Quality communication marketing recommendations by Eden Gelt: Are your clients business professionals or are they casual customers? What social sites are you most comfortable on, what social sites do they frequent? Do you have a website and social channels set up yet? Regardless of platform, a multi-channel distribution strategy is key – you need to place your media where your customers and prospects are and often they are not all in the same place at the same time. If you have a website, start posting your videos there. One “About Us” video isn’t enough – regularly adding video to your website increases SEO and keeps your clients up to date on your offerings. You can create a page specifically for your videos, or place them on existing pages. See extra info at https://www.facebook.com/edangeltmarketing.
GMB gives you the opportunity to publish offers, events, services and your product line to your listing and maps. This lets you engage with your searching audience in almost real-time. These local posts give you the power to engage with your customers in real time. Importantly, local posts allow you to broadcast your specials or any time sensitive announcements that can benefit you and your customers such as a flash sale. Monitor your progress through “Insights” – analytics provided by GMB. The analyzing feature lets you know how customers found you, where they found you, who asked for directions and who called. This will give you valuable information on how to craft your local posts, where your customers are searching and how, which will help you with any digital marketing needs. Tracking how your business is reaching customers and potential customers is important because by analyzing this data it will give you the tools you need to maximize your reach by the data.
Stick to it: Identify your strategy, value and messaging at the get go. When you waiver and change your position frequently, you waste valuable dollars and lose trust with your target market. Get it right, right away. That’s not saying you can’t make small changes along the way or as you grow but know who you are and stay the course. Laser Focus: Identify who you are trying to reach. You can’t be everything to everyone or you will wind up being nothing to no one. Come to the market understanding not only who you are trying to reach but also what their needs are. Identify your target market and learn about them; research what they value, where they look for content, what their pain points are and how your service, product or business fulfills that need or eases the pain.
When starting out you will need to choose a social media platform to broadcast your content and this means knowing your audience and where to find them. For example, if your audience is interested in the beauty industry and loves to watch hair and make-up tutorials then maybe podcasting isn’t for you and it would be best to stick with Instagram or YouTube. Business guru and YouTuber Vanessa Lau advises not to get caught up in “shiny object syndrome”, trying to launch your brand across a multitude of platforms and waste time pitching to irrelevant audiences. Two or three platforms suitable to your brand is adequate to diversify your content but also guard against stretching yourself too thin by managing too many social media accounts at once. Read extra details at Edan Gelt.
I’m with you. If you’re like me, videos featuring you as the star can be uncomfortable to create and even watch. But you’re in luck, if you’re a business professional marketing to other business professionals you only need to provide 1-minute of content. B2B videos 1-minute or less perform best with 68% of your audience watching the entire video. Even if you’re a business that is marketing to consumers (B2C), keeping it short is the rule since 60% of watchers will tune you out or turn you off after the 2-minute mark. So now that we know we only need to generate video content of 60-seconds (give or take), let’s get started.
Enhanced Budget: Word-of-mouth marketing will increase your marketing budget, after all, your customers are doing your marketing for you! Have you ever seen a free Starbucks day online? It is picked up by the media, talked about amongst your target market and goes viral across social platforms. The buzz surrounding free can get millions of impressions for less than a paid ad. The goodwill created by delivering this experience will be tenfold.
So how do you use reciprocity to increase business? Service Business: Offer free advice and consultations. Lawyers can answer pertinent questions, realtors can provide a free staging appointment, medical professionals can offer a free assessment, a salon can offer a free bang trim, etc. Brick and Mortar Restaurants or Retail: Offer something to get people out of their door and into your store! A free small gift just for stopping in, a no purchase necessary gift card for dining, a free appetizer, or even a free experience. Recently, I received an offer from Gillette for a FREE Venus razor – titled “For Your Daughter.” That’s a $15 value, of course that made me get out of the house and go to the store, and we far outspent the value of the razor. Then there are free Slurpees at 711, Free Coffee Days at Starbucks and the list goes on.
Similar to traditional SEO for websites, Google uses bots to serve search results. It is important to include keywords like “Chicago Real Estate Attorney,” “Orland Park Real Estate attorney,” “5013C Attorney,” etc. to your business listing is key – especially since your direct business website will be listed within your GMB page. Use these in the business description and each time you post a Local Post to your audience. Posting photos to your GMB is extremely important – in fact, businesses that have photos receive 35% more click-throughs to their website than those without photos and 42% more requests for directions from Google Maps. Find additional details at Eden Gelt.
Another leading brand strategy during this pandemic, is the “Water Wipes” brand of baby products. They created a virtual group named “Early Days Club.” This group is designed to let parents interact with each other while sharing advice and tips. All while assisting each other while overcoming the challenges arising from raising a child during the pandemic. Many other brands are establishing similar communication approaches. Some online platforms offer free-for-all courses and restaurants publish their famous recipes for consumers to cook at home.
Entertainment venue? Share the experience. Make your client’s hearts race or minds open. Give them a first-hand glimpse of riding a water slide or snippets of an attraction, show or new game. Let them feel the excitement of your brand. During the pandemic guests may be cautious to return – show them what you’re doing to keep them safe. Consultant? Give out free tips and tricks, a how to guide or case studies – have you seen my Edan Gelt vlog yet? I not only recommend vlogging, I also practice it.