Social Media and Internet Marketing for Business - A Case Study

So as a professional internet marketer and website designer, I am still amazed how many businesses out there still don't get just how important having a great website and social media program is.

I just really blows me away, take for instance a company (I won't say their name or industry) that has 140 locations in Canada, out of all the similar companies in that industry they are the ONLY ones who don't have a website for the public.

They have one for the franchisees but not the public. I have emailed them a proposal and tried to make it a point of letting them know just how important it is, and their response has been we're not interested right now. Meanwhile their franchised loactions are probable losing tons of business being the ONLY chain without a public website.

 

 

Once again I just don't understand how a company with that much good stuff going on wouldn't jump on this. Some company owners I feel just don't understand, or don't care that they are not on top of this.

Maybe we could hear from you on this topic. I know the stats are really still very high, (something like 50%) of businesses in Canada still don't have a website for their companies. OMG

Here is the reasons you have to get on this and now!

1. Your competitors have a website and social media program. You don't and are losing sales to them every day.

2. Your website is the focal point of your entire online marketing campaign. What is the first thing you think people do when they are thinking of hiring you? (I go to their website)
If it sucks, that doesn't exactly build trust and confidence in your company or brand. Spend some money on this please!!

 3. Your Business is Open to the World 24/7, 365 Days a Year
Your not there 24/7 your website is. Unlike your company's office that may be open from 8-5, Monday thru Friday, your company’s website is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There are many different time zones that may affect your business, which is why being on the    [[posterous-content:dlguoCGIEuGxrblJzuIm]]web makes it time convenient for everyone.

4. It's Your Online Brochure / Catalog That Can Be Changed at Anytime, websites usually operate on Wordpress, Joomla or is a HTML or PHP site. Easily editable. 
A website is easier, cheaper and quicker to update than print material. Its' capacities are almost limitless which allow you to provide users with more comprehensive information. This will save you money on printing and distribution costs as well.

5. Reach New Markets with a Global Audience
On the Internet, you can be global or national, so you aren't that local little business anymore. You have the potential to be seen by millions across the globe. Did you ever think your company would have the possibility of doing business around the world? Well, now you can. Without a doubt, the Internet is the most cost effective way to trade nationally and internationally.

6. Improved Customer Service
By providing answers to questions on your website, sales and information requests can be processed automatically and immediately, whether someone is in the office or not. Support ticket interfaces like OS Ticket, online forms can be used to allow customers to request quotations or ask further information. Save costs by allowing users to download invoices, FAQ's, proposals and important documents.

7. The more professional you look the more sales you'll make.
For a small business, a great web site is a great way of instilling confidence and looking bigger than you actually are. In this day in age, customers assume that you already have a website. By now, your primary competitors probably already have a presence on the Internet. If they do, keep up with them and find ways to make yours better.

8. Sell Your Products
selling in through your website is much cheaper and a good way to supplement your offline business. Why pay expensive rent, overhead, electric bills, and all the other costs that go along with owning a bricks-n-mortar business? Providing secure online ordering is very affordable for even the smallest businesses.

9. Promote Your Services
Lawyers, doctors, financial consultants, dollar stores, snow removal, basement renovators, entertainers, book authors, realtors and all service oriented businesses should let customers know that they have a choice. Millions of users are referring to the web and are using company's websites to make major decisions when they need a specialized service.

10. Generate Valuable Leads - Let customers ask you questions.
You can gather information about your customers and potential customers by using forms and surveys. Rather than going out and getting leads, let them come to you. This is a great tool for prospecting targeted customers looking to use your products and services.

11. Social media can create a 2 way conversation.
People are busy and don't like to wait for information. There are two kinds of buyer Mr., Impulsive and Mrs. or Ms Reasearcher (or visa versa, not gender specific. One wants to buy right away and one wants to research it to death. Your website should accommodate both.  This includes pictures, brochures, software, videos, FAQ page, Power Point slides, music and more. You should have a Facebook business page, Twitter account, LinkedIn in profile and company page and your tube channel. These should be branded on your home page.

12. Great Recruiting Tool
Whether you are looking for talent or posting job opportunities with your company, your website is a great recruiting tool for building your business.

I hope you enjoyed this article, once again pleas answer this question.
Maybe we could hear from you on this topic. I know the stats are really still very high, (something like 50%) of businesses in Canada still don't have a website for their companies. OMG

Sincerely
Allan Fine
http://www.executiveedge1.com
PS: Got another training on tommorow.
Only $29 http://www.eventbrite.ca/event/5235413262

Social Media and Internet Marketing for Business - A Case Study

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Highlights Webinar Date: February 7th and 8th (Both Days) from 10am -12:30pm MST Package includes a -day online marketing and social media training course Learn the fundamentals of navigating through Facebook and twitter Understand the true power and benefit to social media Learn how properly setup and format your LinkedIn Profile Receive business advice from successful, self-made professionals

Fine Print Valid for redemption immediately! Taxes are extra Limited quantities are available Must be 18 years of age or older to attend course Must have a PC or laptop no older than five years old Must have access to a high-speed Internet connection. The days of the webinar You should have a general understanding of computers and the Internet to take this course Registration is required on the vendor's website  Expiry Date: Jun 30 2013 Read the Deal FAQ for the basics.

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Today’s deal is all about learning what to do for Internet marketing in 2013.  Is your business failing, do you wish you knew exactly what to do to fix it? Is your Marketing consistent?  Do you even have a website? Get a great marketing and business program and website that drive leads to you all the time. Get this deal from The Executive Edge that is designed to kick the New Year’s and start your recovery to more clients and better business. It all begins with this program that offers a “snapshot” of the current state of your online and offline marketing and goes on to identify some marketing initiatives that we know, through experience, will drastically increase revenues and more importantly, generate greater profits. Google has changed all the rules in 2012. Find out what changes they made and how to adapt to them. Your new marketing message now becomes your new sales message. Make sure that your sales team is properly trained to implement the new message. Click that convincing BUY button to analyze your whole sales process and develop new sales strategies.

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Marketing Tips-How to format a online Coupon Deal (And Not Lose Your Shirt)

So one of the greatest lessons I ever learned, is that presentation marketing via live seminars or online webinars are one of the greatest ways to engage your audience and create a steady flow of new prospects.

One of the greatest ways of promoting this I have found is online couponing with sites like Groupon, Kijiji, cook, Livingdeal, Swarm jam, and a couple of more.

I deal with some great reps who are absolutely wonderful people, unfortunately, most of them are very, very busy trying to format deals for the companies and I find the majority them don't really think with the client in mind. Once again, this is not to say they are great people because I deal with many them personally and they are very very nice guys and gals. ( They really are nice people )

So you have to have a strategy.
You can really lose your shirt or your entire business on one of these deals if you're not careful. The days of running a deal and hoping that afterwards you get clients are gone.
You must have a detailed strategy (like I come up with for my clients) in place before the deal runs. Otherwise, let's say that you are a cleaning company and you want to do $250 with a cleaning for $99 dollars and you get 50 bucks you can't pay your staff. $50 for two or three are the cleaning.

If you sell 200 or 300 coupons, you're basically screwed.
So, to protect all of you my clients and hopefully maybe some my future clients. These are the rules that I tell them to make sure that they don't lose their shirts on an online coupon deal:

1. Make sure that whatever you're selling your coupon for, the money that you get covers your wholesale cost. For instance. If you're selling something that normally cause $100 bucks and the coupon is selling it for $50 or $60, and then you get $25 or $30, the $25 or $30 you get must cover your wholesale cost.

2. Now the second rule doesn't apply to every single company.if they call you or they email you. You really want to have an immediate upsell, so here's my $100 deal, and people who have bought my deal I have a great offer for. And here it is for only 30 or 40 or $50. This can really make a difference because you get to keep all the money for yourself. If this can be a soft product like an extra piece of software or a secondary report or a add-on or an OTO, great, you make that extra money, which can make your deal really fly.

3. The big upsell, so having a backend offer at the very end of your Low-Cost webinar will really increase your overall profit, many companies have a another course that is normally $2000 or $3000 that they offer for $800, or something of that nature.
Or the chance to work with you for may be a $200 or $300 price point.

The next thing is don't jump the gun, even if you have a contract signed until you have a confirmed running date.

I did this recently where I signed a deal with an online coupon company and all the sudden they didn't come through with getting my deal in their queue and my next online marketing program I have which is my "
This is a 5 hour training Webinar on Social Media and Internet Marketing from The Executive Edge ($429 Value)
Live-Training - Two-Day what you need to do for your Online Marketing and Social Media in 2013 Course ($429 Value) Webinar Jan 31st and Feb 1st 2013.

It's now February 7 and February 8, 2013. Coupon Companeeeeeeee!!!
Here is the website link,  http://www.executiveedge1.com/webinar.html

Watch this video:

I will be teaching:
the strategies that I used to save me time and money.

• Learn how to increase your business' awareness of all aspects of online marketing and social media in 2013
• 5-hour course that takes place or two days
What you will learn:

In the first hour we will have some great goal setting pages for everyone to work through. This will help each participant realize where they are and then they will be able to make goals for the year based on those results.

1. Assess where you are now. Bring out a list of all of the social media and website items. We will identify goals and problem areas to create a plan.

A) Does your website content needs refreshing?

B) Do you have a blog? Does it need content? Does it need consistency?

C) Facebook business page? Do you have one? Does it need fresh content? Consistency?

D) Twitter? Do you have a plan?

E) Does your LinkedIn profile needs updating? How you do that? Do you know how to use this to get more business?

F) Use an aggregator, which one?

G) Have an email system that uses color and pictures, use which one?

H) Capture the data from visitors on website? Which system?

I) Do they have access to your own website? Passwords? By using a questionnaire for this process you get all of them to really assess what they have and then setting goals for next steps will be easier.

J) YouTube Do you have a channel? Have you made videos before? Did you make them or did you pay someone to make them? Do you have current content going up on your website?

2. Don’t get overwhelmed. We are here to make a plan. We can help as you go through the workshop but also put in a strategy for the year. Together we can do this.

3. Look at the bigger picture. Map out a plan for the entire year and think about where you want to be in 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years.

4. Strategize and dream.How can we build this into a year-long plan? Where do you want to take this? Do you have staff that can help? Who else could help?

5. Tactical plan. What are the next steps along the way?

6. Build rewards into the plan. Goal setting works better if you reward yourself.

7. Who are you going to be accountable to? Do you need ongoing help?

I really hope you can make it.
Sincerely
Allan Fine

On LinkedIn you could now add graphics to your company page and upload presentations on a files.

I talk about LinkedIn on my blog posts on a regular basis as I still believe LinkedIn is one of the number one social media interfaces that businesses should be on because all business.

 

The people LinkedIn have been busily beavers since they made a big change in January of the design changes and new format and while I thought the blocky format is a big mistake as far as design, I'm slowly getting used to it and a slowly introducing new features to it that I think a pretty cool.

One of the newest features once again is the availability of being able to put in the graphics, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents or PDF files not only to your personal profile page but also the company page.
http://www.linkedin.com/company/the-executive-edge-calgary-marketing-company

They have little a little paperclip icon at the very top of your company profile they can click onto and add any of these types of files.

What this makes is your company page more interactive rate and share more information and that's a good thing.

If you like more information LinkedIn please contact me.
http://www.executiveedge1.com/linkedin-training.html
Allan fine
403 – 246 – 7386

Calgary Internet Marketing Event

2013 The Year Of Success!

Set Your Internet

And Social Media Goals!

So many people set their goals at the beginning of the year and then four days later they have forgotten their resolutions. This year make it a year of success with CBN. Make a choice to do it differently.

For your online marketing success Allan Fine and Kerry George have put together a wonderful opportunity for you to to finally figure out what you need to have done in your business. And now you can do it for only $20! That is right! Action Business Coaching has sponsored this event making it affordable for everyone!

We will start with a powerful assessment to determine where you are now and then work through to figure out where you want to be. A plan will be put into place and you will be moving toward your goal before you even leave.

Put your year in order!

What you will learn:

In the first hour we will have some great goal setting pages for everyone to work through. This will help each participant realize where they are and then they will be able to make goals for the year based on those results.

1. Assess where you are now. Bring out a list of all of the social media and website items. We will identify goals and problem areas to create a plan.

 A) Does your website content needs refreshing? 

B) Do you have a blog? Does it need content? Does it need consistency?

C) Facebook business page? Do you have one? Does it need fresh content? Consistency?

D) Twitter? Do you have a plan?

E) Does your LinkedIn profile needs updating? How you do that? Do you know how to use this to get more business?

F) Use an aggregator, which one?

G) Have an email system that uses color and pictures, use which one? 

H) Capture the data from visitors on website? Which system? 

G) Do they have access to your own website? Passwords? By using a questionnaire for this process you get all of them to really assess what they have and then setting goals for next steps will be easier. 

H) YouTube Do you have a channel? Have you made videos before? Did you make them or did you pay someone to make them? Do you have current content going up on your website?

2. Don’t get overwhelmed. We are here to make a plan. We can help as you go through the workshop but also put in a strategy for the year. Together we can do this.

3. Look at the bigger picture. Map out a plan for the entire year and think about where you want to be in 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years.

4. Strategize and dream. What CBN events are coming up that could help you? How can we build this into a year-long plan? Where do you want to take this? Do you have staff that can help? Who else could help?

5. Tactical plan. What are the next steps along the way?

6. Build rewards into the plan. Goal setting works better if you reward yourself.

7. Who are you going to be accountable to? Do you need ongoing help? 

$20 if you register in advance.

Paid CBN Annual Members email calgarybiznetwork@gmail.com to register please.

Marketing has changed in the last few years. Branding use to consist of getting flyers made, doing a mail drop, buying newspaper adds and being in the Yellow Pages. Today the world is a different place. In our throw away society flyers don't even make it home from the post office. The newspaper is seldom read and if it is delivered to the house it is lining the cat litter tray before it got opened, and Yellow Pages???

Only a year ago huge focus was on Facebook. Did you know that there has been a HUGE shift to get more business done on LinkedIn than anywhere else? Did you know that Google changes the rules continuously about what will get your website on page 1 and what will keep it there? Are you getting the best up-to-date information?

With this fantastically educational training seminar from The Executive Edge and The Calgary Business Network, you will have the opportunity to learn all about the changes that online programs and applications have brought to the corporate playing field, and how to best understand these tools and use them to your advantage. 

So book your seat, and find out how to get all of your goals met this year so you can have automation working "on" your business while you are busy working "in" it.

 

Space is limited so book early!

Register Now!

 

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Our last webinar was so successful. I was told I should immediately do it again.
This time I want you to come for free!

Just refer someone who will purchase it and you'll come in for free.

Please register after you have paid: Click here
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Once they buy it, send me their name and all send you a coupon that will get you in for free.

Training Webinar on Social Media and Internet Marketing from
The Executive Edge ($429 Value)
Live-Training -Two-Day what you need to do for your Online Marketing and Social Media in 2013 Course ($429 Value) Webinar Jan 31st and Feb 1st 2013

Today's deal is all about learning what to do for Internet marketing in 2013. Is your business failing, do you wish you knew exactly what to do to fix it?

Is your Marketing consistent? Do you even have a website? Get a great marketing and business program and website that drive leads to you all the time.

The Executive Edge that is designed to kick the New Year's and start your recovery to more clients and better business. It all begins with this program that offers a "snapshot" of the current state of your online and offline marketing and goes on to identify some marketing initiatives that we know, through experience, will drastically increase revenues and more importantly, generate greater profits.

Google has changed all the rules in 2012. Find out what changes they made and how to adapt to them. Your new marketing message now becomes your new sales message. Make sure that your sales team is properly trained to implement the new message. Click that convincing BUY button to analyze your whole sales process and develop new sales strategies.

Please register after you have paid: Click here
What you will learn:

I've been training business owners and Entrepreneurs for about five years now, I'm amazed how many people, (A) Still is don't have website or (B) don't have website that converts.

As well as most owners of companies still don't have a grasp on social media and Internet marketing. The biggest challenges are:

1. I have no idea what to do.
2. I have no idea how to do it.

With that in mind my training programs give them a lot of information on these two key points. From the comfort of your office or your home. You can follow along live online.

Live-Training -Two-Day what you need to do for your Online Marketing and Social Media in 2013 Course ($429 Value) Webinar Jan 10th and 11th 2013 (MST)

I will be teaching:
the strategies that I used to save me time and money.

• Learn how to increase your business' awareness of all aspects of online marketing and social media in 2013
• 5-hour course that takes place or two days
What you will learn:

In the first hour we will have some great goal setting pages for everyone to work through. This will help each participant realize where they are and then they will be able to make goals for the year based on those results.

1. Assess where you are now. Bring out a list of all of the social media and website items. We will identify goals and problem areas to create a plan.

A) Does your website content needs refreshing?
B) Do you have a blog? Does it need content? Does it need consistency?
C) Facebook business page? Do you have one? Does it need fresh content? Consistency?
D) Twitter? Do you have a plan?
E) Does your LinkedIn profile needs updating? How you do that? Do you know how to use this to get more business?
F) Use an aggregator, which one?
G) Have an email system that uses color and pictures, use which one?
H) Capture the data from visitors on website? Which system?
I) Do they have access to your own website? Passwords? By using a questionnaire for this process you get all of them to really assess what they have and then setting goals for next steps will be easier.
J) YouTube Do you have a channel? Have you made videos before? Did you make them or did you pay someone to make them? Do you have current content going up on your website?
2. Don’t get overwhelmed. We are here to make a plan. We can help as you go through the workshop but also put in a strategy for the year. Together we can do this.
3. Look at the bigger picture. Map out a plan for the entire year and think about where you want to be in 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years.
4. Strategize and dream.How can we build this into a year-long plan? Where do you want to take this? Do you have staff that can help? Who else could help?
5. Tactical plan. What are the next steps along the way?
6. Build rewards into the plan. Goal setting works better if you reward yourself.
7. Who are you going to be accountable to? Do you need ongoing help?

I look forward to seeing you there!
Allan

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