Nearly twenty years later, we have moved well beyond the scope of chat-rooms, and have moved to programs such as Skype and FaceTime. AOL is a company that has almost too many competitors, and using a dial-up connection seems nearly as antiquated as an outhouse.

We are far more connected now, than we have ever been. We have programs and websites that allow us to keep track of friends and family in real time, and that allow us to remain close in connection when lacking proximity. It’s quite amazing.

How best to use this technology…?

In the age of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and a whole host of other social media platforms, there is this need for a near hyper-engagement. Who are you if you are not on Facebook, or Twitter, or LinkedIn? With little to no virtual presence, it seems as though existence in the physical world can be harder.

The same idea that applies to the individual applies to businesses as well. To be without a presence in the virtual realm, is to severely weaken your presence in the physical realm. It’s the reason so many small businesses are helped by sites such as Yelp.com, and why so many doctors are turning to services such as ZocDoc. The virtual feeds the physical.

It’s not enough though to just be in the virtual world, there is truly so much more to it than that. There must be cultivation, and consistency. Have no fear! Social Media is here!

More and more businesses are turning to Facebook and Twitter to advertise and network, and it’s a fantastic strategy. Facebook and Twitter pages are free, updating is free, and so keeping in contact with current customers is free. By using these platforms, you can easily retain customers.

The next part, attracting new customers, is fairly easy as well. When your current customers add your page on Facebook, their friends see it, and so they look at your business page to figure out where their friends are going for particular services. There’s also the opportunity to post as your business on other pages, which again, attracts the attention of others, if only out of sheer curiosity. It might not sound like much, but it’s more than you think.

Twitter can be a little harder, but no less effective. There is a real art to Twitter if you want to use it to attract customers. The more interesting the tweet on Twitter, the more likely it is that it will be re-tweeted (reposted for the friends of your fans to see), and more likely that those friends will be curious about your business.

Again though, you have to be consistent in your presence. Even if you are on Facebook and Twitter, it’s very easy to forget about a business that you never hear from. Visibility in the virtual world is key. It’s easy to fall into obscurity in the virtual world due to its incredible vastness. If all you do is post links to your specials, and maybe tell a joke or two, offer a coupon, post customer pictures that’s fine. What matters is that your business is seen, and can’t be dismissed easily.

For younger businesses, it will be much easier to integrate into the virtual world. The clientele will no doubt be younger, as will the employees. Older businesses may find that they don’t necessarily want to deal with the complications of having to update something all the time, but the benefits far outweigh the minor (if even that) aggravation that comes along with being on a social media platform.

At the end of the day, businesses will find their target market, or they won’t, and it is truly that simple. However, in the age of technology, the more integrated businesses will find it much easier to market using social media. The range is far greater than any newspaper ad or commercial, it’s much longer lasting, and at the end of the day, free.

As we integrate technology more and more into our everyday lives, consider that the upcoming generation uses the internet for nearly all of it’s information, and social media platforms are the number one source. The consumers of tomorrow are the most technologically engaged today.

Just remember, in today’s day and age, to the tweeters go the spoils.

One of the new comers to the social media scene, and swiftly growing sites, is Instagram. Created in 2010, purchased by Facebook in spring 2012, as of September 2012 it had a reported 100 million users according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Not only that, but according to comScore in August 2012 Instagram had 7.3 million active daily users compared to 6.9 active daily users for Twitter, the first time Instagram beat out Twitter in ADU. While these numbers are interesting in and of themselves, they are even more important for companies concerned with SEO and social media branding for their business.

Instagram is a smart phone app that allows users to take pictures, dress them up with more professional filters, mark them with hash tags, and upload them to several social media sites. It is in this last step that the correlation of Instagram and SEO becomes apparent. Social media as well as blogging have become increasingly image driven, and Instagram capitalizes on that trend in an easy, user friendly way.

Some believe that Instagram’s tremendous growth is due largely to the fact that it is a new company, and therefore has greater growth potential. While that may be true, there are other key factors to consider. Instagram is easy to use; taking merely a few seconds to shot a photo, choose a custom lens to add visual interest to it, maybe add a hash tag or two and add the location if that is relevant. At the same time a user merely has to check a few boxes to upload it to Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, Twitter, or Foursquare. Once uploaded to these other social media sites which do help with SEO ranking (Instagram does not yet have any direct effect on SEO), it can be shared and commented on.

Facebook likes do factor into SEO, and adding a location gives recognition that is especially important for small businesses. Furthermore, Instagram is an important tool in adding great pictures to all social media platforms and even blogs in an easy way. Sure one can take the pictures with a smart phone camera, but Instagram’s wide selection of filters does enhance images so that they look better than a basic amateur camera phone photo.

For these photos to matter and attract followers, businesses must get creative. Social media is no place for blatant self-promotion, and the lack of user interest would kill any social media attempts of this kind. Rather, brands showing behind the scenes shoots, the prep work that goes into creating a new product or staging an event, or a just a really unique look at some of the big machinery that the company uses on an everyday basis have all be successfully used by companies who get the importance of Instagram.

Companies have also taken into account visitor optimization, which reminds businesses that content must be of use to visitors and get visitors actively engaged in the brand or product. Some ways companies have used Instagram in this sense are creating contests where users must capture an image of them using the product in some creative or exciting way. Or visitors are encouraged to post a photo of themselves at an event, store, or any other place of business. This all adds to the brand awareness while showing how others are involved with the business. Restaurants can feature photos of new dishes or specialty cocktails to entice customers.

The uses of Instagram for a business’s social media campaign are only just being discovered and understood. As it continues to grow, and many are dubbing it the next big social media platform, search engines may adjust to factor it into SEO. Search engines are always evolving and changing to get the truest understanding of what is relevant to a search and where to look to fully understand that relevance.

However, just as damaging and stuffy, old-fashioned hellos tend to be the corporate jargon that most customer communications have devolved to. Just take a look at your inbox – anything in it that looks like it was written by something remotely human? If yes, press or say 1.

While we could spend all day (and a good chunk of the evening as well, I’d imagine) lamenting the state of business emails, there’s actually a silver lining to the sorry state of the written communications of the modern world. Namely, you can do it better.

That’s right – for every bland, voiceless email you receive from a company (or even a colleague), that’s one more business or person that you can be one-upping with your communications. Why’s this so important? Well, bragging rights, for starters. But, more importantly, you’ll be making an impression on every single one of your potential and existing customers, and you’ll start to develop a customer relationship that goes far deeper than just your products. Check out these freshly-baked tips for how get your customers more excited over getting emails from you than letters from Santa (well, almost.)

Use names. Nothing throws someone off the “real person” scent quicker than receiving an email that’s addressed to “dear customer”. That’s kind of like giving a cake your five-year-old nephew that reads “Happy Birthday, Child!” While the cake may be made of the same ingredients, I’m willing to bet you’ll get a lot more “Cool Uncle” points if you prove you care enough about them to remember their name. As usual, your customers and small children have this trait in common.

Include more than just “business talk”. While the sole purpose of your email might be a shameless attempt at a sale or a plug for your new product, there’s no need to let your customer in on that. Taking the time to write a friendly intro (two sentences are fine!), or, better yet, a reference to your previous conversation, can do wonders for helping your customers “let their guard down” when it comes to their typical reaction to “salesman-y” emails.

Don’t babble about business. Sure, it’s okay to take a few moments rest from the corporate world when talking with your clients or customers, and in fact I’d highly recommend it. That said, spending three paragraphs outlining the finer points of your new online service is most likely going to leave your readers needing a several expresso shots and perhaps medical attention. When it comes to the “meat” of your email, especially if it involves a sale, keep it short.

Give a “sign-off”. I know, it sounds like something your mom would say (I actually have her right here on the phone), but taking the extra step to write a little goodbye can really go a long way towards turning your message from a hastily scribbled note to a thoughtful email. Even if it’s just “Talk soon, (your name)”, your readers will notice the “completeness” of the message. If you’re interested in the “completeness” of your sales, then this one’s a must.

Long story short, being the best communicator in your customers’ inboxes isn’t a hard thing to do. Better yet, making the extra effort to send messages in a way that makes your customers feel like they actually know you can do feats of marketing that even the largest ad campaign couldn’t pull off. Give it a try – your readers will notice the difference.

See you around,

Charlie

Branding and building a loyal customer base can be as easy and inexpensive as putting in place marketing automation strategies.  The largest cost involved in continuing marketing campaigns is man hours.  Minimizing man hours takes the sting out of the price tag, allowing small businesses to stay competitive with corporate giants armed with unlimited advertising budgets.

A Simple Strategy to Bury the Competition

Communication determines how quickly businesses respond to queries from potential and existing customers.

Lets look at this way, imagine you’ve just had the most amazing date with a smoking hot member of the opposite sex, you’re on the doorstep saying good bye, looking longingly into each others eyes and the other person says… “I’ll call you in 6 months…!!” Is this how your business is currently treating your prospects?

Optimising response times offers small businesses an opportunity to show the benefits of working with a smaller, more focused, business.  A recent study by Harvard Business Review identified customer follow-up as a major weakness in most business operations.  According to the study, when businesses respond to queries within an hour, they are almost seven times more likely to reach and discuss products and services with a key decision maker versus contacts that occur an hour or more later.

Armed with this knowledge, it should mean that you prioritise that first contact, but only 37 percent manage to meet that one hour deadline.  Even small changes make the difference between a marketing effort that drives growth and one that shows no measurable improvements.  Make responding to inquiries a top priority, and see the instant improvement to the bottom line

How to Add a One-Hour Follow-Up, Without Adding to the Budget

The simple solution to making contact, immediately after an inquiry, is through marketing automation.

A variety of different service packages help small businesses keep up with customer contacts, without adding new hires.  Coordinated, cross-channel marketing campaigns drive conversions much better than segmented, poorly targeted appeals.

Ensuring that every marketing effort drives home the same message, to the same targeted demographic, is part of this marketing process.  Each customer action should trigger a communication response.  For example, a customer visits a clothing website, and while on the site looks at a shirt.  After looking at all the sizes available, the customer clicks away.

This customer action can, and should, generate an automated follow-up email offering to notify the customer when the item is available in their size.  For B2B service, the process remains the same.  A customer visits a site, browses through product offerings and clicks away.  The immediate follow-up should be a question asking them what they were looking for and offering a direct contact to discuss different service offerings.

Recession Proof Strategies

The announcement of a double dip recession put a lot of businesses on notice that the strategies of yesterday no longer apply.  Companies that fail to adopt new methods for building customer relationships and adding new business will not be around three years from now.

The old approach to marketing as a one time event is obsolete.  Marketing is a process, requiring continued management and refinement, to achieve the best results.  Creating a business model that withstands the effects of events like the credit crunch, takes dedication to building expanding markets through integrated campaigns.

Implementing multi-pronged campaigns that reach consumers through every possible avenue, while maintaining clarity of message, is the only way to porect marketing efforts from constant changes in consumers mind.  Social media presents new avenues of approach on an almost daily basis, allowing businesses to make that all important emotional connection to the consumer.

Automate and Guarantee Response Times

Faster response times equals higher conversion number, making it an integral part of doing business in today’s economy.  Automated systems allow immediate, personalised, responses to customer inquiries.  No matter what avenue a marketing campaign takes, SMS, email, direct mail, and more, automated responses generate engagement, allowing businesses to take the next step.

Today’s customer does not waste time waiting for a reply from a specific company.  The Internet enables consumers to contact multiple providers, in minutes, giving them total control over purchasing decisions.  Smart business owners take advantage of automation to drill down to the highest value customers, quickly.  Tiered communication, starting with automated responses, allows businesses to control marketing spending by implementing a curation process.  Window shoppers get a second look, while interested parties receive a bigger time investment.  Those identified as likely purchasers receive a targeted, human, approach.  This process of using human oversight to guide automated processes improves the end result, creating highly satisfied customers that become a marketing tool.

Managing Every Resource for Maximum Effect

Small business owners know the importance of gaining maximum value from every activity, be it marketing, sales or administration.  Automating part of the marketing process allows the small business to offer the same level of customer care as a corporate giant, with more flexibility.  Large corporations can not offer the same level of personal oversight available at a small company.  Introducing automated features to marketing campaigns allows business owners to focus efforts on the most effective strategies, while freeing up time for all aspects of business management.  Time is money, and less time spent on marketing means more time spent on sales.

Calm down – no cliques here. However, you’ve just stumbled on one of the greatest obstacles to online business, and in fact business throughout history. Namely, “How the hell are we going to find us some clients?” Luckily for us, connecting with potential customers is easier than ever. Instead of spending all your holiday money on a far-reaching ad campaign, the wonders of our online world allow just about anyone to create a mailing list. Used by companies both small and large, mailing lists, or newsletters, may just be the most effective way possible to actively market your business to interested customers.

Of course, once you’ve added your mum, your dog, and your ex-girlfriend (really digging deep here, aren’t you?) to your mailing list, the hard truth surfaces – it’s harder than you might think to turn a puny little address book into one of those thick stacks of yellow-page-esque mailing lists that every small business owner dreams about. Fortunately, there are a few strategies that are tried and true methods to get people flocking to sign up for your newsletter, and out of the goodness of our heart we’ve outlined them below.

Make a company Facebook page and Twitter handle. I know it might seem childish to us “business folk”, but using social media to get people to sign up for your newsletter is one of the easiest and most effective solutions in today’s fully-networked world. Got a witty side to you? Make use of that on Twitter, and in the process mention that you also provide a company newsletter filled with equal deft turns of phrase. On the same note, getting a “Like” on your Facebook page is normally a first step towards a new subscriber to your mailing list.

Provide more than just company-related advertising/offers in your emails. Of course, some people that sign up for your newsletter are die-hard fans of your services, and every time they receive an email from you they hungrily open it in search of a new deal or product. For the rest of us, however, getting blasted with offers and such can be a turnoff. Try including some useful tips, interesting stories, or at the very least some badly-made puns in order to give your newsletter some worth beyond the ordinary. And good news – these hesitant readers may very well turn into paying customers down the road!

Ask people to sign up on your site. I have to restrain myself from just writing “Duh”, but you’d be surprised how often people overlook this incredibly easy way to give people a simple “opt-in” to your newsletter. Put it on your site, make it stand out, and sit back and watch the show.

Growing your mailing list is like growing a plant – put it in good soil, water every three days, and don’t tip it over. Okay, maybe they’re not so similar. But green thumb or not, your newsletter should now be in good hands – good luck!

Think about it – Michael Phelps is hailed as the greatest Olympian of all time. That said, all the success he’s had has been in just one area of the Olympics, swimming. Now, I can’t say I know this for sure, but I’m willing to bet that Michael isn’t also a world class ping pong player. (No guarantees, but just a hunch.) I’d also be willing to be that if Phelps was entered in many of the other varied events across the Olympic forum he wouldn’t even come close to making the first round of trials. Still think he’s a super-athlete?

Fortunately for us (and Michael Phelps), being incredibly successful doesn’t have to mean being a leader in all fields (or pools, I suppose.) While it might be nice if Michael’s ping pong skills were sharpened a bit for the upcoming community center ping-pong-O’rama, his Olympic success in the water isn’t likely to suffer if he can’t keep a serve on the table. Likewise, if your company is great at selling real estate, but sucks at selling coffee, that’s okay – there’s enough “potential success” in any one field or niche to keep your business more than just afloat. (Insert helium joke here.)

In fact, trying to expand yourself and your business too much can actually harm any current positive momentum you might have. Think about it. Michael Phelps spends about eight hours a day in the pool, which is about the maximum time a person can physically train for, especially if you factor in the pot-smoking breaks. (Kidding – everyone makes mistakes, Mike.) If Michael Phelps gave up an hour of that time to practice ping pong, an hour to work on his high bar routine, and another hour to perfect his high jump, he’s now only left with five hours to practice in the pool. Instead of leading the pack in swimming events, he’d be stuck lagging behind, his only consolation being the fact that now he can finally beat his little sister at table tennis.

Take a lesson from Michael here and reevaluate what your company is aiming to offer to clients. Would you rather be the leading expert in the best way to produce an eBook, or just a company with a vague knowledge in many aspects of publishing of all sorts? In today’s market of nearly limitless options for consumers (and nearly limitless amounts of customers), the best way to get more business isn’t to expand your focus, but to narrow it. Make it clear that you’re an expert in what you do, and focus on making those services better rather than just trying to be a Jack-of-all-trades. As I’m sure Michael Phelps will tell you, this method works – he’s got 18 medals to back it up.

Landing pages are the same way. Despite all the tips and tricks for “effective color schemes” and “conversion-creating layouts”, if the copy on your landing pages sucks then it’s going to be hard to draw a sale / lead. Not to fear, though – listen up close for some of the easiest things you can do to turn your bland copy into something even Shakespeare might not skim.

Keep it relevant. Time after time, companies lose customer after customer because the landing page they arrived at isn’t consistent with the ad they clicked. Think about this from a customer point of view – imagine taking a bite of what you thought was a ham sandwich and tasting ice cream instead. Even though both your ad (the ham) and the landing page (the ice cream) might be tasty individually, if customers are “jostled” from their expectations they may just spit out your food and try a new sandwich all together. Make sure that your landing page copy uses the same words, phrasings, and, if possible, the same fonts as the ad that leads to it.

Keep it short. Hey, so I’ve got this great product here, you’re really gonna like it, no seriously, it’s the perfect thing for you and I know you’ll love it because of all the – see how annoying that is? Your landing page isn’t the time to practice your small talk (you’re already plenty good at that, judging from last night’s date), and for every extra word you draw your customers away from converting and closer to checking their watch. If you can’t make it through your landing page without having to get yourself a snack, it’s probably too long. When in doubt, go for bullet points over paragraphs, and use bolding/colors to highlight the important stuff.

Use “You” statements. As much as you might enjoy using the royal “We”, you’re impressing your potential customers less than you think. Landing pages should be making a direct connection with the visitor, not bragging about your company. Use phrases like “you will be able to…” or “The tool you’ve been looking for!” in order to position yourself as the friendly, likeable company that has all the right products.

When it really comes down to it, you can throw all the “landing page tips” out the window when matched up against quality copy. Since your writing is the primary way you’re going to communicate with your customers, make sure it reflects who you really are, and make sure it’s something that’s not a “snore-fest” when you read it. Best case scenario, have someone outside your office read through your landing pages. If they’re still awake by the end of it, you’re on the right track.

While in many cases this convenience is nice, not going the extra mile in email marketing has turned what could be a highly-effective communication method into nothing more than glorified spam. Before you start lamenting the condition of our world, however, think about it this way – everyone else’s lackluster marketing attempts are golden opportunities for you to be a diamond in the rough, a catcher in the rye, a man on a ledge – well, you get the idea. Having email marketing content that’s relevant, engaging, and memorable can make all the difference between your newsletter getting opened and tossed in the “spam” folder.

Take my Uncle Paul, for instance. Potentially a valuable customer (his yacht in the Bahamas didn’t pay for itself, I’ll tell you that much). That said, he’s a tough guy to reach. His daily email check usually involves hitting the “delete all” button, unless he sees something that looks like it might be particularly interesting. Anything that remotely seems like it’s trying to make a sale, or worse, force a product down his throat, gets tossed immediately. On the other hand, he’s a sucker for a good read. Hand him an article that’s interesting, funny, or even weird, and he’ll be hooked. So how’s this all relate to email marketing?

As it turns out, my Uncle Paul is a perfect example of a customer that could be converted through relationship marketing. By sending him emails that are personal, fun to read, and more than just corporate blah-blah, you manage to bypass his airtight defenses and become someone he likes, and, more importantly, trusts. Now that he sees you in a different light than the average salesperson, you’ll have a much better success rate when offering him a product or service.

Of course, no matter how much Uncle Paul loves your writing, you’re probably not going to sell him on a product that he doesn’t want or need. That’s where targeting comes in. Through interacting with your potential clients (surveys, seeing what freebies of yours they download, even one-on-one interaction), you can personalizing the type of offers you send Uncle Paul. (Hint: think “golf”.) Now you’re doing him two services in one – he’s entertained by your emails/newsletters, and you’re bringing relevant offers right to his virtual doorstep. Now there’s a customer in a bag!

So, next time you prepare to send out an email blast, keep these things in mind: Is it entertaining? Is it different? Is it relevant? If you can check off all those three categories, you’re in good shape – get emailing!

Whether you walk on two or four legs, however, increasing your conversion rate (the percentage of people that visit your site and actually do something) is not as difficult as you might think, and one that you can do well without spending oodles of cash. (Are we the only ones that measures money in oodles anymore?) We’ll walk you through the basics right here.

Why? Let us put it to you this way – if you were making twice as much money, what would you do with it? Vacations? Cars? Dog food? How about putting it back into more advertising for your business? Regardless, increasing your conversion rate gets you more money from the people you already have visiting your site, as opposed to struggling attempts to bring in brand new visitors.

It’s easier than ever to use technology to test your site for the optimal design and layout that will bring in the most leads, and, most importantly, if your company hasn’t done some serious testing it’s losing tons (oodles) of potential money every day.

How? Alright, so let’s say you’re ready to unleash (dog joke?) the power of conversion optimisation. Where do you start?

Most optimization is done through A/B split-testing. Basically, this really just means some good ol’ experimentation. It’s nothing more than using two slightly different (or very different) versions of a site or landing page and directing half of your visitors to one and half to the other. Whichever one gets more sales wins, and then you repeat the process with two slightly-differing versions of the winning page. Essentially “marketing Darwinism”, this is a sure-proof way to make your pages irresistible to any customers that are on the (electric) fence about a sale. Split-testing software is easy to use and inexpensive, and Google even offers some free of charge.

What? Oddly enough, the hardest part of split-testing is deciding what aspects of your site to test. The possibilities are limitless – you can test color schemes, font sizes, the wordings of your offers; even the navigation of the website is up for review. However, all these options can quickly get overwhelming and leave you chasing your own tail. If you’re just starting out, we recommend split-testing:

• The color of your Call to Action
• The wording of your landing pages
• Your pricing
• The pictures on your site

Starting off with those four aspects of your site should give you more than enough data to start optimizing your site for increased conversions. WARNING! It can be a slow process, especially if you’re a dog. Wait, we actually mean it can be a slow process if you don’t have hundreds of visitors flocking to your site daily. However, we promise it’ll be worth it – nothing says “woof!” like doubling your profits!

First of all, it’s tough to say whether a home page or landing page would win in a tussle, not because they’re so evenly matched, but more due to the fact that comparing the two in that way doesn’t really make much sense. While my friend at the coffee  shop was probably picturing a rousing brawl between a mongoose-like landing page and a cobra-esque homepage, he’d have been more accurate imagining a showdown between cake and a tricycle. Confused? Think of it this way. While both cake and tricycles can play vital parts in a toddler’s life, it’s not really an “either-or” type of situation, much less a battle between the two. In fact, while both are completely different things, using the two of them together can make a dynamic duo that will have any toddler occupied for at least several days. Landing pages and home pages make an equally potent (if slightly less messy) combo when their forces are combined. Here are some distinctions between the two:

Landing pages. The prized creation of the internet marketing world, landing pages are tightly-focused, simple and catchy pages that are designed to quickly grab someone’s attention and make a sale. The people arriving at landing pages most likely clicked an ad or typed in a URL they saw from a marketing campaign. Long story short, they already know what they’re looking for – don’t try and give visitors more than that! A landing page needs to have a clear and direct call to action, not a bunch of potentially useful but ultimately confusing links and information. If you can read all the words on your landing page without taking a breath, you’re on the right track.

Home pages. Even though it’s important your home page looks good and is easy to visually navigate (two key aspects of the best landing pages), the people arriving at your home page are most likely still in the “What type of shoes would I like?” phase rather than the “Yes! I do want a pair of the StompMaster 3000’s with added heel-flex and I won’t stop until I have them!” phase. This in mind, a homepage should be more of a starting-point than a deal-closer. Make it easy for your visitors to search, browse, and make sense of a variety of products or services.

Bottom line – if your paying for traffic send them an offer focused landing page!

I hope that clears things up a bit and turns the fuzzy line between landing pages and home pages into a rock-solid partition. Use them both wisely, update them frequently, and remember – they won’t fight unless provoked.