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Posts Tagged ‘promotions’


How to Get Started With a Global Marketing Strategy

January 31st, 2013 ::

EarthIf you want to expand sales to other countries, you start by conducting market research so you can understand what your potential customers care about, want, need, and how to reach them.

To help you put together a global marketing strategy, here are some tips based on global marketing statistics that HubSpot published:

1 – Have a really good mobile strategy

Mobile, mobile, mobile – it’s all you ever hear, right? Well, it’s not just people in the US using our mobile devices for everything – people around the world use their smart phones a lot too.

  • 26% of Australians consume media on their smartphones
  • 31% of the French spend their smart phone screen time on social networks
  • 35% of the Irish access social media mostly on their smartphones
  • 33% of Italians with mobile phones use their devices to access the Internet
  • 46% of Canadians with mobile phones have smart phones

Tips for success:

  • Have a user-friendly mobile site ready to go that is easy to navigate and makes it easy to contact you or buy from you
  • Optimize your site
  • Integrate social media sharing buttons on the site (see below)

2 – Understand who is using what social network

Even though Twitter and Facebook might be the best way to reach your American customers, make sure you adjust your global social media strategy to include the outlets they use, not the ones you think they use.

Tips for success:

  • In Norway, have an active presensce on Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest to reach people under 30. Use LinkedIn to reach those with higher education and income levels.
  • In Russia, you’ll reach people who are young, global-minded, and have money with Facebook, while those 25-35 use Odnoklassniki.
  • In Spain, college students and recent grads use Tuenti.
  • In the UK, those with higher incomes are on Facebook.

3 – Target customers depending on their favorite online activities

Want to engage your customers? Create marketing programs that take into account your audience’s online activities.

Tips for success:

  • In India, capture the attention of Facebook users with games, apps, and photos.
  • In Russia, create and share movies on V Kontakte.
  • In Sweden, engage guys with games and women with an entertaining blog.
  • In Brazil, create a video campaign

4 – Boost sales with promotions

Based on the growth of LivingSocial and Groupon, it’s easy to see that people like a discount in the US. Around the world, it’s pretty similar, so if you want to engage your audience, boost brand awareness, and increase sales, offer promotions online.

Tips for success:

  • In Brazil, offer special discounts on social media.
  • In Ireland, offer promotions to encourage word-of-mouth marketing, as 74% of people talk about a brand thanks to a promotion.
  • In Australia, special discounts or coupons will help spur purchasing decisions.

***

Is your company global? How do your overseas customers differ from those at home?

Image courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

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Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

Social Media Small Business Success Stories: Part 1

February 14th, 2012 ::
This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Social Media Success Stories

Social Media Success Stories Part 1

I’m a firm believer in benchmarking to learn new skills and to tweak my knowledge base.  Studying what other successful marketers have done well, and avoiding others’ mistakes, is an efficient way to gain a competitive edge.  Here are eight social media small business success stories, broken into two articles, to inspire and to teach:

Success Story 1:  Take a quick visit to The Prospecting Expert’s social media sites, and you will find our first example of social media success.  The Prospecting Expert, founded by Steve Kloyda, is a B2B consulting firm to help sales professionals refine their prospecting skills.  Here are the tactics in Kloyda’s bag of social media marketing tricks:

  • Kloyda has made impressive use of video and podcasts to expand his social reach and convey information in an clear and interesting way.  Does your content translate to these media?
  • His social media channels share consistent branding, though use of Kloyda’s photo and logo across all platforms.  Clean up your own image by checking your platforms for consistency.
  • Kloyda’s content is mobile through the offering of an iPhone app directly on his site.  While custom apps may be expensive, they offer considerable value for on-the-go customers.

Success Story 2:  Click on over to Coconut Bliss, an organic dessert company whose products became well known through social media marketing.  Here is what Coconut Bliss does to make everyone scream for their ice cream:

  • The company shares fun experiences of customers eating their ice cream to show the brand’s friendly personality and delicious products.  Does anyone on your staff know how to take great photos?  Invest in a camera, and share photos across all your social media platforms.
  • Coconut Bliss gets fans engaged by running promotions and contests exclusively on social media.  Consider launching your own contest to grow and excite your fan base.

Success Story 3:  JamaicansMusic is an online music channel and quite the social media success story.  Using their social media savvy, the company grew their fans to 1.5 million in only four months!  Here’s what they do best:

  • JamaicansMusic keeps fans coming back for more by offering contests, free music and games to encourage Facebook fans to revisit their page and share it with friends.  What can you do to encourage repeat visits to your own page?
  • Visitors to JamaicansMusic’s website know instantly that the company is social because there are three opportunities – right on the home page – to connect socially.  Are you sending enough social signals and providing plenty of opportunities to connect?

Success Story 4:  You don’t have to be a large company, or even one with multiple employees, to be a social media success.  Ana White, a self-described “homemaker” who is really a carpenter, runs a website that empowers women to take on carpentry projects.  White has over 51,000 Facebook fans who enjoy her DIY furniture projects.  Here are her smart and simple tactics:

  • White publishes free how-to guides for building furniture, and she asks fans to post pictures of their finished pieces.  Fans enjoy sharing with each other, and White understands that this sharing provides great user-generated content.  How can you get your own community involved in the content creation process?
  • White has created a community and tended to it without overshadowing it.  She comments on roughly half of her fans’ posts, and she doesn’t post all that often.  However, her fans constantly post and answer questions for each other because the community has been set up for real communication.  What can you do to take your own Facebook communications from one-way to a place of real community?

Next up: More inspiring stories in Part 2!

Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae

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Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

3 Mistakes to Avoid When Using Your Email List

September 28th, 2011 ::

Inbox

So you gather emails through networking, attending conferences, your newsletter sign-up and contact forms your Web visitors must fill out before they download that ebook.  Now you have a comprehensive list, but it’s just sitting there.

Using that email list to stay in touch with your clients, reach prospective clients, convert sales, and spread thought leadership – in other words, using your email list to grow your business – should be easy, right?  After all, you already have the upper hand – all of those people willingly gave you their email address!

Just avoid the following three mistakes to keep that email list intact – and growing:

1. Don’t push your products or services.

If you turn your emails and newsletters into advertisements for your company’s products and services, you’ll lose subscribers at a fast clip.  Yes, you can mention a product or service in the sidebar as a highlighted item, or maybe illustrate how you helped a client with a mini case study.  You can also offer a special promotion; just be sure that the focus is not always on you.

2. Don’t discuss irrelevant topics.

While every waking minute of yours may be consumed with building your brand and company, your email list is not interested in the tiny matters that keep you up all night. Keep them interested by offering them industry news and trends that could affect them, tips and tricks, and other helpful advice that is relevant, interesting, and useful.

3. Don’t be boring.

Provide something interactive or engaging in your emails and newsletters, whether it’s a link to a video, a new webinar, a podcast, a game, or something else that is fun.  In this technology age, when we are constantly bombarded by a zillion things trying to grab our attention, make the extra effort to bring something fun to your subscribers’ inbox.

Image by Flickr user Jason Rogers (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Email Marketing, Marketing | 2 Comments »

How to Create an Effective Call-to-Action in 6 Steps

January 14th, 2011 ::

Number 6Your website is not only your most visible (if it’s optimized for search) and important marketing tool, it is also the best way to convert visitors into leads.  The catch?  It must contain a call-to-action (CTA), also known as a reason for people to contact you.  Once they click that call-to-action, they fill out a short form with their information, and they become a lead.  Here are the steps you should take to put together an effective call-to-action.

Step 1: Think like your website visitors/potential clients.

Ask yourself:

  • Why are people visiting my website?
  • What products or services are they looking for?
  • What problems do they have that I can solve?
  • What can I give them that will be valuable to them?  Information?  Discounts?  Educational products?
  • Why do they trust me?

Step 2: Create visitors something of value for free.

Put together relevant, educational and nonpromotional products and services to give away to Web visitors.  Possibilities include:

  • An e-book
  • A “how-to” video or series of videos
  • Tips, tricks and/or industry best practices that they can use
  • A discount on their first product or service purchase, or a discount on their first month when they sign up for 6 months’ worth of services
  • A free trial

You can even bundle material into a kit to make the call-to-action more enticing.

Step 3: Make your CTA stand out.

Your CTA should grab your visitors’ attention.  Use color to help it pop, and place it prominently at the top of your website (visitors should not have to scroll down to see it).

Step 4:  Make your CTA action-oriented.

Create a sense of urgency and tell people what to do: Sign up now!  Contact us!  Download today! Make sure the images and text in the CTA are clickable, and match the keywords in the CTA with the keywords on the landing page (the page they go to once they click the CTA).

Step 5: Keep the sign-up form short.

Don’t scare people away once they are redirected to the sign-up form on a landing page.  Capture their name, company and e-mail; anything else is optional.  Don’t include a clear or cancel option on the landing page.  Once they’re there, you want them to sign up only, not read your latest blog post, visit another page on your website, or subscribe to an RSS feed.

Step 5: Place the CTA everywhere.

You should place your CTA on your website’s homepage, in a pay-per-click ad, in your e-mail signature, in blog posts, on direct mail pieces, in an e-mail, in your newsletter, on your brochure, in videos, etc.

I am working on CTAs right now for my own website, but I might as well give a shout out to Network Solutions, because their home page contains not one but five CTAs, two of which are above-the-fold (in other words, you don’t need to scroll down to see them).  One is static and offers a deal on Web hosting; one is a slider that shows three different CTAs  for their affiliate program, Web hosting and a free domain name, and Refer-a-Friend promotion; and the smaller one below the fold promotes all of their online marketing products and services.

Image by Flickr user Samantha Tadman (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Business Development, Marketing, Small Business | 3 Comments »

10 Cost Effective Ways to Market Your Business, Part 2

July 14th, 2010 ::

In my previous blog post, 10 Cost Effective Ways to Market Your Business, Part 1, I shared 5 tips for marketing that require little more than time.  I learned all of this valuable information I’m now sharing with you in a webinar (of the same name) sponsored by the American Marketing Association.  In fact, the webinar was so packed with great information that it’s taking me two blog posts to share everything.  Without further ado, here are tips 5 through 1.

5. Tap Into the Power of Google

The omniscient, omnipresent Google has some great tools you can use to strengthen your marketing efforts.  Look up the hot topics of the day via Google Trends.  Is there something being discussed that you can address in your promotions?   Use Google Insights to find out what key terms are being searched for the most; apply your findings to your SEO efforts.

4. Database Driven Email Marketing

When I hear the word database, I am almost immediately lulled to sleep.  For me, the word “database” means boring (too closely related to, gag, math), but in the case of email marketing, it means clever.  Instead of always looking for new customers, tap into the relationship you already have with your existing customers by using your CMS (customer management system) as the basis for a plan to upsell and/or cross sell to them.

3. It’s An Offer You Can’t Refuse

Never underestimate the alluring power of a limited offer. It could be exclusive to select customers, available for a limited time, include a special feature, or a sneak peek at a new product or service a week ahead of the official launch date.   

2.  Is Your Signature Working For You?

If the signature in your email messages does not include your website address, phone number, title, and links to your blog and social media profiles, go fix it.

And the #1 most cost-effective way to market your business:

Interact with your customers!

Yes, it’s a no-brainer, but are you doing it?  Solicit feedback on a continual basis via a virtual suggestion box and short surveys.  Build loyalty with contests, promotions, and events and case studies.  Co-present a webinar or seminar with a partner or customer.  And be sure your company’s phone number is prominently placed on your website!  No one can call if you if they can’t find your number!

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Posted in Marketing, small business | 18 Comments »

10 Cost Effective Ways to Market Your Business, Part 1

July 12th, 2010 ::

As all of us small business owners know, marketing need not be expensive, but it does take some time and effort.  About 6 weeks ago, I signed up for yet another great webinar sponsored by the American Marketing Association called 10 Cost Effective Ways to Market Your Business.  It was so packed with great information that it’s going to take me two blog posts to write about what was included. 

Before I share what I learned, keep in mind this standard rule of thumb when marketing your business: 80% of the information you publish should be valuable content, while 20% can be pure promotion.

10. Tie Your Company’s Promotions Into Daily or Monthly Events

Ever hear of Chase’s Calendar of Events?  It is really cool and a very useful tool for marketers.  For 42 years, they’ve been publishing a yearly calendar that lists everything from celebrity birthdays to monthly celebrations (think National Black History Month).  From the truly obscure (July 1—the day I’m writing this post—is Midyear Day in Thailand) to the historic (the Battle of Gettysburg took place on July1 in 1863), there are several items listed every day of the year that, if you get creative and think ahead, you could base a promotion on.   

9. Tap Into Your Network

The companies and people you work with are great sources of information and shouldn’t be ignored.  Share leads with partners and solicit feedback from vendors, especially for new products or services. Don’t forget your customers, either.  Use feedback from them as the basis for a research study.  Publish and share the study with them (and potential customers).

8. Syndicate Your Content

Blog syndication is really underutilized, so tap into it.  (Syndication means something is published in more than one place—think advice columns that appear in newspapers nationwide.)  First get a Creative Commons license to ensure you retain the copyright of your content when it is re-published.  Then look up blogs where the subject you want to write about fits in and that also accept non-original content.

7. Get Yourself Some User-Generated Content

Adding user-generated content to your website takes some organizing but is a relatively easy way to goose inbound marketing. Three ideas: Ask vendors, customers, and partners to guest blog for you.  Add a forum to your website; topics could include help/support, news, info, industry gossip, product or service ideas, etc.  Put together a blog series written by experts in your field.

6. Don’t Forget Outbound Marketing

Posting on other sites is important, too.  Write a review on Amazon.com for a book written about your industry, answer questions related to your field on LinkedIn, post on companies’ Facebook walls, and be sure to share all of the content you are creating on social media sites: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Continue reading by checking out the next blog post on this topic here.

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Posted in Marketing, small business | 1 Comment »