Small Business

21 Nov

Posted at 14:39h in Small Business, Social Media by
By Drew Hudson,  Grovo.com This is the first in a series of three blog posts from Drew. Great social media tricks and tips even for the more experienced social media communicators!  Of all the ways to promote your business, social media for many is by far the most nebulous. On top of trying to decide what social platforms to market your company on how can you tell whether your campaigns are successful?  At Grovo, an online learning platform that trains people on leading cloud apps, social media tools and Internet trends, we put together the top 10 tips that will help make your social efforts not only more manageable but also more streamlined.

1. Track the Performance of your Tweets

There are many ways to advertise your business, this way has 140 character restrictions. Twitter helps your business build an audience, broadcast your message and send followers to your site. Tracking your tweets' performance allows you to see how popular your tweets are over time, as well as get information about the people who follow you. To track tweet performance, go to ads.twitter.com and log in. The following video will give you a better understanding of using Twitter’s Analytics, to dive into your Timeline activity, followers influence, good and bad tweets, and more. 2. Host Your Tumblr Blog on Your Own Site A blog for a company can be an invaluable way to connect to your audience, learn about who they are, and start two-way conversations that humanize your brand. While it's easy to start a blog, there are tricks and tips that will help you optimize that blog for your business, drive SEO efforts, create shareable content that highlights your expertise and establish a voice for your company.When you set up a Tumblr blog, you are automatically assigned a Tumblr URL where your blog is hosted. If you'd prefer, you can host your Tumblr blog on a custom domain that you've purchased previously. On the Tumblr settings page, select the blog whose domain you wish to change and check off "Use a custom domain name." Below, type the URL for the domain where you want to host your Tumblr blog. Click "Test your domain" to verify that your settings are correct. Note that you will need to adjust the settings of your hosting provider before your blog appears on the site. Click "Save" below to preserve your changes. Note that this process may take a few days to complete. 3. Promote a Page Post with Facebook Ads

30 Jul

Posted at 09:34h in Small Business by
I'd rather work with millennialsI suppose it's rather trendy for people my age (I'm right on the cusp of Gen X and Baby Boomers, if you're being generous) to complain about the millennials, or GenY. In fact, I even promoted a book about that once.  They're narcissistic, they're not loyal, they can't grow up, they won't leave home blah blah blah. Frankly, that hasn't been my experience. Since I can't afford super "seasoned" workers I've worked mainly with this generation since I started my business. Many of my clients are in their thirties and I've had a few in their late twenties. Given the choice,  I actually would rather work with millennials. I'm not saying that I've done extensive studies, or that my comments here are anything but empirical observation. OR that I don't have some really fun people I work with who are in the 40's, 50's, 60's or even 70's. I even had a 92-year old client  who was a total blast. HOWEVER,   if you let me stretch the age range just a tiny bit further into the mid-thirties, I would say IN GENERAL these are my favorite people to work with. Here's why:

23 Apr

Posted at 12:50h in Integrated Marketing, Small Business, Social Media by

Mobile marketing is the latest trend in attracting more consumers to your products. People  are becoming more engaged in using  mobile devices in everything that they do from shopping, browsing for information, communicating with others and for entertainment purposes. There are unlimited things that you can do with mobile technology making it the best platform for marketing products and services.

Online marketers  invading the mobile platform in their marketing strategies. You can use mobile apps to build a brand and attract the consumer world using the mobile platform. But before you take a step in launching a mobile apps marketing, you need to know these 3 marketing strategies for mobile apps to reach your goals successfully.

03 Apr

Posted at 16:25h in Digital Marketing, Small Business by
When I ask someone about their target audience or client the first reaction is usually a blank stare.  Or they might answer "anyone 18-80!" in an enthusiastic bright tone. Unfortunately trying to market to "anyone 18-80" is nearly impossible. You really have to understand  the true sweet spot within your client base, particularly if you're starting on a content marketing campaign. What I've found is that with a little digging, most business owners really do know their client base pretty well. But they don't want to miss anyone who actually might buy something so they say "everyone". This is faulty logic because we can't market effectively to "everyone." Here are five way to help you identify your own client "sweet spot" without leaving anyone out: 

04 Mar

Posted at 07:50h in Integrated Marketing, Small Business by
If you run your own company, you may or may not be involved in the marketing duties. In some instances, company owners can afford to reach out and hire a marketing specialist to work onsite with them, while others take the option of having an outside firm that specializes in marketing do the job for them. Whichever way you determine to be best for your business, there are a number of factors that you should focus on, allowing you the best possibility of succeeding with your marketing needs. Don’t hit the panic button - First and foremost, you will find your business going through peaks and valleys during the course of the year, so never hit the panic button. You may get the urge to scale back your marketing budget when things are not going well, but that is likely the worst time to do that. While you’re toning down your marketing budget, your competition is likely going in the opposite direction. Reevaluate from time to time what’s working and what isn’t working, giving you the guidance necessary to move around money and efforts if need be. Remember, the day you stop marketing could be the prelude to the day you close your business. According to research from AWeber Communications, close to 70 percent of small businesses said they would be adding to their marketing budgets this year, with some 97 percent planning on doing no less than maintaining their present level directed towards marketing expenses. That being said, some well-known companies noted in the last year that they were scaling back their marketing over the next 12 months, with one even noting in hindsight, such a decision ended up costing his business customers and revenue. Those making headlines included:

27 Nov

Posted at 09:57h in SEO, Small Business by

Today, however, optimizers acknowledge the need for social media followers and creating articles with the sole purpose of SEO. On top of that, they must stay within the rules for Google Panda, Penguin and whatever else comes down the road.This is where many brands or...