While many customers look at your website for key information (location, hours, how to contact you), there are other people who would like to know a little more about WHO you are and WHAT you stand for. If you can engage them in one of the following ways, you might stand a better chance of making a sale. Humor A little can go a long way – and it is best to underuse this than overuse it. Lean towards the light humor, especially if it reveals something about your approach to life or your personality. A good example of that can be found on the home page of Higinbotham’s Bed and Breakfast http://www.higinbothams.com/. The first page begins by describing owner Mary Jo Higinbotham in the first paragraph and then moves to her husband and their property. It reads, “Jim, her willing but kitchen-averse husband, has renovated the house over a 3-year period with the help from a variety of experts.” The sentence is designed to give many married couples a chuckle of recognition of the sorts of divisions of duties that are shared in a marriage. She loves the kitchen, he hates it. He handled the renovations but recognized his limitations and relied on the experts. Accessibility In your contact information, it is important to give as much information as possible. Directions to your location are wonderful – as is a link to a mapping site like Google maps. If you can take phone calls on either a landline or a cell phone, and are willing to give both numbers, just seeing them both on the website can let a customer know that you really care about hearing from them. If you are often with clients or otherwise unavailable, a promise to return phone calls within 24 hours can place you head and shoulders above the rest. Just BE CAREFUL to only make that pledge if you can meet it. A broken promise is worse than no promise. Photographic Images/Videos These can do so much. Once a customer sees the landscapes at Beech Springs Farm http://www.beechspringsfarm.com, they want to jump in the car and go visit. But the note that the farm is only open to public by appointment tells the customer that yes, they would love to see you, but yes they do have too much work to stop and visit with drive-by visitors. Images can also subtly convey messages. On the McIlhenny Banner website, for instance, http://www.mcilhennybanners.com, the first image shows President Obama standing in front of a banner at Arizona State University. It shows that the work done by the Gettysburg company gets to be associated with some important people and important places. Add Comment 23 Twitter Chats for Small Businesses 04/30/2012
One of the best ways to harness Twitter is by participating in chats, scheduled hashtag discussions that focus on specific topics. Small businesses can utilize chats to develop a social media plan, discuss brand strategy, and take advantage of free legal advice. Here is a list of chats for small businesses. To join the conversation, search the hashtag at Twitter during the chat’s scheduled time. You can also use a Twitter-client such as TweetChat orTweetDeck.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words 04/20/2012
It’s no surprise that Twitter headed the pack in Fast Company’s list of Top 10 Media for 2012. And it is a no-brainer that “The New York Times” is in the top three. But Red Bull as number two? How can an energy drink be on the same court as those other two giants? Easy – creativity and a company founder who “knew that success would be in how you market the product as much as the product itself,” according to Red Bull Media House managing director Werner Brell. Yes, it is important to have a good product, but having the right materials and media can provide the energy to catapault a company into the big time. One of the things that Red Bull Media does religiously is capture images of every event and project they sponsor or support. Remember the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”? In today’s world of social media and visual representations, it is not enough to have a good logo or an interesting website. Companies that document their successes (and maybe even their failures!) along the way can SHOW potential customers what they have to offer. Why "Buy Local" ? 03/23/2012
 The words “Buy Local” are showing up in all kinds of marketing pitches. For food and farm commodities, the words guarantee fresher foods that have not traveled miles to get to the dinner table. For service work or contractors, the words guarantee that the provider lives in the same town or county. For the consumer, the words guarantee that the company is not only local, but available and accountable. Many consumers have grown weary of dealing with impersonal, big box warehouse types of businesses. They still don’t want to pay a whole lot more for a product or service BUT they will if they think it will benefit them in the long run. For instance, let’s say Jane Smith is looking for new carpet. She has an idea of what she wants and goes to Store A. The person in Store A can tell her about the products in stock, show her a catalog for special orders, and answer questions about delivery times. Then she goes to Store B. The person in Store B can sell her the same products but also asks her questions. What room is she looking to carpet? Does she plan to live there for two years or 20 years? Does she have pets? Based on the answers to those questions, the person in Store B might recommend a carpet that is better suited to her personal situation. Jane Smith evaluates the information and decides to make her purchase at Store B because the person there was genuinely interested in helping her figure out what was best for her. Running a business and marketing a business is always about more than the bottom line. It is about your knowledge, your reputation, and individualized customer service. As Bill Maynard and Tom Champoux, of The Effectiveness Institute say, “It does not need to be a choice between head decisions and heart decisions. An organization that balances head decisions and heart decisions has a far greater potential for achieving and sustaining success than an organization that doesn’t have heart.” Free Publicity for Your Business 03/18/2012
 It doesn’t matter what kind of business you are in. Whether you are a small business, single person shop, a growing family business, a successful employer of dozens of people, your goal is the same. You want to get the word out about what you have to offer. Obviously, you know about the importance of having business cards and a website. You might also need to have printed materials to give to customers to tell them about existing or new services. It might be to your advantage to have a Facebook page, a Twitter account, or paid advertising. As you weigh the advantages and disadvantages of various forms, don’t forget that you might be able to get some ** FREE ** publicity from your local newspaper. Here are some ideas:
How do you introduce yourself? What information do you present in the first ten seconds? How do you finish? Making the sale is all about how you structure your pitch. Executive coach and public speaker Kathy McAfee explains how to properly construct an introduction to maximize your time efficiency. McAfee argues that while showing excitement for your product is important, it's paramount to show restraint and tease the audience into wanting more. Once you get into the conversation with the audience, McAfee shows how to keep potential investors interested without letting them dominate the discussion. Be Creative! 01/31/2012
Creativity is inspired by the freedom of playfulness and fun. “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” — Mary Lou Cook “The world is but a canvas to the imagination.” — Henry David Thoreau “To draw, you must close your eyes and sing.” — Pablo Picasso “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” — Albert Einstein “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” — Joseph Chilton Pierce “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” — John F. Kennedy Scaring Up Business With 'Ghostwriting' 10/29/2011
It’s October and this is the time of year when ghosts will be hard at work scaring us. Smart companies, utilizing social media marketing strategies, are using ghosts to “scare” up more business. Well, we’re not really talking about the kind of ghosts that scream “boo.” We’re talking about ghostwriters. When using social media marketing, you need to be current and up to date on information you put on your blogs, websites or newsletters. For small business owners, there is no time to sit in front of a computer writing new content or providing up-to-date data on your field and service. It’s impossible. One solution is to hire a professional writer to generate the content for you. Anonymous writers are called ghostwriters. Currently, there is a growing pool of ghostwriters both independent and through agencies to help save your digital marketing ambitions. After a few conversations with a ghostwriter or company you can determine the direction you want to go with the content of your articles. Many people come from diverse backgrounds, and you would be surprised to find out just what people specialize in. Besides being able to maintain a regular schedule for the output of information, there are other advantages of hiring a ghostwriter.
Contact Us Today, to learn more about ghostwriting, marketing, and blogging for small business, or visit our informational sister site at www.SimplySocialHub.com. Putting Brochure Back on the Marketing Map 10/22/2011
At one time, businesses used brochures as one of their main marketing techniques. When social networking and social media marketing came into the picture, printing brochures started to be considered an extra expense that just wasn’t necessary. After all, there isn’t a printing expense when you market online? Right? Small businesses continue to wonder if brochures are even worth printing anymore. Have we really become a paperless society? Not completely. Small businesses usually have a small budget, and a fairly inexpensive way to market your business to new customers is by creating a brochure that can be strategically placed, handed out at conferences or at meetings. Brochures provide valuable and quick information about your company, the product or service you provide and how to go about getting it. People sometimes forget to check online or can't remember the website. Brochures are kept in your pocket or wherever you placed it. Small businesses can use brochures is so many ways. For instance, if you print out a brochure, a person may take it home or back to their business, and set it on their counter. Just like a billboard, the brochure immediately grabs the attention of anyone who can see it. Having something in print still conveys credibility and trust. There are steps that you need to follow in creating a successful brochure.
People still like to hold paper in their hands that provide information. We are a technically-oriented society but still trust traditional ways of getting information. Also, our population consists of older Americans who rely on print for information. Brochures can still attract new customers – old and young -- on a reasonable budget. Plus, you can always upload the brochure onto your website. Do you need a Website ReBuild? 10/11/2011
Ask yourself these questions:
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