How to Respond to a Bad Online Review
Haters gunna hate… or at least that’s what they say. But when they start leaving negative reviews or comments on sites such as Facebook, Google, Twitter or Yelp, how do you respond? Stay Positive Even if you feel that the negative feedback is unwarranted, replying in a caring, thoughtful and constructive way can turn that negative into a positive experience and show that you’re a genuine business. People look for humanity in businesses, and responding to a negative review can...
Looking Back at 25 Years of Digital Change
Sales & Marketing Technologies SMT is proud to be celebrating our 25 th anniversary this year and in celebration, wanted to look back at all that has changed in the digital world since we started SMT in 1991. The Beginnings December 20, 1990, Tim Berners-Lee launched the world’s first website, which is still live today. In the following years, many more websites emerged offering users information with bare-bones usability and optimization. As the Internet began to grow with more and...
How to Optimize for Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing goes beyond having your landing pages the correct size for mobile or tablets. Consumers' behaviors and goals vary depending on which device a person is using at the time. Building a strategy specifically for mobile will help you get the most out of your mobile audience and bring you more leads. Here are some things to note when building a mobile marketing strategy: Mobile users are typically in research mode. Studies have found that mobile audiences are generally in a research...
5 Marketing Elements Every Business Needs
Every business, big or small, needs the same basic marketing elements to survive past year one. Beyond that, if these businesses are looking to grow, there are going to be even more steps in the marketing process. For now, we’re going to focus on the five basic marketing needs for any business. #1 A Marketing Plan Even small businesses can benefit from a solid marketing plan. From social media and content calendars to places they are going to be advertising offline, these actions and...
The Top Predicted Trends for Digital Marketing in 2015
2015 Online Marketing Trends 2014 has been a wild ride with Google updates, the realization you now have to pay to play for Facebook reach, and content creation becoming more important than ever. As we approach the end of 2014, let's take a look at what has gone on this year and what we can expect moving into 2015. Mobile-Optimization Importance Continues In 2014, responsive design became a priority for businesses as mobile traffic continued to steadily increase with the introduction of larger...
Designing Your Brand’s Logo
They’re the ultimate symbol for your brand and they’re anything but simple to design. Logos are often your first impression, and can ultimately lead to the decision to purchase from you. In a world full of logos, how do you make yours stand out? Know your brand When creating your logo, the most important aspect is ensuring it speaks to what your brand is about. Creating a list of words that embody your brand is a good place to start. Taking that a step further, you could also...
Pay-Per-Click Advertising Provides Instant Exposure
Over the years, Pay-Per-Click advertising PPC had developed a negative reputation. People claim it is too expensive, or generates little results. However, if used correctly, PPC advertising is a way for your company to get instant exposure to new clients and revenue opportunities. I have found it’s the mismanagement of the PPC campaign, rather than the product itself, that has led to poor reviews. When used properly, PPC advertising is a way to get your businesses name on the front of...
Does Experience Matter for Digital Marketing in Orlando?
Imagine a scenario in which you, or a loved one required heart surgery. After hearing the diagnosis, would you solicit two or three additional medical consultations? Once you elected to move forward with the surgery, how much time would you spend finding the right heart surgeon? I am sure you would evaluate how long the surgeon has been practicing medicine as well as look at his/her track record. In this scenario, experience matters. You want someone conducting the surgery who will put you in...
Time to Transition your Yellow Page Ads to Digital Marketing
Two weeks ago, a package of eight Yellow Page directories, bound together, appeared lying next to our mailboxes. I opened the package and took out one of the Yellow Pages. It was notably lighter than years past, a sign advertisers had begun to pull their ads. I wanted to conduct a social experiment, so I left the seven remaining Yellow Page directories by the mailboxes. Two weeks had passed and the seven Yellow Page directories remain slightly bound in plastic. The Yellow Page books, once...
Considering Writing a Newsletter for Your Company?
Have you ever sent out a newsletter for your company? A newsletter is an excellent way to get in contact with your past and present clients, and possibly up-sell products or services. But how do you write a newsletter that they will find interesting? Here are some things to check for in your next newsletter: • A Good Subject Line - if you do not include a good subject line, no one will want to open your newsletter. • Personality - it is important to show that your company is made...
How to Create an Infographic
You’ve heard it before - infographics are a great way to engage readers. They help make content more interesting, and they are easily used across your marketing platforms - not only on your website but also in social media marketing. How do you create an infographic? 1. Have a Goal First and foremost, you need to have a goal in mind for the infographic. That way, you will be more focused when deciding what information to include within it. You should also make sure that you know your...
Three Things Marketers can Learn from Media
A recent article in Mashable reviewed some tips and tricks of the trade that those in the media have learned this year that can easily be applied to marketing efforts as well. Here are three of the take-aways: Integration is the way of the future. In applications for a company’s marketing efforts, this means making sure that the marketing plan offers real time branding of your company’s message, and involves many different aspects of marketing – events, advertising, social...
What Are QR Codes?
QR Codes are two-dimensional barcodes. QR stands for Quick Response and were developed to contain more data and character types then current barcodes. QR Codes can contain up to 7,089 characters versus the 20 characters for traditional barcodes. The mobile adoption rate has fueled the use of QR Codes in recent years through the use if QR Code Readers. QR Codes are currently being used to connect to a web address, compose a text message, dial a telephone number, or prompt your email client with...
Using Infographics to Build Links
Infographics, or Information graphics, are visual representations of complex data or knowledge that is presented in an easy to understand graphic. While infographics have been around for a long time, Internet marketers have turned to using infographics as a link building tactic. As you can see from the Google Trends graph, infographics started to really pick up at the beginning of 2010. So, the start of 2010 has been the year of the infographic. Producing an attention grabbing and timely...
Digital Marketing: A Road Map of the Basics
Survival of the fittest To this day, the Internet is the fastest changing industry which adapts many changes throughout every month, even on a daily basis! With the Google algorithms always increasing in complexity, it becomes harder to be able to generate organic results for any given website. If you just now want to start with Digital marketing campaigns for your business, you must start with a very well defined niche which is in demand, yet is still not saturated with competitors. On top of...
Digital Marketing: Investing Wisely in your Business
If you have a website, you need traffic. Unfortunately many people know this and also come to realize their lack of knowledge on how Internet traffic really works. There are lots of opportunities out there offering you thousands of targeted visitors to your website for just a few bucks, or a directory promoting your website on Google on your behalf. If you do not advertise your business, your incoming flow of customers will be low. Nowadays simple word-of-mouth and referrals are not sufficient...
Why Online Marketing Should Be In Your 2010 Marketing Budget
If it’s not too late, I wanted to go over your 2010 marketing budget. No, I physically can’t look over it, but what I can do is list off reasons why you should invest in an online marketing strategy. It’s a tough advertising world out there with all of the advertising options you have especially when they ALL say they deliver a good ROI. I’m not here to pick on the other guys today, I’m just here to tell you what online marketing can do for your business. The...
Tips To Prepare Your eCommerce Site Tis' Holiday Season
It’s coming. The wonderful time of year when houses and stores are being decorated with lights and trees, the time when the weather is cold enough to drink hot chocolate, and the time when you start hearing Christmas music while you shop. The 2009 Holiday Season is right around the corner and you need to make sure your eCommerce site is prepared for it! Do not fret. This blog post focuses on some basic tips to make sure your eCommerce site is prepared this holiday season. Add some...
Effective Call To Actions Help Increase Conversions
There are so many different aspects and fundamental elements that need to be in place for a website to be prosperous. With so many different, yet important elements that make up a successful website, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about Call To Actions CTA. While an intriguing design, a lot of relevant and up-to-date content, visibility, a user friendly layout, and accessibility are all very important, I wanted to share the magnitude of creative and captivating call to actions. Call to...
Popular Email Newsletter Services
Recently I have been doing some work and research with email newsletter services. While there are so many great companies out there that offer superb services and competitive prices, I wanted to blog my favorite 4! Mail Chimp Talk about user friendly! Mail Chimp helps you build and manage your email list, create HTML email campaigns, and track and analyze your email campaigns. Mail Chimp also offers very competitive pricing. Have less than 500 subscribers and need to send out less than 3,000...