Marketing essentials for start up businesses

Business Growth If you're thinking of starting up a business in 2012, there are a whole range of marketing challenges that you need to be aware of, many of which simply didn't exist just a few years ago.

Over the last 10 years, the marketing landscape has completely changed, in large due to the emergence and subsequent rapid growth of the internet. Where direct mail was the main source of advertising for many companies, the internet has taken its place, and the amount of direct mail in the UK has plummeted. In fact, the only post we tend to get to the office at all now seem to be bills!

The most effective way to get your products and services seen by potential customers is through a company website. Whatever business you're in, your customers are online and therefore it's essential they can find the information they're after in the easiest possible way.

However, you can't expect immediate success overnight. It takes time for you to work your way up Google's search listings and get people to your website. A website also cannot stay static and remain relevant; it needs to grow with your business, keeping your information up to date and helping to raise your profile, advertise your products and services and generate sales leads.

Of course, updating your website frequently can also be counter-productive, and it might confuse potential customers who return to your site. But by using a combination of different social media and adding a blog to your website, you can generate new content (without editing your main information pages), build up a trusting following and feed people through to your website.

Your online presence is a critical marketing and advertising tool that you need to nurture to bring your company success. It won't necessarily be a walk in the park to start with, but it gets easier as you become more familiar with all the online marketing tools at your fingertips.

Although print advertising has suffered a large decline, the value of physical, printed business cards is still very high. Of course, while the ability to connect with a business contact through LinkedIn by bumping your smartphones together is extremely useful, it only takes weak phone signal to render this useless, and smartphones haven't become universal just yet. The maxim that "people buy from people" is still true, so even if customers initially find you online, being able to physically leave your contact details with them may push them into calling and arranging a meeting to see how you can help them.

Real Point have worked with clients of all sizes, from start ups to SMEs in the public and private sectors, and by utilising business stationery, website design and online marketing techniques, have helped them to grow. We are also now offering a series of social media training workshops, helping you to take control of your online identity and use it to boost your business. At just £55 + VAT for a morning's workshop, it's a steal!

See our GetOnWith website for more details, or give us a call on 01676 521 444 to see how we can help you with a bespoke website solution or online marketing package.

February 6, 2012 at 11:12 am | Business Thinking, Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media | No comment

Inside Facebook on BBC2: A quick review

The must watch TV tonight for me was BBC2's documentary "Inside Facebook", a Money Programme look at what makes Facebook tick.

With the inevitable challenge of trying to make it suitable for all audiences, it often swung too far to the basics at times. However, it did provide some interesting insights and anecdotes on life at Facebook, from how it all started, to how it's grown from a "geek idea" into a multi billion dollar business while Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated his commitment to Facebook by his continued turning down of increasingly large offers to buy the company.

Facebook & Privacy
One of the most telling moments in the programme was when the question as put to the VP of Public Policy at Facebook about the use of users' pictures in advertising for pages they had "liked". There was a long pause, after which he tried to defend sponsored stories as "ranking mechanism" not advertising, a very wooly answer, and hitting at the heart of Facebook's reality. That, in reality, the product they are selling is you - the user - if you're not paying for something it's very unlikely that you are the customer. The cartoon featured with this post, tells that story perfectly. Thanks to Mike Ashworth for sharing with me, sourced from Very Demotivational.

Is Google Plus a challenge?
This question was put to Mark, and the pause and slight smirk that passed across his face gave the real answer, while his lips gave a polite response.

Paying for poop
The other, sightly disturbing, highlight was when one user told how he paid one pound (real money!) to buy a virtual display case to display his virtual pet poop! This demonstrates one of the other ways, in addition to advertising, that Facebook is monetising its site, by allowing users in games to pay real money to buy virtual elements and advantages within Facebook games.

Advertising models
There was some good coverage of the advertising model and business promotion methods within the Facebook platform, from how to target particular audience groups, testing adverts for effectiveness, to making effective use of business pages. Very useful if you're investigating how to promote your business on Facebook.

In summary, I would highly recommend viewing of this programme for anyone learning about using Facebook for their business. It would also make great viewing for those who are trying to understand just what all the fuss is about or are starting to have concerns about their online privacy. But for those of us who work and live our lives highly engaged in the various social media platforms, there was little new to learn. And the most interesting discussion about it was happening on . . . . Twitter!

December 4, 2011 at 10:43 pm | Design, Social Media | No comment

Social Media: Where, when and what should you post? And when not to!

I came across this infographic yesterday from Breaking Copy's blog. It's an amusing but helpful guide on what to post where on which social media platform. Most importantly it has an important reminder of what not to post, following my rule of thumb: never post anything you wouldn't want your parents, children, boss, clients or colleagues to see and if you're not sure leave it till you are.

And I'd love to hear your opinion on Breaking Copy's jibe at Google Plus, are you on it? Do you check it regularly if you are?

November 25, 2011 at 9:04 pm | Design, Social Media | No comment

Guide to setting up a Facebook Page Vanity Address

If you have a Facebook page for your business, have you got a "Vanity" address for it? Up until recently you had to have 25 fans before you could apply but now you can select one at setup, though it would seem that for existing pages you still require 25 fans.

What is it?

Instead of the default address which looks like this:

www.facebook.com/pages/realpointgroup/1234567890

you get to choose the bit that goes after Facebook.com so it can look like this:

www.facebook.com/realpointgroup

Why get one?

Easy to remember
Easy to add to electronic or printed literature
More difficult to mistype

Things to think about

Once you select your new address you can't change it, so:

Make sure you type carefully and triple check it before clicking OK!
That it is suitable for long term use; you can't change your mind tomorrow.
That from hearing it to typing it will be straightforward; no clever or unexpected spellings

In effect it is very like choosing a domain name. Many of the same issues apply, so think through the selection in the same way.

How to get one

If you are setting a new page up from scratch you can now select an address as part of the creation process. If you're looking to update an existing page then just go to:

http://www.facebook.com/username

Select the page you wish to create your vanity address for and then enter the name you want to use, click 'check availability' and all being well you're good to go! You can also create a vanity address for your personal profile there.

Problems you can face

Someone is already using your ideal address
Your name contains a well know brand name, which can be on a protected list and is therefore prevented from being used in a vanity URL
Your ideal username is a "generic" word which is on Facebook's denied list.

If this is the case and you feel that you have a valid case for the address you've chosen then you can contact Facebook, more information is available in Facebook's help section or file a username infringement complaint.

Of course if you want any help with this or need to know more about how to make best use of Facebook for your business then you know who to call. We also run Social Media training courses, which include Facebook, if you would like to know more about how to use Facebook more effectively for marketing your business.

November 21, 2011 at 1:59 pm | Design, Social Media | No comment

Finalists in the Midlands Business Awards

At Real Point we're big fans of networking. For us it's been one of our major ways of growing our business. So when we heard about the Networker category in the Midlands Business Awards, we decided to give it a go!

The good news is, we've made it to the finals! I was interviewed earlier this week by an intimidating line up of seven judges, more than anyone on X Factor or Strictly faces (or so I'm told!). With questions on why I think networking is important, why I network, where I network, how much time I spend networking and how I use Social Media in networking, the ten minute interview felt like two and before I knew it I was being hustled back out the room.

Now we just have to wait and see. The awards are on the 3rd February 2012, so we've just got to hold our breath till then! We have some tough competition from some well known names on the Midlands networking scene, so glad to have made it this far and may the best one win . . . .

November 10, 2011 at 2:25 pm | Business Technology, Design, Real Point News | 1 comment

Real Point making an exhibition of themselves in Stratford-upon-Avon

Over the last couple of days Real Point have been exhibiting at the Stratford-upon-Avon Business Festival, organised by the Stratford Business Forum. We've had a great time, meeting all sorts of businesses from a photographer to a Notary Public, Kids farming DVD maker to specialist shoe provider, and many more!

Many people were really keen to find out more about our social media courses, as they felt they were only scratching the surface of how it could help them. So we look forward to welcoming them on our workshops soon.

Others were very interested in our IT Support packages, as they were looking for the peace of mind in knowing that they had someone to call on if their IT was letting them down. One or two, whose businesses were expanding, were looking for advice and guidance on getting the right IT infrastructure in place - the sort of projects our engineers love getting their teeth into.

We definitely found it worthwhile attending and look forward to going along again next year, if you're a business in the Stratford-upon-Avon area, will you be joining us?

October 8, 2011 at 6:35 pm | Business Technology, Design | No comment

Online event promotion and booking tools for offline events

If you're running an event, people need to know about it and have all the information required to ensure they turn up in the right place, at the right time and fully prepared. From free, informal get-togethers to conferences where advanced booking and payment is required, it's a great a help when you have the tools at your disposal to promote and organise it.

Fortunately, there's now a great selection online to help make your next event a great success, what's more, many of them help deliver your potential audience to you.

Meetup

Built around the concept of informal get-togethers, this is a great site to help build awareness and create a community, with over nine million members looking for a meetup to match their interests. Especially recommended for regular events targeting a niche audience, knitting in Birmingham anyone? There is a charge for meetup organisers and meetup can facilitate taking payment from attendees. This blog post has some good tips on running successful meet up.

Alternatives: Big Tent, Group Spaces, Doodle

Linked in and Facebook

Both of these social media platforms have event promotion systems available, while neither support payment they are great tools for promoting your event. Facebook suits a more B2C event while LinkedIn has a B2B focus. When people book in they get the chance to tell their friends that they've done so, pushing your promotion outside of your own network. The discussion mechanisms on both can also help to create a bit of a buzz before and after events and if you're running a big or regular event then look at setting up a dedicated page or group. LinkedIn also provides helps deliver potential interested attendees with it's event search tool allowing users to search for events that match their geography and interests.

Make sure you also promote on: Twitter, with a trailer on YouTube, Craigslist, Gumtree, Biz Nik, Event Span, Upcoming,Eventful and of course your own website, blog and emails.

Eventbrite

If you're looking for a full event management system with the ability to take online bookings and payment, then Eventbrite has, for good reason, established itself as the market leader. Simple and easy to use, it's free for free events! Eventbrite also has a range of widgets to allow you set the diary and booking process up on your own website. And it helps deliver an audience, with registered users getting suggestions and social media and search engine promotion. We're using Eventbrite for promoting and managing our social media courses in Solihull.

Alternatives: CVent, Ticketleap, bespoke booking systems

If you need help getting any of these working effectively for you or to embed the "widgets" into your own website, then we can help. Of course, sometimes an off the shelf system doesn't quite fit the bill, be it that you need something a bit different visually or technically. In which case give us a call, we have extensive experience of creating bespoke online booking systems and event micro sites, for example a bespoke system we developed for booking driving lessons for under 17's, along with e-marketing and social media promotion.

So now you have it, all you need to make your next event run smoothly and successfully! Any tips to share of your own? Please post below.

September 14, 2011 at 9:13 pm | Design, Social Media | 1 comment

We’ve got some questions, have you got the answers?

At Real Point we're planning a series of hands-on workshops starting in September. At the moment we're doing a bit of market research.

We'd like to know:

What day of the week do you find easiest to attend courses on (Monday to Saturday)?
For your business, what would you most like to learn more about in blogging, social media, online marketing, search engines and updating your website?
What makes you choose one course provider over another?

Please comment and let us know your views.

August 3, 2011 at 9:41 pm | Courses, Design | 2 comments

How to improve your social media presence – Article 1

Last week, I attended a workshop at Birmingham City Football Club (not representative of my football team – I don’t have one!). Entitled ‘The Secrets of Social Media Success’, I felt I should go along and see if I could pick up any new tips to improve how we use social media both within our own company and for what we offer our clients.

The biggest problem with social media is that it’s still quite new and constantly evolving, and so it’s likely that you’re in one of two camps: you’ve either jumped onto the bandwagon and are using at least some of social media’s features, or you’re aware of social media’s existence but you’re not sure quite where to start or how it can help your business.

In this series of articles, I hope to give an overview of some of the biggest social networks, as well as present some tips to help streamline the process of using social media; making it more manageable, productive and effective for your business – if you’re currently on Facebook, you know just how easy it is to lose an entire evening!

I have chosen to focus on the three main social networks for businesses and business people in the UK – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – and is targeted towards people who have some (if even just very basic) knowledge of one or more of these.

Facebook

As Facebook is by far the largest and most well-known social network, this is where I shall start.

If you currently have a Facebook account, you’ll be familiar with your personal profile, where your Wall provides a place for you and for friends to add comments, links and other media; the Photos section where you can upload your own images or where others’ images of you appear if you’ve been ‘tagged’ in them; and status updates, where you can tell the world ‘What’s on your mind?’. Quite literally.

Fan Pages

Obviously telling the world you’re eating Frosties for breakfast isn’t necessarily what your customers want to know – or what you want to tell them – and this is why Facebook offers Fan Pages. These are separate from your personal profile – and although you do need an account to create a page – fan pages are to be used solely for promoting businesses, brands or products. Other Facebook users are able to ‘Like’ your page, and this then gives them access to statuses, comments, photos etc.

There are 6 different page types which you can create. Once you’ve logged in to your personal account, visit Facebook's page creation page http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php to select the type of page, fill in your details and click ‘Get Started’.

Once the page is online, you need to make it as effective and useful as possible. Upload your company logo as a profile picture, making sure that the image is square (on search results the thumbnail is square so making sure it fits is a must).

Complete all your company details, including an address if you’re location based. Facebook has paired up with Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, to provide map services, so if a user clicks your address, it’ll jump straight to a map.

Content

With the basics complete, the most important thing is generating new content, keeping it fresh and keeping it frequent. Make a plan with upcoming events and important dates, and then write posts that relate to the event that you can use when the time comes. Try not to bombard your followers with messages all the time, 2 or 3 items a week is enough to keep people interested, but not posting at all will leave your page forgotten.

Content Tips

Keep posts short (no more than a few sentences) or people will simply lose interest
Use numbers (eg. countdowns – “5 days to go!”) to increase interactivity
Include links to feed visitors through to your main website
Add photos to help publicise an event or show what’s going on. Images are more likely to get ‘Liked’, and with more and more people using social networks on mobiles – especially smartphones – visitors want content that’s easy to see on a small display, yet memorable– so slightly unusual, quirky pictures will get noticed)
Use videos from YouTube and other services – either related interesting videos from other people, or create your own (an article on this will be included in our next e-newsletter), to help emphasise a point or show what you can offer

Interactivity

Facebook is an ideal place to interact and discuss with your customers, and with 30 million users in the UK (and growing!), you can target people from all age ranges...though users should supposedly be 13 to sign up to the service, of course.

Essentially, interactivity is generated through people ‘Liking’ and commenting on your posts, images, status, links and videos or posting their own to your Wall. Asking questions, having Facebook-only competitions and posting statuses like “Only 20 to go till we have 500 fans!” will all encourage users to comment and react to your content.

One way to keep interactions between Facebook and your website is to include ‘Like’ buttons on your website. If people visit your site and have their own Facebook account, clicking ‘Like’ will post what they have liked on their own Wall, expanding your reach. Resources for these can be found here.

Of course, I could go into a lot more detail, but I initially wanted to just cover the basics in this article. If you would like any information about anything more specific, do let us know and we’ll see if we can add something to the blog.

Join us next time for an overview of Twitter. If anything that’s been said has been of interest, or if you’d like help in setting up, planning and implementing a social media campaign, give us a call.

April 21, 2011 at 3:48 pm | Business Thinking, Social Media | 2 comments

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