Social media is an important part of any business’s marketing campaign.You likely maintain your own social media for your small business.Here are 5 tips to help make you successful with your small business social media!
The first step in targeting your local audience is figuring out who they are and how best they receive information. Your advertising campaign needs to target both your local, consistent customer base as well as the tourists and out of town visitors that will take advantage of your services. Type of advertising and locations are key to effective local customer advertising.
Encouraging repeat business means providing a great service at a great price. Local customers will be your loyal and consistent base if you treat them properly. This may include great prices on goods, or fair cost on services your Anchorage business may provide. Other perks can be extended to local customers, or those you think you’re going to see again. A punch card that rewards them for buying a number of individual coffee, rewards cards where customers get points for dollars spent, or a locals discount are great things to advertise as perks for your local Anchorage business customers.
If much of your business is dedicated to tourists or out of town customers, your Anchorage advertising should reflect this but it also needs to reach your local customers. You will want to focus your advertising in the right places- in brochures about your location, on websites that boast “best things to do”, and in places that travelers and tourists will frequent. Posters and billboards are seen by both types of customers if they are in the right places.
Reaching your local customers and having them as loyal consumers will extend your word of mouth advertising. When a tourist asks a local waitress where the best place is to go for your service, if that waitress frequents your business, she will surely recommend you. Contact us today to see how we can help with your local Anchorage advertising!
Bianca Frank Design offers a comprehensive brand and brand development package that can be utilized to begin or reinvigorate your small business marketing strategy. Whether you are in need of small business marketing strategies, graphic design, brand design, web design, or just need brand or design consultation on where to start. Drop a note and we will be in touch soon.
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When developing your business’s marketing and message, a vision statement is something to consider including in your overall marketing plan.
While you may have a distinct mission statement for your business, you may think about a vision statement to portray your company’s future goals.
The first part of developing your vision statement is to assess the options you have to work with.Your business may be geared toward raising awareness for a cause you care about in your community or working toward a common goal that makes your neighborhood a better place. Your vision may be more global and include international charity work or raising awareness of issues outside your own community. It may be related to your merchandise or business specialty or it might just be something you are passionate about personally.
Your vision statement is a way to express your dream and goals to the world.Including a vision statement in your business marketing shows your clients that you are community based and you support the neighborhood your business in centered in.It may also show that you have a global awareness and that your business is conscious of more than just your profits. Write out and include it on your website with your mission statement.
Hopefully, throughout the months and years, you will reach your current goals through education, donations, and fundraising.When this happens, your vision statement needs to adapt to new and loftier goals.It may be as simple as broadening your dreams to reach for a bigger pool of people or revising your vision statement to realign with new goals you have in mind. We can help turn your dreams into a realistic vision statement.
Contact us today to see how we can help!
Bianca Frank Design offers a comprehensive brand and brand development package that can be utilized to begin or reinvigorate your small business marketing strategy. Whether you are in need of small business marketing strategies, graphic design, brand design, web design, or just need brand or design consultation on where to start. Drop a note and we will be in touch soon.
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by Jason Lewis
Ways to Cultivate Doing What You Love While Marketing Your Talent
As the saying goes, do something you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life. Nothing can ring truer than beginning a venture where your skills are greatly utilized. While starting a business is no easy feat, turning your talents into a profitable entity is a great monetization tool. Here are some tips on letting your abilities flourish, but also while making sure that you understand the ins and outs of running a business.
Alaska Website and Social Media Content is a powerful tool when it comes to lead generation. Having the right content on your website can increase the number of leads you generate. The problem that many website owners run into is that they do not know what type of content they should have to generate leads. There are a number of ideas that you can consider when it comes to content for your website.
Exposure is a vital commodity for an online business. If you can’t get your brand noticed, it will be hard to develop a sustainable enterprise. Forms of marketing have changed over the years, so it is important to reach potential customers in the places they most frequent. However, a good marketing strategy can still involve a variety of methods that reach a broad base of customers, allowing you the opportunity for maximum visibility within your niche.
The online world has opened up many industries, meaning even small businesses can gain vital exposure in a targeted manner. So how can an online business increase its visibility?
5 Mistakes Small Businesses Make in Alaska Web Design Everyone in business understands that your web presence is a vital part of small business marketing and your company brand. Whether your market is in Alaska or beyond, it’s importance is understood.
You did everything right. You wrote developed your vision, got a great looking logo, have your brand “story” to tell……and still nobody knows who you are, or what you do.
Whether you are just starting out or your business has been open for years, one thing that I’ve learned is the missing piece in most start-ups, dying, or stagnant businesses is lack of ongoing brand management. In other words, you’ve built the brand….but it has no push.
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Well, yes…….I’ll agree…….It is.
And being a small business owner myself, I get it. Although I don’t have to pay directly for a designers time, or a marketing strategy….. I do pay with MY time.
Often times, my marketing and design take a back seat to looming project deadlines. My portfolio updates are left for Christmas Breaks and strings of influenza when I’m stuck in bed. As a matter of fact, as I type this blog – I’m sick – Not a coincidence, but I digress.
Even though I am the designer, and I am the marketer, and I am the social media manager…..My business takes a back seat. I don’t give it the time it needs. I’m often the last to update my blog and branded content, last to have something meaningful posted on my facebook page, and last to interact to really track after clients.
What I’ve realized is that I’m not alone. I find that most small to medium sized businesses are in the same boat. They don’t have time to begin to figure out what they may need but they know they need something, and they realize they are losing traction by doing nothing at all.
I’ve said before, that if you have no budget you have no brand. This is the same concept as losing traction by not marketing and consistently keeping your brand in center focus.
It’s a frustrating position to be in when you are trying to keep your head above water managing the day to day operation of your business. You think of potential business ideas and see opportunities slipping by because you simply just don’t have the time to “make things happen.” You look at the well oiled machine of a business someone else is running and you wonder…how are they doing all of that and growing at the same time? You begin to feel overloaded and defeated, until you realize why you got into business for yourself to begin with. People have misconceptions about business ownership and you feel like you’re drowning.
Always caught in this catch 22 of not having enough, and needing to do more.
So….for my fellow business owners I have some food for thought for you. 3 simple steps to take to start moving in the direction of gaining traction and getting things done.
Get OFF of the focus of how to make more money, save more money or grow. First things first is that as a business owner you have to figure out who you are and where you’re trying to go. Rationalize it, analyze it, speak it, and eventually write it down! Do not ask other people (unless they are co-owners of the business) what their opinions are. You have to be able identity for yourself why you are doing what you’re doing and why your customers and potential customers should even care.
Some key things to take inventory about:
The best of the best of the BEST see the value in TEAMS. You can’t be a one woman/man show and expect to be able to take over the wingbat technology sector. You have to formulate a plan and that includes having people around you that round out your strengths and weaknesses. Key people you may need:
A sure fire way to make sure that your business grows and remains relevant is consistency. No you don’t have to come out of the marketing gate blazing trails, but you do need to have at least a small drip of movement. Small businesses are expensive to open, operate, and run but you do not want to have a brand that has zero gas behind it.
You have to utilize the vision, brand, and plan that’s been developed and consistently put that message out into the marketplace. Alaska is a small enough market that luckily it doesn’t take long for the word to get out about your business. Especially if you do things the right way.
Content is King and Consistency is Queen!
Contact Bianca Frank Design today to see how we can help increase your brand equity!
Bianca Frank Design offers a comprehensive brand and brand development package that can be utilized to begin or reinvigorate your small business marketing strategy. Whether you are in need of small business marketing strategies, graphic design, brand design, web design, or just need brand or design consultation on where to start. Drop a note and we will be in touch soon.
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The concept that you have to spend money to make money is true. Without marketing, people don’t know who your small business is or what you do. These tips can help you market your small business on a budget.
While you do need to spend some money on your marketing campaign, you don’t need to spend a lot of if you properly focus your efforts. You want the most bang for your buck and depending on your market, that might be an ad or commercial or it might be buying branded t-shirts and other swag. It may help to do some research and determine the most effective way to spend your money.
The biggest idea here is to ensure that you are doing something, because doing nothing ensures you 100% that there will be no return on investment. Having worked with large and small budgets a like, it’s imperative that you stay consistent. Ways you can stay consistent, on a budget:
This sounds daunting but it really isn’t. There are a lot of great online templates to utilize to get you started. Here’s a simple spreadsheet that I’ve created. Nothing major, just a start.You will notice, I’ve left Monday open. As a small business owner myself, I’ve learned leaving Monday free for the organization needs of the week and fixing any weekend issues is vitally important. Avoid scheduling tasks on Monday if you can avoid it.
If you say the same thing over and over and over, your message (in it’s entirely) whether you are advertising on your website, Google ad words, print magazine, radio, or tv is saying the same thing. Eventually people will link who you are with what you do, and that’s the point. I tell some of my clients that the time that you get tired of hearing your message, the better that you are on the right track.
Stop reinventing yourself at every marketing turn. Say the same thing. Simplify your message and stay consistent. If you don’t have a message, it’s time to take a step back and define your vision statement.
Your vision statement is the basis for all of your marketing efforts and from where your brand voice should be resonating from.
Yes, Blogging. Even if you feel that you aren’t gaining any traction with your website, consider it an investment. You have to add content to grow your exposure online. Substantial content shows your expertise in the industry, your commitment to your service or product, and offers your customers information they may not know otherwise. What benefits does blogging on a regular basis offer to your business? Well here are some taken from (source)
Regular Blogging Gets More Clients to Your Existing Business
When you publish in-depth blog posts that help potential clients/customers solve their problems, they come to trust you and respect you as an expert in the field. If they want more help than a blog post can offer, then they’re likely to be interested in hiring your business.
A successful blogger gains a wide audience of people who trust and respect them.
You have the ability to gain influence and show your credibility in your industry when you have a voice about your own brand.
But over time, as you write more posts and share more of your expertise, you’re website will change from ‘just another blog’ into a powerful demonstration of your knowledge in a field. When somebody visits your site and sees the insights you’ve shared on a subject, along with the community of people who respect and seek that insight, it will be clear that you’re genuinely an expert in the field.
One of the best ways to get your small business name in the press is to do some good deeds!Hold an event or sale that benefits a local charity, get your employees on board for a volunteer effort, or be a part of a community event by donating goods or services.
Using free social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get your company name out there is a great way to market your small business.
There is strength in numbers and this is true of marketing endeavors as well!
If there are companies in your area you could partner with to advertise and it would be mutually beneficial, you should take these opportunities.Some examples include restaurants that offer discounts when patrons bring in a movie ticket stub from a nearby theater.
The restaurant gets advertising on the ticket stubs and movie goers may be more likely to go to dinner and a movie if they get a deal out of it. Your small business can have an effective market campaign, even on a budget!
Contact us today to see how we can help!
Bianca Frank Design offers a comprehensive brand and brand development package that can be utilized to begin or reinvigorate your small business marketing strategy. Whether you are in need of small business marketing strategies, graphic design, brand design, web design, or just need brand or design consultation on where to start. Drop a note and we will be in touch soon.
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