Tuesday, 19 May 2015

Popular Small Business Marketing Tools

By Tammie Caldwell


Whether a person is in need of new promotional strategies or seriously considering a plan of action, it is never too late to learn different ways to reach an audience. Using both online and offline tools can either make people remember a brand or ignore it until the right formula is utilized. When it comes to small business marketing, the wide variety can make an interesting mix.

Many have now heard as to how social media can drive sales, or at least recognition. If a person is serious about making this a part of their strategy, they need to take a hard look at what their goal is first. The second would be what interests their audience.

Content, for beginners, should not be random or indirect. Keyword usage should be meaningful and not misleading or excessive. Overuse of keywords or popular phrases can cost an online brand dearly. Choosing a few popular key phrases that are modestly spread out in the first few paragraphs is ideal.

Posting frequency is also important as no one should want to inundate their audience with a numerous posts in addition to sales alerts and other news. Setting up an editorial calendar for all team marketing team members to use helps a great deal. It can also measure conversions in terms of sales and content.

The use of images and infographics is popular. Jpeg images can be used to inform site visitors about products and services. It is recommended to hire a graphic designer or layout artist create these for most effective use of white space online or print.

Tools to consider are reusable water bottles, stylus pens, and Bluetooth accessories. For the company that has limited resources, whitepapers are becoming more popular for growing a customer base. Setting these up online is also easy and measuring conversions can be done quickly.

Along with knowing the general interests and needs of the audience, keeping the tools fresh is often a job where marketers can become complacent. If something is gaining popularity, it is often tempting to keep it around. In the virtual world, keeping visitors coming back is about being unique first and delivering fresh content often creates a sense of urgency.

Also, looking in on the competition is not about direct copying but to find weak areas and areas of possible improvement. When presenting a brand to the consumer, being personable is one thing that is often overlooked. Sometimes inexperienced marketers believe their giving directives or a hard sell is the way to be an authority.

Topics may include headlines that ask a common question or uses humor. This can also help to stand out in search engine pages. Visitors are likely to return when this is given to them without interruption or obstacles.

This means cutting out the cute animation, excessive pop up or pop under ads, and anything that may be considered an obstruction. Visitors are getting hip to this and too long of a wait time means they will click somewhere else, never to return. If a landing page is used as a sales tool, it is best to give visitors a little bit reading time before demanding their contact information.




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