365 Marketing Tips

Tips are categorized into subject areas so that you can choose the ones you’d like for specific projects.

General Marketing Tips

Successful business marketing starts with a marketing plan. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but it should outline your goals and how you plan to reach them.
Marketing plans need to be reviewed and revised regularly to refine your target audience, review market research and expand your products and services.
Know your target market and what their wants and needs are. The more tailored your products are for them, the more sales you will make.
Update your marketing material. Create new business cards, flyers or brochures. Include a digital version for your website.
Consider a website redesign. If you’re using a design from two years ago, it’s probably time to update it.
Register and attend a conference in your industry. It’s a great way to find new business partners and customers.
Know what makes you unique. If you don’t know your USP, your visitors won’t either and without a USP, you’re just like everyone else.
When holding a time-sensitive sale, consider adding a timer on your website that counts down how much time is left. This will create a sense of urgency in your customers.
Instead of being sales-focused, think in terms of education. Consumers tend to ignore sales pitches but they will review & interact with content that educates them.
75% of buying decisions is based on emotion. If you’re not factoring consumer emotions into your marketing material, you’re losing out.
According to publicityseek.com, testimonials can increase sales by 250%. Be sure your testimonials are real and factual.
If you’re seeking someone to promote you, the most important thing you can ask those you contact is “how can I help you?”
Develop your brand and carry it across all of your marketing efforts.
5-seconds – the amount of time you have to grab a person’s attention, regardless of what type of marketing you are doing.
Create a marketing budget and stick to it. Whether large or small, a budget will help you stay focused.
Track your campaigns. You won’t know how successful a marketing campaign is unless you track your clicks and sales.
Test all marketing avenues. Nothing in the marketing world is one-size-fits-all. Test page and email wording and design to see what works for your customers.
Instead of letting negative feedback get you down, use it to improve your business, products and services.
When creating a marketing plan, start with the end in mind. Knowing what your ultimate goal is will allow you to create a plan to reach it.
Your marketing strategies should all be geared towards reaching your ultimate goal Consider dropping or revising any strategies that aren’t.
Set measurable goals and review them monthly. By tracking your progress, you will stay focused and know when you have met each goal.
Things change and unexpected things happen. When necessary, revise your marketing plan to meet any new goals you may have.
Use incentives. People are more apt to buy when you offer them incentives to do so.
Make it fun. Sometimes you have to let go of the serious marketer and have some fun. You will feel more relaxed and your readers will enjoy seeing a new side of you.
Customers are looking for that special something about a business that sets it apart from the rest. What is special about you?
When you have business cards printed, include a call-to-action or special offer on the back.
Partner with someone who has a complimentary product to yours to attract new customers.
Be generous and helpful. Nothing attracts customers more than generosity.
To quickly expand your reach, find multiple partners with complementary products and launch a project together.
Create a book of tips and tricks & include advice from experts in your industry.
Create a list of the most influential people in your industry. Study their business methods for tips on improving yours.
Look for ways to connect socially with the above influential people. Talk with them about ways you can support one another.
Contact influential bloggers in your industry to see if they’re interested in doing a one-time brainstorming session to see how you can help one another.
Create events that are simply for educating your customers, not selling them on your products. After the event, email them a discount coupon as a thank you for attending.
Don’t just highlight features of a product; tell your audience how they will benefit from it and why they should care.
Word of mouth marketing is still the most powerful marketing you can have. Customer feedback, both good and bad, is important to your business.
Sales funnels have three main steps – share valuable information, develop trust, and make the offer.
When someone opts-in to your list, in your welcome email, suggest they also connect with you via social media – remember to give them an incentive to do so.
Generate immediate results with outbound marketing activities – those focused on you reaching out to potential customers through email marketing, ads, cold calling, etc.
For long term results, focus your efforts on inbound marketing activities. Things like SEO, Social Media, website updates and so forth that bring customers through search engines and such.
Don’t be afraid to go against the grain. Give your opinion and include data or your personal experiences to back it up. People like to see both sides of the coin.
Don’t overlook podcasting. Although it may seem ‘old school’ it is still a great way to interact with your audience.
If your domain name, brand or product name is hard to pronounce, you could lose traffic as more and more mobile users turn to voice searches.
If you don’t have the knowledge to do something, outsource it. There are thousands of qualified people willing to assist you.
Don’t spread yourself too thin. Focus on building relationships and creating products and let your assistant(s) handle the things that don’t require your attention.
Highlight your opt-in sign up to increase subscribers.
Offer a bonus item for new opt-in subscribers & then let your affiliates know.
You don’t want just any customer; you want the right customer. When you and your customers are a good fit, you’ll see higher sales and repeat buys.
Beware of freebie and discount seekers. While they may be good for a single purchase, they typically do not turn into repeat buyers.
Ask your social media subscribers to sign up for your mailing list. This way they won’t miss any specials that may be buried among Tweets.
While you cannot please everyone, be proactive with your customer support. Listen, acknowledge and take action to fix the problem.
Test and track everything – email, sales pages, ad campaigns, social media, etc. to measure the effectiveness of each one and see where improvements are needed.
Create a ‘customer of the month’ program as a way of saying thanks and giving back to your loyal customers.
Start an affiliate program. If you already have one but it’s stagnant, revive it with new, exciting offers.
Send out customer satisfaction surveys and use the results to make improvements to your products and services.
Make unsolicited referrals and they’ll often return the favor.
Ask for referrals. If your customers and followers are happy, they’ll be glad to spread the word.
Sponsor a local sports team, Girl/Boy Scout event.
Send birthday cards to your customers with an inexpensive gift card or coupon.
Drop a ‘thinking of you’ card in the mail to your top customers and affiliates just to show them you care.
Write a book and give it away through Amazon.
Hire a consultant when you’re fresh out of ideas.
Purchase branded items you can give away as freebies; pens, automotive window clings, magnets and wearable items.

Content Marketing Tips

There are many forms of this beyond the traditional article. Find what forms your audience likes and incorporate them into your marketing strategy.
Less can oftentimes have more impact. Refine it to reduce the volume while still getting your message across.
Consider interviewing experts in your topic field & posting them to your website.
Lists are easy to create and people love them. When thinking of topics, consider doing some “Top XXXX” lists.
Similar to a site map, consider adding a “resource center” to your website to educate your readers. These will lead visitors to FAQ type content on your site.
People are opinionated and love to give their feedback. Create surveys or polls on important topics and then publish the results on your website.
If a large amount of people take part in your survey, you can use the resulting stats in press releases and other content you create.
Marketing strategies continually evolve. If you’re short on time but need fresh content, review and update/revise some of your old content.
Find products your readers are interested in and create a review.
Take reviews one step further and compare similar products. Readers love to have at-a-glance stats about products they are considering buying.
Monitor the news. When you see a topic that could impact your consumers, write about it. Don’t just report the news; offer your opinion and possible solutions.
Create case studies on customers, clients or theories you have. Research and test your theory.
The world isn’t all sweet and flowery and it content shouldn’t be either. Share your opinions, frustrations and rants. It will make you seem more “real” to your viewers.
Share your stories. How did you start or grow your business? What lessons have you learned? What were your failures? Real stories motivate people to take action.
It should always show your passion, conviction and authenticity.
Use contests for more than to give away prizes. Have participants create content for you & let them to comment and vote on who the winner should be.
Piggyback ideas onto a holiday. For instance, if you are a candy maker, you can write about how chocolate makes great Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day gifts.
When possible, include facts, stats or quotes into your content. It will make it more believable and can boost sales.
Create a list of the top 50 (or more) questions that come through your help desk. Then use these as ideas for new content & products.
Contact trade magazines in your industry and see if how you can contribute.
Befriend owners of blogs that post weekly or monthly roundups of good content. Then submit your content when you have something new and relevant.
Boost your backlinks and traffic by joining niche groups on Scoop.it and submitting your story.
StumbleUpon is still a good source of traffic, so be sure to share your new blog posts.
Network on places like BizSugar, DoSplash and Blokube where they share business related articles.

Email Marketing Tips

95% of online consumers use email and over 90% of them check it daily. Just one reason why email marketing should not be ignored.
Include social media buttons at the top of your email so readers can share your messages.
Add mailing lists signup forms on all of your social media pages.
Keep your signup box simple. Limit the form to just a first name and email address, or email address only.
Monitor your click through rate. If your CTR is low, it could be an indication that subscribers are not interested in the topic.
Include your call to action early in your email as many subscribers will only read the subject and first few sentences of an email.
Some email service providers blog images to help control spam. Keep your call-to-actions as text instead of images to be safe.
Segment your lists to better deliver relevant information to only those who are interested.
All CTA offers should be valuable, even if they are free to your subscribers.
Improve your deliverability rate by regularly scrubbing your lists to remove invalid addresses.
Holiday sales are not just for offline retailers. Add a holiday theme to your website & emails and offer exclusive holiday deals.
Test all of your opt-in forms & opt-out processes at least once a year to ensure they are working properly.
Before a new product launch that may ramp up your email frequency, explain the increase to subscribers along with what they can expect.
If your mailing list provider has the capability, during high frequency mailing times such as the holidays, offer to let subscribers ‘snooze’ emails instead of opting out.
Add a reminder email (or two) to send when customers abandon their shopping cart to encourage them to complete their order.
With over 60% of all email being read via mobile devices, consider increasing font size and buttons for easier readability and navigation.
Simplify your messages and make your calls to action easy to understand and act on.
Clearly display dates, times and time zones for any time-sensitive special offers you send out.
Do the math for your subscribers. Instead of only listing a 20% off discount or $10 off, show them both the percent and what it equals in dollars.
Plan your email promotions ahead of time. Last minute, rush emails tend to contain more errors resulting in fewer sales and more unsubscribes.
Drive urgency for time-sensitive sales by doing a count-down to the hour of the sale or to show how many items are remaining.
After a sale has ended, follow up with a second offer – one not quite as good – for those who missed the first offer.
If you’re targeting mobile users, simple, single column formatted emails are best.
Review your email marketing data regularly to see what is working and what isn’t.
When sending html emails, use images that compliment your message rather than clipart or stock photos.
Treat your email marketing as carefully as you would if you were paying for advertising.

Publicity/Press Releases

If you do public speaking, search for corporate or non-profit to sponsor. You’re more apt to gain media attention when a large company is behind you.
Attention grabbing headlines that evoke emotion will appeal to journalists as they do to your customers.
Publicity isn’t just about formal press releases. Journalists love to see tips lists “5 Tips for Avoiding the Flu” and other helpful information.
If you don’t have news of your own to share, jack a story from breaking news. Share your ideas or introduce a different angle to the story.
Press releases should tell a story and include who, what, when, where, why and how.
Free publicity comes in many forms. Consider using online promotion tools like Pinterest, Vine and Instagram for increased visibility.
Consider joining content sharing sites such as Social Buzz Club where members promote each others’ content. It will help get you in front of new audiences.
Avoid sending press releases to media contacts on Mondays and Fridays as they tend to be busy days for journalists.
Don’t lose focus of the reason for publicity – money. If you’re not generating sales from the publicity, there’s really no point in doing it.
Press releases are not meant to make sales. They are meant to attract, educate and get journalists excited. The journalist will do the selling for you.
Authors – Create a list of the top book bloggers that read similar topics as your book. Contact them to see if they’d be interested in reviewing your book.
Authors – Make a video trailer that highlights aspects of your book without revealing all. Then upload the video to Vine, YouTube and other video sites.
Rather than send your press release to hundreds of journalists, create a short list of those who talk about your topics and who tend to cover small business. Then focus on getting them to cover your story.
Have a great topic to discuss? Search NPR.org for programs that talk about your topic. They may just be willing to accept your show pitch.
When creating a story, try to give it a slant that is different than what you’ve seen in the past. This new perspective will grab readers’ attention.
Sign up for the Help a Reporter Out (HARO) email list; helpareporter.com

Affiliate Marketing Tips

When promoting products as an affiliate, always mention both the good and the bad sides to make your review believable.
A quick way to increase conversions is to compare similar products – all of which you affiliate. Consumers like to comparison shop.
Except in comparison charts, promote no more than 2 products per category. Choose those that you believe in most so you can show how great they are.
Reviews sell products. Write detailed, honest reviews of products and your readers will reward you by buying.
Promote things you personally use. When you have first-hand experience with a product, your recommendation is more believable.
Don’t just tell about a product’s features. Demonstrate how it works, how you use it, features it may have. Seeing it in action will boost sales.
Create a bonus report or other item to give away to those who use your affiliate link to buy.
Create a resource page or report to list your favorite and most used products and services. Include your affiliate link for each of them.
Write unique content. If a seller has pre-written descriptions for their products, edit the descriptions so they are original.
Deep linking to specific pages will produce better results than linking to a home page.
Regularly communicate with your affiliates, not only to let them know of new products but to see how you can help them better promote your products.
Build & maintain solid relationships with your key affiliates. They are the powerhouses of your sales force.
Recruiting new affiliates should be an on-going process, not something you do only when first launching your affiliate program.
Update affiliate promotional material, content and images, to give affiliates something new to use.
Occasionally, give your key affiliates additional incentives or special promotion offers to keep them motivated.

Local Marketing Tips

When appropriate, show relevant content based on a visitor’s geographical location. This geotargeting will grab your visitor’s attention.
Geotargeting can also be used in conjunction with seasons and/or real-time weather so visitors in cold weather areas will see winter products & content topics.
Claim your business on Google+ Local, Bing Local and Yahoo Local.
Add your business to online local directories such as YellowPages.com, InsiderPages.com and Local.com
Get your business listed with online review sites such as local.com, foursquare and yelp.
Make it easy for customers to review your business. Include links to review sites in your emails. Ask customers to submit a review.
Ensure your listings are detailed and consistent across all your profiles.
Work to build your positive reviews and pay attention to negative ones. They can show you how to better your business.
Join your local chamber of commerce and other business associations. Local business owners tend to refer other local business owners.
Join local forums that relate to your industry. Get to know those in your area and see how you can work together to promote one another.
Partner with local businesses to offer packaged holiday deals. I.E. An automotive tire & lube shop and a detail shop can offer a package so people can get their cars inspected and cleaned before they take a holiday trip.
Participate in local events. Introduce yourself and leave a business card with as many people as possible.
Create a loyalty program for customers. There are lots of loyalty platforms for small businesses such as Bellycard.com and Swipely.com.
When offering coupons, go beyond weekly flyers or places like Groupon. Share them in email, through social media, on your website and via text messages.
Sonic Drive-In encourages visitors to sign up for text alerts to get news and weekly deals. You can apply this same method to your business.
Support fundraising events. In addition to donating the traditional cash or product, include a set amount of certificates to be given away for discounts on their next purchase.
Plan a local business workshop on a specific topic.
Start a local brainstorming group for like minded businesses.

Event Marketing Tips

Try to engage all 5 senses when hosting an event. It will leave a lasting impression with attendees.
Make sure every piece of your event reflects your brand, from invitations to presentations.
Don’t be a boring event host. Make it unique, fun and memorable so you leave a lasting impression.
QR Codes are easy to create and should be incorporated into your marketing plan. Use them on business cards, packaging, sample products, flyers and more.
Give away pre-event tangible items to create buzz. This could be coffee cups, videos, photos, t-shirts, sticky pads with the event details.
Event website page, flyers, etc. should include brief, scan-able & benefit focused descriptions.
Event pages and flyers should include photos, bios and credentials for all event speakers.
Build excitement and buzz by creating pre-event videos. They could include what the event will cover, interviews of each speaker, benefits to attending, etc.
Spread the word through social media. Share interview videos, talk about the event, and share positive feedback from previous events.
Write blog posts and invite event speakers to write a guest blog post or answer a question submitted by a blog viewer.
Give your affiliate partners, as well as any guest speakers, plenty of material to promote your event.
Let the press know. Notify local journalists, as well as industry journalists, of the event. Add your event to local media ‘event calendars’.

Video/Image Marketing Tips

Video marketing instills trust because your audience can put a face and voice with your message.
Appealing visuals; video, images, infographics and more, are important aspects of a great marketing message.
Unless you’re teaching something, it’s recommended that videos be no longer than 90 seconds to avoid abandonment.
Track your video abandonment rate to see where people leave off. This will give you a pretty good idea of your viewers’ attention span.
Inspiring, high-quality images will generate more clicks and buys than clipart or generic graphics.
When creating reports, the cover art should be simple and uncluttered. Keep the meat of the message towards the bottom of the image.
When doing “Tips” videos, offer an odd number of tips, 5, 7, 9 and so forth. Headlines with odd numbers convert better than those with even numbers.
It doesn’t matter who you’re marketing to, your videos should be created to tell a story, not to sell a product.
Don’t ignore your descriptions and tags. Keep them short, descriptive and focused.
Add citations such as your web address, business name and phone number to your descriptions.
Share your videos with forums and communities that attract not only like-minded people but also your target audience.
Choose an appropriate thumbnail for your video. They take up about 1/3 of an app when viewing the videos on a smartphone.
Your video content should not only give viewers a reason to share it, but make them feel excited enough about the message that they want to share it.
Never disable comments. You want to be able to interact with your viewers and keep the discussion going.
Always include a call to action. Even if it’s just to encourage them to continue learning and give them resources to do so.
A call to action should not be about what you want; “buy my product.” It should be focused on further helping the viewer. When you think of it that way, your message will be different – even though the action may be the same.
Your videos should be compelling and focused to a specific niche audience. The more targeted the message is to that group, the better your results.
Share your videos across many media channels; blogs, social media, video sites and more. The more often you share, the more visible it will be.
The more your video is viewed and shared, the more viral it becomes. This can result in more media coverage & bigger opportunities.
Include transcripts with your videos. It gives you another opportunity to reach people & it’s good for SEO.
Don’t rely solely on YouTube. There are many other video sites that you can use to broaden your exposure.
Self-hosted videos tend to have higher conversions than those hosted elsewhere. However, the exposure volume may be smaller.
Images draw the eye. Posting high-quality photos to promote your products, services and events will lead to higher engagement and conversions.

Mobile Marketing Tips

Consider creating a mobile app that makes shopping at your business easy.
With smartphone and tablet use on the rise, viewers are staying connected longer – allowing you to offer even more time-sensitive specials.
“Clicks” are not the only action to be used with smartphones. Think about how you can incorporate swipes and taps for easier reading.
Mobile users like being interactive, so plan your content with this in mind.
Always optimize for small screen sizes and slow connections. Heavy pages may not load correctly, thus costing you potential sales.
Create mobile landing pages to use with QR codes and SMS messages. These pages are specifically optimized for mobile devices.
Mobile landing pages should have one focus, targeted information & one call to action.
Mobile landing pages should be formatted for a one finger touch action. They should not require viewers to pinch and zoom.
All “tappable” items such as buttons should be a minimum of 44×44 points and have generous cell padding around them.
Links should have plenty of space between them for easy pressing.
Web pages should be scalable rather than a fixed width to ensure they can be viewed on mobile devices.
Use Mobile META tags on your page so it is recognized as being mobile-friendly.
Include a “Click-To-Call” button on your page so when touched it opens your contact details & mobile viewers can tap it to call.
Include a “Click –to-Email” button. Tapping this would open the email client on the mobile device with the “to” address pre-filled.
Webpage font sizes should be on average, 13-14pixels for easy reading on mobile devices.
Mobile users tend to view things on the go so your content needs to be relevant, to the point and actionable to the viewer.
Know your objectives and make sure your pages are mobile ready before you start your marketing campaign.
Watch your stats. If you see that a good portion of your traffic is coming from mobile devices, consider expanding your marketing efforts in that area.
Mobile is not going away, so forget about having two versions of your website (for desktop and for mobile). Instead spend your money and effort creating a good, responsive design that will automatically adjust for viewing all sizes.
When sending out special offers, make the offers redeemable by showing the mobile device in the store.
Ask your readers what they want to see from you on their mobile devices. Then get their permission to contact them via their smartphones or tablets.
Mobile marketing isn’t just about gaining sales. It’s also about conversions including gathering information, visit details, and increasing subscribers.
Make use of the mobile section in Google’s Web Analytics. You can even make tweaks to it to track which keywords are driving traffic.
To attract the most mobile users, focus on providing information-rich content on fast-loading pages.

Direct Marketing Tips

Direct mail success starts with choosing the right target audience.
Get to know your target audience beyond their age and sex. Understand their shopping behavior, their attitude towards trends, their lifestyle habits and more.
Know your campaign objective before you start. All other steps in the campaign should work towards this objective.
As with any other type of marketing, your campaign has to play on emotions. Generate excitement and you’ll generate sales.
Always include a clear call to action and a time-sensitive incentive to get readers to respond quickly. Readers need a reason to act now.
Test various response methods to learn what your target audience wants. Have some campaign material contain a phone number; others contain an email or website address.
Test & track. The only way you’ll know what works for your target audience is to test different elements & track the results.
With direct mail campaigns, test different headlines, offers and pricing – but only test one element at a time.
If you’re purchasing a mailing list, order the list just before you are ready to launch your campaign, order a targeted list and always order from a reputable place.
Always include a follow-up in your plan. No matter if it’s a phone call, email or direct mail piece; follow-ups make it more personal.
Make sure your direct mail pieces look professional. Professional designs that stand out look more credible.
Choose the right medium. Do your target audience respond better to greeting cards, flyers, brochures or postcards?
Forget the features; make sure your message tells readers how your product benefits them – for example, “eliminates tooth pain in less than 30 seconds”.
Just because you purchase a mailing list doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be creating your own as well. Keep a list of buyers so you can sell to them again on a more personal level.
To extend your reach, locate complimentary partners to do co-op mailings with.
When developing your own lists, think small and personal. A small list of people you contact personally can produce better results than a large list of unknown readers.
If you are doing cold calling, draft your scripts ahead of time so you don’t sound like a talking advertisement.
Know when the best times are for conducting cold-calling. Typically, mornings between 8 -9AM and then late afternoons between 4 – 5PM are good times.
Know who you are calling. Develop your own list of people to call so you have more details about the person. Then try to make your call personal.

Advertising/PPC

Your ads should aim for the heart, not the mind. Emotions sell products more often than not.
Update your ads regularly to ensure they continue to grab attention.
Know your target market before placing ads. Everyone is not a potential customer.
While ads should be different, your underlying message should be consistent.
When offering discounts, quantify value. For example, “a savings of $20”.
Create just one point of contact per ad – call, click, email, and stop by. Too many options can create confusion.
Combine your product promotions with contest to ensure your promotions aren’t overlooked.
Enable Sitelinks in AdWords to increase your click through rates.
Test ad displays by “placement” rather than strictly by keyword to see if your CTR increases.
Ad retargeting is becoming more and more popular. Consider including it in your advertising when possible.
If you don’t have time to manage your advertising, hire someone to do it for you. Best results come from frequently monitored campaigns.
If you use Google Analytics, turn on ‘revenue tracking’ to monitor your ROI.
Make use of Google Places and +1, especially if you’re worried about local marketing.
Check your default settings in AdWords and set your ad rotation to indefinitely.
Get a second opinion. Let someone else look at your accounts and campaigns to see where you can make improvements.
Keep your mobile ads separate from the rest. When it comes to advertising, one size does not fit all.
For best results, create campaigns based on interest and separate campaigns based on topics.
Make sure your ads are optimized. It doesn’t matter how good your landing page is, if your ads are not optimized, people will never see your page.
Refresh your keywords. Don’t just continue to bid up on old keywords.
Don’t forget to add gift giving keywords to your campaigns during the holiday season. Consumers will be searching for “gifts for dad” ideas.
Add gift giving keywords; “buy men’s shoes,” “holiday gift wrapping,” etc. to your sales pages.
Make your coupons, discounts, loyalty points and rebates redeemable through mobile devices.
Turn on the Affinity Categories in Google AdWords so you can learn which advertising categories are helping to drive traffic, convert leads to sales.
Consider paying to advertise on the radio, TV, billboard, trade publications and newspapers.

SEO/Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Make a list of what you have to offer a potential linking partner before contacting someone to ask for a backlink.
Analyze your backlinking profile and then analyze your competitor’s profile and see where you can make possible improvements.
Locate your top 5 referring URLs and the page(s) on your site that visitors are landing on. See how you can improve the page(s) to extend visitors’ stay.
Set up Google Authorship, Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Respond to posts on someone else’s site that are relevant to your industry.
Create a list of potential partner sites you want to reach out to. Note their contact info, your idea for the site (offer to guest post, add your link to a resource page, etc.) then start contacting them.
Fix your 404 errors to redirect (via 301 redirects) any good links to somewhere else on your site.
Set up Google Alerts for your main keywords so you can quickly find places to post comments and offer guest blog posts to.
Contact authority sites within your niche to see if they accept guest blog posts or how you can help them.
Interview authorities in your industry and post it on your website. Interviewees tend to promote their own interviews and it will build your links as well as your visibility.
Incorporate social media into your overall business marketing strategies. Then post relevant, interesting information that others will ‘like’ and ‘share’.
When someone gives you an unsolicited link, thank them. Do it via social media sites and you may get a few more links from other people.
Use Google or other search engines to find sites that mention your brand but do not link to you. Thank them for the mention and see if they’ll add a link.
Offer a guest blog post, to do an interview or some other piece of valuable content to those who have mentioned you in the past.
Before contacting anyone for a link, craft a good pitch. Show them how giving you a link will be valuable to them and they’re more likely to do it.
Diversify the content you are publishing to include interactive quizzes, infographics, videos and more.
Become an authority on your topic. One quality article doesn’t mean squat in the big picture. Search engines want to see quality across the board.
Post frequency counts, but it doesn’t all have to be done on your website. Social media posts, YouTube videos, blog comments and such are all part of it.
Link building should be part of a relationship-building process. Connections need to be true & recommendations need to be real.
Diversify your link text. No more than 20% of your anchor text should be the same.
Mix anchor text links with straight links without anchor text to keep the search engines happy.
Website design matters. A high-quality, nicely designed website will instill trust and increase conversions.
Choose carefully where you offer to guest post. Only post at reputable sites that engage their audience, have high-quality content & backlinks and are active socially.
When guest blogging, your emphasis should be on making valuable contributions that resonate with the target audience.
SEO is focusing more and more on strategies – quality link building strategies, authority building strategies and social strategies.
Include geo-specifics in your SEO. Mobile searches are influenced by location, so think local when working on your SEO.
Mobile users have less space to write so their search terms tend to be shorter. Target shorter keywords if your goal is to show up on mobile devices.
When considering keywords, make note of Google’s recommendations as mobile users are more prone to tap those when doing searches on their devices.
Sites that link to your competitors may be interested in linking to you – as long as you are offering quality information.

Social Media Marketing Tips

The easiest way to gain real followers is to prove to them that you are an expert.
Every time you publish content of any kind, always update your social media accounts as well.
Use social media to build relationships. It’s easier to ask friends to buy than it is to convince a stranger.
Don’t just post on social media sites; interact with others. It’s this interaction that will increase traffic and sales.
Build a social community that keeps your audience engaged, active and up to date in real-time.
Brand your social media accounts and make sure the brand is unified across all accounts.
Use plugins to make content sharing easy. The easier it is to share, the more apt people are to do it.
Use plugins to track and measure social shares.
Create social exclusive content and offers. Give a special offer to Twitter followers. Write a unique piece of content for Facebook.
Use social media to find new content ideas.
Social media is a great way to build your reputation as an authority author.
Use social media to help build relationships with industry specific influencers.
Increase your fan base by hosting a virtual networking party like “Fan Page Friday” where your fans can share their page links on your page. Do this every few months.
Use social media to find experts to interview. Then post the interview transcripts, audio or video on your website and promote it through social sites.
Use LinkedIn’s “Your Day” feature to review and congratulate your connections – and to reconnect with those you’ve lost touch with.
Boost engagement by using images in your social media posts.
It’s better to master a few social media platforms than to spread yourself too thin and only be mediocre in many. You can always expand later.
Share content from influencers in your industry. It cuts down on your work and helps you gain the influencers attention.
Discover where your customers ‘hang out’ and focus your efforts on those social media platforms.
Use images to help clarify your messages and to quickly grab reader attention. Make sure the image actually communicates your message.
It’s not enough to just ‘connect’ with others, you have to actually communicate. When communicating, be sure to provide relevant and valuable information.
If your budget allows, consider purchasing advertising on Facebook. Be sure you optimize your ads within Facebook’s Power Editor.
Build trust and loyalty by focusing your efforts on become a person of influence or an authority in your market.
When possible, meet up with people face-to-face. It doesn’t have to be a major event; even a cup of coffee can open up new opportunities. There are mobile apps such as ‘here on biz’ that can help you connect with those visiting your area.
Make following and follower management part of your weekly marketing strategy. It doesn’t take very long and you can make some great connections.
Connect with your audience through live broadcasts. Whether it’s through Google Hangout or someplace else, give your audience a place and time to connect with you live.
Go one step further and take the recordings of your live broadcast and publish them on other sites such as YouTube, embed it in your blog, share it on social sites and podcast directories, etc.
Use Google Analytics to monitor your social media metrics.
Using social media, ask you customers how they feel about certain topics. Get their feedback on potential new products. Ask what they’d like to see.
It’s not a popularity contest. Focus on building quality relationships and engaging your followers rather than how many ‘fans’ you have.
Social media fans come and go but get them onto your mailing list and they’ll continue to receive your messages long after they’ve lost interest in a social media platform.

Niche Marketing Tips

Know your niche target market. How do they shop? Where they interact online? What issues do they have? Have a list of at least 25 facts about them.
When considering joining a crowded niche, narrow your focus to see what sub-niche is popular. You will often do better in this smaller niche.
Stay up-to-date with your target market’s current needs and challenges. Needs change over time and your focus should change with them.
Google + Communities are categorized based on interest. This is a great place to connect with your target market.
Topic specific forums are another way to interact with your target market and show your expertise.
Listen to your customers. Use reviews, ratings and everyday talk to find out exactly what your customers like and don’t like about products.
Have a niche specific blog. Talk about industry news; address challenges, answer questions and provide information to help your target audience.
Contact trade publications to see how you can contribute content.
Your site and content should be built around your users. It should provide information on topics that answer their questions and address their concerns.
Create easily sharable information. Discuss topics your audience is already talking about – but with a different angle. Include images that can be shared.
Make sure your headlines always have a great hook & your descriptions are clear and enticing.
Add humor. Content doesn’t have to be boring. Humor, done correctly, can also be educational.
Ask your audience questions. Start a conversation post by asking for your readers’ thoughts.
Readers love lists, so create Top 10’s on your topics.
When writing content for your niche, include stats and research for your industry. They can go a long way to creating trust in you.
Address top news stories to gain a quick boost of (typically short-term) traffic.
Use curated content – as long as it is high-quality and of value to your audience.
Sprinkle in some negative topics “5 Things You Should Never Do On ___”.
Think green content – write content that is good for the long-haul and doesn’t need updating often.
If you are struggling with coming up with a good niche topic, think about your own fears, concerns and issues. Then search to see how many others have similar concerns.

B2B Marketing Tips

Give thanks to your B2B customers. Show them how much their loyalty means to you by promoting one of their products or services. They may return the favor.
If you’ve been slacking on making new B2B connections, use the holiday season to break the ice. Send holiday greetings to those you’d like to connect with.
Host a topic themed event such as, “15 days to better web copy” and encourage your B2B connections to participate by contributing content as a panel expert – and promoting your event.
Look ahead to next year to see what products you will be creating and who you can partner with to boost sales.
Content should focus less on your products and services and more on how it solves your customer’s problems.
Listen to what buyers are discussing and then act immediately to deliver what they are asking for.
Consumers need to understand what you’re saying, so use the language that they use. Tech-talk is confusing and sometimes scary to those who aren’t tech geeks.
Simplify your information without being condescending. People are not stupid, so don’t make them feel as if you’re talking down to them.
Know your target market’s level of understanding. Are they newbies, intermediate or advanced users? Tailor your content to their level.
Relate your explanations to something in your prospect’s life. If you’re talking about an outdated software program, relate it to something like trying to watch an HD movie on an old black and white TV.
Spell out the ROI for your buyers. Show them how they will benefit and how to measure their return on investment.
Add one additional content distribution channel to your mix every few months. If you currently only blog and use Facebook, add Twitter, YouTube, or Pinterest to further your reach.
When sharing content or infographics, always add an explanation or commentary to it. It is just one more way to help your audience.
Rather than sharing a single content link, create a collection; “top 5 most popular Facebook articles of 2013”.
Create supporting pieces for your content. Add a slide show, video or audio to a previously written blog post.
Ask your best customers to create content for you. They happily use your products and services & can probably offer some compelling content.
Reward customers and social media fans. Give them a surprise gift certificate, coupon code, free gift or other reward for their loyalty.
Soft selling works best in the B2B market. Share your knowledge first, and then softly ask for a sale.
Be consistent with your messages and get your content out there. You won’t get viewers just because you write something.
Boring people & their messages are ignored. Be spontaneous, mix it up and be heard.
Track your activities and see what others are saying about you. Use the feedback to improve your products, services and overall business.
Share your content on websites focused on B2B markets like SlideShare and LinkedIn.

Holiday Marketing Tips

Cater to last-minute shoppers by providing overnight shipping. Be sure to state the last day this shipping option is available in order for packages to arrive in time.
Offer to include a special greeting to packages that are being drop shipped.
If you own a retail store or sell locally, give customers the option of in-store pickup.
Place a countdown on your landing pages to display how many days are left until an important holiday. Make note of shipping deadlines as well.
Offer to donate a portion of sales to a charity. This can boost overall sales and attract media attention.
Holidays are the perfect time to add upsells. “Spend $50 and get a $5 gift card” or “Buy the necklace & get the matching earrings for half-price”.
Offer exclusive discounts – “25% off” on Black Friday & Cyber Monday. Follow up with a lesser discount – “10% off” offer a few days later for those who missed the first sale.
Send a holiday greeting to your mailing list thanking them for their business. Remind them how your products or services would make great gifts.
Consider starting a PPC campaign for the holiday season using keywords such as gifts, presents, holiday gifts, etc.
If possible, offer live support during the holiday season to quickly answer any questions customers may have.

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