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Startup Marketing Basics: Persistence Matters!
I can’t tell you how many times people are ready to QUIT marketing after a short run.
This is a marathon. Not a sprint. You may have short bursts of marketing capaigns – but if the theory of touches is accurate – it’s going to take quite a while for people to hear about you!
If you are starting up – be prepared for it to take some time before you start seeing a return.
Patience is one thing, but PERSISTENCE is what you need. Keep at it – keep pushing – keep talking about your business. If you don’t keep reminding people, then those “touches” that you were shooting for will be forgotten, and you’ll have to start all over again to win them over!
What tends to happen with a lot of startups, is that they work hard on their marketing, then get really busy doing the work to please their new clients and customers, and then they stop marketing all together! I know I have made this mistake myself! Even if things are going well – you have to persistently keep pushing, so that if things slow down – your past marketing will continue to yield results!
I propose carving out the first part of your week for marketing. Every Monday morning – the first thing you should do is spend 15 minutes, an hour, or a few hours doing the marketing work. Make #MarketingMonday a thing – and you’ll have the discipline you need to keep it going!
The 7 WordPress Plugins Your Site Needs to Succeed via Entrepreneur Magazine
The 7 WordPress Plugins Your Site Needs to Succeed via Entrepreneur Magazine
More content is created than audiences can handle. The challenge for entrepreneurs, then, is to find an underserved segment of consumers that would love nothing more than what you have to offer, whether it is blog posts, products or services.
Fantastic article from Entrepreneur about WordPress plugins! Remember – you’ve got to be careful with third party plugins, as they can create conflicts and vulnerabilities – but they can also be great tools to help your website evolve into something amazing!
Startup Marketing Basics: The Theory of Touches
I have no idea where this concept comes from – I’ve heard it in various places – and seen it proven true – so if I don’t quote the source, I apologize.
It takes multiple touches to get a response from a customer. That number of touches can vary from industry to industry – and some touches can be strong enough to get a response faster. Let’s say for the sake of argument – that it takes five touches.
That can look like this.
1. Potential Customer drives by your physical location and sees your sign out front.
2. Customer gets a postcard from you in the mail.
3. Customer meets you at an event, and you give him a business card.
4. Customer hears about you from a friend – in a good way.
5. Customer sees a facebook post shared from his neighbor.
If he hasn’t responded at this point – at least he is familiar with you – when has a NEED for your services – you are in his head.
Just keep in mind – it takes multiple TOUCHES or exposures for someone to feel like they know you and trust you enough to consider doing business with you!
Tune in Next Week for Startup Marketing Basics: Persistence Matters!
Seneca #thinkbigthursday
#thinkbigthursday is our day to dream for something bigger than what we’ve got! So we’re gathering advice from people who have done more, gone farther, and we’re thinking big!
7 Must-Do Tips for Startups to Generate Good PR via Entrepreneur Magazine
7 Must-Do Tips for Startups to Generate Good PR via Entrepreneur Magazine
As usual – Entrepreneur Magazine delivers a stellar article about small business. This time – about public relations (PR). I’d encourage you to give it a read. Remember – Public Relations, if done right – can equal FREE ADVERTISING!
Most startups face a major challenge when it comes to public relations. They know buzz needs to be created through PR channels, but they don’t always have the connections or manpower to stir up good press.
The right PR can help early-stage startups build user bases as well as attract interest from venture capitalists. Don’t let a non-existent marketing budget or the lack of a dedicated marketing team discourage you.
Startup Marketing Basics: Measuring The Effectiveness Of Your Marketing
It does you no good to throw money at advertising if you have no way of measuring if it works.
Make sure you build into your campaign a way to track who is responding to your ads!
Here’s a list of ways to do it.
1. Print a coupon. Customer’s bring coupon into your shop – you know they saw your ad and responded. Track how much each of those visits made you.
2. Build a special URL – If you are web-savvy – you could do a subdomain – like Visit.HatcherMedia.net (It’s not real. Don’t bother. lol.)
You can track visitors – to see if your ad provokes a response. I did this for Open Arms Community Church with this special website we built or a campaign – http://www.secret.openarms.tv
3. Give a password –
This can work great for incoming phone campaigns – or even through the door point of sale customers.
The truth is – you need to come up with SOMETHING in your advertising that creates an opportunity for you to track it’s effectiveness. And if it doesn’t make back at LEAST what you spent on it – you need to consider whether it’s worth putting any more money into!
Tune in next week for Startup Marketing Basics: The Theory of Touches
To Give or to Get – Henry Ford #thinkbigthursday
#thinkbigthursday is our day to dream for something bigger than what we’ve got! So we’re gathering advice from people who have done more, gone farther, and we’re thinking big!
Pinterest Interests: What Marketers Need to Know via Social Media Examiner
Pinterest Interests: What Marketers Need to Know via Social Media Examiner
Pinterest can be a GREAT way to drive traffic to your website – if you use it right. The folks at Social Media Examiner have this great article with some tips and tricks. Check it out.
Businesses whose products or services don’t neatly fit into one of these categories have to do additional searching on Pinterest to find relevant pins to share with their followers and new boards to follow.
The answer is to follow interests, and the pins come to you.
Startup Marketing Basics: Which Marketing Should You Pay For?
It’s not easy to know where to invest your advertising budget when you are starting a business.
To be fair – I can’t tell you the best place without a good long conversation!
But I can give you some ideas that I’ve seen over the years. Hopefully they can apply to your situation!
1. CPC (Cost Per Click)
I recommend spending at least a minimal amount on CPC advertising – whether through Facebook or Google Adsense.
Usually Google Adsense has an introductory deal offering $50 or $75 free if you spend $25.
Grab it!
I’d encourage you to setup a facebook campaign with a minimum bid of $1 a day that promotes your posts – and if you can afford it, another $1 a day to get page likes. Maybe you can afford to run them all month long – maybe you do a week at a time when you can afford it!
2. Radio –
If you are going to spend money on Radio – I recommend one of two options:
News/Weather Sponsorship
or
Interstitials (when the DJ talks about your business during his shift – as through it’s a natural conversation)
Other than that – the truth is no one is listening to radio ads… unless they are EXTREMELY creative and well produced!
I also recommend paying for some slick production and/or a jingle!
3. Newspaper –
Newspaper INSERTS – that fall out when you open the paper are more effective than other ads. Splurge for full color printing on glossy stock! It will get noticed, and it will be make a difference.
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A WAY TO TRACK YOUR ADS!
Find out more about that next week when we talk about: Startup Marketing Basics: Measuring The Effectiveness Of Your Marketing