11 Dec

6 Ways To Use Social Media For Holiday Marketing

Posted in Social Media, Synergy Suggestions on 11.12.14 by John Meloche

Blue Christmas BirdThe holiday shopping season doesn’t just present a time of year when malls are crowded and people are spending more than ever before. It also marks a time when business owners are marketing their businesses in new and inventive ways in order to attract more customers. And if you’re thinking that “new and inventive” means making use of the internet, you’d be right! To be more specific, social networking is a top choice for holiday marketing.

On Inc.com, Jim Belosic writes that there are several ways to make use of social media in order to market your business over the holidays. He offers a list of great tips with the assistance of fellow business professionals. We will be dedicating our next two blogs to this amazing list of suggestions. In today’s blog, we’ll discuss six ways to utilize social media for your holiday marketing campaign.

1. Ask your customers what they most want from you. Belosic believes that gathering information about the likes and dislikes of your customers will help you to better plan your marketing strategies in the future. “You’ll learn what kinds of products and services your users/customers like about what’s already in your line-up, what they don’t care so much about, and what they wish you offered,” he writes, “It’s cheap market research.”

2. Showcase charitable activities that your company participates in. Social media profiles are great for showing the “personality” of your brand. As we’ve often said, it’s a win-win situation when you donate your time or money to charity. Not only are these worthy causes helping people in need, but your efforts reflect very favourably upon your brand. “Show how the people in your company celebrate or honour certain traditions,” says Ann Handley of Marketing Profs.

3. Provide valuable content. People don’t just want to be advertised to, they want to learn, they want to be entertained and they want their opinions to count. Remember that social networking is all about being social. “As business owners, we should approach our marketing as ‘how can I give more valuable content in a bigger way so that I can reach more people?’” says online marketing expert, Melanie Duncan.

4. Engage your audience. Speaking of being social, some of the best ways that you can promote your brand is to encourage your audience to engage in conversations with you. The holiday season provides many reasons to get talking. “To increase engagement on your Facebook Page, ask your fans to post their favourite holiday photos from their childhood or share details about their favourite holiday treats,” suggests Facebook Marketing author, Amy Porterfield.

5. Focus on relevance and context. “Ask yourself – how does your brand tie into the holidays?” says Shama Hyder of Marketing Zen, “If you are B2B company serving sales professionals, chances are that they are scurrying to meet year end goals or they thinking about how to reward their current customers. You can share with them ideas on how to make last minute sales or provide gift ideas for their best customers.”

6. Make it about your customers. Place the focus on those who support your business and they are bound to support you even more. Jesse Stanchak of Microsoft UK insists that you ask what your customers are focused on. Don’t be afraid to ask them about exactly what makes them tick. “Ask yourself what your best customers – the people who support you all year round – are doing this month,” he advises.

Be sure to check back for tomorrow’s blog as we continue our look at this expert list of social media holiday marketing suggestions.

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24 Sep

5 Smart Ways To Market Your Brand To Students

Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 24.09.14 by John Meloche

Group of happy best friends with shopping bags taking a selfie iWith the new school year now in full swing, there are a lot more students out and about. That means that the potential for these young members of our communities to visit your store has increased significantly. Have you done anything to encourage them to walk through the doors of your place of business? If not, it’s definitely time to pay greater attention to students, as they can help to increase sales at your business.

There is, however, a technique to marketing your brand to students. At least, this is what Chris Arnold of the U.K.-based Marketing Magazine believes. Promoting your brand to students actually takes some thought and consideration, considering that they are part of a special group. They don’t just take to any type of marketing ploy, Arnold communicates. So he provides a list of tips on how to do it right.

1. Profile and target your audience properly. Arnold writes that you can’t simply come up with a marketing plan that is directed to all students. Of course, they all have unique interests and needs. So, it’s important to understand your audience, paying attention to the emotional states prevalent at their young ages. “The basics don’t change, advertising needs to be relevant, engaging and even entertaining,” he insists.

2. Be truthful. Students generally know the difference between realistic and disingenuous marketing campaigns. And they are certainly not fans of brands that are deemed to be unethical, Arnold says. They also know good deals when they see them. He goes on to discuss a recent study that found that while students consider social media “important”, the best way to communicate with them is through email.

3. No texting. “Just because you can target a student doesn’t mean you will engage them or sell to them, especially as many are adverse to marketing messages,” writes Arnold, “Students are very much against the use of unsolicited texting for marketing purposes – a mobile number is a personal thing only given to close friends.” So it’s important not to bombard their personal sources of communication with what they would consider junk mail.

4. Don’t try to be cool. As mentioned, students know the difference between what is fake and what is real. When certain advertising campaigns attempt to speak to what is “in style”, they often come off as corny. Outdated images and cliché concepts aren’t bound to impress the modern-day student body. Treating students more like the average consumer is actually a better way to go. But do keep in mind that they tend to make purchases online more often than not.

5. Focus on the finer things. The idea that students do not have enough money to buy quality items is based on a stereotype, says Arnold. “Many have got use to the quality things they have at home and expect to fill their cupboards and fridges with the same things,” he writes, “So there’s a massive opportunity for brands that thought students too poor, to reconsider them as both customers for now as well as when they graduate and get well paid jobs.”

And while Arnold communicates the necessity to stay away from clichés, we must end today’s blog with quite the cliché: children are our future. In all seriousness, when you focus on the needs of our younger generation, you place your hands on the pulse of what is popular today and in the years to come. Consider developing relationships with this generation and you could be helping your business to succeed well into the future.

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21 Jul

3 Creative Ways To Stand Out From Your Competition

Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 21.07.14 by John Meloche

Standing out of the crowdAdvertising your business is a full time job. At Synergy Marketing, we have a lot of experience helping business owners across Canada to promote their brands, so we definitely know this to be true. It requires a lot of dedication, but it doesn’t necessarily require a lot of money. As we’ve often said in our blogs, creative marketing ideas can be both inexpensive and effective. And they’re usually what work best for small business owners.

On SteamFeed.com, Jeff Howell writes that there are several creative ways to help your small business to stand out. Again, when you’re creative with your approach to advertising, you don’t have to worry about going over your budget. Simply make it so that your customers are intrigued by the ways in which you communicate with them and you’ll notice that they’ll begin paying you a whole lot more attention. Here are three of Howell’s tips.

1. Ask your customers how they would like to receive content. “All you had to do was ask.” How many times have you had someone say that to you when you finally work up the courage to ask the nagging question that had been on your mind for weeks? It’s no different when it comes to promoting your business. Different people like receiving information in different ways. So communicate with your customers and ask what ways would work best work for them.

In some cases, that will be through an emailing list. Simply ask your customers if they would like to be on your mailing list so that they will be among the first to receive special offers and discounts. Howell also recommends that you run instant polls on your website to keep your customers engaged. More importantly, the polls will help you to determine exactly what makes your customers tick so you can better speak to their needs.

2. Triggered emails. Now speaking of that emailing list, it’s important that you provide your customers with benefits when they sign up. They should feel like they are part of an “exclusive” club when they get your messages. Firstly, your emails shouldn’t strictly be advertising-based. You don’t want to make them blatant commercials or they may turn people off. Engage your customers by being yourself and offering up something personal about yourself.

Think about your emails as if they were letters to friends. Of course, you’re not going to divulge every little personal detail about yourself. But it doesn’t hurt to be personable. Then, as Howell recommends, make additional offers, provide free information and remind your customers about opportunities that only they can take advantage of by being part of your emailing list. It could mean the difference between a sale and a deletion of your message!

3. Do what your competition isn’t doing. There’s probably no better way to outshine your competition than to offer your client base something that your competitors do not. “Analyze what marketing methods your competitors are using, and look for the holes,” insists Howell. An easy way to figure out exactly what those methods are would be to jump online. Check out your competition’s websites and see what they offer customers via the internet.

Can you offer your customers something through your website to make their lives easier? Can you make yourself more accessible to your customers when they have comments and questions that need to be addressed? Answering these and other questions that will make clear the differences between you and your industry contemporaries will truly help to set you apart. You’ll truly be rewarded in the end.

Be sure to check back for tomorrow’s blog as we continue to analyze Howell’s tips!

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26 Jun

5 More Small Business Marketing Tips

Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 26.06.14 by John Meloche

Set of pens and pencilsPromoting your small business may be a full time job. But it doesn’t have to take your full bank account to do it! Many small business owners, however, feel this way. To gain a larger audience, a huge marketing campaign must be rolled out, right? Not necessarily. In fact, according to Eric V. Holtzclaw on Inc.com, it’s not necessary at all. He writes that creative ideas over big budgets are what really help for small businesses to grow.

After all, in yesterday’s blog, we pointed out that small business owners have an advantage over larger corporations in that their advertising techniques involve more of a personal touch. Developing strong relationships with members of your client base is the real way to go. And we listed some ideas on how to accomplish that. In today’s blog, we’ll continue our look at Holtzclaw’s list of suggestions. Here are five more small business marketing tips.

1. Be Helpful. There are various ways to show that you can be of service to your clients. And they don’t always have to end in a sale. Something as simple as offering directions to someone who is lost can help your business gain favourable attention. Be as helpful as you can and that trait will go a long way in securing fans of your brand. The more people know that they can depend on you, the more often they’ll walk through your doors.

2. Send a Weekly E-mail. “If you want to stay in relationship with your customers, there is nothing simpler than creating a weekly e-mail that provides something of value,” writes Holtzclaw. Providing your subscribed customer base with interesting and relevant information is a great way to keep them in engaged with what’s going on with your business. Don’t make your emails strictly about advertising. Send out useful information that’s always worth a read.

3. Support a Cause. If you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing. We’re not sure where we’ve heard that before, but we tend to think that it rings true. When you show your support for a cause, you’ll practically automatically gain fans of those who support the cause along with you. Be sure to let your customer base know what causes you support and how they may help you to support them as well.

4. Sponsor an Organization. “Many local organizations are not that expensive to sponsor for a year if you consider the so-called per meeting cost,” says Holtzclaw, “If your product or service is a good fit with their audience, you will get exposure every time the organization sends out an e-mail and a mention every time they meet. Attendees always remember and appreciate companies who sponsor their favourite organizations.”

5. Create a Cool Giveaway. Interestingly, Holtzclaw’s final point echoes his first one from yesterday’s blog. And, as you know, Synergy Marketing couldn’t agree more. Promotional gifts are generally seen as the coolest of giveaways because they are actually useful items. He notes that your giveaway shouldn’t be something that people will want to throw away or easily lose in a desk or bag.

In other words, order up a promotional gift that will best work to promote your business by impressing its recipients. Call one of our friendly reps at 1-877-748-9884 to discuss which promo gift or gifts would work best to advertise your brand to your target market. In keeping with Holtzclaw’s list of suggestions, our promo gifts won’t cost you a bundle. But they can definitely provide you with big results!

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29 May

5 Cost-Effective Ways To Market Your Brand Online

Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 29.05.14 by John Meloche

Vector stickers with social media and internetWhen it comes to marketing your business, things have really changed over the past decade. With the advent of social media and smartphones, the ways in which people now communicate with each other have been completely revolutionized. Therefore, the methods by which we promote our businesses have become more advanced. No longer are business owners simply resorting to handing out flyers and pamphlets.

We live in a technologically-advanced world. And everyone seems to be on board! The question is…are you? If you’re not taking advantage of the internet and are not regularly active on social media, you’re likely missing out on many new opportunities to grow your brand. On ITProPortal.com, Kathy Yakal writes that “in this economy, you need all the help you can get to ensure that your business is noticed amid all the noise.”

She goes on to write about a number of cheap and even free ways to utilize modern-day technology so that your business can prosper in ways that it never has before. The key, she notes, is being creative. Using the worldwide web, among other resources, is important if you want to have your brand recognized as an industry leader. Let’s take a look at some of her ideas.

1. Participate in online marketing groups. “Search Twitter and other social networking sites for groups meeting to discuss marketing,” writes Yakal. Remember that these days, connecting with people online is just as popular – if not more – than connecting with people in person. Be sure to expand your reach by contacting marketing groups via the internet that may also help you with promotional ideas.

2. Spruce up your website. “Stale sites don’t attract business,” writes Yakal, “Fresh, frequently updated websites show your customers you’re a vibrant and active business.” So not only is updating your content – through blogging, for example – very important, but you should also be sure to give your company website some visual touch-ups now and again. And how can you remember to do that?

3. Visit your own website frequently. Can your website be improved? How does it compare to the websites of your competitors? Yakal writes that small business websites tend to load slowly and are poorly organized. Don’t make your website look like one of those. Be sure that all of your links are up-to-date and that all of the content is relevant. Too many people forget to keep their websites fresh.

4. Submit information to blogs. Blogging is the way of the world today. A company website without a blog is one that is simply not providing online users with enough content to keep logging on to it. As Yakal points out, “blog writers are always looking for content for their sites. Target appropriate ones and send them press releases or descriptive emails. Be polite, and bend over backwards to be helpful.”

5. Launch a blog on your site and update it daily. You don’t have to wait for other bloggers to blog about you on their websites. There should be a blog of your own on your website as well. Yakal puts it best when she says: “nothing says ‘I don’t care’ like a blog on which the most recent entry is a week old.” If you’re not much of a blog writer yourself, hire a blogger to get the job done for you. It’s worth it!

Be sure to check out tomorrow’s blog for more tips on how to impressively market your business in very cost-effective ways.

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21 May

6 Smart Promotional Ideas

Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 21.05.14 by John Meloche

diagram graph for finance businessWe’re all about smart promotional ideas, here at Synergy Marketing. To us, “smart” entails that you are effectively getting the name of your brand out there in a favourable way – without having to spend big bucks to do it. Small businesses aren’t given much of a choice when it comes to spending money on advertising. Big budget commercials are pretty much out of the question.

So playing it smart not only involves keeping within a budget, but coming up with inventive ideas that will attract attention to your brand. According to Printwand.com, “sometimes all you need is a good idea to give your business a promotional boost.” The site goes on to list a number of ideas that we’d like to tackle over the course of our next few blogs.

1. Have a sale. It’s always easy to start with the obvious, right? Having a sale is always a great way to encourage more of your customers to return to your store. But how you advertise the sale will go a long way in how popular it makes you. Use social media to plug it. And be sure to make the sale significant. Printwand.com suggests that you don’t have one too often or customers may only visit you when one of the sales is happening.

2. Hold a contest. This is also a popular tip. The site suggests that you automatically enter your customers into the contest whenever they make purchases. You could offer one of your products as a prize, or of course, a promotional product could make an excellent prize as well. The key, as always, is to generate more interest in your brand and to get customers to keep coming back.

3. Give something away for free. Says Printwand.com: “Hand out samples of your product, promotional products branded with your logo, or other gifts at a key location. This lets people experience what you have to offer first-hand at a key location.” Now who are we to argue with that? People love to get things for free. And they’ll certainly remember where to shop if their free items come with your company branding.

4. Frequent shopper cards. It’s always a good idea to reward those who shop with you most often. It’s widely known that it’s easier to promote towards customers you’d like to retain than it is to market to ones who have never visited your store before, “Offer customers a discount or free product after they’ve made a specific number of purchases,” suggests Printwand.com.

5. Give discounts to targeted groups. As a business owner, it’s important to know your target market. When you specifically acknowledge those who are most likely to support your brand, you will be putting your company in high favour with them. These targeted groups can change up as well. For example, you may want to offer specific discounts to all of those customers who entered your contest.

6. Offer a trade-in. Do you own a company that can benefit by having its customers trade in their old products in order to get a discount on something new? If so, this is a great way to encourage repeat business. And as you know, customer loyalty is practically integral to the growth of any business. Trade-ins make customers feel that they are receiving more value as they get to use their unwanted to help make their purchases.

Be sure to check out tomorrow’s blog as we take a look at some more great promotional ideas. And be sure to call Synergy Marketing at 1-877-748-9884 to order an amazing promotional product to help boost your brand!

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03 Oct

5 More Tips For Running A Top-Notch Business

Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 03.10.13 by John Meloche

Adsense-tips-keys-1024x768You don’t become a champion on day one. This is why professional sports teams play entire seasons just to make it into the playoffs. Your business is no different. Expecting success on your opening day may be a bit far reaching. Even if things go well from the get-go, you don’t want to get ahead of yourself and miss the bigger picture. And that would be success for the long haul.

There are many ways in which entrepreneurs can assert themselves as leaders in their fields. Being an expert entails doing your due diligence and finding new and exciting ways to promote your company. It also entails spending money in the right places and not spending too much of it at the end of the day. On Entrepreneur.com, Brad Sugars offers his insight into this matter.

In yesterday’s blog, we began to take a look at Sugars’ tips on how to run a successful business. Good planning, offering what the public wants and getting a good cash flow going are just a few of his ideas on how to get things going in the right direction. In today’s blog, we’d like to pick up where we left off by further examining the ideas listed by Sugars.

Find ways to exponentially increase profits. “In business, there are five drivers that impact profits,” he writes, “If you can master them while keeping your costs in check, you will run a successful business.” This includes getting more leads and converting more of them into buying customers. You also want to increase the number of times these customers buy from you and increase your price point to grow profit margins as well.

Test and measure everything. If you don’t measure your rates of success or failure, how will you know what needs changing? It’s important to be on top of whether or not your strategies are working. Test, measure and track your results. It’s no different than taking your business to a doctor’s appointment – so to speak. How is your business doing? What can you do to improve its health?

Accept that learning more equals earning more. You can’t run a million dollar corporation without starting at the ground level, insists Sugars. Learning to run a small business is your first step to owning a huge one. Accept that “learning” comes before “earning”. Be committed to learning as much as you can about your industry so that you can master good marketing methods to increase sales.

Don’t discount, add value. “Whenever you discount, you are taking money directly out of your pocket and directly from your bottom-line profit,” writes Sugars, “So don’t do it. Instead, create added value propositions all the way up and down your product or service line. Whatever the industry is, look to hold your price points, increase your margins with the low-cost or no-cost extras and any kind of freemium offerings.”

Get a coach. You’re never too old to learn and you’re never too smart to not need help. Get an objective person from outside of your business that you can depend on. Get honest feedback and advice. Listen and truly take in the feedback and remember that the impression of your business relies on how you make changes based on that feedback. Another set of eyes can work wonder for you!

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26 Sep

6 Marketing Tips For A Strong Fourth Quarter

Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 26.09.13 by John Meloche

promote1There is never a bad time to promote your business. And that goes double for the holiday season. October is right around the corner and that technically means that the holiday season is about to start. Sure, Halloween and Thanksgiving come first. But the fourth quarter will soon be underway, and before you know it, the malls will be filled with Christmas music and decorations.

It only makes sense that you get your business in on the action before the holiday shopping rush begins. And “there are thousands of ways you can promote your small business,” says Alyssa Gregory on About.com, “With the right mix of activities, you can identify and focus on the most effective marketing tactics for your small business.” Thankfully, she provides a list of ideas.

Update or create a marketing plan for your business. It all starts with a plan. And there are some key things to focus on. What is your overall objective? Don’t promote simply for the sake of getting more customers or increasing your sales. Consider how many more customers you expect to attain and exactly how much more you plan on increasing your sales. It’s about setting realistic goals.

Revisit or start your market research. Doing research will help you create those goals and bring you a lot closer to meeting and surpassing them. What strategies have worked for you in the past? Which ones have not? Consider what your competition is doing as well. What has and hasn’t worked for them? Bettering your competition will be achieved when you do your research about them.

Conduct a focus group. There’s nothing like getting the opinions of the people you are marketing your business to. Effective listening is integral here. Find out what makes people tick. What do they really like? More importantly, what do they really need? Discover how you can solve their problems with your products and services and make moves to include those solutions in your plans.

Refine your target audience and niche. Your focus groups may end up helping you to change your mind about who your target audience really is. Is there a group of people that you have overlooked in the past? Can you expand your reach to new communities? Perhaps, your online marketing needs to be improved. Determine who needs your business the most and focus on their needs.

Expand your product and service offerings. As a result, you may find that you will need to add some products and services to your arsenal. Then again, you may have to remove some products and services well. Which ones are the most popular and which ones are making you the least amount of money? Grow your business by increasing what you’re able to do for your customers.

Use promotional products. While Gregory suggests that you get new business cards, we would like to take it one step further. Promotional products leave impacts that business cards do not. They create personal connections with customers and also allow for your company to be promoted on a daily basis. There are many useful gifts to choose from. Simply give us a call at 1-877-748-9884 to order the promotional product of your choice today!

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