What can you do to promote good design?

The first thing to do is to give this some thought. Your competition has. Possessing a plan for presenting your brand and products to the world is largely accomplished by a carefully thought-out plan. Another critical finding in that study was that your logo gets the most attention, followed closely by images and social interaction. The visual elements matter a great deal! So now that we have an understanding, there are basically no excuses left, as now expense is no longer a viable excuse for getting good design work done. The advent of crowdsourcing sites like 99Designs, CrowdSpring and others made what used to be prohibitively expensive for small business, a very affordable item.

How can you expect to benefit?

The benefits of good design are more plentiful and often less obvious than you may think at first. While a killer look for your website and graphics is a no-brainer, elements like product packaging, advertising, and even infographics are shared, Pinned and ReTweeted from your pages. This can have a significant effect on your site’s reach, and customer base. Furthermore, the good feelings that an excellent design impart may be intangible, but not when you watch your site’s traffic increase because of it! Have a cold hard look at your design elements today!

So without further fanfare, here’s our down and dirty 10 best tips for boosting your email open rates.

1. Create something worth reading - No doubt, the simplest way to get your email opened is to write something your email list can’t wait to read more of.
2. Don’t’ write War and Peace - No one has enough time in their day, and long emails that meander and don’t deliver on the subject line are one way to keep them from opening again. Also, you’ll want to make use of optimum sending times.
3. Use your subject line wisely - This is the single biggest element that effects whether or not your email gets opened. Take the time to craft great, non-spammy subject lines.
4. Make good use of your first line - Just like the preceding, the first line of your email, often populated with something like, “If you don’t see any images in this message…” is visible in their inbox. This also is valuable space, and don’t waste it!
5. Address their needs and concerns – Solve problems and provide solutions.
6. Offer great deals and savings - Everyone likes to save a little and your email is a wonderful platform to pass on any deals or specials your business is offering.
7. Be the authority - We always have something to learn, and if you can position yourself as somebody who has something useful for your readers, your open rates will flourish.
8. Be entertaining - Don’t be StatMan. Don’t be scared to inject humor, wit, and a bit of controversy on occasion.
9. Is your “From” line recognizable? - Make sure this is the person or company you want to brand, as this builds trust over time.
10. Be sure and resend your unopened email - Quite simple to do, resending your unopened email is a simple method to improve your open rates.

So to help you ward off the mistakes that may be looming in your social media marketing, listed here are five social media mistakes you need to avoid!

1. Not engaging with your audience - You should always be actively engaging your social media visitors. Seek advice, conduct polls, share funny stories (hopefully somewhat relevant) and ask their thoughts: they’ll gladly provide them, and you’ll be far wiser and closer to your goals in a number of ways.
2. Boring, unexciting content - If you can’t build up any excitement about your brand, you won’t get other people to, either. Convey . passion for your brand, excitement about what you’re doing, and you’ll find this can be contagious. Creating a buzz about your business starts off with you!
3. Always promoting - Nobody wants to be constantly sold to, and social media is littered with companies that have tried. Strive to develop relationship and trust first, and then it will be a lot easier to send an occasional selling message.
4. Not responding to your customers - There is no faster way to destroy whatever goodwill and respect you’ve developed in your brand than to ignore your customers. It’s far too easy to totally miss customers and prospects posting their concerns, questions or complaints on these very platforms! Don’t be that guy!
5. No plan for social media - Not having a strategy for your social media marketing is sort of asking for it to fail. You must know why you’re doing, and which platforms are ideal for you. (Not all are!)

We would be remiss if we didn’t share a link to a glaring example of what NOT to do! After the recent Boston marathon bombing, the food site Epicurious sent out a couple of unfortunate tweets.

5 Tips to help guard your online reputation

1. Keep tabs on your online reputation - Keep track of what people are saying about you and your company name by Googling them at least once per month. Use Google alerts and become alerted when there are any postings about you or the brand.
2. Lay claim to your online property - Someone that is set on doing you and your business harm can do a lot with your name. Make sure you buy your company’s domain name, or your personal one, and avoid having them show up in Google by virtue of an exact match name.
3. Be active on your social networks - Beyond claiming your profile on the major social sites, also make an effort to use them regularly. Being present can help you see and head off potential issues easily.
4. Deal with damaging content ASAP - Deal with negative postings and particularly complaints as soon as possible. Do your very best to get hold of the person directly, preferably offline. Try to handle their issues, and whatever you do, don’t get into a shouting match online.
5. Be careful what you put online - Those lovely pictures of you and the staff partying hard are not exactly what you want to show up in a business context.

We’re all part of an instant information-driven world. Make sure you’re in position to use this to effectively manage your online reputation!

Why you ought to give SMS marketing a long look

Without question, the main reason marketers are giving SMS a chance is due to how people are responding to texts. Reported by CallFire SMS text messages boast a 98 percent open rate not to mention an eye-popping 83 percent are opened in the first three minutes of receiving them! What’s more, marketing promotions using text messages are being redeemed at 20 percent or higher, in contrast to traditional media such as coupons, newspaper ads, radio, or direct mail, which average redemption rates of a paltry two percent. CallFire also says that your ROI (return on investment) can be far greater than in traditional media. For example, a campaign with a monthly cost of less than $30 to send 1000 text messages, and redemption rates of 20 percent or more, works out to be less than .30 cents per customer acquisition. Not bad.

4 Tips for successful SMS marketing campaigns

1. Be certain to deliver value – Be sure that you’re not wasting their time! Give great value, whether you’re delivering a palpable offer or just directing them to somewhere where they can consume more great content. Deliver Value!
2. Keep messages short and personal – This medium is based on trust and familiarity, so do your very best to enhance that by personalizing your texts and keeping them short and to the point. Even marketing messages could have a friendly tone. A note like, “Hi Mark, Thank you for your business! We look forward to serving you again soon. Show this msg to receive 20% off your next purchase at [STORE NAME & PHONE NUMBER].”
3. Include a call to action – Make sure you ask for the action you want them to take. Saying something similar to “Text SaveNow to 123456 to get a 10% off coupon today” will set their mind to action mode.
4. Track your results – SMS is awesome when it comes to measuring metrics. There are a variety of factors you can keep track of on your campaigns, from click tracking to who opened what. So be sure you track and measure your results, to effectively plan the next campaign!

But why all the hate mail?

The well-publicized financial and structural changes Groupon and LivingSocial have been going through are often cited causes of dislike. The press is quick to point out the negative issues with some daily deal sites. They typical point out things like spam complaints, a crowded marketplace of daily deals to choose from, “deal hoppers”, customers who hop from deal to deal and seldom become a regular customer.

3 Ways for you to help make Daily Deals work for your business

• Know how the money works! – You must know how the numbers work in your deal. Understand what your average sale is and don’t try to exceed it with a daily deal. Also, be sure to negotiate credit card processing fees, as many of the daily deal sites will pick these up.
• Follow up with your new customers! – As many as 60-75 percent of these daily deal customers are trying you out for the first time, so it’s vital that you have a plan to coax them back for a return engagement! Offer another coupon, or other incentives to make sure you see them again!
• Don’t go too big, too fast – Start cautiously, so you can learn the ropes and not be swamped by the deals, and leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

Daily deal sites aren’t dead, you simply need to know how to best use them for your small business.

Not your grandmother’s e-newsletters anymore!

You may have subscribed to an e-newsletter in the past and been decidedly unimpressed. Been there, done that! However, your e-newsletter doesn’t need to be has as bland and un-sexy as those. Here are some eye-catching examples of E-newsletters that rock! What’s more, every major email autoresponder service has a wonderful array of newsletter templates, should you be reluctant or unable to design your own. Make sure to engage your readers by resonating with what interests them. Kayak, for example, isn’t simply attempting to tell you about the latest, greatest travel deals, but goes out of their way to sell the idea of travel.

Five tips for creating an E-newsletter

Here are some tips for writing an E-newsletter that gets opened and acted upon!

• Talk as if you’re talking to a friend – Customers respond to a friendly tone, and are far more likely to engage.
• Encourage communication – Give them every opportunity to respond and specifically request it!
• Be specific and don’t ramble – Stay on topic, and don’t be boring!
• Offer useful content – Above all else, offer content that’s fresh, useful and that resonates with your list.
• Hit emotional hot buttons – Stirring up emotion makes your writing come to life, and will often promote more reader engagement.

Don’t permit this golden opportunity to reach your list in a more substantial way slip by. Create an e-newsletter today!

How can you attract socially conscious consumers?

Getting the word out in your normal media is an important way for many companies to stress your green practices, improve your public image, and generate overall good will. As outlined by a report by D S Simon Productions, “media initiatives with a corporate social responsibility focus generates 35-50% more positive media coverage on television, radio, web and social media than comparable programs without the CSR hook”. Developing “green teams” within your business can get employees involved and help brand your business as one that truly cares about conservation and the green initiative. Organizations like EarthShare can help.

How Arya Cleaners went green and it paid off!

A dry cleaning service in Chula Vista Ca, Arya Cleaners took steps like replacing their natural gas burning water heaters with technology that transfers heat from the boiler to the laundry machines, swapping their company vehicle with a fuel efficient clean burning delivery van, and by using wet-cleaning technology that reduced their usage of PERC (perchloroethylene), a harmful chemical solvent used by dry cleaners, by 90%.

These changes contributed to Arya Cleaners being named a CoolCalifornia.org Small Business Excellence Award Winner, being a Certified Chula Vista Clean Business, and getting the Mayor’s award for excellence in 2009 for green friendly business practices. Arya has clearly succeeded in branding themselves as an eco-friendly business. The methods are different for each industry, however the results can be worthy of the effort!

This adds up to one simple reality: when those negative reviews or complaints show up, (and they will!) you should take them very seriously and take countermeasures to lessen the negative effects!

Here are five methods to do just that:

1. Look at your brand’s search results regularly – Look at your company’s name in Google no less than once a month. Google Alerts is a good idea to let you know when there is any conversation regarding you, your business name or your important keywords. Make sure you look beyond page one, as damaging entries may be hanging out there on their way higher.
2. Respond to negative content promptly – Attempt to contact the source of the negative content right away, particularly if they are a disappointed customer. Be polite, helpful, and try to address their concerns in a positive manner. DO NOT get into a flaming match with them. You will be the loser every time!
3. Use your company’s name in your page optimization – Make certain your pages and other content are utilizing your company’s name in keywords, tags, URLS, and titles. The more pages that you own that bear your company’s name, the greater the possibility Google will view your site as the authority for this keyword (your company name) and provide you with higher rankings. Also, most negative content will most likely not have done any SEO.
4. Create more content channels – WordPress.com, Blogger.com or even subdomains of your own site are great for this, together with your social channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and Google . Post fresh content to these channels as well, so they maintain their search positions.
5. Ask your customers for reviews – The most obvious and by far the most useful tool for effective online reputation management is to ask your satisfied customers for a review. Encourage and even reward reviews. This is also your very best source of social proof!

Follow these tips and protect your good name! It’s the right thing to do.

5 Awesome Tips for Facebook Ad Images

Creating an ad that produces a real impact and statement for your product or services is a matter of standing out from the rest. Listed below are five ways to do exactly that!

1. Use high quality images – Because your images will end up quite small, be sure you’re buying from a respectable resource. Fotolia and iStockPhoto are two of our most favorite. The XS size of available images is going to be fine, as even these will be cut down to the size of a postage stamp. (110×80 pixels)
2. Crop to deliver impact – Crop your photos closely to focus on the key aspect of your ad. Cropping faces from the eyes to mouth is the most impactful technique for riveting people images. Also, be sure that your model’s eyes have life. When using product images, get close!
3. Employ eye-catching colors – Using bright, visually arresting images can do wonders for your clickthrough rates. A lot of people opt to blend in with the pervasive Facebook blue, and therefore consign their ads to a form of “banner blindness”.
4. Choose attractive images – Unless you are going for a certain statement, pick the most attractive photos you can find. People are attracted to beauty. Period. This isn’t to say that occasionally beauty can’t be trumped by cute, funny or outrageous.
5. Use humor whenever you can – All of us love a good laugh. If you’ve got the opportunity to inject humor into your ad, don’t miss it! It will surely result in a higher clickthrough rate!

For some really good examples of these imagery principles in action, check out this great article at Search Engine Watch.