The Mrs. Kravitz Effect

online brand monitoringIf you are a baby boomer like I am, you probably remember the 60s television show, Bewitched. Mrs. Kravitz was the busybody next-door neighbor of the sitcom’s main characters, Darren and Samantha Stevens. Mrs. Kravitz was extremely nosy; always peeking through the curtains to see what was going on at the Stevens’ home. If there was anything strange activity or unusual behavior, she knew about it (Samantha practiced witchcraft, so strange or unusual was an understatement.) The point is, she was extremely observant and clearly saw the goings-on where no one else did.

In today’s social media environment consumers have enormous control over what is said about your product or company.…

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7 Ways to More Effectively Use Twitter for Business

twitter for business tipsTwitter has not only received quite a bit of press in the past year, but it has also become an important tool for many trying to market their business, product or personal brand. Of course, people and businesses alike are doing this with a varying degree of success and some have a much better handle on the whole social media for marketing thing than others. Here are a few tips to improve your Twitter experience if you’re floundering or if you’re not seeing the results that you had hoped.

1. Read what your followers are saying. The point of social media is that it should be a two way street.…

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Making Every Penny Count with PPC

PPC advertising - every penny countsIn tough economic times, businesses are looking to cut corners and boost ROI in every way they can, and often the first thing to be cut is the marketing budget. The irony of such an approach is that marketing is necessary to achieve consistent sales and growth. Rather than completely cut marketing from your company’s budget, the smarter choice is to optimize your marketing strategy and calculate returns, and hiring a PPC management firm can help “¨you do just that.

The risks involved with traditional advertising

When you place a print ad in a newspaper or magazine, you are taking a risk.…

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Are Your Customers Satisfied? – Using Online Surveys Effectively

online customer surveysSmall businesses are famously agile and attuned to the wants and needs of their customers. But as they begin to grow, or as market conditions begin to change, staying on top of customer requirements can be a tricky feat. If relationships become too tenuous, an aggressive competitor will prey on those weaknesses and poach “at risk” customers.

Online surveys are an excellent tool for gauging customer satisfaction and identifying at risk customers, as well as for clarifying new trends in the marketplace and unearthing changes in the customer base. With the intelligence gathered from a strong survey program, you can modify your product or service based on real-time feedback, thereby improving satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability.…

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Social Media Strategy: Free Is Nice, But Is It Good For Your Business?

free social media marketingSocial networking technology has made it very easy for people to share their opinions, rate favorite products, and communicate with others. This activity is happening every day, everywhere, and for practically every product that exists. No matter how big or small your company is, if you have customers, you can bet they’re talking about your brand or product somewhere. So what are you doing to influence that conversation?

As a small business, you probably have limited budget and resources and you need to be sure any investment you make in social media is worthwhile. Does it make sense to pay for a branded online community or can free public social sites deliver the same benefits?…

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Juliet Was Wrong, Names Really Do Matter

choosing a domain nameNames matter … especially when it comes to your online business.

High atop her balcony, the love-struck Juliet laments her lover’s problematic surname, declaring, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” While technically she’s right, you wouldn’t want to put Juliet in charge of your online branding efforts.

In fact, when it comes to your online business, choosing a domain name is the first big step – and truly the most critical – in securing your brand and growing your business. So what separates the good, the bad, and the ugly? Let’s take a look.

Five Tips for Choosing the Right Domain Name

1.…

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Tips To Help The Small Business CEO Get PR

public relations marketingA small business owner constantly thinks about trying different forms of marketing to attract new customers. After all, especially in today’s economy, marketing can make all the difference giving you a leg up on the competition. Traditional marketing programs like brochures and direct mail or even social media marketing platforms like Twitter and Facebook can provide a sizeable competitive edge.

But another area of marketing that’s very popular right now is something that we all want for our business, although it can be very challenging to accomplish. Every small business CEO wants good public relations (PR) for his or her company.…

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Improving Email Marketing Through Segmentation

email marketing segmentationWith multiple organizations competing for customers’ attention these days, personalization isn’t just smart – it is absolutely necessary. After all, there is nothing more off-putting than being on the receiving end of a marketing email that shows no knowledge of your interests or who you are. True, creating different email messages for different groups is more work, but it’s worth the extra effort when your email messages resonate with your customers.

Every small business can segment their customer base to improve the relevance of their emails. For example:

* A restaurant can email a “˜Kids Eat Free on Tuesdays’ promotion to families who have visited in the past six months

* A sporting goods store can send one email to customers who have recently purchased a bike to let them know of a sale on bike racks and another message to customers who have purchased skis or snowboard equipment to tell them about an “˜End of the Season Winter Clothing Sale’

* A garden center can send out a “˜Planting for Spring’ promotion to home gardeners and another “˜Bulbs Available in Bulk’ promotion to professional landscapers.…

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Getting More Out of PPC Advertising: 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Landing Page Now

optimize landing pages for PPC advertisingSo you think you’re ready for PPC management? Fantastic. But before you throw the kitchen sink at it, make sure you are prepared to succeed.

If your company is showing signs of growth, one of the first things to evaluate is the quality of your landing page. While PPC advertising can do wonders for your business by boosting your online visibility, driving qualified traffic to your website, and reducing wasted advertising spending, bidding on keywords and placing text ads in the search engines are not the only steps. Before you go on the hunt for the perfect PPC management firm, make sure you are sending people to a landing page that gives them what they want and makes it easy for them to take action.…

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