Marketing Ideas

When I was studying for my business degree and before my company was formed, I was in need of an outlet to be around other like-minded women. Years previous I was a member of the local Valley Women’s Network so revisited their luncheons.

Even though funds were very tight at the time, it was important for me to have some human interaction – even if only once a month.

Little did I know, going to these meetings ended up being the catalyst for our birth.

During this time I connected with women entrepreneurs who were either eager to start a new business or take their business to the next level. Being the former webmaster for the Vancouver Sun and Province, it was a natural thing for them to ask me questions about branding and websites. I was more than happy to share my knowledge.

Eventually conversations evolved into them hiring me so they could get the help they wanted with their marketing presence.

The next thing I knew I was in business as a web developer!

That was over 12 years ago and I’m proud to say a handful of those women are still clients today.

I have to smile when I think about it because I really had no intention of starting my own business. I was going back to school with the idea of landing a CIO position somewhere.

Turns out my calling was much more important than that – helping business owners realize their dream.

The Many Benefits of Attending Local Live Events

Fast forward to present day, I still value the connections made when attending networking and other similar events.

Recently I was in Vernon attending the WOW-Woman of Worth Conference where I had an opportunity to get to know many incredible women I would never have met otherwise. (I was inspired to write these networking tips while there.)

I am also a member of the Business Professional Women’s Group and attend meetings in Langley and Abbotsford.

The connections found at events like these have been invaluable – not only professionally but also personally.

Social Media and Online Marketing is Not the Only Way to Generate New Business

Sometimes with Social Media and online marketing being so prevalent we forget about our own back yard and the opportunities available to us. All we have to do is simply step away from the computer and check them out.

My business was literally created by connecting with people locally.

And just because Social Media has taken over the online networking landscape, doesn’t mean there’s any less value in building your business at that grass-roots level.

Do you market your business in your hometown?

If hiding behind your computer has become the norm for you, I encourage you to explore local opportunities to get better known in your home town.

Here’s seven tips, ideas and suggestions on how you can take advantage of generating business through local efforts:

1. Network where your target market is hanging out. First be clear on WHO that target market is and then do some research on where they gather.

This is an easy one if you are a B2B business like mine; there’s plenty of networking groups available tailored for that crowd.

But you might have to look at other shared interests. For instance, if your target market is very health conscious, join a popular yoga group and get to know those people who attend.

2. Volunteer at community groups. Volunteering in community groups are a great way to boost your visibility. Not only are they a great way to give back to your community but also an excellent way for you to showcase your skills and expertise.

Do a search for groups that could use your skillset. A great example is if you are a bookkeeper or accountant – volunteer to be the bookkeeper for the group.

3. Create your own Meet-up. Setting up local, more casual events on a subject you know would be of interest to your target market is a great way to build your brand visibility.

These types of gatherings can be very beneficial to the attendees where you can offer something of value to them and showcase your expertise at the same time.

4. Set up a trade show booth. Many trade shows have thousands of visitors. They are a great way to build your brand visibility and bring more awareness to your business offerings with the local crowd.

Set up a professional display and strike up conversations with those showing interest in what you are offering.

Be sure to have a way for them to get onto your mailing list by offering a draw or free giveaway. Just be sure they check off a box giving permission to receive your regular newsletters.

5. Join the local Chamber of Commerce. Even if your target market is not business owners, there are still plenty of great reasons for you to get to know other business owners in your area by joining your local chamber.

Not only can they be a great referral source for you, but they are still people who could be interested in what you have to offer at a personal level.

6. Nominate others for awards. We had the honour of being nominated for, and won the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence award in 2016 in the home based business category.

I was also nominated for a WOW – Woman of Worth award in the Business & Prosperity category. The amount of free publicity and exposure we received for each of these awards was priceless.

I encourage you to nominate someone for similar awards. Not only is it very gratifying to make someone else’s day, you also gain a lot of exposure from being the person who nominated them. Another option is to be an award sponsor, again bringing you great satisfaction and business exposure.

7. Don’t forget your business card! While some may poo-poo this, I’m still a believer in the value of business cards.

Get professional cards designed and printed. Use them wisely – always ask the other person you’re talking with for their card first and reciprocation will ensue.

Your business card is a first touch-point that person will see your visual brand so ensure you give off the right first impression with a professionally designed one.

Aside from getting out there and getting involved in local community activities, you could also take advantage of various paid advertising opportunities. Newspaper advertorials, radio ad spots, sponsorships and even billboards can all be taken advantage of at a local level.

Don’t Forget About Your Website

No matter what kind of activities we are doing when trying to drum up new business, don’t forget the importance of your website.

With every potential customer you meet, assume they will be heading to your website to check out you and your services. They might even do it right there so ensure your website is mobile friendly and shares the right brand messaging that will compel them into action and hire or buy from you.

Marketing methods might change, but people don’t.

Not really.

I know a guy who consistently makes seven figures in his business without studying the newest, latest and greatest online marketing techniques.

Instead, he studies traditional “offline” methods that have worked for decades, not just weeks or years.

His customers love him and his products sell like crazy.

For example, he knows that people need to see an advertisement in a newspaper or magazine as many as 7 times before they buy.

So he uses retargeting – those ads that seems to follow you from website to website – to make sure he gets seen enough times to make the sale.

He knows from old school marketing that people do business with those they know, like and trust.

And when they want to make another purchase, they again go back to the person they know, like and trust.

So he does everything he can to treat his customers like family and earn their trust.

Of course he uses technology to automate everything, but that doesn’t change the fact that he loves his customers and lets that love show in every communication.

He also keeps a list of VIP clients and treats them accordingly. He’ll create a personal video for a single client, or send them a gift or snail mail letter. In fact, he does one of these every single day for his VIP’s, which might account for how well he sells BIG ticket items in the $2000 to $5000 range.

He looks out for customers much like a best friend might. When he sees something that he believes is a scam, he warns them away from it. When he thinks of something that will help his customers, he shares it the same day.

He visits client’s websites and leaves comments. He answers emails, and I mean he actually answers them himself if it’s a VIP client.

Online really is the same as offline, in that we are dealing with PEOPLE. Funny how we tend to forget that sometimes.

If you had a store with people walking in the door, you would hopefully see them as people. But online they can turn into faceless email addresses, which I think is why so many online marketers struggle.

They forget that online marketing is actually a PEOPLE business.

So grab an old marketing book and start reading. Ask yourself how it applies to the internet.

You might be surprised at your results.

Increase micro-moments – today customers don’t have time to wait for the long and in-depth answers or graphs against their searches. Instead, they are interested in quick replies and this option of delivering answers to the audience searches is termed as micro-moments by Google. Customers are more frequent on mobile devices rather opening the screen of laptops or desktops. Therefore the business owners should design the instant replies in small bit sizes to satisfy the customer’s queries.

QR codes requirement – Another important way to streamline your business is to enable QR codes option for the customers. This feature helps in comparing the prices of other stores quickly by scanning the QR codes available on the mobile sites. The feature helps in comparing the price of the products quickly and helps in purchasing them with confidence.

Promote sales through special offers – when you develop mobile apps for your viewers you should keep in mind that you have limited windows of opportunities to catch the customer’s attention. Hence the best way is to offer special discounts on your products on the mobile site. For this, you can send alerts to your customers on their mobile numbers to increase the response rate of your viewers.

The B2B market is more complex, challenging and advanced as compared to the B2C market. Especially when you are dealing with health related products and services, you need to stay updated to the market demands and be ready with offerings that can facilitate uninterrupted healthcare services to millions as a whole.

But the tricky part here is making your audience know what you offer and how it is better than the others. Healthcare email marketing campaigns with flowery words will not work in that case. You need to make your customers aware of what benefits they get when they use your product. Be it healthcare industry or any other in general; it is ultimately the utility and problem-solving capabilities of your product that lure your audience to purchase them. No matter how decorative the email is or how engaging the subject line of your email is, if your product cannot solve customer concerns, then it is of no use to them. So, your healthcare email campaigns should target at bringing out the best features of your products before the targeted audience.

Don’t Forget to Personalize

Today, almost all the businesses are focusing more on providing their customers a personalized experience with every interaction done via email, phone or in person. The practice of providing a customer experience which is well-aligned with the consumer’s preferences and specific needs has become one of the major trends in the digital world. Adoption of trigger-based messages and call-to-action to better engage with the targeted audience has increased considerably in the recent times.

As a B2B healthcare email marketer, you need to remember that a growing industry like healthcare, just sending an email will not be successful in capturing customer attention. There are many in the field offering the same services and products that you deal with. Now, to stand out in the crowd, high-level of personalization is essential. Remember, you are marketing to humans and not robots. Hence, contact your audience with messages that provide solutions to their problems,address their needs and help them add value to their business. Acknowledging customers and making them feel special is the key to a successful healthcare email campaign.

Conclusion

The key to an effective email marketing strategyis all about presenting the right information to the right people so that leads are generated, and prospects are converted into paying customers. All you need to do is utilize your expert product knowledge and detailed understanding of your audience as the base of your B2B email marketing strategy.

No one wants to listen to sales people droning about how good goods are, why their very own services stand out there, etc. What a buyer does want to listen to is how properly the products/services being offered are going to fit into the particular client’s working feature. Since clients are generally bombarded with limitless presentations on a daily basis, they wish to rest their vision on something important, which adds value to the time and their small business. By using a storyboard from the presentation, you not simply capture the passions of your prospects and also keep them engaged in precisely what you’re trying to sell in their eyes.

Visuals are crucial:

In an attempt to get the customers’ attention, many people forget to use visuals. Presentations are exactly what their very own name spells available: present data visually. A good presentation always has less written plus more visual content. The harder visual your presentation is, the higher the chance of being able to convert someone into a customer.

Have a clear call to action:

Ideally, in every sales presentation, once you have presented your product/service and the answer to the customer, you should have a solid call to action to help in close proximity the deal. Once people have understood the product and so are ready to buy it, they need to know where to go or how to go about it. With an apparent call to action, there is an in depth step by step guide which often helps steer your customers’ in the right direction.

By maintaining these points as the primary goal, you can rock your presentation and make sure each and every customer you visit becomes a loyal customer for your business. Everything you need to do is carry out these points properly and you will see a most certain change in your customer handling skills.

While it is true that you should educate yourself in affiliate marketing, the best resources are not courses. However, books are. By simply reading up on affiliate marketing, you can gain wonderful insights and save loads of money. By simply looking at retail sites such as Amazon or EBay, you can get hundred of titles on the subject. There are loads of step by step guides available on how to get your affiliate marketing business going and how to build it up.

Another great resource for affiliate marketing is the internet. Simply by typing affiliate marketing into any major search engine, loads of information comes up. There are plenty of free courses online that you can take on the subject if you are determined. Read through the information available to you for nothing. Chances are a course or a seminar won’t teach you any more than what you can learn online for free.

Magazines and newsletters are fantastic resources for affiliate marketing. Newsletters are generally free and contain good, valuable information about particular programs. You’ll hear an account from people who are working in affiliate marketing. Their advice is worth having being that they are doing now what you want to be doing in the near future.

Finally, one of the advantages of joining an affiliate marketing program is the support that you receive. Any legitimate of things to help you build your business. They can be one of the most important resources for you to rely upon on.company should want you to succeed. The more profit you make, they better for them. They should have their own advice and support network that is available to you. This could be in the form of an agent whom you can contact or advertising materials. They may offer a wide variety

Online marketing has undergone a tremendous changes. Here are few tools for more efficient and effective results of internet marketing.

• Realgeeks.com – It helps you function your Facebook ads smoothly, while you concentrate on other important stuff. It works transparently by targeting and retargeting the audience, Customized marketing strategy, advanced audience targeting, ongoing ad creation, ongoing ad optimization to maximize results, conversion tracking – to calculate results, new buyer registration ads and much more.
• Buffer.com – This one is best way to drive traffic, increase fan engagement and save time on social media. They not only help you with this but fix your bugs. They have a great team which works towards applying your marketing strategies. It is a Social media management for marketers and agencies
• Boomerranggmail.com – This works as an assistant to you by scheduling your emails in your Gmail. Good way to not miss your email work.
• Similarweb.com – it is equally important to analyse your work and know how your competitors are doing. This site reveals your competitors, discovers new opportunities, helps you find partners and collaborations, identifies new players of market, most importantly understand consumer behaviour.
• Socialbakers.com – The most advanced social media analytics, reporting, publishing, and recommendation suite in the industry. It enable cross-team collaboration and approvals, guides you to publish at the right time to target audience to increase organic reach.

These above mentioned things will surely help you through your internet marketing. Yet there are many outsourcing agencies who perform digital marketing. They take over the responsibility of managing all you internet marketing such as website development, SEO, creating accounts in various social media sites, running ads and campaigns, gives you brand building services, designing your website and pages, content writing, targeting through research and development, all in one. Making marketing easier, by saving time and money.