Twitter, basically, is a “microblogging” service. You create an account and then send out short messages (140 characters or less) as often as you’d like, keeping people up to date on your business, your life, of whatever you happen to be “tweeting” about. Twitter is hugely popular for personal use, but it’s also a powerful and easy-to-use marketing tool that local businesses can and should be learning and using. If you’re still in the “I don’t get it” phase with Twitter, I hope this article will help you view it as a huge opportunity and not a silly and useless social network – because it’s certainly NOT that. (A few more Twitter article for small business marketing purposes.)

Here are the basic guidelines you need as you get started with your small business on Twitter.

1. Be personable, but don’t put your personal life into your Twitter business account.

Remember that your Twitter account for small business is supposed to be about your business; it’s great to share personal things that relate, and to be friendly and approachable, but it’s not great to use your business Twitter to talk about your personal pet peeves, your mood swings, your family issues, or how you can’t decide what to wear today. Keep yourself on topic and remember that the topic is your business.

2. Follow everyone back.

(Unless they look totally off color). As with anything Internet-based, there will be spammers who follow you on Twitter. They’re pretty easy to identify – strange names or obviously spammy tweets or direct messages sent out. Ignore them, but whenever a real person becomes your follower on Twitter, follow them back.

3. If anyone tweets to you, reply if possible and reply as soon as possible.

These could include both tweets sent to you or in which you are mentioned and direct messages sent to you from another Twitter user. It’s much easier to do lots of these on the computer a couple of times a day than on a smartphone. Try to set aside a few times a day to check your Twitter account and make replies. Try and thank people who say something to you. It’s a cocktail party, and you would at least speak to everyone who said hey to you. Twitter is the same.

4. Keep it PG.

Don’t alienate people by being crass; it’s not professional, and it won’t gain you any points with your followers. It’s great to be witty and trendy, but it’s not great to tweet inappropriate jokes, innuendos, or profanity. Along with that point, remember: don’t tweet under the influence!

5. Use pictures.

Pictures are the hot button thing. People love them. There are several different Twitter services and Twitter photo services. Check out Twitpic.com for starters. And remember that the text with a picture is as important as a picture. Make your “caption” short, sweet, and intriguing so that people want to click and see that photo.

6. Be yourself.

Don’t try and be anyone else. Get that personality out there. No one can compete with you being you.

7. Be personable.

Talk about your daily work, your perspective, what’s new and interesting to you in your industry. Share about what is exciting to you in this season in your business. Ask for opinions. Ask for insight. Answer questions when you know the answer. Respond to people quickly, and be courteous and friendly. Treat your Twitter interactions like real interactions.

8. Stay focused.

Use your Twitter business account to entertain, to education, and to engage with your target market. Provide content, in those bite-sized bits, that is new, interesting, relevant, helpful, and makes people want to find out more about you and your business. Don’t be afraid to share what you know. It’s your expertise in your business that makes you able to reach out to others, so share your knowledge.

What do you think about Twitter? Have you used it to help your business?

Photo By: Search Engine People Blog

More and more brick-and-mortar business owners are starting to see that social networking helps business: it increases your public profile, helps you create a recognizable brand, and helps you reach people you might not otherwise reach.

But what about the benefits of social networking for reaching out locally? Can you use social networking not to “expand” into a new target market but to get more business from where you already are?

In short, absolutely. Social networking can become a huge boost and help you increase local business. Here’s how to go about it:

Create a Local Presence Online
Maybe you have a website or business blog, or you’re building up your Facebook business page and learning your way around Twitter. Use your time online to create more contact with other local folks. Here are a few ways to do that:

1. Get your profile on geo-social sites like Foursquare and Facebook Places.

These social sites are places that map local areas and then allow users to interact with those local places online. Create an account, and then claim your local business on the map; you’ll go through a brief confirmation procedure, and then you can start interacting with users on the social site. (Look for more on this in an upcoming post. We’ll walk you through it step-by-step.)

2. Find local groups and local business pages on Facebook and get involved with them.

Use Facebook’s search tool to find groups and pages from your area, then join the groups and become a fan of the pages. Interact; respond to posts, ask questions, answer questions, be friendly, and contribute. All you’re doing is expanding your local presence from the street front and physical community to the virtual street front and online community.

3. Connect with local news and review sites.

There are some national websites, such as Examiner.com, Citysearch.com, and Yelp.com, which have local branches. Browse through these and you’ll find reviews of area restaurants, articles on local events, and more. Get in touch with the news writers and offer an interview or story idea relating to your business; most of the time these folks are looking for good material, so they’ll jump on your offer. For the review sites, make sure your business is on the site, then respond to good reviews with thank you and any negative comments with an offer to help and resolve the problem. No feedback from you will come across as negative, so be proactive here.

Promote Your Social Networking Offline
Once you’ve got a Facebook page, website, blog, or other networking method in place, start telling people about it! Put a link on your business cards. Create and print a simple flyer telling people to find you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter. Put a sign in the window, a sign on your bulletin board, a link on your email signature, and a reference on any other material that goes out of your business.Local folks will not just automatically find you online; you have to tell them. And sometimes you have to tell them a few times so, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Use Social Networking to Promote Your Local Community
Now that you’ve established a local presence online and started getting local people to connect with you online, it’s time to leverage all that work into more local business. Do this by using your social network and online storefront to promote local events and provide special locally based offers. Sponsor the next charity 5K run and talk about it online. Put a local community calendar on your website. Put an events tab on your Facebook page and highlight local events as well as events as your own business.

What you’re doing is becoming a local resource, both online and offline. Expand your local value by offering special discounts, deals, and coupons to local folks but do it online. Send a special message to your Facebook followers, an email to your subscribers, or tweet out a message offering 1/2 off an item for the next 24 hours. Make your discounts significant and time-limited and offer them frequently; this motivates your local fans to follow you online so they don’t miss a special deal, and it also motivates them to share your great deal with other local folks.

The key in this strategy is to keep the focus on the local folks. What gets them excited and makes them want to come back? Figure out what that is, translate it into something you can offer or talk about online, and you’ve found the key to leverage social networking for more local business.

Photo Credit: philcampbell

Are you ready to dive into the winning marketing strategy of partnering with other businesses? When you pursue these promotional or marketing partnerships, here are four critical steps to consider that will lead to long term success for both your business’ bottom line and your partnership with the other business:

1. Develop a list of businesses that sell related products or services but are not in direct competition with you selling the same item. Hint: Look inside your own customer list FIRST to develop such a list. These people have already formed a relationship with you.

2. Contact the business owners on that list to form strategic alliances. Propose ways to mutually benefit each others’ business – the goal is to promote added value to each others’ customers. At the end of the day it’s all about exposing YOUR customer list to their products or services – and them doing the same for you, in a way that’s equitable for both of you.

3. Agree to a plan. Write everything down and agree to the exact specifications of the agreement with the other business owner. It doesn’t matter how simple the partnership “plan” – WRITE IT DOWN and get the agreement sealed with a signature. This simple act will help maintain the integrity of your relationship with this other business long after any marketing partnership is dissolved.

4. Implement your plan while communicating frequently about how it’s working for each other. If a lopsided result occurs – work together to make the partnership more equitable for both parties. This is the secret to LONG TERM success!

Now – go make some strong partnerships – and sell more stuff! Grow your business using this proven marketing strategy PERFECT for local and small business owners!

Have you already used this strategy and experienced success? We’d love to hear from you and feature your business and case study in an upcoming blog post. Please comment below and share some of your story right now!

Photo Credit: Beneath_B1ue_Skies

So, let’s assume your small business has been paying attention. You’ve gotten the three elements of your brand together. Now, what are you going to do with it?

Card Package Branding for PeruPaper.com

If you use your brand widely, you will be amazed at how much more aware folks are of your business and your offerings just on this tactic alone. Similarly, if you are putting together a community, district or even your own specific promotion – these efforts to build your brand elements FIRST will exponentially benefit the overall success of subsequent programs.

Here are a few ideas of places where your local business’ brand system could appear within your brick-and-mortar community. Remember ALL brand elements should be present.

1. Shopping Bags
2. Unique Open/Close Door Signs (create your own in a desktop publishing software, then laminate at an office store)
3. Wayfinding in your store and in your community (this is any sign that tells folks where to find stuff or find their way)
4. Street Banners
5. Yard Signs
6. Billboards
7. Shopping Guides, brochures, basic business cards and the like
8. Menu Boards on the exterior of an establishment and on table menus or menu signage inside
9. Clothing items: aprons, shirts, lapel pins, caps, etc.
10. Cooperative marketing and advertising campaigns of all sorts

Get that brand out there! Don’t be shy. Activity and awareness breeds sales.

Photo Credit: PeruPaper.com

I teach a small business marketing seminar for locally owned businesses that’s called “EIGHT Ways to Make Your Cash Register Ring in Any Economy.” In this seminar, one of the eight strategies that we outline is what we call “Pursuing Partnerships & Alliances.”

There are several different types of partnerships or alliances that work really well and should all be used liberally in local businesses and restaurants.

1.  There is the alliance or strength gained from “riding the coattails of an industry elephant.” This happens when you carry a major national brand in your store that is doing national advertising – and you mimic elements of that advertising campaign in your own marketing messages or images. This same strategy can be accomplished when you ride the coattails of a major trend (such as the green or environmentally friendly movement) or a major cause or organization (such as a political, religious, or industry promotional campaign).

2. There are the partnerships that participate in cooperative marketing programs generated or promoted by local or regional organizations. This strategy is implemented when local businesses join together under the banner of a common cause or organization. This would be the case when a Main Street or Chamber pools your money or even fronts the money for a promotional campaign for all of the businesses involved or to promote a certain shopping district or event.

3. Finally, there are those alliance that businesses make directly with one another. These are created with the purpose of co-promoting one another’s business. This is best configured when two or more businesses are targeting the same demographic or target audience, but they do not have a competing product. (This works regardless of geographic area – it works if you’re close geographically – it works when you’re not.)

Think about it. Are you using all three of these Partnership/Alliance strategies to grow your small business? You might be blown away by the results. I know I have been in my own business and in the businesses of our clients. Think about how you can work with others and get started today!

Photo Credit: exfordy

Want a free, easy way to keep customers “in the loop?” Use Twitter to connect – even with so-called – “non-Twitterers.”

1. Create a Twitter account for your business. (Want to know more about how to do this for optimum success? Check out our webinar.)

2. At every point of contact, let folks know to TEXT/SMS message: “Follow YourTwitterHandle” to 40404. That’s no quotes, the word FOLLOW,  a single space, then YOUR twitter handle. For example, if you were to follow me, you would text Follow ResultsRev to 40404.

3. Tweet out the insider info you’ve promised and it’ll get delivered, free of charge, straight to your customers and prospects cell phones.

I mean, what if the sign in this picture above instead said:

Shop Local. Text 40404

Follow MisterTAwards

It’s that easy… there’s really nothing else required of your customer or prospect AT ALL.

What are some other points of contact (besides exterior signage or billboards) where you can tell folks how to do this?

• Events – handouts, signage or verbal instructions
• Bag stuffers in your store
• Check presenters in your restaurant
• Point of sale signage
• E-mail marketing, web site graphics, posts on your Facebook wall

There are endless opportunities – don’t miss them! This is a marketing tip that really is THAT easy…

Photo Credit: Seven_Null7

By design, you’ve got customers and lots of them – because they are attending an event that you are hosting or sponsoring. They are a captive audience. Now what?

How do you hold on, keep the edge, make the big event pay off? It’s all about “Leveraging the Boom.”

When you have a dense customer population in your small business – a.k.a. a boom – you MUST make the most out of the event attendees literally while it’s happening in order to grow your business for the long-term. This is the only way to truly get the most return on investment from your event.

To make the most of the bump, you must make smart use of marketing tools to do two things:

1. Capture new customers.
2. Educate them about the benefits of using your company.

There are a lot of ways to accomplish these things, but here are three easy ways to connect that are extremely easy and efficient to accomplish – and fast – ways to turn a short-term boom into long-term sales and business growth for your small business:

1. E-mail. Get that e-mail address! It might not be a hard fact, but it seems like at LEAST 50% of folks have an e-mail enabled smart phone. For example, here’s a fun way to gather a bunch of e-mail addresses at a large event venue: Ask attendees to send an e-mail to you during the event. Then, announce the winner of an immediate prize: move to the front row, get a chair at the chef’s table, win a free dessert, receive an upgrade to the super-duper best package. “Just e-mail us, and we’ll pick a winner… right now.” Taking the 3-5 minutes at an event venue may net you 15 to 100 email addresses – easy.

2. Facebook + TEXT (SMS). While there is a lot you can do with text messaging, here is one free way to gain a connection to your new prospects and customers so that you can sell them more stuff over and over again for a long time.

Start by looking at the number of Facebook “Likes” or Twitter followers you have before the event begins. During the event, post signage and also just ask folks to text “LIKE YOURPAGENAME” to FBOOK (36556). For us we’d say “text LIKE RESULTSREV” to FBOOK on your phone right now. Guess what — you just got a new like! Live events can produce huge bumps in the like numbers for a Facebook Page.

3. Twitter + TEXT (SMS). The same thing holds true on Twitter. Have attendees text FOLLOW RESULTSREV to Twitter (40404). Yep, that’s all it takes to start tweeting. They’ll get your tweets on their phone – even if they’ve NEVER signed up for Twitter before.

But at the end of the day, did that ring you more sales? Probably not today – but it did make sure that you made contact with the people who attended your event. Now, tomorrow, you can stay in touch with them and get to know them better and expose them to new elements of your business – and yes, increase your sales accordingly. It will blow your mind. I promise.

What about you? What is your best method to turn an event into long-term customer relationships (and sales)?

Photo Credit: mastermaq