When I started Ad Trends Advertising, Inc., I could have been this owner and in some respects I was. After four quick years, my business reached a plateau. I decided to take a proactive approach instead of continuing with the status quo. I put my business in a holding pattern and reached out for knowledge over the next year. I felt to grow, I needed to understand and learn more about the one thing that had been drilled into my head but I never really completely understood. Success is based on the ability to form and maintain relationships.

So the fifth year was my worst year ever in business, but at the same time the most profitable. I call it my year of breaking out. I completely stopped talking at people about what I did and started asking questions and listening. By listening I was able to understand their business which allowed me to make logical marketing recommendations. The relationship grew stronger and so did my companies profits. Sounds simple until you think of it this way; stop worrying about money. Once I completely understood the concept of “the more you worry about making a sale the less sales you will get” or “the more you worry about money the less money you will have,” my business started to change and change quickly. The business doubled in the sixth year and I have never looked back since. I have instilled this philosophy with all of my employees also. Today as I’m writing this, the country is in the most troubling economic times of my career, but my company continues to grow.

What does all this have to do with Small Business Marketing? For any plan to work, a new business strategy needs to be developed. Much like how the owner mastered his product or service, they also need to master a good business system. Part of implementing a new business system is creating a philosophy in which to operate under. How a product is sold is just as important as how it is made or how a service is performed. Learn to listen so you can understand your clients and prospects needs. Never try to sell anything without considering the needs first. Understand that long-term relationships are based on trust. Finally, remember lasting relationships take time, so be patient.

In Small Business Marketing Part 2 “Building Relationships” I will talk about how to ask important questions and what to do with the information.

• Faith
• Finding business owners and asking questions. Example question; if you were starting your business today what would you do differently? (I learned a great deal from this approach and I have in return offered my thoughts to others many, many times.)
• Reading, reading and reading more.

• Swim With the Sharks – Harvey Mackay
• The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People – Stephen Covey
• Anything from Zig Zigler
• The Richest Man in Babylon - George Samuel Clason
• Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill

• Wall Street Journal
• Local Business Journals
• Trade Publications

• SBA
• Qualified, Small Business CPA

• Browse the internet to find great marketing ideas, guidance for setting a marketing budget, and creating a marketing plan.

Labels: marketing

By Michael Montague
Web & Graphic Designer

1. Understand Your Site’s Visitors
2. Research Your Competition
3. Pick The Best-Performing Keywords
4. Optimize Your Web Site For Those Keywords
5. Make Sure Your Web Site Is Error Free
6. Submit Your Web Site To Search Engines & Directories
7. Fine-Tune Your Pages To Your Keywords
8. Start A Link Building Campaign
9. Check Your Rankings & Links In The Major Search Engines
10. Review Your Progress & Repeat Every 4-6 Weeks

Again, the best way to grow your online presence is to create attractive content that people want to see, read, link to, and tell their friends about. Make sure as you build these pages of content, they are each optimized for a specific, targeted set of keywords to maximize your results. Only after you have a great looking site, with awesome content, and optimized, error-free pages should you think about advertising, promoting, or submitting them to the search engines.

Don't forget if you need help with any stage of your website design or internet marketing, you can call us for help...

Labels: seo, websites

By Michael Montague
Web & Graphic Designer

I began working with local owners of 6 radio stations about two years ago. The sites had broken links, missing images, alignment issues, and several pages with outdated information. They only sent email blasts when they happened to sell a sponsor for one. Also, the company gave away banner ads on their homepage as added value to advertising packages on the radio. They had the ability to simulcast on the internet for 4 of the 6 stations, but the links were hidden on content pages or broken. In all fairness, they had no one to do the work and no budget because the websites were losing money.

Initially, we sat down and evaluated the most glaring needs. We repaired all the broken links, images, and pages. We started with the worst sites and worked through them one by one up to the best looking and most effective site. The website traffic and listenership jumped up 20-40% for every station the month following the updates. After we knew we were not causing any more damage to our online reputation, we started laying out a plan to rebuild the sites and our marketing plan to grow their audience and revenue.

We decided the target audience was the local public and listeners of their stations with a secondary target of advertisers trying to reach these visitors. After some brainstorming and research, we put together a marketing plan to attract these targets and create relationships with them. Some of our plan included:

• Making listening online as easy as possible.
  Providing local information such as news, traffic, weather and gas prices online.
• Making listener registration for email blasts as easy as possible with subscribe and unsubscribe links.
• Sending email blasts every Wednesday with information, coupons, and advertisements.
• Redefining online advertising as non-traditional revenue, instead of free added value.
• Setting uniform sizes and pricing for ads so they were easier to sell.
• Incorporating the websites in all on-air contests and promotions.
• Creating blogs and content that could be easily updated.
• Creating recruitment pages for job seekers and employers as a new revenue stream.

Finally, we redesigned the sites with a completely new designs and new content, even a new operating platform. All 6 stations now stream online and have links to listen live on their homepages. The sites were re-launched to public and promoted heavily on the air, on promotional products, and other marketing materials. The company now has a plan for how to attract visitors, maintain their websites, and sell advertising. Most importantly with the new sales generated online, they can afford to update and grow their website.

Labels: websites

By John Groves
Marketing Director

Labels: marketing