Over the years, I've heard countless small business owners utter the phrase, "We get most of our business from referrals." or "We don't do any advertising...our customers come to us." As a marketing and advertising consultant, businesses who rely on referral marketing alone make me cringe a little (okay, a lot). I understand the logic behind their perspective. They are some of the … [Read more...]
5 Tips to Boost your Website Traffic
Often, my Indianapolis small business customers come to me asking how they can increase web traffic for their company’s website. Are you a small business trying to get noticed online in a sea of other competitors? Perhaps you don’t want to spend a fortune, or to do a complete overhaul of your existing website. In these cases, here are five tips you can try which may give your website an instant … [Read more...]
Why you need blogging, email and social media
Looking for a quick way to boost your marketing this year? I recommend focusing your business on three things: 1. Blogging 2. Email Marketing 3. Social Media Marketing (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, etc.) Let me tell you why I think this is a great strategy for most businesses. 1. Let's start with Blogging: Blogging, as you know, is a content … [Read more...]
29 Ways to Integrate and Reuse Your Marketing Content
Sometimes, coming up with new content for your website, blog post or other marketing can be downright exhausting. As an outsourced marketing copywriter for my Indianapolis clients, I'm always trying to find ways to re-purpose existing content and marketing tactics in order to save my clients time and resources. So I put together 29 ways that you might reuse your existing marketing … [Read more...]
10 Signs You Need to Outsource Your Marketing
I thought I'd have a little humor with this post, which I feel needs little introduction. Here are 10 signs that your business needs to outsource its marketing efforts: Your latest WordPress blog post still says, "Hello World!" You have 10 Facebook "Likes" on your Fan Page (and they are all your friends and family). You still pay $30/month for your email marketing software but … [Read more...]
Creative Email Message Subject Lines
I've always told my small business readers to tie their marketing into the time of year or season. Well, with Valentine's Day coming up on Tuesday, I had to share with you some creative email subject lines that I received in my inbox this past weekend: Indianapolis Company: Ray Skillman Westside Mazda: Email Subject Line: "Pamper Your CX9 this Valentine's Day." I am on their list because I … [Read more...]
Why Consistent Marketing is a Key to Success
Have you ever gone to the gym on a Monday and quit going on Friday because you hadn't seen the results on the scale? You need to give it more time, right? It's the same with our marketing activities. PR: If you get one media placement, you might get more. Or, if you haven't yet landed that front page story, keep on pitching, and someday you will. Email: People save/read my email newsletters … [Read more...]
Tracking your Marketing ROI
You probably remember the old industry cliché: "I know half of my advertising is wasted. I just wish I knew which half." In traditional advertising, such as television or radio spots, it is much more difficult to track the results of a particular campaign. But despite this saying, there are now numerous ways that we can track marketing campaigns to determine what's working and what's not working. … [Read more...]
Integrating your Marketing Tactics to improve the Effectiveness of Your Marketing Communications
I often receive requests only for a particular service that I offer, such as PR or SEO. As I talk to business owners and begin to learn about their sales and marketing strategies and goals, we discover that often choosing just one approach and running with it may not prove as effective. Why? For one, every marketing, advertising, PR or Internet tactic impacts and is also impacted by another … [Read more...]
Jump-start your Marketing Efforts
Stuck in a rut with your marketing efforts this year? Here are some ways to get started on your marketing efforts this year: Create or revisit your annual marketing plan and budget Review your website statistics Research your website's search engine ranking Create an eNewsletter to send to prospects or customers Write a press release about a newsworthy event Write and submit an article … [Read more...]