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Posts Tagged ‘online’
Friday, February 25th, 2011
A nasty rumor is spreading, according to WebProNews, that YouTube is considering paying celebrities to provide video content channels. If true, what will that do to your channel?
Can you imagine competing against the likes of Ashton Kutcher and Oprah Winfrey for attention? If this report is true, you might have to.
If you think this is no different than competing against the Big O and the Big A on Twitter, think again. YouTube provides video content and video by its nature is much more demanding of attention than 140 characters of text. Besides, YouTube is one of the top 5 Web properties in terms of traffic and Twitter isn’t. YouTube is also owned by Google and has deep pockets. Plus, there is plenty of money to be made in online video content.
I’m not saying this is a negative in any way. However, if celebrities are paid for providing YouTube content, your YouTube channel could be relegated to second-class status by a celebrity who is competing directly against you. That means you’d have to be that much more creative and aggressive in your YouTube marketing efforts.
But then, there’s the other hand (isn’t there always another hand?). Celebrity YouTube channels could also present a unique marketing opportunity for your small business by giving you another advertising channel. Is that what YouTube’s real goal is?
Tags: online, Video Marketing, YouTube
Posted in Video Marketing | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
This is a question that many people have when they hear me talking about online networking, such as with LinkedIn. And the answer is yes, better, even!
That doesn`t mean you should be excluding offline marketing, a combination of the two is the perfect way to go. But first, let me explain just why I think online networking is actually better than offline.
First of all, you have the potential to reach many more people on the internet. When you post in a forum, you aren`t just talking to the people who are there at the moment, but everyone who has registered with that forum. And not only that, often forum posts are public and will show up on Google in the search results, meaning that one little paragraph can potentially connect with millions of people. You certainly don`t get that scale when you chat with someone at a business conference!
Another huge advantage to online marketing is that you can reach so many people that you would never have access to in a real world situation. While business meetups and seminars can expose you to more people than in your home town, you`ll still find that you are able to reach more online. And location is not an issue, so you can literally network with anyone in the world.
Online networking is definitely not the only way to network, but it should certainly be a big part of your marketing strategy.
Tags: business, networking, online
Posted in Networking for Small Business | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Branding is often most notable in logos and tag lines. Think of Nike and you think of the swoosh symbol and “Just do it”, and most successful businesses have a very memorable tag line. You´ll see online tags below the blog or website title, usually and this can be exactly what you want people to remember about you. However, in order to make this useful, you will need a great tag line and those don´t just fall out of the sky!
Branding Your Tag Line Tips
- Keep it short. Long tag lines are difficult to remember, while a short tag line is great for branding as it sticks in people´s minds.
- Make it relevant. You want the tag line to refer to your business or what you do, so it should be able to explain what you are doing in just a few words.
- Be snappy. Awkward phrases aren´t going to be memorable and certainly don´t help with branding, so keep things snappy and rhythmic.
- Brainstorm. Come up with a bunch of words that have to do with or describe your business and then see what you can do with them.
- Get a second opinion. Before you decide that your branding tag line is the greatest thing since sliced bread, get a fresh pair of eyes to look at it and tell you if there could be improvements made.
Branding is an important part of your business and it begins with the image you present on your literature and website. Make sure your tag line reflects who you are as a business and carries the spirit of the company. This will really help people remember you in the long run.
Tags: Branding, online, tag line
Posted in Branding | 1 Comment »
Friday, February 29th, 2008
Online branding is just as important as offline, particularly if you run your business online. Online publicity is not the same as branding, though you can definitely do both at the same time. Basically, if you are going to pay for or even spend time on getting advertising or any kind of publicity online, you might as well be branding your business at the same time!
Signature lines. In email and forums or wherever you are given the chance to add a signature line, make sure it is the same. Don´t be using a variety of different ones, unless you have different online businesses. People will come to recognize your tag line.
Logo. It´s possible, especially for new businesses, that you may change your logo or develop it over time. Make sure you go back and replace your old one in any directories or ads whenever you do this. It´s a good idea to keep track of where you have written about your business or put up ads.
You. As the business owner, you have a unique advantage in that you can put yourself on your website and let people know that there is a real human being behind the business. Branding with yourself creates a more human connection with visitors and knowing they can contact you will help them trust you more.
Branding for your online business should be up there with all your important publicity techniques. It is just as important any advertising that you do and will pay off for far longer than a month long ad.
Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
Back to the Blog
Tags: Branding, business, online
Posted in Branding | No Comments »
Thursday, December 27th, 2007
If you’re ready to make the leap to online marketing and you want to build your business by networking, the best small business networking tool that I’ve found so far is LinkedIn. It’s grown to be quite popular and is one of the fastest growing online networks available.
Unlike other networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, there’s not a lot of fluff. You won’t find oodles of apps and widgets that have no useful business value. No freckle-faced high school kids pinging you to see what your thoughts are on the latest hip hop craze, no graffiti on virtual walls, and no endless streams of surveys asking you what your favorite green vegetable is. At LinkedIn, it’s all about business and that’s why I like it.
The way LinkedIn is set up, you have a network that consists of your central hub – your connections. These are the people you are linked to directly. Probably, when you start, you know these people off line. If you join, you can add me to your network and we’ll be linked.
The next level in your network are the friends of friends, “two degrees away.” These people are potential members of your hub and can be introduced through your mutual friends whenever one of your friends sees that you can benefit each other. It’s like meeting at a convention and having Joe at XYZ introduce you to Tom at ABC because you’re not competitors, you trust that neither will attempt to steal you away from the other, and they can benefit each other. It’s how real life networking is done.
Three degrees away, a friend of a friend, is your extended network. Chances are, if you have five or six friends in your hub, this third degree level is hundreds of thousands strong. But all it takes to get to one of these people in your third level, someone who could be very influential in your business, is a couple of introductions.
There is a reason why LinkedIn is popular and growing among the business sector online. It works. It’s fun. And it’s all business. Networking the way real life networking has been done for centuries.
Caroline Melberg
Small Business Mavericks
Small Business Mavericks Blog
Tags: business, LinkedIn, networking, online
Posted in Networking for Small Business | 3 Comments »
Friday, December 14th, 2007
Not many people are talking about integrated marketing. But they should be.
You might be asking, “What is integrated marketing?” Good question. Integrated marketing is taking your existing traditional marketing strategies and incorporating them with new media marketing, or online marketing. It is not only a powerful approach to marketing your small business, but it’s essential.
Small business marketing is an art as much as a science. You have the big budgets that large corporations have so you must get creative. That’s one of the benefits to marketing yourself online. Most Internet marketing strategies don’t require huge budgets. You can do a lot of the work yourself and achieve great results just by logging on and tuning in. But you don’t want to abandon any off line marketing that you may be doing. Therefore, you want to make sure your Internet marketing works with your current marketing strategy and not against it.
The Melberg Marketing Blue Chip Marketing Tips blog is designed to help you transition from traditional marketing to Internet marketing. Whereas I try to focus primarily on Internet marketing topics here at Small Business Mavericks, at BlueChipMarketingTips.com I’ll show you how to integrate your online marketing with your traditional marketing for maximum effectiveness. If you read just two blogs today, let Blue Chip Marketing Tips be the other one.
Tags: integrated marketing, internet marketing, off line, online, traditional marketing
Posted in Local Internet Marketing, Traditional Marketing for Small Business | 3 Comments »
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