Marketing

Many small business owners hope their YouTube videos will be the next viral sensations. Even if your video doesn’t achieve such great heights, YouTube remains a great low-cost way to publicize your business and increase your brand awareness. We’ve identified four steps that can help you achieve YouTube success.

1. Don’t deviate from your tried-and-true marketing messaging. Unless your video is the debut piece of a brand new marketing campaign, stick to marketing that works. That doesn’t mean you can’t experiment with humor, a story, or another device to show your business in a new light. But you should reinforce how your business solves customers’ key pain points with language they’ll encounter in your other marketing materials.

Fair warning: Tastes in humor vary. What you consider funny may be boring or offensive to others. When dabbling in comedy, make sure the script reflects a funny situation rather than relying on esoteric cultural references or irony for laughs. The latter two have a tendency to go over many viewers’ heads. (more…)

Everyone’s using Facebook these days to engage their customers, clients, members, and supporters. But how many businesses and organizations are actually getting results from all this activity?

The good news is that there are proven tactics that can help you get what you really want from your investment in Facebook marketing: More fans, more shares, and more business.

Here are four things to keep in mind:

1. Facebook users like to “Like” businesses and organizations on Facebook. Customers and prospects will Like your Page too if you ask them to — just give them a good reason to become a fan. Tell them why they should Like you, whether it be for access to an exclusive offer or download, or even just because you post some awesome and engaging content.

2. Getting more “Likes” and fans is only part of the story. It’s not about how many fans you have — it’s about the quality of the engagement with the fans you have. That’s what matters most. Sure, it’s great to have a large list size or fan base, but if no one is reading, commenting, or sharing your content, it doesn’t really matter. (more…)

There is increasing pressure for SMBs to have an online presence. After all, Facebook alone claims consumers spend 700 billion minutes per month on the site, and Twitter has reported 190 million tweets per a day. But what does that really mean for SMBs? How can you tell if being online is helping or hurting your brand?

While people worldwide use the Internet daily to get information and interact, there is no one right way for businesses to approach their online presence. One thing you can do as a small business owner is understand what’s being said about your businesses online.

From controlled information that you approve and publish, to user-generated information including customer reviews that can be true or untrue, it’s imperative that companies know how their brands are represented and perceived, digitally. Yet many small businesses avoid monitoring their online presence because it can be a time consuming, expensive and overwhelming endeavor.

Making it quick, easy and affordable (it’s free!) for small businesses to understand and manage their online presence is the promise of an exciting, new tool, Brandify. (more…)

Here at Constant Contact, we’re lucky to have many people who call themselves fans — both the Facebook kind and the offline kind.

But like any business or organization, we sometimes have, ahem, “opportunities for improvement.” At those times, we’re happy to hear feedback, even if it’s not the positive kind.

That’s because when your customers, clients, members, or supporters are unhappy, for whatever reason, it’s one of the best opportunities to show just how committed you are to keeping them happy. And, dealing with an unhappy customer successfully can often turn that detractor into an advocate.

What are the best ways to deal with negative feedback on your Facebook Page? Here are five tips: (more…)

Has this ever happened to you?

Someone comes in to your place of business, or attends an event you’re hosting, or makes a donation, or engages with you offline in some way, and then he or she leaves and you have no way of staying in touch. Same goes for all the people who may hear an advertisement for your business or organization on the radio, or see a print ad in the local newspaper.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could add people like this to your email list quickly and easily, and could put the power of joining the list literally right in the hands of your customers, clients, members, or supporters?

Well, it’s possible, and they don’t even need a computer. All these people need are their mobile phones.

That’s right: These days, with mobile technologies making things easier and more portable, people can sign up to join your email list in seconds, and all you have to do is some quick setup. (more…)