IM Sphere

To survive, local businesses need to learn how to adapt to the modern way of marketing.

If you are seeing a plateau or decline in sales, it’s time for you to mix up your marketing strategy.

Even if your small business is profitable right now, you need to stay ahead of your competition to remain successful in the future.

Analyze the latest marketing trends. Recognize the consumer buying behavior. Learn how to get more money from your existing customers.

Unfortunately, only 33% of small businesses reach the 10-year mark. The rest fail.

I don’t want you to become the sad statistic. This was my inspiration for writing this guide.

If your company is new, you need to do everything possible to stay strong for years to come.

Local businesses that have been around for decades may be ready for a marketing facelift. Your strategies that worked 20 years ago probably won’t be as successful in 2018 and beyond.

I narrowed down the top 15 marketing tactics for local business owners. Use this guide as a reference for your future marketing campaigns.

1. Set up your free listing with Google

How are new customers finding you?

If you’re old-school, you may be relying on word of mouth, radio promotions, print ads, and direct mailing. But last year, 97% of consumers searched the Internet for a local business.

Furthermore, positive online reviews make 73% of consumers trust local businesses.

That’s w… Read More

Do you have a Facebook Messenger bot? Have you thought about retargeting your bot subscribers with Facebook ads? In this article, you’ll learn how to create custom and lookalike bot audiences for Facebook ad targeting. Why Retarget Messenger Bot Subscribers? There is no warmer audience than a Facebook Messenger bot audience. These users are typically […]

The post How to Retarget Messenger Bot Subscribers With Facebook Ads appeared first on Social Media Examiner.

… Read More

Ever had a request for a meeting from your manager?

My boss wanted to have quick catchup. Nothing unusual about that. It happened all the time.

But soon as I sat down I knew it wasn’t any ordinary meeting.

It was one of “those” meetings.

The ones we dread.

To be let go.

It happens to many of us.

So I joined another company. It was the rise of the personal computer revolution. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were in a battle to dominate the new tech landscape.

I dived in and created business opportunities for my new masters. After 2 years I was headhunted to another company because of my drive, ambition and results.

So this time I had the choice and more control.

Three years later I had transformed their business, increased sales by over 500% and company revenue had grown from $6 million to $30 million.

But then I was called to meet with the CEO. A normal occurrence.

Again it was one of “those” meetings.

But this time it was bit different.

Our major supplier had not been paid its debts and was placing our company into liquidation.

I was out of a job again!

Fast forward

A few years later I was between jobs. That’s code for “unemployed”.

… Read More

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media. On this week’s Social Media Marketing Talk Show, we explore Twitter API changes and LinkedIn Groups relaunching. Our special guests include Madalyn Sklar and Michael Stelzner. Watch […]

The post Twitter API Changes and LinkedIn Groups Relaunching appeared first on Social Media Examiner.

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Are you looking for a new way to spice up your marketing strategy?

Your current promotions may be effective for now, but you need to mix things up. After a while, using the same marketing tactics over and over again gets stale.

Promotional contests are one of my favorite ways to keep an audience engaged.

This is a great opportunity for you to increase brand awareness and even build hype for a new product launch.

The best promotions give something away to participants.

There are a few different types of such promotions.

Contests require some type of skill. People who enter a contest will need to put forth some type of effort in order to win. The winner of a contest gets selected by judges or through a voting system.

This differs from a lottery or sweepstakes.

Sweepstakes do not require any skill whatsoever.

The winners of sweepstakes get drawn randomly, based on luck. For example, you could randomly select one of your Instagram followers as a winner just because they follow your brand’s account.

A lottery requires a participant to purchase something to be entered into a draw.

Today, I won’t focus on sweepstakes or lotteries.

Contests are a better alternative because if you set them up properly, they will encourage user-generated content (UGC).

User-generated content increases the chances that your audience will engage with your advertisements: