Advertising

  • Advertising and Social Media Marketing

    Advertising on Social Media

    Social media sites have been offering advertising programs for a while now. Sites like Facebook and LinkedIn provide business owners with the means to promote and reach targeted audiences on their sites. The programs are becoming quite popular because of the results they’re able to deliver. Additionally, it’s a new way to reach your audience and may help you extend your advertising strategy beyond Google.

    Why Social Media Advertising Works

    In addition to the fact that millions of people access their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts on a daily basis, they’re also accessing the sites on their mobile phone. That means that as an advertiser on one or more of these sites, you’re getting in front of your audience on a fairly consistent basis and that is what we all want, right?

    Unlike other advertising mediums, it’s new so it grabs their attention. Some types of advertising can begin to lose their potency when users become accustomed to them. Their eyes barely glance at the ad before they move on. Social media advertising is still new and therefore it’s effective for many types of businesses whether it’s for your business or not as to be determined by experimenting with the different platforms. What works on LinkedIn may not work on Facebook or vice versa. So let’s talk about how you can target your ads.

    Targeted AdsAdvertising with Social Media

    One of the great things about social media is that it has the unique ability to market directly to highly targeted prospects. For example, Facebook makes the following statement, “While most online advertising provides about 38% targeting accuracy, Facebook, on average, delivers 89%. On Facebook, you’ll only pay to reach the right people who’ll love your business.”

    This is because Facebook and other social marketing sites allow you to segment your audience. You can create ads based on your prospect’s location, age and gender, interests, and connections. I have found this to be a great way to build our audience and our client’s audiences with the right prospects. For example, you can advertise specifically to people to have them join a Facebook event. In some cases you can also find people who are similar to your best customers and create ads specifically for them. 

    Social media advertising is also generally less expensive than many other advertising opportunities and tactics. You reach more people and get more response from those people. Social media advertising also provides analytics, whereas some advertising methods do not provide this and make advertising efforts a guessing game. 

    Without analytics, you just don’t know if your ad worked or not. With any type of advertising for an internet business, analytics are essential and a clear-cut way to identify which ads are working and how well. You stay in control over your budget and your results.

    If you have an advertising budget and strategy, consider adding social media marketing to that plan. You may be surprised at the results. It could change the way your business approaches advertising. Trying something new or shaking up your current ad campaigns can be a great way to expand your current client base.

    At Strategize Your Success we offer coaching and consulting for those needing help in devising a marketing plan or strategically planning your advertising on social media.
    Contact us today! 
    https://strategizeyoursuccess.com/staging2/coaching-consulting

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  • Diversify Your Marketing

    Diversify Your MarketingMany business owners will tell you that they experience a lot of fluctuation throughout the year.  Some months will have higher profits than other months, there will be an increase in demand for a particular type of product or service one month, and then the next month a different type of product will be in demand.

    This business phenomenon holds true for a business’ source of customers as well.  Some months, a business may receive a surge in word of mouth advertising, whereas other months it may receive orders from people who came across an ad that the business had placed. 

    Many marketing experts agree that it is important for a business to diversify its marketing methods.  This will ensure that leads are coming in from many different sources and that if one source is having a particularly slow month, the other sources should still be delivering plenty of leads.

    On the other hand, marketing experts caution against having a marketing message sprung out over too many places.  It can be hard to keep track of ads and know which ads are hitting the right target market. 

    Testing ads and keeping track of the results can help a person decide which areas are the best places for them to advertise.  Knowing this information can also help stretch an advertising budget. 

    There are many choices for where to spend advertising dollars.  If a person wants to advertise online they could choose to invest in pay-per-click ads, ad space that they buy directly from another website, as well as free options – including social networking and article marketing.Diversify Your Marketing

    There are many ways to find leads offline, including flyers, lead boxes, and ads placed in local newspapers and magazines, as well as referrals from current customers.  Depending on the type of business, a person may also opt to buy leads from lead companies.

    The marketing mix that works for one person may be to have one or two ads running, both online and offline, while another person may find that participating for a few hours each week in social networking and hanging up flyers around their local area is what works best for them. Just remember to diversify your efforts.

    Also, it may be somewhat tedious, but testing ads and tracking the results is the best way to find the right mix for your business.  Using an ad tracker service such as Google as well as linking ads to different URLs can help determine which ads are outperforming other ads. 

    Happy Marketing!

     

    We specialize in Google Adwords and SEO and we can be a huge asset to your business.
    Let us know if we can be of service to you and your business. 

     

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  • Has Your Business Hit a Slump?

    One thing that you can count on in business is that there will always be ups and downs.  A business thrives on making the most of its options during both of these times.  When your business is not increasing in profits, here are a few things that you can do to liven things up a bit.
    Has Your Business Hit a Slump?

    First, make sure that you have a sound business plan.  Your business plan details a game plan for the growth of the business.  It is a guideline that you can use to direct future ventures for your business.  The plan is not set in stone.  It is open-ended so that you can add and change portions as your business grows.

    One thing that is worth your time when business is not moving forward is to re-evaluate your business plan.  If it has been some time since you dusted it off and took a look at it, now would be a perfect time.  Did the initial business plan include provisions for times of stalled profits like this one? 

    If not, don’t worry.  We can take care of that right now.  The last thing that you should do is cut advertising out of your budget.  Mistakenly, businesses often think that if cash flow is the problem, advertising or not advertising won’t make a difference.  In fact, it makes a big difference.

    When people are not in a mood to spend money, there are a number of reasons.  For starters, they may be resetting their financial priorities.  With the changes in the economy, people are holding on tightly to their funds.  Purchases and services used need to be worth what is being spent. 

    Has Your Business Hit a Slump?

    Revamp the marketing strategy for your business.  The business could be going nowhere fast because the old campaigns don’t work anymore.  Test each marketing tool to see what is no longer working and look at your business with fresh eyes.  See things the way you did when the business was first getting underway. 

    Have you made any changes to your website lately?  Add some new content.  What about Google Ads?  They’ll help bring new business and income for you.  Since money is a concern, write the content yourself.

    Speaking of content, while you are writing some for your own website via your blog, consider submitting a few posts to complimentary sites as a guest blogger.  What is guest blogging anyway? Basically, it is a partnership that results in an exchange of content between two business sites. Guest blogging can be a great way to build the reputation of your business online. The goal of becoming a guest blogger is usually to:

    • build relationships with other business owners within your niche market
    • increase your online presence and gain traffic
    • build your list
    • establish yourself as an expert in your field
    • acquire backlinks to your website
    • build your brand and reputation
    • gain more opportunities to guest blog or partner with others in your business market

    The key to any business surviving the ups and downs of the economy is change.  Businesses that branch out in many directions are often diversified enough to find success even after a standstill.  If you have the right tools and a bit of creativity, your business will continue to thrive.    

    If your business is experiencing challenges and you need help with your online marketing please be sure to contact us.  We offer a free 30 minute consultation.

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  • Why Do I Need to Brand My Products?

    Why Do I Need to Brand My ProductsThere are literally millions of products on the market today.  What makes yours stand out from the others?  If the answer is nothing, you need to brand your products.

     

    Branding is a way of getting your product in the minds of customers all over the world.  You could walk up to someone in Europe and they would know what Pepsi was.  Or, better yet, ask someone to name a soft drink and they would think of popular brands like Pepsi and Coca-Cola.  That is how much we are into those two sodas.

     

    Whatever you are selling, there is someone else selling a variation of that product as well.  What hope do you have of gaining a share of the market?  Your hope is in branding your product. 

    Brand Your Product

    To brand your product, you will need to ask yourself a few questions.  First, what is the business all about?  There must be a reason that drives you to sell your product.  Is it to provide good quality clothing, books or a beauty product to the consumer, then let that be the key to your brand strategy.

     

    All products need a logo.  Without one, that shirt you are trying to sell is just another shirt.  The logo will remind people of your products and also say something about the company’s mission.  For instance, Hanes has branded itself as tagless.  So you could say their mission is to make you more comfortable because there is no tag on their product. 

    Slogan or Tagline

    Do you have a slogan or tagline?  When people relate to Adidas they think, “Impossible is Nothing.”  For Visa, they hear, “More people go with Visa.”  With M & M’s it’s “Chocolate’s Better with M”. Those slogans say something about the product. 

     

    Determine what sets your product apart for others of its kind and play to that strength.  Being unique is difficult in business, but it can be done with a good branding strategy.  The uniqueness will get your product noticed through a marketing campaign.  It won’t benefit your business if you have a good product and no one knows how good it is or can find it.

    Stand Out Among the CompetitionWhy Do I Need to Brand My Products

    Without branding, your products are just one of a hundred or a thousand others on the market.  If you can back up the claims about the product, creating a brand can help you to get it into households and businesses.

     

    Branding your product will make it stand out among the competition.  Branding is not an exact science but it can boost the sales of other lesser-known products in your inventory when your premier product catches on.  In business we are always looking for a way into the inner sanctum of profit, and branding is the beginning. 

    Do you need help with building your brand? Do you need a logo, website development or company identity? Give us a call. We offer a complimentary 30 minute strategy consultation and we know the struggles entrepreneurs face.

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  • Marketing Mistakes

    Business is a combination of talent and hard work.  The talent can only take you so far, so begin by doing your homework.  Every business benefits from advertising in some form or another.  The key to becoming a name that people can trust is to let them know who you are and what you stand for.  Here are a few marketing mistakes that, if avoided, will spare you much grief and money.

     

    social media planning1.  Not having a marketing plan.  What is a marketing plan?  It is the way that you will go about promoting your product or service.  Just like you wouldn’t begin to get serious about your business without a definite plan, it is best not to approach the marketing of your product without a plan.  When a product is promoted well, sales increase.

     

    2.  Putting all your eggs in one basket.  This old saying seems to work in a lot of situations and marketing is one of them.  You may find a strategy like email marketing that has been successful for you.  But, don’t base your entire marketing plan on that one strategy.  In order to grow, diversification is the answer.  By not exploring other options, your business will become stunted in no time.

     

    3.  Ignoring the value of networking.  For business, networking is invaluable.  It is the way that entrepreneurs get together to pick each other’s brains.  During these “meetings of the minds”, partnerships are struck.  You can find someone who will complement your business with a new idea.  Joint ventures mean more profits for everyone.

     

    4.  Working as a force of one.  All businesses need support in some form.  There are not enough hours in the day to do it all and still make money.  Outsourcing can be your best friend.  You can outsource for practically anything that you need.  Hire someone to design your web page, answer your emails, and organize your invoices.  When these tasks are taken care of, more time can be devoted to marketing the product in new and creative ways.

     

    5.  Cutting back on your marketing budget.  When business is slow, we can panic unnecessarily.  We want to save as much money as we Successcan until things pick up again.  Since business is down, we might decide that we don’t need to advertise as no one is buying.  That is the worst mistake we can ever make.  This is the time to use our extra minutes in the day to beef up that marketing plan to appeal to a wider net of customers.

     

    Have you already made some of these marketing mistakes?  No worries. In this world most things are fixable.  Begin again, but this time with the knowledge of what not to do.

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  • 7 Great Ways to Market a Home Business

    Home Office

    One of the greatest challenges of any home based business is bringing in customers. Unlike a physical storefront, with a home based business nobody is going to just “walk by” and make a purchase. You have to be proactive. You have to get your message in front of your customers. You have to draw people in.

     

    Here are seven different ways to market a home business.

     

    ==> Method #1: Word of Mouth

     

    This is one of the most common ways of marketing a small business. Start with your social circle and anyone your social circle knows. Deliver great quality work and let people refer other people to you.

     

    This method works, but it’s slow. You don’t have much control over the speed at which you generate sales.

     

    ==> Method #2: Craigslist

     

    For many service-based businesses, Craigslist is a fantastic tool. If you’re a photographer, graphic designer, massage therapist, guitar teacher or any other kind of freelancer, Craigslist can send you a lot of traffic.

    Event

    ==> Method #3: Host Events

     

    Creating events is a great way to build your brand name and build your credibility. When you create an event and put yourself in front of a room, people automatically assume that you know what you’re talking about. As your event grows, so will your influence. Clients and buyers will come to you naturally.

     

    ==> Method #4: Search Engine Optimization

     

    Try to get your website(s) to rank in the search engines for specific key phrases. This takes a lot of work up front, but once you’re up in the rankings you’ll be getting tons of absolutely free traffic.

     

    ==> Method #5: Pay for Web Traffic

     

    You can make a lot of money if you’re willing to spend a bit of money. Paid web traffic can be a great way to bring in more customers.

     

    Popular avenues include Google AdWords, Facebook PPC, paid banner advertising and paid email marketing.

     

    ==> Method #6: PartnershipsPartnerships

     

    Look for other people in your industry who would want to partner with you. For example, say you teach a real estate investing course. You might look for real estate agents, estate planners and asset managers who deal with the same client base as you.

     

    Do joint projects, joint events, joint mailings and other such partnerships to share your customer and contact base. You all win as a result.

     

    ==> Method #7: Email and Newsletter Marketing

     

    Finally, start your own newsletter. Your newsletter can be in email format or it can be an actual printed newsletter.

     

    Newsletters allow you to build a relationship with people over time. They’ll come to trust you more and more as you consistently deliver quality content. People who would never otherwise become customers will eventually make the jump.

     

    These are seven different ways you can grow your home based business. Customers aren’t just going to come to you – you need to go out and get them. These seven tactics can help just about any home based business expand and grow their profits.

    At Strategize Your Success we help women entrepreneurs, coaches and small business owners with online strategic goal setting, marketing and planning.  We know what struggles you face and offer solutions to help make your business THRIVE. Contact us today for a FREE 30 minute Discovery Session.

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  • How Does Google AdWords Work?

    Google AdWords is a pay-per-click advertising system that allows a web publisher to create an ad based on keywords and key phrases.  This type of advertising campaign can be an effective method for generating traffic to a website. 

     

    Creating an ad with AdWords is fairly easy and doesn’t take much time.  Google supplies the users of this service with quite a few tools to help them create the most effective ads possible.

     

    A person can choose to have their ad placed on specific websites or have their ad seen on the right side of the screen on a Google search results page. An ad that is seen on websites will be known as a placement specific ad and a search results ad is known as a keyword targeted ad.

     

    A placement specific ad can be billed in two ways, either for the number of impressions, which is the number of times it is seen by people, or through pay-per-click.  All keyword targeted ads are billed in the pay-per-click manner.  What this means is that Google only charges the advertiser when someone actually clicks on the ad. 

    This can really help stretch a small business owner’s advertising budget.  Google may display the ad quite a few times, but the advertiser is only charged when the ad catches the attention of someone who clicks on it, and is then directed to the advertiser’s site.

    Google allows people to pay up front for their AdWords campaign as well as the option of being billed later.  For someone who doesn’t want any unexpected surprises, paying up front and having each click or impression debited from the funds is a great way to stay on budget.

     

    To further help stretch an advertiser’s budget, Google allows the advertiser to set a daily limit on how much money is used.  If a person has a budget of $50 for the month they can set those limits within their AdWords account and Google will not let them have more clicks or impressions than their budget allows for that day.  This will ensure that they get a small amount of advertising each day.

     

    There are many reports within AdWords that can be used to determine the effectiveness of the ad.  An advertiser can easily create a few versions of a similar ad and focus each one on specific keywords to see which ad and which keywords are the most effective for them.

     

    In this way, AdWords can be a very effective tool, as well as a great way to drive traffic to your site.  By taking some time to modify their ads and track their results, a business owner can find out exactly which ads bring in the most traffic and the highest profits.

    At Strategize Your Success we help women entrepreneurs, coaches and small business owners with online strategic goal setting, marketing and planning.  We know what struggles you face and offer solutions to help make your business THRIVE. Contact us today for a FREE 30 minute Discovery Session.

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  • Top Tips for Advertising

    As with any industry in its day-to-day life, such as advertising and business, there are always tips on how best to deal with situations, how best to approach people depending upon the circumstances and the reason for approaching.  

    For the world of advertising, here are some basic tips that will help you along and help you achieve your desired goal more expediently and effectively.
    Coach showing the right way to follow
    • Find your target audience.  You will have to do some initial research.  For online advertising you’ll want to use an ad tracker, as this will give you an idea of where your ad is going and what industry setting you get the most views from. 

    • Know your competitive edge.  What can you offer that others can’t?  Maybe they can offer the same thing but can you find a different spin or edge to make your product more appealing?  Maybe you can go one step further in offering up just a little bit more.  Maybe you have more experience or knowledge.  There are a lot of ways to form a competitive edge.  Know your market and your competitors and be creative.

    • Establishing your image can be the best or worst thing for you depending on how you project.  If you project a bad image for yourself or your company, then your sales will most definitely not be where you want them to be.  Always be professional.  Be careful of what you say, whether it be on air or in print.  Use a catchy logo and tag line.  Make your image good and consistent so that it becomes recognizable.

    • Spend and make money – many people don’t like this age old adage – You have to spend money to make money.  But it is very true.  You will eventually spend money on advertising, even with free advertising as time alone is money.  
    The more money you spend, generally the better your reach.  You don’t want to lower your effectiveness in sales by cutting corners.  The cheaper and free advertising may be a good short term solution when you’re starting out but eventually you will want to look into different advertising options that may require more money. 

    While most advertising is budgeted, don’t be a stick-in-the-mud with that budget.  All industries have “seasonal” times.  Learn the best times and season for your product or service and during these time increase your budget.  Look at places such as Wal-Mart for back to school or holiday sales – they don’t stay within their set advertising budget.

    Knowing when your high and low sales points are will be will become a cornerstone in determining when to go over budget.  Keep in mind as well that these seasonal times can change according to economy and market changes.

    5-b-pay-attention

    • Know your market; find your niche.  You do not want to advertise in the wrong “community”.  If you want to sell rodeo tickets you don’t go to a baseball game.  Do your research to find your niches.

    • Diversification is a great key to advertising.  You never want to use just one measure of attracting customers.  Generally the wealthiest businesses are the ones that use a many-fold approach in finding new clients and customers.

    • Keep in mind that your product or service will not appeal to everyone, no matter what you do.  If you spend the time and money trying to appeal to everyone, you stand a high risk of losing more than you are gaining.  This is especially so when you are a smaller company.  
    Even the major fast food chains don’t do this.  They have a market and they know who that market is.  

    While these tips don’t sound too difficult, you would be surprised at just how many people struggle with advertising. The key is always to diversify, be persistent and track your results ruthlessly so that you know what’s working and what isn’t. 

    At Strategize Your Success we help entrepreneurs, coaches and small business owners with strategic goal setting, marketing and planning.  We know what struggles you face and offer solutions to help make your business THRIVE. 

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  • True Freedom: Make Your Summer Business Plan of Attack Your Year-Round Approach


    Over the last little while, I’ve shared a few tips on getting more done with less time and obviously, our focus has been on keeping things together through the many wonderful distractions of summer. But keep in mind, the approaches we’ve discussed can certainly apply all year round.

    Most of us started our businesses because we wanted freedom and really, we have it right here for ourselves when we need it. I’d like to do a little wrap up of my previous posts, so you can create the schedule for your business that you want.

    • Be Disciplined: It may seem contradictory to tell you to be disciplined when you’re actually seeking freedom, but the more disciplined you are, the more time you will have to do what you really want to be doing. Setting your work hours and planning your work days go a long way to ensuring you have time to do everything you set out to do.

    • Be Flexible: On the other hand, not everything has to be written in stone. Sometimes we take on more than we can chew. Other times, we focus on things that just don’t work and we need to make a change. Don’t be afraid to make changes that are good for you and your business.

    • Get Help: I can’t stress it enough, but don’t go it alone. If you’re doing everything, you’ll forever be chained to your computer. Hire an assistant, take on a business partner or even barter where you can.

    • Focus on What You’re Good At: When you have a team in place, it’s easy to focus on the stuff you like to do and do well. It’s much easier to stay disciplined and motivated when you get to do what you love.

    • Plant the Seeds Now: Whether you’re planning a vacation or something unexpected happens, having things in place will help you go far. That includes building your team, growing your mailing list, developing a steady stream of traffic and all the things that you need to keep your business moving along. So enjoy the rest of your summer and enjoy every moment of what you do.

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