MARKETING RESOLUTIONS!

When new years comes around we often will make resolutions to improve our appearance (through more exercise, etc.), be more successful, or improve how we are seen by others. Rarely do we set out the same strict guidelines for our business.  

New years resolutions are always based on self-improvement, and usually are spurred by where we see fault in ourselves.  The same scrutiny that goes into finding self-modifications should be spent on your business also.

Here are some places to start looking to see where your marketing could possibly improve… and most importantly… why!

1: Your Logo:

Chances are if you could answer yes to any two of the following things, it may be important to look into either updating or redoing your logo:  

• Has it been a long time since you updated your logo? 
• If you compare your logo to your competition (or similar businesses) does it seem to look older t?
• Have you increased, changed, modified your services or methods since you created your logo?
• Have you changed your business strategy, improved technology since the design of your logo?
• Have you updated your mission statement since your logo was done?
• Has your company gone through a growth spurt since you had your logo done?
• Do you find yourself bored by your logo?

If you remember from previous articles, your logo is how people perceive your company and remember it.  If it doesn’t do it for you anymore, or your company has changed a lot over the years it may be time to look into giving it a work-out!

2: Your Website:

Most people will automatically say that their website will “do” as they see the investment of updating it costly.  However many  businesses fail to remember that most people will determine whether they will purchase your product or service based on the first 5 seconds of impression that your website makes.  Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Have you changed your website in the last 3 years?
• Does your website get updated regularly?
• Does it match competitor’s in quality, functionality, etc?
• Does it utilize HTML5?
• Can it be accessed on a mobile phone?
• Is it easy to navigate?

If you answered no to any of those questions, you may want to consider an over-haul on your website.  It is important that your website is not only accessible, but attractive, so maybe putting it in your 2012 budget is a good idea!

3: Your Brand/Print Material:

People tend to start advertising for specific occasions (ie. christmas), additional services, improvement of technology, provision of different products.  With these changes, they tend to have a tunnel vision when it comes to their marketing.  However, it is quite common for a business to create a set of conflicting different styles that undermine their original brand.  Often it is good to revisit your brand and work to either re-create it, or get your design back on track.  Some things to ponder:

• If you look at all your advertising tools (including letterhead, web, tv, radio, print, flyers, gift cards, etc.) do they all have a traceable stylistic consistency (not including your logo).
• Does your advertising as a whole give an idea of your company’s values, services, etc. repetitively, or would you have to have a collection of all your flyers to know who you are and what you do?
• Does your stuff use clip-art?
• Has the same person designed all your stuff from the last year?

It is important that all your advertising relates back to your brand, and your company.  While each piece needs to work as a whole, it should also be able to stand alone to communicate at least 3 consistent key messages (ie. technologically savvy, affordable, etc).  It also should be completely original (thus not using stock images or clip-art) and should be something that would make any competition weep.  If you can’t say that about your advertising, chances are you are undermining your brand and need to look to improve this streak!

4: Your “Cool Quotient”

Whether or not you are a company that strives to convey a technological competency, or whether you just want valued customers, it is important that your company keep up to date with technology.  While advertising in the yellow pages still proves to be lucrative, is your website viewable on a mobile phone? You may not think it is important, but if you want to keep growing, you need to keep bringing in new and loyal customers.  These customers should be young adults at the oldest.  To analyze whether they will be likely to interact with you, ask yourself:

• Does my company have a facebook page? Is it personalized?
• Do I have a mobile specific version of my website?
• Do I advertise on the internet?
• Have I ever used things such as QR Codes to create interest?

Simply by adding a few things that make your company accessible and attractive to new customer’s can help you make sure you meet your goals of 2012!

How to Go About Changing Things

• Make a list of what you may want changed - don’t worry about budget at this point.
• Order your list in terms of most important to least important
• Determine the budget you can make available for these changes
• Call numerous services providers in your area and outline your needs. Get them to quote. 
• After receiving numerous quotes, look at the profiles of the company’s and determine who provides what you think is the best product for the price.
• Arrange things in order, bargain or barter where necessary, and try to get as many things done as possible.
• Set a timeframe that matches your goals.
• Enjoy!

Really the process is simple, and can be a lot more affordable than you think.  Don’t be worried if all can’t be done this year, just remember those things for your next year’s resolution.  

MARKETING RESOLUTIONS!

When new years comes around we often will make resolutions to improve our appearance (through more exercise, etc.), be more successful, or improve how we are seen by others. Rarely do we set out the same strict guidelines for our business.  

New years resolutions are always based on self-improvement, and usually are spurred by where we see fault in ourselves.  The same scrutiny that goes into finding self-modifications should be spent on your business also.

Here are some places to start looking to see where your marketing could possibly improve… and most importantly… why!

1: Your Logo:

Chances are if you could answer yes to any two of the following things, it may be important to look into either updating or redoing your logo:  

• Has it been a long time since you updated your logo? 
• If you compare your logo to your competition (or similar businesses) does it seem to look older t?
• Have you increased, changed, modified your services or methods since you created your logo?
• Have you changed your business strategy, improved technology since the design of your logo?
• Have you updated your mission statement since your logo was done?
• Has your company gone through a growth spurt since you had your logo done?
• Do you find yourself bored by your logo?

If you remember from previous articles, your logo is how people perceive your company and remember it.  If it doesn’t do it for you anymore, or your company has changed a lot over the years it may be time to look into giving it a work-out!

2: Your Website:

Most people will automatically say that their website will “do” as they see the investment of updating it costly.  However many  businesses fail to remember that most people will determine whether they will purchase your product or service based on the first 5 seconds of impression that your website makes.  Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Have you changed your website in the last 3 years?
• Does your website get updated regularly?
• Does it match competitor’s in quality, functionality, etc?
• Does it utilize HTML5?
• Can it be accessed on a mobile phone?
• Is it easy to navigate?

If you answered no to any of those questions, you may want to consider an over-haul on your website.  It is important that your website is not only accessible, but attractive, so maybe putting it in your 2012 budget is a good idea!

3: Your Brand/Print Material:

People tend to start advertising for specific occasions (ie. christmas), additional services, improvement of technology, provision of different products.  With these changes, they tend to have a tunnel vision when it comes to their marketing.  However, it is quite common for a business to create a set of conflicting different styles that undermine their original brand.  Often it is good to revisit your brand and work to either re-create it, or get your design back on track.  Some things to ponder:

• If you look at all your advertising tools (including letterhead, web, tv, radio, print, flyers, gift cards, etc.) do they all have a traceable stylistic consistency (not including your logo).
• Does your advertising as a whole give an idea of your company’s values, services, etc. repetitively, or would you have to have a collection of all your flyers to know who you are and what you do?
• Does your stuff use clip-art?
• Has the same person designed all your stuff from the last year?

It is important that all your advertising relates back to your brand, and your company.  While each piece needs to work as a whole, it should also be able to stand alone to communicate at least 3 consistent key messages (ie. technologically savvy, affordable, etc).  It also should be completely original (thus not using stock images or clip-art) and should be something that would make any competition weep.  If you can’t say that about your advertising, chances are you are undermining your brand and need to look to improve this streak!

4: Your “Cool Quotient”

Whether or not you are a company that strives to convey a technological competency, or whether you just want valued customers, it is important that your company keep up to date with technology.  While advertising in the yellow pages still proves to be lucrative, is your website viewable on a mobile phone? You may not think it is important, but if you want to keep growing, you need to keep bringing in new and loyal customers.  These customers should be young adults at the oldest.  To analyze whether they will be likely to interact with you, ask yourself:

• Does my company have a facebook page? Is it personalized?
• Do I have a mobile specific version of my website?
• Do I advertise on the internet?
• Have I ever used things such as QR Codes to create interest?

Simply by adding a few things that make your company accessible and attractive to new customer’s can help you make sure you meet your goals of 2012!

How to Go About Changing Things

• Make a list of what you may want changed - don’t worry about budget at this point.
• Order your list in terms of most important to least important
• Determine the budget you can make available for these changes
• Call numerous services providers in your area and outline your needs. Get them to quote. 
• After receiving numerous quotes, look at the profiles of the company’s and determine who provides what you think is the best product for the price.
• Arrange things in order, bargain or barter where necessary, and try to get as many things done as possible.
• Set a timeframe that matches your goals.
• Enjoy!

Really the process is simple, and can be a lot more affordable than you think.  Don’t be worried if all can’t be done this year, just remember those things for your next year’s resolution.  

INTERNET MARKETING & MARKET SATURATION

Whether you have a B2C or a B2B company, the most important and influential way to market is through a multi-pronged approach. Why? Because whether are or you arenʼt targeting 5.6 billion

people, you still need to be where the people are.

Therefore, when it comes to internet marketing there is a common question and solution. “How do you get people to find you on the internet? you fill it with yourself”.

While this article is about how Facebook is an important and needed part to this equation, I first want to state that you shouldn’t be making any moves to increase traffic to your website before you make sure you want people to be going there.

IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD WEBSITE.

The visual appeal of a website is more important than the product or the service in getting meaningful hits on your website. 

According to a test performed at Carleton University in Ottawa, users were able to rank a site after seeing it for only 1/20th of a second. Furthermore, even if the site was flashed up more than once, it was given the same rating every time – proving that these were not random rankings.

If the first impression of your website is negative, well you can be almost certain to drive your customers off. Therefore, the visual layout and appeal of your site is key to maintaining the user long enough to even just see if you can provide the services to solve their problems.

While there is no exact definition of what makes a site seen as aesthetic or not, it seems that site is based on taste and on what the person viewing it is looking for.  When given a list of sites all specializing in the same thing, the subjects seemed to give very similar rankings.

Furthermore, several studies performed at the University of Maryland show that when it comes to kinetic vision, people associate clean layouts, whites, steal blues, and simplicity with technological aptitude.

But having a good website is no good unless people can find it.

So before you start linking millions of people to your website, or if you want your facebook account to do the right work - it is important to make sure that your stuff LOOKS good first.

FACEBOOKING YOUR COMPANY: THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL NETWORK MARKETING

The truth is, no matter the company social network marketing has become very important. There are three key reasons for this.

FACEBOOK ISNʼT FOR KIDS ANYMORE: DISPELLING THE YOUTH MYTH

2011 Data Shows the breakdown of facebook use by age.

What this shows: The people under 25 who use facebook is almost equal to the people over 45 who use facebook. If you are say a B2B this is key. Who are people over 45? People who manage sales departments, own companies. These are a lot of times professionals, tech savvy professionals.

The 23% in the middle, are at the age group that often tend to be entrepreneurs. That means these are the ones most likely to be attempting to start a new business. That means 60% of facebook users falls within the demographic of your most likely client base.

FACEBOOK SCOPE: HOW FAR IT REALLY REACHES

Did you know facebook reaches 400 million users a day?

Did you know that according to Nielsen in a 2010 study, Facebook reaches 56% of the active internet users in North America?

Did you know that it has an average usage of 6hrs per month?

Did you know that it is the #3 site visited by users 65 and older?

Did you know that it is the #2 site visted by users between 35 – 65?

The scope of facebook is much more used than you think, and by a different demographic. To not have a presence on this is basically to not have a presence at all.

IF YOU DEAL WITH COMPANY’S: YOUR CLIENTS (OR POTENTIAL CLIENTS) HAVE FACEBOOK, AND USE IT!

In 2011 facebook reported on its official company statistics page, that over 1million web sites have integrated with its developer platform. These sites arenʼt just small personal blogs, as CNN and many other online publications have been successfully exper imenting with the plugins.

While Facebook previously said that more than 60 million people “engage with Facebook Connect” on other sites, it now says that the number is up to 150 million.

What that means is that your clients or potential clients are using facebook to advertise their company. It may not be your product, and they may have a different target audience, but you are able to target them by being where they are.

HUMANIZING SELLS THINGS

If you great deal of your sales happen without actually touching the product, and you pride your company in its great interpersonal skills then you should have face book.  Why? Because for new clients, proof is only found in the pudding.

One of the strongest benefits of social media is that it can humanize a company.

There is no better way to humanize a company than to let customers, prospects and brand advocates know who they are communicating with online. The community manager has grown across social platforms, but in most cases, their identity has not been revealed on Facebook.

Cisco is one B2B company that listed their Facebook community manager on  their Page. You can now choose to show the Admins, or Page Owners on the left side, with links to their Facebook profiles.

CONCLUSIONS

Beyond the obvious search engine benefit of companyʼs such as facebook lending you their hits and usage, Facebook gives you the ability to get right in where the clients are. The better the facebook page, the better likely they are to respond to your company. It makes you look more technologically savvy, and it also puts your company where the people are.

When you look at how important marketing is, especially for a B2B, it seems like a waste of a free hosting resource not to use social networking as a means to promote your company – it doesnʼt mean you have to spend money on facebook advertising if you donʼt want to, but at least it allows you to connect and be easily found on the internet. Statistics prove that any information to the contrary is just

myth and misinformation.

Hipster Ariel… BAHAHA

robyinatree:

the funniest of these i’ve seen

wasabisunshine:

i miss you every day

I like this picture, it makes me think that somewhere in this world there is something beautiful…

This makes me happy.  It’s like megaman in words!

wasabisunshine:

Super Fighting Robot