Here are 5 reasons Twitter is a powerful marketing tool for online business owners like you.

1. It’s Short, Sweet & To the Point
Have you ever heard the phrase, less is more?  You’ll find that one of the best things about Twitter is that it keeps all messages very short and sweet.  You’ll have to give your customers and clients the gist of what is going on in short tweets (messages similar to instant messages) that allow their interest to be piqued in such a way as to make them investigate further.  You won’t bother them with long-winded messages that make them yawn and move on. Instead, you will be able to catch their attention quickly and make them want to know more.

2. Immediacy
Much like a blog or an RSS feed, you can get access to the people that use Twitter regularly.  In some ways, this is like making sure that you can reach them no matter where they are, and you will find that this is very important when you want to make marketing one of your biggest priorities.  You are making sure that they have all of the latest updates to what you are doing and what’s going on by simply sending a tweet their way.

3. Everyone’s Doing It
In many ways, Twitter is a social program more than it is a marketing one, and you’ll find that using Twitter can help you feel a great deal closer to your client base and other’s in your online community.  If you are looking to make sure that they see you as a person rather than as simply a company or service, you’ll find that Twitter encourages them to think of you as someone they can get to know.  This can be very important when it comes to establishing a customer base and customer loyalty.

4. You Get to Hear a Lot
Remember that it goes both ways; you can put information out on Twitter and you can also learn a lot too.  By following other’s Twitter accounts, especially if it looks like they have a lot to offer, you can keep in the know about various products, services, and other happenings online.  This can be a great way to keep an eye on what is going on in order to keep yourself in the know of your industry.

5. Make Them Laugh
You can also use Twitter to tease people a little bit, in a fun way, of course!  When you use Twitter, you have to keep your messages short, and in many ways, a little mysterious.  Pique their interest, joke around, and you’ll find that you gain a lot more followers and hopefully website traffic and customers as a result.

Be warned, just as with any other social networking site, Twitter can quickly become addicting if you let it. Don’t go overboard and get so involved in all the tweeting that it takes away from your intended purpose.  Used wisely Twitter can be a great and powerful marketing tool to help create online business success.

Want to create a killer twitter campaign or host a Twitter Party promoting your product or service? Let us help.

Follow us on Twitter ? Http://www.twitter.com/brandreadymedia

A brilliant marketing plan can crash and burn if it’s not executed properly – and a key component of a successful marketing plan is knowing the best way to get your message across to your demographic.

First, you’ll need to make sure you really understand who your target market is. To market to your demographic online,  you’ll want to know how old your target customer is and have an idea of what their internet habits are. For example, Twitter seems to span a wide range of ages — MySpace, however, does not.

Next, realize that you have a lot of options – when it comes to spending your promotion dollars, you have a lot of options – there are tried-and-true traditional methods of marketing to your customers and there are off-the-beaten path methods. Both can be successful, and its success depends both on your understanding of your target as well as your execution of your marketing plan.

You probably have ideas of ways you want to market offline – whether it’s cooperative marketing programs with other brands that complement your own, print campaigns, national or local level television or radio advertisements. There are a lot of options for you.

When it comes to your presence online, let Brand Ready Media help you. We can help you create a marketing plan, as well as figure out how to incorporate your social media options. If you need expert help with Twitter, Facebook, or developing your website to maximize your return on your marketing investment, we have a team in place who can create a plan that works for YOU.

Contact us for an assessment and we’ll help you determine how to reach your target market.

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Are you maximizing your opportunities to truly engage with your customers online?

As recently as a few years ago, companies that dipped their toes in the waters of social media were the exception rather than the rule. Now the converse is true — it is rare to find a company that has not established at least some media presence online beyond their website – whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, or some other social media platform, business owners are finally starting to realize that it’s important to have an online presence.

However, just having an online presence isn’t enough. When a brand establishes itself on Facebook or Twitter, it would be well-served to realize that true successes abound for companies who do more than shout into the ether. A customer’s perception of YOUR BRAND may at one point hinge on their experience with you online.

• Are you responsive to questions?
• Do you engage in conversation?
• Are you open to constructive criticism?
• Are you hearing their feedback and then seeking to improve your product or service based on the response you get?

The world’s eye was recently turned to the very subject of social media and customer service recently when writer/director Kevin Smith was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight for being “too fat to fly”. Immediately, Smith took to Twitter with tweets (most expletive-laden) about his experience. Quite understandably, he was frustrated, embarrassed and angry. It was clear that fans were sending tweets on Smith’s behalf when the Southwest Airline’s agent sent a general tweet on the Southwest account assuring Smith’s fans that she had seen Kevin Smith’s tweets and was working on it.

Southwest had a real opportunity to step up to the plate and fix this situation – but somehow stumbled initially, posting a somewhat snarky post that wasn’t quite an apology, as well as divulging Kevin Smith’s purchasing patterns – information that one would think would be considered private. They later wrote a second post in which the writer stated that she’d “learned a lot” and that they were working to make the situation right.

If you take a look at Kevin Smith’s tweet (pictured above), you’ll also see that it was retweeted by over 100 people. That is over one hundred negative impressions of a company based on the tweets of one man (who happens to have over a million followers). That’s one tough stumbling block to overcome.

In your organization, the person responding to comments and tweets has an opportunity to change a negative experience into a positive. Twitter offers you the opportunity to speak not only TO your audience, but WITH them. Engage in discussions, seek feedback, find out what people really LOVE about your product and service, and when they’ve had a negative experience find out why.

The time you spend in your online tasks are not just so people can hear YOU, but so you can hear them.

Want to learn about how you can start this conversation with your target market? Contact Brand Ready Media to determine the best marketing strategy for your company.

Have you found the missing peice for your marketing strategy?

Let’s face it — Marketing can be tricky.  There are several variables to consider when creating your marketing plan.  It is much more of an art form rather than a perfect science. If you feel like you are not getting the results you should be, here are some tips on how to review and revamp your marketing strategy.

The first thing to look at in your marketing strategy is whether or not you are targeting the right market.  Your target market is the group of people you are trying to promote your product or service to.  For example, if you have created a nursing bra, your target market would be new mothers who are breast feeding.  If your marketing efforts are not hitting that target market, you are probably not going to be seeing much response.

Another thing to consider is the color of your website and your ads, as well as the graphics that you use.  Choosing colors in complementary tones will work best. If your website consists of harsh colors or colors that do not match, your visitors may click away before they even finish reading your advertising.

People enjoy seeing graphics on a page as it helps to break up the wording and adds visual stimulation.  However, the pictures you choose should be easy to see and convey the proper message about your product or service.  If the pictures are blurry or out of focus, or if they contain potentially offensive material, your website visitors will click away and they may not come back.

You may also want to re-evaluate your sales copy.  Your copy is the advertising message that you communicate to others.  You will want to make sure your headline is catchy and that you cover the benefits the customer will receive from your product or service.  Many people are only concerned with what’s in it for them.  If you do not clearly specify the things they will receive, they’ll move on.  It is a good idea to be honest and keep things simple and concise.  Avoid any hype or exaggerations.

Along with the actual wording of your copy, the layout should also be reviewed.  Many people simply skim websites rather than read them from top to bottom.  You can use a larger font for the headline, in order to draw the reader in, and then you can use things such as bulleted lists to highlight the important parts of the copy.

Finally, you will want to look at the amount of exposure your ads are getting.  If you had a certain sales goal that you are not meeting, you simply may not be reaching enough people to meet that goal.

If you need further help or would like a FREE Consultation on revamping your marketing strategy — don’t hesitate to contact us!

Your business brand is an integral part of your business.

For instance, Subway Restaurants have branded themselves as a healthy, fresh alternative to other fast food options.  When you walk into one of their restaurants, you see posters and images of healthy, fresh vegetables and whole grain breads.  When you turn on the television or radio, you see and hear commercials that feature people who lost weight while enjoying Subway for lunch.  When you flip through magazines you see advertisements with the same marketing message.

Once you have established your brand, it is important to incorporate that brand into all of your marketing materials. This will help you create brand recognition.  Potential customers will understand from the get-go what your service or product is all about and past customers will automatically think of you when they are in need of your product or service.  They wonít even bother checking out the competition.

The easiest way to communicate your brand to others is to develop a logo or slogan that easily conveys what your product or service is all about.  Try to develop something that is simple, unique, and easy to remember.

You should display your logo and slogan prominently on your website. Your website may be the first impression you make on potential customers, and past customers may become frequent visitors.

Business cards are a great way to market your business/yourself. There are a hundred uses for them, plus they are easy to carry and inexpensive.  Most printers are more than willing to include an image of your logo on your business card.  If, for some reason, that isn’t possible, you can still use your slogan as the tag line on your card. Make sure you include your social media links as well.

Signature lines for your email program work in the same manner as letterhead and can easily be created. Your email program can automatically insert your signature line when you send email.  This creates a professional image.  You do not have to create anything fancy.  A simple line that states your name, business name, URL, and social media links.

You can also tie your brand into your products. For example, Rachael Ray has built an empire on the 30 minute meal.  One of her television shows and several of her books have encompassed that tag line in their title.  In addition to — she always features a few 30-minute meal recipes in her monthly magazine.

So what does your branding say about you and your business?

In the short five years og blogging, it has created a major shift in the way businesses/brands think about how to spread the word.

In recent years, PR agencies have used “bloggers” as just one tool in their public relations arsenal.  One area that they have really focused on is the “mommy bloggers”for the majority of purchase decisions are made by “Mom”.

It seemed like a happy compromise .. PR agencies get the word out about their client’s product/brand/service  and bloggers got some some free stuff in a variety of forms.  Everything seemed hunky dory.

In October 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decided to reign in bloggers and these “word of mouth reviews”. They announced the rules that bloggers needed to disclose their relationships with PR companies and free products.

According to the FTC’s website , ” … The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed.

You can read all about the FTC’s rules here . The rules are not crystal clear — So what is a blogger to do ??

Basically – always use  full disclosure and be transparent as often as possiblein ALL your social media (blogs, twitter, facebook,etc). When you don’t hide anything , there is nothing that anyone can accuse you of.

This should be a regular practice not only in your blog posts but as well as creating a disclosure policy on your blog/site . (To get your own — click here )

Maybe you just want to reach more people, or perhaps you are in a situation where you want to make sure that the people around you understand what it is you do in order to help them decide if they can use your product or services. In any case, with its growing popularity Twitter might be right for you.

A combination of a chat or instant messaging service and a blog, Twitter is a great way to gain a broader audience. Simply by being yourself and showing others what it is you do via tweets (messages) or from word of mouth from current customers, you stand the chance of gaining more clients.

Twitter’s abbreviated length can do you a great service.  You have the chance to convey the information that you need to get across without being too wordy or having potential clients get distracted while looking at your website. Because of this short and to-the-point way of communicating you have the ability to pique your potential client’s interest so that they will click your link to learn more. Sending them back to your website to learn more about you, the service you provide or the product you sell is what you’re after here.

You also have the ability to send potential clients to specific areas of your website in order to find the information they need. This will save them time and that’s always a plus. They want specific information and if you can give it to them with a few words and a link to the direct page on your site with this information, they will love you for it. For instance, if you’re a service provider, the next time someone asks you what your rates are, you can send them directly to your rates page to find the answers they need immediately.

After you’ve been on Twitter for awhile you will start to see the word of mouth concept flying around everywhere. If one of your current customers is a member of Twitter and you’ve just returned an awesome project to them, especially if they happen to be chatting on Twitter when they get the email, they will more than likely sing your praises to their followers. Twitter has quickly become a place where many business owners go to ask for recommendations of service providers for certain tasks they need completed. You’ll even find some businesses recruiting writers, web designers, blog installers and more when they need something done. Twitter has a viral nature and quickly your name and what you do can be passed on to many people.

If you contribute to conversations and let people know you are out there, you will find that your tweets as well as your website URL will be passed around and shared. Make sure that you take advantage of this positive way to get your name out there.  Many people use Twitter, and you’ll find that this familiarity is one thing that can help you distinguish yourself from the herd.

If you need something in the meantime, please don’t hestitate to contact Tammy at 719-313-1924 or tammy@brandreadymedia.com