Why Digital Marketing Can Make or Break Small Businesses

Digital marketing is no longer optional for small businesses. Instead, digital marketing can literally make or break a small business.

While many small businesses still staunchly believe that their business can thrive without digital marketing, this is simply not true. From social media to online reviews to local online searches, you either adopt digital marketing or you face extinction.

Talk to small businesses owners who are resisting digital marketing tactics and you often will discover an individual who is overwhelmed at the idea of going digital. Most of them will tell you that they simply don’t believe that they have the time to learn about every digital platform, nor can they afford to effectively market on all of these platforms.

The good news is that there is no need to “do it all” when it comes to digital. Instead, the key is to develop a marketing strategy that allows a business to do only what makes the most sense for their business. Of course, there are a few things that a small business must do in this digital age.

The first thing that a small business must do is to optimize their business website for local searches. After all, if you are a hair salon in Columbus, Ohio, there is no reason to try to attract customers from across the country.

The key to getting noticed locally is to optimize title tags and meta-descriptions on your website so that they include the name of your city or town. You also need to make sure that you are listed on leading directories like Google My Business and Yelp. Many small businesses are surprised to learn that local businesses are what are found on the first pages of these types of directories. The key is to make sure that your information is always accurate.

The second thing to keep in mind is that your website must be optimized for mobile. If people search for your business on your phone and your website isn’t set up for mobile that will make it difficult to read and navigate, causing users to quickly move on to the next listing. When this happens, you don’t just lose a customer, your ranking on search engines drops.

Finally, don’t just optimize your business for local searches and then make sure your website is mobile-friendly. You always must be checking to see that anything you are doing online-email marketing, for example-is producing the results you want it to produce. If it isn’t you must try something new. After all, marketing dollars are scarce so you can’t afford to waste them on digital tactics that aren’t working.

Guidelines for a Satisfying Business Dinner

Most business people consider themselves well-mannered, even if they have never picked up a copy of Emily Post’s Etiquette: In Society, In Business, In Politics and At Home. After all, how hard is it to remember to chew with your mouth closed?

There is probably no need for you to pour over any etiquette books but if you are going to host or be a guest at a business dinner, there are some basic rules you need to follow. While it’s true that social functions and interactions are more relaxed than they were in years past, there are still some guidelines you need to adhere to.

  1. Be punctual. If you are a guest, show up a few minutes early. If you are a host, arrive no later than 15 minutes before dinner is scheduled to begin.
  2. Dress for the occasion. Since you are attending a business dinner, dress as you would for any type of business meeting.
  3. Silence your phone. Don’t just turn your phone off, keep your phone off the table and out of site.
  4. Shake hands. Give everyone a quick handshake and short greeting when they arrive. If you are the host, make sure everyone has been greeted before you sit down. If you are a guest, wait for your host to sit and then sit at the same time.
  5. Fill everyone’s glasses. Before you pour water for yourself, always fill up the glasses of everyone else at the table.
  6. Tread carefully when it comes to alcohol. Do not be the first one to order alcohol and only order it if your host does. You also should limit yourself to one drink. If there are people in attendance who you think would be uncomfortable with alcohol being served abstain.
  7. Mind your manners. While no one is going to be judging your every move, make sure you know the basic rules of etiquette. Elbows off the table, napkin on your lap while eating, etc.
  8. Order and eat smart. Don’t order the most expensive thing on the menu, don’t order anything messy (ribs are a no-no) and always wait for the host to begin eating before you start. You also should avoid eating too fast.
  9. Don’t fight over the bill. If you are a guest, simply thank your host for the dinner and if you are the host, politely decline anyone who offers to pay.

Business dinners are not everyone’s cup of tea. Knowing the basic guidelines will help make sure that these meals go as smoothly as possible.

Six Ways to Tailor Content to a B2B Audience

Business-to-business marketing differs in many ways to business-to-consumer marketing. While in both cases you are selling a product or service to another person, that is where the similarities end.
Despite this fact, many B2B marketers write their content in much the same way they would write B2C content. If you are looking to improve the ROI of your B2B marketing strategy, it is important that you take a hard look at your content and make the necessary adjustments so it is more B2B-friendly.
Here are some ways you can tailor your content in such a way that it speaks to specifically to a B2B audience.

  1. Ditch the hard sell. B2C copy can afford to take more of a hard sell approach but businesses don’t want someone to tell them that they know their business better than they do. Instead, outline how your product or service will help to solve a problem.
  2. Remember that less is more. While you should explain the benefits of what you are offering, don’t go into excruciating detail about every aspect of what you are selling. Remember, you want to entice them to contact you to learn more.
  3. Keep it professional. Keep in mind that anything you write could land in the hands of CEOs and the tone of your content represents your business. Get too casual and you might come off as unprofessional. While it is fine to be conversational, make sure you don’t sound glib.
  4. Mind your headline. Headlines for B2C articles and blog posts can get away with being dramatic. B2B readers are not as impressed by over-the-top headlines. Instead opt for a more straightforward approach that highlights a current topic in the industry or that addresses a specific need.
  5. Use the correct terminology. Don’t write about topics you haven’t thoroughly researched. Nothing will damage the credibility of your brand more than writing on topics that you aren’t familiar with.
  6. Include an effective call-to-action. Don’t assume your readers will know what to do once they’ve read your content. Do you want them to subscribe to your newsletter? Visit your website for more information? Download an eBook? Make sure you tell them. And don’t bury your call-to-action either. Make sure it is big and bold and can’t be missed.

Writing B2B copy and writing B2C copy involves different tactics. Make sure you are aware of those tactics so your content will do all it can for your brand.

The Latest in B2B Marketing Trends: A Mid-Year Update

If you are a B2B marketer, you are likely always on the lookout for news ways to fill your sales funnel. After all, lead generation is the lifeblood of any business.
While most articles on the latest trends in marketing usually hit around the New Year, we thought we would mix things up a little and do a mid-year assessment of what are the hottest trends in B2B marketing right now. After all, things change quickly in the marketing world so it is important to know how to best promote your B2B brand throughout the year.

  1. Channel Integration. It is always tempting to focus on individual channels that seem to work well for your B2B brand. However, integration of channels can do wonders for your brand. No longer does it make sense to spend all of your marketing dollars on email marketing, for example. Savvy B2B marketers understand the importance of integrating email marketing with web optimization and social media-or whatever combination works best for their particular brand.
  2. Personalization. Individual interactions are all the rage. Providing seamless, unique experiences for customers that is both user-specific and time-sensitive leads to huge bumps in ROI.
  3. Account-Based Marketing. Account-based marketing involves getting more personalized information from users. The more personal information you can get from users, the better you can customized their experiences which means they will remain on your website longer and visit it more often.
  4. Video, Video and More Video. If text or video are both available on a website, most people will click on the video. The options with video are virtually endless. You can livestream from a tradeshow, perform product demonstrations, give behind-the-scenes tours of your business and much more. This is all in addition to posting straightforward brand videos and client testimonials.
  5. Content Marketing. This is certainly not a new trend but its popularity continues to grow. B2B companies benefit greatly from content marketing because B2B buyers have a longer sales journey than B2C buyers. That means B2B customers have more time to pour over content which will allow them to make the best buying decision. It also means you need to constantly work on upping your content marketing game.

No matter what you think about the latest marketing trends, one thing is for sure, there has never been more ways to connect with customers and prospects. The key is to find a few of the trends you know you can excel at and work hard to take full advantage of them.

Five Signs Your Content Marketing Strategy Needs a Make over

Content is king. But that doesn’t mean that every piece of content is worth its weight in gold.

While you should never publish a piece of content you are not satisfied is well written and connects, educates and inspires your target audience-that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to miss the mark once in a while. However, if your content strategy seems to be consistently falling flat, you need to take a hard look at what is going wrong and find ways to fix it.

Here are some telltale signs you need to overhaul your content marketing strategy:

  1. Lack of traction. Relationship building is an essential part of content marketing and that takes time. However, if your website never gets views and no one is sharing your content, it’s time to make some changes.
  2. Hidden website. While being at the top of search engine result pages is the ultimate goal of every business, slowly climbing up those pages is what tells you that you are moving in the right direction. If you continue to always languish in the same (low) spot, you need to figure out why.
  3. Stagnant social. Are people liking you on Facebook? Retweeting your Tweets? If there isn’t a lot of activity on your social media sites then your posts clearly aren’t doing their job.
  4. Failure to engage. Valuable content means that visitors will stay on your site for longer periods of time. You also will see a lower bounce rate.
  5. Nothing stands out. Again, not every piece of content is going to be a homerun (although it shouldn’t strike out, either) but periodically you should have a piece of content that hits it out of the park. When a piece of content really creates a buzz around your website you are on the right track. If there is never any buzz, it is time to mix things up so that you can create some.

In some cases, a lackluster content marketing strategy will require a major overhaul. In other cases there are simple fixes that will drastically improve things. These include figuring out how to differentiate yourself from the competition or merely doing a better job of promoting your content.