Sales & Marketing Authority, Bestselling Author & Business Motivational Speaker

There are several reasons to consider adding online video marketing to your existing campaign.  Video is a long standing way to improve customer loyalty.  A well constructed video presentation helps to brand your company, build relationships and explain your expertise.  Videos for online use can be put together in a matter of minutes, without the need for expensive production costs.  Simply putting a face and voice with a product is often enough to increase its marketability.  Learn how to use video in your marketing efforts to expand your client base.

Video Branding

A video allows you to create a multi-media presentation that explains your company’s mission and basis for success.  In sixty seconds, you can show customers what you have to offer and how you put their needs ahead of your own.  For a general marketing video you may want to spend more time generating a script and creating different graphic images for inclusion, rather than a talking head, but the low quality of many online videos can help you keep costs down.

Relationship Building with a Video Presentation

Physical retail locations have an automatic advantage over online retailers.  Consumers can hold products in their hands and discuss the merits directly with a sales person.  Consumers can build relationships and learn trust for different sales people, so they come back again and again.  Building those same types of relationships online is difficult, but not impossible.  A video allows you to give them the same one-on-one attention they receive in store.  Make your video presentation broad, but with specific examples of products or services you offer to help consumers.  Explain your overall business plan, and how you expect to continue to create innovation that will improve consumer’s lives.

Establish your Expertise

With many client based businesses, it is your expertise that will drive sales.  If you do not establish your unquestionable ability in your industry, you will lose clients to those that have.  The best way to establish your expertise is to create content that is unique, informative and helpful for your website.  How-to videos are a great way to show off what you know in a way that is helpful to consumers.  Some examples would include a makeup artist performing a look, a home repair service walking through the steps on a simple home repair, an accountant explaining how to keep a daily ledger, and much more.

If you include video marketing, you have an opportunity to increase your sales potential exponentially.  People respond more quickly and deeply to video advertising than any other medium.  Plan out several video releases, to best display your company and products.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

Twitter is a great social media site for cross marketing.  By itself, it is not enough to build consumer sales, but when combined with a complete marketing campaign it is a very powerful tool. Twitter offers the immediacy that many people are looking for in today’s constantly linked in society.   The short posting length and the easy access from mobile devices makes Twitter an ideal way to communicate with potential customers throughout the day.  Many business owners may be at a loss regarding what to say.  After all, how many important business facts can you provide in a single day.  Below are five things to keep in mind when composing Tweets.

1. Never go for quantity over quality.  Fewer tweets that provide quality information are much preferred over spamming your feed.  Keep your tweets on point, current and informative to gain a growing network of subscribers.
2. Tweet regularly, not constantly.  It is important to distinguish between regular and constant.  If you are constantly posting new tweets, it is highly doubtful that all of then contain unique and useful content.  Tweet at least once per day, and as often as three or four times a day, but use the minimum number of tweets to post the most current information.
3. Concise is the way to go.  Tweets are designed to me very short, 150 characters or less.  That is often only enough to write a phrase and post a link.  Write out your tweets ahead of time to ensure they will meet the character requirements, and play with the wording.  Try to say as much as you can with as few words as possible.
4. Expert and informative is the tone to take.  Provide valuable industry information to consumers, and they will be back time and again to get your take.  Demonstrate your expertise and maintain a professional tone while doing so.
5. Never fear a bit of controversy.  The really nice thing about social media is that it allows an opportunity to be social with potential customers.  Consumers would normally never have a chance to get to know you personally, rather than the corporate façade.  Allowing people to see you take a stand on issues can generate conversations that will gain you additional followers.

When you tweet, make sure to include plenty of links to other sources.  Post a link to longer articles or blog posts that you have written or a link back to your store.  Twitter can be used to successfully announce new sales or product lines, along with other industry information.  The subjects are endless, so it is usually not a problem to find quality information to post for consumers.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

Instead of continuing with the same tired old promotional pens and magnets, now is a good time to look at newer promotional items.  The variety of customisable items has grown considerably and a give-a-way is a great way to keep your company in the forefront of people’s thoughts.  Time of year is crucial when deciding on promotional items, and below are some tips to choosing the perfect holiday give-a-way.

Keep your Shoppers Needs Front and Centre

The first thing to consider is would your customers need or want what you can give away.  Some great possibilities include customised reusable shopping bags, toys, insulated mugs and more.  The time of year contributes to the success of the items, since shoppers are always looking for quality bags.  The insulated mugs are great for hot beverages during the winter, and toys are a big part of the holiday season.

What Can You Afford to Spend?

After deciding on a few items that are preferable, it will be time to take a look at budget considerations.  While it would be nice to simply order whatever promotional you decide would make the best impact, the cost must be a consideration.  Shops that focus on low ticket items probably can’t afford to give away a more expensive promotional item; however, it is important to focus on the per item price.  You may be able to get a solid price point if you order in bulk lots.

Get Inexpensive Promotional Items, Never Cheap

It may seem like an expense that you can avoid, but shoppers will often go out of their way to get quality free merchandise, and including a give-a-way with a sale can help improve your holiday profits.  The trick is to always get quality items.  You may need to purchase them in huge lots to get a reasonable per item price, but that is okay since you can give items out for several years in a row.  Plus, the give-a-ways will be a reminder all year long of what your shop has to offer.

The only time people are not interested in a promotional item is when the item is obviously poorly made.  Promotional items do not need to be the highest quality, but they do need to be usable.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

The smart phone has had an incredible impact on modern marketing techniques.  It is no longer enough to use traditional marketing to the exclusion of online marketing.  Now, to successfully improve your business performance you must successfully integrate both options to create a total marketing strategy that drives sales.  When online shopping was only available at home on a desktop computer, it had a smaller impact on the market.  With the advent of one click purchasing and mobile access, it has become a significant part of the market share.  Mobile access also impacts in store sales.

Shopping Apps and How to Use Them

The well known phrase, “there’s an app for that,” has become much more truth than marketing exaggeration.  There are apps to perform an incredible variety of functions, and some of the more useful and commonly used apps are shopping apps.  They allow consumers to search for products, both online and in store, and locate the nearest retailers.  They don’t stop there, since these apps also allow comparison shopping.  Not only can customers locate the nearest store with the product, they can also locate the lowest price.  More consumers check availability online before heading to the store than ever before.  If your business does not provide that information, it misses out on a whole slew of potential revenue.

Sell Products Online to Improve In Store Sales

Even if your website never generates a direct sale, the addition of these shopping apps makes it critical that you post your product offerings.  Though sales may not come in directly, there are a number of ways for you to gain indirect traffic simply by having a sales website.  Shopping apps cannot provide your product information unless it is posted where they can see it.  Comparison shopping sites cannot display your fabulous pricing unless you are listed.  To gain access to the potential revenue form these daily searches, ensure that your business is online and listed far and wide.

The Internet must be integrated with other marketing strategies.  While traditional methods are inexpensive and require less administrative time, they make it easy to get lost in the shuffle.  Many people use the web for all their research needs, so if your company is not listed on the local business listing sites, the next time a consumer searches for your company they may not be able to find you, even if they are responding to a solid radio or television marketing campaign.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker