Social Media Clock & Calendar

Social Media is an important part of your business, while posting, pinning or tweeting consider when you are doing it to better reach your audience.

GET YOUR SMALL BUSINESS FLYING WITH A FLYER

Imran Rashid Khan--

One of the most cost effective and amazing way to market your small business is with a flyer. Flyers are simply full page ads that are distributed directly to your potential customers. A flyer can positively persuade a customer to buy your product, or to use one of your services. With the right approach your small business can yield a great return on investment (ROI) from this tried and trusted marketing tool.

Flyers are most direct form of marketing, because they get straight to the point. Flyers give immediate access to what you are selling. Flyers grab attention with their colors and visuals. Anyone from doctors to web designers are using flyers to market their services, even high end businesses use flyers to promote special events. Flyers are being more and more used as a brand awareness tool. Whenever your flyer reaches somebody your business is introduced to them. They may not make a purchase then, but you will increase your brand awareness, and likelihood that you'll be considered in the future.

The question now remains, should you hire a professional or should you do it yourself? The answer depends on how artistically inclined you are. It may certainly be cheaper, but if you are not experienced in visual presentation you may forget to add important components to your flyer. On the other hand hiring a designer may be comparatively costly, but it will be more efficient. As you will not need to worry about the design choices or color schemes. Whatever the decision may be, make sure that your flyer has a creative design; it is printed on good quality paper and the design abides by theses 9 guidelines so that whatever you are offering will look impressive and be noticed.

1. COLOR

Colors instantly grab attention and communicate your message emotionally, as it affects behaviors. Use the right color to further ingrain your brand message. Below are some examples of what color represents:

RED - Energy, Excitement
GREEN - Freshness, Money, Health
BLUE - Trust, Confidence
YELLOW - Warmth, Cheerfulness
ORANGE - Fun, Optimism
PURPLE - Creativity, Luxury

Whatever colors you choose, make sure they complement each other. Visit ColourLovers  and Visually for more information on colors.

2. FONTS

Selection of a suitable font is very important for a flyer design. Ensure that you select a font which is easily readable from a distance, for example sans-serif fonts.  Font size is very important, so make it large enough for the reader to read it from at least 2 feet away. Use one font for headlines and the other one for details.

3. YOUR LOGO

Logo is part of branding your small business, so make sure it is placed strategically on your flyer. It can either be placed on the top or at the bottom corner, near your business name and address.

4. YOUR CONTENT

Make sure whatever the reason you have the flyer, be sure to spell it out and explain to the reader what is important. Get to the point straight away, but still give them enough information to get them attracted.

5. YOUR VISUALS

Include images and illustrations that convey your message with the text. Be careful as less is more; don't clutter your flyer with too many images, as it will distract the attention from your message. Choose a large image to match your content's message.

6. WHERE TO FIND YOU

If you have a shop then add the address, contact number so that you’re potential customers know where you are located and are able to find you easily. Be sure to add directions or a small map that shows your location at the bottom of the flyer near your address information.

In addition to that add your email address and your website address. Create a welcome landing page of the flyer on your website, to further explain your offerings.

7. CALL TO ACTION

Create a call to action space on your flyer to entice the customers. Make it clear and bold so that the reader will respond to the offer sooner rather than later.

USE FLYERS TO MARKET YOUR SMALL BUSINESS

Imran Rashid Khan

Whether you're a restaurant owner, retailer, dentist or any other small business owner, promotional flyers are the most cost effective and popular way to market your small business. Flyers are a great way to get attention of your target audience. When done right, flyers can be the easiest way get your name out there and get new customers and boost sales. Flyers are used to acquire new customers, increase sales, highlight a special event or promote a new service or product. Flyers can even be used to launch a new venture.

To make your flyers standout they must be well designed and professionally printed.

Follow these 7 tips when creating your flyer to make the most of marketing your small business:

1. LESS IS MORE.

Try to keep things simple, and don't try to fit every product or service on the flyer. Try to focus on just a couple of your main services or products.

2. USE CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS.

Add testimonials to add credibility to your small business. Highlight comments of past satisfied customers. Be sure to include their full name and photo if possible.

3. KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Keep your design simple and don't use too many colors and fonts. It will not only confuse people, but also make them lose focus on your offering. Include a photo of your product or the service you are offering. Your call to action area should be bigger and bold then the rest of the text on the flyer.

4. USE FULL COLOR.

Full color flyers stand out with compared to black & white ones. Full color ones look more professional and catch the eye easily. If full color is not in your budget, don’t use the standard white paper, use  a color paper to get your flyer stand out and bring out the message you are trying to convey.

5. AVOID PHOTO COPIES.

As flyers are your first impression on your potential customer, get your flyers printed instead of photo copying them. Photo copying your flyer will give a cheap impression and won't look professional. Get an impact for your first impression. 

6. GIVE AN INCENTIVE.

You will get a much better response by give a discount on your product or service, as people love a good discount. Even offering an extra free service on redeeming the coupon can impress them.

7. MAKE IT EASY TO FIND YOU.

Make it as easy as possible to find or contact you. Include your full address (with the nearest landmark if necessary), your telephone and cell number, email, and web address.

FINAL WORD.

Your flyer should be clear, with a call of action. It should have a coupon or a discount offer to attract customers. You should remember that your flyer will be competing with others, so make sure to engage a professional in designing and printing your small business flyer.

Start distributing them in target areas, once your flyer is ready and printed. Post your flyers on Public Bulletin Boards. Hand them out outside of targeted buildings, in Parades and other public events. You can even distribute flyers door-to-door.

Have a Successful Marketing!

SIX MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS

Imran Rashid Khan

Small business owners are increasingly showing concerns about effectively marketing their businesses. Small business owners should take knowledgeable actions, which may seem small now, but will prove to be a major factor in the stability and growth of their businesses.

Here are six (6) simple tips for building a better marketing strategy for your small business, one that will put your customers first and your business second to none.

1. Develop a Marketing Budget.

Customer attraction and retention are the two most pressing concerns for small business owners. While few of them spend minimal amounts on marketing their business, majority of small business owners don’t spend any money on marketing.

Small business owners should put aside a flexible budget to tackle new marketing opportunities and ideas so as to better position their business. Consumers are increasingly researching products or services to make purchases, so return-on-investment (ROI) should be the key factor by which to measure your marketing efforts. Business which spend very less or nothing on their marketing will only hurt their bottom line. Small businesses should make smart investments in marketing so they are better positioned to attract customers now and in the future.

2. Build a Website.

A website is the essential component for any business to have an online virtual presence. It is through your business website that your current and potential customers will find you and connect with you. Whether you are building you business website now, or looking to improve the one you already have keep the following things in mind:

•  Your business contact information (address, phone number, email, etc) should be promptly displayed on each page of your website, not just in your Contact or About Us page. Make sure that your business contact information is consistent and updated on all online business listing sites.
• Enlist the help of a professional website designer to build a visually appealing and easy to navigate website. Your website should be SEO optimized.
• Keep your website content current and updated so that it is relevant to those visiting your site and help in higher ranking of your site in search engine results. Update your site with promotions, offerings and introducing new products and services. Use analytical tools to find out from where your visitors are coming from, and how they are finding you. This will help you in improving the customer experience of your visitors, ensuring return visitors.

3. Make Your Website Mobile-Optimized.

Increasingly consumers are using Smartphones and tablets to search for local businesses and to shop for products and services, so ensure that your website is mobile-optimized or responsive. Ignoring this opportunity will diminish the chances for securing business from these visitors.

4. SUBSCRIBE TO LOCAL LISTINGS.

Get your business listed in the local listing, and make sure it is in the appropriate category. Make your listing accurate and complete. Ensuring that your business listing is complete and accurate plays an important role in determining whether your customers reviewing your listing can move forward with contacting you and making a purchase. Include business address, phone number, website address, email address, social media channel addresses, photos, offerings, etc. This will help your customers to get as much information as they need about your business before making a decision.

5. MANAGE TESTIMONIALS AND REVIEWS.

Before the online revolution, consumers placed their trust on word-to-mouth testimonials, same way online reviews and testimonials play an important role in driving consumers purchasing behavior. Small business owners should ensure that their customers can reach them directly through varied means. Regular monitoring should be in place of the reviews. All reviews especially the negatives one should be replied promptly in a professional way with focus to remedy the issue. After every transaction or services provided, an email should be sent to your customer asking them to leave feedback on your website or your business social media channel.

6. BUILD A SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE.

With the advent of online social media platforms, consumers are spending more and more time on social media not only interacting with their family and friends, but also with popular brands. Small business owners are increasingly engaging their loyal and potential customers through social media channels. Before jumping onto the bandwagon, small business owners should take in to account the following things:

• Begin by selecting which social media platform will be more appropriate for your business. Facebook and Twitter provide strong platforms to reach your customers with offerings, promotions, and the like. These platforms also have the ability to engage in one-to-one conversations with their customers answering to feedbacks, queries, and complaints. For businesses dealing in clothing, furniture, art, and other kinds of designing Pintrest can provide a platform for sharing visually their offerings. And sites like YouTube can help businesses to post ‘how-to-do’ videos.
• Once your business social media channel(s) have been created, share the information. Keep updating it with relevant information. Include compelling photos, videos, and other visual content so that your followers keep coming back and stay connected. Your business social media channel(s) are an extension of your online presence, respond to any inquiries, questions, and other comments promptly.

FINAL WORDS

Small business owners should measure results from their marketing initiatives. They should find out how well their marketing strategies have worked, and what else they can or should be doing. Develop a reporting mechanism that will enable you to see the impact of the marketing activities on your business. Soon you will start seeing the benefits of your business marketing activities at work – the ability of your business to retain and attract customers.

FIVE STEPS TO HELP SMALL LOCAL BUSINESSES SUCCEED THROUGH SEO

Imran Rashid Khan

For a small business to effectively position it in search engine results is very important for their success and survival. But is it possible to influence and control search engine results?

The answer to that million dollar question is yes. There are simple yet effective ways to not only boost but to improve the visibility of your small business. You can even improve the ratings and reviews of your business through the efforts of social media. 

Take a look at the five (5) steps and the actions to be taken for small businesses to extend their outreach and influence the search engine results with positive content and coverage.

BUILD YOUR BUSINESS WEBSITE 

• Your website is the first point of contact and the most valuable online asset, so it is essential to take steps to make it optimized and accurate so it appears high within the search results. Your business website is the home on the virtual world, from where the interaction with your business starts and ends. Your business website is the most important place for existing and potential customers to learn about your business before deciding on whether to move forward with a purchase your product or use your service.

• Select a domain name that reflects your business and if possible its location. For example, one of the beauty salons in New York uses the domain "simplybeautifulnyc.com", which includes its business name, type, and location.

• Your website should be built around giving its visitors a user-friendly experience, having a visually appealing colour scheme, attractive visual content and easy to use navigation.

• Add keywords on page titles that identify your business, its services, and its location. For example, “simplybeautiful – full service beauty salon – New York.” Incorporate your business's name, address, and phone number in not only your homepage or contact page, but also in each individual webpage of your website.

• In addition to highlighting your offerings, make sure to include as much possible information of your vicinity. For example, note what section of the town you are in, nearest important or famous landmark. This information will boost your search visibility as a local business.

• Ensure that your business website is Mobile-Friendly.

MAKE AVAILABLE AND UPDATE YOUR BUSINESS LISTINGS ON LOCAL WEBSITES

One of the most effective ways to boost your SEO is to ensure the availability of correct information of your business in your local business listings sites. The information should be accurate, consistent, and accessible.

• When your business is not listed or the information listed is incomplete, outdated or appears differently in different places, then there is a risk of negative impact of your business ratings in search engine results. Not only that it will make it difficult for potential customers to find your business.

• Ensure that your business is listed in your local business listings and the business information like name, phone, and address are consistent and correct.

• Ensure to include photos, videos, website URL, and other key information in your listing to make it more attractive and informative to your potential customers.

• While enlisting your business make sure it is in the appropriate category.

• If your business has multiple locations, mention each location on your website. Create separate listings of each location to boost visibility of your location and business.

ENSURE AN APPROPRIATE LINK STRATEGY

Links from your website to other related websites, and vice versa, play a vital role in optimising your business visibility in search engine results. This action helps in creating credibility of your business.

• Use social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and other media channels to share your website link. Encourage your friends and family to pass along the information as well.

• Add links to your website in your emails and other stationary items.

• Sponsor local events, or provide discounts on special /seasonal occasions. Ask your other local businesses to provide links to your business and return the favour. However make sure your linking strategy is authentic and relevant to your business. Do not spam your business URL, on websites, blog comments or forums.

ENCOURAGE AND RESPOND TO ONLINE REVIEWS.

Reviews not only help to build your business visibility in local search engine results but, also play a critical role in driving consumer’s purchasing decisions, so respond to them whether they are positive or negative.

• Encourage the customers to leave ratings and reviews. Provide them with variety of sites to post reviews so the spread is varied. Whether it is a simple email or a call out on your website. The more positive, authentic review the better your business will appear.

• Be proactive about responding to all types of customer reviews. If the post is positive, thank the customer for their feedback and encourage them to use your services/product again. If the post is negative, appreciate the feedback and ask the customer to get in contact with you about their concerns so you can attend to their problems.

ENGAGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

Social media plays a noteworthy role in local business visibility in search results. The more proactive your social media strategy, the higher likelihood your pages will attract followers and optimise your ratings within a search.

• Engage your customers via Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pintrest, and other popular social networks on regular basis. Begin by selecting which social media platform will be more appropriate for your business. The more you engage the more followers you will have, which in turn will make your page appear higher in searches. Use posts and updates to link to your business website to drive traffic.

• Start a blog, which will provide a steady stream of new and relevant content for your existing and potential customers. This will not only raise your site’s SEO results but also drive traffic to your site.

• Engage your customers with updates on new products/services, promotions, and discounts. Respond promptly and directly to questions, concerns or feedback.

In the end, pay attention to your success and adjust your approach as necessary. Keep close track of your progress, and monitor what is working, and what is not. Follow these steps and take control of your marketing strategy.

Branding Your Business

Branding Your Business - Freelance WorkTips

As more and more companies enter the marketplace, many of them small businesses, it’s more important than ever to rise above the competition and establish your reputation. To do this the businesses need to start establishing their brand. The value of your brand sets the benchmark for your marketing potential.
If there are 100 other web designers, or 20 other caterers working in your area, how will you make sure that clients choose you over your competitors? The only way is to create a brand which will allow your target audience to actually look your way and see what you have to offer.

First of all let’s get the definition of brand and branding down. A Brand is a collection of words, images, and ideas which represent and identify a business.

Branding is the process of integrating a company’s brand into everything they do.

Branding is a complete packaging of your business going in the website, emails, promotional videos, letterheads, business cards, etc., but keep in mind that branding is not just your logo, your website or, your business name it’s what your customers perceive about you. With the right branding you can invoke trust, build loyalty and connect with your customers emotionally.

Branding preferably should be done in the early stages as it allows you to jump start on some marketing activities therefore, branding your business should not be taken lightly.

If you own a startupbusiness and planning to make it big in the industry, here are some tried-and-tested tips that will help you establish your brand.

Brand Strategy

Branding is one of the most important aspects of your business, large or small. An effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in increasingly competitive markets.

Your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from your competitors. Your brand strategy is how, what, where, when and to whom you plan on communicating and delivering on your brand messages. Where you advertise is part of your brand strategy. Your distribution channels are also part of your brand strategy. And what you communicate visually and verbally are part of your brand strategy, too.

Defining Your

Once you've created your brand strategy, the next step is how to define your brand. Here are a few simple tips:

Know your audience:

Your audience is one of the most important factors to consider when putting up a business simply because they are the ones who will buy your product.

Therefore, it is important that you familiarize yourself with your target market, so that you can tailor your products and services according to what they need and want.

Identify your competition:

As the saying goes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. What it implies in your situation is that you have to identify who your competition are in the market, and then look at their strengths and weaknesses. Look out for areas where you can develop something better or eliminate or minimize your flaws.

Get a great logo: 

Your logo is the face of your brand, so get a logo which incorporates your brand message so that your target market will like and never forget it. Place it everywhere.

Create a website:

Whether you are an online business or a brick-and-mortar shop, create a website for your business. Your website will help not only to showcase your products but also help you to interact with your customers easily. In your website, you can have an about page, your product or services page, a testimonial page, a contact information page, and even an order form page for convenient transactions. Just make sure it resonates your brand message.

Blog regularly:

As an entrepreneur, part of your job is to keep your customers updated not just about your products/services but also of the industry you represent, you can accomplish these by regularly publishing blog posts on your website.

Write about your new products/services or communicate to your customers the latest industry-related event and happenings through a short feature article. If your products require assembly or specific instructions, you can also make tutorials in video format to assist your customers.  The idea here is to provide content that your customers will find highly useful and relatable.

Engage in social media:

To connect with your customers better and learn what they think, establish an active online presence by creating accounts on popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Build your online community, and engage them in virtual conversations.

Your customers are the best judge of your products so ask them for feedback, When they do, don’t forget to thank them for their time and if possible give them some incentives/freebies.

This way, you’ll get to know your customers more and improve your products/services based on their opinion.

Integrate your brand:

Branding extends to every aspect of your business – be it your website, emails, promotional videos, letterheads, business cards, Social Content,Blog,etc

Your brand should be applied in all written communication and incorporated in the visual imagery of all materials, online and offline. Use the same color scheme, logo placement, look and feel throughout. Be consistent and create brand standards for your marketing materials. 

Be consistent:

Customers won't return to you,or refer you to someone else if you don't deliver on your brand promise. So the most important tip above all is consistency. If you can't do this, your attempts at establishing a brand will fail.

Check out the interesting infographic by webs.com below to learn what elements you need to help your brand stand the test of time.

As always you are welcome to post your questions and comments below.

Have a great and prosperours life.

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