2011 Mobile Marketing for Small Business will be Essential

December 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Small business owners that are planning their 2011 marketing strategies must start to include a mobile strategy. At minimum developing a list of customers cell phone numbers for text messaging is a start. For the more ambitious a mobile PPC or SEO campaign is essential. Start thinking about how to use mobile marketing in your marketing mix TODAY

Amplify’d from www.helpalocalbusiness.com

The Future Of Mobile For Local Internet Marketing Is Here

Do you want to help your local business in 2011 and give it o bang? If the answer is yes, you should pay more attention to the mobile/cell phone/smartphone usage.

Nowadays, a mobile phone become a personal communication, information and entertainment device. Big companies now offer their business information through mobile phones. Entertainment companies sell logos, ringtones and advertise via mobiles. Financial services companies provide personalized SMS market alerts on demand. And so on…

For the consumer, this mobile revolution represents knowledge, power, and convenience. It all starts with SMS, than MMS, video streaming, wide bandwidth, WAP… and we are heading to experience 4G – stands for the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards.

The content for mobile market is also evolving from music, video, games to entertainment and business services, in addition to the currently popular ringtones, icons and pictures. The availability of mobile phones that support this type of content is growing fast, and money made by selling this type of content are also expected to grow in a spectacular way.

mobile app economyAn earlier report from Gartner predicted that application stores are expected to generate revenues of nearly $7 billion over the course of 2010 and will grow to $29.5 billion by the end of 2013.
smartphone diversity

So really, as a small local business owner, you can’t ignore this mobile trend for much longer! When mobile becomes #1, many of you will be wondering what the heck happened to your website.

Read more at www.helpalocalbusiness.com
 
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Mayor Cory Booker, The Mayor of Social Media

December 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark NJ actually did something many politicians never think to do. He acted as a public servant. When the Xmas storm of 2010 hit Newark and Newark citizens where stuck in snow. He used Twitter to communicate with his constituents.

Great Job Mayor Booker and thanks Twitter for helping

Amplify’d from kherize5.com

Mayor Cory Booker – Social Media’s New Twitter Darling?

cory booker social medias new twitter darlingIn social media we are looking how to write the best blog headlines and article, the most effective way to build our community, the best way to interact on the social media platforms. We sign up for webinars, listen to podcasts, attend conferences to be sure that we are in the know on how we can put our best foot forward to run a successful social media campaign. We pay great attention to those that have proven to be social media leaders to try and figure out their winning combination or their secret sauce.

My dear friend and someone I admire greatly @TomMartin has captured the true essence of social media and how we create signals or just make noise. We all are guilty of noise at one time or another but when we think of those that stand out in the social media space, we notice they all have one thing in common, they create signals. These signals are there for us to interact and engage with them.

We have all heard about the blizzard that pummeled the east coast, leaving holiday travelers stranded and residents stuck in snow drifts over five feet high. A NFL game was canceled due to the snow which garnered some final thoughts from Pennsylvania Govenor Ed Rendell as he prepares to leave office in a few days. Mainstream media had their crews all over New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Boston. The coverage was sensational for those of us not in the thick of it and are happy to open our doors and see concrete but what has been more sensational is the Twitter stream of Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker.

Cory Booker is the Mayor of Newark. Newark, the largest city in New Jersey is home to Newark Liberty International Airport, roughly 280,000 residents, numerous hospitals and trauma centers, the county courthouse, the performing arts center, 40 city parks, 75 public schools, Rutgers Newark, NJIT, Essex County College and let’s not forget a very large mass transit system of trains and buses. All of this is contained within 24 square miles. The city, already one of the poorest cities in NJ, has faced debilitating budget cuts and has received much attention for the recent layoff of 167 police officers and the gun violence that has erupted. Now let’s add a blizzard.

Mayor Booker has once again has taken to Twitter to help manage the clean up efforts. Last year he caught the eye of many when he personally shoveled the snow for a resident who was unable to do so. This year he has not disappointed and is out there shoveling, moving/pushing stranded cars, delivering diapers and almost a baby. He responds to residents on Twitter and if they are in need of help, he makes his way over. If a street has not been plowed, he asks for the location and gets the crew over.  There is not a team behind his Twitter that is monitoring the tweets and responding on his behalf. No, he is one man on Twitter that is making a difference.
cory booker twitter

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Untitled

December 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Amplify’d from smallbiztrends.com

What do small business owners view as the most important promotion tool for their small business? Sorry, social networks. It’s not you–yet. According to a Fall survey from Constant Contact, small business owners look primarily to their website (93 percent) and e-mail marketing (92 percent) campaigns to get the word out about their businesses, with more than 90 percent of SMBs saying they use both. The news wasn’t all grim for social networks, however. Facebook took the third spot with 63 percent, while other social media like blogs, Twitter and LinkedIn came in at 33 percent, 31 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

The numbers from Constant Contact reflect pretty much what I would have predicted. While social networks continue to grow attention and share year-over-year, traditional websites and e-mail campaigns remain the lifeblood of many SMBs’ promotional efforts – and with good reason. There are plenty of studies that support the effectiveness of e-mail marketing due to its strong personal connection with the reader. Couple that with SMBs owners’ tending to be a bit more skittish of new technology than larger companies are, and it makes sense that their budgets are where they are. However, that doesn’t mean change isn’t on the horizon.

The folks over at SaleSpider polled 384 small- to medium-sized business owners using Survey Monkey and found 63 percent of responders believed that social networks are helping them drive sales and revenue. More than that, 75 percent vowed to make social networking a bigger part of their marketing mix in the coming year, upping their budgets. And we’re seeing that across the board. While SaleSpider is perhaps targeting a more tech-savvy audience, it still demonstrates that small business owners are warming up to social media.

It makes sense that things are starting to heat up in terms of small business owners’ use of social media. One of the biggest problems reported by SMBs year-after-year is their inability to attract new customers and to do it in a cost-effective way.  That’s exactly what social media allows for. I think as we start to see more marketing budgets moved over to social media and more SMB owners tapping into its uses, they’ll be able to reap the benefits even more than they already are.

Social media is also making its presence known in online word of mouth. Constant Contact found that when it comes to attracting new customers and leads, word of mouth (online and offline) trumps all other methods and is vital to bringing in sales. Though social networks are not specifically called out, I have to think they are responsible for much of the online word of mouth generated. You may remember that earlier this year social media was named the top emerging channel for lead gen by Unisfair. I think that trend will continue.

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Generate more Leads. Discover How to Generate More Leads for Your Service Business

December 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Get your website found by qualified visitors through blogging, social media, and SEO.

Convert your visitors into leads using landing pages you can easily build yourself.

Nurture your leads using email and lead nurturing tools.

Get insight into the return on specific marketing chanels through closed loop analytics

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Big Boy Mobile Marketing . Ebay Going More Mobile and Coupony

December 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

ebay has had it shares of trouble. One of my good friends John Lawson (@colderice) is an eCommerce and eBay expert and he has a better perspective on eBay then I do. But, when you read eBays’s recent acquisitions an obvious strategy emerges. eBay is moving toward pushing their product to the local marketing using mobile technology.

Not just leveraging an online presence but with an offline strategy as well.

Amplify’d from www.websitemagazine.com

All Eyes Should Be On eBay

The German Groupon?
Based in Berlin, brands4friends is an online social shopping club that sells clothing, shoes and accessories throughout Europe. Launched in 2007, the site has about 3.5 million subscribers to whom it offers daily deals using a group-buying/coupon model similar to that of Groupon. About 20 percent of all European online fashion sales are attributed to increasingly popular daily deals sites, and brands4friends is the largest and most profitable. The site carries about 600 brands including Calvin Klein, Buffalo and Diesel, and the deal should considerably strengthen eBay’s European presence while adding to its $4.5 billion in annual sales from fashion and accessories. The purchase also includes the Japanese version of the brand4friends site and a separately owned British-based shopping club called SecretSales.com. Aside from significantly improving eBay’s global reach and its position in the online retail fashion industry, the move signifies a dramatic entry into the daily deals space that already this month has seen Groupon’s rejection of a $6 billion offer from Google and Amazon’s $175 million investment into Groupon competitor LivingSocial.

It is the largest of three significant acquisitions by eBay in the month of December, and the fourth in the last half of 2010. All of the moves are intended to strengthen eBay’s position in the areas of online social shopping and mobile commerce – two of the most important developments taking place on the Web right now.

Going Mobile
Less than a week before announcing the brands4friends acquisition, eBay purchased the Portland, Oregon-based mobile app developer Critical Path Software. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the move was further indication of eBay’s increasing efforts to expand its mobile offerings. Critical Path had previously worked with eBay’s mobile development group to create an iPhone app, eBay classifieds, a ticket-buying app through StubHub, and the comparison shopping app Shopping.com. Two days before the announcement, eBay reported that its 2010 holiday mobile sales were up 165 percent to a record $13 million, and that it expected the annual mobile sales through its marketplace to surpass $1.5 billion this year. Expect a full array of new apps throughout the coming year as mobile may prove to be the ideal way for eBay’s marketplace to compete with Amazon and reclaim its position of prominence.

Where Online Meets Offline
The holiday shopping season had barely begun when eBay put up $75 million to purchase local shopping startup Milo on December 2. Milo provides a service to both buyers and sellers much in the same way eBay’s traditional auctions do, except that the mission behind Milo is to unite online shopping with offline shopping. The site lists in-store product inventory and pricing in real-time for more than 140 retail outlets with over 52,000 brick-and-mortar locations across the U.S. More than half the retail partners are small- and medium-sized businesses, giving local merchants a vehicle to compete with larger retailers and allowing eBay sellers with physical stores to sell their products locally. The purchase was a no-brainer for eBay, according to the announcement, which called the move “a natural extension of what we’ve been doing for 15 years – bringing buyers and sellers together to access the largest selection available anywhere.” Like the previously mentioned acquisitions, the Milo deal will add momentum to the development of mobile and social commerce while also injecting new life into eBay’s auction business. Also very important to note, the online research to offline buying market is currently at $917 million, and Forrester projects it to reach $1.3 trillion and account for 50 percent of all retail sales by 2013.

More Mobile
The so-called eBay shopping spree began back in June when the company purchased a mobile barcode-scanning application for the iPhone. Called RedLaser, the app from startup company Occipital scans bar codes for in-store price comparisons and other product search purposes. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but eBay wasted little time in adding the local shopping results provided by the Milo acquisition to the new app in early December. Now shoppers all over the U.S. using RedLaser can find out which local retailers have a particular item in stock and which locations offer the best prices – through a single scan with their mobile phones. Also recently, eBay has just launched RedLaser for Android devices. Once again, the RedLaser acquisition, in combination with Milo and Critical Path, bolsters eBay’s growing mobile presence as well as its commitment to social shopping and local commerce.

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Yahoo Reaching its Boiling Point?

December 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Amplify’d from techcrunch.com

Yahoo has hit rock bottom. They’ve now, finally, had their layoffs. Those that are left are keeping their resumes fresh and don’t expect to stay there over the long term. Everything we hear from employees boils down to this – the company is in “absolute disarray.”

Take yesterday as an example. They botch news about closing down products like Delicious. The Upcoming team is apparently wiped out, but a seemingly timestamped blog post appeared on Wednesday, after the team was gone, asking for feedback on a new design for the site. Except the blog post doesn’t have a link to the new design, and still doesn’t as of today. Probably because whoever wrote it is gone, along with the rest of the team.

And today Yahoo realized that people really care about sites like Delicious and put up a blog post saying that they’re going to sell it, not shut it down. Which is great except the Delicious blog is now offline and returns an error (we reprinted it here).

And finally, yesterday Yahoo announced internally that they would be shutting down an instant messaging product called MyM. Have you heard of it? Neither had we. Oh wait, we did—in 2008. It turns out it was an internal project that was never launched and formally shut down nearly three years ago. Apparently the executive team didn’t know that.

In May I spoke with CEO Carol Bartz on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt. The headline was the last few seconds of the talk. But that wasn’t really what was interesting about the interview. What really riled Yahoo up was when I asked if they were really even a technology company any more. I think it’s now clear to the world now that they aren’t. They’re just a nightmarish Dilbert-cartoon version of the old Yahoo, where employees fear for their jobs and stumble around the office trying to protect themselves, not build anything new and ambitious.

Read more at techcrunch.com
 
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Company that Sells Fences Grows Nationally Using HubSpot

December 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Inbound marketing works and allows a company like Louis Page to expand beyond it’s geographic area. Louis Page has been using Hubspot and Inbound marketing strategies for two years and has grown from selling fences in New England to selling fences nationwide.

Hubspot and Inbound Marketing works

Amplify’d from www.hubspot.com

Fencing Company Expands Nationwide Using HubSpot

Picture 4Louis E. Page is a family owned and operated fencing and mesh company that’s been in business since 1893. The small team sells a variety of fencing ranging from simple garden fences to specialized material for for zoos, turtle fence and much more. President Duncan Page spoke with us about how HubSpot helps him manage a national web presence to achieve significant company growth. 

As a company with six employees and a history of selling to New Englanders, Duncan had his work cut out for him when he decided  to expand the company. He had used a different company before to build his website for him, but disliked that he had no direct access to update and improve the site. He also felt that while advertising in various journals and magazines was effective for local business, the company’s presence would need to be more pervasive to extend to new markets.
The Challenge: Expand and Grow Customer Base Beyond Local Market
Solution: HubSpot Website & Blogging Software

With HubSpot, Duncan was able to create his own website that put him in charge, instead of using a middle man. Using tools like page grader Duncan ensures that his website effectively represents his company on the internet and increases his chances of more widespread customers.

Duncan has also become a prolific blogger since using HubSpot. By using the simple blogging tool, Louis E. Page Inc’s blog is regularly updated with interesting industry trends and company news. Duncan can then use blog analytics to see which posts customers are responding to and create more similar content.
Louis E Page Blog Results
Results: Dramatic Increase in Diversity of Customers

Thousands of national visits to website 

4,652 subscribers to blog, “The Fence Post”

2,156 leads from organic search in the past year

Page views from as far away as California and Iowa through SEO

Though he believes he can use it better, Duncan’s small company has been able to stay on top of possible leads using lead nurturing. Rather than having to reach out to everyone personally, he is able to send an automated message to ensure that they continue to be interested in his products.

Using sources, Duncan is able to identify which ways of getting traffic are working and which ones he should spend more time focusing on. This allows his small business to be more efficient and not waste any precious resources.

With HubSpot, Louis E. Page Inc. used inbound marketing to achieve Duncan’s dream of nationwide sales.  Duncan is very satisfied with the results he has seen from HubSpot, and says that he talks about it all the time when he meets people looking for a good way to, “get a good web presence on the net.”

Read more at www.hubspot.com
 
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Real Estate Marketing is Being Changed By Mobile Apps

December 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Absolutely makes sense. Smart phones and apps are a great way to market real estate. The issue isn’t necessarily the technology, the issue in my opinion are agents. Many of the agents I know don’t know about technology solutions and only adapt them when forced.

What do you think?

Amplify’d from www.ikenex.com
Mobile apps are the ultimate real estate marketing tool: iKenex releases a dozen new agent branded apps in San Diego

Sacramento, CA: December 15, 2010:
iKenex, the leader in branded mobile solutions for agents, brokers, boards, and associations, has released six new consumer apps for the iPhone and six new apps for Android in the greater San Diego area. These apps allow consumers to take advantage of native iPhone and Android features to help find properties quickly and effortlessly. Consumers are raving about the ease of use. “It’s faster than any other real estate app I have tried”, John in San Diego. Agents and brokers enjoy having such a great marketing tool for their clients to use. “I have been waiting a long time for this app and it was worth the wait”, B. Butler, San Diego. “Mobile is the most powerful marketing tool that an agent or broker can utilize”, states Brian Lonchar, VP of iKenex. “There is nothing else that a client has with them at all times. As a real estate professional you are available at the touch of a button at all times for your clients”.

With the release of SD Homes, My San Diego Real Estate, San Diego Real Estate Search, San Diego Real Estate Finder, San Diego Real Estate App, and San Diego Homes with Style, iKenex demonstrates how they have streamlined the process to deliver completely customized and branded apps for the iPhone and Android to the real estate industry. “There is nothing that compares to having your name or company name in the App Store and Android Market”, states Brian. “When you can give your current clients and future clients the ability to search for homes at their convenience and instantly communicate what they have found back to you, then you truly set yourself apart from other agents and brokers”. iKenex not only offers branded mobile solutions, but they offer complete marketing packages that include mobile integrated IDX, Facebook listing syndication, and full mobile distribution websites, not to mention the soon to be released branded iPad consumer applications.

“We have taken the complicated, expensive, and time consuming task of delivering a mobile solution to agents to give to their clients and have turned it into an easy process that can be completed in minutes”, says Brian. “Our goal is to offer our clients the best looking, most professional, and accurate branded real estate mobile solution available on the market today. So far we have exceeded our goal with every app that has been released”.

About iKenex: iKenex is the mobile real estate division of Doapp, one of the top five mobile developers in the country with over 300 apps released and some of the first apps every approved for sale by Apple. For more information about iKenex’s mobile real estate products visit their website at www.iKenex.com, contact Brian Lonchar at Brian@ikenex.com or 916-550-0239

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Twitter Raised a Ton on Cash and Starts to Construct a Advertising Business Model

December 16, 2010 By 1 Comment

Advertising on Twitter is finally starting to take shape but not necessarily for small business. Never the less, small business can still use Twitter in here are some best practices for using Twitter to grow your business.

Amplify’d from www.toprankblog.com

Traditional ad dollars are most certainly moving to digital and as companies look for more ways to take advantage of technology to better connect with customers, social media is becoming the new internet.

Advertising as part of the social experience vs. being interruptive combined with the ability to measure brings many opportunities for businesses to grow their reach, brand influence and ability to engage.

In the meantime, here are general Twitter best practices:
  1. Share. Share photos and behind the scenes info about your business. Even better, give a glimpse of developing projects and events. Users come to Twitter to get and share the latest, so give it to them!
  1. Listen. Regularly monitor the comments about your company, brand, and products.
  1. Ask. Ask questions of your followers to glean valuable insights and show that you are listening.
  1. Reward. Tweet updates about special offers, discounts and time-sensitive deals.
  1. Respond. Respond to compliments and feedback in real time
  1. Demonstrate wider leadership and know-how. Reference articles and links about the bigger picture as it relates to your business.
  1. Champion your stakeholders. Retweet and reply publicly to great tweets posted by your followers and customers.
  1. Establish the right voice. Twitter users tend to prefer a direct, genuine, and of course, a likable tone from your business, but think about your voice as you Tweet. How do you want your business to appear to the Twitter community?

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Leverage Your Groupon Promotion. Convert Buyers to Customers

December 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

This is the second in a three part series about preparing for a Groupon Promotion. In the first post, I talked about what you needed to do before you called Groupon.

 

In this post, Groupon has accepted and scheduled your offer and your waiting for the day.

 

Your business is finally scheduled and the offer has been designed and confirmed. Finally after months of waiting your Groupon promotion is scheduled.

 

You can't wait for the flood of new buyers anxious to sample your wares. Can't wait?

 

But here is the reality. These new buyers ARE NOT CUSTOMERS OR CLIENTS! They are bargain seeking buyers looking for a deal and if your don't plan for it they will come sample your wares NEVER to return again.

 

So, despite all of the planning for the Groupon promotion, your job is not done. You new job is to quickly figure out how to convert these buyers to customers and hopefully loyal customers.

 

DON'T RELY ON HOPE, not a great strategy. Plan to convert these buyers to customers before the promotion starts. This post is written to help you think about that process. Specifically the steps needed to convert these bargain seeking buyers to lifetime customers (or some percentage of them)

 

THE CONCEPT OF STACKING

 

The first step in the process is the concept of stacking. Remember, Groupon will NOT provide you with these buyers contact information, so your 1st step in converting them to customers is to offer an additional ethical bribe. So Stack on another deal.

 

So, what can you bribe them with? Well, here is what you know; these buyers are tech savvy bargain buyers. They understand technology and they want a deal.

 

SO GIVE THEM ANOTHER DEAL

 

Not the same deal you gave them for Groupon but another deal.

So what types of deals? Well, you want them to come back, SO GIVE THEM A LOYALTY DEAL. A deal that rewards them for return visits. That way you have a better chance to convert them from buyers to customers.

GET MORE LEADS, WANT MORE LEADS, BETTER LEADS, WANT TO LEVERAGE YOUR GROUPON PROMO. GIVE US A CALL 267-940-7504 OR LEARN MORE BY CLICKING HERE.

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