Need Help Marketing? » lead generation

Using Online Video for Marketing

Need Help Marketing — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:17:07 +0000

Using Online Video for Marketing is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

One way to get more attention is through the power of online videos. Online videos are a great way to get your company more exposure and to get noticed. With the onset of sites such as YouTube, and Twitter, a video can be viewed by hundreds if not thousands of people in a very short period of time. Sometimes referred to as a “viral” video because people like it so much they share it with their friends.

Both consumers and small business owners go to online videos for three main reasons:

1) To find tutorials for learning new things
2) Product demos and reviews
3) To find answers to their questions

Source: Enterprise Council on Small Business

They may be looking for how to videos to help them along with a complex problem or they may be looking to view a product demo prior to spending the money on a new product for their company. It is always important to research any purchases prior to making them. Someone, somewhere will have done your research ahead of time, saving you the hassle of countless hours figuring out which product is best for you.

As YouTube has become a phenomenon around the globe, millions of people make, upload and view videos on a daily basis. YouTube has now surpassed corporate sites as the number 1 source of finding videos. And something you may not realize is that YouTube has become a sort of search engine overnight. If you need to find information on a topic there is likely a YouTube video that you can watch to learn more.

Uploading video to your company site is still important, but uploading your videos to YouTube is even more important. Make sure if you have are posting a video online that you use popular keywords that will ensure you get noticed within search results. Here is a list of some key pointers when using the power of video as part of your marketing.

A) Always keep your videos as short as possible !

People for the most part have short attention spans, if the video they are watching is not short and to the point they will lose interest quickly. Time is important and if your viewer feels as though watching your video is wasting their time, they are less likely to come back and view more videos by your company in the future.

B) Focus

Keeping your videos focused on your topic and reaching your point quickly will enable your viewer to feel that your video was informative and likely keep your company in mind for a future purchase. Just like in presentations the less information you convey in a short time the more people will remember. This is not the time to tell us everything about your product or service. Keep the viewer wanting more.

C) Using social media to your advantage

With the help of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc videos have a chance of going viral or at the very least attracting other’s attention. If your content is entertaining or light-hearted in the form of a short funny skit, informative demo or even a multi week webinar will keep your fans interested and coming back for more.

Possibly Related Posts:

Customer Acquisition – Hunting or Harvesting Leads

Need Help Marketing — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:30:02 +0000

Customer Acquisition – Hunting or Harvesting Leads is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Most small businesses go hunting to find that next new customer. Meaning that they put either a lot of energy, money or both into finding their next customer. When we say hunting we mean you are cold calling prospects, knocking on doors trying to find that one in ten opportunity that you are looking to land. In most cases, you won’t be sure if the person you talk to is even a potential buyer or not.

In general this is where marketing helps, there are those who can easily find new leads and those that have to work harder. If you are harvesting leads than you have your pickings and have probably spent your time working on your prospecting or lead generation strategies so new customers find you without you having to go out and look for them. Sometimes this technique is referred to as inbound marketing and involves producing distributable content. If you spend some time creating useful resources that are not overtly sales pitches, you can attract potential customers easily. In other words, they do not look like sponsored articles you have probably seen in magazines and newspapers, but instead provide useful information, such as benchmarks, market research, and even checklists.

If you put the time into creating these “satellites” people will find you and you will spend less time hunting for interested new customers.

Lets try to illustrate this concept using an example, let’s say I am looking to find a home inspector for my new home that I am considering. I will probably try to find information on local inspectors in my area. If I go to my favorite search engine and type in “home inspection checklist in california“., assuming I know nothing about inspecting a house I would probably be seeking out this information.

Now put yourself in the position of a home inspector in knowing that consumers are looking for information. Your satellite marketing could include a list of homes damaged due to local conditions such as drought, or heat, etc. You could provide guides on what to look for when walking through your house or even how to choose your inspector carefully.

At first glance these informational products might seem trivial, however, if you think about it people looking to buy and those who are close to making a purchase will be reading these types of resources. If you have written them in such a way to make your business sound legit and knowledgeable then you will have customers contacting you when they are ready to make the next step and will identify themselves as a new lead.

Things to Keep in Mind

Remember to ask how your new lead found you so you can focus your energy on effective resources
Try to maximize the usefulness of your resources. Think about who may want to distribute this information, such as real estate agents who already are a trusted source of information, etc.
Searching LinkedIn, forums and twitter conversations, you can usually find people looking for help or information.
Record where possible who you sent information to, or if they asked for a consult. You may not have thought of this as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) but it really is fundamental to continuing your conversation with a prospective new customer.
Videos travel fast on the internet, and also are shared frequently. If you can record a few videos 2 minutes or less in length on specific tips related to your industry you will have access to an estimated 100 M visitors per month on YouTube watching videos. You may not have realized there are a lot of educational related videos and tutorials on YouTube. All of these videos link directly back to you and establish yourself as an expert.

If you try to adopt this simple satellite marketing technique in your marketing more people will find you rather than trying to buy advertising in your local newspaper where new customer potential may be limited.

Image Credit: foxypar4 (via Flickr)

Possibly Related Posts:

Content Marketing is key for Small Business in 2010

Need Help Marketing — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:59:46 +0000

Content Marketing is key for Small Business in 2010 is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

According to a new survey conducted by Junta42, businesses are increasingly understanding the value of creating remarkable content. One of the key marketing themes predicted for 2010 will be centered around content marketing.

Most people think it is expensive to create content for their marketing program. But in fact it can actually be inexpensive to create if you can create it in-house instead. When you think about it the content could be as easy as putting together a presentation that you regularly take on sales calls and putting that content online. your content specific to your best value propositions. Then think about adding audio or video to your website. Even uploading your content to Slideshare.net is also a great help in getting more people to link to your website when they find the content useful.

Key Finding of the survey:

59% of the 259 marketers surveyed plan to increase their spending on content efforts, which compares to 56% in 2009 and 42% in 2008. This is an 11% increase in spending from 2008 to 2010.

So what does this mean for Small Business? Well if you look at the comparison of the use of content marketing spending between small businesses and larger sized businesses. According to the report, smaller companies are allocating 40% of their marketing budgets to content marketing, which is more than twice the amount of larger companies, who are allocating 18%.

Do you have content marketing in your plans for 2010? Discuss on Facebook

Image Source: Flickr – Danard Vincente

Possibly Related Posts:

How to collect email addresses on your Facebook Page

Need Help Marketing — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:33:03 +0000

How to collect email addresses on your Facebook Page is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Many businesses have started creating their own Facebook Fan pages to communicate with their customers and fans. However not everyone knows that you can also use your Fan page to collect valuable email addresses to contact your fans directly in their inbox. Adding a newsletter sign up form to your Facebook fan page only takes a few minutes but can be very effective in growing your email list.

If you are looking for more information on why your business needs a Facebook Page you can read our earlier post: Do you need a Facebook Fan Page for your business?

What you will need:

1) Facebook Fan Page
2) Email sign up form (Many online email marketing tools offer a built-in tool to create an HTML sign up form for your website)

How to add a Newsletter Signup form to your Facebook fan page

Step 1: Login to Facebook and go to your Fan Page
Step 2: Click on the “Ads and Pages” link in the footer toolbar of your Fan page
Step 3: Click on the “Pages” link, and then on “View Page”

Step 4: Add the “Static FBML” application to your page by click on the “Application” icon in the footer toolbar.
Then select “Browse More Applications”

Step 5: Search for “Static FBML“, and click on the icon for the application.
Looks like this:

Step 6: Click on the “Add to my Page”

Step 6: Configure your newly added application, by clicking on “Edit Page” on the left menu.

Step 7: Put your mouse cursor over the blue pencil icon, and click on “edit” under the Admin Options.

Step 8: Paste the HTML code for your sign up form. This was the second item from our what you will need checklist above.
On the Edit FBML screen paste your sign up for source code and then click “Save Changes“.

Step 9: Your Facebook Fan page should not contain a new Newsletter tab which when clicked will display your email sign up form.
If you do not see the Newsletter Signup form option click on the ‘+’ sign to see more tabs. Your page probably looks something like this:

http://www.benchmarkemail.com/blogs/detail/how-to-add-a-newsletter-signup-form-to-your-facebook-fan-page

Possibly Related Posts:

Should a New Business start Marketing?

Need Help Marketing — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:41:22 +0000

Should a New Business start Marketing? is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Depending on how new your business is, your time may be better spent on sales instead. What we are talking about is a new start-up company, who have very few clients/customers if any.

If this is the case you are in, then you should start pounding the pavement and trying your hand at sales. This is definitely the fastest way to gain new customers. Marketing is intended to keep your sales pipeline full of potential leads and new contacts. However the process can take longer to generate the right leads. And you as the business owner will probably have to do the in person sales yourself, at least in the beginning.

There are some interesting discussions on selling start-up ideas and products to early adopters. Even before the products or business exists, the real storytellers are the sales people that can get people excited about new ideas. Only you have the vision of what your new business is about and can satisfy the naysayers who are apprehensive of working with a new and unproven company or vendor.

You can read more at “Selling the Startup” for ideas on how to sell your new business to potential buyers.

The key take away is you need to create “Believers”, people who believe in what you are doing and want to help you succeed. Whether they are early investors, or existing contacts, colleagues or family and friends. In the beginning you need someone who will help you refine your sales pitch or provided early feedback on your product. And where they might use such a product or service.

Once you have your first couple of clients you will have material to start your marketing program. Including case studies, referrals, testimonials and the like.

After you sign your new client, or sell your first product. You will be ready to start marketing, and you will find a lot of marketing ideas on this site for marketing your newly opened business.

Possibly Related Posts:

Yahoo is launching a DIY AD System for Small Business

Need Help Marketing — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:57:59 +0000

Yahoo is launching a DIY AD System for Small Business is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Yahoo is now launching a new do it yourself (DIY) system for small businesses to self create and participate with online display ads. Most would probably refer to these as banner ads instead.

Yahoo already has a relationship with small businesses through their web hosting and online promotion services. However display ads traditionally required you to have copywriters, marketing folks, and graphic designers to put a campaign together. Now with the new Yahoo My Display Ads as they are calling it, you can now design online banner banners in a self serve capacity.

Demand for online display ads has been decreasing as budgets are getting tightened, but this may provide a new opportunity to expand into the small business space. Bringing pre-designed banner ad templates and an extensive offering of networked sites in which to display these ads. For those business with a a budget greater than $2500 you can also get access to assistance in setting up your program. But the real intention is to allow small businesses to get their feet wet in this kind of advertising.

You can read more about this announcement in the Yahoo press release here: Yahoo My Display Ads

A recent study conducted by comScore OPA found that 1 in 5 that saw display ads conducted a search for that brand and 1 in 3 visit that brand’s website. This study reaffirms that display ads can have an impact on getting brand awareness, and getting your business noticed.

Also keep in mind that these display ads will not be displayed along side the search engine results. But instead these banner ads, will display on the websites that Yahoo either owns or is affiliate with.

Possibly Related Posts:

Reserve your place in the Microsoft Bing Local Business Listing

Need Help Marketing — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:18:41 +0000

Reserve your place in the Microsoft Bing Local Business Listing is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Just last week Microsoft announced thier new search service called Bing. Not only that but they have also announced a massive advertising promotion to promote their new online search service. Microsoft appears so confident with this new search engine offering that they have even gone as far as referring to it as a search “decision” engine. That in itself is quite profound since most people would not associate using a search engine with making decisions beyond which search results look more interesting or relevant then others.

So what is so different about this new search engine?

The Bing site now offers more information right up front, instead of having to click on results to get more information and to find what you are looking for. How many times have you searched for a local business and had to click on the search results to find their contact details and decide on the retailer that specializes in the product you are looking for? Bing is different, searching for a business on Bing will actually display more information right up front. Including reviews, hours of operations, photos, average rating, average dollar amount if the listing is for a restaurant.

Here is an example of what your business might and could look like on Bing:

This new business listing and Bing “decision” engine as Microsoft is calling it; could make or break your business when it comes to local business search. If a prospective customer searches using Bing and sees results that have detailed information about that business they will stand out from their nearby businesses. And the first impression will already have been made in the mind of the buyer. We have already covered how important local business profiles are on search engines for getting found and improving foot traffic, in an earlier post about Searching for your local competition online.

So how do you get in on all the action?

Combined with both the current buzz and media attention being given to Bing, a lot of people will be evaluating the Bing search experience compared with their preferred search engine of choice. It is also important to keep in mind that recent reports are indicating that Bing website searches could very soon surpass Yahoo as the second most popular search engine after Google.

To get exposure and stand out from the rest of the crowd you should setup your business profile early. Head on over to the Bing Local Listing Center to update any business information already listed for your company or to add a new business listing.

Possibly Related Posts:

An interesting marketing spin on an old profession – Plumbing

Need Help Marketing — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:24:57 +0000

An interesting marketing spin on an old profession – Plumbing is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Company Name: Any Sewer or Drain Inc.
Website: http://www.a4995.com/

How are they branding their services?

Here is an interesting example of taking a regular everyday business profession and adding a spin to help get marketing exposure. Think about this for a moment though, how many people would stop to notice local plumber’s advertisements? Or even receive the attention of a local newspaper columnist for that matter. There just isn’t anything different about another local plumber. But that is where this example is definitely different and generates buzz because they are actually trying really hard to get noticed.

We couldn’t have found a better example to illustrate our last post on How to Create an Ad your Customers will actually Notice.

You could argue that if their drain was blocked and backed up that a consumer certainly would start looking for a plumber. Even down to the non-descriptive domain name of “a4995″. That is actually their offer price $49.95. They advertise that they will unclog any sewer or drain for just $49.95. Any Sew or Drain Inc definitely gets points for having a memorable domain name for their business website as well.

How are they using the technique of viral marketing to get noticed?

In order to get the word out and promote their offer they are using several viral marketing techniques.

Running contests to give away prize money
By running several contests they can generate website traffic and generate attention. Contest examples that are running on YouTube and generating submissions where everyone can vote for their favorite. Some of the contests they are running include a) picking a mascot b) picking a spokesperson c) picking the best jingle
Using a price promotion to undercut the competition
By using price promotion they are actually using word of mouth marketing as a tool to help promote their company. Using this technique will definitely start people talking and will help to generate even more viral interest in their offer. Based solely on the price and value they are offering.

How can you generate new marketing content on a low budget?

Use crowdsourcing to generate new content
Perhaps your business can not afford to hire a focus group to get feedback on what would work to market your business. Using crowdsourcing you can now extend the offer online to request assistance. In this example users are creating YouTube videos to submit ideas for commercials, a jingle and a spokesperson through the use of contests. What better way to generate new ideas and and advertising content? Let your customers or target audience generate the content and then vote on their favorites creating a competition to arrive at the best creativity.

If anyone has other creative examples for promoting through the use of viral marketing techniques, please do leave a comment below.

Possibly Related Posts:

How to get found in search engines for local business

Need Help Marketing — Thu, 21 May 2009 05:40:44 +0000

How to get found in search engines for local business is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

In an earlier post we talked about making sure you have a Google and Yahoo Business Profile setup. But what if you are trying to get your website noticed by search engines in your local area. There are a few things that will help with your organic search results and being associated with keywords that relate to your local area such as your city or town.

Add a location name to your Page Titles
Example “Seattle Taverns” could be your page title if that is what you are writing about on that page of your website. When the search results are displayed on a search engine readers are more likely to click on pages that have relevant local keywords in their titles.
Add your business listing to local business directories
We have all heard of advertising in the Yellow Pages for example. But there are also city based business directories that are very comprehensive as well. Continuing with our theme, I did a quick search and came across a website called Seattle at a Glance. And from looking at their website you can immediately tell that it is an established business directory. There are also other websites that try to aggregate helpful local city guides such as CitySquares for finding local businesses in your area.
Provide a lot of information about your business
The less questions a reader has to ask the better. Such as where are you located, what are you hours of operation and where do I find your phone number. But remember if you are listing along side other businesses say for Accounting. Just like in the Yellow Pages, you need to have something that helps you stand out. Do you offer free deliveries in certain areas, maybe a guarantee, or even an offer for mentioning that you saw them in such and such business directory. This way you know where your customers are finding you.
Link reputation is also key
Remember to use hyperlinks that match your page. So using the same example from #1 above. The page title would be “Seattle Taverns” and the link might be “seattle-taverns.html”. Using this technique will actually help to improve your relevancy as seen by the search engines spiders when they go to your website to index your content.

Also worth noting is monitoring your business reviews on other websites. We have probably all seen the new iPhone TV ads showing how easy it is to post online reviews of restaurants on Yelp for example. Yelp is a perfect example of the power of the internet is used to collect reviews on local restaurants for everyone to see. However you as a business owner want to make sure that any negative reviews are followed up on or disputed where appropriate. Doing so will show other readers that you are serious about your business and about customer service.

Possibly Related Posts:

Searching for your local competition online

Need Help Marketing — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:41:27 +0000

Searching for your local competition online is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

When was the last time you searched for a local business in your area on a search engine?

You as a business owner probably haven’t searched for your own profession though, because you have never been in need of that kind of help. If you really think about it, your customers go online to find local merchants, retailers, and trades people all the time. Probably even without thinking about it.

What we are talking about is local search engine marketing and what it can do for your business exposure and lead generation.

How about an example to help illustrate what we are talking about here. Go to Google Local Search or Yahoo Local, which are probably the two highest used search engines for searching locally. Now try to find your business listing. Do you have a sponsored link for your area for example? Do you see your competition across the street even.

By searching for “Boston Dental” in Google Local Search and I got the following listings (click on the images to enlarge):

: Google Business Listing

Next time I repeated the same search using Yahoo Local for “Dental in Boston” and I got the following listings (click on the images to enlarge):

: Yahoo Business Listing

In both examples New England Dental was displayed in the top spot. Now if I was living in Boston and looking for a new dentist this dental practice would definitely be top of my mind.

The lesson in this example is actually two-fold:

1) Make sure you commit to doing online advertising using local keywords such as town, city or county for your area.
Before your competitors pick up on this strategy to corner the local market.

2) Make sure you have a consistent business listings in both Google and Yahoo which was the case in the example above.
These business listings are free to setup but will help to promote your business locally and maybe even outside of your current advertising budget could reach.

Possibly Related Posts: