Google+ Business Pages Now Available
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Finally! Google+ has added business pages. Use them to promote your company, brand, product, organization, band, arts or service. There is even an ‘other’ category.
It’s simple to set up and allows you to easily segment posts to customers, team members, VIP’s, etc. To get started, sign in to your Google account and then head to http://www.google.com/+/business/. Or, simply click the Create a Google+ Page link at the bottom or side of your personal Google+ page. Follow the steps and you are up and running.
Then grow your audience by making it easy for people to find and recommend your page. Place the Google+ badge or a small code snippet on your site.
Use the logo on all your online media to encourage people to add your page to their circles so your posts will appear in their stream. You can also add +1 to your website so users can recommend your content on Google Search and share it on Google+.
Do you need a personal Google+ account? Click Here to get one, then add your business page.
If you have any questions, feel free to call us at (918) 277-1548.
Marketing Tip: Get a Free QR Code for Your Business
Google makes it easy to get a QR Code. Any URL you create can be shortened and given a QR Code. QR stands for Quick Response, it looks like the image to the left, square, 3 distinct corners and crazy black and white pixel-art in between. QR Codes became popular in Japan after Toyota developed them as a new way to ID their cars.
I was in Sam’s Club the other day looking at cameras. I saw the QR Code and scanned it with my Android phone for more information about the camera. Think about it, there is a very small footprint for retailers to display products. QR Codes can provide information without taking up valuable shelf space (and saves a lot of trees, too!) In the near future, I suspect all mobile phones will come standard with cameras. Free code-reader applications can be downloaded to any smart phone, but I suspect they will eventually become standard, too.
Why do you need one? Well, for one…it’s cool. And you can come up with all sorts of fun things like adding a recipe to a food product, a coupon to a sales item, a free white paper with a report, or video installation instructions on product packaging. Anything you can put on your website can be directed to via a QR Code. QR Codes work well on any printed item, including, postcards, business cards, flyers, vehicle graphics, billboards, etc…
Google also provides free usage reports for tracking how many times the QR Code has been scanned. Yes, it’s free. Another reason we love Google and how they will eventually take over the world.
Other companies are competing with Google to develop their own codes, but I’m banking that Google will have QR Codes around for a while. Even still, you might not want to print 50,000 brochures just yet. For now, get a free QR Code and experiment. And, don’t forget to print and test the code first to make sure it works 
Here’s how to get one:
Instructions for Using Google’s QR Code Generator
- Go to Google URL shortener at goo.gl
- Shorten your URL
- Select details
- Right click on image and save the graphic (make the name very descriptive in case you get several)
Serve, Don’t Stress
Here is today’s e-News from Steve Scanlon’s blog, Reality and Hope. I really enjoy his posts. Make sure to click the link at the bottom of this article and subscribe to his e-Newsletter.
Enjoy!
Debra
Serve, Don’t Stress
You wouldn’t have to look very far – perhaps no farther than the mirror – to find someone who claims they are stressed. Certainly there are levels of stress, from mild concern to tied-up-in-knots, and everyone we know has some form of it at some point. Truthfully, many people fall beyond the tied-up-in-knots category.
If you have been reading my blog, you know I am no fan of inane advice about deep concepts. Thus, when I hear people say things like “just don’t stress,” I get stressed. How’s that for irony?
As a coach, I have not seen such simplistic advice work well for anyone, and I will not offer such fodder. What I hope to convey is really two-fold:
1) Stress is a choice.
2) There is a response that will get us back on track quickly.
Stress is a choice – it is our response to what is happening around us. But when we say that we are stressed, we often abdicate that choice to our circumstances. Let’s change our language to something more fitting to reality. “I am choosing stress” would be more accurate than “I am stressed.”
If we can believe through the choice of our words that an emotional response is indeed of our making, then we can believe that we can choose another emotion, one that is more in line with our desired end result.
Once you have decided that stress is a choice, you can respond by choosing to serve someone else.
Now, I could go on and on about the known physical byproducts of leading a high-stress life. But another unseen result is that when we are stressed we simply are not as capable of serving others. Stress causes a funky form of selfishness – mostly because of how much mental energy goes into feeding it.
If you are feeling stress, remember in the moment that it is your choice. Then, go quickly and serve someone else. These two actions may save your life in the long run.
Have a great week,
Coach Steve
Here’s the link to the article
Going Short
I love this blog. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed myself today, and this was just what I needed to prioritize. I hope it helps you too. – Debra
Steve Scanlon | Reality & Hope
Going Short
There is a time for thinking through and writing down a long-term vision for your life and for your business. Without such Vision, life can get murky. But there is also a time to lay in front of you some short-term goals.
Sometimes it is good to step back and commit yourself to something that you will do this week or even just today. There are many benefits to setting shorter term goals.
Here are a few reasons why you might choose to focus on a short-term goal:
1. You feel yourself in a funk. Now, I couldn’t endeavor to describe in general terms how “funks” impact people because they seem to come in many flavors. But funks happen, and when they do, it could be a good time to think of smaller goals. Doing something more attainable can give you the boost of confidence you need to rise out of the funk.
2. You feel overwhelemed. This could probably describe 90% of our population today. The spirit of overwheledness is running rampant. When you are in this mindset, the big picture can feel so big that it only fuels the sense of overwhelmedness. There is a time to come off the mountain and be closer to the ground. This is another good time to think through specific shorter goals.
3. You need to re-gain momentum. Often we simply need to get some mojo going again when our larger goals seem far away and our efforts feel like a tiny drop in a big bucket. I have found one of the best ways to do this is to set your sights on some smaller, simpler goals and go after them. To take down a few of these is to regain some lost momentum and that may be just what you need to get you back on track.
If a shorter-term goal is right for you today, do not tarry. Don’t over think it. Just hit it.
Don’t buy the lie that a little is not enough, because it could be exactly enough today. Make that call, write that note, finish that small project.
Tomorrow, when you’re out of your funk, less overwhelmed, and feeling the pull of momentum, you can get back to the pursuit of your long-term goals. In fact, you may find you’ve inched that much closer to the big picture.
Coach Steve
To subscribe to this blog, Click Here
HTML emails aka e-Newsletters
Targeted email marketing really does work. We have consistently seen open rates of 20-25% with our clients that use e-Newsletters. These are huge numbers considering a 1-3% response rate with direct mail is statistically a home run. e-Newsletters are a great way to share your news, discounts, and drive your customer to your website to buy your product or service.
Here are a few tips when using an e-Newsletter.
Content is king. Make sure you publish useful information for your customer. Constantly selling, selling, selling, will turn people off, and soon your e-News will be deleted upon its arrival in their inbox. Give them something useful or educational they can use to grow their business.
Make your list. A good email list is gold. Ask for email addresses in all your sales and marketing activities. A year ago, it was easy to simply buy a list. Today, most list companies will only rent the list. This means you can only use the email addresses once, and the list company controls the list so you cannot view the data. So grab those emails addresses whenever you can.
Help customers save. Create a coupon your customers can use for a discount or a value-added service and add it to your newsletter. Even better, link the coupon to your website so viewers are driven to your website in order to download the coupon.
Keep it short and sweet. Keep your e-Newsletter concise and full of content. Many companies fill up their first few e-Newsletters with everything but the kitchen sink. This is a big mistake. #1 – the person creating the e-news will burn out from the extra work, and #2 – Most people are scanners of information, so don’t give them too much to read. They will click-off sooner than later.
Call us for help. e-Newsletters are inexpensive to distribute and a great way to reach out to your customers. But creating the first one can be overwhelming. Let us help you!
We can create a newsletter template you can reuse each month. We will set up your email marketing account (Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, etc.), create distribution lists for you, and even write the content. Call us at (918) 366-3342 or email Debra Laizure at dlaizure@laizuremarketing.com to get started today!
Understanding Facebook’s Ad Policy and Review Process
One of the reasons that users feel comfortable sharing this information is the level of trust they have in Facebook. This trust needs to be carried throughout users’ experience with Facebook including their interactions with ads.
Facebook’s ad policy and guidelines are based around the philosophy of maintaining users’ trust. It’s important that users have full disclosure when they are viewing an ad and do not feel as if they’ve been misled after interacting with it.
Making sure your ad is clear and informative not only maintains users’ trust but is also a great best practice to help improve your ROI (return on investment). When your ad is displayed to the users who are likely to be the most interested in your ad and those users click on your ad after knowing exactly what is being advertised and what is expected of them, they’re more likely to convert or spend more time on your landing page.
To help enforce our policies, our team reviews the ads that are created. Because of this process, you may notice that your ad is “pending review” before it’s able to run on the site. Most ads are typically reviewed within 12 hours, and may be reviewed sooner when submitted during normal business hours. Once your ad has been reviewed, you’ll receive an email letting you know whether the ad was approved or disapproved.
When in doubt regarding Facebook’s ad policy, check out our guidelines.
Customer Service via Twitter & Facebook?
Social media is a two way street. It is a great way to get information and news out to people you want but it’s also good customer service. How does it make you feel when someone says something nice about you? Pretty great, right? And you remember the compliment. In fact, you will probably remember the compliment if you ever need something in the future….
Facebook business pages (or fan pages) make quick testimonials easy. By “friend-ing” someone you can be up on their latest news and they are up on your latest news. You can also give them an occasional “shout-out” to let them know you are #1 thinking of them, #2 care about their business, #3 are interested in a long-term relationship, because you are going the extra mile to make their business a success.
So be a friend (Facebook) or follow (Twitter) your customers today. Then write something to uplift and promote their business. They will appreciate the kind words, and appreciate you for doing it.
Is Social Media a fad?
Do you still think social media is a technological flash in the pan? That it’s for teenagers and is used only for entertainment? Click Here to learn more about the social media revolution.
Then call us at (918) 366-3342 to see how we can increase your business through social media and search engine optimization.
What is whatis.com?
www.whatis.com is a self-education tool about information technology, especially about the Internet and computers. Designed for IT specialists and computer programmers, www.whatis.com is a total geek-fest. However, it’s also an excellent resource for small business owners like you and me.
For instance, their cheat sheets and quick reference section (click here) is my favorite place on this website. Need to know an acronym used in manufacturing? Want to know more about Blogging terminology? Maybe you need a refresher tutorial for Excel. It’s all here and more. But be careful…you might get all “techy.”
Persuading a Prospect
According to sales coach Hilton Johnson, it’s easy to reduce sales resistance. The next time your prospect hesitates to move forward with your proposal, say this: “Based on what you’re saying, this is probably not for you. Shall I close your file?” Selling is a game, and fear of loss is a great motivator. Not that I’ve done this to any of MY clients .
