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Digital marketing is wonderful, just about everything can be quantified so unlike traditional marketing you can generally establish a return on your investment. I find however that when talking to small businesses they fall into several camps; The ideal business knows what their email open rates are, what their web traffic is and how engaged their social media fans are and have dedicated resources (human and budgetary) to ensure that they’re working on sales for the future and making plans…

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Today’s model of defining a successful online strategy is to measure the amount of love. FACT. Ok, so this may seem at first glance a far-fetched term. Measuring something intangible like an emotion is hardly a metric top level online marketers use. They use hard facts – market research studies, visits / source over a one month time-frame, tracking digital campaigns, assessing open-rate numbers against opens, counting visits and banner ads…..etc But – my dear readers,…

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 It doesn’t matter if you’re a teenage girl or a Bolingbrook dentist, when you’re blogging, you want someone to be reading—and one of the surest ways you can tell people are listening is when they respond. Yet, truth be told, for a lot of business blogs, the comments don’t come. While stories about first dates and dessert recipes tend to draw responses on personal blogs, articles about a Chicago electrical contractor don’t. What does this mean? If your business blog doesn’t see…

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For too long, marketers have been saying that content is “king” without really knowing what that means. Far too many marketers have produced far too much content that largely gets ignored. Far too many marketers don’t produce enough content. Far too few marketers realise the importance of communities in which to distribute their content. If money is tight in B2B marketing, we need to innovate – here’s how you can do that with your content. # 1. Define audiences, THEN define…

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If you’re running a small business you may be feeling the pinch in the current economic crisis.  Perhaps you’ve had to let your staff go or perhaps you’ve always run the business as a one-man show. Dealing with all the responsibilities of running a business on your own can take its toll – it can be pretty exhausting just keeping all of the everyday stuff ticking over.  When you’re presented with extra stuff to do, it can be downright overwhelming. You may be falling behind in one…

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The online world presents a vast opportunity for businesses to increase their overall visibility and boost their sales, leads and inquiries. This goes for both online-only and e-commerce operations, as well as bricks and mortar businesses with an online presence. Much is made of social media, online advertising and building your profile – and rightly so! But as more and more businesses embrace online (albeit slowly), is it time to start pushing the boat out when it comes to your own…

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Twitter has nearly half a billion registered users and there are 175 million tweets every day. It’s big! I have been tweeting for over 3 years and must admit it is my favourite Social Media outlet and I get the best results from it – personally and for business. Below are 14 posts giving good reasons to be on Twitter, how to maintain and not lose followers, how to tweet well and lots of other handy tips you may find useful. Just How Big Is Twitter In 2012? [INFOGRAPHIC] - An easy to read…

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It seems as if just about everyone has some type of mobile device these days – even young kids. According to a recent study, nearly 20% of 3rd graders have their own cell phones. The study, which was conducted by Stephanie Englander of Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, showed that 20% of boys and 18% of girls in the third grade are packing these devices. Originally conducted in 2011, the study surveyed 20,766 children and interestingly, revealed that more than 90% of them are…

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Some businesses seem to think SEO is an optional part of operating online – which it completely is – assuming you also think being found by potential clients online is also an optional part of your business. Earlier today I was helping a new client create some new content for their website. It was the first time I had logged into their CMS (content management system). I clicked through to one page after another becoming increasingly horrified … not one single title or description field…

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A strong elevator pitch is one of the most valuable weapons in a salesperson’s arsenal. Too often, though, the intricacies of this sales tactic are misunderstood. A lack of simple anticipation often leads to a sub-par elevator pitch, but following these 4 simple guidelines will help you harvest more interest and close more sales. # 1. Recognize Your Window of Opportunity Because an elevator pitch is designed to maximize the sales opportunities in a very short period of time, each…

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