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Archive for online marketing

Feb
15

Why Small Business Can Use Social Media?

by Heike

This article is by our team member, Eleanor Marks Prior:

No business man would stop thinking about great innovations for their business. Whether you are in  a small business or a big one, you are looking for advice on how to make more profits, or you’ve never stopped researching how other successful businesses are taking advantage of their success. We could never deny that the new online marketing techniques have a great role. There has been a lot of craze and hype in the media recently about the impact of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. While some of it is overstated much of what is going on could be called a revolution in the way people do business around the world.

Many people are jumping on the Twitter bandwagon, for example, and are opening up accounts, but few have any real idea of what to do once they get into the Twitter world–and the same with Facebook. Especially when it comes to business many business owners simply get an online presence and hope for the best. Even fewer take any real advantage of YouTube as a free advertising vehicle, or even know about what article marketing is.

All these social media sites can help you drive masses of traffic to your website. This is much like people coming in off the street in a busy business district to browse in your store. Once they are in the door the chances that they will buy something are pretty good. The same thing can be done to attract people to your small business online. You just have to learn the ways of the social media and social networking world.

Many small business owners think social media is only useful for large brands, like Dell or Southwest Airlines. The truth is any small business that effectively invests time in social media marketing can improve customer loyalty and increase the best kind of marketing there is: word of mouth.

Social media makes businesses more accessible and personable to customers and potential customers. It enables small businesses to maintain long term relationships and connections, increase referrals and increase trust. Used correctly, social media is extremely powerful for establishing and growing an online reputation.

Categories : Social Media, Virtual Assistant, Web2.0
Feb
12

Advantages of Online Reputation Management for Companies

by Heike

Constantly maintaining online reputations is one of the reasons why Online Reputation Management exists. In real sense, Online Reputation Management (ORM) was created to help business owners and professionals deal with bad press.

Even a large company or a small one could not get rid of the receiving end of negative publicity. Remember that the internet never fails to forget. Everything we do online leaves a digital mark that will never go away. This gives a reason why Online Reputation Management serves as a necessity in the field of business today.

See the advantages of Online Reputation Management for companies:

  • It improves customer satisfaction by gaining insights from consumers about what is good and bad about their product or services. This increases perceptions of brand/ product by creating opportunities to listen to and engage consumers.
  • It helps on gaining insights about their competitors and their customers’ perceptions about their products and services. This helps in the understanding of the relationship between user generated content and traditional forms of online media, e.g. news, print, etc.
  • It maintains shareholder value by mitigating risk by having ears close to the ground where opinions about a business are being formed and propagated.
  • They’re likely to be engaged in more effective Public Relations by understanding who the real influencers are.
  • ORM takes a role in providing early warning systems for reactive and defensive PR.
  • This may also help in reducing marketing dollars by learning how to reach out to customers more cheaply.
  • May reduce internal costs by employing services which save time and effort, as well as money.
  • ORM helps to identify gaps for products and services which can be developed for profitable niche markets.
  • It gains insight into online networks and keywords and key phrases found in user-generated content, which can help to bolster natural search results about the person, product, or business.

Tips for maximizing the efficiency of your online reputation management endeavors:

1. Set up your social networking sites with your own name.

In other words, you need to create an interlinked “web” of these powerful social networks – that all point to you. This is profoundly important because it establishes your presence in the major search engines like Google. Using aliases, pen names or otherwise will not help establish your branding effectiveness.

2. Try to get the same username set up for all of your social media engagement profiles.

3. When you add any type of content to your social networking sites, keep your online reputation management plan in mind. You should add relevant materials.

Seeing the advantages of Online Management training, I can say that it’s a mistake for companies to launch an online reputation management campaign after the damage of bad press has already spread which is a mistake. Everyone must take a preventative approach to protect  business.

This great post was contributed by Eleanor Marks Prior, WordPress Whiz and Social Media maven.

Categories : Internet Marketing, Online Business Manager, Social Media, Strategic planning
Jan
29

What a Social Media Marketing Specialists can do for your business ?

by Heike

A guest post from our Social Media and WordPress guru, Eleanor Marks Prior:

We usually ask ourselves “how do we make our company, product or services more popular”? Without the right exposure, nothing will come out of a potential business opportunity since we could reach our right audience. There are many ways to market your product but only few ways to make a name, one of the easiest ways  do this is through the help of social media marketing strategies. A social media marketing strategy will always be easier to Social Media Marketing Specialists. So most people prefer them to do the work in finding the strategies.

See the advantages of Having a Social Media Specialist:

  •  A Social Media Specialist will help you find the right strategies on the basis of your goals and objectives.  (Since they know what to focus on, their focus will be to the appropriate social sites to reach your business objectives.  No irrelevant work will be done)
  • They will make  sure that the social marketing sites  they have set up for your company are all connected, this will help brand awareness.
  • Provide reports showing Return On Influence and Return On Investment showing you the results of your social media efforts.
  • Give you assurance that goals will be achieved since they’re aware of your primary objectives.
  • Allow you to have more time to improve on the other aspects of your business since someone does your work
  • Gives great source to divert loads of traffic to your website which will make it popular and your services will be recognized easily. This can be controlled through strategic planning which will be easier if you’ll work hand and hand with a specialist.
  • It is cost and time effective .  It is known to be one of the most low cost methods of promoting your business.

As Internet usage continues to grow in other parts of the world and social networks, there will be no reason why you should be hesitant in doing what’s best for your company.  Any business owner will think what’s more efficient and what’s best for their company to be reached by their target clients.  Moreover, every business needs a successful and effective social media marketing strategy. 

A social marketing specialist may help you in understanding the subject and find available tools, organize a well thought-out plan, and their experience in driving traffic through the use of the content. If all of these are achieved, your business is bound to succeed.

Eleanor is a Social Media expert, WordPress guru and is currently getting ready to attend the Traffic Geyser Summit in San Diego next month. After finishing her training in supporting clients with their Traffic Geyser video and social media tools, she is set to meet the Traffic Geyser team and fellow Traffic Geyser Virtual Assistants.

Categories : Social Media, Virtual Assistant
Nov
27

Do You Know What Your Market Really Wants? by Bernadette Doyle

by Heike

bdoyle2Before ramping up your marketing when sales are disappointing, take a step back and ask yourself, “Do I know what my market really, really wants?” Being able to answer that question is the key to growing your business. By focusing on what people want, rather than on what you hope to sell them, you can begin to see the kind of success you desire.

If you suspect you’re wasting time by marketing something people don’t really want, here are some principles to ponder:

People buy what they want, not what you think they need.

You’re going to get a lot of resistance to your marketing if someone thinks they’re being shoehorned into buying what they don’t want. No matter how loudly you proclaim your product’s benefits, your market won’t respond if they don’t want the product. To continue doing so is a lot like speaking a different language and shouting to be understood.

People need to feel good about what they’ve bought.

One way to zero in on what your market wants is to develop empathy with that group of people. You must connect emotionally with how they feel about purchasing. When you’ve put yourself in someone else’s shoes, you begin to understand how they feel. What are their hopes and dreams? What do they fear? What keeps them awake at night?

If you’ve done a good job of pinpointing a target market, you should be able to learn these things easily. Until you do, you’re wasting time on marketing that won’t work, because you don’t yet know what products they’ll feel good about buying.

People buy products when they feel they’ve been understood.

No matter what logical explanation someone can give for buying a product, underneath it is the belief they’ve been understood. Someone knew enough about who they were to make a product that fits them.

So, how will you know when you’ve learned what your market really, really wants? You’ll know, because that’s when it all becomes easier. There’s no need to push or shove someone into buying, because they want what you’re offering. It will be such a revelation to learn how easy selling your products can be when they’re what your market wants.

Once that happens, you’ll begin to hear from your clients how grateful they are for your products. Everything about how you do business will be transformed, because you’ve taken the time to learn what your market wants. You’ve made the effort to step into their shoes and understand what makes them tick. And that effort pays off in products that really meet the needs of your market.

So, if you’re still struggling to sell your products, or it feels as though you’re pushing people into buying what they don’t want, it’s time to take inventory. Here are five questions to answer before trying again to sell your products:

  1. What is most important to the people in my target market?
  2. What problems keep them awake at night?
  3. What is the desired end result they’re hoping for?
  4. Does my product help them solve their problems and reach their goals?
  5. Do I need to change my products so that they do?

The process of stepping closer to your target market and understanding that group of people may take time and effort, but it will definitely be worth it. Once you know the people in your market very well, the products you offer them will meet their needs. And that’s what people really, really want.

Bernadette Doyle publishes her weekly Client Magnets newsletter for trainers, speakers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and solo professionals. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, then sign up for her weekly e-zine now at http://www.clientmagnets.com © Bernadette Doyle, 2009

Categories : Internet Marketing
Sep
3

PA Excellence is building a team of virtual assistants

by Heike

8From September 2009, PA Excellence Ltd. offers more services than ever! With the help of a small team of dedicated and mature US based virtual assistants I am able to offer you everything from the strategy to the implementation and active maintenance of your online business.

I am delighted to have found enthusiastic and customer focused VAs who have the right skillset to successfully promote your business. These VAs have undergone rigorous training with VA Classroom, Hotskills for VAs and Erin Blaskie. Ecommerce, social media, website updates, teleseminars, …, you need it, we will be able to offer it to you.

I’m currenty preparing the profiles of my team and will let you know once they are finished. It’s always nice to know with whom you are working as we are virtual and may never meet you face-to-face.

Please don’t hesitate to check out our services. My team and I are dedicated and supported to support you through all stages of your business growth.

Categories : Virtual Assistant

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