Posts tagged ‘advertising’
Small Business Blog: Sales and Incentives
Your business may be facing some hard times, like many other businesses across the country. To help boost sales, you’ve probably offered a few blowout sales and/or free shipping. Are these methods effective thus far?
Many businesses have cut their advertising budgets without properly reallocating the remaining funds. As a result, their cost-saving strategies become counterproductive. Remember, to maximize the benefits of offering a great deal, you must make sure that your target market is aware of that great deal in advance; therefore you must advertise.
You don’t have to run expensive ad campaigns in order to get your message across. Try utilizing new media strategies like blogging, social networking and email marketing. These advertising channels are either very inexpensive or completely free to use. Plus, they enable you to reach your target audience.
Another way to get your message out is to encourage your employees to spread the word. Some of your employees may be powerful influencers. You simply need to give them a push. So create some friendly competition and offer a prize. When choosing the prize, look for something your employees will value. You don’t need offer an expensive trip to Hawaii. Your employees understand that times are tough. Instead, you can offer such things as paid time off or access to your reserved parking space for a few months.
Older and more traditional promotional methods are still effective. However, you must keep an open mind and try new methods. They may help you save money and more importantly, make money.
5 Good Things the Recession Helped Us to Do:
- Become more passionate about what we do – even if it requires a career shift.
- Go back to school.
- Try out new, more effective advertising methods.
- Spend more wisely.
- Improve customer service.
How to Write Powerful Ads
Ever wonder what’s the secret to creating great ads? This article by an Ottawa advertising company offers some valuable tips:
Go Viral with Microblogging
If you use TwitterTM for either business or personal use, there are a few things you can do to maximize the reach of your “tweets.” Your TwitterTM account and other microbloggins sites are great viral-marketing tools that can quickly spread awareness of your business, its products, and its services. You can also work towards establishing yourself as an expert in your business by posting links to articles and studies that are relevant to your industry. Over at Coppyblogger.com, Dan Zarrella wrote a great article on using TwitterTM to help your business go viral. Check out “5 Steps to Going Viral on Twitter” to get some tips on how to easily spread word of your small business by microblogging.
The Benefits of Facebook & Social Media
The article below (“Using Facebook to Promote Your Business”) explains the benefits of utilizing one of today’s most valuable and affordable online marketing tools:
http://sazbean.com/2009/01/19/using-facebook-to-promote-your-business/
From low-cost market research to well-target advertising, sites like Facebook® present numerous benefits for the small business owner.
Consider Writing an EBook
Have you noticed lately that your favorite magazines are missing a few pages? The decrease in pages is a direct result of their falling advertising revenues, which, of course, was brought on by the struggling economy.
Many businesses were forced to cut their advertising budgets in 2008. Consequently, a large percentage of these businesses temporarily halted their costly advertising campaigns and began testing out new promotional strategies that were more economical. In their quest to find cost-effective alternatives, they discovered numerous online marketing strategies that were worthy of permanent positions in their marketing mix.
The EBook
We’ve previously mentioned several beneficial and affordable online marketing strategies, including blogging, local directory submissions and social media participation, but one strategy we haven’t expanded on is the eBook. These electronic publications are distributed via Internet. Because they are free to access and share, readership is often high.
The quality of an eBook matters a great deal. The author must choose a topic that his or her target audience will find intriguing if he or she wishes to attract people who will not only read the eBook, but will also forward the publication to their peers.
EBooks have the potential to greatly increase a business’s visibility, and they are free to create. You simply need a few good ideas and the information to support those ideas.
