Short Term Website Marketing Strategies Continued… Using Social Media to Make Sales Now!

Posted by Salem Global on Dec 1, 2009

Black Friday has come and gone. Even Cyber Monday is over. And now look at you. Are you having “Regret Tuesday” or are you happy with what you have been implementing since we started talking about online marketing for the holidays one month before Halloween??? You see, most small business owners (SBOs) have a calendar and they look at the past and they regret what they didn’t do. Most large companies have a marketing calendar, a marketing budget, a marketing plan, and they implement like clockwork. And the companies in the middle struggle with where they stand. So the question really is, do you lean towards being a small company and think “small,” or BIG company and think BIG?

Macy’s created the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for a reason. They didn’t want to “give back” to the community; they wanted to sell more of their merchandise. Of course they get the benefit of “giving back” because the parade has evolved into a fun family treat for everyone in America. If I don’t take my kids to the parade, we usually watch it on TV. And there is the Macy’s logo, ingrained on my mind, on every float, every TV and every second of the hours it takes for all of the floats to be transported to the Upper West Side, get blown up, get handled, and then walked downtown. When I was younger I used to go to the balloons the night before Thanksgiving and watch them blow up the balloons. People have parties and it has become an event in and of itself. Then I got an office on Broadway and it over looked the parade. I used to host parties there until I moved. And then in 2005 Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s entourage pulled up down my block and I got a picture of him and my son (I still regret not taking off my son’s hat for the photo op but what’re you gonna do… http://www.raphisalem.com/mayor-michael-bloomberg-and-isaac)

So let’s be realistic. You aren’t going to throw a parade on the streets of New York City… But what you CAN do is throw a VIRTUAL parade on your and your friend’s computers. Meaning: using social media and creating a buzz amongst your friends and family. In the past few weeks we have talked about pay per click advertising, contests and emails. Now its time for you to rev up your social media engines and get everyone you know, multiplied by everyone THEY know, and start to spread the word.

On Facebook, this feature is called “becoming a fan.” In LinkedIn, this feature is creating a group and letting your network know it exists. Did you know that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of social networks? Though Facebook is my favorite personal one and LinkedIn is my favorite professional one, there is also Twitter, Ryze, MySpace, Ning and much much more. Sign up for as many social media sites as you can. First let them know you exist. Then let them know you are having a sale. After all, there are only 10 more days till Hanukkah and 24 days left till Christmas.

If you want to know more about Social Media, social networks or short terms strategies for the holidays, please give us a call at 212-993-5828, send me an email at raphis@salemglobal.com or visit www.SalemGlobal.com. You’ll be glad you did.

Next week we will talk about getting ready for the New Year and planting the seeds for your long term online marketing strategy.

Short Term Website Marketing Strategies Continued… Thanks! - Thank your customers and clients with coupons, incentives and contests.

Posted by Salem Global on Nov 23, 2009

Over the past few weeks we have been talking about short term website marketing strategies using PPC or pay per click. But if you don’t want to give your money to Google, Yahoo or Microsoft, why not try a contest? It’s holiday season. 4th Quarter. The time of year that people don’t mind spending money like they do all year long. Ok lets face it… no one reeaaally likes to part with their hard-earned money, but during this time of the year, “giving” is in the air. After all, ’tis the season… Oh and by the way - its THANKSGIVING! So you SHOULD be giving “thanks.” But HOW you do it is another story…

As you can see from this newsletter, SalemGlobal is “thanking” our newsletter readers with the opportunity to win $100 in the form of a gift certificate or equivalent. Now I have to be honest with you. We are pretty good at what we do. We have thousands of people that read our newsletter. Thousands of people visit our website each month… after all, we are at the top of Google for keyword “website marketing.” We promote ourselves and our clients over Facebook, Linkedin and YouTube. And to top it all off, we have our own networking organization that you can sign up for at www.BreakfastNetworking.com. So every week I am really already reaching thousands and thousands of people.

So why incent to get even MORE traffic? The answer is simple. Just because we have thousands of fans, readers and visitors, it does not mean that we can’t use MORE business. The goal of every business should be to try to improve upon what they have going on already. If you have thousands, you need to go after TENS of thousands. 10s… MILLIONS! (Think Mike Myers in Austin Powers) So contests get people who are on the fence to act. Your call-to-action should never be for people to just read your newsletter - it should be to get them to call you to hire you.

Contests are fun, exciting, exhilarating and motivating. And you don’t have to give away $100, you could give away a Wii. An iPod. A Flip. A Starbucks giftcard, Barnes and Noble. Amazon.com. You get the picture… Post this on your newsletter, your blog, your website, your Facebook profile and linked in status, and maybe even in a press release. You will be happy you did

Marketing For The Upcoming Holidays

Posted by Salem Global on Oct 12, 2009

Well, it’s October again and you all know what that means… That’s right, to you business people, its 4th quarter. To you non-business people, the holidays are right around the corner. That’s right folks. Halloween is at the end of this month, Thanksgiving is in less than two months and Christmas (and Hanukkah) is just another month after that. Black Friday is in 52 days, Hanukkah is in 66 days (starts on Friday December 11) and that all leaves 80 shopping days until Christmas!

But why am I telling you this now? Because NOW is the time to act! NOW is the time to market your products and your services. Some people start planning this stuff over the summer. Some companies start a full year before. But you are a common person that reads my weekly tip of the week. You might know about media planning and organization, but sometimes business and shopping just sort of creep up behind you. So I am giving you some free advice (like I do every week Start marketing your product today!

As the advertising adage goes, it takes at least 5-7 impressions before someone even realizes you are talking to them or selling your product or service to them. Meaning, that if you have a product to sell for the holidays, you need to get your message to them in whatever form you can 5-7 times over the next 2 months. That further means that each week you can run an advertisement in your local newspaper, set up a PPC (pay per click) program on Google, send out 5-7 newsletters (of course to an already opted in email list) or make 5-7 phone calls to each and every person you are trying to sell to.

Of course there is a VERY delicate balance between trying to sell or promote your product or service and spamming. And quite possibly having the complete opposite effect happen to you whereas your potential buyer/customer gets annoyed that you called him/her too much or your ad was in their face too much. (Though, I would be quite surprised to hear if anyone is really not buying GEICO insurance because the gecko spokesmascot is seen too much. Related of course is the fact that GEICO mixes it up with that “bundle of cash with the googly eyes” character and the lovably tormented cavemen. So if you have some humor, sometimes you can get away with overplaying your message.)

If you want to know more about marketing your products and services for the holidays and the upcoming new year, please give me a call at 212-993-5828, send me an email at raphis@salemglobal.com or visit our site, www.SalemGlobal.com. Next week we will talk about email marketing and setting up a newsletter so you can get started on having a great list for the holidays and the beginning of next year.

Great and Thankful Day from SalemGlobal Internet Website Marketing

Posted by Salem Global on Nov 22, 2007

SalemGlobal Internet Website Marketing would like to wish all of our friends, family and colleagues a wonderful Thanksgiving (even for our friends outside the US), it is a great day to take a break from the keyboard and the board room.  Reflect on what is great in your personal and professional lives.  We also hope you will take that energy with you everyday of the year.

Have a great day filled with turkey, family and come out strong next week and make the rest of your year the best!

 To your succuess,

SalemGlobal