Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Back to basics

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

Marketing 101–know your target market. This is not an easy task for anyone because we have become a very diverse culture. What used to be only for men is now enjoyed by women. Seniors and teenagers alike share interests in movies, art and music. The youth are no longer young, they have advanced well beyond their years because we can no longer shelter them. Nevertheless, I have discovered something that reminded me of them importance of carefully defining our target markets and how we can remedy the problem when we miss our mark….

Sales Tactic 

Grover is a fine salesman.

SB

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It’s News..so tell it.

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

PGH Marketing’s creative director and owner of VirtualAssistUSA, Daniella Cuomo has identfied five excellent arguments as to how a company newsletter can be a great attribute to internal and external communication efforts. Newsletters are one of the most powerful ways to boost conversion rates. Some of our clients hesitate to put out a newsletter because they are convinced it will just get deleted, so they think: why bother? Daniella and I couldn’t agree more as to the proven tactics listed below.

1)      Plan your strategy: Pick a schedule, and stick to it. It is optimistic to think you will get around to putting out a newsletter every week, but unless you have a virtual assistant or a marketing firm to do it for you, don’t bother with that goal. Try to start with bi-weekly, or once a month. Secondly, think about your end goal. Is it to create your first info product? Then begin strategizing your path to that launch – think of filling your newsletter with contests, surveys and case studies that help you fine-tune your product for your target market.

2)      Make it pretty: Consistency is key. It makes the readers feel more attached to the newsletter. Use your branding in the e-mail template. If you don’t like any of the canned templates, hire a web designer virtual assistant  or marketing firm to create a custom HTML template for you.

3) KISS – Keep it Simple Stupid: Less is more, as they say. Streamline your newsletters. A good rule of thumb is to create a newsletter that can be read in less than one minute. You can use split testing features to determine what the best format is.

4)      Write what you know: If you run out of a topics, a great idea is to ask your clients and colleagues for questions that they want the answers to. If you’re really stumped – don’t forgo the newsletter all together – ask a trusted colleague to write a “guest post,” targeted to your audience.

5)      Mind your technicalities: Remember that the first 11 characters in a subject line will determine if the reader will open it or not. Always include the option for a HTML or text newsletter. Run a spam check for possible spam-trigger keywords before send out.

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A social society…

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Since when did we all need to know everything about everyone, all day, everyday? Why would anyone want to know what’s on my mind this afternoon? I am working all afternoon…that’s about it. Isn’t that what most of us are doing? So why do we need to tell all of our business all day long?

The answer:  Because we can. Our society is beyond insanely social thanks the abundance of technology. So it’s nice to be able to stay in touch or get a hold of somebody across the world in seconds, but what type of social society were we in the past?  What in the world did we do all day when we couldn’t Facebook, blog, or even worse…text?  How would we make it through our day without knowing EVERYTHING!!!!!!

Below are a  few definitions of the word “social” which makes me question our current new age social  practices.

1. pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations: a social club.

2. seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable; gregarious.

3.of, pertaining to, connected with, or suited to polite or fashionable society: a social event.

4. living or disposed to live in companionship with others or in a community, rather than in isolation: People are social beings.

5. of or pertaining to human society, esp. as a body divided into classes according to status: social rank.

6. involved in many social activities: We’re so busy working, we have to be a little less social now.

Maybe it’s me, but I believe each definition refers to some sort of direct, physical-interaction with one another. Are we really a more social society or are we losing our need for real human interaction.  We may be able to stay connected and keep tabs on one another by logging on, but is there any substance to our, it only takes a minute and I will give you a minute mentality.

SB

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Ask the expert…Daniella Cuomo

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

All businesses need a cost-effective way to communicate with customers to remain competitive. A common method used by all types of industries is social media marketing. For many, our wildly-wired-world seems like an impossible maze and it’s only getting started. One very successful social media expert (owner of Virtual Assist USA  and creative director for PGH Marketing), Daniella Cuomo put together this great list below for which she titles: The 10 commandments of social media marketing.

1) Use It! Top companies such as Starbucks, Dell and Ford use social media to communicate and market to their customers. Creating stellar content for your marketing materials is great. But great content doesn’t distribute itself. It needs vehicles for people to pass it along, discuss it, blog it and tweet it, which is where social media comes in.

2) Locate the exact people you want to talk to Companies can select specifics – moms of teenagers, young professionals, those looking to buy a new car. Learn how to search for people based on their age, location and preferences. For example, a wedding planner could look up everyone in the area that is engaged!

3) Foster the Trust You know your customers have choices when it comes to where they do business. You also know customers buy from people they like and trust. Social media marketing is the way to build relationships.

4) People are taking about your brand and your company. Be a part of the conversation. Keep a close eye on the ongoing online conversations about your dealership – blogs, posts, tweets and more. It’s important to enter the conversation to listen and participate. You make your customers feel connected to you and your dealership.

5) Blog Like Crazy Blog about your new employee. Blog about next month’s special. Even blog about the company’s history. Lots of business owners think that they cannot blog, but they are wrong. Existing blogger sites – Blogger.com, GoingOn.com or WordPress.com – offer customized templates, to get you started.

6) Make it Easier Use programs like Tweet Deck to set up Twitter messages in advance, just one time a month. Use PingFM to distribute a message that you only have to type in once. Use WordPress to create a customized blog with the same design as your website.

7) Let Them See You Photos, videos and podcasts. They are free to create and upload; they only cost you time. What is better for a future customer to see than a current customers’ happy, smiling testimonial on your website? Set yourself apart from the competition by making your pages active and engaging; include MP3s of your top employees talking about their favorite parts of the company.

Know When It’s Happening Set a Google Alert for a search engine. It will send you an email every time something gets indexed with your name. You need to know what people are saying about you so that you can participate.

9) Do It Often The social profiles that come up highest on the search engines are the ones who are most active. Spend time 3 times a week sending updates, making creative posts and sharing news.

10) Know the benefits Social media is cost-effective marketing! You can use LinkedIn to send the message that you are hiring new employees and use Twitter to send out quick messages about short specials. By staying involved in social, you show your customers that you are transparent, authentic, up-to-date and most of all, you are a real person!

Social media and social networking aren’t going away any time soon. The major players and the types of social sites may change, but this is a new medium and professional marketers are quickly adapting. Don’t be left behind.

As I always say, social media is not for everyone–yet. Remember, good business is built on solid relationships and it takes more than a tweet to gain trust.

PGH Marketing

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Big Opportunties for Small Businesses

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

PGH Marketing strives daily to help small businesses adapt to the ever changing  technology by slowly incorporating a mix of cost effective and measurable digital marketing solutions. We recognize that not every application is right for every business, but when properly applied the outcome can be hugely rewarding. 

Recently, I came across a survey conducted by Hurwitz and Associates that investigates how North American small businesses with 1-20 employees are adapting their marketing plans and budgets to compete more effectively in the future. The survey concluded that small businesses are rapidly shifting their marketing initiatives from traditional media to digital marketing media tools, including social media such as blogs, forums, Twitter, Facebook, etc., email marketing, search engine marketing, webinars and podcasts as seen below (Figure 1). As an integrated marketing communications firm, we still promote the use of various traditional means such as print, broadcast, direct mail and relationship tactics, but we were very impressed with the overall findings of the report.

Figure 1. Small Business Use of Marketing Tools

Hurwitz & Associates Survey

It does not take a marketing genius to determine why small businesses are rapidly changing their practices to include digital media tactics. These new age marketing tools are often less expensive to use than traditional marketing options. By using various digital media vehicles we can help small businesses significantly boost the reach and response rate of the target audience.

What is even more important is that small businesses can make a personal connection by using the numerous digital tools readily available to them, but they have to know how to properly execute each method. The same rules apply regardless of which marketing methods are applied–we must send a consistent and appealing message to the right audience. 

It is safe to say that digital media is not right for every company and marketers need not try and implement these tactics simply because they are available.  As with many of my industrial clients, social media is not the answer. It is our professional responsibility to do what is best for our clients even if they are begging to Tweet!

PGH Marketing

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Who, what, where, when and why..Social Media?

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

From newbies to senior marketing managers we are asking  many questions about social media, but more importantly, so are our clients. We need answers and for the most part many of us can come up with some form or fashion as to what to do with the overkill of social media and who should use it.  Through countless books, articles, blogs, tweets, and of course 10,000 marketing sites, the following may shed a little light when trying to decide, who, what, where, when and why.

  • What are we trying to accomplish? Are you looking for more leads, more direct sales, greater brand awareness, conversions, or brand engagement? Understanding what you’re trying to actually do with your social media presence should be the first step in developing a social media strategy.
  • Why social media? Is your audience there? Do you want to build stronger relationships with customers and prospects? Tap into online word-of-mouth channels? Demonstrate that you’re down with the kids? You have a niche audience that’s difficult to reach otherwise? The best way to avoid recklessly jumping on the bandwagon is to examine why the wagon is the best way to get where you’re going before you hop on. Ask yourself: is spending money on social media going to provide better ROI than other forms of advertising you could be spending money on?
  • What kind of social media will help us best achieve our goals? Do you need to utilize social networking sites, blogs, real-time updates (e.g., Twitter), social news sites, media-sharing sites, review/directory sites, virtual worlds, or display ads on social media sites? In some respects, talking about a social media presence is like talking about having an advertising presence: you must specify what you’re doing and where you’re going to place it. Examine the characteristics of the type of social media you want to have a presence on and how those characteristics fit what you’re trying to accomplish to help choose the ones that will work best for you.
  • Are we prepared to let go of control of our brand, at least a little? You can’t participate in social media without being…well…social. And that means engaging in a conversation with customers. Once you engage in a conversation, you have to give up control. Is your company willing to do that?
  • What will we do to encourage participation? There’s nothing more embarrassing than going to a corporate YouTube channel and seeing that the viral video you spent tons of money making has just 127 views. Ditto for going to a company’s Twitter feed and seeing that it has all of 11 followers. What are you planning to do to drive people to your social media presence? And do you have the money to do it?
  • Who will maintain our social media presence? Participating in social media takes a lot of work. You must have something to say and you must have someone (or a team of people) to say it on a regular basis. It won’t happen unless it becomes part of someone’s job. Do you have someone ready to commit a big chunk of time to maintaining your social media presence?
  • Do we have the resources to keep this up, or will this be a short campaign? Similarly, unless you specify that what you’re doing has a limited duration (such as a Twitter feed based on a particular conference), people will expect you to keep it up. Have you budgeted the resources to continue your social media presence beyond the fiscal year?
  • How do we measure success? What constitutes failure? Are you measuring views, followers, comments, or subscribers? What’s the threshold for your success metrics that takes them into success territory? What happens if you don’t get there?
  • What will we do less of if we’re spending resources on social media? Chances are you have limited dollars (if not, could you contact me immediately?). If you spend more money on social media and other nontraditional forms of marketing, you have to spend less on something else. How will your overall goals be impacted by taking money away from other forms of advertising/marketing and moving it into social media?

    • Do you have any idea of how this really works? If not…hire someone that does and pay them accordingly.

    PGH Marketing

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    PGH Marketing’s Think Tank

    Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

    We are very excited to be hosting PGH Marketing’s new “Think Tank” (blog just won’t do). Our goal is to use this space to discuss issues that small business owners face everyday once they take that leap into the exciting world of entrepreneurship. PGH Marketing understands the difficulty and reward that comes with this great adventure. The Internet is full of useful information to help us grow our businesses, but sometimes we need more than tips or advice; we need a place to think, bounce ideas, let our hair down, or maybe even scream. We get it. Welcome to our Think Tank–we don’t sink, we swim!

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