Posted on Fri, Apr 12, 2013 @ 03:59 PM
[By Emily Carter]
Last weekend, my friends and I went on a long weekend trip to Las Vegas. It was a great trip full of awesome food and perfect 80+ degree weather (And to all of the tri-state area who got to enjoy 80 degree weather this past Tuesday, YOU'RE WELCOME for bringing that weather back with me). There are so many quintessential pictures in my mind of "Vegas" things - Elvis, showgirls and gambling are just a few. There's also the one we all know and have probably said before - "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas." Prince Harry of course, learned the hard way that this doesn't always happen.
On the way home from Vegas, I realized that the marketing message that the city of Las Vegas broadcasts to the world is much different than most brands. Instead of wanting the goings-on of Vegas splattered across the world, they entice people to come to their city by saying that anything goes, and no one will talk about it. I mean, who actually markets themselves by saying "don't tell anyone what happens here or you'll be a big jerk"? See this commercial for further explanation.
This message wouldn't work for everyone, but it definitely works for Sin City. Finding their unique brand message has paid off well for Las Vegas, and it will for your brand too.
Rather than mimicking the marketing tactics of most businesses, develop a marketing plan that will speak to the people you are talking to. For example, don't create an account for every Social Media platform that exists in this world. Really stop to take the time to think about where your customers are socializing, and develop a presence there. Are they crafty people? Create a Pinterest account. Do they speak frequently about hot topics? Head over to Twitter.
Las Vegas' marketing message is also effective because it's enticing. Their slogan isn't "Las Vegas! Where a bunch of sin and gambling and drinking and shopping and eating happens!" They don't shout at you all of the things they can do for you. Think of how to portray your marketing message in an inbound way. Draw your customers into you, and be available to answer their questions.
If you're wondering where to start in developing an inbound marketing plan of your own, Grass Roots Marketing can help. Use our free Marketing Grader and let us know where you're stuck.
Posted on Wed, Mar 13, 2013 @ 11:32 AM
[By Fred Strahl]
After conducting some statistical research, Facebook decided to make changes to the layout of the News Feed. They found that 50% of all content posted on Facebook was visual. This includes pictures, albums, videos, etc. Facebook has decided to take advantage of the statistic and update their News Feed accordingly. However, changes in your social media strategy must come with the change of the News Feed in Facebook. Here is what you should do to prepare for the update.
Pictures, Pictures, and Pictures (Oh and did we mention pictures?)
90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text. Facebook took these statistics into consideration when deciding to update the News Feed. What this means for your social media strategy is that the content you produce must involve many visuals – pictures, graphics, charts, diagrams, etc. Whether you sell a good or service, make certain that you post many images of your product or service at work. While it may be easier to post a picture of a good; the advantage that service industries have is the ability to present “before and after” images that resulted from your service. If you do repair work, show the before and after shots. Even if you are a marketing agency you can show screen shots of a client’s new website or their improved ROI through an analytics program you are using. However, if your product can’t be captured in an image, you can turn text into an image.
Turn Your Text Posts Into Images
A quick text update with a link won’t cut it anymore in the new newsfeed. You will have to save them for Twitter. Turn your text updates into images in order to get them seen more prominent on the News Feed. Here is an example;
It is not difficult to create an image like this. In fact, this image was created in 5 minutes with Microsoft Word and saved as an image. The extra time you put into developing images like this will expand your reach on the updated News Feed drastically.
Share Pinterest Posts on Facebook
Using Pinterest consistently will help you optimize your new Facebook Strategy. Pinterest is an image heavy social media site and it connects with Facebook. If you regularly post photos to Pinterest and share the content onto Facebook, it will help you promote your company in the new News Feed. In addition, Pinterest has been proven to increase sales. In fact, 21% of people who use Pinterest said that they purchased a product after seeing images of the product on the social media site. By sharing your posts on Facebook from the already proven selling machine, you will increase your reach and chances of gaining business through social media.
Optimize Your Profile’s Cover Photo in Facebook
When someone likes your page on Facebook, all of their friends will see it in their News Feed. It will show your cover photo and logo as it appears at the top of your company page. Make sure that it is a great representation of your company and what your company does. You will have a great looking billboard that will appear on hundreds of other Facebook News Feeds.
Create Engaging Images and Promote Sharing
Your content will be ranked in the new Facebook News Feed based on how many other people shared your content. It is similar to how many other news sources rank their content. Post things that will compel the people that “like” you to share your posts.
Contact Us to discuss how you can optimize your entire social media strategy.
Posted on Fri, Dec 28, 2012 @ 03:56 PM
[By Emily Carter]
Happy New Year, inbound marketers! To celebrate the last Friday of 2012, we wanted to share with you some of the marketing resolutions that we have set for ourselves in the coming year. These are just a few of our collective thoughts on our goals and plans for the coming months. Part of growing is learning about yourself and where you can improve. 2012 was a stellar year for us, and we want to continue the greatness! Here are Grass Roots Marketing's New Year's Resolutions:
- Increase social media reach by 50%.
- Commit to a blog writing schedule.
- Spread knowledge, not cold calls.
- Get Found through search engines...even more than now.
- Simplify our website navigation and layout.
- Offer more resources about Inbound Marketing Techniques.
- Write even more content.
- Learn about a niche and capture lead information from that niche.
- Network more, through face to face interactions and online networking sites.
- Focus on collaboration and communication.
Are any of your resolutions the same as ours? If you are wondering what your marketing resolutions should be in 2013 or want help achieving your goals, we'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts.
Posted on Fri, Oct 19, 2012 @ 03:18 PM
[Fred Strahl]
This is the final installment of a three part blog article that discusses how to improve your Inbound Marketing methods by enhancing your SEO strategy. In this blog I will be covering the “usage” of your site and how it affects your SEO (Search Engine Optomization). If you did not read the first two, I recommend that you check them out. The past blog two blogs talk about how you can improve the on site SEO and off site SEO portion of your site. This last blog discusses the “usage” portion of your site that Google looks at. This aspect of your site is becoming more influential as the SEO standards change. Here are some things you can focus on when optimizing the “usage” of your site.
Click %
The click % is the amount of times your site is clicked while in the ranking that Google gives you. For example, if your site is the second result in the search, it should have a certain percentage of clicks for that search term. If the third search term starts to develop a higher percentage of clicks than your site, you will eventually drop in the rankings. To solve this, you should take a look at your key word strategy and make sure you have terms that will draw the type of customer you are looking for. If you accomplish this, you will notice that a lot of your traffic is specific to what you offer. Accordingly, you will have more clicks on your link.
Bounce Rate
After you maintain your click %, you must ensure that the people clicking on your link are finding the information they are looking for. Add call to actions to the page to make sure the user clicks something else when they arrive at your page. In the instance the user clicks on your link and then bounces right back to Google, your ranking will be affected negatively. You need to ensure that the user is finding the information they are looking for or at least give them a call to action that will urge them to click something on your site. This will help lower your bounce rate
% of new users
Having returning users definitely helps your SEO. However, increasing the number of new users that eventually return will help even more. If you implement changes to your SEO, you will notice that you have a higher ranking in Google searches and an increase in traffic. The question is, “Will your site be optimized to keep people interested?” You need to make sure that your content is engaging. If not, your site may have an increase in traffic, but no returns.
If you improve your site in all of the area’s I have discussed you will see a better ranking. However, it will not be overnight. SEO projects take time and a regular watch in order to rank higher. During your SEO enhancements here are some key things to keep in mind.
A. You need to stay on top of your strategy and updates more than your competitors
B. Keep your updates consistent to get Google to crawl your site often
C. If you develop a good keyword strategy, you will rank higher in the rankings. Simply implementing a solid key word strategy you will improve your click %, bounce rate, and % of new users.
D. Keep a regular eye on your keyword strategy, your usage numbers, and all of the Google updates that are developed.
If you do these things and use the tactics I have mentioned in the past three blogs, than you will see your ranks go higher, your leads come in faster, and your sales grow larger.
See how well you are doing with your overall SEO by using our free grader!
Image:colocationamerica.com
Posted on Mon, Oct 01, 2012 @ 07:42 AM
[By Fred Strahl]
This is part two of a three part blog. In this portion I will be covering off-site SEO. If you did not read the first one, I recommend that you check it out. The past blog talks about how you can improve your on-site SEO. On-site SEO is very important and a crucial part of improving your SEO. However, if you are only interested in ways to improve your off-site SEO, than you are in the right place!
For off-site SEO there is one main area you should be covering;
Link Building
Link Building is the most important way to improve your SEO. It is the best way to rank higher on any search engine. While on-site SEO is still very important, if Google were to only use on-site SEO than it would just be a battle of who can get the most keywords in their content. Since this wouldn’t be a very efficient way to find the best sites for the user, Google has to see which sites are the most trustworthy, the most reliable, and the most credible. To do this, Google will look at your links from other sites and rate them. You should strive to have either a lot of inbound links from many credible sites or links from a few very credible sites (It also doesn’t hurt to have both).
However, there is an etiquette that should be followed when building up your inbound links. Here are the Dos and Don’ts of linking.
DON’T get involved with SPAM links
A lot of people fall into the pitfall of signing up for SPAM inbound links. People will pay companies to give them a lot more links back to the site with the idea that the more links they have back to their site, the higher SEO they will receive. This is COMPLETELY WRONG. If you were to do this Google can tell! Google will notice that the sources of those links are not credible and not trustworthy. This will only hurt your SEO not help. A good rule of thumb is to remember that Google is always one step ahead of the shortcuts people try to create.
DO guest blogging on other sites
Guest blogging is a great way to build links. You can set up a mutually agreement between yourself and another site to share each other blogs. It’s a “people helping people” idea. Both of your sites get an inbound link and both sites are improving their SEO, everyone wins. However, the pitfalls of this concept are agreeing to have an outbound link to a poorly viewed site or making this deal with a direct competitor.
DON’T submit your links to one large directory; DO submit your links to many web directories
Using a directory can be great for link building, however, you won’t get far if you only submit your link to one large directory. There are thousands of directories that you should be submitting your links to. The biggest advantages to this are the low cost, the ease, and the fact you don’t have to do anything in return.
DO Get involved in commenting on other blogs
When you comment on other blogs and engage with peers in your field, you may find a great opportunity to drop a link in one of the comments. Be careful though, don’t start dropping your links in comments on as many blogs that you can. The key here is to start a conversation, serve as an expert on the field, gain trust, and then drop a link. If you don’t do this there are very simple functions such as “delete comment” or “block user” that could affect you and your reputation negatively.
See how well you are doing with link building by using our free grader!
Photo by:www.ironmonk.net
Posted on Thu, Sep 20, 2012 @ 10:42 AM
[By Fred Strahl]
Grass Roots Marketing, Inc., an inbound marketing company, recently announced the results of a case study called “Inbound Marketing for CPA Firms”. The case study examines the current usage of effective, online marketing tactics for U.S. CPA firms by comparing typical CPA firms with the top firms in the field.
If you’re unfamiliar with the methodology, inbound marketing is based on attracting qualified leads to an optimized website, the hub of your marketing and sales efforts. Using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, social media, blogging, email marketing and public relations to collectively support your content-rich website will help increase brand awareness and drive sales.
The study specifically looks at the website grades and social media platform activity (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and blogging) of approximately 99 typical New Jersey CPA firms along with the top 25 CPA firms in the state as determined by number of employees. Results showed that in all of the analyzed categories, the top 25 CPA firms ranked better than their 99 counterparts in inbound marketing usage. While many of the firms had a good grasp on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, there is still a greater need to them to leverage the power of social media.
Our study falls in line with current trends of firms using inbound marketing strategies to substantiate their marketing campaigns and extend public reach to generate business. A recent 2010 study analyzing the Internet habits of U.S. citizens found that 78% of all U.S. Internet users say that they use the Internet to research products, indicating a continuous, upward trend.
The key takeaway of this research is that typical CPA firms can increase their sales by investing more resources into inbound marketing tools. Technology and software has made it possible for these smaller firms to be just as effective as the top 25 CPA firms in New Jersey.
It is important that this industry grows through the use of productive inbound marketing strategies that help CPA firms improve their online presence to attract clients and talent. While this research is industry specific, the principles of inbound marketing can be applied to any type of business in any industry.
“Inbound Marketing for CPA Firms” discusses the case study in greater depth, as well as provides insight and tips for how any type of firm can use inbound marketing strategies for their business. The study provides insight into the practices of the industry and how to create sales by using inbound marketing strategies. Click here to get your FREE copy!
About Grass Roots Marketing, Inc. (GRM)
GRM’s HubSpot Certified professionals provide inbound marketing programs for companies around the country. Enhance brand awareness and drive your sales by attracting qualified leads to your website through search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, email marketing, public relations, social media and blogging. For more information about GRM, please visit www.grmwebsite.com or call 732-380-8400.
Posted on Wed, Sep 19, 2012 @ 03:12 PM
[By Fred Strahl]
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic that comes to your website via search engines. When your target audience searches for information on sites like Google, Yahoo and Bing, SEO helps your website get found. Managing your SEO plays a crucial role in branding, lead generation, and ultimately generating more sales.
SEO Management can be complicated and I know what you’re probably thinking...”Where should I start?” Well, this blog would be a great start! To answer that question, I am going to break down the three main areas of Google’s algorithm. They are; on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and usage. I will be talking about the three areas in three different blogs. Today, I will cover on-site SEO.
For on-site SEO there are three main areas that you should be covering;
1. Unique Content
People tend to believe that by repeating keywords in their content as much as possible, they will rank higher on Google. This is not necessarily true. In addition, some people think that if they use the same keywords and topics of their high ranking competitors, they will rank higher also. This is also not true. When you are creating and developing unique content, do not take it as a literal sense. Do not look at competitors sites, identify their main topics, and then write about those topics in your own words. This is not unique.
You may be in an industry with a lot of competition but you need to stand out! Why is your business different from your competitors? Why are your methods of going about your business better than others? What are your unique ideas? These are some ideas for unique content. Don’t talk about what everyone else is talking about, talk about why you are different.
2. Exact Match Keyword
While making your unique content, make sure that you have the correct keywords in your content that you want to be searched. However, by “content” I don’t just mean the text paragraphs on your page. There are many places that can be scanned by the algorithm other than the paragraphs of information that you have on your site. You can boost your ranking by ensuring that your keywords are also in the titles of your web pages, the titles of your content (header tags for html), and the information in your meta-data. If you don’t know how to update these things, you may want to talk to your website designer.
3. Freshness
How often is your page updated? Are you always adding new content? This is something to think about. If you are planning to just make a web page for the sake of having one, then be prepared to watch your rank in search engines drop drastically. Google will check which sites are always adding new content. Adding new content frequently shows that the company is active and the most active companies will be seen as the best option for the user. A great way to do this is to have a weekly blog. It is a simple and great way to show Google that you are active.
Take a look at how well you are doing with these areas on your site and make sure that you are fully optimized to be found. SEO is a major part of the Inbound Marketing process and if you are not covering the areas that are listed above, you will be missing out on a major piece in the Inbound Puzzle. Check back soon for part two of this blog entry: Off Site Optomization! I will talk about how you can use other websites to boost your own SEO.
Get your SEO and many other Marketing strategies analyzed with our free grader!
Posted on Fri, Aug 24, 2012 @ 07:51 AM
[By Fred Strahl]
Attention! Attention! All companies that aren’t using social media are not following the most up to date marketing strategies. In fact, you are losing SEO from dragging your feet on this one. I’m also referring to those who have pages but haven’t posted anything on it in months. In fact, all businesses should be paying specific attention to any updates made by Google. The newest Google search algorithm updates have put more of an emphasis on how companies are interacting with their customers. This should be the standard for all good businesses today.
When Google releases an update, every business should be paying attention. The newest update has integrated social media as a part of search rankings, especially Google+. Google has made having a Google+ page important in their search ranking algorithm.
Google has recognized that the companies involved in Social Media would be the best for the searcher. Why? Well, it shows that the company is keeping up with the current business world, the company is active, and the company likes to interact with their customers. This is the standard today. However, if you missed the train on this one, you still have time to get on board. Pay more attention to your pages and update them more often. Keep in touch with your target audience and they will want to keep in touch with you.
At this point you should be set up with at least:
Facebook Page
Twitter Account
LinkedIN Account
Google+ Page
Here is a list of tips for keeping active with your Social Media Pages
Post updates at least once a week
If the host of the social media page doesn’t stay involved with the page, than why would anyone else?! Keep the posts coming, don’t flood everyone’s twitter feed, but make sure you stay active.
Provide engaging content
One of the main goals is to drive your customers to react to your post. Get them to engage in the content to find out what they are talking about. This could help you find out what your target audience feels is important when they are looking for products like the one you offer.
Encourage staff involvement
Urge your staff to make some posts, have them post some comments. Sometimes showing that people are commenting helps your audience to interact. A lot of people are a little skittish when it comes to making the first comment on new content.
Set goals for your Social Media Strategy
Do you want more likes? More tweets? More shares? If so, set a number and see if you reach it. If not, you may want to alter your strategy.
Pay close attention to comments
See what is being talked about in the comments and engage with the customers. See if they have any questions or need more information. This is another way to use Social Media to get more leads and it shows you are there to help.
Find out how well you are doing with your social media strategy by using our social media checklist!
Posted on Tue, Jul 10, 2012 @ 02:44 PM
[By Tony Popowski]Companies are seeing less ROI on their
email marketing programs. As consumers delete their
messages more frequently and set up stronger spam filters, many businesses are questioning email marketing’s relevance. I can see why organizations think that email marketing is dead. Personally speaking, I delete a lot of messages that come my way… because a lot of what people send me
IS spam. However, I don’t think email marketing is dead – I think the “
old school” email marketing strategy is extinct.
When the early adopters of email marketing were sending out e-blasts, the old school mentality was “I’ll just send a bunch of people my sales pitch and one of them is bound to hit.” Well, these companies didn’t have a lot of competition in the digital world at the time, so they were able to get some sales using this methodology. However, the problem is that every company joined on the bandwagon and now targets are bombarded with sales messages via email 24/7.
Consumer behavior and technology has changed… and so should your email marketing program. Here are five quick tips to help you use your email marketing program more effectively:
1) Develop your content strategy: a strong email marketing program nurtures leads along the sales cycle. You can do this by using email marketing to establish your credibility. Instead of just relaying your company’s history or final sales pitch to colder leads, send valuable content to your audience. This includes quick tips, industry news or advice that solves their problem. By giving them what they want, they come to think of you as the subject matter expert. Then, when they’re ready to buy, they’ll come to you.
2) Drive traffic back to your website: your website should be the
hub of your marketing program, so you should always want to increase traffic. Include links in your emails back to pages on your website with more information for the readers. This further establishes your credibility. Ideally, your email marketing program should send readers back to pages with forms, or landing pages, so your consumers leave their contact information in exchange for something such as a white paper or checklist. This will help you identify top leads.
3) Establish a consistent program: sending one email out every six months makes it harder for your audience to make a connection with you. Pick a consistent branding template and set a schedule for your email marketing program.
4) Utilize tracking reports: email marketing vendors typically offer tracking reports which show you who views your email, who unsubscribed from your email and who clicked the links on your message to visit your website. Use this data to form more targeted lists and create specific emails accordingly.
5
) Update your list: people come and go from companies, professionals get promotions you’re your targeted decision maker or consumer can change at the blink of an eye. That’s why it’s important to add new email addresses to your list and update incorrect information.
In today’s business environment,
buyers are more insulated and harder to reach. By using a more a strategic email marketing approach, you can more effectively establish credibility with your target audience and nurture leads.
Posted on Tue, Apr 10, 2012 @ 12:00 PM
[By Koleen Singerline]
Grass Roots Marketing, Inc., an inbound marketing company that specializes in manufacturing industry marketing, recently announced the results of a case study called “Inbound Marketing for Staffing Agencies”. The case study examines the current usage of effective, online marketing tactics for U.S. manufacturing companies by comparing typical manufacturers with the top companies in the field.
If you’re unfamiliar with the methodology, inbound marketing is based on attracting qualified leads to an optimized website, the hub of your marketing and sales efforts. Using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, social media, blogging, email marketing and public relations to collectively support your content-rich website will help increase brand awareness and drive sales.
The study specifically looks at the website grades and social media platform activity (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and blogging) of approximately113 typical New Jersey manufacturers along with the top 25 manufacturers in the state as determined by number of employees. Results showed that in nearly all of the analyzed categories, the top 25 manufacturers ranked better than their 113 counterparts in inbound marketing usage. While many of the companies had a good grasp on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, there is still a greater need to them to leverage the power of social media.
Our study falls in line with current trends of companies using inbound marketing strategies to substantiate their marketing campaigns and extend public reach to generate business. A recent 2010 study analyzing the Internet habits of U.S. citizens found that 78% of all U.S. Internet users say that they use the Internet to research products, indicating a continuous, upward trend.
The key takeaway of this research is that typical manufacturers can increase their sales by investing more resources into inbound marketing tools. Technology and software has made it possible for these smaller companies to be just as effective as the top 25 manufacturing companies in New Jersey.
It is important that this industry grows through the use of productive inbound marketing strategies that help manufacturers improve their online presence to attract clients and talent. While this research is industry specific, the principles of inbound marketing can be applied to any type of business in any industry.
“Inbound Marketing for Manufacturers” discusses the case study in greater depth, as well as provides insight and tips for how any type of company can use inbound marketing strategies for their business. The study provides insight into the practices of the industry and how to create sales by using inbound marketing strategies. Click here to get your FREE copy!
About Grass Roots Marketing, Inc. (GRM)
GRM’s HubSpot Certified professionals provide inbound marketing programs for the staffing industry. Enhance brand awareness and drive your sales by attracting qualified leads to your website through search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, email marketing, public Relations, social media and blogging. GRM is recognized as the first company in the nation with HubSpot Certified professionals to serve the staffing field. For more information about GRM, please visit www.grmwebsite.com or call 732-380-8400.