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Small businesses that are facing tight budgets are trying to make the most of their advertising dollar. According to Image Concepts a new survey by MerchantCircle shows that entrepreneurs are doing this by using Facebook and search engine advertising strategies.
Asked to name the top three most effective marketing methods they use or have used, 42% cited search engine marketing, while 36.7% reported creating a profile on a social network and 35.8% cited e-mail marketing. More than one third (34.4%) said they use “other online methods,” while “coupons or direct mail” ranked fifth at 23.9%.
“What we’ve seen is a steady decline in traditional advertising methods and a real uptick in the adoption of free online marketing avenues,” said Darren Waddell, VP of marketing and product management at MerchantCircle. He added that local business owners “are much more interested in either things they can really measure the results of like e-mail marketing, or things that cost little to nothing and are simple to use.”
Facebook also beat Google as the top website or online service that local businesses use for marketing, with more than 70% of local merchants turning to the social network and 66.2% saying they use Google.
The main intention of imprinted promotional products is to place your name brand in the minds of your prospects and customers. The premiss, of course, is that putting your brand on the side of a useful device puts that brand in the face of your customers and prospects when they are ready to purchase. The key to making this concept work is to select the product that matches your company based on these three criteria.
There needs to be considerable thought to choosing the right promotional product for your company brand. The way I see it paper and plastic items are most likely going to get thrown away. Spending company cash on items that could be in the trash right after the event is over, just doesn’t make sense to me. That money spent does not bring any long-term exposure to the company.
On the other hand, if your business is a chain of retail stores, you may opt for promotional pens imprinted with your company logo that can sit in a cup at the checkout counter. If you have a chain of pizza restaurants and make deliveries, you may want to choose a magnetic-backed calendar customers can put on their refrigerator door that prominently displays your call-in phone number. Thinking about how your promotional gift is perceived in relation to the kind of products and services your business offers is an important consideration.
Or your company sells high-ticket items? Every business is different and, fortunately, there are literally thousands of options for promotional items, so you can find one that is a perfect fit. You may want to support that positioning with something classy such as heavy canvas bags, a leather satchel or custom tote bags with an embroidered imprint.
Weighing the fit and the length of brand exposure against the price is the best strategy for making the right choice for your company. With so many promotional gift items available, choosing can be difficult. Pens get significant exposure, but may have a somewhat shorter life than mugs, caps, portfolios sport bags and other imprinted gifts. Another important element in making your selection is the perceived length of time that the gift will be used by the recipient and the type of exposure it will receive when being used. Mugs can be also be used in the kitchen to provide daily exposure. Promotional Bags, such as grocery style bags imprinted with your logo, can travel everywhere and be seen by your prospect or customer.
Promotional pens are virtually universal as they are used at home, at work, in retail stores, in grocery stores, at conferences and trade shows.
US Business Network is proud to present new vendor Image Concepts. 5255 Triangle Pkwy. Suite 300 Norcross, GA 30092 Phone: 770.242.7087
Contact Image Concepts Today for a free QR code
A QR code enables you to bookmark an ECB web page with your mobile phone quickly and easily. Our URLs can get very long: “www.myimageconcepts.com” is one example. But with a QR code there is no need to type the full URL into your phone, instead you simply scan the image. Your phone reads it, converts it back into the URL and stores it as a bookmark. Then you can use your phone to go online to that page.
Contact Image Concepts Today for details on how a QR code can benefit your business.
Maximum sales come from connecting to new and existing customers.
Here’s how you can wield the true power of e-commerce and start enjoying more customers, bigger clients, more orders and a lifetime of loyal, repeat sales. There’s no doubt about it… It’s a different market, a different economy, a different world. And the businesses who adapt to those differences are the ones who thrive – in any economy – instead of simply “getting by” and struggling to survive.
So what are those differences, and how do you put them to work for you?
First, you have to understand that e-commerce isn’t just a luxury anymore, it’s a necessity.And if you want to have an edge over competitors that already use e-commerce, then you have to tap into…
The true power of e-commerce
Unfortunately, too many business think that e-commerce means simply putting up a website with a shopping cart. But the reality is – especially today – that you have to offer much more than that if you want to compete.
In the complex world we live in, your customers have a wide variety of ways they do business. Whether it’s different methods, processes, or technologies (such as e-procurement systems), it’s a nightmare for most sales organizations to sort it all out. That’s why most vendors / suppliers never tap in to the real power of e-commerce.
But ask yourself this: Which do you think the customer will want to buy from; the vendor / supplier who forces the customer to conform to their way of doing business, or the vendor / supplier that adapts to the customer’sneeds?
The answer is obvious. And it’s also what Image Concepts has mastered…
e-Commerce that truly differentiates you from your competitors
Image Concepts B2B e-commerce solutions empower you to adapt to your customer’s needs. And that enables you to connect more deeply with your customer’s business. In fact,
when you tailor the way you provide your products and services into the workflows and requirements of your customer, you become a part of their business.
And that sets the stage for lifelong retention and customer satisfaction, while keeping your competitors from even getting their foot in the door.
Beyond the unparalleled adaptability of our e-commerce solutions, the most astonishing thing you’re likely to discover is just how fast, easy, and affordable they are.
You’ll be surprised at how quickly and easily you can have a customized e-commerce connection that can help you retain your key accounts, or land that big client you’ve been after.
Contact us today to find out how we can set up an e-commerce solutions for you. info@myimageconcepts.com
The prospects of business marketing has grown leaps and bounds with internet marketing. The numerous techniques of online marketing can take a business into such a high level, which is quite difficult to reach by adopting the traditional form of marketing. As 2011 is knocking down the door, the internet marketers and the business people are adopting new online marketing techniques that will set a new standard in the coming year.
There might be some interesting internet marketing trends for 2011, but that does not mean that the existing trends will be of no use anymore. In fact, the existing techniques will get even better and produce better results.
Search engine optimization is definitely a popular trend and it will continue to grow with new heights. The websites with good back links and high quality content will still rule the web world. The internet experts are working on new strategies that will engage into more efficient link placements, appropriate keywords and other tools to reach out to the maximum number of prospective customers.
There is a tendency among people to look out for search engine results for searching any information. This trend will continue in 2011 as people will continue to make use of search engines and click on the advertisements displayed on pop-ups. Therefore, it definitely makes sense to opt for the paid search techniques. Moreover, the price for paid search advertising is reasonable and hence this trend will continue to exist in 2011.
The power of video based marketing will increase in 2011. You can implement highly interactive videos in your website or social network profiles to announce about your latest offers or information about your products and services.
The experts believe that social networking will still retain its popularity as one of the effective internet marketing techniques. Social networks allow healthy interaction between people and help you post updates about your products or services. This is one of the most cost effective measures of marketing and all levels of businesses can equally get benefits of this marketing technique. It is obvious that social networks will be among the top internet marketing trends in 2011.
These marketing techniques are successful and their popularity will remain intact in the future. However, you have to adopt a smart approach to efficiently use these techniques and get the maximum benefit for your business.
For more information check us out at http://www.myimageconcepts.com
Perhaps you don’t see the need for a smartphone, but can’t help but go green with envy whenever a friend whips out his phone to update his Facebook status on the go. Well, maybe the social network’s latest endeavour will give you the best of both worlds: Facebook on your dumbphone!
Facebook yesterday revealed the launch of a new mobile app that will allow users of some of the most popular cell phones in the world access to Facebook. Compatible with more than 2,500 handsets from manufacturers such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and LG, the app offers easier navigation of the homepage, contact synchronization, friend updates and more.
Developed in a close collaboration with Snaptu, the app will be available on selected networks in the following countries: Sri Lanka, the Ukraine, Poland, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Tunisia, Dominican Republic and Romania. Future launches are scheduled for Canada, India, Mexico, Brazil and Bulgaria. Facebook has also cooperated with operators in the 14 countries listed above to ensure users don’t incur any data charges for the first 90 days. This means you can try it out, and, if you don’t like it, ditch it before it costs you any money.
Facebook plans to bring the app to more countries and carriers as time goes by, so we’ll update you if we hear of anything about the U.S. or UK.
Contact Image Concepts today. Check us out at www.myimageconcepts.com
| In a recent study of end-buyers, ASI found that 75% of promotional products were kept by the recipient because they were considered useful. And most (60%) did business with the advertiser on a product after receiving it.
Among wearables, bags and caps were reported to be kept the longest – on average a little over 6 months. In fact, bags deliver the most impressions, with an average of 1,078 impressions per month. For more information on most commonly-owned promotional products, click here. The study concluded that the average cost-per-impression of an advertising specialty item is $0.005, making it less expensive per impression than nearly any other media. Click here to learn more about how promotional products have a more favorable return on investment compared to other popular media. ASI has been helping distributors for over 60 years grow their business and increase sales. Today, more than 22,000 distributors rely on their ASI membership to source suppliers and products. Click here to learn more about ASI. |
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Marketers’ use of Facebook has exploded in recent months, and brands with niche audiences have begun to use the site’s social media analytics to better understand their fans. However, some niche brand marketers say these analytics capabilities fall far short of their need to understand how Facebook campaigns affect the bottom line.
Access to the analytics is helping companies better target Facebook posts and other marketing material distributed through the social network. Ludus Tours, an Austin, TX-based company that organizes excursions to international events like Oktoberfest and the Olympic Games, has used Facebook data to reach specific consumer segments.
“We did a post about the World Cup announcement that got no feedback — much less than events like Oktoberfest or the running of the bulls in Spain that our company is better known for,” says Victoria Whyte, social media manager at Ludus Tours. “That tells me we need to establish ourselves as a World Cup company.”
John Squire, chief strategy officer at Web analytics firm IBM Coremetrics, says the change to the website’s analytics policy is valuable for brands trying to reach very specific demographics.
“Facebook analytics are really going to help to identify what that audience looks like and where I can find more people who are just like them,” says Squire.
Many niche brand marketers gained access to Facebook user data, including per-post impressions, comments and feedback, when the social network made its analytics results available to all businesses in late November; prior to that, a company needed more than 10,000 “likes” to obtain the data. The move also provides marketers with the ability to measure their initiatives on a day-to-day basis. Brands with niche audiences can now glean information on total daily views and feedback, as well as how that data is changing.
Scrubadoo, a company that sells scrubs and labcoats to nurses as well as consumers in scientific fields, has found Facebook valuable for targeting specific types of consumers. It has acquired more than 1,600 fans by reaching out to anyone who “likes” subjects like “nursing.” The company also uses Facebook for targeted promotions, such as a $5 discount for consumers who become fans of the brand on the social website.
Despite its value, marketers say they need far more data from the social network to understand how the money they spend on social media marketing is benefitting them. Brett Brohl, CEO of Scrubadoo, says Facebook’s new analytics offerings are an improvement over what was previously available, but he uses Google Analytics to gauge the metrics he really cares about: conversions to sales.
“Getting Facebook fans is great, but how do you transfer those to actual purchases?” he says. “Facebook is getting better and better, but Google gives us much more information and is so transparent.”
Carmen Sognovi, co-owner of Brooklyn, NY-based Urban Martial Arts, says the new Facebook analytics are better than previous iterations, but she is still forced to look elsewhere for a full range of analytics about her customers.
“I’m better off just creating a Facebook-specific landing page on my website and using Google Analytics to track how many hits that page gets,” she says. “If you post a link to a non-Facebook page, Insights doesn’t seem to offer any information on the number of clicks those links receive.”
As 2010 draws to a close, it’s time to turn our attention to another year. Another decade, actually, that will bring new challenges and new opportunities. Here are five important trends you can expect to see in 2011 and a few ideas to get you started on the right foot. Happy New Year.
Security. Consumers are worried about online security, and for good reason. Increasingly, security is an issue not just on our own websites but wherever our brands can be found on the Web. As we increase visibility across properties – mobile, Facebook and Twitter, online forums, location-based apps like Foursquare – and encourage our users to share information with us on those sites, we increase the risk of losing control over sensitive data.
McAfee reports that mobile will be a big target for cyber criminals in 2011. The increase in usage, combined with “historically fragile cellular infrastructure and slow strides toward encryption”, will put user data on mobile phones at high risk for an attack. McAfee Labs says that Google’s Android, Apple’s iPhone, Foursquare, Google TV and the Mac OS X platform, are all expected to be targets in the New Year. Also reported is that URL-shortening services will be a significant target in 2011.
Take these threats seriously and make security – both for users and internally – a top priority. Also, make sure your users know that their safety is a top concern. Make privacy policies and security measures easy to locate on your website.
Mobile. I think it’s safe to say that “the year of mobile” was finally realized in 2010. And it won’t slow down in 2011. Every business must have a mobile strategy in 2011, no matter how small it might seem. That could range from a mobile-friendly website or mobile app to simply advertising on mobile devices for lead generation or SMS campaigns.
But use caution – not every mobile strategy will work for every business. Mobile apps are expensive to produce and maintain and should be developed only when research has been done and you can really bring something useful to the table.
Understand your mobile audience. For example, a recent article by Kathryn Koegel states, “Who knew that the BlackBerry Curve and Pearl are hot phones among girl teens? Kind of counterintuitive, but when you realize that their parents are on BlackBerries, BlackBerry gave them a sweet deal to add on to their own plans and those girls, they do like to text on buttons…”
Digital Couponing. One of the biggest stories of the year was Groupon turning down Google’s $6 billion buyout offer. Groupon is officially the Internet’s fastest growing company in history, but online couponing is not limited to Groupon; not in any sense. Local newspapers are in on the action and even very small websites are pairing up with local businesses to offer targeted coupons to their users. Get in.
Of course, nobody wants to give away the store. The good news is that you don’t have to. While the current environment has trained consumers to expect a deal on almost anything, that “anything” is flexible. Think about coupons as an upsell more than a discount. Offer add-ins when spending thresholds are met, for example. Whatever your strategy, these coupons are here to stay for the foreseeable future and it’s important that your customers feel they are getting in on the deal.
Search Remains Universal. Of all the headline-grabbing material in 2010, search was not one of them. However, search is still a major factor of every online business. Take a look at any website, and you’ll find a search bar – even Facebook and Twitter have prominent search bars at the top of their pages.
Google still rules search but understand that search happens everywhere and for different reasons. That means optimizing for search on different formats and for different keywords, depending on the venue. A mobile search, for example, could lean toward location (the nearest coffee shop – for which you would optimize using location keywords and parameters) while a desktop search might be for product images. Social search will increase in relevancy for users, meaning that your social graph – your connections to consumers and other businesses, and the information you share and publish on these networks – will become a form of SEO in its own right. Stay relevant.
Expanding Business Models. Finally, think beyond your current business offerings for 2011. The online business world is more competitive than ever. Very few businesses can thrive with the same model or the same product year after year – especially pure-play online businesses.
One of the great advantages of doing business on the Web is its speed and flexibility. As quickly as an idea arrives it can be placed and promoted on the Web. And just as quickly, websites can be shut down or sold. Ideally, you would like to open new opportunities related to your current business. Think value-added for your current customers. But don’t be afraid to develop something completely outside the box – that’s why microsites exist.
