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Checklist for your Social Media Marketing plan

Social media networking helps with SEO, promotes your blog and it starts the conversation with your ideal prospects. If you’re a business owner that hasn’t embraced social media networking as a major component of your marketing strategy, it’s time to get started now.

Not sure exactly what to include in your marketing plan? We created this Social Media checklist to help your business with Social Media Marketing. Our checklist covers the main platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Linkedin, Youtube and Blogging. All you have to do is to follow these easy suggestions to create a consistent social media marketing plan on multiple channels.

Download the print version

As you can see, managing your web content and social media on a daily bases is pretty time consuming. We can hook you up with a strategic marketing plan that will let you spend your time with what you do best: your business.

Branding Made Simple

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What’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone thinks about your company or brand? Not sure? Then you may have an image problem.Creating a clearly defined company or brand image is one of the chief concerns of our coaching clients. By now, most everyone understands that effective branding is essential to long-term success. The trouble is, for many small-business owners, branding is a mysterious and difficult process. But it doesn’t have to be. Let’s take a step-by-step look at how you can create an identifiable brand image

1. Be uniquely valuable.
The first step is to ask a series of basic questions, such as: What do we do that benefits our customers? What’s our company’s ultimate goal? How is what we offer unique? You see, originality is the acid test of an effective branding strategy. It rests on defining how you can be uniquely valuable to your customers, and then communicating that unique benefit in a way that’s easy to remember and clearly understandable. Ultimately, the relationship you build between your brand and your customers will be based on the value your company offers. And the bottom line is that perceived value is what creates loyal customers who will choose your product or service over others-even when they’re tempted with cheaper offers elsewhere.

2. Stand out from the pack.
So how can you differentiate from your competition? To help find the answer, it’s a great idea to conduct a competitive analysis. It doesn’t have to be complex. Just gather together the marketing materials from your chief competitors, including their ads and brochures. Examine the materials carefully and look for the key selling points and the basic “promises” they make. Frankly, you’re going to see a lot of “me too” marketing, and it may be difficult to tell one competitor from the other. That’s because there’s a lot of just plain bad marketing out there. For you to get it right, you’ll need to decide what differentiates your company, product or service from this vast sea of competition. In all, what “promise” will your brand make?

3. Drive your core message home.
Ideally, your core message may come down to a single idea, which will become the focus of all your external communications. Advertising, public relations, collateral tools and even the message you use when networking should all revolve around this central theme. For some companies, particularly those focused on consumer products, a single slogan may embody the essence of their brand. Take, for example, the slogan “The slow ketchup.” We recognize it as the slogan for Heinz ketchup because it’s been hammered home in the company’s advertising for years. Beyond that, consider how it communicates the brand’s promise-and unique benefit-that Heinz ketchup pours more slowly because it’s thicker, richer and tastier than its competitors.

4. Live up to your promise.
Branding isn’t just something that’s achieved when a prospect encounters your marketing. It’s about creating and meeting expectations, and its success rests on your customers’ total experience with your brand.
It may surprise you to learn that each time a customer visits your website, he or she is undergoing a branding experience. In essence, your site is your brand, and everything they encounter there-from the site design and depth of products or services offered to their satisfaction with your online customer service and shipping policies-positively or negatively impacts your company or brand image. Suppose “The slow ketchup” weren’t slow at all, but thin, runny and tasted inferior to its competition? It would fail to live up to the brand promise. That’s what happens when the quality, price or delivery of your product or service fails to meet the expectations raised in your marketing. If your company’s unique promise rests on terrific service, but your sales staff fails to respond promptly to requests from customers, then all your branding efforts will be in vain. For branding success, first define how your company and its products or services benefit customers in a way that’s uniquely valuable. Then move heaven and earth to live up to that promise.

The importance of color in web design

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Colour selection is one of the key element of building a strong brand, creating a website design, or developing marketing materials. There are many factors to consider including emotional responses and popular perceptions and impacts of particular colours and shades.

Colour is information. Just as with print designs, such as those for flyer design, or business cards, web design use color to create hierarchy, draw the eye, and add texture Colours evoke particular associations and emotions in our minds. Here is a summery of some of those associations:

Yellow:
cheerful, upbeat, sunny, happy, intense, luminous, friendly, young.

Orange:
energetic, playful, happy, loud, vital, glowing, warm, sensual, retro, inviting. When darkened to deep rust: sensual, earthy, spicy, ethnic. When lightened to peach or coral: upscale, soft, nurturing and healthy.

Red:
hot, powerful, bold, exiting, aggressive, dynamic, passionate, angry, attention demanding, rebellious, radical. When deepened to shades and tones: rich, lush, elegant, refined. When lightened to Hot Pink: energetic, youthful, trendy, vibrant, shocking, faddish. When lightened to paler pink: soft, feminine, romantic, tender, sweet, sentimental, delicate.

Purple:
rich, elegant, creative, confident, spiritual, daring, futuristic, sensual. When deepened to a darker purple: regal, majestic. When lightened to lavender: soft, gentle, nostalgic. When mixed with gray: sophisticated, subtle.

Blue:
Calm, tranquil, traditional, cool, clean, fresh, free, reliable, restful, meditative, cold. When deepened to darker blues: powerful, credible, authoritarian. When lightened to pale blues: soft, serene. When tinged with green (like teal) upscale, rich, unique, appealing to both genders. When tinged with purple: warm, trendy, energetic.

Green:
natural, clean, fresh, healthy, hopeful, growing, youthful, abundant, rebirth, spring, woodsy. When deepened to darker greens: richness, security, safety, prestige. When lightened: calm, soothing.

Brown:
durable, earthy, rustic, organic, healthy, ethnic, solid, timeless, stable, reliable, drab, antiquity. When lightened to sand and beige: natural, classic.

White:
pure, clean, pristine, innocent, bright, hygienic, healthy, minimalist, cold. When deepened to off-whites: warm, friendly, calm.

Black:
sophistication, elegance, chick, modern, dramatic, powerful, mysterious, ominous, sad, depression, despair, death.

Types of color scheme

Single colour themes make use of different shades of a single selected colour on a plain white or black background. This creates a simple look but it can appear very elegant and classy if executed by a skilled designer.

Complementary colour themes make use of two or more colours that work well together and look pleasing to most people when combined. There are lots of theories about colour wheels and so on but this is generally easier to do by eye. Often one or two colours will be selected as dominant and others will be added to complement or enhance it.

Contrasting colour themes use multiple dominant colours to create a very striking and eye catching effect, but this must be done carefully to avoid unpleasant clashes or eye-straining combinations that make content difficult to read.

Website Colour Key Guidelines

Make sure text is readable – dark enough colours on light backgrounds, and vice versa
Select colours that will give the right impression and evoke the desired mood in your visitors
Remember to use one of the 216 “web safe” colours in order to ensure your site displays in the same shades regardless of the type of display device it is being shown on
Don’t use normal images as backgrounds for text as this makes it impossible to read – if you must use image backgrounds, fade them out to watermark levels for readability
Keep your colour scheme uniform across all your website’s pages to create a solid look and feel and a uniform brand presence for your visitors

How to select your colour
Firstly , understand what each colour stands for. Some questions to ask yourself:

What color represents your brand’s personality?
What color suits the characteristics of your product/service?
What color does your competitor(s) use?

Colors aren’t tied to any particular industry — though some may be better suited for some services/products than others. You should aim to pick a color that will represent your brand’s personality best. One that will give your customers the right impression the first time they see it.

You aren’t limited to one color. Some brands like eBay choose to go with many colors to represent variety — but you can also choose a couple of colors that work well together.

Consider differences in cultural interpretations of your color. For example in the Western world, white is considered the color of purity and peace, however, in some parts of Asia white is the color of death. Make sure the color you select will give the right impressions in the markets you’re present in.

Pick a color opposite to that of your main competitor. The color of your main competitor is probably the most important point to consider. If you’re the first in a new industry or market segment, then you have first picks. Choose the color that represents your product and its personality. If you’re second, then that first choice may already be taken. Instead of picking the same or similar color, pick the opposite. Pick blue if your competitor has red, pick purple if they have yellow, etc. A brand’s strength lies in its ability to stand out. Picking the same color to that of your key competitor makes you a me-too product. Instead, you want to separate yourself from the competitor, you want to show that you’re different

Get noticed. Get found. Get new clients.

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The results that an effective internet campaign can bring are way above the average return one would expect to see from the traditional marketing methods.

Being able to put together an online presence for a business that brings in leads and sales on a regular basis and shows measurable results requires several unique skill sets along with a lot of time and dedication to analyzing incoming traffic and the effectiveness of any given marketing campaign, but there are steps that business owners can take to super charge their internet marketing efforts and bring in the business and sales they have always dreamed of. Here is a few tips on how to make your website or WordPress website more profitable.

Know Your Target Market
It is a common misconception with entrepreneurs that the product or service sold in the business is a good idea for “everyone”. While it may be true that everyone needs the product, not everyone will buy it. Therefore, you must know who you are trying to attract with your web site. Ask yourself these questions to get started:

Are my customers male or female?
What level of education do they have?
What age group do they fall into?
What are their hobbies? Interests?
What do they read?
Do they have children?
What is their level of income?
What are their biggest problems?
What keywords would they use to describe your service/product?

This will help you to get a clearer picture of your customers. The above factors could also help you determine:

Language(s) for site to use and/or how formal text should be
Text size and colors
Amount of text per page and reading level of terminology used
Objective of site (online sale or visit location or contact via phone or email)
Types of images to best reinforce text
Most appealing images of people (similar age/race/occupational make-up)

Web Design that is eye pleasing, professional, and navigation that supports a logical hierarchy of products and services.
Your web design or website, is usually the first introduction a new prospective client or customer has with your business. Make it as pleasant of an experience and your website’s visitors will appreciate it. Grab their attention, show them what they came to see and make it as simple as possible for your target market to understand. But most importantly, a clear call to action needs to be present on pages where you want the user to take an action. ”Call Us”, “Contact Us” or even “Buy Now” are great call to actions and should be a contrasting color to the rest of the websites design.

Keep it simple
Make sure your copy is easy to understand (for your target audience) and as concise as possible. If text blocks or images do not support your goals, remove them. If they offer no value, remove them. Copy should only be as long as it takes
to get your point across. A couple superfluous sentences in a row could prompt visitors to click away.

Interactive web development that personalizes or even creates a positive user experience.
The best example of a successful web development project is Facebook. Granted, most businesses do not require such functionality, however, the proof is right there. Give the user a great personable experience and they will continue to come back to your site, tell their friends and family about your website along with sharing and bookmarking your website. We all know that repeat customers are the best kind of customers, so give a reason to come back and visit, and you will see a direct impact on the amount of visitors to your website. As in any sales process, finding ways to gather information about your user requires finesse; although this information can be later used for follow up marketing and sales calls.

Use Social Networking to drive traffic to your website
Social media — from networking and microblogging websites to video- and photo-sharing platforms — are technological tools that enable people to communicate and share easily with their friends, families and communities on the Internet. Social media offer businesses a variety of tools to inform existing customers and connect with new ones. Business owners can use social media to cultivate customer loyalty, raise awareness about products and services, and reach new customers and markets .

Generate a list of keywords
Keywords and keyword phrases are the “search terms” entered into Yahoo or Google or any other listing of sites. If your site is built to satisfy human visitors, you’re off to a good start with the search engines as well, but a little tweaking can
squeeze out a lot more visitors. Any word or phrase that someone may use to refer to a subject should be considered as part of the text in the page(s) discussing it. When keywords are part of your text, you have a chance of appearing in search engine results for those keywords. When you don’t specifically include them in your text, you’ll be out in the cold.
If there are lots of possibilities, the most popular and targeted words or expressions should be incorporated to increase your odds for the most traffic possible. For example, a website for “web design” should consider various synonyms such as “website design”, “web designer”, “website design cape town”, “website design portfolio”, “web design case studies” etc etc. Any one page could use several terms interchangeably or distinct pages could be created for each term.

Finally, with a great looking website and a user friendly website, now all that is left is to do is let the world know where to find your website.
An effective internet marketing strategy should directly go after the target market in which it is relevant to your products and services. Adversely, your website and content should be relevant to your target market as well. Search engines love relevancy, so understanding how to create an internet marketing and link building strategy that revolves around the relevancy of your products, services, target market and content, by doing so, you will see an enormous influx of traffic to your website that will lead to increased leads and ultimately sales.