Plan your Holiday Marketing #Thanksgiving #BlackFriday, #ShopSmall # CyberMonday #GivingTuesday

Are you planning your last push for your company’s sales or your nonprofit fundraising? Remember that whether you are a retailer, non-profit or service company, you can reach more people and enhance your promotion if you tie it in with national deadlines from Thanksgiving to GivingTuesday. Now is the time to plan your marketing emails and promotions. Start with a Thank You to your past customers and contacts, then add a promotions from the list below of national promotions and hashtags below. Join my FREE Marketing Workshops &  Webinars to learn more about promotions and content that can help you be even more successful.

1. #BlackFriday is the Friday after Thanksgiving (when some retail companies sell up to 40% of their annual purchases). Why? Because  consumers are waiting for these promotions and actively planning their shopping around it. Your sale can tie into national ads by using the hashtag #BlackFriday to include your company in the online shopping  search for consumers who follow that conversation on social media.
2. #ShopSmall is Small Business Saturday sponsored by American Express is a national promotion held the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It is a day designated to give small businesses a leg up by nationally promoting the event and allowing small local businesses to set up an event on their national website and use the hashtag #ShopSmall where consumers can find deals and events when clicking local on the #ShopSmall feed. Your offers and check-in offers  get more attention and you can also promote or boost them on Social Media. Get more info at #ShopSmall here.
3. #CyberMonday is the Monday after Thanksgiving and savvy shoppers are used to  putting their gift list next to their computer and taking advantage of the specials offered on that Monday only. It is a well promoted event and you should tie into it if you have any packages or offers you can offer in a one day flash sale. Some companies also use #CyberWeek so they can stretch out the benefits for a week. This is also effective for service businesses who put together packages or recorded programming that is free or discounted on #CyberMonday only.
4. #GivingTuesday is the 1st Tuesday after Thanksgiving and is the launch for nonprofits to challenge themselves to create an event to tie into the hashtag and national promotion that will help them get bigger and more donations than last year. Brainstorm with your team and design a fundraiser that provides incentives and dates to get those donations in the beginning of December, leaving you 1 to 2 months to follow up with slower donors who want to give tax deductible donations. Visit the #GivingTuesday website to learn more here.
5. #FreeShippingSaturday is the second Saturday of December and companies offer Free Shipping and promise that the shipment will be there by December 25th.
6. #SuperSaturday The Saturday before Christmas is the last Saturday with excellent deals for last minute shoppers. Retailers outdo each other as they try to maximize their revenue during the last shopping weekend before Christmas. 

Don’t forget to include the national logos, hashtags and #tags that can help you launch with national organizations’ efforts. See what other merchandisers in your area have done in the past by looking at the #feed. Then get your staff together and brainstorm about what you can do to join the conversation and be represented with your own push during these very social media promotions. For more tips on how to get this done, join my Rock your Holiday Promotions Webinar on 12/2,  If you need help, email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net and request an appointment for a brainstorming meeting online ($145/hour or packages starting at $290).

For more information on improving your business marketing or your website performance, contact Tailor-Made Advertising to review and improve your efforts. Liz Harsch has been helping business owners maximize their marketing budget since 1988. For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit tailormadeadvertising.com. Liz is a valued Marketing speaker and trainer for SCORE, SBDC, Constant Contact, Chambers of Commerce and Small Business Groups on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, email her at tmade.mkt@verizon.net or call 310-791-6300.

Are you planning your last push for sales or fundraising for your nonprofit? Remember that whether you are a retailer, non-profit or service company, you can reach more people and enhance your promotion if you tie it in with national deadlines from Thanksgiving to GivingTuesday. Now is the time to plan your marketing emails and promotions. Start with a Thank You to your past customers and leads and add a promotion or two from the list below of special events and hashtags for your marketing plan: #BlackFriday, #ShopSmall, #CyberMonday and more. Join my Marketing Workshops &  Webinars to learn more about promotions and content that can help you be even more successful.

1. #BlackFriday is the Friday after Thanksgiving when some retail companies sell up to 60% of their annual purchases. Why? Because  consumers are waiting for these promotions and actively planning their shopping around it. Your sale can tie into national ads by using the #BlackFriday to include your company in the online shopping  search for consumers who follow that conversation on social media.
2. #ShopSmall is Small Business Saturday sponsored by American Express is a national promotion held the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It is a day designated to give small businesses a leg up by nationally promoting the event day and allowing small local businesses to set up an event or sale using the hashtag #ShopSmall so consumers can see where a local event is happening by clicking local on the #ShopSmall feed. Since they are out and about, your offer and check-in offers  get more attention and you can also promote or boost them on Social Media for even more reach.
3. #CyberMonday is the Monday after Thanksgiving and savvy shoppers are used to  putting their gift list next to their computer and taking advantage of the specials offered on that Monday only. It is a well promoted event and you should tie into it if you have any packages or offers you can do for a one day sale. This is also effective for service businesses who put together packages or recorded programming that is free or discounted on that day.
4. #GivingTuesday is the 1st Tuesday after Thanksgiving and is the launch for nonprofits to challenge themselves to create an event to tie into the hashtag and national promotion that will help them get bigger and more donations than last year. Brainstorm with your team and design a fundraiser that provides incentives and dates to get those donations in the beginning of December, leaving you 1 to 2 months to follow up with slower donors who want to give tax deductible donations.
5. #SuperSaturday The Saturday before Christmas is the last Saturday with excellent deals for last minute shoppers. Retailers outdo each other as they try to maximize their revenue during the last shopping weekend before Christmas. 

Don’t forget to include the national logos, hashtags and #tags that can help you launch off other organizations efforts. See what other merchandisers in your area have done in the past by looking at the #feed. Then get your staff together and brainstorm about what you can do to join the conversation and be represented with your own push during these very social media promotions. For more tips on how to get this done, join my Rock your Holiday Promotions Webinar on 12/2,  If you need help, email tmade.mkt@verizon.net and request an appointment for a brainstorming meeting online ($145/hour or packages starting at $290).

For more information on improving your business marketing or your website performance, contact Tailor-Made Advertising to review and improve your efforts. Liz Harsch has been helping business owners maximize their marketing budget since 1988. For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit tailormadeadvertising.com. Liz is a valued Marketing speaker and trainer for SCORE, SBDC, Constant Contact, Chambers of Commerce and Small Business Groups on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, email her at tmade.mkt@verizon.net or call 310-791-6300.

Content Marketing—Got Ideas? I do!

I’ve brainstormed with hundreds of small business owners who were stumped about the best content to provide that benefits them and their customers using posts on social media, blogs and email newsletters. Here are a few tips I suggest to help them find the right balance. Remember the best content will benefit your followers and your company. If you need help finding content marketing that makes sense for your company—give us a call at 310-791-6300.

Tip 1. Who is your target audience? Know their demographics and interests before you determine the best content. Find out what questions they have in common that you can address with your content using tips, checklists, pictures, coupons, events, videos, articles, ebooks, news and other tools.

Tip 2. Start with the goals your customers have for following your company.  What are you giving your fans, followers  & email subscribers that makes them glad they follow you? I suggest you provide something that does one of the following:

1. Saves them time
2. Saves them money
3. Provides them content they would be challenged to collect themselves
4. Entertain them with  Images, Videos & articles related to your business

Tip 3.  Don’t just provide content, ask them to take an action within that content. Add links, documents, video start buttons, subscribe links or connections to events, workshops or ebooks that you provide. Make sure that link is trackable and above the swipe point on a smart phone—don’t make them swipe for it.

Tip 4.  Use blogs, keywords, descriptions, categories & tags as well as hashtags to reach more people beyond your followers and your lists. Content marketing is about keywords. What are yours? Use the terms people search for in your product, service or non-profit industry.

Tip 5.  Write about what you know. The good news is that you know your organization and industry well and you can easily provide ideas and tips on how your customers can educate themselves.  Use your membership, professional journals or application photos of how your product or service is used to share what you know. This is an opportunity to share your knowledge and raise your profile as an interesting organization and an expert in your field—otherwise known as an Influencer.

Tip 6. Here’s some content ideas:

Tip 7.  Use one of the following resources you have to see if there is content already created that is uniquely related to what you do.

• Manufacturer or Industry Stats or Stories
• Infographics or White Papersto simplify advice
• Events they can sign up for or attend
• Customer experience stories or testimonials
• Lists they can use to accomplish their goals
• Content that is worth sharing and would give them some likes.

If you need help creating custom content that meets your goals, contact us by email  or 310-791-6300.  Get more done with your digital advertising efforts.

Liz Harsch is a media planner and trainer for small business owners with Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, SBA, Cities and MWD and County outreach partners, APICS plus many Chambers of Commerce since 2008.  She owns Tailor-Made Advertising in Torrance, California and provides marketing,  training and consulting to identify marketing and media alternatives for business owners. She can be reached at her Torrance, CA office at 310-791-6300 or by email at liz@adteamla.com. You can also see her upcoming training workshops calendar at http://adteamla.com/facebook.

How to Get More Reaching Buyers/Donors with Google Paid Ads Online — PPC

Whenever we are ready to actually buy or donate or join something, you probably do what I do – we Google, Yahoo, Bing or search it. That is because after all the talk, when we are ready to take action, we want it now! That is also why some of the most effective marketing dollars are spent on paid search. So what are you doing to reach people that are ready to take action? Hopefully you will tell me you are using paid search as part of your media mix. If not, why not?

Paid search campaigns are based on keywords and typically include either search campaigns alone (Paid Per Click-PPC) or a combination of PPC, Display Ads and Video Ads (remember that Google owns YouTube). In addition to that you may be advertising using social media ads (part of online display ads). Either way hopefully you will tell me you are tracking your bids, dollars, and your conversions or results. Why? Because if not, you are overpaying for those clicks and often you are getting ineffective results.

Online digital ads are often part of an action with the highest bidder getting the click. However there are many tricks to getting the best price on those clicks from buying phrases to making sure you are not using keywords that are competing with each other (so in fact you are bidding the price up between you and you). The many nuances of PPC advertising will make your head spin and remember that Google changed their algorithm for delivering those ads to searchers over 650 times in the last year.  You also need to make sure that your keywords are updated to reflect any negative keywords which are those search terms you are paying or that are not giving you a good results because Google charges you more if you don’t.  So how do you pay the best price and continue to get those great leads of folks looking to buy or join or donate today?

Basically you have a few options when it comes to paid search. 1). You become an expert in Google adwords and continue to educate yourself and manage your keywords with a regular improvement program working with Google’s constantly changing algorithm. 2). You hire a company to do that for you.  3). You use Google Adwords Express and let them determine your results.

What it really boils down to is what you have the time and money to do. The important thing is that you do check your results and see if you are getting better quality leads with your plan than you did last month and last year and see that your results are paying off. You can do this best by using your Google analytics account to evaluate your results on a regular basis. In fact you can tie it into your adwords account to be able to see results in real time.

But what about those folks that leave it all up to Google to determine when and where their adwords run using Google Adwords Express? Well suffice it to say that they are not in my opinion getting the results they could,  however they are also not spending time on something they simply cannot learn to master while they are busy running a business. Contact us if you would like an evaluation of your Adwords campaigns at 310-791-6300 or email liz@adteamla.com.

Liz Harsch is a media planner and trainer for small business owners with Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, SBA, Cities and MWD and County outreach partners, APICS plus many Chambers of Commerce since 2008.  She owns Tailor-Made Advertising in Torrance, California and provides marketing,  training and consulting to identify marketing and media alternatives for business owners. She can be reached at 310-791-6300 or by email at liz@adteamla.com. You can also join her training at http://adteamla.com/facebook.

Your Biz Can Thrive & Support International Women’s Day

On March 8th, women in 30 countries are supporting a day of solidarity by asking women and the people who support them to not shop or work (if they can afford to) in solidarity of casting light on the buying and working power of women. It is an effort to show the power of women’s support and shopping habits that make companies strong by reducing sales and productivity on International Women’s Day. The organizers hope this will cement the connection between supporting women’s causes like equal work for equal pay (see the stats to support this issue), childcare for working women, and a woman’s access to birth control her personal freedom.

As a company you may be not supportive of a day of no
shopping as it will reduce your bottom line that day.  However  if you are thinking long term, there may be a way for your company to thrive by supporting this cause.  Here are a few ideas:

1. Wear red on March 8th and remind your team to do the same and go here to learn more about the event.
2. If you are a Woman Owned Business post it proudly as organizers suggest any shopping take place at small women-owned businesses.
3. Recognize the day by posting & adding signs at your business that celebrate International Women’s Day on Wed, March 8 and that you support women.
4. Consider donating some of your proceeds that day to support equal work for equal pay or other organizations that support women’s economic strength and choices.
5. Review your business and hiring practices that day to ensure you are not discriminating between the compensation you offer men and women for the same job.
6. Add a sales day during the week or month that celebrates your loyal female shoppers and offers a discount (20% to represent the gender gap) or a donation to their causes.
7. Offer to let your employees take time off to support the cause if your business can afford to do so. If not, offer a celebration (free lunch, donation or a meeting to air concerns). This helps your employees feel included and valued by their employer.
8. If you are open, consider charging women who shop at your business a discount that day or this week, that’ reflective of the difference in wages, roughly 80% of a man’s wage. See stats here.
9. Post and support the cause using your social media and hashtags that include #WomensMarch, #DayWithoutAWoman, #BeBoldForChange, #EqualWorkEqualPay and any others to connect the conversations and connect your company to supporting your buyers. Get more facts here: http://bit.ly/IntlWomen2017day
10. Understand that anyone not shopping on that day or not showing up at work are not fighting you, they are standing up for what they believe and trying to be counted in dollars to the country. So don’t take it personal, recognize the integrity it takes to stand up.

For more information on ideas to grow your business and keep connections with your buyers , contact Tailor-Made Advertising for a one-on-one online or in person consulting appointment to review and improve your efforts, or to help you manage your Email Marketing program or other online marketing efforts. For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit tailormadeadvertising.com. To schedule Liz Harsch as a speaker for SCORE, SBDC, Constant Contact, Chambers of Commerce and Small Biz Groups on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net or call us at 310-791-6300.

 

Jumpstart Your 2017 Marketing Strategy Workshops

Is your marketing working? Strategize your 2017 marketing plan using my planning worksheet to create more effective campaigns. Join my Workshops in Costa Mesa (Tues. 12/6/16), Palmdale (Wed12/7/16) and Online (Wed 12/14/16) to learn to:

• How to target your market and create a cost effective campaign
• Using Free and paid online marketing
• Define your marketing goals and objective for each campaign
• Work with other business owners to brainstorm your strategy
• See examples of how other businesses are using online campaigns to succeed
• Review your business goals and define your marketing goals.
• Identify your target market and how to explore new markets for your Co.
• Use my worksheet to re-defining your marketing plan and online campaigns
• Review social media and online tools that are working today
• Learn how to connect and engage with potential & past customers to succeed

Liz Harsch is a trainer for small businesses with SCORE, SBDC, SBA, Cities and County outreach and MWD, Constant Contact, APICS plus many Chambers of Commerce since 2008.  She owns Tailor-Made Advertising in Torrance, California and can be reached at 310-791-6300 or by email at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.

Join me tomorrow 11/9 online for Holiday Social Media Marketing Tips

11/9 FREE Workshop #WebinarWednesday-Holiday Social Media Marketing -#BlackFriday,#Shopsmall Sat,#CyberMonday.. info http://bit.ly/119social

Join my #Webinar this Wednesday 11/9 at 10am and get valuable tips & guides on using Holiday Social Media Marketing to expand your online reach just in time for #BlackFriday, #Shopsmall Saturday, #CyberMonday, #Giving Tuesday, #Thanksgiving and #Holidays2016.  There are many ways you can increase your reach and help expand the network of people learning about your product or service in time for the holidays. Plus other methods to get top of mind for your customers and leads.  Use these tools whether you are a business to business company or a business-to-consumer products company. or a non-profit. Reach out and connect with more buyers/donors who are like your favorite customers using these strategies.  See actual examples of companies using these tools and other online marketing tools to grow.  Get more info here: info http://bit.ly/119social.

Liz Harsch is a trainer for small businesses with SCORE, SBDC, SBA, Cities and County outreach and MWD, Constant Contact, APICS plus many Chambers of Commerce since 2008.  She owns Tailor-Made Advertising in Torrance, California and can be reached at 310-791-6300 or by email at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.

11/2 Moreno Valley- FREE Rock Your Holiday Email Marketing Plan

Join our FREE Marketing Workshop on Wed, 11/02 Learn how to use Email Templates, Social Media and Holiday Deadlines to Grow Your Business at the Moreno Valley Conference Center 9-11am. Register:http://bit.ly/112email

Are you planning your Small Business Saturday? Why not?

Small Business Saturday is the Saturday following Thanksgiving (November 26 in 2016). Originally sponsored by American Express and promoted in conjunction with the Small Business Association, even President Obama helps promote Shop Small Saturday to help local businesses get more sales that day. But you don’t have to have a sale to benefit and use #ShopSmall to grow your business. You can offer an open house, food, massage, holiday cookies and coffee or other opportunities to wish your customers a happy holiday.

By using the hashtag #shopsmall you can reach beyond your list of past customers and leads to reach consumers who are shopping that weekend or looking for local deals. To help you figure out how to tie in an event or sale, you can download ideas and tips, as well as customize the #shopsmall logo by visiting the website: shopsmall.com. Because that day is promoted by multi-media nationally and any participating small business (retail or otherwise), you will be visible to all their followers.  And you don’t have to take American Express to participate.  Businesses can add their event information to the shopsmall.com website search so their event, promotion or sale can be seen by local shoppers.

The #shopsmall event is nationally promoted by many entities including local chambers of commerce, retail centers, American Express, and neighborhood associations. By tying your promotion or event into the hashtag #shopsmall, people who follow Instagram or Twitter hashtags can easily find the local participants and see your event. In addition to the website, you can also connect with the #shopsmall Facebook and Twitter feed to reach even more folks who follow the event #shopsmall but maybe did not know about your business or sale. And don’t forget to ask  your local small business organization if they are offering anything for their ShopSmall promotions that can include your local deal or event.

To help figure out what type of event  you can do, see shopsmall.com for suggestions on how to expedite a welcome or selfie station, neighborhood scavenger hunt, dining night out, and more. Get creative and brainstorm with your staff to determine how your business can best take advantage of this opportunity to grow your business by reconnecting with your past and potential consumers.

Once you have defined your offer or event, remember to cross promote by using your social media (create a Facebook event page) and a template Email Marketing Campaign to create invitations to join you and to provide online promotions you can use as Facebook ads to reach beyond your past customer list as well.  If you need help with ideas or to learn how to implement these tools to launch and promote your #shopsmall event, contact us at 310-791-6300. Or email us for a free event planning guide at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.

For more information on improving your business marketing or your website performance, contact Tailor-Made Advertising to review and improve your efforts.  Liz Harsch has been helping business owners maximize their marketing budget since 1988.  For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit tailormadeadvertising.com.  Liz is a valued Marketing speaker and trainer for SCORE, SBDC, Constant Contact, Chambers of Commerce and Small Business Groups on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, email her at tmade.mkt@verizon.net or call 310-791-6300.

 

10/21 Hollywood Holiday Online Marketing Workshop

Friday 10/21 – Join me and the @HollywoodChamberOfCommerce to learn how to use holiday deadlines and national outreach to grow your sales or donations.  See how #Halloween, #BlackFriday, #Thanksgiving, #ShopSmall, #CyberMonday and #GivingTuesday can work for you: Register Here

Let’s plan your holiday events and promotions to help you end the year with a bang!

 

10 Tips to do Facebook Live Right!

Facebook Live is a real time video platform that can help you connect with your Facebook audience and broadcast your content while sharing it with your Facebook contacts.  Here are a few tips to help you get it right the first time:

1. Start with an broadcast idea designed to get people excited about your brand in an environment that you can control in terms of noise, participants and quality.
2. Test out Facebook Live before you go all out by keeping it internal the first time. Use the settings to limit your audience to yourself or you and some employees. Then review how it worked and what you want to change before your first public effort.
3. Keep reintroducing yourself. Since when you start your video there may not be an audience yet (it picks up as people see it on their feed), you need to name yourself and your brand and any participants throughout the broadcast.
4. The initial and ongoing images on your video are key. If you are sitting at a desk doing nothing but talking-it will receive as much engagement as a video that is changing over time (changing backgrounds, locations, adding people).
5. Ask your audience to like, share and comment because Facebook is counting.  Those activities are in it’s algorithm to determine if they should share of your video with fans. Even turning on the sound is a plus (Facebook mutes sound for video launch).
6. Engage with comments, likes and questions so that the algorithm will be maximized. Remember that Facebook is counting.
7. Ask someone else to monitor and reply to comments, posts and shares in real time on a desktop computer while you are still broadcasting.
8. Go back to your broadcast and edit the post with a link that makes sense for your connection with people who click on the post later. Link content from your website.
9. Wait 2 hours before/after posting any other videos so that the Facebook Live broadcast will not be stealing audience away from your recently posted videos. Facebook shares less popular videos with fewer fans.  Facebook credits Facebook Live as more relevant because it is real time (also part of their algorithm).
10. Cross promote your broadcast on all your social media platforms in advance to let fans know when and where your Facebook Live is taking place so that they can tune in and participate in your broadcast.

For more information on improving your business marketing or your website performance, contact Tailor-Made Advertising to review and improve your efforts. Liz Harsch has been helping business owners maximize their marketing budget since 1988. For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit tailormadeadvertising.com. Liz is a valued Marketing speaker and trainer for SCORE, SBDC, Constant Contact, Chambers of Commerce and Small Business Groups on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, email her at tmade.mkt@verizon.net or call 310-791-6300.