Archives for July 2015
How to Better Reach Out to a Niche Market
One of the best ways to find loyal customers in the early stages of your company is to successfully tap into a niche market. Too many small businesses try to be too many things at once when they’re just getting started. Narrowing your focus on a specific niche allows you to better target your marketing messages toward people who are actually likely to be interested in what you’re selling.
Strategic Planning by Viral Solutions | This service digs deep into your processes, your systems and your strategy. We make sure you have defined, rigidly and systematically, your perfect prospective customer. This definition must include the obvious demographics but more importantly the psycho-graphics. Then we test your will power to prove that your approach, your tactics, your messages and your core offerings match what that perfect prospective customer is looking for. We require that you understand and can articulate your plan, your vision, your position statement effectively and with fire in your gut. With our strategic planning session your target customer will be redefined, your marketing tactics will no longer be in question, you will have a strong and decisive position statement, you’ll know your strengths, admit to your weaknesses, relish in your accomplishments and learn from your mistakes.
So how can you tap into these niche markets? Here are a few tips:
- Do one thing extremely well. Maybe you have a variety of product types, but you have one specific core product geared toward a niche market that you do really, really well. This is the best first step toward getting a more narrow market interested in what you have to offer.
- Use market-specific advertising channels. Consider how customers within your niche market are most likely to learn about products within the industry. Magazines or websites for specific trades, targeted online communities and other such avenues may all be places you want to approach to put out a more personalized marketing message.
- Be personal. Not only should your marketing message be personalized for the industry you’re trying to tap into, but your tone and the way you communicate with people should be as well. Because you’re focusing on a relatively small audience, you have the ability to craft more personal messages and to actually show some personality as a company rather than coming off as a PR drone that’s only interested in getting more customers. Listen to people’s interests, solve their problems and just focus on them in general, and they’ll be more likely to buy into your marketing.
- Be a true alternative to larger brands. People with niche interests are more likely to want to support small businesses that cater to those interests. Therefore, do everything you can to set yourself apart from larger corporations. With a narrow market focus you can offer better quality and better customer service, even if you can’t match the low prices of big-time corporations.
To learn more about how to market to niche customer groups, contact our team at Viral Solutions today.
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
by Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer
We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.
Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner, an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant, a Google Partner – Certified in AdWords and a Mobit Certified Partner.
How to Shave Some Time off Your Work Day
Ever feel like your work days are just lasting far too long? You’re not alone—there have been studies indicating people have become less productive despite working more hours than ever before. But we strongly believe that being productive is about making the best use of your time, not necessarily working for a longer period of time.
Here are some ways you can get the most out of the hours you work and ultimately shave a significant amount of time off your work day:
Start early. Even if you’re not necessarily a morning person, your body is at its most refreshed early in the day. If you add an hour to the beginning of your day, you’ll likely get enough done where you can take even a couple hours off the end of your day. That’s how much most people tend to lose focus after a certain point in the afternoon.- Tune out distractions. Set designated break times at which you can check your email, your phone and anything else that might otherwise distract you. Outside of these break times, it’s important to stay as focused on your tasks as possible so you can actually get them done in a reasonable amount of time. If you are working online, try to limit the amount of tabs you have open, as more tabs tends to mean more distractions.
- Prioritize your tasks. We tend to put off bigger, tougher tasks as long as we can, choosing instead to take on easier and more enjoyable tasks. But if you want to get the big tasks done more efficiently, make them the first thing on your to-do list. That way, you can save the quick and easy tasks for later in the day when your motivation is starting to wane.
- Stop multitasking. If you’re doing multiple things at once, all that means is you’re giving a small chunk of your attention to each individual task. Instead, put together a list of everything you need to accomplish and give each item your full attention in turn. This will improve both your efficiency and the quality of your work.
What other tips do you have to help people be more efficient with their time at work?
by Christine Kelly
CEO and Queen Bee | Viral Solutions LLC
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
Prior to joining Viral Solutions, Christine held executive leadership roles at some of the largest small business consulting firms in the USA. Her experience includes leading direct reports of over 130 remote sales agents who generated $38mm in annual revenue. She obtained her Marketing degree from British Columbia Institute of Technology. Bring her C-Suite experience to your small business. Although our company is virtual, and we can work with you wherever you are located, she is located in Denver, Colorado and owns a second home in Vancouver, BC Canada.
Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner and an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant.
We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.
Keep These Unprofessional Bad Habits in Check
All of us have at least one bad habit that we have to work hard to keep in check. But when it comes to the business world, these bad habits could quickly turn toxic and prevent us from making lasting connections with potential customers, clients or vendors.
Here are a few common unprofessional bad habits. Do you have any first-hand experience with any of these?
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Your small business wants to grow and attack challenges like attracting new customers and improving cash flow. And everyone wants their customers to have a positive experience so they tell their friends about your company. Download your free copy of Sales and Marketing: 8 Ways to Grow Your Small Business and learn how you can make simple changes that will yield increased revenue.
Lateness is perhaps the most pervasive bad habit in the business world. It seems we all work with at least a few people who are perpetually late for everything, whether it’s meetings or deadlines. However, just because you have a client or coworker who is regularly late doesn’t mean you’re justified in being late as well. Showing up on time and meeting your deadlines shows you are serious about your work and committed to providing great service.
- Casual profanity. You’d be surprised at how many people I get on the phone with who, even in our first ever discussion, have no problems dropping some casual curse words. This is an easy way to make a bad first impression. It doesn’t make you come across as personable — it makes you come across as unprofessional.
- Disorganization. The less you’re able to stay organized and handle your own affairs, the less likely you’ll be able to keep up with your clients and customers. Do whatever you can to get yourself organized. You’ll be amazed at how much more work you get done each day.
- Overpromising. There’s an old saying that business people should “under promise and over deliver,” which is smart advice, as there are a few things wrong with overpromising. First, the more you promise, the more likely it is you’ll fail to deliver on those promises. Second, people have a tendency to believe people who promise them the world are merely blowing smoke and will never actually be able to meet those promises. If you set realistic expectations and then surpass them, you’ll earn a lot of good will.
What other types of unprofessional bad habits have you encountered in the workplace? Are you guilty of any of these?
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
by Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner and an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant.
We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.
Making Email Marketing More Mobile Friendly
Of all the activities that people engage in on their mobile devices, email is number one, even beating out web browsing and checking Facebook. This means that your email marketing campaign needs to consider the millions of people who regularly check email on their phones or tablets in addition to those sitting in front of a desktop computer.
There are a variety of factors you’ll need to consider to make email marketing effective for mobile users. Here are some steps you can take to ensure your mobile marketing automation includes a solid email plan:
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Earn the trust of your subscribers. Make sure you have a mobile-friendly design. Use images. Be mindful of where your unsubscribe link is. Make sure your call to action is obvious.
Earn the trust of your subscribers. When people are notified on their phone that they have an email from you, you want their first instinct to be to open it, not to immediately delete it without reading. Deliver a great product or service, and make sure that your emails will not be seen as “spam.” People will not open your email if they don’t trust that you’ll make it worth their while.
- Make sure you have a mobile-friendly design. You might consider using responsive email design to ensure that the user experience is just as good on mobile as it is on the web. People shouldn’t have to zoom in or scroll around just to be able to read a whole message — your email should fit well within their screen and be just as functional as it would be on the computer.
- Use images. Most email apps automatically enable images, whereas web email tends to filter images unless you turn off that option, so you can bank on being able to use pictures to communicate with your clients. Any images you use should be attractive, eye-catching and relevant to your brand and the message you’re sending.
- Be mindful of where your unsubscribe link is. You should always offer an unsubscribe link, but make sure that it’s not too close to where you have your main call to action so that your customers do not tap it by mistake.
- Make sure your call to action is obvious. Even though the rest of your message will be constrained to fit the smaller screen, you should be sure that your call to action remains big, bold and attention grabbing.
Viral Solutions has a wide variety of mobile marketing automation services to offer, including outstanding mobile email campaigns. Contact us today to get started.
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
by Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner and an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant.
We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.
Mastering Facebook Advertising Guidelines: 10 reasons your ad on Facebook got rejected or your account banned
Facebook advertising has turned into a necessary skill set for many digital marketers. It’s the largest social network in the world, and the amount of data they've acquired about their user base is nothing short of remarkable. As a result, Facebook has been a game changer for many small businesses.
Given our own reliance on Facebook as an advertising medium, we at Viral Solutions always make sure to stay within Facebook’s guidelines. Far from being restrictive, however, these guidelines truly are guidelines, and they are in place to benefit you. The more honed-in your high-level marketing strategy is, the less you'll have to worry about compliance with Facebook’s advertising guidelines.
It’s important to note that Facebook takes its guidelines quite seriously, and will completely ban users if they repeatedly violate them. Sure, we all know that there are plenty of marketers out there who deserve to be banned from Facebook. However, there are also plenty of small businesses out there that just don't know that Facebook monitors quite a few things once you put up an advertisement.
I would not say it’s hard to stay within the guidelines, but for anyone who is somewhat new to Facebook, it can definitely be a bit frustrating, and you're just going to have to think of ways to work around it. All in all, the guidelines really are not anything to worry about in the long-term. Once you learn more about the guidelines and how they apply to different types of businesses, you'll be well on your way to mastering Facebook advertising.
Let’s now take a look at 10 reasons your ad on Facebook got rejected, or even worse, got your account banned:
1. It contained false or deceptive claims or content. Facebook states, Ads must not constitute, facilitate, or promote illegal products, services or activities. Ads targeted to minors must not promote products, services, or content that are inappropriate, illegal, or unsafe, or that exploit, mislead, or exert undue pressure on the age groups targeted.
2. Use of Custom Audiences failed to comply with Custom Audience Terms. You must not use targeting options to discriminate against, harass, provoke, or disparage users or to engage in predatory advertising practices.
At Viral Solutions, we understand the trials and tribulations that many new owners of small businesses face in the early going. We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.
If you target your ads to custom audiences, you must comply with the applicable terms when creating an audience.
3. You shared advertising data with sources outside of Facebook. Don't transfer any Facebook advertising data (including anonymous, aggregate, or derived data) to any ad network, ad exchange, data broker or other advertising or monetization related service. Don’t use Facebook advertising data for any purpose (including retargeting, commingling data across multiple advertisers’ campaigns, or allowing piggybacking or redirecting with tags), except on an aggregate and anonymous basis (unless authorized by Facebook) and only to assess the performance and effectiveness of your Facebook advertising campaigns.
4. It implied a user’s personal characteristics (race, religion, age, disability, financial status, criminal record, etc.) Content that asserts or implies personal attributes. This includes direct or indirect assertions or implications about a person’s race, ethnic origin, religion, beliefs, age, sexual orientation or practices, gender identity, disability, medical condition (including physical or mental health), financial status, membership in a trade union, criminal record, or name.
5. No more than 20 percent text is allowed in your creative images. The 20% text policy doesn't include: Pictures of products that include text on the actual product (ex: book covers, album covers, movie posters). Embedded text on images of games and apps. Cartoons where text is part of the cartoon. The 20% text policy does include: Logos and slogans.  Images with text overlay (ex: watermarks). Images that are clearly edited to include text on the product as a loophole to policy. Images may not portray nonexistent functionality such as a “play” button that suggests video capability or a “close” button that doesn't close. Images that implied weight loss through the use of before and after shots. Video images violated the policy that video advertisements promoting health products are not allowed to play automatically.
6. It promoted something illegal or restricted content. Alcohol that does not comply to local, state of country laws; such as age of viewer or content of product, you must seek pre approval. Gambling and games. Real money games must see Facebook approval. State lotteries, must be run by legitimate government entities. Online pharmacies, must seek prior Facebook approval, may only target people over 18. Anything Facebook deems inappropriate in its sole discretion.
7. Subscription services. Ads for products that require a subscription must make the subscription terms evident to people in the ad copy.
8. It implied an endorsement from or partnership with Facebook. Only use Facebook in reference to a destination to find your content. Do not use anything similar to Facebook branding (FB, F logos, Face, Book etc in a way that implies a partnership or approval).
9.It violated copyright laws. It violated trademark laws
10. Page Posts must comply with Page Terms, which is another list. One interesting tidbit from these rules was that Page names must not consist solely of generic terms (e.g., “beer” or “pizza”)
As you can see…
Facebook’s advertising guidelines can be pretty grey sometimes. At the end of the day, Facebook reserves the right to reject any ad for any reason that they determine negatively affects their relationship with users or that promotes content, services or activities which would be disadvantageous to Facebook’s competitive position in the marketplace, interests or advertising philosophy.
Technically, you could go and read ALL of Facebook’s advertising guidelines—there are many, many more in addition to the 10 I shared—and still find a particular advertisement that could be rejected by Facebook. However, that really is pretty rare. If you’re within the guidelines that Facebook lays out for you, you should bet set. However, there is another area of concern and that is your…
Landing Pages: The most commonly misunderstood Facebook guideline
That’s right. Just because your ad creative, copy, claims or call-to-action were all in compliance DOESN'T mean you're off the hook yet.
Facebook also has guidelines for the landing pages to which you're driving your website traffic. This is actually one of the more common reasons that people’s ads get rejected on Facebook, so hopefully you read this far.
Why does Facebook want to monitor the landing pages that its users are being sent to? It’s pretty simple, actually. There are lots of spammers and unethical marketers out there, and Facebook just can’t allow them to get a hold of their users.
Non-functional landing pages. This includes landing pages that interfere with a person’s ability to navigate away from the page.
Let’s now take a specific look at 5 potential reasons the landing page for your Facebook ad was unacceptable:
- Your landing page has malware or spyware on it – Yep, Facebook is doing what it can to make sure that advertisements are safe for users to click on.
- It includes banned content – This was talked about earlier with ad creative, copy and calls-to-action. Banned content relates to certain restrictions such as not being able to promote prescription medicines. Basically, if your ad creative and copy match your landing page, you either have nothing to worry about, or a lot of work to do.
- It doesn’t match your ad – Let’s face it. Many marketers out there are a lot of sizzle and no steak. This is what Facebook tries to prevent by rejecting landing pages that give a different impression or “scent” than the initial ad gave to the user. Stay consistent.
- It restricts user navigation – Facebook wants you to have landing pages that your user can easily exit. For example, one tactic that some digital marketers use to increase conversions is to create a pop-up that occurs when a user goes to exit the tab or window. Google doesn’t like this, and now Facebook doesn’t either.
- There was no privacy policy or terms of service – You have to have these, and you need to promise your users in writing—and keep that promise—that you won’t sell the data you collect. Also, Facebook requires that any testimonial you use must be backed up by a disclaimer.
Frustrated with Facebook?
Facebook can be really frustrating if you haven't invested the time into learning the details of how their advertising platform works. Have you had problems with getting your ads rejected lately? We would love to hear from you.
RESOURCE: Facebook advertising policiesÂ
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC