Social media is a great way to blog marketing

This is a Guest post written by Amanda Thomas. If you would like to write for TechieMania, check our guest posting guidelines.

The internet has shaped our world in so many vast ways. In advertising alone, the web has allowed businesses to reach target audiences with only a click of the mouse.  Now interactive exchanges create ongoing productive dialogues with social groups that can serve to promote, shape and change today’s digital marketplace.  Social media marketing opens many doors when looking for a new avenue to reach consumers. In this type of marketing, bloggers strive to create the most engaging content to develop online conversations which can provide websites with additional exposure.  Here’s a look at some general  ideas for leveraging social media to help market your blog.

New Visitors : 
Getting more interest for your blog isn’t as simple as just creating various social media profiles, however. Social media marketing often requires a more active approach than just passively creating an account with a profile page and hoping that your audience will find you. Leveraging the various social media sites to find new visitors or to find yourself a few fellow bloggers that share the same topic are a good way to bring in more visitors to your blog. When it comes to social media site, using Twitter to gain “followers” is one strategy, though you can also use Facebook as another common medium, both of which are used throughout several different demographic lines. Depending on the type of blog you have, you may want to offer instructional media, which would either require photos or videos. Keep this in mind if you end up branching out with YouTube, Flickr or Picasa as you can use these sites to provide images of products and testimonials.

Repeat Customers: 
While you can reach out to new visitors with social media, you can also utilize these sites to help establish a rapport with your existing loyal visitors. Even if you have a very basic blog, allowing user generated content can help reward your visitors by allowing them to feel that their voices are being heard too. Social media sites can offer an even greater potential for user generated content as they often allow other users to provide feedback and even referrals that would have otherwise been overlooked. Having a lot of user generated content about your blog signals to Google that a lot of people are linking to your blog because of a buzz-worthy post, and therefore helps with search engine optimization. At the very least, user generated content will allow you access to feedback from your visitors who can provide a unique and personalized persepective about your blog.
 

Design: 
Your blog’s design is very important because not only can it make the difference of first impressions with your new visitors, it also serves to help make the navigation process easier as well. Make sure that your blog is easy to navigate and that any of the social media icons you may want to present are noticeable but not obnoxious. Though it is certainly commendable to find creative ways of incorporating an RSS feed icon or social media button like a Twitter bird into your site’s design, you want to make sure that it doesn’t go completely unnoticed.

Convenience: 
Another thing to keep in mind is that most of your site’s visitors will want to have some convenience when it comes to bookmarking your site so adding widgets to your blog such as Facebook “Like” buttons or Digg buttons will help make the bookmarking process easier and quicker. You don’t have to bombard your visitors with social bookmarking buttons, but having a few to the sites you use the most for marketing should be sufficient. Also, removing the hassle of extra steps can improve your blog’s usability. For instance, having YouTube videos on your blog posts for your visitors eliminates the extra step of going to another website, so it might be a good idea to imbed the video on your post as well as providing a link to it.
 

When to Ask for Help:
 If you are running a blog that has a considerable following, or maybe just has great potential but cannot seem to get the attention it needs, you may want to consider consulting an internet marketing company to help provide the extra social boost that you need. Although it may not show, many non-profit organizations and personal blogs take this approach, much the same as businesses do, because the increased traffic often results in greater revenue. Whether you’re trying to make money online through personal blogging or e-commerce, sometimes a little professional help is necessary to get the ball rolling.
Are you using Social Media Marketing for your blog? Do share your experience with us, here in the comments section.

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do you know. what is online business?

In this story a business founder discuss the business issues they faced and how they realized that to solve these they really needed to establish a true Online Business...

"Having started our business we looked at the market place and discovered that for our business we would need to invest in a number of software packages to support our bookkeeping and accounting, our customer relationship management (crm) and our employees in sharing calendars, projects etc. 

Most of the business software available was designed to run on a PC or Server within our private network with access limited to when we were in the office. We discovered to allow access to our mobile employees or home workers we needed a Virtual Private Network or "VPN". Although we had some IT expertise we really didn't want to have to set up a VPN as it seemed complicated and had the reputation of being unreliable and too slow."

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
"We had plans to allow our customers to access certain information on our network. We wanted to allow a few selected customers collaborate on the design stage for our next product releases. We also wanted to allow our customers to be able to log any issues on a Help Desk system. When we looked at the market for software we found that web based CRM systems mostly offered only internal features like contact management, lead tracking. We needed the ability for our web based CRM to give customers different privileges or access rights."

Accounting & Bookkeeping  
"Our Accountant used a software package that although was efficient for them was not at all user friendly for the average business person. We were given 2 options, either send all receipts and invoices directly to them or install and learn how to use this accounting software. In addition, the accountant was located some way from our office and this meant we could not easily discuss our finances without meeting our accountant. We wanted to be able to have private and secure online accounting where we could collaborate with our accountant on a conference call looking at the same numbers. We also employed a lady part-time to manage the bookkeeping, the lady had just had a baby and wanted to work from home, so again we needed a private and secure online accounting system. We also had established a small branch in another country and wanted to establish a multi-national company Cash Flow forecast, Profit&Loss and Balance Sheet. This global view would give the management team a view on the company's true financial position while still delivering to the needs of individual country accounting and tax regulations."

Remote Working for Employees 
"Over 50% of our employees needed to either work from home or are out of the office meeting with customers. We looked at using MS Outlook and MS Exchange as the way to share calendars, tasks and information between employees. Although this was effective, we wanted to manage our calendars so that we could record and bill time spent working on billable customer projects. This really highlighted the fact that we needed our business to be an online business."

A Real Online Business Solution!  
"When Microsoft released Sharepoint 2007 a web based collaborative technology, we realized we could really build a secure & private online business which would allow us to easily expand nationally or internationally. Our challenge was to ensure we built something end user friendly for our customers, suppliers and employees. We identified that to be end user friendly we would need to avoid the mistakes that many accounting software companies had made in trying to build a web based CRM from their accounting software. We also identified that if our employees would not use it the whole exercise would be a waste of time. So we designed this online business software firstly supporting our employees and customers and then our accountant! Today we have an online business which is able to grow as we grow, is flexible and utilises the popular MS Sharepoint technology platform. Between 2007-2009 we have refined this Sharepoint online business software platform and now released this, it's called FOX-SBA and it's now available for the benefit of businesses worldwide."
- Stephen Pye, Founder, On Quota International

The online business solutions below offer a variety of choice and will support delivering on your business needs. Typical examples include small businesses needing to offer employees remote working or an international business wanting to quickly establish a connected international remote office.

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notable differences business mindset

As I’ve been able to travel and meet marketers all over the U.S. and in other countries, I am always interested in learning how companies are viewing the value of their social media efforts.
 
Marketing investments should be predicated by more than chasing the competition, satisfying someone’s ego or acting solely on a gut feeling. A good handle on goals, resources and target audience help determine strategy and tactics as well as how outcomes are measured. This is the case with even the most fundamental of marketing programs. With that kind of basic framework, implementing and measuring value from social media shouldn’t be that different.
 
Because so much actual marketing is tactical, many companies see social media simply as another of those tactics and evaluate one-off promotional efforts for ROI without considering the bigger picture. It’s very much a situation of not seeing the forest for the trees.
Imagine this scenario:
 
A competitor’s YouTube video is getting significant play amongst the Twitterati, on industry blogs and even a few mentions by traditional media. The CEO sees this, asks the VP of Marketing where things are at with social media and the VP tasks the Marketing Director with creating a “viral” video.  The Marketing Manager engages an outside “social media expert” at an advertising agency to create a video that will show how edgy, clever and innovative the company is.
 
A YouTube channel is created, the video is uploaded and ads are purchased to drive traffic.  A SEO consultant is hired to help the video “go hot” and submits, votes, rates, reviews etc with their network to boost social sharing of the video with the hopes that there are enough social signals for the video to hit the home page of Digg, Delicious along with getting ample play on StumbleUpon, Reddit and maybe even a few prominent blogs.
 
The video gets shared, Tweeted, voted on and submitted, much to the satisfaction of the Marketing chain of command. The stats are reported to the CEO:  Video creation cost: $15k. Video advertising cost: $5k. SEO promotion: $5k. A total of $25k is spent on creation and promotion of the video.
 
The return?  12,000 views on YouTube, 100 comments (mostly positive), 320 Tweets/ReTweets, 40 Likes on Facebook, 115 saves on Delicious, 35 comments on the blog post that embedded the video plus 6,750 unique visitors. Also, mentions on 4 industry blogs, 105 inbound links to the blog post from other websites/blogs and mentions by 3 industry publications.
 
Was it a success?
Many large companies wouldn’t blink at a 25k investment for an online video that returned the stats above. Plus the video will continue to see visibility since it can be discovered by search indefinitely (as long as its online).
 
Instead of the simple math of calculating cost per views, comments, Tweets, Likes, links, visits, mentions etc, I think there are some important questions to consider:
•    What was the business goal for the video?
•    Did the video reach influencers of customers?
•    Did the video reach customers?
•    Did the video influence behaviors that could result in business outcomes?
•    How does the video fit within other social media communications?
•    Will there be more than just one video?
 
On one level, the video will be reported and accepted as a success because of gross reach. In fact, it is definitely a success in that way. On another level, it’s debatable whether the video connected the brand with customers – either directly or indirectly. How much impact can one business video have?
 
Rather than thinking whether the video promotion was a success or not, one might first consider what goal the company is trying to achieve (besides having a video more popular than the competition).
 
This is the type of scenario that often typifies companies evaluating the value of their social media efforts.  Some go so far as trying to measure direct lead generation as a result of a video promotion like the one above. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it seems that social media marketing efforts would be far more effective when goals, customer needs and a plan for making a meaningful connection are intentional vs. leaving it to chance.  There seems to be a lot of causation statements being made by social media marketing folks when at best, they’re talking about correlation.
 
Social media marketing has a lot of measurement issues to solve and at the same time, there’s an opportunity for marketers to take a step back and put their social media tactics in perspective and try to see where they fit in the whole.
 
Sometimes it seems a little too inconvenient for marketers (and their agencies or consultants) to do more than spike social proof numbers to create warm fuzzies in the C-Suite vs. actually influencing measurable business goals.   Maybe its the real-time nature of the social web and the expectation of quick results that creates the rush.
 
There’s always a place for testing, but I’d be curious to know how often companies and consultants are executing social media tactics as pure tests without audience insight or specific goals. Some companies can probably make due with a “make it up as you go” perspective, but who has the time to see if that works vs following a methodology?

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The Top 10 Ways to Earn Money at Home

The million-dollar question that confronts every would-be entrepreneur is: What kind of business can I start? Here are the top ten ways to earn huge income while working at home.

You do not have to read many success stories before you start wishing you could work for yourself. The opportunity to be your own boss and the potential for high income are enough to entice us to venture on our own.  But what can you do? What kind of business would you be suitable to start? We have compiled the top 10 ways to earn money at home, enough to be a full-time self-employed businessperson!
 

You do not have to read many success stories before you start wishing you could work for yourself. The opportunity to be your own boss and the potential for high income are enough to entice us to venture on our own.  But what can you do? What kind of business would you be suitable to start? We have compiled the top 10 ways to earn money at home, enough to be a full-time self-employed businessperson!
 

1. Antiques   
The buying and selling of antiques has been and should continue to be a very productive business, financially, for those that do it.  Here, you only need an extra room in the house, or the use of your garage -- and you have an office! 
 

If you have a large home that has some antique furnishings, you might consider turning it into a showroom for your antique acquisitions and sales, providing you satisfy  any local zoning regulations. The interest in antiques will survive into the foreseeable future.  Many people choose to spend their free time on the weekends "antiquating" from place to place to try and pick up a few odds or ends and maybe a jewel or two.  If you know anything about antiques, this may be a great opportunity for you.
 

2. Baking  
Have you ever been told that you have a recipe that people would line up to get if they could?  Ever had anyone tell you that you should be selling those cupcakes you make? 
 

There are a number of success stories about people who have launched successful businesses by cooking at home and then marketing to local people first. You may specialize in on just one well-tried and tested food product; or you may innovate on a product that you created yourself and which has never been marketed before. Having perfected the recipe you then turn to packaging and marketing. Word of mouth on a good product may start to get restaurants or bakeries interested in acquiring your culinary masterpieces.  Then you progress to selling them statewide and you're on your way to a profitable home-based business. 
 

3. Bed-and-Breakfast Proprietors  
Have you ever stayed in a bed and breakfast and thought, "Hey, I can do this!" You probably went on vacation and simply chalked your thought up as one of those pipedreams one gets when they stay in a beautiful spot.  
 

Don't toss that thought away!  While it's not easy work as the hours can be long and it's usually a seven days per week business, it's often something that you can work into a daily schedule.  After all, it's merely an extension of doing the housework for family, right? More and more Americans are taking after Europeans and opening their homes to travelers.  
 

If you have an extra room or two since the kids moved out, you can start a bed and breakfast in your own place! Bed and breakfast popularity will continue as more and more vacationers and business travelers seek a different accommodation away from the predictability of the average hotel room.  If they enjoy their stay, many become "repeat" customers, coming back to the same familiar surroundings time and again.  
 

If you don't need to do any major renovations in the house to accommodate this type of establishment, you can be off and running with very little money invested, other than advertising and some new "guest room supplies".  If your dream is to buy a bed and breakfast somewhere in a vacation paradise, there are probably houses for sale that will work for this purpose

4. Childcare  
Due to the financial pressures faced by many families today, parents work outside of the home to bring in enough income to pay daily living expenses.  A single parent is obviously working but all too often, both members of a two-parent family are in the workforce. This creates a home-based opportunity.  Children must be watched, all day if they're not in school, or, otherwise, for a brief time after school before the parents finish work for the day.  Most parents want their children immersed in a more stimulating environment than is usual with the average babysitter. You can begin small at home, offering a more stimulating and educational environment setting for client children.
 

Caring for one additional child may not be that lucrative, but taking care of several children can certainly be a full-time, financially successful business.  Often, taking care of several children is made somewhat easier as the youngsters often will play together. You can do this at home for only a small investment in basic equipment and toys for the kids in addition to the advertising of your business
 

5. Computer Specialist   
The advent of the computer age has changed the concept of self-employment.  Having a computer at home has opened a number of opportunities for running your own business utilizing this equipment.  Companies everywhere are "outsourcing" work that can be done by someone else on their computer, out of their own home.
 

If you are a whiz in computers, you may end up working as a consultant, writing programs for companies.  If you are a beginner, you may find yourself able to obtain work as a writer, using your computer to produce copy that is easy to edit.  You can also keep accounting and payroll records for companies on your computer's database.
 

Word processing software can be used not only for writers but for those that can offer secretarial services out of their house.  Desktop publishing software can allow you to do newsletters for businesses and other organizations. If you can operate a computer, you can find work in the information age today.
 

Of course, the advent of the Web has opened a lot of business opportunities for the enterprising individuals. If you have skills in lay-outing and graphic design, you can be a website designer. Website designers earn significant amounts of money nowadays

6. Gardening
If you like working in your garden each year , it's a definite possibility for home-based employment.  Imagine clearing a little more space and growing more items that you can sell directly to the consumer. You can produce vegetables, bedding plants, bonzai tree, exotic plants, flower trees, herb, house plants, landscaping plants, orchids and many more.
 

Most produce stands will buy from you if your product is one of high quality.  If you enjoy gardening, this could be your ticket!  If you have some more land to use, do it! Plant what you can, when you can!  Contact your local produce stands to ascertain their buying habits.
 

You can even inquire about your own produce stand if you have enough product.  The more space you have on your land, the more likely you will be able to generate enough crops to run the business. People love homegrown vegetables.  They just do not have the time or want to be bothered doing it themselves.  That is your open door!  
 

You can also engage in selling other gardening products and supplies such as compost, earthworms, herb boxes, beneficial bugs, or drip irrigation systems.

7. Importer and Distributor  
There are a substantial number of products manufactured in other countries that can be bought inexpensively and sold in your country at a profitable level.  The Government and the formation of international trade organizations have made it easier to bring in other products from other countries. 
 

This is a business easily operated out of the home, depending on the types of stock you're carrying.  You may have to rent some storage space, but the capital required to start should essentially be limited to the products you're buying to sell here.
If you know the type of product you want to import and the market most likely to purchase your goods, you have great potential for a successful home-based business

8. Interior Decorator  
Interior decorating is a business that will require you to be mobile, constantly meeting with customers.  It offers flexible hours, a good variety of activities, and a very lucrative return. If you have a fascination for decorating a home, this could be your line of work. Many people do not know where to start when they are remodeling or buying a house for the first time.  
If you have the knowledge of colors and patterns and what looks good together, plus the expertise of knowing where to get materials and furnishings, this can be a winning home-based business for you. To be able to decorate a room so that it conveys the mood that  the homeowner wishes will be your goal. Strive for the skillful, personal touch in all you design
 

9. Photographer  
The sky is the limit here!  Armed with your trusty camera and some good advertising, you can do weddings, models, family portraits, passports, student photos, local newspaper coverage; almost anything that requires a picture! 
 

You can easily start this work, part-time, and work into full-time work based on your success and inclination.  Not much equipment is necessary to get going as a camera off the store shelf can often do the trick today.  Picking up a tripod and having a room sufficient for developing your pictures, and you're in business -- at home!

10. Sewing and Alterations  
Many people love to sew.  If you are one of them, consider offering this service out of your home.  When someone buys a new outfit, it rarely fits perfectly, meaning some kind of alteration must be done.
 

People look long and hard to find reliable individuals to do their alterations.  If you can sew, you are well on your way to opening the doors of this type of business.

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Using Social Media Marketing Affected My Black Friday Sales

As many of you know I am the founder of Extreme Tan and Smoothies, an indoor tanning concept that has quickly grown to a chain of six tanning and sunless spray tanning salons. Every once in a while I jump on here and post information and announcements in regards to Extreme Tan and Smoothies as a way to offer insight to the small business owners and tanning salon owners that read my blog.

Yesterday marked the coming and going of Black Friday, the ultimate of ultimate of ultimate sales days of the year. Sorry, I had to get all fired up about it, the hype leading up to Black Friday is enough to drive some people mad, and the madness of Black Friday can spark tramplings and brawls or whatever else. Black Friday is the big day!
 
I know as I waited patiently for our Blackout Tanning event to arrive at 6pm I couldn’t help but wonder what this year would bring in regards to sales, foot traffic and whatever else. There’s no doubt in my mind that I was more anxious this year because we relied solely on social media to market and advertise our Black Friday event, shoe string advertising for small business owners.
 
Would focusing ONLY on social media and removing TV advertising, our crazy radio commercials and print ads be a costly mistake? Bottom line there wasn’t much I could do about it once Thursday came around, either we were going to have a great event or relying on social media would burn us.
 
Black Friday Blackout Tanning Event 2010 vs 2009
Leading Up to the Blackout Event
Without really knowing what to expect this year for the Blackout event I wondered if there would be lines in front of any of our locations, last year there were lines at all six locations with the exception of our St. Petersburg tanning salon which was somewhat new at the time. I know I expected big lines at our one “flagship” location, and had high hopes that all of the others would have some kind of line.
 
At 4:05pm I received a phone call from Kandrabanana, she’s been with Extreme for a while now and she’s worked a few Blackout events so she knows the game. Needless to say she called to let me know that a line had started to form in front of our North Clearwater tanning salon location. That was pretty sweet to hear, a line forming two hours before we open for our Blackout event.
 
Black Friday Line at Extreme Tan and Smoothies North Clearwater 2010
The good news about early arrivals continued to come in with news that a line had started to form at our Pinellas Park tanning salon and spray tan location, that news came around 4:45pm or so. It was also great news because our Pinellas Park tanning salons is one of our newly built locations in the heart of Pinellas Park, we look to continue growing aggressively in that area which makes this location key for us.
 
3 Major Black Friday Differences 2009 vs 2010
1. Private Label Tanning Lotion
We cary only our private label tanning lotion line which averages 50% less cost to the customer than the name brand lotions were were carrying last year at this time. We would need double the volume of product to even come close to making as much revenue as last year.
 
2. Social Media Marketing Only
As I mentioned earlier in this post we relied heavily on radio, print and TV advertising for our Blackout event and marketing campaigns leading up to Black Friday 2009. This year with a limited to ZERO marketing budget we relied solely on social media marketing. Social media marketing outlets included Twitter, Facebook Fan Page and others.
 
3. Reduced Product Line
Our private label tanning lotion line is still very new and in the development stage, I’ve mentioned in previous posts about private labeling that I would like to see our product reach a line of about 50 tanning lotions. Currently we stock 50% of the variety of tanning lotions that we stocked this time last year and we currently do not offer tanning lotion sample packets.
 
Extreme Tan and Smoothies Black Friday Results
I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t looking for a 10% increase over 2009 Blackout tanning event sales, especially with news that the lines started to form early. Even with lines forming early I knew that generating the same revenue as last year would be a serious challenge, a lot has changed since the last Black Friday event.
 
Blackout Event 2010 vs 2009 Sales
Sadly we missed the 10% I like to see in YTD sales growth, but the stores still had an excellent turn out and managed to generate an awesome 8% total sales increase over our 2009 Blackout tanning event.
 
It’s important to point out that our overall tanning bed tanner count was down by -12% and our new tanning bed customer count was also down by -52%. Please note that neither number represents spray tanning clients. I would attribute the decrease in new tanning bud customers to the lack of radio advertising, as for the amount of tans that we did I really don’t sweat that number as our Blackout event is notorious for our customers purchasing and not tanning that day.
 
Out the Door
What can I say? I’m humbled that people would stand in front of an Extreme Tan and Smoothies location for 5 minutes waiting for it to open, never mind hours. I am astatic that the stores put up good numbers even with the challenges mentioned above, the power of social media is amazing, but I would be silly not to respect and appreciate the value of mainstream marketing.
 
Special thanks to everyone that came out for our sixth Blackout tanning event and a very BIG HUGE MASSIVE thanks to everyone that helped get the stores ready for the event and those of you that worked the event. Kick ass job, thank you!

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holiday marketing

In the spirit of Oprah Winfrey’s favorite things and the twelve days of Christmas here’s a list of classic favorites for marketing during the holiday season.  Big business knows that Christmas is a big season for sales.  It’s the chance to get those finances in the black and clear out inventory for the next year.

It is no different for small businesses.  But true to the spirit of the season, the Holidays are a great time to connect on a deeper level with our customers.  You get the chance to leave them with a good feeling and good impression of the soul and the service of your company.  And that’s good for business!  So here’s our list:

CHRISTMAS CARDS 
JR Griggs, author of 10 Ways to Put Yourself Out of Business suggests that you “send out Christmas Cards instead of emails. People will hang a Christmas Card but they will not print and hang an email.” This way your business remains in front of your customer all season long.  As for that email, it’s discarded before the next business day.

HOLIDAY ATMOSPHERE 
Create a holiday atmosphere on and off-line.  For brick and mortar companies, consider playing Christmas music and giving away seasonal treats.  It sticks in your customers mind, and that’s the goal, to be the top thought for whatever the service or product that you provide. As for web based companies consider adding a little Christmas to the site.  You could spruce up your header or banner.  Or create a special Holiday page.  Use it to connect with customers.  Conduct Holiday themed surveys, promote Christmas discounts or any Seasonal newsworthy events on that page.
 

FUND-RAISING 
Yes, we are talking about marketing, so that we can raise our funds.  But in this case, let’s focus on the season and give something away first.  Cait DeStefano, owner of Cait’s Classic Designs uses fundraising to support a cause that she believes in.  This same action also promotes her business.  She says, “It puts my companies name out there for a good cause and brings me in sales and new customers. Right now I’m doing fundraisers for the MS Society and Philabundance. They already have a large marketing campaign in place and add my name to their lists of ways people can help out. I look at it as free marketing.”
 

BRANDED GIFTS 
Provide the giveaway item at the next party or local event, and make sure the gift items are tastefully branded with your company and contact information.  Barbara Wells, SVP, Staples Promotional Products, says that “according to the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), 52% of recipients do business with a company after receiving its promotional item.” I know it works for the cake ladies in my community.  They provide baked goods for our annual October youth event, and receive orders throughout the entire holiday season.
 

COUPONS 
“Coupons are a winning strategy holiday season or not,” says J.W. Arnold of PRDC, a public relations and marketing company based in Washington, DC.  “Times are still tough and while consumers will spend more during the holiday season, they are still very cost conscious and will jump on a coupon offer.” Make sure that it:
1.    promotes a product that clients will respond to, and
2.    is time sensitive in order to encourage a prompt purchase.
 

Most of these tips are classic, Christmas marketing tools (some of which can be used all year round).  Consider this your Holiday reminder.  And although we are already in the season, you can implement these quickly.  The best marketing plan is the one that you actually implement.

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Business online: 4 tips to make the customer stand

So much of our energy is spent trying to attract new customers. We want to increase brand awareness, make new connections and woo new customers into our stores. But we’ve all been told that keeping an old customer is cheaper than acquiring a new one. So what are you doing to make customers swoon once you’ve already attracted them? What are you doing to turn new customers into repeat and even lifelong customers?
 

Here are 4 tips to help you do just that.
1. Offer return shopping discounts.
One way to give people an incentive to keep shopping with you is to offer discounts to help get them back in the store. That may mean throwing a coupon in with their order or sending them a targeted mailing two weeks after their first purchase. Either way, the coupon gives them a reason to seek you out again and gives them something branded to hold on to and associate you with. Leaving customers with something tangible they can use helps to build your brand and keeps their experience with you fresh in their minds. If you’re going to use discount coupons as a way to target repeat customers, make sure the discount is sizable or unique enough that it will stand out from more generic offers. You need to give someone a reason to use the coupon. Otherwise it (and your brand) will get stuck in their junk drawer.
 

2. Start a mailing list.
One of my favorite ways to re-target people time and time again is via e-mail lists. E-mail lists give small business owners a more personal way to stay in touch with past customers. You can use your e-mail list to keep customers updated on what you’re up to, share personal business stories, and include information about promotions or special events to help people get back in the store. E-mail marketing is great from a customer retention standpoint, not only because it enables a business owner to include promotional information, but because it helps you develop a more intimate relationship with your customer. E-mail is personal. When you show up in the customer’s inbox, it’s a sign that the customer trusts you and your brand and that they want to further the relationship.
 

3. Offer exclusive discounts.
Another way to encourage repeat business is to offer special discounts to your best customers – whether that means your most profitable customers or the ones that have a history of being loyal. By showing that you recognize the value that they bring to your customers, you make them feel appreciated and encourage them to keep doing business with you. The exclusive offers you give them may include higher discounts, more attention in some way, or early access to sale prices. Make it something that sets them apart and lets them see how much you value their loyalty. Many business owners do this by creating a “private list” or branded “membership program” to help people feel acknowledged and valued.
 

4. Create a compelling experience. 
People buy based on brand, but they also buy based on experience. If you want people to come back and keep doing business with you, then you need to focus on the experience that you’re building with them. Some small business owners send handwritten notes to thank customers for making a purchase. Others include small gifts in their orders. Others focus on creating the best experience they can while someone is still in the store. As customers start to feel more and more empowered thanks to social media, I believe it’s this “experience factor” that will be most influential in whether or not customers choose to spend money with your company.
 

Those are some areas small business owners should focus on when trying to encourage repeat business from customers. What has been key for your business? What do you focus on?

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travel four strategic steps for doing business online

What makes your business unique ? 

And why should your customers buy from you instead of your competitors ?

In today’s point-and-click world of rapid fire technology, we have access to so much instant information at our fingertips. Online customers have more choices than ever and they’ve become incredibly fickle. They also have extremely short attention spans and they don’t like guess work.

(Stats show that on average, visitors spend less than 10 seconds on most websites they visit!)
You’ve already put in the time and effort to drive traffic to your website. So how do you keep your hard-earned visitors on your website once they get there?

The #1 best way to capture your visitor’s attention and encourage them to stick around and check out what you have to offer is with a blow-your-socks-off Unique Selling Proposition.
What’s a Unique Selling Proposition Anyway?
 

Also known as a “value proposition” or a “brand promise” in some circles, a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is basically marketing mumbo jumbo for a killer tagline that explains who you are, what you have to offer and what makes you different from your competitors.
 

And this tagline should ideally be on your website, business cards and all other marketing materials.
 

If you don’t have a clearly articulated USP for your business, don’t worry! Here are four simple steps to help you create one. (And if you do already have one, here’s a great opportunity to tweak it for maximum effect!)
 

Step #1: Cut the Fat & Describe the Basics
First, let’s whittle down a description of who you are, what you offer and what makes you different from your competitors into just a few simple lines.

(This information may seem obvious to you, but remember – your website visitors likely don’t know you from Adam! Take a moment here to really spell out what you are offering.)
Write or type a short response to each one of these four questions:
1) Your offer: What products or services are you offering?
2) Target market: Who are your products or services designed for?
3) Benefits: How will your products or services make their lives easier?
4) Unique factor: What do you offer that your competitors don’t?
 

Keep your answers short and simple (one sentence or less for each one) and avoid using any marketing shpeel that the average person may not understand.
 

Step #2: What Else Have You Got? Highlight It! 
Next, review the list of selling points below and add any that apply to your business to your list:
- Low price guarantee
- Satisfaction guarantee – money back, hassle-free returns
- Easy to use, fast to use (example: “just 3 steps” or “five minutes or less”)
- Shipping policy – same day shipping, free shipping
- Instant access to product (example: “instant download”)
- Your location (if you are a local business servicing a specific area)
- Fast, friendly customer support
- Celebrity endorsements, media mentions, industry awards
- A portion of sales are donated to a nonprofit or charity
 

Can you think of any additional selling points that apply to your business? Great! Add them to your list.
 

Step #3: Pull Out Your Top Five 
Look over your list and highlight the five points that you feel are the most compelling.
(If you offer anything unique that your competitors don’t (see question #4) or any kind of satisfaction guarantee, these are both HUGE selling points that you’ll definitely want to put into your top five.)
 

Now take your top five and start piecing them together in different combinations. Ideally each combination should contain a maximum of three points to make your USP easily digestible for your target market. Aim for between 5 and 8 combinations.
See which combinations really stand out to you in communicating what it is that you have to offer.
 

Step #4: Poll Your Friends & Family 
Consider creating a quick survey using a free tool like Survey Monkey (link to http://www.surveymonkey.com/), a very easy drag-and-drop tool that you can use to make your own multiple-choice surveys in just a few minutes. Cross my heart, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to use!
 

Enter your USP combinations into Survey Monkey and it will spit out a neat little link that you can then send to your friends and family through email or on Facebook or Twitter.
TIP: Anytime you forward anyone a link to a survey, be sure to include a note that tells them it’s a quick “five question survey” (insert your number of questions) that will take just a few minutes of their time. This way, you’ll ensure more people click on the link and respond.
 

Then, sit back and wait for the results! Your friends and family will tell you exactly which USP combination jumps out at them the best.
 

And if you have an existing list of customers in your email account, Twitter or Facebook, don’t be shy! Send the survey to them too.
 

Customers usually LOVE being asked for feedback. Plus, after they give it it often makes them feel like they have a personal stake in your business! And this increased loyalty makes them more receptive to any promotions you roll out in future.
 

When it comes to creating your USP, don’t get stuck in paralysis analysis. Keep in mind that even the most successful entrepreneurs are constantly refining and improving their USPs, so don’t get too stuck on aiming for absolute perfection. Choose your best combination, roll with it and aim to improve on it later.

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