5 Reasons to Adopt a Press Release Campaign

Investing in an online marketing strategy can seem like a scary proposition.  However, there are ways to get publicity to your website and to your business without breaking the bank.  One way is to conduct a pressrelease campaign.  A press release campaign involves sending out a series of press releases over a short period of time in order to make both the public and the media aware of your business, products and services. 

Today’s press release campaigns are different than those of the past.  Now, press releases can be uploaded to a variety of electronic press release distribution sites in addition to or instead of being mailed to your local media.   Posted electronically, press releases can include links to your business’ website. 

1. Here are 5 reasons press release campaigns are beneficial to your business. Press releases posted electronically include links back to your website.  This helps customers find you and helps the search engines index your website, contributing to better page rankings for your website. 
2. Press releases distributed online stay online. . . forever.  That means that they will forever be on the web driving traffic and customers to your website.  
3. Press releases provide publicity.  By sending out press releases to local media, you make them aware of your business.  Media come to think of you as the expert in your industry and business. Once media members think of you as the expert, they will reach out to you to interview you when they need information in your area of expertise.  This equals free publicity for your business.   
4. Press releases are flexible.  You can use press releases to promote a new or existing service or product.  You can use press release to announce awards, trainings, certifications earned by your business or employees.  Your business press releases can also include announcements and news related to your industry in general.  
5. Press release campaigns can fit in your budget.  There’s no “right” way to conduct a press release campaign.  It can involve one or more press releases written and distributed every week for a month or three months or even longer.   It can be whatever you want it to be and whatever your marketing budget will allow.  Whether you issue 4 press releases or 12, they are all on the web forever, sending traffic your way. 

 Press release campaigns are an excellent way to increase traffic to your website, increase customer traffic and increase sales.  Also, they are great way to start indexing your website and begin an online marketing campaign that leads to a long-term strategy. 

                

3 Marketing Strategies to Stretch Your Dollar

     As you start planning your business marketing strategy, there are many considerations to make.  How much money do you have to spend on marketing?  What’s your budget? What are you doing now?  What’s working? What’s not?  What can you do that’s new?

     Here are three suggestions which may help you get the most bang for your marketing buck. 

1) Build a website.  Almost 50 percent of small businesses in the U.S. do not have websites.  Yet, more than 90 percent of consumers search online for businesses, including local businesses, before making a purchase.  If nothing else, your website should provide the consumer with basic information about your business such as products, services, hours and location.  The more information you have about your business on the website, the more the customer can find out about your business and the more interested that customer will be.  Setting up a website does not have to be expensive but you will reap its rewards for many years to come. 

2) Establish a Google+ Local Business page.  While Google+ is fairly new, it’s a powerful online marketing tool.   Users can utilize it to make posts, to share photos, videos and articles and to communicate with followers.   It also has several advantages over Facebook, including the fact that it lets you separate your followers into “circles.”  These circles let you target messages for specific groups.  If you have a business with different products and services that appeal to different audiences, then you can divide your audience and target your messages rather than sending the same messages to everyone.   Another advantage Google+ has over Facebook is that Google+ is not a closed community.  You can share posts publicly on Google+ and those will be indexed by the search engines so more potential customers can find your business.  

3) Conduct a press release campaign.  A campaign is not just sending out one press release which announces a special offer.  A press release campaign includes sending out 1 or more press releases over a period of several weeks.  Each press release focuses on a different aspect of your business.  This could include special offers, new products or services, awards or certifications your business or employees have experienced.  Press releases can also focus on current events and how your business addresses those.  For instance, a lawn care business could issue a press release on how to deal with drought conditions. 

Press releases distributed online can help drive traffic to your business website.  Also, those distributed to local media gets you noticed as an expert in your field and industry.  This can lead to media interviews related to your industry and your business.  Media interviews are free publicity. 

These three suggestions will give your business a boost on its online marketing strategy, helping drive business and boost your sales.  

5 Reasons Your Business Should Be Using Social Media

     Social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and others, have grown quickly in importance and influence in business marketing. If you haven’t incorporated social media into your business marketing plan, you may want to rethink your strategy.

    If you’re reading this, chances are your business has a website. Why did you decide to incorporate that into your business plan? Probably for the same reasons I’m going to tell you you need to look into adopting social media. Here’s 5 reasons for utilizing social media.  

1.     Your customers are using social media. To reach them, you need to use it, too. According to the federal Small Business Administration, more than 46 percent of adults in the U.S. use at least one social media site. That number goes up every day.
2.     Friends of your customers are using these sites. If your customers are using social media, then their friends and family are using it, too. These sites sites let your customers market your business for you.
3.     Your competition are using these sites. Go online and see what your competitors are doing. If you find them on any social media sites, then they are already doing something you are not. They are marketing to audiences that you may not be and in a different way. Furthermore, according to the Small Business Administration, 51 percent of Facebook fans and 67 percent of Twitter followers are more likely to buy from the businesses they follow on these sites.
4.     These links count. Marketing on the internet effectively is all about building the number of links you have in order to direct traffic to your website. When people talk about your content and share your website link on these sites, the search engines pay attention and your page ranking improves. All of this goes to bring traffic to your website and business to your door.
5.     It puts a face to your business and humanizes it. People like to do business with people, not corporations. By putting your business (and employees) on Facebook, Twitter and Google+, you put a face on it. Furthermore, unlike tv commercials, billboards or print advertisements, social media sites allow for interactions and conversations between customers, potential customers and your business. These conversations make your business “real” to customers. Customers will want to do business with your business’ people which they now feel they related to.

These 5 reasons should be reason enough for you to adopt a social media strategy into your business marketing plan.

4 Items to Add to Your Online Marketing Strategy in the New Year

If you’re wondering where to spend your hard-earned marketing dollars for the coming year, this article offers 4 online marketing strategies that will give you the best bang for your buck. 

1. Website: If you haven’t developed a business website, now’s the time.  There’s no excuse for not having a business website in 2013.  Whether you sell items online or not, websites have great marketing value.  Most consumers locate and research businesses online before dealing with them personally.  If you already have a website, have professional look at it to determine whether it’s working up to its potential.  Is it being indexed by the search engines?  Does it have enough content for both search engines and customers?  Are there keywords?  Is there meta-data?  Is there more you can add to it to make it a more effective business tool?  If you can’t answer these questions, hire someone who can and who can then fix it for you.  A website may be the first impression your business presents to potential consumers.  Be sure you have one that’s maintained on a regular basis. 
2. Blog: Blogs are a great addition to any online marketing strategy.  First of all, they are indexed by the search engines more quickly than websites so you can use them to drive traffic to the website.  Secondly, they are more dynamic.  You can easily update a blog with news, updates and announcements about products, services, your business and industry.  Lastly, you can use them to interact with consumers, asking and answering questions, getting feedback and more.
3. Press Releases:  Press releases may sound “old school,” but they work.  Now, press releases can be posted online where they will stay, forever driving traffic to your website.  Submitting press releases to local media outlets gets your business known among reporters who might need your expertise on a related story at some point.  Consider this:  If your business is lawncare,  wouldn’t you like to be the business owner local reporters interview when there’s too much rainfall or too little rainfall?
4. Google+ Local:  Businesses have found quite a bit of marketing success on Facebook and Twitter.    Google+ Local offers more marketing power.  First, because it’s Google, with a Google+ Local business page, your business will be found more quickly by the search engines and by customers.   Secondly, Google+ Local has special fields that help people find the business’ physical location.  This is more important than ever as people increasingly depend on mobile devises such as mobile phones and tablets to search for businesses.  Lastly, the Google 1+ button allows your customers to do your marketing for you.  They can share your page with their friends, multiplying the effectiveness of your Google+ Local page.  This just scratches the surface of what Google+ Local offers businesses.  

         If you haven’t begun online marketing for your business, now’s the time to get started.   

Small Businesses: Google+ Local Increases Traffic, Improves Sales

Freelance writer Phyllis Edson announced today that small businesses that improve their online marketing strategy can improve their traffic and sales.   Utilizing Google+ Local is one way to improve a business online presence, she said. 

               “Small businesses have so many options available to them to market themselves online,” she said.  “Creating a local business page on Google+ Local is just one way to improve the number of customers who can find your business,” she said. 

               Edson is offering a package to small businesses to improve their online presence.  The package includes creating a Google+ Local business page, editing or writing a business webpage, creating a blog, writing a press release, creating a coupon, setting up an online e-mail marketing list and creating a freebie offer to entice customers to sign onto a marketing list. 

               “About 50 percent of small businesses don’t have any online presence at all,” she said.  “But, research shows that more than 90 percent of customers search for businesses online, even local businesses,” said Edson.  “If you’re business is not online, customers can’t find you,” she said. 

               Edson said that small business owners should think of the internet as multi-use marketing tool. Not only can small business owners put up websites and blogs, but they can collect e-mail addresses of customers, send out news announcements, special offers, coupons and more information.  Google+ Local Business pages will help small businesses be found by people searching for those businesses online and through mobile devices, she said.