Free lunch every month at our Lunch n' Learns

Hello and good afternoon fellow marketers!

There is such a thing as a FREE LUNCH! Read on . . .

Here at ISJ Media we spend a lot of time doing a lot of research on the latest and greatest digital marketing tools and trends. It's what WE do.

"But how does that affect me and my business?" Glad you asked.

We do the research so you don't have to. But how do we pass that valuable information on to you, the business owner? With our free monthly Lunch and Learns! Did I mention it was free? Oh, and we've got your lunch covered too.

The next Lunch and Learn will be held on Tuesday, March 14. We offer a session at 7:45 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. to accommodate different schedules.

Previous topics have included:

• Getting your page to rank higher on Google search results
• The importance of having a responsive website
• Why Facebook is NOT the same as having a website
• Advertising on Facebook: Is it effective and tips for getting the most bang for your buck
• How to capitalize on "micro moments," those spur of the moment things that cue an online search for a product or service. 

This is NOT a sales pitch. Really. No-one will pressure you to buy anything. We want you, the local business owner, to succeed. Interested? Want more information? Contact Jenny Hopkins at jhopkins@journalnet.com or 208-239-3532. RSVP by March 9. 

See you there! 

Make sure digital is in your holiday marketing plan

Newsletter

November 9, 2016

We’re barely recovering from the Halloween chocolate hangover and we haven’t even carved the Thanksgiving turkey, but if you’re a small business owner or marketer you’ve already started thinking about holiday shopping.

For years Black Friday has been the most well known shopping day of the year, but with the ever increasing popularity of mobile shopping we now also have Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year.

Data collected from Signal.com, holiday retail sales on smartphones jumped 96% in 2015, and are forecast to grow 50% in 2016. Here are some additional statistics generated by signal.com:

• 43% of people say that digital ads on a website or mobile app influence their holiday gift buying.
• 47% of consumers started thinking about gift ideas before November.
• One-third of consumers say ads help them get discounts or deals.
• 52% of holiday shoppers are likely to take advantage of tailored product recommendations received through email, and 42% through a mobile ad.

Not surprisingly Amazon.com is king when it comes to online shopping and buying. No small business is going to compete with them, however, you can take notes on and implement some of the things people love about Amazon into your own marketing.

Why do people love Amazon? Consumers report that ease of use, product reviews and easy returns as some perks.

Site retargeting is another thing in which Amazon excels. When a consumer views a product on Amazon.com and then leaves the site to continue surfing the Internet, an ad for that product shows up on the sites the consumer is currently viewing. It seems like magic, or maybe legalized stalking, but either way you look at it this tactic has been proven to increase conversions.

But more people shopping online does not necessarily equate to more purchases online. Most online shoppers are looking for deals and doing product research before they go to the physical brick and mortar store to make the purchase. Added conveniences such as buy online and pick up in store increases a consumer’s likelihood to buy. Stores are crowded, being able to order online, go in, pick up the goods and get out is a huge selling-point.

Some takeaways from this research:

• Start planning for the holiday shopping now if you have not already.
• Consider adding digital into your marketing strategy. You can bet your competitors are, don’t miss out!
• Make sure now more than ever that your website is easy to navigate and is mobile optimized.
• Your physical business location is just as important as it’s ever been. People will most likely come to your store to make the purchase, but first they have to have a good reason for picking you over competition. Special deals advertised online will bring them in.

Do you want to implement some of these tools but you aren’t sure where to start?  Call or email us here at ISJ Media and we can help put together a customized digital marketing plan based on your business needs and goals.

At ISJ Media we offer:

Site retargeting

Contextual retargeting

Audience retargeting

Hyperlocal targeting

Mobile and app advertising

Website advertising

Web design

Email marketing

Text marketing

And much more . . . .

Wedding planning starts now — so should wedding marketing

By ISJ Media

Couples who are getting hitched should start planning their wedding six to nine months before the date, according to realsimple.com

Since most weddings take place June through September, couples — and wedding planners, photographers, etc. should start planning, well, now.

This is great news for business involved in the wedding industry. Businesses like photographers, florists, bakeries; vacation and travel services and wedding venues should take advantage of this early opportunity to get the attention of both the bride and groom.

So how can you make your service or business stand out during the early stages of wedding planning? Here are some tips:

1. You must have a digital presence.  There is no bend here. If your wedding planning related business or service is not online, and more importantly available on mobile devices, you’re not going to be successful in this market, period.

Think about your target audience.  According to mentalfloss.com the average age people in Idaho get married is 26.5 for men and 25 for women.  Do you think these people are scanning billboards for photographers and wedding dresses? Nope, they are on their mobile devices — a lot.

Is your website mobile-friendly? Does it need an overhaul? Now is the time to check.

Considering advertising on mobile apps and for mobile devices. Ad campaigns can be designed just for the purpose of reaching mobile customers, and mobile campaigns have proven to be highly effective in east Idaho.

2. Sell the solution, not the product. This applies to any business or service, not just the wedding industry. Identify your target customer.  You need to go beyond the simple “I’m targeting brides.”  Create a customer profile, for example, Julie is a 25 year-old getting married in June. She wants a modest dress with a removable train that won’t break the bank. Does your shop sell modest dresses? Don’t just advertise that you sell dresses, offer a solution by offering modest dresses, free adjustments etc. Solve a problem.

3.  Provide information too. Consider providing a blog with weekly wedding planning advice or a wedding planning checklist on your website. By showing that you are an expert in your industry you’ll build brand loyalty and increase your Google search ranking.

Do you need help planning a mobile campaign? Contact www.isjmedia.com at 239-3532 for a free consultation.

Content marketing tips for small businesses

By Jenny Hopkins

jhopkins@journalnet.com

Content Marketing is a way of communicating with your customers and potential customers without selling. Instead of selling your products and services you are providing valuable information and content in order to build brand loyalty and awareness.

It's a tactic that is used by many large brands, including BarkBox.com. BarkBox is a service in which the subscriber receives a box monthly filled with dog toys and treats for his or her canine companion. A percentage of the proceeds are donated to canine rescue groups and animal shelters. BarkBox also produces a newsletter that features news stories about dogs and the animal rescue groups. The newsletter is not selling their product, but provides a service by giving subscribers feel-good stories about something that interests them – canines.

Content marketing also helps your website get picked up by search engines like Google. Search engines use “bots” to “crawl” the web and catalog elements such as keywords in order to create their search rankings. If a website does not get updated the “bots” have no reason to come back to the site and it will drop in the search rankings. Sites that are updated more frequently appear higher in search rankings, so creating fresh content for your site plays a crucial part in getting your site recognized by search engines.

Of course we don't all have time to create a weekly or monthly newsletter, and hiring a content marketer is not in the budget. But there some things you can do right now to create fresh content, some of which you may already have.

1. Shoot a quick video: Content marketing does not have to be text-based. It can be photo and video too. Try taking a quick video that features a new employee or a behind-the-scenes of your business. How-to videos are huge right now, so try creating a quick how-to video that relates to your business or service without directly selling it. You don't have to be a professional videographer to do this, every cell phone has a camera built in nowadays, and there are countless free video editing apps available on Google Play or the App Store. Just remember to not make the video too long, a minute or two is good, any longer than that and your viewers are likely to lose interest.
2. Add some history about your business: You already know how, when and why your business got started, and of course you're proud of it, so why not tell the world! Write a mission statement, a little information about the inspiration behind your business's beginnings, or a time-line of events and milestones.
3. Add photos: Take some quick behind the scenes photos of your staff or a step in the process of creating whatever product or service you offer. Did your business recently have an employee retreat or volunteer in the community? Take some photos to post on your website and social media. Show your human side.
4. Use curated content: Create a round-up of links to articles that relate to your industry. Save your audience time by bringing the best articles and information regarding your service or product to them in one place. If your business is home décor, for example, create a list of articles about the latest home design and Do-It-Yourself trends. Make sure you link back to the original source.
5. Encourage user-generated content: Wouldn't it be great if you could get people to interact with your business or service for free? Well, you can, but only if you ask for it. Try prompting your audience to share a photo of themselves enjoying your product or service or asking them to tweet about how your product or service has benefited them. Don't be vague, pick a specific theme. Going back to the home décor, for example, you could ask people to share a photo of their best fall decorating projects. Use a hashtag that corresponds with the theme to encourage others to participate. You'll get more response with some than others, but don't get discouraged, try different prompts until you find the ones that click. Try offering a prize for participants to increase participation. Pick a random participant to win or offer a discount to all.

Get more marketing tips and find out how ISJ Media can expand your digital reach at www.isjmedia.net

Search Engine Optimization tips

By Jenny Hopkins

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is taking steps to making sure your website ranks highly in search engine results.

When you perform a search on Google, Google uses its own algorithm to match websites with the words in the search and ranks them starting with the best match.

As technologies update and evolve so do the search engine algorithms. For example, now that more people are using their mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to surf the web and search for information, Google has changed its search algorithm to recognize that the user is on a mobile device and will only provide results for web pages that are mobile optimized. Google knows not to waste your time by showing you a website that will not display well on your phone because you typed in the search from your phone.

That is just one of many factors Google takes into account when compiling search results. Here are some other major factors that help your page get picked up:

• A complete landing page. This may seem like a no-brainer, but sometimes we get so caught up in design, updating social media, etc. that we forget that the devil is in the details. Make sure the home page of your website includes all the basics: Phone number, address, services provided, map and or directions and social sharing buttons. The more “complete” and informative your home page is, the more it will get Google’s attention.

• Add or claim your business listing on Google. Go to https://www.google.com/maps and type in your business name. Does the map zoom in to your business location? If it does, there will be a “claim your business” option in the column that appears to the left of the map. Follow those steps to create your Google business listing. This helps your business in several ways. First, you can control what the Google map search result says about your listing. Your phone number, website, hours and more show up right there on the map. You can add photos to your listing and customer reviews will appear as well. And of course, this helps the Google search engine find your page. If your search of the map does not reveal your business, you can create a Google business page first and then plug in the address. Click here to get started building your Google My Business page. Just an FYI, you’ll need to verify your business page. After all, you don’t want just anyone to register as your business. You need to prove that you are really you. It’s easy to verify your business, once you create your page Google will send you an automated phone call and give you a special code. Then you just need to type that code into the designated place on your listing. Easy peasy.

• Update frequently. Just because you built it does not mean they will come. Update your website on a regular basis. If your page has not been updated since the invention of the smartphone your page ranking will drop. Include keywords in your blog posts and pages. Most websites have built-in search engine optimization tools. On the back end of your website there should be an area where you can type in keywords. This does not show up on your site, but putting in words that describe your services will help it get picked up. Think about what words you would use to search for your business.If you have a blog for your business make sure to add “tags” or “labels” with key words. All blogging platforms have a built-in area for this purpose.

• Measure your results. Check your website’s analytics. Is there a page or article that is performing very well in terms of attracting web traffic? One that’s not? Compare and take notes on what your page viewers are responding positively and negatively so that you can plan accordingly for future content.

• TIP: Make sure that your basic information is the same across the Internet. If the business phone number, address, etc. on your website differs from your Google business listing you’ll lose credibility and your search ranking will drop.

There are literally thousands of things that contribute to a website’s search engine ranking, but these are the biggies.

Do you have a search engine optimization success story? Let me know at jhopkins@journalnet.com

Think With Google - free download

Have you visited thinkwithgoogle.com yet?

If you are a marketer, business owner or anyone who wants to keep up with consumer buying trends in the digital world you'll be amazed at the wealth of information there.

Google is by far the leader when it comes to online — well, just about anything. Think With Google has tons of insights on consumer behavior across different audiences and platforms such as how sports fans use YouTube, for example. There is a section on mobile advertising trends including how to design a better mobile experience for shoppers and creating effective video ads.

The tools section features planning tools such as shopping insights; just type in the brand or product you'd like to research into the search bar and a map will appear that shows the areas where the product is popular as well as each quarter's sales results.

Probably most useful to business owners is The Customer Journey to Online Purchase. Select your industry, business size, country, and what channel you'd like to search (organic traffic, paid traffic, referral, etc.) and you'll see percentage results for consumers who are in the beginning, middle and end of the purchase cycle.

Consumers more often use organic search at the beginning of the purchase cycle and direct click is near the end of the cycle when the consumer buys. Knowing what stage your target audience is in will help you to better direct your advertising and promotion focus.

Today I have been reading through the section on Mirco Morments. Did you post back to school photos of your kids on Facebook? Do a quick search for movie times? Those are Micro Moments. People want what they need quickly and easily. If you can anticipate the micro moments for your target audience you can make better decisions when deciding when and where to promote your brand.

There is so much more that I could write about, but why don't you go check it out for yourself? I guarantee you will find something useful there, regardless of your business size, service or product.

Let me know what you think!

Download the free guide "Micro Moments: Your Guide to Winning the Shift to Mobile" to learn more.

Why Facebook is not a substitute for a business website

By Jenny Hopkins

ISJ Media

jhopkins@journalnet.com

208-239-3532

Surprisingly, many small businesses do not have a website. These business owners say, “I have a Facebook page so I don't need a website.” Facebook is a great tool for small businesses because it is free and pretty much everybody uses it.

But there are some things that Facebook just can't do for your business. Here are a few advantages to having a company website:

• You don't have ownership. Yes, it is your business page, but ultimately it is still owned by Facebook. Your page may get hacked or spammed, and if it accidentally gets deleted or shut down for some reason you have to start over. Also, you have to follow Facebook's rules and guidelines when it comes to promotions, but on your own website you make the rules.

What is SEO and how does it apply to my business?

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is making sure your company ‘s website and web presence is optimized for a user’s mobile experience.

With more people than ever using their mobile devices rather than desktop computer for Internet surfing, having a prominent and user-friendly mobile presence is critical.

SEO includes: Making sure your web site looks great on a mobile device. Sure your web site looks great on a desktop computer, but how does it look on your phone or tablet? Try it out.  Is it easy to use? Is it “clunky?” When your customers come to your mobile site are they going to get frustrated and leave for your competitor’s site?

Also, Google’s new algorithm won’t pick up sites that aren’t optimized for mobile on a mobile search. In other words, if a user searches for “pizza delivery” on his or her iPhone, and your pizza business does not have a mobile website they won’t see you.

Also, recent research done by a group of SEO Professionals reports that long form, in depth content is more likely to rank highly in a Google search than short, brief posts. Read more about the study here.

Going mobile means more now than ever

Chances are you've used your smart phone to search for a local business in the last few months.  Search engines like Google are great for finding the phone number and addresses of local restaurants and stores, but online business listings offer so much more than the ancient phone book. Online business listings can offer reviews, directions, specials, services and more.

With so much information literally at our fingertips we can be much more selective about the information we want to find. And if you are a consumer searching for a specific product or service, such as coffee shops that are open at 6 a.m., if you coffee shop does not have an online presence those searchers might not even know you exist and will take their business to a shop that has hours, prices, specials etc. online.

Think about what you expect when doing an online search. Your keywords bring up a list of web sites, and if your click on the first one does not yield useful information then you're on to the next.

So having an  informative and well-designed website is a great way to get new customers, but in this increasingly mobile era it is not enough.  It is estimated that 60% of searches are done on a mobile device. Is your website mobile friendly? Sure it looks great on your office desktop, but remember that mobile device screens are much smaller and things like videos and large image files can slow down how fast your page loads, especially on a mobile device.

Most people won't sit around and wait for a page to load on their device. If it does not load they'll simply go to a different web site or get frustrated and
 not come back.

Need another reason to make your website mobile friendly? Google searches done on a mobile device will no longer yield results with non mobile-friendly websites.  That's a relief for consumers, but if your business has not hopped on the mobile bandwagon it could be suffering.

So what does having a mobile-friendly website mean?

The design should be responsive. Responsive websites can detect when a user is visiting from a mobile device and automatically fits the content to the correct size.

Read more about how mobile can benefit your business in the article How to Seize Untapped Mobile Opportunity in 2016