Leverage Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Relationships are the basis of every business. Managing them is arguably your team’s most important function, a job that’s made infinitely easier with CRM software.

To get the best return on your investment, your CRM solution should offer project management related features. An easy to use, cloud-based CRM like Insightly lets you associate a task list with each project, assign tasks to individual team members and set benchmarks by which they are to be accomplished, along with due dates. Reviewing the status of projects will keep you up-to-date on your team’s progress, and you can review tasks by deliverable or by the name of the team member to which they’ve been assigned (“Martha S.”). To get the most out of this management tool, team members should link customers to each of the projects associated with them, as well as any related emails or other communications.

Insightly lets you and your team collect, record and share details on each customer and gives your entire team a complete picture of prospects, projects, and customers—without breaking your budget. The application is free for up to three users, $29/month for up to six, $49/month for up to 15 and $99/month for up to 40 users.

Use Skype for Meetings. If your team is virtual, you may find that telephone communications and emails are not enough to keep everyone on task. Skype is a great tool for informal training or for regular check-in meetings. When you use a videoconferencing tool like Skype, remember that your dispersed audience’s attention can wander without your being aware, so be sure to ask for questions and comments frequently during the meeting. If you are doing a presentation, enable the chat option so you can field questions or slow down to review a given topic in greater depth.

A free Skype account will permit only three people to conference at once, but an upgrade to a Premium account ($4.99/month on a 12-month subscription or $9.99 pay-as-you-go) lets you have 10 people together on a call (Skype advises that you’ll get the best quality if you have five callers or fewer). If your team includes members in other countries, you can videoconference with them at the same low rate.

Do you already use Google Apps for Business?  Google Hangout is included free for up to 15 participants and you can schedule and launch a meeting right from your email or calendar. It also lets you screenshare and connect to documents that are on Google Drive.

Track Everyone’s Time. Do you need to assign time spent on various projects to specific accounts? It’s simple with an online timesheet tracking system like TSheets. It’s easy to sync your timesheets with QuickBooks and FreshBooks (and other popular accounting software), and data export is a snap. TSheet’s cloud-based system has all the benefits of cloud software, like remote access, data backup and secure offsite storage. And if your workers are out in the field, they can use the mobile app to clock in and out and update their timesheets by job code. TSheets picks up a worker’s location from their phone’s GPS system—a real help if your workers sometimes forget to post an update. Reports (payroll, PTO balances, hours by project, hours by employee and a dozen others) help you keep your costs in sight and under control, and there’s an add-on for invoicing directly from TSheets. After a free 14-day trial, the cost for businesses up to 100 users is $20/month plus $5/month per user.

Using manual systems to run your business can only take you so far. As the number of customers increases and the number of contacts with those customers multiplies, inefficiency can creep in unless you take action. Adopting collaborative solutions may cause a minor loss in momentum until you get everybody working on the new system, but none of these applications has much of a learning curve. By streamlining communication, improving oversight and centralizing your information, you’ll improve your business relationships and keep your profits from slowly leaking away.

The post Does Your Team Work Too Independently? A Lack of Oversight Can Cause “Slow Leaks” appeared first on DIY Marketers.

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 will help you to shift gears and write what the audience of that niche are truly looking for.

Where to Start?

You can start with the ‘who’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ strategy to see what you can come up with.

For example, if you’ve been asked to promote guest blogging; take out a few seconds and ponder over the questions that can bring out some interesting content ideas:

1. Who invented the idea of guest blogging?
2. When do bloggers accept guest post and what does this tell us about their mentality?
3. Where are guest bloggers found?
4. How do people manage to get free content in the form of a guest post and get paid as well?
5.  What makes readers think they need to read a post from a guest blogger rather than the official blog owner?

Try it out and see what interests you.

Compare with conventional marketing

Another thing you can do is compare the content with strategies that marketing experts use to nudge people into buying. Take promotional signage, trade show exhibits and large format printing – companies use these conventional marketing tactics to further influence their target market.

Many leading technology and craft based (architectural) blogs have used this element on monotonous topics to stand out from the rest.

Dress for the audience

Try to make the content you’re going to create easy to read through and dress it for interest of audience.

Add an element of surprise when it comes to the visual appeal. Digital images, infographics and posters created by talented companies aid in the aesthetics of your blog.

Another tip is to break down sentences into short paragraphs. This will be good for the eyes of the readers and believe it or not, you’ll find writing 2-3 sentences easier in a paragraph than adding 6-8, which will keep you at the topic at your disposal.

Create subheadings wherever possible as they help readers to find out what a particular section is about.

Care for the needs of the audience

You should keep in mind that readers don’t really care about who you’re and what the company you’re marketing is about; they only care about their needs, and the only way to fulfill their needs is by creating compelling content.

Whatever you write shouldn’t be stuffed with call for action or promotion. Keep a balance and also put some stories there.

Considering the topic of guest blogging, you can start like:

‘Rachel was a work-at-home mom who has been trying to get website rankings up through social media marketing since 2008. While she managed to get 10,000 loyal followers from social media networks over the years, she managed to do the same in two months through guest blogging’.

See what you did there? You just created something that the audience will be able to relate to. Perhaps a work at home mom may be going through a similar phase and she would consider Rachel as someone similar to her.

It won’t harm to see what competitors are writing on as well. No, you shouldn’t start taking their content, but squeeze out ideas and themes as well as see the current trends in the niche.

Come to think of it, there aren’t any uninteresting topics, just an uninteresting you. However, with inspiration and the tips mentioned above, you can do fine and pat yourself on the back later on.

The post How to Get the Most Out of Uninteresting Topics on Your Blog appeared first on DIY Marketers.

There are key elements that every business plan requires (or at least, every good one). There are tens of thousands of businesses starting every day. Unfortunately, the majority of those fail. Chances are these said businesses missed one or more crucial parts during the planning phases.

Here’s a brief outline of the different aspects you should incorporate into your plan:

Executive Summary
This should actually be the last thing you complete, but it will be the first thing potential lenders see.  Like the name says, it’s  a one to two page summary of your plans. Use this to draw in a reader enough to make him/her continue to the rest of the plan.  The idea here is to get the reader excited about the potential success of your venture – so don’t bore them to death.  Use a clear, easy to understand writing style.  Don’t think that you have to impress them with fancy industry-specific language, this will just confuse them.

Business Description
In this section you will want to provide a brief description of your business. Your reader should know the answer to the following questions by the time they are through:
1. What is the name of the business?
2. Is this a corporation, sole proprietorship, or partnership?
3. Who are the owners of said business?
4. How long has this been in the works?

Explanation of Products/Services
You are going to want this to be addressed in simple terms with a clear painted picture of what you will provide. You should be able to answer what you will be selling, the benefits of your service, and the pricing.

Marketing Plan
This section should provide your reader with a target market, current conditions within the prospective industry, a brief analysis of competitors within your market, and your plans to promote your business.  This is another section designed to get the reader excited about the potential success of your venture.  Think it through and share your marketing strategy as clearly and colorfully as possible.

Industry and Competition
Here you will want to have a detailed explanation of the status of your current industry along with how you plan on entering the industry. Make sure to acknowledge the positives and negatives of this type of business.  One word of warning.  When you get to the competitive analysis DO NOT say that there is NO OTHER company doing what you are doing.  While there may not be another company just like yours, your audience IS currently meeting their needs somehow.  Talk about that and talk about how you will set yourself apart and how you will get them to choose YOU.

Promotion/Advertising
Use this space to define how you plan on reaching your target market through PR, promotions, and advertising. Be as detailed as possible without sounding entirely too redundant.

Ownership and Management
Here you will want to provide the key members of your team. This should include the legal structure of your business.

Location
1. Where is the ideal location to reach your desired demographic?
2. How important is location?
3. What types of special permits will you need for your location?

Risk Management
This is a tricky area, as risks are hard to predict. Try to define areas where you think your business has the highest risks involved and potential solutions for these problems. This is more of a constant and systematic process that will require regular analysis and updating.

Funds Needed
How much will you need to get you started? Include rent or lease payments, utilities, and your salary for at least the first year. Also include the salary of any of your staff for at least 6 months.

All of these areas need to go into as much detail as possible without creating an overwhelming effect. You want your readers or potential lenders to have a clear picture of what you are trying to do. Over or under explaining your plans will either leave them underwhelmed or confused. Try to avoid being too technical, keep your plans in simple terms that the average Joe can understand.

The post Start Your Business off Right: Build a Solid Plan appeared first on DIY Marketers.

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 a search engine when certain keywords are typed in, you become one of the first results a visitor will encounter – the primary goal when optimizing your website.

SEO is profitable because it works on constant growing traffic rather than something static with a small possibility of change. SEO helps your brand – after all, a growing website will receive a different degree of trust and credibility from fellow visitors compared to one that doesn’t. Trust and visibility are two important components when discussing about branding – and when doing SEO, you’re doing proper branding and marketing at the same time.

What is the meaning of trust in SEO? Trust is made online by gathering recurrent visitors that will spread the word and gather even more recurrent visitors. RSS readers, Twitter followers and Facebookers will become part of your community and spread the word even further about your services and information. So let’s recap for a moment there, what’s so wonderful about SEO traffic?

1.) It Rolls The Money In

When paired with PPC campaigns and affiliate programs, SEO strategies simply push them over the top and show a significant difference in revenue. It’s far more likely that your visitors consider your other website links than if they come via any other source of traffic.

2.) A Better And Stronger Community

The beauty of SEO is that it creates a community that’s simply less probable to breakdown easily. It has this tendency of growing and keeping together most of its previous members – not to mention that it spreads incredibly fast.

3.) It Improves Social Media Levels

If you’re looking for a strategy that will include your social media plans, SEO is for you. As discussed before – it creates that recurrent visitor pattern that will happily follow your Twitter or Facebook page and read your RSS stream.

So, now that you know how effective SEO can be, what are the three most important pointers about search engine optimization? Well, the first one employs quality – in other words, if you plan on publishing content on your website, you can’t hope to get away with whatever you can get your hands on.

Quality copyrighted content is the first rule behind a powerful SEO campaign. Google frowns on the heavy use of keywords, so you should focus on the right thing to do. Copied content won’t do it either. Your content needs to be not only top-notch but 100% unique from everything else on the internet.

Lastly, you need to be and stay relevant – as previously mentioned, SEO doesn’t work with just writing random content. For years, websites such as Ezinearticles and Articlesbase focused on publishing tons and tons of articles for a lot of their members but had no quality control – so it ended up being one of the worst article farms in history that got their members absolutely nowhere.

SEO is taking the world wide web by storm. Why is SEO important to you?

The post Understanding SEO Basics And How It Can Improve Your Online Business appeared first on DIY Marketers.

In the U.S. alone, the number of mobile phones in circulation outnumbers the size of the entire population. Smart, small businesses everywhere are asking how they can build and grow their business by tapping into their customers’ most coveted device. Today we’ll review three actionable ways you can deploy a winning mobile approach for your small business.

Look at Your Website Through Different Lenses

Before you begin carrying out any mobile marketing strategy, the first thing you need to do is look at your company’s website. Don’t look at it from a desktop or laptop; look at it from your mobile phone. Just because your website loads on your device doesn’t mean you’re in the clear just yet. One of the most important components to a great web experience is how your site renders and looks on the mobile phone. Your site must be designed and developed with a “mobile first” mindset. Consider building your website using responsive design. A responsive design will ensure that only the most optimized layout and critical visuals are served to the customer browsing your site, regardless of device type.

Choose a Mobile Engagement Strategy

Now that you have the most crucial mobile piece complete, your mobile-friendly website, it’s time to choose a mobile tool to engage with your customers – apps or text message marketing? There’s a lot to consider when picking an engagement platform, including your overall goals and customer base.

Apps

Let’s first look at the app landscape. Right now, there are more than 1 billion apps available for download from various app marketplaces, making it difficult for any app to be competitive and stand out from the crowd. App builders claim that a strong, successful app can cost up to $1 million to build and market. But even if an app is downloaded, studies show that 26 percent of them are abandoned almost immediately.  If you intend to build a dialogue with your customers, drive more foot traffic to your business, and increase sales, consider the pros and cons of building and distributing an app versus other avenues that take advantage of the mobile channel.

Text Message Marketing

Text marketing can be likened to a more personal form of email marketing without the clutter.  One of the major selling points and benefits of a text message marketing campaign is that you’ll start seeing the fruits of your labor far more quickly than many of the other forms of mobile marketing. This method is compatible with all phones, there’s no app to download, and you can feel confident knowing your customers received and opened your message. Setting up and launching a text message marketing program is easy: sign up with a text marketing service, set up your campaign, encouraging your customers to join, and if you’re trying to look good, use MMS and send pictures and video alongside your text messages.

Take Action and Start Marketing

Creating a mobile campaign or strategy is only half the battle. Making your customers aware of your mobile program is the second half. Get out there and promote your program.  With text marketing, wherever you decide to promote you program, it’s critical to include compelling callouts, or call-to-actions, with special incentives and perks for customers to join. Surefire ways for any small business to build awareness around a text-related campaign include: placing signage in your establishment, adding messaging on printed receipts, posting about it on your social channels, and stamping it on your website. Some great ways to entice people to join your mobile campaign include: instant discounts, exclusive VIP access (perfect for nightclubs) and insider updates. The more customers who join your mobile database, the greater your potential results!

The post The 3 Most Important Tips and Tricks for Taking Your Small Business Mobile appeared first on DIY Marketers.

Is It Real or Fake?

The Internet has long been a great way to set up a business and earn online customers. But can you really make money online? Do these people actually make that kind of money sitting at their laptops and punching in a few lines of code that magically make web surfers magnetized to their sites, giving them thousands of dollars every month? The answer to this question is yes and no. Yes, there are literally millions of dollars to be made on the Internet but no, you can’t just take it off the table with high-powered, “secret” tools that are mostly advertised by so-called Internet gurus who charge you $97 on the first page and then end up offering the exact same thing for $17 when you try and leave the page.

Where Does the Money Come From?

The money from the Internet essentially comes from advertising or sales commissions. Google AdSense is the most popularly used advertising program, but there are several others that work with similar models. The primary methods are PPC (pay per click) and CPM (cost per mille, or cost per thousand impressions), though there are variations on that as well. This type of approach is an easy way to make money at home but it requires some groundwork. First of all, you need a website with great content that is engaging; or you could write that same content for other websites who share revenue with you. Once you have a website, you need to earn the web traffic, and there are many ways to bring in the virtual footfalls to your site. Posting links on social networks, forums and your content on article directories are just some of the ways to bring in that traffic.

How Does It Work?

Essentially, what you are doing in order to make money quick is creating advertising space on the web and then renting it out to advertisers. Naturally, if your “web real estate” is considered prime property with lots of traffic, then the advertisers can be of a higher profile. Otherwise, you can go with programs like AdSense where the pay-out is practically peanuts but gives you a decent stream of passive income once you’ve done all the work.

PPC and CPM methods are merely ways in which a person interacts with the ads on your site in order for you to be eligible for a pay-out. For PPC, they need to click through to the advertiser’s landing page (usually their home page or a page where the customer can get more information about the product or service.) CPM, on the other hand, just counts the number of page-views for your site and pays out based on that.

If you’re wondering how to make money through the sale of products, then there are two ways: you can either sell a product yourself, or sell for someone else for a commission, such as Amazon, with their Associates Program. In the second system, sales commission pay-outs are made on a periodic basis after calculating sales and adjusting for product refunds. But if you’re selling your own products, then your site can be monetized through direct sales as well as using the CPM approach. CPC may not apply here, unless you choose to have related products advertised there. Naturally, you won’t want your competition to advertise on your website, but there are also businesses that work this way for mutual benefit – I scratch your back, you scratch mine sort of model.

So now you have an overview of how to make money and some of the various waysto make money on the Internet, why not give it a try and consult a professional. But first, educate yourself with free online courses such as Wealthopedia. You will need one to learn the basics and go about it in a professional way. Someday it could be you waving that check for hundreds of dollars that you made in a single day!

The post The Inevitable Catch to ‘Make Money Online’ Ideas appeared first on DIY Marketers.

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 disgruntled or satisfied customer can post on Facebook or Twitter and have a company representative reply within minutes.

Real-time communication on Facebook is equivalent to customer support software from LivePerson.com. It’s quick, effective, reliable and resourceful. Make sure to maintain the same identity and company values, such as a “customer comes first” mentality. For example, retailers should communicate with followers as if they’re sales associates helping customers shopping in the store. You don’t want to destroy your company’s image by upsetting a customer on the Internet. Craft proper, polite responses to complaints and remain genteel. Express gratitude with positive feedback. With proper brand management, your business can expand and secure successful brand awareness in the digital landscape.

Digital Branding

Remember anything you post on social-networking sites brands your business. Fans, followers, loyal customers and new prospects see what you’re posting and form opinions about your products and services based on those observations. Be consistent with the style and voice of your content, from the graphic you posted to the sweepstakes you’re promoting.

Also, as a small business or entrepreneur, you may not have the funds or resources to dedicate a skilled expert to your networking activity. If you’re managing your own social content, always make sure to separate your personal perspectives from a company persona. For example, tread carefully with provocative or edgy content. In most industries, customers trust firms that are branded with directness, stability and reliability. A little personality can attract attention but strike a balance.

Brand Investment and Customer Loyalty

As with offline branding, consistent online branding provides customers with a secure feeling of confidence and familiarity with the company. Once consumers make a connection with your brand, they also start to form an investment with your brand, including your products and services. Loyal customer investment will undoubtedly lead to increased sales and referrals. Good branding can even catapult a small company into the global arena, explains Entrepreneur. Social-networking sites in particular are full of opportunities for work-of-mouth marketing and brand awareness. A photo or update that resonates with a follower can be re-posted and shared. As a result, you’re reaching a whole new audience. So interact with your audience, and you’ll boost your business.

The post Brand Your Social Media Presence — Grow Your Business appeared first on DIY Marketers.

The key to being successful is that you have to understand the sales process that’s an intrinsic part of the tradeshow circuit. It’s not enough to simply throw your stuff up on a table and show up.

In fact, with the price of a table these days, it’s important that companies don’t just suffer through a show, but carefully select and send the right person to market them accurately.

In return for careful assessment of the right salesperson, tradeshows can be a valuable source of leads, no matter what your product or service. Let’s break it down into some sales training tactics:

Send the right person.
Personality should come standard with the right tradeshow representative. Since all meetings are face to face, they don’t just need to know your product line; they have to know how to sell it, and be friendly and approachable.

Take this concept one step further. You want a person who will go out and meet people. They should purposefully step into the crowd, with a smile, and say hello. Someone who is just going to stand behind the table won’t do your company any good at all.

Bring on the bling.
Investing in professional tradeshow graphics helps your company get noticed in the crowd. You don’t need a big budget, either. Purchase a free-standing banner stand that rolls right up into its own base or ask your local sign company to develop mounted posters that you can place on easels.

Remember that people read from left to right, so displays need to be set up in a way that makes it easy for everyone to follow along with your product or services. Rack cards, if you have the budget, shouldn’t be thrown out, but specifically handed to people who have questions about your products or services.

Follow-up with connections.
When you attend a tradeshow geared at niche members of your profession, it’s important to make a personal connection. Assigning the salesperson to follow-up with a polite phone call can make all the difference between making an eventual sale and simply being forgotten.

Further, if the show was geared towards office professionals, try to bond with those people using the right cold calling tactics. Within a few outreaches, a good salesperson should be building rapport every time they pick up the phone.

Continue to nurture leads.
Once you have a lead’s contact information, you open the door to continue to market to them. Develop an engaging marketing campaign that will keep your company front of mind for the prospect.

This means focusing on what your company does, who you do it for, and why you do it better than anyone else. Send an interesting newsletter every month or shoot an email with a unique headline over to the people who you want to work with.

Remember that tradeshows can be an excellent way to bring more leads into your company. However, it’s up to you to make the most of everyone you meet. Follow these simple rules to get started on the right track.

The post 4 Tradeshow Marketing Rules of Dominating the Competition appeared first on DIY Marketers.

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 video scribing?

Video scribing is essentially video-based storytelling. Through the use of whiteboard animation, the video is a combination of an artist’s illustration, a written script with a voiceover, and stop-motion photography. All these techniques are combined to create an experience that leaves the viewer engaged and wondering what will happen next in what they’re watching on screen.

2. How is video scribing different from a video?

Video scribing keeps the viewers’ attention longer than simply watching a video because they are watching the actual content unfold in front of their eyes. It’s a visual stimulation that involves both the audience and the author. And when you combine audio and video messages, retention jumps to 65%, almost twice as effective than video alone.

3. Why do I need video on my website?

Most people learn by watching, with 83% of learning occurring visually. To complement that, 11% of people learn by hearing. We all know that combining words and pictures make for a more compelling visual image. Through the use of storytelling, that concept is taken a step further and helps the brain process information in a way it will retain the knowledge.

4. How do I find a video scribing company?

Since video scribing is a fairly new avenue of online video marketing, it’s important to find a company that has experience in the scribing arena. You can start with a simple web search using the terms “video scribing” or “whiteboard animation.”

Once you’ve completed a video, the sky’s the limit as to what you can do with it. You can place the video on your website, social media channels, YouTube, and send it out in your email newsletter.

You do not need a huge budget allocated for video scribing creation these days, especially with companies that can help you through the entire creative process. However, it’s important to make sure you do have funds available so you can compete in the field you want. Start reviewing your line items to see where you can allocate funding to video.

What do you think of video scribing? Would you be willing to try it for your business?

The post Have You Heard About Video Scribing? appeared first on DIY Marketers.

MarketMyBiz

The government of Australia is actually the source of this marketing plan app that is wonderfully designed for Android Tablets or the iPad.  MarketMyBiz features a navigation structure that’s both intuitive and perceptive helping its users along the way.

The app is created with a special section that helps business owners pinpoint their weaknesses and make a plan specific to tackle these issues.  Once you are finished, the app compiles your answers into a single report that you can email as a PDF or print from the tablet.  The price tag will make you smile—it’s free.

Marketing Plan Premier

This app specific to the iPad is a comprehensive tool that doubles as a marketing textbook.  It relies on the idea that any good business should provide a solution to any problem its consumer may encounter.  The initial steps include identifying the problem and how your product is the solution.

Marketing Plan Premier helps its users analyze the competition in their industry and set the prices for products and services.  The app also gives a brief rundown of the options available for advertising your business.

After you answer the questions, this app puts your answers into an executive summary that you can export through Dropbox or into a Word document via email.

Marketing Plan App

If you’re not looking for an app to walk you through things step by step, Marketing Plan App can get you results in a short amount of time.  The app is formatted for smaller mobile phone screens and is available on Android and iOS.

Marketing Plan App can assist you on a range of things from your marketing budget and analysis to your Vision Statement.  Fill out the document and save it as a PDF or Word document before you email it or print it directly from your device.

Undoubtedly the most successful businesses start with a marketing plan.  In order to ensure success, it takes careful planning and a comprehensive understanding of the marketplace to develop a wining business strategy that will lead to making a profit.  Let these apps help take some of the weight off your shoulders.

Which tools would you recommend for a marketing plan?

(Photo Source)

The post Write a Marketing Plan: 3 Apps to Help You Succeed appeared first on DIY Marketers.