Marketing TIps - Vyde

How to Determine if Content Marketing is the Right Choice for Your Small Business

We all know that the marketing landscaping is changing. Traditional marketing such as television or print ads, billboards and phone books aren’t effective. When was the last time you even opened a phone book? Content marketing is the new wave. It’s a great way to draw customers in and help them learn about your business. There’s just one thing holding back. What is content marketing exactly?

There’s no reason to be embarrassed about not understanding content marketing. Most business owners use it without even realizing it! According to the Content Marketing Institute, “Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

There are two parts of content marketing that are the most important: valuable content and profitable customer action. We’ll discuss how to achieve both and why it’s good for your business.

Content Marketing Should be Valuable

Content marketing only works if your customers get value from your marketing. This makes it hard to come up with content because everyone is different and what some fine valuable, others don’t. The best way to see if your content has value is to follow these guidelines

Is it findable? Great content is only valuable if people can find it. This means that you need to search engine optimize (SEO) your content with relevant keywords so that people can find it when they do a search.
Is it readable? Readers have short attention spans, so it’s important to make sure your content is easy to read. Breaking information down into bullet points and using section headers can really help with this.
Is it actionable? Like we mentioned before, your content needs to make your audience take action. A call to action is necessary for great content marketing.
Is it shareable? Going viral is a real thing, and it can be great for business. People should be excited to share your content with their friends. When they share your content, it increases the number of people you reach.

If you follow these guidelines, your content will be valuable, no matter what the subject is.

It’s easy to understand why valuable content is good for the consumer, but what does it do for you and your business? The way people make purchases has changed. Most people will do a lot of research before they make a purchase, so if you can be a part of that research process, people will come to you ready to use your services. Which, brings us to our next point. How can we turn content marketing into profitable customer action?

Content Marketing Should have Profitable Customer Action

Although the marketing landscape has changed, the goal of marketing hasn’t. In order for content marketing to bring in more business, you have to get customers to take action. This action doesn’t necessarily have to be to make a purchase, although that is the end goal. Sometimes action means sharing a post, leaving a comment on a video or contacting your sales team.

In order to get customers to take action you have to prompt them. This prompting is referred to as a call to action (CTA.) A call to action needs to tell your customers exactly what you want them to do. The following tips will help you write a killer (and effective) CTA.

Use strong verbs to promote action (buy, order, sign up)
Elicit emotion to draw customers in
Tell them how you’ll solve their problems
Put a deadline on the CTA so that people want to take advantage of it now!

There are two stages in converting content consumers in customers. The first stage turns visitors (either of your website or social profiles) into leads. This is the convert stage. In the convert stage you are trying to get your visitors to head your call to action. In most instances you call to action will lead them to a form where they can give you their contact information. Once you get their contact information, you can turn a visitor into a lead.

Managing customer relationships is how you can turn your leads into customers. This step is called the close. The close may require a sales team member to contact your lead and pitch them your product or business or simply answer questions the lead has. Once your team has made the close, you’ll want to keep in touch with your customers and make sure they are still happy with your business and your products. As long as they are, you’ll turn your customers into promoters. Which is the best kind of customer you can have.

As you can see, content marketing is consumer focused, but the payoff is well worth the effort. Check back in next month and learn about what types or content marketing you can use.

FAQs on Content Marketing for Small Business:

What is content marketing exactly?

Content marketing is a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a defined audience and drive profitable customer action.

How can I ensure my content is valuable to my audience?

To ensure valuable content, make it findable through SEO, readable with concise formatting, actionable with clear CTAs, and shareable to increase its reach and impact.

Why is valuable content important for my business?

Valuable content engages consumers during their research phase, positioning your business as a trusted resource, leading to increased conversions and customer loyalty.

How can I turn content marketing into profitable customer action?

By incorporating effective calls to action (CTAs) that use strong verbs, elicit emotion, offer solutions, and include deadlines, you prompt consumers to take desired actions, ultimately converting leads into customers.

What are the stages in converting content consumers into customers?

The convert stage involves turning visitors into leads through CTAs and forms, while the close stage entails managing customer relationships to convert leads into customers through sales interactions and fostering customer satisfaction to turn customers into promoters.

How to Create an Email Marketing Campaign that Drives Sales

If you’re not using email marketing in your small business, it’s time to fix that! Email marketing is an essential tool for small business owners. It’s the perfect way to reach out to your customers, remind them of your business and build a community.

While it’s great to build a relationship with your customer base, email marketing needs to bring in more business. The following tips will help you create better emails that will convert email addresses to sales.

Create an Attention Grabbing Subject Line

Your subject line is the first impression you’ll make with your readers. A lot of times, it’s the only part of your email that your customers will read. Which is why it’s so important that you make it intriguing.

A good rule of thumb, when you’re crafting a subject line for your email marketing campaigns, is to keep it short. Some screens cut subject lines off after 50 characters. Effective subject lines get to the main point quickly, but still leave the reader intrigued enough that they’ll open the email. If you can’t fit everything in the email, use the pre-header text to give more information about what’s in the email.

Another good practice is to tell your customers what they can expect from the email they’re about to open. If you’re sending a freebie then let them know! Your content should be enticing so that when you tease it in your subject line people can’t wait to open it.

Make Your Email Marketing Personal

Small businesses have a leg up over big companies in one particular area: they can get to know their customers on a personal level. As a small business owner, you probably know most of your clients. You can strike up a conversation with them and remember details of their lives. This relationship is what drives people to your company. You need to replicate this relationship in your emails.

The easiest way to make your email marketing more personal is to use customers’ names throughout the email. Most email marketing services use coding to input your customer’s name in an email. This makes it easy to send bulk emails that are still personalized. Make sure you use your customer’s names throughout the email and not just at the beginning. People love hearing their own name and if they come across it in the copy of the email it will draw them back in and keep their attention.

Make Your Emails Easy to Read

If you’ve crafted an attention grabbing subject line, you can get your emails opened. However, if you don’t make your marketing emails easy to read, you’ll never make the sale. A reader should flow easily through your email. The main points should be easy to discern. If your reader only has a couple of minutes to scan your email they should be able to get everything they need quickly.

Big brands are great at all of these techniques. One trick they use to make emails easy to read and still draw the reader in is graphics. Instead of saying “We’re having a great sale!” in text they put it on an image. The word “SALE!” on a picture takes less time to read and digest, and it grabs your attention. Infographics and charts are also useful when you’re trying to get people’s attention.

Make Mobile Friendly Campaigns

Finally, when you’re creating an effective email marketing campaign, you’ll want to make sure it’s mobile friendly. Most people open their emails on mobile devices. In fact, 53% of emails are opened on phones. This trend is only increasing, so it’s critical that you understand how to create emails that work on computer and phones.

The most important part of creating a mobile friendly is making sure it will fit on a smaller screen. It’s best to design your email in one column. This helps people to see it on a small screen without making the user scroll to the left or right.

We talked about using graphics in your emails to make things stand out, but you need to be careful with images. They need to be optimized so that they load quickly, and you need to add descriptive text (also known as alt text) so that if the image fails to load, the reader can still get a sense of what the image was. Experts recommend using 3-5 images in an email.

5 Branding Tips for Small Business Owners

Branding is the way your company presents itself to the world. It comprises a lot of different aspects like: image, voice and audience.

We’re going to go over what you can do to build your brand and create a better company.

1. Create a Brand Identity

Although the look of your brand isn’t everything when it comes to branding it’s a good place to start.

When you’re creating a brand identity, you’ll want to figure out how you want to make people feel. Once you’ve decided that then you can start to design your image.

You’ll want to create an identity that is easy recognizable. Think of some of the big brands. What do you think of when you see red and yellow? McDonalds. What about when you see the green M for Monster? Create a logo that is distinctive and uses colors that represent the feeling you want to convey.

2. Define Your Audience

Audience is an important aspect of branding. How can you draft your message without knowing who you’re speaking to?

When you’re determining who your target audience is here are a few things to consider.

Who does your product serve?
What demographic do you want to reach?
What is your company’s mission?
Can my audience afford my product or service?
What values are important to you?

Once you’re able to determine who you want to target you can begin to brand a message.

3. Develop Your Voice

Now that you know who you want to talk to, you need to develop your voice.

Voice is the way your brand expresses who it is, usually in writing. A brand’s voice helps keep things consistent across all branding efforts.

When you’re developing your voice, you should consider what feelings you want to portray. Do you want your brand to be funny, serious, friendly? Once you’ve decided on that you can start determining your what your voice sounds like.

Next, you can find key words or phrases that will help define your voice. When you use these words or phrases consistently it will help build an association between your brand. Your audience may even start using these phrases in their own lives, which will help grow your brand.

4. Be Consistent

The biggest part of building a brand is consistency. Make sure the brand identity you’ve developed is consistent throughout all parts of your branding.

If you decided that your brand wants people to feel happy and excited, then you’ll want your image and your voice to match that. A black website that has a convoluted voice isn’t going to achieve your goal. Instead, you’ll want to use bright colors in your design and have an upbeat voice.

5. Develop a Branding Strategy

Nothing can move forward without a concrete strategy and branding isn’t any different. In order to create a successful brand you need to determine how you’re going to do it. Here are a few things to consider when you’re developing your branding strategy.

Use Social Media

Social media is an essential tool in marketing and it’s a perfect place to implement your branding strategies. People are going to recognize your visual branding first. You want them to be able to know something is yours right when they look at it. Then, you’ll want to connect with them using your voice. Social media is great because it can connect your brand identity like nothing else can. Plus, it gives you a chance to interact with potential customers and win them over.

Reward Loyalty

Whether you’re creating a new brand identity or improving on the one you have, it’s important to make your customers a part of your brand.

When you’re starting out new, make sure you find a way to thank each person who supports your business. Or, if you’re rebranding and already have a strong customer base, then find ways to show them you’re still there for them while you’re also taking on new clients. Check out this post on customer appreciation for ideas.

Include Emotion

Humans aren’t completely rational and your branding shouldn’t be either. Using emotion in your branding is a surefire way to get your clients to really connect with your brand.

Go back to your brand’s identity. How do you want to make people feel? What can you do within your brand to bring those emotions to the surface? Perhaps you’re a dentist and you want your patients to feel comforted and relaxed. You’ll want to include photos of people smiling while talking with a dentist. You’ll use colors that are peaceful. And your voice will convey assurance and peace. Emotion can be and should be used in every aspect of your branding.

Do you have any other questions about branding? Let us know!

4 Inexpensive Ways to Market Your Business

When you’re a small business owner, every dollar counts. Spending a lot of money on marketing can bring in great results, but what if you could bring in interested customers without dropping a lot of money on marketing? These 4 Inexpensive Ways to Market Your Business can help you target people who are interested in what you have to offer without breaking the bank!

Guest Post on a Blog or Podcast

A big part of growing your business is becoming a reputable source. One of the best ways to do that is to get in front of an audience. If you don’t have time to slowly grow your own audience, then guest post on a blog, or be a guest on a podcast that already reaches your target market.

When you are a guest on a blog or podcast it shows that audience that someone they trust considers you an authority on the subject. This gives you instant credibility. And people are more likely to use or buy from a business that they trust.

The best part of guest posting is that’s usually free! It’s the perfect inexpensive way to market your business.

Use Social Media

Social media is another inexpensive way to market your business. If you take the time to understand what works best on social media, you can reach a lot of people for a small amount of money. A lot of business owners get overwhelmed by which social media platforms they need to be on. There isn’t a one-size fits all option when it comes to social media. You should choose the right platforms for your business. You can learn more about the popular social media platforms here.

Social media is more than just posting and boosting your posts. Social media’s entire purpose is to bring people together around their interests. You can use this to your advantage by finding groups where you can serve the audience and then being active in those groups. If will help you see what your customers are looking for and then you can propose how your company is a solution to their problems.

Host a giveaway

Everyone loves getting free swag; so give the people what they want! Hosting a giveaway is a great way to gain followers on any of your social media channels or to grow your email list.

Hosting a giveaway can be an inexpensive way to market your business, if you do it right. You need to giveaway something that is of value, but doesn’t end up costing you too much. Giving away a product you sell or a service you offer is usually your best bet. If you want to go outside of a product or service you offer you can buy something to giveaway. Remember to read this post about how to legally operate a giveaway before you get started.

Send a press release

Sending a press release might sound old school, but it’s actually a great way to announce any new, exciting things your business is doing (plus it’s virtually free!)

The best way to keep press release costs at a minimum is to learn how to write them yourself. A quick Google search will come up with tons of resources on writing press releases. Take an afternoon to learn how to write one and then you’re ready to go!

A good press release is only effective in the right hands. If you’re a small local business, then make sure you send press releases to your local media. You never know when they’re looking for a story and they can give you great free publicity. Don’t forget new media when you’re sending your press release. Look for bloggers, YouTubers, Podcast hosts and other people in your niche. Sending a Press Release can get you featured in other outlets with big audiences, just like we talked about earlier.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are some inexpensive ways to market my small business?

There are several cost-effective strategies to market your small business:

Guest Post on a Blog or Podcast: Gain instant credibility by reaching a pre-existing audience without the need to build your own from scratch.
Use Social Media: Engage with your target audience on the right platforms, join relevant groups, and offer solutions to their problems.
Host a Giveaway: Attract new followers and expand your email list by offering valuable prizes without significant expense.
Send a Press Release: Announce exciting updates about your business to local media and influential bloggers, YouTubers, and podcasters for free publicity.

2. How can guest posting on a blog or podcast help my business?

Guest posting on a blog or podcast allows you to reach an established audience that trusts the host. This gives you instant credibility as an authority in your field, making it more likely that the audience will trust and engage with your business. Plus, guest posting is usually free, making it an ideal inexpensive marketing strategy.

3. Which social media platforms should I use to market my business?

The best social media platforms for your business depend on where your target audience spends their time. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Research and understand the demographics and engagement levels of platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Choose the ones that align with your business goals and audience preferences.

4. What should I consider when hosting a giveaway to market my business?

When hosting a giveaway, consider offering a product or service you sell, as it provides value without significant cost. If choosing an external product, ensure it’s relevant to your audience. Also, understand the legal aspects of running a giveaway to avoid any legal issues. A well-executed giveaway can significantly boost your social media following and email list.

5. How can sending a press release benefit my small business?

Sending a press release is a cost-effective way to announce new and exciting updates about your business. Learning to write press releases yourself can minimize costs. Target local media, bloggers, YouTubers, and podcasters in your niche to increase the chances of getting free publicity. This strategy can help your business gain visibility and attract new customers.

5 Marketing Terms Every Business Owner Should Know

Marketing is an important aspect of any business, but it’s often overlooked because it can be costly. If you’re trying to save money by taking on the marketing for your business by yourself, then these 5 marketing terms will p you get started.

Lead magnet

Lead magnets are most commonly used to increase subscribers to your email lists. A lead magnet is a resource given to subscribers in exchange for signing up for your email.

Lead magnets should be irresistible. They should solve a problem. The most successful lead magnets are short and sweet so that the subscriber can quickly solve their problem. For example, a 10 page guide on how to generate more business from your Facebook page is more effective than a 10-part video series, emailed out once a week. People want to be able to get the information they need instantly rather than wait around for weeks to get all the information.

Examples of lead magnets include:

Cheat Sheets
Reports
Quizes
Resource Library
Training Videos
Free Trials of Programs
Free Shipping
Coupon Codes

Your lead magnet should be targeted towards your audience. How can you solve a problem in their lives? Answering this one question can help you create a solid and successful lead magnet.

Call to Action

A call to action (CTA) is how you convert readers or viewers into customers. A CTA encourages people to take action, whether that is signing up for your newsletter, calling your offices or even repinning your posts on Pinterest. It’s a way to encourage people to interact with your business.

Effective CTAs are simple but powerful. The CTA should tell your reader what they’re getting out of interacting with your company; (this is where you can push your lead magnet) and how to take action. A CTA can be as simple as: “Get Started” or “Sign Up Now.”

A call to action is more than just text. Use design elements to catch the eye of your readers and lead them towards your CTA. Color is a great way to do this. Try making your CTA color the same as your logo so that readers can associate your business and the solution to their problem.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is a critical part of marketing. It’s more than just a marketing term to understand, it’s almost a language within itself. Search Engine Optimization is used to improve your website’s rankings on search engines, which helps people find your site.

SEO has changed a lot in the last few years. There are still key aspects that search engines look for such as:

Title Tags
Keywords
Image Tags
Internal Link Structure
Inbound Links

However, SEO is much more than keywords. Search engines are looking for quality content that is helpful to readers. If you stuff your website full of keywords without any substance it can actually hurt your website.

Site structure and design are also important aspects of SEO. A quality website is going to rank higher, so it’s good to invest in making your website well designed and well optimized.

Churn Rate

Churn rate is the percentage of customers lost over a period of time. It can also be used to calculate the value of each customer lost. Knowing your churn rate is important so that you understand how much each new customer is costing you. You need to be able to know if customers are sticking around long enough to cover the acquisition costs.

Calculating churn rate is very easy. Start by taking the number of customers lost during a certain time period and divide it by the overall number you had when the time period started. The result is your churn rate. For example if you started your quarter with 600 email subscribers and you lost 60 of them over the quarter, your churn rate equation would look like this: 60 / 600 = .10 or 10%.

You can do this for any time period: a month, quarter, year etc. You just don’t want to include any new customers you acquired during the time frame when you’re calculating the churn rate.

Editorial Calendar

An editorial calendar is important to help you stay on track with your marketing goals. Editorial calendars can be used to create content, plan campaigns, reach out to your target market and more.

It’s important to be posting new blog content on a regular basis (this helps with your SEO!) You’ll also want to be posting consistently to social media to increase your reach. An editorial calendar can help you plan out all of these so that your social media presence goes along with your website. An editorial calendar can also help you keep track of things that are out of the ordinary, but need to be dealt with, like posting about holidays.

Overall an editorial calendar is an essential organizational tool for businesses.

Hopefully, these marketing terms will do more than just increase your vocabulary. If you learn how to implement them in your business it can help your marketing efforts increase.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is a lead magnet and how can it benefit my business?

A lead magnet is a valuable resource offered to potential customers in exchange for their contact information, typically their email address. Lead magnets are designed to attract and engage your target audience by solving a specific problem they face. Examples include cheat sheets, reports, quizzes, and free trials. An effective lead magnet can increase your email subscribers and generate leads, ultimately helping to grow your business.

2. How can I create an effective call to action (CTA)?

An effective call to action (CTA) should be simple, direct, and compelling. It encourages your audience to take a specific action, such as signing up for a newsletter or purchasing a product. To create a powerful CTA, clearly communicate the benefit of taking action, use strong action verbs, and incorporate design elements like contrasting colors to make the CTA stand out. For example, “Get Started” or “Sign Up Now” are concise and actionable CTAs that guide users towards the desired action.

3. Why is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) important for my website?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial because it improves your website’s visibility on search engines, making it easier for potential customers to find you. Key aspects of SEO include optimizing title tags, keywords, image tags, and internal link structure. Beyond keywords, SEO also involves creating high-quality, relevant content and ensuring a well-designed website. Effective SEO can lead to higher search rankings, increased website traffic, and more business opportunities.

4. What is churn rate and why is it important to track?

Churn rate is the percentage of customers lost over a specific period. It’s essential to track because it helps you understand customer retention and the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. To calculate churn rate, divide the number of customers lost during a period by the total number of customers at the start of that period. For example, if you start with 600 customers and lose 60, your churn rate is 10% (60/600). Monitoring churn rate helps you evaluate customer loyalty and the cost-effectiveness of your customer acquisition strategies.

5. How can an editorial calendar help with my marketing efforts?

An editorial calendar is a strategic tool that helps you plan and organize your content creation and marketing activities. It ensures you post consistently on your blog and social media, which is crucial for maintaining audience engagement and improving SEO. An editorial calendar helps you align your marketing efforts with your business goals, track important dates like holidays, and coordinate campaigns effectively. By staying organized and proactive, you can enhance your marketing efficiency and effectiveness.

Which Social Media Platforms Are Best for Marketing My Business? Part 2

As we discussed in Which Social Media Platforms Are Best for Marketing My Business? Part 1, social media marketing is a confusing but important aspect of any successful marketing strategy. We’re going to cover how using email lists, Google+ and Pinterest can increase your reach.

Email Lists

Email lists are a vital part of social media marketing. The best part of an email list is that you control it. When you build a large following on social media platforms they have power over how many people see your posts. However, when you create an email list you can reach every single customer in a direct and personal way.

There are a lot of options of email marketing providers. You can choose your provider depending on the size of your company and how many subscribers you have. Another important aspect of email lists is having opt-in options on your website. You’ll want to make sure that your opt-in is highly visible and has a grabbing call to action so hat tells your customers what kind of value they’ll get from your emails.

Google+

Google+ may seem like just another social media channel, but it carries a lot of weight. As a Google product, Google+ can benefit your website’s search engine optimization while still connecting with customers. In order to get the most out of Google+ here are a few best practices:

Interact with other companies and people. Google values genuine engagement, so don’t just engage for the points. Engage and build relationships. It will help you grow your business.
Use Hashtags. Hashtags are viable across all social media channels, but they are especially helpful with Google+. Because hashtags are used in searches it can increase your odds of being found.
Connect your website with your Google+ account. Google ranks websites based on connections to social media platforms, so make sure you’ve linked the two together.
Design is an imperative element to all social media, not just Google+. Make sure your profile and cover photos are eye catching and designed using the correct dimensions. You should also be posting well-designed images that draw people into your page.

The biggest misconception about Pinterest is that it’s just a social media channel. When in fact, Pinterest is a search engine. It is quickly becoming one of the top search engines.

Every pin you produce should be keyword optimized, just like your website. The best place to use your keyword is in your image title and pin description. An easy way to make sure your keyword is in your pin description is to write out your pin description as the image’s alt description. Pinterest automatically pulls the alt description and makes it your pin description. You should also keyword optimize your board descriptions in order to increase your followers.

Hopefully, these tips will help you with your social media marketing for your small business. If you have any questions about social media marketing, please let us know and we are happy to help!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why is building an email list important for social media marketing?

Building an email list is crucial because it allows you to directly and personally reach your audience without relying on social media algorithms. Unlike social media platforms, where visibility can be limited, an email list gives you control over your communication with customers, ensuring your messages reach their inboxes.

2. What are some best practices for using Google+ to enhance my marketing strategy?

To maximize your Google+ marketing efforts, follow these best practices:

Interact genuinely with other companies and individuals to build relationships and grow your business.
Use hashtags effectively to increase your visibility in searches.
Connect your website with your Google+ account to improve your search engine rankings.
Ensure your profile and cover photos are visually appealing and correctly sized.
Post well-designed images to attract more attention to your page.

3. How can Pinterest be used as a search engine for marketing?

Pinterest functions as a search engine, making keyword optimization essential. To leverage Pinterest for marketing:

Optimize your pins with relevant keywords in the image title and pin description.
Write out your pin description as the image’s alt description for automatic inclusion.
Optimize your board descriptions to increase visibility and followers.

4. What are the benefits of email marketing providers and opt-in options?

Email marketing providers offer various tools and features to manage your subscriber list based on your business size and needs. Opt-in options on your website, if prominently displayed with a compelling call to action, can significantly grow your email list by offering clear value to potential subscribers.

5. How does engaging on Google+ impact search engine optimization (SEO)?

Engaging on Google+ can positively impact SEO by:

Increasing your website’s ranking through social media connections.
Enhancing your online presence and authority through genuine interactions and relationship-building.
Utilizing hashtags and optimized content to improve your visibility in searches.

Which Social Media Platforms Are Best for Marketing My Business? Part 1

Marketing has made a dramatic change over the last ten years. The days of placing an ad in your local phonebook are long gone. The age of social media marketing is in. You know you should be using social media in your business, but do you know which social media platforms are best for marketing purposes?

Each platform requires a different approach. In this two-part series, we’ll break down the top seven social media channels that businesses can use and how they’ll help your business

Facebook

Facebook is the social media channel. It surpasses every other social media platform in users. Think about it, even your mom has a Facebook account. A Facebook business page is a must-have for anyone looking to up the social media game.

The great thing about Facebook is that it allows you to share a variety of content. You can connect with your followers through these options:

Website links
Images
Videos
GIFs
Live videos
Messaging

The downside to Facebook is their ever-evolving algorithms. Facebook is constantly changing how many people see your content organically. As more people interact with your content, Facebook shows it to more people. Most businesses have to pay for people to see their content.

Regardless of the challenges with Facebook’s algorithms, it is still a critical platform for your business to be on.

Twitter

Twitter is designed for short messages (under 140 characters.) Most users are looking for news. They follow companies to find out the latest details or to look for deals. Twitter is great for sharing links and photos, but they can count towards the 140 character count.

Twitter is a great place to interact with your customers. Because it was set up with the intent of sharing snippets and short messages, it is a great place for dialogue. Many businesses use Twitter as a customer service tool. You can easily promote the good things people say about your business through retweets and you can address any complaints or concerns your customers have.

Instagram

If your company thrives on visuals, then Instagram is the place for you. What started out as a place to post pictures of your day, has turned into a perfectly curated platform for stunning images. If you want to be successful on Instagram, you must create a visually appealing feed. People are more likely to follow and interact with content that catches their eye.

Instagram recently rolled out “Stories” which let you post photos and videos that are deleted after 24 hours. This is a great way to show your customers the behind the scenes of your business. Stories’ main competitor is Snapchat; however, businesses are more drawn to Stories because you don’t have to build a new following. Anyone who is already following you on Instagram can see your Stories.

LinkedIn is the best social media platform to drive people to your website. It has the highest conversation rate of any social media platforms, especially for companies whose focus is business to business marketing.

The purpose of LinkedIn is to connect professionals together. Because of this, the content shared on LinkedIn is a higher grade. A funny meme isn’t going to go over very well on LinkedIn. According to LinkedIn, 6 out of 10 users are looking for industry insights. When you post to LinkedIn make sure that you are providing valuable content.

Check out part 2 of this series!

Planning Your Summer Marketing Efforts Part 3: Cheap Advertising Tips

Now that summer is in full swing and your marketing events are already mapped out, it’s time to execute the plan. Here are a few quick, easy, and CHEAP advertising tips to make your marketing efforts and events amazingly successful this summer.

Gather referrals from happy clients and use them as advertisement on social media and your website. Here are a few ideas on soliciting referrals. Take it a step further by rewarding clients who spread the good news about your business by offering them a future discount or small prize.
Use social media to your advantage. It’s FREE! Of course, you’ll reach a larger audience with paid social media posts, but you can still reach a huge number of people with thoughtful, quality content. Hint: post a picture with your most important social media announcements. A great image increases people’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80%.
Be a comedian. In reference to the tip listed above, skip the stock photos for now and promote your summer business happenings with funny photos of your team. Wear Hawaiian shirts to the office and make a video of everyone sipping snow cones while they work. Be creative and funny and most of all real. (Which is also free, by the way.) Who knows, maybe you’ll even go viral!
Offer a freebie. Freebies don’t even have to cost you money. Have a member of your team design a patriotic printable or summer sign to drive traffic to your website. If you’ve got a little cash to spend on summer marketing, set up a lemonade station in your store or throw in a lei with every order you ship out.
Use a consistent template to announce events. Design a template that incorporates your logo, and then add the dates and locations of your summer events. This will keep clients in the know about what’s going on with your business this summer, and a consistent template will help them know what they’re looking for when they visit your page for information.
Send email blasts before big events. While your announcements on social media may not reach everyone you intend them to, you can be sure that emails will be delivered to who their rightful owner. Craft thoughtful, engaging emails and send them out before each big event with your business this summer.
Good ol’ fashioned flyers. Yep, they still work. Print out a massive amount of flyers with information about your event and send an employee out to hang them up all over town.
Advertise with your customers, not to your customers. Like this video here. It’s hilarious and original, and promotes Lyft without feeling sale-sy at all. Come up with creative ways to make your business fun and involve customers to help spread the word.

What cheap advertising ideas do you have to engage your customers? Share with us, we’d love to hear!

See part 1 and part 2 of our Summertime Marketing Tips Series.

Grow Your Business Through Referrals

The single most powerful selling tool for any small business can be summed up in one simple word: REFERRALS. People would rather do business with people they know (or know of) than strangers. That’s how it’s always been. Think about it from the other perspective. When you’re introduced to a new service or product by someone you know and trust, you’re more open to it than you would be if someone had cold called you and asked you to make a purchase. Referrals are an immensely powerful and underused tool for small business owners that can help their sales explode. Here are a few tips on soliciting referrals tactfully and using them to your advantage.

Just ask. Yep, it’s that easy. Except that you can’t just park your social media links on the sidebar of your website and expect that your clients are going to jump on and share your brilliance. Instead, make it personal. If you’re in an email exchange with a client, write a note of genuine gratitude for their support or purchase. At the end, a simple statement of “I’d really appreciate an honest review about your experience on xyx site” can make all the difference. Make sure the timing is right when you ask though. It should be in the midst of delivering excellent customer service or shortly thereafter. Don’t be shy to ask a second time in a later follow-up email if the client said they would and then didn’t follow through.
Make it easy. Most clients won’t jump through hoops to refer you, regardless of how much they love you. Your referral process should be incredibly painless, as in, the click of a button easy. Rather than saying “I’d appreciate if you would hop over to Facebook and leave me a review,” try hyperlinking the text within the email directly to your page.
Set up a reward system. Rather than putting all of your focus on potential newcomers, reward your loyal clients. Give them access to new products, free trials, coupon codes, discounts, cash, or an entry for a large prize for their efforts in referring your business. They’re more likely to continue referring you to people they know.
Give and Take. Don’t expect to receive hundreds of referrals if you aren’t doing your part, too. Put out a good word for the services and products you buy and recognize the hard work of the entrepreneurs behind those businesses as well.
Make it a Habit. Don’t just ask for referrals on clients who are already expressing their love for your product. Make it a habit to solicit a review from every client. Your pitch doesn’t have to sound sales-y either; just make it a quick “hey, if you have a second, let’s connect over on xyz site!”

At the end of the day, referrals are about relationships and people supporting people. Don’t try to buy referrals and don’t get discouraged if you didn’t get a referral where you’d really like one. Slow and steady wins the race–and gets you a lot of great referrals, too!

How to Choose the Best Social Media Platforms for Small Business

What do you do when consumers are becoming increasingly focused on social media, while your business is still focusing on the awesome product or service you sell? It’s time to get serious about an online marketing plan. In order to get the most bang for your buck online, you’ll need to utilize social media for your business–no matter what you are selling.

Here are a few things to consider before diving into social media:

The first and most important thing is to decide how you are currently communicating with your audience online and how you would like to communicate with them in the future. Think about these three channels of communication.

Text. The easiest and most informative way to communicate online is through text. Channels such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, blogs, and good ol’ emails are a great way to communicate messages–long or short–to your audience about the latest happenings with your business.
Images. Any business can and should be incorporating still images into their online marketing plan. Images should be carefully chosen to convey messages to an audience and should not overpower the main goal of the post. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Pinterest are image-focused and can be great for promoting a business. Still images should also be included in emails, and profile/cover photos should be present on every social media platform your business engages in.
Audio/Video. Periscope, Youtube, and Vimeo are great for sharing messages through audio or video. These can come in the form of tutorials on how to use your product, interviews with people who love your product, funny behind the scenes happenings around the office, or tips and tricks on how your service or product can improve your customer’s life. The possibilities of using videos for marketing are endless, but this method of reaching consumers through social media is a bit more time consuming. You don’t have to invest in fancy equipment to use videos in your marketing plan, but it does take a bit more commitment to create a video that engages your audience.

A business owner on top of their social media game (which sometimes means hiring an employee whose main job is to manage social media) will aim for doing a little of everything. However, you don’t have to do it all to be recognized and look professional on social media. Here are a few tips from Vyde’s marketing team to make it happen for your small business.

Choose a few social media channels and do them well. Don’t feel like you have to manage every single (and old) social media platform out there. Determine how much time you have to spend on social media for business and divide that by 3 or 4 — that’s about how many social media channels most small business owners can manage at first. In fact, many find that 3 or 4 is even too many to handle.
Snag your username on all social media platforms, even if you won’t use them right now. Plan to use your 2-4 platforms well, but be sure to claim your space on certain channels you think you might use in the future. There are many people out there who will sign up for a social media account or domain under a business name and then try to sell it back to the business owner for an outrageous amount of money. Avoid this mishap by grabbing your business name on the channels you’re interested in now and then focusing on them later. You don’t have to advertise every social media channel you’re signed up for–just bring the attention to the ones you’re actively using.
Sign up for Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+. Here’s why:
- Facebook attracts the widest variety of users. All of your customers are on Facebook (with a few exceptions), young and old. With over one billion users, it has an audience too large to ignore. Facebook is easy to use and offers the flexibility of text images, and videos all in one place.
- LinkedIn is a professional network that is more serious in nature, but one that all small business owners should be on. There are over 230 million LinkedIn users and 2.7 million business pages already on LinkedIn. You don’t necessarily have to maintain a business page on LinkedIn, but as a business owner, you should absolutely have a personal account that is updated regularly.
- A Google+ page for your business will help Google generate search results for your business that includes: the name of your business, where it is located on a map, reviews, contact and location information, and even photos. Google is the tried and true search engine for anyone and everyone, and if you’re not showing up on Google, you’re missing out.
- Other social media channels that are great for business include: YouTube, Instagram, Yelp, Reddit, Pinterest, FourSquare, Tumblr, Twitter, Periscope, and Snapchat. Venture onto those social media platforms in the future, when you can create a marketing plan and use them skillfully.

Keep in mind that it doesn’t matter what you’re signed up for or how often you post about your business when it comes to social media. What really matters is that you’re generating thoughtful, meaningful, and original content that will engage your current and potential customers.

FAQs for Social Media Marketing Strategies:

Why should my small business prioritize social media marketing?

In today’s digital age, social media is a crucial avenue for engaging with customers and expanding brand visibility, regardless of your business type.

What are the key communication channels to consider for social media marketing?

Text, images, and audio/video content are essential channels for conveying messages online, with platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube offering diverse options.

How can I effectively manage social media platforms without feeling overwhelmed?

Focus on a select few platforms and prioritize quality over quantity. Allocate time based on your capacity, aiming to excel on 3 to 4 platforms rather than spreading too thin.

Why is it important to secure usernames on social media platforms, even if not actively using them?

Claiming your business name prevents others from exploiting it and ensures consistency across platforms, facilitating brand recognition and trust among customers.

Which social media platforms are essential for small businesses and why?

Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ offer diverse user bases and distinct advantages for brand visibility, customer engagement, and search engine optimization (SEO). Other platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter also hold potential for strategic marketing efforts.

Resources

Category: Marketing TIps

Content Marketing Should be Valuable

Content Marketing Should have Profitable Customer Action

FAQs on Content Marketing for Small Business:

Create an Attention Grabbing Subject Line

Make Your Email Marketing Personal

Make Your Emails Easy to Read

Make Mobile Friendly Campaigns

1. Create a Brand Identity

2. Define Your Audience

3. Develop Your Voice

4. Be Consistent

5. Develop a Branding Strategy

Use Social Media

Reward Loyalty

Include Emotion

Do you have any other questions about branding? Let us know!

Guest Post on a Blog or Podcast

Use Social Media

Host a giveaway

Send a press release

Frequently Asked Questions

Lead magnet

Call to Action

Search Engine Optimization

Churn Rate

Editorial Calendar

Frequently Asked Questions

Email Lists

Google+

Pinterest

Frequently Asked Questions

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

LinkedIn

Other posts that might interest you

FAQs for Social Media Marketing Strategies:

Why is it important to secure usernames on social media platforms, even if not actively using them?

Which social media platforms are essential for small businesses and why?