In the information age you need to be fast, agile, and willing to change to survive. There are more middle aged overqualified workers looking for work now than ever. As technology and the efficient ways to market tend to evolve those left with the old mantras of how to do things are being left to die with the rest of the dinosaurs.
While this is happening, there are social media marketers and young whiz kids who are able to make millions of dollars in a year. These young kids are also showing the olden guys that they need to learn new tricks in order to survive in a digital world.
So the million dollar question that all the e-junkies want to know is what can small businesses do to survive both online these days? Well the obvious answer used to be a very aggressive and strong search engine optimization campaign but as many business owners are now finding out, you need to diversify even in your advertising efforts.
Here are the top advertising efforts online and how they are beneficial:
Google Image Advertising – Not the cost per click structure but rather the display image ads that you end up seeing based on your previous search results. For example if you are researching lawyers in California and then head over to the New York Times to read an article odds are pretty likely that you will end up seeing a digital ad for a lawyer in your area. These advertisements work great because they deliver more impressions than other targeted advertising (often in the few hundred thousand a week), and you only get charged when somebody clicks on these ads.
Getting Social – In today’s world find a commercial that doesn’t say join our facebook page or follow us on Twitter. This is reminiscent of when the commercials used to say AOL keyword time warner (remember that?) So by creating a facebook fan page and twitter account you can essentially deliver messages to your audience at your discretion without being too intrusive. If you own a retail or service based business providing coupons and discounts to everybody who follows or likes your page is a huge benefit because you can reach them at lightning speed.
Aggressive but Friendly Email Campaigns – Tying in with connecting with your customers E-mail marketing campaigns through companies like mail chimp, aweber, or your mailing list provider are essential. You need to make sure to capture your clients and potential clients email whether it’s in the store or at your website. Make an opt in box for discounts and sales that is flashing on your website. This is one of those tips you learn from the likes of Frank Kern. Once you have their email it’s bombs away at least twice a month with offers that are compelling discounted and worthwhile to your customers. If you have a tire shop than offer them 5% off on new tires for 48 hours only. You’ll be pleased with how many new clients you can pick up. The key here however is to always follow up and over deliver to please new customers so that they come back.
Compelling and Informative Information On your Website – My dear friend Matt Cutts can’t say it enough. If you show that you’re company is knowledgeable and informative in your specialty than you should not have any problems bringing in new business. Think of it like this if you write one article a day and that attracts 10 visitors a month over the basis of two years you will have developed a nice following and a list of followers. Make sure on your website you add a way for your visitors to join your facebook fan page, follow you on twitter, and of course a way to capture their email.
Protect Your Brand Through Reputation Management – As Bloomberg Business week recently detailed this is a very growing field. The old dogs are failing to keep up with the idea that what the search engines say about you goes. However, in todays world it’s the situation and you need to protect your brand name online so you don’t lose any business that you work so hard to obtain. Companies like Profile Defenders specialize in getting rid of unwanted information that appears on the world wide web about you.
Hope these tips can be used and applied to help you grow your business online so that you aren’t left behind.
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