Author: Pamela Swift

Categories
Sales & Marketing

The A-Z Of Marketing For New Businesses

As the media keep telling us, more and more entrepreneurs are taking the plunge and starting their own company. Unfortunately, if you are a firm believer of statistics at least, many of these are at risk of going under in the first year or so of trading.

One of the biggest reasons behind this is that they simply can’t get customers through the door. Whilst perhaps one of the more interesting departments, few would disagree that marketing can be one of the most challenging. Bearing this in mind, let’s now take a look at some of the best marketing approaches for those businesses who are looking to get off the ground.

The power of email

In comparison to some of the other channels we mull over, there’s no doubt that email is a lot older and some people therefore look down on it somewhat. However, they should do this at their peril.

Email marketing is one of the most tried-and-tested methods out there. It’s something which converts higher than pretty much every channel out there, so if you can build an email marketing list it should be at the top of your priorities.

Search engine optimization

If you are all for playing the long game, this next suggestion might be something that you tap into. Sure, SEO isn’t quite as simple as it once was, but in some industries you don’t need to possess huge budgets to make a real go of it and ultimately drive customers to your website.

There are now plenty of guides on how to carry out SEO, and the basic premise tends to be making your website as simple as possible for crawlers, like Google, to go through. If you can obtain some good backlinks as well it can help your cause, and help you tap into the huge market that Google has created for businesses.

The paid alternative to SEO

If you are looking for faster results, albeit at a cost, consider the paid alternative. Going by the name of PPC, this allows your business to immediately appear above the natural listings on Google’s platform. You will be paying on a per click basis, and those businesses who pay more will tend to find themselves at the top.

Considering how much money you could spend with this, you will certainly need to keep an eye on things and you can’t leave it to work by itself, so to speak. However, it can work out to be very effective and some businesses make a very good return on their initial investment.

Traditional marketing can still work

Following on from the above online options we have mulled over, let’s now turn our attention to traditional marketing. It might not be as effective as it once was, merely because it can’t target users in the same way as online alternatives, but it can still work to some extent. If you are a local business, the old tactics like handing out leaflets or posters can pay dividends – at least getting your new brand out to the local community.

Categories
Branding

How to Build A Fantastic Brand With Minimal Spending

If you would look for a definition of the word brand in some dictionary, you would probably find the answer that a brand is one company’s identity. The way it’s perceived by its customers and competition. It should be obvious that changing this identity or building it from the ground up takes a lot of time and effort. But is this reserved only for the juggernauts like McDonalds or Apple? No, your company is developing its brand by its very existence. Here are a couple of tips that should help you do that properly.

Decide how you want to be perceived

This may sound superfluous, but before you even start thinking about some more concrete actions, you will need to be 100% sure what your brand needs to be. To come up with the answer to this question, do a quick market research and see where your company has the best chance of succeeding. Once you know to whom you are reaching out, you will be on the right path to discovering which core values you need to embody.

Embody the brand’s story

According to branding experts from Studio X, “brands, like people, are defined by what they actually do, not what they say they do.” That is why your company needs to embody the story it chooses to run with. Embody its actions, marketing messages, and even the look of the premises. The change doesn’t need to be excessive or jarring, but it has to be thorough and consistent, or the customers will quickly see through the cracks.

Make the brand visually appealing

Defining the appealing visual identity is one of the most important steps in successful branding. To find this all-important visual language your company will be remembered for, start with something simple as a logo, and put it into perspective. Imagine how that logo will look on your website, product package, app or a billboard. Figure out what imagery enforces the message you are sending. Try to make it timeless. When you finally come up with a solution, you will have all the important design blocks for building the rest of the house.

Establish yourself as a trusted authority

Now that you’ve laid the foundations, it is time to start a blog that will discuss the industry-related topics, and establish your company as a reliable industry authority. This blog won’t only serve as a cornerstone for the later SEO and social media actions, it will also help you further develop your brand’s unique voice and expand its reach to the people who may not necessarily be interested in the things you sell.

Create a strong social media presence

The story is simple – the general audience will more likely stumble upon your social media posts than your website. That is why you need to use social media as the springboard for your content. Before you go on the offensive, though, see which social networks suit your business the best. Once you find your target audience, do your best to maintain a consistent, two-way communication, engage the followers with various actions, and invite shareable user-generated content.

Use the freebies

Try not to look at freebies only as a way to quickly put the brand in the public eye by offering free stuff. Free branded products are a very powerful tool that can be used for a variety of different marketing purposes, ranging from guerrilla actions to social media giveaways and calls to action. As long as you’re creating buzz and gathering valuable feedback, the money you have spent will be money well spent, regardless of the amount.

Have a killer customer service

Finally, an unparalleled customer service will go a long way in helping your brand to stand out from the competition and start the much-needed positive word-of-mouth. The recognition you will earn simply by being there for your clients when they need you will establish you as a professional who stays true to the promise. And in the words of Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, “a good brand is a promise kept.”

The story of branding is much bigger than this. But now, you have the key plot points. What’s really important is to make all these elements work together and build upon each other in order to work. And never stop growing. Great brands are timeless, but never immobile.

 

Author Bio: Cooper Klein is an entrepreneur with a degree in Marketing and a regular contributor to SmoothDecorator. In order to spend more time with his family, Cooper decided to take a break, and he’s currently working from home as a blogger. You can find him on Twitter.

Categories
Entrepreneurship

5 Principles of Personal Growth that Every Entrepreneur Should Adopt

Entrepreneurship is about creating and growing a business, but don’t let that concept consume you. If you want to be an effective entrepreneur, boss, leader, teammate, and visionary, you can’t be content to only make changes and spark growth in your business—you have to make changes and spark growth in yourself as well.

Your personal growth is what’s going to equip you to carve a path to success:

  • You’ll gain knowledge to make better decisions.
  • You’ll develop skills to expand to new areas.
  • You’ll earn experience to apply different perspectives and engage your creativity.
  • You’ll transcend your business, so that when your business is sold (or when you depart some other way), you’ll be able to do even more in your next venture.

That being said, you can’t just say you’re going to grow—you have to work to achieve that growth, and it isn’t always easy or straightforward. When you’re ready, you’ll need to adhere to the following five principles—at a minimum—to be successful:

  1. Meet as many people as possible. As people, we are fundamentally limited in how much we can learn and how much we can develop by the people around us. If you spend time, personally or professionally, with the same three people over the course of a decade, eventually your personalities, beliefs, thought patterns, and abilities will all meld together and become indistinguishable. You’ll teach each other everything you have to teach, and you’ll reach a plateau where you’re unable to draw any new information or experiences from one another. By contrast, every new person you meet—whether it’s a new hire or a stranger on the street—is going to be better than you at something, and is going to have different ideas than you do. I guarantee it. The more people you meet, the more you’ll stand to learn, and the more you’ll grow as a person.
  1. Listen to advice and feedback. Listening is an oft-neglected, but fundamental skill. Too many people focus on what they’re saying rather than what everyone around them is saying—but you can turn this around. Go out of your way to earn advice and feedback from the people around you, including people above you (like investors and mentors) and people below you (like employees and people outside the industry). You don’t have to necessarily take or incorporate all this advice, or any of it, but you have to hear it, understand it, and consider it. It’ll open you to new perspectives.
  1. Always have a book. Yes, book-reading is a bit old fashioned in this advanced digital age, but it’s still one of the best ways to gain—and more importantly, retain—information. Depending on what you read, you’ll learn new skills, gain new insights, learn new strategies, and sharpen your linguistic skills and vocabulary, all of which are positive steps. You should always have a book you’re currently reading, so whenever you finish one, you’re onto the next. The minute you stop reading, you stop learning, so keep a full queue of books to read and delve into them whenever you have spare time.
  1. Question everything, including yourself. It’s dangerous to become a slave to your assumptions, and many people do without ever realizing it. If you want to grow, you’ll need to challenge those assumptions. Try not to treat anything as sacred—even if there’s a news source you like, don’t trust everything it publishes. Just because you’ve held a belief for years doesn’t mean it’s absolutely and objectively true. When you operate under the assumption that everything is flawed and there’s no such thing as perfect or objective reasoning, you’ll open the doors to more information, and the ability to learn and adapt.
  1. Never be satisfied. If you want to achieve positive personal growth, you have to want to grow. This seems obvious, but there’s an important principle you have to accept before you can truly desire that growth; you have to avoid the temptation of satisfaction. When you become content with yourself, or satisfied with the level of growth you’ve achieved, you’ll have no reason to continue moving forward, and you’ll become stagnant. Resist that eventuality by refusing to be too satisfied with yourself. Continually work on improving yourself, improving the content you publish, and improving the way you promote yourself (and your content, such as through a strategic link building campaign).

With these five principles in the back of your mind at all times, you’ll be well-equipped to advance yourself as much as you advance your business. When you’re the best entrepreneur, and the best professional you can be, you’ll make better decisions, open your mind to more ideas, and achieve a broader and more developed set of skills and experience to harness. Encourage all your partners and teammates to adopt the same mentality, and you’ll have an entire team of self-advancers who remain on an upward trajectory.

Categories
Online Business

How To Monetize Your Personal Blog

If content writing is among your hobbies then this article will definitely be interesting and useful for you. Now that you don’t have to be someone like Stephen King to be a writer, you can express yourself via a personal blog, with limited restrictions as compared to a popular news website or TV.

Still, a personal blog will take time and energy, and maybe you’ll have to do some things so your personal blog can actually generate income. So, today we will try to talk briefly about the most important things you must take into account if you want your personal blog to take care of your finances.

Focus on a particular niche

If you write random articles about totally different subjects, it might be harder to make your blog a platform for making money online. You must have at least one area that you really like, so focus on that and write relevant materials with added value for your readers. The key is to slowly build an audience interested in the same things as you are. Also, choose a niche which is linked to some quality products or services that are currently out there, or build your blog in a way that in the future you’ll be able to advertise your own personal products on it.          

Advertising

One stream of income could come from the advertising sector. Banner advertising is trending these days and could generate returns, in the long run, if you can get enough traffic. Marketing has gradually expanded in the online world, and that is a huge opportunity for bloggers, vloggers, or other people who managed to build their own “platforms” in the web.

Companies and platforms such as Bannerbit.com, affiliate marketing-related companies, and many others are out there and could potentially represent a good source of income if you are dedicated and if you are able to put in enough work, time and energy.

If you follow the first step (focus on a particular niche) it will be much easier for you to find ways to integrate advertising into your personal blog. By doing that you will be able to:

  1. Provide valuable information to your audience;
  2. Offer high-quality products or services relevant to your niche.

Finding the perfect balance among the two (so you won’t be perceived as just a guy who acts like a sales agent) is very important, that is why we mentioned building your blog so it will be attractive to a particular niche.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Local SEO – A More Targeted Approach to Marketing Your SME

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), when implemented strategically, is one of the most cost-effective local marketing strategies within the digital landscape, perfect for your SME. SEO pursues audiences actively seeking a specific product or service and achieves cut through by ranking and displaying your business or services to those looking for it at a time when they are most likely to take action on your marketing message.

But What Is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.

SEO in its simplest form, is the process of optimising web assets in a means that is complementary to Google’s search algorithm. There are two factors that come together to facilitate successful optimisation: on-page and off-page properties. On-page elements are those that are placed on your website. Off-page link building undertakings are those that exist externally on third-party websites.

11 SEO Factors To Keep In Mind To Drive Traffic To Your Website

Are you ready to increase visitors to your website and get them to subscribe, buy or call?

We asked a reputable and leading SEO agency what factors were important for driving quality traffic to your website when implementing SEO. These were their recommendations:

Web Page Titles: A vital element for both user engagement and search engine algorithms, web page titles briefly and accurately describe the topic and theme of the landing page.

Meta Descriptions: Not only are meta descriptions CTA driven, they assist search engines when indexing your web pages through relevant keywords to the content they describe.

Header Tags: Critical in assisting search engines in knowing what your page is about, header tags need to be fully optimised in conjunction with a pre-agreed SEO strategy.

Domain Level Links: This is simply a quality link from a third party site to a website’s home page. Over 150 SEO experts surveyed said DLL’s are Google’s most important ranking factor.

Page Level Links: Equally as important as a domain level link, third party PLL’s point to an individual webpage increasing the authority of this page on your website.

URL Structure: SEO experts ensure that both users and search engines are able to easily understand what is on each page just by looking at the URL. Say ciao to outdated URLs, such as /digital-9589=marketing

Internal Link Structure: A website’s internal links assist Google in establishing a hierarchy of importance. This enables you to have complete control over which pages you want to provide the most amount of link value towards.

Landing Page Content: Content on your site devised to appease both SEO algorithms and simultaneously is engaging for visitors.

Blog Content: If content is king, the context it sits within is queen. Increase your website’s long tail keywords and supporting contextual density with inspiring, educational blog content from experienced SEO writers that resides either on your site or on third party sites with backlinks back to your site or webpage.

User Engagement: With search engines constantly striving to improve their worth, prove to Google that your page is the thought leader in the industry with quality, engaging and resourceful content.

Website Speed: Page speed is important for SEO rankings and of course, positive user experiences.

Where Can I Get Good Help For SEO? What Does Good Look Like?

SEO is a specialist marketing activity. Therefore, you should seek a trusted SEO agency who can create bespoke SEO strategies according to your business’s objectives. A credible agency will conduct a thorough analysis or audit of your website, complete a competitive analysis, understand your unique selling proposition (and ensure it’s clear to your intended target audience) and asses your site’s online authority relative to the competition. With this information, the SEO agency will then develop a solution that is effective and delivers a sustainable, short and long-term ROI whilst being transparent with you along each stage of the process.

A credible agency will also deliver insightful monthly reports for you, ensuring you are clear of your progress and where improvements can be made to enhance your SEO success. Why? Because the SEO landscape is forever evolving.

SEO can be utilised as a localised, cost effective advertising method which should be considered by all SMEs.