Marketing for Small Businesses

What You Need To Get Right On Your Website To Generate Leads

2011-11-03T08:49:00.002-04:00

You need to develop online offers - Something of value. Not a free consultation. We are trying to get as many people in the sales funnel as possible. We want a soft yes. A free consultation (A.K.A. sales call) is a hard yes. What can you offer that will educate your target market as to why they should be buying from you instead of your competition. Explain the apples AND the oranges.
Online offers become lead bait - Lead bait could be industry specific case studies, whitepapers, buying guides, etc. The Headlines to these pieces of lead bait are key! Take your time on lead bait production and it will pay off down the line over and over.
Lead bait allows you to educate your prospects - Lead bait collects the contact information and when you have the contact information your triggered educational email/direct mail campaigns can begin. Now you have their ear and you can begin class.
Website copy needs to be customer-centric - Make sure to double check the copy of your site to make sure it’s all customer-centric. Answer their questions, ease their worries, explain how you do business. Getting down in the weeds and explaining what you do in in detail isn’t what your prospects want. Show the benefits, not the features. Stay away from brochure-speak or business jargon.
Your “About Us” page needs to explain why you are better than your competition - Next to your “Home” page, your “About Us” gets the most traffic on your website. You need to be very clear here about what your unique selling proposition is to your prospects. Take your time here. Show your key personnel off here and how to contact them.
Back up your assertions with testimonials - Post relevant testimonials on each your service or solution pages. Like it or not, you are presumed guilty before innocent so testimonials are key!
Video, video, video, did I say video - Words are great, a picture is worth a thousand words, and video is an educational nirvana! Find the budget!!!!!
Tips 1 through 7 don't matter if you can't get traffic to your website - You need a mix of online and offline marketing tactics to get people to your site. Below is what Main Street Marketing believes are the best ways to draw traffic to your website.

o Networking (1-1,Group, Events, Etc.)

o Joint Venture Marketing

o Content Marketing (Blogs, Posts, Email Marketing)

o Search Engine Optimization

o Most everything else is too costly for small businesses or just old fashion advertising (consumers don't want disruptive advertising in most cases)

Main Street Marketing does this everyday for our customers using your Website, a CRM system, Email Marketing Software, and Variable Data Printing (when appropriate). Contact us if you would like to learn more!

Content Marketing = Trusted Relationships = Customers

2011-10-21T14:25:00.000-04:00

In the following video C.C. Chapman, co-author of Content Rules. explains why content marketing is important for businesses and the role it plays in building trusted relationships.

Content Marketing is a pilar of our Internet Presence Package at Main Street Marketing.

Contact us today if you have any questions about content marketing!

Important Marketing Tips for Small Business Owners

2011-07-28T13:54:00.000-04:00

Internet Marketing = Marketing!

Especially for Small Businesses.
Internet marketing works best when it's a compliment to Word of Mouth Marketing and regular ol' Networking. After the conversation/meeting, what is the next place your prospect will go before doing business with you? The Internet! They go to the internet for research and then go to their peers for advice. People’s peers are more and more located and accessed through social media, not the telephone.
You have to have an internet presence to be in business these days. A lack of one raises suspicion and makes it harder to do business with you. Not a good combo!

Marketing is a cost of doing business not all about ROI.

Marketing is an art.
Business owners need to look at their outlay as 2/3rds an investment and 1/3rd ROI.
Marketing is an ongoing effort not an event. It takes a while to see what works. It takes trial and error. You will, over time, build upon marketing successes.
Most business owners stop marketing too early.

Lean and mean small businesses need outsourced marketing not abdicated marketing!

Key company personnel need to be present in strategy and content.
Failure by key personnel to participate will result in a failed internet presence.
There are no silver bullets.

Main Street Marketing has been providing internet presence for his customers since 2006, working with them one on one to build successful go-to-market plans.

The 5 Key Pieces of the Internet Marketing Puzzle

2011-03-12T06:56:00.001-05:00

There are 5 Key Pieces to the Internet Marketing Puzzle

Content - Content is King. Nothing works online without it. Websites, Email and Social Media marketing will have no effect without it. It’s the food that prospects and customers need to improve their businesses. It allows you to be a thought leader in your industry. It allows you to educate your prospects and customers. It’s the reason people keep coming back. If they keep coming back, sooner or later they will do business with you. Content is the most important piece of the internet marketing puzzle.
Website -Your website needs to be a good place for content reside. It needs to be easily searched. It needs to be categorized. It needs to be easily shared between platforms (i.e. From articles on your website to linked teasers on your social media sites.) With just content and a website the only way your articles will be found is through search engines. This is a build it and they will come strategy, which isn’t a very good strategy at all.
Bulk Email Software -Bulk email software allows you to communicate to prospects and customers as to what kind of content you have on your website. It also allows you to brand yourself while doing so. If your content is good; people will stay subscribed.
Social Media -Social Media allows you to communicate to your prospects and customers just like email but it has two very important attributes that email marketing does not. Social media allows for a two way conversation with your prospects and customers. It also allows you to have your messages spread virally to people who are liking, following or connecting with you on social media. You share your message with them and can share the message with their networks and on and on.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software - A CRM system comes into play when people start showing up to read the content on your website, getting there from search engines, email marketing, and social media updates. The CRM system allows you to collect information from those who are highly interested in your content. When a prospect or customer shows interest in a specific topic and take action by subscribing to a certain information channel, then triggered emails can be sent. The triggered emails will then move the prospects down your sales funnel from a lead to hot lead to customer and finally to a brand advocate. The CRM system also allows you to work smarter with the information that is contained within each history entry of past emails sent, past conversation notes, etc. It allows you to call on the people who are truly interested in you. The CRM system also allows you be on the same page and sharing the same information with all of your key personnel.

Many people in the marketing world provide each of these key pieces to the puzzle. It's Main Street Marketing's view that you need one trusted advisor to handle all 5 pieces for you. Please contact us for more information!

In Social Media..Your Employees Are Your Most Important Asset

2011-02-22T10:05:00.002-05:00

Many companies focus all of their marketing energy on developing advocates outside of their company and forget to develop the social media presence of their employees. This is a big mistake for companies since their employees know as much about their products or services as anyone, and the strongest employees probably feel tremendous passion for their work, as well as their employer. Social Media is transforming the way companies conduct business -- from collaboration and content distribution to demand generation. Social media allows companies and employees to build strong relationships and is a powerful tool for sharing expertise in the market.

OK, OK, But…I’m Worried About What My Employees Might Say!
If you find yourself saying this, then you first need to realize that you don’t have a social media problem…you have MANAGEMENT problem. Get that handled first and then read on further.

Enabling Your Employees to Elevate Your Company Through Social Media
You Need a Strategy - To take advantage of social media you need the right framework for employee enablement and empowerment. A company’s social business strategy should focus employee interactions on concrete outcomes that enhance their social presence, project their expertise, stimulate innovation, and deliver business value.

You Need a Social Media Leader - Most organizations have different people doing different things in social media. Each company needs a Social Media Leader who unifies the social culture, governance, guidelines for social engagement, etc. Employees will need mentoring and direction to be successful and to drive the best outcomes for themselves and the company.

Social Media Strategy
Companies need to continually refine their methods for online discourse and social media to empower their employees as professionals, innovators, and citizens in a new communications model that evolves beyond mass communications into masses of communicators. Through thousands of interactions, your company’s greatest asset -- the expertise of its employees -- can be shared with clients, shareholders, and the communities in which it operates.

Steps To Implementing a Good Social Media Strategy

Do some social media intelligence work via social listening
Help experts know where and when to engage
Create infrastructure and processes that make it easy for you experts to share expertise and provide value online. Tools, guidance, and information ensure that the individual activities of experts align with business needs of internal and external audiences. For a great example of Social Media guidelines check out IBM’s guidelines.

Yea But...Where Is the ROI in Social Media?
Oh…you’re one of those ROI hounds who devalue the soft arts of selling. No problem…there is a way for you to collect ROI but it’s going to take some work on your part first. The first step to measuring social media ROI is to establish a measurable business objective, such as increasing the portion of your pipeline that is generated by the Internet or decreasing average cost per lead. Always remember that social media ROI must be measured within the broader context of all Internet marketing, including website marketing, email marketing, etc. Your ROI is only as good as you are in combining and implementing all your Internet marketing strategies to work in unison. They need to be measured together based on a business goal. Most small business need to outsource their Internet presence activities to be successful since they are running lean and mean.

The Time is Now to Get Started
Internet Marketing and Mobile Marketing and how they relate to social media IS the future. There is no getting around that. Get started today and get a jump on your competition.

The Future of SEO is SOCIAL!

2010-11-12T12:51:00.000-05:00

The Future of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is looking like it's going to be a hybrid of SEO and Search. Watch the video below and see why "Like" maybe the new "Link". If you have been watching the news, Microsoft's Bing Search Engine and Facebook are teaming up for a new way to search that involves social media. Lookout Google!!! And Yahoo is already using Bing's search results for their search engine.

LinkedIn Tips For Better Lead Generation

2010-11-05T13:08:00.003-04:00

Increase Your Visibility and Connectability

One account only. Don’t confuse those looking for you.
Make sure your profile is filled out completely. You never know what will prompt someone to make contact or what they will be using for search terms.
Connect to everyone you “know.” A rule of thumb for who you “know” is anyone who you would be comfortable in asking for a referral from.

Engagement

Do not send someone an invitation to join your LinkedIn network if you don’t know them. Get introduced to people you don’t know through a direct connection.
Use Answers - Be seen as an Industry expert.
Use most of the applications offered within LinkedIn so people can get as much information about you and your business as they can.

Groups

Join Groups in your Industry and in your target market. Industry groups to educate you and target market groups to educate them. Always with the intention to educate and to never sell. If you truly educate someone, sales will follow.
Members of the same group can freely contact one another through Linked-In without becoming a direct connection.
Read and submit to group discussions.

Prospecting

Search for companies and people that you want to meet.
Look for shared connections to people in those companies and get introduced.
Build relationships and send them referrals first. The thought of sales must come later and is always best if they prompt you about your services.
Monitor your network’s activity for sales opportunity triggers.

Conclusion
You must fill out your entire profile and add everyone you "know". Join groups to listen and to post. Find your targets, see who knows them in your direct connections, and get introduced. Make it a habit to spend at least 15 minutes a day with LinkedIn to add new connections, join group conversations, and work on some prospecting.

Should You Start a Blog?

2010-09-28T19:34:00.001-04:00

Web-logs (or “blogs) are unique communication vehicles for your business, particularly for branding, relationship marketing and traffic building. You're an expert at what you do and there is no better way than a blog to show it.

The Benefits of a creating and maintaining a blog:

Increased traffic to your Web site
Free exposure to the press
Higher search engine rankings
Brand recognition among readers
Immediate customer feedback
More sales
Decrease in marketing collateral expenses

When trying to figure if a Blog is has a ROI for your company; ask yourself the following questions:

What would a pay-per-click campaign cost to get you the same traffic as a blog?
How much would advertising cost to get the same press attention?
What would you have to pay an online expert for the same results?
What were the costs for your sales efforts before launching your blog?

Main Street Marketing feels like every small business has its niche and expertise or they wouldn't still be in business. There is no better way than a Blog to sell potential customers indirectly on what your expertise is and why they should care. All Bloggers must refrain from "in your face" selling tactics. Educate first and the sales will come. Keeping your company on the top of your prospects mind is the name of the game. Sow the seeds though a blog and harvest prospects later without trying to "sell" them to believe in you. If they follow your Blog...odds are they already believe in what you have to say. Main Street Marketing feels that Blogs are an essential part of Search Engine Marketing program and when leveraged with a good marketing mix, they can provide great Return on Investment (ROI).

Finding Social Media “FANS”

2010-09-02T08:45:00.000-04:00

Getting your social media strategy in line matters to the future growth of your business whether you like it or not. In most cases if you don’t like it; you don’t understand it.

Social media is the first tool for marketing and public relations that allows you to create close, credible, and interactive relationships with your prospects and customers. These conversations are mission critical to your business. These conversations are the way that most people will make their buying decisions in the future. You better get these conversations right!

Companies who thrive in the future will be transparent and will be able to handle open and viewable criticism quickly. Those who can react the quickest win! This doesn’t make stodgy guys in three piece suits happy but it’s the truth. You can no longer call in a PR team only when you have a crisis. Your communications team needs to be working every day to prevent the crisis.

Stop Selling
Are you still trying to sell stuff using social media? If so, STOP now! The world has changed. Quit selling and start providing value. Quit telling and start listening. Too many businesses are still pushing self-serving messages at their prospects and customers and they are listen to none of it and will simply walking away. Think long term and not short term. It’s all about accruing trust and providing value. If that is done; the sales will come.

What you need to build your fan base
1. Relevant and useful content
2. Lively conversation
3. Meaningful offers and recognition
4. Integration with all other marketing channels

Relevant and useful content
It’s the quality of the content that drives attention, fan base growth, and the level of conversation. AGAIN and for always (say it with me now!)…Content is KING! To get relevant content you better know what target market is passionate about. If you miss here…it’s over until you figure that out.

The best kinds of content for social media interest are:
1. Video
2. Blog posts
3. Announcements
4. Links to other relevant content
5. Pictures

Lively Conversations
The following are the best practices to keep good conversations:
1. Ask questions - People want to tell you what’s on their mind. You have to trust your yourself and your company enough to ask.
2. Use everyday language - Stay away from corporate-speak and jargon.
3. Be responsive. Nothing is worse than an unanswered question or an unappreciated comment.
4. Make lateral conversation possible - Enable in every way your prospects and customer to talk to one another

Meaningful Offers and Recognition
Reward your best prospects and customers with:
1. Exclusive offers and values not received anywhere else.
2. Recognition

Integration with all other marketing channels
Social Media is a tool in your tool box. You need a lot of tools to market your business effectively. You need a website, email marketing, marketing collateral and more just to name a few. Make sure you integrate social media with all of your other marketing activities.

Why Should Your "Small Business" Use Social Media?

2010-08-15T08:55:00.000-04:00

Three reasons to use social media
1. Marketing/PR
2. Market research
3. Customer service

Social Media for business is all about connection and interaction with your customers. Lean heavy toward supplying information and stay away, far away, from overt sales speak. But know this...or don't bother...it's all about selling more products or services.

Marketing/PR
Social media is a way to open the channels of communication. If done correctly, it's a way to earn enough trust so that prospects and customers share their contact information and opinions. You need this information to provide them with an even better experience and to stay a step ahead of your competition. Social media is an on-ramp to your email marketing list and a way to segment that list with the information you receive, allowing for more targeted messaging in the future. Prospects and customers like to get their information on their chosen platform so that is why you must be on Facebook for those you choose Facebook as their platform and Twitter for those who chose Twitter, sending emails for those who chose email, and on and on. Write this down...you a need strategy and you need to continually update all social media platforms. Your social media audience needs to be entertained, supported, and rewarded at least weekly and maybe more. Gauge your success on how responsive your social media groups are, not how many followers you have.

A quick word about "the distinguished gentlemen in the corner" called public relations. PR is alive and well but now it's more about distributing content to these varied social media channels, your blog, etc. than it's about your rolodex to the local newspaper and industry rag honchos. Again...emphasize quality over quantity. Find your target market and provide valuable content to them on the platform they choose. Make sure to take the time to create poignant and helpful essays, white papers, and research to be featured on your company's website, blog, and social networks.

Market research
Social media gives you access to your prospects and customers like nothing ever before. You can have hundreds or more "fans" looking for information and a interaction. Encourage prospects and customs to speak freely so you can find out what is working and not working. Ask them what they like. Be confident enough in your company and your customers to also ask them what they don't like. Value their opinions and they will give you the tools to be a better business. Again if you are doing it right, you won't ever have to drop a pile of cash to a marketing research company because you will have the pulse of your customers and prospects already. If you want to sell more, remember that there is nobody better to start with then your current customers. Ask them what they want and then give it to them.

Customer service
If you help someone publicly with your social media efforts then others will see it. Very powerful! This is another way to set you company apart from your competition by being regarded as a customer friendly company. You must monitor you social media spaces frequently to get the customer service end of social media right. Focus on being transparent, helpful, honest, and thankful.

This Social Media Plan will require a strategy and a great deal of time. We all know that small business owners are very short on time. Main Street Marketing helps time challenged small business owners who want to outsource their marketing efforts.

What comprises a good logo?

2010-07-14T12:41:00.000-04:00

In my line of work, I see some really bad logos and some small business owners who just love them. When you call them out, they look at you like you are calling their baby ugly and the uncomfortable truth is that you really ARE! You hope that they remember that they called you for help and your expertise and that it's really just a case of tough love.

The most common mistake is that the logo is too complicated and some are just plain outdated. I suggest you don't abandon the logo all together but morph it. Always pairing it down to its most common denominator so that it looks great on a billboard and on an envelope. LESS IS MORE!!!!

Click here for a nice post about logos from Step by Step Marketing

Demystifying the world of ad networks - iMediaConnection.com

2010-06-11T09:44:00.001-04:00

"This is the best artilce that I've seen explaining what Ad Networks are!"

Still confused about ad networks? Use this guide to understand the different types and how to achieve maximum ROI.

View >>

Now that you have a Blog, how are you going to get people to read it? LINK BUILDING is your Answer.

2010-05-15T09:08:00.000-04:00

When developing a successful link-building strategy you need to be social. Use the same behavior online that would be successful offline at a business networking event or at a social mixer. Find out who is in the room (blogosphere), introduce yourself, and participate in the conversation by helping those in the group with their problems in order to earn their respect. This win-win approach is crucial to the success of corporate blogs, which are often misused as sales tools. Your blog is NOT a sales tool. Not directly anyway. A blog is a tool that can help a company solidify its brand and build and develop rapport with a community. Links from your blog to community members and their links back to you are the currency of any link building strategy. When people link to your blog or website, your search engine rankings improve.
Start a Link Building Stategy by using the following suggestions:
Find out who is in the room or community

Research top blogs in the relevant industry area
Get acquainted with the influential sites and bloggers in this community
Get acquainted with their conversations and make sure you understand what's being said
Jump in with comments, expertise, and opinions where appropriate
Create your blog
- Identify a target audience
- Find a niche or a new angle on a your chosen subject
- Develop an editorial calendar of content
- Post more than once a week
- Provide a good amount of resource lists and how-to posts
- Keep the blog informational instead of promotional
  Link to potential friends of your blog
  - If you've read a relevant post on a topic that you are writing about then link to it
  - You can mention the post by name or you can hyperlink relevant key words to the post
  - We suggest a weekly summary of industry news, linking to that weeks best posts
  - Bloggers that you link to will notice and visit your blog to check out the context
  - Don't just link to the big guys; link to bloggers whose brand values and quality reflect your blog
  - Use descriptive works and not "click here" when linking to help search engines find the links
    Leave comments and compliments on other posts
    - Post comments on others' posts helps get you noticed
    - Offer intelligent comments and answers
    - Include useful information or links to others' blogs also
    - Don’t' forget social networking sites such as LinkedIn, FaceBook, or Twitter
    - Join relevant groups on these sites and get involved
      Encourage readers to comment on your own blog posts
      - Pose questions at the end of your blog posts or leave them open-ended
      - Be careful though and make sure you have your facts straight to keep from being embarrassed
        Build a community
        Feature some reader-driven content such as their questions
        Webinars, interviews, etc. will get bloggers to link you your blog or website
        Request guest posts
        Offering to write a post for another blog
        Post relevant posts to social bookmarking sites such as Reddit, Digg, or StumbleUpon
        Could bring in thousands of visitors in a single day and some will stick around in the future
        Look for other niche social bookmarking sites like business focused Tip'd woman-focused Kirtsy where there's less competition for votes
        It's Main Street Marketing's view that most business professionals could execute this strategy but that not many will have the time or stamina it takes to keep a link building strategy focused and frequent enough to produce results on their own. This is exactly why Main Street Marketing is in business…to be a trusted advisor to our clients and help them execute strategies we've created together.

Social Media Marketing; A Vital Part of Your Marketing Mix

2010-04-15T22:37:00.000-04:00

LinkedIn, FaceBook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, and on and on. Too many articles that I see about social media, deal with the minutia of each social networking platform and never show the big picture. This post is about social media strategy, not tactics, in hopes that it will show late adopters why they should hop on the Social Media Marketing train by adding it to their marketing mix. It's my view that Website Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, and Traditional Marketing all need to be in your marketing mix and that their result together is greater than their individual contributions.

My Social Media Strategy

Pick 2 social media networks that fit your situation the best and forget the rest. (LinkedIn = Professional Relationships/B2B business, FaceBook = More Casual Relationships/B2C, YouTube = Educational Opportunities/Funny Viral Videos, Flickr = Photos/Catalogs Items, Twitter = Status Updates/Links to updated articles on Websites or Blogs)
Reevaluate your social media network picks every quarter
Take time to fill in your profile completely and continue to update it as it changes
Add Connections/Friends/Fans until all your personal and business contacts are connected to you on your social media networks of choice (knock this out in a couple of weeks)
Where available, join groups that contain your target market
Take some time to understand the social mores of those groups.
Answer questions for group members when you have something truly to add and never sell your company or your services. Your answers and the link to your company will be enough for them to contact you if your advice is truly helpful and they are ready to purchase any services that your have to offer.
Create a blog and post informative articles that educate your target market about their industry. You can post the articles to your website but a blog is better because of it's opportunities for 2+ ways of conversation. The content of the posts should reflect your Search Engine Optimization strategy.
Post new discussions to your groups referencing the new articles and a link to the article on your blog/website.
Update your status lines on your social media networks by informing your network of a new article and a link to the article on your blog/website. This will increase your traffic to your blog/website. Make sure to have a proper conversion optimization strategy in place on your blog/website so you don't waste this traffic. I suggest that part of your conversion strategy should be to collect contact information for Email Marketing. Email Marketing will allow you to create a drip marketing campaign to non-commited prospects and to manage converted customers.
For serious prospects and customers you will need to provide traditional brochures, sales sheets, etc. to close the sale or generate further interest in future sales.

These are just the fundamentals but in the steps laid out above you can see how Website Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, and Traditional Marketing all need to be working together to establish your brand, attract visitors, convert those visitors into customers and then manage those customers on down the line.
It's Main Street Marketing's view that most business professionals could execute this strategy but that not many will have the time or stamina it takes to keep it focused and frequent enough to produce results on their own. This is exactly why Main Street Marketing is in business…to be a trusted advisor to our clients and help them execute strategies we've created together.

Email Marketing 101

2010-03-15T12:29:00.000-04:00

Email campaigns, Ezines, and Enewsletters are an essential element of a successful marketing strategy. It's your way to introduce new products and services; announce staff changes, upcoming events and awards; and communicate anything your prospects and customers might find interesting. So how do you get started? Your choices are below:

Do it Yourself Email Campaigns

Create an email marketing plan (targeted prospects, frequency, message, etc.)
Install and configure email, web design, and web analytics software and learn how to use them
Establish how you are going to access your website to add landing pages
Create your own articles and announcements from scratch
Post articles and announcements to your website as landing pages
Create an email template that will work with various e-mail applications
Add teaser lines and images to your email to entice readers to the landing pages
Collect data from your website and email software using analytics software
Segment your email list from the data you collect to refine your messages and send targeted emails to readers who are more likely to find your content useful
Keep on a consistent schedule so your readers know when to expect your emails

Main Street Marketing's belief that everyone should do what they do best. If you owned a meat store, would you want the butcher's to write your eNewsletter? NO...let butchers be butchers! We at Main Street Marketing can whip up a wonderful eNewsletter but we aren't going to be quartering a hog anytime soon because we know what we are good at and you should too.
Outsource Your Email Marketing to a Professional

Create an email marketing plan (targeted prospects, frequency, message, etc.)
Provide your Email Marketing Professional with a list of bulleted lines for articles and announcements
Meet with the Email Marketing Professional to go over the results of your email and plan your next steps together

It's