Why You Need Marketing

It’s natural in this economy to push outside costs to the back burner. And often times, businesses tend to feel they can cut their spend costs such as marketing or advertising in an effort to “protect” the business. But as we all know too well, you must spend money to make money. To sell your product or service to your customers they need to know about it, trust it and value the relationship – all which are built in a successful marketing campaign.

Read this story about a man and his hot dog stand for a good lesson in why you need marketing. For marketing services and planning, contact Sagefrog Marketing Group. Visit www.sagefrog.com or call 215-230-9024.

7 Tips From the Best in the Social Business

7 Tips From the Best in the Social Business

Content Marketing is Most Effective with a Plan

We’ve shared articles and blogged about 2012’s favorite marketing phrase: CONTENT MARKETING. So, by now, it should be engrained in your marketing and social media mind that content marketing can be a very effective tactic when it comes to online marketing. And when done correctly, it can help you reach your goals – whether that be create an online presence, generate traffic to your website, or convert visitors into leads.

But without a plan, content marketing will not work. According to this article we found in accounting TODAY, one of the main reasons companies who try content marketing don’t benefit from this tactic is because they don’t have a strategy or plan behind it.

This article recommends that you ask yourself these questions when creating a content marketing plan, and when trying to implement this tactic into your overall marketing strategy:

• ·         Who are you trying to reach?

• ·         What will be your focus?

• ·         Who will be responsible for creating your content?

• ·         How often do you plan to add new content?

• ·         In what ways will you promote it?

• ·         Who will be responsible for managing the process and assigning tasks?

• ·         How does your content strategy integrate with your other marketing tactics?

• ·         How do you measure effectiveness and define success for these efforts?

To learn more, read the entire article. For help with developing and implementing a strong content marketing plan, contact Sagefrog Marketing Group. Visit www.sagefrog.com or call 215-230-9024.

Steps for Inbound Marketing

At Sagefrog, we believe that a combination of both inbound and outbound marketing tactics is most effective. We discovered this article by customer THINK that outlines six steps for inbound marketing, including:

• ·         Develop a successful marketing strategy

• ·         Create and maintain a powerful website

• ·         Generate more traffic

• ·         Convert traffic to leads

• ·         Convert leads to sales

• ·         Measure everything

For more information about each of these steps and to view the infographic, read the entire article. For inbound marketing tactics, and all other marketing services, visit www.sagefrog.com, or call 215-230-9024.

Internet Marketing Jargon that Should Stop

Internet Marketing Jargon that Should Stop

Marketers: What Works on Facebook

Marketers: What Works on Facebook

Tips for Using Pinterest's Secret Pinboards

Pinterest announced yesterday that they now have new features for business users.  Pinterest also unveiled secret pinboards. This new feature allows you to create up to three secret boards, which are hidden from the public, and invite only those who you want to see the boards. While the appeal of the secret boards for consumers is obvious – hide gift ideas or wedding dress designs, etc., the benefit for marketers may be less apparent immediately.

This article shares four ways that marketers can use secret pinboards effectively, including:

• ·         Provide exclusive promotions or discounts to key advocates by inviting them to view the offer on a secret pinboard

• ·         Get feedback on a product or brand from consumers or focus groups prior to launch

• ·         Create a board full of new products or offers, announce the unveiling of a secret board and then turn the board public

• ·         Track referrals and recommendations from the people who are invited to your board

For more information about each of these tips, read the entire article.

Got a Pinterest account? Follow Sagefrog’s here! For social media marketing, and all other marketing services, contact Sagefrog Marketing Group. Visit www.sagefrog.com or call 215-230-9024.

Improve Your Social Media Reputation

You care about your personal reputation, so why not apply that same mentality when it comes to your company’s social media reputation? Whether you think your current online reputation is good or not, it’s important to always be aware of what is being said about you online and how your messages are coming across to your social media followers. And you should always be aiming to improve your reputation.

This article in Marketing Pilgrim offers 3 social media tricks to improving your online reputation, including:

1. Choose social media platforms wisely. There’s countless number of social media networks out there and some are more effective than others. Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest are the best platforms when it comes to rankings.
2. Increase the frequency of your social media activity. Being involved in social media is more than setting up accounts and filling out the “about me” information. Make sure you are regularly updating each platform with relevant and current information. There’s nothing worse than when a customer or potential lead visits your Facebook page and sees it hasn’t been touched for a month…
3. Consider your use of keywords. One of the many benefits of using social media is improving SEO. So, it should go without saying that your blog posts, tweets and updates should be optimized with the keywords that make your website show up high in search engine results.

For more information about improving your social media reputation, read the entire article. For social media marketing, and all other marketing services, contact Sagefrog Marketing Group. Visit www.sagefrog.com or call 215-230-9024.

Marketers: Don’t Discount Research

Marketers: Don’t Discount Research

Five Tips to Convert Fans and Followers into Customers

Five Tips to Convert Fans and Followers into Customers

Strategically Advertising on LinkedIn

Strategically Advertising on LinkedIn

Have you Thought About your 2013 Marketing Budget?

Regardless of what you spent this past year on marketing, have you thought about how to budget for 2013? The end of this year might still seem far enough away, but it turns out that most marketers have already started considering how much they plan to  allocate for marketing budgets.

According to this article, 91% of national brands anticipate they will invest more or the same amount in local marketing in 2013. Additionally, 47.3% percent of brands surveyed said they think they invest more in local marketing in 2013 than they did in 2012.

The article also says that 34% of the survey’s participants say they plan to use mobile as a major local marketing tactic in this coming year.

Have you thought about your 2013 marketing budget? It’s time to start planning. Contact Sagefrog Marketing Group. Visit www.sagefrog.com or call 215-230-9024.

8 Clues That Your Company Needs a New Website

What has your website done for you lately? Are you getting the traffic, leads and sales that you expect and deserve? Your website needs to be professional, optimized and easy to use and maintain. It’s time to revive your website if it is not meeting these criteria for success.

• Can target customers find my website using search engines? Your website needs to be easily accessible and get found by your target audience. Most people use web search engines and directories such as Google, Bing and Yahoo to find companies. SEO can get your website to “organically” show up on the first few result pages of a search using relevant keywords and phrases. Search Engine Marketing (SEM), also known as, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is paid advertising on search engines.

• Are my competitors’ websites attracting more attention than mine? Take a look at your competitors’ websites – look at their positioning, messaging and how up-to-date their content is.  Your website should be comparable, if not superior, to theirs.

• Does your website display well on all devices? Look around – most people are using a smart phone or tablet to access the internet. It’s naïve to think that all of your website visitors are sitting behind a computer monitor or using the same browser. Make sure your website displays properly and provides easy navigation on all devices.  New websites feature responsive design, allowing them to expand in a visually-appealing way on a large monitor.

• Does my website portray the image of a successful company? Your website should project the image of a company your size or larger, and it should engage visitors with its professional design while enticing them to learn more about your company, products and services.

• Is my website content engaging and persuasive? Have you defined your positioning and value propositions, and does it show through on your website? If not, you may be confusing people and scaring them away. Try talking less and saying more. Edit text to communicate your message in fewer, shorter and more thoughtful words and sentences. Using subheads and bullets can make complex information easier to understand.

• Can website visitors quickly find the Information they need? Your home page should be a clear map for visitors to easily find and identify their areas of interest and get relevant information fast, with an intuitive user-interface, sitemap and well-organized content. If you have a lot of content and numerous webpages, consider drop down, pop-up or fly-out menus to make your site easier to navigate.

• Is my website generating sales leads? Every page of your website should have a call-to-action. Provide your visitors with information they will find useful and they will provide their contact information in return. Don’t be selfish. You need to “give-to-get,” providing “news they can use” so visitors will fill out a lead form. Is your existing website integrated with Social Media channels and a CRM system? If not, you may be losing track of a potential customer.

• Is it easy to update and maintain my website? Today, most new websites are built on Content Management Systems (CMS), which enable non-programmers to quickly and easily update sections such as news, events and the other frequently updated content. This will be critical to keeping your website fresh and current.

Download our latest eBook – “8 Clues That Your Company Needs a New Website” to learn more.
Think your company needs a new website? Contact Sagefrog Marketing Group. Visit www.sagefrog.com.

5 Marketing Lessons From the 2012 Presidential Campaign

5 Marketing Lessons From the 2012 Presidential Campaign

10 Tips for Networking & Building Relationships

As marketers, it is imperative to not only grow your network, but also add value to those relationships.

10 Tips for Networking & Building Relationships

Social Media: Changing the Game of Politics

Social media has become an important variable in most marketing campaigns. This is made no more obvious than in the 2012 presidential election.

Social Media: Changing the Game of Politics

Interesting Digital Marketing Facts to End the Week

Interesting Digital Marketing Facts to End the Week

How to Measure Marketing Efforts

 Don't lose track of your marketing campaign!

How to Measure Marketing Efforts