Blogs are now extremely commonplace and are part of a large majorty of websites. You may understand the business benefits of a blog, but what do you do if you’d like your organisation to start blogging, but senior management aren’t so sure.
This has happened to a few of our clients, and over time we’ve put together a pretty strong case for a blog. The below is a summary of the business case we would present to someone who is a bit hesitant about blogs:
Why Should You Start Blogging?
It will allow you to engage in an open dialogue and exchange of ideas with customers and potential customers
It will establish trust and build relationship with prospects
It shows you as an expert and builds authority
It will provide added value to the people that visit your site
It will show that you’re up to date on current trends within the industry
By giving away advice and education it will engender gratitude and loyalty from your followers – which will either be existing customers, or prospects
It will have a huge beneficial impact on the search rankings of your website
Building relevant traffic
Increase ranks in major search engines
It will give you greater brand visibility and can be used as a PR tool
It gives a more personal face to the business – if you pride yourself on the quality of your employees, why not show them off via the blog
What are the Drawbacks?
Managing and maintaining a blog takes an investment of time.
How Should You Manage Your Blog?
Ideally a new post should be published at least once a week without fail.
To help spread out the responsibility, you could have a different department being responsible for creating a blog post each week. This also helps to make the blog more well rounded; you don’t want it to appear like it’s constantly managed by a ‘marketing droid’, but by real employees with real relevant skills. It will also give an added depth to the blog. For example, if you are an IT firm, some posts could be quite techie which will please the IT/techie customers and prospects reading, others will be more support based which may be of interest to the end users of solutions, others will be sales which will be of interest to the decision makers and people responsible for purchasing your solutions. There needs to be different type posts from different people to target every type of reader and for the blog to be well rounded
You should have one person overseeing the blog, who can provide subjects ideas for each post and an outline of how the post can be written
There should be no strict guidelines to post length – some can be short and to the point, others can be more in depth
It’s a good idea to create a library of pre-prepared posts that can be published at anytime, allowing a level of flexibility
You need one person who will be responsible for the maintenance and management of the blog – this will include monitoring and responding to all comments, as well as promoting each blog post using various marketing methods
You can use free blogging platforms such as Wordpress, and ideally have it hosted on your own domain
Another surefire way to convince management that a blog is the way forward is to do a bit of competitor research. If your key competitors are blogging, then you definitely should be too. And if they’re not, you can be the pioneer, leading the way and getting a nice headstart on them.
If you need help setting up a blog, or want someone to write optimised blog posts for you on a regular basis, please get in touch with us on 023 8083 7271 or info@SMEketing.com.
Video is fast becoming a key differentiator between companies that are actively marketing themselves and engaging in communication with their prospects and customers, and those companies that are plodding along, relying on the same old tactics to keep them afloat.
If you want to take the step into video, you might be unsure as to what you can create and how you should promote it. This is where we come in! Read on..,
There are many topics that you can create videos on:
How to guides
Demonstrations of your products
Interviews with staff
Interviews with customers
Interviews with leading industry members
Showcasing your office
A summary showing a recent event you attended/hosted
Advice on industry related topics
The list is really as endless as your imagination. Depending on your industry, your videos can be very lighthearted in their approach, or may have to be more serious. However, there really isn’t any company out there who wouldn’t benefit from promoting themselves and their website with videos.
So what are the basics of promoting and making the most of your video? This post doesn’t go into too much detail about the do’s and don’ts of shooting your videos and the content you produce, but focuses on what you should do with your videos once they’re ready to be let loose!
Ideally the video should be hosted on the main website and on other video sites such as YouTube; there are benefits to both, but in order to get full earch engine optimisation (SEO) credit, it must really be on the main site as a stand-alone video.
Making the Video
Make sure that there is a logo/branding on it all the way through so people can’t reuse it without passing on credit to you
Try and keep video length to under five minutes
Make sure there is a strong call to action at the end along with your contact details
Try and make the video thumbnail attractive to convince people to watch
Hosting the Video
Use keywords in the filename of the video, and any titles and descriptions and the URL of the page it sits on
Ideally all videos should sit under one URL on the main site – www.url.com/videos/
Each video should have it’s own URL – www.url.com/videos/video-1
Optimise the page on the website that is hosting/linking to the site, i.e. good title, meta description, good copy (paragraph or two explaining what the video is), good headers, use of bold text etc
If the video is going to be hosted on the main website create video sitemap and submit it to video and content engines. This is quite technical (there isn’t really an easy way of doing this, so someone techie may have to do it. See Google’s advice page: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=80472&ctx=sibling
Create a transcript
This can be used as a blog post, which can be linked to the video
This can also be uploaded on YouTube (under the ‘Captions’ section)
Uploading the Video
When uploading to video sites, make sure the titles, descriptions, tags are keyword rich
Put the main URL at the beginning of the description, i.e. “www.url.co.uk/videos/video-1: This video looks at the produc X. How does it work and how can it help you?”
List of video sites you may want to upload to:
Download.com and CNET TV – www.cnettv.com
Youtube - www.youtube.com
MetaCafe – www.metacafe.com
Revver – www.revver.com
MSN Live Video Search– http://video.msn.com/video.aspx.
BlipTV – www.blip.tv
When you upload to BlipTV, your videos can be syndicated to accounts you have on other Web sites such as blogs, iTunes , Yahoo Video, AOL Video, MySpace, FaceBook, and Feedburner.
Veoh – www.veoh.com
When you submit to Veoh, they syndicate your video to youtube, myspace, and google video.
AOL Video – www. http://video.aol.com/
Myspace Video -http://vids.myspace.com/
Break– www.break.com
DivX’s Stage 6 – http://stage6.divx.com/
Daily Motion – www.dailymotion.com
Vimeo– www.vimeo.com
Sevelload – en.sevenload.com
TubeMogul is a free toolto submit videos to multiple video sharing sites in one go. Currently it works with Metacafe, MySpace, Yahoo, Revver, AOL Video, DailyMotion, Blip, and BrightCove
Promoting the Video
Try and make some links to the video – blog post, article, press releases pointing to the source
Promote the video with the standard social bookmarking sites (Digg, Stumbleupon etc) to build links
You can also visit relevant forums and mention it when appropriate
Tweet about it
Upload to your Facebook business page
Submit the video itself to video engines:
http://www.blinkx.com/
http://en.fooooo.com/
http://video.search.yahoo.com/
http://uk.truveo.com/
http://www.videosurf.com/
http://video.filestube.com/
http://clipta.com/
http://www.pixsy.com/
http://video.aol.com/
If you want any further advice or assistance with your promotional videos, please give us a call on 023 8083 7271 or email us on info@SMEketing.com
There are many awards out there you can enter. Awards for enterprising businesses owners, awards specific to your industry, green awards, local involvement awards… with a bit of research you can find a host of awards that your company can enter. Some are free and some involve a small cost.
But why should you take the time (and possible cost) to enter your company into awards? Well there are numerous benefits.
The prize
This could be money, which is always a good thing, along with promotion of your business in press and through the organiser. Depending on the size of the organiser this could be worth more than the prize money. A national award sponsored by national newspapers could mean your name being promoted in editorial pieces throughout the year – an invaluable bit of free advertising that you would not normally be able to receive.
Promotion
As stated above, if the award is sponsored by someone with a bit of clout, you could benefit greatly from winning. However, what happens if you don’t win? Well it doesn’t mean it was a completely wasted exercise. You can create your own press releases announcing your entry into the awards, then if you make the shortlist you can create another press release announcing this. Press releases are a fantastic way to promote your business. If you add the press release to your website, that counts as fresh new content, which Google loves. If you upload it to online newswires, you’ll also get a huge number of new links pointing to your site – again a huge factor in your website’s position in the search engines. And if you send it out to relevant journalists you may also get it printed – which is free advertising! And if you do win.. well, that’s another press release you can create!
Other Benefits
Entering awards also gives you something to work towards. If there’s a particular award you’d like to win, you can set specific annual goals which can help to achieve this.
If you do win your award, it’s a great way of increasing that level of trust between you and your customers and prospects. It also acts as an endorsement, and if the award if from a well known organisation it can have a huge impact on your reputation.
If you make the shortlist you may choose to attend the award ceremony. This is a fantastic way of meeting new industry members and is a great networking opportunity.
And finally, if you win, you’ll have a shiny new trophy to put in your reception/cabinet/desk – and who doesn’t like that!
If you need some assistance drafting the copy for your award entry or would like a press release written announcing your award entry please get in touch with us today!
Our last blog post featured the top five uses of email marketing; now you know what you should be using email marketing for, what mistakes should you avoid?
Email marketing takes time and practice to get right – don’t expect amazing results from day one. Like most marketing initiatives, the first few email campaigns you create will be a steep learning curve. So to give you a headstart, we’ve put together ten of the most common pitfalls:
1. You do not have a permission based mailing list
Before you start email marketing, you must have permission from everyone on your list. Permission means people have requested email marketing from you. Ensuring you only send to people who have asked for it gives you a higher quality campaign, better deliverability, better results (in terms of open and clicks) and less chance that you’ll get spam complaints. Yes, your email marketing list may be small to start off with, but if you create high quality emails, word will soon spread and your list will grow. Sending spam is unethical and is against the law. The anti-spam law is enforced by the Information Commissioner and breaches can lead to a fine of up to £5,000. The rules are in the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations, which have applied since December 2003.
2. Your content is poor
Always think about what your customers and prospects would find useful to read. Avoid words like ‘BUY NOW!’ and ‘OFFER ONLY AVAILABLE TODAY!”. In email, using all caps is the equivalent of screaming down the phone at the top of your lungs. It’s rude and people don’t like it. Some spam filters will also penalise you for using too many caps, bright red fonts and too many exclamation points.
The content should be fresh, unique and informative. If you don’t think your readers would be interested in it, don’t add it! Also remember to use the correct tone of voice. A surf shop would have a very different tone to a funeral parlour. ‘Yo yo, get down for some wicked cool funeral offers now’ doesn’t really portray the right image!
3. Your emails are full of errors
Remember to check your emails for spelling and grammar. Sounds simple, but if you’re in a hurry, it cna be vry eazy to make sillly spellnig mistcakes.
4. You make it difficult for people to register
You want people to register to receive your marketing email right? So don’t make them fill a ridiculously long form in. Think about the essential information you need – their email address. Anything more is a bonus. It’s fair enough to ask for their name and company, but don’t get bogged down in trying to get specific details from them. They just won’t bother.
5. Your subject lines are poorly worded
The subject line is the most important part of your email. This is what convinces people to open or delete. You need to make sure this is well thought out, with a headline that conveys a feeling of trust and entices them to open.
6. You do not test emails first
One of the main benefits of email marketing is that you can measure your results. So it makes sense to take an email that you’re about to send and test it before you send it to your whole list. Taking 5% of your list and send them the email with subject line A. Then take another 5% and send them the email with subject line B. The email that gets the most opens is the one you send to the remaining 90%. Subject lines are just one of the things you can test – content, messaging, layout, offers and graphics are all things that make a difference to the success rate of your email campaign, and can all be tested easily and quickly.
7. You do not have a strong call to action
Why are you sending your email? Is it to boost sales, generate online enquiries, gain referrals or boost your brand reputation? You need to understand why you are sending your email, then create a call to action that will help facilitate the desired results. If you want to make sales of a new product, make sure you have a call to action that says ‘click here to find out more’ or ‘click here to buy this new product’. You need to make the action clear and simple. Again, this call to action is something you can test.
8. You haven’t linked the email to any dedicated landing pages
Taking the above example, if you have a new product you want people to buy, doesn’t it make sense to take them to a dedicated landing page? If you can create a page that echoes the style, theme and message of the original email, it all helps to convey a feeling of trust and uniform to the message you are pushing. You can guide people through the sales funnel you know works best for your site – from email to landing page to sale.
9. You use too many graphics
Having too many graphics in your email is a very bad thing. Do not do it! Many email readers will automatically turn off graphics – so if the bulk of your content is made up of graphics, your readers will just see blank squares. Graphics also slow down the email downloads and can overshadow your message.
10. Ignoring your campaign reports
Using an email marketing tool means that you can measure the results of each campaign you send. You can use this data to look for trends and to make changes to your campaigns to see if you can improve the open rates, the click through rates and the conversions on site (such as making a purchase or enquiry). You’d be amazed at the difference you can make to the success of your campaigns by monitoring past results.
Can you think of any other mistakes? Let us know by leaving a note in the comments below!
If you’re having troubles getting the results you want from your email marketing campaigns, get in touch with us today. We’ve helped many companies get started with email marketing. Using our SMEketing Email Marketing Tool, organisations are now reaping the benefits of email marketing.
Email is consistently rates as the most used application on the Internet. According to Epsilon International via Econsultancy Blog in June 2009:
Email is used more regularly than social networking for personal communication. 79% of respondents use email as their primary mode of communication, only 10% use social networks.
Email has long been used as a form of marketing, but if you’re new to the email marketing game, you may be unsure as to how to use it and what results you can expect. So here are our top five uses of email marketing:
1. Newsletters
You can create newsletters to send to existing customers and prospects on a regular basis. Some companies opt for weekly, others monthly. If you’re really keen, you could even send them daily (as long as the content was high quality). Sending email newsletters is a very effective form of communication and helps to further enhance your brand. The more you can keep your name and logo in front of customers and prospects, the more likely you’ll be top of the list when the customer wants to make a purchase.
Newsletters can contain a variety of information – new web pages you’ve added, new articles, changes to your business, new product lines – anything goes, as long as it is of value to the person you’re sending it to.
2 Promotions
Many organisations like to use email marketing to send out coupons/codes or to promote a special offer they are holding. Offering exclusive coupons to mailing list subscribers has also shown to be an effective way of growing your email marketing list. If people are already engaged in your company, what better way to reinforce the relationship than providing them with their own special offers?
3. Event invitations
Email marketing is a fantastic way of promoting events you may be holding. Not only can you send out emails informing customers and prospects that you are holding an event, you can also use email to invite people directly. Email marketing tools are highly sophisticated and are able to be personalised which makes them great as an invitation tool. It also cuts down the cost of printing and postage of traditional invites.
4. Promote blog posts
If you create a regular blog, you can use email to promote each new blog post. Some people may prefer to get a direct email containing your blog post, rather than having to visit your site directly. Alternatively you can send a weekly or monthly email containing a summary of all your recent blog posts, and use that as a way to drive traffic to your site.
5. Business updates/press releases
If you’ve launched a new product, taken on a new member of staff, or have any other kind of newsworthy announcement, email marketing is a great way to communicate this to your mailing list. You can also use email marketing to send out press releases in bulk to your list of journalists.
The main benefits of email marketing are:
Speed
Flexibility
Low cost
Ability to measure results
These make it a useful tool for all businesses large and small. If you’re interested in getting started with email marketing, but aren’t sure where to begin, give us a call on 023 8083 7271! We have a comprehensive email marketing tool that many customers are using to create high quality emails. We can even let you have a play with it before you commit using our demo account.
We’ve previously written a blog post about what Google Alerts are and why you should be using them, but we thought we’d go one step further and show you how to set them up:
If you liked the video, please log into YouTube and rate it and comment – we’d really appreaciate it!
Like always, if you want more information, please get in touch – info@SMEKeting.com. To get email updated from this blog, please register in the box to the right.
Blogs are now extremely commonplace and are part of a large majorty of websites. You may understand the business benefits of a blog, but what do you do if you’d like your organisation to start blogging, but senior management aren’t so sure.
Video is fast becoming a key differentiator between companies that are actively marketing themselves and engaging in communication with their prospects and customers, and those companies that are plodding along, relying on the same old tactics to keep them afloat.
Our last blog post featured the 
Email is consistently rates as the most used application on the Internet. According to Epsilon International via Econsultancy Blog in June 2009:
