Smart Biz Guide

How To: Get More Qualified Followers on Twitter | Social Media Today

2011-01-13T10:51:00.003-05:00

Tracy Gold's article "How To: Get More Qualified Followers on Twitter | Social Media Today" provides one of the best overviews on getting followers. I especially like how she addresses attracting quality readers versus quantity, and tweeting thoughtful comments versus a blow-by-blow of your day. It's an easy read and worth your time.

Great SEO Starts With the Basics

2010-08-28T11:22:00.002-04:00

Search engine optimization seams almost mystical in nature. The number of books, articles and seminars available on the topic is overwhelming when you are short on time and budget. Yet despite the promises to learning "SEO Secretes," everything I have come across has not strayed far from these key points:

Get your Domain Name right.Choose your company’s name or brand name. Avoid general names based on keywords.
Pick the relevant keywords. Identify words customers would use to find information about your products and services. Brainstorm, survey customers, research competitors for additional keywords. Create and organize your list from general to specific keywords. You may find that specific keywords bring less traffic, but result in more purchases.
Find reciprocal link partners. Identify web sites of related industries, business suppliers, and customers for a link exchange. Look for sites with quality content that is up-to-date. Not only list your link partners as resources, but also link to them within your content where appropriate. Quality links from and to your site builds credibility with search engines.
Post a site map: Publishing a link list of all relevant pages allows search engines to navigate and index your site.
Leverage page titles effectively. Write brief, but descriptive page title tags (<title></title>). Search engines use the title tag to determine content ranking.
Use descriptive file names.Create relevant, keyword file names for each page, document, and image for your site. Make you site pages and documents are link friendly.
Write good content. Content that attracts readers are how to articles, top ten lists, product reviews, ask the expert, hot trends, and research/survey results data.
Call attention with headings and subheadings. Structure and organize content by using descriptive headings and subheadings (<H1></H1>, <H2></H2>) for your content. Headings should accurately relate to the associated content.

SEO Books

SEO Help: 20 Search Engine Optimization steps to get your website to Google's #1 page - David Amerland

Inbox Versus Mail Box: Postcard Marketing Still Worth The Stamp

2010-08-04T19:36:00.001-04:00

With the the surge in social media marketing, small businesses and new comers are getting lost in the crowd. According to a recent blurb from my favorites small business source, Deliver Magazine, postcard marketing is what’s getting results. "The average inbox receives 60 to 100 messages a day, but the average mailbox sees only one or two postcards."

White Envelope Wins Out

2010-07-07T10:03:00.002-04:00

Bigger, bolder does not always pay off. Modest direct mail budgets can compete. Deliver Magazine offers a great example of simple is better.

"Aperture, a fine art photography magazine, found that a plain white control envelope tallied 10 percent more subscription orders than a more expensive green envelope with identical content inside. The more expensive green envelope, which was expected to stand out in a pile of mail, had been predicted to garner more responses than the white envelope."

Extend the Life of Your Marketing Materials

2010-06-28T09:11:00.000-04:00

Include information in your marketing pieces that readers will refer to at later dates. Ideal reference information includes:

checklists
troubleshooting
how-to

For example:

lawn and garden service: maintenance schedule in a newsletter
realtor: home selling tips in a brochure
yoga instructor: quick office exercises in a postcards

Becoming a resource to your customers and prospects gives your marketing materials staying power.

Telling Your Story with a Case Study

2010-06-25T08:54:00.000-04:00

Why Case Studies

A case study provides concrete examples of how well your product and services work. Since they are told from the perspective of a customer you helped, it allows readers to easily identify with the the problems and solutions you are presenting.

Anatomy of an Effective Case Study

Introduction: Present your customer. Provide a brief background history on you customer. Describe the solutions they provide to their customers.
Challenge: Describe your customers problem. List the pain points that lead them to seek a new solution. Explain why the products or services they currently rely on no longer work. State the goals a new solution must achieve.
Investigation: Describe the products or services your customer investigated. Discuss why each product or service did not meet their needs.
Solution: Describe your product or service. Discuss specifically how your solution addressed your customers pain points and needs.
Results: Describe the impact of your solution on your customer. Discuss how your solution helped your customer meet their goals.

Brochures That Get Action

2010-06-23T09:01:00.000-04:00

Effectively communicating the most important fundamentals about your business and your products or services prompts your prospects into action. Brochures that use solid testimonials can create the trust a potential buyer needs about your service or product. When done properly, they guide your prospect through the steps you want them to take so they can move ahead logically to purchase your product or service.

Creating Attention Grabbing Brochures

Write a front cover headline that speaks directly to your reader and addresses their needs.
Communicate the most important benefits about your business and your products or services.
Use solid testimonials that can create the trust a potential buyer needs about your service or product.
Give the reader action and steps you want them to take so they can move ahead logically to purchase your product or service.
Tell your customer how easy it is to operate or implement your product or service.
Use headlines to summarize content.
Organize content to cater equally to readers that scan from beginning to end, or who jump around from topic to topic.

Getting the Most of Your Brochure

Send as an introductory mailer.
Leave behind at initial sales calls.
Send as part of your literature fulfillment for potential clients responding to an ad or a phone enquiry.
Display it in reception area.
Display in your referral partners reception area.
Hand out copies at seminars and exhibits.
Send with proposals.

Focusing Your Brochure
The focus of your brochure determines its usefulness to the reader. No matter the topic you choose, you must key in on the benefits that your product or service provides. Remember, people do not buy products; they buy what the product promises them.

Postcards That Reach Your Customers

2010-06-21T08:56:00.000-04:00

Direct mail pieces, such as post cards, are cost effective marketing tools that reach your target audience directly. Unlike newspaper adverting, your have a better chance of your prospects seeing your ad and can easily track the results of your campaign. Direct mail pieces are versatile. In a single mailing you can seek business from prospective customers, and solicit repeat business from existing customers.

Creating Postcards That Are Kept
Effective postcards offer useful snippets of information that your target audience will hold onto or use to redeem your service. In fact, when done properly, your prospects will not only collect your postcards, but will also look forward to receiving them. Successful post cards will focus on a particular theme for the calendar year. Themes include:

How To
Tips
Did You Know
Invitations
Reminders
Maintenance Schedules/Calendars
Sale Announcements
Coupons/Discounts
Recipes/Mini Menus
Thank You
Contests

Planning Your Postcards

A business that customers hear from is one that they will keep in mind and keep doing business with. Like any other marketing campaign, sending postcards to your customer and prospect list is not a one-time event. If postcard marketing is the only vehicle you are using to connect with your customers, you should consider a minimum of four mailings and ideally up to 12 mailings per year.

Designing Your Post Cards

Avoid using too much information.
Remember the back of the card is just as important as the front.
Make a dated offer tied to only one service.
Focus on one Unique Selling Proposition or a single benefit.
Include your company’s contact information.
Use front left of card for a testimonial when appropriate.

Newsletters That Sell

2010-06-18T08:43:00.000-04:00

Most prospects will not respond to an advertising message until the seventh or more touch. For many businesses, traditional methods of advertising are simply too expensive. When done properly, email newsletters are an effective marketing tool that can help a business, generate sales leads, boost direct sales, and gain referrals form existing customers

Publishing Newsletters That Are Read

Publish the newsletter on a frequent and scheduled cycle.
Use a professional design.
Focus articles on customers/prospect needs not your business.
Offer work-related news.
Report prices and/or sales.
Inform readers about personal interests/hobbies.
Inform readers about events/deadlines/important dates.
Use customers’ names and faces—tell their stories, ideas, etc.

Leveraging Your Printed Newsletter

Do more than just mailing your newsletter; consider the following to boost your newsletter's effectiveness:

Send to new contacts.
Display it in reception area.
Display in your referral partners reception area.
Hand out copies at seminars and exhibits.
Send the newsletter with proposals.
Submit newsletter articles for publication in local publications and other association newsletters.

Building Your Mailing List

Mailing your newsletter to customers and prospects that are familiar with your business shows a greater return on investment than buying a list of strangers. Build your mailing list based on current and former clients, prospects, referral sources, staff, and association/trade group board members or newsletter editors related to your business niche.

Software Screen Shots for Brochures

2010-06-16T08:58:00.000-04:00

Having worked in and for software development companies ranging from global enterprises to startup businesses I often struggled with one continual marketing challenge: how to graphically capture the power and benefits of software. A screen shot of your latest and greatest user interface is meaningless on it own. Shrink it to fit the average size column width of a brochure and you might as well have added a block of color.

For home based business owners the issue becomes a budget challenge as well. Do you include screen captures in your standard 11 x 8.5 three-fold brochure, or do you invest in a larger marketing piece?

When it comes to software screen shots the parts are greater than the whole. My experience has found that the zooming into specific areas of a screen shot to highlight functions, features, and output allows the reader to visually connect the software with your copy. Here are a few tips for integrating software screen shots with your brochure copy:

Select screen shots that correspond with the headlines of your brochure copy.
Zoom and crop screen shots to highlight the specific function, feature, or output your copy is discussing.
Add captions to screen shots for further details.
Group function shots with output shots using arrows to visually connect and depict the process flow.

Get the Word Out With Postcard Newsletters

2010-06-14T23:33:00.002-04:00

Postcards are an ideal vehicle for sending short bits of news to your mailing list on a frequent basis. Unlike their traditional 8.5 x 11 counterparts, postcard newsletters are less expensive, quick reads, and easy to carry and pass on to others.

When designing your postcard newsletter, take full advantage of both sides of the postcard. Ideally your font size should be 12 points and no less than 10 points for optimum readability. Even if you are using a 4.25 X 6 postcard, you can fit about 80 to 100 words on the back/address label side along with your contact information, and about 100 to 125 words on the front/picture side along with a masthead.

Keep your content short and to the point. Either focus on one specific topic, or include short snippets of information such as tips, statistics, customer Q&As, customer profiles, customer feedback, company/staff news, product/service updates, etc.

Postcard Newsletter Tips

Postcard Newsletters - By Chuck Green
Postcard Newsletters Attract New Business - By Roger Parker
Postcard Newsletters: Petite Periodicals Pack A Punch - By Jacci Howard Bear
A Postcard and A Newsletter

Postcard Newsletter Services

One Minute Newsletters

Postcard Newsletter Books

Marketing With Newsletters: How to Boost Sales, Add Members & Raise Funds With a Print, Fax, E-Mail, Web Site or Postcard Newsletter - Elaine Floyd