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The Key to Summer Marketing Promotions is Fun!

Summer is right around the corner. Vacations, family reunions and just hanging out at the pool put everyone—including customers and prospects—in a great mood. This make summer an ideal time to implement light-hearted marketing promotions that get the name out about your business.

The best part about summer-time marketing is there are really creative ways to promote your business without breaking the bank. If you are having a tough time coming up with ideas, no worries. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most festive, affordable, and imaginative ways to make sure the sun is shining on your brand all summer long!

Take to social media. Have customers and prospects upload their vacation photos and have people vote for their favorite. The person who posted the winning photo wins a basket full of fun summer goodies, a coupon for a free product or service from you company, or anything else you can think of. You can spend as much or as little as you want on your prize so you control how much you spend on it!

Get your name out there. Print your company’s logo on beach balls, beach towels, sunglasses, water bottles, or anything else you can think of that people use in the summer. Hand these items out to sales leads and customers and your name will be all over the parks and beaches.

Host a party. If you are able to spend a greater amount of money, consider hosting a BBQ, pool party, or outdoor concert for customers and community members. This will not only promote your business, it will promote goodwill among the community and your brand.

Do unto others. Another way to have your business viewed in a positive light is to plan and sponsor an event where all proceeds are donated to charity. The event can be as elaborate as a fireworks show or as laid-back as a car wash or dunk-tank. This is truly a situation where everyone wins.

Spread the news. Most cities and towns have a long list of summer activities. Print those activities on a notepad or magnet along with your company’s logo and contact information. People will refer to the information all summer long and when they do, they will be reminded of your business, as well!

There are countless ways to make sure that summer is a hot season for marketing your business. The key is to make sure that whatever marketing method you choose, it is fun for you to implement and a fun experience for your customers and prospects!

 

 

How to Attract New Customers

No matter how successful your small business, you should never stop looking for new customers. After all, circumstances can turn on a dime and you never know when you might find yourself needing to replace lost clients or grow your business.

If you are just starting out, you may be building your client base from scratch and are unsure how to attract customers. You are not alone. Even the most experienced business owners spend a great deal of time figuring out how to secure their next customer.

There are as many ways to attract new customers. Most businesses, however, will want to use tried-and-true methods that are most likely to secure additional clients in the shortest amount of time. If you fall into that category (and chances are you do), here are some important tips to make sure that whether you currently have a large customer base or are struggling to find customers, you can attract the number and type of clients you want:

Tip #1: Know your ideal client. When you know exactly who your ideal client is, you will have a much easier time attracting that type of client. When you cast too wide of a net, or use too general of a marketing message, that message tends to get lost on realistic prospects and sales leads because it is too broad.

Tip #2: Know where potential customers hang out. Are the customers you are looking for more likely to spend a majority of their time online? Are they best reached by phone or through a direct mail campaign? No matter how outstanding your marketing message, it has to be seen by prospects to be effective.

Tip #3: Know the answers. When you establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, people will naturally be drawn to you and your business when it comes time to buy. Having a responsive website, blogging, creating quality content and being active on social media are all important steps to getting your name out there as the expert in your field.

Tip #4: Know how to create compelling calls-to-action. Encourage visitors to your website to subscribe to your newsletter. Ask them to follow you on social media. Create ads with free offers. Once prospects follow you or take advantage of one of your offers, you can begin to connect with them on a regular basis and fill your sales funnel.

Tip #5: Know the importance of follow up. Always follow up with each and every sales lead. No matter how interested a potential customer is in your product or service, if you never follow up, this prospect will quickly lose interest.

Again, there are countless ways to attract new customers. Using the tips listed above will help to ensure that you never lack for new customers or prospects.

 

Seven Tips for a Compelling Call-To-Action

When you are marketing your business, sometimes the last thing you think about is your call-to-action. This is unfortunate because a good call-to-action can be the most important part of any marketing campaign.

A call-to-action is a statement that tells a lead, prospect, or customer what they should do next. A weak call-to-action is easily overlooked or ignored. A strong call-to-action is one that people can’t resist and, more importantly, can’t help but to click on or respond to.

So how can you write a compelling call-to-action that entices your target audience to do what you want them to do? Here are some tips:

  1. Use short, action-oriented language. Call now! Download immediately! Don’t get left behind! These are all great examples of concise and effective calls-to-action.
  2. Show them the value. People want to know that if they click on a call-to-action it is worth their time. They also want to know what they will get in exchange for their time. Will it solve a problem they have? Will it save them time and money? Can they get more sales leads? Note: It is imperative that you never let people down with your calls-to-action. If you make a promise that by clicking on your link they will be able to save time and money, you better make sure they will!
  3. Provide an incentive. Purchase in the next 24 hours for free shipping!
  4. Create a sense of urgency. Click before time runs out! Many marketers are surprised to learn that if they tell people what they should do, they will actually do it!
  5. Think big. Little buttons at the bottom of a copy-heavy page aren’t going to get noticed. The bigger the better. Consider adding calls-to-action at the top of your page or in other prominent locations, as well.
  6. Make it clear where they should click. Make the click button looks like it should be clicked. Add borders, shadows, or even make it seem as if it is coming off the page. If people have to wonder where they should click, they probably won’t.
  7. Make it pop. You don’t want your call-to-action to blend in with your page, nor do you want it to clash with its design. The key is to use similar fonts and colors that work well with your design but that also pop off the page. Using plenty of white space also can help.

In most cases you will have to experiment a bit with calls-to-action before settling on which ones works best. If a particular call-to-action doesn’t seem to be working well, try another one. After all, an effective call-to-action can do wonders for your business so you need to pay close attention to what works and what doesn’t.

 

 

What’s Your Social Media Strategy?

Social media is one of the most important marketing tools for small and medium-sized businesses today. Almost 90 percent of marketers will tell you that a social media presence is critical to the success of their business. So it’s no wonder that social media is where small and medium-sized businesses spend the majority of their marketing dollars.

Social media is also becoming an important player when it comes to SEO. Recent changes to Google’s algorithm mean that the more active you are on social media, the higher your search engine rankings.

If social media is so essential to the success of a business, then why is it that so many businesses do not have a social media strategy in place? For starters, many marketers simply do not know what a social media strategy actually entails. They also mistakenly believe that simply sharing helpful information or updating their followers on new products or services is an effective social media strategy.

Unfortunately for these businesses, a solid social media strategy involves much more than just slapping information up on a social media site or two. Instead, a successful social media strategy involves engaging and interacting with your target audience while establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry. So how is this accomplished? The following steps are necessary to establish an effective social media strategy:

  1. Research and understand your particular target audience
  2. Use a distinct voice to compose posts and updates, as well as to interact with your followers
  3. Monitor your sites so that you are able to respond to comments and feedback from your followers in a timely manner
  4. Put measurable goals in place to accurately and regularly assess the success of your social media efforts
  5. Create a publication calendar and schedule of posts

Social media can be overwhelming for the newbie and just because someone has a personal Facebook or Twitter account, that doesn’t make him or her an expert in social media. Instead, it is often best to seek help from an outside source to make sure that you are putting your social media marketing dollars to use wisely.