Posts Tagged online marketing
Are You Using E-Commerce Yet?
Now that it’s July, we’re in the 3rd quarter of the business year. So let’s talk about Q4! Now is the perfect time to start thinking about the holiday season. If you haven’t joined the ecommerce world yet, you need to read this article. In “Why Small Businesses Should Embrace E-Commerce,” Nisarat Sujatanond describes how an ecommerce website can help your business increase sales to both local and extended customers. In addition to widening your customer base, selling online can also help you gain valuable marketing insight. Thanks to web analytics, ecommerce merchants can get a grasp on who their customers are, what they’re looking for, and how they shop. Online stores can be easily marketed using this information, thanks to services like Twitter™, Facebook®, and PPC advertising.
To read Sujatanond’s full article, visit http://www.mysolutionspot.com/ecommerce-101/why-small-businesses-should-embrace-e-commerce-1602/.
1 comment July 8, 2009
How You Can Learn More about Social Media
Social media, social media, social media − it’s hard to ignore. Practically every business and business professional is a member of at least one professional networking site. Many of us also have personal accounts on sites like Facebook®, MySpace® and Twitter™.
So, as a small business owner or manager, how can you use social media to your advantage? This article explains how you can learn more about social media by attending local seminars, participatiing in online marketing summits and more: http://www.clickz.com/3633103.
2 comments April 9, 2009
Why Your Small Business Needs to Find Its Niche
Small business owners, whether single, married, or happily dating, can learn a thing or two from online dating sites. How? Just take a look at some of the online dating Web sites that are out there: JDate® connects Jewish singles; Trek Passions is for sci-fi fans looking for love; ScientificMatch takes the biological match-making approach by using DNA to find your perfect partner; AgeMatch caters to those seeking a May-December romance. (To see a few more unique dating sides, check out David Spark’s article “Most Unusual and Unique Online Dating Sites” over at Mashable.com.)
What do small businesses and online dating sites have in common? They both thrive when they find their niche. The “less is more” way of thinking works for online dating services because it narrows the dating field down to a group of individuals who already know they’re going to have something in common. Clients don’t have to waste their time with dates that are destined to turn out poorly, and can instead spend more time with potential Mr. or Ms. Rights. This can work for small businesses as well.
Limiting the amount of products your business offers gives you the opportunity to become more knowledgeable in your industry. Customers will be drawn to your business since they know that you’ll have both the product and the expertise they are seeking. Niche marketing is another strategy that works well for small businesses since it lowers the amount of competition they are facing, and since money isn’t being spent on marketing to the “wrong” groups, niche marketing can be very cost effective as well.
Finding a niche is a great way to improve your business’s marketing success since you can focus your efforts on your target audience, and it also allows you to become more of an authority on the products or services you offer. For more information on finding your business’s niche, marketing, and other small business topics, visit MySolutionSpot.com.
1 comment February 20, 2009
Join a Business Directory, Gain Followers
Is your business on TwitterTM? If so, there’s a great new service out there that can help your business get more followers. Twibs is a directory that lists all of the businesses on TwitterTM. Once you’re signed up, you can add links to your email address and Web site so that customers have even more ways to find your business. Each business’s page also shows your TwitterTM activity, so visitors to your Twibs page can see the current conversations you’re engaged in. Joining Twibs is easy, and best of all, this great service is completely free.
Add comment February 12, 2009
Go Viral with Microblogging
If you use TwitterTM for either business or personal use, there are a few things you can do to maximize the reach of your “tweets.” Your TwitterTM account and other microbloggins sites are great viral-marketing tools that can quickly spread awareness of your business, its products, and its services. You can also work towards establishing yourself as an expert in your business by posting links to articles and studies that are relevant to your industry. Over at Coppyblogger.com, Dan Zarrella wrote a great article on using TwitterTM to help your business go viral. Check out “5 Steps to Going Viral on Twitter” to get some tips on how to easily spread word of your small business by microblogging.
Add comment January 28, 2009
Consider Writing an EBook
Have you noticed lately that your favorite magazines are missing a few pages? The decrease in pages is a direct result of their falling advertising revenues, which, of course, was brought on by the struggling economy.
Many businesses were forced to cut their advertising budgets in 2008. Consequently, a large percentage of these businesses temporarily halted their costly advertising campaigns and began testing out new promotional strategies that were more economical. In their quest to find cost-effective alternatives, they discovered numerous online marketing strategies that were worthy of permanent positions in their marketing mix.
The EBook
We’ve previously mentioned several beneficial and affordable online marketing strategies, including blogging, local directory submissions and social media participation, but one strategy we haven’t expanded on is the eBook. These electronic publications are distributed via Internet. Because they are free to access and share, readership is often high.
The quality of an eBook matters a great deal. The author must choose a topic that his or her target audience will find intriguing if he or she wishes to attract people who will not only read the eBook, but will also forward the publication to their peers.
EBooks have the potential to greatly increase a business’s visibility, and they are free to create. You simply need a few good ideas and the information to support those ideas.
3 comments January 6, 2009
Holiday Shoppers Are Expected to Migrate Online
‘Tis the season to be shopping. However, the economic unease leaves many storeowners fearing low sales numbers. Fortunately, many experts believe that while consumers may be a tad more conservative with their spending this holiday season, they will still make plenty of purchases – particularly online.
There are numerous reasons why more consumers will shop online, but the main reason is that online shopping makes it easy for them to find the best deals. Online shoppers can search and find the stores that sell their items of interest in a matter of seconds. In addition, they can browse through countless stores to compare prices and product features. They can also shop whenever it is most convenient because online stores are open 24 hours.
Now is the time to aggressively advertise if you own or manage an ecommerce Web site. Boost your online marketing spending for the time being. Send out optimized press releases. Do what it takes to make your stores more visible because shoppers are going to buy this season and you want them to buy from you.
Add comment November 12, 2008
Startups: Choosing the Right Advertising Mix
Small startup businesses are sometimes at a disadvantage when it comes to choosing their advertising mix. They often lack the background knowledge that typically comes from experience and/or market research. Without access to such information, many of them mistakenly invest in costly advertising strategies that produce little or no benefit to their business.
Luckily for these businesses, the advertising world is changing dramatically. Studies have indicated that proximity plays a large role in patronage. This means that a business’s prime prospects – those who are most likely to purchase their products or services – typically reside within a short drive of its facility. As a result, some businesses can reduce or resign their high-priced mass media campaigns and place more emphasis on less expensive advertising methods that target the smaller, more segmented local audience.
Local Marketing Strategies
Many businesses continue to rely on traditional marketing strategies to reach their local market. They distribute catalogs and purchase radio, newspaper and Yellow Page® advertisements. While traditional strategies are effective, they are more powerful when supported by newer strategies like pay-per-click advertising, local search marketing and online classifieds. By employing online marketing strategies, businesses can enhance their visibility and deliver their messages directly to consumers who are searching for their products or services.
There are numerous online business resources available that will help owners of small startup businesses decide whether they need to embrace or avoid costly mass media campaigns. These resources will also help them stay abreast of new online marketing strategies. With the information they acquire, startup owners will be able to create the appropriate advertising mix for their business.
Add comment September 15, 2008
