BroadVision Marketing Blog

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Do you think that content is more important than the headline? Many people would agree with you or at least agree that both are of equal importance. Since this is so and this blog has explored writing good headlines, it’s time to give content attention.

Sometimes it seems like writing content is actually harder than just running your business. At least with your business you understand what your clients want because they will tell you loud and clear. In blogging you cannot even be sure that anyone is reading. In your shop you understand cash flow, both in and out. When you blog you get all sorts of analytics, except the one that tells you the number of people who came into the shop because of what you wrote.

Topics: Writing, Pet store, blog, Marketing Plan, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Marketing Principles, Business Owner, Business, Blogging

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What is your Facebook marketing strategy? Do you have one? You need a good strategy in order to make sure that you continue to grow and increase your page’s engagement activity.

When do you practice patience and when do you decide that you need to make some changes because you are not having the success you were expecting? Was your goal really realistic? Did you set a length of time that you were going to wait to get those good results?

Topics: Using Different Media, Google, YouTube, Fansite, Google Calendar, Marketing Plan, Facebook, Social Media, Marketing Principles, LinkedIn, Twitter, Marketing strategy

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Do you want your Facebook fans visiting your website?

While Facebook is a great way to keep up with friends and family, it is also a great way to drive traffic to your business website.

Facebook is a good place to communicate with your fans, but for most businesses your website is where potential clients become actual ones. So how do you get your fans from Facebook over to your website?

Topics: Marketing Plan, Facebook, Marketing Principles

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At a Chamber of Commerce meeting recently someone mentioned that they were using niche blogging, but you didn’t have a chance to ask what that was. So what is niche blogging?

You already have a blog set up for your business, but what would happen if you set up blogs that could be used in your business from different angles. In other words what if you took a vertical move and created more than one blog that crossed several industries? These multiple approaches are called niche blogging and are a way to greatly expand your influence.

Topics: Chamber of Commerce, Niche blogging, Social network service, blog, website, Marketing Plan, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Business, Blogging

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Blogging workflow"] [/caption]

You have decided to add a blog as a marketing method. You’ve looked at questions that help you focus what you want to say. But throughout all the studying you have done, you are not really sure what you are using blogging to accomplish.

Many companies use social media to “connect” with their customer by talking about what their company has been doing lately, information about their products and service and awards they have received.  These companies have missed the boat.

Topics: marketing, Using Different Media, Marketing and Advertising, Customer, Company, information, Web content, blog, inbound marketing, Marketing Plan, Social Media, Marketing Principles, Business, Blogging

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Lead nurturing is a concept that is easily confused with sending out brochures or marketing copy focused on product information or company announcements. This is not the same thing as nurturing a lead.

To nurture means:  foster, help develop or help grow;  the act of nourishing or nursing; tender care; education; training; that which nourishes; food; diet; sustenance; the environmental influences the contribute to the development of an individual. Sending out information about you or your company is not the same thing as “feeding” your leads. When you talk about yourself, you are not focused on what the leads need or your relationship with them.

Topics: marketing, Using Different Media, Marketing and Advertising, lead, Company, Sales, Salesforce.com, Sales lead, nurturing leads, Marketing Plan, Social Media, Marketing Principles, Business Owner

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What is the ultimate purpose of social media? You want to get good solid leads that will convert into customers. Basically, social media tells you how your customers are getting interested in you and your company.

You use social media as a business process, which means that you develop a process in writing that you follow and test regularly to hone it. The sales department and the marketing department, as two very different entities, need to sit down together and discuss what criteria a lead must meet before being passed from marketing to sales. Furthermore, marketing needs to follow-up after the lead is passed on in order to find out if the sale occurred. Also in order to keep the customer for life, the marketing department needs to stay in touch with the client for future sales.

Topics: marketing, Using Different Media, Marketing and Advertising, Email lists, Sales, leads, Marketing Plan, Facebook, Social Media, Marketing Principles, LinkedIn, Business Owner, Business, Twitter

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Do you need to redeem your customers?"] [/caption]

How often should you contact your leads in order to stay in touch with them? You don't want to either suffocate them with too much information or have them forget about you between long periods where you don’t even cross their minds.

In order to successfully ‘Stay in Touch’ with your leads you have to get the timing of your communications right. This is going to be different depending on your company, but as a general rule, you shouldn’t contact your leads more than once a week and less than once a month.

Topics: Marketing Plan, Social Media, Marketing Principles

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Nurturing plays a crucial role in building your brand. To nurture your leads means to build a relationship with qualified prospects that may not be ready to buy yet, with your goal to be earning their business when they are ready. Most non-sales-ready clients will eventually be ready and you want to be the company they turn to when that time comes.

How do you nurture those prospects who are not yet ready to engage with sales?  After you have respectfully gotten their permission to contact them and you have begun engaging them in conversation through your ‘Incoming Lead Processing’ campaign, it’s time for you to begin your ‘Stay in Touch’ campaign.

Topics: Marketing Plan, Marketing Principles

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Lead nurturing is no different from building any long –term relationship. You need to foster respect and trust, be a good listener and keep things interesting.

Nurturing your leads will increase your sales. Just how is that done effectively?

Topics: marketing, Company, Advertising and Marketing, Opt in e-mail, Email lists, Advertising mail, Permission marketing, Marketing Plan, internet marketing, Marketing Principles, Business, Branding