5 Must-Haves In A Business URL

When starting a new business, its name lies at the core of your potential success. Not merely because this is the foundation on which your brand is built and what will help to lure consumers — what makes a good business name so critical in today’s day and age is snagging a suitable domain.

Selecting a name for your business and grabbing the right domain are one in the same in the digital age. You need to be sure that the URL you land is one that will help make your brand, not break it.

Your business domain is a key element of your website because it serves several functions:

It is your first impression – The domain is the first thing visitors will see; assuming you have picked one that they can find. More on this later.It defines your brand – The right domain name can help support or diminish brand recognition.It impacts SEO – If your domain leverages the right keywords, it can have a positive impact on your SEO for several different reasons.

If your business is in the market for a new URL, or you are in the pre-launch phases of a new brand, here are five must-have domain elements that will help your business prosper.

1. Consider Keywords

Back in 2012, Matt Cutts announced via Twitter that Google would begin dropping low-quality exact match domains (EMD) in the SERPs. This has led many to believe that EMDs are bad for business, though this simply isn’t true.

Google only demoted “low-quality” EMDs, as it did with everything that the Panda algorithm deemed subpar.

Assuming your site is top notch, you have nothing to fear in the realm of EMDs; in fact, you’ll likely see positive SEO results as a byproduct.

Let’s look at a case study. Steve Tackett just purchased www.usedcarsforsale.com for a whopping $340,000; the single largest sale of an automotive-related domain since 2008.

Steve’s intent for buying such a pricey URL is to help disrupt the online automotive industry that is currently dominated by sites like Autotrader.com, Cars.com, and others that have garnered a questionable reputation in the eyes of many consumers.

Because this site is likely to drive a significant amount of traffic based on its keyword value alone, it is sure to be a power player in the SERPs.

When it comes to finding fruitful keywords in your industry, you can leverage tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or Keywordtool.io; just be sure to stay away from keyword-stuffed domains.

2. Take Spelling Seriously

Truthfully, you need to consider more than just your domain’s spelling. You also need to take into consideration the length and pronunciation as well. If one of these elements is out of balance, it is likely to equate to a serious decrease in potential traffic.

When considering a domain, try to make sure it’s something that can be easily said in conversation, is easily remembered, and is spelled like it sounds.

Adhering to these guidelines helps to ensure that your domain is memorable and easily searchable. If it’s too long, people will forget it. If it’s spelled strangely, consumers will have a hard time finding you. If shoppers can’t pronounce your URL, they’ll probably just go somewhere else.

When purchasing a domain, make sure it fits within this framework; if it doesn’t, keep looking.

3. Nix Numbers and Hyphens

Keeping in mind the last section, numbers and hyphens can be a business death sentence for clear reasons. Both domain elements make your URL more difficult to spell and pronounce in conversation; this is likely to lead to far less business than you would hope for.

There isn’t much need to go further into detail here. The lesson to take from this is to avoid URL-related numbers and hyphens like the plague.

4. Do a .Com Address

In recent years, more creative and unusual top-level domains (.me, .camp, etc.) have come into existence.

While there is certainly an argument to be made for creativity and memorability, if you are serious about building a long-term brand online, you’ll likely want to stay within the .com arena.

These URLs are far more difficult to procure as they may be more expensive and hard to come by, but .com is by far the most trusted top-level domain by consumers. In fact, many are still unaware that alternative website suffixes like .me are in use, making potential visitors weary and more likely to visit another site.

Speaking of building a long-term brand online…

5. Think About the Future

When purchasing a domain for your business, consider it as seriously as you would a marriage. This will be your brand’s defining factor online for years to come, if not the entirety of its existence.

If you opt to change your URL at some point in the future, your traffic will temporarily be halted, and your SEO ranking will be seriously damaged. So don’t commit to a URL you suspect is temporary; go all-in or there will be repercussions.

Think about where your business is now and what it might be in the future. Do you plan to maybe expand your offerings or services one day? Then take that into account.

Don’t pigeonhole yourself to a certain niche if you feel that you have the potential to grow your business into other areas.

Make sure that your business URL reflects who you are now as a brand, and who you might become.

Your businesses domain name is its identity; it’s how people find you online. Be sure to carefully consider the elements above when shopping for a URL to attach to your brand. If you fail to follow these guidelines, it could end up costing you a lot more than a few visitors.

Have you had any domain troubles in the past? Do you think .com addresses are still most trusted by consumers or are other domains gaining credence?

Have any question? Click here

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10 Ways to Market Your Small Business on a Shoestring Budget

When budgets are tight, marketing might be the first expense you look to cut.
Let me stop you right there.

While traditional advertising methods are costly and hard to measure, small businesses have never had greater access to cost-effective, trackable marketing tools.
But with so many digital tools available, how do you know where to start?

Email marketing is the tried and true digital marketing channel.

Email and social media marketing are just the start. Here are ten marketing strategies that can help you market your small business on a shoestring budget.

1. Craft an elevator pitch

You should be marketing all the time — wherever you are. Therefore, you need a compelling elevator pitch.
Research shows the average attention span of an adult is about six to eight seconds. That’s all the time you have to grab someone’s attention.
If you successfully engage them, then you only have a little over a minute to really sell them on your product or service. Invest the time to craft a killer elevator pitch. The return on your investment will pay huge dividends in terms of creating business opportunities.

2. Leverage your community
You don’t have to think big when it comes to your marketing efforts. Think locally. What’s going on in your community?
Sponsor a Little League team or a 5k charity walk/run. Print bookmarks and leave them at the local library. Get to know your ideal customer and think about how and where they spend their time.
Then search for opportunities to get in front of your customer with your marketing message .

3. Collaborate
Put together a group of synergistic, non-competitive businesses in your area and agree to cross-promote.
You can use coupons , fliers, reciprocal website links, bundled promotions or social media platforms. By collaborating with each other, you can expand your customer base because you’ll be reaching new people.

4. Network
I’m a huge fan of networking. I don’t think there is any better way to build a business than to get out there, shake some hands, and get to know people.
Networking requires a time commitment and it doesn’t provide instant gratification, but a strong network is one of the greatest assets any business person can have.

5. Give a speech
A lot of people hate public speaking. However, there are many organizations looking for qualified, subject-matter experts who can present to their groups.
Take a deep breath and volunteer. You don’t have to be a pro as long as the information you share is helpful to the audience. And the upside — the more you do it the easier it gets. Plus, it positions you as a credible authority in your field.

6. Create buzz
I started my corporate career in the field of public relations and the business has changed significantly because of technology.
Today, a small business owner can accomplish a lot without hiring a professional firm. Subscribe to Help a Reporter Out . You can respond to reporters’ queries that are looking for story ideas and resources. Some are small media opportunities, but others are major media outlets that use this service too.

7. Ask for referrals
Don’t be shy about asking for customer referrals. The majority of people say they are willing to provide a referral if asked, but very few take the initiative to do it on their own.
Referrals make it easier to get in the door with new customers. If you aren’t asking for them, you are missing opportunities.

8. Build relationships
It is a lot less expensive to keep a customer than it is to get a new one. That’s why establishing strong relationships with your customer base is crucial. One of the ways you can do that is by keeping in touch with people through email marketing .
Ask customers for their email address when they visit your store or website. Then, make your communications informative, helpful and professional — something your customers will look forward to receiving.

9. Offer coupons
Coupons are a good way for many businesses to attract new customers. Research shows that people will go out of their way to use a coupon, proving that this method is successful in expanding your customer base.
Coupons can also generate return visits. For example, if you give a customer a coupon for a discount to use on future business, there’s a high probability they’ll be back.

10. Give it away
If someone has the opportunity to experience your product or service, chances are they will want to purchase more.
Don’t be afraid to give someone a free trial or a sample. In today’s economy, people are more comfortable purchasing something they have been able to experience first.

These ten, inexpensive marketing strategies will help you engage customers, build relationships, and ultimately keep your brand top-of-mind. It’s not always about the money you have to spend on marketing, it’s about the time and effort you put into it and above all, the relevance it has for your customers.

You want to market your small business? Click here and talk to us.

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Problems Associated with Email Verification and How to Address Them Perfectly

Digital marketing or email marketing is ever growing and there are plenty of business opportunities that are created through this spectacular marketing medium. Though there are a whole lot of marketing tools available, email marketing is considered as one of the cheapest, yet most effective way to market your product, service or business to a target audience.

As far as email marketing is concerned, email verification is one of the most important steps that one should never ignore. It will save a lot of time and energy on your part and is sure to bring out the best results that you expect your business to achieve.

Problems of Unverified Email Listing
There are no hard or fast rules when it comes to marketing and the most attentive and innovative theme definitely wins over the others. While businesses spend a lot of time and energy creating a marketing material that is appealing in order to reach out to a larger target audience base, little attention is paid towards getting the email list verified and cleared from time to time. In fact, this is the most crucial step. If you do not send the emails to valid IDs or fail to deliver to the target audience, there is no use for it.

Go for the Best Email Verification Solution
Zerobounce is a most spectacular email verifier that provides a comprehensive solution with regard to a lot of problems, including email verification, spam detection, getting additional valid information and much more.

The unverified email listing would definitely cause chaos in the long run, as most of them would be obsolete, invalid or closed. It is quite important to clear the email listing from time to time so that it remains current and functional. Here are some major problems associated with unverified email listing.
Sending to an invalid email ID that is not verified would cause it to bounce back, thereby causing havoc to the senders.
It takes a lot of time to re-add the email address correctly and send it to the right person. This time could be productively used for other tasks involving promotion and marketing. Moreover it is a tedious job.
Using the right email validation solution would bring down cost and make things better for businesses.
With ZeroBounce, it is possible to address some of the most important issues regarding email marketing, which will make things smooth and easy for businesses to grow. When businesses do not pay proper attention towards email verification, things will move slowly and the worst thing is that it may bring you under the watchful eye of Internet Service Providers (ISP).
The email validation process is essential to keep your email listing clean, safe and secure on the whole. Make sure that you get to know every aspect of email marketing solutions to get the best out of it.

For your email campaign, click here

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5 reasons why branding is important for your small business.

Many small businesses make the mistake of overlooking branding efforts because they think of themselves as a business and not a brand. Brands, they think, are the big fish in the pond with huge budgets and national recognition. Resigned to their supposed small-fish status, small businesses do little more than come up with a fun logo and some flashy business cards.
But branding is important for businesses of all sizes because it increases their value, gives employees direction and motivation, and makes acquiring new customers easier.

Here are 5 reasons why branding is important for your small business.

Branding Creates Trust
When a company presents themselves in a professional way, and when there is social proof that their products and service are quality, prospects will trust that company and feel more comfortable giving it their hard-earned money.

Branding Improves Recognition
While your logo should not be the be-all-end-all of your branding efforts, you should still put the time and effort into coming up with a professionally-designed, memorable logo. Not only should your logo be memorable, it should give the desired impression of your company so when people see it, they instantly think and feel what you want them to think and feel.

Branding Supports Your Marketing Efforts
Marketing is an important component of your brand. The mediums and channels chosen as well as the demographic targeted helps to build your brand. Be careful of too narrow of a marketing focus, or you’ll risk being “pigeon holed” and lose your ability to expand into new markets. Then again, too broad of a marketing focus could lead to an inability to create a definable impression of your company in consumers’ minds.

Branding Motivates Employees
Anyone can hire employees, but only a strong brand can hire motivated employees that are inspired to carry your vision and mission forward. When your brand feels pride, your employees do as well. Having a strong brand is essential for employee morale and productivity.

Branding Generates New Revenue
Branding is one of the best ways to get referral or word-of-mouth business. And again, this is why it’s important that your logo, marketing, and reputation work cohesively to form an indelible impression on consumer minds. Think about it, you can’t tell your friend about the amazing golf clubs you just bought if you can’t remember the brand.
Now that you know why it’s important to develop a solid branding strategy, here are a few ways you can do it:

Always Have Your Customer in Mind
Your brand must align itself with your customers’ needs and wants. When starting any branding campaign, always have your customer in mind.

Create Messaging That Illustrates Your Value
You’ve got to create a direct and simple message of WHY your brand should matter to your customer. Most consumers don’t have the time or inclination to figure this out on your behalf. Your brand must create a story that answers the question, “why you?”

Use Emotion
If you give consumers a reason to care and feel something about your brand, they have a reason to buy. Most people make purchasing decisions based on emotions not logic, so create an emotion in your prospects every time they see your brand.
No matter what size they are, the most successful businesses are the ones that have established themselves as a leader in their industry by creating a strong brand. And, when these businesses focus on building valuable customer experiences, they easily transform customers into brand ambassadors.

If you are interested in developing your brand, click here, we have the right tools.

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Rock Solid Branding: Making Your Business Stand Out Among All Others

Defining a solid brand is essential to your long-term success. What does a good brand do? Your brand must communicate what you do and how you go about doing it, as well as establishing credibility and trustworthiness.
The problem for new businesses is how to set about creating a brand, so here are some tips to get you going.
Be Good at What You Do
The first and most important thing is to be good at what you do. This means making sure that you sell amazing products or services that your customers love.
If you don’t get this right, it doesn’t really matter what else you do. But if people love your products and services, you’ll make it a lot easier for them to love your brand.

Provide Value
Providing value is not the same as providing amazing products and services, nor does it mean being the cheapest. Instead, it involves ensuring your customers get value from using your products and services.
Perhaps your products last longer so even if your products are more expensive than your competitors’ products, your customers still feel like they are getting value when they buy them.
It involves working out what makes your products and services different from your competitors. If you know this, you can focus on providing more value to your customers.

Be Different
If you are the same as all the other companies in your niche, it’s going to be an uphill struggle building your brand. One of the best things you can do is be unique. So what makes you unique? It could be your products, or the way you operate, or it could be how you present your business to the world.
Being unique goes beyond the products you sell. It is also how you communicate. This involves developing a distinctive voice, not just for you but your employees, and using this everywhere that you communicate with customers, including your website, emails, social media, and in person.

Design a Memorable Logo & Tagline
Part of defining your brand and making it memorable involves developing a memorable logo and tagline. This should be something that people will immediately recognize as soon as they see it.
All of the biggest brands in the world are instantly recognizable from their logos. A good logo is something that you may have to spend a lot of time on, and you’ll want to make sure you get it right. Hire a professional logo designer to help you make it the strongest it can be.
Once you have your logo, use it everywhere so that people become more familiar with it.

Create a Community
Your community is essential when forming your brand, and these days this typically refers to your online community, including your website, blog, and social media channels, so work out how to use social media properly for your business. Choose a couple of social networks and focus on them, which should be the ones where your target customers are most likely to hang out.
Remember that it is your customers who determine your brand. Your brand is only what they perceive it to be, and you can only help to direct what they think. When people get involved in your community and have a positive experience, they will spread the word, and some may even become brand ambassadors.

Keep Your Customers Happy
A big part of a successful brand is having happy customers. Part of this comes through providing a great product or service, but part comes through providing great customer service. That means being there for your customers and answering their questions, and keeping your promises. The more happy customers you get, the more referrals you will win.

And Finally … Stay Consistent
All of the above points are important. But the one thing you have to ensure is that you keep it consistent.
Don’t change your messaging, even for different audiences. Use the same voice wherever you communicate. And in terms of your logo, your name, and your tagline, make sure these are the same whether you use them on your social media account or at a trade show.
This kind of familiarity is important. It creates trust, and that is essential for creating a stronger brand.

Click here if you want to develop your brand.

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Email Marketing

You have heard of email marketing repeatedly on the internet, at conferences and during marketing strategy meetings. They say email marketing enriches business communications, targets specific key markets, and is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly. But what exactly is email marketing and how does it work? How is an email more effective than a radio spot or television advertisement and why should a business spend the time to maintain an email list?
Email marketing occurs when a company sends a commercial message to a group of people by use of electronic email. Most commonly through advertisements, requests for business, or sales or donation solicitation, any email communication is considered email marketing if it helps to build customer loyalty, trust in a product or company or brand recognition. Email marketing is an efficient way to stay connected with your clients while also promoting your business.
With email marketing, you can easily and quickly reach target markets without the need for large quantities of print space, television or radio time or high production costs. Thanks to effective email marketing software, you can maintain an email list that has been segmented based on several factors including the length of time addresses have been on the list, customers’ likes and dislikes, spending habits and other important criteria. Emails are then created and sent out to specifically target members of your email list, providing them with a personalized email detailing information that they are interested in or have requested. This helps promote trust and loyalty to a company while also increasing sales.
There are several examples of email marketing campaigns, starting with a welcome email that thanks that new contact for opting in to your subscription. Welcome letters can not only give valuable information about your company, they can also request key information about your new client, helping you put the person in the correct categories for future marketing efforts. Additional email campaigns include sending out announcements on products or services, a newsletter regarding your company and/or products, coupons for future purchasing and much more. Every email you send out should have company information on the bottom, giving potential clients a chance to learn more about your company as well as ‘opt-in’ to get future emails. Incentive programs that give members a ‘promo code’ to collect discounts on purchases also allow you to monitor the effectiveness of your campaign as well as what your contacts are interested in.
With the help of email marketing software, email marketing is an effective way to not only reach your target markets but also to stay connected with your purchasing base. Through efficient use of email marketing, you can retain current clients while also targeting new markets. You can easily monitor how effective a marketing campaign is, and see that your return on investment is substantially higher than with other, more traditional, marketing campaigns. Let the internet help guide your customers to you again and again with an effective email marketing campaign.

Interested in email marketing? Click here

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Promotional Product Secrets Revealed: Three Reasons They Still Work

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All of the businesses want to reach out more and more customers and they try many different marketing tactics for this. They use social media, TV and magazine ads, and outdoor campaigns. However, they often forget promotional products or undervalue the power of them. Handing out free promotional products can be very powerful for your business because they provide long time interaction with customers. Customers use some of the products such as pens and keychains over and over again. As a result of this, they become more integrated with your brand. Below you can see other key benefits of corporate promotional products for your business.
Are Promotional Products Still Relevant?
Provides Brand Recognition: Brand recognition means that customers can immediately identify your company, remember your logo and match your products with your name. Promotional products help potential customers recognize your business. If the promotional product is useful for customers, they actually hold onto it and carry it around with them. For example; if your promotional product is a tote bag, then, people can use this bag to go to the gym, school, shopping and etc. so your brand also goes around with them. In this way, the brand awareness of your business increases.
Increases Customer Loyalty: Everybody loves to receive free gifts especially if this gift is unexpected. A small free give away of a promotional item can make your customers very happy. However, make sure that your promotional products are high quality ones because you don’t want your business to be remembered with low quality products. For example; metal products are always more quality compared to its plastic counterparts. Therefore, you can prefer metal promotional items for your business. There is a great website called metalpromo.com specialized in these items. Metal promo has a variety of products including keychains, pins, coins, medals and etc. that you can choose for your business and they have very affordable prices. Thus, you can have high quality promotional products for your business without spending a ton of money.
Works like a Business Card: Promotional products serve the same purpose as business cards. You pass your contact information with a promotional product instead of a business card. Also, promotional products are better because customers can actually use them whereas they cannot do anything with a business card. Another benefit of promotional products is that most customers who receive a promotional product remember the name and logo of the company that give them the product. However, if you only give them your business card, it will not make the same affect.

Click here if you want to brand your promotional products.

What is Branding? And Should Small Businesses Care?

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If you spend any time in marketing circles or reading about marketing, you will bump into the word “branding”. Branding is one of those concepts that is a bit vague, at least for the non-marketer small business owner. So today we’re going to look at “what is branding” from the small business perspective.
We’re also going to tackle the question of whether branding should matter to small businesses — or whether it’s something only large corporations should or can afford to care about.

What is Branding?
There are thousands of definitions of “branding” or just plain old “brand.” One of the best definitions of brand I’ve seen is from the Tronvig Group . To them, a brand is “what sticks in your mind associated with a product, service, or organization — whether or not, at that particular moment, you bought or did not buy.”
That seems a good informal way to describe a company’s brand. Under that definition, many things can contribute to a brand.
Does a picture pop into your mind about a company, such as its logo or colors? Think about the logo, such as Coca Cola — recognizable the world over, executed in its distinctive curvy script in white against red. And when you see it, do you imagine the effervescence of a Coke, the dark color or how it tastes? All of those things may run fleetingly through your mind when you want something to drink.
Sometimes it’s not the logo but another visual that comes to mind — even packaging. For instance, I couldn’t tell you what the Tiffany logo looks like, but the instant I see the iconic Tiffany blue box, I know which company we’re talking about. Certain attributes immediately come to mind, such as high quality jewelry and luxury home goods — things no one actually needs, but so many desire.
Or perhaps it is the company’s approach to customizing its product. Mention the name Starbucks and immediately coffee comes to mind. Now, I don’t even like Starbucks coffee (too strong and burnt tasting to me) but when traveling I will always look for a Starbucks. I know I can expect a certain level of quality. The coffee will be fresh — not a stale witches brew.
But it’s more than coffee I think of — it’s that I can get it the way I want it. No matter where I am, Starbucks will have hot, steamed low-fat milk to cut the strength. I can ask for a Cafe Misto (the Starbucks name for cafe au lait) made half with steamed milk, and half with brewed coffee. And I will get it — even though it’s not on the menu. Why? Because Starbucks aims to give you coffee gussied up the way you want it.
So when you ask the question “what is branding” — it is something that triggers associations in our minds. Branding is about creating an identity . It’s what sets one company apart from another. In short, it tells us what we can expect from that company. It’s about the
perception people have of the company.
Branding (a verb) is doing those activities and communications, large and small, that create and reinforce a brand, i.e., what a company is known for.
Your branding (a noun) is all the elements that make up a brand, whether logo, packaging, colors, reputation for customer service, reputation for customizing customer orders without complaint, speed, self-serve options, low price, high quality — whatever.

The Value of Branding
According to the Tronvig Group that I mentioned above, branding is what creates customer loyalty. They say it is what keeps consumers loyal and buying repeatedly.
I would agree with that … but….
I’d go further. Branding is what helps a prospective buyer call to mind a particular company when it comes time to buy. In other words, branding also helps with awareness .
In a world of infinite choices, branding that helps people remember YOUR company is more important than ever. Today consumers have a seemingly endless choice of retailers, products and services available at their fingertips online, or at the local strip shopping centers or shopping malls.
If consumers are shopping for something, what do they do? Go to Google, where billions of Web pages and yellow page listings are available.
Not only are there many choices, but some of the decision factors that traditionally separated and defined companies are today transparent and without much difference. Take, for example, pricing. Pricing is easier to discover and compare than ever before. In certain industries there may be very little price difference.
When all prices are the same, what makes the buyer choose one over another? Nuances and qualitative factors may make the difference.
For small businesses, what sets apart the business may be factors such as high quality, craftsmanship, personalized customer service, superior knowledge to help customers make the proper product selections, and similar qualitative factors.
The challenge for some small businesses is how to get customers to think of them when it’s time to buy. You don’t want your company to be nonexistent in the customer’s mind.
And if they see your brand name in a list of competing vendors (such as in a search engine), you want your brand to be associated with positive factors that make it stand out.
Branding is not a replacement for sales or specific marketing campaigns. But branding assists and reinforces your sales and marketing efforts in important ways.
But … We Can’t Afford to Do Branding
Actually, you can’t afford not to. Sure, branding can get incredibly expensive if your idea of branding is a nationwide television and print campaign. But it doesn’t need to be.

Here are 4 low-cost actions you can start on today to help your small business create, build and reinforce brand:

1) Start with clarifying what your brand stands for. What’s that “one thing” you want customers to think of, when thinking of your company?
Most knowledgeable — that is, your representatives can help the customer choose options in a complicated product environment?
Speed — such as your 10-minute lunch menu, or same-day delivery, or fastest time to create a customized solution?
High quality — especially when all the competition is low quality?
Something else?
Think it through. If you or your team are confused about that “one thing” that sets your company apart, customers probably will be, too.
If you’re not sure what this is, find out. Schedule a strategy session and hash it out with your team. Do a customer survey to ask existing customers what they value most. Start asking new customers what made them choose your company or product or service.
Try to limit it to one thing or at most two things you want your brand to be known for. If you end up with a laundry list of 20 things, go back to the drawing board and narrow it down. Customers don’t choose a vendor for 20 reasons. It’s usually one or two reasons that push them over the decision edge.

2) Audit your marketing materials. This is low hanging fruit. Check over your website, your Facebook page, your brochures, your ads — every piece of marketing you have. Do you have words in them to clearly convey “that one thing” that you want to be known for?
Or are your marketing materials sending mixed messages, with brochures emphasizing lowest cost, while your website emphasizes unparalleled quality? Maybe you deliver both, but in that case the combination of both should be conveyed, not one or the other.
Is your company name abbreviated in your marketing materials with cryptic initials that customers may not understand? Just because you refer to your company internally by an abbreviated acronym doesn’t mean customers have any clue what you’re talking about.
Look at sales scripts, too. Are sales reps conveying what your brand is, the way you want them to? Or are they saying something different? You may even learn something from them — they may have discovered through trial and error what customers value most and how customers perceive your company.
Make sure everything reinforces what you want customers to think about your business.

3) Demonstrate it with stories. Stories make your brand “stick.” It’s not enough just to say over and over that “we offer high quality.” Show it!
Write up case studies about how you helped a customer with your high-quality solution to solve a problem that no one else could solve.
Or get a testimonial about how your product outlasted other products by five years.
Write your company story in the About section of your website, and repeat that story in press releases, interviews and other communications. Create a video about your company “story.”

4) Use colors, symbols and other elements to create visual associations. Check your marketing materials for consistency. Are you using an outdated logo on some materials? Do you even have a logo? Are colors consistent?
Visual elements are important clues that trigger other associations and help customers remember your business.
Remember, branding isn’t just for large corporations. When customers have seemingly endless choices, branding becomes a crucial competitive edge. That’s the value of branding for small businesses.

Need help to create your brand? Click here

WANT MORE OPENED EMAILS AND HIGHER CTR? HERE ARE 5 EMAIL MARKETING TRENDS TO HELP!

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You can always find different trends sweeping the older ones way! Just like other trends, email marketing trendscome and go. What is most important is to stay up-to-date with them. Do the research, and make sure to follow the newest updates. If you are not doing this, then recipients will probably not open your emails and they definitely will not read them and click on the promo.

Here we outline the best up-to-date trends being followed all over the world. These trends are also giving some really good results in increasing the opening rates of emails along with CTRs (click-through rates).

5 Email Marketing Trends to Study Up on Today

1. Include the Bells and Whistles

Earlier, emails used to be a source of sending a message, replying, and attaching files or pictures. But now you can do much more with emails. In this era of increased digitization, emails are upgraded to be more interactive and easy-to-use.

With the help of banners and CTA (calls to action), you can add an attention-getting message and the Register here, Sign up, RSVP here or Add to Cart buttons. You can also put in image sliders and carousels.

Just make sure you don’t add too many of these in the same email, which might confuse the recipient or cause some technical fault.

2. De-personalization is the New Thing

Earlier, emails have been used to personalize and it was written in the opening salutation: Dear John or Hello, Maria for example. But now, de-personalization is in! Nowadays you may just write Hi there or Hello. This simply makes it easier to use the same email for everyone. Moreover, you do not need to utilize audience segregation when using the de-personalization method.

So, instead of unnatural first name personalization, trend #2 in the new email marketing is about no personalization.

3. Video in Email

You always use normal text to explain your point of view and everybody does that, so it has become boring and unfashionable. Now what people need are fewer words and more visuals! When you put in some infographics, gifs and videos, it really looks appealing to the recipient and can make your CTR go higher.

But make sure you don’t use too many of them, as that will lead to the email reaching the spam box or promo tab.

4. Automated Emails

Triggered and automated emails are being used by companies and organizations to engage more people.

Triggered emails include the welcome email, thank you email, confirmation email, and other similar types. They are designed to be sent automatically to the recipient at a certain time. Nothing is better than automated emails to make the audience realize that they are being valued. This also makes the email writer’s work easier at some point.

Make sure to add an email signature with contact details at the bottom, in case people want to make queries. Plus, you can easily add banners, social icons and links by using the signature. Here’s my recommend components of a professional email signature.

5. Encrypted Emails

Well, this is not quite new as a trend but equally important to follow. Email encryption prevents people from reading the email – other than the intended recipient of course. As you already know that emails are not really well-protected from being hacked, this is an important step to be taken before the email is sent.

Stay Current with Email Marketing Trends and Keep on Learning!

These most trendy email methods are being used all over the world and they will probably evolve or upgrade over the years. So, before further changes take place, make sure you use these trends now and see your audience get engaged with you more than ever.

Need help with your email marketing? Click here

8 REASONS WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS EMAIL MARKETING

Credit: youtechassociates.com

Email marketing is fast becoming the most effective method for any business to connect with both existing and potential customers. Traditional advertising methods are far from dead but the power of the simple email cannot be ignored. Printed postal mailings, billboard advertising, broadcasting and telesales all have their own merits, but not one of them can combine as many advantages as email marketing.
It’s the smart way to communicate and can be tailor made for every situation – whether your intention is to contact prospective clients, enhance the company / customer relationship, encourage repeat business, or send advertisements.
Immediate
Email marketing has an immediacy that cannot be matched by other forms of marketing and radically reduces delays in communication. Customers’ queries can be dealt with speedily and orders processed almost instantaneously. Unlike postal mailing, there is no delay between the dispatch of a message and its receipt. It is ideal for triggering impulse buys and promoting short term offers.
Personal
In contrast to a broad reaching medium aimed at everyone, like billboard, radio and television advertising, an email is personal. This is a one-to-one moment giving you the opportunity to address each customer individually. You can develop a relationship with them using your knowledge of their buying history and build loyalty in a way that has never before been possible.
Inexpensive
Email marketing is obviously a lot cheaper and faster than traditional mail. It does away with expensive artwork, printing and mailing costs and is a lot less labour intensive than posted mail shots or telesales. Readily available templates, email marketing services, and bulk email software mean that it can be implemented by any business, whatever the size, with minimum expense. And if you find you need to make changes to improve a campaign, they can be made quickly and cheaply unlike printed or broadcast material.
Frequency
One spin-off from the low cost and simplicity of email marketing is that businesses can contact customers more often. Many are taking advantage of this to send out monthly newsletters or bring attention to special offers, and it is an invaluable tool in building brand awareness.
Customized
Traditional marketing methods have been very general, one message aimed at every existing or potential consumer. Now it is possible for a business to target specific segments of its customer bank based on sales history or demographic information. This increased relevancy and efficiency can only lead to more successful marketing campaigns.
Measurable
Email marketing software enables a business to follow the efficacy of a campaign step by step. Tracking tools mean that test marketing can be accurately measured. You can easily gauge its success by following the figures for opening emails, clicking through links and conversions to sales. Any improvements that might become apparent can be implemented immediately. In addition, you can calculate the cost effectiveness of any campaign in the return you get for every £1 invested.
Interactive
Many companies are utilising the opportunity that email marketing gives them to interact with their customers. This provides you with important information as well as creating a rapport and enhancing the customers’ experience. Surveys and feedback can be quickly collated and acted upon.
Environmentally Friendly
Last, and certainly not least, it has very little impact on the environment. With no paper, no ink, no physical transportation and very little energy used to produce and send, it could hardly have less of a carbon footprint. Certainly another positive for prospective customers to take into consideration when making a purchasing decision.
With the power of the internet, any business can now go global. It has never been easier, quicker or cheaper to communicate with so many people. This creates virtually limitless opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell to existing customers and to acquire new ones. And the immediacy, flexibility, cost effectiveness and ease of use of email marketing mean that this is a tool no business can afford to ignore.

Need help for your email marketing? Click here

4 Ways to Use SMS Marketing for Your Upcoming Event

Nonprofit companies inaugurating an occasion can influence these truths to build participation and enhance engagement amid the occasion by actualizing SMS (instant message) promoting. Searching for a way consolidates some versatile promoting at your next occasion? Here are four ways you can utilize message informing to draw in your group of onlookers and manufacture a database –

Getting an Email Notification

Quit putting out the same old clipboard and attempting to persuade participants to jot down their email address. Make it simpler on them and you. Set up a sign, hand out flyers, or have the speaker guide the group of onlookers to send an instant message to select into your email database. Contingent upon your email showcasing stage you might even have the capacity to set this up so they in a split second have an appreciated email sitting tight for them when they return home or back to the workplace.

By Polling

It is safe to say that you are participating in an occasion where the group of onlookers gets the chance to vote on something? Maintain a strategic distance from the bother of paper votes and have participants send an instant message to make their choice. The outcomes will be classified immediately and precisely, without checking by hand and the danger of human blunder.

Comments

Would you like to hear what your participants thought about the occasion? Get their criticism while it's crisp in their psyche. Use content informing to catch their considerations or have them take a snappy review on the spot.

Giveaways

Rather than "putting out the fish dish" for business cards, have your gathering of people send an instant message to participate in the challenge. You can take this chance to direct them to your portable site, or approach them for their email address in the passage affirmation message.

Content versatile coupons that can be reclaimed with your occasion supports

Photographs

Pictures can be an intense device for adapting more about your clients. After a client buys a thing from you, incentivize them to message a photo back to you of them utilizing their new item. Through the photos, you can start to figure out how they utilize the thing and what different items might compliment that utilization, opening up more deals open doors.

 

Challenges

Challenges are an incredible approach to draw clients, since they offer the potential for a prize more prominent than what might ordinarily be accessible. After your occasion, message a "thank you for going to" message alongside a connection to an article of the key takeaways.

Need to take in more about how your association can set up a portable showcasing arrangement for your next occasion?

Bulk SMS advertising offers the most noteworthy open and transformation rates over any promoting channel. One of the powerful utilization of the test message promotion is to take in more about your clients. Having a superior learning about your customer base permits you to extend your business through focused deals and showcasing endeavors.