Promotion Ideas for December 2016

Don’t be like all the Big-Dumb companies. Be unique with your marketing!

Here’s a list of not-so-common topics you can use to spice up your marketing and STAND OUT!

December 2016 Marketing Calendar

Themed promotions grab attention and create a bond between you and people passionate about a cause or subject.

 Marketing Idea Starters

12/1 is National Pie Day
12/2 is National Fritters Day & National Mutt Day
12/3 is National Roof Over Your Head Day
12/4 is National Cookie Day
12/5 is Bathtub Party Day and National Blue Jeans Day
12/6 is Saint Nicholas Day and National Gazpacho Day
12/7 is Pearl Harbor Day and National Cotton Candy Day
12/8 is National Brownie Day
12/9 is National Pastry Day
12/10 is Human Rights Day
12/11 is UNICEF Birthday
12/12 is Gingerbread House Day and Poinsettia Day
12/13 is National Cocoa Day
12/14 is National Bouillabaisse Day
12/15 is National Cupcake Day and Bill Of Rights Day
12/16 is National Chocolate Covered Anything Day
12/17 is Maple Syrup Day
12/18 is Answer the Phone Like Buddy The Elf Day
12/19 is National Hard Candy Day
12/20 is National Sangria Day
12/21 National Flashlight Day and Winter Solstice
12/22 The first gorilla (named Colo) was born in captivity in 1956
12/23 is Festivus (for the rest of us)
12/24 is Eggnog Day and Chanukah begins
12/25 is Christmas Day and National Pumpkin Pie Day
12/26 is National Candy Cane Day and National Whiner’s Day
12/27 is National Fruitcake Day
12/28 is National Chocolate Candy Day & Natl. Card Playing Day
12/29 is National Pepper Pot Day (the soup that won the war)

12/30 is Bacon Day

12/31 Some Celebrate a Universal Hour of Peace

December is
AIDS Awareness Month
Human Rights Month
Root Vegetables and Exotic Fruits Month
National Gratitude Month
National Georgia Pecan Month
National Tie Month

 

Blueberry Pie Our Specialty

Do you have a really special product or service you’re really good at, love to do and make good money at it? This is really common in most businesses. In fact, a lot of businesses started with one single item or service which was the seed, the foundation, from which the business grew. This article is a demonstration on how to get your business and your website to become visible for specific items or services you provide.

You may have a number of items or services you’ve become excellent at delivering. I’m suggesting you start with one and periodically, systematically and consistently add one more. Start with the ones you’re passionate about, the ones which are profitable and the ones for which you have a great reputation. We don’t make nor sell blueberry pie, but I’m going to demonstrate how to become visible for the item. This blog post will be dated and I will watch to see how long it takes for Small Business U to show up in search results for a dessert treat which many people may, at any given time, type into a search:

The Best Blue Berry Pie Near Me

If you’re in the mood for a delicious slice of blueberry pie, you have found it here at SBU in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. You may think Cherry Pie would be the pie of choice here in Cherry Hill, (and believe it…we make a darn good cherry pie too), but it’s really just a matter of taste!

Did you know that Hammonton, New Jersey is the Blueberry Capital of the World? It’s true. Right here in South Jersey we’re blessed with an abundance of plump, sweet, delicious blueberries and all the pies we make all year ’round are made with blueberries grown right nearby.

Stop by for a slice of blueberry pie. Would you like a scoop of ice cream with that? How about a fresh, hot cup of coffee?

Blueberry Pies in South Jersey

Whole blueberry pies are also available right here in our Cherry Hill location. We’re just minutes away from Philadelphia, Marlton, Haddonfield, Voorhees, Moorestown, and Mount Laurel.

Blueberry Pies Come With a Selection of Crusts

It’s always worth the trip to our Cherry Hill store in Southern New Jersey because you’re almost always going to experience a new twist on blueberry pie. Depending on the season we may have up to 6 different crusts on our freshly baked pies. The Almond Crumble is a favorite in late summer and fall. We make the lattice-crust blueberry pie every day sprinkled with course-ground raw sugar crystals.

Blueberry pie lovers, come and enjoy this South Jersey treat in our one and only location in Cherry Hill, NJ

Although we have the best blueberry pie recipes, this one is pretty good too: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/blue-ribbon-blueberry-pie-recipe

Who Has The Best Blueberry Pie?

Well, for now it right here at SBU but it could be YOU.

This is an example of what’s called Organic Search Engine optimization. By the merit that this post will probably ra-nk highly for likely searches for blueberry pie in areas around South Jersey, -Philadelphia, and other towns in the area, it is evidence my systems and processes are effective. The sales you will make by having a presence on the search engines will far outweigh the cost, time and effort to optimize a post or page on your website for a specific product or service you’re passionate about and profitable.

For more great tips about marketing your business online check out https://smallbusinessu.org/get-your-customers-to-post-on-facebook-for-you-2-the-check-in/

If you want to learn the intricacies of making almost any item or service you want to sell become visible online, call 888-275-3490.

 

 

 

3 Facebook Strategies

Ideas for  Reaching a Bigger & Better Audience on Facebook

In the past couple of years, news feed visibility of Facebook Fanpage posts has declined by over 90%. In other words, if you have 500 Facebook Fans on your business page, less than 50, on average (probably far fewer), are actually seeing your post in their news feed. If you feel it’s becoming difficult to justify the time and expense, here are some ideas to boost results.

Organic & Paid Social Media Posting

Definition: Organic posts are free. This is when you or your social media marketing administrator makes a post on your account. Visibility of organic posts are somewhat random. They can reach less than 1% or your total fan base (followers) to 10%, sometimes more if there’s a good response to the post. Sponsored posts are posts which are guaranteed to reach a certain number of people within a selection of demographic criteria. You pay for this.

Even before Facebook created the paid advertising model, it was unusual for businesses to see a positive return on their social media marketing investment. Now, as the organic numbers have diminished so drastically, it’s even more rare.

Strategy #1: Sponsored Facebook Posts

Now, for $5-$7, you can Boost a post or create an ad which is certain to reach between 400-1200 people.

For this small amount of money, you can create a target audience based upon a range of their ages, (33-62, for example), income, marital status, education level and any number of interests such as types of food they like, activities and hobbies they enjoy PLUS a distance radius around your location or service area. You can reach people around the country, the world or just 10 miles around your zip code.

Whether you do you social media posts in-house or you have a service provider, the average posts is costing you about $6.00-$8.00 in time. This begs the question:

Is it better to pay $7.00 for an add to reach 500-1000 people who are strong prospects or to spend $6.00 to reach 50-100 people who already know you?

My feeling is that it’s better to spend $7.00 to reach 500-1000 people who may be good prospects. After all, if you land just ONE new customer and it only cost you $7, that’s a big win. Don’t you agree?

Who ARE Your Facebook Fans Anyway?

A substantial number of your Facebook fans are likely to be your personal friends (OR friends of the people who are doing your marketing for you). They have Liked or Followed your page because you’ve asked them to. They’re usually not genuine fans and probably not your customers either. They were most likely just being polite and thought they were doing you a favor.

New fans you acquire with sponsored posts are more genuine. They gave you a Like  because they liked what they saw. These are the people you want as fans. Now, by acquiring new and more genuine fans, and with the targeting abilities available with sponsored posts, you have the ability to pay for posts which reach ONLY your fans. You can also elect to reach your existing audience and THEIR friends.

There are times you will want to use paid ads to reach your existing audience only:

For example, there’s an event I like to go to every year…the Crab-A-Palooza at Pinsetter Bar & Bowl in Pennsauken, NJ. There’s good food, entertainment, I’m friendly with the owner and it’s good family fun. I missed it this year because I didn’t see any of the announcements. The marketing team posted the event about 12 times on their Facebook page BUT I didn’t see it because none of the organic posts never showed up on my news feed. If they had spent a few bucks on a boosted post, the great majority of their Facebook Fans would have seen the announcement. They would have made the money back on just ONE extra customer, ME, and they probably would have landed a bunch more customers like me who would have showed up too.  Use boosted posts when you have an important announcement for all your fans.

Strategy #2

Get your customers to do the work for you!

When customers visit your location, give them an incentive to Check-In on their Facebook app. When they check in, lots of their Facebook friends will see this in their news feed. This is delivers your business name, location AND Social Proof which is like your customer’s testimonial about your place. This method works better when a photo is included with the post. A small bribe such as a Free Dessert or a $10 Gift Certificate is well worth the promotional value you get from this kind of exposure.

Strategy #3

I’ve created a video which demonstrates this idea which is embedded at the end of this post.

This  strategy can be used in all kinds of businesses, online as well as traditional brick and mortar businesses and service businesses.

Make it easy for your customers to help you. Create a dedicated page on your website which has one image on it (could be your logo or  an image depicting your service in action for example). Add wording to the page such as: “I recently {visited, purchased, used services of} ABC Business. I was very pleased with the {name the product or service} so I thought I would share this with my friends.”

 

Give your customers a pre-printed card or send an email with the website address (URL) for this page with the instructions to copy and paste it as a Facebook post. The very act of someone electing to cooperate is a powerful testimonial. The reach and impact could be significant. The setup isn’t very difficult and it can be used over and over.

See video instruction on this strategy- go to

smallbusinessu.org/happycustomer

 

 

Marketing Automation-How and Why It Works

What is Marketing Automation? First, let’s define automation:

Automation is the process by which meaningful tasks are efficiently accomplished by a system or process by machinery or technology, which reduces the need for human involvement.

The result of automation is consistency, efficiency, predictability, higher productivity, speed, reduced cost, thus greater profitability.

Marketing Automation is Possible for Your Small Business

Consistent, predictable, efficient, productive, cheap and profitable results from your marketing efforts and investments can be yours.

Marketing automation means acquiring customers and keeping them coming back for more.

What Automation Means to Your Business

Marketing Automation means gently keeping in touch with your existing customers. Never forget, it’s not your customer’s job to think about you and remember you. It’s YOUR job to think about and remember them. Automation will do this for you.

Marketing Automation also also means gently keeping in touch with prospective customers who have shown interest in your business, product or service. Prospective customers have visited your website. A website with a purpose is more than just a brochure. It’s a sales representative and an ambassador. Done well, it can initiate a relationship, deliver information and gently invite your new prospect to come do business with you…AUTOMATICALLY.

Fueling Your Marketing Machine

You already have all (or most) of the component parts of a marketing automation machine. These components exist in almost every piece of printed material, social media activity, your website, print ads, coupon ads, table-top signage, business card, your 30-second elevator speech,and even your Little League team sponsorship. Each of these are examples of marketing.

Question: What Do People Respond To?

Answer: An Offer or a Deal.

As a small business, your best marketing investments are made with direct-response marketing. Direct-response is how to get customers now and how to get customers to raise their hands and say, “Yes. I’m interested.” This is accomplished with an offer. An offer come in many forms. An offer could be a coupon, a gift, an information piece, a book, a how-to guide, or anything of value an interested prospect would accept from you in exchange for their contact information. This is how you fuel your Automated Marketing Machine. 

The late Chet Holmes, a marketing genius and author and consultant to major companies and entrepreneurs gave speeches and seminars. Over time, polled audiences by the thousands during his live events. He asked for a show of hands if people where “in the market” for such things as tires, cars, home remodeling, carpeting, technology, etc. What he found was, across the boards, only 3% of any market is in the “buying mode” now.

Observe the diagram on the right hand side of this page. It doesn’t say only 3% of all people are prospective customers. It says 3% are buying now. 7% are prospects.

 

 

 

Get Your Customers to Post on Facebook For You #2-The Check-In

In yesterday’s post, I demonstrated how any business can make it easy for their customers to announce their satisfaction to their Facebook friends.

The Facebook Check-In is Strong Social Proof and Can Reach a Huge Audience

In case you’re not up to speed on what the “Check-In” on Facebook is, it’s an application within the mobile version of Facebook. There’s a button in the upper right hand corner of the Facebook screen named “Check-In”. When touched, this button activates a GPS scan on the user’s proximity to nearby businesses and displays them on your screen. They choose the one they’re at and a Facebook post screen opens which includes the name of your business, directions to your place and a link to YOUR Facebook Fan Page. The user can post a photo and as much text as they’d like to, just as in any typical post.

As you can imagine, when people do this Check-In when they’re in your place, many, many people see it. Could be dozens, could be 100’s. Not only is this FREE ADVERTISING, it’s very powerful because it shows this person has given your place his or her “Seal of Approval”-social proof.

Some people will check-in to a place just because it’s an excuse to whip out their cell phone and get back into the chatter on Facebook.

Incentivize Check-Ins

A small sign in a clear table tent (like a picture frame) with a modest incentive could have people checking in and posting about your business every day. “Check-In on Facebook, Show Your Server, Get a FREE Dessert!”

The average Facebook post costs a business over $6.00. Whether you’re paying someone to do your social media posting for you or you do it in-house, there’s still the expense of time and effort. To give away a dessert probably costs a lot less and is probably a great deal more impactful.

Get Creative With Facebook Check-Ins

When your customer checks in and includes a photo of his or her food (or whatever the product is), it will get even more visibility and reaction. “Show this post to your server within 7 days and get $5.00 off your purchase!”…now your customer has initialized a call-to action which makes your new Facebook Check-In Campaign measurable.

Have you ever tried the Facebook Check-In in your business? Share your experience in the comments area below.

Get Your Customers to Post on Facebook For You!

You can brag about and promote your business until you’re blue in the face, but nobody can influence your future customers like your satisfied customers.

Social Proof…this is a very powerful marketing device. Social proof is when you demonstrate people are using, liking and enjoying your business, product or service. Testimonials are an example of social proof.

Social Proof as a Strategy on Social Media

A Like or a Share of a Facebook fan page post is a form of social proof. Read on to learn a few powerful and far-reaching tactics. I can almost guarantee you have never heard of this first one before. This can be used in any business which has a website. You don’t need to have a physical location so it’ll work for Service Businesses and Online/Ecommerce Businesses, as well as Restaurants, Retailers, Chiropractors, Dentists…any business with a Facebook Fan Page and a website.

The following video demonstrates one of the 3 tactics scroll down below the video to read the remainder of the post.

Strategy #1: Sponsored Posts

Now, for $5-$7, you can Boost a post or create an ad which is certain to reach between 400-1200 people.

For this small amount of money, you can create a target audience based upon a range of their ages, (33-62, for example), income, marital status, education level and any number of interests such as types of food they like, activities and hobbies they enjoy PLUS a distance radius around your location or service area. You can reach people around the country, the world or just 10 miles around your zip code.

Whether you do you social media posts in-house or you have a service provider, the average posts is costing you about $6.00-$8.00. This begs the question:

Is it better to pay $7.00 for an add to reach 500-1000 people who are strong prospects or to spend $6.00 to reach 50-100 people who already know you?

Strategy #2

Get your customers to do the work for you!

 DOWNLOAD A FREE COPY OF THE BUSINESS OWNER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING ONLINE, CLICK HERE.

When customers visit your location, give them an incentive to Check-In on their Facebook app. When they check in, lots of their Facebook friends will see this in their news feed. This is delivers your business name, location AND Social Proof which is like your customer’s testimonial about your place. This method works better when a photo is included with the post. A small bribe such as a Free Dessert or a $10 Gift Certificate is well worth the promotional value you get from this kind of exposure.

 

Strategy #3

 

This  strategy can be used in businesses where people come in to your place, order over the phone, online transactions and service businesses too.

 

Make it easy for your customers to help you. Create a dedicated page on your website which has one image on it (could be your logo or  an image depicting your service in action for example). Add wording to the page such as: “I recently {visited, purchased, used services of} ABC Business. I was very pleased with the {name the product or service} so I thought I would share this with my friends.”

 

Give your customers a pre-printed card or send an email with the website address (URL) for this page with the instructions to copy and paste it as a Facebook post. The very act of someone electing to cooperate is a powerful testimonial. The reach and impact could be significant. The setup isn’t very difficult and it can be used over and over.

 

How Important is Email to Your Overall Marketing Strategy?

Permission-Based Marketing.  Sound interesting? What’s that mean? It means when people give you their name and email address, they have raised their hands and said, “Please let me know what you’re selling because I might buy it.” Pretty sweet, right? “Send me your information because I want to hear about what you have to say.” “Send me your offers.” What could be better than to have a list of friendly people who give you permission and pay attention to your advertising?

Building Customer Lists and Prospect Lists Are The 2 Most Important Things You Can Do To Build and Maintain Customers and Cash Flow

There’s been a lot of emphasis on social media as a marketing platform in the last several years, and rightfully so. But do you know what the #1 goal of all the most successful social media mavens is? Getting email addresses. “The money is in the list.” This is the mantra of all the most successful marketers and it’s true.

When someone has given you permission to send them your stuff- your information, your offers, your news updates, it’s a beautiful thing.

Email Marketing is The Most Important Component of Online Marketing

The easiest person to sell something to is someone you have sold to and satisfied in the past. But just because this pleasing transaction took place in the past, it doesn’t mean there’s going to be a “next-time” because if you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind. It’s not your customer’s job to remember you or to be faithful to you, it’s your job to remind them you exist and you appreciate them.

Here’s How Email Marketing Works

Example:

You take your car to a car wash close to home on a Sunday morning. They do a nice job. You signed up for email there because they promised you an occasional promotion. They keep in touch every now and then. You can see their email in your inbox. Sometimes you open it. Sometimes, not…you just delete it. When you open it, there’s usually a car care tip or a cute joke and an offer for a discount on a service. There’s a picture of the owner or the manager and you recognize him (or her). That’s nice.

You pass by a car wash on your way home from work every week. It’s convenient. You don’t have to go out of your way at all. It’s $2.00 cheaper than the other place. But you don’t go there any more because the other guys keep in touch. You feel like you know them. You feel like they know you. They send you an email coupon for a FREE WASH on your birthday. 

Friend, substitute your business for the car wash. Are you keeping in touch with your customers on a regular basis with email? Do you send your customers a Happy Birthday message and a gift via email? Are you reminding your customers you care about them, you value them and you exist?

Email will keep your business in top-of-mind position but if you’re like most business owners you probably feel like:

• You don’t have time for emailing people. Then get someone to do it for you!
• You don’t want to burden your customers with unwanted emails. But if people are giving you their email address, they’re requesting your offers! What a gift! Use it!
• You tried this and you didn’t get any results. But chances are you didn’t know how to do it right or you gave up too soon.

Email is a numbers game. Only about 12% of the people on your list will even open your email at any given time. But if you have 1000 people on your list, that’s 120 people! Out of 120 people, SOME of them will show up and do business with you just because you sent them an email. If that’s true, wouldn’t you be eager to grow your list to 2000, 3000, 5000? Almost everyone loves to be recognized on their birthday and will gladly include it if asked. On average, over 70% of people will open your Happy Birthday email. IT’S A NO-BRAINER!

Email Marketing Tips:

1. Consistency: no one wants to be bombarded with emails but a consistent schedule is vital to email marketing success. Once weekly, twice monthly, no less than once per month depending on the type of business you’re in. Don’t be discouraged if you fail to get results with some of your emails. Keep delivering with regularity. Don’t worry about being a burden, they gave you their email contact information!
2. Headline: (aka subject line.) A good headline is essential so your email isn’t deleted before it gets opened. Avoid hype. Do a little homework. There’s a lot of material out there with ideas on how to craft email subject lines.
3. Personalization: email programs have the ability to automatically insert your recipients’ first name into the greeting of your message. Use this function in your program. Personalization is proven to be effective.
4. Keep your eye on opt-outs: if you send an email and a larger-than-typical number of people opt-out, learn from it. Try to figure out what may have triggered the negative response.
5. Sell but don’t be “salesy”: With your offer or promotion, deliver a bit of information, humor, or story in your emails. Be personal. Including something about your kids, your pet or your recent vacation is engaging. Inspirational quotes and jokes are fuel for getting more of your emails opened and read.
6. Proof read: spelling and grammar errors are killers. Create your email but don’t send it right away. Reread it out loud and check spelling. Keep sentences short and eliminate unnecessary words.
7. Link your message to a specific page of your website. Suggest your recipients share your message on social media.
8. Make an offer. Send them to your coupon page on your website. Suggest they share this too!
9. Think about the benefit your audience: Remember your readers want to know “what’s in it for me?”  Deliver a benefit for opening your email. Otherwise they’ll delete and eventually opt-out of your list.
10. Include list building into every marketing effort from this point forward. 

Keeping in touch with people who have NOT done business with you yet but have shown interest in a product or service should be a top priority. It’s easy to keep in touch with email. If they’re not ready to buy now, your periodic email will keep you in top-of-mind position for when that time comes.

Contact Andrew Mazer at 1-866-799-2825 for email marketing consultation or email: info@mazermarketing.com

 

Direct Mail to New Movers. Target Marketing at its Finest.

Its funny how things come full circle. In the digital age, the opportunity to market effectively with direct mail may be at an all time high. If you haven’t noticed your mailbox is probably less cluttered today than it has ever been in your lifetime. Fewer companies are using direct mail in lieu of email. This means your direct mail pieces are going to stand a much better chance of being consumed.

Learn How Easy it is to Market to People New In the Area. New Mover Marketing Any Small Business Can Do It.

In today’s video I’m discussing the benefits of marketing to new movers. But not just any new movers. People who have recently moved into your town or (any town you choose), people who are homeowners and have an income in excess of $80,000. This is a very nice target market to send direct mail if you’re the type of business who serves the public. This is for restaurants, chiropractors, dentists, coffee shops, dry cleaners, carpet cleaners, pet sitters, veterinarians, financial advisers, and the list goes on and on.

Serving your local community? Then new movers are a great target market.

Today I generated a list of over 2400 people who moved into Cherry Hill New Jersey with in the past 4 months or so. Again these people have an income of over $80,000 and are the owners of the home. If these people came from out of town, then I’ll be looking for places to eat and service companies like plumbers electricians garage door repair people contractors… You get the picture. Be the first to serve them successfully and you stand a chance, a very good chance of becoming their supplier of goods or services indefinitely. Build the relationship before someone else does.

So how do you reach these people with direct mail? Well, you can mail a 4 inch by 6 inch postcard with a $0.35 stamp. You can usually get a good deal on a postcard like this printed in color for somewhere around $0.15 (maybe less).

You can get the list for free if you have access to Reference USA and your printer can handle electronically putting the address labels on each card.

Group Marketing with Your Neighbors or Network

I understand that sending 2400 pieces of mail at $0.50 each is a considerable sum of money to experiment with. But let’s say you get together with three other business people and do this as a group effort. If you were in a networking group you could pick 3 other people from there. If you are in a shopping center or shopping district, you can get together with your neighbors and put something together. You can make four nice sized ads on an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. Add a first class stamp and an envelope and you’re all in for about $0.70 per piece. Now you’re down to $420 each. But you can get 2,3, or 4 pieces of paper in that envelope with the same stamp and get even more people in on the deal thereby reducing your costs even further.

Target marketing is key. It goes way deeper than the address.

One of the big mistakes business owners make is not planning their advertising effort in advance. They have not given thought to their target market, or their message. New movers are a great target. Welcoming high earning people who just moved into town is a great market with a very nice message already built in. “Welcome to the neighborhood we’d like to get to know you. Come see us. Here’s an offer just for you…our new neighbor.”

If you need some help building a list or otherwise coordinating a New-Mover Marketing Campaign, reach Andrew Mazer at 1-866-799-2825. This works anywhere in the USA.

Small Business Marketing-7-Point Checklist and Execution Plan

In case this is the first time you’re hearing from me, I’m Andrew Mazer. I’m the founder of Small Business U, but first, I’m a business owner. I started a wholesale business in Philadelphia back in 1986 in service to hardware stores, variety stores and $1.00 stores. I was 21 years old at the time. I’ve been in service to business owners ever since.

I’m a business owner who learned how to market my own business online. After wasting a bunch of money on my first website back in the late 1990’s, out of sheer frustration that I couldn’t find anybody to competently help me, I went on a mission to figure it out.  I decided to take it upon myself to learn how to leverage the Internet to get new customers. There was no way I was going to miss the emergence of the Web as a marketing platform.

One Technique or Tactic Can Make a Huge Difference. You May Find it On This Page.

In year 2000, I discovered one way to get my business in front of a qualified market of prospective customers and since then, I’ve been getting new customers and making real sales every day.

This one single idea actually carried me and expanded my business for more than 2 years before I realized I there are probably more things I could start doing to get more customers online.

I started telling some of my friends in business some of my ideas which they applied to their business and they started getting career changing results as I have.

One of the coolest things that I discovered which inspired me to teach other business owners is, marketing your business online is not at all complicated. One thing, one tactic applied can spark results in dramatic fashion. This is not an exaggeration. In fact all the things that I teach business owners work independently of one another. Each time you add another, they all work better. You don’t have to be an encyclopedia of knowledge and be a prisoner of processes to get your website to start generating customers.

As I mentioned, the very first thing that I learned about marketing my business online was really effective. Every morning I would wake up to find new orders in my inbox. And every day, people would call and say I found out about your company online. And then they would order merchandise from us to sell in their stores. This went on for a couple of years before I even considered I could be doing something more. I learned one more thing. it worked. Each individual element of marketing I added improved the results.

Now I’m going to give you a list of 7 things you can do and you don’t have to be an expert or get any technical training to do the stuff.

Out of these 7 things, it only takes ONE to make an impact on your business. Pick one to implement.

These are listed in no particular order.

1. List all your services or products: Create a web page or blog post to describe every item or service you sell. For example, if your a massage therapist, you probably have a menu of massage services or styles all listed on one web page. Now, give each individual massage style it’s own dedicated page. Why? Because if you make a page dedicated to Pregnancy Massage and all you do is describe pregnancy massage, and its benefits, this page will attract more attention from the search engines when someone is looking specifically for pregnancy massage. Add statistics, quotes from medical experts, and testimonials from women you have served. Drop a photo on the page and you have added valuable content to your website which will serve you and your business forever. For businesses selling physical products, do the same thing. Start with your favorite, most profitable items and work your way down. It’s a tiny investment in time and creativity and worth so much.
2. List all of your service areas. Whether you serve people at their homes or businesses or if they come to you, this is an effective strategy. I have a friend who has a garage door business. He repairs and replaced residential garage doors. His business is called Cherry Hill Residential Overhead Door. Cherry Hill is a town in Southern New Jersey, very close to Philadelphia. He was obviously getting great placement in the search results for people looking for garage door help in Cherry Hill but he was invisible in the surrounding towns. We made a page listing each town in about a 15 mile radius around Cherry Hill and then an individual page describing the services he provides there. Now, he’s getting call fro all those areas and he’s even showing up in searches in adjacent towns not even listed on his site. If you’re in a business where the people come to you, list the places where people come from to patronize your place. Make up web pages describing your place, your products and services, give directions, add a map…make it helpful by using practical information which may be useful to the website visitor.
3. Make an offer. Give your website visitor a reason to engage with you right now by giving them a gift, a discount coupon or a piece of educational material which can be delivered automatically and electronically the moment someone puts in their name and email address. This will improve the chances of doing business with you right away AND it will add their contact information to your email list so you can keep in touch.
4. Expand your online footprint. Make sure your business information (your profile) is listed on every possible and practical search engine and directory online. This is so important. You may have done this years ago but guess what…you need to revisit this. Things change. There are dozens of places you can have detailed information listed about your business and people use them. You can list details about your business and products, business hours, photos, and more. This puts your business right in the intersection where people are at the time when they’re actively looking for a business, product or service like yours.
5. Improve your About Us page. One area where no one can compete with you is YOU. Most owners don’t like to show themselves on their About Us page. Instead, they just tell more about the business. I know there are a large percentage of people who make their decision to buy because of what they learn about the owners on the About Us page. Why are you in business? Did you take over the family business? Where did you learn your craft? Married? Love dogs? Sharing things like this make you more endearing to certain people. Other businesses can’t (or won’t) get on this personal level but it’s very powerful. It’s especially important if you’re the type of company who serves people in their home.
6. Consider advertising on a directory. There are all kinds of online directories out there where you can place your company profile and fill it with details about your business (see #5 above). Some are general and some are industry-specific. Many are free but come with an option to pay for premium listings. Some are only fee-based. My company has been advertising on a fee-based directory for many years because it works. A good fee-based directory does their own marketing in order to drive results to their subscribers. It’s like having a team of professionals working to make sure your investment produces dividends. I highly recommend you do your homework and find a fee-based directory with a good reputation and try listing your business on it.
7. Make your website mobile-friendly. If your website is more than a few years old and you haven’t updated it in awhile, it’s probably not considered mobile-friendly or mobile responsive. This means it doesn’t display well on phones and other mobile devices. It’s official…the search engines will not show your website in the search results (it will rank your website much lower) if there are similar businesses with mobile-friendly websites to show instead. It’s a bummer to have to redo your website but it’s a fact of life. Getting customers is worth the investment.

If there’s one item on this list which stimulates you to take action, I honestly think it will serve you well. I have executed these elements on my own websites and for clients and they work. They work now and they worked years ago. They’re not “tricks” to try. They’re tactics which work.

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If you got any good ideas from this checklist, you will REALLY appreciate my book,

The Business Owner’s Guide to Marketing Online.

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Small, Incremental Goals are the Way to the Big Score

As I was ascending from meditation this morning I thought popped into my mind out of nowhere: “How will I advance the ball today?”

This is football terminology. It is NFL playoff time but in all honesty, I’m not really a fan and I wasn’t thinking about it…at least not consciously. But I instantly thought, “Wow this is a great metaphor for business and personal development.”

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Goal Achievement is a Process of Incremental Advancements

“Advancing the ball” is an important strategic component in football.

The objective in football is of course to score a touchdown, or at least get into the other teams territory close enough to score a field goal. These are the objectives of the offensive team. However these objectives are generally achieved incrementally. Individual plays are designed to move the ball forward but not necessarily to the goal line every time. Even though each each play does not result in a score, each advancement of the ball and improvement of field position is important and valuable.

It’s a reminder that among all our activities each day, we need to make sure some of them have the potential to “advance the ball”. The items on our to do list are not all of equal value. Some of them have little or no effect of advancing our ball and some of them do. So it’s important that when we make our to do list that we designate major time on the highest value tasks. We need to certainly make sure that each day, our to do list includes at least one or several activities which will move the ball forward toward our goals.

Ask a Better Question, Get a Better Answer

“What is one thing I can do today that if I complete it will, make me feel as though it was a successful day?”

Then list 2 or more of those things and get them done. Even better!

Advancing the ball, career-wise, requires major time invested in marketing ourselves, our products or our services. Another is learning how to market ourselves, our products and our services better than we’re currently doing it. Whether that learning is how to communicate better, how to improve our networking skills, how to be more organized, or how to make better use of technology, for example, these ARE “ball-advancing” activities.

As the saying goes “time waits for no man.” The clock is ticking. Productive days build upon one another. Unproductive days just run out the clock. We don’t need to score a touchdown every day but for our career, our personal goals, and for our mental attitude, it’s really important to accomplish at least one valuable ball-advancing advancing action each day. It’s very important for the psyche.

One Thing We Can Do Every Day for Professional and Business Advancement

Stand out by adding content. 

I tell my marketing students (business owners learning how to market their business online) to add content to their website regularly. Each piece of content in the form of a blog post, article or new web page they create adds up to building a bigger, better online presence. They can be repurposed for their social media and other marketing efforts. One piece of content generated per week can yield a couple hundred individual marketing actions and touch potentially thousands of people (prospective customers). At the very minimum, adding one piece of content to a website each week ads 52 additional website pages per year. If you’re website grows by 52 pages per year and your competitors website does not grow at all this is a great advantage. If those 52 pages per year are repurposed for other marketing actions then the advantage is multiplied.

Creating “ball-advancing” content even if you don’t have a website.

You don’t have to be a business owner with a website to take advantage of this strategy. You can write articles on article sites such as ezinearticles.com. You can write blog posts on LinkedIn. You can create a YouTube channel or even a podcast. There are all kinds of platforms for you to showcase your smarts, your talents, your products, your services, and your value to the marketplace.

Sometimes, plays designed for short gains break wide open and the gains are much larger than expected and can even result in a score.

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