We'd like to introduce you to the premier issue of "Mind Your Business: News for the Small Business Owner"- a quarterly e-newsletter from Northeast Advertising designed to provide useful, relevant information to our advertisers in the small business community to help you drive sales, increase and retain your customer base, and build your business.
Each issue will provide content on a range of topics including marketing and advertising tips, consumer and industry trends, case studies, sales techniques and related information beneficial to small business owners such as you.
We hope this will become a valuable resource for you.
We encourage you to share this information with colleagues, and share with us topic areas you feel will benefit our small business community.
Please enjoy our first issue on "Taking Your Business Online" as a low-cost way to directly reach your customer. Read on...
Taking Your Business Online
1. Do You Really Need a Great Web Site? (Yes, You Do!)
2. The New Reality of Marketing
3. Your Web Site Is Your First 'Hello'
Do You Really Need A Great Web Site?... (Yes, You Do!)
It's no secret that most people today use the Internet to gather information for everything from buying baby clothes, to finding the doctor to deliver the baby who'll wear those clothes. Smart marketers and business owners know that having a GREAT Web site can convince a customer to choose your business or service over your competitor. Note that if you don't have a Web site at all, you can be almost certain you're losing business to other companies that do.
The first step to going digital is knowing it's critical to your businesses future.
The New Reality Of Marketing
The new reality for marketing small businesses is for your 'online presence to drive customers to your offices' and vice versa. This is accomplished by creating a memorable Web site and then integrating it with your traditional advertising channels while helping your best customers to drive new customers your way through social sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Your Web Site Is Your First 'Hello'
That said, it's not enough to just have a Web site.You must have a professional-looking site if you want to be taken seriously and take advantage of the hundreds of millions of people constantly trolling the Internet; whether it's a comprehensive, featured-filled site or a simple 5-page presence. Remember, your site is often the first chance you have at making a good impression on a potential customer. Consider your Web site as one of your salespeople (without the handshake) - it should project the same image you want your company to portray - professional, informative, easy to understand and, what's more, it should make life easier for your customer. Make it work for you by making it useful to them - the handshake can come later.
It should be clear at this point what an effective marketing and sales tool a Web site can be for your company.
But just as a refresher, here's some of what a great Web site can do:
1. Helps you to compete with any size competitor by driving thousands of new customers to your store or, at the very least, pick up the phone to contact you
2. Makes your small businesses virtual and interactive: offering e-commerce, plus the ability to be found more easily on Google searches
3. Gives your small businesses instant access to massive audiences through powerful word-of-mouth sharing, via email, blogs and social sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
4. Allows you to stay in touch with your customer and nurture that relationship by providing news, promotions and useful information through all your marketing channels
Small businesses can now turn to technology to keep up with the big boys in their industry in an affordable way. By investing in an online presence and using it to tap new social media marketing tools, in conjunction with traditional advertisements, small businesses can reach massive audiences, are made available to potential customers, make an unforgettable first impression, and offer up a powerful mix of marketing tools that will build your business in the years to come.
Let Northeast Advertising help you build a GREAT Web presence today!
Northeast Advertising recently launched a new online solution for Proper Service Auto Center. Features include an interactive, home page, navigation and mapping location powered by Google.
Click here to view: propersvc.com
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