Archive for the ‘marketing campaigns’ Category
marketing campaigns, online marketing trends, web 3.0 | 0 Comments »
With the recent changes in Facebook groups, there had been a lot of users who are abusing one of its features to their advantage. I am talking about a new Facebook group feature where in users are able to add you to their group with or without your permission. You would likely find out that you were added to a group after a sudden influx of e-mail notifications about group activities or watching the little badge at the top of your Facebook home page constantly light up with new updates.
While it is true that people can add you to their group, the same goes for you adding people to your group. You also have the option to leave a group that you do not want to be in. So how do you use this new Facebook group feature properly and ethically? The answer lies within how well you genuinely interact with your group and how well you establish your group.
If you do not interact with your group on a daily basis chances are people in the group would lose interest and therefore leave your group. If you have nothing interesting to share or something interesting to talk about, people will leave your group. If you spam your group with products you are selling then people will really want to leave your group.
I would say Facebook groups are much better than a Facebook page. Both Facebook page and Facebook group has features like wall, photos, discussions, etc, but a Facebook page does not have a feature where in you can send an email to all your group members. This feature is beneficial in a way that you can convert these group members into visitors and perhaps customers.
Tags: facebook features, Facebook group features, Facebook groups, how to market with facebook groups, how to use facebook groups, internet marketing, internet marketing company, michael tasner, Online Marketing, online marketing company, Taz Solutions, web 3.0 marketing
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E-commerce, marketing campaigns | 0 Comments »
Regardless of the type of business you’re in, lets face it, the holidays are the times when consumers actually LIKE spending money. We need to take that sentiment, roll with it, and capitalize on the trend.
Here are some down and dirty tips for the various types of business:
Retail:
You guys (and gals) have the upper hand. Consumers are still obsessed with physically visiting stores during the holiday season. Your first objective must be getting these customers into your stores. How do you do that? By enticing the heck out of them. Check out all the pre-black Friday deals. Ipods for $50, Laptops for $199, jackets for $10. Throw some amazing deals out on the table, knowing you’re going to lose some money on those products (loss leaders) but that you will make it up in the end.
Another key point for retail stores is to have tons of extra help on hand. You don’t want customers leaving because they need assistance and can’t find anyone. Beef up your staff for the holidays.
Last but not least, remember that you will make more of your money on the back end and the lifetime value of these customers. Many of these people may be visiting your store for the first time. Capture their email, their name and their mobile number (at the least) so you can market to them in the future (with their permission of course)
Service Businesses:
Just because you are not selling a physical product doesn’t mean you can’t reap the rewards of the holiday season. The key is to figure out how you can tie in your service with the holidays. One of the best ways is by offering gift certificates along with some other item of value to get people to buy the certificates. Here are some gift certificate examples:
- 1 Free Dog Grooming Sessions
- 4, 30 Minute Marketing Strategy Sessions
- 1 Month of Free Lawn Service
The other thing you want to be doing during this holiday season is getting ready for the next year. While things tend to slow down a bit (for some service businesses) take the extra time to plan your marketing calendar for next year.
E-Commerce:
The trend continues to shift to more and more transactions happening online.
Here are four key tips:
- Offer Free Shipping. All the big stores are doing it and you will get clobbered if your products can be found at other stores that are offering free shipping.
- Invest in something like Mcafee to show that your web site is secure.
- Figure out a way to get them coming to your site on a frequent basis during the holidays. My favorite way is to offer a deal of the day with limited quantities
- Similar to retail, beef up your customer support and your staff that is manning the Live Chat Feature on your site (if you don’t have live chat, get it). You don’t want them on hold for more than 15 seconds
I hope you have a highly profitable holiday season!
Tags: Black Friday, Black Friday sales, Capitalize on Black Friday, Capitalize on Cyber Monday, Cyber Monday, Cyber Monday Sales, ecommerce, Holiday Shopping, Holiday Shopping Sales, internet marketing, Online Marketing, online marketing shopping, retail store sales, retail stores, service business, Taz Solutions, web 3.0
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Affiliate Marketing, Online Marketing, marketing campaigns, web 3.0 | 0 Comments »
Direct email campaigns are a very effective marketing strategy. It’s the next generation of direct mail, just the internet age version. They are an affordable and effective way to reach your customers or affiliates. We use this strategy everyday for our clients. Direct email is powerful because you control exactly who sees your marketing message, so there is no marketing waste.
When deciding who to email, it’s important to research the market. One strategy we use is to find groups on social networks, like LinkedIn and Facebook, that are related to your industry. For example, say you are a company that sells weight loss products. You would look for groups on social networks that were all about losing weight, eating healthy, etc. Compile a list of groups and include contact information of the owner. You want to email the owner of the group because he/she could potentially contact the members of the group.
Crafting the email is an important step, because it cannot sound spammy. No one is going to take it seriously or even read it. Make it friendly and engaging, and offer something for free. Also, make sure the title of the email isn’t spammy, or it might get put in the spam folder or ignored. Be straight forward about the content of the email.
Have a system established for responding to your emails. If you are looking for affiliates, make sure you have affiliate links established and ready to use. It would be very unprofessional to contact people and then take weeks to respond, so be prompt and timely with all responses. When you get a positive response, ask them if they know anyone that would also be interested in your product/service. Referrals are the most effective way to gain customers.
Tags: Affiliate Marketing, affiliates, direct email, direct email campaign, direct marketing email, email marketing strategies, email strategies, JV marketing, marketing emails, michael tasner, Online Marketing, online marketing strategies, online marketing strategy, online marketing tactics, web 3.0, web 3.0 tactics
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Online Marketing, SEO, Web Design, marketing campaigns | 2 responses »
Being at the top of the search engines is a major priority for a business. People are not looking through the yellowpages like they used to! It’s important to create a strong SEO plan for your site. Here are some tips for building an SEO friendly web site. They’re a bit technical, but important for your designer to know.
- Make sure that title elements and ALT attributes are descriptive and accurate.
- Check for broken links and correct HTML.
- Allow search bots to crawl your sites without session IDs or arguments that track their path through the site.
- Make sure your web server supports the HTTP header.
- Test your site to make sure that it appears correctly in different browsers.
- Avoid using too complex of tables when laying out your page.
- Use external Cascading Style Sheets and Java Script files to reduce page size and make the download time much faster.
- The URL structure http://www.example.com/green-dress.html is much more useful than http://www.example.com/greendress.html. You should use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) in your URLs.
Tags: michael tasner, Online Marketing, online marketing tactics, SEO, seo expert, seo help, seo services, seo tips, seo web site, seo-friendly site, web 3.0
Posted in Online Marketing, SEO, Web Design, marketing campaigns | 2 Comments »
Online Marketing, marketing campaigns, online marketing trends | 0 Comments »
It goes without saying, Facebook is currently one of the hottest trends in social media. As a marketer, it is important to take advantage of this site. According to www.alexa.com, Facebook is #2 in the Top 500 Sites on the web (right under Google). So, how do you market on Facebook? Creating a “Facebook Fan Page” is easy, but here are 3 important tips for marketing with this social media giant.
- Don’t badger people with annoying messages. Facebook is an example of social media. Key word: social. People use Facebook to socialize with others, not to buy things. In order to leverage it for marketing purposes, use it was a way to connect with people that you want to do business with. Connecting with someone on Facebook adds value to what you have to offer him/her.
- Connect with your audience. It’s easy to update your status with “Click here and check out my XYZ product!”, but no one likes that you are just trying to sell them something. Instead, write something personal or interesting. Report on good news. Share something with your audience that will give them some insight into you, and they may be more interested in checking out what you have to offer.
- Offer free stuff. Everyone loves free stuff. Many people aren’t willing to shell out money right off of Facebook, but if you offer them something like a free webinar, they could turn into customers. I love the idea of free webinars because it gives you a chance to connect with people and teach them about yourself and/or your company. Also, there is a high probability of leading to a sale.
Tags: facebook marketing, facebook marketing strategy, marketing on facebook, selling on facebook
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E-commerce, Online Marketing, internet marketing, link building, marketing campaigns | 0 Comments »
Everyone wants things quicker than the day before. Taz Solutions, Inc., is actually the fourth company I have started and grown. After experiencing issues in the other three, I knew that I had to learn everything I could about different systems that could help a business run more effectively. After much research, and chats with different people using these various systems, I realized that Web-based systems were the way to go. I came to this conclusion from two paths: The first was that I found from speaking with others that it’s much cheaper in the long run to use Web-based systems. The second was that I wanted to hire and work with people throughout the world. I wasn’t going to maintain some massive server in my home office for everyone. I’d rather the systems I purchased cover that cost.
Collaboration is critical for success in today’s marketplace. There are many businesses that are being run by one person, but chances are that even that one person has a team of vendors or contractors who are helping with business functions such as marketing, fulfillment, accounting, and general administrative support. Even the Fortune 500 companies use independent contractors or consultants and, more often than not, the contractors work off the business’s premises. This poses a data-sharing issue as well as a potential delay in getting and sharing the information. With Web 3.0, every day, every hour, counts in terms of your competitiveness and performance.
Web-based applications can help you effectively manage all of your team members (internal and external), as well as increase your speed to market.
There are hundreds of ways teams can collaborate, but I’ve zeroed in on the most important, the ones that will make the biggest difference to your speed and competitive edge:
- Chatting
- Sharing docs, files, audios, videos
- Project management
- Analytics
- Shopping-cart system
- E-mail management
- Customer relationship management
- Teleconferences/webinars
Tags: Analytics, Chatting, collaboration, Connecting, customer relationship management, E-mail management, Web-based applications
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Multiple Streams of Traffic, Online Marketing, Viral Marketing, internet marketing, marketing campaigns, web 3.0 | 0 Comments »
There is no doubt of the huge video craze across the world. Everything has been shifting from text and audio to video. We want to seethings rather than just reador hear them. The social-proof factor (“hey, I saw it instead of just reading it”), entertainment factor, ease of use, and ability to find pretty much anything online continues to drive the video market and its popularity.
One major shift that has occurred is the shift from physical DVD viewing to the availability of on-demand viewing. If you want something, you typically want it now. You don’t wnt to get in the car, strap the kids in the car seats, and hike down to Blockbuster or the local Family Video store only to find that the movie you wanted to see has been sold out for days. Now you don’t have to. With the various subscription services, you can download the movie to your computer or watch a library of movies via your cable or satellite subscriptions.
We are a now society, especially when it comes to entertainment. This is one of the many reasons YouTube has become such a phenomenon. You can visit the Web site and be entertained for hours with videos on everything from concerts, comedy scenes, and home videos, to teenagers acting crazy, firework displays, and worldwide news. What really has made YouTube popular is the fact that it is user-generated content. Want to become an instant movie star? Grab a video camera, start shooting, push a button, upload your video, and forward it to your entire e-mail address book. If the content sticks, it very well may go viral.
Tags: DVD, entertainment, now society, on-demand, video, YouTube
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Online Marketing, Online Strategy, Uncategorized, marketing campaigns, online marketing trends, second life | 0 Comments »
Marketing using virtual reality worlds and methods is one of the more advanced Web 3.0 tactics that you can use to generate leads, close business, or even communicate with your team. It also takes the biggest time commitment, requiring the most work and the largest initial expense to get the platform designed. The upside: When put into place, these 3-D worlds can prove to be your most effective lead generator, sale closer, and cost saver.
In general, virtual reality has a variety of uses. The whole intent of virtual reality is to convince you and your mind that you’re actually there, alive in this make-believe world. It brings the experience and interaction to life, even though you are behind a computer or another device and not there in person.
People, businesses, and agencies are continuing to move to using virtual reality worlds because they are tired of traveling, have less money to spend on travel, and are realizing the power associated in these worlds. My motto is, “Essentially everything that can be done in person can be done over the Web using various technologies.” This is the concept that people are finally starting to understand. Everything continues to move to the Web. So instead of simply resisting, both consumers and businesses are starting to jump on the bandwagon. An additional factor that has helped the rise of virtual reality worlds is their ease of use. Two to three years ago, you needed to have a very fast computer and connection just to view one of these worlds. Today things open up much more quickly and are much more intuitive.
Here are some great virtual reality worlds to check out:
- www.SecondLife.com
- www.ActiveWorlds.com
- Entropia Universe
- www.There.com
- www.Kaneva.com
- www.Worlds.com
- Moove
- www.IMVU.com
Tags: Communication, Lead Generation, Online Marketing, Virtual Reality Worlds
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internet marketing, marketing campaigns, pay per click | 0 Comments »
Need a quick, relatively cheap, advertising method that will get you results fast? Try Pay Per Click Advertising. This is a great method in which advertisers pay their host (Google, Yahoo!, etc) to be at the top of the search engines. You pay only when your ad is clicked; hence the name Pay Per Click. If you use this method your site will appear above the organic results of the search, and will be called a “sponsored link”.
Some benefits include:
- Immediate traffic generation.
- Flexibility. Key words can be changed or deleted to adapt to the market.
- Relatively cheap.
- Instant ROI
Tags: pay per click, ROI, Traffic Generation
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Online Marketing, Online Strategy, marketing campaigns, mobile marketing, online marketing trends, web 3.0 | 0 Comments »
There are four key areas in which you’re going to notice changes, as described next.
Increasing Mobility and Reliance on Mobile Devices
Mobile is the largest and fastest-growing Web 3.0 trend in online marketing!
BlackBerrys and iPhones are becoming the norm. Text messaging used to be the gold standard. Now, if you don’t have e-mail and Web access, your phone is considered ancient. This trend will affect your personal life as well as your business life.
Resistance to Sharing Information with Everyone
The openness of the Web is causing some major issues with personal security. Identity theft is massively on the rise. In 2008, there were almost ten million victims, a 22% rise from 2007, along with incidences of viruses and spyware. Consumers and businesses are starting to get more skeptical about putting information on the Web as they become more aware of the possible repercussions.
Whatever you put out on the Web can be found, digested, and used by anyone. In fact, there have been recent cases of hackers using the Web to rummage around in your hard drive and even to turn your own monitor against you, remotely activating your webcam and watching what’s going on in your office (without your being the wiser).
In addition to the technical protections people are installing, not to mention the strict rules of online conduct they’re imposing on their workplaces and families, there is a trend of microcommunity sites and tribes, as Seth Godin calls them in Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. Facebook will not become a thing of the past, but smaller, more centralized and specialized groups and social sites will become more prevalent. As a marketer, you will need to establish a presence on these sites so that people can get to know, like, and trust you.
A Reduction in the Need to Be “Belly-to-Belly”
There are many reasons people are continuing to flock to the Web for virtual communication instead of jumping on a plane for a face-to-face meeting, with the largest reason being cost. It is very expensive to fly across the country, stay in a hotel, dine out, take taxis, and on top of it all miss both work and, more important, family time. Virtual trade shows are gaining in popularity. SecondLife.com continues to get larger, and services like GoToMeeting and WebEx.com are attracting new customers like crazy. Citrix (which owns GoToMeeting) continues to attract more than 15,000 new users each month. WebEx touts more than 7 million worldwide users leveraging its tool each month.
Once you go virtual, you may never want to fly again, at least for a business meeting. Once you go cam-to-cam, face-to-face will never be the same!
Everything Is Continuing to Go to the Web
Anything and everything continues to go to the Web. Twelve-year-olds are running million-dollar social networks, pizza companies are taking orders through the Web, your family diner accepts reservations on the Net, your grandma is tweeting, your long-lost cousin runs a popular tribe on Second Life, international spies are using it. And the list goes on, and on and on. This trend will not change.
Tags: Marketing in the Moment, Mobility, Sharing, web 3.0
Posted in Online Marketing, Online Strategy, marketing campaigns, mobile marketing, online marketing trends, web 3.0 | No Comments »
