Archive for ‘Community Involvement’

November 3, 2015

5 Tips To Grow Your Business With Thanks You’s

It is that time again. November is a month of ThanksPlanning for your business or organization. But did you also know that it is a great call to action month to help you achieve more sales or fundraising? Try these tips to use Thank You as a way to get more business and grow your positive reputation online. It is an easy way to let your customers and potential clients and donors know that you are helping them achieve goals while also being thankful for the business or organization that they have helped you grow.

Tip 1: Send out a Thank You in the middle of November to let your past purchasers or donor’s know that you recognize this coming Thanksgiving to be an opportunity to let others know you care. It is a great time to recognize their contribution to your success and that you intend to keep them in mind in your thanks as well.

Tip 2: Strategize a helpful promotion or event where you are giving back to your clients with a special offer or where you are helping a cause by selecting a non-profit that you can integrate into your monthly promotion or #BlackFriday or #ShopSmall Saturday as a recipient of some benefit of your promotion. (Think 5% of our sales go to feeding the hungry or for each new customer we donate $10).

Tip 3: Decorate your showroom or your cards with holiday dates and images that make your customers/donors/volunteers feel you understand what they are celebrating and that you want to be a part of that celebration. Think of reconnection and any ideas you have that will put you back in the minds of your contacts and help them get their goals met, such as Stop by while you are out shopping (open house) for a cup of complimentary coffee and refreshments while you are out. This can be done socially distanced too. Or set your service business up as a drop off for a non-profit gift giving group like Toys For Tots or Military Family Gift Giving.

Tip 4: Create a special promotion for your past business contacts and donors. Remember they are your repeat purchasers and your tried and true loyalists.  So offer them something that says you’re special to us, something you do not offer new contacts. Create an exclusive Thank You for that target group alone.

Tip 5: Give your staff and administration freedom to brainstorm with you about what to do in November and December to build on what you did last year and to create a unique experience that is a step above what your competition is doing. This can be as simple as Free gift wrapping, a holiday card (online or by mail). Also remember to thank your staff and admins since they are the reputation of your organization, you need them to be your biggest fans. See what you can do to make their holidays brighter.

Author Liz Harsch is a marketing consultant, Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, The City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. If you are interested in getting help for your marketing plan or your marketing projects, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.  

For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit them online at tailormadeadvertising.com. Or sign up to get her monthly tips for small business owners and management.   To schedule Liz Harsch as a speaker on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, Email beth@adteamla.com or contact us at 310-791-6300.

October 7, 2015

5 Tips To Grow your Business from #OneCon2015!

Although, I don’t have the time, I always take at lease one 3-day training break. Because when you step away from your business to educate yourself it always pays back in time and cost savings and growth achieved. A good workshop should increase your revenue and save you time and money. In last 3 days, I have learned about many new online tools and best practices from advertising to project management. And you are going to benefit from this knowledge as I give you a few of the highlights. But I know from past experience that if I don’t implement some of these ideas in the next 30 days, I should hire someone who can. Otherwise the time spent is wasted. Here are few tips I learned at #OneCon2015 an annual convention provided to me by #ConstantContact2015.

Tip 1: It is important that you understand your business model and review how it is working. Doing the same thing and expecting a diIMG_4345fferent outcome (growth) is insanity. So ask yourself where you want your organization to go and when, and then figure out how you are going to achieve it by changing your marketing plan.

Tip 2: Create a lead or contact flow funnel and identify the steps in follow up and sales execution. It is not enough to collect cards or get calls, it is key that you have a program in place to ensure follow up and multiple contacts.

Tip 3: Identify what you are doing best. There may be services that you do not whats your product strategyreally make money on but that you use in order to service existing customers. The question is do you have to do that? In many cases you do not even know what those services really cost you but it is key you figure that out.

Tip 4: Track your time and the time of your team. If you are not tracking your time and your team’s time you could be charging the wrong rate for your services or products. You need to know the cost in order to set a smart price or you will literally be working yourself out of business.

Tip 5: Are their clients or customers that you need to fire? This is a tricky one but when you provide service to people who are not a good match for your product or service, you may be making a bad name for yourself.

 

Author Liz Harsch is a marketing consultant, Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, The City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. If you are interested in getting help for your marketing plan or your marketing projects, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.  

For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit them online at tailormadeadvertising.com. Or sign up to get her monthly tips for small business owners and management.   To schedule Liz Harsch as a speaker on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, Email beth@adteamla.com or contact us at 310-791-6300.

September 10, 2015

3 Steps to facebook Posts that Achieve Your Goals!

So you are spending a lot of time on facebook trying to keep in touch with your customers and getting them to talk about your business or non-profit to their friends. But at the end of the day you are not getting your time back in sales or donations. You know something is wrong but you are not sure how to figure out what.  Let’s figure it out starting today.

Plan your Facebook posts

What Do You Want People To Do?

Step 1: What were you trying to do on facebook? The answer to how to make it work for your company is to set some goal that you can achieve. Typically there are different types of posts you can do on facebook:

  1. Links (which are designed to move people from your facebook page to your website, event page or shopping cart).
  2. Images (which are designed to get people to like your post or your product pictures).
  3. Testimonials (which are designed to get your customers to post reviews on your page and hopefully their friends are following them)
  4. Videos (which are designed to get your fans or visitors to review and learn something about your business and your brand).
  5. Sweepstakes or Content Download posts (designed to get you more contacts for your newsletter or to connect to your facebook page).

Step 2: Not all of these posts work the same so it is important to decide what results you are looking for before you plan and post and repost. Remember, if you have 30 “likes” or more, you can see your facebook insights and that will provide you with lots of feedback on how your posts are working. Make sure you are checking your results.

facebook post tips

Step 3: In addition, when you figure out what posts are working best, add paid facebook advertising. You can select the goal you are trying to achieve and facebook will recommend the best format for your ad monies based on your goals.   You can also review the posts you have done lately that are accomplishing your goal and amp up your results by boosting those posts with some paid ad money that is targeted to match your customer demographics.

Author Liz Harsch is a marketing consultant, Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, The City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. If you are interested in getting help for your marketing plan or your marketing projects, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.  

For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit them online at tailormadeadvertising.com. Or sign up to get her monthly tips for small business owners and management.   To schedule Liz Harsch as a speaker on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, Email beth@adteamla.com or contact us at 310-791-6300.

August 6, 2015

#Social Media Example: NY Mag, Bill Cosby & #TheEmptyChair

Whether you are in agreement or not with the New Yorker Magazine cover that prompted a national conversation using the hashtag #TheEmptyChair campaign, you cannot disagree that the use of traditional media plus online media and social platforms drove the success of the public relations outreach.  This example demonstrates how imagery with social media efforts delivered more impact than daily news reports could.

NY Mag Cover Shows Power of Social Media

So how does this story impact your business? For starters they did not rely heavily on copy as the picture encapsulated the story (look at all those women). The image’s impact created a social media frenzy and the hashtags #theemptychair was featured prominently from #facebook to #pinterest, #tumblr and #instagram. Beyond that the story spread throughout the network of their fans, friends and contacts and then was picked up by bloggers (like me), newspapers, magazines and social media curation sites. By adding hashtags# the stories spread even further by connecting the topic and then connecting this story with the topic of sexual assault which was already in the news due to the out of hand number of assaults on campuses in America.

#TheEmptyChair channels conversations

#TheEmptyChair conversations went on to be shown on YouTube and other #SocialMedia.

So it started with an image and then led to a hashtag #theemptychair and that connected all social media and online posts to the other conversations, including the publication and other social media accounts. Followers could then retweet, repost and share what impacted them most about the story and their network of friends and contacts would be exposed to the story.

Then if you visit that conversation (in this case #theemptychair) you will find all the conversations that reference that hashtag or images for it — all in one place, and you can also check it out on search engines to see images, stories, content that were offshoots of the original story. As a follower or viewer you can choose to keep in the loop and see where the USA Today YouTubeconversation goes. Along the way if you comment or post, your logo, comment and other images are referenced so that people following that conversation can connect with people who share their ideas (thus expanding your reach and area of influence).

So suppose you own a gardening business and you want to tap into a trending hashtag and or conversation on drought resistant plants. You can search twitter or google and grab those stories that are trending for that topic and you can include or insert your company into that conversation by retweeting or reposting the hashtags and social media feeds and then commenting some gardening solutions and offer folks to see some drought resistant solutions you have installed and a suggestion they get your gardening newsletter monthly or follow your feed on #pinterest, #twitter, #tumblr, #facebook or #instagram.

NY Magazine Tumblr Follows

NY Magazine Tumblr Account kept the conversation going and helps you use content from their blog

By media mixing, social media expands your reach and sometimes it can start a conversation and provide a beacon on how to follow that conversation. In addition people can message you to find out more about whatever peaked their curiosity or add their private conversation to the platform with just the owner of the hashtag or the page for the platform. You can choose to continue to broadcast your message to your contacts or you can expand your area of influence by connecting with others outside your contacts using tools like those used in this example.

Author Liz Harsch is a marketing consultant, Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, The City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. If you are interested in getting help for your marketing plan or your marketing projects, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.  

For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit them online at tailormadeadvertising.com. Or sign up to get her monthly tips for small business owners and management.   To schedule Liz Harsch as a speaker on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, Email beth@adteamla.com or contact us at 310-791-6300.

September 4, 2014

4th Quarter Sales Strategies 9/2014

4th Quarter Sales StrategiesLet’s begin with the fact that September has started. There are many traditional sales events that take place in this next quarter and you need to organize to actualize those sales and fundraising goals you dreamed about last year. The reality is that the economy is back, jobs and spending are on the rise. So how do you get a piece of that pie for your business? And let’s not forget that non-profit high season is about to start as people and organizations think about who they are going to support before the end of the year.

  • So start with setting a fourth quarter sales or fundraising goal that you can achieve and be optimistic as that is the economy we embrace today.  If you don’t believe me, just look at the stock market. Write down the average you have made monthly over the last 8 months and then optimistically add 20% per month and use that as a minimum. Or use your annual projection from 2014, add the percent you hoped to gain and then deduct your funds to date to determine what funds you need to raise in the last four months of this year to realize your goal. It is all numbers, so do the math.
  • Plan and use the sales events that the American Public celebrates and knows and make sure your messaging takes advantage of those events to maximize your own efforts. Create a calendar and check out my holiday hashtags article to include the tweeting public by adding event hashtags to social media posts.
  • Here is a recap of the most celebrated sale dates to come this year:

Grandparents Day: September 7, 2014

Patriot Day: September 11, 2014

Columbus Day: October 13, 2014

Halloween: October 31,2014

Veterans Day: November 11, 2014

Thanksgiving Day: November 27, 2014 (Some sales started last Thanksgiving Day).

Black Friday: The Friday after Thanksgiving- November 28,2014

Small Business Saturday : The Saturday After Thanksgiving : November 29, 2014. Tie in with American Express marketing if you do this event. https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/small-business/shop-small/about/

Cyber Monday: The Monday after Thanksgiving (some people have one per week to the holidays).

Hanukkah: December 16, 2014

Christmas: December 24, 2014 (remember the countdown and day before sales)

Day After Christmas Sales: December 26, 2014

New Years Eve Sale: December 31, 2014

New Years Day Sale: January 1, 2015

For a list of more holidays and special events click here (http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/)

  • Check in with your industry for any special promotional events, conventions, or fundraisers that you can tie into in order to create your own event. These are events like: Home Improvement Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month and any other organizations or non-profits you can use to benefit the organization and your own company at the same time.
  • Consider a Cross Promotion with another company or organization that reaches out to the same target market (potential consumers or members) that your organization tries to target. Consider a cross promotion newsletter or sales event (% of proceeds this month only goes to _____). You can expand your Email Marketing list by sharing their news with your customers and having them do the same and cross promoting your events together to save advertising dollars.

Want to learn more? Come to my FREE  Upcoming Marketing Classes or contact me at 310-791-6300 for private help implementing your 4th Quarter Sales Strategy to achieve your goals.  Whatever your organization is trying to achieve, we can find a way to help you accomplish your goals.

Liz Harsch, has been helping small and medium sized businesses make the most of their marketing investments since 1988. Her company, Tailor-Made Advertising is an Authorized SCORE workshop presenter and an awarded Constant Contact Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, The City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. If you are interested in a quote or more information on a mobile website email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.  For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit tailormadeadvertising.com. To schedule Liz Harsch as a speaker on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, contact Liz at 310-791-6300 or Email tmade.mkt@verizon.net.

January 7, 2013

Will The Fiscal Cliff Tax Deal Affect Your Business?

Picture 8

Are you clear or whether or not the new tax legislation will affect your sales? As a marketer, we need to keep an eye on what changes in government can do to our potential sales in 2013 and beyond. As I searched for a layman’s termed explanation of what we got and gave up with the negotiated legislation, I found the following explanation to be concise and simple. Review the information yourself and be aware if your target market is negatively affected.. If so, consider providing a promotion or some recognition that you are aware their costs have gone up and as their supplier, you want to help provide them with more value. While many people feel that the upper middle class and wealthy are not sensitive to price increases, taxes sting, and this one in particular can feel like class warfare. Consider how you would feel if your income tax went up to almost 40% of your income, while everyone else got a break. If upper class spending is reduced to help make up for the increase, it can affect your business, so help take the bite out the new legislation if you can cater to that market.

Tax Rates
For most individuals, the legislation permanently extends the lower federal income tax rates that have existed for the last decade. That means most taxpayers will continue to pay tax according to the same six tax brackets (10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, and 35%) that applied for 2012. The top federal income tax rate, however, will increase to 39.6% beginning in 2013 for individuals with income that exceeds $400,000 ($450,000 for married couples filing joint returns).

Capital Gains
Generally, lower tax rates that applied to long-term capital gain and qualifying dividends have been permanently extended for most individuals as well. If you’re in the 10% or 15% marginal income tax bracket, a special 0% rate generally applies. If you are in the 25%, 28%, 33%, or 35% tax brackets, a 15% maximum rate will generally apply. Beginning in 2013, however, those who pay tax at the higher 39.6% federal income tax rate (i.e., individuals with income that exceeds $400,000, or married couples filing jointly with income that exceeds $450,000) will be subject to a maximum rate of 20% for long-term capital gain and qualifying dividends.

Alternative minimum tax (AMT)
The AMT is essentially a parallel federal income tax system with its own rates and rules. The last temporary AMT “patch” expired at the end of 2011, threatening to dramatically increase the number of individuals subject to the AMT for 2012. The American Taxpayer Relief Act permanently extends AMT relief, retroactively increasing the AMT exemption amounts for 2012, and providing that the exemption amounts will be indexed for inflation in future years. The Act also permanently extends provisions that allowed nonrefundable personal income tax credits to be used to offset AMT liability.

2012 AMT Exemption Amounts
Before Act    After Act
Married filing jointly    $45,000    $78,750
Unmarried individuals    $33,750    $50,600
Married filing separately    $22,500    $39,375

Estate Tax
The Act makes permanent the $5 million exemption amounts (indexed for inflation) for the estate tax, the gift tax, and the generation-skipping transfer tax–the same exemptions that were in effect for 2011 and 2012. The top tax rate, however, is increased to 40% (up from 35%) beginning in 2013.

The Act also permanently extends the “portability” provision in effect for 2011 and 2012 that allows the executor of a deceased individual’s estate to transfer any unused exemption amount to the individual’s surviving spouse.

Phaseout or limitation of itemized deductions and personal exemptions
In the past, itemized deductions and personal and dependency exemptions were phased out or limited for high-income individuals. Since 2010, neither itemized deductions nor personal and dependency exemptions have been subject to phaseout or limitation based on income, but those provisions expired at the end of 2012.

The new legislation provides that, beginning in 2013, personal and dependency exemptions will be phased out for those with incomes exceeding specified income thresholds. Similarly, itemized deductions will be limited. For both the personal and dependency exemptions phaseout and the itemized deduction limitation, the threshold is $250,000 for single individuals ($300,000 for married individuals filing joint federal income tax returns).

Other expiring or expired provisions made permanent

  • “Marriage penalty” relief in the form of an increased standard deduction amount for married couples and expanded 15% federal income tax bracket
  • Expanded tax credit provisions relating to the dependent care tax credit, the adoption tax credit, and the child tax credit
  • Higher limits and more generous rules of application relating to certain education provisions, including Coverdell education savings accounts, employer-provided education assistance, and the student loan interest deduction
  • Temporary extensions
  • Provisions relating to increased earned income tax credit amounts for families with three or more children are extended through 2017
  • American Opportunity credit provisions relating to maximum credit amount, refundability, and phaseout limits are extended through 2017
  • The $250 above-the-line tax deduction for educator classroom expenses, the limited ability to deduct mortgage insurance premiums as qualified residence interest, the ability to deduct state and local sales tax in lieu of the itemized deduction for state and local income tax, and the deduction for qualified higher education expenses are all extended through 2013
  • Charitable IRA distributions (IRA holders over age 70½ are able to exclude from income up to $100,000 in qualified distributions made to charitable organizations) are extended through 2013; special rules apply for the 2012 tax year
  • Exclusion of qualified mortgage debt forgiveness from income provisions extended through 2013
  • Exclusion of 100% of the capital gain from the sale of qualified small business stock extended to apply to stock acquired before January 1, 2014
  • 50% bonus depreciation and expanded Section 179 expense limits extended through 2013

Liz Harsch, has been helping small and medium sized businesses make the most of their marketing investments since 1988. Her company, Tailor-Made Advertising is an Authorized SCORE workshop presenter and an awarded Constant Contact Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, the City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. For more information about her company and services or to learn about her FREE Workshops and Paid laptop bootcamps like facebook , twitter, linkedin and analytics, visit tailormadeadvertsing.com. To schedule her as a speaker for your organization, association or department, email her to request a date at tmade.mkt@verizon.net. You can also call erh Torrance office at 310-791-6300.

January 24, 2012

Connect The Dots on Email + Social Media-Helpful Workshops!

social media made simple January 26What are you doing different to market your company in 2012? Are you segmenting your target market with email marketing? Are you adding social media? Did you poll your 2011 buyers to see learn more about how your company and products are searched for and perceived? Have you Googled your company or products to learn more about your buyers and fans?  If you are shaking your head, there is only one more question coming—why not?

Upcoming Workshops help you connect the dots on Social Plus Email Marketing

Take Action. So now is the part where I tell you how to get started. I would start with putting together a plan on what your goals are for 2012 and then create an agenda for your monthly online goals (blogs, posts, product introductions, promotions, events you are attending or displaying at, company meetings, announcements, stock meetings, etc..). I prefer this in a calendar format so anyone on your team is aware of the topics being addressed that week.

Next share the calendar with the marketing and sales department to confirm you have all the major events covered and to promote two way conversations. Then edit it to include anything that the sales team is doing to increase their sales goals. Check their goals against yours and ask yourself if you are in sync? If so, set up your posting schedule and coordinate it with any traditional media you have in the media mix so that you are supporting your ads with posts. Remember to ask online and in print for fans and followers to join you on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Add in your blog posts and your published newsletter to complete your online media plan.

Thinking you could use some help on this? Visit our website and check out our training schedule. In fact we have some upcoming FREE workshops you can attend: Thursday, January 26th come to Social Media Made Simple at the Microsoft Store in Century City and on Wednesday, February 1, attend our Email Marketing Best PracticesLeveraging Social Media Workshop at the Glendale SCORE office.

Kelly Flint of Constant Contact, calls Liz Harsch “The Queen of Analytics”. Liz is the owner of Tailor-Made Advertising in Torrance, CA and one of only a few Constant Contact Certified Local Experts and a SCORE Representative providing FREE Marketing advice to small businesses in Greater Los Angeles as a community outreach program. For more information contact Liz @310-791-6300 or email Liz at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.

October 17, 2011

Walmart Goes Social and Local at the Same Time

I always say that the biggest benefit of social media is market research. Of course I am an analytics fan and always want to measure what we do for results.  So it does not surprise me that Walmart is going local on social media and making it easier for their customers to interact with their own local store.

When you consider the possibilities it really means that they may be enlightened that not all neighborhoods are created equal. Who knows how far it can go? Maybe they’ll make it easy for you to even check the stock before you get to the store and eliminate the need for fruitless trips when they are out of stock on what you need or help divert you to another store that has what you need.  Either way, whether you are large like Walmart or a small hobby shop, it can’t hurt to see what your customers are looking for and how you handle it for them.  When you see a need at one store that is not at another, you find an opportunity to help your customers and increase your profits. And some of the best ideas in growing businesses come from your customers.

Check out this article and consider if your social media program is creating customers who feel in control. Not sure how to integrate this into your particular business? Give us a call at (310) 791-6300 or get our monthly newsletter.

August 26, 2011

Pro Athletes & Social Media

Dodger StadiumWith preseason professional football on the top of everyone’s mind, Mashable recently considered the way the NFL has chosen to use social media – particularly Facebook and Twitter – to promote the league, teams, and the athletes themselves. Social media is a great tool for analysts, commentators and writers to take a survey of how fans are feeling and how teams are doing. Twitter in particular provides a platform for fans to interact directly with their athletic heroes.

 

Are you a fan of LA (and surrounding) teams? Here are some Twitter feeds you may be interested in.

NBA

WNBA

MLB

LA NFL Favorites

MLS

Commentary & Analysis

Are there any other Twitter feeds you follow to keep up-to-date on Los Angeles sports? Share them in the comments!

March 22, 2011

Best Practices for Following Up Any Event

Event PlanningEvents of any kind are a lot of work to put together. If you’re incorporating events into your marketing strategy, you’ll want to make sure you get the most from your efforts. Here are some tips on maximizing your event outcome:

  1. Make a list of attendees: This allows you to collect contact information about your current or potential customers, depending on your event. Include a sign-in sheet at the event so you can know who attended, even if your event included a pre-registration sign-up.
  2. Get attendees feedback with a follow-up survey: Now that you know exactly who attended your event – get their feedback! Not only is it always a good idea to encourage your customers to interact with you even when they’re not buying, but they’ll be your most valuable resource in how to improve it. Furthermore, for people who didn’t attend (maybe people who were invited, or people who signed up but didn’t make it), this is your opportunity to find out why. [Sign up for a free Online Survey trial account!]
  3. Follow-up with negative respondents: Thanks to Yelp and other online review sites, customers can share their opinions all over the internet. Thanks to social networking – you have just as many opportunities to respond directly to your critics. Most often, a direct and honest response will make the big difference.
  4. Use the information you’ve gathered to plan your next event: Thanks to your surveys, you should know what worked, what didn’t, and what attendees enjoyed the most. Use these insights to improve your attendance and encourage people to return.

Need help planning your next event or getting the word out? Contact us or sign up for a FREE Event Marketing trial through Constant Contact.