Online marketing strategy tip for developing your brand online

 

Part of your online marketing strategy should be to find opportunities that will put you in front of the eyes of your customer whilst building your brand online.  Part of your online marketing plan is spend time networking online.  Unlike real world networking where you attend an event, drink coffee and meet other people with like minded intentions, online networking requires you to be actively building your digital footprint.  One of the ways you do this is by engaging in conversations whether it be, posting a comment, writing an article, or sharing and liking something that is of value to both yourselves and your audience.

For example this video interview discussion is now a content marketing piece.   It discusses the challenges franchise businesses faced during lockdown, in this instance H20 water purification.   If you are in the hospitality industry or are a supplier of goods and services that may require water purification systems it may be strategically beneficial to you as part of your online marketing strategy to post a comment when you see a post like this.  You may be online browsing the internet and you come across this video interview on LinkedIn or Facebook, this presents an opportunity to network and form a connection.   By posting a comment on the video post you saw you are positioning yourself to create a connection point with the supplier and at the same time gives you marketing exposure.   That’s what I love about the online world, it gives everyone an equal opportunities market.

If you own a hotel or guest house, or in the entertainment industry you may not be operational right now but you will be in the future so utilise the time you have now by developing your online brand so that when your doors are allowed to open you will be remembered.

7 August 2020 Content Marketing, Marketing Your Business Online No comments yet

Does the thought of writing blog posts scare you?

Just before the recession hit the UK I decided I’d had enough of the 9 to 5 rutt and I was desperate to escape and get out.  All I wanted was to find something that earned me enough income so I can work from home.  While working I spend every bit of spare time I could find to work on one day being able to work from home.  I explored and exhausted many options and then one day I found what I was looking for.

When the time came and I started working for myself I did not have a big marketing budget and I also knew that traditional marketing was costly.  However,  I understood the importance of dedicated marketing because it is the ingredient one needs to let people know you exist so you can generate business.  I decided to see if there was a way I could market my business using the internet.

There is quite a bit one can do to market your business online but it does come at a price if you want results.  However, it is not as expensive as advertising in the newspaper or using other traditional mediums and the biggest advantages the internet has over traditional marketing is that it is forever, it levels the playing field and you are not restricted by location.

One of the ways you can market your business online is to use a blog.  Blogging gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your skills and expertise.  It gives strangers the opportunity to get to know who you are and decide whether one day to use your services or not.

I decided I was going to blog and I went on a mission to learn how to write blogs.  I spent hours and hours researching articles on writing and copywriting.  I spent hours researching top bloggers websites to establish what works and doesn’t work.  I also spent hours reading other people’s blogs to get ideas on how to write and what I could write about and before I wrote that first blog post I had spent time just commenting on other people’s posts to help me become better at writing.

Truth be told, I had a big stumbling block when it came to writing stuff in general.  As a child my first language was mainly Afrikaans and the first years of my schooling was all in Afrikaans.  At the age of 9 I switched over to an all English school which presented numerous challenges having to learn everything now in English.  I struggled with English and when it came to writing essays,  I hated it so much that I got my brother to write my essays for me.

I remember when I published my first blog post like it was yesterday.  It was nerve wrecking especially when self-limiting belief thoughts starts to flood your mind, giving you all the reasons why you cannot write a blog post.  I spent hours and hours trying to write my first blog post and it took me 30 minutes to hit the publish button.  It is really quite overwhelming writing and publishing your first post because you feel like you’ve just exposed yourself to the world and you can’t take it back.

So I know where you are coming from when the fear hits you and you think you can’t do it because you don’t have the skills, the knowledge or the education. That’s how I felt.  I was so consumed with the fear of not having the education or the degree to write that I would write the blog post but not promote it as effectively as I should have.

I think we can over complicate things and I think a large part of the problem is how we’ve been pre-conditioned to behave and think in a certain way that suits the “status quo”. Sadly the result of this is that many of us have unrealised gifts and talents all stored up inside of us just waiting for an opportunity to come out.

reading-blog-postI’m not the best writer in the world and I’m certainly no expert at it but what I learnt is that you can learn to do anything if you put your mind to it.  You can do anything if you put in the time and energy but you have to put in the time and energy, it is not just going to magically happen.  It takes patients and practice and lots of practice.

What I am saying to you is that you won’t know until you try. I am saying we have spent too much of our valuable time thinking that we cannot do things therefore limiting ourselves and getting nowhere.

It really isn’t the end of the world if your blog post is not perfect,   mine certainly wasn’t but I’m learning and I’m practising to be better at it.  Willing to try it out has shown me that I can actually write something and surprised myself.  The result of my first blog wasn’t so bad.  I got lots of comments and met 3 people who I’m still in contact with today because of that  first blog post.   7 years later I am still in business and I generate all my business from the marketing I do on the internet using blogs and other mediums.

I hope this has inspired those of you who have been putting it off all this time out of fear of what people will think.

What was your first experience like writing a blog post?

If you are new to the idea of using blog posts and using it to market your business and would like someone to help you through this process and help you overcome those fears, come and join in one of our online group training workshops Paint-by-Numbers training program it may be just the confidence you need to get started.

7 August 2014 Marketing Your Business Online, WordPress and Blogging Tips No comments yet

6 Ways to improve your ranking and visibility to generate leads

Since the inception of social media we’ve seen a huge change in how people use the internet. On average every second 8 new people are signing up to get onto the internet. Daily more and more people are finding it easier just to connect online to save time. Giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Google Plus, LinkedIn are constantly evolving – and to keep up we need to adapt to these changes.

As a Social Media Manager, and with considerable experience in the virtual world, I recommend 6 tips to improve your ranking and visibility in 2014.

2 January 2014 Google, GPlus and SEO, Marketing Your Business Online, Social Media Management for Business 2 comments

Your social networking profile, A missed opportunity

When someone sends me a friend request and I don’t know them personally I would immediately visit their profile on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and LinkedIn to find out more about this person. What I discover quite often is a lot of very important missing information. A missed opportunity to promote your business.

If you are not taking your online presence seriously, if you are not taking your brand seriously then how do you expect sponsors, brand builders, and investors to take you seriously and invest in you?

6 February 2012 Marketing Your Business Online, You are Your Brand No comments yet

Time saving tips to manage your social media

A common  experience people have currently, is not having enough time!   Business owners, coaches and consultants make excuses as to why they can’t be active or even look at using social media to market their business.  It seems that while technology is meant to make our lives easier it has just gone and made things all complicated because it is now easier to connect and communicate but harder to keep up.

Most of us have learnt the art of multi-tasking and I think for some of us it created more confusion and a whole lot of unproductivity.  Let’s create good habits by starting with, “Being in that moment” avoid multi-tasking but give each task your full and complete  attention.

Here are some time saving tips:

Online Shopping

If you have the advantage of shopping online, do it!  Shop and pay your bills online.  Why spend time getting in your car, sitting in traffic driving to the store, then look for parking and stand in queues when you can go online and have it delivered to your door.

Get a digital recorder or record on your phone

This is super handy for those moments where you get a burst of inspiration and you don’t have a pen and notepad handy.  I find my best inspiration comes while driving.  I use my recording device to remind myself of things to do.  I record ideas that come to me, these could be ads, tag lines, a tweet, a post.  What I also do is use the speech to text and email myself articles I’m inspired to write.  The speech to text facility does not always interpret what you say accurately and does have a language of its own but very handy in saving you time especially if you are not a professional speed typist.

Delays and Queues

Always carry a book, an Ipod, or your Tablet with you for these moments.  This is the perfect time to catch up on reading, catch up on telephone calls or catch up on social networking.  Instead of complaining the queue is too long, or the train is late, take out your book, your audio, or your tablet and be productive.

Public Transport

While public transport has its issues and we all get frustrated, on the upside, if you can travel via public transport I recommend it because it’s a good time to catch up on reading, listen to that audio or have a catnap.  It is also a good time to catch up on networking online.

Systems and Processes

Alot of creative people love to dig in their hills here and scream NO, GET ME OUT OF HERE!  I’m a creative and a systems person so I get to see the benefits of having a balance of both.  The reality is people need boundaries, they need to know how things work and they need that security to know that things are running smoothly, it builds confidence.  When things are all the place, not getting done or it keeps changing from one day to the next, then it causes people to wonder if things are secure and stable and trust me if people feel that on the inside, it will be felt on the outside.  You can lose potential partners and investors because of this.

I recently worked with a company who were all over the place.  They had no systems in place and when you were given a task to do, the next thing you know it’s been taken away from you and someone esle is dealing with it.  No one knew what was going on and there was no clear communication system in place.  People were in the dark, and as I connected with people on the outside of the company and mentioned I no longer worked there, people actually started sharing with me that they had their doubts, that they felt things were unstable, things were in chaos.  They thought it was all going to  crash if something is not done.  Funny how people always say things after you leave or when you no longer friends with someone.

Get someone who knows how to help you implement systems.  Get the process started and stick to it.  Really lead by example, if you as the leader follows the system everyone else will.  It will build confidence and save a lot of time.

Don’t dump everything on one person.  Have different department heads who are complete control of that area and if they have an issue they report back to you.  There is a chain of command.  Yes, the bosses door is always open but only when you felt you had no joy with your department head.  One of my clients does this really well, she has a virtual team.  One person is in charge of sales, the other in charge of online, the other in charge of products.

Systems and processes actually help to relieve stress.  It boosts investor and partner confidence.  I’ve been on both sides and I’ve seen it, this is why I’m sharing this.

Outsourcing

I know alot of small businesses think they save lots of money doing it themselves, but seriously you don’t.  Think of all the hours you are wasting doing that admin, writing that content, when you could be generating leads or working with clients?  If you earn R500 per hour and you are spending 3 hours on things you can pass on to other people you are losing out on R1,500.  Use that time to write your books, network, generate leads, develop products.

Automate and re purpose your content

It’s impossible to be in front of your computer 24/7 if you have a business to run, unless of course you run an online business.  Over the years I’ve received flack for automating but I know that Guy Kawasaki is a believer in automation to.  I don’t have time to be constantly creating new fresh content 24/7 I have clients to look after so yes I automate.  I’ve automated my content for many years and guess what it still generates me business.    See what you can automate and automate.  Revisit old blog posts, old tweets and see what you can share again.  Not everyone is online 24/7 and not everyone has read your stuff.  If need be give the article a fresh outlook.   Use tools like Postific, Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule your content a week or two in advance.

What suggestions do you have that’s helped you save time?  I’d love to hear your thoughts experiences you’ve had when businesses function without a system.

9 January 2012 Marketing Your Business Online, Social Media Management for Business No comments yet
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