Friday, June 26, 2015

Three Invaluable Steps to Accomplishing Your Mobile Marketing Goals

There are certain concepts that you should follow in order to successfully market to your mobile device audience. If you look around you, it is quite obvious that anyone and everyone uses a mobile device everywhere they go. So, now you have to customize your marketing efforts to fit mobile devices.

One thing that you can count on is the fact that people are not going to stop using their mobile devices (not ever). With that in mind, you need to figure out the best and most effective way to get your message to them on their mobile devices. There are a few different concepts that you should keep in mind and if you follow those concepts, you won't go wrong. In fact, you will actually achieve greater success than ever before.

Be instantaneous: People want what they want when they want it. That generally means that they want it now. When it comes to a mobile device user, the need for instantaneous information (or instant gratification) is even more pressing than it ever was before. The information is truly at the person's fingertips and they are so used to clicking and getting the information that if it doesn't happen that way, they will move onto the next business and person who will have the ability to give it to them quickly. Of course, this can definitely work to your advantage as well. If the mobile device user wants information quickly, you can be the person to supply them with it. Not only are you capable of giving your mobile device users what they want and need but you can get it there at lightening speed as well. You can give your target audience what they need in small, meaningful increments. That is just they way that they like it and expect it to be delivered to them.

Use a simplistic approach: Sometimes, the simplest approach is the approach that works the most effectively. Since your target audience members are coming to you because they need information that is valuable to them, you have a responsibility to give it to them in a form that works for them and that works conveniently with their mobile devices. It is possible that you may have a website that is optimized for mobile devices in addition to your regular website. If you need to do that and you see positive results for your business with your interactions with your mobile device users, it will have been well worth it. Your approach should be simple and straightforward. You will start to see how well it works for your business.

Make the relevance clear: It is critical to your success that you share content that is appropriate, clear, and concise. Sharing content that seems to come straight out of left field really won't do you any good. People on the other end need to be able to relate to what you are sharing and to understand that you have the ability to solve their problems. That needs to be your first priority. You must always keep in mind the marketing principle, "What's In It For Me?" (WIIFM). In other words, no matter how wonderful you and your business are, if you are not able to solve the other person's problems, you won't get anywhere at all with them.
Conclusion

You must consider marketing for your mobile device users in this day and age and you must make them one of your top priorities. Whatever content you share with them, they will be able to see and use immediately, which is a huge plus. Since their devices are always with them, they will get what they need from you very quickly. However, to give you a word of caution, it is important not to inundate them with two much information. You must make it comfortable and easy for them to receive and absorb your information. Mobile device users represent a large percentage of your target audience and if you are loyal to them, they will be loyal to you.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Quick Insights on Generating Leads for Your Bussiness' Growth

Leads are an essential growth component of every business. A constant stream of leads is one element of many that creates sustainability within a small business. Leads can come from many places. A business owner should have at least three different places that generate lead flow. One of the first places I like to see leads come from is your website. The site should be optimized and search engine friendly. Positioning your website to be on the first page of Google will produce qualified prospects who want what you sell. The only thing the prospect will need is more information to make a buying decision.

Advertising is another way a business owner can generate a lead. Understanding how to leverage the strategic side of marketing can help achieve phenomenal results. Too many business owners are quick to say direct mail, social media, radio or TV doesn't work. It was not the medium (tactical side of marketing) that failed you; it was what you said and how you said it (the strategic side) that failed you. Once the business owner understands how to effectively convey the value they provide, generating a lead is a breeze.

Prospecting is the act of generating leads without advertising. Prospecting could involve calling a target list or foot canvassing in a specific area. Do you have marketing materials? Prospects need time to make an informed decision at the speed their brain can process information. You telling them everything during a sales visit will not always be enough. A marketing piece (leave behind) that can support the prospects decision-making process will move them along the sales process and ultimately compel them to buy.


Having sales collateral allows your information to be shared with someone the prospect knows who may need your product or service right now. Where I see small business owners over look an opportunity in their marketing material is their business card. Offer more than just your contact and website info. Provide a link on your business card that leads to a video or free report that can educate and move a prospect along the sales process.

When you don't have a lot of money to spend on creating leads, networking is an excellent solution to create new opportunities to obtain new business. Attend networking events and engage contacts strategically. Your goal is to connect with the people in the room who have relationships with referral partners who are already doing business with your potential clients. Please do not attend these events looking to sell to the people in the room. Go with the goal of getting connected to your target. The power words here are strategic alliance. Please don't be selfish, once someone has offered to introduce you to someone in their network, be sure to ask them, "How can I help you?"

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Achieve a Successful Product Launch with These Tips

A product launch that nobody knows about is not good for your business. Therefore, it must be carefully planned.  You will need the help of your employees, other professionals and service providers for it to be successful.

Here are five steps that are essential to staging a grand product launch.

Create a calendar. A calendar of events will allow you to promote your product launch creatively and extensively. It will also allow you to reach the right audience at the right time.

Contact a group of publicists. Members of the press and bloggers can help a lot in your publicity campaign. Contact them at least a month before the main event.

Incorporate mystery. Tease people’s curiosity by inviting a mystery guest to your product launch. It would be best to invite a celebrity because people love hanging out with someone famous. Additionally, set up an enticing offer or reward for a limited number of people who buy your product even before its formal introduction to the public.

Organise a soft launch. A soft launch is like a final run-through before the big day. Invite your family, friends and business partners. Make sure that all your employees are present too. A soft launch can reveal any flaws in your preparations or anything you may have overlooked during the planning stage.

Prepare an impressive venue. It is not enough to have an organized and themed venue. Make sure that your venue is at pace with the trends in promotional marketing. For example, consider setting up a media wall instead of a traditional backdrop. You can use two or more media walls as advertising banners and as background for a photo opp (photo opportunity) after the product launch proper. If you want to know about the other uses of a media wall, read the detailed infographic below from SK Displays.




Friday, June 12, 2015

Promote Your Exhibition with These Four Easy Steps

So you're having an exhibition. Do you know how many people are expected to turn up? Do you know how to persuade people to take part of your exhibition? Check out these four ways that will help promote your event.

1. Social media - Social media is a highly valuable tool for any artist. Once you've got exhibition dates confirmed, make sure you announce this across all of your social media channels. Create an event and invite people to it. Don't overdo it though - if people see you constantly posting about an event, they'll get sick of reading about it and will be put off. Make sure your posts contain enough relevant information to attract people to the event and make sure you mention any freebies or special offers on at the event. At the exhibition itself, have your phone / laptop / iPad or whatever with you and make sure you regularly post about it. Take photos and upload them with comments on how well the day is going. Let your followers know if your day's going well. Get connected with others you meet and make sure they know you're actively on social media.

2. Personal invites - Even though it's still a good idea to announce your exhibition across your social media channels, people love receiving personal invites. It's something that people just don't do that often anymore, so people get excited when they receive one. Draw up a list of contacts, friends and family and get your personal invites written out. To save both time and money, it's a good idea to keep your list reasonably short. Send your invites to the people who you really want to turn up at your exhibition. A personal invite can be more persuasive than an email that's composed and sent to loads of people at the same time. You should send your invites out a good few weeks before your exhibition to give people plenty of notice.

3. Email - It's still a good idea to send an email announcing your exhibition, as well as using social media and personal invitations because you can reach lots of people very quickly. You might have a lot more email contacts than people who you can send invites to, so make use of these contacts and send them emails inviting them to your exhibition. Make your email concise, informal and friendly. Keep to the point, but remember to include all of the key details. A good idea is to ask people to reply to you saying whether they'll be coming or not. Include some photos so people can be reminded of you and your work and can get a taste of what the exhibition's going to be about.

4. Text - If you've used the above three methods, you should probably keep texting for reminding people about your exhibition. Compose a short, friendly text letting people know your exhibition's coming up and remember to send at a time when everyone's going to be awake - if people are woken up in the middle of the night by their phone going off, they're probably not going to take that much notice of your text. Use your phone to keep in touch with people on the day of your exhibition. Fire off another text on the day and have your phone with you so you can reply to any queries or arrange any special appointments with people.





Friday, June 5, 2015

Business Directories 101: Top Three Factor to Consider When Enlisting Your Business

There are many benefits that come with listing your business on the business directories. One of the benefits is that you get to increase your sales. Research studies have shown that over 70% of people search online before buying a given product or service. This means that when your name shows up in the search results you have high chances of getting calls from customers thus increasing your sales.

Listing your business also shows that you are a legit and reputable company. Since many business directories have to certify that the information you give is true, many people tend to trust you thus you have more customers.

Business directories are usually divided into different categories and all you need to do is to list your business in the category that is ideal for your business. The categorization aids in ensuring that you reach your target customers.


The final advantage is that by listing your business you let people know about your business and what you do. To make it easy for people to understand what you do, you should ensure that you post your name, address, photos and a brief review of your occupation. If possible, you should also post a video.

For ideal results when listing your business you should consider a number of factors:

Quality sites: For your business to be visible to many people you should list it on a high quality directory. Before you list your business you should do some background checks and find the domain authority of the directory. If your business targets a given group of people, you should list your business on a site that is specific to your target market.

Consistency: Although, duplicate content is highly discouraged online, you should always ensure that you post the same information across all the web directories. This prevents people from thinking that you are talking about different businesses. It also prevents people from feeling that you don't know what you are talking about.

Spam: While you should submit your content to many directories in order to reach many people, you should avoid being spammy. This calls for you to avoid submitting your content to hundreds of directories at the same time.