For a small business or brand, crisis management can also include dealing with unhappy or uninformed customers online. A small brand may not deal with large scale disasters just because they don’t have the reach or exposure a larger brand has. But a few angry people online can be as damaging to a small fragile reputation.
Offline we call it word of mouth or network marketing, but on the Internet, we call it viral marketing! Viral marketing is any marketing technique that begs web sites or users to pass on a marketing message creating exponential growth in the message’s visibility and effect.
Gone are the days of silent struggles or complaints. Frustrated consumers have found a voice and turned the tables on businesses everywhere. Consumers don’t expect the business to always be perfect; they understand that things happen. They just want them to care, and make things right. Take a look at the differences in social media branding between Zappos and Shoebuy.com.
It goes without saying that your website offers one of the most crucial opportunities to deliver an engaging professional experience. The goal is to help them find you. The challenge is, well, you. Or more accurately your website and its appearance, usability, content, functionality, and optimization.
SEO is a marketing discipline focused on growing visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results. Think about that for a moment. Non paid search engine results. This is the place where your small business owner ears should perk up. SEO encompasses both the technical and creative elements required to improve rankings, drive traffic, and increase awareness in search engines.
Employee advocacy is a newer term used to describe the promotion of a business by its staff. A business may ask employees to actively promote and generate exposure for the organization using their own online assets. Most often that means digitally through social media. However, it can also be done at events, or simply in general day to day regular activities.
Social Media Marketing No-No: Don’t let your small business just throw-up on social media with the same advertising rhetoric. Social Media is becoming one of the most powerful marketing tools available for businesses today.
Your small business can truly make some big business impact with digital marketing. Ask us how today! The biggest difference between a mega brand and a small business owner is the perspective. You don’t need to take over the world, you just want a few more customers.
It’s a rare small business that has a large marketing budget. Typically, a small business owner has to deal with the challenges of bare bones, bootstrapped marketing for quite a while before there are enough funds to justify a substantial marketing campaign.
Advertising your small business has no point if the customers don’t want, value or love what you have to offer. Make sure you do your research and listen to your customers before sending your product out to the market. What comes next?