Foster Research and Harvard Business School classify user into six group types. The first groups are called Creators. Creators are the folks who write blogs, articles, personal web pages, they make videos, audio, and music and post their creations online for the world to enjoy. These creators start the ball running for other groups to come in and begin the evolution of the internet.

Next you have the Critics, they are everywhere, but they too serve a purpose. Critics help to raise concerns, awareness whether it is good or bad; they contribute to articles, take voice to forums, and give reviews.  With the help of critics businesses build trust and reputations.

Then we have the Collectors. Collectors are those who link with all kinds of RSS Feeds and raise voting scores on websites, pages, and other forms of content. This group trends towards tagging items and complying photos.  With the help of Collectors both Joiners and Spectators are inspired to learn more.

Joiners like to find themselves in the middle of the action. They are the ones who are found on various social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. These groups of people not only like to join sites, but actively contribute to them as well. They help to spread buzz about brands, bring to light their experiences, and find themselves sharing personal experiences opening themselves up to their audiences.

Spectators on the other hand tend to like to read, listen, follow research, and be everywhere joiners are with the exception that they keep to themselves. Spectators like the view the action from the sidelines while everyone else is doing the talking.

The last kind of user are the Inactives. This group generally uses the internet at most once a month and each time they access the online world they transform themselves into one of the other five kinds of users.  So, ask yourself this, when I am on the internet what am I really doing here? What are my goals for this session, how often I am on the information train, and how did I ever live without the internet? What am I trying to accomplish?  Is this business or a pleasure visit?  So often we get side tracked as to why we are on the internet.  What I mean by this is, we go to the internet for one reason and our attention goes to something else.  The best example is using the internet for social media networking for business and before we know it, we have lost focus and start falling into the category of internet user, as previously mentioned and never get accomplished what we got on the internet to do and before we know it, a lot of time has passed.  Results….non-productive.  Plan your internet time, so as to accomplish your goals.

They are not using social media for their business correctly, nor do they understand the value in social networking.  Social media is the art of listening, learning, sharing and providing value.  It is not about your children or other family members signing in on the different social sites under your name and saying to everyone, “Hi, I went to lunch with my friends today” or “Hi, it is a great sunny day and I am going swimming.” No, I am not saying completely do away with your other forms for marketing, but social media should be incorporated as part of your marketing efforts.  Without utilizing social media as part of your marketing efforts, you are limiting the potential of building repeat customers who are loyal to your company.  During times when business is slow, it is the loyal customers who will still keep buying from you due to the established relationship, trust and they know the value of your services / products and your company reputation.

Building a relationship takes time. If people trust you, they are going to be loyal and if they are loyal, their average order will be higher and the frequency of purchases will increase.  The life expectancy from the loyal customer is longer marketing with a quick fix approach and an immediate response.  Social media builds relationships to keep them coming back for the long term.

Think of making friends, it takes time and the loyalty that separates a best friend from an acquaintance is the difference in relationship building.  Apply these principles to social media on a business level. Now, I am not saying you are going to become best friends with all your customers, but what I am pointing out, are the differences and it takes time to build a loyal business relationship.

By referring to social media as the art of listening, learning and sharing, I mean listen to people who are complaining about the products or services they currently use.  These are leads, because they are not happy with the product or service and they are openly talking about it through social media interaction. Listen to what they are saying and think about how you can help them, not sell them.  Learn from them on how to make a better product or how your business product or service would be more beneficial, but don’t sell them.  Share the benefits of the product or services; build a business relationship on listening, learning, sharing and providing value.  After all, we do that in our personal relationships with our friends, family, neighbors and people we do business with on a regular basis.

Hard sell marketing tactics from the past won’t work today, as consumers want value and that value is created in a loyal business relationship.

Listening, Learning, Sharing and providing Value are the keys to social media relationship building

Often we are too busy trying to reach our goals and we don’t take the time to celebrate our progressive steps.  This creates frustration with a lack of focus and our mindset starts turning to a negative state, which is extremely non productive.  If we take the time to celebrate, not only the progressive steps, but the gaps in between, then we have a sense of accomplishment and achievement, therefore, it is a confirmation we are on track to reaching our goals.

The progressive steps and goal gaps seem small in the scheme of the whole, but they are bigger and have more impact than what was first thought. This is why having a business plan for your goals, call it a goals business plan, with each step carefully outlined, along with the progressive steps and the goal gaps in between. This provides us permission for celebration and minimizes the frustration, therefore, making the goals seem more realistic and achievable.

I met with a client many years ago and we were having a conversation about goals.  He said, “Anyone can do something for five years, but the key to make the end of the five years count, is to focus on the path along the way and be kind to yourself by giving your self celebrations in between.”

After all, the sum of the parts are greater than the whole, which is the synergy needed to achieve your goals.  However, this is the most ignored part of the business plan in our goal setting and the most crucial.  It is easier to achieve anything if it is broken into steps /parts and work on reaching each step and achieving it to move to the next step.  Don’t forget to celebrate and be happy along the way.

Back in the day, building relations with customers began by word of mouth, driving by a sign, reading an advertisement in the local paper or magazine. Over time, businesses began reaching new customers through radio ads, television commercials, and direct mail.  Then, technology started evolving into the marketing of today’s venues.

Consumers are now being targeted through many social media platforms. They are targeted for information overload and have to sift through all the noise to siphon the information that is of value and has meaning to them.

Through the stroke of a key, a business reputation can either prosper by positive reviews or it can be negatively impacted by critics. In order to be successful at building and maintaining optimistic reviews, feedback, and increase awareness of brands, products, and services, businesses need to direct their focus on building positive relationships through viral communities and immediately answer the negative.  Social media is about building relationships, which is not to be confused with selling. It is about providing advice, adding value, better customer service and holding a business accountable publicly for negative business.

Social Media is more than just getting your website known; social media is about writing articles of interest on blogs, distribution of important information through article sites, social bookmarking, participating in forums and featuring news about products or services on video directories and many other venues.  Let us not forget the importance of news or press releases and how they build awareness. Your audience wants value from the interaction of social media. A blend is the best mixture.

The most common frustration a business encounters with social media, is ever changing and evolving. While social media sites are constantly being created, others find themselves fading away, as technology evolves and consumers become more aware and more sophisticated in their online experience.

Balancing social media is both time consuming and labor intensive.  Business owners, marketing managers, and directors, who used to do handle this themselves quickly became over whelmed with day to day operations leaving next to no time to spend creating and operating online campaigns, building reputations virtually through such sites as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., writing content, creating and editing videos, plus keeping up with the evolution of technology.  All these venues used for reaching online communities and platforms require continuous management, knowledge and expertise. Staying connected with online communities help to ensure positive reputations. Many savvy businesses decide it is more effective to have an in house marketing team or those that didn’t want to accommodate the increased financial responsibility, outsource all of their marketing.

According to: www.inc.com: Courtney Rubin, April 23, 2010, Inc. Magazine.  “Why Social Media Really Is Worth Your Time”. ”The key question is: Can they show you the money?  The answer  is Yes. One in three business owners say, “that social media helps them to close business…”  “what’s more, a resounding 85 percent of those surveyed say that the platform has created a buzz for their businesses…”

Bottom line social media is about building trust, awareness and creating  relationships with in a community that has not walked through your business doors.

To build a winning business strategy, you need to know exactly where you will compete, how you plan to win and how you will mobilize the organization to implement the strategy.  Don’t confuse strategy with goals, as the strategy is the path, which is the planning to take your business in the direction of becoming a winner. However, do keep in mind the goals with in your strategy to the achievements in the desired outcome.  In other words, stop conforming and begin moving in a forward positive direction, one of which gives you back the control to succeed.

“The goal of a strategy  is to help you end up on the right side of the mortality tables-not just surviving but poised for growth.” James Allen and Darrell Rigby wrote a piece entitled “Winning in Turbulence: clarify strategy: choose where and how to win.”

Start with turning to your current customers. You have worked hard and invested both time and money into turning them from a prospect to a sale.  Ask them why they chose you in the first place. Listen to their feedback and find out what products, services, and ways they believe you can improve or add to your business.

Next, consider the kind of prospects your business is targeting. Just because someone looks to have money now, how are they going to look a year from now? This is especially critical if your business is offering credit terms. If credit is not a concern, but sales are down consider ways to entice customers.

Another way to reach customers is by revamping your business website. When evaluating your website consider the look and feel of it. Obviously, you like the current website, but ask yourself how it compares to other competitors. Are the font, colors, and text easy on the eyes? Is the site easily navigated? Is there too much text or not enough?  Does the site offer customer interaction or does it allow feedback posts? Does the site adequately state the purpose of your business and send a clear message to your viewers? Just to be clear, websites do not necessarily make sales, they typically add valuable reinforcement to products and services. Take a look at your printed marketing materials, your past and current marketing efforts, what worked, what didn’t work, has the business stepped up with the times, business philosophies, basically look at every aspect of the business to see if the pieces show synergy for the current market.

Lastly, look at your current customer’s financials and evaluate how they are holding up in today’s market. There are several tools available to help businesses learn about their customers finances without directly asking “so how’s your bank account these days”.  Search the internet for negative comments posted about your customer. Look at stock holdings if applicable. Knowing your customers financials will help you determine the risk of keeping them as a customer or offer them payment terms to help eliminate default.

Using the tactic of business evaluation and the evaluation of your prospects, customers and future prospects, you are taking on a winner’s attitude.  This will help to prepare your business for the challenges faced in business. You can close the windows and darken your room or you can open the windows and let light shine in. It is a matter of choice, be aggressive in your business strategy to success.

is like putting building blocks on a strong foundation.  As you build the business reputation you want to make sure it is strong and provides the correct image about your business and brand.

In order to establish a strong and positive business presence you need to have a strategic plan, as a blueprint to follow to the path.  You want to establish your business as an expert / authority and while doing this; it will build the business reputation, provide credibility and increase clientele.

Start with your current accounts and make sure they are on a strong foundation. Expand one step at a time, knowing that each building block you lay in the foundation of your business will add strength and credibility while increasing your business’s reputation.

When building your business as an expert / authority provide information and create materials that lend to the business credibility, which build the business reputation.  This can be accomplished through all forms, such as online advertising, create a strong dominate web presence and brand the business on all social media platforms.  Don’t just stop at online presence, as the business needs to extend beyond and create materials that can be shown and handed out to potential new clientele, as well as existing clients. New and existing clientele also like materials they can hold and read at a later time.  This can be accomplished through a brochure, flyer, business card, etc…  However, when the printed items are created make sure they are of good quality with a clear and concise message, which convey the business image, brand, reputation and definitely provide a reason for the reader to know your business is an expert / authority.

When building the business reputation, all avenues of business image, branding, reputation building, product awareness, printed materials, advertising, marketing, as well as online presence in all of the platforms, need to blend together and complement one another.

In order for a successful marketing campaign to be successful, there are several key ingredients that need focus.

First, there needs to be focus.  By this I mean, what specifically you want to market.  Define the key factors to your marketing campaign.  Don’t just say them out loud, but actually write them down.  This provides more meaning and a blueprint as to want you want to accomplish in the marketing campaign.

Second, define your target audience.  You need to narrow down your target audience, as not everyone will need your service or product.  If the target audience is not defined, this can mean wasted marketing efforts, which equate to wasted money spent on marketing that was of no value.  Marketing dollars need to count and bring a return from your marketing campaign.

Third, what do you want to accomplish with the marketing campaign? Yes, I know you want to make a sale, but that is not specifically what I am talking about.  The sale / purchase are the end result.  We are not there yet.  Establishing the goals to accomplish in a marketing campaign take you to the end result; the sale or purchase.  However, you also need to set the stage for product recognition, awareness, how it will benefit your target audience, provide value, let them know what makes your company unique, keep them interested and wanting what you are marketing (trying to sell them).  These are main focal points when creating a marketing campaign.

Fourth, determine the venues in which you want to promote your campaign.  Basically decide whether to market through social media channels exclusively or other forms of mediums, such as print, radio, video, or television or combine all venues.  Again, this goes back to focus on what you want to accomplish.

Fifth, “The Call to Action and Urgency”.  This is the most important item in a marketing campaign.  Everyone needs a little nudge.  Our mind works like this when we see an ad.  As an example let’s use a shirt we see in a marketing campaign, first thing we do in our mind, is justify why we don’t need to buy a new shirt, but maybe the shirt has a unique style and color that entices us to give it a second thought.  Since there was a second thought, which is interest in the shirt, so now our mind is thinking how that new shirt would look on and what would you would wear with it to accessorize the new shirt.  Now in our mind we are thinking more positive thoughts about why you should purchase that shirt, rather than not.  Then there is “The Call to Action and Urgency”, which can be in the form of a discounted price, while supplies last.  There are many other ways to create a “Call to Action and Urgency”, but in our example you can see how our mind goes from negative to positive and now we want it and we have to have it.

As you can see, all of the key ingredients in a marketing campaign are necessary elements to be successful and they are complementary to one another, which lead to the ultimate goal in the sales funnel, which equates to a sale or purchase.

The 4 big mistakes that are quite frequently made in business card design

1. Color – choosing the right colors for your company representation are a big part of your company and the colors say a lot about your company, goals, philosophies and your message.  Color has meaning, makes a statement, it tells a story about your company and it can show strength. Color is power in the message you want to convey about your company.

2. Logo – designing the right logo to fit your company personality, style and credibility.  Just in that small symbol / icon represents your company’s power and conveys a great deal to the person looking at the card for those few seconds.  It takes 3 seconds once a person receives a business card to decide whether they want to do business with that company or keep looking to compare.  Even the lines and shapes individually used to create the logo represent meaning and create a voice.  The elements collectively within the logo, overall convey emotion, visual perception, and trigger a desire to want to know more about this company. The logo has many unspoken words, emotions, and messages. What does your logo say?

3. Font – often the font / typeset, which is your company address, phone, website, etc., are so small that a person needs a magnifying glass to read the information.  It is as if a company is trying to do business incognito.  This is self defeating, as you want your information to be read, no I am
not saying to make the font size extremely large, but make it a normal size, as to be easily read.  After all, do you want the font to be so small that your reader throws the card the away, because it is unreadable?

4. Design – the overall attention grabber.  This is really one of the biggest mistakes and the most over looked part of the business card.  Some think the minimalist look is the best; you know, the one that has no logo, no color, small font / typeset, and screams boring.  Then there is the design that is way over the top and is overbearing to the point you loose the reader, as to you company information or what your company is conveying.  Another great mistake in design is what I call the “fashion clash” of business cards. This is where there is no color correlation to tie together the company with the logo, philosophy, information, convey strength or most importantly the message.  It is as if there was no attention to detail, just
elements thrown together.  So you can see design plays a very big part in attraction and what it conveys to the reader. What does your design say?

As you can see, all of these elements need to work together, flow, project the unspoken words about the company message, and philosophy. There is so much that goes into the design of a business card, but the most over looked, probably due to the size.  Even though the card size is small, there is a great magnitude of power, voice, and message that comes from the smallest form of advertising a company can possible create, the business card.

With our evolving technology, there are so many choices to market a business.  Deciding which form of marketing is the best venue, that will have the most impact with your target audience and reach the most consumers for your product or service.

Everywhere you turn in today’s age, there are new and innovative ways to market, but defining which venue is best suited for your product or service is the big key factor.

The best way to eliminate what I call the “Overwhelming Marketing Saga” is to define your marketing in the following ways:

Take into account your marketing budget.  Let’s face it, everything in a business starts with money and how much do you have to spend or how little you want to spend to achieve your desired business goals. You need to keep in your mind, foremost how to maximize your marketing budget. It’s about “quality” not “quantity” when you want to achieve marketing results. Therefore, you have to take into account how effective are your marketing efforts.

The most effective way to start marketing is by keeping it simple.  Starting off with a well designed logo from a professional graphic designer and professionally designed business cards.  The logo is what is going to stand out on all of your marketing materials.  The colors used in your logo and marketing materials are significant and effective, as you want your business to stand apart from the rest with a professional image.  Don’t be cheap with your company; hire a professional, as this is laying the foundation for future marketing efforts and the best way to look at it, is as an investment in your company.  By the way, your business cards are one of the most simple and the best form of marketing you can start with, as it is easy, compact and if someone is interested in your product or service it will have a longer shelf life than electronic media.

When starting your business keeping your marketing efforts simple, is the key to effectively maximizing and managing your marketing budget.

1. The customer can’t afford to buy the product.

Never assume a customer does not have the money to purchase, you don’t know what is in their budget. Many times these assumptions are made from the way a customer is dressed or other factors. However, that doesn’t always hold as a viable tool for making assumptions as to someone’s wallet size or their reasons for purchasing or not purchasing.

2. The customer does not want or recognize the value of a product.

However, you as a salesperson need to provide information on the value of the product and show the customer how it would be of value along with the benefits. Don’t push your views on the customer, but lay out the facts along with the benefits. It is not just about price, it is about value and you as a salesperson need to recognize their needs for the product and how that product is an asset to them. Don’t forget to make a friend, as we all want to do business with someone we like and trust.

3. The customer is not interested.

The customer may not be interested at that moment, but make your presentation respectfully, gain trust and build a relationship with the customer / potential customer. The key is don’t assume, don’t just assume they will never be interested. Instead think of it as a relationship building process, in which the customer gains knowledge of the product, people want to do business with someone they like and can relate to. The customer who says no the first time is no different. Along with relating to a salesperson, they want to trust that salesperson and know that they are not just getting a sales pitch, but they are receiving actual knowledge with true benefits of a product. The salesperson’s job is to establish a rapport with a potential customer, create brand awareness, build trust and convey the credibility of the company they represent.  This will also provide an open door for future contact.

Never assume anything about a customer or a potential customer. Just about the time you think you know what they are going to say, they will surely do the opposite. When you assume something about someone, you are looking at the things around them, that moment, that day and other factors. You never know what was going on with that person just prior to your meeting with them to cause you to predetermine those assumptions. Maybe they are preoccupied with a big contract they are working on, maybe something happened in the business, many different factors can determine a person’s demeanor, which caused you to make false assumptions. Be open, give them the benefit and above all never take the answer no the first time, but do stay in contact, follow up, show additional value as to why they should do business with your company, the benefits of your product or service and how it will be of value to them.

The key factors for “Great Salespeople” are:

1. Stay positive
2. Be open-minded.
3. Bring value.
4. Follow-up.
5. Create rapport.
6. Create trust.
7. Be respectful and courteous.
8. Display professionalism at all times.
9. Build a relationship.
10. A professional salesperson knows when the “final no” is said.

In today’s market, it is about relationship building with a customer / potential customer, which helps secure future sales. Think long term, not short term.

The first phase of Social Media is getting everyone connected on the Internet.

In this next phase, which changes the way we work, live, play, and learn, we’re starting to realize the value of those connections as well as the new communications and experiences those interactions lead to – the ‘human network,’ states John T. Chamber, Chairman and CEO of Cisco. So who are the users of this eroding technology, the hub of information called the internet?

After the first phase, the according to Foster Research and Harvard Business School classify user into six group types of social media users. The first social media group are called Creators. Creators are the folks who write blogs, articles, personal web pages, they make videos, audio, and music and post their creations online for the world to enjoy. These creators start the ball running for other social media groups to come in and begin the evolution of the internet.

Next you have the Critics. Critics are like attorney’s they are everywhere, but they too serve a purpose. Critics help to raise concerns, awareness whether it is good or bad; they contribute to articles, take voice to forums, and give reviews.  With the help of critics businesses build trust and reputations.

Then we have the Collectors. Collectors are those who link with all kinds of RSS Feeds and raise voting scores on websites, pages, and other forms of content. This social media group trends towards tagging items and complying photos.  With the help of Collectors both Joiners and Spectators are inspired to learn more.

Joiners like to find themselves in the middle of the action. They are the ones who are found on various social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. These group of people not only like to join sites, but actively contribute to them as well. They help to spread buzz about brands, bring to light their experiences, and find themselves sharing personal experiences opening themselves up to their audiences.

Spectators on the other hand tend to like to read, listen, follow research, and be everywhere joiners are with the exception that they keep to themselves. Spectators like the view the action from the sidelines while everyone else is doing the talking.

The last kind of user is the Inactives. This group generally uses the internet at most once a month and each time they access the online world they transform themselves into one of the other five kinds of users.  So ask yourself this, when I am on the internet what am I really doing here? What are my goals for the session, how often I am on the information train, and how did I ever live without the internet? What Social Media user am I?

“The goal of strategy in a downturn market is to help you end up on the right side of the mortality tables-not just surviving but poised for growth.” James Allen and Darrell Rigby wrote a piece entitled “Winning in Turbulence: clarify strategy: choose where and how to win.”

To build a winning strategy, you need to know exactly where you will compete, how you plan to win and how you will mobilize the organization to implement the strategy. In other words, stop conforming to all the negative headlines and begin moving in a forward positive direction one of which gives you back the control to succeed.

The fact is businesses are closing their doors and now is prime time to move in and sack your competitors customers.

Start with turning to your current customers. You have worked hard and invested both time and money into turning them from a prospect to a sale.  Ask them why they chose you in the first place. Listen to their feedback and find out what products, services, and ways they believe you can improve or add to your business.

Next, consider the kind of prospects your business is targeting. Just because someone looks to have money now how do they look a year from now? This is especially critical if your business is offering credit terms. If credit is not a concern, but sales are down consider ways to entice customers.

Another way to reach customers is by revamping your business website. When evaluating your website consider the look and feel of it. Obviously, you like the current website, but ask yourself how it compares to other competitors. Are the font, colors, and text easy on the eyes? Is the site easily navigated? Is there too much text or not enough?  Does the site offer customer interaction or does it allow feedback posts? Does the site adequately state the purpose of your business and send a clear message to your viewers? Just to be clear, websites do not necessarily make sales, they typically add valuable reinforcement to products and services.

Lastly, look at your current customer’s financials and evaluate how they are holding up in today’s market. There are several tools available to help businesses learn about their customers finances without directly asking “so how’s your bank account these days”.  Search the internet for negative comments posted about your customer. Look at stock holdings if applicable. Knowing your customers financials will help you determine the risk of keeping them as a customer or offer them payment terms to help eliminate default.

Using the tactic of self evaluation and the evaluation of your prospects and customers, you are taking on a winner’s attitude.  You can close the windows and darken your room, and you can open the windows and let light in. It is a matter of choice.

While social media marketing and networking has been around for a number of years and there are those who are still skeptical of its ability to successfully grow a business. Let us start with what is Social Media Marketing; it is a combined marketing strategy designed to encompass the use of web- based and mobile technologies to create more personal interactions between business and consumer. It has been referred to as the “art of listening, learning, and sharing” by many.  While traditional forums of marketing are still effective social media helps build relationships through tapping into social networks. It is an effective and cost efficient method to retain customers and market to new prospects.

Fact is customers enjoy surfing the internet. The Socialmedia Examiner held a study and reported that approximately 80% of web surfing females say they have become fans of products or brands through being a member of a social network. Social media played its role in luring the 80% group by allowing businesses to be more readily visible and creative. Youtube.com is a great example of advertisers placing advertisement banners or commercials on a video clip at the beginning thus making the consumer watch the ad before enjoying the actual video clip they wanted to watch originally.

Social media marketing statistics are measurable and can be monitored to ensure businesses are reaching their intended targets. Measuring statistics are time consuming for businesses and often confusing; however, just like anything else in life, hire a professional whose specialty is social media

Unlike traditional forums of marketing such as display ads and billboards, social marketing and networking takes work, frequency, and the willingness to be interactive. There are programs out there in the viral world that can help you with keeping up-to-date with your audience, but even still the work starts with you. Some businesses hire individuals within their firm to strictly focus on building these relations and then others outsource the work which often proves to be cost effective. Social media marketing firms often have package plans to choose from and offer content writing services.

The largest concern skeptics have of social marketing is negative reviews and feedback. Statistically negative reviews help businesses to increase its customer service and build a better relationship with its consumers. Fact is no one can ever completely satisfy everyone because not everyone has the same like. What matters is how a business responds to these negative comments.

Social media marketing is the best way to help build longer lasting and stronger relations with consumers. Traditional marketing is generally geared towards drawing in new business.  Implementing a marketing strategy encompassing both types of marketing is the best way for a business to grow and maintain a solid reputation.

The best way to decide the right sites to become a member of is having a strategic plan in place and defining what your goals are as a business, who your target audience will be, and what you wish to accomplish by joining the site.  In order to make this determination by following these five simple steps will help give definition.

The first step is having an end goal. Having goals are important because it helps you see the light at the end of the tunnel and gives you focus. Let’s say you want everyone to know about your new app that helps users find the best coffee houses in their area. Your goal is to bring coffee drinkers and area coffee shops together and you want to create the app that is free to end users, but allows advertisers to pay you to advertise their coffee shops on your app.

The first step and second step go hand in hand because the second step is defining your target audience. If you go back the example of the coffee app your audience is defined as the following: coffee enthusiasts, business networking groups, movie goers, and homeowners, renters, and local businesses within a 5 mile radius of each coffee shop. Once you have defined your audience then you are able to implement your goals.

Next step is to show people why they should download and use your product or service through showing them how you are different and a must have. Looking at the coffee app, what makes the app a must have is it shows every kind of coffee house in the area and not just the big boxes houses like Starbucks. People want different, they desire a change in scenery, and they want to experience a place with lots of ambiance and gives them reason to drink coffee at a place rather than brewing a cup at home.

Consider all the technology that is available to distribute your message and decide which is best for your business to help you hit your goals. For instance, if you are a retail store you want to be able to offer QR codes to help consumers price match, download coupons, comparison shop, and located the closest location nearest them. Offer product reviews, provide news to inform consumers to help them make the decision to buy right away, and most importantly, you want to keep yourself in front of your audience so when they are ready to make a purchase they have you in mind.

Once you have completed the prior four steps the last most important part of social media market planning is obtaining feedback from your audience.  You can have a great idea, have your target(s) defined, have all the marketing tools available, but if you are not listening to what people are buzzing about your company, products, or services than you are wasting valuable time and money. Feedback can be a scary thought because it is not always positive and let’s face it, nobody likes bad publicity. Consider Domino’s Pizza, they run television commercials discussing negative reviews their customers have issued and show how they have corrected the problems. They own their mistakes, but show they care enough to correct them. So listen to your audience, because the most valuable asset you have is your audience.

Create a strategy for your online marketing. Make sure you have a nice looking website that is informative, functional and creates awareness and encourages your audience to want more information or to purchase from you. Define your target market. Don’t just blast out there, this wastes your marketing dollars and is not effective marketing. You have to take into account your marketing budget (which you should have already defined on paper), so you can define the avenues of marketing that will be most effective for your service or product.

Create high quality content. Give them a reason to want to keep reading. Identify your target audience. If your audience isn’t interested, you won’t keep them engaged and you have wasted your time. Ask your audience questions, get them wanting to read more and learn more. Get them engaged. Don’t just write at them, write something they can think about, so they will want to read to the end. Make it interesting and informative. Give them a reason to want more. This will build your loyal audience. High quality content will provide your company several things such as: a loyal audience, create a buzz, create brand awareness, build a foundation for future business relationships, increase sales, help current customer retention, cost effect online marketing, and procure future prospects by increasing customer trust for your brand. It also enhances your other marketing efforts.

Value for your audience. Your audience doesn’t want to waste their time reading something that is of no value to them. You have 3 seconds to capture the attention of the person reading your content. Within this time they make a decision to leave the page or stay and read the rest of the information. Bottom line, you have to make it interesting and valuable to them to stay, but short sweet and to the point at the same time.

Become an authority. Make your topic interesting and unique. Learn about your topic through research. With today’s online resources, you have access to a wealth of information from resources, such as open-source encyclopedias, articles, interaction with others on the top of your interest. Be open to new ideas and generous with sharing the information you cultivated. Speak with authority and knowledge.

Recognition. You will receive the recognition from your audience if you take the time to plan your online marketing tactics. You need to keeping working on your tactics to increase your effective online marketing by refining it and nurturing your online efforts. This isn’t going to happen overnight, but you will start to see a steady increase. Final thoughts for your online marketing tactics make sure you check your spelling and your content is not offensive. Make sure to incorporate your online marketing tactics with your offline marketing.

Final thoughts for your online marketing tactics make sure you check your spelling and your content is not offensive. Make sure to incorporate your online marketing tactics with your offline marketing.

You only get one chance to make a really great impression, so don’t leave substandard printed items to represent your company and project a less than desirable image. There is a saying “It takes money to make money.” Most do not realize the importance of these items in your company’s marketing efforts. They look at them as purely an “expense”, but they are just more than an “expense”, they bring added value by attracting new customers into the front doors of your company. You might have to spend a little more, but the return on your investment from new customers can be much more rewarding than the expense of your company’s printed materials.

Think about how your company’s printed materials look, such as the company business card, the brochure or catalogs handed out by your company to a prospective customer. Think of it as curb appeal, as it is a telltale sign of what the inside of your company looks like. I am not talking the lobby décor in your office, but what I am talking about is the impression your company image is projecting. These items project an image about your customer service, the products or services you provide, and your company’s philosophies. Do you want a prospective customer to think your company provides substandard service or quality based on the poor quality of your company’s printed materials? Of course you don’t, you want to project that you are better than your competitors in every aspect.

Prospective buyers want to do business with a company that reflects an award winning customer service department, a product or service they know your company will stand behind; they want to make sure your products and service are of the utmost quality.

In conclusion, don’t be so frugal on your company’s printed materials that you sacrifice potential new business, because your curb appeal is not desirable. Quality makes your company stand apart from the rest!

a business can use in their marketing efforts. They leave an impression about your business that can impact another company or person’s decision to do business with your company.

Many put very little thought into the design, colors and the paper in which the card is printed. However, you have one chance to make a great impression with your business card. Yes, that little standard sized piece of paper that is only 3.5” wide x 2” tall makes quite a statement.

The business card tells many things about your company.

1. It provides several different ways for you to be contacted, possibly by the office phone, cell phone, email address or just someone dropping by your office. This makes you completely accessible to that client and provides the client a comfort zone in which they want to establish business with you. Some clients only like to do business by talking on the phone or some like to correspond by email. Then you have the client who wants to access to you when you are out of the office, which is by cell phone. Therefore, as much contact information you can provide on the business card makes you more accessible to a client or potential client.

2. Exchanging business cards with potential clients helps to build new relationships and they are eagerly accepted by all. This also helps to ease the self promotion tension when meeting a potential client for the first time.

3. Another very important element to a business card is the website address. A website makes a further statement about your company by providing a wealth of information about your company to a potential client.

4. Design and color say a lot about your company and the impression. It is better to spend a little more to get a great design and put the company logo on the business card, while incorporating color that will be used in your company wide branding. Importantly, the business card should carry your company logo, which identifies your company immediately, even before they read the information on the card. The design should be a reflection of your company’s image, philosophies and credibility. A mistake often made is to fill every bit of space on a business card. This can be overwhelming to a potential client, as there is too much information and not enough time to absorb the true information trying to be conveyed about your company. This is why it is best to leave a little blank space on a business card. After all, you don’t want to look desperate for business, but you do want to convey a professional and knowledgeable image.

5. Optional, the card can be one or two sided. Customarily all of your contact information is placed on the front of the business card and on the back, can be services provided by your company, mission statement or other important information. Many leave the back blank for writing notes. Therefore, a one or a two sided card is personal preference.

Business cards have been around many centuries, as early as the 15^th century in China and the 17^th century in which the French monarchs referred to them as visiting cards. They would put the visiting guest’s information on them, but they were not called business cards. In England the merchants used them as a form of advertisement about their wares and referred to as “trade cards”. Today, they are used by many as a part of their company marketing efforts, networking, and personal uses.

You can see such a little piece of paper can leave quite the impression and impact your business. Spend a little more to make a lot of difference in your marketing.

First, a booth must be clean, easily identifiable, and inviting to those passing by. The best way is to have tables spaced where the people working the booth can not just stand behind the table(s). This is key as often exhibitors feel more comfortable separating themselves from the attendees. It is best to have a tablecloth with your company name draped across the table making sure it is wrinkle free. Have a sign posted behind your booth displaying your company name and slogan. This will catch the eyes of everyone. The more attractive a booth the more attendees tend to draw in.

Next, pass out cards, brochures, and marketing materials directly to the hands of the attendees and make sure these same items are visible on the booth table. Take an extra step when passing out these items and engage the attendees in a conversation. This is your first chance of an impression. Some exhibitors find that adding music to their booth or having group classes held in a booth are huge attendee drawers.

Finally, people love promotional items and the catchier the item the more the attendees will flock to your booth. Be creative here. An excellent example of the impact promotional items have is during a meeting we had with a new client they had on their desk a trio highlighter set they picked up at a trade show. What made these highlighters so catchy is they looked like cartoon characters with feathers for hair, wearing huge smiley faces. Not only were these highlighters functional, but this person displayed them on her desk as part of her office decor.

Another great way to further connect with your booth attendees, offer a business card drawing. This is a great way to collect cards and follow-up with them at a later date. The pitfall to this method is some companies use the cards and send spam mail. Instead, call the person directly and re-introduce yourself and company.

For more information or for help to build a strong more productive booth at your next trade show or conference, contact us at 702-877-7100.

is the more valuable than money. Time is something you can never get back. All too often we put things off until another day, yet we never seem to catch that next day. We hear the term time management, but what does it really mean?
1) The term time management actually refers to managing ourselves rather than time, because no matter what you do to change, there will always be 24 hours in a day. It is how we budget our time which is controllable.

2) List everything you do in a course of day that takes your time away from being productive. Internet surfing or reading wants ads during the time when productive work should be performed steals time. Create a daily activity log to help define where your time is being spent.

3) Set time goals to help modify your behavior.
[spacer height=”15″] 4) Take the next step and implement a reasonable time schedule. By doing this step you will increase productivity and reduce stress. As you analyze your progress you will begin to modify your behavior.

5) Use time management tools to help stay focused. Software programs are a great way to keep you on task moving forward. Adhere to the calendar, remind yourself in advance of tasks or events.

6) Get in the habit of prioritizing. decide what tasks are most important and need to be completed immediately.

7) Delegate or outsource to others. Never be afraid of saying no periodically.

8) Get yourself on a routine. The best rule of thumb, perform something for 30 days straight and it will become a habit.

9) Setting time limits for tasks will further help to keep you balanced.For instance, reading and answering email can consume your whole day if you let it. Instead, set a limit of one hour a day for this task and stick to it.

10) Organization is key to time management. Not great at organizing hire a professional organizer who will create systems based on your needs, routine, and style. Make sure files are organized, desk tops, papers, etc.

11) Waiting is a time muncher. Waiting for a client, respond to emails while you are waiting. Eating lunch, write a grocery list, drinking your morning coffee, plan your day.

By using these 11 tips, you will improve your time by being more productive.

Most people don’t think about the impact it can have on your company’s marketing plan. It is small, merely a little piece of paper with some adhesive, comes in different colors, has some sort of logo and company information on it. Sounds simple in reality, not much to it, but we use it to write those most important messages to ourselves that we don’t want to forget. They sit on our desk readily available to write some bit of information to everyone entering our office, they are convenient, compact, handy and the adhesive makes it convenient for us to stick it to virtually anything, so we can easily look up and see it at any given time.

Give a pad of Post It Notes to your company sales force, they go on a sales call and they leave it as a gift to the “prospective new” client along with other company information. The sales person leaves, the business card is put in the Rolodex, the brochure they leave behind is either filed in a filing cabinet or filed in the trash can nearby, but the pad of Post It Notes are still on the desk readily available for use of the “new prospective client”.

Someone walks into the “prospective new client’s” office, he writes a note on this pad of Post It Notes and gives the person a note with your company information and they in turn stick to something in their office. This happens repeatedly with others entering the “prospective new client’s” office and before you know it this little piece of paper with some adhesive, which has your company information is now filtered through the entire company offices of the “prospective new client”. They finally need that service or product you represent and you will be the one that comes to their mind.

Everywhere they turn, they now see your company information!

The point is that long after all of the other marketing information you left behind with the “prospective new client” have been placed out of site, but there is still the little piece of paper with adhesive and most importantly your company information. You are still marketing to this “prospective new client” long after you leave the office.

The power of the Post It Note marketing reigns!

How is it you remind your customers and clients you are still around waiting for them to make their next purchase? Are your advertising dollars being spent solely on generating new business? Promotional marketing items are key to every growing business and with a small budget to a large budget, promoting your business can be cost effective.

When most people think of promotional items they immediately think of the hundreds of ink pens lining their drawers, pen holders, purses, and cars. True, pens are a great way to get your name out there, but there are hundreds of thousands of other promotional marketing items out there ready to catch your targets eyes. For instance, Print Plus More represents over 800,000 promotional items ranging from pens, bags / totes, massage accessories, silk screen / embroidered clothing and apparel, picture frames, and even holiday ornaments.

Promotional marketing items are perfect to draw exhibitors to your booth, increase employee morale, and turn employees into everyday sales people without them even saying a word. On the other hand, customers love free stuff or incentives. Offer them a little something and they never seem to forget you. Best of all, the incentives you give away are often passed onto others increasing your business exposure. The more people see your name, the more they begin to recognize your company.

For more information on ways to promote your business, send us an email and we will be glad to provide you with a free consultation.

Print Plus More Advertising makes the difference and is the difference. We turn your “Visions” into “Reality”.
We are centered on providing clients with the means and tools needed to take their business to the next level by offering a variety of services. With Print Plus More Advertising as part of your team, a company can devote more time to internal resources to keep the business running effectively.

We help clients capture and define target audiences, generate new business, increase client retention rates, fulfill design and printing needs, implement promotional campaigns and institute media advertising campaigns of all forums. In order for businesses to overcome an unyielding economy, having a solid direct marketing plan creates a need of urgency among customers.

In order for marketing efforts to be successful, communication is extremely important. Print Plus More… listens to you the client and takes into account your expectations, company goals and needs. As part of the marketing campaign, we help you track advertising efforts, so advertising dollars are not wasted, but maximized to bring the best possible return for your money spent and reach as many potential customers as possible.

Advertising & Marketing are the keys to success, therefore, your success is our success.