Marketing

Wobizzle’s Super Simple Guide To Creating A Small Business Marketing Plan With FREE Worksheet Download

There are times when a business needs an extensive marketing plan. You know, the kind you pay for – or spend a lot of your time pulling together.

For example, you may need one if you are applying for a business loan, or seeking other types of funding.

As your business grows, and you add more products or services or expand to larger markets, you may need a more detailed approach for your marketing efforts.

But the thought of creating such a plan raises so many questions. How much will it cost if I outsource? How much time will it take if I do it myself? Where do I begin? How will I find the time?

What ends up happening is that task of creating a marketing plan for your small business gets placed on the back burner – to be done another day. And that day never seems to arrive.

Virtually everything goes better with a plan, and marketing is no exception.

A basic marketing plan is way better than no plan at all, so that’s why we’ve created this guide and a free worksheet to help get you started. If you’re short on time, just do one step a day. Within a week you will have a marketing plan.

Marketing Plan How-To

Creating a basic marketing plan is as simple as answering these questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. I’m going to mix up the order a little bit, so stick with me.

WHAT

Start with the “What.” What is it that you are trying to sell? This, of course, would be your product or service.

WHO

Who is your target audience? Get specific here, because “everyone” is not a target audience. It’s really important to hone in on your ideal customer.

WHY

Why does your ideal customer need your product or service? What are the reasons that your product or service is a solution for your ideal customer?

WHERE

Where can you best reach your ideal customers? Facebook? Do they listen to local radio? Where are they spending their time?

I recommend that you come up with the top five places. Don’t choose random marketing options. Try to find out where your ideal customers are.

This step may take a little time and some research, but it will be well worth it. Delivering your message in multiple places to your target audience increases your ability to get noticed by them.

HOW

This step digs a little deeper. There are really two how’s. How much money do you have to spend and how will you spend that money?

How are you going to go about reaching your target audience? You already have the foundation in place. You have identified where your audience is.

Now you need to take your budget into account. How much do you have to spend?

How will you spend it? You may decide to invest a portion of it into social media advertising. Perhaps, you will spend another portion in a local event sponsorship. Write those specifics into your plan.

WHEN

When will you activate your marketing campaigns?

Create an annual calendar for your marketing outreach and use the decisions you made in the previous steps to build out a strategy for the next 12 months.

If you count on the holiday shopping season, back-to-school, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day etc. to help you meet your revenue goals, obviously, you will want to invest more of your marketing dollars during the time of year when your customers will be most likely to be looking for your product or service.

There you have it – Wobizzle’s Super Simple Guide To Creating A Small Business Marketing Plan.

S0…go ahead and get started. Download our free worksheet and you will be on your way!

Easy Ways To Improve Your Search Engine Rankings

A quick Google search of the term “Search Engine Rankings” pulls up more than 58 million results from around the web. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is crucial to online success, but if you’re not an SEO expert, you can quickly become overwhelmed by the overload of information and search engine rankings advice being offered in every corner of the internet.

Really good SEO is best done by someone who specializes in the craft. It’s not cheap. It takes a high level of expertise, consistency and a long-term commitment to be successful.

But there are some things you can do to improve your business website’s search engine rankings without seeking help from a pro. Here are the three things that matter most. BONUS: They are easy to do.

1. Keyword Usage For Search Engine Rankings

Doing great keyword research is the first step to improving your Google search engine rankings. Develop a short list of words that you believe customers might use when they search the internet for a business like yours.

Plug those terms into an online keyword research tool. Google’s free keyword planner offered through the Google Ads division is an easy to use option.

Search for variations of your keywords and take note of the monthly number of searches in comparison to the amount of competition for each.

If you’re new to this, you won’t want to waste your time and efforts trying to compete for keywords with high competition. Instead, identify 10 to 30 low-competition keywords each with an overall “Monthly Search Volume” of around 2,500-3,000.

Also, identify and research long-tail keywords to increase your chances of success. Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific than regular keywords. For example, if you offer social media services, instead of using the keyword “social media,” consider drilling down a bit more with a term like “social media marketing consulting.”

New domains, sites with little content, and web pages with few backlinks are typically on the bottom of Google’s priority list when it comes to ranking. So, if your website falls into any of those categories, the lower the competition is for your keywords, the greater your chances are for higher search engine rankings.

2. Quality, Audience-Relevant Content

Once you have a sufficient list of low-competition keywords you’re now off to the races of content creation. Decide what forms of content will work best for your business model. It can also be helpful to try a few things at first to see what gets you results. The most common forms of online content marketing include:

Articles & Blog Posts
Infographics/Images
Press Releases
PowerPoint Presentations
Pinterest Pins
Industry White Papers

Whether you choose to develop your own content, or hire a freelancer, be sure that it focuses on your keywords.

3. Optimization For Better SEO Engine Rankings

Even the best content doesn’t stand much of a chance of being found without a little optimization.

When search engines crawl your website, they’re looking for phrases and terms that match the searched keywords. If your pages and content are aligned with those words, your chances of ranking higher improve.

If you have a WordPress website, using an SEO plug-in like Yoast SEO will make optimizing your website content much easier.

Here are some areas of your website where a little tweaking can make a difference.

Keyword Density In Blog Posts

Having a blog that is updated on a regular basis can greatly improve your website’s search engine rankings. It’s within your blogs posts that you will want to include the keywords that will help customers find you on the web. That’s where “keyword density” comes into play.

Going back to the “social media marketing consulting” example – if you chose that as your long-tail keyword for a specific blog post, the more times that keyword showed up within your blog post, the higher the keyword density would be for that post.

There is much debate about what percentage of keyword density yields the best results, but a good rule of thumb is to have a minimum density of 1.5%. For a 500-word blog post, that means your keyword needs to show up 8 times.

Titles and Tags

Make sure your keywords are included in your post titles and tags. The post titles and tags provide search engines with details about the content on the page.

Meta Tags

Meta descriptions appear in search results below the title link of your post, so it’s important to write descriptions that’ll help visitors get a quick peek into the page’s content before clicking on it.

Images

When uploading images to your site, be sure to include your keyword in the title of the image. Also, add an Alt Image Title with your keyword.

Consistency Is Key

SEO can feel a little overwhelming. But, even if you don’t have the budget to hire professional help, you can’t afford to leave your business’ search engine rankings to chance.

Though these tips only scratch the surface of what can be done, if you perform them consistently, they will help you improve your search engine rankings over time and help potential customers and clients find you.

Why You Can’t Trust Your Social Media Manager Too Much

As small business social media service providers, we at Wobizzle definitely support the idea of a small business owner delegating social media to a trusted staff member, freelancer or agency. That said, I recently found myself untangling a social media access mess for a small company that had placed too much trust in their social media manager.

It’s not the first time I have encountered the issue. So, I thought it was a case study worth sharing.

The Problem

The company hired me to take on their social media activity which had been stagnant for some time. I met with the owner and key staff members to discuss the business and formulate a plan.

I started the process of updating the company accounts, freshening cover and thumbnail images, and creating evergreen content. That’s when I discovered that there was no login or password information on file for two of the company’s four social media accounts. Further investigation revealed the accounts had been set up by a former staff member. That staff member had failed to share the information with others on the staff team. She had also failed to assign any secondary administrators to the accounts.

Basically, these accounts were still controlled by the social media manager who had left the company before I had been called in to help. The accounts in question were on Twitter and LinkedIn. The company had no access to the accounts. Staff members could not post updates. They could not assign new administrators. They could not make any changes to the pages. The control remained in the hands of the former social media manager.

In my process, I reached out to the former employee to transfer access. She was unresponsive. She either overlooked the requests, or did not feel obliged to help. I don’t believe there was underlying malice in this case. I think the failure to share was just an oversight.

Regaining Control

Regaining control of the company accounts was a time-consuming endeavor. We started by sending a message from the owner’s email account to the support centers of Twitter and LinkedIn. We explained the situation and asked for help to take control back. Twitter responded within a few days with instructions on how to proceed. The process involved uploading a statement on company letterhead to a link provided by Twitter. Twitter offered information on what the statement needed to address, and instructions on ensuring that the statement would be received by the proper contact at Twitter.

LinkedIn took a little more effort. After more than a week of waiting for a response on the support ticket, we decided to call a customer service number I found online. After several travels through a loop of “press 1 for…press 2 for…” my client was able to speak to a real person. That real person moved the request forward, and within a few hours, we had regained control over the page and removed the former admin. Before suggesting that you try this at home, I would point out that I think it made a difference that my client was a premium member (aka paying customer) of LinkedIn.

All in all, it took more than a week for us to regain control of the platforms. Imagine if that former employee had decided to use her power for evil, and had posted rogue updates during the time the accounts were not in our control. Perhaps, Twitter and LinkedIn would have acted more quickly in that situation. But regardless, damage would have been done.

Best Practices

Unfortunately, there is no across-the-board fix for managing the security of your social media accounts.

Facebook

Facebook’s set up is the easiest to work around. For a small business, having the business owner as the administrator on the account and assigning “editor” roles to other key players makes sense. The administrator maintains full control of the account. Assigned staff members or service providers are able to post updates and make some edits to the page.

Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest

For Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest it’s trickier. You must share your login and password information with anyone who you want to manage the account. The best security here is to make sure the account is listed under an email address and phone number that you, as the business owner, control. That would help protect you if the worst case scenario happened and your social media manager went rogue and changed the password. You’d be able to reset it or communicate with Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest to resolve your problem.

Third Party Software

Perhaps the best option is using a third party scheduling software program like Hootsuite, eClincher, Buffer, etc. These programs not only allow you to schedule social media posts in advance, they also allow you to maintain control of your account while assigning staff members or outsourced service providers posting responsibilities to your accounts.

Are you a social media manager or social media consultant? Share your best practices for managing access to business social media accounts in the comments below.

Freshness Test: Is Your Business Website Up To Date?

Does your business website pass the freshness test? When was the last time you checked in on it?

An outdated website is bad for business. Think about it. Have you ever visited a website that was woefully out of date? You know the type; one with old events being advertised on the homepage, broken links, or the latest post on the blog is two years old.

What did you think? Did you wonder if the business was still in business? You’re not the only one.

Your business website serves as an online destination for your customers and potential customers. For some, it may be the first impression they get of your business. That’s why it’s important that it be up to date.

So, bring up your website right now in another window and review these things to see if your business website passes the freshness test.

Business Website Freshness Test

Calendars & Events

Scan your website for any time-sensitive items. Look for outdated events, promotions, expired discounts or coupons and get rid of them.

Blog

If you have a blog, when was the last time you posted? If it’s been longer than 30 days, you need to remedy that. Set aside a few minutes to brainstorm some post ideas. Make a list, and then make a commitment to update that blog at least once a month.

You don’t have to write a 10-page white paper. Short articles – 400-500 words – are fine. Just remember when you are writing, to set aside the sales pitch and instead opt for blog topics that will deliver helpful information and value to your website visitors.

Don’t have a blog? You should consider adding one to your business website. A regularly updated blog is one of the best tools for improving your search engine rankings. It can also prove to be an unmatched marketing tool. A blog allows you to showcase your expertise, and gain credibility with your audience. That credibility makes it easier to persuade them to make a purchase or contract a service from you.

Links

Go through your website page by page and check for broken links. Delete or fix any that you find, and while you are at it, look for opportunities to add some fresh links. Up-to-date internal and outbound links can help improve your search engine rankings.

SEO

Speaking of search engine rankings, check in on your website’s SEO. Do you have keywords assigned to your pages and posts? Are your posts and images optimized? Make adjustments as needed, or hire an expert to help.

Grammar & Spelling

As a writer, nothing screams “unprofessional” louder to me than a website with spelling or grammar errors. Though the majority of your website visitors may not be writers, they will notice. Proofread your website. Have a friend do the same and clean up any spelling mistakes or poor grammar.

Design & Navigation

Now that you have some of the immediate concerns addressed, take a thoughtful look at the design of your website. Does it look good? Is it a website that you are proud of? Does it have a clean, modern look? Are you using high quality images?

Think about it from the perspective of a potential customer. Is it easy to navigate? Does it give them the information you want them to know as well as the information they are seeking?

How does it read? You want your website copy to communicate in a clear and concise way. You need to say just enough to give a good overview of your business, your products or services and what makes you different and better than your competitors. Too much copy can clutter the page and overwhelm the reader.

If you’re not happy with your website, consider a redesign. Hire a professional to help. If your budget is tight, you could consider using a DIY website platform like SquareSpace.

Make It A Habit

Once you’ve gone through the steps and made much needed updates to your business website, make it a habit to review these things on a regular basis.

Gone are the days when you could build a website and then forget about it for a few years. Effective, lead-generating business websites are living things. They evolve. They grow. And they should be updated on a regular basis. So, keep your website fresh. Your credibility depends on it.

RELATED CONTENT: Why You Must Have A Business Website

Keep Religion, Politics, and the Great Pumpkin Out of Your Marketing Mix

There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin – Linus

My husband recently came home raving about a new local restaurant. It was very small, with an owner who was working hard to make it the place to be. The food was great, the prices were great, and he was hooked.

The owner had done a lot of things right in his brief visit. The service was amazing, the atmosphere was very tasteful, and the quality of the food was superior. After he was served, the owner introduced herself and answered a few questions. She had it down – personal service, nice atmosphere, and excellent product – all very well done.

While he was sold, I decided to check out the restaurant’s website before committing.

Mistake #1 – they didn’t HAVE a website. That’s an entirely different post but suffice it to say that every small business or service professional must have a website before they open their doors.

Mistake #2 – she was letting her political agenda fly free on her Facebook page. In addition to a couple of political posts, her business “likes” displayed several very polarizing national politicians. Those displays alienated me immediately, and it wasn’t just because of the “likes” she had, but because she “liked” several politicians on her business page, period.

She’s not alone. There are many, many, many other businesses and entrepreneurial service professionals that do the same thing. Sign this petition or that one; call your Congressman; say NO to this, YES to that. Trust me on this, you cannot change someone’s political beliefs on your Facebook business page, and while you can debate and debate and debate, you’re still more often than not talking to a wall. A wall that could very well prevent that visitor from becoming your customer or client. People believe what they believe, and really their beliefs shouldn’t have anything to do with whether or not they frequent your restaurant, call for a hair appointment, attend your yoga class, or schedule a massage.

We live in some pretty divisive times, and with social media taking the lead for many entrepreneurial marketing efforts, it’s important to keep things that are polarizing, like religion, politics, and for some yes, even the Great Pumpkin, out of it. The ultimate goal of the business Facebook page, and any social media or marketing effort, is to build your business into one that people will know, love, and trust. If you have a client, or fan, or even a neighbor that feels strongly about a politician or political issue, and you get on Facebook and post something derogatory or that directly counters what they believe, they will probably begin to take a different view of you both personally and professionally.

And THAT can cost you money.

RELATED CONTENT: Why You Must Have A Business Website