfully -- target an audience, build awareness, generate leads and sell more products, both methods may be used to great effect, depending on the marketing strategy. They work best when used as part of an integrated marketing plan.

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How to get a press release in your local paper

It's all about the Hook and the Peg. Get tips for writing and sending your press release.

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Why marketing outranks sales

1. Marketing strategy starts at the top of the organization, taking into account the 4 P's. Sales doesn't deal with product development, pricing or distribution (place). And as everyone should know, if you have a product that a certain target customer wants to buy, that makes selling it a whole lot easier. 
   
2. As for the 4th "P", sales is just one part of the promotional mix, which takes into account advertising, PR/social media/earned media, sales promotions and personal selling. They must work together to bring about a sale, i.e., where would sales be without leads and sales materials? 
   
3. Personal selling is the most expensive part of the promotional mix - labor, training, travel, commissions, etc. There may be better ways to drive revenue than relying on sales, i.e., ecommerce. A live salesperson is better saved for more complex/high involvement products. 
   
4. These days, the salesperson is the last in the chain of events, since most people will search the Internet for product info first. It's marketing's responsibility to create this consistent total user experience; not the job of sales. I could go on and on, but those are the major points I can think of at the moment and should be more than enough to win a debate.
   

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Use email marketing to yield a higher marketing ROI

This is a common tactic, to clump email in with advertising et al. The former is a direct marketing technique, often used to reach existing customers, or at least ones who have signed up for your mailing list. It shows they're already interested in what you do. Email therefore will always yield a higher ROI. The latter is used for mass marketing, and of course will have a lower ROI. To be useful, charts should be apples to apples comparisons. Otherwise they're pretty useless.

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Should I advertise on Yelp (or other online directories)?

​The first rule of advertising is be where your customers are. If you know your prospects are searching on Yelp, advertising could work -- heavy emphasis on could. You need to evaluate it against others advertising opportunities in terms of audience, cost and effectiveness. And is it appropriate for meeting your goals (which you need to know what those are first).

Once you have determined your audience is using Yelp to find businesses like yours, and before you consider paying for advertising there, make sure you're fully optimizing your organic presence (in other words, make the most of your profile and get reviews). Then, check your website traffic and see if you're getting any from Yelp. That may give you a clue as to whether advertising will work or not.

​Another good idea, before you pay for advertising anywhere, is to make sure your website is converting. In other words, what percentage of people visiting your site are taking the action you want (signing up for your newsletter, buying or making a reservation, etc.)?

​Also before you pay, make sure your website is optimized organically, so you can drive as much traffic as possible before paying for advertising on something like Yelp.

​Of course, these are general rules. How they apply to your business will depend on your type of business, business model, etc.

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Radio can drive immediate purchase at a low cost

Teasing out the impact of one medium in a mix of marketing activities is a challenge. Any medium will have both financial and emotional, and therefore, memorable results -- which are all dependent on the unique qualities of a particular medium and where it fits in an overall marketing strategy -- from business model, through positioning, branding and messaging, to marketing, promotional and media mix.

Radio can impact the bottom line by both driving immediate purchase and building brand recognition over the long-term. Its qualities give it a unique spot in the media mix -- relatively low cost enables high frequency. It's a passive medium, yet the right blend of audio and storytelling can create a connection with people's emotions. In our world of media overload, the impact of any communication can be fleeting, particularly without incredible creative. To sustain those relationships, a business needs a long-term budget.

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Why you can stop worrying about getting blog comments, and what to do instead

Comments on your blog are no longer the measure of the value of your blog, so they're not as essential as they once were and you don't have to allow them. Some pretty famous bloggers have removed them. However, there are still reasons for allowing blog comments, for example, as a way to build community, as explained in this post from Solo PR Pro.

You may want to build community on your social networks instead, although sometimes it’s just easier to allow people to comment below your post. You could test this by asking people to “get together” on a social network of your choice rather than commenting right there. Then see if that drives the conversation and increased social and website traffic you're after.