8 Tips for Your Marketing Photos and Images

If a picture is worth a thousand words... what are your images saying?

Would you expect Mercedes Benz or Tiffany's or even Chili's use snapshots taken with a point-and-shoot camera of their products? Sure, these companies have big marketing teams and seemingly unlimited budgets but they are setting the bar for your company too. Increasingly we are becoming a photo-centric culture with the popularity of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest andHouzz* setting the bar even higher.

Your website, brochures, blog, and advertisements (really, everything) should have good quality photos to match your product or service's target audience and their expectations. Poor quality photos can cause a potential client to turn away from using you - and we don't want any reason for that!

Tips:

1. Hire a professional: Review a portfolio of images that are like those you need and ask good questions about lighting, copyrights and style.
2. Style your images: if it is an interior, place settings and flowers on a table add interest.
3. Review your images on site with the photographer.
4. Create drama with good lighting.
5. Use high resolution images for print (300 dpi at the size 5"x7" or whatever that you need).
6. Resize your images to low resolution for blogs and websites (72 dpi).
7. Know what sizes and resolutions you need for which online platforms: Facebook, Houzz, etc.
8. I never recommend using scanned images.

While it is always best to showcase professional photos sometimes good snap shots are okay to use in blogs, Facebook and Twitter. I would't use them as much on Pinterest and never on Houzz unless they are "before" photos.

You can read more about image resolution on an older blog post here.

Have questions about these things? Give me a shout!

* BTW: If you are in the home design/build/remodel industry you should be on Houzz!

Email Newsletter or Blog? Why you should have both.

Recently a client asked if they should send out an email newsletter or start a blog for their business.  No need to choose - these two marketing activities should both be done depending on your goals for your business.

What is an Email Newsletter?

• An electronic communication via email pushing information to your current contact/client list.
• May contain specials, sales, promotions and other calls to action.
• You are reminding your base that you have valuable products, services and information.
• Should be part of your online strategy and may assist your social media campaigns.

What is a Blog?

• An electronic communication connected to your website that pulls traffic through online searches for information.
• Typically not a sales pitch - more informational: tips, opinions, experiences, product reviews, and  more.
• May be used as an easy way to keep your website content fresh, dynamic and up to date.

Because people on your email marketing list are (hopefully) interested in your products and services, they may not go to the blog regularly but you are still feeding them important information through the newsletter. On the flip side, people who may not be aware of your products or services may happen upon your blog if you are writing with an awareness of search engines.

So I have to write a blog for Google?
Never write a blog just for search. Write for your customers but at the same time don't ignore some key strategies that will help you with search.

1. Use keywords
2. Find out what people are searching for
3. Write a great headline
4. Keep it interesting

I liked this article on writing a guest blog writing - many of the tips are relevant to writing for your own blog. Or you can hire a copywriter [Wize Communications] to help you produce content for both a newsletter and blog.

Your goals may not include increasing your web traffic. I have a lot of clients who use their website for credibility for referrals instead of appealing to a wider audience. That doesn't mean you couldn't capitalize on a blog. A blog can also add to your credibility by establishing you as an expert in your field and remember, you are still providing valuable information to your clients.

Make An Impact With Embossed Business Cards

The best value for the money is a great business card. Recently, I re-designed my Huckleberry card with embossing that gives the huckleberries, leaves and branch a raised texture. I kept the printed information to a minimum and the back side blank. Many people make notations on the back of business cards and having the space available is convenient for your contact.

Although embossed cards are more expensive on the initial order for setup, once you have the die made you can use it on brochures and presentation folders in addition to your business cards.

I've been handing out my cards for several weeks with great response!

You can view larger images on the Huckleberry Facebook page here.

Need new cool cards? I can make you some too!

Best Tips for Small Business Marketing in 2012

We've made it through another year! With 2011 at an end, if you haven't done your business planning for next year... it's never too late!

Many business owners find that marketing is somewhat of a catch-22. Even though it's the last thing you should cut from your budget, it is often the first. For 2012 here are a few must haves in your marketing mix for any small business whether you selling products or services.

1. Business Cards
Duh, right? Don't pinch on quality for your business cards, have them professionally designed and printed on good paper. They are an inexpensive way to give out your information.

2. Website
If you don't have a solid website, it is past time to get one. It not only adds to your credibility and gives customers peace of mind, it can be a way to communicate with your clients on an emotional level.

Your website should tell a story, look current and be easy to use, with your contact information (or how to buy) on every page or easy to find. Where you might have paid $10,000 for a site, this is not the case any more for small, simple sites. On the other hand, you do get what you pay for and quality service is a very important trait to have in your web designer. Read more about my website design services.

3. Review Sites/Online Directories
Have you claimed your Google Places page? Yelp listing? Angieslist? All of these (and more!) are FREE to list your business, add to your website's page ranking, allow users to rave about you and find you easily. It can be time consuming and a pain in the rear, but it is well worth it.

4. Social Media
Another FREE place to list your business - Twitter, Facebook, Google +, etc... but does take a commitment to posting regularly. Use tools like Hootsuite to schedule posts and monitor activity. Don't forget to respond to comments! This is a great place to be in conversation with your customers.

5. Blog
A blog adds two things to your online marketing:

1. Traffic to your website through search engines
2. Establishing you as an expert

Who doesn't want more of that? By writing about what you know and delivering it in a useful and engaging way you can attract customers to your site. This also takes a commitment to post regularly and if you are not a good writer, have someone help you with crafting awesome blog posts.

This article has some great research on Blogging and Social Media.

Remember: It doesn't matter how much traffic you get to your blog or your website if you don't inspire an action like a contact or a sale!

6. Networking
For many of us, we are referral based businesses which means that web traffic and traditional advertising, while helpful, don't create as many leads as our referral base. Who is your referral base? Don't be afraid to ask people for referrals!

• Past clients
• Current clients
• Business contacts
• Friends, neighbors
• Family
• Strategic partnerships
• Trade associations
• Referral groups
  

Oh, is that all???
How do you find time for all of this and provide a superb product or service? Of course a good time management system can't hurt, but you can also find virtual assistants and outsourced marketing to give you a hand.

For any marketing activity you have to really work it - be in it for the long haul, don't give up and do it regularly.

What do you do about negative online feedback?

You just can't please some customers and lets face it, we are all more likely to complain than complement. So what do you do when a customer complains in public, in an online review?

First, take a look at your reviews as a whole. Are they mostly good, bad or a mix? Is there a common theme of complaints (or complements)? You can take the information and update (or develop) your customer service policies with your staff to address issues.

Stop before you reply.

Many sites allow the business to reply to a review. This is your opportunity to shine. I know that my first reaction is usually to be defensive to negative feedback but I doubt that you will win new customers who are looking at your reviews if you are defensive in your reply. However, if you are sincere and express your disappointment in their experience and offer to fix the problem, you will win other customers over. I once read a slew of responses from a business owner slamming each reviewer who had a complaint. I quickly decided not to buy from that company.

There will always be a crazy or two that we will have to live with but if you showcase your willingness to fix an issue, other customers will notice.

Monitoring your listings on online review sites for feedback can be daunting. You can't cover them all but depending on your industry there are some key sites to pay attention to. (If you don't have a listing, get one - most are free.)

• Google Places
• Yahoo Local
• Yelp
• Bing Local
• Citysearch
• Angie's List

Vehicle Signage Graphics - Your Rolling Billboard

Let your car or truck work for you!

One of the best advertising return on investments is your vehicle signage. It reaches thousands and thousands of people every time you head out on the highway.

For example, UPS trucks are everywhere, everyday. You know who they are when you see them, you rarely see a dirty and I bet you have never seen an old used one for sale. UPS is controlling their message in every way. Your vehicle should do the same for your company.

What message are you sending?

You don't have to invest in a "full wrap" of your vehicle to get results but keep in mind that your vehicle is representation to potential customers of your product, service, level of quality and more. Meet your customer's emotional needs if you can, photos and images are a good way to do this but don't go so crazy you can't read the company name.

Key information on your vehicle graphics design.

Don't forget your phone number and web address! Often, people will pick up the phone and call right on the road. You don't want to miss this opportunity.

Tracking Website ROI with Google Analytics

Do you know how many people visit your website? The tools are free and easy to implement through Google Analytics.

You need:

• A website
• A Google Analytics account - get one here http://www.google.com/analytics/
• Someone that can put code on each page of your site

Once you have a Google Analytics account, you can add your website to the account and it will generate a bit of code that you place on every page of your website that you want to track.

After Google starts tracking your site, you can view statistics on visits, page views, average time on your site, pages per visit and bounce rate. Most of the statistics are self-explanatory except for bounce rate which is the percentage of visits where the person left your site from the landing page (often the home page). This number is supposed to be a gauge of the relevance of your page however, it can be a little deceiving. If someone finds your page, locates the phone number or other piece of information on the home page and leaves, this would be a bounce. However, the user has found what they were looking for and it is relevant.

Once you have data for your website, check out the traffic sources tab. Direct traffic is where someone types in your web address in the browser (not in the search box). Referring sites are sites that link to your site which are a great source of traffic (and important to your ranking). Lastly, search engines direct traffic through keywords which are words and phrases that people are using to search and find you. Google tracks all this very handy information!

Analytics are a great tool to evaluate the effectiveness of your website and get information on how your site is being found and used. Have your web person install it today!