Could your Site & Social use a little Spring Cleaning?

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Brooke Boser

Attribution: Barret Anspach

“I get more cleaning done in the ten minutes before someone comes over than I do in a week.” ~ Anonymous

How many of you can relate to this quote?

It’s true that tidying up around the house isn’t a real priority for most until a visitor is expected. But what if that house was the Internet? Your website, your social profiles, your SEO activities?

Your presence on the web is available to anyone and everyone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no notice that people will be there. They just show up.

That is why you need to ensure that AT LEAST once a year you take time out to check in on and update your website and social media profiles. Call it spring cleaning for the web.

Refresh your website

When it comes to web design trends a lot can happen in a year. Here are three trends for 2014 that you will want to consider when reviewing your website:

Responsive Design – More and more consumers are viewing the Internet from their mobile phone or tablet. This means that your website needs to be simple and “responsive” to these viewing platforms.
Tell a Story – Your website can no longer be only about the sell, it needs to be about the story. Your customers need to know who you are and what your product is about beyond the standard feature sheet. This makes having a blog that much more important, because original content posted consistently is what will continue to drive traffic to your website.
Less Text, More Images – One of the biggest trends we have seen over the past year is the transition from text to visual stories. People don’t have time to read long articles anymore. They want short text, videos, or visual representations of data (aka Infographics).

Refresh your Social Profiles

Most people think that once they set up their Social Media Profile for Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn they are done.

However, a lot of things can change in a year, and your social profiles should keep up. Here are three updates you can make, no matter what social platform you are on:

Update your profile picture – Have you changed your hairstyle in the past year? Have you changed your fashion style? Would people recognize you if they met you at a networking event? These are all things to consider when reviewing your profile picture. Keeping your profile picture up to date allows people to see how you look today. Also, make sure to keep it consistent across all of your social platforms. This helps to create a consistent brand.
Update your ‘About Me’ or ‘Company Description’ – Evolution is a natural occurrence throughout a year. Not only for yourself, but for your company as well. That is why you should take the time to review what you’ve previously written about yourself on your social profiles and see if things have changed. Most likely they have, and taking the time to update this information will keep your followers up to date.
Sync your site, search, and social – This is by far the most important point. Make sure to link everything together! Your website should contain links to your social media profiles, and your social media profiles should contain links back to your website. This allows people to find you and connect with you much easier. Do a quick audit to ensure all of these links are present and working.

Want to update your Site, Search, or Social but don’t have the time or resources? Book a consultation with The New Media Group today. Limited spots are available for March, so act fast. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Three Questions to Ask Yourself To Hit the Content Jackpot

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Laurel Lindsay

Content development and inbound marketing have taken the lead as business development strategies.

But when it comes to figuring out the best way to reel people in, where does one start?

Many companies are beginning to lean towards blogs or other forms of content marketing in order to showcase their expertise, ideas, and experiences.

Developing a content strategy can seem like a daunting task; content marketing isn’t as easy as simply writing a post and pushing it live. How do you know what content your potential customers or clients want to hear? How much should you write? How do you cure writer’s block?

Here are some questions you should ask yourself when trying to take the first step in Content Marketing:

1. What do people (my future customers) want?

When it comes to developing content, I’ve always found this question to be the best place to start: what do people want?

If you can create content that shows people how they can get from where they are now to where they want to be, you’re a million miles ahead of your competitors. Maybe they want to be lying on a beach in the Bahamas, maybe they want to be building their dream house, maybe they want a kick butt new website for their new company.

As the content creator, you need to learn how to show your potential clients and customers all the possibilities that lie ahead of them.

2. What challenges do my customers face?

People don’t realize how many obstacles they overcome everyday. We defeat cold weather with warm clothing, we defeat long commutes with good music or novels, and we defeat exhaustion with coffee and energy drinks.

We’ve faced and defeated these challenges so often that we forget to see them as problems. Content that shows us how to overcome our challenges, whether it means a service or a product will help you show off your expertise and build a more loyal and trusted following.

3. How did I get to where I am now?

A percentage of your content should be about communicating what you know and what you’ve experienced.

By sharing your milestones, whether it’s actively or through remembering fond memories, you are helping your readers learn a little bit about you; showing a person as the face of your business instead of a company logo. You can choose to create content about anything from quick things you learned in a course, or maybe some motivational quotes that have helped you through the hard days.

When you show people that your company is built up of people who are human and have daily tasks and struggles and motivations, you will build stronger customer relationships.

Building a blog is the same as building a community. Your content needs to show people how you can solve their problems, help them reach their goals, and connect with them.

The answers to those three questions will help you create content that will serve you as a tool for customer acquisition, engagement and retention.

Social Media Success in just 17 Minutes a Day

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Laurel Lindsay

If you need a straight up checklist of how EXACTLY to spend your time on social media, you’re in the right place.

Here is what you should and should not be doing, each day at minimum, to maintain your credibility.

When I started, I found myself getting stuck in the three major pitfalls people fall into when it comes to social media marketing:

1. I ended up spending hours a day on social media marketing sites, without generating any tangible results.

2. Feeling the pressure, I set up more profiles than I could keep up with, so I had all these abandoned accounts which were doing more to harm my reputation than anything.

3. No matter what I posted, I wasn’t able to generate much interest or interaction, which was really discouraging.

85% of Internet users have Facebook accounts; 49% are on Twitter. (HubSpot)

Through years of trial and error I’ve been able to identify the key actions that will generate results.

(Tell me! What other frustrations are you having with social media? Share below in the comments.)

More importantly, this checklist will show you how to integrate social into your daily life so you can consistently apply these practices in the minimum amount of time per day.

Obtaining results in a short period of time usually requires working smart & being very focused. So, before you start, make sure you’re present where you’re most likely to get new prospects.

It’s important to find out where your target market is on social media . Once you’ve done that, you will need to commit to 17 minutes a day at minimum.

Social Media In 17 Mins A Day: Cheat Sheet

Bookmark this page or print a copy of this sheet for a handy daily social media checklist.

5 days a week: 17 minutes

▢ I’ve checked my newsfeed and engaged (comment, like, etc.) with 3-5 contacts

▢ I’ve shared content from people on my “hit list” or list of influencers, clients, strategic alliances

▢ I’ve checked the “people I may know” section and added at least one person

▢ I have added anyone I’ve met in real life on my social media profiles

▢ I’ve replied to comments, answered questions & acknowledged all interactions.

*TIP* Set a timer to keep yourself accountable

One day a week: 17 minutes

▢ Create and schedule at least one post a day through Hootsuite.com these posts should be 90% non sales related.

▢ Add, Follow or Friend 3 related or peripheral businesses/market leaders

▢ Measure & adjust your content based on what content your audience responds to (I use Google Analytics for this)

Points to remember:

▢ Social media is more like networking than marketing. Be personable, not pushy.

▢ It is better to be consistently on one platform than absent on many.

▢ Give of your knowledge & expertise to generate value

▢ I use my smartphone to download the social apps which will make real time engagement easy for me

▢ I champion others to build trust & get my network to grow

If you find that you need more background information before you start, check out these related posts:

How to Alleviate Social Media Guilt

3 steps to creating an online sales funnel

The complete guide to blogging for Beginners

If you found this post valuable, then please feel free to share!

The 10 Digital Marketing Commandments

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Laurel Lindsay

If you’re looking for results from your marketing, look no further than here!

I am going to show you 10 ways to use digital marketing to generate a steady stream of leads to your business.

The digital marketing landscape is crowded. It seems there is a new marketing gimmick, tool or software available almost every day, and it can be overwhelming to know where to start.

Like anything though, the basics are always a great place to begin. Here are the 10 digital marketing commandments you will ignore at your peril:

1. Know thy customer.

What’s important to them? What problem of theirs do you solve? How do you help them? Focus relentlessly on communicating the unique value you provide and your marketing will succeed in driving new customers to your door.

2. Show Proof.

Sure, you SAY you can help, but can you really? Show case studies, photos, testimonials and reviews whenever and where ever possible.

Social proof acts as an unofficial endorsement of your business, your products, your services.

3. Give to Get.

Invoke the law of reciprocity.

Share your skills and knowledge with the world. Educate your future customers, by offering up your wisdom through blogging, social media, free quotes, samples, evaluations.

You will reap the rewards tenfold.

4. Fish where the fish are.

Just because Snapchat is the hottest new marketing tool, does not necessarily mean it will work for your business.

Clear away the clutter and focus on the places where your future & current customers are present.

Commit to staying in front of your niche and ignore the rest.

5. Walk in their shoes.

Think like your customers, speak their language and you will profit.

This takes time, customer surveys and listening closely but it’s worth it.

This is what it takes to build trust and rapport with those that pay the bills.

6. Be Authentic.

You can tell a stock image or bland corporate speak from a mile away.

More than anything, this invokes suspicion.What are you trying to hide? Be a real person, or appoint a face of your company.

In this globalized world, everyone wants to deal with the small business guy that cares.

7. Be Consistent.

Even if you can only update your Facebook status once a month, commit to that and do not falter.

Consistency is key in building trust, especially online. It is better to actually do less than set up all your social media accounts and leave them to stagnate.

8. Be Strategic.

A small tweak in direction before you execute can make all the difference.

Spend your time and resources on planning and research and you can double or triple your results.

What is the most effective use of your resources? Don’t start any marketing until you have a plan.

9. Be Responsive.

Customers expect a response on social media within an hour.

That’s an incredibly demanding expectation, but one that exists nonetheless. The better you can meet or even just manage expectations in today’s instant gratification society, the more successful you will be.

This also applies to online reviews. Don’t ignore the bad reviews, address them! Respond to all interactions, good and bad and you will earn the respect of your community and future customers.

10. Get Social.

You can’t ignore social media anymore. It’s here!

Your customers expect you to have a presence on social sites. You need to be present where the majority of consumers spend multiple hours a day.

If you found this post helpful- please share!

How Using Google Analytics Will Help You Make Smarter Business Decisions

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Laurel Lindsay

Did you know there is a free Google website tracking tool?

Here is how Google Analytics can help you achieve your business objectives.

Google Analytics is a free website traffic analytics program which provides an enormous amount of data on your website traffic and user behaviour.

In fact, it’s likely you’re sitting on a gold mine of information.

There is an entire industry dedicated to customer, consumer and market research.

It’s widely believed that the more you know about your customer and their preferences, the more successful you will be.

10 things Google Analytics can tell you about your website traffic:

Google analytics, when properly added to your website can tell you at least 10 things you didn’t know about your future customers.

1. How long people spend on your website

2. What website they were at before, that sent them to your website

3. What keywords they typed into Google or other search engines to get to your website

4. What pages they spend time on and which ones they leave right away

5. What web sites send the traffic that generate the best leads for you.

7. If this is their first time on your site or if they’re returning visitors

8. What device they are using on your site ie: Smartphone versus Laptop etc.

9. Where most of your visitors are geographically located

10. What age & gender your website visitors are.

This information is of little use on it’s own, but with a little analysis you can use these analytics to help you make smarter, more profitable business decisions.

If you knew this information for certain, you could then make fully informed marketing decisions like:

1. What marketing initiatives are deserving of their high budget.

You can tell what website are sending you high quality web traffic that consists of users that stay interested and spend time on your website, and even contact you.

You’ll also be able to tell what websites are either not sending you enough traffic, or the ones that send low quality traffic that leaves right away.

2. What marketing initiatives should be cut

If your email newsletter sends high quality traffic to your website, but that ad on the radio station isn’t, then it makes sense to cut the radio ad.

This way you can use google analytics to make informed marketing decisions, instead of just guessing what is working and what isn’t.

3. What markets have high demand and little competition- and are ripe for the plucking.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve logged into my Google Analytics and been surprised at some small niche that has a high demand, that I am under servicing.

By quickly reacting to the information displayed in Google Analytics, I can quickly provide that market segment with enough information to make a purchasing decision. In this way I use Google Analytics to drive more profits in my business.

4. What content to create.

If you’re blogging, posting to social media properties or creating any kind of educational or marketing type materials you can use the information from your website statistics to determine what people would like to know more about.

Long tail keyword searches like “google website tracking” often show up in my Google Analytics and help me understand exactly what questions my future customers have.

If I can address these questions properly I have a chance to earn their business.

How will you use analytics in your business? Please comment below.

And, if you found this article valuable, please consider sharing it with your network.

7 Easy Ways to Promote Your New Website

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Laurel Lindsay

Now that you have your new website up and running, you may be wondering how to get more people visiting your site.

There are a number of easy ways you can promote your website, without going broke or spending tons of time.

Here are 7 pro strategies to promote your website.

1. Update your existing contact information.

The easiest and most overlooked method of promoting your new website- update your contact information!

Add your website address, along with a benefit statement to all your off and online points of contact and profiles.

Your Email Signature
All social media accounts: Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, etc.
Your voicemail message

An example of how to add to your website link and benefit statement email signature is: “Click here to learn How to Promote Your Website, the Affordable Way”

2. Make an announcement:

The launch of a new website, especially accompanied by the launch of a local business is newsworthy!

Emailing your personal contacts with the announcement that your website is live- don’t forget to include the link!
Send out a similar launch announcement message to your career contacts-clients, contractors, vendors, co workers and peers.
Draft a press release and send it out to any media contacts you may have
Ask influential people in your network to broadcast the message for you
Post an enthusiastic message on all your social networks announcing the launch

3. Maximize Local Listings.

Every city has multiple free listing/review websites. Take full advantage of these and add your business details to the following web properties:

Better Business Bureau
Found Locally
Yelp

If you’re feeling ambitious you could also add your business to free classified sites such as:

Craigslist

Facebook Marketplace
Kijiji

4. Coordinate & Optimize all your promotional activities:

Be sure to add a QR code, or your website address to all printed materials such as posters, brochures, signage or any other advertising you may do.

This applies to radio ads, in person networking and anything else you’re doing that is of a promotional nature.

5. Search Marketing:

If you haven’t already, consider search engine marketing. There are thousands of people searching on Google each minute of the day, and a portion of them are looking for what you’re selling.

You can get on google through Pay Per Click Ads, adding yourself and your business to Google Plus and by regularly posting new updates to your website.

Blogging is a common method of updating your website. It’s a great way to satisfy the search engines need for fresh content, and it helps educate your customers as well!

6. Social Media Marketing:

Work the network! Stay top of mind and create a community of prospective customers by being present where your target market hangs out online.

Start using social media networks like LinkedIn, LinkedIn Groups, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Pages to promote your website.

Connect with your existing contacts, and their contacts as well as influential people using these networking sites.

7. Paid Ads:

You can pay for premium space in all of the sites listed above. Bonus- you can zero in on your target market by selecting very specific demographics to display your ad to.

Consider your budget and audience, and do a trial run to see what kind of results you get.

Summary:

With these 7 tips you should create some serious buzz around, and traffic to your new website.

TIP*** Be sure to instal and use Google Analytics to measure the results of your efforts.

Where you’ll find your future customers: what social media sites are a must for your business

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Laurel Lindsay

You don’t need to be on every single social media website to find yourself a community of new customers.

What you do need, is to be on the right social media site for your unique business.

I’ll show you how to put forth 20% of the effort to get 80% of your results, by following this one simple rule:

Choose the social media sites your business uses based on where your target customers are active and engaged

Here is an executive summary of the demographic, or user base information on each of the major social networks.

Pick One Social Network and Get Started!

If your business markets to other businesses (B2B)…

Then LinkedIn is the social media website for you! It is specifically targeted towards people who are in business and want to connect with others in business.

Both a personal account and a business page are recommended.

Is your business local based with a physical location?

If you have the ability to accept walk in traffic or by appointment, then you need to be on Google plus local -formerly Google Maps.

Is your target market ladies in their 30’s to 40’s ? If so, then you need to be on Pinterest.

To build credibility, stay up to the minute on industry news and connect with or position yourself as a thought leader then you need to be on Twitter.

If you’re marketing to moms then you absolutely to have a presence on Facebook.

If you want to get traffic from Google and show up on Google’s search engine…then you’ll also need to be on Google plus and Google plus local. These factors are becoming more more important terms where you rank on Google so you actually do have to be on Google plus now.

Instagram is a great social media network for just about everybody who is tech savvy and is a great way to generate more exposure if you’re in an image oriented business.

If you’re in any type of business where you need to build more trust, You Tube is the place to showcase your personality and expertise. (There’s no better way to communicate who you are and build trust online than video marketing.)

Video marketing is great for industries that have a bad reputation or if you’re in any kind of technology industry, where things are complicated I require explanation.

If you’re not ready to do a full video, you can use the video capture tool on Vine and Instagram mobile apps which are 7 and 15 seconds each.

And if you’re not sure which social network your customers use, ask them using a free survey software like survey monkey.

The important thing is to pick one social network and start using it regularly. Once you get in the habit of using one, you can add on to others.

What social network(s) do you use for your business?

Share in the comments below! And if you’ve found this article valuable, please consider sharing it with your network.

The Complete Beginners Guide To Blogging

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Laurel Lindsay

If you’re wondering how blogging can benefit anyone marketing a business, look no further!

Here we’ve outlined what the benefits of blogging are, how often you should blog, what to blog about and BONUS what to do if you’re not good at writing.

5 benefits of regular business blogging:

Creating a regular blog post is a fantastic way to help the search engines find your website.
Posting fresh content will make visitors want to come back to your website over and over again.
It will give you something to talk about on social media.
Blogging helps establish you as about leader in your industry by increasing your reputation for your expertise and credibility.
As a customer service and sales tool it can help educate prospects on the details of your offering & benefits

How often should I blog?

I recommend that every professional and business start blogging at least one post a month.

How do I start blogging?

Typically each blog post should be between 300 and 500 words.

It should take about an hour to create a blog post and then maybe another half an hour to edit it.

Be sure to schedule a time in and keep that commitment to yourself.

What if I am not good at writing?

If you are not very good at writing you can use the various voice recording tools to translate your speech into text– then you can always edit it later. (I use the voice to text tool on my iphone).

What should I blog about?

The first thing to do when you are starting to blog is to come up with a topic.

Topics to blog about things that your customers or future customers are concerned with.
If you have a frequently asked questions page on your website, for example, you can start by creating a blog post to provide in-depth answers to each one of those questions.
Visit your website statistics or Google analytics and review the keywords, or what people are typing into Google to get your website that will give you plenty of topics.
Get Interviewed: Another easy way to get blog posts done is to have somebody interview you, record it and then publish those interviews.
News Related Posts: You have things that happen in your business that you can write about, such as a move, expansion, hire, new product line etc.
Piggyback on trends: Whether it’s the latest movie, or an internet meme, see if you can find away to incorporate the trend with your business.
Seasonal posts: Whether it’s Hallowe’en or New Years, there’s always a seasonal event you can capitalize on for new ideas.

Ok I have a blog post- now what?

Once you created your blog post you can then post it on your website and share it with your existing and future customers through your email newsletter and your social networks

You can then repurpose your blog posts by creating videos and custom images to accompany the blog post.

Be sure to review your website statistics to see what posts got the best response, and ask your friends, family, customers and staff to provide you with feedback and help share your post.

If you found this post beneficial, please consider sharing it with your network.

Connect with me online via any of the networks below!

3 steps to simple video marketing for small business

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Laurel Lindsay

How to start video marketing

1. Actually, your biggest fear is your biggest asset.

Most people are concerned with how they look on camera and many people out there are too nervous to be in front of a camera.

What you don’t know is the fact that you’re not a model or actor is actually working to your advantage.

The success of reality shows is testament to the fact that people no longer like things that are fake. The public wants authenticity. The fact you’re a real person with flaws and a unique personality makes you far more trustworthy & credible then an actor or model could every be.

Besides, you’re probably more talented, intelligent and better looking than most reality stars anyway.

Also, practice makes perfect! I’ve been creating video blogs for probably four years now and at the bottom I’ve included a link to my actual very first video. You can see the difference practice makes.

Don’t let being inexperienced stop you from video marketing!

2, What should you do a video about?

Simply re purposing your blog posts and summarizing them is the most effective way to start video marketing. See a sample here:

As long as you are you’re using topics that provide value to your audience it doesn’t really matter what you talk about. Here are some ideas:

Answer frequently asked questions
Do interviews with your customers, suppliers or people in related industries.
Offer tips
Talk about relevant news, company events
Introduce your staff, yourself & your business.

3. What Equipment Do I Need to Start Video Marketing?

No matter what your budget, you can find equipment to get the job done.

I used to use a flipcam, now I use an iPhone. Apparently there’s a Canon camera you can buy for about $1000 that will provide decent quality video and audio.

You can also get your videos professionally filmed, which I sometimes do as well.

On the other side of that is also Instagram and the Vine app- both of these are smart phone apps that provide 25 seconds and 7 seconds respectively a video time.

Again you don’t need professional equipment or editing to start video blogging. Just start and see what happens!

Are you video blogging yet? Did I miss any tips? Share your comments below!

and, as promised, here is a link to my very first video! **cringe!**

7 ways to use digital & mobile marketing to get better results from your radio, print and in-store marketing:

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Laurel Lindsay

Bottom line, you need your marketing expenditures to translate into sales.

One of the hardest types of marketing to measure for effectiveness is the offline type- radio, print and in store advertising.

Not anymore!

Maximize the return on your marketing dollars by asking your offline audience to engage with you online.

This way you can capture their data and continue to market to them in free or low cost ways to convert them into paying customers.

It sounds more complicated than it is. Really, just a few simple tweaks to your advertising campaign will net you way bigger results.

7 Actionable Marketing Strategies you can use in your business today:

1. Have a QR Code on all print advertising:

Your vehicle decals, in store posters, print flyers, business cards and more.

Have this QR code point to your website, sign up form or Facebook page- depending on the market and your goals. This way you can capture prospect info via their smartphones & continue to market to them in the future.

2. Run a contest:

On radio, phone or word of mouth, ask people to sign up for your newsletter or like your page on Facebook to win.

The giveaway item doesn’t have to be expensive to work as an incentive for consumers to connect with you online. Bonus, you’re then tapped into social media, where the customer already spends their time.

3. Leverage your website design:

Create promotion specific pages.

Use specific website URLS, like, www.yourcompanyname.com/bestcontest. Then, through Google Analytics, you can track the traffic from each promotion

4. Be smartphone smart:

Get a shortcut to your mailing list and keep it on your smartphone.

Ask people you meet in person if you can add them to your mailing list.

5. Offer a discount:

On the bottom of your receipts, invoices or quotes offer discounted services for those who are a member of the mailing list, Facebook page etc.

This gives people incentive to connect with you online.

6. Use coupon codes:

Offer a small discount in exchange for the presentation of a coupon code.

This way you can both encourage consumers to act, and track your return on investment.

7. Boost the power of social:

In store, post QR codes a way to like you or check in on Facebook.

Facebook Check-Ins act as an endorsement that shows up on the news feed of that consumer’s friends.

What are some ways that you get the most effectiveness out of your Offline marketing campaigns?

Tell us your secrets to getting more sales in the comments below: