Small Businesses - Big Marketing

Social Media and Your Target Demographic

It's now easier than ever to market to your target demographic thanks to Web 2.0 and social media networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.  Here's a few quick tips to get you started:

Facebook: Now that you've set up your Facebook Page why not grow your fan base?  A quick way to do this is to advertise your page using Facebook's unique advertising platform.  What's really great is the control you have over the campaign.  With the wealth of information Facebook collects from it's users, you can really hone in on your target demographic.  Whether it's a certain age group, a geographic target, or a shared interest, Facebook Advertising is a great place to reach new customers.

Twitter:  Twitter's search function is a great way to find users that fit your target demographic.  Simply search for keywords in the Twitter search bar and any user "tweeting" those keywords will show up (along with their tweet that includes those words).  Begin following those users that look like a good fit for your target demographic.  Hopefully, most of them will follow you back!  Still not sure on how to use Twitter for your small business?  Check out our tips here.

Once you've built a base of fans (on Facebook) and a group of followers (on Twitter) it's time to get creative in your marketing.  Researching what types of messages your target demographic responds to as well as what form they prefer to receive messages in (i.e. video, audio, tweets, etc.) is a great start.  Remember to track everything as you go!

The beauty of Internet Marketing is that it's effective, cost effective, and highly controllable. 

Your Target Demographic is out there...now go out there and get them!

 

PPC: Making It Click

Due to technical difficulties, we don't have a new Agency Owner Videocast to share with you this week.  But we have a fabulous one in the works which will post next Wednesday...so stay tuned!

Pay-Per-Click Marketing (PPC) is one of the sexier channels in a holistic marketing campaign.  A well done PPC campaign can yield immediate results and fast track your marketing efforts.  But don't put the wagon before the horse!  Remember, you'll want to make sure your website is polished, your analytics are in place, and you're set to capture email addresses for your email marketing campaign before even thinking about launching a PPC campaign.

One attraction to PPC is the control you have over the size and scope of your campaign.  Whether you want to run your campaign just in Google or you want to have a presence in all of the major search engines (yes, we're talking about "on-the-rise" Bing) is up to you.  Did you know even social networking sites like Facebook offer PPC options?

Not only is where you run your campaign controllable, but how much you spend on your campaign can be highly monitored as well.  In fact, a well done campaign can mean BIG results for not a lot of money.  And that's music to everyone's ears, right?

PPC is an exciting venture in online marketing but it shouldn't replace an effort to earn organic search results as well.  That's why optimizing your site is the next step in our holistic marketing series.

Next Week: SEO: Get Found!