Newsletter - 2010 01
January 2010
Business Success
Brought to You By: BMA Marketing
BMA Marketing
Chris Swanson
Ray Tuttle
MARKETING
How to Use Social Media Marketing the Right Way
Social media marketing (SMM) is a strategy of using social networks, online communities, blogs and other collaborative online channels for presenting your product to customers, thus improving public relations and increasing sales.
Today's most popular and influential social media channels include Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube, among others.
SMM begins with a buzz or some kind of message, video, tweet or posting that - you hope - goes viral online. As community members tap into the buzz, they replicate it, become fans of the brand, product or service, and promote it to their friends in multiple online social media venues.
Social media members frequently use their networks to search out trends and follow brands, companies, campaigns and topics.
Many sites offer features that allow companies to create pages, and users flock to become fans of hot properties, new products or key individuals.
Social media content is published primarily by users, and SMM messages are propagated through user participation and dialogue. This means that you have to be willing to give up control of your marketing message, and this can be risky.
SMM campaigns can backfire or simply fizzle out if they don't fully engage and respect the users.
As you think about using SMM in your marketing mix, keep in mind that social media engagement is a dialogue, a two-way conversation, and active participation in the community is required. This calls for ongoing monitoring as well as dedicated resources for care and feeding.
Although SMM is in its infancy today, it can be used as a very effective channel to build your brand and market your message.
Marketing Program Spotlight
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SALES
Nurturing Your Customers Is Key to More Sales
Quick Quiz
Each month I’ll give you a new question.
Just reply to this email for the answer.
What is the only radio station in the U.S. whose call letters match its town's name?
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Worth Reading
Selections from the best articles seen online this month.
7 Lessons from a Marketing Genius
From 800ceoread
A recent article from Carmine Gallo details seven points about what makes Mr. Jobs such an incredible marketer; words we can certainly all learn from.
The Master List of New Windows 7 Shortcuts
From Lifehacker
Windows 7 adds loads of great shortcuts for switching between apps, moving windows around your screen, moving them to another monitor altogether and much more.
Embracing Lifetime Value
From Seth Godin's Blog
Instead of comparing what you invest to the benefit you receive from the first bill, the first visit or the first transaction, it's important to not only recognize but embrace the true lifetime value of one more customer.
BOOK REVIEW
Upstarts, by Donna Fenn
The subtitle of this book, "How GenY Entrepreneurs Are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit from Their Success," says it all.
For in this book you will find case studies about interesting businesses started by people under 30 - and often a lot younger than that.
Fenn pulls out several threads that characterize the Upstarts, as she calls them: They collaborate easily and frequently, they use technology to make things easier - and make their businesses different, and they build companies that have an integrated social mission.
There's something reassuring and yet disconcerting about the entrepreneurs in this book. Reassuring, because a lot of what they're doing has big, obvious benefits to society; disconcerting, because these people seem to be the only ones who really understand today's business world.
Read this book for some interesting ideas for your own business.
Every customer wants to feel he or she is getting the right kind and amount of attention, but customers are diverse and unpredictable, so it's no easy task.Some buy quickly and some take their time. Some like a high-touch approach while others prefer a laid-back experience. The process of building and sustaining relationships that support qualified prospects until they become sales-ready is known as lead nurturing. It involves keeping alive and well your brand, your products and service offerings, a positive image of your company, and a good sense about the ultimate purchase experience, all without becoming a nuisance.
A good lead-nurturing plan calls for a multi-touch strategy.
Typically this involves a combination of telemarketing, email, direct mail and face-to-face contact.
Phone calls are a way to gauge a prospect's readiness.
Use an invitation to a trade show, a special sale or a new product offering as occasions for periodic calls. Email marketing is a good tool for lead nurturing.
Prospects who are researching solutions may be nudged along with news about new site content or new developments related to your industry.
Direct mail is an appropriate way to invite prospects to seminars or to issue annual reports, newsletters or article reprints.
It's important to address the reality of pipeline diversity with a variety of lead-nurturing techniques.
If creating a custom sales experience for every prospect seems like a lot of effort, it is.
But the results make it worthwhile, as evidence suggests that prospects who are nurtured are more likely to become loyal, long-term clients than are prospects who purchased but were not nurtured.
MARKETING
Tips to Make Online and Offline Marketing Go Hand in Hand
Wisdom
Quotes by...Henry Ford
"Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently."
"It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste time."
"If money is your hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability."
Most businesses today - whether run by solopreneurs or large multinationals - use both online and traditional offline marketing strategies. Traditional channels include television, direct mail, newspapers, Yellow Pages, magazines, billboards and radio. Online channels range from optimized websites and pay-per-click advertising to podcasts, blogs and social media marketing, andvarious email strategies and techniques.
Online marketing tactics should work in sync with traditional marketing programs, otherwise you're wasting your marketing budget.
Here are some tips for optimal channel integration:
- Make sure that your brand, logo and message are consistent across all channels.
- Coordinate online and offline campaigns, events and promotions.
- Use cross-channel references in all touches.
- Ensure that questions, requests and orders from all channels are addressed quickly.
- Integrate the language of online channels into all offline messages.
- Offline efforts drive customers to your website by emphasizing keywords and key phrases from your search engine optimization campaigns.
- Recognize that online tools and techniques are constantly evolving.
- Know your customers and mirror their channel preferences.
- Be agile and flexible in responding to customer needs.
A customer's experience should be seamless across all channels. Good cross-communication will facilitate this process, result in better customer satisfaction and maximize your marketing investment. Making channel integration a priority will help you achieve optimum results.
FINANCE
Key Things Every Business Must Know About Sales Tax
Knowing your sales tax obligations is an important part of running any type of business. But the myriad taxes can be confusing to even the most astute professional.
A sales tax is a duty imposed on a retail sale or market transaction. There are several categories of sales taxes, based mainly on whether the tax is paid by the seller or the buyer.
In the vast majority of states, consumers bear the legal burden of paying sales taxes, and the seller is simply an agent who collects and remits the money to the taxing authority.
In some jurisdictions, however, sales taxes are imposed on vendors that may either absorb or pass the tax along to customers. And there are a few states where the tax is levied on the retail sales transaction itself, so the tax liability is shared by sellers and buyers. In addition, there are five states that do not have a sales tax: these are Alaska, Hawaii, Delaware, New Hampshire, Montana and Oregon.
Sales taxes are calculated on the gross transaction amount. Generally, the method of payment is irrelevant, and thus installment plan sales, layaway sales, and sales involving trade-ins or other property exchanges are still subject to sales taxation. In most states, certain items such as food and clothing are exempt from sales tax.
If you operate an Internet-based business, you are responsible for collecting and remitting applicable sales taxes. In addition, if your business has a physical presence in a given state, you must collect state and local sales tax on online purchases made by customers in that state.
