Category Archives: Content marketing

Small business owners face challenges, but still optimistic

Owning a small business has always been difficult, but these times bring more than their fair share of extra challenges. The good news is that small business owners tend to be a hardy lot, and new ways of tackling challenges can help businesses to thrive.

Five biggest challenges facing small business owners:

  1. Inflation
  2. Supply chain issues
  3. Covid 19 safety protocols/compliance
  4. Revenue
  5. Rising interest rates

According to the Q2 2022 Small Business Index sponsored by MetLife and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, inflation tops the list of concerns. Of those surveyed, 44% called inflation their biggest challenge, which is up from 33% last quarter and up significantly from 19% in the third quarter of 2021.

To compensate, 69% of the small businesses surveyed have raised their prices in the past year. Nearly half (46%) report having taken out a loan to cover higher costs due to inflation (up from 39% in Q1 2022).

Labor shortages are also a major concern for small businesses in the post-pandemic world.

Half of small business owners say they’re working more hours than they were a year ago. This bears out the experiences of [email protected] Work’s clients, where hiring is always a challenge for out small business clients. It’s especially true for at least one client who off staff during the depths of the pandemic. Then, when business rebounded, they had trouble hiring, and are still short-staffed.

Interestingly, A study from the Aberdeen Group, cited by PostBeyond.com, found that 73 percent of millennials (18-34 age group) found their last position through a social media platform. To target that motivated group, make sure that you use platforms that appeal to them.

So, in addition to Facebook and Instagram, think YouTube, SnapChat and Twitter. See how these platforms stack up against each other here.

Ramp up your marketing

Revenue concerns are also on the top five list. An effective antidote is for small businesses to take a serious look at how they can improve their marketing:

  • Video marketing has been a key marketing tool for years, and now the popularity of TikTok shows the significance of short form video! According to thekeenfolks.com, TikTok has overtaken YouTube as the most watched video platform!
  • I remember writing years ago that “Content is King!” It still is. Content needs to be readable, structured to increase SEO, and valuable to your customers. It should be written to address their problems and concerns, not a list of products, services, and features. Here’s how we stand in our customers’ shoes on our website https://www.dianedemarcomarketing.com.
  • Create an effective social media marketing plan. Consider Facebook (still the giant), Instagram and YouTube as platforms for your strategy. And don’t overlook Pinterest it your products or services are very visual, and a high percent of your customers are women. LinkedIn is important for B-2-B businesses to reach customers, drive engagement and build trust.
  • Depending on your budget, consider online marketing. There are endless options available in this arena (that’s a topic for another blog post).

A final optimistic trend

An enduring trend that the Small Business Index has tracked through the years is resilience and optimism. Looking ahead to next year, 43% of small businesses intend to increase their staff—an increase of six percentage points from last quarter. Additionally, 43% anticipate they will invest more over the next year, and 66% expect revenues to increase, both on par with Q1 2022.

Click here for a complete copy of the report.

For a complimentary consultation on how you might ramp up your marketing, email [email protected] or call 301-514-1102.

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Fun ideas to spice up your October marketing

Fall isn’t just about pumpkin spice lattes!  October has a lot of holidays that can be used in your fall marketing!

The first day of October is International Coffee Day.  Yes, it really is a thing! If you’re a coffee shop it’s a great day to promote.  If not, you could celebrate by having a staff person hand out socially-distanced cups of coffee.

October 5 is “Do Something Nice Day.”  Don’t we all need more of that?!   It could be as simple as sending a card, an email or making  a phone call to your customers or clients.

October 5 is also World Teacher’s Day.  Held annually on 5 October since 1994, World Teachers‘ Day commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. Show teachers extra love by offering them special discounts at restaurants, shops, services, etc.  Parents around the world surely value teachers more now than ever.

The first week of October is also Get Organized Week.  During that week you could plan your holiday marketing schedule, and don’t forget Small Business Saturday scrunched in there between Black Friday and Cyber Monday!

October 1- 7 is also Customer Service Week.  Remind your customers that your business is open, and what you’re doing to protect your employees and customers.  If you’re an in-person business, you might offer a bottle of water or some type of pre-packaged treat or giveaway.

National Dessert Day hits on October 14 – a perfect time for restaurants, coffee shops, grocery stores and cupcake shops to offer specials!

As if the desserts weren’t fattening enough, on October 17 we have – wait for it – National Pasta Day!  Restaurants and grocery stores can have a field day with that one!

Make a Difference Day is October 24, and it’s a good time to highlight the good deeds your business and employees do in the community.  Use photos on social media, signage, your website, emails to customers and clients to build good will around your business.

And finally, of course Halloween on October 31! But what will Halloween look like in a pandemic?  Here are a few ideas.

Finally, a tip from Constant Contact – 81% of online shoppers who receive emails based on previous shopping habits were at least somewhat likely to make a purchase as a result of a targeted email! (Source eMarketer)

If you’d like help with your email marketing, social media marketing, contact us! [email protected], 301-514-1102.

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Five Steps to Content Marketing

You’ve realized that content marketing is a key strategy to drive more traffic to your website and grow sales, so you’ve spent time creating engaging, detailed blog posts for your website.

Now that the article is live, nothing is happening.

Your content could be getting lost in the crowd without the right content marketing plan in place. To see real results, you need to effectively promote your content so that your target audience will see it.

Un fact, many marketers believe you should spend 20 percent of your content marketing time actually writing your content and 80 percent of your time promoting it.

This article from Constant Contact’s Syed Balkhi will show you how to create a content marketing plan in five easy steps, so your blog posts, etc. will be seen and shared by as many people as possible.

1.  Send your articles to your email list

The people most interested in your content should be the first to hear about new posts. The subscribers to your email list are already interested in you, so they’re more inclined to read your blog post and share your content on social media.

Send the people on your email list a weekly round-up newsletter of your new content or send them an email each time a new article is posted.

If you don’t already have an email list, you need to start building one now because it’s one of the most effective tools for lead generation.

2.  Schedule social media posts

Social media platforms are a great way to get your content seen by new people. Eighty one percent of marketers found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours per week invested in social media marketing, according to Social Media Examiner.

You don’t just want to send one tweet and be done with it, you’ve got to create a schedule to share your posts many times on multiple different platforms. You can use a tool like Buffer to schedule your social media posts at optimum times to encourage shares and increase your visibility.

3.  Repurpose your content

While blog posts are great for SEO and educating your audience, it can be difficult to engage people with a text based post because many are now searching for more entertaining mediums like video. Repurposing your blog posts to appeal to your audience members who respond best to visual content is a great way to distribute your existing content further.

By repurposing your best written content into videos and infographics, you can save time and drive new traffic to your website. Infographics perform very well in B2B industries and you can use a tool like Piktochart to easily turn a text post into an eye-catching infographic.  For repurposing content into video format, a tool like Lumen5 is a great option.  Here’s a quick one we did of this post!

4.  Answer your audience’s questions

There are people all over the internet searching for answers to their burning questions, using search engines, forums and discussion groups. If you can participate with your audience in these places and answer their questions, it’s a great way to promote your content.

A site like Quora is one of the top places on the web where people go to find answers to a number of different topics. You can join the site and offer your expertise, it’s a free and effective way to promote your content and show yourself as a leader in the industry.

Reddit is another forum where you can accomplish this. Also try searching for Facebook or LinkedIn groups related to your industry where you can join in on the conversation as well.

5.  Pay to promote

Another way to get your content in front of a ton of new audience members is to pay to promote it. Paid content promotion is up 5x since 2014, according to Orbit Media. And while a huge bonus of most content marketing is that it’s basically free, paying to promote your posts can really be worth your while, especially for new businesses and entrepreneurs.

Instead of sharing your content on social media and hoping that some interested users find it and click on your site, Facebook ads allow you to target your ideal audience. You’re able to pinpoint who should see your content by selecting age, location, profession and interests preferences so that your content will be sure to reach the right audience.

Creating an easy content marketing distribution plan is going to diminish a lot of the stress that comes after posting new content, since you won’t have to sit around worrying that it’s not being seen or shared. If you follow your content marketing distribution plan every time, you can guarantee you’ll get a ton of eyeballs on your content.

If you’d like help with your content marketing, blog posts or email marketing, give us a call at 301-514-1102 or email us at [email protected]

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