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Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru 
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Posts Tagged ‘marketing plan’Simple Strategies to Get More Business on FacebookJanuary 13th, 2013Hi All! Social Media is an area that I not only conduct workshops and seminars on for small business owners, speakers and authors, but one that I provide private consultation on with every single client who hires me. Now, I realize that to some of you Social Media may not be a mystery for building your brand, lead generation and increased sales, however I will tell you it IS a huge mystery to most anyone who contacts me. The common questions I hear are: How can I get more followers on Twitter and attract customers? I have a Facebook Business (Fan) Page but how do I use for marketing to get more clients? I have no idea how to use LinkedIn, Pinterest or YouTube for business, so what should I be doing? How can I use social media for book or product marketing? And on and on and on…I’m not exaggerating when I say those types of questions are posed to me several times a week. Obviously each one of those inquiries could each be the topic of its own book (and many have been!), so I’ll narrow this down to ONE of those topics and tackle the others in future posts I write. Today I’d like to share an excerpt from an informative article written by Angela Stringfellow, a Business Writer who just had this article published on American Express’s awesome website for Small Business Owners and entrepreneurs, OpenForum.com. Her article is entitled: “10 Tips for Using Facebook to Boost Business”. To avoid copyright issues, here are just the first three tips she shares and then you can click on the link to read the final seven: Here are some innovative ways small businesses can use Facebook and capitalize on the power of this social giant. 1. Integrate Facebook connect buttons into your company website. Website visitors can easily connect to Facebook with the click of a button, enabling small business owners to maintain contact with potential customers even if they never return to the website. 2. Be responsive. Josh Grossman of e-Coupon service SavingStar says his company uses Facebook to communicate with customers and makes a point to respond to every question and comment promptly. Small businesses often thrive on personal interaction, and Facebook is a useful tool. 3. Make it easy to share content. Grossman explains, “Every coupon we post on SavingStar has a Facebook like button. Each coupon gets dozens or even hundreds of likes, helping to spread the word with users’ Facebook friends. All of our blog posts also have Facebook like and send buttons, and we use the Facebook comments plugin to make it easy for users to comment and share those comments with their Facebook friends.” The tips that Angela shares in her article are dead on, so I highly recommend CLICKING HERE to read the other seven! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa  Valuable Lessons for How (Not) to Market on FacebookOctober 05th, 2012Ever since its initial public offering in May, Facebook’s life as a public company has been scrutinized, analyzed and commented on by the hour. During the lead up to their public debut, everything seemed rosy for the social media bandleader. Even General Motors pulling out of their $10 million ad campaign the week before the campaign didn’t do much to slow the company’s initial roll up to $38 a share. Unfortunately, the gaping problem that GM pointed out hasn’t gone away. Facebook’s sidebar ads suffer from a dismal click-through rate. Although the internet average is just .1 percent, Facebook’s click rate settles around a pathetic 0.051 percent. So is marketing on Facebook worth it? Of course! But not in the manner you might have previously thought. Social media is all about engaging. The point is to start a dialogue with customers. Just like your blog, the posts on your Facebook wall, Twitter feed, or Google+ page should be insightful, thought-provoking, and most of all, useful. Whether you’ve had success or failure in the past with social media (or you’re just getting started), remember these integral lessons whenever you’re launching or updating your campaign: Don’t Be a Broken Record Player Although tools that allow businesses to aggregate all their social media accounts in one place are useful, recycling a post across different platforms, this isn’t always the wisest approach. If a consumer likes your post on Facebook enough to follow your Twitter account as well, they might soon unfollow you if they’re bombarded with the same messages from multiple outlets. Of course, some outreach is best shouted from the rooftops. In general, however, treat each platform as its own. Make Each Post Unique The broken record player analogy works individually within an individual outlet like Facebook, as well. A week-long sale shouldn’t be touted in the same way each day (3 more days! 2 more days!). Try to think of a witty or relevant post to highlight the sale each day. If you’re a shoe store, post a photograph of yourself in a favorite pair and solicit follower feedback. Or, if you own a spa, reward followers with a Facebook-only giveaway for users that ‘Like’ your post that day. Don’t Over-Market Facebook recently launched ‘promoted posts,’ allowing business pages to pay a small fee in order to maximize the number of their existing followers they reach with a status update. Although this tweak can be highly useful when you’re hosting an event or a major sale, it doesn’t change the rules about what you post. If your update is a blatant and boring marketing pitch, it won’t convert the extra views into further sales. Use your website to promote your products directly, and use Facebook to talk about them. This spring, Facebook even launched a paid post beta program for regular users in New Zealand, allowing posters to make their updates ‘stickier’ on their friends’ news feeds for an extra dollar or two. If these become a regular option around the world, it could change the way our news feeds work, increasing the pressure even more for marketing content to be of a high quality that stands on its own, sales pitch aside. Stay Engaged Many businesses make the mistake of devoting themselves to a social media marketing plan and committing to a certain number of posts each day or week. But is it better to post three posts each day that get zero comments, or one post that results in a long stream of back-and-forth between followers? Ask questions in your posts and invite followers to ask questions in return. Be quick to reply when they post, helping to foster a conversation that will promote you as an expert in your field, building trust that translates into sales. Not to mention, the more comments and ‘Likes’ a post receives, the higher it ranks within Facebook’s news feed algorithm. Sometimes You Say it Best When You Say Nothing At All Are you totally unmotivated to post to your Facebook account today? If you simply can’t think of anything good to say, keep your mouth shut. The last thing you want is to lose followers due to boring posts or updates that shamelessly try to sell product. If you’ve got a case of ‘poster’s block,’ just log out and don’t post anything. Something good will come to you later. With Facebok struggling to further monetize and convince investors that it’s worth more than $20 a share (where it’s been hovering for most of August), there’s no telling what changes may be in store. Whatever alterations Facebook does make to its marketing options for businesses, the rules offered here are universal — with social media, start a conversation, establish yourself as an expert, and trust that the sales will follow. Blog Post Courtesy of: Senior executive Anita Brady is the President of 123Print.com. They are a leading resource for high quality customizable items like business cards, letterhead and other materials for small businesses and solo practitioners. Basic Steps to Creating an Effective Google AdWords CampaignAugust 30th, 2012Hi All! The following Guest Blog post is another good one courtesy of Craig Robinson, an online Marketing Expert and the Editor for Qwaya, a Facebook campaign tool that runs through a web interface. In this article, Craig is going to take you through the basic steps and tips to create a winning AdWords campaign. It’s loaded with great info, so let’s jump in! Basic Steps to Create an Effective Google AdWords Campaign by Craig Robinson When you’re ready to take the big step into online marketing, you will undoubtedly be creating an AdWords campaign with Google. Of course, there are many other ad services out there to choose from, and you should always spread your eggs out instead of putting them all in one basket, but Google is the biggest service around and it demands your attention. However, only the best campaigns on Google are going to succeed, or at least have a greater chance of succeeding. But there is an endless amount of competition using AdWords campaigns, so you have to create great material or else your competition is going to bury you. So let’s discuss how you can get ahead of your competition, and improve your branding and sales through an AdWords campaign… Steps & Tips: Target Your Market This is the first step in the process and perhaps one of the most important. You want to ensure that you have the proper market targeted if you’re hoping to use AdWords to generate sales. When you’re creating your AdWords campaign, think about whom to target both from a keyword and geographic perspective. Your keyword portfolio decides when and where your ads will show. You need to balance great reach with high relevance, so think about the market you’re targeting and play to their needs. Best Ways to Write Copy This is something that can seem rather difficult at first. The goal is to command the reader’s attentions with your copy, and there’s a careful mixture of art and science involved here. For instance, you may want to ask questions that appeal to the users. You can also hand out simple instructions, tell a short story, offer up a teaser, etc. You want to create an air of intrigue, but you also want to come across as trustworthy. Although good copy depends a lot on what you’re advertising and to whom, the key is always relevance. How can you make the ad as relevant as possible looking at the keywords you’re buying clicks for? Here are examples of quick-hit messaging you’d want to follow when writing your ad copy:
A Strong Call to Action With a call to action, you’re looking to entice someone to click through on your ad and act on your offer. You’re not trying to order them to do something, however. So save those multiple exclamation points, the huge promises (i.e. lies), and other gimmicks used. If your copy is written well enough and if the ad is relevant for the chosen market, a simple “Purchase online today” or something similar is as “strong” as you need for a call to action. Creating Relevant Search Phrases For Google’s particular system, this is an incredibly important part about effective marketing. You need to make sure that your keyword portfolio matches search phrases that are actually searched by people. There’s no “best guess” feature with AdWords. You’re going to be paying the freight here, so make sure that you do your research. (Note: It helps to have a service delivering these ads that will help out in search term generation.) Lowering your CPC Yes, playing the game with Google AdWords is going to cost money. It’s worth it if you have an effective campaign. You’ll receive a nice ROI. But if you’re interested in lowering your cost-per-click number, you need to focus on three main areas: long tail keywords, uncompetitive themes, and relevancy. Long tail keywords are far more descriptive and thus have less competition. The same goes for the uncompetitive category. You should be able to find some really popular phrases, relevant to your ad’s message, which aren’t “over” competitive. Lastly, make sure that your ads are using keywords that are as relevant as possible. Nothing lowers costs like actually making money! Doing things the right way with Google can make your campaign a huge success and can help your business to grow exponentially. The above guide isn’t as thorough as it could be, but it does give you a general run through in terms of creating effective ads. Expand on each tip as you need it. And if you’d like more tips on search engine marketing, visit keybroker.com. Thanks, Craig, for contributing another helpful article. And I hope all of you learned something here to make YOUR AdWords campaigns more successful…done right, they are a great way for small business owners to not only increase sales but build awareness for their brand, too. So I don’t care if you’re selling books online or want to promote your services, try some AdWords campaigns in your marketing plan. Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa
Ten Common Mistakes Writing a Business PlanJune 28th, 2011Hi All! Inc. Magazine (online version) published a great article entitled: Top 10 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Writing A Business Plan. I’m going to keep this post short because you can click on the article link to read the details. But I will say that I am amazed at how many new clients come to me (small business owners, coaches, consultants, etc.) who are launching a new business, or currently have one, but never drafted even a basic Business Plan. It’s a step many people want to skip but it’s critical to the success of their company! You wouldn’t sail around the world without a map as your guide…why would you invest your money, time and energy into starting or running a business without a road map to guide you? That said, here’s the short overview that sets-up the article: Writing a business plan is often a crucial first step to getting your start-up off the ground. A good plan can help you raise money, recruit members of your management team, set your marketing strategy and, perhaps best of all, refine your thinking. A plan riddled with errors? That can sink you. Here are 10 mistakes that entrepreneurs frequently make when crafting their business plans, according to Akira Hirai, a consultant in California who advises start-up companies on elements of business-plan writing, including competitive analysis and financial forecasting. Click here to read the Top 10 Mistakes now! Cheers! Lisa P.S. Visit my Fan Page for more marketing, branding, PR, sales, social media and business building tips and resources! |
