I meet with business owners like you regularly, and everyone wants to know about the latest website design trends or Facebook algorithm or SEO hacks.

But there’s something way more important than any of this — and that’s getting the basics right.

I recently met with a restaurant owner who didn’t understand why his lunchtime trade was so slow. I looked him up online and, according to both his website and Google listing, the restaurant was closed for lunch. Luckily, this is an easy fix but it left me wondering how something this basic had gone below their radar.

Keeping your information up-to-date is vital. This is especially true for opening hours and contact details — how will people get in touch otherwise? How will customers know you’re open? Especially when so many people are using their mobile phone to get directions and make calls to businesses – information needs to be to hand, and accurate.

Here are five more marketing basics to prioritise right now:

1. Mobile-Friendly Website

How does your website look when you browse it on your mobile? With 71% of Australian smartphone users browsing the Internet on their phones daily, this is so important.

Not compatible with mobile? Website visitors are unlikely to stick around — which means you’re losing potential customers.

2. Basic SEO

Search Engine Optimisation sometimes seems like another buzzword, but it is important.

The good news is, the basics are straightforward to implement. Make sure your website is set up correctly and contains engaging and unique content. High-quality content that recognises and helps solve the problems of your target market is key.

If you can find time to blog (like I’m doing now), that’s a bonus!

3. Google My Business

Google My Business is a service offered by Google to help you engage potential customers.

The best part is it’s free (at the moment), so make sure you claim and make the most out of your listing — start by adding your correct opening hours!

4. Know Your Customers

Any good marketing strategy starts with an understanding of the target customers. This will impact everything else you do, so it’s worth spending some time getting it right.

Write it down, print it out and stick it on your wall. Make sure everything you do is focused on them – don’t get distracted.

5. Start an Email List

An email list is one of the most valuable marketing assets any business can have.

Use it to stay in touch with your customers, focusing on providing value over the hard sell. Remember — people don’t like to be sold to, so you need to think about the kind of content and messages your target market want to read.

Are you struggling to find time to do it all yourself? Get in touch to find out how we can help.

Not surprisingly, the 2018 Yellow Social Media Report, notes that the number of Australian businesses with a social media presence has hit an all-time high. Facebook remains the most popular platform (about 90% of businesses surveyed are using it), with LinkedIn and Instagram following (second- and third-most popular, depending on business size).

The most popular reasons for social activity? Advertising and promotion were listed as the most popular, followed by customer interaction and contact.  However, remember that customers look at it the opposite way. They want to communicate and interact with just a touch of selling so it’s really important to get the right mix.

If you’re not already getting social with your customers, it’s time.

Which platform?

The golden rule when deciding what social media platform(s) to be on is to think about your target markets: what social media platforms are they on?  To help you work this out, the 2018 Yellow Social Media Report on consumers may be useful.  It provides insights into consumer social media behaviour, the technology and platforms people are using, and when and why they’re connecting.

Tools to help you plan and organise

Social media does take time and planning. One of the best ways to ensure that you’re posting on a regular basis is to include social media as part of your overall marketing plan. That way, you can ensure that you’re posting about events and sales before they happen and don’t forget to share news with your audience in a timely manner.

To help with planning, I’ve put together a free marketing calendar template that you can download and use to schedule all your promotional events for the year, including all social posts. You can customise the template in Excel and adjust it to your needs.

You may also want to consider something like Hootsuite to help you stay on track. Hootsuite is an online social media planning tool that lets you organise and report on all your social media activity, as well as calculate ROI. You can also schedule posts in advance and create assignments for teams.

With Hootsuite, you can try any plan for free for 30 days, and there’s a basic free plan that allows you to manage up to 3 social accounts; more robust plans are available for a monthly fee.

But what about content?

Worried about what to post? Many businesses struggle to come up with enough things to share. Plus, with so many businesses out there angling for the attention of their followers, how do you make sure your efforts aren’t wasted?

Here are a few tips for creating engaging content and working posts into your overall strategy:

1. Add photos, videos & images — Including an image with your text post catches the eye of your followers and helps them engage with and remember your post. Photos and videos are common, but infographics are also great to include because they combine visual interest with information. In fact, infographics are liked and shared on social media 3X more than other any other type of content.
2. Use live video (wisely) — If you read our post on Facebook Live, you know that it can be a great tool – IF used appropriately. You need to practice with this tool, have a good reason to use it and notify followers in advance about the event so you’ll get as much engagement as possible.Think about a way to use Facebook Live that will provide something of value to your viewers so it’s worth their time to tune in. Use it as a chance to answer questions, promote a new product or service, or get feedback from customers.  Don’t forget about YouTube Live, too.
3. Repurpose and link to content — Social media posts are a great way to take people to your website, as well as repurpose other content you’re creating. Remember, social media is about engaging with audiences, so it’s a great way to provide additional information they may be looking for.When you build your strategic plan, look for ways to create social posts that tie into your other marketing efforts. You can also edit text you write or use photos you take for your website, news releases or sales promotions and use them to create quick posts.

The B2Me Experience

Now we’re in the Age of the Individual and customer-led experience, social media has become even more important. It’s the only medium that enables one-to-one communication at scale.  B2Me personalisation is about creating unique experiences that are interesting and timely for the individual.  In social media terms this means that messaging is gaining increasing popularity.  This year, the number of users on messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp grew twice as fast as users on Facebook.  These apps offer fantastic opportunities for brands to establish meaningful conversations and should also be considered as part of your social media strategy.

Need help setting up your accounts or putting together a social media strategy? Contact Breathe Marketing today.

The short answer is yes. Creating great content is still key to building your online presence and positioning yourself as an expert in your field.

Here are three reasons why content is still king (and a few tips on creating some):

1) It answers your customers’ questions

Blogs, social media posts and FAQ website pages are a great way to answer questions for your customers.  Answers are available online, 24/7, for customers to find when you and your staff aren’t around to speak to them in person.  Unlike spam emails and unwanted pop-up ads, if viewers find your content through a search, it’s because they were looking for it.

TIP:  Talk to your sales team (or other people in your office who most often deal with customers) and find out the most popular questions asked by prospects and customers. Add questions and answers to your FAQ page on a regular basis, or post them to your Facebook page and then include a link to your website so customers know where to go for the latest information.

2) It makes Google happy

Today, over 93% of all online experiences (on all Internet-connected devices) start with a search engine – and not surprisingly, that search engine is usually Google. That’s why every business owner wants to have their website rank well.While getting a high rank in Google is complicated (their algorithm is made up of over 200 components), there’s no doubt that Google rewards sites for good content. Industry studies consistently show that relevant, comprehensive content is one of the most important factors for better rankings.

TIP: Don’t write content stuffed with individual keywords.  Google prefers more relevant content written in natural language.  On your website, write more content about less topics on each page – you can always create another website page for each topic you want to cover.

3)  It positions you as a leader in your field

When you write informative, non-salesy content that engages your audience, it also helps demonstrate your knowledge of your industry and why people should listen to what you have to say. This is an important part of building trust with potential customers.

TIP: Don’t make the mistake of many companies and use your blog, social media or email campaigns as overt selling tools. Think about the problems your customers are facing and create something that helps them solve those problems.

One final tip – while it’s a lot of work to come up with fresh content for your website, blog, emails, social media posts and other marketing materials, you can often ‘repurpose’ good content and save yourself a lot of time and effort.

For example, let’s say you have some text that’s been written for a company marketing brochure. With a little editing work, you can probably use some of the same information on your website, in a blog post, as a script for a YouTube video, an email campaign, a SlideShare or PowerPoint presentation, or for a Twitter or Facebook post.

Have thoughts, questions or other suggestions about content creation? Need help in producing content for your site? Let me know.

Why? One-to-one marketing (or 1:1 marketing) has been shown to foster greater customer loyalty and better ROI. Fortunately, through CRM, email and other marketing software tools, it’s never been easier to target your prospects and customers with customised offers and content.

Here are a few suggestions – and a few tools – to help you do just that.

Know your audience

Putting customers’ first names into your print or email campaigns is a good start, but being able to offer tailored coupons or promotions can really boost sales and loyalty.

When you know who your customers are, you can create custom marketing campaigns to appeal to specific wants and needs. This sounds daunting, but being able to separate groups of customers by their interests or past purchasing behaviour gives you the power to target your marketing efforts to individuals.

So how do you do this? Start by using the information you have available. Use your email list and customer database (or CRM) and look for ways to segment campaigns. You can separate groups by purchase frequency, city, postal codes, services and much more.  Then you can use this information to send grouped special offers via email, postcard or even SMS messages.

Set up automated triggers 

Behaviour-triggered emails help you respond to how your customers are using your product or website. They’re a great way to get results and build interest.

For instance, if you buy something from Apple, you’ll undoubtedly get a follow-up email after you receive the item that asks you how you liked the product. And if you put something in your shopping cart and then leave the site without purchasing it, you’ll probably get an email a day or two later that says, “Hey, your items are still waiting for you!” These are both examples of behaviour-triggered emails.

Trigger emails are highly effective, with a 152% higher open rate than traditional emails. They’re a valuable communication tool that’s easy to automate with most major email platforms, and they can be used for up-selling, cross-selling, welcoming new customers and more.

Get the tools

Not sure where to begin in personalising offers for prospects and customers? Email platforms like MailChimp offer a wide variety of options for segmenting your emails (with some paid and some free choices), but there are also several online tools available that go beyond email:

• Marketo is some pretty full-on marketing automation software, offering real-time personalisation with targeted individuals through dynamically generated and personalised communication.

• Vero is a cloud-based email platform that helps businesses create and send targeted emails based on customers’ website behaviour, as well as offering complete data analysis.

• Intercom combines CRM and email tools to provide support, live chat, feedback and trigger emails so businesses gain an understanding of (and respond to) customer actions both online and in-app

• SparkPage is a B2C tool that helps businesses analyse where they’re losing customers in the conversion process, creating tailored messages suited to users’ needs.

These are just a few options to personalise your marketing. Depending on where you are in the process, your software and your marketing plans for the year, you can create plans for personalised promotions and efforts that will focus on each of your individual customers.

Need help personalising your marketing to get results? Contact Breathe Marketing today.

Working with the right designer can transform your marketing and boost your online presence. Working with the wrong designer can be a logistical and financial nightmare.

Just as when hiring a new employee, it’s a good idea to interview a number of candidates, review a number of portfolios (never choose a designer who doesn’t have a solid portfolio of work to show you) and contact references before making your final choice.

With that in mind, here’s five key questions to ask when seeking a web designer:

1. Do you want to work with a local provider?
There are excellent web designers located all over the world. With phone and Internet access, you can work with a designer who’s across the country or on the other side of the globe. You can often get a better price if you work with someone further away, but how comfortable are you with that arrangement (especially for ongoing communication, drafts and payments)? How important is it to have face-to-face meetings?

2. What is the cost estimate and how will the billing process work?
Depending on what you’re looking for in terms of capabilities, (e-commerce, blog, new domain, creative graphics, integration with other software etc), the price will vary, but once you discuss what you need, your designer should be able to give you a firm cost.

Ask if the designer (or team) will bill hourly or for the entire project, if there will be payments made as key milestones are reached, if an initial deposit required, and what will happen if the work is not done to your satisfaction or starts to go over your budget.

It’s also a good idea to establish how you’ll communicate with each other during the design process. Will you have a weekly meeting or call? Will you get email updates on progress? How often will you see a draft?

3. Has the designer worked in your field or industry before?
How much does the person/team know about your company or industry? This may or may not be critical, but you’ll definitely need to make sure they’re asking the right questions about what you want to get from your site, what your goals are and what needs to be conveyed to your website visitors.

4. How will updates work in the future? Can your team make them?
Your website should be flexible and grow with your business. No matter what kind of site you have, you’ll need to make changes once it’s live. Announcements, new products and services, changes in staff, etc., will all need to be added or updated. If your designer uses a blog/CMS platform like WordPress, someone in your organisation should have access to the Admin section and be able to make basic text and image changes. Determine who will make changes in the future and what the cost will be.

5. What’s the time frame?
Make sure you’re clear from the beginning about your deadlines. It takes time to build a high-quality site – especially if you need e-commerce capabilities – but it’s important that both parties are clear on the schedule and what will happen if deadlines are not met. Keep in mind, too, that you’ll often be responsible for providing images and text information for the site, so be ready to hand that over in a timely manner.

Still have questions about choosing the right web designer for your business? Contact Breathe Marketing today.

PS – Happy with your current design, but concerned that your website isn’t working for you as hard as it should? Before you do a complete redesign, consider doing a full website audit/analysis to determine what really needs changing. Sometimes content updates alone can make a huge difference in results. Contact Breathe Marketing today to ask about a website audit.

Its vs. it’s

‘Its’ is the possessive form of ‘it’. In other words, when you use ‘its’, you’re referring to something that belongs to the item in question. ‘It’s’ is a contraction of the words ‘it is’.

Incorrect: I think its going to rain this afternoon. The cub followed it’s mother into the woods.

Correct: I think it’s going to be a long meeting this afternoon. The board gave its recommendations to the president.

Tip: If you can substitute the words ‘it is’ in the same place in your sentence, you should use the contraction ‘it’s’.

Use of i.e. versus e.g.

Many people confuse these two abbreviations, but there’s an easy way to remember which is which. The abbreviation ‘e.g.’ means ‘for example’ (it’s short for the Latin exempli gratia), whereas ‘i.e.’ means ‘that is’ or ‘in other words (from the Latin id est). The easiest way to remember this one? Think of e.g. when you need to provide an ‘eg-xample’ of something.

Affect vs. effect

These two words are often confused. As a general rule, ‘affect’ is usually an action (or verb), while ‘effect’ is usually a noun and/or a result of something else. For instance:

• I wonder how this arrangement will affect the company?
• What is the effect of this arrangement on the company?

Here’s a tip for remembering which to use: If you’re describing something you’re going to do, use ‘affect’. If you’re describing something you’ve already done, use ‘effect’.

Less vs. fewer

This one can be a bit tricky, but the key is to remember that ‘fewer’ applies to things you can actually count, while ‘less’ describes the extent of something. Therefore, the popular sign at grocery stores that states ‘Ten items or less’ is actually incorrect – it should be ‘Ten items or fewer’!

Incorrect: Did he make less mistakes on this test in fewer time?

Correct: He made fewer mistakes on this test, even though he had less time to take the exam.

Note: In cases where you’re referring to time or money, ‘less’ is used because the concepts are considered to be continuous: ‘In less than two weeks, he will have less money than he started with.’

Accept vs. except These two words have a number of different meanings, but the word ‘accept’ is usually used correctly; the trouble often comes with ‘except’. To accept is to receive, and except is to exclude. To accept is to take or receive something like food or a beverage, a gift, etc.; if you’re debating about which one to use, it may help to remember the word ‘exception’.

Incorrect: He excepted the gift from his aunt. I like all of the dresses accept this one.

Correct: Except for this one, all of the customer surveys have been sent. I decided to accept the position with the new accounting firm.

Need more help?

Need more than just a few tips to improve your written content? We can help. Contact us.