Here’s some Wednesday Wisdom for you!
“What helps people helps business.”
Leo Burnett
Remember – every business you are in is service. Your job is to serve your customers and clients well – and then they’ll spend more money.
It’s January. That means your marketing budget is (hopefully) refreshed, and you are ready to start 2014 with a new ferocity!
I’d like to encourage you to take the first few weeks of January to make a plan for the year!
3. Publicity Plan
Remember – advertising is what you (typically) pay for – but PUBLICITY is exposure that you get without paying for it.
Publicity works best if it’s done strategically. So as you look at you schedule and plan for 2014 – be thinking about what things you can leverage!
Here are some things that are newsworthy –
1. Hiring (particularly major hires, or hires of people in the public eye, or the creation of multiple positions)
2. Major organizational changes
3. Sports Team / Community Sponsorships
4. Volunteer / Community Service Projects
5. Charitable Donations
6. Opinions on newsworthy items
In the instance that your company is doing something that COULD get NEGATIVE press – lets say you know you’ll be laying off workers in several months – you can do your best to leverage that situation – use positive publicity as much as you can before and after the negative event – and in relation to those events that could create negative PR – try to be honest and helpful with whatever information you can make public. Remember – “No Comment” sounds like you don’t CARE about the public perception…. if you can’t comment on a situation – find a comment you CAN tell the public.
Just some things to think about! Let me know if I can help you out!
Here’s some Wednesday Wisdom for you!
Every person in every business needs to write – whether it’s copy for your website, or whether it’s a letter to a client.
Learn to do it well!“Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing!”
-Ben FranklinThis quote also makes sense when it comes to public relations – write a good press release AND do something worth writing about!
It’s January. That means your marketing budget is (hopefully) refreshed, and you are ready to start 2014 with a new ferocity!
I’d like to encourage you to take the first few weeks of January to make a plan for the year!
2. A Social Media Plan
Social Media works best when you apply STRATEGY.
Take some time to plan out your posts for 2014. The good news is – you can schedule all of your work on facebook – and if you want to use twitter – you can use a program like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck or Buffer to schedule your posts out in advance.
But before you start scheduling – take some time brainstorm.
Instagram has some viral tags that you can use for inspiration:
#selfiesunday
#mancrushmonday
#transformationtuesday
#womancrushwednesday
#throwbackthursday
#flashbackfriday
You can make your own tags – and then plan posts around your themes.
Good News: You don’t have to post the same things each week – but this could give you a starting place to come up with ideas.
Don’t let your plan get in the way of the natural organic stuff that happens on a day to day basis.
ie – just because you don’t have it scheduled, doesn’t mean you can’t post a picture with your customer who stopped by the shop in a rabbit costume….
Think about your budget for promoting posts! It may be worth throwing a few dollars in facebook ads to help your campaign garner a little extra support
Don’t forget events! It’s important to setup a facebook event to promote 3D (real life) events that will allow you to connect to your clients.
We could probably give you tips all day – but for now – let’s just do SOMETHING. Make a plan – and then make it happen!
Remember – failure to plan is planning to fail!
Here’s some Wednesday Wisdom for you!
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand your customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
Peter F. Drucker
It’s January. That means your marketing budget is (hopefully) refreshed, and you are ready to start 2014 with a new ferocity!
I’d like to encourage you to take the first few weeks of January to make a plan for the year!
1. A Blogging plan.
Believe it or not – it is possible to do all of your blogging for the YEAR in one day – though to make that happen, it may require a little extra time.
Start by looking at a calendar, and plan your blog posts to hit on Monday Mornings – as it’s the time that professionals say MOST BLOGS ARE READ.
And then – you need to come up with 10-12 ideas – and then break those ideas into four or five parts. Each of those five parts can be ONE blog post – and then take the time to write a couple paragraphs about each post. It won’t take long. Don’t over think your posts – you can keep it simple, and you don’t have to write more than just a few short paragraphs.
Try to think seasonally. You are writing in advance, so talking about the relevant holidays or events.
Your blog frequency is entirely up to you. You might choose to write weekly, daily, or monthly. But I’d say that weekly is best. That way, it’s not overwhelming, and it’s still frequent enough to build a relationship with your clients.
Once you’ve got your writing done, take the time to schedule your blog posts!
In this series, we’re going to look at some ways to get advertising, without spending one red cent. (or any other color for that matter.)
Note – nothing in life is truly free. I would never recommend that someone develop an advertising strategy without some kind of budget – but the point of this is to demonstrate that advertising does not always need to be expensive, and that you can trade TIME, ENERGY, and CREATIVITY for MONEY when it comes to communicating your message!
So – Part three of our series:
4. Gorilla (Guerrilla) Marketing
I’ve started and not finished a book on Gorilla Marketing – some day I’ll wrap it up – but my awesome clients have kept me very busy with work – so sometimes my OWN writing gets stuck on the shelf – like the saying about the hairdresser’s hair looking the worst….
but the idea of Guerrilla Marketing is that it’s an alternative and low cost way to get the word out – typically by replacing a big budget with a lot of creativity.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about it.
Guerrilla marketing is an advertisingstrategy in which low-cost unconventional means (graffiti, sticker bombing, flash mobs) are utilized, often in a localized fashion or large network of individual cells, to convey or promote a product or an idea. The term guerrilla marketing is easily traced to guerrilla warfare which utilizes atypical tactics to achieve a goal in a competitive and unforgiving environment.
Here’s a FANTASTIC article that gives you some Guerrilla Marketing ideas
Why not think outside the box?
Do you need some help coming up with some marketing strategies?
CONTACT ME TODAY – AND I’LL HELP YOU BUILD A MARKETING CAMPAIGN TO SHARE YOUR MESSAGE WITH YOUR TARGET!
[contact-form-7 id=”64″ title=”Contact form 1″]
or call: 814-636-0152
In this series, we’re going to look at some ways to get advertising, without spending one red cent. (or any other color for that matter.)
Note – nothing in life is truly free. I would never recommend that someone develop an advertising strategy without some kind of budget – but the point of this is to demonstrate that advertising does not always need to be expensive, and that you can trade TIME, ENERGY, and CREATIVITY for MONEY when it comes to communicating your message!
So – Part three of our series:
3. Publicity
Publicity is pretty simple, actually. It’s getting media attention that you didn’t pay for. The secret is learning to write a press release, and submitting it to all of your local media outlets.
There’s also an element of building a relationship with your local media – and to be honest, I plan on writing a book about the art of publicity in the future – but I’ll give you a few tips now.
A) Do something newsworthy. Chances are good – a LOT of what you do might already be newsworthy. If you have a fairly public type organization, a new staff person might be worth of a press release. If your company makes a charitable donation, or if you get your employees to volunteer to do some kind of community service – these things are worthy of a press release.
Don’t miss up on any opportunity to get news coverage.
B) Write your press release as though it is an article in the paper. If they don’t have to edit it – they’ll like it even more – but keep in mind – they MAY edit it. They may also NOT publish it. But keep submitting to your local news outlets (radio, tv, newspaper, local blogs, etc) anyway!
C) Follow up with a THANK YOU every time one of your press release gets published. It’s about the relationship. If the media LIKES you – they’ll publish future releases. Be a friend. It will come back to you.
Do you need some help coming up with some marketing strategies?
CONTACT ME TODAY – AND I’LL HELP YOU BUILD A MARKETING CAMPAIGN TO SHARE YOUR MESSAGE WITH YOUR TARGET!
[contact-form-7 id=”64″ title=”Contact form 1″]
or call: 814-636-0152
Here’s some Wednesday Wisdom for you!
“The AIM of marketing is to get customers to KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST you.”
-Unknown
In this series, we’re going to look at some ways to get advertising, without spending one red cent. (or any other color for that matter.)
Note – nothing in life is truly free. I would never recommend that someone develop an advertising strategy without some kind of budget – but the point of this is to demonstrate that advertising does not always need to be expensive, and that you can trade TIME, ENERGY, and CREATIVITY for MONEY when it comes to communicating your message!
So – Part two of our series:
2. Market to Existing Customers – Upsell – Re-engage – Word of Mouth
We talked in our Effective Advertising series about building a relationship.
This is where that comes into play.
Upsell – When someone is in your store or at your desk, or on the phone – train your sales staff to UPSELL. Make sure that no matter what you are offering – there’s always another product to offer. Make it easy to bundle in additional services or products. “Do you need a hammer to go with these nails today?” “Since you’re getting car insurance with us, are you interested in getting a quote for your homeowners insurance today as well?”
This advertising happens solely by asking one more question with every transaction. Cost – FREE.
Re-engage – If you have a company newsletter, or a call list – or some other way to follow up with and re-engage your previous/current customers – you’ll find what powers every successful business – repeat customers.
Word of Mouth – Want to build a good word of mouth campaign? Train your workers to encourage your customers to tell their friends. Also – if you make a customer happy – get a testimonial! Just ask them to write you a review on your social media page – or have them email you their thoughts – and then use that testimonial to get the word out! You can use these in your PAID advertising as well – but if you build into your system the idea that your services are good enough to tell others about – then you train your staff to encourage all of your customers to spread the word!
“Thanks for stopping in today! Tell your friends about us!”
Another good idea – encourage people to CHECK IN on facebook or another social media when they stop in.
If you want to spend a few dollars – you can look into a building a referral rewards program. My friend runs an insurance company. His referral program works well. He gives a small gift for each referral, and then enters them into a monthly and yearly drawing for bigger prizes. He sends his small gift with a thank you note – and reaps a fantastic amount of new business from referrals.
Do you need some help coming up with some marketing strategies?
CONTACT ME TODAY – AND I’LL HELP YOU BUILD A MARKETING CAMPAIGN TO SHARE YOUR MESSAGE WITH YOUR TARGET!
[contact-form-7 id=”64″ title=”Contact form 1″]
or call: 814-636-0152
