Dominate Your Local Market!

“A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time.” – Henry Ford

According to some of the latest economic figures, we are in the beginning stages of economic recovery. I’m sure this is a relief to all of us even if unemployment figures are still way too high. Employment always lags behind in a recovery.

It may be a slow road back, but at least we are moving in a positive direction. Sadly some businesses have not been able to survive the downturn, but those that have will have an unprecedented opportunity for growth in the coming years.

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There’s a lot of speculation on what the holiday season will be like this year for local businesses. Nobody is quite sure what to expect although not many are anticipating a banner year.

Despite the gloomy predictions, you can use this holiday season to leverage the customers who will visit you and/or buy from you this year to boost your business next year and beyond as the economy recovers.

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“Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? Welcome to the World of Socialnomics” – TeacherTube.com

This New York Times article talks about how small businesses, especially of the “mon-and-pop” variety are using Twitter as their primary marketing vehicle – often their ONLY marketing vehicle.

And why not? Twitter is free and easy to use. And they are in the process of building new tools to allow businesses to better se what their “tweets” are doing for them. A more comprehensive marketing plan would be advantageous in the long run, but Twitter is a great way to get started when the budget is slim.

Read more here »

At 12:01am today, Facebook began letting you select your own username. That means that you can now have your own name on Facebook like this:

http://www.Facebook.com/bobstovall

instead of those cryptic, long default Facebook URLs.

This makes it much easier for friends to find your Facebook page and is easier to remember for those you give it to.

Now, as you probably realize, many people have the same name on Facebook. And I’ve always recommended grabbing your own name as a domain name. I am just as enthusiastic about grabbing your own name on Facebook.

So if you want your name, you should go get it now.

Here’s how:

Log into Facebook, or click the link below and then login.

Then go to http://www.Facebook.com/username

Once you are there, it will suggest a variety of names. That doesn’t mean they are the only ones available, so click on the ‘more’ link and it will let you
select a different name. For example I picked bobstovall instead
of bob.stovall or bstovall, but you can pick any variation that’s available. There is a button to check availability of the name you choose.

Don’t hesitate of you could miss getting your own name. Go to:
http://www.Facebook.com/username
now and get your own name while you can.

Direct response marketing and social networking were made for each other. An article in today’s New York Times looks at the ways small businesses are beginning to use social networking for their benefit.

From the article:

“By choice or necessity, successful small-business owners are earnest networkers, gladly shaking hands, handing out cards and attending local meetings to find and keep customers, solve problems, seek feedback or support and bolster their bottom lines.

“Now, the Internet is starting to upend those long-established methods; online networking on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and newer niche sites can be instantaneous and far-reaching.”

This article contains some great info for small businesses and entrepreneurs. You can read it in it’s entirety at the New York Times website.

Here are a few HubPages hubs with useful information on marketing via social networks. These articles cover Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Warning: Don’t Ignore These 5 Rules of Twitter Marketing!

8 Things Every Small Business Should Know About Social Media

How To Get Followers On Twitter

Twitter: 30 Simple Ways To Supercharge Your Effectiveness On Twitter!

Facebook Groups – An Absolute Must for Web 2.0 Marketing

How To Create a Facebook Application

5 Ways to Use LinkedIn To Drive Traffic to Your Website, Blog or HubPages

Top Ten Tips For Getting the Most From LinkedIn

“Are you having enough SALES CONVERSATIONS? If you don’t have all the business or clients that you want, maybe you simply need to have more sales conversations. That was a challenge I laid down to my Marketing Mastermind group last month, and one couple jumped to action with IMMEDIATE results.”

That bit of advice came to me from Bernadette Doyle of ClientMagnets.com.

Although Bernadette was talking about direct face-to-face selling of services, I couldn’t help but think how it applies to what we do. When a local business posts an update to their blog, comments on Facebook or Twitter or sends an email update to their list, they are having a “sales conversation” with their market even if they aren’t overtly selling.

That’s because all of us like to do business with those we know, like and trust. The process of relationship building is helped along each time we do one of those things.

But to work really well, these things have to be done consistently. Tony Robbins puts it this way: “It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.” It can shape our lives and it can shape our businesses.

One of the great things about marketing online is that your target audience needs to do something to respond to your message – if you are doing it right. The act of taking action means they will most likely pay closer attention to your message than they will using passive media.

So if you’re not as busy as you’d like to be, or if you’re not making as many sales as you’d like, think about what you can do to have more sales conversions, either face-to-face or using your online marketing strategy.

Start taking advantage of this strategy today and you’ll see results in no time.

Click image to enlarge

This morning, I posted a “tweet” on Twitter announcing the launch of Orange Cat’s Facebook Fan Page (not-so-subtle-plug: become an OrangeCat fan). I used a trackable short URL so I could see the results.

Within 12 minutes, there were 11 hits on that brand new link. The link was only used on Twitter so every one of those 11 hits came from that tweet. That’s almost one per minute. I don’t hold any illusions that that pace will keep up for very long, but I’m still impressed with the power of Twitter to generate traffic.

That result is made more impressive by the fact that I only have 36 followers on Twitter at this time. Now is the time to get your account on Twitter while you still have a decent chance at getting the username you want.

In a recent post, we published a Howcast video on How to use Twitter, so you can started on the right foot.

And once you get your Twitter username, follow me and I’ll return the favor. We can get our own little network started and expand it out. Now, get going!

Another instant updating service that local businesses can use to stay in touch with customers is Twitter. Short messages (“tweets”) of 140 characters or less and a URL can be posted. Twitter has millions of users. Here’s a Howcast video to show you how to use Twitter.