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How to Get People to Promote Your Business

How to Get People to Promote Your Brand

Start-ups and small businesses are always looking for ways to get maximum exposure for their business with limited budget. Value is the most important word when allocating budget for your marketing campaign. But what if you could find people who are willing to write about your products and promote them to their friends for free? Yes, it’s possible.

Getting your customers to promote your business will likely spur some level of success. Here are some tips on how to get people to promote your business.

Find loyal customers

Keep an eye out on people with a history of buying from you. Now, you want to find people who are committed to your brand and loyal to you in more ways than one, and make sure you remember their names. These people are more likely to help you spread the word out about your business than those who made a single purchase.

You won’t be able to turn every single customer into an advocate, so you need to find those people who believe in your brand. Not all people endorse products for money. Some people do it because they like the product or they believe in the company.

Offer awesome customer service

If you want to get people talking about your business, then you need to go above and beyond their expectations. Meeting their expectations is good as well, but chances are, they won’t be singing your praises either.

Build a relationship

When it comes to building advocates, you should aim for ongoing engagement. You cannot just push people to do you what you want if they don’t trust you, so focus on the relationship first. Spend more time engaging them. Reach out and always respond to your customers. The closer they feel to you, the happier they’ll be to tell others how amazing your products and services are.

Referral program

Studies show that 83% of customers are willing to refer a product or service to their family and friends, but only 29% actually do. It’s because most businesses do not ask them to.

Referrals are the best form of advertising. In fact, they are incredibly well equipped to market and sell your products and services. All you need to do is ask. Don’t forget to say thank you every time a successful referral is completed.

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Tips to Get More Online Customer Reviews

BIMSReviewsWith today’s savvy buyers, you know how important online reviews are to your business. People would share their experiences and what they have to say about your company. Given that majority of the adult population spend most of their time online and would read reviews before buying stuff, these reviews, whether they are positive or negative, can have a big impact on your business.

Customer feedbacks do not only affect buyer’s decision, it can also help give you an insight as to what customers think of your business; thus, allowing you to make certain changes that would make your products, services and business better. Remember, it’s your customers that pay you, so make sure you listen.

Here are a few simple ways on how to get customers to review your business online.

Just ask

After you’ve delivered a product or a service, try to ask your customers for feedback. It does not necessarily have to be a good review, just an honest review. Don’t be pushy. Rather, let the customer know that you are very much interested to know whether or not they were satisfied of the transaction and that you value their opinion.

Offer incentives

Sometimes, the best way to encourage customers to create reviews is to give them something in return. It doesn’t have to be expensive. If you own a restaurant, you can offer a free dessert on their next visit. You can also offer a free gift or a free trial version to those who will send in a review. The better the incentives are, the more reviews you are likely to receive.

Increase customer satisfaction

Happy customers will be very much willing to share their experience with the masses through the web and social media. This can help scale positive world of mouth and attract potential customers in the process.

Improve your services and people will start talking about your business. Remember, it would be impossible for you to get good reviews unless you have happy customers to write them.

Customer survey

Customer surveys are a great way to get feedbacks. This allows you to get customers to answer specific questions and find out what they really think about your services.

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Secrets to Writing Viral Blog Posts

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A viral blog post is a type of post that takes off because everyone wants to share and is talking about it. It goes around the internet like a fast-moving fire.

With the explosion of social media, almost everyone is looking for ways to grab the attention of millions and millions of people. Because let’s face it, it feels great to know that a lot of people appreciate what you have created.

In today’s competitive online world, bloggers from all over the world all seem to be asking the same question – What is the secret to writing a viral blog post? While there is no secret formula in creating a viral blog post, there are some things you can do to help you reach that goal. Here are a few.

Create attention-grabbing headline

While quality content is important, you also need to take time in crafting a catchy headline. Remember, this will be the first thing people are going to see so it should be treated with much more consideration. You need to pique the public’s interest or they won’t be interested in reading the article.

Contents that evoke emotions become viral

Readers are drawn to blog posts that make them feel something. Try to capture the emotion of the reader. If it doesn’t excite or thrill you, then it probably won’t excite your readers too.

Useful content gets shared

A lot of people go online to gather information and learn more about a certain topic. If you want your post to go viral, make sure it has tons of useful information. Read a lot, gather lots of resources and know your topic well. Don’t skimp on research.

Make sure it’s visually interesting

There is more to a blog post than just heading and content. If you want to get the numbers rolling, then you need to incorporate photos in your blog post.

Make your blog post visually stunning and beautiful. You might not be able to write the most informative, most interesting blog post, but if you add colourful pictures, you may be able to capture the attention of the crowd.

 

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5 Best Business Apps

As business owners we are on the go a lot, it is great to find those apps to make your life just a little bit easier! Here are 5 apps we love and use on a daily basis!

1) Flipgram- Bring Moments to Life! Create beautiful short video stories using your photos, set to music you love! http://flipagram.com/  This app is great for businesses they can take pictures of events they are at, or presentations or even new products and then take those pictures and create a nice short video to share on Instagram and social media.

2)  Web Recording Tool- Get ready to impress and be impressed, with this first of a kind app that is not only extra original but super useful too! Looking for the best way to explain or show someone how to navigate a specific area of the Internet but don’t have the words for it? Show it with a video! This is a great app for businesses when they are wanting to show someone their website, or how to explain something on their website, blog, YouTube, Social Media etc. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/web-recording-tool/id683468115?mt=8

3) Dropbox- Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Never email yourself a file again! This app is a great tool for businesses that are virtual or on the go a lot, you can upload important documents that you use daily on your computer, upload to Dropbox then when you are out and about if you have this app you can view and edit from your phone or tablet!

4)  Hootsuite– HootSuite is a social media management system for businesses and organizations to collaboratively execute campaigns across multiple social networks from one secure, web-based dashboard. Launch marketing campaigns, identify and grow audiences, and distribute targeted messages using HootSuite’s unique social media dashboard. https://hootsuite.com/features/mobile-apps This is a great app for businesses that are trying to keep up with their social media in a busy life style. You can log into 1 platform and be able to post to all your social media profiles. It is so easy!

5)  Evernote- Remember Everything- Evernote apps and products make modern life manageable, by letting you easily collect and find everything that matters. http://evernote.com/ As business owners we are very busy everyday trying to manage a company, social media, the books, personal life, bills the list goes on and on, this is a great tool to help you remember those things!

 

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The Wild and Crazy Career Paths of 5 Self-Made Billionaires (Infographic)

Just starting your business and feeling lost? From their humble beginnings, all of these self-made billionaires have changed course scores of times. Let these stories serve as inspiration for you!

Virgin Empire founder Richard Branson’s first job was selling Christmas trees. NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s first job was selling garbage bags. Las Vegas Sands Corporation CEO Sheldon Adelson’s first job was selling newspapers. Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky’s first job was selling carpets. And Elon Musk, the founder of Telsa Motors and PayPal, started his working life writing video games.

The infographic below, generated by San Francisco-based startup organization Funders and Founders, shows just how many different businesses these legendary entrepreneurs launched.

Funders and Founders also analyzed all 1,426 billionaires in the world. From there, the company segmented out the 960 that are self made and determined that 830 of them earned their wealth from more than one business.

Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228067

 

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Tips For Successful Social Media Marketing

 

 

 

 

 

Businesses everywhere are finding new opportunities to engage with consumers through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest. It’s known that Twitter gets about 460,000 users to sign up per day, and Facebook is expected to reach 1 billion users by August, so it’s easy for businesses to realize that each and every one of these users have the potential to be a customer.

But social media marketing is more than just making an account and adding friends and followers. It is critical to have a well-established strategy and to do your research so you can develop the best social media plan for your company.

Follow these tips before you hit the social media highway

1. Have A Plan

Too often Facebook becomes littered with inactive company pages. These pages are the result of marketers making a company page without a goal in mind.

It’s important to understand your objectives. State what it is you want to accomplish. This might be to create brand awareness, to provide a platform for consumers to give input and ask questions, or to build customer loyalty with promotions and specials.

Also, you’ll want to make a plan for measuring your ROI. It’s very helpful to be able to tell if your efforts are paying off. If your efforts aren’t getting results, then you can have a plan set to help you modify your marketing tactics.

It’s also wise to know you’re target audience. Define the demographics of who would be most interested in your products and services so you can send your brand message to those specific people.

Finally, make sure you have the time necessary to run your social media marketing plan. If you can’t make the time needed for your social media marketing, your attempts will not get very far. Consider hiring someone to help you so you can have the time to make a successful social media marketing campaign.

2. Keep It Simple

After you’ve got a basic plan set up, don’t go overboard and try to join every social network site out there. That will only end up fragmenting your efforts. What you should do is focus on creating one or two accounts on social media sites and grow your audience there.

3. Don’t Spam

With social media, it can be tempting to start promoting your products and services like crazy, but advertising should not be the main focus of social media marketing. Facebook users don’t go on the site to just look for something to purchase, so make sure you’re engaging with followers and fans on a level beyond advertising and promoting.

4. Communicate

Silence is not golden in the social media world. Communication is a must for any business, especially social media marketing. If you are not able to maintain ongoing communication with your customers, you will lose the value of having a social media presence. So be “social” and make contacts and boost your reputation.

5. Build Your Fan Base

It’s easy to gain customers by building your fan base. If you communicate well through your social media sites, your fan base will grow, and the potential for more customers will grow as well. Be sure to post interesting and unique information often, and follow people who are relevant to your brand, and they might just follow you back.

 

 

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Twitter Marketing Strategies That Work

 

 

 

 

 

Twitter is one of the most important sites to use in any Internet marketing campaign. To strengthen your Internet marketing, it is crucial to understand the latest and greatest strategies to use in your marketing campaigns, especially those that work for Twitter. To stay ahead of the Internet marketing game, use these tips on your Twitter account regularly.

1. Focus On What’s Important

A major problem social media marketers might run into is not being focused and precise. You must keep in mind that your followers like your brand and want to read your updates because they are in your target market and are interested in the topics you tweet about.

Don’t tweet mindlessly; tweet about the things you know your consumers are interested in and the things that complement what your brand represents. Having targeted, precise tweets will keep your brand focused on reaching those who are most interested in what you have to offer.

2. Be A Professional

On Twitter, being able to write snappy headlines is key. You only get 140 characters to tweet, so it better be meaningful and interesting in order to excite followers. Your content should be quality and attention grabbing, so that traffic to your site will continue to grow.

Don’t worry about how many followers you have. It’s better to have a fewer number of followers that are followers who are clearly in your target market. Your tweets should address those real customers who enjoy visiting your site and are likely to retweet your posts, which will then lead to new consumers who also share the same interests.

3. Communicate With Your Followers

Remember, Twitter is a SOCIAL media; therefore you must be social for it to work for your company. Twitter is about connecting, sharing and communicating. If you interact with your followers, you will get to know them better and as a result, you will be able to create tweets that you know your followers will be interested in and appreciate.

Start commenting and asking questions to your followers about things that are relevant to your brand, and that you know they’re interested in. Then take it a step further and try interacting with your followers’ followers as well, so you give your brand more exposure to others who could become potential customers.

These tips are easy ways to help make the most out of your Twitter account. They must be part of your Internet marketing campaign in order to see results. Twitter is hugely important in increasing traffic, so use it efficiently and your campaign will be successful!

 

 

 

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The Top Five Online Marketing Sins

 

 

 

It’s now a well-known fact that online marketing is an important part of any business plan. Online marketing offers a wide variety of tools and tactics to use in order to expand your business and connect with new consumers. While managing all of the various aspects of online marketing can be difficult, it’s a responsibility that must be handled carefully in order to see results!

With that said, take a look at these five major online marketing mistakes and steer clear of them so you can carry out successful marketing practices!

1. Not Optimizing Your Landing Page For Conversions

A major goal of online marketing is to get people to land on a specific page on their website. However, even with all their efforts to direct people to that page, the business may be missing out on a lot of prospective consumers if it is not optimized for conversions.

Think about making your contact information prominently displayed at the top of your page, or make sure that there’s a clear call to action that will direct visitors to do want you’d like them do to, such as call your business or fill out an informational form. Also, you should have the most important information clearly made available at the top of your website, so visitors don’t have to scroll down or spend time searching for what they’re looking for.

2. Not Targeting Your Online Marketing Locally

Small businesses tend to be made up of mainly local customers. Therefore, if you are investing in online marketing without targeting it locally, you’ll end up paying more to target national keywords and ultimately miss out on reaching customers who are searching for local business.

If you locally target with your online marketing strategy, you’ll see a greater ROI and be able to reach those consumers who are looking for local businesses more effectively.

3. Failing To Train Staff On Lead Handling

A major mistake many businesses make in their marketing efforts is focusing mostly on the front end of the marketing funnel. As a result, they miss out on the most vital component of the marketing process: deciding what happens to a lead after they show an interest in your business.

A costly element in marketing is figuring out how your staff handles the leads you get. Keep in mind that every lead counts! After all, you are investing a lot into generating leads, so you should properly train your staff on how they should respond to a consumer request and how they should answer phone calls.

4. Neglecting to Track Your Online Advertising

The main benefit of online advertising is the ability to track it! You should be tracking the clicks you get to your landing page or website, and also monitoring what happens after the click. Look at whether customers respond by calling, filling out a form, or leaving your page after they’ve clicked. There are lots of great online marketing tools that allow you to track this and more so you are able to see how effective your campaigns are and optimize them based on what seems to be working the best.

5. Not Claiming Your Google Place Page

A Google Place Page is a great tool that allows your business to show up in desktop and mobile searches to local customers searching for a business. For no charge at all, you can claim your Google Place Page so you have better control over what gets listed about your business. You will also get a valuable space on Google for important business keywords in organic searches.

While there are other mistakes that can be made with online marketing, by making sure your online marketing efforts don’t commit any of these five online marketing sins, your business will nail some of the most important concepts of online marketing!

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Solving Business Problems With Online Marketing

 

 

 

 

Top SEO company Oracle Digital has released new marketing techniques and marketing tools to assist businesses in finding an easier transition from the conventional marketing techniques to the newer, more efficient online strategies. Today, online marketing helps all businesses reach optimal success.

With the global financial crisis felt globally, a lot of businesses have been struggling to find success. This is mainly due to the increased interest rates and financing that have resulted from the financial issues in the market.

Retailers have been some of the hardest hit businesses from this economic crisis. Yet, there are many retailers who have actually been able to increase sales by effectively using Internet marketing strategies in operating their businesses.

Furthermore, online shopping has become a much more popular way of consumer purchasing recently. This trend could be both good and bad for retailers. Online purchasing offers convenience, which consumers certainly enjoy, but it also creates increased competition for retailers as more companies enter E-commerce marketing.

A recent survey conducted by Nielson Research Company found that the fashion industry gained 43% of their total online purchases from international online companies. Experts feel that this is a significant increase in online purchases since the year 2005, proving that more consumers are now very likely to make purchases over the Internet.

Another interesting feature of the online business world is that Facebook has now become a listed company, which will have a great impact on businesses. This will result in more changes in social marketing, across all social networking platforms, like Twitter and Google+.

Experts have also noted that the increased use of smartphones and mobile devices is making Internet marketing more relevant. With all these new ways of conducting business and marketing, finding business success could be a simple task if you develop a strong Internet marketing strategy.

While many may find that using Internet marketing can be difficult, it’s important to take advantage of resources available to help you learn the tricks of the trade. Businesses are shifting more and more to have a strong online presence, so it is worthwhile for you to get the most out of your business by utilizing online marketing!

 

 

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Testimonials

Amber is a wizard with Social Media!  I was reluctant and slowly started building a facebook community over many months and now I actually enjoy it. The next step was creating strategies that supported my business–that was over my head. Amber turned my uneasiness into trust, safety and confidence.  She is knowledgeable, has great skill at putting me at ease when I feel overwhelmed, and she effectively implements my social media strategies that we developed.  She answers questions and offers great recommendations to further develop my business and helps me develop myself. I would never have believed I would have done a you tube video–much less two!  Wow, what growth, and a testament to Amber’s ability to create trust, ease and confidence with this fun and wacky world of Social Media! I would highly recommend Amber -Your Marketing Voice to anyone who is ready to take the plunge or expand your existing strategies.  With many thanks, Regina Sisco

“Since I have used Amber’s services to do my social media, the traffic to my website has increased by 30%
and is getting more attention than without her services! Thank you for helping me become more visible in the community online and offline. ”www.Places2Network.com

“As a small business owner, I know that it’s very important where to put your marketing dollars, and most importantly, who has your best interest and knows what they’re doing!  Amber with “Your Marketing Voice”, is well educated and passionate about social media, and she has brought a professionalism and an internet presence out there in cyberspace for me and has brought new customers to me with the Youtube videos, (which I highly recommend). In this new era, businesses need to stay consistent with the times, and your marketing voice can take you there!!!” Lisa Keyeswww.VisionsofNaturalHealth.com

“I started my own business knowing that social media was now a very important part of marketing my business, but did not have any idea where to start.  Amber has not only given me that starting point but all the points.  She is very passionate about social media and the businesses she serves.  I found her to be informative and conscientious.  She just has a flare for this business and brings that flare to your business.  Hire Amber and watch your business grow!” Ann Waller www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/awaller16

“I have had the opportunity to have Amber Montel teaching me  the process of internet social marketing.  She is teaching me how to navigate on all the network sites.  Before meeting  Amber I took a class from another person who I felt taught me nothing.  I was more lost after the class with that person and did nothing more with network media sites until now.    Amber is easy to work with and explain things more and she wants to make sure you understand how each site works to benefit your needs.  I have a long way to go, but I am feeling more confident now to proceed further.

If anyone is looking for a teacher in network marketing I strongly suggest calling Amber!” Betty Smith

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