 One of the key foundations of your social media strategy is a detailed customer profile that describes your target audience as an individual. To create this, you’ll research your audience members and use objective data and feedback, not just assumptions. Here is what you’ll learn about your followers on social media and how this information will help you succeed. Demographics - Who Your Audience Is The first thing you learn is your audience’s demographics. This data answers the question, “Who are they.” It includes information like: - Age - Geographical location - Language - Gender - Marital status - Education level - Income level Include whatever other information you feel might be relevant as well. Most of this data can be obtained by looking at social media profiles. Psychographics – Your Audience’s Beliefs and Lifestyle Psychographic data is not about who your audience are, but how they think and behave. This field seeks to discover the cognitive processes that influence behavior. This is essential for any business as it determines the person’s buying behavior. Psychographics include: - Core values - Attitudes toward brands and products - Likes and preferences - Behavior, especially in regard to businesses they interact with - Hobbies and leisure time activities You need to dig a bit deeper to reveal this information. You might follow your audience on social media or carry out focus groups. It’s a little tougher to gain this kind of data so pay close attention to your customers’ conversations. Pain Points – The Challenges Your Audience Faces An important part of your psychographic data is your customer’s pain points. These are the challenges they face, the issues they need to overcome, or the questions burning inside them. If you can offer a solution these problems through your content, you’ll build a strong relationship with them. The best way to discover this information is to follow your audience members online. See what they post about or ask about on social media. Look at the conversations they have in online groups or comments. Your Audience’s Social Media Preferences By following your audience on social media, you can also learn about their preferences. You need to know what type of content they like so you can use that to engage with them. Preferences include not just topics they’re interested in, but formats they like (video or text), social media channels they use, and other social media behavior. Best Practices for Social Media Engagement You’ll really learn a great deal once you implement your social media strategy and get results. As you implement, you’ll monitor analytics to discover what works and what doesn’t. Every industry, every niche, every audience, and every business has its own best practices. The only way to master yours is to launch your social media strategy and put your plan into action. Get The Free Course. Register HERE Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality. 
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 Offering the lowest price is not a good marketing strategy and there are several reasons why. First of all, it reduces your profits and in order to help yourself and others, you do need profit. If you have to continually offer lower prices than anyone else in your industry, the increased sales you'll get could still have you earning less revenue. Secondly, what if someone prices even lower than you? Larger companies have a huge advantage when it comes to low pricing. They can afford to take a small loss if it means long-term gains. You may not have that same option. Instead, you should charge well for your products. There are several ways you can set your prices higher and still make sales. Perceived Value Price-setting isn't based on actual cost, but on perceived value. Perceived value is what your customers expect to pay for products such as yours. If you can grasp that perceived value is totally different from cost, this makes pricing higher much easier. For example, in the 1990s, a CD sold for $14 new. Never mind that it's a plastic disc with data imprinted on it whose actual material and production costs were a couple of dollars. People expected to pay $14, so record companies could charge it. So, how do you use perceived value to your advantage? You do it by understanding what your market perceives as valuable. In other words, what qualities of your product would lead your customers to pay higher prices? Emphasize Uniqueness Figure out what's unique about your product. Does this help or provide value to your customers in a way other products do not? Your product doesn’t have to be the best at what it does, but rather the only product that uniquely meets its buyers' needs. Customize and Personalize One area where it's hard for big companies to compete is customization. People are generally willing to pay more for a product that's designed especially for them to meet their individual needs. If you can find a way to customize your products or emphasize this customization as a key benefit, you can set prices higher. Aim Higher Maybe you're targeting the wrong market. There is always a segment of the population that's willing to pay a great deal for a high quality product. If you can sell to this segment, you'll have no problem setting your prices high. However, in order to do this, you have to convince this market that your product is high-quality. Identify this higher-paying market and do some research to see why they buy from the companies they buy from. Setting prices low isn't the only pricing tactic available for small business and, in fact, it might be the worst. Instead, look at your business and its products, and find ways you can set prices higher to make it more profitable for you and your market. Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Marketing isn't simple. To do it right, it requires a great deal of planning. Small businesses without massive marketing budgets have to handle this aspect of their business themselves and for many this is no easy task. This is why businesses create a marketing plan. A marketing plan is a detailed document that includes the data you need to make marketing decisions and set a course of action that you can implement immediately. Drafting a marketing plan takes a great deal of time and work, but here are a few questions to get you started. Who Is Your Target Market? If you're already selling, take a look at your existing customers. Who are they? What do they like about your company's products? Try to recall any positive feedback you've gotten from them. Naturally, if your brand resonates with these individuals, it will resonate with others like them. If you don't already have customers, defining your target market may take a bit more work. Look at companies that offer similar products to yours. Who is buying from them? Who could benefit from your products? Try doing some market research to glean some idea of who your target market is. What Makes Your Products Unique? There are bound to be other companies out there selling goods similar to yours. So, what makes yours different? Why would someone buy from you and not another company? Remember here that 'products' actually means your offering, which includes services as well. The term refers to whatever people buy from you. If the unique qualities of your products don't come to mind immediately, some work needs to be done. Do some soul searching and look for the strengths of your products. If, in the end, you find that your product unfortunately resembles basically everything else on the market, how can you change it to make it unique? What Do You Want Your Marketing to Achieve? Every business takes for granted that it needs to market, but why? The 'why' is critical. You need to identify exactly what you hope to achieve through your marketing because this will guide all of your efforts and help you choose which tactics are most appropriate. Once you know who your target market is, what's unique about your product or service, and what you want to get out of your marketing efforts, you're ready to get started with your marketing plan. Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Today, people are swamped with marketing messages. Everywhere we go both online and off, we get a massive dose of aggressive marketing. How can you cut above all of this noise and get your message to your market? This has led marketers to think outside the box and develop bold, creative new ideas for getting their marketing to the masses. The buzzword 'guerrilla marketing' is used to refer to these tactics. What Is Guerrilla Marketing? Guerilla marketing means marketing that is unconventional. Jay Conrad Levinson, who coined the term, calls it, “The achievement of conventional goals (e.g. profit) using unconventional methods such as investing energy and ideas instead of money.” It is intended to achieve maximum results for as little cost as possible. This makes it a great alternative for small businesses that are operating on a shoestring budget. A small business can't pump the advertising dollars a big company has into a massive campaign, so it has to leverage its creativity. The Risks of Guerrilla Marketing This unconventional approach isn't appropriate for all niches or industries. Part of the point of guerrilla marketing is to ruffle feathers, surprise people, and shake things up. In industries where security is a major issue, such as finance or insurance, it's not such a good idea. Instead of subverting the paradigm, you could show your company to be untrustworthy. However, for most businesses in retail, it's a great way to pique curiosity and get people interested. Guerrilla Tactics There is no standard for guerrilla marketing since it thrives on creativity. But common methods include creating urban art, turning unused space into art, or making ads that are optical illusions. Some companies set up funny scenarios that are straight out of a hidden camera television show. For example, they might have live people in their window displays. Other ideas include leaving interesting post-it notes or branded merchandise in public places such as cafes and bars. Humorous or eye-catching stickers can be printed cheaply and put in unexpected places. You can create flyers to hang around town that are in an interesting shape or particularly eye catching. Business cards can be made in wildly creative styles. Free stuff is often part of guerrilla marketing. The offer of something valuable for free is always an attention grabber. Talk to other businesses and put together a package of free stuff to give away to potential customers. Finally, a common guerrilla marketing tactic is to throw a party. There's no promotion involved here. Just invite your customers to come and have a good time, thus building a stronger connection with your business. The idea is to get media attention, so let people know. An effective strategy to boost your guerrilla marketing is to issue a press release each time you employ one of these tactics. If you're going to try guerrilla marketing, remember that the goal is to surprise and engage, not to insult, offend, annoy, or upset people.
Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Marketing plans come in all shapes and sizes. The right marketing plan for your business depends on many different factors. But one thing all businesses have in common is that they can benefit a great deal from blogging. Blogging is a tactic used in content marketing. When you write a blog, you publish a steady stream of fresh content. This content draws traffic to your site and earns new readers, while also building a relationship with the readers you have. Blogging Is Simple but Effective Many small businesses don't want to blog because it's 'writing' and you're not a 'writer.' But blogging is extremely simple. This is why it makes a perfect element in an online marketing plan. Blog posts can be as short as 300 words or even less. They can include videos and images. Each post can cover one simple topic and the writing doesn't have to be magazine-grade. Write in a conversational tone like you're talking to a friend and proofread so that there aren't any grammar or spelling mistakes. The way to blog headache-free is to set aside a little time each week to write and post. Carve out an hour or so to write something and post it. If you have a team member who can write well, delegate the task to them. How to Get Ideas The other trouble many people have when they start blogging is where to get ideas. Here are some simple places to get ideas for your blog posts:
Keep an idea file. Spend some time brainstorming topics at first and then add to it whenever you get an idea. Whenever you need an idea, refer to this file and start writing. Working a Blog into Your Marketing Plan Decide what topics your blog will cover and at what frequency you'll write and post. If you add a blog to your website, you'll boost your site's SEO and give visitors more to do there. You can also use your blog's analytics and its reader comments to learn more about your target market and its tastes. Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Before you get into marketing your business, you need to identify its business goals. Although we take for granted that a business's goal is to increase revenue, that's not the end of the story. There are many other types of goals companies strive to achieve. Product Creation Some businesses are driven by the desire to offer excellent products that make life easier for all of us. Your business goal may be to create the most innovative products on the market. This is a wonderful goal because products are at the heart of any business's success. Customer Service Your business's goal may be to serve your customers and help them solve their problems. It may also be to lend help to the community or to strengthen the community of your customers. This is also an excellent choice because good customer service leads to more sales. Customer Retention Your goal may be to not only gain new customers and increase revenue, but to keep the customers you have. Businesses do this by creating a community for their customers and by remaining open to their feedback in order to improve their products or services. Growth and Expansion Maybe your business's goal is to grow and expand, eventually moving into new markets and new enterprises. If this is the case, conducting market research to find new areas would be a major part of your overall strategy. Efficiency A major goal for your company may be to tighten up your processes. This might include challenging your salespeople to reach an ever higher sales ratio or streamlining your shipping in order to reach your customers more quickly. Changing the World Some companies have as part of their vision to enable social change. Your goal might be to make the world a better place through the use of your products and services. This is a goal for many companies that produce environmentally-friendly products or work to streamline their operations so that they're more ecological. Increasing revenue and profit isn't the only goal of most businesses. Look at your business currently and ask yourself what other goals you have. This will help you as you plan your marketing. Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Planning promotions with a yearly calendar is a good way to achieve your business goals. Whether you want to boost sales during slow periods, or hold flash sales to motivate current customers to buy additional products, this is an effective and organized approach that gets results. It would seem like the more sales and promotions you offer, the more results you’ll get. But this isn’t always the case. If you offer too many, you run the risk of promotion overkill. Here are the top 3 reasons why you should limit your promos. Customer Burnout When you offer occasional promotions throughout the year, your customers will be excited. You can build buzz leading up to each and which could result into more sales. But if you run too many, your audience could burn out and your promotions will lose their effectiveness and novelty over time. One way to mitigate this is to mix up your promotions. Offer discounts on different types of products and services. Segment and target specific groups within your audience. Try to find the most important and relevant times of year for your promotions. Devaluing Your Brand Holding too many promotions can devalue your brand. People will see you as a business that offers cheap goods. Ideally, your customers buy from you because your products and services offer unique solutions to their problems. They love the value you offer, not just the low prices. For example, if you run a promotion once every two months like clockwork, people will wait until the next promotion to buy from you. They know you’re going to run it, so they’ll just plan their buying around the sale and never pay full price. Fewer Profits Offering constant promotions can also hurt your bottom line. If you’re always selling below the regular price, you simply won’t earn as much from your sales. You’ve put in the work setting your product pricing so that it yields a good return on investment. Promotion overkill will undermine these efforts. Promotions are a way to get a temporary burst of income when you need it. You should plan them during sales slumps when people aren’t buying like they usually do. This way, promotions won’t interfere with your regular sales. Finding the Sweet Spot Promotions are a great strategy but don’t overuse them. They should offer incredible value, not just a reduced rate. How many promos should your business run? This depends on your customers and your brand. Every target audience has their own sweet spot. Find yours by creating a yearly promotional calendar and testing it out. Want to learn more about growing and developing your business? Visit Innovative Business Solutions website HERE. Visit Innovate Academy For Entrepreneurs HERE. Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  If you plan your promotional calendar a year in advance, this will help you generate a steady income while offering great value to your customers. When planning your promotions, there are many types to choose from. Here are 5 popular and effective promotion ideas to inspire you. Flash Sales A flash sale is a very short, limited-time offer. It can last just a few days or even a few hours. The idea is to offer a deep discount in a short window of time – and then it’s gone. Make sure your Flash Sale is not something you offer every month just to generate sales but, something offered periodically such as twice a year to motivate people to purchase your offer. Seasonal and Holiday Sales Seasonal and holiday sales are promotions that are linked to an annual event or time of year. This includes Valentine’s Day, summertime, or ‘back to school’ sales. These promotions are effective because they’re tied to important events in your customers’ lives, making your sale relevant, memorable, and meaningful. Annual Sales Another option is to hold a major annual sale. Create a promotional event that your customers will look forward to every year. Annual sales are often used by businesses that rarely offer promotions. Choose a time of year when sales are slow. For example, if you have a dip in sales in January, this is the ideal time to hold your annual promotion. You can also use your annual promotion to fill a gap in your calendar, during a quiet time when there isn’t a relevant or exciting holiday to celebrate. Clearance Sales Clearance sales allow you to get rid of excess stock or items that aren’t selling. Offer a steep discount to motivate people to buy. BOGOF BOGOF stands for “buy one get one free.” Most commonly, BOGOF means that you’re offering two items for the price of one, but it can also refer to product bundles or free upgrades with purchase. The idea is that your customer can buy a product at regular price and get something else in the bargain. Pair products that people typically buy together, or products that can be used together, and increase the value of the BOGOF offer. Creating Your Profitable Promo Calendar How do you put these promotional types to work? Analyze your cycle, pick the optimal times of year for your promotions, and then create the right offer for your target audience. Want to learn more about growing and developing your business? Visit Innovative Business Solutions website HERE. Visit Innovate Academy For Entrepreneurs HERE. Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality. 
Well-timed promotions can help you sell more, hit your targets, and achieve your business goals. But it takes some planning and preparation to get the timing just right, while offering your customers maximum value. Before you can start planning your promotions, you need to ask yourself these 5 essential questions. Who Am I Targeting? First, it’s essential to know your audience. You need to know what issues and problems they face so that your offer provides a solution. You’ll also need to know their tastes, behaviors, and what motivates them when choosing the timing of your promos, the promo types, and the messages and communications that will accompany the promos. Do some research and gather feedback from the market. Follow your target audience on social media and interact with them. Conduct surveys or polls and ask direct questions. What Is My Business Objective? What do you want your promotions to achieve? The answer is critical. It will inform future decisions and will also help you determine if your promotions were a success. Your goal might be to grow your audience, increase sales, attract new customers, strengthen the relationship with existing customers, or bring back customers who haven’t purchased from you in a while. What Is Happening In The Industry? You can’t completely grasp the market landscape if you don’t know what is happening in your industry. What kind of promotions are already being launched and what is the response? Knowing this will provide insight into your target audience’s likes and dislikes. You may also have an opportunity to fill an untapped need. How Much Can I Afford to Discount? Before you get started creating promotions, you should have a realistic idea of what you can offer without breaking the bank. Set a price or discount that can withstand a high volume of orders. The same advice applies to service providers: Make sure you have enough time to deliver your service in the event that there’s a flood of orders. Digital products or free access to paid services are great promo ideas that won’t cost you a thing. Is It Appropriate for My Brand? Every promotion reflects on your brand, so make sure each one creates a positive impression. The promotion should be relevant to your products and services and complement your brand image. Too many promos can devalue your brand, so proceed with caution. Don’t create an association between your brand and cheap goods (unless you’re a value/budget brand). Creating Your Promotional Calendar Once you’ve answered these 5 questions, you’re ready to start planning your promotional calendar. The first step is to look at your sales data and find slumps throughout the year where you could benefit from a boost in income. Want to create your annual promotional calendar? Innovative Business Solutions has helpful planning workshops. Visit Innovative Business Solutions website HERE. Want to learn more about growing your business in a self-paced learning environment? Visit Innovate Academy For Entrepreneurs HERE. Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality. 
Promotions help you sell more, grow your customer base, and strengthen relationships with existing customers. Use promotions effectively by planning them a year in advance, connecting them to holidays and seasons that are relevant to your audience. But how do you get the word out? A promotion won’t succeed if people don’t know about it. Here are the top 5 ways to get your promotions noticed. Social Media Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are great for getting the word out about promotions. Alert your followers and give your promotion a hashtag so people can find it. In the days leading up to the event, create a pinned post so it’s the first thing people see when they check out your profile. In addition to promotional content, share helpful information related to the products or services you’re selling. Email Marketing If you don’t already have an email list, build one and use it for your promotions. Email is an even better way to reach people than social media because it’s personal. Your messages go straight to the customer’s inbox. If your goal is to boost retention and build relationships with existing customers, offer exclusive deals to email subscribers only. They’ll be more likely to buy because it’s especially for them. Promote with Video Video content is a powerful way to communicate with followers and potential customers. Videos perform better on social media than other types of content. You can create videos promoting your sale, as well as short videos that provide tips or advice, with mention of your promotion in the description or within the video. Team up with a Partner Team up with another business that shares your target audience and collaborate on promotions. This will give you direct access to their audience, significantly expanding your reach. It also lets you leverage each other’s skills and expertise. This is a great opportunity to build your relationship with new people in your network. Paid Advertising Paid advertising is an effective way to get your message in front of new people. The only downside is that it costs you money. But it can be a profitable investment if you want to aggressively build your audience. You have a variety of paid advertising options, including ads on social media or search engines. Get Started Planning Your Promos Now that you know how to get the word out, it’s time to start developing your annual promo calendar. Pick times of the year where you need to boost sales and decide which holidays are relevant to your audience – and then get planning! Want to learn more about growing and developing your business? Visit Innovative Business Solutions website HERE. Visit Innovate Academy For Entrepreneurs HERE. Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality. |
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