Successful Blog

Is Your Online Marketing Connecting with Consumers?

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Watering can and word business drawn on a blackboard concept forNo matter the product or service you are marketing, connecting with consumers is always your top priority.

In today’s challenging economic conditions, connecting with consumers is as important as ever.

Face it; many consumers have myriad of choices of where to buy their goods and services from, so your marketing efforts need to stand out from the pack, especially when pitching the public via the Internet.

With that in mind, are your online marketing efforts truly connecting with today’s consumers?

Use the Internet to Make a Connection

In order for your online marketing efforts to hit a home run with consumers, you need to cover all your bases.

These would include:

  • Email marketing – Although some marketers have pulled away from email marketing to some degree or another, countless others still rely on it to state their cases to consumers. If you’re using email marketing, keep the messages short and sweet. Keep in mind that consumers are typically bombarded with pitches from marketers and businesses on a daily basis, so don’t add to the frustration they sometimes feel by getting yet more marketing messages in their in-boxes. Also make sure your pitches come across as informative and worthwhile, not just looking for a sale and nothing else. Lastly, leave a positive but not over-bearing call to action to end your message;
  • Mobile marketing – More and more marketers are putting their time and efforts behind mobile marketing. With this version of marketing having exploded in the last few years, mobile marketing is a great means to reach consumers in an instant. Whether you are marketing real estate, legal services, vehicle maintenance products and services, home furnishings, children’s products, or hundreds of others goods and/or services, mobile is where it is at today. Mobile marketing gives you a great opportunity to reach shoppers when they are in the decision making process. You should also use your mobile opportunities to offer consumers discounts and rewards programs, both of which are likely to encourage them to make a purchase or two. Just like with email marketing or any other form of marketing, don’t be over-bearing when it comes to trying to make a sale;
  • Social marketing – Marketers who shy away from social media are leaving themselves without one of the best means with which to reach consumers. Your social efforts should be concentrated on the major players in this market, among which include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc. Keep in mind that you may not be even marketing a product or service per se, but instead an invitation to attend a seminar, conference, open house etc. LinkedIn is a great venue to do just that given the countless professionals using the site on a daily basis. Also be sure to regularly engage consumers on your social media sites. Unfortunately, some marketers pay little or no attention to their social venues, thereby missing out on great opportunities to market their brands. You, on the other hand, should not be one of those marketers. When consumers come to one of your social venues with a question about a product or service, engage with them as soon as possible. Your ultimate goal should be to send them away satisfied with your time and efforts, leaving them with the idea of doing business with you. Lastly, always stay positive on social media. The last thing you want to do is to get into a negative conversation on a social venue, a conversation that could ultimately end up hurting your brand;
  • Being a good listener – You might stop and ask, why is being a good listener part of my marketing needs? Simply put, those businesses doing too much talking and not enough listening are typically the ones struggling to make inroads with consumers. With millions and millions of consumers flooding the Internet, take a few moments to step back and hear what they are saying. What do they need? What do they like and don’t like about your industry? How can you be their go-to brand? These are but a few of the questions you should be mulling over and having answers for. As great as your marketing campaigns may be, it is listening to the consumer that ultimately wins you the prize, most notably their business.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers marketing topics on the web.

Is Your Business Staying up with the Times?

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Man Hand writing Resource with black marker on visual screen.How do you set your business apart from those you are competing with?

One of the ways to do this is making sure your brand is current with the times. This means a number of things, most importantly of which is technology. If you’re lagging when it comes to the tech world, you could very well be watching business and money pass you by.

So, how do you make sure your brand is current when it comes to staying up with the times?

Review and React

Start by doing a review of all your business activities, checking each and every pertinent one.

How much emphasis does your company place on technology?

As the tech world continues to change and grow on seemingly a monthly basis, it is crucial that your brand is along for the ride.

One such area is the uptick in mobile sales in recent years, something your business can be capitalizing on with sound marketing initiatives.

As more and more customers continue trending towards browsing and buying goods/services on mobile devices, your brand must be along for the ride. This includes when it comes to customers and their payment processing options.

Is your company doing all it can to make sure customers have a smooth checkout when completing a sale with you?

Secondly, look at how your employees treat not only the customers that do business with you, but also their co-workers.

Running a successful business in 2016 and beyond means having a workplace where things run like a fine-tuned automobile. That means doing whatever is deemed necessary to make the business tick.

Sure, some co-workers will not get along entirely well with other ones, but always emphasize that it is the company which today, tomorrow, and the next day that ultimately comes first.

Don’t Forget the Social Experience

Also review how relevant your brand is on social media.

Face it; not being active in the social networking world in 2016 is akin to not having an ATM card or still using dial-up to get on the Internet.

Businesses with that social media presence stand a leg-up on their competitors for several reasons.

They include:

  • If a customer isn’t happy with the service he or she received from a business, they’re more apt to tell the world about it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or any number of other social vehicles. The last thing you want as a business owner is having your brand talked about in a negative manner. This is one of the reasons having a voice on social media is important for your brand;
  • You should also use social media as a tool for your promotional efforts. Your products and/or services essentially receive free advertising when mentioned on social networking sites, so why wouldn’t you turn to these? While you want to go easy on the sales pitches on social sites, you should use social networking to tout why your brand stands apart from others. If you are running special deals for current and/or potential customers, use social sites to broadcast such news. You can even include coupons and other rewards on these pages that consumers can then download for savings;
  • You’d probably be lying if you said you never truly cared what the competition is up to. With that in mind, social media is a great means whereby you can learn about your competition. See how they use social media to promote their brands. Do they run contests on their Facebook pages? Do they use their Twitter page to retweet a number of interesting blog posts either from their site or industry-specific to them? Do they have a regular presence on Instagram, allowing them to post images of their products or services? These should all be areas of interest to you as you look to improve upon your own brand.

As you can see, there are many things for you to do in staying up with the times.

When you do just that, it is your business which stands to benefit the most.

Not only are you up to speed on technology, customer intuitions and what the competition is doing, but you show your brand to be relevant in 2016 and hopefully beyond.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and marketing topics on the web.

Did You Hire the Right Financial Advisor?

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Risk Reward GraphGiven the importance of your financial investments (whether you are a business owner or just a normal consumer), it should come as no surprise that having the right person oversee them is something you should never take for granted.

That said you might be surprised how many consumers leave their financial well-being up in the air.

As a result, they leave themselves vulnerable to financial calamity sooner rather than later. Even if they stave off financial problems for the foreseeable future, their idea of a perfect retirement can very easily be put in jeopardy.

So, with the idea that investing in your financial future should always be taken seriously; take stock in your current financial picture and also where you would like to be down the road.

Research and Never Settle

If you haven’t already, start by research financial experts to see who and which investment company is best suited to handle your money needs.

With many still expressing concerns about an ability to retire one day, keep in mind that you are not alone with your fears.

You want a financial pro that has the following:

  • Experience – Although it sounds like a no-brainier, be sure that you hire someone who has some real meat on their financial resume. How long have they been in this line of work? Have they stayed with the same firm over time or jump around from place to place? What do their colleagues think of them? Have they and/or their company been involved in any concerning business matters over the years, notably complaints or even lawsuits from consumers? These are all areas that you should research;
  • Customer service – Nothing is more irritating as a consumer than having to chase down the person who is supposed to be working for you, not the other way around. While that individual obviously has countless other clients, be sure they can make time for you when needed. Whether it is a simple financial investment question or you have a financial matter of urgent concern, they need to be as accessible as possible to you.

You Have a Job Too

While locating the right financial pro is necessary in advising you of the best moves with your money, you also have an important role to play.

Unlike younger investors who have some “recovery time” on their hands when they either get a late start and/or make a few financial investment mistakes here and there, older investors do not have such luxuries.

If you are an older investor, it is important that you make sure all your financial eggs are in order, including playing catch-up if you are over the age of 50. Investors over that age are allowed to invest more money (up to a limit depending on if it is an IRA, 401K etc.) than younger investors.

Another key area of importance is whether you have a family or not.

If you are on your own, you have a little more flexibility. For those with a spouse and perhaps a child or two, financial decisions become all the more important.

Individuals in these situations should also make sure that they have a sound life insurance plan in place.

With a good life insurance plan, the breadwinner of the house can rest a little easier, knowing that his loved one or ones are covered should he or she become disabled and unable to work or even pass away.

While insurance agents are typically the go-to people for life insurance and other such needs, your financial pro can help lay out the basics for you, giving you some guidance on how having such a policy can impact your financial situation now and down the road.

Finally, with April 15 (tax day) creeping closer and closer, be sure to understand how your financial decisions can and will impact your tax burdens.

If you are contributing to personal IRA’s for example, you can note those contributions as deductions for the previous calendar year, lessening your taxable income.

With all there is to know about your financial situation today, tomorrow and ultimately down the road, make sure you’ve gone about hiring the right financial advisor for all your monetary needs.

When you do, you could find yourself being one happy camper.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and financial topics on the web.

Cook Up More Revenue with Consumer Text Marketing

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couple-enjoying-dinner-at-a-restaurant-100234263If you’re a restaurant, fast-food establishment or local eatery owner, you know that getting customers through the door is a constant focus of your business.

Even when business is good, there are always those quieter times of day when it can be hard to get enough patrons into those seats.

Using mass texts is one way your eatery can draw in more customers, get people excited about your food, and entice them with special offers and exclusive deals.

So just how can you use text marketing to increase your eatery’s revenue? And what are some examples of restaurants that are already doing just that?

Text Marketing Gets Customers’ Attention

As the article “Mass Consumer Texts Driving Up Sales At Restaurants” points out, using text marketing means you can reach a large number of potential customers in your immediate vicinity.

A text message has a personal feel. Unlike an online ad or billboard, a text message arrives directly in front of each customer, inviting them to open and read it, and grabbing their full attention for a few minutes.

Text marketing gives you the chance to start a personal interaction with each customer, putting your restaurant and food at the forefront of their mind, and ensuring they’ll think of you when it’s time to grab lunch or dinner.

Text Marketing Gives Them a Reason to do Business

The beauty of text marketing is that you can use it to entice your customers to eat with you. Text marketing is the perfect vehicle for sending them delicious offers, such as buy one get one free deals, or money off coupons.

If you particularly want to increase revenue at a quieter time of the day or week, you can use text marketing to send out time limited offers for those periods, encouraging people to come and eat with you at that time.

In addition, why not consider sending out weekly specials, daily discount coupons, text-to-win sweepstakes, or even conducting surveys to find out what your customers think of your restaurant, what works and what doesn’t.

Eateries Finding Success with Text Marketing

Several big-name eateries have already seen success with text marketing:

  • McDonald’s used a text-based sweepstakes competition with a wide range of prizes. 1.5 million customers joined in, showing that text marketing can be very effective indeed;
  • Chuck E. Cheese used text message marketing to encourage customers to join their email list – not only did it become the most successful method for getting customers on the list, but customers who joined via text were more likely to open the emails than any other customers;
  • UK pizza place Papa John’s sent out text offers for cut-price pizzas to customers on their text list, and saw a 33% jump in revenue for the duration of the offer;
  • Dunkin’ Donuts asked their customers to join their mobile marketing list, and got a fantastic response, with stores in the Boston area seeing 21% more customers walk through their doors;
  • Taco Bell branched out into using mobile marketing to connect with their customers, offering a free drink to those who opted in to their mobile marketing list. As a result, they garnered 13000 subscribers.

Text marketing is an immediate way to reach many customers quickly and easily, and it’s frequently more cost effective than other forms of direct marketing.

By reaching your customers when they’re out and about you can encourage them to stop off at your establishment and take advantage of your special offers.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Tristan Anwyn writes on a wide variety of topics, including social media, SEO, restaurant businesses and SMS marketing.

How Do We Get More Social in 2015?

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global-social-media-concept-10084871Are you a business owner who is afraid of social media? If the answer is yes, why is that?

When you stop and think about it, there really are no downsides to being socially active when running a company.

Among the advantages of having a steady and solid social presence are:

  • Increased opportunities for sales;
  • Being seen as an expert in your respective industry;
  • Interaction with current and potential customers;
  • Ability to stay up to speed on industry trends and discussions by seeing what others are sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and more.

Must Give 100 Percent

In order to successfully use social media going forward, keep in mind that you can’t give a half-hearted effort to the cause.

When you stop and look at some company’s social sites, do you ever stop and wonder why they do social media in the first place?

Too often you will come across social pages that are sporadically updated, do not share useful information for consumers, and almost never respond to consumer inquiries. Basically, these pages exist just to have a social presence, something that at the end of the day is not all that beneficial for the company or the consumer.

If you’re thinking that 2015 might be the year you and your business fully invest in social media, consider the following:

  • Who is in charge? – First and foremost, who is in charge of your social media outreach? Your two basic options are doing it in-house or outsourcing it. Either way, there needs to be a command structure in place so that there are no communication issues;
  • What are the goals? – It is also important that you set social media goals and stick to them as much as possible. If your main goal is to provide useful info through shares and retweets, follow that plan. If your goal is to interact with consumers, do that. Ideally, you will be doing a little of both and have a well-rounded social media plan;
  • Who speaks for the company? – Lastly, you need to have it understood by all employees of who is allowed to represent the company when it comes to tweets, shares, pins etc. While you may want to encourage your employees that have social accounts to retweet and share stuff, you almost certainly do not want them speaking to customers (current and potential) regarding issues of concern. For example, if a customer sends a nasty message via Facebook or Twitter, you don’t want one of your employees engaging in a conversation that puts a bad light on the business. Have a social plan in writing that details who can speak for the company socially.

As 2015 nears, make it your goal to be the most socially active business going.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of arztsamui at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Miguel Salcido has been a professional search marketing consultant for over 11 years. He is the founder and CEO of Organic Media Group, a content driven SEO agency. He also likes to blog at OrganicSEOConsultant.com and share insights into advanced SEO. 

Lock in Best Rates on a Business Credit Card

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credit

What are some of the key challenges for business owners in 2014?

If you ask that question of such people, they’re likely to tell you attaining and retaining customers can be one of the trickier tasks when running a business.

Face it, many consumers in today’s economic climate have to make tough choices about where they’re going to shop, when they can afford to shop, and of course how much money they can afford to spend.

As a business owner, you can encourage consumers to come deal with you by making the shopping experience as friendly and easy as possible.

Credit Cards and Customers

One way to make the shopping trip easier for customers is by having the right credit card provider available to them to charge purchases.

Whether they make a charge in your place of business, over the phone or through online avenues, a simple and effective credit card option will help keep shoppers coming back.

“More shoppers want a quick and easy shopping experience, especially when online,” said Chris Mettler of CompareCards.com. “Having the right credit card options for them makes things better for everyone involved in the sales process.”

According to a report from Javelin Strategy & Research, in just three years, it is expected that less than 25 percent of all point-of-sales acquisitions will be made with cash. The translation – more than 75 percent of all purchases by consumers will be made via credit and debit cards.

As a business owner, it behooves you to make sure that your credit card or cards of choice offer you affordable rates and quality customer service. When that happens, you will open the door to more consumers shopping with you via credit cards.

Finding the Right Card or Cards

Many business owners will offer a number of credit card options to their customers, with Visa, MasterCard and Discover Card the typical choices.

In order for the business owner who is either setting up shop for the first time or going from just accepting cash and perhaps checks to credit card purchases to locate the best cards, it is important for them to do some research.

Take the time to visit different card provider websites, seeing which offer the best rates and customer service.

If you’re looking to move away from a high balance that you might have accrued over time, you can look at which providers offer the best savings when it comes to interest payments when transferring a high interest balance over to a 0% interest credit card.

Lastly, take the time when selecting a card provider as if you are a consumer, because in fact, you are.

Put the offers side-by-side to see which provider gives you the most rewards, best interest rate, and cost savings.

When you align your business with the right credit card provider, take credit for making a wise choice.

Photo credit: qbservices.net

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers small business, social media and SEO topics for a variety of websites.