Marketing Strategy for Your Business

By David G. Johnson

When it comes to answering the question, “Where Do I Start?” the answer is very simple:

You need a clear, written, actionable and measurable marketing strategy that is focused on the right target market.

Very rarely do any of the businesses that approach us for marketing help already have a strategy like this in place. And this is why they can be smooth-talked by the salesperson (or sales process) for the marketing outlets above or sucked into spending hours and hours of time with very little to show for it (in the case of social media).

Without a clear strategy, we may gain successes in one area or another (such as top search engine rankings or large numbers of Facebook “likes”) but we will not be as effective at accomplishing the real point: sustainable new business coming in consistently. Building a business is not unlike building a physical building: you may be an expert at carpentry, concrete, electrical or some other element… but you won’t end up with the result you want without a set of blueprints!

Get Started Building Your Written Marketing Strategy

“OK, so I need a written marketing strategy. I get it. How do I start?”

Great question. Your marketing strategy begins and ends in one place: the customer. Who is your best prospect? How much can you possibly know about them?

In our marketing training programs, we ask our clients to think about their customer base as a target. Identify who is in your target… and then narrow down to the bullseye. As narrowly as possible, identify the common traits that your very best buyers share with one another.

Depending upon the size of your business, you may need to ask for help in answering this question. Talk to your bookkeeper or accountant. Who spends the most (or most often)? We typically know which products or services sell the best… but maybe your sales team needs to help you understand who the buyers are.

Take some time this week to understand as much as possible about your best customers. This is the essential starting point for all of your marketing efforts, and the most critical element in building an effective marketing strategy for your business.

Need some help getting started? Begin with an assessment. My team and I welcome the opportunity to be of service to you.

Also… watch your inbox for an invitation to our upcoming local marketing webinar. We’ll be talking specifically about the face of local marketing in 2011. If you are primarily selling products and services to people located near your physical location(s), then this event is for you. (We’ll have other events in the near future for those businesses that sell to non-localized markets as well).

In the meantime, get started building your written marketing strategy!

Social Media Marketing: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
By Rick Piazza

Businesses have adapted their means of communication and ways of doing to accommodate social media interaction. It is used as a tool to get in touch with consumers via the internet; knowing that the internet is a powerful and definitive electronic venue for public gathering. Social media is seen as a means to maintain a sound relationship with existing customers while simultaneously reaching potential customers.

So what makes Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn suitable for businesses? Simply the fact that business entities can reach customers on a global stage! Businesses adapted themselves to the need of different communities and different countries. Their major asset is that they adapted themselves to language differences, so that in the end, through social media, subscribers from all over the world can be reached from behind a computer system. This is a great advancement in globalization of the economy since social media now allows brands to advertise in various different languages; thus reaching customers worldwide.

Another considerable asset offered by social media is the ability to segment customers according to their sex, age, interest, location among others. Businesses find in this vast information bank a real opportunity to reach each and every individual segment of the population. When exploiting the information provided, companies can adapt their products and services to the needs of every single segment.

While Facebook is more oriented mainly to friendly social gathering, other social media like LinkedIn and Twitter are more business oriented. Facebook offers the possibility of developing FanPages to harbor brands and companies. The features offered on FanPages largely differ from the features of individuals Facebook pages since the former is oriented towards business activities only. However, LinkedIn and Twitter target essentially business professionals and their customers; providing a common platform for conversion of monologue into dialogues. To prove that it is becoming an important part of business processes, figures indicate that LinkedIn harbor over 70 millions registered users, has expanded into approximately 200 countries and is configured to display English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish languages.

When comparing email marketing with Social Media marketing, it is noted that marketing on social networking sites like Twitter drives more conversion rate. Instead of broadcasting emails to a hundred thousands of internet users who are not even aware of the company, it is wiser and better to tweet the hundred thousands Twitter followers of the company, who may turn to be buyers, consumers.

Twitter offers a free powerful search function which name is “Tweep search”. The particularity of “Tweep search” is that it offers the possibility to search and find bio-data according to certain keywords. A search keyword may be for example the products a company is selling. Friend requests can be sent to the content of the search results; thus exposing products to a specific portion of the community who might be interested.

Certainly, social media has the power to propel a business into achieving better sales through constant socialization.

Rick Piazza is on EzineArticles.Com as Expert Author Rick Piazza Web Design, Search Engine Optimization, WordPress, Social Media. You can also connect with Rick Piazza on LinkedIn

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Attract New Customers Using Search Engine Optimization
By Ray L Perry

Search engine optimization refers to a website design method that takes advantage of specific words and phrases to get your website ranked as high as possible on result pages. This is because you are more likely to get visitors to your site if it appears high up on the list of results.

There is a variety of criteria used to place websites on lists of results; SEO techniques use these criteria to design your site. This, in turn, will allow your site to rank high and receive visits from potential clients. Consider some key ways to make search engine optimization work for your website.

o Do research into keywords and then employ them properly. Think about what words and phrases your potential customers might search for online. Those will be the keywords you should use on your website. In order to rank properly on result pages, you need to have the proper keyword density in the content of your site. Keyword density refers to the frequency with which your keywords appear. Since there are many things to consider when preparing and using keywords, it would be wise to hire an SEO consultant who can help you. Consultants know how to research popular keywords and can compare your keyword results against competitors to see how you can improve your site.

o Prepare title tags properly. Title tags have a lot to do with how well your site will rank with online searches. That is because their robots use these tags to identify and organize website content. By writing title tags that are interesting and attention grabbing, you will be able to get more click-throughs from search engine result pages.

o Use internal links. A properly designed system of internal links is an excellent way to get search engines to identify your individual pages. It also helps visitors navigate your site easily. Text links, inline text links, and footers are all internal link methods you can utilize.

Search engine optimization is a great tool for getting new potential customers to visit your company’s website. In order to get them to make a purchase, be sure to invest in good website navigation and design as well.

Ray Perry is an Internet marketing executive with more than 25 years of experience. He is the Chief Marketing Officer at MarketBlazer, a small business marketing company and authorized Duct Tape Marketing coach. You can get more information about search engine optimization at http://www.MarketBlazer.com.

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