Online Business

Steps to Success: Marketing Your Business on a Budget

See the source imageGood news: You don’t need a huge marketing budget to promote your business. Why not? There are abundant opportunities to gain exposure through social media.

“Customer-ize” your marketing. Since social media is all about engagement, use social media platforms to learn about your customers, identify topics that matter to them, and engage with them rather than sell to them. Ask questions, solicit opinions, and find ways to strengthen connections. Get people talking about your product or service.

Platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest are essential platforms. For these and others, there are many low-cost/no-cost ways to reach out. Here are some from an article on bootstrap marketing in The Balance:

  • Blog: Start your own blog and/or comment on other related blogs.
  • Vlog: Upload videos to a branded YouTube channel or embed video on your website and share on social channels.
  • Post a podcast, webinar, or tutorial workshop, or host a real-time Q&A session.
  • Use Meetup to organize networking events with potential customers and demo or distribute samples of your products.

Spotting trends. These approaches can help you spot trends. Focus on what people are searching for online; keyword research is an easy way to identify hot topics, and there are free tools, such as the Google Keyword Planner and Soovle, for this. Getting to know, understand, and communicate with your customers is probably the most powerful marketing technique you can use. Best of all, when you do this through social media, the only real expenditure is your time.

By djgriffiths, ago

Success…one step at a time

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Which direction are you going?

It is often said that “every adversity has within it the seeds of an equivalent or greater benefit.” Whenever you are faced with a setback ask yourself what you could do to turn it around. Better still, ask yourself how you can benefit from the setback, which direction do you want to go. It may sound ridiculous, but you can benefit from a setback if you change your perspective. You will realize that there is nothing so bad you cannot use it for some good and that there is no situation that is totally hopeless. I have had many times when I have turned a “bad” situation into one that benefits me. It’s a matter of attitude.

By djgriffiths, ago

Don’t Be Fooled by These 5 Small Business Digital Marketing Myths

Image result for digital marketingThese days all the information you need to grow your business digitally is available on the Internet. That said, some of the information on the internet is full of marketing myths and will lead you astray.

If you want your business to grow to a new height, you need to give all of your attention to digital marketing. In order for your online business to succeed, you have to make sure that you are using a firm and reliable hosting platform. It is ideal to hire best digital marketing company for the promotion of your business.

In this article, we will see 5 digital marketing myths.

#1 Digital marketing is only for big businesses
This was true in the past. But nowadays, many things have changed. Technology has developed. It is now very easy for you as a small business owner to get your hands on software that is critical for business growth. If you have a strong online presence it is going to make your business grow. The number of people using social media and digital searching for online businesses continues to grow.

Your business website is just like your salesperson and receptionist. The bottom line here is that digital marketing is not just for big business, but small and medium-sized businesses can also benefit from it.

#2 Email marketing is spam
Clients, as well as business owners, are surprised after learning that email marketing is one of the most under rated marketing medium and but it is actually a great channel with high ROI. The truth is that email marketing is just like any other channel. If it is rightly used, it will command great effects for your business. Most people actually prefer email marketing for their businesses.

On the other hand, if it is misused, you will get very little output from it. Many business owners misuse it by spamming. This may give it a bad name, but it does not mean that is ineffective. A lot of small businesses have grown to new heights because they were able to make good use of their email marketing list.

#3 You need to be on every social media platform
There are many communities and demographics on the internet. Not all of the targeted groups are going to be interested in the goods you sell or the services your render. Targeting random groups and communities online is not the best way for increasing your customers. Rather, you should focus your attention only a handful of people who are actually interested in your products and services.

There are several ways through which you can get in touch with your targeted demographics. One of the most effective way to get in touch with the targeted audience is through various social media platforms that are available. The myth that you need to be on every social media platform is a complete sham because your targeted audiences are close to a few platforms.

Giving your complete attention to 2 or 3 social media platform is better than giving a fringe of your attention to all of them.

#4 Results are instant
Many people have the belief that if you work hard and do everything right, you are going to get instant results for your hard work. Well, the truth is that even if you have worked very hard on a campaign, you may not get the results of your hard work immediately. Most of the time, digital marketing yields good results in the long run. Digital marketing can be easily tracked. This, therefore, gives you an avenue to determine if a campaign is yielding good results or not.

#5 It is better to use duplicate content
Many websites and business owners believe that copying and posting content is okay. But what they don’t see is that each time they duplicate content, Google penalizes them. If you repeat your website content, Google is going to reduce your ranking, because you are not offering anything valuable.

The content on your website must resonate with your customer and provide them with valuable information that encourages them to work with you or purchase from you as a business. Great content means great benefits for your company.

Final note
When starting with your digital marketing journey, avoid the marketing myths by only hunting information from reputable sites or seek the help and advice of digital marketing agency that has your business’s best interests in mind.

By djgriffiths, ago

Tips for Managing A Home-Based Business

Running a business from home is a tricky thing because, on one hand, you have decided to work from home for the flexibility; while on the other hand, everyone (including you, sometimes) seems to think working from home means a vacation with a computer. Taking advantage of the flexibility of working at home does not mean that you must answer to everyone’s beck and call, or be distracted by each little thing. This is easy to say, but hard to do when you are in the moment. At the moment, if the phone rings and you must choose between finishing a business-related email or answering the phone, the phone may seem more pressing. In order to increase your productivity, it is important to run your business like a business, and not like a hobby that you do after rolling out of bed.

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First of all, do away with wearing pajamas to work. Whoever said that what you wear doesn’t matter is a lie. What you wear reflects the way you are feeling, to a large extent. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should wear a suit around your house – unless, of course, your clients are coming to your home office for appointments. It just means that, by wearing your pajamas and sweat pants all the time you will not feel as though you are really in the mood to put forward your most productive self. Shower in the morning, put on some clothes that do not have jumping sheep on them, and sit down at your desk feeling like a professional.

Next, think about the time you do your work as a schedule that you need to plan out. If you find that you are planning your work around doing everyone else’s dirty work, then you are not dedicating yourself to your job. Your schedule should include the time you get up, when you will start working, and when you will take your breaks. Make sure that the time scheduled for work is fairly uninterrupted. This may mean investing in a second phone line, and moving your home office away from the television or other parts of the house where you may be distracted.

Make sure that the people you are committed to understand that you are on a schedule. If someone calls to ask you out to a leisurely lunch, think first about whether or not you would be able to do this if you were working a regular job. Scheduling leisure time on schedule days off means that you are putting time and effort into your work, and this will be reflected in your income.

By djgriffiths, ago