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Grow your list with Facebook
If you’re only using email to followup with your customers, you are leaving a ton of money on the table. If you see Facebook as “just another way” to followup with your customers, then you’re missing out on the true power of Facebook.
Implementing a proper Facebook campaign can do absolute wonders for your business. Your exposure can quite literally go overnight from small thousands to hundreds of thousands.
How? Through the power of your customer’s FRIENDS and NETWORK.
Why Facebook Pages Spread Quickly
Which do you lend more weight to: A TV commercial about an upcoming movie, or a friend’s personal recommendation?
In pretty much every single case, a friend’s recommendation has FAR more weight than any company’s advertising. This is because there’s already trust with the friend. You know them.
This is the power you’re harnessing when you use Facebook.
Instead of a Google AdWords ad or a link on a website somewhere, people arrive at your Facebook page through a FRIEND’S recommendation.
How to Tap Into Your Customer’s Network
So what’s the “secret sauce” that makes some Facebook pages succeed while fail?
The answer: Customer loyalty.
Not just “loyalty,” but the respect of your customers. If your product is of such a quality that customers rave about your products, then your Facebook page will spread like wildfire.
People will post your page and your announcements on their walls, exposing your page to hundreds or thousands of people at a time.
Take the example of Apple. Their fan base is RABID about their products. (yes we are one of them — we only have Mac products in our office! ) If Apple started a fan page when they launched the Apple iPad, how would the page have spread? Like wildfire.
The same principle applies to smaller businesses. Basically, do your customers love you enough that they want to talk about your product? If so, then you have a Facebook page that will
spread.
Case Study: $5 Million in 4 Years
One very successful example is Gary Vaynerchuck who built a $5 million dollar wine business almost entirely through social media marketing. He used video blogging to distribute his content and used social media websites like Facebook and Twitter to spread the word about what he was doing.
At first he only had a few viewers for every video he made – Less than 20. Then his following grew and grew exponentially because his viewers kept passing on his videos. In just a few years,
he has a multi-million dollar business and is now a recognized business teacher.
Start Growing Your List Today
That’s just one example of the kind of success you can experience if you started working with Facebook correctly.
The best way to learn how to use Facebook successfully is to learn from someone who’s “been there and done that.” One great place to learn these strategies and actually get coached on the step by steps of how to implement them is by joining our 4 week coaching program.
Communication is the key to keeping great clients or customers!
When you first begin your business, it can take a lot of time and effort to land your first few clients. As your business develops, you’ll find that securing new clients takes less time; however, it is a lot easier to stay in contact with your current clients and develop long term relationships, than to constantly seek out new clients.
Communication is very important in all aspects of life, business is no exception. Developing long-term client relationships is very important, and without communication, it will be difficult to achieve.
When you are working with a client, it is best to keep communication open, as a way to keep them informed. This is especially true if you haven’t worked together before or if you are working on an extensive project. The client can’t see you and doesn’t know the status of the project unless you let them know what is going on. Keeping them informed of your progress will ease any worries they have.
Staying in regular contact with your client can also clear up any miscommunication that may arise. Miscommunication can be detrimental to your business. If you thought a deadline was set for the 17th, but the client thought the deadline was set for the 7th, they will be angry and frustrated at not receiving the work on time. By communicating regularly, you will both be on the same page and know what is expected.
Simply taking the time to email past clients and inquire as to how they are doing and if they need your services can spur them into contacting you for a new project. Sometimes people simply get caught up in other things and your simple hello reminder can remind them of a project they wanted to finish and need assistance on.
Keeping your name in front of your past clients can also help you achieve positive word of mouth advertising. Word-of-mouth advertising happens when a past or current client is talking to someone in need of the products or services you offer, and they refer you and your business. By staying in touch with your customers, you increase the odds of them remembering your name in upcoming conversations.
You don’t have to call each and every client on the phone as way to communicate, use email as well as email newsletters. In fact, newsletters are a great way to promote your new products and services to prior customers. Once someone has bought from you in the past, they are more likely to buy from you in the future.
Creating a monthly newsletter for your customers doesn’t take a lot of time, and it can even be outsourced to a virtual assistant. Your newsletter can be emailed to your clients once per month, and you can use this time to let them know of any new products or services you will be offering, as well as special sales and other items of interest to them.
Not sure the best way to utilize email marketing ? Sign up for our FREE Email Marketing Webinar on April 19th .
Today we are so very fortunate to have a guest post from my freind and amazingly talented graphic artist, Rebecca Litton of RebeccaLitton.com
You have a fabulous product, idea or service. You have stellar customer service. And, you have a marketing plan. What next? Now you need to leave the sweat pants at home and show up in a suit like the big boys. You need to LOOK like you belong. You need a graphic designer.
Design is, at its core, visual communications.
Everything your potential customers see concerning your business, from flyers to websites to hangtags, conveys a message about your business and your product. Having a professional pull all of these elements together for you will give your company a polished and professional look and feel that will translate into sales.
How do you find a designer who is right for you?
Here are the important questions to answer before you begin your search…
- What do I need?
- Do you have existing branding in place, such as a logo that you need incorporated into your design or do you need branding advice as well as graphic design. Do you need an existing website overhauled or do you need to start from scratch. Are your needs purely digital or will you need print material? Will you need help in the long run or is a one time interaction?
- How much can I spend? Know your budget. Graphic design, like most services, can range from a small fee to an enormous investment. Do you simply need a blog header tweaked and a WordPress template installed or do you need a cutting edge original look complete with concept art, original artwork and a long run high concept branding strategy?
- Who is your audience? Hopefully you have already answered this question. This will be the first question a good designer will ask you.
So, now you start your search.
- Ask your contacts for references and take a look online at what they have done. Graphic designers range from newly graduated or self taught artists working from a laptop in Starbucks to professionals with years of experience both in art as well as programing working for large design firms.
- Take a look at their portfolio. Do you like their previous work? Is it similar in platform to what you need? Are their previous clients still utilizing their designs?
Here are some questions to ask when you find one you like…
- Does the designer have experience working with styles and formats similar to what I need? If you need a Word Press site, you’ll want someone with WP experience. If you need a 24 page full color catalog, hire someone with experience working in print.
- Does the designer do logo creation and branding? If not, you may need to find one that does or have them work with a marketing and branding expert.
- Are they in your price range? Be honest and up front. Most graphic designers are professionals like you, and you will have to work together to come up with the best solution to your graphic needs. You will most likely find that your designer will have a range of services and prices, and they may be able to work with you even if you are on a tight budget.
And finally, a few tips when working with a graphic designer…
- Communications is key. The more the designer knows about your business and your preferences the better the end product will be. Keep all expectations, especially concerning timelines and payment clearly stated and consistent. If you hate what they are doing, tell them, but be professional. An experienced graphic designer understands the subjective nature of his or her work and most likely expects to go through a draft or two of a design before finding the perfect one.
- Let them do their job. You are not designing your bedroom. You are designing for your clients, and hopefully your designer will know more about what works best for your audience visually than you do. That is why you hired them.
Recently this weekend my family and I took a trip to the Mall of America, and we had a fantastic time. We did come across something very funny that I truly didn’t expect to see.
Have you seen this before ? You sure have !
I am a Mac person. I have been for over 13 years. I simply love their products, the user-friendly capabilities and of course the customer service. All of our computers at BrandReady Media are Mac products! So of course , when we saw that there was a Mac Store at the Mall we made our way over to check it out.
What we saw next was quite unbelievable.
We saw two identical Mac stores across from each other. We thought it was a bit weird. Upon getting closer to the stores, we noticed one store was a Microsoft Windows store and the other one was the actual Mac store.
The Microsoft store was filled with Windows products , a really cool scrolling video screen that ran completely around the store and of course Xbox related items. Outside of that, it felt like being in a Mac store. The store employees wore brightly colored tshirts with the same type of id lanyard Mac store employees wore. It was well lit and lots of white around the store. They even had something similiar to Mac’s “Genius Bar”. I have to admit having an actual Kinect you could play in the store was awesome!
I walked out of Microsoft’s store feeling rather sad for the Microsoft Corporation. They don’t have any original ideas of their own for their retail stores. It’s one thing to create a product similiar to a very successful product… but it is something completely different to copy their marketing plan as well.
A couple of weeks ago , I wrote about Setting yourself apart from the competition. Maybe the marketing experts at Microsoft need to read that post because all they did in their stores was to copy it completely from Mac’s version. Somebody truly dropped the ball on this one!
Moral of the story – making yourself look exactly like another company and/or organization will not bring you the success that you are looking for. Be unique — set your business apart from the competition.
Over the next several weeks, we’ll be posting a series of articles on utilizing Facebook for your business in conjunction with our Facebook Marketing Bootcamp e-course launch! (details coming tomorrow morning )
Facebook Pages are the most straightforward way for businesses to have a presence on the Facebook social networking website. A Page is similar in its appearance to a standard Facebook profile (which are used by individual who join Facebook), except that it’s designed to be the Facebook profile of a business.
People are becoming comfortable with conducting an increasing amount of their online activities exclusively on Facebook. Rather than using a search engine to find a product or service they need, some people are simply asking their Facebook friends for recommendations, or doing a search on Facebook itself. If you don’t have a Page set up for your business, you’ll be limited in how many of these potential customers can find you.
Begin the sign-up process by visiting the Pages area of Facebook. When you create a new account, try to choose a Page name that is as close to your real business name as possible. This will make it easier for people who you already do business with to find you on Facebook.
Once you’ve set up your Page, you can begin to build a following for your business. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that social networking tools such as Facebook are generally not very effective sales tools – at least in the traditional sense of the term “sales.” Facebook users that receive sales pitches on their Facebook walls tend to view the companies making them rather negatively. In fact, companies that try to use Facebook as a direct sales tool are quite often viewed– rightly or wrongly –as “spammers.”
Instead, you would be better served by viewing your Facebook Page as an opportunity to build a following or community around your business. For example, whenever someone follows or becomes a “fan” of your company’s Facebook Page, any time you post a status update or link or other item to your Page, your followers will get a notification in their main news feed. You can use your Page to announce new product offerings, sales or special offers that you may be conducting, or other interesting news about your business.
Resist the temptation to try to sell to these people by posting multiple status updates or notes every day. If your followers feel overwhelmed by the volume of updates from you (especially if it seems to them like some of the updates are “forced”, or not noteworthy information), there’s a good chance that they’ll simply un-follow you, and you’ll lose Facebook as a means of reaching that customer.
You should also consider how your business’ Facebook Page provides a new way to engage in a dialogue with your customers and potential customers. Ask customers what kind of new products and services they’d like to see from you, or how they might want you to refine your existing offerings. Once the conversation is underway, you may find that a greater number of people participate.
Sometimes the “business intelligence” you’ll gain from your Facebook Page is something you’d never be able to get any other way.
If interested in learning more, make sure to sign up for our mailing list and receive a free report on Facebook Marketing Success
Have you found the missing peice for your marketing strategy?
Let’s face it — Marketing can be tricky. There are several variables to consider when creating your marketing plan. It is much more of an art form rather than a perfect science. If you feel like you are not getting the results you should be, here are some tips on how to review and revamp your marketing strategy.
The first thing to look at in your marketing strategy is whether or not you are targeting the right market. Your target market is the group of people you are trying to promote your product or service to. For example, if you have created a nursing bra, your target market would be new mothers who are breast feeding. If your marketing efforts are not hitting that target market, you are probably not going to be seeing much response.
Another thing to consider is the color of your website and your ads, as well as the graphics that you use. Choosing colors in complementary tones will work best. If your website consists of harsh colors or colors that do not match, your visitors may click away before they even finish reading your advertising.
People enjoy seeing graphics on a page as it helps to break up the wording and adds visual stimulation. However, the pictures you choose should be easy to see and convey the proper message about your product or service. If the pictures are blurry or out of focus, or if they contain potentially offensive material, your website visitors will click away and they may not come back.
You may also want to re-evaluate your sales copy. Your copy is the advertising message that you communicate to others. You will want to make sure your headline is catchy and that you cover the benefits the customer will receive from your product or service. Many people are only concerned with what’s in it for them. If you do not clearly specify the things they will receive, they’ll move on. It is a good idea to be honest and keep things simple and concise. Avoid any hype or exaggerations.
Along with the actual wording of your copy, the layout should also be reviewed. Many people simply skim websites rather than read them from top to bottom. You can use a larger font for the headline, in order to draw the reader in, and then you can use things such as bulleted lists to highlight the important parts of the copy.
Finally, you will want to look at the amount of exposure your ads are getting. If you had a certain sales goal that you are not meeting, you simply may not be reaching enough people to meet that goal.
If you need further help or would like a FREE Consultation on revamping your marketing strategy — don’t hesitate to contact us!
Blogging has come a long way since I first started it in November 2004. It was a form of expression and certainly not used for branding, marketing, and product reviews.
In the short five years og blogging, it has created a major shift in the way businesses/brands think about how to spread the word.
In recent years, PR agencies have used “bloggers” as just one tool in their public relations arsenal. One area that they have really focused on is the “mommy bloggers”for the majority of purchase decisions are made by “Mom”.
It seemed like a happy compromise .. PR agencies get the word out about their client’s product/brand/service and bloggers got some some free stuff in a variety of forms. Everything seemed hunky dory.
In October 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decided to reign in bloggers and these “word of mouth reviews”. They announced the rules that bloggers needed to disclose their relationships with PR companies and free products.
According to the FTC’s website , ” … The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed.
You can read all about the FTC’s rules here . The rules are not crystal clear — So what is a blogger to do ??
Basically – always use full disclosure and be transparent as often as possiblein ALL your social media (blogs, twitter, facebook,etc). When you don’t hide anything , there is nothing that anyone can accuse you of.
This should be a regular practice not only in your blog posts but as well as creating a disclosure policy on your blog/site . (To get your own — click here )
