3 Easy Online Marketing Activities You Can Start Today

Online marketing campaigns don’t have to be difficult or expensive. There are ways to market your brand that cost you nothing but your time. To help you get started here are three activities that will increase your online exposure and help get your brand out in the marketplace:

1. Create a Blog

Establishing a blog on your website can help attract more website traffic, establish you as an industryexpert and create loyal followers and a fan base. The process itself is relatively simple depending on your website platform (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Synergy8 etc.). If your website service doesn’t allow you to add a blog to your website, you can create a separate blog independently and link it to your website, but ideally it is best if it is integrated. Once established, you can begin posting helpful, informative articles aimed at your target market. Don’t use it as an advertising tool, just make it a helpful, informative resource. Don’t feel you are giving away your best ideas, the purpose is to attract and educate, thereby increasing your credibility in the marketplace.

2. Join Twitter

If you don’t have a Twitter account already, now is the time to get started. It's simple to set up a profile for your business, choose some interesting and relevant people (or companies) to follow and begin tweeting with helpful or engaging remarks. When using Twitter for business:

• Tweet about your products or business but don't sell! Most of your tweets should be about providing helpful information or interacting with your followers.
• Update a couple of times a day if possible. It doesn’t need to be time consuming, just share an article of interest, re-tweet something relevant or reply to someone else’s question. Don’t just set up your account, tweet a couple of times and let it slide, the idea is to engage and don’t forget to tweet about your blog postings too.
• Treat Twitter like a conversation. Twitter is a communication tool, not a broadcast tool. Change your formats from just publishing articles to asking and answering questions, interact with others.
• You have 160 characters to compose your Twitter bio in. Make it concise and compelling and let people know what you do and how you can help them or have helped others. A good bio will attract quality followers and try to be creative but factual. Instead of a simple ‘what do I do?’ ask yourself, ‘what am I passionate about?’

3. Newsletter Email

You can set up an account at one of many email marketing services (e.g. MailChimp and AWeber) which offer flexibility and affordable pricing. Start capturing email addresses from your website or in store. Email marketing is still a powerful way to grow your business, especially if your newsletter contains special offers, useful tips, information your readers appreciate and they are prepared to forward it on to others.

Your newsletter lets you alert clients and customers to your full range of services and products. It builds loyalty and while your newsletter won't directly lead to an engagement or 'sale', they often pave the way. They can cross-sell and up-sell your services, help you keep in touch with clients, referral sources and can even introduce your business to new clients

These three online marketing ideas are a great starting point but don't launch into all of these activities at once. Choose the one that is the best fit for your business and get started!

Other articles in this edition:

• Time For A Business Audit?
• Recommended Reading - The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
• What Is The Tax Office Up To?
• How the ATO Use Business Benchmarks
• 6 Tips for Selling Your Business
• What Changed on July 1, 2013
• Data Storage Solutions for Business Owners
• Why YouTube Videos are Important for Your Business
• Privacy is Your Business
• Recommended Reading - The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
• Apps To Help You Through Your Day
• 8 Top Tips for Managing Cashflow
• Legal Hurdles for Start Ups
  
• It’s Getting Cloudy for Business Owners

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:This newsletter is issued as a guide to clients and for their private information. This newsletter does not constitute advice. Clients should not act solely on the basis of the material contained in this newsletter. Items herein are general comments only and do not convey advice per se. Also changes in legislation may occur quickly. We therefore recommend that our formal advice be sought before acting in any of these areas.