Category: Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing

How to Increase Business Marketing with Video

Video marketing has gotten so much publicity as an amazing way to market and grow your business, but you might be left wondering, “Should I be using video to market my business?” or “How can video help my business?”.

In this article you will find out just how indispensable video is for your business and how you can leverage the second largest search engine…YouTube.

First, let’s answer the question of “Should I be using video to market my business?” Short answer… Yes.

The top benefits to marketing with video are below:

1) Positioning – establish yourself as an expert, videos allows your audience to get to know, like and trust you. They can see you, hear your voice, get a sense of your personality, it is much more persuasive than just writing an article or a description of your product /service. When you market with video you become the expert people trust you.

2) Sell–u-cation – video marketing can pre-sell a product or service by simply demonstrating the Feature, Advantages Benefits of the product/service. Focus the point of the video on one specific feature so it is to the point and answers only that one question. This information/education can get people into a buying state and build persuasive momentum to use your product or service. Answer frequently asked questions, should ask questions, and how to’s in order to market your business with video and position you as an expert.

3) Search Engine Optimization – YouTube at this point is the second largest search engine, right behind Google, so when a person cannot find something in Google they go to YouTube to look for a video on it. Not only does an optimized video show up well in YouTube, it can also show up well in Google. Targeting high value key phrases in YouTube can give you the edge over your competition for competitive phrases. Use key phrases in the title, description and the tags of the video in order to show up.

4) Theft Prevention – many of our clients and even our own website has been stolen! Yes, the internet is great but there are those that use it to cheat and steal. In one case another internet marketing company copied our entire services page, and pasted it on their website verbatim…Bad Idea. We found it when we received a Google Alert that our name appeared on someone else’s website. They left our name on the page! This is much more difficult with video, people can recreate the video, but that would mean work, and they certainly won’t take your video and send it to their prospects since your video is about you and your product or service.

5) Versatility – videos can be used as sales tools, marketing, informational, as a compliment to offline marketing, the options are limited to your creativity. For example, you could use a QR Code on your business card that goes to a video of you. If a person forgets who you are or what you do, they can scan your card and watch a video of your describing how you can help them.

While these are just some of the benefits of marketing with video, the list goes on and on. When combined with a complete Social Media Business Strategy you are able to increase quality leads and grow your business.

To recap, create informational/educational videos to capture the interest of your audience. Position yourself as an expert in your field and get people to know like and trust you. Get your videos out there, since a video on your hard drive will do you no good, optimize for target key phrases and post to YouTube. Have a strong call to action at the end of the video to tell people what to do next.

Market your business with video while it is still an opportunity, start developing your video marketing plan today.

The 7 Perils of Pay-Per-Click Companies

Recently I have been meeting with a lot of companies about Pay-Per-Click (PPC), and none of them seem to be happy with their PPC provider. I have heard of and seen atrocious campaign management, lack of thought put into phrase selection and too many PPC campaigns sending a potential customer to the homepage of a website.

Here are some of the most frequent complaints and warning signs you should be aware of when considering a PPC provider or reviewing your current PPC provider.

Running on Autopilot – While technology is fantastic and can do many things, it can’t do everything. Sometimes human brain power is just better. For example, I’m writing this as I fly home from Memphis, Tennessee. Now since we have hit cruising altitude of 37,000 ft, I’m sure the pilots have set the plane on autopilot and that’s great—the plane is set on course, and that gives the pilots a break. But when the time comes to perform and land the plane, autopilot just won’t cut it, it’s time for the experienced pilot to take the controls and land the plane safely. The same holds true online. Your PPC campaign should be monitored by a human. Landing pages (just like landing the plane) should be done by an experienced person, You don’t want your landing pages just pointing to your homepage. That’s probably not the most cost effective way to spend your PPC budget.
You Never Talk to or See the Sales Rep – Notice that I said “Sales Rep” if the person who you are dealing with is just a sales rep then that is exactly who you are going to get. A sales rep whose main concern is selling you something. Too many companies are outsourcing or using software to run your campaign. There is no magic Pay-Per-Click machine out there that automagically creates the perfect campaign and brings customers to you. If there were, everyone would use it and the economy would turn around and we would all live happily ever after!
Bidding on Your Name is Branding – If you hear this turn and run!!! Run fast and never look back. Look, if people are searching for your name, they already know who you are, and that means your other advertising, marketing and branding has worked, so you don’t have to pay for it again. Secondly, you should come up in the natural (organic) search results for your unique name. You don’t need to brand people who already know you, you have already branded them. Move on and convert them to customers.
Local Search is the Wave of the Future – Local search…more like searching locally is, and has been here for quite a while. Most people are not turning to local directories to start their search for things to do or services they may need in their area. They are still going to Google, Yahoo, and MSN and searching locallythen adding, “Chinese food in Branson” or “Electricians in Branson, MO” to get that local search. Most people are NOT going to Local.com or the YellowPages. Be wary of the deals that local search directories offer on their PPC services, they usually give you a deal if you pay for a listing in their directory they will give you a deal on the PPC Service. Being in their directory is suggested but not using their PPC services.
Not Reporting on Conversions – I was recently given a report by another PPC company and they spoke nothing of actual conversions, visitors clicked on an ad and then filled out a form or called a unique phone number. The report had lots of pretty pie charts and spoke about the new search engine BING. Who cares! How many people actually did something from the PPC campaign? Ultimately, you need to know if you are making money or losing money on their PPC campaign dollars.
You Came Up with the Keyphrase List – This one just blows my mind. If your PPC company asks you for your keyphrase list, they obviously aren’t doing their job. They are supposed to be helping you! Sure they can ask you for your OPINION, but the bottom line is, they should be doing research to identify what people are actually searching for online and develop a list of phrases for you, then, work with you to identify phrases that may or may not fit your product or service. Then they should be testing measuring and changing the campaign as time progresses.
They Don’t Test and Measure – To my last point! The obvious answer isn’t always the best one or the one that converts the best. This is why you have to test and measure. In no other medium can you be so precise in your testing and measuring, you can know exactly how much each ad drives in revenue for you if you do your analytics correctly.

If you see any of these warning signs or have had any of these complaints about your PPC company, then you are wasting valuable marketing dollars by not taking a proper look at who is providing your PPC campaign. PPC is an extremely powerful method of driving new customers to you. Don’t blow it.

Pay attention to your Pay-Per-Click Campaign!

Pay-Per-Click PPC PPC Companies Search Engine Marketing

5 Steps to QR Code Marketing Success

What is the QR code

QR stands for quick response so a quick response code is one of those postage stamp looking codes you seem to see all over the place recently. Simply scan it with your phone and it takes you to place on the web.

QR codes have been around for years, on the back of most of our licenses we have small QR codes. They hold a lot more information inside them, so our license holds a lot more information about who we are instead of just a linear or 1D UPC code.

So why are they also becoming popular?

With the advent of smart phones and people putting cameras into smart phones suddenly the general public is able to read information that you would’ve needed an optical scanner in order to use, which most people don’t have. Now with a smart phone, you scan the code and it brings you to a website. Sometimes you need a few technologies to come together in order to make something mainstream.

Most people are just at the early stages of QR code marketing so what people are mainly using it for right now is to send people to a website. You typically see these in newspapers, or on postcards, mailers and up on billboards.

A big industry that is taking interest in this is actually the vending industry. They need to present nutritional and allergy information to consumers before they purchase products. Some vending machines can have many different products stocked so keeping a nutrition guide is not an alternative since the products are always changing. Now they can have a list of items with a QR code next to each, then the consumer can easily scan before they buy to get all the facts.

How are Businesses Using QR Codes in Marketing

Most businesses at this point are using simple techniques, sending people to a website or a coupon. So you see a QR code inside of an advertisement you scan the code with

your smart phone and it takes you to their website. That’s a great start but putting some marketing strategies behind it we can start to accomplish more and get more out of the promotion.

While it’s very easy to setup a QR code the first mistake most people make is using the free QR code generator. The free versions have an expiration on them, so if you plan to use them over any period of time, us a QR Code generating service. This will also allow for metrics, also crucial in any marketing campaign.

Strategic QR Code Marketing

Business owners need to become a bit more sophisticated about how they use QR codes. Gathering intelligence and marketing effectively will make QR Code campaigns generate more business. Here are the 5 Steps to a Successful QR Code Marketing Strategy.

Define your Goal

In anything you do always start with the end in mind, so unless you know what your goal ultimately is when somebody scanned the QR code, think about what you actually want them to do. Do you want them to subscribe to your mailing list, do you want them to get a coupon, do you want them to download an app, fill out a form, buy something, get information…what do you want them to do?

Develop your Offer

Now that you know what you want them to do, how are you going to get them to do it? Is this going on a printed piece will this be on car magnets, where is this actually going, how are you going to reach your audience? Once you do that, what’s going to get them to actually scan the code? Unless you tell them what to do next nobody’s going to do it. Yes these QR codes are popular but you still have to have a strong call to action. Ie. Scan this code to get a 25% OFF Coupon NOW.

Design your Funnel

In order to design your funnel you have to have a website and the QR code generator. You’ll need to get the QR code in front of your audience so promoting the QR code you’ll need to you need a strong offer to get people to scan the QR code then you’ll need to drive them to a website and a way to capture their information. This should not be a one transaction deal, getting that person on your e-mail list is worth more than a one-time transaction so you’re able to market to them time and time again.

Test

Once you have your funnel set up your going to actually need to test if it works properly. That will include asking people with different types of phones to check browser compatability and that the process works seamlessly.

Measure

The final two pieces, test and measure go hand-in-hand, when you test something out you not only test that the funnel actually worked, but you will also test the offer and the landing page. You want to be sure to be capturing peoples name and email for future marketing. Measure response rates, opt in rates and how many new customers you develop from the campaign.

With these 5 Steps you can be sure to be successful with any QR Code Marketing you take on.

QR Code QR Code Marketing What is a QR Code

Last Minute Marketing for 2012

Now if you haven’t started planning for new marketing initiatives in 2012, you still have some time left. But that time is quickly slipping away. Discover the ONE thing that will actually make a difference in your business next year.

The marketing that has gotten you this far, is NOT the marketing that will propel you forward and take you to the next level.

While most businesses have had their head in the sand the past 3 years, there is a group that has stepped up and marketed the hell out of their businesses. Those businesses are the ones that seem to defy the economy, they are the ones that have actually grown and been profitable.

Now this seems to defy logic, because if business were a direct reflection of the economy, then all businesses would be down. Know this, the same wind blows on us all, the economic wind, the political wind…the difference is the set of your sail. The difference in where you arrive in one year, three years, five years, is NOT the blowing of the wind, but the set of your sail.

As business owners you need to learn to set a better sail, you cannot count on what has worked in the past. You have to try new means of getting in front of your prospects, try harder, try longer, try new things, your customers have changed. Have you?

Here is a simple 5 Step Process to take you from Search to Success

Identify
Who is your target audience? Instead of following what your competition is doing or listening to your teenager about social media, redefine your target by looking at your current clients. By looking at your current client you can see the type of business or customer that has stayed with you. Next would be to decide if that is who you want as your customer, if yes, then congrats, you can move on to step 2. If you found that you want different clients or customers, it’s time to define what you want, until you do that, do NOT move on.
Target
Now that you know who you are trying to get as clients and customers, you can start to research where they might be. No sense in starting Facebook campaign if your target isn’t there. Yes, the internet guy just said that you don’t have to be in Facebook. Look at how you have been getting the right customers, where were they, trade shows, referrals, partners, online, LinkedIn, cold calls?Just about everything you can do online originated from something we do offline. Websites were just brochures, social networking came from face-to-face networking, email from snail mail, Twitter from a news wire service, webinars from actual sales presentations, nothing new, just new mediums.
Capture
Now days marketing is all about your list and your relationship with that list, how are you capturing people attention, then their information so you can market to them over time? You can offer a free report, estimate, consultation, something in exchange for their Name, Email address or Mobile Number. Instead of trying to deliver your sales message all in one shot, try delivering it over time.Study after study show that prospect need to be touched, or see your message close to 9 times before they make a decision to go with you. Create more points to help you convert.
Convert
This is the most important part of the process, if you cannot convert, you will be out of business. Taking a prospect to a customer is the most import part of the process. Be sure to remove all of your prospect objections, position yourself as the solution to their problem, provide them with a clear vision of what it will be like using your product or services. Influence their decision by providing social proof, proof that others are using your products or services and loving it. Finally tell people what you want them to do. Ask the sale.
Retain
Once you have a customer the best way to grow your business is to keep that customer. Period. Now the best way to keep customers and keep them happy is by providing the results they want. As you build new customers you should retain your existing customers because the best source for new customers is actually your existing customer base.