What is SEO? It stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is how Google and other search engines (ie: Yahoo) help you to find what you’re searching for. With Google, their goal is to help you find the closest, most relevant match for what you’re looking for.

What Should My SEO Goals Be? Expand visibility, increase your traffic organically, improve your site’s credibility and trust, and increase the traffic that is coming to your site for searches.

Why Do I Need A Local Search? Nearly one-third of searches are local – which means that what they are looking for needs to be nearby, ie: pizza delivery, dentist, pharmacy, restaurant, etc. If your business is not a part of these local searches, you’re missing out on buying opportunities.

Can I Setup Local Searches Myself? You can do some of the local searches yourself by signing up for Google Places and filling out their forms – and yes, it’s free. To be truly effective with this process, you need to sign up with as many search engines as possible, such as 50. This is when bringing in an expert to help you would be a good idea.

How Long Does It Take To See Results? Expect to see results after 90 days – this is how long it takes for the pages to index.

Quick Tips to Improve SEO? Have fresh content, such as a blog, have links to other sites, participate in social media – basically, get involved online!

To listen to this segment in its entirety, go to Marketing Chat with Nancy Sipera

Source: 1st Straw Marketing & Promotions

In Person Is Best. Nothing beats face-to-face interactions for professionals. It’s a great way for you and the prospect to find out if there’s that chemistry – do you click? Can you work well together? And while you are getting to know each other, be sure to listen! You will learn so much more about this person if they do most of the talking.

Social Media Musts: LinkedIn is a must, as it’s a great way to connect with other professionals, and showcase your areas of expertise. UTube can let others see your personality, more so than in a post or article. Twitter and Google Places are also effective ways to showcase your knowledge.

What About Referrals? Getting to know those in your industry that specialize in an area other than yours, can net you a wealth of referrals. Joining your local bar association or other associations where you will find your select niche is an effective way to develop leads. Don’t forget LinkedIn – by posting articles, or other posts that are interesting to those in your niche, you can develop relationships that also lead to referrals.

Publicity. There’s more about your firm that you can promote than you may realize: awards, sitting on a board, certification, recognition in your field, new hires. And don’t be shy about promoting them. Many professionals feel that showcasing their accomplishments feels like bragging. That is not true. Your business relies on promoting your credibility and knowledge. It’s a business and marketing must.

Proposals. Just like other businesses, the proposal lays out the work you intend to do. Many times, these documents get too bogged down with how you will do it, instead of what you can do for the client. Revisit your proposal through the eyes of your client. If it sounds confusing and complicated, now’s the time to make changes. Remember, it’s all about them.

Don’t Do This! A total networking killer is to introduce yourself by your job title – don’t do this! It does not lend itself to more conversation. Instead, try this: “I help X solve this problem….” Much more interesting and engaging.

Do This! Remember, it’s not about you – it’s about them. Ask questions. Find out how you can help them. Get involved and engaged.

Source: KLA Marketing 

Trust Is Tops. What’s the most important thing when choosing a repair shop? Trust actually tops out pricing. While pricing is important, if you trust your mechanic, then the pricing falls in line.

Word-of-Mouth. Where do most of their customers come from? Customer referrals. Of all industries, this probably has the highest referral rate of all. What do you do when your car needs to get repaired? Why, you ask a trusted friend where they take their car.

Keep In Touch. They are relying on new technology to bring the customers back in, such as programs that automatically calculate your next oil change appointment, and then send reminders via text message or email.

Best Ways to Attract New Customers? A good promotion – such as a free oil change or a coupon for money off works wonders. But the promo has to be a good one, enough to entice the prospect to give your service a try. Then you wow them with your service and woo them back as a recurring customer.

Touch the Customer. For current customers, there’s lots of “touches” involved – newsletters, surveys, coupons, rebates, gifts in their car after a service appointment, so that you stay top of mind.

Location, Location. For this industry, location is key. Their core customer base may span just a five-mile radius. So it’s important to be a part of the community, via sponsorships, giving back and getting involved in town events. These help to build trust and a presence in the community.

The Big Question. What do you do when something goes wrong? Santos says that how you react when something goes wrong can sometimes cement that relationship. Honest is the best policy – don’t sugarcoat things, don’t lie, and don’t “low ball” just to get the job.

So while they may be talking spark plugs, the auto industry has alot of valuable take-aways for other service-rleated industries where trust is a must. What are you doing to establish trust?

Source: Advantage Auto

To listen to this segment in its entirety, go to: Marketing Chat with Nancy Sipera, 4/23/13

Let me first say that there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with the scenario I just described – I think there are thousands of us who are using that model, and it’s working just fine. However if you get rid of the ‘me against them’ mentality, and instead try out a new concept – that it takes a village to build a client base -  you’d be surprised at its effectiveness. This model is based on the principles that you can’t do it alone. That you can build a referral base of customers much more quickly and effectively with a team. What if you are a solo-preneur, or are the only one doing business development in your company? Doesn’t matter, this still works. Here’s how: identify key people by either personality or industry that can refer business to you.

By Industry: Find people that support your industry – a realtor, title company, and a mortgage broker are a great example. By teaming up as a referral source for each other, you are now meeting 3x the number of people that you could on your own. Add in a real estate attorney, and now it’s 4x the number of people. Another example: an accountant, payroll company, and business banker. All three of these people are looking to meet the same types of contacts. And by teaming up with supporting industries, you are also providing better service to your customers. Because if they need you, they are also likely to need services from your referral partners. Get it?

By Personality Type: If you have been working in your business/industry for a while, you have gotten to know who’s a good “match” for your skill set. You may find that you work best with those who have certain traits. For example, I’ve noticed that I work well with business owners who tend to keep things close to the vest, and want to oversee each phase, maybe a tad of a micro-manager – a person who loves their business and wants to know about every detail that’s happening. Think about who you work best with and identify their traits. Then, go and describe this person to others. You’ll be surprised at the results.

There are also those who are just good networkers. They love to make introductions and to be a resource to others. Let them know who is a good match for you. These mavens like to help – you’ll be added to their mental rolodex, and will receive notices of introductions and opportunities.

So now that you’ve identified who the best referral partners are….what’s next? It’s time to get involved with each other:
1. Engage: Setup a breakfast or lunch with your best power partner – and each of you bring someone that you think would be a good match for the other. These introductions work really well – because it’s made by a person you trust, and it’s in person – you’ll be part of the meeting. And lucky for the 2 people who get invited – they get to meet 2 new people they didn’t know before!

2. Seminars: Plan a seminar with 2 or 3 of your power partners, offering up your knowledge to a group.

3. Associations: Join an association where that primary referral partner will be in attendance. You just may meet a few more valuable power partners.

This is no wrong or right way to use strategic networking. Think ‘out of the box’ of ways that you can partner with others. Remember, not everything you try will work – but keep at it, until you find a successful way to create new alliances.

Source: Cheryl Pliskin, Jest Notes & Baskets

To hear this segment in its entirety, go to: Marketing Chat with Nancy Sipera, 4/9/13

My second guest, Steve Royek is a professor of journalism and marketing expert, who teaches his students at Burlington County College how to blog. Here’s some basic things you should know:

1. Keep it Professional. Maintain a professional look and appearance, just as you would any other written piece that represents you or your business.

2. The 3 C’s. The three C’s of blog writing:
be correct – have truthful content;
be consistent – use the same voice, and blog on a regular basis
be comprehensive – make your blog worth reading

3. Love Your Topic. Choose a topic that you are passionate about; remember, you’ll be writing about it alot! And if you love it, it will show in your work, and others will pick up on that.

4. Remember the SEO. Make sure your blog post includes keywords that people may use to find your topic – and weave them throughout your post. Google and the other search engines really like this, and you will get higher SEO rankings because of it.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a true post of mine if I didn’t include a few things to NOT do in your blog:
1. Starting A Blog for the Wrong Reasons. Don’t expect to make money anytime soon – or ever for that matter. Do it because you love it.

2. Fail to Introduce Yourself. If someone is visiting your blog and they like what they are reading, they are going to want to learn more about you. Let them know: who you are, what your blog is about, why you are qualified to talk about this topic, and what to expect.

3. Copying Old News

4. Talking to Yourself. A blog is a two-way conversation. There needs to be a comment section.

5. Posting When You Feel Like It. Readers who like you want to know what they can expect – so whether you are a daily, weekly or monthly blogger, choose a schedule and stick with it.

6. Expect the Audience to Come to You. The hardest part is getting followers to notice you. A great way to promote yourself is to find other blogs in your niche and leave comments on them.

7. Underestimating/Overestimating the Importance of SEO. Look at the blogs that are making money, and you’ll see they’re using SEO. So if you ignore using SEO tactics, you’re going to be behind all the others pretty quickly. On the contrary, there are bloggers who pay no mind to SEO, they just write the way they choose – and may be on top for a short period too – but as Google changes their SEO rules, you might be on page 3 tomorrow. So a compromise is in order – optimize your blog for Google, but write for your readers.

Many thanks to my guests and blogs that contributed to this show. Remember, if you like what you’re reading, join me on LinkedIn where you can get blog notifications each week (mine is a weekly post!) or sign up for my e-newsletter (bi-monthly!)

To hear this segment in its entirety, go to: Marketing Chat with Nancy Sipera, 4/2/13

Sources:
www.socialmediarevolver.com
Doc Robyn’s Blog, Stop the Drama Now
Steve Royek & Associates

This new approach flips that model on its head and gives you some ways to engage your caller longer, let’s you find out more about them, get them interested and involved in the conversation – which allows you more time to prove and find out more about their concerns – and be more open to having your business be the solution.

1. Question-Based Selling. This is where you ask questions that probe and allow you to gather more information about the prospect’s pains, needs – and also helps you confirm that they are a decision maker.

2. Don’t be Intrusive. It’s important to ask questions, but don’t ask intrusive questions that are none of your business, as you haven’t yet earned their trust and will put them on the defense (such as, “What’s your budget?”).

3. Open Ended Calls. This is the opposite of asking yes/no questions. The advantage? It gets the caller engaged in the conversation, instead of trying to get off the call, they’re participating, giving you a chance to connect with them. Use a phrase such as “Tell me about….”

4. Go for the Yes. While it’s good to ask probing questions, it’s also a valuable tool to ask questions that you know they will say ‘yes’ to. Why? Once they start saying yes to you, it’s more likely that they will continue to say yes. See how it works? Yes! (see?)

5. Your Competitive Advantage. This is when you explain why you are better than the competitor. And by the time you get to this part of the call, you should know a bit more about this person’s ‘pain’ than when you started, so you can tailor your advantages to meet their needs.

Remember, we are all fighting against change – no one in a company wants to look bad if they choose the wrong new supplier, so you are working against the status quo.

Go slow, build rapport, show that you know your business, and earn their trust.

Source: www.MarketReach.biz

1. Don’t Build A Network In Advance. If you decide that your business should have an e-newsletter, the first thing you need is a list of email addresses. This is not something you can build overnight; it’s culled from your clients, prospects, people you meet at functions, etc. If you don’t have a list, your other choice is to buy a list or spam to people who don’t know you and don’t want your email. Even if you aren’t thinking about e-marketing right now – start working on that list.

2. Don’t Stop Too Soon. So many people try something – like postcards – and send them out one or two times – and then stop. Or run an ad 1 time – and then stop, insisting “well that didn’t work.” Of course it didn’t. Marketing takes time. With the influx of email, mail, texts, and phone calls we receive each day, we are on data overload. It takes longer than ever for a single message to penetrate – up to 15 “touches.”‘ It’s necessary to build up your frequency over time.

3. Don’t Use Someone Else’s Successful Tactic. Just because Google AdWords worked for your friend who owns a pet store, doesn’t mean it will translate into success for your manufacturing company.

4. Don’t Sell to Everybody. Focus on selling to a select group, not to “everyone.” Spend some time identifying your target market – how do they get their news? What do they read? What are their working habits? What’s important to them? Based on this you can put together a plan on the best ways to reach and meet your perfect clients.

5. Don’t Copy. It wasn’t a good idea in grade school, and it still isn’t a good idea for grown-ups. If you see something that you like – an ad or a website – don’t copy it. Just like in #3, what worked for someone else isn’t necessarily going to work for you. Instead, take the elements you like best – and make it your own.

6. Don’t Outsource Your Company’s Voice. You wouldn’t have just anyone represent your company at an important event, so why would you hand over your social media to just anyone? So many businesses are handing the keys to twitter, LinkedIn and others to the new intern, figuring “well, they know social media better than I do.” They might, but they don’t know your company’s voice. The result? Poor and confusing messages that don’t properly represent who you are.

7. Don’t Wing It. Don’t let others, such as persistent salespeople, take over your marketing. Have a plan – write it down – of your intentions for the next 12 months. Stick with it. Then, one someone approaches you with a “must have”  you won’t be distracted or tempted to try something you don’t need.

We both agreed that there are some “must have’s” in today’s marketing toolbox:
1. A branded professional look: This could be business cards or  a logo. Make sure that the logos you post online aren’t stretched out looking. Take the time to ensure that your branded items are consistent.

2. An Online Presence: More than ever, a website is the first thing people look at after they meet you. It’s your new “front office,” so make sure it looks impressive.

3. Reach Out And Touch. You should have a way that you consistently use to reach out to customers and prospects. This can be via email marketing, such as a newsletter or e-blast, direct mail, or calling programs.

4. A Leave-Behind. This can be a clever give-away item, a brochure, rack card, media clippings, or an interesting article.

For those in the South Jersey area, I will be giving a workshop with Howard Yermish on this topic on April 24. For more information go to: www.bccoc.com

Contributing Source:  Kokua Technologies

To listen to the show in its entirety, go to: Marketing Chat with Nancy Sipera, 3/19/13

My Marketing Chat radio segment guest, Bob Madonna of McCoy Enterprises, explained how important it is to be able to explain what it is we do – and do it in a way that engages others. Many of us rattle off our list of “benefits” – without even stopping to consider if our benefits our seen as such through the eyes of our prospective customers. A good exercise for focusing on your benefits is “RIM” – which stands for Reduce, Improve and Maintain. He suggests that you describe your product/service using RIM, and watch how it changes your offering. It switches your focus to think more about them – not you. Which goes onto his next reminder of “What’s In It For Me?”  – a phrase that is a helpful reminder to keep our message customer-centric.

So the next time you pick up the phone to call a prospect, remember that the minute before you called, they were busy doing something else – and your call is more likely than not to be viewed as an interruption, not a welcome break.  No worries! Here’s a few suggestions:
1. Be polite
2. Be prepared – know who you’re calling and what their needs are. Think ahead to what their objections might be.
3. Keep it simple – talk about your benefits in a way that we can all understand
4. Keep it light, be engaging and interesting
5. Think about this: why you? Why not someone else?

In general, it’s important to be well-versed, and comfortable talking about what you do. Take advantage of opportunities where you can hone your skills – meetings, speaking opportunities, newsletters, and functions. The more comfortable you are, the more at ease others will be in listening.

To listen to this segment in its entirety, go to: Marketing Chat with Nancy Sipera, 3/5/13.

Source: McCoy Enterprises

Who uses relationship marketing? Any business that values their customers and doesn’t want to lose them – car dealerships, hair salons, banks, realtors – as you can see, it’s not just “service” industries. If your company takes pride in the “experience” of working with your company, then you are probably already aware of some of the things that you should think about:
1. Consistency: from the way you take orders, to the way you confirm a delivery. If your clients like the way you handle things in a certain way – don’t stop! Do it the same way every time.
2. Employees’ Conduct: how they answer the phone, take a message, answer customer’s questions. Make sure your customers know what you expect of them.
3. Follow Up: If you say that you’ll call next Tuesday, then do just that. Deliver on your promise.

If you’d like to show a customer that you appreciate their business, or you’d like to thank a colleague for referring a new customer, there’s lots of ways to do it: a small gift can go a long way (under $15). The same goes for when something goes wrong, an “oops” gift can say, yes, you goofed, you’re sorry, and you really value their business (Cheryl says that in her years of sending “oops” gifts, she has a 100% client retention rate – no one has lost a client yet!).

Three Things That People Unintentionally Do to Ruin a Relationship:
1. No Follow Up: Instead, do what you say you’re going to do. Underpromise and overdeliver.
2. Poor Communication: Things such as endless voicemail messages that don’t link to a real person can make your client or prospect hang up and call someone else.
3. Shoddy Work: Above all, your work must shine.

Three Things You Can Do to Improve a Relationship:
1. Be Reciprocal: Show your clients that you’re thinking of them. Introduce them, or be a good resource for them.
2. Be Informed: Provide your customers with the answers they need – before they ask for it.
3. Keep It Easy: Make sure your staff is helpful, friendly and educated about your products/services.

To listen to this segment in its entirety, go to: Marketing Chat with Nancy Sipera, 2/26/13.

Source: Jest Notes & Baskets

Who tends to use signs the most? It depends what the industry is. Property managers use lots of yard signs, to promote open houses and specials. They also use directional signs, which direct people to key places on the property. Contractors and businesses that work with the residential sector focus on vehicle signage. Retail stores use lightbox signs. Here’s a quick tour of the most popular signs:

• Vehicle Signs: Available as removable magnetic signs, for tops of cars and complete wraps. These promote your business wherever you go.

• Banners: These are made of vinyl or fabric and are the most cost-effective of all signs. They come in all sizes and colors and are great for promoting an event, or a sale.

• Wall Signs: These are three-dimensional letters or images. They can be used indoors or out to brand your company name or logo in a professional way.

• Outdoor Signs: These can include lightboxes, monument signs or banners. Lightboxes are illuminated and easily changeable. Monument signs can set the tone for a property and invite prospects to take a closer look.

When choosing your sign, it’s important to make sure your colors are easy to read from afar – black letters on a red background are difficult to read, for example. Making sure the sign’s lettering is large enough to see from a sidewalk or road is important too. Working with a designer who is familiar with sign design can make the difference between a readable sign – and one that doesn’t get noticed.

A totally different group of signs are the ones for trade shows. What are the top 3 things you need for a trade show? According to Eldridge, it’s a table drop – which covers your trade show table with fabric drape that is branded to match your company colors and logo. Second, you need a backdrop – from a single panel or table top model to one that covers the width of your booth. Lastly is a retractable banner. These banners are portable and showcase your message professionally. His advice for what to say on your signs? When it comes to a trade show, you have 3-5 seconds to make an impression. So keep it simple and eye-catching. They key is to get their attention long enough for the prospect to slow down and check you out.

To listen to this show in its entirety, go to Marketing Chat with Nancy Sipera, 2/19/13

Source: Sign-A-Rama Cherry Hill