Send to KindleWe’re always looking for new ways to market our businesses. Sometimes we need to think outside the box and add a little fun to our marketing.
When was the last time you had a contest? Have you ever?
Send to KindleSend to KindleIt’s a question I’ve asked myself on many occasions. And quite frankly, one I’m tired of asking. (It’s kind of like finding yourself in a Facebook group you never joined or agreed to join!)
If you find yourself on the receiving end of an email list you never signed up for, it means someone has added you to the list without your permission. That’s a big no-no. I do add clients to my list when they sign on, but also let them know I’m doing it so they can receive important information. No one has ever objected.
Send to KindleSend to KindleI keep hearing it, and I know you keep hearing it too. “The money is in the list!” Yep. That’s right. The list!
You want your ideal client to fork over their name and email address so you can stay in contact with them, send value-added information that speaks to their needs and pains (never spam), tell them about your latest and greatest service or product and share information you believe will provide value and benefit.
Send to KindleSend to KindleI’ve got a question for all of you coaches and speakers reading this. Are you podcasting yet? If the answer is no, I’ve also got to ask… why not?
As a virtual assistant who’s been around for quite a few years I always endorse blogging and social media as effective methods of marketing; but the fact of the matter is, there are a lot of folks in the world who prefer to listen than read. And that’s where podcasting comes in.
Send to KindleSend to KindleSearch engine optimization (SEO) used to be something I thought only the geeks could do … it was certainly never anything I could do myself, or even understand if I wanted to be perfectly honest. Until now! The Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress (formerly known as WP SEO) is free, and makes optimizing your blog posts and pages super easy.
Send to KindleSend to KindleI was thinking about a song my children sang at church when they were younger – it’s called This Little Light of Mine. In the first verse they sang “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” In the 2nd verse they sang “Hide it under a bushel NO! I’m gonna let it shine.” When I think of that song, I think about how so many small businesses are hiding the light of their businesses under a bushel by not including Public Relations as an integral part of their marketing strategy.
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On July 1st, there will be a new Canadian law coming into effect that could impact anyone doing business with Canadian clients. The rumor is that these new laws are quite strict, are meant to cut down on unwanted text or emails and will enforce an “opt-in” standard as opposed to the US’s “opt-out” method.
Some of the Differences: The new CASL law defines two types of consent: implied and express. Implied consent is a looser interpretation, whereas express consent requires action from both sender and recipient. Under CASL, consent is required before sending a CEM (commercial electronic message) and it applies to everyone including businesses, organizations, non-profits and even private parties. Basically the new laws apply to anyone who sends electronic messages for commercial or business purposes.
“CASL defines a CEM as a message that encourages participation in a commercial activity. This includes advertisements and information about promotions, offers, business opportunities, events, etc.” The Canadian Chamber of Commerce
If this all sounds huge and scary, don’t panic. There’s a 36 month transition period after the new law goes into effect July 1. 2014 for list owners to get educated and ensure their list stays in compliance under the law. I would highly recommend reading this CASL Survival Guide that is supplied by Elite Mail or better yet this information from FightSpam Canada.
Other Sources
http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/about-the-canada-anti-spam-law-casl/#consent
Send to KindleSend to KindleBusiness cards are such an important part of a business professionals marketing arsenal these days. The online version of the business card would be social media profiles and website About Me pages, but those can be limiting for anyone craving creativity. If you are looking for a quick, vibrant and creative way to display the equivalent on an online photo business card, take a look at About.Me.
About.Me is a free and ultra-simple landing page that enables business professionals to have all their information in one place, but if you desire stuffy headshots and over the top professionalism, About.Me is not for you. This unique site allows users to display their profile in a creative way with large background and profile photos. Users can also get a free email address associated with their page, share their profile on all social media and blogging platforms and show real-time traffic stats. About.Me does have an iPhone app, and upgraded options are also available for users.
The downside to About.Me is there is no domain name support and no extra layouts available; but it still remains a great way to learn about others, follow them in their networks, and collaborate.
Send to KindleSend to KindleWouldn’t it be nice to get a quick and specific critique on what you could be doing better on your Facebook business page? You can thanks to a cool new tool called LikeAlyzer.
LikeAlyzer works like an evaluation tool for your Facebook business page that points out areas of improvement. Once you plug in your Facebook business page URL, LikeAlyzer creates a report that shows you areas you may have missed (adding milestones) areas that need improvement (asking more questions) and suggestions for implementing helpful strategies (hashtags). LikeAlyzer also grades you on your posting frequency, timing of updates, fan engagement and your response rate with those who like your page.
Although it’s sometimes a little painful to see all that needs to be improved (and here I am baring my soul to the world), consider LikeAlyzer a guide that provides easy-to-understand information that will help you utilize your Facebook business page to its fullest.
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Long urls are…well…LONG. They are unsightly space hogs that most of us would rather do without. Thanks to a multitude of online tools, you can tidy up those unruly links and make them short, sweet, and to-the-point:
Bit.ly: Bit.ly is one of the most popular and also one of the oldest URL shorteners. Users favor Bit.ly because of its instant tracking, stats, and the ability to have vanity URLs that signify your brand.
Tiny.url: TinyURL is probably the most common of all the URL shortening sites but some users are unaware of two key features they offer. The first is their “Open in a New Window” option that lets you double check your new tiny url on the spot and the second is a preview feature which lets anyone who clicks on the preview link to see what exactly they are accessing.
Pretty Link Lite: Pretty Link Lite is an amazing WordPress plugin that allows you to shorten links coming from your own domain. Studies have shown that people are more likely to click when they know exactly where they are going (as opposed to a string of numbers and letters with a .com). Pretty Links also offers tracking like Hits Per Link and Unique Hits Per link. There’s a free version and a paid version of this plugin.
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