How many of you guys have found it necessary to expand or change your target market?  This could be using social networking to farm for new clients, farming new areas, changing your focus to buyers when it has primarily been sellers. What are you doing differently and how is it working for you?Similar Posts:

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Alex Mandossian is in the business of making sure that entrepreneurs and businesspeople increase their productivity. One of his primary tools for doing such is Social Media. A tour of Mandossian’s Facebook site, Productivity Strategies, acts as an object lesson in how to harness the power of Social Media as he utilizes various features that the site offers.

Mandossian’s Wall

The Facebook Wall of Productivity Strategies includes discussion topics of interest to those who desire to increase their productivity with topics ranging from how one can be productive in their car to the intimidation factor of appearing on video in the Internet to the effectiveness of using “buy now” buttons in the middle of web copy. It may appear to be a hodgepodge but ultimately each topic is related to increasing your output.

Mandossian’s Video

Click on Productivity Strategies’ video button on Facebook and you’ll find around 100 short videos devoted to increasing productivity. It includes tips, strategies and discussions related to every aspect of increasing your output. These are tailored to be short with pieces ranging from about one-minute to five. The average video is two minutes long. Thus, those looking to learn something regarding productivity methods and strategies can do so quickly.

Mandossian’s Notes

The Notes section of the site is filled with helpful blog entries. Again, these are relatively short from 200 to 600 words. These pieces are focused and useful in that they contain techniques and tips that can be readily applied.

Mandossian’s Events and Welcome

These other two sections are a bit simpler but still effective. The Events section of Productivity Strategies is used to inform people about various types of seminars, discussions and other special happenings.  Click on the Welcome bar and you’ll be able to ask Mandossian an important question regarding productivity. This allows guests to instantly connect with Mandossian and, more importantly, for him to be able to email them. That means he’s captured another potential customer.

For Mandossian, increasing productivity means decreasing work and one major way to do that is to make sure you tap into Social Media and all of its bells and whistles. If you’re intimidated by sites like Facebook, Mandossian will have you singing a different tune soon.

Discover the secrets on how to increase productivity while working less. Visit http://www.alexmandossian.com/ for the newest productivity tips for entrepreneurs.

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Effective targeted marketing depends on researching, analyzing and predicting consumer behavior.  Marketers need to be able to figure what excites, motivates and empowers customers into making a purchasing decision.  Depending on the type of product, product life cycle, mass appeal potential, there are several reasons that will determine whether your prospect converts into a customer.

Successful marketers understand a customers needs and designs the type of products that meet those needs and then convinces the customer in a cogent manner that their product will solve their need or problem. The customer must perceive that it is the marketers product or brand that will be the solution to their need.

For example, the decision to buy your laptop or computer involves a number of decision making steps. The general mode is you start with a frame of reference. This frame of reference usually involves first determining what your requirements are then doing the basic research about available models that meets your requirements. You will search for reviews about the product and maybe consult with your friends or family about the decision.  The positive reviews from your research and your friends will influence you in your purchasing decision.

Facebook is an extremely powerful medium that plugs right into the purchasing decision.  Reseach has shown that much of the research that impacts the consumer purchasing decision occurs online. People utilize search engines to research products then use their social networks to float ideas with their friends. The internet has become a facilitator of consumer buying trends.

The fundamentals of the decision have basically remained the same. What has changed is that you have a global reference resource with the internet and the speed at which this information can be gathered.  Social networking sites especially Facebook are a testament to the internet as a global marketplace of consumer information.

Before the social media revolution much of our purchasing decisions involved primarily advertisment in newspapers, television and radio.  Marketing and advertising was mostly controlled and dominated by the large media outlets with the power to broadcast their ideas in a unilateral direction.  There were rarely any feedback loops the prospective buyer could go to and ask questions about a particular product.  These feedback loops were limited one to one conversations involving groups of people in a small circle.

Today, you can research a brand on Facebook and immediately tap into a plethora of conversations about a brand or product. These conversations often-times involve people who have already bought the product or are considering buying the product.  Postive or negative product reviews are posted for all to see. Facebook makes sure that these product reviews don’t occur behind closed doors, but, occur in a forum setting where discussions occur in an open and objective setting.

Brands that ignore social media reviews of their products will never understand what their current and potential customers think about their product.  Their brand image is broadcast loud and clear through Facebook conversations. If you think people’s opinions of your product don’t count, think again. Your Facebook reputation is a widely accepted fact, for better or worse.  Brands that stand out are those that are able to manage their reputation and involve themselves in the social media conversations of their products.  Positive branding involves a new and proactive approach than conventional media. It is paramount that brands ensure that their reputation remains positive on Facebook. Facebook retains each and every discussion and makes them available through their search option for anyone who is curious. With 500 million Facebook users this cannot be ignored. It is a critical part of any brand today that they are featured positively on Facebook. The growth of Facebook consultants with experience in managing brands across social networks is a testament to the power of Facebook and social media.Similar Posts:

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As a business owner, you can no longer ignore the role social media play in the survival of any business nowadays. You may think that Business to Business has nothing to do with social media; you will be surprised how vital the B2B Social Media is for your business’s success. In this article we share with you six easy steps to get started with your B2B social media networking and marketing, and we will leave it up to the results to prove to you the great advantages B2B Social Media holds for your business’s future.

Step 1: Understand What You Want B2B Social Media Marketing to Achieve for Your Business:

The golden rule when you are dealing with Social Media Marketing is to always remember that B2B Social Media is a means to an end. This is the key for ultimate B2B Social Media marketing success. If at any stage your social media marketing campaign is unable to identify what you are trying to accomplish, know that you are wasting your time. Therefore, begin your B2B social media marketing campaign by setting one or two clear goals and always have them clear in your mind and your guide throughout your campaign.

Step 2: Find Your B2B Social Media Audience:

To start gaining the benefits of B2B Social Media marketing you need to successfully reach your targeted audience. This starts by finding out where your customers spend their time online so that you could avoid wasting your time and effort working on the wrong social media. During this step you need to always remember that the most important element of successful B2B social media marketing is not identifying which tools to search, but to identify the right terms to work on.

Step 3: Develop a B2B Social Media Content Strategy:

Why is content strategy essential in B2B social media marketing? Developing a content strategy will help you identify what kind of information you need to reach your business’s goals. Content Strategy Development is all about understanding the type of information relevant and interesting from your targeted customers’ point of view and the best online communication methods to distribute this information to your targeted audience.

Step 4: Consider “Search” in your B2B Social Media:

Being search engine friendly in your B2B social media marketing is the best thing you can do for your marketing campaign. Regardless where your customers are talking, it is likely that most of them, are using “search” looking for solutions to their problems and to make their purchase decisions; so you need to be there when they do, providing them with what they need. Leverage the keywords most likely to be used by your targeted audience in your social media content and your corporate website.

Step 5: Establish a Digital Footprint for your B2B Social Media:

Day after day the web is becoming more like a digital form of the real world. In the real world the more you see something in more than one place; you end up curious about it and start digging it out. The same is true online, by including a link to and a description of your business; you will support your search engine marketing effort. So give your business’s online marketing campaign a good push by adding a link to a landing page in your B2B social media.

Step 6: Hold Yourself Accountable in the B2B Social Media:

Business is all about trust and reliability. Therefore, it is essential to prove that your business is accountable through your B2B Social Media. The best way to do so is by establishing a regular reporting and measurement process that could be done at the end of each month to prove your business’s progress. This will give your business along with your B2B social media creditability, which is translated into trust; and business is all about trust as we said earlier.Similar Posts:

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Media is chiefly the blend of digital words, sounds and pictures. They are bind together through internet and can be easily classified into various sectors like cultural, societal and financial. Social Media describes such type of communication which is done through internet. The main motto behind this was to relate people from far and near on the globe. There are many businessmen who use Social Media to connect to the customers. Many big companies have started implementing Social Media in order to boost their business. The companies can sustain their reputation in this manner. With the help of Social Media Marketing, even small businesses can reach global market. It has become very necessary as people are getting good results. We can easily depend on it to increase the sales. Facebook and Twitter are some of the websites which help to communicate socially online.

Social media marketing also help in developing contacts. They improve small business by being their low-cost marketing tools. The owners have to know how to make use of the strategies in online marketing. It would become easy to sell products and services by implementing the social media strategies. By following the given social media marketing methods, small businessmen and organization can flourish:

1. Communication:  Establishing good relationship with customers is good in case of Social Media for business. Various web tools like twitter and FaceBook can be used to create communities and interact with each other. The interaction improves with more blogs, audios and videos posted on sites which give more information about product and services. The customers can share their vision in this manner. Small business can attract more customers by using strong punch lines.

2. Collaboration:  Interaction is a powerful tool when it comes to business. It expresses the feelings of the consumers. With the help of social media sites customers can post what they feel about the business hence improving the collaboration between customer and the business. Collaboration between the business and consumer is very essential for marketing. And social media sites act as a wonderful medium for business to collaborate with their customers.

3. Entertainment: Social media is a wonderful form of entertainment as well. It is fun doing business with the help of internet. Things get done faster and business men are able to reach their targeted audience easily. Business can also thrive by getting new contracts through social media sites. Using YouTube Videos, podcasts, images are the best ways to get more audience.

Thus, to speed up sales in both big and small businesses, Social Media Marketing plays a very important role indirectly. The crucial thing about social media is that it should be applied using proper strategies.Similar Posts:

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So you want to sell your home, without going crazy? Hopefully this information will get an offer or two in your hand. To start, I am going to give realtors a plug here. I am a licensed Realtor, and builder in the State of Michigan. I would always recommend that you use a Realtor when selling your home. Without going into too much detail, here are a few good reasons to use a licensed realtor. You have thousands of real estate professionals trying to sell your home for you instead of one person. Due to their access to qualified buyers, you will probably net the same amount of money from your home (after commissions) but sell it much quicker. They have access to the MLS which is an invaluable tool when it comes to moving property. They are also aware of all of the disclosures, and legal issues involved with each one.

With that disclosure out of the way for this article, I am going to assume that you are taking on the task of selling by owner. Let me also preface this with a known fact. Houses don’t sell for one of two reasons or sometimes both. Either it’s priced wrong, or it’s not getting enough exposure. So let’s take care of first things first. Before you even think about marketing, you have to price your home at or below market value. The best way of doing this is not to walk down the street and grab a few brochures from your neighbors and price your house accordingly. Hypothetical pricing models do not determine market value. Homes that have actually sold determine market value. How can you find out that information? Simple, ask a realtor. Find a reputable realtor in the area. Tell them that what you are planning to do. Be upfront with them. Tell them that you are planning on selling the home yourself and that when that happens, you will come back to them to purchase your next home. Sign a buyer’s agent contract to put them at ease. They will quickly and happily give you a Brokers Price Opinion. The best part is that it will cost you nothing. The only one that pays real estate fees is the seller.

Now if you really want them to give you the honest market value of your home, don’t tell them the magic number that you have in your head for what you think your home is worth. They might be hesitant to give you an accurate price point so as not to offend you. Bring the realtor to the property, and give them the specs on it, such as age, bedrooms, baths and such. Then give them the ball, and let them run with it, and bring it back to you with a nice neat price tag on it.

Remember pesky reason number two why a house doesn’t sell? Not enough exposure. Now that you have the right price, let’s make sure that people are going to see that price. Let’s market your home. Where do we start?

1. Start with a sign. Make it simple. Announce that it is for sale, and put your number on it, and put out a brochure box with full colored brochures. By the way, if have a title company in mind that you would like to close with, call them up and let them know, and they will create, and print your brochures for pennies. Now this part is very important. We live in a fast paced society, where efficiency is a must. Buyers are internet savvy. 85% of them start looking for a house on the internet. So what do you need to do to capture those buyers?

2. Get your house on the internet. Create a single property website for your house. It will cost around $100. Make sure that when you have your professional yard sign made, remember to have the website printed on the sign. For example: http://www.1617NilesAve.com Usually these websites get weekly syndication. This will help you reach more buyers. Also, these type of websites usually have lead capture systems, so that you can track how many people have visited the site, and they can contact you hassle free through e-mail to ask questions or set up a showing.

3. Have open houses, and advertise it in the local newspaper. When you are putting your add together, make it short and to the point. List beds, baths, address, price, square feet, phone number, a photo and the website that you have created. Yes you will get a lot of nosy neighbors, but you will also get some genuine interest. Have one every 3 months or so. Make sure that when you advertise in the newspaper, that your home has an online presence as well. (on their website) That will also attract visitors to your personal property website. Sometimes you have to request it.

4. Put your home on Craigslist. It is the largest classified website in the world, and lots of buyers start looking there. And it’s free!

5. If you are part of a social networking site like facebook or my-space, make sure that all of your family and friends know that you are trying to sell. Most likely they will help spread the word. Post a link to your single property website.

That’s all there is to it. Follow these simple marketing techniques, and you will be one step closer to getting your home sold.

For any additional information, please refer to our marketing plan on our website: http://www.MichiganLakeHomes.net

Ryan D. Green is a licensed Real Estate agent in the State of Michigan. http://www.MichiganLakeHomes.net http://southwestmichiganrealestate.blogspot.com/

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_1906770_33.html

About the Author: Licensed Realtor/Builder in the State of Michigan dedicated to finding buyers the perfect home, and marketing sellers homes in the best way possible

http://www.michiganlakehomes.netSimilar Posts:

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Companies are continuously launching marketing campaigns in an effort to promote their brand and boost their sales. Some of these are highly successful – Carlsberg’s slogan and advertising of ‘probably the best lager in the world’ generates excellent brand awareness and reputation. This then contributes to increased sales and ultimately increased profits. However, many of these companies have large marketing and advertising budgets. What if your company can not afford these marketing initiatives? This is where Social media marketing comes in. Most social media marketing‘tools’are free to use and can provide the same amount of marketing exposure whether you are just starting out or are a giant conglomerate. This article explains how you can use social media marketing to increase sales at a relatively low cost.

Firstly, let’s just dispel the myth that social media marketing does not lead to a direct increase in sales. Here are some examples to prove this: Sony announced in February that through Twitter they had earned an extra £1million in sales, Dell announced in June last year that their presence on Twitter accounted for $3 million dollars increase in sales. You might argue that these are two big companies and they already have a brand reputation. However, other smaller companies have also experienced increased sales through social media marketing. John Fluevog Boots & Shoes Ltd, a small shoe making company in Canada, reported a 40% increase in sales in 2009, the same year it started social media marketing, this was not by chance.

So how can social media marketing contribute to increased sales for your company? Social media tools allow you access to millions of people. A television advert will reach the people watching at that time and allows for no interaction with the consumer. One tweet can reach millions of people. Sainsbury’s for example regularly tweet their latest offers. Anyone wanting to keep up with these can simply follow Sainsbury’s on Twitter. This gives a much bigger potential customer base and allows for sales to increase, whilst also creating brand awareness. Furthermore, people can respond to these tweets, which provides a forum for customer interaction and thus customer insight. Your business can emulate this, tweeting your promotions provides free advertising. If this is done creatively, it really can boost sales and get your company noticed.

Social media marketing works in a similar way to other forms of marketing; it is viral. A small company initially works on a word of mouth basis, people tell their friends. Social media, especially Twitter and Facebook, work with this ‘friend’ concept. People can give you positive reviews, recommend your product and tweet about your company. This whole social community allows your company’s name and brand to be viewed by a significant amount of people. Continuous use of social media over time creates brand awareness and thus helps to increase sales. One of our clients, PeachorLemon, a car review website, gained over one hundred followers on Twitter within a week. This is a hundred more people who know about promotions and offers, may tell their friends, visit the website or use other social media outlets to mention PeachorLemon. All this creates brand awareness and over time increased use of the website, thus increasing its value.

The effect social media can have on brand awareness is critical in the future of small businesses marketing strategy. Brand awareness is only one way in which sales are increased, there are many other important contributing factors. However, as this article has demonstrated, creating brand awareness through social media can have a huge impact on your business and revenues.

By Anthony O’Flynn http://www.ortegra.com/blog/836-using-social-media-to-increase-sales-and-brand-awareness.html

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Mobile phone advertising will soon become as critical to the small business owner’s marketing campaign as Internet marketing is now. More than five out of six households have at least one mobile phone, and recent studies have found that mobile advertising is 3-5 time more effective than online advertising.

Understanding how mobile advertising works can be confusing, however. The media tend to focus on how the big brands use mobile advertising, which may not be relevant to the small business owner. Below is a brief explanation of the two major types of phone ads available today.

SMS Advertising.

With SMS advertising, you, as a vendor, send text message advertisements to your prospects and customers who have requested to receive them from you. You ask them to text a special keyword that you have used in your other marketing efforts, and by doing so they “opt in” to your mobile advertising list. There are third party vendors that can manage your text message advertising campaigns; the cost can be paid either on an as you go basis or through special pre-paid packages.

Once a customer has opted into your mobile advertisements, you send phone ads to them through text messages (SMS). This form of mobile advertisement works especially well for sending coupons and limited time discounts. Markets that have found good success with this type of mobile advertising are retail, entertainment venues, and restaurants.

In Page Advertising.

You will find the other type of mobile advertising to be most comparable to Internet search engines. To explain, a potential customer will be interested in some form of product or service, and do a mobile search for the item on their phone. If what you offer through your mobile advertisement matches what the customer is looking for, your mobile ad will appear when they search.

Search engine databases are typically made up of merchants who are subscribers to the mobile search engine. There may be a per click charge, but most just charge a monthly fee, which is a great way to have an online mobile advertising presence while staying on a budget.

Whether you prefer SMS advertising or In Page advertising, there are affordable options available to you for mobile phone advertising.
Be sure to stop by SmallBusinessMobileAdvertising.com to find more resources about how small businesses can use mobile phone advertising to grow their business. Make sure to get your free mobile advertising trial (and mention the promo code “mobilenow” and receive double the credits during your free trial period).

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Social media, Web 2.0. Blogs, Wikis, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter etc are all terms now frequently used to describe communication vehicles for improving an organisation’s internal communication and employee engagement. The aim of these tools is to foster human connection by transforming employer- employee monologue to dialogue – that is, by providing an online communication venue which allows both the organisation and employees to be part of the conversation.

So is social media a nice ‘to have’ or a ‘must have’ for organisations? As the uptake of social media tools increases, so do the studies to identify or validate their value and usage as effective communication tools. According to a recent study by Watson Wyatt, “social media tools are helping employees actively participate in creating and sharing information”. IBM also recently published a research paper titled “Motivations for Social Networking at Work” which indicated employees were motivated to engage in social media for three reasons:

* Caring – connecting on a social level with colleagues
* Climbing – the use of the employee social network helping people advance their careers
* Campaigning – used to help gain support for ideas and projects

An Economist Intelligence report concluded that employee social networks will become pervasive… it is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’.

So where to do companies start? Our belief is that companies need to take small steps into the social media arena and identify tools that match their values and communication objectives. Basic ‘intranet 2.0′ tools such as internal wikis (a collaborative website which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it), blogs, and social network tools can be designed to help employees participate in company wide dialogue. This can result in:

* Faster distribution of information
* More effective communication to teams offsite
* More sharing of customer experience information
* Improved idea generation and promotion of innovative ideas
* Reduced office politics
* Improved company wide communication at all levels

From our experience, companies can utilise these tools to aid their company and employer branding initiatives. For example, success breeds success and social media provides an excellent medium for employees to collaborate on how the customer experience can be improved, or to share success stories on how the brand is lived and breathed throughout the organisation. Social media tools also provide a fast and furious way for employees to communicate when an organisation isn’t living up to its brand promises! So organisations beware… authenticity is the key.

The following video exemplifies how an organisation can integrate social media tools into their communication strategy. In the words of Best Buy, they are “getting set up for the next generation of employees” and have implemented some rather unique communication tools.

At the end of the day there needs to be a commercial tie back and for Best Buy it is using the insights, inputs and feedback to improve serving their customers and reinforcing their brand promise.

The Right Group’s core areas of expertise are brand strategy, research and people & culture. Our research services are often engaged as part of our work in brand strategy or can be commissioned separately. For more information, visit Branding Management.

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Copyright (c) 2010 Lindsay Dicks

Spring has sprung and closets everywhere are getting a seasonal cleaning, but closets aren?t the only place to de-clutter. No, I am not pointing out the mess in your guest room. I am talking about the chaos on your website.

When you built your website, I am sure you had great intentions of staying on top of it. But unless you hired an online marketing agency to watch over your site, like your closet, over time your website probably took backseat to running your business. While it is understandable, it isn?t good. Your website is your digital connection to the world; you have to keep it in good working order. So, let?s shake out the cobwebs and clear out the clutter.

1) Check links. There is nothing more annoying then visiting a website and finding broken or misdirected links. It flat-out looks like you don?t care. Click on every link on your site and make sure it takes you where it should.

2) Check contact info. Is your contact info readily available on EVERY page? You never know when someone is going to decide they have seen enough and they are ready to contact you to sign up, don?t make them search for your contact info, put it everywhere. (And, of course, make sure the info is correct.)

3) Make sure your services are up-to-date. If you list services on your site make sure they are current. I can?t tell you how many times I have inquired about a service listed on a website only to find out that service is no longer offered. If you don?t offer it, remove it. Got new stuff, add it.

4) Check your prices. If you list the price of those services, make sure your rates are current. There is nothing worse then someone finding a cheaper price on your website only to be told they are looking at an old rate list.

5) Add your social media links. Do you Tweet? Do you have a Fan Page? Tell people about it. Include social media icons with links to encourage visitors to stay in touch with you. (Tip from a social media agency, if you still haven?t gotten into the social media scene, get there.)

6) Got news? How old is the ?current? news on your site? More than six months? Surely something has happened in the past few months that?s worth sharing. (If there really is nothing newsworthy, maybe you need to do something! Not sure what to do, hire an online marketing agency to help.)

We know it?s hard to stay on top of everything you do for your business, so give your website a good spring cleaning and get it back to where it needs to be to make you money. After that, if you are still concerned that you aren?t able to keep up with it, consider consulting with a social media agency to help you stay on top of your digital presence. Don?t let you site go another year before you check to make sure everything is ship-shape.

——

Lindsay Dicks helps her clients tell their stories in the online world using social media powered websites and multi-channel marketing tools.  Lindsay is a graduate of the University of Florida with a Bachelors Degree in Marketing. She is the CEO of CelebritySites?, an online marketing company specializing in social media and online personal branding. http://www.CelebritySites.com

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_1512568_3.html

About the Author: Lindsay Dicks helps her clients tell their stories in the online world using social media powered websites and multi-channel marketing tools. Being brought up around a family of marketers, but a product of Generation Y, Lindsay naturally gravitated to the new world of online marketing. Lindsay began freelance writing in 2000 and soon after launched her own PR firm that thrived by offering an in-your-face “Guaranteed PR” that was one of the first of its type in the nation.

Lindsay’s new media career is centered on her philosophy that “people buy people.” Her goal is to help her clients build a relationship with their prospects and customers. Once that relationship is built and they learn to trust them as the expert in their field then they will do business with them. Using Social Media and Search Engine Optimization, Lindsay takes that concept and builds upon it by working with her clients to create online “buzz” about them to convey their business and personal story. Lindsay’s clientele span the entire business map and range from doctors and small business owners to Inc 500 CEOs.

Lindsay is a graduate of the University of Florida with a Bachelors Degree in Marketing. She is the CEO of CelebritySites™, an online marketing company specializing in social media and online personal branding. “The biggest mistake people make online is believing that their website is just an extension of their business cards and brochures. That approach is not only old fashion; today it’s a waste of time and money. Your website has to be dynamic, grab attention, tell a compelling story and ultimately convert visitors into prospects and finally into customers. If not, that traffic that you’ve worked so hard to get to your website will move on within 10 seconds, never to be seen again. We help our clients avoid that pitfall to grow their business and their revenue streams.”

Lindsay is co-author of the best-selling books, “Big Ideas for Your Business” and “Shift Happens.” She was also selected as one of America’s PremierExperts™ and has been quoted in Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, as well as featured on NBC, ABC, FOX and CBS television affiliates speaking on social media, search engine optimization and making more money online.Similar Posts:

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