Linked In Best Practices For Small Business

There are some social media channels that are an absolute “must” for your small business, in particular Facebook, Google+ (mostly because Google loves it, and also because your clients are probably already reviewing your performance there) and Twitter.  I would add Instagram if you can portray your business visually (and most of us can), and YouTube for your testimonial and other business and experiential videos, even if they aren’t professionally shot in a studio.  But if your business sells to other businesses, or targets the professional crowd, then you simply MUST be on Linked In. You really should be on …

How Often Should A Small Business Blog?

The simple answer is, it depends upon how much impact you want.  Let’s start by reviewing some of the reasons a small business owner would want to blog: To demonstrate expertise in their line of work To get the word out about something new To share a frequently asked question with a broader audience, allowing the opportunity to share a link and shorten a future operational task To improve their search engine ranking (each blog brings new traffic when linked from social media and Google loves fresh content) To connect with new people To have something original to share in …

Video Marketing Musts

Video Marketing Musts Video Marketing is often underrated and overlooked. But the video content you post is a crucial part of your brand’s strategy. Video is a powerful tool to use to tell your company’s story and to drive calls to action. Did we mention that YouTube is the number-2-ranked search engine? But you can’t just throw up any ole video and expect to have positive results. In order to successfully market via video and YouTube, your videos must be meaningful. How can they be meaningful? Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating your video.   …

How to: Pinterest Marketing

How to: Pinterest Marketing Pinterest marketing is something often overlooked. Pinterest can be used for more than DIY birthday gifts and nifty holiday desserts. If you’ve been using the site already for pinning ideas you think are interesting, you might be surprised to know that marketing with Pinterest doesn’t take much extra. Like other social networks—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram—Pinterest gives you the ability to share things you like. And for a business, it allows for free exposure. Pinterest is all about networking, sharing things, and linking to content, which makes it ideal for driving new customers to your product or service. …

Recipe For “Brand Chocolate”: How To Be Irresistible

How do some brands seem to have that irresistible quality that creates a loyal following of happy clients who talk about them and refer others?  How do some brands seem to be found while others disappear? To explain, I like to use the analogy of a chocolate shop.  The chocolatier’s dilemma is that she has this amazing ingredient to work with that so many people will enjoy once they experience it but there are other chocolate shops on her block, so many ways she could prepare her chocolate, and so many different customers she could serve.  So how does she …

5 Key Digital Marketing Best Practices for 2016

I’m often asked the question “what’s the next big thing in digital marketing?”. The truth is that the next big thing isn’t one thing at all, it’s everything. As consumers we are overwhelmed with data. We reach for our smart phones as soon as we wake up in the morning to check email and our favorite news, weather and social media channels. We use Waze to get to our appointments more quickly, use our online apps to help us perform our jobs, order lunch using GrubHub, use GoToMeeting so we can still meet while we’re mobile, search product reviews and …

Digital Marketing Trends for 2016

This year has shown us that any doubts we may have had regarding the dominance of mobile is over. Mobile is clearly where it’s at. That said, as I have often advised, behind every digital campaign is real people who are seeking information, education and entertainment. Responding to real people requires that your brand be authentic to who you are. Data analytics may be cool but it represents the behaviors of actual people so if we remember to speak to those people with our content in a way that responds to their needs, then we are more likely to make …

Why “Me Too” Marketing Usually Fails

I was speaking with someone the other day who wanted nothing more than to understand the “secret sauce” of one of his competitors.  If only he knew what this guy was doing to attract business he could replicate it and watch his own business grow by leaps and bounds.  Is it possible to peer into someone’s online strategy?  Sure it is.  You can see from the code on their website what keyword phrases they are likely optimizing for, you can see which other websites link to them, check out their traffic and know in which directories they are listed, where …

Retweeting protocol for small business owners

What’s the proper protocol for re-tweeting when you own a small business? I am frequently asked by my clients what is the correct way to re-tweet. Here are some helpful hints that I have compiled: Following the User. You shouldn’t automatically assume that you are already following this particular user, so make sure by checking your account. If that user was interested enough to share your content, then you should reciprocate when appropriate. Look at their profile to see if they’re a person or organization you’d like to follow and if so, then add them. List the User. If you …