Lead Optimize Outsourced Marketing

How do you get someone to think your website is so important they bookmark it? Better yet, try becoming a saved TAB in their browser, automatically opening each time Firefox or IE is opened. That is an accomplishment.

1. Offer Free Samples and Giveaways

An excellent example of this technique is Wal-Mart’s site. They have developed a free sample page on their site where manufacturers offer free samples of their products. The four or five samples offered change regularly and cover a wide range of products from coffee to skin cream. People bookmark their site and check it like clockwork. Deal forums buzz about the latest additions to the page, and people talk about it on the Wal-Mart blog.

2. Take a Poll

Ask an interesting but simple question. People that are interested in the topic will come back later to view what the consensus is by other like-minded site readers. A good example of this is USA Today. After you select your vote an updated tally of all votes appears. People become fascinated by what others are thinking, and the anonymity gives the belief of honest answers.

3. Provide Fresh, Original Stuff to Read

By offering new content to readers, they will come back to read more about the topic of interest. Make sure it is well-written, and you may become a resource in the business.

4. Give a Chance to Win a Prize

Of course, the prize needs to be something that readers will value. Daytime television shows are excellent at promoting their website through contests and prizes. For example, Rachael Ray’s daytime show regularly gives the studio audience substantial prizes worth several hundred dollars, like digital cameras, for example. Her active website is cross-promoted after the TV giveaway is announced, and at-home viewers are encouraged to go online to complete an online contest entry form for the same prize.

5. Become a Directory Resource

Within your page, you can provide links to other related resource pages where visitors can go for additional, related information about the topic. Lists of links, called directories, are a great way to do this. Be sure to check the links regularly to make sure they are still functional, and continue to add new ones as you find sites that might be of interest to your readers.

6. Report the News First

In your specific business, you are probably one of the first to know about breaking news stories. Report them on your site, and you will become the industry news leader, where people interested in your field check back regularly. Sports sites typically do a good job of including a news section where readers can go to see the latest information on games, players, and stats.

Use All Available Resources and Try all of the Above

Social bookmarking is another new way to get people coming back for more. Darren Rowse has written an article entitled, “Social Bookmarking: Getting Your Blog Noticed”, where he details the major social bookmarking sites, and how to use them to your advantage. Something you can learn from Darren is that creating a valuable website or blog involves more than just writing. He is very honest about his efforts in the areas of getting out there and networking, learning, meeting, greeting, and doing. It takes a lot of hard work to create real value and value is what keeps people coming back.

Do all of the above to help you get there. Just one or two are a great start but you should experiment with each of them from time to time and use most of them on a regular basis.

The beginning of a new year is a time when people reflect on their personal and professional lives.  It is a time of goal setting and reflection. This makes the flip of a new year a wonderful opportunity for leveraging the high level of motivation to make notable change in your small business. 

Get SMART about Your Goals

As with any change, it is essential to first carefully plan your goals and objectives. Goals need to be S.M.A.R.T., which stands for:

• Specific. The goal must answer the six W’s: Who, What, Why, Where, When and Which.
• Measurable. The goal must answer: How much? How many? When is the goal reached?
• Attainable. Have a reasonable timeframe, detail a goal achievement plan.
• Realistic. Is your business willing and able to work toward the goal?
• Timely. Without the urgency of a deadline, the goal will probably not be achieved.

5 New Year’s Resolutions to Consider

This year, resolve to make changes in the way you do business that will improve the quality of your work, increase your profit, and make your company the best that it can be. While there are thousands of possible goals your can work on, these five can have the biggest impact on your small business. 

#1: Fix Profit Leaks

Nurture a mentality of finding ways to save the business money. Reward cost-savings and profit leak identifications. When you spend your time getting it right first, you avoid costly “do-overs.”

An example of a concrete plan used in the building industry, including a worksheet for calculating the cost of quality, can be found in this article by Ed Caldiera called “How to Fix the Profit Leaks in your Business.” 

#2: Create a Marketing Plan, and Stick To It

Make a plan to be more involved in learning about marketing for your business. Network with others in your business online and in person to find what is working for similar businesses in different markets.

#3: Pay Attention to Your Marketing Database

Many small businesses do not have one - gasp! Perhaps you do but it is so full of clutter, inaccuracies, duplicates, and incomplete profiles that it is useless. Clean it, start one, or do whatever you need to do to accurately capture your customers’ and prospects’ information. This invaluable tool is essential for small businesses today. 

#4: Make it Easier to Work

Make it a goal to look at the internal work processes of your business. Are you working the smartest way possible? Do a work-flow analysis of your small business and look for ways to trim processing times, and cut out unnecessary tasks. There are plenty of workplace activities that happen “because we’ve always done it that way.”

#5: Make it Easier for Prospects to Work with You

Track your customer and prospect comments, especially the negative ones, and make changes when feasible. Are people telling you that your phone system is a pain in the neck? Fix it! An hour or two spent correcting the phone system can save you hundreds of abandoned calls.  The same holds true for your company website. Do people say they cannot figure out where something is? Make changes to help customers buy from you!

New Year , New Opportunity

Small businesses need to constantly evaluate what is working and what is not. Begin the New Year with a plan that plots out a year of goals. Break down the goals using a simple system like the SMART method and design a plan you can stick with until your resolutions are achieved.

Want to brand yourself? Focus. Pick one thing great thing about yourself and focus on communicating it clearly.

Getting yourself branded into the minds of your market could be as simple as 1-2-3. It isn’t but it could be:

1. Determine the most valuable and differentiating benefit your company offers your target market.
2. Create one simple message that communicates your company’s value and difference to your customers.
3. Focus on communicating that message to your market constantly and with everything you do. After you communicated it, remind them again. Focus.

There! All done. Now you’re branded. Of course it is not as easy as 1-2-3 but those are very important steps and if you were only to pick one way, that might be the way to go. Focus on repeatedly clearly communicating your most valuable differentiating feature to your market.

The Importance of Branding

Two of the biggest intangible benefits branding creates are confidence and value. Branding helps potential customers feel confident that by purchasing your brand they are working with someone they can trust. They know your product will taste a certain way, drive a certain way, or even make people envy you in a certain way.

The value perception is also improved in successfully branded products. In an almost illogical way, customers perceive more value in products that have been effectively branded. Energizer brand batteries last longer, right? I really don’t know but there’s a little bunny that has been swinging a drumstick since forever and I think about him as my eyes switch from Energizer to the other pack, to and from, little bunny, to and from, every time I buy, er, Energizers.

The biggest tangible benefit of branding is bigger margins. Energizer batteries cost more. So do Diesel jeans, Cross pens, and branded cereals.

There a thousand ways to communicate your brand to your market. Use freebies, testimonials, postcards, celebrity message telemarketing, banner ads, or bumper stickers. Whatever you do make your message clear and focus on communicating it in everything you do.