Nearly 60 percent of shoppers say they take advantage of retail and commercial sales and promotions for themselves around the holidays, according to online marketing trends– and that extends to more holidays than just Christmas. Every holiday can prove to be a valuable asset to your business, with loads of promotional potential just waiting to be unlocked. Take the Fourth of July, for example, our nation’s birthday (or at least the day we celebrate it) is the perfect time to make the most of whatever product or service your company offers. Decorate Your Space Decorate your small business with items … Read more »

How do marketers cut through all of the chatter on social media?  Sit at the same table.  My first business endeavor almost ended over a desk. Setting up the small office space my partner and I spent two days searching for the perfect desks. We bickered from folding chairs hunched over our laptops while searching for the best desk layout. She argued for the clean open feeling of a l-shaped model offering that each desk would neatly fit into a corner of the office, giving us each privacy. I countered with the ample storage and workspace provided by u-shaped desks. At … Read more »

The other day I walked into a local retail shop and noticed that they were having some kind of an “event”.  The place was overflowing with people who were interacting, laughing and having an all around good time – inside of a retail space.  When I asked one of the associates what was going on, they said they were having a “meet up” of all their active local social media fans.  The interesting thing about these fans is that their hands were full of product!  When it comes to reaching out to a larger audience and generating more sales, retailers … Read more »

Contrary to what many say that tedious topics are the reason why internet surfers make the keyboard their pillow, the reality is that they aren’t interested in the content written on those topics. You may be asked to create content for marketing on a topic that doesn’t interest you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get the most out of those topics. You need to provide the readers with something that stands out from the rest. How do you create excitement in something that doesn’t excite you? It’s easy; stop thinking like a content creator, and start thinking like the reader. This … Read more »

Quitting your day job to start your own business is a scary endeavor for even the bravest of souls. Before telling your boss to take a hike, you may want to have a solid business plan that evaluates risk management vs. future goals in order to ensure you’re really making the right move. All too often a gung ho entrepreneur with walk into a new adventure blindly, without considering the potential risks involved. Don’t let this be you.   There are key elements that every business plan requires (or at least, every good one). There are tens of thousands of businesses starting … Read more »

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become a powerful trend on the Internet. However, there are some that don’t believe in the true power of SEO – possibly because they don’t know how to employ it. The truth is, SEO is not the only solution to a more profitable online business, but it’s certainly one of the best.   So what is SEO? SEO is a way of marketing yourself by using search algorithms and keywords. Each search result uses keywords while search algorithms calculate relevancy through the way you position the words in your content. If you are more relevant to … Read more »

Not only does your business need to have a strong and active social presence, but you need a well-branded social presence, as well. So content that you promote on your Facebook and Twitter pages, for example, it should be an accurate representation of your brand. Brand consistency across all platforms creates customer trust and business credibility. Enhance your brand and reputation online with these tips: Branded Communication On social-media sites, the rate at which information travels is speedy. No longer do customers have to wait days for a response after filling out an online contact as a form. Now, a … Read more »

As a business owner or marketing director, you’ve likely been told countless times that you need to invest in video for your business. I know I must hear this message at least a dozen times a week. But somehow, regular video just doesn’t quite seem to work with your information or business style.  For those of you nodding your head as you read this, it’s time to start using video scribing to get your visual messages across to your audience. What is video scribing? Good question! Lets look at all you need to know about video scribing. 1. What is … Read more »

Social media creates countless opportunities to catapult your business to success, but with it comes just as many ways to screw up. The average company with 1000 or more employees has about 178 social media assets (pages, handles, etc . . . ), yet a mere 25 percent of them provide any type of social media business training, according to Marketingeasy.com. This disconnect has cost major brands and budding entrepreneurs countless millions in potential sales.   Too many businesses make the mistake of treating their social media marketing assets as a strategy themselves instead of just channels to connect. Think … Read more »

The more I work with small businesses searching for the best ways to interact with clients, the more I realize that email messaging is still one of the most effective ways to communicate. In fact, studies show nearly 77% of people still prefer to receive promotions via email. So how can your business increase its email reach and capitalize on this proven success? Here are eight tips for increasing your email subscribers.  1. Offer an incentive. More companies are offering a free downloadable “tip sheet” or ebooks to entice readers to sign up. Free gifts are a great way to … Read more »