Paso Robles Marketing

In an increasingly digital world, and a still unsure economic climate, many businesses are asking themselves if print ads are still pulling their weight. The answer is: that depends on what kind of a print ad.

You Get What You Pay For

It’s the classic quantity-versus-quality, you-get-what-you-pay-for argument when it comes to print advertisement.

For instance, local newspapers often offer to design your ad for free—what a deal, right? Maybe not. Consider the fact that the designers making your newspaper ad know little about your company or its marketing objectives.  With newspaper deadlines and a handful of other ads like yours to throw together, these designers have their own time and aesthetic constraints in mind. The result?  We’ve all seen one. An ad that is so terrible it actually becomes an eyesore on the page. Not the look you are going for. That free ad could just end up costing you due to the negative impact it has on your brand image.

Design Department Tips

Even a good free ad is not that valuable to a company. Why? Because it is not your property. Say the ad is doing great in the Gazette, so now you want to put one in the Herald too. Too bad. You are going to have to start from square one in the Herald’s design department.

Prime Ad Real Estate is Available

This is not to say that print advertisement is a losing battle. A well-played print ad—backed by a solid marketing plan—still packs a punch. In fact, a print ad strategy could be especially effective now, when other companies feeling the financial pressure are pulling their ads out. More and better ad real estate is opening up, meaning better visibility for your ad, less competition, and the likelihood of holding on to long-lasting preferred placement.

Choose a Marketing Agency to Help

But with your ad front and center, it’s also more important than ever to make the greatest impression possible with that ad. This is image-development 101—no shortcuts. Work with an agency that understands ad strategy and design. A good marketing team will take into account messaging, timing and placement and make recommendations according to their years of collective experience and knowledge.

With all of the t’s crossed and i’s dotted, the well-planned ad will recoup its cost through the impact it has on the consumer.

For more tips on advertising, or to get started on a fully conceptualized, locked and loaded ad campaign strategy, call the “A-Team” today!

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When it comes to hiring a marketing agency, there are many considerations to weigh. Some agencies specialize in particular industries, such as technology, or in particular media, such as online ads or television ads. But for most businesses looking for a broad spectrum marketing campaign, it really comes down to two choices: big or small.

Obviously a BIG agency carries with it prestige and allure that can woo a young business or a company looking to make a splash with a new campaign. And indeed BIG agencies offer experience, strong track records, impressive clientele, a large staff and, often, versatile skills and more resources than a small agency.

However, all of this comes with a BIG price tag, as well.

And when it comes down to it, none of these items guarantees a successful campaign or even satisfactory service. Often a larger agency will treat new, small accounts according to their size and status; meaning that even if you decide to go BIG, the small size of your account may not merit the attention and resources that the agency gives to its larger accounts.

The dilemma is similar to one I faced my first year on my High School water polo team: I could either move up to the BIG varsity team, and get all of the attendant recognition, but be a little out of my league; OR I could stay in the “small” pool with the Junior Varsity team, where, though I would forfeit some clout and bragging rights, I would also benefit from being a star player and leader, getting more playing time, and honing my skills before facing tougher competition. The latter would develop me as an athlete; the former would build up my ego.

Similarly, a smaller agency can often offer more to building a brand, since it is sure to give new clients the time and attention they deserve. For a small agency, each account is crucial, so your business would never be relegated to lower-level service. A small agency can also react more quickly to urgent needs; cater their services to the client; and provide the personal, attentive service that makes businesses feel they are being taken care of.

In the end, JV may not sound as glitzy, but, to mix metaphors a bit, being the smallest fish in the big pond may not be the brightest move for your brand, either.

To learn more about the benefits of being a big fish in a smaller, personalized marketing agency, check out AR & Co. PR & Marketing.

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Back in the good ol’ days, self-respecting business people would wake up and scan over the newspaper in the mornings to read the latest “status updates” and the opinions of influential leaders.  In the time so wonderfully glorified in the popular show Mad Men, print and television advertisements were the path to success. A jingle and a billboard were the currency of capitalism.

Times have changed.

But old-school ways are yet to be found in the modern business world.

Lurking behind a veil of new-fangled technology called “social media,” there lie the same old, tried-and-true tenets of marketing. And the big-time, long-standing, Fortune 500 companies that have been around since long before television—let alone internet—have recognized that common thread.

Case in point: Procter & Gamble recently announced a switch from 77 years of doing TV ads and soap operas to going full-steam ahead with Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.

Social media solutions to marketing are dynamic and undeniably changing the way people shop, and the wisest brands are taking advantage of the versatile new media possibilities. Where does your business stand? If it’s time to join the old-school of thought on new media, you can find out more about how to turn 140 characters or a 30-second video into free, effective advertising here.  Or, you could wait for the next commercial break…Permission to Reprint: You may reprint any items from “Social Media: Old-School Business in Shiny New Packaging” in your print or electronic newsletter. But please include the following paragraph:
Reprinted from “Paso Robles Marketing,” a blog featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity written by AR & Co PR & Marketing. Subscribe at http://www.pasoroblesmarketing.com/ and receive Blog updates by email.If you like these tips, please pass them on to your friends, clients and colleagues.Follow us on Facebook!

As the name implies, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the process of marketing your website to “search engines,” or online website directories (such as Google, Yahoo and Bing); however, as search engines are used by people, and people are the end consumers of your business, people are the true primary targets of Search Engine Marketing.

As such, the highly technical world, ostensibly governed by algorithms, robots and spiders, must inevitably answer to the demands of the humans using it. Search Engine Marketing has therefore evolved from a technical process into an appropriately user-targeted process, each element of which considers the human as much as, if not more than, the robot element of the internet.

Like marketing in the real world, SEM is a broad and multi-faceted process comprised by such factors as search engine optimization (SEO), advertising, and link-back strategies. Each of these factors can play a significant role in an overall campaign, and each must first cater to the human end-user.

Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization sounds incredibly technical. And, indeed, it is a process that entails playing into the hands of such ambiguous powers as algorithms and spiders. However, SEO is largely an intuitive and human-oriented process. It really just means making websites that are Searcher-Friendly, User-Friendly, and User-Approved:

1. Searcher-Friendly – Strategically abundant in relevant search terms, or “keywords,” that humans would use in search engine queries
2. User-Friendly – Easily navigable by both people and web crawlers
3. User-Approved – Widely acknowledged and validated by other reliable and relevant websites and social media sources, which link back to show support

Search Engine Optimization is best implemented from the very beginning, as it involves everything from the way a site is laid out to the words used. However, any website can be optimized at any time by rewriting copy with more keywords, improving the website’s navigation, or replacing non-crawlable elements. While SEO can take time to generate results in search engine directories, it is crucial to the success of your website in turning up in relevant search engine queries … That is, unless you’ve paid to turn up in those queries …

Advertising
Advertising online, through pay-per-click ads such as Google AdWords, offers businesses two benefits: guaranteed placement in search engine directories, and prompt placement in search engine directories. But, as in the real world, you can’t buy love – that is, you can’t just pay a fee to gain online popularity. As with traditional advertisement, the visibility purchased is not as valuable or effective as user-generated and “word-of-mouth” promotion (which, on the internet, manifest in high-ranking organic search engine results; link-backs on websites, blogs and social media; or high traffic). Furthermore, as with traditional advertisement, you pay to gain instantly the kind of visibility that could be gained the hard way, with time and proper Search Engine Optimization. Advertising can, however, go hand-in-hand with an SEO effort, since the same words determined as keywords for the optimized website would be best used in the ads as well.

Linking Strategies
Linking strategies present a happy medium between SEO and ads, in a way. Both paid-for advertisement and Search Engine Optimization can contribute to a widely-linked site since any method of increasing traffic to your site improves the likelihood of users linking back.

Other methods of generating links to your site consist of paying to be included in online directories and relevant industry directories, as well as free, grass-roots methods of generating links such as a social media marketing effort (broadcasting links on Facebook and Twitter), creating a blog that links back to your website, and reaching out to groups, supporters and non-competitors to link to your site.

Finally, a highly-linked website is the result of a high-quality website: people will want to share a link to your site with friends, customers and associates if they find the content to be useful, entertaining, aesthetically-appealing, and/or interesting. Unique Youtube videos, valuable tips, calendars, constant updates and other items that make people want to visit your site repeatedly are worth their weight in links, so to speak. (For instance, we are linking back to www.seo-news.com and www.searchenginesbook.com because we found their sites to be informative, reliable and relevant resources for this blog post, and recommend them to readers looking to learn more on search engine marketing—thus, we are increasing their sites’ search engine optimization).

So, the moral of the story is that Search Engine Marketing is just like any consumer marketing: it appeals to humans. If your marketing strategies could use a human touch, call (805) 239-4443 to speak to a real, live SEM expert, who is also well-versed in the language of spiders, crawlers and robots.

Permission to Reprint: You may reprint any items from “Search Engine Marketing: Reaching Real Users” in your print or electronic newsletter. But please include the following paragraph:

Reprinted from “Paso Robles Marketing,” a blog featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity written by AR & Co PR & Marketing. Subscribe at http://www.pasoroblesmarketing.com/ and receive Blog updates by email.

If you like these tips, please pass them on to your friends, clients and colleagues.

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What the new “Like” Button Means for Social Media Marketing

Due to the recent introduction of a web-wide “Like” button, businesses have five more reasons to love Facebook.

Essentially, the social site has offered a button which companies can add to their websites allowing those visitors with Facebook accounts to select “Like.” In doing so, all of the people in that visitor’s Facebook circle will receive notifications of their Friend’s new-found preference. Furthermore, when a Facebook user visits a webpage one of their own “Friends” has “Liked,” they will see that person’s thumb’s up on the screen.

For Example: Let’s say Joe and Jane are “Friends” on Facebook. Your business installs a “Like” button on its homepage, and Joe visits and says he “Likes” the page. Jane will see this in her newsfeed on Facebook, or, if she misses it there, she will see Joe’s Facebook profile picture next to a thumb’s up when she visits the page herself.

Think of these “Likes” s those cute little sticky notes with arrows on them that point out what you should pay attention to amid the abyss of unimportant fine print you can ignore. If your business gets tagged, it becomes more relevant and valuable to the tagger’s Friends than competitors’ sites, or any other un-“Liked” sites for that matter.

What does this mean for your business?

1. Greater Visibility for Your Company
Even if none of Joe’s friends visit your website as a result of his “Like,” they will SEE your name and logo. Repeat this a few times and you have the makings of brand recognition without having done any promotion of your own!

2. Greater Traffic to Your Website.
Another part of the new Facebook developments adds web links to the user’s profile anytime they “Like” a website. So, in the place of text lists of preferences like favorite restaurants or wineries, will be the business’s web link. With your business’s name and link popping up in newsfeeds and profiles, you are bound to see more traffic to your site.

3. Greater Connection with Your Viewers
Before the like button, you could only track the number of visitors to your site and the length of their visit, etc. Your only personal connection occurred if they emailed, left a comment, or signed up for a newsletter. NOW, you can actually identify them. And better yet, you can stay in touch with them. For example, if you’re a restaurant and a Facebook user clicks “Like” on your Weekly Specials page, you can then send them a message when you introduce a new special offer or have a limited time discount.

4. Greater Targeted Marketing
Of course, the natural progression of being more directly connected with your viewers is that you can react and respond to their preferences to your business’s advantage. If 30 people “Like” a page detailing a certain new product, while none “Like” another product, you can begin ordering, promoting and marketing according to the trends.

5. Greater use of Social Influence
Other features of Facebook’s latest plug-ins allow websites to show a newsfeed log of the viewer’s friends’ activity on the site, or recommendations based on the preferences of their friends. Essentially, this means you can easily recruit your website viewers as peer reviewers to sway more Friends to join in the love.
So what do you think, do you “Like” this blog post? Tell us what you think…and then tell your Friends.

Information in this blog post was gathered primarily from The Wall Street Journal’s coverage of the Facebook release: (wsj.com).  More information on the “Like” button and additional features can be found at developers.facebook.com/plugins, or feel free to contact the social media marketing experts at AR & Co to learn more about using the “Like” to your advantage. 

Permission to Reprint: You may reprint any items from “5 More Reasons to Like Facebook for Business” in your print or electronic newsletter. But please include the following paragraph:

Reprinted from “Paso Robles Marketing,” a blog featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity written by AR & Co PR & Marketing. Subscribe at http://www.pasoroblesmarketing.com/ and receive Blog updates by email.

If you like these tips, please pass them on to your friends, clients and colleagues.

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In our last post, The New Facebook of Business, we came to terms with the idea that social media is a key factor for Paso Robles businesses in this decade. But before you get too enthused, take a moment to consider the risks, challenges, dos and don’t of one of the most popular social networking sites, and the first we will face, Facebook.

Facebook can be seen as your online storefront for a global market. So, be ready to take care of it like you would a public physical venue, with all of the attendant branding, business plans, and business culture considerations in place. For instance, how will you build your client or customer base (i.e. get more friends or fans)? How much will you invest in Facebook? How will you implement initiatives to make it more valuable?

Most importantly, just like in a physical store, salesmanship comes into play online too. Not just any tech-monkey can do the job; you must be savvy to the sacred codes of online social commerce. To offer you some face-saving tips for employing Facebook as part of a multifaceted and modern marketing scheme, we look to the wisdom of salesmanship guru, Dale Carnegie, and his famous 1936 book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. His words ring true even in today’s high-tech market. 

Become genuinely interested in other people. It’s part of the “business” of Facebook to nose around on other people’s walls and photo albums. While you do so, send friend requests, ask questions, and leave comments—this builds your presence in a positive way.  

Smile. In developing your Facebook storefront or virtual salesperson image, keep in mind the online environmental cues that will affect the way your virtual customers perceive your business. Put some thought into your profile and profile picture—goofy, casual, or professional? Stay upbeat and encouraging in your status updates and comments. Think carefully about what kind of information you will share and what it will reveal about your brand. And be sure to manage your account for foul comments, images, or associations that reflect poorly on your business. People are free to share their opinions here, but there is no need to let negativity run rampant either.

Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. Initiate opportunities to give others a shout out on Facebook: Encourage, congratulate, wish well, say happy birthday, tag people in photos, and otherwise massage the egos of your Facebook friends.

Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. Give a thumbs-up when your friends send messages or post updates. Show that you are listening. This makes them feel good about their affiliation with you and about themselves.

Talk in terms of the other person’s interests. Don’t use Facebook as a soap box. Think about what your friends would like to know about: you might consider posting Youtube videos with how-to information, offering online specials, promoting contests and more. Incentives are always nice, but it doesn’t hurt to offer them in ways that will also fulfill objectives of increasing foot traffic or traffic to your site.

Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely. Sincerity is key on Facebook. Your friends will sniff out superficiality in a heartbeat. If you want to hard sell, stick to the real storefront; Facebook takes a little more patience and finesse before results will show. Find ways to incite and maintain friendly discussions by asking opinions, responding to comments, and engaging your friends. This friendly banter will put them at ease, gain their trust, and ensure a pleasant experience worth repeating. Whatever you do, keep the fresh content coming and, remember—do NOTuse Facebook as a soap box.

The Bottom Line in Mind—Having given the soap box warning, and keeping above etiquette in mind, you probably are hoping to see some kind of results from your online storefront. It is wise to clarify your objectives first. Keeping your goal in mind and setting and meeting steps toward that goal will help you go about Facebooking with more vision and purpose. Set goals for numbers of friends, or set up ways to measure your Facebook success by telling friends to mention Facebook for a free appetizer or 10% discount. But remember: don’t be all business—that’s no way to make friends or influence people.

Permission to Reprint:You may reprint any items from “How to Make Friends, Influence People, and Save Face on Facebook” in your print or electronic newsletter. But please include the following paragraph:

Reprinted from “Paso Robles Marketing,” a blog featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity written by AR & Co PR & Marketing. Subscribe at http://www.pasoroblesmarketing.com and receive Blog updates by email.

If you like these tips, please pass them on to your friends, clients and colleagues.

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Get a Website Engineered to Bring You Speedy Results
Navigating business on the information superhighway can feel like driving in uncharted territory. But, in fact, the internet is a rational place, and there are very specific paths that lead to success. The most important is Search Engine Optimization, a method of strategically putting your website on the “map” so that your target audience finds you every time, instead of getting lost in cyberspace.

AR & Co. PR & Marketing is fluent in the rules of the e-commerce road and can easily give your website a tune-up or write a new website engineered to execute. Our Search Engine Optimization services include a team of marketing, graphic design, web, and writing professionals working together to create a website that performs like a well-oiled, finely-tuned machine, gaining higher results for your business on organic searches and pointing e-consumers in your direction.

There are many ways to describe the products and services offered by your company—but there is only one way to make certain your consumers will read them on the internet. Let us translate your company into the language of World-Wide Web so that you can complete your search for internet success.

Click here to learn more about AR & Company’s Search Engine Optimization services on our website, www.arandcompany.com, or give them a test drive yourself by entering “PR & Marketing, Paso Robles” or “website writing, Paso Robles” into your search engine’s search bar. Does a search for your company’s unique services or products get comparable results? Go ahead, search for them. Does your name come up on the first page? The second? The third? If not, you need the A Team!  Don’t Be a Tumbleweed! Google us Today!

Permission to Reprint:You may reprint any items from “Rev-up Your Company’s Search Engine Results” in your print or electronic newsletter. But please include the following paragraph:

Reprinted from “Paso Robles Marketing,” a blog featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity written by AR & Co PR & Marketing. Subscribe at http://www.pasoroblesmarketing.com and receive Blog updates by email.

If you like these tips, please pass them on to your friends, clients and colleagues.

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