Use bold graphic design on Facebook. It’s easy to upload one large photo to your Facebook page to use as your cover. Initially Facebook wouldn’t allow text on covers, then then minimized it and now it a free canvas. Make use of it. Here are some of the ways my clients have used this premium space for marketing. Google+ allows even more real estate, but it morphs when moved, something to calculate into your design. Dive in and get creative!
Your CRM marketing system is a great tool. Take a step ahead of your competition and stop using templates in your dashboard. Take control of your message both textually and visually. The same graphic idea can be created for your social media which solidifies your brand. This became a newsletter, flyer, poster and a Facebook banner.
Facebook Banner:
Electronic Newsletter, Flyer and Poster:
CRM is software which pulls your business’ client data (veterinarians, auto shops and more) into their software accessed via a dashboard. It saves time and keeps a business connected to their clients offering reminder emails for services due, special offers and discounts and many marketing tools. Most CRM tools are reaching out to connect via text, auto CRM software offers a dongle for a car which can send info back to the shop. Should that dreaded Check Engine light flash on a call to your mechanic can determine if you need immediate help, or the issue can wait.
These CRM tools typically offer templates for the marketing media (emails, postcards, special offers, etc.). By creating custom postcards and emails you can brand your business—match to your website and equally important personalize your message and away from the cookie-cutter ads we all receive in our inbox.
Here is a series of postcards for an auto shop:
Stand apart from your competition with custom graphic design.
There comes a time when your website needs to be redesigned. This usually involves multiple factors. Code has changed substantially in the past 3 years which provides more options for your website, and certainly better performance within browsers. Leaner code means a faster download which is something Google favors in page ranking. Websites benefit from a fresh view. Look it over and discuss with your designer what elements can be improved upon, enhanced, things which are obsolete and how to optimize the space to lead the visitor through the website, while keeping navigation ease a priority. A mobile presence is critical: whether a free-standing, side by side site or a responsive website (requiring a makeover of your old site) you can’t ignore mobile users.
This site served well for its time, when monitors were smaller, dial-up connections were still around, images needed to be as small as possible, beveled buttons and gradients were trendy and 800 pixels was the maximum width the W3 consortium recommended. Enter the fun. Now browsers and monitors span much wider screens, large optimized images are easily handled by browsers and bandwidth. And the most fun of all, design has changed using a much broader palette of colors: beautiful bold, flat colors which let the design breathe and make the web page less cluttered while still offering the same key points, call to actions and copy. Visual matters in marketing. A website redesign will keep your website ahead of your competition whose sites may be tired and sagging. A fresh looking website represents your business well to visitors. It’s your first impression to potential clients – make the best of it.
Businesses have tried to make it easier for customers to review their business on Yelp, by having a laptop set up in their place of business. Problem is with reviews coming from the same IP address (an address related to your internet connection) these are snagged as fake reviews by Yelp and thus, filtered aka “not recommended” and do not factor into your overall star rating. Be aware of what is acceptable, and do not purchase services claiming to remove your negative reviews. Deception and gaming Yelp does not work. Here’s Yelp’s idea of how to garner reviews. Read more.
Ignoring your Yelp reviews sends a poor message to potential clients. Responding gives you control. A disgruntled reviewer opens the discussion to explain your business practices and customer satisfaction goals. When you have tried unsuccessfully to rectify an unhappy client there are so many opportunities to put out a positive message – seize it.
A free listing on Yelp is a good value. If you don’t have the time to manage your online reviews (Yelp and all others) give me a call to discuss my Webmaster Services.
Your website is the cornerstone of your marketing. Keep presenting the fresh face of your business by updating photos. List new products or services; add new staff members photos and bios. Consider adding information pages or a “What’s New” page to show off your latest projects or products. If you’re ready to move beyond your cell phone camera or point and shoot camera give us a call for professional photography. Time for a major website overhaul? Redesign your website.
Email continues to shine as a marketing tool. 97% of cell phone users read email on their phone. Let your website help you collect email addresses, if you’re using an email client (MailChimp, iContact, etc.) add their website widget to your desktop website, mobile site and blog. Otherwise collect email addresses as you invoice, or have a signup sheet available. When you’re ready to announce a special you’ll be ready. I manage email newsletter campaigns as a service.
Social media is the choice many potential clients use to engage with businesses. Every business needs a Facebook page and Google Business page. Photographers and artists make use of Pinterest, Flickr; home construction or remodeling try Houzz and Pinterest; auto lovers frequent Instagram. When you’re ready move into video and make use of YouTube, Vimeo and more. For help read about my Webmaster Services.
97% of cell phone users go online with their phones. The single biggest impact for your internet presence is a mobile website. Make it easy for mobile users to receive your message.
Reach people on the platform they choose.
Read more http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/
The evolution of Facebook continues to be driven toward profit, now that Facebook is responsible to stock holders. The effects on businesses engaging in social media have moved from a fun and a useful tool to marketing to sluggish.
Large companies like Coca-Cola garnered over 80 million “Likes” to find Facebook didn’t result in a change in sales; it’s just a place for people who already like their product to let them know. But the value has been a way to reach your client base and reach out to them – engage, engage, engage.
But now Facebook has taken aim at organic page reach–resulting in a mere to 1 or 2 percent reach. Page Reach means the percentage of your fans seeing your posts. Nike with 16 million fans will now only reach 160,000. After aggressively marketing to the Facebook crowd, this is a huge hit for Nike. You can read the stats in your Admin panel to find out how many are seeing your posts.
Finding you are no longer reaching the very people who like you brand and want to hear from you is discouraging, but it’s the decision Facebook has made. Facebook has been changing the news feed for some time since it began adding content to your feed you never have “liked”. Now, you will hear more from those you haven’t liked and not all the posts from those you have liked.
For small businesses the value of Facebook – is for appearances and those posts which do get into feeds. Don’t give up. Adjust with the new change. You want to maintain your Facebook page for the future, as it continues to change, but it’s safe, for now, to give it a lower priority.
Since the phone directories are all but dead your website is now the cornerstone of all advertising. Everything needs to point to it. Each email should contain an email signature with a link to your website. Print it on your invoices, print ads, coupons and anything you hand out to clients. You can’t overdo driving people to your website.
What can you do to increase your online presence?
If you began your online presence with a ten page website consider expanding. New pages can include detailed information about your services and products. Each page gives the opportunity to drive that page for one keyword – a solid strategy for organic search engine results. The more real estate you use online – the better your website will work for you.
Web design continues to change to reflect trends and follow the internet consortium standards. One of the most obvious visual changes is creating web pages which are far wider than 5 years ago. Widening your website allows more of your message to be seen quicker. Consider reviewing your website for improvement – both design and functionality.
If your website is static (nothing moves) consider adding a slide show. There are so any choices to display your products and services. More examples: Magnifier (scroll below slide show), Online Magazine/Book with page turning.
Create a video; embed it on your website using YouTube as a search engine to get out your message. Videos of past were often slide shows, but today’s user expects a higher quality video with a solid message. One client
added a video and within 2 months had over 400 views. This adds to your advertising plan.
Mobile websites are a necessity. You can’t afford to miss out internet users who actively use phones and/or tablets. There are several ways to approach a mobile website depending on your budget.
Collect email addresses and keep in touch with your clients via email campaigns.
A new year and a fresh plan may be in order.
Google AdWords campaign can be a bit scary for the novice business owner. These need to be monitored and tracked to see if the results are new clients to your business.
My client base is service oriented from auto repair shops to veterinarians. The ones using pay per click campaigns are finding the calls increasing, but the price shoppers’ phone calls are consuming a lot of time and are showing no return. For the business owner with no staff this presents an issue of not getting back to the work of the day.
I am seeing a huge interest in email marketing for the very purpose of referrals. Specialized services like transmission repair are not an often repeated service. But for the business owner a satisfied, trusting client is the ideal person to refer a like-minded friend or family member. Where service industries used to have loyal clients trends now are to price shop everything.
Begin to collect email addresses from your clients. Develop a newsletter. Auto mechanics keep on top of vehicle recalls. Veterinarians can remind of “flea season” as we move into summer. Giving advice from your profession has value. Become a trusted source via email and ask for referrals. If you want to include an incentive to your existing client AND the referee it’s even more attractive. Most of us are happy to recommend a business we have a great relationship with.
And always put “review us” icons at the bottom of each email. Reviews help drive websites!
