Make Your Business Take Off

Many companies have found that traditional marketing just isn’t as effective as it used to be and they’ve decided to add a “Social Media Manager” position to their staff. This position generally does some of the traditional marketing, but also manages their Facebook presence, “tweeting” on twitter and maintaining some sort of company blog, separate from the companies traditional type web page.

Why exactly is that sort of thing happening? First off most people under the age of forty don’t use the phone book at all. They immediately go to the internet and enter in the URL of a search engine to find information. This is just as true if they are looking for someone to mow their lawn as it is if they are looking for an attorney to handle their divorce. It doesn’t matter what they are looking for, it matters where they are looking.

This means that unless you are coming up in the Google or Yahoo search results, you might as well close your doors to younger customers. You may still get new clients through word of mouth, but why would you want to close the internet doors to your business? That just doesn’t make sense.

Having your own web site is a start, but you have to make sure that people can find you, and that’s where the difficulties may begin. There are lots of way to improve your position on the search engines. Some firms will tell you that it’s all about the “keywords” that are on your site. Years ago that may have given you a leg up on the competition, but nearly everyone is working the keyword angle these days. The truth is that incoming links and social networking is what is really bringing people to your site now.

If you aren’t utilizing social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter you are missing out on a real opportunity. Each post on sites like that can contain back-links to your website, and links from those sites carry some weight with search engines. Topping those with forum postings and regular blog entries is like adding icing to the cake. But the thing is these don’t really need to be done by a full time staff person, and adding these duties to someone who doesn’t understand the “why’s and how’s” isn’t going to have as much impact. Working this angle off the corner of one’s desk is almost like dismissing the entire concept and throwing in the towel.

That’s where outsourcing comes in. There is a huge untapped market of people out in “internet land” who totally get what I am talking about here, but only a percentage of them have the expertise to be seriously effective. Bringing an expert in social media marketing into your marketing circle can be a make or break decision for your online presence and can impact your bottom line.

How do you differentiate yourself from your competition? If you’re no different than anyone else out there, there is no reason for anyone to select your company.

Be Outstanding

I have been active on the internet for almost fifteen years. I’m also a 13 year military veteran and graduated from college with highest honors at age 41. Why do I tell you this? It’s not to brag. It’s to set myself apart from the other writers and marketers out there. What are you doing to separate yourself from the crowd?

Here are three things you really need to think about before making another move.

Are you a peacock in a land of penguins? If you’ve read the book of the same name you know what I am talking about here. Some people just can’t help sticking out. They don’t fit the mold of the “typical” business owner or corporate manager, and that can be OK. As a matter of fact, it is more than OK; it is outstanding both literally and figuratively speaking. The term maverick has been overused lately, especially in the political arena, but being a maverick can really work to your advantage, but you need to make it known. Maybe you like to dress a little differently or you have an interesting hobby like performing in the theater or you’ve written a book, or had articles published by the local paper or a trade journal. If people know about those things it can either set you up as an expert or give them something to relate to. (Or both) And those unique personal attributes are worthless if no one knows about them. So make them known.

What makes your company stand out from the crowd? This is important whether you are a solopreneur or the owner or CEO of a billion dollar corporation. If a hundred companies make widgets, and basically they all have the same specs, I am looking for a company that is environmentally friendly, or someone who supports local charity or someone who belongs to the Rotary or… It doesn’t matter so much what the differentiating factor is; it’s going to be attractive to certain customers and that’s why they will select you as their supplier of choice.

And this brings us to number three. Most people do select a company by how they interact with their community. If you are the one always showing up at a township meeting trying to get an easement or an exemption for your business, you may be able to work your way around the regulations, but how does that impact what the neighborhood thinks of you and the way you do business? If you are strictly selling out of the area, it may not affect your bottom line, but no matter what you do certain things have to come local. Whether it’s an eventual expansion of your factory or an addition on your house, your relationship with your neighbors can either come back to bite your behind or it can be an asset.

Whatever makes you and your company unique should be made known. All the benefits that come with good community citizenship and your personal make-up can make a huge difference in your bottom line. Your unique selling proposition is the most important thing when it comes to keeping existing customers and getting new ones, and that is the life blood of any business.

You’ve got a web site; I’ve got a web site; Auntie Ruth has a web site. Having a web site was the territory of a small minority of people, but now you can’t take your dog for a walk without tripping over a blogger writing his or her latest entry. Maybe you get struck by inspiration and your message could have serious impact, but if no one reads them, they are for naught. How can you get people to visit? Here are a couple tried and true ideas that can impact it starting right away.

Send out an e-mail to your friends and relatives. Sometimes it’s as easy as just telling people about your web site to get them to visit. I’ve had a number of people who just stumbled upon my web site and wrote a comment saying, “oh, I never knew. Why didn’t you tell me?” and the thing is that you might take for granted that they know. Telling someone at a party or any social event is great; you are spreading the word, but there’s nothing like getting ‘the word’ while you are sitting at your computer. That’s when someone can actually click on a link and book mark your site. An e-mail is more or less like handing out a business card. People don’t mind getting the odd e-mail, just don’t send one every day telling of your latest entry.

That strategy can work for a business oriented web site the same as a personal web site – just don’t cross the lists. Your accountant doesn’t want to read about your night out for karaoke, just like cousin Billy doesn’t need to hear about your thoughts on 401K investment plans.

Most people don’t even think about using their e-mail address book in this manner, but it’s like having a mailing list, and that is how you should look at it. It’s a valuable tool to spread the word.

The second piece of your web site marketing campaign is social networks. You’ve probably built up a list of “friends” on Facebook or Twitter by now. Maybe it’s only fifty or a hundred people, but every visitor counts. And again, this is like throwing a pebble in a pond. You will get ripples if your web site has interesting content. You’ll tell two friends and hopefully they’ll tell two friends, etc. For business advice or information this is even more likely. It’s word of mouth, but it’s online. That makes it even easier to spread. For micro-web sites like Twitter I use Tiny URL, or Bit Ly. When you’ve only got 140 characters to work with to spread your message, you want to make every character count.

These two simple things can really help generate traffic quickly. Sometimes people overlook the obvious, so it is helpful to remind them.

The one thing about promoting your business web site or website is that it takes time away from your primary business. If you want to gain traffic (and customers) without doing the online work yourself, Britt Marketing is the answer. We are a low cost alternative to the marketing you are doing now, and we will get you results. Check out the Marketing Packages tab at the top of this page for different options.

What is your distinguishing feature? What sets your business apart from the competition, and how do potential customers find out about that?

All Show and No Go?

The real question when it comes to your business is why would anyone choose you over your competitors? This question holds true no matter how you market your business. You can try word of mouth or bombarding the airwaves through your local radio or television station, but when push comes to shove, most people are going to make their selection by what sets you apart from the crowd.

So what does set you apart from the crowd? When Election Day comes around, all of the candidates are letting you know their finer points and also trying to expose weaknesses in their competition. But in business, it is probably better to toot your own horn than to bring up the people you are competing against. Most people are going to do some research, so there is no need to point them toward any competitors. The best offense in this case is a good offense, not a strong defense. Sound off with your message loud and clear.

Many people think that flash and pizazz is going to win you customers. Whether you are online or doing more traditional marketing, this is not really the case. You can set up one of those flapping inflatable dummies in front of your office and it may get some attention, but it’s not going to make the sale. It may get people in your door, but from there it’s up to you. The same can be said for a fancy, flashy website. It’s like the Super Bowl ads. They may be interesting and fun to watch, but how many of the products stick with you once the game is over?

But those are also national ads for big companies, and you want to make an impression locally. The most important aspect of that is being found. The most impressive flashy website is worth absolutely nothing if no one sees it. So what do you need to focus on?

Getting found!

“Search Engine Optimization” is a phrase that is bandied around a lot, but you need targeted results. If someone is looking for “Chevrolet Repair Berks County” in a Google search and that’s your niche, you need to be on page one of the Google results and preferably in the top third of the page. Everything else is secondary. You may be the best mechanic, and you may have the most current software and the best price, but without that top ranking in the search, it means you aren’t reaching most of the people who would do business with you.

So the real challenge in local online marketing is two-fold. First, your website needs to be seen, and second, you need to have a known edge on your competitors. Anything else is superfluous.

I’ve always heard that you should beef up your weak areas, and this sort of holds true in professional sports. The draft is usually looked upon as a time/place to find players to “fill holes” but probably more often than not they are really building on strengths. Shouldn’t you do the same?

We recently bought a program that claimed to be able to turn our internet success from a candle into a bonfire. I’ve bought a lot of programs that have made similar claims whether it was a business multiplier, personal success strategies or physical fitness short cuts; they are all making the brag – we can help you do ‘it’ bigger, faster, better and stronger. In general, I think that if you get one or two useful pieces out of an event, book or e-course, it was worth it.

So the latest course, Danielle Laport’s Fire Starter Sessions has already paid off because it shifted my thinking. I’ve been trying to learn how to do copywriting. It’s basically persuasive writing, and I am a pretty good writer, so I should be able to take something middle of the road and turn it into gold. But then I read that instead of building my weaknesses, I should be playing to my strengths. It only makes sense.

Some of the world’s best are the best at one thing. Put them into another field and they would be OK, or maybe even pretty good, but probably not world class. Example, take a world class sprinter who can run the 100 meter dash in under ten seconds. That same sprinter can try to make it as a receiver in the NFL, but unless they have the hands, timing and knowledge, they aren’t going to be world class anymore.

Let’s move to a different field altogether. Yoyo Ma is considered to be the finest cello player in the world, but if you put a violin in his hand, he is only fantastic. Give him a trumpet, and although he is a world class musician, he’s not going to be able to adapt. Yes, he probably could be pretty good at it, but given the time and effort needed, he would soon lose some of his proficiency on the cello. So he plays to his strength. So should we all.

We all have gifts which can take us to the top of a niche. The niche doesn’t have to be something that is going to make us famous or even necessarily make us a millionaire, but if you have a gift, play it for all it is worth. Your gift is not only for you, it is for the rest of the world as well. With all of us playing for all we are worth, the world is going to be a better place, and we are going to be happier.

What is your gift? Find the thing that makes you happiest and brings the most joy and make that thing the center of your universe. When you do this, you will find that you can achieve great things.

Here’s an aside on lifelong learning: I love learning new things and taking courses, reading books, whatever, because I get bonuses. The best bonus, in addition to the content, is that if it’s got good content I have to stop fairly often and think about what is being presented. I have mini-aha moments, and those often result in an article. That’s a cool benefit because sometimes those aha articles go in tangential directions and something completely different arises. (A phoenix from the ashes, except the ashes were already a phoenix, so it’s a double phoenix.)

Twenty years and a few generations ago, people had very few places to go to find someone to fix their roof or patch a leaking pipe in their basement. The options were either a newspaper or the phone book. If you owned a business, you might get fancy and run ads on the local television or radio show, and people would know your name and where to find you.  But those options just don’t work anymore (unless your target market is over 60).

Who's Looking?

Some of the “Greatest Generation” is still using those search methods, but most of the world is now using online search engines to find service providers and products. If you’re one who searches online, you’re who I’m talking about. If you want new music, you aren’t going to the phone book to find a record store. You’re going to Amazon or eBay or one of a million different websites. If you have a problem you need solved “NOW,” you aren’t waiting for tomorrow’s paper to be delivered to possibly find an ad for a plumber. You are visiting Google ® or Yahoo ® to find someone immediately.

That’s great for the consumer, but what about you, the small business owner? If you are paying for that phone book ad and running a weekly special in the local paper, you probably aren’t getting a lot of results. People may look in the paper for a used car or real estate advertisements, but they don’t look there to find plumbers, roofers or washing machine repair people. If they need a fast fix, the internet — and more specifically search engines — are the service provider of choice.

So you jump into the fray. You find someone who can build you a nice website, you tell them all the bells and whistles that you want, and they build a lovely platform that represents all that is good in the world.

But this is no “Field of Dreams.” This is real life. If you build it, they won’t come unless someone holds up a huge sign pointing to your location. In real life, you might get a billboard announcing the grand opening of “Rob’s Rake Store” or whatever, and people driving by might see it and pay you a visit.

On the internet, the billboard is mostly internal to your site. You may have heard the term “SEO” (search engine optimization) and wondered what that was about. Or you might have been told at a party “You need keywords. That’s what will drive the traffic,” or “Links, lots of links, that’s the ticket.”

Those are all partially true. You would be wise to investigate all of those avenues, because this isn’t 1950, and no one is going to the phone book to find your business.

How much do you spend on advertising for your business? And by business, I mean for whatever you are promoting. That thing might be a brick and mortar traditional type business or it might be for a book or product that you are selling through the internet. In either case, most people agree that word of mouth is the best advertising. People talk to their friends and recommend a movie, a restaurant, a contractor, or a service provider.

Why do you think that DirecTV has the incentive that if you tell a friend and they subscribe, you each get a hundred dollars? It’s word of mouth with a reward, and of course, the business has a new customer for a two year contract or whatever term. The concept is about feelings and beliefs. You are more likely to ‘buy into’ something (pardon the phrase, but isn’t it so applicable here?) if someone you know, like and trust has recommended it.

Obviously this is about marketing and spreading your message. How do you spread your message? Is it through traditional means? Do you use billboards, newspapers, magazines, flyers, postcards or bumper stickers? Or are you more on the electronic frontier of advertising – e-mail campaigns, Google Adwords, videos, banner ads on popular web sites, or article marketing? If some of those aren’t familiar to you, maybe you should do some research on them.

How are all these things linked together? Money – more specifically, your money. So are you getting the most customers for your marketing budget? The trick to getting more out of your budget is getting something that goes viral on the internet. It still might be your traditional print ad, or maybe it’s something electronic, a chain letter that is passed along because it’s funny or clever.

The e-mail chain was used by Hotmail to spread the word of their free e-mail service. Every single e-mail sent out by a Hotmail user carried an advertisement to spread the “gospel according to Hotmail.” And it still does. Look at the bottom of an e-mail from them, and you’ll see something like this – “Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection sign up now.” And it’s possible that you will sign up.

There are lots of tricks to viral marketing, whether it’s an e-mail campaign, talking gecko, or a funny commercial on a huge sporting event (possibly football?). You need to figure out your particular angle and make it work for you. You’ll tell two friends and they’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on. And soon you’ll be expanding your business or getting ready to retire from all the income.

Whether your business is located in Charleston, SC or any other marketplace, Britt Marketing is your choice for graphic design, web design and targeted online and social media marketing.

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