January 2, 2010 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Many large and small businesses alike have recently discovered the great advantages of blogging in maintaining good communication relationships with both employees and customers. It is obvious that for some people, blogs have become a means of sharing information and expertise at very advanced levels and this can only mean increased profit for the company. It is a common knowledge by now that small businesses profit the most from blogging. Why? Because a highly specific web page such as a blog, successfully substitutes an extensive online presence. Instead of a static page, you offer a very dynamic blog where feed-back is encouraged and various issues get tackled with.
Many Internet experts consider blogs a very informal, yet popular way of developing business contacts, since, the informational content receives a different approach than in the case of classic promotion sites. Business owners can definitely enjoy great recommendations from users, but there are also dissatisfied customers who could review the products or services unfavorably. You’ll have to be prepared to handle such situations with the utmost diplomacy in order to avoid a worsening of the situation. On the other hand, a business blog provides the opportunity to run market research and avoid hiring employees that don’t fit requirements.
Business blogs also function as the right tool to spread news to all the employees at once; this kind of blog application is usually preferred by larger companies who can reach the staff in a more comfortable way and on a daily basis. Statistics claim that blogging significantly contributes to team building and communication between the departments of the same company; hence, there has been an increased preference for blogging over newsletters. Nevertheless, we also have to mention the more difficult aspects of business blogging as well.
For instance, maintaining an updated blog requires quite a lot of time and work, it may even be necessary to have someone perform all the operations on a regular basis. Then, the e-commerce possibilities are fewer when it comes to using a blog over a regular site; you may find it very advantageous to start blogging when you just initiate your business online, but then, you may choose to use it in parallel with a regular promotion site, once things get to look brighter. If at the beginning you take advantage of the minimal costs required by a business blog, later you need to monitor efficiency first and foremost.
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November 22, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
As a business owner, no doubt you’ve often thought about the question as to how much you should spend on advertising, and where exactly you should spend it. For most people who own small businesses, these questions simply give you more headaches beyond those simply suffered in the normal everyday operation of your business.
No Simple Answers
In fact, there aren’t any simple answers as to how much you should spend on your advertisement.
Depending on your business, there are those who suggest that you should spend anywhere from 4 to 10% of your gross receipts on advertising.
Of course, the conundrum is, it’s likely that your business is not going to survive unless you have a continuing flow of new customers. However, it’s not likely, either, that you’re going to get those new customers without spending at least something on advertising and get the word out about your business.
How to Develop Effective Advertising
Have you found yourself in this situation? You pay for advertising and then sit back, waiting for new customers to arrive. The only thing is, you sit and sit and sit, and they never come. Sound familiar?
Don’t worry; that has happened to many of us as well.
What most people don’t know is that you don’t have to just worry about knowing where to spend your advertisement money.
You also have to establish the following about advertising:
You have to have a marketing plan.
You have to have an advertising strategy.
You have to know about headlines, ad copy and visual presentation.
You have to know how to track the success of your advertising campaigns.
Your Marketing Plan
Your marketing plan is used primarily for you, so that you can identify what your products and services are, what they cost, their particular strengths and weaknesses, and finally, what your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses are as well.
Your Advertising Strategy
You need to understand just exactly what you expect to get from your advertising.
For example, do you just want to get your name out there so that customers will think of you first when they have a particular need you can fulfill? Or do you want your customers to come to you on a particular day, like Saturday?
Do you want your customers to come in and simply browse, whereupon they suddenly come upon an object they can’t do without? Or do you want them to come in and buy a particular product?
Do you want enough customers so that you can pay for your ad? Or do you want a customer who will come to you again and again, becoming a lifelong customer who will help pay your advertising costs over the next several years?
Once you know what you want, you can better formulate just how you should do it.
Ad Copy, Headlines and Visual Presentation
Many businesses actually put money into advertising without thinking much about their sales pitch or presentation; simply, the quality may not be as up to par as it should be. If your advertising is not quality, then it doesn’t matter how much money you spend on advertising or on your distribution, for example.
Make sure you test the advertising you plan to use in smaller markets before you put a lot of money into it to go to larger markets. You have to know that your advertising is going to have value before you put a lot of money behind it.
Track the Success of Your Advertising Campaigns
One particularly successful advertising campaign might be that you can tell your customers to save another 10% if they mention your ad. Or, you can suggest that they can register to win a free sample of product if they fill out a form and tell you how about your business. You can also advertise a particular product in your ad and then track how well that particular product sells.
It really doesn’t matter how you track your advertising, as long as you do.
In Conclusion
The best way to spend your advertising dollars is to make sure you target an advertisement specifically to the customer base you want to serve.
If you don’t track your advertising, then you are simply “shooting blind.” This is a waste of your time and money.
Even with more widespread advertising, if you are still “shooting blind,” then you’re only making a bigger mistake. You have to track your advertisement so that you know what’s working well and what you need to change. If you don’t, you’ll simply repeat mistakes over and over again, and further waste your time and money. This can actually make your business fail.
If you only rely on instinct, this isn’t necessarily going to help you; you may be choosing wrong so that your advertising dollars aren’t getting spent to the best benefit. And in fact, you may lose all of your money for no gain.
When it comes right down to it, if you want to make money from your advertising, you need to prepare, plan, track and study your advertising campaigns and see what the results are. Base your advertising decisions on facts and on the results you see. Once you’ve made the right advertising decisions, making profits from your business should come much easier for you.
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November 21, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Times are tough all over.Small businesses especially are feeling the squeeze as credit dries up, and customers stash their wallets under lock and key.Yeah, times are tough.And when times are tough, one of the first things to happen in the small business world are budget cuts. Guess which line item is one of the first to get cut? Yup…advertising. (How’d you guess?) It’s understandable…you have to cut somewhere. But when you cut your ad budget, you may be cutting in the wrong place. In the 25 years I’ve worked in the advertising and marketing business, I’ve seen several recessions come and go. And I’ve seen lots of ad budgets cut because of it. But one thing I’ve learned is the company that seriously cuts its ad budget often lives to regret it. Think about it. Why do you advertise in the first place? To increase sales. Doesn’t it make sense, then, that during tough times when sales go down, you should advertise even more? Besides, what do you think happens if you cut your ad budget, but your competitors don’t? They get the sales you might have had if you hadn’t cut your advertising budget. When you stop advertising your sales go down. That’s on top of your sales going down because of the recession in the first place. So what do you do? You lose business if you stop advertising, but you really need to save money any way you can. I have two pieces of advice. The first is to go into recession advertising mode. Tighten up the things you can tighten. Maybe even start looking at advertising in ways you haven’t tried before. Here are some ideas to get you started.1. Know your target customer. When the string’s pulled tight on your advertising budget, you don’t have any wiggle room to chase customers who will never buy from you, or hire your services. The idea here is that knowing your customer means you also know what newspapers they read (and what sections), what radio stations they listen to, what tv channels they watch, what interests and hobbies they have, etc. All of which helps you narrow down the best media channels in which to reach them. If you’ve never taken time to determine who your target is, go to my website (www.businessburrito.com) and click on “Marketing.”2. Target your message. What is the one thing you do better than your competitors? Centering your marketing and advertising messages around your one thing is always the best way to get the most bang for the buck, but this matters even more is recession advertising. If you’re advertising to the right target, with the right message, in the right media outlets, you are going in with surgical precision, not with a shotgun blazing everything in sight. And that means you get a better return on your investment.3. Negotiate your media buys. If times are tight for you, chances are they’re pretty tight for the media outlets as well. Which means they may be even more willing to negotiate deals, as well as offering more specials. Even in good times, don’t ever pay media retail. Media reps will usually negotiate in some way for your business. This may take the form of throwing in more insertions, better time slots, sponsorships…sometimes even reduced prices (especially if you sign a 12-month contract). Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need.4. Advertise on the Internet. This works best if you have a website and use it to sell products, information, or services, or if you use it to direct your customers to your bricks and mortar business. Google AdWords program lets you target specific keywords and place ads that direct your traffic to a specific landing page. Whenever anyone “clicks” on your ad, you pay a specific amount of money. This is called “Pay Per Click” advertising, or PPC. In essence, you are pre-qualifying your traffic, so all you pay for are people who are looking for what you are selling. There are all sorts of other advertising opportunities on the Internet: From PPC to banner ads to ezine advertising. Search “internet advertising” and see what you find! 5. Consider radio. Radio can be one of the most cost-effective mediums out there. Why? Because it can effectively target your consumer, usually for less money than other mediums. 6. Email. Guess what…email costs almost nothing except time! If you have an email list, all you have to do is start emailing your customers with specials, coupons, news and info…the possibilities are endless. If you don’t have an email list, start building one today! Collect email addresses as you check customers out; keep a pad by the cash register for them to sign up in exchange for 10% off their next purchase (or some other incentive). There’s no excuse NOT to be doing this.7. Co-op advertising. Is there another business that is compatible and complementary to yours with which you could team up to advertise, and thus share advertising costs? A strategic partnership with other quality businesses can create a win-win situation.Okay, I said I had two pieces of advice. The second one is…increase your advertising! I know…you were about to cut your advertising budget out entirely until you read this article. But if you are thinking of cutting it, doesn’t it stand to reason that your competitors are considering the same thing? If you increase your advertising at a time when your competitors are cutting back, just think how much more visible to the consumer you’ll become! You didn’t become a small business owner by not knowing how to take calculated risks. This is one that could pay off big-time.When you advertise, you are building your brand. When you stop advertising and putting your brand in front of the consumer, your brand starts losing its power. Therefore, when you stop advertising during rough times, you are throwing away an investment that may have taken you years to build. (c) Copyright 2008, BusinessBurrito.com. All rights reserved.
Donna Williams is the founder and creator of BusinessBurrito.com – a website dedicated to helping small businesses grow to their maximum potential. She is also a 25-year advertising / marketing executive, creative director, writer, and producer. Together, Donna and her husband currently own and co-own five small businesses. To read more of her articles, or to sign up for her free weekly e-newsletter, visit her website at www.businessburrito.com
November 20, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Online advertising is the means of promoting a product on the Internet using various Internet features. With the arrival of Internet, the business world has become digitalized and people prefer buying things online, which is easier and faster. Online advertising otherwise known as e- advertising gives a new dimension and unique charm to the product, which is an added advantage.The primary benefit of online advertising over offline business is monetary advantage, which cannot be gained locally. This leads to great progress in business, which is the ultimate aim of any businessman. Online advertising offers a wide spectrum of recognition, which is incomparable to any other mode of advertising.Online advertising has no time limitations and is viewed day and night throughout the globe. Online advertising reduces the transaction cost and contributes to the profit of the company and is secure in competition against international marketing. The owner is much more satisfied because a secure business is more beneficial and reliable.Certainly online advertising is one step ahead over others and helps to keep pace with the fast changing world. ‘Pay- per- click’ advertising is one form of advertisement and is a very cost effective way of getting advertised for the price of a half page advertisement in a regional newspaper.Another form of online advertising, which is gaining popularity, is e- mail and it has enjoyed tremendous growth in the last few years. Since there is a change in trend of shifting from print to online, online advertising will continue to grow as long as the technology advances.Small businesses find online advertising offering maximum exposure for a minimal cost. Small businesses target their ideal clients and find that online advertising is an affordable way of advertising. Online advertising gives a direct response, making it profitable to both the consumer and the seller. Banner advertisements depict in pictorial form and are commonly viewed on high traffic sites and also give a hyperlink back to the advertisers own site. The price varies according to the number of advertisements shown. Sponsorship advertisements are larger then banner advertisements and contain considerable amount of text and placed on ezines or online newsletters. The price varies according to the number of readers of the newsletter.The services of online advertisement agencies have made them to run the campaigns in an effective way and are more feasible. It also helps the marketers to keep an eye on the performance of advertising campaign, which is impossible in other types of media. This enables them to modify the campaign by analyzing the data thus targeting the customers. The online advertising agency ensures a wide reach to the audience through the central advertisement server since it uses online advertising network. In conclusion, online advertising is the cheapest and effective mode of advertising whose success has proved its potential.
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November 20, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Advertising in Newspapers
Newspaper advertisements are as old as advertisement itself. Although, it’s an age-old method of advertisement, it still receives the same response and is highly successful. Both small and large businesses still choose this method to promote their products and services. Ask them and nearly hundred percent advertisers would select newspapers as their primary advertise medium.
In spite of registered decline in newspaper circulation numbers and advertisements featured in a newspaper, they are read by millions of people at their breakfast table. The rate of increase in price to place advertisements in newspapers is climbing rapidly when compared to radio, television and billboards. The main aim should be to get the desired attention from the advertisement and out do the competitor. Various factors should be considered and measures should be taken to ensure success, while keeping the cost low.
Many advertisers, who advertise through newspapers, design their own advertisements without any prior training. This has lead to the rise of larger number of retailers who think that making an ad by them is the only way to get it right. This approach saves a lot of money and is good for small businesses, only if they reach to correct customers. The one time cost of placing a small advertisement is $150, so the measures should be taken to place them effectively. It isn’t necessary to have a full-page advertisement posted in the newspaper. If smartly designed, even half page advertisement can do wonders; the money saved can be used to advertise concurrently in other mediums like radio, websites, etc.
Using colorful font can multiply the cost to many times and is not worth the return. If the budget is low and the matter is confident enough, black font will be fine. Regular readers read the newspapers daily; therefore, there is no sense in placing the same ad in the same paper everyday. The advertisement can be placed in different papers everyday. The frequency can be three times a week for a particular newspaper. But there is an increase in the number of readers on weekends, so more money can be invested on placing advertisement in the weekend edition. Don’t be disappointed if all the advertisement space is sold on weekend. Insert fliers in between the pages of the newspaper.
As many advertisers will be posting their ads on weekends in the local newspaper and the chances of your ad getting lost in the muddle, the conventions can be twisted a little to beat the competition. Place an offer coupon in the mid-week editorial and pay the local station to advertise and talk about the offer on their famous program. Ask them to specifically mention about the coupon placed in the newspaper. Out of the daily readers, only few of them go through the entire newspapers. Most of them view the first and last page. So instead of posting an ad thrice weekly in the middle pages, invest on placing the ad on the first or last page of the newspaper, once a week. Majority of the newspapers don’t give competitive protection, that is, an advertisement of a firm can be placed next to the advertisement of its competitor. Specify about this condition to the sales person and take the guarantee from them.
There is a decrease in the number of local newspapers every year. In United States, only about a thousand newspapers function on a daily basis. Local people are now relying on weekly papers or newspapers with the local section. Sometimes only one publisher controls many of the local newspapers. Newspapers for all the localities are printed at one place with only the front page being changed. When advertising in such publications, care should be taken on recognizing the audience that is being reached. All the effort and money is wasted if the wrong customer is reached and the result can go in loss. Mixing different medias instead one for advertising is a smart approach. One can take care of the shortcomings of the other and work in tandem to make the overall advertising campaign a huge success.
November 20, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Webwindows is a leading media agency based in the UK. Webwindows is unique in that it combines the power of both the offline and online mediums to deliver solutions to its clients comprising mostly of small and mid-sized businesses looking for affordable yet high quality solutions. The representatives of Webwindows ensure that you get a solution that is designed to give you a competitive advantage and promote your brand, goods and sales.Webwindows is superior in services as compared to other offline marketing agencies because it makes colour advertising in the weekend supplement sections of seven broadsheet newspapers accessible for small businesses to advertise their online offerings. By having your advertisement published in a classified advertisement in the Webwindows page, you are able to reach the right customers. You can seek the help of Webwindows representatives to select the right newspapers and magazines based on factors such as publication type, demographics and location to reach your target audience.Advertising in the newspapers with Webwindows, you can also reach the right markets. The Webwindows page is read by key decision makers who can really make a difference to your business. It goes without saying that people who read newspapers generally belong to the affluent and educated class who have access to the Internet. By advertising on the Webwindows page in newspapers and magazines you are actually targeting a very focused group who can make a difference to your business.Advertising in the offline media with Webwindows, you can reach an audience that reads classified advertisements. Research shows that a majority of people, who read about products and services advertised in newspapers, use the Internet to find more information. Then again many consumers actually make a purchase following their additional research. This is the power Webwindows gives you when you advertise your online business with them.Webwindows is also superior in that it specifically provides its advertising space to small and medium-sized businesses to advertise their online business in seven leading newspapers and magazines in the UK. Webwindows special colour supplement appears in leading newspapers such as The Guardian, The Observer, and magazines such as Sunday Telegraph Magazine, and The Observer Magazine. The advantage of advertising on the Webwindows colour page is that the classified advertisements are read by people who are looking for attractive deals on the Internet. Reading a classified advertisement on the Webwindows page saves them the trouble of searching for these products and services on the Internet and they can go directly to the URL mentioned in the advertisement. The recent studies clearly point to the fact that in Britain the most effective form of advertising is print advertising or advertising in the newspapers and magazines. Webwindows realized the power of the print media in promoting online sales and services and has been using the print media to provide advertising space for online businesses for the last ten years. The foresight and a deep understanding of the psychology of the consumers are two very basic requisites for the success of any advertising and marketing strategy. Webwindows through its services has proven that it is well ahead of its times and knows how best to promote its clients’ businesses.
Andrew Mogridge is managing director of web windows marketing limited. Web Windows has offered the best value newspaper advertisements in the market for over a decade. For more information, check out his web site at http://www.webwindows.co.uk/
November 20, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
According to Webwindows, a leading media agency in the UK, when it comes to advertising print prevails on the Internet. This view of Webwindows is confirmed by findings by companies such as Google and Deloitte. Webwindows explains these findings by stating that newspapers and magazines are integrally woven into the collective psyche of the people and even in the times of the Internet, they remain the main source of news, analysis and information. Webwindows further states that newspapers are synonymous with trust and quality and so people put more faith in the print media than in any other media. According to Webwindows, people turn to the print media to make their purchase decisions and to the Internet to research about the offerings of the companies which are advertised in the newspapers.Webwindows also feels that as far as costs are concerned, print media promises better results on investment. The problem according to Webwindows, with online advertising is that it is either free or too expensive. Webwindows rightly feels and its views are confirmed by many consumers that free advertising increases chances of fraud. On the other hand, Webwindows feels that newspaper advertising is safer. The rising cost of online advertising, according to Webwindows, does not make it feasible for small businesses. Webwindows also supports its case for offline advertising by pointing out an important finding by Deloitte. According to the report, there are people who would actually pay for taking off the advertisements that appear on the web pages they are reading. Webwindows explains this phenomenon by saying that these ads cause unnecessary distractions when people are trying to focus on what is written on the web page. This, says Webwindows, is not the case with offline advertising. The advertisements in the newspapers are static and do not distract the readers. Then again, if advertisements are placed in specific places, they are read by people who are actually interested in reading them. It is precisely because of this that Webwindows has a special page in seven leading newspapers and magazines in the UK which is completely dedicated to small and mid sized businesses to advertise their offerings. The Webwindows page has over five million readership per week. This naturally means that your advertisement in the Webwindows page is read by people who are looking for online bargains. Newspapers are read by people who are educated and affluent and have the purchasing power to buy products and services. This according to Webwindows constitutes the main difference between online advertising and offline advertising. In online advertising, advertising are forced upon the reader. On the other hand, says Webwindows, newspaper advertisements are read by people who want to find out something more about the products and services. The willingness and interest level makes all the difference between online and offline advertising. This is why Webwindows advocates offline media as a better medium for advertising and better returns on investments.
Andrew Mogridge is managing director of web windows marketing limited. Web Windows has offered the best value newspaper advertisements in the market for over a decade. For more information, check out his web site at http://www.webwindows.co.uk/
November 20, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
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In this paper we offer an introduction to the new Internet phenomena – Social Media Marketing explaining:
1. Why it’s important for small businesses to understand it
2. What to do, and how to go about it. (all the site names are links)
3. Where to go to start building a web presence.
Why you need to be marketing via Social Media
Do you need to get into Social Media Marketing (SMM) – Almost certainly YES because a) the other approaches don’t work so well anymore, and b) because it offers a much wider reach, to a more closely targeted audience. And it’s free.
a) Other approaches don’t work any more:
* Cold calling on the street – when was the last time anybody got invited in to make their pitch?
* Cold calling on the phone – talking to voice mail isn’t fun anymore.
* Print and other broadcast media – far too expensive and unproductive.
* Email – authorized sender lists and other filters send these to Trash.
* SEO your marketing site – Google ranks advertisers first and content (in blogs) next.
* Adwords – cost per click is driven up by big brand budgets and only Google makes money.
On top of these is the resistance we all have to intrusive advertising. Our brains, our Firefox or our Tivo, allows us to filter it out.
b) Social Media platforms aren’t intended for marketing, but do help us get messages out there, to people interested in the subject. The creators built these systems so communities could interact, on the Internet. Members avoid advertising like everybody else, but as in other social places, they are open to meeting people and learning and sharing. Participating in these communities, we can meet people who are buying what we sell.
Social Media Marketing is:
1. More effective
2. Wider reach to people who are interested
3. Free!
The Seven Secrets to Being Welcome
Getting started with SMM can appear intimidating. All of these places seem full of experts who use their own special languages. We have to write and publish stuff in ways people want to read. Most of all it seems to take up so much time.
But actually it’s easy, provided we stick to the fundamental principles:
* Avoid Internet Marketing Experts like the plague. Sites are dominated by these characters trying to drive readers to their blogs, in the hope they’ll click an Ad. They know less about SMM than we do, or they wouldn’t act the way they do.
* Find some genuine (there are a few) SMM experts and read what they generously share in their blogs. A great starting place is chrisbrogan.com. Find Chris’ paper “Fish Where the Fish Are” for the most clear explanation.
* Sign up to sites where your prospects, or people they know, hang out. Be social. Fill out your profile as if you’re joining a club. In Social Media, members like to know the person behind the business. It’s just like meeting people at a cocktail party.
* Write blog posts on stuff you really understand. Make these posts short, to the point, and offer genuine expertise. The objective here is not winning a Pulitzer Prize – it’s sharing your expertise. Don’t pretend to know something. Frauds are exposed in a heartbeat.
* Write comments in forums, sharing what you know with people who don’t. Answer questions posted with short comments directly on subject. People interested in the same subject watch the answers to questions. The question becomes the focal point of a mini community. Here you can answer one question and have ten people recognize your value add.
* Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Bad news about a product or service will be around the world in a nano second and consign the perpetrator to oblivion.
* DO NOT SELL. There are plenty of fools who do, but they’re noticed as Spammers. There’s no need to sell. When we know what we’re talking about, people in the market will want to buy.
Anybody following these rules will be welcome on discussion forums and other meeting places.
Easy Steps to Global Presence
We need to think of the Internet as a spinning plate. We can stand in the middle and not move while it goes on around us, but we know there’s stuff going on out there. The perimeter is moving much faster then the center. It’s all a blur.
To join in we’ll need to move toward the outside and be prepared to move more quickly. The further we get out there the faster we have to think, and move. What’s happening isn’t near the center, it’s out there on the edges. In today’s world it’s a case of “be out there, or be square”.
In B2B, the good news is we don’t have to get to the extremes of what the gurus are dreaming up. Our audience, being more focused on business than redefining the world, congregates in places where it’s easier to play a part. Not that far from the center. Further out there will be opportunities in the future so we should stake out a place, but we probably aren’t going to do business there – yet.
Most of the sites out there have been started by people wanting to get paid for advertising, one way or another, and run the site for their own benefit. Why not start at Front Office Box User Group ?- it’s run for your benefit. You can manage your own communities, get all your blog posts automatically sent to content distributors. Get your profiles indexed by Search Engines, and advice from the Social Media Marketing group.
At WeCanDo.Biz create a profile in the directory, receive endorsements from customers and business partners, contact other members via messages and post any business needs to the community. Coming soon will be a business forum.
At implu.com find up to the minute details of 167,000 company officers, create a personal profile and share your “stories” about corporate America. There’ll be blogs and a forum coming soon.
Not many people know but you can set up a business profile on Facebook go to Mari Smith for a guide.
Next go to to Linked In. Here we find 25+ million professionals, like us, wanting to connect for business: reconnect with past colleagues, receive job offers, get help from their peers. Linked In has 1,000s of special interest groups and posts questions and answers in 100s of categories.
Growing fast is a host of special interest sites using Ning and Collective X software. Both offer directories of their sites. There are 1,000s of Ning sites, some with 100,000s members, focused on special interest or geography. Ning makes it particularly easy for us to set up our own, and keeps a consistent profile of us and our “friends” across all of it’s sites. Find some interesting groups, join and join in discussions. You’ll be familiar with the way it all works- the user group’s a Ning site.
Spread your Internet footprint by submitting content at Ezine Articles. From December 2008 join AddsYou for more of the same opportunities. Post the same content in Squidoo lenses and Google Knols. Contribute to Knols Debates. – researchers use these like encyclopedia.
Get a Google account. Post content in your Blogspot blog, publish it in Google Sites pages, make videos and publish on You Tube.
Answer others’ questions anywhere you find them – particularly at Linked In, Yahoo Answers and Knol Debates. People appreciate the help, and Google is watching – by now you’re becoming a world authority on your subjects. (worth remembering 99% of the content on the web is regurgitated garbage – if your stuff is good it’s easy to stand out).
Microblogging and What We Can Do With It
At the extreme edge of our plate we come to microblogging with Twitter, Pownce, Yammer, Plurk and a few more – on the face of it the most meaningless service imaginable, with broadcast publishing limited to 140 characters and a host of complimentary software/services adding value to it. The number of people joining Twitter is growing at a blinding rate, because the members are creating purpose for it as they go along. With Twitter the lunatics really have taken control of the asylum.
Even further out we come to Twingr. This is a site/service letting people create their own communities, just like Ning but limited to the 140 character post size. (It’s brand new so might need some time to fix a few things.)
Why limit messages to 140 characters? Because it cuts to the mustard. People out there want to benefit from our insight, not out literary skills. The limit focuses minds on the meat. Readers can scan hundreds of posts in a few minutes, choosing ones they want to know more about.
Microblogging started with simple status updates – what I’m doing now – between friends. Then it exploded with users and innovation.
Now news services monitor Twitter posts to find out what’s happening. Journalists monitor them to find out what people are thinking. Politicians are doing the same, and engaging a new public with their own ideas. Software companies are publishing service notices to their users. Brands don’t need customer surveys anymore, they just monitor Twitter.
Sales guys are monitoring Twitter to find out who’s interested in what, and what’s being said about their competitors. This is the new source of sales leads, and we don’t have to look for them, they come to us.
More than a million early adopters are publishing news and opinions to the rest of the world. The service is so successful, developers everywhere are writing programs to add value – including Twitter Search, monitoring keywords and sending every post using them to our RSS reader, and Twellow, a directory of Twitter users with more than 620,000 entries.
With Twitter we can find new friends and colleagues anywhere in the world. We can learn of a new opportunity, evaluate and decide within just a few minutes.
We can be so much more productive, because we’ve got access to so much more information and support. It’s the ultimate question and answer service.
What’s Next ?
Beats me! We just need to keep up with pace.
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
This new package is aimed directly at small businesses and start-ups that are looking for high quality marketing and branding, but only have a limited budget to work with. Enabling payment via interest-free monthly payment plans makes it affordable for small businesses to create impressive brands and drive up sales using leading ROI and best practice strategies and take advantage of cost-effective online marketing services. Chantilly, VA (PRWEB) October 15, 2009 — ImageWorks Studio, a custom web design and branding firm, announces their new Small Business Branding and Web Design Package, designed to provide small businesses with the high quality marketing and branding tools they need, paid for with an affordable interest-free monthly payment plan. Enabling small businesses to build a solid marketing foundation and increase brand equity, this new service allows owners and operators to create impressive brands and drive up sales using leading ROI and best practice strategies. ImageWorks has packaged over $20,000 worth of services, such as Custom web design, logo design, an email marketing template, blog design, sales kit design, and more. Togther, these services have been generously discounted and can be paid for with an affordable interest-free monthly payment plan. “Our goal is to help small businesses succeed in today’s economy. We feel so strongly that a powerful, professionally-produced brand can lead to measurable increase in sales and brand equity, that we are willing to finance our clients’ brand building efforts for 12 months, completely interest-free,” explains Scott C. Margenau, President and Founder of ImageWorks.. Marketing in a Recession: To spend or not to spend? New Small Business Marketing Package from ImageWorks Start at just $895/month. It’s no secret that marketing budgets are shrinking up in this economy. The problems is, cutting back on marketing results in further diminishing sales at a time when sales are most needed. Marketing experts preach that a slow economy is the exact right time for companies to spend on marketing in order to gain market share from their competitors who are pulling back their own spending. For a company to halt their marketing program in a slow economy is like deciding to stop putting gas in your car,” says ImageWorks Founder Scott C. Margenau, “it just doesn’t make any sense. We know that money is tight, but the same as your car needs gas to run, your company needs marketing to succeed. Now is the time to reach your market through new media, which is affordable and it works. We are making it possible for companies to follow this advice.” About ImageWorks’ Small Business Marketing and Web Design Package: Web design company of ImageWorks has selected some of their most popular branding and marketing services and combined them into one unique package. The total cost represents a saving of over 30% and the package can be purchase through an interest-free 12-month monthly payment option. The company hopes to help its customers by allowing them to have a first class brand image reinforced with marketing strategies that work in today’s fast paced online environment — without having to spend a significant amount of money upfront. By taking advantage of the services offer in our Small Business Package, customers will show up on line, in social media, in searches, via email, and through advertisements with a value-oriented customer-centric messaging. Here is a brief overview of some of the services included in the Small Business Marketing & Branding Package: Depending on the package a customer selects, monthly payments start at just $895 per month for 12 months. There are no renewals and no hidden costs.
Scott C. Margenau is president of ImageWorks Studio, an award-winning Custom web design, Web design company specializing in online and off-line media in advertising, web development, brand development and promotion.
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Blogs are easy way to communicate with the customers, and employees. From past few years, blogs are continuing as one of the effective channels of communication when compared to other advertising channels. Blogs for business can help to strengthen relationships with targeted audiences. A blog can help in as many ways, from a business perceptive.Reasons why a small business needs bloggingSmall businesses need to be more effective in building a potential and loyal customer base when compared to large businesses. Blogs helps in increasing the consumer base. • Building customer relationships: Blogs are very helpful to increase the brand loyalty in customers by engaging with them through blogging on their favorite topics. Regularly updated blogs can help businesses in making readers to visit the website on regular basis. This may steadily enhance the business opportunities of the organization. Blogs became easy and effective medium to make the customers to join in discussions, providing tips, insights, etc., about the products and services of many businesses.• Blogs at workplace: Employees can write their opinions, views, and recommendations for any developments in the business. Blogs helps small businesses for effective cross-functional communication with employees. Companies can create internal blogs within organizations where project members and employees update project information along with reports without having to waste time for interaction and responses for minor updates.• For brand awareness: Small businesses can easily update their recent achievements in products and services in blogs and can create awareness to the customers about them. With regular reading of blogs, customers can know the latest developments in the business. Blogs help small businesses to create brand awareness for the products or services they offer.• Better communication: Blogging for small businesses facilitate to increase the integrity in the organization with the easy communication process between the employees and the management. Blogs are also created to attract the readers of targeted markets. Companies update their respective blogs frequently with opinions and reviews of customers along with their new achievements in their products and services, and make them visible to almost everyone online. Blogging enables the small businesses to stay in business, to connect with its customers, clients. This can indirectly help to increase their sales. Blogging can make your customers relate better to company on a personal level. Blogging is a great way to set your company apart from the group of small, and home based businesses through Internet.
Richard Nance’s blog has many health and beauty tips. This blog also features society awareness topics in short and simple way.
