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Marketing

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Business, Industry News, Internet Advertising, Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Terms, Web Design

Online marketing uses different forms of internet marketing such as pay-per-click, SEO, social medial and email campaigns.  Many small businesses advertise the traditional way, but are looking to expand and explore online engagement.  Online marketing is different from traditional forms because you have the potential to reach people globally.     Lower Costs You can advertise more cheaply than you can with more traditional methods of advertising, such as television, full page ads in the newspaper and directories.  For example, you can get a free listing in many online business directories.  You can contact your customers more than you normally would and contact is more affordable than methods, like sending mail, printing brochures, and paying for postal costs.  For example, an email message is more cost effective than sending thousands of direct mail pieces with savings in postage, paper and printing. Result Tracking Another advantage of

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Business, Industry News, Marketing, Mobile Apps, Terms

Companies of all sorts have started deploying Beacons that (at a minimum) tell a smartphone precisely where it is so that an app can act on the specific location.  Its uses far surpass the one that has grabbed most of the media attention:  tracking shoppers to provide tailored sales pitches and coupons at specific locations of stores. Numerous implementations have been advertised in the last year, with the US leading the way in beacon integration.  Marketing and loyalty drive the most common purposes at the moment, with some examples: Macy’s is rolling out beacons across their stores in the US, for in-store marketing and loyalty. Major League Baseball are using beacons in their ballparks to offer fans the ability to check in, know where venders are and get additional content on their phones. San Francisco airport is using beacons to help

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Business, Industry News, Marketing, Mobile, Mobile Apps, Terms

Have you heard about beacons?  Beacon technology is based on the action of sending data between a transmitter and a smartphone or tablet with an installed app that enables receiving signals. Beacons can be compared to lighthouses, but instead of sending light they send radio waves to all applicable receivers nearby.  They are small computers charged by a coin battery, equipped with an accelerometer and a temperature sensor.  When users walk next to a beacon device, their smartphones get notifications personalized by the beacon’s owner.  This system allows sending only small data pieces and has some limits (eg. you can’t transfer music or video material).  Because beacons can recognize their proximity to nearby devices, they can adjust messages to the location of signal receiver. What opportunities do beacons give you? Beacons can be comprehensively used.  But the most popular way that people use beacons

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Business, Industry News, Marketing, Mobile, Mobile Apps, Terms

A Beacon is a small gadget that consistently sends out radio signals to any nearby tablets and/or smartphones, containing a small amount of data using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).  The signal strength and time between each signal can be  set up to give a desired coverage.  Mobile apps can listen for the signals being broadcast and, wen they hear a relevant signal, can trigger an action on your phone.  Note that Beacons only work or communicate in one direction (they broadcast data but cannot read things from off your phone). For the majority of current Beacons, the data that they broadcast is hard coded and doesn’t change frequently (which means when configuring the Beacon it’s set only once).  Beacons rely on the device which is listening to do something intelligent with the data – this is likely to start changing in

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Business, Internet Advertising, Marketing, Web Design

It is unnerving to hear, “My company gets business from referrals, not our website.  I don’t care about online branding or online marketing.” It’s a shame that some business owners and executives do not understand the effect online branding has on their company’s bottom line, especially when it comes to referrals and prospective clients. Online branding is about far more than your company’s website or your company’s social media presence.  Your online brand includes what your employees  and most of all, your company’s “experts” say online.  It also includes things that you cannot control, such as online reviews. While professional service companies are not as vulnerable as consumer product based companies to the inconsistency of online reviews, you still can’t discount the effects websites like Yelp have on recruiting and business development efforts. Today, most people turn to the web for research, regardless of

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Business, Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Terms, Web Design

The lights are turned off and the door is locked. When I visit a site that hasn’t been updated in a year (or more), that’s what I assume.  Or I make leaps that are possibly even more damning, pegging the person as not caring, unprofessional, or someone who starts things and doesn’t finish them.  This is not the person you want to be, because it will win you few fans and even fewer return visitors to your web site. You are probably thinking to yourself, but I did everything right.  I got a professional company to design a great looking website and did some SEO work to help make sure I had the right focus and content.  But it just isn’t producing like I expected. The problem is a common one.  I call it the “build it and leave it” disorder.  You work

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Business, Marketing, Traffic

Remember when you had to find a phone book and flip through hundreds of pages in order to find a local business?  The use of Yellow Pages has declined drastically over the last five years.  People now make quick searches on one of the many popular online directories or social media outlets.  Since Internet search is the primary tool to finding businesses today, it’s crucial to make sure your business is listed on a relevant online directory like Google Places. “Mobile Googling alone will exceed over 27 billion search queries by 2016 globally.” (Source: http://ctt.ec/01747+) Google Places is a local business directory paired up with Google Search.  It gives a business a landing page where it can describe its services, additional contact information, highlight products through photos and video, and also allows customers to leave reviews. “75% of search engine users never scroll past

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Business, Marketing, Social Media

You can generate a good amount of sales by optimizing your business for local search.  It is a great way to target audiences in a specific location.  The blend of local search directories and social media sites can prove to be great tools when it comes to generating business through the local audience. If you run a local business that’s focused on generating customers locally, then you may think you don’t really need to pay much attention to social media tools.  Since your customers and prospects are using social media tools then it just stands to reason that if you can find ways to meet them where and when they choose to interact, you’ll get more chances to be their go-to company. Local search marketing has proven to be one of the most vital tools for promoting both small and large businesses. 

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Business, Marketing, Social Media

Social media engagement is basically any type of action people take once they are exposed to your content and the way they interact with it.  This means that engagement is not necessarily one consolidated metric but instead is based on a number of different actions such as clicks, likes, shares, comments, replies, etc. The size of your audience on social media doesn’t matter if no one is paying attention.  In fact, we’ll go so far as to say that how many followers you have doesn’t really matter.    Wouldn’t you rather have a small but real and relevant audience than a large one composed of random people not interested in engaging?  You want to be followed by people who are interested in your posts, involved in the community you’re trying to reach and share compelling content of their own. Impressions and engagement are

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Business, Marketing, Social Media

Marketing is about reaching consumers to invoke a change in their behavior, giving them a call to action (CTA).  The only way to truly make that shift in perception is to be where people are engaging and spending time.  Instagram is a social channel that let’s you snap photos (and now video too), add fun and creative filters and share them with your followers.  On Instagram, it’s crucial to show value to your customers and look pretty while you do it.  Never underestimate the fact that your most important asset (and downfall) on this social media network is visual content. Visual storytelling is an art form on Instagram, and to be able to craft a conversation over an extended period of time is a skill that needs to be harnessed.  In order to capture the attention of that audience you must

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