5 Ways To Improve Your Marketing

5 Ways to Improve Your Marketing

1. Use Visuals

50% of our brain is dediciateed to process visual information.  65%  of  people are more likelly to remember information if it is accompanied by an image.  This is why Pinterest is top in e-commercee traffic at 41%.  Facebook is right behind at 37%.  When adding an image to your page, whether it be Facebook or your website, you will be bringing in more traffic.  A photo or an image grabs the attention of the person or customer that is browsing your page.

2.  Information Overload

How much information is to much?  Keep it simple.  Only share high-level information before focusing on poorly organized and complicated information.  Streamline the process.  If something is to wordy, a person is likely to skim through it or not read it at all.

3.  Comparative Pricing works when positioning products

Understand your target audience and what they are prepared to spend.  Remember all consumers don't always opt for cheaper alternative when confronted with choice.  Marketers have to be careful when pricing products and services below competitors as positive perceptions may diminish

4.  Response to color

Branding and a companies logo are what most people identify with.  What makes a brand immediately recognizable in todays age is color.  It effects the way potential customers react to marketing materials.  Again, it's a visual thing.  Those who understand the power of color use it to their advantage and are able to create more effective marking campaigns.

5. Choice of Wording

Which call to action are you going to use?  Becareful where you place this as readers and customers can easily overlook.  Click here is the most popular call to action, while register doesn't seem to have as many visitors.  Go, submit, and download are other call to action words companies use.  Make sure you use the appropriate word in the appropriate place.

New SEM Partner Announcement

Great News!

Socially Yours has partnered with the Global On-line marketing Agency Reachlocal.

We are now able offer local businesses Digital Branding and Paid Search Solutions, with the most Advanced ROI technology to manage campaigns. Reachlocal is the most experienced in the on-line space (started in 2004)  and has the best reporting for digital advertising. They are Google’s Only Global Partner and  ReachLocal was awarded the “2013 North American Premier SMB Partner Award-Best Quality Accounts”. Their campaigns got BEST quality scores- resulting in a lower CPC .

http://www.reachlocal.com/google

https://www.reachlocal.com/awards

Specifically,

They have a 24 hour live chat program for your website that starts at only $99 per month, and can increase your website leads by 30%.

They do advanced PPC ( Google adwords) using algorithm software,  But are publisher agnostic, meaning they bid on all search engines to diversify your budgets you more leads and exposure. PPC campaigns start at $500 monthly budgets.

They also do a variation of Banner ad (display) buys.. From General GEO targeted branding campaigns, to Site retargeting campaigns (banner ads follow your web visitors) and Search Retargeting campaigns (banner ads appear to consumers who have searched keywords pertaining to your business).

All Leads are tracked, so you know if it’s working. And All Data is used from the reporting to make your campaigns better EVERYDAY.

Kelly Decollibus-Fillion Is the Local Rep here in New England! She has an account manager

Gina Consalvo-Eynon, who has worked belong side her for the last 6 years.

Kelly has been with Reachlocal over 7 years, and is Google certified, Local, A Senior Top Rep ,and has run hundreds of campaigns.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/kelly-fillion/6/268/512

Her Blog Site- http://kellydecollibus.ca.st/

Contracts start at 4 months durations  (You do not need to commit for a year) and It is month to month- cancel anytime with a 30 day notice.

They also have free month promos often, that new clients can take advantage of!

More Info Below on Programs Offered-

Why ReachLocal? ReachLocal has run over a million campaigns.  The average ReachLocal search campaign collects between 1 million and 1.5 million data points a month.  This is a phenomenal amount of data that has accrued over time.  The reason we are able to run so many campaigns successfully is our automated software.  This gives ReachLocal the ability to scale no matter how many campaigns we are running.   If we did not have the software we have, we would not be able to grow at the exponential rates we have seen domestically andinternationally over the past 10 years.  As of January 2014, Google honored ReachLocal with North American Premier SMB Partner Award for “Best Quality Accounts”

ReachLocal’s Automated software vs. Manual Adwords—ReachLocal is providing an automated software solution that is based around conversions (phone calls, emails, form submissions), not just clicks.  Our software is fully automated to dynamically adjust without the influence of a human,   we have people, including myself, that are able to analyze what our automated software is doing as a reflection of the market and users.  Our software will dynamically adjust your budget to the words and publishers (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, AOL) that are getting you the most amount of leads for the lowest possible cost, thus driving down your cost per new client acquisition and maximizing your marketing investment.

Running a daily budget vs. a monthly budget – When you are using Google Adwords the only option you have is to run a daily budget.  What happens if your budget gets used up on a particular day? … Your ad stops showing.  ReachLocal uses a monthly budget.  This gives us the ability to spend more money on some days and less money on other days based on the total search traffic out there.  Our cycles are designed to spend during an approximate 30 day time period.  If they do not spend in that time frame then it will take longer to spend.  We are not looking to spend your budget as quickly as possible -- we want to use your budget as strategically as possible to generate phone calls and in turn, customers.

Customized Budgets: Due to the large amount of historical data we have in nearly every vertical, we are able to come up with a specific budget for your business.  When you are buying marketing, every business has a very unique budget.  It is never a good idea to buy based on a fixed bundled package.

Optimization around conversion -- pay per click advertising -- Most people assume if I am getting a lot of clicks/visitors than I am doing a great job. If we are not tracking to see what the click is actually doing then the click is just costing your business money. It is more important to use a tool that is geared toward optimizing around phone calls and form submissions.  By tracking data, our software will figure out where on the page you will need to show up to generate the most amount of phone calls for the least amount of money.  We are constantly doing a cost benefit analysis on page position vs. keyword costs vs. amount of total phone calls vs. which publisher they are coming from.  This is why using an automated software platform, we are able to allocate your budget towards purchase related words that are driving you the most amount of business.  If we need to make budget adjustments I will be able to see that from our software and advise accordingly. 

Remarketing Display ads: An important factor to consider is -- what are we doing to get back in front of the people that came to your website and have left?  On this same thought, what about the possibility of shortening the sales cycle from the point and time someone visits your site to them actually doing business with you.  By using remarketing, we will be able to serve an ad to people as they are surfing on the internet 3-5 times a day during their daily web activity.   Here is a video explaining Remarketing ReachRemarketing.

Detailed Reporting: Our platform allows you to log in from any device.  You can check the success of your campaign and qualify leads right from the palm of your hand on our mobile app.  In our platform you will be able to see the total amount of contacts you are getting to your website.  This gives you the opportunity to listen to your inbound calls and quantify the value of a customer.

Chat: We will have a chat agent monitoring your website 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Their sole goal is to get an email address, phone number and a name so the office can call them back.  Additionally, they can connect live calls during office hours. This will help increase your overall visitors to people reaching out to become customers.  When someone is spending a significant amount of money driving traffic to a website and branding their business, it is important to do whatever you can to increase the odds of someone contacting your business.  This is along the same principles of having a phone number, web form and email address prominently located on your website.  

Website Design, Marketing Automation and Lead Management software – How many leads are you missing out on a daily/weekly/monthly basis due to improper lead follow up? With our marketing automation we can send out emails to all of your various prospects in the different stages of the buying funnel.  Why just care about visitors?  Let’s focus more on total customer acquisition. By looking at marketing math we can see there is natural attrition in the number of website visits converting to contacts, then leads and finally customers.  Using our Software as a Service (SaaS) platform we will be setting up workflows and reminders that will automatically follow up with your leads.  This way you can stay in front of contacts until they become customers. Additionally, these websites are completely mobile-friendly and responsive so no matter the device the user will always have a good experience. 

To learn more about Socially Yours' new partner & the new programs available contact Michelle at Michelle@SociallyYoursMedia.Com

https://www.facebook.com/SociallyYoursMedia

What's New with Facebook

·     Posts that ask readers to like, comment, or share the post in order to get more distribution. According to Facebook, these types of posts are 15% less relevant than other stories with a comparable number of likes, comments, and shares.

·     Facebook will prioritize posts based on whether the topic is trending and when -- instead of how many -- people like, share, or comment on it. For example, if a friend or a Page you are connected to posts something that others are talking about, Facebook will now show you that post near the top of your news feed.

·     Facebook’s Buy button will allow users to make purchases without ever leaving Facebook

·     Millions of people check into their favorite places and use optional features like Nearby Friends (currently only available in some regions). Facebook is working on ways to show you the most relevant information based on where you are and what your friends are up to. For example, in the future, if you decide to share where you are, you might see menus from restaurants nearby or updates from friends in the area.

·     If you often watch videos on Facebook, you might see more of them pop up in your news feed. In June, Facebook said it would consider whether people watched a video and for how long to determine whether or not it appears in your news feed. Conversely, if you skip over videos without watching them, Facebook will show you fewer of them.

·     Beginning in January 2015, people will see less buy this now, buy this before-content in their News Feeds. “As we’ve said before, News Feed is already a competitive place — as more people and Pages are posting content, competition to appear in News Feed has increased. All of this means that Pages that post promotional creative should expect their organic distribution to fall significantly over time.” -Facebook

·     Facebook recently launched a brand new CTA (call-to-action) button for fan pages! You can choose from one of seven buttons and link to any URL on or off Facebook. The choices are: Book Now, Contact Us, Use App, Play Game, Shop Now, Sign Up, or Watch Video. If you don’t have the button yet, it’s coming very shortly!

·     Start using Facebook groups to interact with potential customers. Be mindful to not always sell but be sure to educate. Provide value and they will follow you anywhere.

Actionable Social Media Marketing Tactics:

•   Understand your target audience’s social media personae on Facebook. You must be able to tailor your content to engage them through photographs, videos and interactions.

•   Develop a dedicated Facebook channel strategy. Ensure that you have integrated your Facebook content into your overall content strategy and editorial plan.

•   Plan for Facebook engagement. Have employees (aka dedicated headcount) who are responsible for interacting with your followers.

•   Add targeted advertising to increase your reach. To extend your organic Facebook reach allocate advertising budget and resources to ensure that it’s targeted.

https://www.facebook.com/SociallyYoursMedia

10 tips for Social Media Marketing in 2015

1. Be present on social media

Your business MUST first be active and establish a professional, branded presence. This requires more than a Facebook page your teenager created.  Cover photos need to be sized correctly. Have your graphic designer create social media templates for your promos. Fully establish your brand and tell it’s story through the images your place on social media.

Social media isn’t a one-way publishing platform like traditional media where you can set it and go. Social media requires on-going interaction when your prospects and customers are active, not just during your business hours. This often means evenings and weekends. Further, social media is multi-directional, so you must be prepared for customer responses.

2. Get started on Instagram

If you haven’t started an Instagram account for your business, what are you waiting for? The younger generation has flocked to this social media platform with over 200 million monthly active users. It’s important to know what the under 30 crowd is using- they will soon be your clientele.

3.Paid promotion on Facebook

Adding just $5.00 in promotion to selected Facebook posts will drastically increase your interaction. You’ll start to notice a major spike in communication when you boost your post for a small budget. With Facebook’s Edgerank Algorithm, the likelihood for a business to appear high in the news feed is less likely. This is why for 2015, you should focus on posts that can yield the best results and boost them for a small budget.

4. Start Blogging

Current content gets you noticed by Google. Increase your SEO by blogging Additionally, a blog can serve as content for a Facebook and Twitter post as well as a teaser for an email marketing campaign. By creating better blog content in 2015, your web traffic will increase and your content will become more compelling

5. Email marketing

If you are a business that only sends out one email blast per month, start doubling this number and send out at least two per month. Nordstrom sends out multiple email blasts EACH DAY! If you have compelling content that would be informative to the subscribers on your email list, tell them about it via email communications. One suggestion is to send out a large newsletter with lots of content at the beginning of the month and then divide the content by the remaining number of weeks and send an email out each week. (but never on a Monday-lowest open rate day!)

6. Twitter outreach

There has been a lot of frustration amongst marketers over all of the advertising that various social media channels are forcing businesses to partake in. Luckily, Twitter is still a great platform where you can grow your following organically. Start searching for hashtags within your industry and reaching out to users in this fashion. Start reaching your target audience via tweets through the perfect Twitter outreach strategy in 2015.

7. Google+ game plan

Google+ might not gain you that much interaction on your social media posts. This social media platform plays a crucial role in search engine optimization on the localized level, which makes this a must for marketers in 2015.

8. YouTube videos

Did you know that Google owns YouTube? By implementing videos into your online marketing mix, you can start to get search engine exposure for the videos that you upload onto YouTube!

9. Compelling graphics

The more compelling your graphics are on various social media channels, the more interaction you will receive. If you have a graphic designer, start sending him or her over your social media calendar so they can help create beautiful imagery. In 2015 you will want to increase engagement and great pictures certainly help.

9. LinkedIn

Make your employees shine on LinkedIn. Provide professional photographs and videos to support your employees, especially your sales team. Help craft their profiles. Every now and again post an image that seems a bit more suited for Facebook or Instagram- This will provide your connections with something fresh to look at. Ex. A happy Monday photo or #TGIF. Take some time to like and comment on your connections posts. Go through your connections and endorse them and be sure to say congrats on your new promotion.

10. Unique promotion:

Brainstorm a unique promotion that people will actually enjoy that can drive massive publicity for your company in 2015! Whether it is coming up with a user generated jingle contest or a photo upload promotion, entice your great fans on social media to interact with your brand in a clever way. If the promotion is a success, it will be one of the most talked about campaigns for your company in 2015.

Add a little flavor

When businesses are considering what content to put onto their social media channels, they should consider where their business is rooted.  The town they live in or the people that surround their businesses are important, and this fact can be overlooked.  In order for you business to grow, you need exposure and an audience.  The local crowd will be able to connect with your business in posting this kind of content.  This could expand your followers and even motivate other businesses in the area to notice and follow your business.

           

            Posting content such as local happenings or local facts that only your fellow residents could relate to are great ways to draw in the local crowd.  Suffer through the rough snowstorms together with a post.  Add a picture of the unique holiday traditions your town takes part in.  In doing this, you could possible create solid relationships with your surrounding businesses and residents.  Don’t forget where you come from; it plays a huge role in who you are and how you do things.  Pay homage to your town and you may be surprised at the positive results this brings you.

http://www.sociallyyoursmedia.com