Mobile Marketing – Why Small Businesses Need a Good Strategy in Place

Mobile devices – such as phones, tablets and Smartphones – have overtaken desktops as the best tools for accessing the Internet as well as all other web-related services. Mobile devices have also emerged as the best platforms through which a small business can deploy all its marketing tactics. In fact, mobile devices have emerged as the tools of choice for customers to read web content, check emails, and shop online.

Reports indicate that 9 out of every 10 Americans possess a cellphone. More than half of the cellphones in the hands of Americans are smartphones. Consequently, it is safe to say that the world is in the smartphone era, thus one more reason for embarking on mobile marketing. If you are going to use this form of marketing to benefit your small business, a focused mobile strategy needs to be in place covering the following considerations:

• Development of a mobile app and/or mobile responsive website 
• Investment in user specific messages and content as well as notifications
• Social media assets and integration
• A loyalty program that offers customers rewards and perks

Loyalty programs will entice existing customers to continue buying from a business. Loyalty programs are also attractive to new customers who desire to know the benefits they stand to obtain by choosing to purchase their preferred products and services from a specific business.

Cost-Effective 

All forms of marketing must have a high impact. Fortunately, mobile marketing does just that. More importantly, small businesses care about the impact of any marketing promotion on their finances. In this regard, the cost-effective nature of marketing via mobile devices is the best way through which small businesses can achieve their desired goals. Marketing via mobile devices is more affordable to small businesses.

The initial investment that the small business owners make regarding the resources and time required to develop the technology is what requires the most cost outlay. Once up and running, mobile marketing programs provide cost-efficiencies against traditional media expense requirements such as postage, printing and air time.

The cost effectiveness of mobile marketing to any local or small business is also demonstrated by the fact that the cost of developing and delivering it continues to decrease with time. The more the volume increases, the lower the costs of developing and delivering the marketing campaign grows. For a startup, this is great news considering that it needs to save a huge chunk of its finances/capital to build its profitability.

Immediate Results

The best news with mobile marketing is that the content gets to the customers immediately. Moreover, it provides two-way engagement. What this means is that customers are free to respond to the marketing message that they receive. This assists to create the environment for interactivity and direct engagement to thrive between a small business and its customers. There are no intermediaries to create complexities or distraction between the business or customers. The message gets to the customers in its purest form. Similarly, the response by customers gets to the business in it’s purest form.

Faster Response Rates

The fact that customers walk around with their mobile devices means that they will respond faster to any marketing message that a small business sends to them. Moreover, a small business can have real time access to tracking results including downloads, page visits and customer opt-ins. This information is important for a small business to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of mobile strategies as well as be able to adjust and optimize plans accordingly.

Top Five Tips for Using Google AdSense

Monetizing your website traffic can be a tricky business, but with an intermediary like Google AdSense, it doesn’t have to be.  For large corporations, this usually means hiring an entire department to manage ad revenue, but for a small business or your own personal blog, using a service like Google AdSense is the most efficient way to connect you with the advertisers who want to give you money.  Like anything, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about this, so here’s a list of the top five ways to make the most of your partnership with AdSense.

1. Getting Started

The AdSense website has plenty of information on getting your account up and running, but some simple things might get lost in the shuffle.  You can have up to three ads on your page, so you might as well have all three.  Link units are also a good option.  And, as a general rule, use the most open settings you can for selecting ads.  Having both images and text enabled, as well as sticking to the standard sizes – 160x600, 728x90, and 300x250 – gives you and AdSense the most options to draw from.

2. Learn the Art of Placement

Your website is your very own piece of two-dimensional real estate, so know where on it users are most likely to look and most likely to click.  Content on the left of the page is usually viewed first, so ads there are more likely to draw attention, and in general, ads above the fold (at the top of the page) are viewed more.  However, be careful to avoid separating the ads from the content, such as with a banner at the very top of the site – as soon as your reader scrolls down, a top edge banner is out of sight and out of mind.  You can even try your hand at “omnipresent” ads, which follow users as they navigate your site so they’re never missed, although this is a somewhat risky move as some users find omnipresent ads an insufferable nuisance.

3. Make Sure the Advertisements Fit with the Theme of your Website

AdSense allows you to control certain aspects of the ads that are put up on your website.  For text/link ads, you can change the color and font size of the ads to fit with the overall look of your site and avoid being overly distracting to your users.  With picture, video, and interactive type ads, you can choose where on the page they are placed, and you always have the right to say no to an ad you don’t find visually pleasing.  People (your users) are visual creatures, so having a good-looking site ruined by intrusive ads is a major problem.

4. Don't Neglect Mobile Users

Mobile users are a rapidly growing percentage of almost every website’s total traffic, so you can’t afford to have ads that won’t perform on a small screen.  Make sure load speed is AdSense’s top priority to avoid bogging down your ads and your whole site.  One especially useful option with AdSense is responsive ads, which allows your site to automatically adjust ad sizes to fit different mobile screen sizes.

5. Don't Get Lazy
You've put a lot of time and effort into making sure Adsense is working for you, and now that you have optimized you might be tempted to kick back and relax. However, AdSense is always adding new features, tweaking options, and bringing you advertisers who might be willing to pay you more than what you're currently getting. The official AdSense site is a good place to keep up with updates and new features, and after you've gained some experience you can join AdSenseExperts.com to learn some more advanced monetization strategies. In the long run, keeping your advertising strategy dynamic will pay huge dividends.

9 Tips for Startups Using Google Adwords

9 Tips for Startups Using Google Adwords

Google Adwords is one of the most prominent cost per click tools for customer acquisition on the Internet.  Because of its dominance in the marketplace, many startups use the tool to help gain exposure for their products.  The problem for startups new to Adwords is the sheer complexity of the platform.

Here are some helpful tips for creating successful Adwords campaigns and making the most of your budget.

1. Do thorough keyword research

There are a number of keyword research tools that are provided by Google including the Adwords keyword tool, Google insights and the Google traffic estimator.  Use these tools to understand the number of queries for a specific term, the competition for those terms and the cost of a campaign targeting those terms.

The general principle with keyword targeting and Adwords campaigns is the more specific and targeted your keyword is, the better the conversion rate.  Look at what customers want and what your startup provides, then think about the keywords to link the two.

2. Use multiple keyword match types and negative keywords

In Adwords you can set a type of keyword match to target (Broad, Phrase and Exact). Tailor the keyword match types with care and think about how your prospective customers will be looking for your product. If there are keyword combinations that don’t match the intention of your startup, remove them by using negative keywords. Also utilize category targeting and topic targeting to further target your advertisements. By being very specific you can stretch out a small Adwords budget.

3. Consider bidding on your business name

If your search engine optimization is not up to scratch, it is possible that customers searching for your startup by its name may not see it on the first page.  If this is the case, bid on the name of your business to help people find it easily.

4. Build ad groups around a theme

If you have a product that has multiple functions, create ad groups tailored to each function.  For example, if you were selling an iPhone video application that can change the format of videos, upload to Youtube, share via iPhone and add creative effects — create an ad group for each of those capabilities.  The “upload to Youtube” ad group would target people who are searching the Internet for a way to upload edited videos directly from their iPhone to Youtube.

5. Write great copy and use a call to action

If you aren’t the best at copywriting, hire someone to do it for you.  Adwords can be expensive and if you aren’t making the most of the short sentences in the advertisement, you could be wasting money.  Also include a call to action in all advertisements to help obtain a better click through rate.

6. Create multiple advertisements and test them

By split testing advertisements you can ascertain which ones have the highest click through rate and conversion rate.  Continue to refine your advertisements even after finding combinations that work.

7. Check ads for quality score

The Adwords quality score refers to how relevant your keywords, ads and landing page are to people who see the advertisement.  A high click through rate (CTR) indicates that people seeing the ad find it highly relevant to what their needs are.  It is important to maintain a high quality score for a number of reasons, but chiefly the fact that it leads to lower cost per click, lower first page bid estimates, lower top of page bid estimates and better ad auction eligibility.

8. Make great landing pages relevant to keywords

At the end of the day, your Adwords campaign is about making sales and gaining customers.  You should spend a great deal of time crafting and testing landing pages that are highly relevant to your target keywords.  It is a good idea to create multiple landing pages for different ad groups, so you can split test these pages.  Again, copywriting is extremely important and this last step of the conversion process requires a flawless marketing pitch that meets customer expectations.

A great landing page will also have a lower bounce rate, which is tracked by Google and helps maintain a high quality score.

You should pay close attention to functionality as well.  If you have a shopping cart on the website make sure it is extremely fast and easy to use, make sure the text is easy to read, make sure the landing page has a sense of legitimacy and security about it.  Mobile traffic is also increasingly important, so make sure your website looks great on everything from laptops to tablets and smart phones.

9. Use conversion tracking and Google Analytics

It is critical that you understand which parts of your Adwords campaign are successful and which parts are not.  You should use Google Analytics and track successful conversions to understand what is working within your campaigns.  If your product doesn’t have a checkout process, look at bounce rates to determine if the visitors are a good match for your startup.

Setting Expectations

It’s important to remember that Google Adwords should only be one part of your promotional campaign for your startup.  When you are starting out, expect to spend money simply determining what works and what doesn’t.  The key is to start small, test often, and work your way up to having a highly targeted and successful Adwords campaign.

4 Key Marketing Factors that Even Experts Forget

As a marketing consultant, I have worked with a lot of different businesses. Both with past employers and my own company, I have developed many business-marketing strategies.  One thing I’ve experienced when it comes to marketing is that companies (from small to high-profile) can get in their own way of their success by being so locked into the “driving home” of what they want to push to their customers; and in the way they want to do it.  They can forget the basic crucial elements that drive success.

Here are a 4 key factors that are important to building your marketing strategies and should not be overlooked:

Listen to Customers

Many companies see marketing as a one-way street. They put their message out for customers, and then stop before an exchange can occur. They talk to consumers without listening themselves.

Proactive listening, however, can do wonders for a company’s marketing campaign. This means listening to current customers and their responses to the company’s marketing and products. This also means listening for potential new customers expressing a need that the company can fill. Online social media makes this listening easier than ever.

Connect as a Human

Successful companies are massive organizations with lives of their own. As such, it’s easy at times for marketers to present the company as a hive mind. But consumers are all individual people. Connecting with them as such means a better chance for a company to actually get heard.

For marketers, this often means approaching campaigns with authentic, simple messaging.  Do not talk over your customers’ heads with your promotional language and positioning. Talking to customers frankly about a product and what it does is what will get results.

This also means remembering that consumers have lives and commitments outside of consuming. However much they love a brand, they are not thinking about it constantly. Businesses shouldn’t expect them to. Instead, marketers should focus on making the brand relevant to daily life in regular conversation. This requires approaching customers as one group of humans to another.

Action over Argument

Marketing is a creative endeavor that requires a constant influx of ideas. Some of these ideas will work better than others. However, marketing teams can often disagree within themselves on the value of any given idea. There are two ways to go about this disagreement.

The inefficient way is for marketers to argue with one another over ideas. Even polite and relevant debate gets a marketing campaign nowhere.

The better method is to test the idea empirically for its effectiveness. This shows the whole team just how good or bad an idea really is. Argument then becomes unnecessary. Instead, marketers can move right on to implementing the idea or brainstorming a new one.

Content is King

Content makes up the bulk of any marketing vehicle, from advertisements to homepages. Marketing is often represented in terms of a funnel. At the top of the funnel is simple brand awareness. The bottom is where responses from customers occur. In the middle is the content of the marketing campaign.

Many companies focus their attention on the top and bottom of the funnel. They pour resources into spreading brand awareness. They optimize feedback avenues for customers to get in touch with them. But they neglect the middle of the funnel, which is where the real work happens. Content is where hooked customers come to learn more before responding to a campaign.

A flashy homepage with no information on it tells consumers nothing. Neither does plastering a brand everywhere without saying anything about why consumers should care. This is why good content is absolutely vital to a marketing campaign.

For more on content marketing strategies, check out 5 Quick Tips for Great Content Marketing.

Essential Do’s and Don’ts for Building A Successful Business

It takes a lot of work in today’s economy in order for a business to succeed. There are many do’s and don’ts that can help (or hinder) the growth and acceptance of a newly launched business. Here’s a few do's and don'ts to help you avoid early mistakes and lead you to a prosperous venture.

The DO’s

SAY HELLO TO A FRUGAL LIFESTYLE:  The first step for an entrepreneur to take is to immediately start living a frugal lifestyle. Starting up a business requires capital. An entrepreneur who wishes to avoid taking out loans will need to build up their own funding. Living an economic lifestyle means cutting down on luxuries and learning how to eliminate unnecessary expenses.

KNOW THE INDUSTRY: Before an entrepreneur jumps into their own business, they will want to learn exactly how it operates. This means that they should take up employment at a similar business where they can build up experience.

WORK TO YOUR STRENGTHS: Successful entrepreneurs have created prosperous businesses because they worked to their own strengths. It is difficult to learn a whole new trade from scratch, so magnates should make it easy on themselves and work with what they already know. This provides an advantage over competitors. If they build up their own talents, entrepreneurs can outperform others in their industry by utilizing their expertise.

SUB-CONTRACT: This is more applicable towards businesses that are manufacturing a product. Hiring out low-cost subcontractors will allow businesses to create a high quality product that is manufactured by professionals. It also divides up the labor so that other parts of the company can focus on different aspects. For example, entrepreneurs can have one team dedicated to manufacturing while the rest of the workers focus on sales and marketing.

TEST AND ADJUST: Testing a product is the next step to be completed before the business expands. One way is to sample the product or service to a small audience and seeing how it is received. Any feedback can be used to determine what the next step should be. If there are improvements needed, then the product can be re-worked. If the is met with approval, then it’s time to look into expansion.

HAVE A  PLAN TO GET THE WORD OUT: Plan marketing and communications to let people know that your services or products exist. You cannot assume that people will automatically flock to you. There are simple and cost effective ways you can build your marketing in the early days, check out MarketingSuccess Tips for Startup Budgets. Networking will also help businesses acquire powerful business relationships. These can be advantageous in the long run when further expansion or mergers are possible.

The DON’TS 

DON’T GIVE UP YOUR DAY JOB: It is important to never leave a stable job until the startup is completed. Many people have found themselves in financially awkward situations because they left a secure job to pursue a business venture before they even had a plan. While it is good to take risks, these need to be tactical risks. Quitting a job without a safety net is unwise and highly discouraged.
DON’T MAKE IT ALL ABOUT MONEY: Another mistake made by some entrepreneurs is that they do not carefully consider what business they are about to go into. Don’t make your business idea all about the money. Of course, it is not a bad idea to aim for a prosperous market, but entrepreneurs do not want to get stuck in a business that they do not enjoy. Running a business should be as much enjoyable as it is profitable.
DON’T RISK IT ALL: Any risks taken should be calculated risks. This means that entrepreneurs should never risk entire assets. Many unfortunate business owners have made a crucial error that left them with little money after their startups failed. Starting a business is risky and one should always have a safety net in case something was to happen.
DON’T GO HIGH RISK: Entrepreneurs should not try to champion the most difficult industry for their first business venture. It is okay to start small and work upwards. That way, you don’t have to invest too much capital. When you start small, you are leaving the rest of the field open for improvement. Once you have secured a stable startup, then you can begin to grow and scale your success.

Preemptive Marketing Strategies for Startups

Business accelerators and incubators have become popular options for startups. For one, having a dedicated, loyal backing (i.e. group of advisors) helps these small companies tackle any developmental crises like financial planning and forecasting or even marketing.

Even with an idea in place, it's often a challenge for startups to get their infrastructure up and running. Operational consultants help businesses get started by providing expert advice on how to operate backend operations and take care of any legalities and licensing. Marketing, however, is a more complex procedure.

For starters, much of today’s marketing includes online campaigning. From social media and blogging to Web development and advertising, there are a lot of factors to consider. All of these elements add up to create a digital brand that can make or break startups that, more than existing businesses, have the unique opportunity to generate a lot of fan-based hype and promotion.

The first step for startups is to determine the direction in which they want to go. This direction is usually outlined in a company’s business plan, an often-misunderstood template of what a business’ objectives are. Below are a few key elements of a business plan that have the potential to drive a startup’s fledgling marketing campaigns in the right direction:

§  Business Basics: The opening sections of a business plan include soft goals such as mission statements and company values. These are important to consider because they later become buzzwords for marketing tactics.

§  Market Analysis: In this section, business planners take a look at local competition and the industry they are entering as a whole. Is the idea even feasible? What sets it apart from other similar companies? Without broad market analysis, it becomes a challenge for startups to initiate successful marketing strategies.

§  Product and Service Overview: Based on the startup’s purpose and concept, this section includes an in-depth write up on what the company plans to deliver or manufacture. It is important for entrepreneurs to consider questions like, “Is this product purchased only once?” “Is there only one target audience that will consider this service?” Even with products in the prototype stage, it is important for startup owners to imagine what their company’s sellable assets will look like in the future.

§  Marketing Plan: This section pulls together the previous three topics. Here, entrepreneurs will start outlining their brand and strategize ways to market it. It is often advised that companies begin by infiltrating one particular market and working outward from there.

The business plan also includes a section on finances and operations. Planners will look into the total costs of producing products and operating a business and figure out how much they have to sell (and at what price) to stay competitive and successful. Importantly, business plans are proactive ways for entrepreneurs to find investors and procure bank loans.

 

Web Branding and Developing Online Presence

What is online is what people see. Most companies understand the importance of having online assets like websites and social media accounts, though startups are in a much better position to create long-lasting campaigns that actively attract new and existing consumers. Here is a rundown on different marketing methods entrepreneurs should consider. They are all easy to manage, efficient, affordable, and show results if handled properly.

Websites

Domains tie everything together. When it comes to websites, the most important thing to do as a startup is to avoid the things that do not work. Having huge blocks of text, abusing keywords, inserting videos and media on every page, and creating an online mess is unattractive and a waste of resources.

Instead, startups should focus on creating a site that introduces people to their brand. Short videos are a good start. Investing in simple, sleek designs, easy navigation, and other features are a must, too. Most importantly, Web marketers need to constantly update their sites to meet visitor demand and to inform rather than promote.

Social Media

Like with websites, it is easy to overdo social media. Tap into the platforms that make sense for the idea. Is it a tech company? Consider using Google+, Facebook, and Twitter to keep followers interested by posting updates and other industry insights. For product and craft-based companies, use other sites like Pinterest to promote creativity. Because social media works both ways, entrepreneurs should pay attention to the success of their posts in order to tailor future ones that pick up more shares and likes.

Blogging

Blogging, of course, is one of the easiest ways to stay in touch with consumers. Startups have a lot to say; why not tie it all into a blog? Keep them informative and leave out the promotional content.

For more on how to build content marketing into your plan, check 5 Quick Tips for Great Content Marketing