Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

3 Low Cost and Free Ways to Promote Your Business

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

We are in one of the most interesting and challenging times ever to be in business. If you play by the new rules of marketing you can promote your business for less than ever before. If you don’t, chances are you will get left behind. In this article I would like to recommend three ways you can actively promote your business, increase your sales and take advantage of our exciting and changing times.

Give Promotional Merchandise

One of the least expensive ways to build your brand and create an interest in your company is with the use of good quality and useful business gifts. Products such as promotional pens, personalised mugs, mouse mats and other desktop gifts will get your logo and details in front of your clients.

Such promotional items help ensure that your details are to hand when your target customers next require your products and serices. Giving gifst that are needed regularly and that your customers will enjoy owning work best.

Unlike magazine advertisement, telesales and television commercials, promotional gifts are looked at and sell your products and service for an extended period of time. If your customer uses a low cost Parker Pen that you give them for a year they will be seeing your logo and details for a year! Over time that offers excellent value for money.

Get On Twitter

If you do not have a Twitter account yet, then you need to get one now. It’s free and offers so much potential to grow your business and to learn from others.

Twitter offers you a chance to network with people who you may never have come into contact with. It is important, however to use Twitter correctly and not to spam your new followers – if you do you will soon find yourself unfollowed.

I highly recommend a book by Joel Comm called Twitter Power. Comm offers excellent advice on how to make the most of your business Twitter experience.

Blogging and Article Marketing

Do you have a blog yet? I recommend getting started by writing good quality and informative articles and submitting them to article submission sites such as EzineArticles.

Blogging and article marketing are very similar and practicing first with article marketing is a good place to start. Once you get started, you will want an integrated blog which is part of your website. You should update your blog daily with information about your products and/or services.

You will be amazed at the new business that comes your way by simply writing about things you are passionate about.

If you write your own articles it will only cost you your time. If time is not on your side, you may want to look to others within your organisation to write the blog for you.

By Dan Toombs

Build Strong Business Relationships with Social Marketing & Promotional Merchandise

Saturday, September 4th, 2010
Twitter logo

Using promotional gifts and social media together works wonders.

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘social marketing?’

Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin are often popular answers in my search engine optimisation classes. But what about blogging, article marketing, videos and podcasts?

Lately blogging has been proved to be an invaluable and essential part of internet marketing. Adding quality, keyword rich content to your website daily will boost your ratings in Google and Bing. This makes it easier for people to find you and ultimately become customers.

If you are able to put your experience into a well structured article or video blog you are in a very strong position. Your competitors will need to keep up with your or bow out of the race.

Personally I have seen sales skyrocket in a time that is meant to be slow. My students have experienced similar success. Why? Because we all offer information in our own niches that others are looking for.

So what do you do when you receive all of this new business? There is no point going to all the work of blogging and article marketing if you don’t treat your new customers like gold when they find you!

This can be done by simply doing what you do best and offering them the excellent results they were looking for when they found you.

But why not go one step further? You have blogged and submitted articles to top article directories. You have even used your new Flip Video to upload some product videos to YouTube. Having then giving your new customers excellent results it is time for that other type of low cost marketing – promotional merchandise.

Promotional gifts reinforce your message and build brands. It is important to look for products your customers will appreciate and want to use.

If your new customers are office bound they will no doubt enjoy one or more of the many desktop gifts available. Products such as promotional pens, top quality mouse mats, promotional mugs and desk photo frames are all gifts that will get looked at often and kept for months if not years.

If your key customers work outdoors, you may wish to offer them printed t-shirts, caps, portable pen and notepad sets or even umbrellas.

Look for products that have something to do with your niche. If your customers are in the construction industry then look into logo printed tape measures, carpenter rulers or flasks, for example.

Putting together a planned social marketing campaign that is backed by good quality promotional merchandise will get you the results you are looking for.

What is your business niche? Do you have any ideas for a blog for your industry? What promotional gifts would you want to use to further strengthen your brand to your new customers? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment.

By Dan Toombs

Efficient Marketing Strategies Make Profitable Businesses

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

Did you know that making your business more efficient can be fun and inexpensive? Rather than focusing on immediate profitability, the best businesses sit down and figure out how to increase efficiency first in their marketing department.  Promotional products offer just the solution your business needs for being part of incredible marketing strategies.  In an instant, promotional items convey important information to an array of audiences.

This article will explain how to increase the efficiency of your business by focusing on a marketing strategy that fully utilizes promotional gifts.  The more efficient your business becomes in its marketing strategies, the more likely it is to be highly profitable.

Of course Facebook, Twitter, and iPhone applications are all the rage for marketing your business.  At this point in time, using social media for marketing seems to be common knowledge amongst business owners. However, many business owners are struggling in finding ways to get people to these sites in the first place.  What good is a Facebook or Twitter account if few of your customers know how to access your social media sites?  What good is an iPhone application if no one knows it exists? The truth is, a Facebook or Twitter account is ineffective if your customers have no idea about them.  So, what you need to do is create what is often called a “viral” online marketing plan.

Promotional gifts offer the space for you to print the name of a Facebook or Twitter account upon them. Advertising a new iPhone application is also very possible with promotional merchandise.  Try printing the name of your company’s Twitter account on promotional items  that are visible to large groups of people at a time.  This way, your marketing is maximized at a low cost.  Products like promotional shopper bags are the way to go, if you especially want to appeal to consumers over and over again.  Many people shop at a mall, supermarket, chemist or boutique at any given time and will be able to access your Twitter account by seeing it printed on another shopper’s bag.

Umbrellas are also great promotional items that can play a major part in an efficient marketing plan.  Communicating the fact that your company has adapted to technology with a new Facebook account be visible to many with a promotional umbrella including the relevant information!  Perhaps you own an older or more traditional business that has recently decided to adapt to technology.  Your loyal customers will be impressed to see on a rainy day that your company has gone  above and beyond to appeal to a wide range of customers!

Golf bags and promotional sports bags are also great items for communicating the social media savviness of your company.  Typically, many business executives go golfing in order to do effective networking.  You never know if a business executive may be see your company’s new Facebook or Twitter account being advertised on a golf bag or set of golf balls. That same business executive may be the one who decided to place a large order with your company!

As you can see, an efficient marketing strategy directly effects the profitability of one’s business.  It really is worth business owners’ time to consider making promotional products a part of one’s marketing campaign or strategy. The company profits may one day far exceed a day or two spent on developing such a great marketing strategy!

Posted by Dan Toombs

Imagine Your Business Growing with the Help of Twitter and Promotional Gifts

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

By now, you’ve heard about the benefits of Twitter in building your brand. Did you know, however, that over 105,000,000 people now use Twitter or have Twitter accounts? With over 105,000,000 registered users, it is no wonder businesses are using Twitter more and more to reach customers. If your business aims to use Twitter effectively, however, there are some key points to remember. For example, using promotional products hand-in-hand with Twitter will allow your business’s Twitter account to stand out from the rest. With these 5 tips, your business will not get lost in the 105,000,000 Twitter accounts out there!

1. Register Your Company at Twellow.com

Twellow.com is simply a sort of “yellow pages” site for Twitter users. If you are the head of your company, be sure to sign up at the site with your Twitter account so people can contact you. People that are interested in your business, services, or products will be able to get your contact information from this site. Signing up at this site is a great start to fully utilizing the benefits of social marketing and promotional products!

2. Host a Twitter “Why I Like This Product/Service” Contest

Want to flood the internet with positive reviews of your business or service? Then host a Twitter “Why I Like This” Contest! Have Twitter users come up with a reason they love your business and its products or services. Generating these positive reviews allows your brand to grow a respected reputation online. Offer everyone who tweets with a good reason a free gift for participating. Great gifts are promotional products with your imprinted company logo such as mouse mats, sports bags, mugs, and pens.

3. Host a “Re-Tweet” Contest

Another Twitter contest idea is to host a “re-tweet” contest in which Twitter users simply re-tweet the actual contest. When other users learn about the contest your company is hosting, they may follow your business on Twitter which widens your customer base.

4. Twitter Gathering of Followers

This is a group effort type of Twitter giveaway contest. Give everyone that follows your company Twitter account a promotional product as a prize when a certain number is reached. Some smaller companies choose to give everyone a promotional pen when 1,000 followers are reached. When 5,000 followers are reached, your company may wish to give followers an even nicer prize, like a mug or sports bag with your company logo!

5. Hashtag Contest

A hashtag is a keyword that is hyperlinked. By placing the pound sign (#) followed by a keyword, a hyperlink is created. Give a prize to every follower that tweets your company’s name as a keyword on Twitter. Prizes like promotional stress toys can be a fun way to generate online buzz!

Generating online buzz is simple with promotional products and Twitter. The key is to have a strategy using promotional products and positive energy to get your business rolling online!

Have you used promotional products and/or Twitter to build your business.  Can you offer any other ideas? It would be great to hear from you.  Please feel free to leave a comment.

Posted by Dan Toombs

Investigating Inbound Marketing Methods Social Media and Promotional Gifts Together

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Companies investing more in inbound marketing are finding themselves in more favorable positions within the market than those companies that use outbound marketing methods. Perhaps you are wondering what the difference is between “inbound marketing” and “outbound marketing” and what those terms mean. This article will discuss the differences between these two types of marketing and how inbound marketing can create a whole new dynamic for your company.

Inbound marketing

This type of marketing that causes people to discover more about your company on their own terms. Inbound marketing encourages people to research your company in depth, visit your website, join a Twitter feed or Facebook page, and saturate themselves with your company’s information. For whatever reason, people are motivated to learn more about your company due to “inbound marketing” such as social media.

Outbound marketing

On the other hand, “outbound marketing” is when a company floods individuals with information rather than letting the individuals seek that information. A company may use telemarketing, internal cold calling, television or online pop-up banner advertising, and will send email newsletters that clog the inboxes of customers. Most companies choose to invest in “outbound marketing” without realizing how much this marketing can actually hurt business profits rather than help them.

Customers have more respect for companies that utilize “inbound marketing.” Two major tools in this marketing strategy are the use of social media like Facebook and Twitter, in addition to article marketing and promotional desktop gifts.

There are many ways to create highly innovative combinations to promote your business using social media and promotional desktop gifts. The best promotional desktop gifts leave customers “wanting more.” Perhaps your company only put a website address on a mouse mat, or a witty phrase with the company logo on a paperweight. Putting witty or funny phrases on promotional items that make customers think bolsters your company’s image in the marketplace.

Perhaps clients saw a review of your company’s blog or a funny Twitter post recently published in an online newspaper. Maybe a promotional mug inspired a company to look up your company’s Facebook page and Twitter post. This “inspired” and knowledge-seeking attitude is the mindset behind inbound marketing and promotional gifts play a critical role in molding this attitude amongst clients and customers.

A highly effective way to utilize Twitter and promotional products is by offering desktop calendars to the first 10, 100, or 1,000 people that “follow” a Twitter feed. This simple act can jump start your business in ways outbound marketing, or interruption marketing,  simply can not.

For innovative marketing solutions, try to get your company in an “inbound marketing” mindset rather than an “outbound marketing” mindset. Inbound marketing offers great solutions, is respectful towards consumers’ time, and will ultimately increase the profitability of your company.

Posted by Dan Toombs

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