San Pedro Lunch & Learn 10/24/18. Network & Learn How To Maximize Your Holiday Promotions & Emails

Register Here http://bit.ly/HolidayPromo2018

Join my Holiday Digital Marketing Tips Lunch & Learn with @ConstantContact at The San Pedro Chamber of Commerce Wednesday 10/24. Lunch is catered and only  $15 for member or $20 for Non- Members. Come network and learn how to make the most of your marketing efforts using  National Holidays from #Halloween #Thanksgiving #BlackFriday #ShopSmall #CyberMonday #GivingTuesdays & more. Learn about events, hashtags, social media pages, digital tools  & audiences you can use to enhance email marketing lists.  It’s not too late to pump up your reach and increase your revenue to surpass your 2018 marketing goals. Register here: http://bit.ly/HolidayPromo2018.

If you cannot make the event, you can always email Tailor-Made Advertising with your questions on how to maximize your marketing efforts at liz@adteamla.com or call us at 310-791-6300.  Don’t expect different results from just what you did last year. Mix it up and get better results in today’s hot market.

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.

Small Business Week Workshops

Join me 5/2 @6pm today at the City of Bellflower for a FREE Automate your Marketing Workshop with @SCOREOC @ConstantContact @SmallBiz @SBA.gov to maximize your online marketing time http://bit.ly/52automate 

 

Setting & Achieving Your 2013 Sales or Marketing Goals

Before you hire another service provider or put more money into your website, ask yourself one question—How will I grow my business/association in 2013? What is your plan? What are your goals? You cannot expect a vendor or your employees to be successful with your online marketing programs if you have not clearly communicated to them how you spell success.

In example: This year I expect to grow my sales by 20% over last year.  Okay, that is a tangible number. But are you going to do that in sales dollars or in customer numbers? Because on paper the difference between one and the other can be hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Even more, if you do not know where you have been, how can you expect to get somewhere? How will you achieve the sale increase from the goal you set. Do you believe your sales will come from past customers increasing their purchases or from new customers making a first purchase? What do those customers have in common? What measurement will you use to determine if your vendor or employee has reached that sales goal?

If you are like a lot of business owners or Associations, you have just taken a look at your last year’s cumulative numbers as you get them ready for your tax year 2012. You have seen sales but have you seen where they came from? If you have an Association did you see membership grow? Where is your next customer coming from? Since you are ready to evaluate your marketing plan and achieve more in 2013, here are some steps to take to get where you want to go:

1) I have put together a great worksheet for you to use to get the big picture you need on how to set and achieve your marketing goals for 2013. You may have a much more sophisticated spreadsheet that your company already uses. Still I would suggest that you simplify the numbers to my worksheet so you can see the birdseye view. This will also help you to simplify the goals to your staff.

2) Know your numbers. Before you get in the car, you typically know where you are leaving from (so you can get back there or have a reference for where you are going). It is the same for marketing. If you know your numbers (website visitors, facebook fans, linkedin network, twitter followers and email respondents) on a monthly and annual basis, you are more likely to achieve more and clearly communicate success to those working on your program. If you are not sure where to start on this, read my blog or attend my next “Is Your Social Media & Online Marketing Paying Off Laptop” Bootcamp to learn how to measure the important indicators yourself. There is one on 6/15 in Mission Viejo.

3) Don’t treat investments in Social Media and Online Marketing any different from traditional marketing. If you go to a show or spend money sending out a direct mail piece you need to include all the costs associated with the results to the cost of that medium. If you have a secretary or a cousin doing your social media or online advertising keywords, simply add up all their hours and multiply it by the cost of employing them and then compare it to the goals and results in order to see if it makes sense to hire someone else to do the job or if the person doing that job at your company is making progress. Do they need more time to do an even better job?  You can’t direct it if you don’t know the facts.

4) Add networking to your growth plan. Keep in mind that with most companies, the growth takes place faster if the company has started strategic partnerships with others looking for the same target market. What are those relationships you can grow in 2013? What is your plan to spread the word about your social media, website, services and products with those partners?

5) How are you reaching potential and existing customers/donors/contacts 7-9 times in a reasonable period of time? We used to say that you needed to expose potential consumers to your message 3 times to overcome the hurdle of trust. Today that number is 7-9 times. So if you do a monthly newsletter only, that exposure will take you 7-9 months. That is too long, by the time they see you again, they will have forgotten you. Instead, make a calendar of how you are touching that potential and existing customer 7-9 times in the next two months. Integrate social & online media with your traditional media to achieve that goal.

If you need help determining where your company is at, I can help by providing you with a white paper on the positives and negatives of your online efforts. If you want to learn to measure those results yourself, register for my Analytics Workshop with SCORE on Saturday, 6/15 in Mission Viejo. If you cannot make that event, contact our office (310) 791-6300 and see what class or service we can provide in case we can set you up with a private or semi-private class to help you get on track for achieving and exceeding your 2013 marketing 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. For more information about her company, visit tailormadeadvertsing.com. To schedule her as a speaker for your organization, association or department, send her an email at tmademkt@verizon.net.

Will The Fiscal Cliff Tax Deal Affect Your Business?

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.

Get Started With Market Research & Ad Tracking

Market research doesn’t have to be expensive. The key here is how reliable you want your data to be. If you are going to make decisions about your business, you will want to be sure you can rely on the information you get. Here are few different methods of market research that you may want to use.

1. Sales data. We work with clients’ databases to identify trends that may be affecting their business in a positive or negative way. We can then profile your current customers. Your past sales are a goldmine of information that will lead to more sales.
2. Website statistics. If your website is set up with a statistics program, you can get a lot of information on what interests your web visitors. You’ll learn how they navigate your website and if they convert to sales.
3. Call tracking. If you are advertising or if you have a website or social media page, one great way to get a demographic look at your leads is to incorporate call tracking numbers. We sell them starting at $25 per month and you can learn a lot about the folks that are calling you. Call us for details. The service allows you to monitor your calls in real time as well as record incoming calls. You then learn where your potential customers live, their phone number, what they asked about, and how your staff handled the calls. You can learn which ads work best, and how to improve your sales rate.
4. Online analytics. Social media analytics and website statistics allow you to track your online ads. Don’t be afraid to do an online campaign, just make sure you know what to look for in website referrals and analytics. Check out tools for social media like Facebook Insights. They are loaded with information about who is following you, including location, gender, age, and how they got to your Facebook page (like from your website or an online ad). We integrate this information into your ad planning since the visitors’ demographics on Facebook may not be the same as your website, LinkedIn, YouTube, or other social media.
5. Competitive Analysis. Many of our clients want to know how their potential customers see them in comparison to others offering similar services. One great way to find out is a custom report where we contact recent customers and interview them on their selection process. Because we are a third party, they are very honest and often provide valuable information about their impression of your products or service. These studies are cost effective and very valuable. If you are trying to conduct your own research on a limited budget, you can also subscribe to Google alerts and see how often you and your competition come up on these searches. There are ways to glean more information with the right search terms and more filtering.

Remember that setting goals based on historical research is key to any company’s growth. The recent recession has changed the behavior of buyers, so change up your sales and marketing strategy to meet your buyer more efficiently and on their terms. For more information on your best research alternatives, or if you need some help evaluating your current analytics, give us a call or email us.

What’s Your Company’s Social Media Strategy

Is your social media strategy in place? If not consider doing a little research in order to find out what your customers are saying about you and other companies like yours. It will help define your program. We suggest you use a few FREE online tools!

Before you just start putting out content to represent your company, you will be better prepared if you start with doing research. After all, that is exactly what your potential customer would do. There are tools you can use to determine what your company looks like to potential consumers on the internet, particularly when they search for the products you deliver. Then you can mange that perception with some well planned social media content and a little offline negotiations. Who is talking about you or your industry? Here are a few FREE online tools to help:

• Google Alerts mails you whenever a chosen keyword (e.g., company or product name, CEO name, campaign tagline, industry term, etc.) is mentioned in any form of online content.
• Google Blog Search scans the blogosphere for any keyword or phrase you input.
• Twitter Search scans all Twitter posts for your selected keyword or phrase.
• SiteVolume reports how often keywords or phrases appear on Twitter, Digg, MySpace, YouTube and Flickr.
• SocialMention enables you to search keywords and phrases by specific channel category (blogs, images, news, video, etc.), or as a whole, and to receive email alerts when a new mention is posted.
• Socialcast offers real-time analytics on microblogging and other social activities and identifies individual users’ level of activity. Unlike most tools, it also aims to quantify the value of “lurkers” who aren’t visibly posting comments by how often they frequent a site.

Whether your results from this research is positive, negative or neutral; that is what people are passing along to friends. You can change perception by reaching out to those that are unsatisfied and seeing if you can improve their experience. You can also learn the weaknesses of your competitors and target your advertising to address those areas that are a concern to your target market.

If you don’t have time to do this research yourself or if you need a social media strategy plan, we can help. Email or call us at (310) 791-6300 with your needs and let us customize a program for you. You will be in a better position to sell if you know more about what your target market thinks about your company or your competition. Get the facts you need to keep your professional advantage.

 

 

Where is the Consumer with Money? Part 4

So who is driving the sales of luxury items in today’s market? Believe it or not, Generation X is, and they are not that wealthy.

While high end wealthy consumers cut back in recent months, Generation X consumers continued to shop luxury items and that helped sales soar. That also means that that group of individuals has a more positive attitude about their job security and their potential to make more money next year. It does make sense that a younger generation is less cautious of spending more over time. After all doesn’t it make sense that it can only go up from here if you feel you are making less than you are worth today?

While the traditional luxury market held their spending, Generation X is still looking poised to continue driving the recovery.  For more information on reaching Generation X with your advertising message (you won’t reach them in traditional print) give us a call at 310-791-6300 or email us today.

Where is the Consumer with Money? Part 3

As you look for the consumer, or even the business, with money, make sure you know how the Average American spends their paycheck. It will help you measure your average consumer as opposed to the general population.

This article updated in October is a great breakdown of where the average American’s paycheck goes. It goes a long way to explaining why you see sales to some of the market and why you don’t see the rest. The image is great to show the fixed expenses that most Americans have to make monthly and the amount of disposable income that is left when you make the average amount. Even if your market is the higher end, it is important for you to understand the baseline commitments and cash flow that the average American makes a year. Where does your buyer fall on the scale?

For help in reaching specific demographics, give us a call at (310) 791-6300 or email me at liz@adteamla.com.

Where is the Consumer with Money? Step Two

Whether you are looking for a B2B client or a B2C market, the key is to be where your consumers are likely to go. If you are a regional business, you will want to develop a list of potential consumers based on geographic location. If you are a vertical market looking for consumers who have something in common but don’t necessarily cluster, you will want to identify behaviors or other products that that consumer is likely to be looking for and have a presence where they are looking.

You have a couple of choices when it comes to getting to these markets in a cost-efficient manner. One alternative is the Internet since it is the cheapest way to get your message to the consumer. However don’t forget that it’s important to define the age of your target market. If your preferred consumer is over 55, you will need to augment your efforts in print, in addition to whatever you do on the internet. Often clients want to go with the least expensive route, but if your consumer does not trust or rely on email it can delay your message and keep them from trusting your company.

The good news is that there are very reliable lists available now that can provide more than just address and company name information, but also psychographic information that can help define the market you are likely to be the most successful with. Maybe your target drives a specific type of a car or they like certain credit cards, are frequent flyers or are interested in high end products – you can find that list and define the area or type of consumer within that market and get a targeted message to them online or by snail mail.

If you are looking to help define your target market or to drill down to psychographic profiling, we can help. If you decide to do it on your own, make sure that you cross-reference the potential alternatives before you decide on a list. If you decide to use an online email marketing program, make sure that your source is reliable. You do not want to turn off your market with something they feel is an intrusion. You can do a lot of marketing with a limited budget if you find the right combination of online and traditional print or direct mail when looking for the higher-end consumer in today’s market.

For more information on reaching your consumer with money, contact us at 310-791-6300.

 

Grow Your Business in 2011

The New Year is just about on us. So ask yourself, “What will I do to retain my market share and grow my business in 2011?”

The reason I mention retaining your market share is that many companies forget to put that first. They take their existing customers for granted while they pursue new customers. The problem is that they forget that while they are working on adding clients, their competition is too. And part of competitors’ plans is targeting your customers.

Start your 2011 marketing plan with a check-in on how your current customers are feeling about your goods and services. Look at what you can do to continue serving them best. Then use that information as part of your marketing program – use customer testimonials and find areas for improvement as you move into the New Year.

What if your clients are not happy with something about your business or your products? With online reviews so easy to find, customer satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) will come out either way. However, if you pay attention and manage that information, you have a chance to work out a solution with your customers directly. Then you can put how you solved customers’ problems on the internet yourself. If customers were unhappy with some of your product features or services, you can roll out new ones that address any concerns, for example. If, on the other hand, you got good reviews through your market research, you can repeat those testimonials on your website or ads to present an even stronger image of your business by showing how happy your customers remain.