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There is no “right” answer for setting your marketing budget. The growth, competition, industry and the life phase of your business will all have to be considered. New, growing, and highly competitive business will have to invest more into all aspects of their budget (time, effort and dollars) than established businesses concentrating on referrals from ideal customers. The most important point is that you do have a budget and that the budget is adequate to support the goals and growth objectives of your business. Developing a marketing strategy and plan will create the budget that is right for your small business

Receive your free marketing audit! Simply fill out the form below. It only takes 5 – 10 minutes to complete the form, but the value to your business may last a lifetime.

This Signature Brand Marketing Audit uses the principles of the Duct Tape Marketing System to help you create a simple, effective, and affordable marketing system.

After you complete the audit questions we will contact you to schedule a free, 30 minute session to review your existing marketing, give you a quick snapshot on the effectiveness of your web site and suggest several ways to improve your marketing system right now. The more information you provide, the better the feedback we can provide.

Here are 3 steps for ensuring the time, effort and dollars you invest in your marketing will provide you with the greatest return. Thanks to Infinity Signs for asking.

Learn more about how to put a marketing system in place that will give you results.

Selecting the right events to sponsor or work can be confusing. This answer provides a straightforward way to make the decision.

Learn more about putting a marketing system in place for your small business that will help you put the right lead generation programs in place.

Did you realize that 90% of online commercial searches go to an offline bricks‐and‐mortar store to make the purchase?   Your marketing strategy should include both on-line and off-line pieces and this checklist is meant to help you “localize” your on-line presence in order to increase your off-line opportunity.

 

1. Make your web pages local friendly:  The obvious place to start your localization is your web site and specifically how your web site lets the search engines know you are a local business.   You do this by adding local or geographic‐based content, for example names of your city, local towns and suburbs, local landmarks and other locally recognizable features. It’s the stuff that people search for locally when they’re looking for things.  You can also enhance your site with maps and geographic content.  Include local features in your links and external anchors, and even create local landing pages.
2. Build out your local search profiles: There are a number of local profile sites such as Yahoo, Bing, and Google, who allow you to claim and describe your business.  These sites are important for a business that wants to put a face to their name as they allow images and videos along with keywords, categories and services.  Fee based services such as Google Boost and Google Tag can get help you get noticed too.
3. Encourage on-line reviews: Review sites like Yelp, LivingSocial, CitySearch and MerchantCircle, along with the major search engines, allow for customer comments and reviews that can separate your business from others. Establish your presence on these sites and work with your customers to encourage reviews, feedback, and comments as a part of your referral program   One way to educate customers and partners the positive impact of reviews is to host a review event for their customers as a means to stimulate positive reviews.  This also gives you the opportunity to network with their community and customers.   Obviously once your business is on the site you’ll need to incorporate an active monitoring routine into your marketing calendar.
4. Get listed, cited and mentioned – Listings are another source that can make it easy for you to ‘get found’.   Entries into local directories, internet yellow pages, and other sites that aggregate local businesses add to your local awareness.  An easy place to start and validate your localization efforts is GetListed.org which will show your “claim” on the major sites. In addition there are businesses that compile business data as a paid service to others. You may have used a site like infoUSA for direct mailing lists.   Chances are your business is in one of their databases too.  You can edit, change and enhance the information as a means to add to your local credibility.    For a fee, companies like Universal Business Listings (www.ubl.org) will manage the insertion of your data into numerous directories, including mobile services – think On-Star, and help you manage the information listed.  In addition, UBL will establish links on those directories to your site, creating backlinks that are important for SEO.
5. Utilize local social media: Social media has become a vital component in marketing strategies.  Your direct involvement in using on-line to get off-line (o2o) will get you noticed locally.    Major sites like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and LinkedIn allow you to interact at the local level and create awareness for your business.  Taking your community off-line for local groups, networking events, Tweetups, and Meetups, allow you to cultivate deeper connections with the members of these communities.

Getting found locally, while sounding easy, can be a daunting task.   This checklist will give you at least some awareness to a few steps and tools that can help you.  Please feel free to share your story and experience with us – we love to hear how businesses use these ideas.

If you are interested in learning more about how to integrate local search into your marketing strategy , contact us to enroll in our on-line course, Local Search Pro, powered by Duct Tape Marketing.  Also, please see our Revenue Generation Services section on our web site on ways that Valens Point can help your marketing strategy and effort.

Duct Tape Marketing Social Media Pro

Now avaliable! Self Study version of Social Media Pro - but you don’t have to go it alone… read more about how you can receive valuable coaching either group or one on one to learn more about how Social Media can become a part of your small business marketing system.

What is Duct Tape Marketing Social Media Pro?

Social media is not simply today’s trendy marketing play; it’s here to stay and has impacted every aspect of marketing and growing a business.   Social Media Pro is a coaching and training program which incorporates the development of a plan of action based on a social media system created by one of the leading small business social media marketing practitioners of Duct Tape Marketing.  The end result is that you are able to effectively and efficiently integrate social media into your overall marketing plans.    Social Media Pro is delivered in Group Workshops, One to One Personalized, and Self Study.

How does it work?

You will be guided step-by-step on the creation of your social media system through a full set of on-line tutorials.  The on-line course content is delivered sequentially over five lessons in a practical and logical fashion.  As you complete a lesson, new content will appear every 7 days until the entire course is revealed.  Then you will have access to the entire course for a set period of time.

Each lesson begins with an overview presentation of the material, action steps at the end of the lesson and a group of support videos and training that relate to that lesson’s action steps.

At the end of each week you will have a 1 hour session with your marketing coach to review the materials and get valuable feedback

Session One – Creating a Social Media Strategy – Before choosing your social media tactics you need to align your activities with your objectives. One of the best ways to do this is to listen first. In this session we will design your social media listening station.  Special topics covered are Google News and Alerts, Using Google Readers, and Basics of Twitter Search.

Session Two – Optimizing Brand Assets – Social media sites afford a great opportunity to create outposts for your content. In this session we will look at the best ways to create and optimize profiles and other social media real estate.   You will get some hands on practice at setting up personal profiles, search profiles, Facebook, using YouTube Videos, Podcasting and optimizing Linked-In Profiles and other Brand Assets.

Session Three – Blogging for Business – Maybe you have a blog, but certainly you’ve heard all about them. In this session we will dive deeply into why every small business should consider a blog the central hub of their social media strategy. Session will include discussion of best practices.   You will also receive practical hands-on guidance for setting up and customizing your blog.

Session Four – Social Networking and Networks – Creating profiles on the major social networking sites isn’t enough. In this session we will cover the best practices for creating engagement on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Session Five – Managing the Beast – The burden of attempting to keep up with the set of actions required to participate fully in social media can easily overwhelm.  In this session we will create your social media system in an attempt to bring it all together so you can balance input with ROI.

What you get with our coach facilitated Social Media Pro?

• 5 facilitated on-line sessions on Social Media marketing
• Weekly review and valuable feedback from your marketing coach and small business owners like yourself (group and one on one only)
• Installed Social Media Marketing System
• Open line for questions for the duration of the program with your marketing coach (group and one on one only)

Don’t miss the next group session, call to get more details!

What is the Virtual Operations Officer Program?

During these turbulent economic times, the small business needs new and creative avenues to save money – while at the same time continue to grow their business and remain competitive.  This customized service provides you with your own “in-house” operations manager without the expense of hiring a full-time employee.

How does it work?

The first crucial step is a review of existing business operations and the development of the development of a business operations plan.  From here the virtual operations manager will execute and coordinate the plan.  Business environments are dynamic and ever changing.  Your business operations need to be able to accommodate these changes and yet be effective and efficient at the same time.  Metrics will be put in place to align operations with your business goals.

What you get?

• A documented business operations guide
• A dedicated, experienced, business operations professional savvy in identifying and implementing changes in business practices that will help you focus and achieve better business results.
• the ability for you to delegate business operations responsibilities and focus your attention on the activities that make your business unique.

The transition of your business has a lot in common with starting your business.  Both events should;

• Be guided by a solid plan,
• Have defined and measureable elements (milestones), and
• Positively affect your life.

A defined plan is essential to any business pursuit, especially when you’re dealing with separation of the owner from the business.   While the plan is yours and reflects your goals and objectives, the planning process may also involve external resources, including CPAs, financial or estate planners, attorneys, business brokers, and a business consultant. These resources contribute their expertise to the plan and can help you define and measure the critical components.

Valens Point Business Strategy services can help you build and manage the transition plan.

Repeat customers are a vital measure of a successful business.  Building customer loyalty doesn’t happen by accident and should be a defined goal of your marketing strategy.  Understanding your customers (the demographic aspects) and why they do business with you (the psychographics aspects) is essential in earning repeat business and to establishing the right marketing programs.

Valens Point Marketing Assessment services can help your business assess your customer base, establish and measure the effectiveness of marketing programs, and help you generate more business with current customers.

The value of a business plan goes beyond a written document with the typical content: vision, purpose, sale and marketing plans, operation models and cash flow projections. The real value is in the process the business owner goes through to get the plan. The analogy that business plans are like road maps is mostly right.  Roadmaps tell you how to get somewhere, but as the saying goes “it’s not the destination, but the journey that’s important”.  The analysis, evaluation, and measurement of the core components of the business that result in the plan are the real value.  Anyone can have a document called a “business plan” but successful businesses understand that the “plan” must be frequently examined and changed to reflect the strategy of the business.

Valens Point Business Strategy services can help you build and manage your business plan.