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Even though it’s called the World Wide Web, online marketing absolutely can be conducted on a local basis. In fact, there are a number of situations when locally targeted marketing makes sense, even for national brands. What’s more, marketing using local listings also conserves capital, even while maximizing your potential for success.

 Building Local Brand Awareness

Different regions of the country are unique in a number of ways. This makes marketing specifically to them easier and more effective. Catering to the particular needs of customers in these areas can give those shoppers reason to identify with your brand. In addition to enhancing brand awareness, promoting local deals leads to more engagement.

 Striving to Improve Customer Loyalty and Retention

Employing local listings will enable you to speak specifically to your target audience in a given location. This is particularly true for mobile advertising, in which you can craft your messages to appeal to an individual based upon the location in which they happen to be searching. This helps previous customers find you more readily, enabling you to more readily keep them in the fold.

 Gaining More Bang From a Small Budget

In this case, a granular focus can produce greater efficiency. In other words, training your budget on a smaller area can have more impact than trying to make the same dollars deliver significant results over a larger region. In fact, wasted impressions often result from broader targeting. Going smaller can actually improve your performance, which, in turn, amplifies your ROI.

 Increasing In-store Performance

Ironically, thanks to the rise of mobile computing, shoppers are using hand-held devices to locate brick and mortar locations. In fact, according to a Nielsen study, the most popular methods of brand interaction via mobile device hinge on location. Some 50 percent of mobile users use their devices to find the location of a retailer. Another 39 percent call the business and 48 percent use smartphones to get maps and driving directions. Taking advantage of local listings with this in mind will attract more customers to your physical store.

 Breaking into a New Market

When you’re entering a market for the first time, you have to create an initial splash. Locally targeted marketing makes this much easier to do, as you can build your campaigns around the exact characteristics of the local customer’s mindset. Yes, this means you’ll have to take some time to get to know your ideal customer in any given area. But once you do, personalizing your messages in local listings has the potential to render them considerably more appealing.

Locally targeted marketing absolutely makes sense in these five scenarios. They are also when Yahoo Small Business local listings make it a lot easier for your business to be discovered online. Try them today!

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Keeping the doors of your small business opens can depend a lot on your ability to market to potential clients. With a plethora of options open to you, it can be overwhelming and difficult to decide which marketing tools to use.

Email marketing has been a mainstay strategy throughout the technological era. In 1978, Gary Thuerk of Digital Equipment Corp (DEC) revolutionized the industry when he sent four hundred emails to potential clients. Although Encyclopedia Britannica refers to this incident as the origin of spam, the fact is that this pioneer sold $13 million of his product through that effort.

Prior to this, companies were limited to direct mail for advertising. Using the postal service could cost a small fortune and your materials might end up in the trash as junk mail. On top of that, a two percent response to a direct mailing was considered excellent! Since its inception, email marketing has trumped direct mail in many ways.

Comparing social media with email marketing

While social media may appear to be the center of many small business marketing strategies, an effective email blast is a far more dependable way to increase your customer base. It allows you to create a personal voice for your existing customer base, the people who have already expressed an interest in purchasing from you.

Facebook is one of the most popular websites for social media marketing. However, as with many social media sites, their algorithms are always changing. Today, if you don’t spend money advertising with Facebook, the chances of your fans actually seeing your posts are minimal. 

In 2012, Michael Bernstein, assistant professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, determined in his postdoctoral research that thirty-five percent of your Facebook friends actually see your posts. More recently, that figure has dropped to six percent, and pages with many fans can be as low as two percent. In fact, managing director of Social@Ogilvy, Marshall Manson, boldly predicts, “Organic reach for the content brands publish in Facebook is destined to hit zero. It’s only a matter of time.” 

With email marketing, you hold the reigns. You are the one to decide how often your list hears from you. Also, you can track precisely how many clients are actually opening your email. A success email campaign can take time to build, but that’s true with any good marketing plan.

Collecting email addresses

When it comes to email lists, the old adage size doesn’t matter just isn’t true. It could be argued that with email lists size is the only thing that matters! After all, if Shakespeare were reincarnated as an entrepreneur, his beautifully poetic words might be rendered irrelevant if his email list was miniscule.

As an email marketer, your job is to continue to find new and creative ways to expand your list. Fortunately, the options are limitless. Here are just a few ways you can encourage a visitor to subscribe to your newsletter:

Offer to send a free mini-eBook.

Create a contest with giveaways each month for new subscribers.

Offer special discounts available only through your newsletters.

Invite friends to subscribe through social media.

In addition, there are a few strategies you can use to increase your list, which are quick, easy, and take advantage of tools you are most likely currently employing:

Create a pop-up window on your website, offering to sign them up for your newsletter.

Include an opt-in link with your email signature (for new emails and replies).

Offer incentives to employees for adding new subscribers.

If you have a brick-and-mortar business, I recommend you use all the online methods discussed earlier to engage new subscribers; however, there are also a few traditional ideas you can try:

Put sign-up sheets by every cash register.

Allow customers to subscribe in-store via a tablet or laptop. You can make it part of every transaction.

Offer a monthly prize for those customers who drop their business cards in a box. Make sure to get their permission to add their names to your email list.

Always ask for business cards at networking meetings or trade shows.

Host events with door prizes for everyone who subscribes.

Tips for keeping your readership

Billions of emails are sent whizzing into inboxes every day. With that kind of activity, you need to get noticed without becoming a nuisance. The last thing you want is to find your well-crafted emails sitting in your customer’s trash or junk folder.

Just as you’d spend time creating the perfect title for a book you were writing, the same goes for the subject line of your email. Strive to make it catchy but not too long. Hint at the content, which will make the email irresistible to open.

Another tip is to find the best time to launch your emails. There is really no magic time, as it really depends upon your reader’s habits and behaviors, the industry you’re in, as well as when your competitor tends to send their email. Ideally, you want to time it so that your email doesn’t get lost in your subscribers’ inboxes. According to Experian, emails sent on the weekend have the highest open rate and ones sent between 8:00pm to 4:00am have the best response rates overall. 

Finally, if you really want to appeal to your subscribers, avoid faking familiarity with them. Addressing the email directly to them can do more harm than good, especially if their name is misspelled. Instead, focus on directing emails to the correct demographic and interest of the client. Those elements are more likely to trigger a positive reaction and produce loyalty.

Content strategies

When you have a good-sized subscriber list, you will need to find compelling content that encourages people to not only open your email, but to read it as well. There are three main strategies you can employ: articles, offers, and surveys.

Keep every article fresh and relevant. Don’t simply copy content you find on the internet. Copied content can be riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, making you seem unprofessional to readers. It also won’t carry your unique voice. In addition, avoid reusing content from previous email blasts. It’s important to provide unique articles written with your readers in mind.

When you offer your subscribers a deal, try to avoid sounding like you’re advertising your products or services to them. Instead, give friendly, helpful advice and throw in a discount at the end aimed at their needs. 

Surveys can be helpful in determining the interest of your client base, so that you will know how to better serve them. It’s always a good idea to get continual feedback. Most people are willing to share their opinions (good and bad) with you if asked, and a survey helps to keep your business in their minds.

When looking into which promotional avenues to pursue, consider producing a quality email marketing campaign. It’s relatively free, easy to produce and maintain, and more importantly, it’s effective.  

Author Laura Sherman

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Ken Rutkowski has some solid advice for you in this Business Rockstars Minute: Get on Youtube. Why? Youtube is actually the second most searched site on the web after Google. And it is the site where searchers end up staying the longest - by far. Youtube users engage with the content there like nowhere else. So find some way to put your small business in front of the Youtube audience - it will pay off.

Read More:

How To Increase YouTube Engagement (Infographic)

The YouTube Advantage for Growing a Business: A Business Rockstars Minute

Creating Successful YouTube Channel – Secrets Unveiled

This is one in a continuing series of Business Rockstars Minute videos presented by Ken Rutkowski. They cover a range of small business topics, especially for entrepreneurs, and give you a real quick start on the topic and are a great point for jumping off. We recommend that you check out their daily live shows over at Business Rockstars as well. But most importantly, please let us know what you think in the comments. We want your feedback on how you like these and on future topics.

Author Owen Linderholm

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The most successful people share a striking number of similar habits. Regardless of whether they’re the CEO of a technology startup, or manage a popular local neighborhood retail outlet, their reoccurring patterns of behavior often pave the way to ongoing levels of achievement.  Below are six habits that hugely successful people use to maximize productivity, effectiveness and success – by following them, you can also catapult yourself further and faster towards achieving your own personal or professional goals.

  Minimize Distractions

According to Basex, a management science company, it’s estimated that distractions cost U.S. businesses $588 billion per year, a number that continues to grow. Besides costing businesses billions in resources, these sneaky time consumers undermine concentration and can make it hard to stay focused on a task or consistently follow important train of thought. Learning to ignore these nuisances can help you create less stress, improve productivity on the job, and enjoy a happier workday, so put your phone away, log out of your social media accounts, and close your office door during your most productive hours. If you’re not quite sure which distractions eating up your day, try tracking your schedule by creating a running diary for two to three weeks to find out.

  Get Enough Rest

Productivity can suffer if you don’t feel your best, and one of the most important factors of feeling up to par is maintaining a consistent sleep schedule. Getting enough rest is one of the easiest things you can do to revitalize your mental clarity, passion and energy. The National Sleep Foundation states that there’s no magic number when determining the right amount of sleep needed, but studies show that those who get 7 hours of sleep a night are far more productive. Research dating back decades also shows a marked decline in productivity after a typical 40-hour workweek – anything more produces diminishing returns. So be sure to take breaks, rest, and recharge: It may vastly improve your creativity, productivity and output.

  Follow a Morning Ritual

By doing the same things every day when you wake up, you’re letting your mind focus on the bigger tasks at hand. Plus, establishing a routine of getting up and getting active first thing in the morning is a great way to start the day with a blast of energy – energy you can immediately begin spending on professional and personal development. (Hint: The smartest investment you can ever make is in yourself.) For example, many hugely successful people don’t just wake up earlier and spend time working out to improve fitness, start the day strong, and reduce stress. They also read business books, catch up on the news, get up-to-date on emails, or listen to podcasts while exercising, starting the day off strong by accomplishing multiple goals in one fell swoop.

  Prioritize Your Day

Hugely successful people have a daily agenda that helps visualize what they would like to accomplish that day. It’s an easy way to give them a sense of work balance since they can see exactly what’s on their plate, as well as help them focus and mentally prepare for the challenges that they’ll be facing. Mimic their behavior by creating a daily “to-do list” of your own the evening before each workday, and prioritize tasks by importance. That way, you immediately know where to begin your work the next morning, and can tackle the most difficult challenges first, improving productivity and making the rest of your workday look like a breeze by comparison.

  Take Care of Yourself

You may have heard successful men and women say, “I work hard but I also play hard.” These folks are well aware that it simply isn’t possible to operate at full speed every waking hour. They know that taking time for yourself is one of the biggest steps in avoiding work burnout. Try relaxing a little each day and use your free time to indulge in something you truly enjoy. Taking care of yourself also means eating a healthy diet, which includes breakfast, to fuel your body and mind for the challenges ahead. Staying organized both in the office and at home eliminates stress and is another way to take care of yourself.

  Put First Things First

Not every task is equal, and successful people account for this when they budget their time. Whether you function best in the early morning hours or late in the afternoon, use your peak performance hours to knock out harder tasks and bring you closer to your goals. Save less-pressing tasks such as skimming through interoffice memos or submitting speaking proposals to annual industry conference organizers for a time when you’re not exactly ready to move mountains. Get the most important tasks done first – the rest will seem trivial by comparison. These important tasks should be tackled while you’re at your freshest, most awake, and best.

Award-winning professional speaker Scott Steinberg is a bestselling expert on leadership and innovation, and the author of Make Change Work for You: 10 Ways to Future-Proof Yourself, Fearlessly Innovate, and Succeed Despite Uncertainty. Among today’s leading providers of keynote speeches, workshops and seminars for Fortune 500 firms, his website is www.AKeynoteSpeaker.com.

Author Scott Steinberg

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It’s that time again, the close of one calendar year and the beginning of another. While assessing year-end sales and balancing your business demands after holiday family time, you’ll do yourself a favor if you also take a bit of time to generate some goals for 2015. Here are five small business resolutions you can use to start the new year off the right way.

Energize your fan base – The 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge the power of a truly viral phenomenon to raise awareness and funds. You’re not likely to replicate that campaign’s success, but there are a few ingredients that can guide marketing for your small business in the new year. Next year, try a new creative campaign to reengage your fan base. Go for an idea that creates engagement and activity and is open to the widest range of participants to generate the most activity.

Live your brand – Taking a page out of CVS’s decision to stop selling cigarettes, sometimes removing conflicting products can increase your value. Try looking at your business from an outsider’s perspective. Do all of the goods and services you provide further your small business brand proposition and the value you offer?  It can be hard to shut down products that are generating revenue, but everything needs to support your overall brand message.

Introduce something new – Adding products or services in areas where your business excels can help diversify your revenue base and make your company more resilient.  Are there any new areas where your company can meet specific demands in the marketplace?  Of course, make sure that these products align with your brand (see resolution #2). Sixty-six percent of small business owners in Hiscox’s 2014 DNA of an Entrepreneur study plan to launch a new product or service in the year ahead.

Amp up your cyber security – If there is one thing 2014 taught us, it’s that even the biggest conglomerates are susceptible to a security breach. Despite this glaring vulnerability to cyber attacks, only 15 percent of small business polled in this year’s DNA of an Entrepreneur study reported having data risk insurance. Small businesses don’t have the staff or systems to guard against attacks that larger organizations do, making them even more vulnerable to hackers. Making sure your company is protected will increase stability and hopefully save you some restless nights.

Indulge in R&R – Just because your small business has a smaller staff doesn't mean you can’t steal away and use those vacation days. Taking time away from work can help relieve stress and revitalize you and even gain some outside perspective on how your business is running.  The time you take away from the business will pay dividends when you return with more energy and new ideas.

Hunter Hoffmann is Head of US Communications at Hiscox Small Business Insurance and is responsible for media relations, social media, internal communications and executive messaging. Hunter lives in New York City with his wife and two sons – Walker and Otis. In his spare time, he moonlights as Chief Marketing Officer and deliveryman for Junior’s Fresh, a fresh baby and toddler food delivery service and pre-school meal provider in New York City founded by his wife, Michelle.

Author Hunter Hoffmann

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