How To Use Twitter For Publicity Purposes

The second most popular social network, behind Facebook, is the micro-blogging website Twitter, according to eBizMBA. For some companies it’s growing in popularity among young people faster than Facebook. As a matter of fact, many believe Facebook has now hit the ceiling in the United States while Twitter still has room to grow. This is why it’s the social network to look for publicity.

#Hashtags 

#Hashtags can be started by literally any #Twitter user, however the ones that gain the most popularity are most often businesses, celebrity and world event related. This is because those garner a large follower base and are able to keep lots of people disseminating the #hashtag. When enough people to do so, the #hashtag usually ends up in the trending topics section visible to all #Twitter users on their home page of the site. 

Sponsored Tweets 

Companies are now able to pay money to have sponsored tweets. These tweets go into the stream of news feeds of a lot of people regardless if they do or do not follow your account. This in turn may lead to more followers for your account, which is sure to put your message in front of more eyes than before. Your publicity just might increase with the paid option. 

Media Reporting 

Some of the best publicity on Twitter comes from the media reporting on the things tweeted throughout the site, especially when something unusual gets tweeted. You can believe the blogs and major media outlets will pick up on it. That’s earned media and that is a win. Hopefully it’s positive and that’s good news for the company.

Contact us for more tips on how to use Twitter for publicity purposes.  

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The Landscape of SMS Marketing

Short-message service (SMS) refers to what is commonly known as text messaging. These messages can be sent cell phone to cell phone, or from Web-based services to cell phones. When it comes to marketing, SMS marketing is a growing trend that is still being explored and understood. Here are some of the highlights of the landscape.

A variety of industries are using SMS marketing in their strategies. This includes leisure (venue based), recruitment, retailers, software, marketing, financial services, beauty and hair salons, fast food, education, estate agencies, legal and dental and health offices, and travel agents. The industries at the top of this list use SMS marketing more frequently than those at the end, but you can see the wide variety of applications for SMS marketing.

The popularity of SMS marketing is built on the popularity of mobile devices, which grow in numbers every year. Recent statistics show that nearly 90 percent of the world’s population has a mobile device, which means around 6 billion people can be reached through SMS. Mobile marketing budgets are increasing to meet this area of opportunity. In the United States, mobile ad revenue is expected to exceed $20 billion annually by the year 2015. More than 60 percent of businesses are considering mobile marketing more than traditional methods.

SMS marketing helps reach mobile device users who do not use their device to connect to the internet — or about 76 percent of all mobile users. The number of SMS messages sent in 2013 approached 10 trillion, and more than 45 percent of mobile device users report being aware of mobile advertising. Application to Person (A2P) messaging is whenever businesses contact customers, and A2P messaging is predicted to surpass person-to-person messaging by 2016. 

For more about these statistics and the landscape of SMS marketing, click here for a graphic from socialmediadd.com. SMS offers a great window into the lives of customers, regardless of their online activity, and the future shows potential for increased growth in SMS marketing. For more information about how to use SMS marketing for your business, contact us today!

4 Important Email Marketing Strategies

Email newsletters are an important part of any marketing campaign, particularly as people spend increasing amounts of time online. E-newsletters go directly to customers’ inbox, giving them an advantage over other forms of social media. Like other digital media, e-newsletters are inexpensive to produce and send to customers. And fortunately, there are some simple tips for writing an email-newsletter that customers will be likely to read!

1) Start with a captivating subject line. Many readers use an email subject line to determine whether they will open the email, and it is crucial that your e-newsletter stand out among the many other emails a customer receives. Including the word ‘you’ gives the email a personal touch. Make your subject line timely and short, to catch the reader’s eye. 

2) Use visual means to convey your message. Video sites, like YouTube, and applications, like Vine, are rapidly rising in popularity. Often, readers are more likely to watch a short video than they are to read lines of text. Capitalize on this tendency by creating video (or even photo) content for your readers, whether your intent is to engage the customer, sell products, or tell a story.

3) Entice customers with a special offer. Including a special offer in your e-newsletter is one of the best ways to retain customers and keep them interested in future promotions. You will strengthen brand loyalty when you help customers feel as if they are important to your business. (They are!)

4) Utilize other forms of social media. Include social media links (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) in your e-newsletter, as these digital marketing tools go hand in hand. A great way to involve customers and increase your market exposure is by rewarding customers when they share your e-newsletter (or other content) on social media. 

With these tips, you can improve your email newsletters to make the most of the opportunity you have to communicate with your customers. For the best ways to include email in your marketing strategy, contact us today!

A New Logo, Now What?

The new logo for our new division.

So your enterprise is sporting a new logo, now what? You might think it’s easy to continue to market your brand the same way you did before, but it’s not. Now’s the time to saturate your audience with your new brand development. With change comes progress; so always keep in mind that change is good, and often great.

Current logo

Due to frequent changes in the economy, social issues, and technology, the expertise of businesses often change. This is why companies rework or recreate their brand; emerging with a new, improved, and “fresh” new image. A branding “face lift” can work wonders for your company by re-introducing you to your loyal customers, and reaching an even larger audience. The idea is for you to say “I’m breaking brand.”

Another version

Give your business cards a make-over, making your new logo the star.

Redesign your websites, keeping new and potential clients in mind.

All business stationery, most importantly letterheads, will need to feature your new brand.

Don’t just change the logo on your products; give them all fresh new labeling.

And yet another version.

If you offer clothing items, think about expanding the styles offered; if you don’t offer clothing, think about doing so. T-shirts are a great way to increase visibility of the brand.

For more information on how to increase your brand visibility and interaction, contact. And, remember always represent your

Original logo from 2008

• product/services
• reputation
• rates
• logo/tagline
• customer service that supports your business.
• brand’s promise.
• customer’s feelings about your business. 

 

Earned Media: Building an Integrated Strategy

Earned media is an elusive form of marketing in which your company is promoted by positive media that comes from outside the company itself.  News stories, radio interviews, and positive reviews can all constitute earned media.  Earned media is alluring because it costs nothing for the business, yet can significantly increase overall revenue.

While by definition a company cannot buy or create its own earned media, there are a few strategies that can increase your company’s chances of gaining earned media.  One of the best ways to increase the earned media that your company receives is to design an integrated strategy that blends content marketing strategies with earned media potential.

Make Your Business Easy To Present.  As soon as possible, spend time developing an elevator pitch for your business.  Highlight the attributes that make your business unique, and write your company’s vision.  This makes it easier for media outlets to highlight your business in a coherent manner, without causing journalists the frustration of having to unearth your company’s vision and purpose on their own.

Develop Your Own Media Marketing Strategies.  Using media strategies such as content marketing will increase your company’s visibility and thus the likelihood gaining earned media.  Making your company searchable by developing a presence on social networks and other sites makes it easier for your company to be ‘found.’

Do Something Out Of The Box.  In order to be newsworthy, your company needs to be doing something different from the competition.  What is your company doing to stand out from the crowd?  Determine your company’s unique aspects, and don’t hesitate to make them known.

By establishing a robust marketing strategy, it will be easier for news outlets to highlight your company through earned media.  Take the time to invest in your company, and the earned media will follow.  To learn more about ways to improve your small business, please visit our website and contact us with questions or comments.

PR Effectiveness: Gauging the Many Elements Beyond Sales for Your Campaign

PR effectiveness is a wide picture to be analyzed through different avenues and not strictly by how much money is made. While making money shows a campaign was successful, it may not sustain in the ever-changing social environment. Looking at exactly what prompted those sales can help decide whether it was the result of something unexpected.

Analytics on Social Media

With Google Analytics being such a useful tool in determining web traffic, a firm can discover plenty of evidence in how people reacted to something online. If it was determined the sales were from social media influence, then the main demographics can be known. And despite social media being the place where you’d expect most of the activity to be, there may be a chance sales came significantly from somewhere else.

Analyzing Other Media

Television continues to play just as strong an impact in sales as social media. Most of the time, they work in tandem though mentions from a client on a national TV show or cable news can take sales into the stratosphere. A mention like this (or in a national newspaper) can be the result of an earlier promotion on social media without having spent a dime on a television or a newspaper ad. These interconnections tell a PR firm how the inter-connectivity of today’s media can effectively disseminate enough free information to cut costs of promotion.

Study the Advantages of Small Media

Sometimes sales can be the result of a simple word-of-mouth grassroots campaign or write-ups in small publications. While these might be graded as minor promotional places, it’s worth doing some investigation into these arenas and why they potentially do better than expected. Smaller and more peripheral avenues also typically conjoin with social media for easier methods of passing on information.

Survey the Consumers

Gauging information directly from those who bought a promoted product can help determine where those consumers heard about the product or client. There may be a surprise in store for where they heard about the product through the earlier examples. This may prove the underestimation in the power of fan campaigns by simple word-of-mouth. Determining it can be done through online surveys, telephone, or traditional mail.

Talk to the Client

PR firms need to think of their client and the effectiveness of the PR campaign. Does the client understand what the PR firm is doing and the procedures in how it’s being done? A happy client is a client that understands the entire process of an effective PR plan with a comprehensive understanding of why it was effective.

Contact us if you’re a company needing an effective local or national marketing campaign. Two Girls Consulting (2GC) is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. We also work on a national level. With a decade of experience, plus long-standing relationships with media and other venues, let us effectively take your company message to the masses.

When Is Event Consultation A Good Idea?

When do you need an event consultant? That question is best answered by the importance of the event itself, not only to the attendees, but to you. What is the purpose of the event? Will it decide your future?  Will it affect your livelihood? The greater the impact of the event on your life, the more important it is to get the details right.

If you have an introduction for a campaign, how much do you really know about focusing the attention of the media on that day? Do you know who reads Luxury Las Vegas, and how to use the demographics associated with it? Have you priced special invitation dinners, and do you know who offers the latest trend and most exclusive venue?

If your event lasts all day, are the people who are there at 6 am going to be there when the last customer walks out the door at 7 in the evening? And perhaps most importantly, do you even have time to worry about it?  Much of the time, when you are staging an event the star of the show is you. 

Perhaps the problem is best stated by a New Zealand firm that offers a venue for entertainment talent. The details that go into event planning are myriad and sundry.

“A well-designed and well-orchestrated event is analogous to a good stage production. It’s all about getting your act together and performing the right show for the right audience.”

One is often able to deal with the “when” and “why” aspects of an event, but the “where” and “how” parts can get a bit tricky. You have a budget that you have to honor. You have a purpose to fulfill. You have to publicize it, and meet expectations.

You have to know how to conceptualize a theme, where to buy the Kobe beef, how to leave them smiling, and where to present your event for the biggest impact on your target group.  Where do you go to hire temporary waiting staff, and what is the best price for oysters? Do you need an investment analyst? A ballet dancer?  A string quartet? 

If this event will affect the public’s conception of your endeavor, then what you need is an event consultant.

Contact us

 

Marketing Strategies: What Draws the Eye?

Content marketing is a powerful tool for increasing your company’s visibility and authority in a field.  If your company is investing in content marketing, you are likely producing a valuable body of work you hope will be accessible to clients.   However, if you want to draw an audience to your work, keep in mind the way information is organized is almost as important as the information itself.  Here are a few tips for keeping information user-friendly:

1. People Love Lists.  Use lists if you want to engage site visitors from beginning to end. Lists are easy to conceptualize, and they encourage people to read an entire post from start to finish.

2. Keep Your Content Fresh.  Humans crave newness and will invariably be drawn to novel information.  If the material you present isn’t engaging, people will navigate away from your site in the click of a mouse.  Satisfy your audiences’ need for originality by keeping information new.

3. Make it Pithy.  Many people have short attention spans, especially online.  Don’t overwhelm your audience with lengthy posts.  Break up your information and keep it short so people will remember it better.

4. Pictures Draw the Eye.  Don’t hesitate to incorporate pictures and color into your content.  Too many images can make a page overwhelming, but a few images will attract attention.  In addition, make sure that your company logo is attractive and prominently displayed.

5. Ask Questions.  People are interested in themselves, which means they will be interested in hearing their own input.  Use this to your advantage by posing questions and giving people a chance to interact with your content.

Want to learn more about content marketing and other marketing strategies? Please contact us with any questions.  We would love to hear from you!

Small Business Marketing Strategies: Leverage Your Network

Many small businesses spend a large part of their budget on marketing to generate new business prospects.  For many small businesses, new clients come from referrals which is a different kind of marketing altogether.  In addition to print and online marketing strategies, small businesses should keep their networks in mind with regard to finding potential clients.  Leveraging a network is one of the most effective, low-cost marketing strategies to add projects to the pipeline.  Here are a few ways to leverage your network:

Start With Your Primary Circle

Identify connections within your primary circle — people with whom you would like to communicate regularly.  Who shares your business vision?  Who is likely to have a healthy network of like-minded people?  It’s nearly impossible to maintain strong connections with a large number of people, so focus on a group of 20 or less for your primary connections.  Once you have identified these people, make sure to connect regularly.

Communicate What You Need

In order to find business opportunities within your network, you need to communicate about your business.  Otherwise, nobody will know how to help you.  Prepare an elevator speech describing what your business does, and don’t hesitate to tell people about your professional life.  When you are looking for more business, make sure to ask for referrals and introductions when appropriate.

Reach Out and Keep Connections Alive

Do not hesitate to initiate contact with network connections, even if you haven’t been in touch for a long time.  This can be done by phone or email, or through social media sites such as LinkedIn.  Although it may be initially uncomfortable to reach out, many people are responsive and will be glad to reconnect over lunch or coffee.

Give and Take

One of the best ways to leverage your network and improve your chances of finding business possibilities is by helping others first.  By helping others, you are creating an environment in which others will be happy to return the favor, and are avoiding the trap of only interacting with others when you need something.

For more advice on marketing and communication strategies, please visit our website.  If you have any questions or would like to speak with us, feel free to contact us!

Brand Development: Take The Time To Do It Right

Almost all business owners in the early stages of their entrepreneurial efforts understand the importance of branding. However, not all of them take the time and invest the effort needed to properly create a distinctive brand which accurately reflects the company mission and philosophy. The temptation to business owners is to accept the logo creation of a (possibly even great) graphic design company. They’ll couple that with a unique selling proposition and consider the branding job one. It’s not  that easy.

Professional brand development involves envisioning the marketing efforts over the lifespan of the company. This means everything, including the logo and slogans, are created in such a way as to properly reflect the overall, long-term scope of the company goals. This stands in stark contrast to what some do: branding based solely on what the company is doing now.

This is why experienced marketing professionals are instrumental when building a brand. To support the growth and understand the big picture about what the company is trying to do with its marketing strategy. This will help proper brand development.

Once that foundation is set, it’s time to move forward with graphic design. It’s important for the creative to understand the approach. A design team can then produce a logo which appropriately reflects the marketing plan, is eye-catching, and sends the right message to the consumer.

If you’d like to learn more about brand development, feel free to contact us. We’ll be happy to give you further insights.