Having an attention-getting sign is critical for your local businesses – no matter the industry.  Your business signage identifies your business and location and it establishes your business image. Your business signage is the core of your brand identity strategy, whether it is proudly mounted on the building, on your booth or display at a trade show, or on your company vehicles.

It’s also the most cost-effective advertising you can do.  The Small Business Administration says, “…signs are the most effective, yet least expensive form of advertising for the small business.”  Building signage is often taken for granted, but signs are always on the job, advertising 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

How Improved Business Signage Will Help You Brand Your Company, Communicate with a Highly-Mobile Society & Leverage Your Advertising Efforts

1        Your business signage is the only indicator that you exist and would like your prospect’s patronage.   

2        A frequently-noticed business sign sends your message to more people per dollar invested than any other form of advertising.  For example, if you display a $200 sign for one year at a location where 10,000 cars pass every day, you’ve reached over 3.5 million people (not counting passengers), at a cost per person of less than $.000057. (Less than six hundred-thousandths of a dollar.)  Even a high-end, lighted or monument sign that costs $5000, still reaches those people at a cost of $.0014, or a little over a tenth of a cent each.

3        95% of retail business is location-based.  As consumers pass by your place of business, an attractive and effective on-premise sign will leave a positive impression. When the time comes to make a decision or purchase, consumers will be attracted to you.

4         About 40 million Americans move annually to a new home, all needing to buy goods and services, and looking for brands that stand out.

5        Enhanced sign technology allows sign faces to be easily changed to match evolving marketing circumstances.  New developments in lighting, plastics, digital printing resolution, and color profiling mean signs can now achieve the same visual effect as four-color magazine advertising.

6        Your company does not need to be a national franchise with a major advertising budget to “brand” your site with effective signage.  If appropriately designed and placed, your sign can develop top-of-mind awareness of your products and services, no matter the size of your business.

7        Many communities and cities have strict sign codes requiring that signage remains attractive and in harmony with the look and feel of the community, while encouraging business activities.  Advances in sign design and technology means that via signage, your company can communicate more effectively to potential customers in a way that enhances both your site and the community at large.

8        Purchase habits can be influenced with effective signage.  Pricing or product information can influence a purchase decision or prompt an unplanned stop, which is critical, since nearly all businesses rely in part on impulse visits.

9        A well-designed sign can provide a positive perception of quality and service and create the image of a leader, even for the smaller business.  For the national franchise or chain, on-premise signage reinforces all other media advertising, and maximizes advertising effectiveness at a low cost.

10    By adding your business signage to your car and “wrapping” your company vehicles with striking vinyl, you can generate over 600 visual impressions for every mile driven  At about $0.35 per thousand impressions for a typical vehicle wrap, the cost is almost trivial compared to $3.56 for outdoor advertising or over $20.00 for typical magazine advertising. 

About the Author: Orange County Business Signs Specialist Martin Neil contributes value to businesses and non-profit organizations across the United States by increasing their brand awareness with the very best sign solutions. He specializes in custom requirements for commercial building signage, vehicle wraps, office inside signage, trade show displays, promotional banners & flags, and large-size wall graphics. Improve your business signage by going to: http://www.Calibersi.com/Building-Signage.html

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You’ve heard all the stats and read all the news: smartphones are a big deal, right?  But with all that noise out there, how can a small business owner actually get customers and make money from those smartphone junkies?  Here are seven tips, tricks and techniques to help any small business owner go mobile without busting the bank.

1.  Claim Your Business and Your Location

With smartphones, a consumer searching for a hardware store will automatically be shown the nearest hardware stores relative to their device’s GPS signal.  That means you want to be sure your physical facility shows up (even if your office is just the location for people to call).

So what can you do to be “found?”  It’s pretty simple really – just be sure that you visit each site such as Yelp, Bing, Yahoo Local, Google Places, Foursquare, and Facebook and “claim” your business and its location. 

Cost: Free

2. Mobilize Your Website

Mobile searches have grown 400 percent since 2010, according to Google.  And when they find you on their phone – consumers visit (59%) or they call you (61%). 

So, be sure you can be found.  This means making sure the website you initially launched back in 2000 is accessible by mobile phones, or “mobile-optimized.”  There are a number of new and reasonably priced tools to help make your site mobile-optimized.  But, before you plunk down any money, check out Google’s “GoMo” site that has a testing tool and resources to help businesses with their websites. 

Cost: Free (depending on your site)

3.  Make Your Coupons Mobile

Have you ever been in line at a store and watched a clerk refuse to honor a coupon on someone’s phone.  Claiming “no, you need to print that before I can accept it” just sets the consumer off even more. 

Don’t be that business. The days of clipping coupons has come and gone.  Now, most consumers would simply prefer to open an email or webpage with your coupon, flash it to you on their smart phone and get the discount.   Make it clear that showing the coupon on your phone is sufficient and consumers will thank you for being mobile-friendly. Plus, you’ll avoid an awkward confrontation with your store clerks.

Cost: Free (other than the cost of your coupons)

4.  Monitor Your Reviews

Did you know that 81 percent of consumers say they read reviews before making a purchase and 51 percent of consumers say they’ve used the Internet IN SHOPS before making a purchase?  If you have a bevy of negative reviews or poor feedback, that consumer may decide to shop, eat, drink or pay somewhere else.

The first step to keep tabs on your reviews is to set a Google Alert  for the name of your business.  Watch for any reviews, postings or other news that you might need to address.  Then, find out the review-focused sites people use regularly to review your business, like Google Places, Yelp, and Angie’s List.  For a more detailed tracking service, try Reputation.com for Business that monitors and provides real-time alerts for your business.

Cost: Free (for Google Alerts); Starting at $34.99/mo. (for Reputation.com)

5. Talk to Your Customers

Guess what?  Consumers want to talk with, and hear from, brands they like.  In fact, 43 percent of consumers “like” at least one brand on Facebook and 53 percent of individuals with a Twitter account recommend products or services in their tweets.  And, more and more consumers are using social media on the go.

Both Facebook and Twitter are free to setup and utilize – so schedule time daily to engage.  Put links to your accounts on your website and in your facility (if you have a physical location) and talk to your customers: respond to questions or concerns, and consider offering deals for fans or followers.  The most important lesson? Talk like a human not a brand. Remember, as consumers are out and about, they are talking to you, about you and with you – so be a part of the conversation.

You can manage most of these conversations using the standard Facebook or Twitter platforms. If you want something more advanced, try Hootsuite.com which can help you manage your efforts, schedule messages and track conversations from a single interface.

Cost: Free (Hootsuite provides free basic social media plans)

6.   Be Able to Take Money Wherever you Are

Quick, how much cash do you have in your wallet?  Enough to buy something over $100?  Over $50?  Over $20?  People are becoming more reliant on credit cards for all of their transactions, so rather than force someone to run to the nearest ATM (and pay the enormous fee for withdrawing from a non-bank ATM), consider taking payment right on your mobile device. 

With services like Square or Intuit GoPayment, providing a device that plugs into most smartphones to take a credit card on the spot is actually quite simple.  Plus, new technologies are coming along to allow you to pay without needing any hardware at all.

Cost: Free (other than the credit card processing fees)

7.  Tried Text Messages?

According to the Pew Foundation, 73 percent of cell phone users utilize the text messaging function on their phones.  And, 44 percent of Americans have opted into at least one text messaging marketing campaign.  So, why not share deals, information and updates with your customers via text. 

To get started, check out Tatango’s Beginner’s Guide to SMS Marketing.

Cost: Varies depending on the SMS Marketing Software partner

Conclusion

This year, with more people expected to be using mobile than ever before, business owners must think about how they can interact with these potential customers.  With the simple actions and activities listed above, any business can go mobile to create a positive environment for their customers, leads and partners.

About the Author: Eric Koester is the founder and COO of Zaarly, a mobile, real-time marketplace. Eric is a former securities lawyer who has testified before Congress on matters of startup and small business financing, immigration reform and business taxation. Zaarly provides tools for small-businesses and consumers to transact right from their mobile devices.  For more information or to sign-up for mobile alerts, visit www.zaarly.com/business.

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As the Flying Lizards once sang, “the best things in life are free, but you can give them to the birds and bees – I want money. “ And really, who doesn’t? Small business owners all have paper chasing on the brain, but what many of them don’t realize is that some of the best online marketing tools are free – and they can help you get sales.

Here are four free online marketing tools that will help boost your bottom line:

1. HARO and Reporter Connection

Ever wish you could be quoted as an industry expert in a major media outlet? Now you can – but you’ll have to sign up for HARO and Reporter Connection emails first. These will put you in contact with reporters looking for quotes and information, and if you can type up a decent response email you’ll get placed (and linked to) in a variety of different outlets. If you’re not using HARO and RC, you and your business are missing out.

2. Social Media Management Software

First and foremost, you should have social media accounts set up on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. Once you have that all finished, you’re going to need something to manage your updates – and Hootsuite, Cotweet and TweetAdder are all free. It seems like most pros prefer Hootsuite, but if you only have one person managing the accounts you can’t go wrong with any of them. Use the keyword streams to find people tweeting about needing your products/services, and don’t be shy about reaching out (preferably with a coupon code). Hashtracking will tell you which hashtags to target for maximum visibility.

3. WordPress Plugins

You do have a blog, right? If not, that should top your to-do list. They’re crucial for SEO, and the fresh content also gives you a good excuse to link back to your site on your social media accounts. Plugins help optimize your blog, and there are a variety of free ones you can benefit from. WordPress SEO by Yoast is a good place to start, as it’s widely regarded as THE SEO plugin to use these days. SexyBookmarks is also a favorite, since it gives cute little buttons that make your content ridiculously easy to share. Just remember: the more plugins you have, the slower your pages will load.

4. MediaBistro Forums and Quora

Have questions? There’s no need to guess when you can ask an expert and know the answer for sure. The MediaBistro forums are crawling with PR pros, copywriters and all-around marketing mavens who are usually happy to share their expertise. Quora is like a useful version of Yahoo! Answers, sans the spam and poor advice.

As with all things, there’s a learning curve to online marketing. If you don’t get discouraged and keep at it, though, you’ll hone your skills and see serious results over time. It may take you three months of responding to HAROs and Reporter Connection emails before you get placement, but if that placement is in Entrepreneur Magazine or Good Morning America the effort is totally worth it.

About the Author: Kari DePhillips is the owner of The Content Factory, an online PR company that specializes in web content writing and social media marketing. Give her a shoutout on Twitter (@ContentFac) or become a fan of TCF on Facebook.

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It seems like almost every business has jumped on the loyalty card program bandwagon. From grocery stores to pharmacies and restaurants, retailers everywhere are launching customer rewards programs.

Have you ever wondered why?

Sure, customers stand to benefit from participating in loyalty card programs. They get discounts, special offers and cash-back opportunities. But the benefits for retailers are just as great, if not better. Even with the cost of a loyalty gift card program, you still end up being a winner in the end.

If you’re considering launching a loyalty card program, here are some of the many benefits you’ll pick up along the way:

1. Better Data Tracking

Every time a customer swipes a rewards card, you’ll get a clearer picture of who is buying what. The data will allow you to examine shopping patterns and use the information to make better business decisions. For example, use the information to make better choices about product selections and inventory supply.

2. Improved Marketing

Armed with all the data you’ll collect from customers who fill out a rewards program application, you’ll be able to develop marketing campaigns tailored to specific groups. Offer customers special, personalized deals based on their age, interests or previous purchases.

3. Better Customer Retention

A few incentives go a long way in creating loyal customers. If your customers believe there’s something to gain from giving you their repeat business, they’ll come back time and time again. Simply by offering a coupon for $2 off the next purchase, you’re dramatically increasingly the likelihood that a customer will come back.

4. More Frequent Business

With a loyalty program, the more often a customer shops, the faster they can start claiming rewards. A customer who’s just $5 away from earning a $25 gift certificate might find an excuse to stop by your store. Customers who used to come in once a month might start coming twice a month or once a week. 

5. Increased Product Awareness

Do you offer a valuable product that – for one reason or another – is simply sitting on the shelves? Maybe you’re a retail shop that specializes in handmade goods, but the greeting cards in the back of the store just aren’t selling. By offering items like these as incentives, you can promote items customers may not know you have.

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Email marketing is one of the most lucrative online channels. And it looks like the combination of mobile is a powerful team.

According to a recent report from HubSpot, “43% of people on mobile devices check their email over four times per day”.

That presents a huge opportunity to reach people instantly at any time, and any place. But the problem is that an email that looks great on your laptop will look terrible on a mobile device.

So you need to improve your email marketing, and make sure that what you’re sending will perform on any device. Otherwise, you’ll be wasting your time (and money).

1. Write a Killer Headline

The headline is the most important element of any email marketing campaign.

How important?

According to a recent study from MailChimp, average open rates are only around 10 – 30%.

That means that 70 – 90% of the people didn’t care enough about your headline to even open the email.

People today don’t have time. So they don’t read everything. They scan and only open things that look interesting. If your headline doesn’t grab their attention, then they’ll never open it. And the the first step to making more money with an email marketing campaign is by improving the open rate.

Start with Copyblogger’s guide if you need help.

2. Focus on One Goal

The screen on a mobile device is really small. You literally only have an inch or two to get your point across. So keep it really simple. Pick one goal for each email you send, and focus only on that. This will drastically improve your Click-Through-Rate (CTR) for that one element.

Most people try and put several calls-to-action in one email. They want people to click a link to their website, become their Facebook friend, and buy something all in one email. That doesn’t work on a tiny screen. And the goal of your email isn’t to sell. You just want to pique your reader’s interest enough so they click through to a landing page.

Once you have them on your mobile site, then you can worry about converting them.

About the Author: Brad Smith is the founder of FixCourse.com, a blog about online customer acqusition and how to grow your traffic, generate leads, and make more sales.

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Businesses of all kinds are giving free email marketing a try for first time. Many have decided to give it a go with the goal of cashing in on the shopping frenzy that accompanies the holiday season. This is easy to understand when seeing how it is great for keeping in touch with customers, enticing them with offers, and providing stellar after-sales service as well. If you are thinking about abandoning this tool once all the shopping is done, get it out of your head. This article will explain why free email marketing has value that goes beyond the holiday season.

It Fits in the Budget

Some businesses will give email marketing a whirl for the holiday season. Several will throw in the towel and go back to what they were doing previously. Why? Because they can’t fit the extra expense into the budget. Even though email marketing is very cost effective, it is another expense, one that some businesses cannot justify in this economy. If a strained budget is what attracted you to free email marketing in the first place, then you should definitely keep at it when the holiday season wraps up. You can use this tool to support a sizable portion of your overall marketing needs, and invest in other critical areas with the money you save.

It Still Drive Sales

Although many of the big sales end once Christmas comes to a close, the shopping continues for some time after. In fact, some retailers enjoy even more sales once the holiday season officially ends by cleaning up on the leftover traffic. During the months of January and February, stores are often packed full of people who are redeeming gift cards and taking advantage strategically timed sales offers. Free email marketing can keep you in touch with these ambitious consumers. Whether you are trying to get rid of your last bit of inventory from the holiday, or move a line of entirely new products, it can keep them connected with whatever you’re selling.

It’s a Great Learning Tool

What were the results of your holiday email program? Was it an overwhelming success, or did you come out of it feeling like your strategy was in need of some fine tuning? If you thought the results could have been better, sticking with free email marketing is probably the best thing you can do. The more you continue to use it, the more familiar you will become with aspects such as campaign creation, list management, and tracking. By the time the next holiday season rolls around, you could potentially be a seasoned email marketer with the savvy to take on the world, or at least your target audience.

Who Needs Free Email Marketing?

Free email marketing does not discriminate. It can be an ideal solution for a small business, a large enterprise, a non-profit organization, or an entrepreneur with only a handful of clients. Find the right service provider, and it could be the solution that enables you to thrive year-round.

About the Author: Aidan Hijleh is a freelance copywriter and serves as the Non-Profit Partnership Liaison for Benchmark Email. Aidan advocates free email marketing services to assist with the flourishing of grassroots organizations.

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As a small business owner, you know what it means to have to fight for your share of the market. Competition is everywhere and you only have a few chances to set yourself apart to show that you are the company that deserves attention.

So what sets you apart from the next guy? I would say that the two things a business should be judged on are it’s  products, of course, and it’s level of customer service.  That’s always important!

But take a step back and think, what do you get when you combine those two elements? What do your consumers really consider before they choose who to do their business with?

Reputation. That’s what it all boils down to.

If your company has a good reputation, any number of small sins can be forgiven, and you can be sure that you’re in good standing with most, if not all, of your customers. On the same hand, if your company has a rep that’s the equivalent to an Atlantic City loan shark, well, odds are, you aren’t going to be in business very much longer.

So, what does this have to do with email marketing?

Well, people can tell a lot about a company by how they market themselves, and with email marketing being one of the most effective options for small businesses these days, it’s important for you as a small business owner to make sure your email marketing campaign isn’t hurting you when it should be helping.

Here are a few examples of what NOT to do.  Avoid these hazardous practices, and you’ll be on your way to not only a successful marketing campaign, but a successful business.

Start Fresh

An email marketing campaign needs one thing to get off the ground – emails. Now, gathering emails can be a tricky business, and, of course, while everyone wants to get their marketing campaign up and running as soon as possible, buying a pre-gathered email list is pretty much not allowed.

Think of it this way: you will be sending emails to people who never asked for them. I’m sure part of that sounds great, I mean, who wouldn’t want a crack at roping in new customers, but what it looks like on the customers’ side of the street, is SPAM, and nobody trusts a SPAMmer.

Double Opt-In

I hate to sound like a broken record, but this helpful little hint is very closely related to the last one, and will go a long way when it comes to separating you from the SPAMmers out there.

Always use the double opt-in method when gathering email addresses. Basically, all the double opt-in method entails is sending everyone who subscribes to your mailing list a confirmation email, making sure that they signed up on purpose. If you don’t use double opt-in, you are opening yourself up to SPAM complaints which, like I mentioned above, are one of the quickest ways to lose your customers trust and ruin your rep.

If You Love Them, Set Them Free

People get antsy when they don’t have options. Just because someone signed up for your email a year ago, doesn’t necessarily mean that they want to keep getting it this year. Make sure that each and every email that you send has an easy to see “opt-out” link (usually at the top or bottom of the email).  Again, if you don’t give your subscribers this option, you are treading dangerously close to SPAM territory.

Tell The Truth

Another way to ruin your business’s rep is to go back on promises that you’ve made to your subscribers. Anything that you tell your readers, from the length of a warranty to a product description to the amount of times they will be receiving an email from you, is a form of promise. Once you start breaking those promises, you may as well say goodbye to whatever reputation you had.

Keep It Fresh

The very first thing you learn when you enter the world of email marketing is: Content is King.

Everyone knows it. Some version of that phrase is in pretty much in every email marketing guide and article that has ever been written.

Why?

Because it’s true. The minute you start sending out sub par content is the minute your readers begin to lose interest in you, and your business will become stagnant, stale, and out of date. If you want to keep your reputation strong, deliver the fresh content every time.

About the Author: Daniel Cassady is an experienced freelancer, guest blogger, and frequent contributor to a blog hosted by Benchmark Email, one of theworld’s global email marketing company.

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Photo Credit: chintermeyer

There are umpteen ways to use video for business, ranging from stylish, high-priced ad campaign commercials to complex landing page pieces fashioned to pull someone into a sale. What are the best types of video for Small Business owners that can be created cost-effectively and published rapidly and produce leads? Here are the Top Eight.

Intro Advert

Well-known and regularly underused, the video Intro to the Business is a short, 5 minute or less (2-3 works well) homepage introduction that tells who you are, what you do and why customers should care. This can be done using a description in a commercial packed with lots of movement shots of the shop floor, the office, and products; a talking head of the CEO to a blank camera; or use the 3rd party point of view of a genuine Video interview (see below) Business FAQ. Development fees can vary from FREE (CEO riffing into a webcam) through a few hundred dollars to thousands for a videographer shot commercial. Google doesn’t care; either will index well given the suitable keyword tags. The question you have to answer is, what is going to be quickly informational, interesting, and referable (as in Re-tweeted).

The Demo

Specific to demonstrable merchandise, especially ones that move, like machines, toys, electronic devices, and, considering the medium, software. These again should not run on too long but can be lengthier than an introductory commercial. A software-based demonstration may take up to 8 minutes, but you should be able to say it in less time than that. When it comes to demos, in some cases less is more. Most often either a narrative led demo showing only products or a spokesperson paced demo (think QVC or Home Shopping Channel) works the best. Just be sure to show the BEST features of your product and lay out consistently (3x) how this solves an issue for your customers.

Professional Abilities

This is very similar to a product demonstration and works best for suppliers, especially those in developed countries, trying to demonstrate their remarkable technology will in reality cost less money or offer better quality product for a customer engaging them with a contract for recurring services. Machine shops and laser houses prefer this stuff, showing automated machinery cutting steel while a dude with a hardhat and safety goggles oversees the process. This can run 5-10 minutes max. The key here is, make sure that your capability really is something special (as in a True Competitive Advantage that others don’t have) and that your video captures its uniqueness.

Company Spotlights

This is more of a tug on the heartstrings video that features either what your company has achieved that is remarkable or what your employees have done for your company. If it’s about the company, it MUST be validated by 3rd party reference, as in an accolade won from a prominent registrar (Best in Class, Malcolm Baldridge quality), a status attained (ISO 9001 certification, etc.) or a cat saved from a tree on the news. When talking about employees, the old Employee of the Month style headline adds a nice human factor and speaks to what your company values in its people, and that can make a big difference to customers with the same value system. For these types of videos, keep them short (2-4 minutes) and keep them current, specifically for the employee notoriety videos. An Employee of the Month presupposes that next month, we’ll see another.

Video Landing Page Combo

I could write pages on this and to be truthful, I’m not a professional at it, but I am sure you’ve experienced pages that have these videos. These are designed to be hands-free on the part of the vendor of a product or service, meaning, don’t call me, take the steps explained on the video. That means enter your email address to get something for FREE in exchange for authorization to advertise to you, or register for the thing (whatever it is) right now! Just like text-only sales landing pages, these are long-form videos, with Squeeze Pages (get the email address) videos varying from 3-7 minutes, and Sales Pages running all the way up to 30 minutes (that is too long in my opinion, with 10-12 being adequate). The most important stuff here: curb options to only this with no other on-page interferences and make multiple calls to action to the viewer.

Vlogs

All about providing information this one is. It comes in the form of a training video, which is easily done for things like software applications using screen capture software, or talking head explaining something she knows, and typically is the Expert Interview (I’ve done a bunch of these in my blog, see sample). The objective is expert positioning for your company while giving real value for the view. These videos can run from 5-30 minutes or longer (think of a book author interview), but I prefer to keep them between 7 and 15 minutes (Youtube has a 15 minute max until you are a recurring video poster). Keys to success are to set the subject matter to avoid rambling, don’t provide fluff with a sales pitch to get more, and include some written text fore and aft of the video to set it up and summarize.

Testimonies and Personal Examples

Very self-explanatory here, this is 3rd party Reliability Building 101. Take the same things that marketers value about written examples and testimonials and put them on steroids. This definitely MUST be a person unrelated to the business telling about what the company did for him or her, and it can NOT be anonymous (just like those absurd made up reviews you see, “JL from Tampa says …”). Use discretion if the person doing the talking is not good on camera. It shouldn’t make a difference but it does. He doesn’t need to be Ben Affleck, but he can’t be a stiff either. These run no more than 3 minutes in length and follow my rules for great reviews. Quality can’t be second-rate, but a webcam with acceptable quality can be used properly, as the subject matter of the person’s referral is the crucial piece.

Video Interview

I saved this one for last and, as you surely know by now, Smart Company Growth does these in bundles for the right type of clients. Video dialogues work well for any business that wants to put a human face on its product, so consider if that is you. They work incredibly well when your organization has these three qualities:

1. No physical merchandise– That’s right consultants, lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, IT people and anyone else offering professional services, I’m talking to you. You sell intellectual property and that is hard to show by showing a video shot of your report (although you can show results charts, but the people who can use this method the most, financial advisors, usually have rules preventing it).
2. Trust is the key to business– Same group, right? If you’re an attorney, how can you start to break the trust hurdle down without ever meeting someone? Show some face time with the 3rd party credibility that comes from being interviewed.
3. Sameness in Brand– If you look at your rivals’ websites and they look like yours does– competent yet non-distinguishable– you’re a good candidate for a video interview to set yourself apart. Again, this is why professional service firms fall so nicely into video interview candidates.

For advertising purposes the longest video interview (we call them SmartVu) we do is about 12 minutes. That’s pretty thorough. The shortest you can reasonably do with any bona fide dialog is about 2-3 minutes. The crucial success variables here are that the interviewer is good and that the structure of the content is planned beforehand. An unconvincing interviewer will lead to a lame interview and weak video. A sound interviewer with planned content will create genuine questions that represent you in the very best light. Although I cannot convince all of my clients of this, DO NOT READ FROM A SCRIPT! If you’re a subject matter specialist on your product or topic, a good interviewer’s questions will lead to natural responses with you looking right into the camera. Script readers have their eyes averted to wherever the script is located and come across as wooden, with only the skilled few able to fool people into believing they are responding ad hoc.

There is a time and place to use any of the 8 best types of video promotion for your small business video. The information here should serve to generate ideas on what type of video you can produce for your own video marketing and video SEO crusade to turnout excellent results.

About the Author: Karl Walinskas is the CEO of Smart Company Growth, a business development firm that helps small to mid-size professional service firms build competitive advantage in an online world of sameness.  He is author of numerous articles and the Smart Blog on leadership, business communication, sales & service, public speaking and virtual business, and Getting Connected Through Exceptional Leadership, available in the SmartShop.  Get your FREE LinkedIn Profile Optimization eBook & Video Course, Video Marketing video and course, or Mastermind Groups e-course & video now. 

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Photo Credit: Denim Dave

Small businesses that use online marketing have a number of tools at their disposal, including blogs, search engine optimization, review websites and other inbound marketing techniques. However, what may end up being the Internet’s most important contribution to advertising and brand awareness is social media networking platforms. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even Yelp! are wonderful devices that make reaching out to customers simple and, most importantly, cheap.

Unfortunately, not every small business owner is internet-savvy enough to instantly capture a broad and deep customer base. This can make engaging with users on these services intimidating. With a little bit of practice and some clear guidelines, such efforts can actually be quite successful. Here are some of the most important lessons for using these social platforms to garner leads and additional business.

Establish a Policy

No two companies use social media in exactly the same way. For instance, some may choose to simply make Facebook posts and tweets messaging tools that inform customers about the latest promotions and discounts that an organization is running. Others may choose to use these services to actually contact customers and offer them deals and savings. Either way, be sure to set up some guidelines that will keep an organization’s tone consistent throughout a campaign.

Designate Users

In keeping with a consistent feel, it is a good idea to establish which employees will actually generate content for a social media website. The importance of these services is making it so that some organizations choose to hire full-time networkers to maintain their various profiles. However, this may not be necessary, depending on a business’ intent. Either way, choose an employee who is somewhat tech-savvy, grammatically sound and can maintain a level of professionalism that won’t sully a company’s good name.

Coordinate With Other Efforts

The odds are good that a business using social networking websites will have at least some other efforts ongoing in the online world. If this is the case, coordinate social media messages and profiles with them. Blogs and Facebook posts can link to one another, while promotions being held should be advertised as much as possible on these platforms. Even something as simple as the images and fonts used in traditional advertising should match those used on Twitter feeds and blogs.

About the Author: Guest Post by Myron Corp. Located in Maywood, New Jersey, Myron is a global provider of imprinted promotional products and works closely with businesses to integrate these products into their marketing mix. Myron manufactures quality items such as promotional calendars, personalized pens and other giveaways and corporate customized gifts designed to build brand awareness and customer loyalty.

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Online press release distribution has not lost its power to create buzz and brand awareness. In fact, in speaking with many business professionals who have used our distribution partner’s press release services, we’ve been told:

• Their press releases were picked up by 40+ online sites and media news stations.
• Their press release placement brought additional credibility to the launch of their new books, products and services.
• They started to dominate the search engines – and “own” their keywords  as search engines love optimized press releases
• They doubled and tripled their website traffic
• Multiple reporters and media professionals contacted them for additional interviews and media opportunities that give them more exposure.
• Their website now ranks higher on Google – because online press release distribution is a powerful link building too.

Here’s an additional benefit of online press release distribution that no one else is talking about…Online press release distribution will help you with your overall LinkedIn marketing efforts.

6 Ways Online Press Release Distribution Can Help You With Your LinkedIn Marketing Efforts

1) The press release generated publicity can provide you with instant credibility with your LinkedIn profile visitors.

For example my client Sara LaForest’s headline reads like this: “Top Management Consultant Featured in Business Week, Fast Company & WomenEntrepreneur.com – Connect and Find Out Why”. This shows readers immediately why they should trust her and why they should trust what she has to say.

Here are some of the other ways you can highlight your publicity on your LinkedIn profile:

• Create a quoted media positions
• Showcase your media mentions within your summary
• Add the publications section to your LinkedIn profile
• Create a media kit on your LinkedIn profile using Box.net

2) Showcasing your press release generated publicity will prove to journalists that you are media worthy.

On LinkedIn you should be looking to connect with journalists, editors, online radio show hosts and other media professionals.  Now for those media professionals to accept your invitation, you have to prove you are credible and newsworthy.  When your press release is published by a top publication, you have completed half the battle because you have given yourself expert status. Now, you just have to build a relationship with the media professionals you connect with and show them that your information is relevant to their audience.

3) Use press releases to promote your LinkedIn group and community.

We recently created and distributed a press release that promoted Skip Weisman’s Workplace Communication Strategies group – and it was published on CNBC.com. This helped him:

• Increase his LinkedIn group membership by making more people aware of his group.
• Give him a reason to re-announce his group again to his email list as well as any LinkedIn connection that were not already members of his group. Any time you have a success, you should be letting your connections know.
• Give new connections a reason to join his LinkedIn group when we sent out group invites.

4) Your press release placements can position you as a thought leader in your LinkedIn group – and those other groups you belong to.

I like to create discussions around a topic and link the discussion to a press release or article I’ve written that gives more information on the topic and is featured on a top website. This automatically gives me a third party endorsement which offers more credibility than if the information was just placed on my own website or blog.

5) Use your press release placement as a springboard for discussions.

For example, I distributed a press release titled “More Journalist on LinkedIn Than Any Other Social Network, Study Shows”. I then created this discussion within LinkedIn group:  “How are you using LinkedIn to get you more publicity?

In the LinkedIn discussion summary I put “In the press release below, I reveal that 82% of journalist are on LinkedIn and that is more than any other social network.  So now I am asking you, how are using LinkedIn to build and maintain relationships with media professionals to get you more publicity?”

I then linked the discussion to my press release on Yahoo News.

This helped me:

• Get more exposure for my press release
• Create a discussion among publicity professionals as they provided their insights. I then responded to their feedback with other ideas and explained to them how I can help them with their LinkedIn publicity efforts
• Start a discussion among small business owners and other business professionals who wanted to learn how to get more publicity by using LinkedIn

6) Getting published or featured all over the Web on top websites and blogs will give you access to more people who will want to connect with you on LinkedIn.

You will have people coming to you seeking your advice.  They will see your press release and then look you up on LinkedIn wanting to connect with you.  For example, as I was writing this article, I received an invitation to connect that said, “Hi Kristina, I just read your tips in Canadian Advisor’s Edge Magazine – I’d like to connect with you and learn more.”

Your Next Steps

Now that I have shown you how online press release distribution can help you with your LinkedIn marketing efforts, it’s time you take action and start writing your press releases. If you need help, check our my Instant Press Release Templates at http://www.40InstantPressReleaseTemplates.com

About the Author: LinkedIn marketing expert Kristina Jaramillo helps small businesses and organizations get more publicity, prospects and profits using effective LinkedIn. Now, at http://www.HowtoGetMorePublicitywithLinkedIn.com, you can gain full access to her FREE 14-Day LinkedIn Publicity E-course that shows you how to create an expert LinkedIn profile the media will love, how to build relationships with the media plus sneaky ways to get more PR using LinkedIn.

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