Most business owners know about word of mouth marketing. “How do I get people to talk about my product/brand/company?” is a common question we hear. Today we’ll look at five ways you can start and see some instant results in your marketing efforts.
1) Ask Your Customers the Hard Questions
These aren’t difficult questions, but sometimes the answers might be tough to hear.
Starting a small business website is stressful enough - you have to worry about a business plan, funding, suppliers, your market, marketing and all the rest. But unless you have a great name that fits what you are doing, it won’t matter how large your margins are.
Your business name is the core of your brand. Is it memorable? Does it have personality? Does it explain the service/product you are providing?
Entrepreneurs not only have to worry about having a catchy name, but its search engine optimizability, potential misspellings, and embarrassing alternate meanings. (You probably don’t want to make our list of the 50 Worst and Most Embarrassing Domain Names Ever Purchased!)
Here are five basic guiding principles as you start to figure out how to make this all-important decision:
1) Do a search for the name you have in mind - is it available or already being used? Can you legally use this name in your state/province?
2) Is it unique, short and/or easy to remember? Does it describe or indicate what your business does?
For those who have been under a rock for the past few years, there’s a social juggernaut called Facebook which has captured an audience of over 500 million people. Facebook is a fun place to catch up with your friends, post photos and videos of your vacations, and to simply socialize with all of your connections in a convenient place. The ability to tap into this vast resource would be hugely beneficial for any e-commerce website.
Luckily Facebook offers you, a website owner, the ability to add some of their own functionality to your website, plus it’s much easier than you think!
The first step is to head on over to Facebook’s developer pages and determine which plug-in best suits your needs. There are many to choose from, like the simple, yet effective “Like Button” which shares pages from your site to the users’ Facebook profile, and the “Comments” plugin, which allows users to comment on content on your site and have it reflected on their Facebook profile to be displayed to all of their friends.
Kenneth Cole, international shoe brand and fashion trend-setter, decided to comment on the horrific situation in Egypt this morning. In past blog posts, we’ve explored how your small business can leverage timely events to boost marketing efforts, but we didn’t mean like this:
Ever heard of Yahoo Answers? LinkedIn? How about Quora?
These are all online communities where people go to ask questions and find answers about anything under the sun. These forums are also an excellent place to generate new business.
How?
Simply join the conversation! Answering questions in an open forum is a great way to: build credibility, demonstrate expertise, and discover potential customers. Because these boards “never” disappear, they rank highly in search engines when people asking the same questions or use similar keywords. Whether you sell a service or a product, chances are someone is out there asking a question that you have the answer to.
To begin:
1) Start Googling for any of the keywords that your website already uses - just add “How” and turn the phrase into a question.
In this week’s Small Business Roundup, you’ll find helpful tips on topics from online marketing, to budgeting, to a peek inside one of Google’s most powerful free tools.
Wondering how to get your company’s name out there without spending a fortune? Check out Ronika Khanna’s 24 Cost Effective Ways to Promote Your Small Business.
One of the toughest parts of any business is budgeting. If you’re not tracking every dollar how can you maximize profits? Scott Allen of the American Express Open Forum explores 5 Budgeting Ideas for Every Small Business Owner.
Whether you like it or not, people are talking about you. As a business, you are constantly interacting with people that will have something to say about their experience with you – positive or negative.
The beauty about this day and age is that you can listen in on those conversations. By paying attention to what people are saying, you can:
So how exactly do you listen in? Well, in all honesty, it depends on how involved you want to get. Below you’ll find a few different levels of involvement:
Who doesn’t love free stuff?
When you’re a bootstrapping entrepreneur, FREE is sometimes is your only option. That doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice quality though! (Hootsuite anyone?)
Here are five free tools we use quite often on our own sites:
Referrals are a huge chunk of any business’ revenue. Make it easy for visitors to share your website on Facebook, Twitter, and the rest with an AddThis button.
When it comes to tracking, what do heavy hitters like the American Cancer Society, Discount Tire, Yelp, Huffington Post, and RE/MAX Global Real Estate have in common? They all use Google Analytics to track their online campaigns. How can you maximize sales if you don’t know where and who they come from?
You already know that first impressions are everything, which is why your product photos and images can make or break your online store. If your website images look like they were taken in your basement, people are probably going to think twice before buying from you.
You don’t have to be a professional photographer to get great shots - you just need a digital camera and a little practice. Here are some tips to get you started:
Lighting
A standing ovation for Cynthia Johanson, owner of CalgaryPolarExpress.com: our Website of the Month!
When Cynthia, scientist/mother of three, heard on the news that 4500 children in Calgary would not be able to celebrate Christmas this year, it broke her heart. She decided to help create holiday memories for these underprivileged kids and their families - with the Calgary Polar Express. Based on the classic children’s book (and Tom Hanks movie), families board buses - as giant steam trains for the Christmas ride of a lifetime – before meeting Santa, Mrs. Claus and his Elves at his Workshop in the North Pole.
But why listen to us? Click to hear Cynthia share her story:
