Benefits Of Using Digital Marketing

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is an umbrella term for all of your online marketing efforts. Businesses leverage digital channel such as Google search, social media, email, & their websites to connect with their current and prospective customers. From your website itself to your online branding assets – digital advertising, email marketing, online brochures, & beyond — there’s a huge spectrum of tactics and assets that fall under the umbrella of digital marketing. And the best digital marketers have a clear picture of how each asset or tactic support their overarching goals.

What Are the Main Benefits of Digital Marketing?

Unlike most offline marketing efforts, digital marketing allows marketers to see accurate results in real time. If you’ve ever put an advert in a newspaper, you’ll know how difficult it is to estimate how many people actually flipped to that page and paid attention to your ad. There’s no surefire way to know if that ad was responsible for any sales at all.

Why digital marketing is important

Digital media is so pervasive that consumers have access to information anytime & any place they want it. Gone are the days when the message people got about your products or services came from you & consisted of only what you wanted them to know. Digital media is an ever-growing source of entertainment, news, shopping and social interaction, and consumers are now exposed not just to what your company says about your brand, but what the media, friends, relatives, peers, etc., are saying as well. And they are more likely to believe them than you. People want brands they can trust, companies that know them, communications that are personalized and relevant, and offers tailored to their needs and preferences.

Main Advantages of Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing benefits allow you to evolve your marketing plans and stay competitive in your industry. With digital marketing, your business can:
• Use content to connect to consumers online

72% of marketers think branded content is more effective than advertising in a magazine, and 69% say it is superior to direct mail and PR. Maintaining a dominant online presence is crucial to both customer convenience and marketing success.

• Optimize for conversion

The ability to track a customer’s journey beginning at the first click allows you to test and optimize your website for conversion on an ongoing basis.

• Connect with mobile customers

Having a dominant online presence that is optimized for smartphone and tablet users can influence buying behavior. 82& of mobile searchers use their phones to check on prospective in-store purchases and 65% look for the most relevant information to their queries. 33% of mobile users have purchased from a different brand than the one they had in mind because of the information listed.

• Realize higher ROI and revenue

Increasing your digital outreach is a more predictable way of increasing your revenue than traditional marketing methods. Additionally, digital marketing provides you with real data, and predicting and realizing ROI is much easier done with real data in hand.

• Become more competitive

Digital marketing is how businesses are working now and will continue to work in the future. If your business is not already in the digital marketing, then you’re behind. Ensure your business is competitive by employing a smart digital marketing strategy.

Get in touch with Infoeye Nigeria to provide the best Digital Marketing services. We offer a wide range of Digital Marketing & Web Development Services.

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5 Essential Principles For Growing Your Small Business

It isn’t all it takes, but these five essentials will help you build a solid base and become one of the small businesses that succeeds.

Leading a small business can be more stressful than raising children or maintaining a healthy relationship with your spouse. Here are some basic principles to get you started on a sane journey toward growth.

When John Mackey and his then-girlfriend Renee Lawson opened a vegetarian food store in their Austin, Texas home 34 years ago, nobody–including the couple themselves–would have dubbed him an entrepreneur. Today, a clean-shaven Mackey is most likely unrecognizable to patrons of the bearded college dropout’s first shop. He built his venture into the $15.5 billion Whole Foods empire, with more than 300 supermarkets that boast organic and grass-fed meats along with an array of vegetarian fare.
Few will ever rise to the ranks of Mackey, who made the cut for Fortune’s 12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time. Mackey created a repeatable process of selling high quality natural and organic products in communities with the right appetite for a brand that relies on customer affinity. It takes a combination of understanding market demand and market size and having repeatable processes to support that market to have a scalable business. And Mackey had to strive to sustain innovation in a world where even Walmart peddles organic foods.

So many business founders come up with a good idea, yet they are unable to scale their companies for growth. Through my own journey as an entrepreneur, I’ve learned that every business is unique, but there are certain key precepts to follow for success. The few that do succeed do so with unmatched focus, discipline, and unconventional thinking.
Although it takes more than just this to be a success in business, here are five essential principles that you can begin implementing right away as you begin your journey toward growing your business:

1. Timing is Everything
The timing of your product or service must be right in the marketplace. Mackey bit on the organic and natural food revolution just as the public’s palate for these products oozed into the mainstream, but if the market isn’t ready and you are way ahead of the market, then you must possess the drive and the willingness to sacrifice in order to make that product or service work.

You will need to choose to either wait for the market to catch up (requiring the resources to survive during that period, and accepting the risk of emerging competition), or you’ll need to adjust your offering to something more palatable to the market’s current readiness.
Smaller businesses have the advantage of being able to make choices and implement changes without the exhaustive process and conflicting points of view that slow down major corporations. You need to anticipate your market and customers’ needs and constantly innovate to stay ahead. This requires leadership with agility, resilience, and a willingness to fail–and to recognize that failure quickly enough to adapt and move forward.

2. Brand, Brand, Brand
Today’s economy requires business leaders to create positive memories for customers and partners, like Mackey has, or customers will turn to a competitor in search of a better experience. Whole Foods shoppers are loyal and believe they are embracing a healthy and socially conscious lifestyle by shopping at the stores. If you want to create a scalable business, you have to understand just how crucial it is to build brand equity. The emotional attachment that links customers to your product, as opposed to any other, translates into sustainable growth.
Here are some basic rules to connect, shape, influence, and lead with your brand:

Choose your target audience. The surest road to product failure is to try to be all things to all people.

Connect with the public. Your objective is to make your audience feel an emotional attachment to your brand.

Inspire and influence your audience. An inspirational brand message is far more influential than one that just highlights product feature functions.

Reinforce the brand image within your company. Make sure employees at every level of your organization work and behave in a way that reinforces your brand image.

3. Scale Your Sales
Creating a unique product and a unique brand isn’t enough. It takes repeatable sales processes to create a scalable business. It is one thing to sign up a few customers; it is another thing entirely to identify, design, and implement repeatable sales and customer delivery processes. You’ve created a repeatable and scalable sales model when:
You can add new hires at the same productivity level as yourself or your sales leader.
You can increase the sources of your customer leads on a consistent basis.
Your sales conversion rate and revenue can be consistently forecasted.
Your cost to acquire a new customer is significantly less than the amount you can earn from that customer over time.
Your customers get the right product in the right place at the right time.
A repeatable sales model builds the platform to scale. Like the search for product/market fit, it can take major experimentation/R&D to find a repeatable and scalable sales model.

4. Embrace Technology
Nearly two thirds, or 64%, of the recent
Bank of America (BofA) Small Business Owner Survey respondents said they wish they took better advantage of technology innovations to help manage their business. If a small business can identify a genuine need, technology likely exists to fulfill that need both locally and globally. There are few barriers to entry in an age where anyone with wireless can cheaply and quickly access the enabling technologies needed to execute their business model. It comes down to creating the right operating blueprint that connects the dots between your business model and the application of accessible technologies.

5. De-Stress for Success
Most small business owners consider managing the ongoing success of their business to be twice as stressful as maintaining a healthy relationship with a spouse or partner, nearly three times as stressful as raising children, and more than four times as stressful as managing their own personal finances, according to the same Bank of America report mentioned earlier. The survey indicates that small business owners routinely forgo physical fitness and other personal priorities to keep up with business demands.
Thirty-eight percent of small business owners maintain full or part-time jobs while running their own business.
The stressors can be relentless. But if you’re not happy, healthy, and motivated, you can’t create a business model that provides a positive market experience. You also set the tone for everyone who works with you. Nobody wants to do business with a grouchy, bitter, and exhausted owner. Therefore, investing the time and effort to adequately take care of your physical and mental well-being will further increase your chances for long-term success. Mental health is not just about going to the gym to let off steam. It’s about achieving a state of mental calmness to see you though the relentless challenges–but that’s another topic in itself!

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Ten benefits of SMS marketing

Bulk SMS is great Marketing Tool because of the following reason, As marketers, we’re constantly thinking up creative ways to get our message out to existing and potential customers; whilst also ensuring we get good results from our efforts. One of the basic practical rules in marketing is to think like your audience, to keep up-to-date with their buying habits and where they are looking.
Whatever your product or service is, it’s important to ensure its visible wherever your customers go, with a ratio now of four mobile devices to every computer, it’s clear where our customers are. Mobile marketing is no longer something you can afford to put on the to-do-list for the future; you need to make sure you’re on a mobile device, now.

Below are the reasons you should choose Sms marketing.

1. Immediate:

There’s no long waiting time for designs to be mocked up or campaigns to be printed, just decide what your message is, sending a bulk SMS to your customers takes no longer than sending a text on your own phone. So, not only will you free up some precious time, but with over 90% of messages read within 3 minutes of being received you could see results immediately.

2. Mobile-friendly:
Making your business mobile-friendly is no longer something to consider ‘later’. Mobile is here and it’s not going anywhere. SMS is compatible with pretty much every mobile phone so you won’t need to worry about alienating some users, or getting your customers on board with brand new technologies.

3. Customers love:
SMS is a really simple and accessible way of engaging with each other and with an open rate of 98%, it is heads and shoulders above any other communication method in terms of read rate. Most people send and receive text messages on a daily basis so we know your customers will like, have access to and know how to use SMS .

4. Eco-friendly:
In comparison to email, direct mail and face to face meetings; a text message has the lowest impact on our Carbon Footprints In fact it’s almost a Carbon Free way of communicating, so if you’re looking for ways to make your business greener, SMS marketing is a big step in the right direction.

5. Direct:
Most of us don’t leave the house without our mobile phone, in fact it’s probably within arms-reach 24/7. Besides meeting face-to-face or calling each customer, I can’t think of a more direct way to communicate your message whilst ensuring the message is delivered straight into the right hands, at the right time.

6. Simple:
As we try and juggle our busy lives, it can sometimes feel like we have too much information to take in. Emails go unread, adverts ignored and leaflets discarded. SMS is small and simple and gets the message across instantly without any messing around. How many text messages do you receive that you don’t read?

7.Trackable:
Most service providers will offer simple delivery reporting to check your messages have successfully been sent. If you’re looking for more intelligent tracking, the top players in SMS marketing will not only tell you when your messages have been sent successfully, but will also provide you with details on who, what and when links have been clicked ensuring you get the most from your campaigns.

8. Generate leads:
Keywords are easy to set-up on an SMS shortcode and can be anything from your brand name to a memorable word. Advertise your keyword on your website, printed media or in your store, allowing customers to opt-in to your mailing list. E.g. Text SMS to 52525 for exciting news and special offers.
Not only does this provide you with lots of new contacts to communicate with but it also generates an instant lead with little effort required from you or your customer.

9. Personal:
Most peoples email and direct mailboxes are swamped with junk mail and spam. Customers will only opt-in to SMS updates from companies they want to interact with, so you know you’re delivering the message to the right person without it getting lost or ignored. If you want to make your customers feel really special, it’s easy to personalise each message and won’t take any extra time.

10. Cost-effective:
Not only is an SMS campaign affordable for budgets of all shapes and sizes, but you’ll also see a healthy return on investment from SMS marketing. At just a few pence per messages, you can be really targeted with your campaigns without it breaking the bank.

If boosting sales and improving communication with customers are on your list of resolutions this year, but you don’t have a hefty budget and hours of spare time; SMS is a small, yet powerful, marketing tool not to be overlooked.

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The Keys to Success for Marketing Your Business

Marketing is the process of interesting potential customers and clients in your products and/or services and persuading them to choose them over those of your competitors.
The key word in this marketing definition is "process". Marketing involves researching, promoting, selling, and distributing your products or services ( the four P ’ s of marketing — Product, Price, Promotion, and Place).
It's a huge topic, which is why there are tomes written on marketing, and why you can take a four-year marketing degree.
Whether you’re running a large corporation or a small business, marketing involves everything you do to get your potential customers and your product or service together.
The purpose of marketing is to drive sales. Good marketing can get potential customers through the door or onto the website and even put a product into a potential customer’s hands, but it’s not successful marketing until the customer has bought it.
6 Keys to Success for Small Business Marketing.

1. The first key to small business marketing success is knowing what you’re really selling. It's said that people don’t buy products or services —
they buy emotions and experiences. For instance, the Keg Steakhouse moves a lot of steaks, but look at their ads: What they’re really selling is good times with family and friends. Why did Michelin use a baby in a tire with the tagline “Because so much is riding on your tires” for years? Because Michelin is really selling safety, not just tires. And the baby in a tire campaign told people that one way they could feel like good parents was buying Michelin tires.

2. Once you figure out what you’re really selling, you’re ready to target your market . As a small business, you can’t afford blanket marketing; you need to get your marketing message directly to potential customers, not to everyone. Target marketing lets you zone in on those who have the highest likelihood of buying your product or service.

3. Know the difference between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan .

4. When you're putting together a marketing plan for your business, concentrate on the basics. These are the four key components of any marketing plan :
•Products and services: What goes into this section will vary depending on whether your company is creating an original product and developing it from ideation to prototype stage and onto market or marketing a product that’s already fully developed. Remember too that marketing a service is different than marketing a product. But whatever you’re selling, this section will focus on what is unique about your product or service and contain your Unique Selling Proposition .
•Pricing: The starting point for any pricing strategy is a breakeven analysis . After all, you want to make money, not lose it! But beyond that, the ideal price is a combination of how you want to position your product or service and what the market will bear. Learn more with this Guide to Pricing Strategy.
•Place (Distribution): The details of how and where your products and/or services are sold. As you’ll see when you look at the Sales and Distribution plan section of the marketing plan, this section outlines the distribution methods going to be used, the transaction process between your business and your customers, and your sales strategy.
•Promotion: The section of the marketing plan that describes how your company is going to present your products or services to the buying public. Your challenge here will be choosing the promotion activities best for reaching your target market but within your
marketing budget. The marketing tools section below will help.

5. Invest in market research . It’s market research that lets you learn which customers will be most interested in your products or services and gain specific information about them, learn about your competition and develop competitive strategies, keep abreast of economic trends and even find new markets.

6. Make sure your marketing campaigns are aligned with your marketing strategies and plans. For marketing success, you have to have consistent messaging. Integrated marketing will keep your marketing focused and
increase your sales .

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Low-Cost Ways to Promote Your Business

What's the best way to promote your business? How can you advertise your business and get your name in front of potential prospects when money is tight or you're just starting up? How can you get the word out about your business in the most affordable way?

Promoting a business is an ongoing challenge for small businesses. Whether you're just starting out or have been in business for years, these proven advertising and marketing strategies will help your business find new customers without spending a fortune.

1. Plan your attack . Define who your best prospects are, and then determine the best way to reach them. Be as specific as possible. Is the decision maker the CTO of the company, the director of human resources, or a 37-year-old working mom? Will you find them on Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube or Instagram? What about in-person
networking at local business meetings ? Will you find people at those meeting who are likely prospects or who know and could recommend you to likely prospects? What about
advertising ? Will customers be searching for your type of product on Google or Bing? Do they look for coupons in newspapers? Do you want to start promoting your business to them at the start of their buying cycle, or when they're about ready to pull out their credit card and make the purchase. Write your answers down, and refer to them before you start any new marketing tactic. Use this marketing plan worksheet to gather your information.

2. If you don't have a website, get one set up. If you can't afford to have someone custom-design your website, put your site up using one of the companies like Wix, SquareSpace or Godaddy that provide templates and tools that make it easy to create a basic website.

3. Set up a listing for your business in search engine local directories. Google and Bing both offer a free listing for local businesses. To get listed on Google, go to Google My Business .  To get listed on Bing, go to Bing Places for Business. Yahoo charges for local listings, but you get listed on a lot more than Yahoo if you buy their service. The service, called Yahoo Localworks, costs $29.99 a month and lists you in 50 directories including Yahoo Local, Yelp, WhitePages, Bing, Mapquest and more. The benefit of paying: You have a single location to enter your data to make it consistent and available on multiple online directories that your customers might search to find what you sell.

4. Set up your business profile or page on social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Plus,Twitter and Pinterest . Be sure your business profile includes a good description, keywords and a link to your website. Look for groups or conversations that talk about your type of products or services and participate in the conversations, but don't spam them with constant promos for what you sell.

5. If you're just starting out and don't have a business card and business stationery, have them made up -- immediately. Your business card , letterhead and envelope tell prospective customers you are a professional who takes your business seriously. Be sure to list your website address on your business card, letterhead and any handouts you create. Include your main social media profile link, too, if possible.

6. Sign up for an email service , and send an email newsletter and/or promotional offers to customers and prospects for your business. Be sure you ask for permission to send email before putting any person's email name on your list. One good way to build a permission-based email list of people who want your mailings is to give something away. It could be a free ebook, or even a free tip-sheet on how to do something related to your business. If you're a health coach, for instance, you might offer people who sign up for your free newsletter a tip sheet with "10 Easy Ways To Lose Weight Without Going on a Diet." If you don't have anything to give away, try offering a signup discount on products or services as an incentive. An email service like Constant Contact* makes it easy to manage your list and send professional-looking mailings.

7. Get your business cards into the hand of anyone who can help you in your search for new clients. Call your friends and relatives and tell them you have started a business. Visit them and leave a small stack of business cards to hand out to their friends.

8. Give several business cards to your customers if you are a service provider. That way, when their friends and neighbors ask them for a recommendation, they have an easy way to pass on your business name and contact information.

9. Talk to all the vendors from whom you buy products or services. Give them your business card, and ask if they can use your products or service, or if they know anyone who can. If they have bulletin boards where business cards are displayed (printers often do, and so do some supermarkets, hairdressers, etc.), ask if yours can be added to the board.

10. Attend meetings of professional groups, and groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, other local business groups, local chapters of national groups, or civic associations. Have business cards in a pocket where they are easily reachable. Don't forget to ask what the people you speak with do, and to really listen to them. They'll be flattered by your interest, and better remember you because of it.

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WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE FOR FREE

You may not have wads of cash to spend on marketing in the early stages of your startup, but that doesn't mean that there aren't effective ways to get your brand out there.
Before the Internet, small businesses only had a few ways to market their products cheaply, through methods like printing out fliers or sponsoring little local events. Now there are all kinds of opportunities out there on the Web—you just need to know where to look.
Here are seven ways to promote your business online that won't cost you a dime:

1. Use the three big local listing services
Registering your business with Google Places allows it to be found more easily on Google searches and it shows up on Google Maps. All you have to do is fill out the form and register, then get your business verified through their confirmation process, which can be done either with a phone call or snail mail. Yahoo! also has a big database of businesses called Yahoo! Local. It's free, and is certainly worth the few minutes it takes to set up. Microsoft's Bing has a similar service that's easy to sign up for.

2. Embrace social media
Social media isn't just a tool to gain exposure—it has now become a necessary time investment for every business to make. You can tie in ads and offers on your Facebook page and have a direct channel with your customers on Twitter. Networking on LinkedIn—both at the personal and company level—can be another way to help your startup.

3. Start a blog
A blog not only helps your company get its name out through followers, but is a way to connect with your consumers more directly. But remember that one of the major keys of blogging is to keep your stream updated as frequently as you can. A dormant, abandoned blog is worth nothing.

4. Put up multimedia on YouTube and Flickr
YouTube provides a free way to distribute creative promotional videos, but in order to succeed you must put up content that people want to view and are relevant to your business—a simple ad will not work. A Flickr profile can also help by giving you one place to compile all the photos for your business, and allows you to link back to your website.

5. SEO your company website
Search engine optimization cannot be underestimated in the world of constant Googling. Pick up a book or head over to an online how-to-guide on SEO and make sure your site is primed for performance on search engines.

6. Press releases
Every time your business does something newsworthy, don't hesitate to shoot off a press release—maybe folks will pick up on it. They're a powerful media tool to use to help generate publicity, and having free distribution of them is a bonus. There are dozens of websites out there that you can use for your press releases, such as PRLog and 24/7 Press Release .

7. Join a relevant online community and contribute
Every niche has communities online that you can get involved in. But just signing up for a forum and posting every once in a while about your business isn't beneficial for anyone, and will likely just annoy people. Actively contribute and build a rapport with the community, while keeping your business out of it. Passively promote your business by putting a link in your signature or mentioning it only when the context is appropriate.

Don’t hesitate to click here if you want more information or help implementing them.

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Ideas You need to Grow Your Business Without Spending Money.

Here are ideas you need to grow your businesses without spending money.

1. Bill faster. Your receivables can count for 40 – 50% of your actual assets. Don’t batch invoice: bill as soon as you can.

2. Simplify your business . Weed out the unprofitable and the hard-to-see.

3. Simplify your marketing message. Read Made To Stick by Chip and Dan Heath.

4. Get your business and your web site listed in relevant directories . To find directories, Google the name of your town plus directories url” (e.g. “cobourg directories url”).

5. Learn to delegate . Figure out what you do that turns dollars. Then delegate the rest.

6. Encourage employees to explore more efficient approaches to their tasks instead of relying on their standard way of doing things.

7. Don’t forget suppliers. They might not be on your payroll, but they are more apt to do a few things for you at no charge because you really take care of them.

8. Work faster. If you can condense three four-month jobs into three three-month jobs, you can do one more job in the year.

9. Reward your team for meeting budgets and time lines. A 5% bonus is cheaper than a 20% increase in costs.

10. Cut overhead by automating most of the non-producing items like accounting, customer care, voice mail, sales reporting, ordering and record keeping.

11. Make sure you’ve clearly outlined project scope , and don’t be afraid to charge your customer for changes.

12. Offer to be a spokesperson on your specialty when your local media need an expert opinion. Send them a relevant press release every month.

13. Give something valuable away on your web site; at your front counter; when you send out your invoices; when you deliver goods. This should be free to you, but valuable to the recipient, for example, coupons or a “How To”.

14. Highlight offers, features, promotions and news in your email footers, invoices and letter signatures.

15. Start social accounts with Twitter.com, Facebook.com and LinkedIn.com and post articles .

16. Go where your audience is on the web. If your potential audience hangs out on forums, then post to those forums. Become a trusted advisor.

17. Get your supporters to refer you. Check out “ Make A Referral Week” to learn more about how referrals can build business.

Don’t hesitate to click here if you want more information or help implementing them.

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Branding For Small Businesses Made Simple

There’s a lot of content out there that is written to help small business owners do their own marketing, but it’s often written by marketers who are adept in things like analytics, content marketing, and technical jargon. It may be written using terms you don’t understand and business processes you’re not familiar with, and then you’re left with no clue how to start marketing your brand.
If you own a small business, or are responsible for marketing one, you need to know how to be effective in your market without the hoity-toity language of marketing. You need marketing for beginners.

"Branding strategy doesn’t have to be complicated, nor do you have to hire an expensive expert to help."

Here, in a nutshell, are four simple things you can do right now to grow your brand:

1. Develop buyer personas
As a brand, you’re speaking to human beings who share your ideals, and who want or need your product or service. If you don’t know who you’re talking to, you’ll have trouble reaching your audience. Creating a buyer persona brings those individuals to life and helps you figure out how to market to them.
A buyer persona is simply a description of the person you’re trying to reach. You might have several. Give the persona a name. Write out the features of that person (“Sally has a master’s degree and likes buying organic food”) to illustrate her and get to know her. Then, when you do your marketing, keep that “person” in mind and address your messaging to her specifically.

2. Establish your tone of voice
How you communicate your marketing message is referred to as the tone of voice you use. It might be professional, casual, or even funny. The tone you use should resonate with your audience. For example, if you’re a B2B firm, you might do better using a more formal tone than a casual one peppered with teen-friendly acronyms. Just make sure to choose a tone that is consistent across all marketing channels.
If you’re outsourcing your content, your writers will need to use your brand’s voice as if it were second nature. Help them by creating a document with your brand guidelines, meeting with them, answering their questions, and giving them examples of the tone you are going for.

3. Know your brand’s values
Establishing what your brand stands for can help you immensely in your marketing because you can then communicate those values to your customers.
How can you do this? Jot down the things that are important to your company. For example, do you care about the environment? If you do, let people know about the choices you make that align with this value, like using green energy in your office, only buying recyclable or reusable office supplies, or volunteering to clean up your community.

4. Blog consistently
Blogs are hugely important to your marketing strategy: 81% of Americans trust the information they read in blogs. They can take you further than any ad campaign.
Write about things that matter to your customers: write about topics that they have questions about or that can enhance their lives in some way. And if you really don’t have time to blog, hire someone to do it for you.

Click here to get started.

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Should You Hire A Virtual Assistant?

There comes a time in every successful startup company where you have to outsource work . As a business owner, you know that your time is valuable, and it should be spent doing the important things you excel at. Don’t get me wrong, every part of running a business is important, no matter how small- but some things are worth paying someone else to do. One of the first things that people outsource are small administrative duties, which a virtual assistant can do.

What Is A Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant by definition is usually a self-employed professional who carries out many different administrative jobs depending on each different client or project. They usually work for multiple people, but they just split their time up between each client. This is a better alternative to small business owners who are just starting out than hiring a full time administrative assistant.

What Do Virtual Assistants Do?
This is a very broad answer. Some virtual assistants can do many different things for you . The best way to find a good fit for you, is to determine what tasks you need to outsource, and go from there. Hiring a virtual assistant is a huge undertaking, and you can’t take it lightly. Once you know the tasks that you need to outsource, you can start searching for virtual assistants. Many of them specialize in a certain area, so it would be beneficial for you to find one that has specialties that could benefit your company.

Are Virtual Assistants Expensive?
As it is with anything in life, you get what you pay for. If you are looking to hire someone for dirt cheap, be expected to get the same quality of work. The best VA’s out there may charge $30 or more an hour, but they are there to make things easier for you, which is worth every penny if you ask me. It shouldn’t be hard for you to find a VA that fits in your budget, as long as you are not being a tight-wad. Just think about what you are saving from not having to hire on a full-time employee with benefits.

How Do You Pay A Virtual Assistant?
Most (if not all) virtual assistants charge by the hour. They should give you their rate up front, and you both can determine how many hours you expect them to work per week. There is a possibility that you don’t have an exact number of hours the tasks will take, so there are ways you can track their hours instead. Tracking hours is a way that you can tell how long the tasks are taking them, and decide if they are as efficient as you hoped they would be.
If you find yourself in the position where you feel like you need to bring someone else on board, congratulations! I know it feels stressful, and even scary, but this is huge for you. This means that your business is growing to the point where you can’t do it all on your own. That is something that many business owners only dream of. Hiring a virtual assistant is not as scary as it seems, in fact it can be fun! Find someone that you can get along with well, and that will compliment your skills with their own. If you find the right VA you will feel less stressed, confident, and hopeful about your future.

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Credit: Huffpost

10 Deadly Startup Mistakes to Avoid

Countless startups fail every year. But there are not countless reasons that they fail. “I’m talking to entrepreneurs three or four times a week, and they’re all coming to me with the exact same issues,” says Tarek Kamil, a serial entrepreneur with five launches under his belt (most recently, as founder and CEO of the communications platform Cerkl). “People are falling into the same traps over and over. If they could just avoid those common mistakes, the chances of their company being successful would significantly increase.”
He’s not the only one who thinks so. Mentors, VCs and serial entrepreneurs all say they routinely see entrepreneurs fall prey to a common set of mistakes. So what are they? You should know.

1. Not prepping your life
No one would show up to run the Boston Marathon without training first. The same should be true of startups. You need to warm up with some prelaunch training, from getting proper rest and nutrition to shoring up relationships. “You have to be rigorous about making sure you’re ready and that every area of your life is in check,” Kamil says. A startup will take a toll on your life, guaranteed.
If friends and family don’t understand what’s about to happen and are not supportive of your vision, they’ll cause personal misery, not to mention a major distraction from the business. Have a candid conversation to manage expectations. “Tell them, ‘I’m going to give this my attention --and while it doesn’t mean you’re not important to me, it may feel that way,’” Kamil says. “You need to make sure these areas are buckled up, because entrepreneurship will shine a light on whatever parts of your personal life are weak.”

2. Confusing a product with a business
In this age of apps, Atlanta-based serial entrepreneur and company strategist Eric Holtzclaw says wannabe ’treps don’t always know how to build upon their success. “A product solves an individual need,” he says, “but a real business has something customers will come back for again and again.”
Here’s how to make the distinction: Do you have potential revenue streams beyond the customer’s initial purchase of a product? That’s a key factor for prospective investors, who “want to see what the next thing is and want to make sure that there’s some longevity beyond what you’re offering today,” Holtzclaw says. “Are you going to license the technology to someone else? What does the business look like in three or five years? That’s a big concern from an investor perspective, and that will help you determine if you even have a business at all.”

3. Not paying for expertise
We say this with full respect: You’re not good at everything. You can’t be. And yet, every part of a business should be done expertly -- particularly the tricky stuff like taxes and legal issues. “Structuring not only the company but also potential investments in the wrong way can come back to haunt you,” says serial entrepreneur Greg Rau, COO of Ridago, a hardware engineering firm based in Oregon.
So where it really matters, don’t download some free online guide or think you can handle it yourself. Find an expert whose job is to know exactly what you need to do. The place Rau says entrepreneurs are particularly in need of an expert eye: “When drafting the terms you accept investment on,” he says, “if you don’t pay attention to things within the terms sheets, like liquidation preferences, that could hurt you on the future sale of the company to the point where the founders may end up with nothing.”

4. Ignoring data
“Magical thinking can kill any business,” says Lisa Stone, the San Francisco–based cofounder of the online community BlogHer. You can’t just believe you’ll succeed—you need to actually crunch some numbers and figure out if you will succeed. There has to be data that validates that your big idea is real, or at least provides a leading indicator that it could be. Once you collect that data, use it to create key performance indicators or milestones to show your idea or business is progressing.
Stone speaks from experience. In the early stages of BlogHer, she and her partners were told that women would never blog in large enough numbers to support an annual conference. But the data they collected from their first small test conference confirmed their belief that the plan would work. The event, organized in four months, sold out with more than 300 women showing up and netted the team $60,000, which was poured back into the company.

5. Scaling too quickly
Here’s a scary number: Seventy-four percent of high-growth internet startups fail because they scaled too fast, too soon. (That’s according to a report by Startup Genome.) “It happens a lot,” says Erik Rannala, cofounder and managing partner of Los Angeles–based Mucker Capital. “People raise money, think they’re flush with cash and then spend it on the wrong things. But by the time they realize that spending isn’t getting them anywhere, it’s often too late.”
What are they spending on? Oh, anything -- from marketing to hiring too many employees too quickly. But the basic problem is the same: They’re draining the budget on things that aren’t essential to expansion or determining whether their business is even viable. “When you start to spend money, you need to either have more or have a way to generate more,” Rannala says. “Because if you run out of money before you actually hit any real business milestones, you’re going to have a very hard time raising more.”

6. Clinging to the wrong idea
“You have to realize that sometimes you’re pushing up the wrong hill or you’re pushing into a brick wall you’re never going to break through,” Rannala says. This mistake is especially prevalent among first-time entrepreneurs and people entering an unfamiliar market -- folks who just fall in love with their original idea and can’t recognize how much it’s failing.
Don’t go on gut. Go on evidence. Evaluate how your product fits in the market. Maybe you run experiments on what tactics or product tweaks draw in customers the best. Or maybe you closely track how much it costs you to acquire each customer -- and if small tweaks make that cost go up or down. “For consumer internet companies, for example, there are five or six tried-and-true ways to acquire customers,” Rannala says, “and if you try them for six or 12 months and none of those tactics are working, that might be a sign that there’s something wrong.”

7. Failing to delegate
It’s perhaps the most classic problem in management: Rather than give up control and trust others to take the reins, you try to do everything yourself -- and fail. The instinct is understandable, of course. “Most good entrepreneurs are very strategic, so they don’t want to have to worry about whether the fine details are being accomplished,” Holtzclaw says.
So, what to do? Delegate, obviously. Start by drawing up processes, almost like a guidebook for how to do things the way they should be done. That way you’ll feel calmer, and your employees will have the direction they need. “If you don’t do that, you’ll hire too quickly because you’ll think, I’ve got to bring somebody in because I’m so overwhelmed,” he says. “Well, if you’re overwhelmed and no one can take anything off your plate, you’re never going to get out of that state. You have to delegate.”

8. Thinking money solves everything
Struggling entrepreneurs often think that if they can juuuuust raise another round of financing, their problems will be solved. But money doesn’t work like that. It can’t solve a fundamental issue with a business model, says Carter Cast, professor of entrepreneurship at Kellogg School of Management and venture partner at Chicago-based Pritzker Group Venture Capital.
“If your business model isn’t sound, throwing money at it is not going to work,” Cast says. “You have to fix the problem first, and then raise the money. Doing it the other way around will only get you in more trouble.”

9. Underestimating how long sales take
Let’s get this out of the way: Sales take time. Many startups even think they can close a big enterprise account in three to six months -- but in reality, a deal like that can take more than a year. And if your business plan doesn’t account for that, you’re going to be in trouble.
“They have to sell in to the c-suite, the line manager, the technology folks and the product manager. There are multiple levels of approval, and then there’s a scoping and discovery and implementation process,” Cast says. “I’ve seen many companies run out of money because they have been too aggressive in estimating their timelines.”

10. Fearing failure
“Fail fast” may be a popular catchphrase, but Kamil isn’t a fan of it. No matter how much entrepreneurs may glorify failure, there’s still that scary word: fail. And nobody wants to be the opposite of success. “It’s really the wrong term, because ‘failing’ means there’s no benefit, and most times that’s just not true,” he says.
Change the mindset. You didn’t fail --you ran an experiment that will improve your next business. “It’s learning,” Kamil says. “Although it hurts a little bit each time, now you’ve learned something, and you can apply that lesson to move forward and make your business better.”
So, were these still 10 types of startup failures? Sure, technically. But that just means they’re also 10 ways to learn.

To avoid such mistakes, click here

Credits: entrepreneur.com

Truths About Emails You Can Use to Cut Through the Clutter

The average user receives 147 emails a day

. People spend about 2.5 hours checking their email

. In less than three seconds 80% of emails are deleted

. The average person writes about 40 emails a day

. There are 12 messages we receive that will take more than 90 minutes of our day

There’s a lot of talk about email and its effectiveness. Some think the medium has lost all ability to communicate a message while others still rely heavily on its ability to send information to a targeted group. If you’re with us in the second group and still believe in email’s ability to communicate your message, the infographic below highlights ways you can be sure your email remains in the effective bucket.

For starters, the text in your email should NOT contain the following words: confirm, join, assistance, speaker, press, social or invite. Some words to include in your subject line to get a better response or to get the emails opened are: apply, opportunity, demo, connect, payments, conference and cancellation. Email users are also more likely to read your email between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. or around noon while most people are on their lunch.
Once you get someone to actually open your message, be sure the call to action is located on top. For example, if you’d like someone to click on a link put that link on the top line. You should also make your email message concise. Bullet points help get your point across and make it easier for the reader to scan your email message.
What tactics do you use to get your emails read or responded to? Are you still using email to reach your targets? Tell us about your experiences in the ‘Comments.’

Click here to talk to us.

Credit:  Media space solutions

Common Branding Mistakes That Will Kill Your Small Business

What is branding exactly? It’s the development of a public persona, one that causes an instant emotional connection within consumers. When you think of great branding, what comes to mind? Nike’s swoosh? Coca Cola’s red can and white lettering? Or maybe McDonald’s golden arches?

As a small business owner, you’ve probably dreamed of reaching such branding success. You’ve also most likely become instantly overwhelmed at the mere idea of taking on what can be an expensive and demanding initiative.
The good news is, effective branding is much easier and more cost-effective than you might think, provided you avoid the following 5 common mistakes.

Being Shortsighted
You most likely know that having a strong brand is highly advantageous from a customer-relationship perspective. After all, the stronger your brand the more top of mind you become. For instance, when you think of buying shoes online, you immediately think of Zappos.
But…
Did you know that branding is also valuable for SEO marketing? It’s no secret that Google prioritizes branded listings in its organic search results. They do this because branded websites are more likely to get the clicks. More clicks mean happier search engine users. Hence, don’t be shortsighted. Undertaking a branding initiative could lead to both awareness benefits and a boost in website traffic.

Failing to Implement Branding Guidelines
Your branding efforts will be sabotaged by a lack of cohesiveness. This cohesiveness can only be reached by implementing branding guidelines. Doing so will allow your brand to be instantly recognized no matter which marketing channel you use. People recognize Coca Cola in their TV ads as well as their print ads and social media campaigns.
What should your guidelines include?
• Logo
• Brand colors
• Taglines
• Fonts and typography
• The “voice” used in your branded materials
• Imagery
• Mascots or spokespeople
While this isn’t an exhaustive list of guidelines, these points are essential to getting you started.

Not Keeping it Simple
Small businesses can learn a lot from Coca Cola when it comes to keeping their brand image simple. Take a look at how their logo has changed – or not changed – over the years. While the fonts have varied a bit since the soft drink giant launched in 1887, the logo in general has had the same look and feel over the last 127 years. Also worth mentioning is that look happens to be very clean and simple.
It may be tempting to “go all out” and add more variables when initiating your branding process. But, a logo with five colors and four different graphic elements will confuse your audience and overcomplicate things. Take a note from Coca Cola and keep things simple.

Being Vague
I already mentioned the importance of keeping your brand image and logo clean and simple. But don’t confuse this will dull and vague. Your brand’s elements must reveal something about your company and its value proposition. Catchphrases like “Best-selling” “award-winning” or “new and improved” have been so overused, they no longer hold any meaning with consumers.
Focus on creating clear language, logos and imagery that highlight your company’s value proposition.

Not Monitoring Your Brand’s Usage
Developing and launching your small business’s brand is only half of the branding equation. The other half is making sure you’re monitoring how others are using your brand image on your behalf. If you let this task slide, you risk publishing partners using your logo but with the wrong colors, or a review website using the wrong URL link. Or, worse, a competitor using a tagline that sounds strikingly similar.
While branding takes thought and comprehensive planning, it doesn’t need to be overly complicated. As long as you avoid these 5 common mistakes, you should be able to develop a brand that is instantly recognizable and connects with your target audience.

You want to brand anything? Click here

Credit: Media Space solutions

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

Credit: sitepronews.com

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.

Credit:  Constant Contact

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

Credit: Dezzain.com

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.

Credit: Media space solutions

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.

Credit: Dezzain.com

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.

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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.