This new world goes well beyond tried-and-true Yellow-Page advertising concepts and traditional print and radio advertising campaigns. These days, websites have become a common tool in a retailer’s marketing mix.

From working with retail owners over the past ten years, I realize retailers are busy people. I have also seen discomfort or scepticism towards online marketing for those forty-five and older.

Are you feeling the pressure of needing to understand and get on the Twitter bandwagon before it’s too late?

Some business people are doing just that; investing a great deal of time into writing blogs and tweeting on Twitter. They’ve done this so much that they have submerged themselves in the online world, yet they aren’t following a road map. As a result, their efforts have become a time waster instead of an income generator.

Let me put your mind at ease. Putting the brakes on everything you are doing in business so you can switch to social media is not the answer. For example, writing blog postings is like anything else; it represents just one layer of your overall marketing strategy. As an owner, you can’t rely on just one form of marketing to create enough awareness to sustain your business.

If you start using social media to gain and retain customers, it’s best to develop one method of online marketing and build or modify as you go along. In keeping with your marketing budget, you many need to pull back on some of your other marketing investments in order to manage your overall marketing budget.

For example, Yellow Page directories are becoming obsolete. Consumers over 45 rarely pick up a copy of the Yellow Pages to find out where to buy the products and services you sell. Some of Lift Strategies’ clients are now phasing out their Yellow Pages advertising over the next year or scaling back substantially.

What can become overwhelming, especially to the unseasoned social media marketer, is the sheer number of different options available and where to get started. It is important to start by ensuring that your website properly represents your retail business. Does it include the type of information your customers want and need to know? Is it easy to find out store location(s) ? Is it easy to find out what time your store(s) open and close? Does the website position your business as specialists in your area of expertise? Two websites from our clients which have achieved these objectives are: www.vangasfireplaces.com and www.sofasogood.ca.

Once you are happy with your business’ website, it is time to choose and commit to one type of social media. Blogs are a great way to reach your ideal customers with new and relevant information. Blogging is simply a way to communicate your thoughts, opinions and timely information to prospects and customers using a website as your method to get the message out to your ideal fans. Often, blogs can be incorporated into an existing website or linked to your retail website.

Although you can start a blog very easily without any step-up fees (using, for instance, www.blogger.com), I recommend talking to your web developer about the best method of integrating a blog into your existing website.

Once the blog is up, it’s time to start writing. If you can’t write your own material, there are hundreds of eager writers who will do it for as little as $20 per blog posting. The most important aspect of blogging is consistency and frequency. I write a one-minute marketing tip twice a month, post this to my blog, and send it out to my client database. I can ensure this happens every month. In order to boost my blog content, I ask other experts to contribute to my blog under a section called “Meet the Experts”.

Do you have an employee who would love to write for your blog once or twice a week? It would be ideal to find someone within your own organization who would be interested in taking charge of a project like this. This person will require some writing guidelines so that they can properly represent your company. They will also require a schedule and reliable commitment to posting entries every week.

As soon as regular blog postings happen, it’s time to reach a broader audience through Twitter. You can set up a Twitter account at www.twitter.com and then start tweeting your blog messages to your followers. Entering the Twitter world is a beast in itself. I suggest you find out how to set up a Twitter account by going to www.youtube.com and doing a search under “how to get started on Twitter.” There are hundreds of videos you can watch that will provide excellent guidance as you venture into this new field.

Twitter is simply one of many methods of getting your message out to prospects and customers. Although social media is not for everyone, the average consumer does online research well before walking into your store. In the next issue of Retail Connections, I will share more information with you on why and how social media can play an important role in helping your business maintain a strong presence on the map.

Jen DeTracey runs Lift Strategies Inc. a strategic marketing firm. www.liftstrategies. Sign up for our one-minute marketing tip. 604.255.2098.

The first step is to make sure you have a good website with the right information on display. The second step is to get a reliable individual to start blogging. The third step is to use Twitter to tweet out the content that is posted on your blog.

What’s next? One important side note is to make sure your business is on the map. By this, I mean the importance of being listed in your local marketplace with Google. More and more, Google is striving to localize the information people receive when they are searching. If your company has a Gmail account (Google mail account) then you can register your business with Google Local. It’s free and puts you on the map with Google within four weeks. Try it out here: http://www.google.com/local/. It will take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete the process.

One item we have not touched upon is Facebook. Facebook for some is a dying method of marketing, while for others it is a hotbed for communicating important informationsuch as sales announcements to your clients and potential clients.

The first question you may want to ask yourself is “Are your fans (the customers you love) actively using Facebook?” Last week, I was talking to a client who lives in a small town. They have found Facebook to be an extremely effective way to get the word out about the special events they host at their hotel.

If you have a good database of fans through Facebook, then this can be an effective tool to tell them about a sale or new line of clothing. One of my retail clients has experienced the opposite, however. Despite many attempts at getting customers to register on Facebook and participate in a photo contest, the interest was very low. Most of the fans were actually family and staff.

The best way to find out the most effective method of reaching your fans is simply by asking. You can have the staff ask an interested client how they heard about you either when they call or at the point of purchase. If this scenario feels like too much of a time crunch, then a follow-up call, email or quick online survey will help you to determine how to best stay connected to your fans.

E-newsletters are a cost-effective method of staying connected. How often Lift Strategies’clients send out information to their customers depends how much time they have to generate new content. We make sure the retailer is able to commit to a regular schedule. Some of our clients send out a message every quarter, up to twice a month, or simply every time they have a new promotion to announce.

There are many easy-to-use e-newsletter services available. Some of the most common are www.constantcontact.ca, www.icontact.com, and www.myemma.com.
The beautiful thing about sending out an e-newsletter is the ability to track its results. Additionally, it is common to include links to specific pages of your website in the e-newsletter. This way you can draw existing customers and prospects back to your website. As a result you can see what they are interested in and how long they stay.

Getting online doesn’t have to put a large dent in your marketing budget. It is more of a time commitment than anything else. If you don’t have time to do it, you can incorporate some of the tasks into one of your employee’s job descriptions.

In a nutshell:

1. Take advantage of Google Local’s free map option

2. Find out if your customers are active Facebook users before using Facebook as a promotional tool

3. Find out the best way to reach your ideal fans online

4. Commit to sending out regular e-newsletters even if it’s only every three months

5. Incorporate links from your website into your e-newsletter content

6. Find a champion amongst your staff who wants to help market your store online

Jen DeTracey runs Lift Strategies Inc., a strategic marketing firm. Visit the website at www.liftstrategies.com and sign up for our one-minute marketing tip. Jen can be reached at 604.255.2098.

The particular building that caught my eye was a sign company I have worked with on several occasions. They had cleverly taken advantage of their red building and placed a white maple leaf in the centre close to the roof. It looked really cool.

On a cement wall beside the building was a beautifully done red banner with the company’s logo. The logo was white and was three dimensional. It looked great and caught my eye immediately.

When I looked more closely at the building and its surroundings on this industrial street, I noticed a more traditional sign which sat on the lawn of the property. It was white, framed in brown wood. The problem with their sign was that it stood out like a sore thumb because it was so dirty. It’s hard to know whether they were too lazy to clean it or if the black and grey streaks were permanent due to the aging and weather conditions.

If I was a prospect who was considering using this sign company’s services, and I saw the inconsistency in the quality of their outdoor signs, I would think about going somewhere else. After all, I want to know I’m going to get a great looking sign that will be able to withstand Vancouver’s wet climate.

Is there consistency in the way you present your company and its brand?

Would it be helpful for Lift Strategies to conduct a LIFFT™ assessment? http://www.liftstrategies.com/consulting/

This process could make or break achieving your sales objectives for 2010.

Any of us in business know that this makes sense. It costs the restaurant money to provide water in a disposable cup to its customers. The next day my friend returned and was serviced by the same woman. She ordered the same breakfast, requested hot water, then proceeded to hand over an empty travel mug.

Despite the fact that there was no disposable cup and lid being used, the woman still charged her for the hot water. It difficult to know what this restaurant’s policy is. If they have one, it is inconsistent. If it happened to my friend, how many other people are experiencing the same scenario?

If you create a new policy in your company that impacts your customers, be sure to communicate this policy clearly to all employees. Customers like and expect consistency. They are also willing to pay a little extra to get it.

A website can be a electronic brochure or it can be used as a marketing tool. Can you tell us how your company helps its clients maximize their online presence?

Answer from October 17 Media:

A website should absolutely act as a tool for the business owner, their clients and their potential customers. It simply takes a little planning before you get started. By answering questions such as the following, you will be better able to develop a website with a purpose.

Consider your website’s information architecture.
What information will you provide on your website, why, and what content has the most priority? How will you lay out your information to make it easy for users to locate the content they are looking for? You don’t need to share everything plus the kitchen sink and you most certainly have some messages that need to be heard louder than others. So, prioritize the information by creating some website architecture and focus on content that is going to be most helpful for your clients and prospects.

Self centred brochure copywriting is a thing of the past.
Consider investing in search engine-friendly web copywriting, which serves to increase your website’s page rank in Google and other search engines. Without effective copy written to appeal to both search engines and real people, your website will lose some of its ability to convert prospective customers into clients.

Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there – the importance of web coding!
Many less experienced designers are still developing their websites in what we call “tables”. It’s not crucial for you to understand how tables work, but it IS important that you don’t select a web designer who builds their websites in tables – it’s an important interview question! Be sure to ask your designer if he or she adheres to W3C standards and, when your website is complete, be sure to run it through the W3C validator at http://validator.w3.org – it should run error-free through this tool.
The benefits of having great website code include, among many others, making your site more accessible to search engines and mobile phones, decreasing website load times and making it easier to implement future website updates

Make a ‘dream-list’ of what you wish your website could do.
Sometimes these ‘dreams’ are actually inexpensive. Tell your web design and marketing company what your vision is! Sometimes adding features such as a content management system (i.e. so you can update your own website), adding a Twitter feed and adding e-commerce components can be done relatively inexpensively. Be sure to ask! Or, they can be put into a phase 2 or 3 plan and be factored into future expansion plans.

Consider what features would make your business run smoother.
Would it help to have e-commerce with analytical tracking? Would having on-demand video tutorials reduce your customer service inquiries? Would an automatic web demo about your product reduce pre-sales time? How securely stored is your client’s data and how accessible is it to you when you need it? Focus on the needs of your company and clients and build your website around function, not just good looks!

Brenda Cadman
october 17 media inc
www.october17media.com

I wrote an article called “Is Your Website an Island?” http://www.liftstrategies.com/articles/is-your-website-an-island-ensure-a-strong-brand-presence-online/

In this article, I addressed how many companies jump into getting a new website without clearly defining their brand or looking at the bigger picture beyond a landing page (the first page on a website that the user goes to).

My question: Can you tell me how you work with your client to make sure they have a strong message and brand prior to moving forward with a website redesign?

Answer from October 17 Media:

It’s absolutely true that the form should follow function when it comes to building a website. If you don’t know what makes you special, what your unique offering is and who the heck your target audience is, your website (and any other communication medium for that matter) is bound to meet mediocrity and never truly achieve their potential. A strong brand and message is crucial to achieve reach, longevity and consumer trust.

If we feel that a brand or product isn’t ready to launch into the online world, we will typically ask clients if they have invested in any marketing strategy. As a result, we often refer clients to other marketing experts (such as Jen at Lift Strategies) to further investigate their branding and messaging prior to beginning development on a web presence.

Many of the companies we work with already have a strong brand and in those situations, we spend a great deal of time during the initial development stage to create ideas and campaigns that deliver the results clients are after. We build online marketing initiatives that align with the client’s brand and goals. We consider who they want to be in touch with, what that potential client wants to know, what an ideal ‘conversion’ looks like to the client and how we can use web marketing to help encourage long-term relationships for clients and their customers.

Brenda Cadman
october 17 media inc
www.october17media.com

1. Selling is the most critical skill for building a business and driving revenues.
2. Getting instantly relevant is the most important competency for sales success.
3. When you know how to open, closing takes care of itself.

A Complete Nuts & Bolts, Here’s How You Do It Program
The High Output Sales System is a full-scale, proactive communication plan that helps you build deep trust for profitable relationships. It’s a complete nuts & bolts, here’s how you do it program. Our Proven 5-Step Process breaks the sales cycle into bite-sized, manageable chunks then builds it back into your own personal blueprint for repeatable sales success.

What’s In It For You?
By the time you leave this workshop, you will have practiced and applied your own customized Step-By-Step Recipe For Success. And we guarantee you will be able to:
• Sell Yourself Before You Sell Anything Else
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Registration Details:

http://www.high-output.com/affiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=101

This movie begs the question as to whether technology is the right fit for a business that is hired to fire employees on behalf of large corporations. Imagine looking at a face on a computer screen while being told you are getting fired after twenty years of service to your employer. Not such a great idea, even though the company could have saved 85% on travel costs.

Although technology is an extremely helpful tool, there is a time and a place for it.
As business owners and decision makers, we need to be able to embrace technology or we are going to lag behind our competition very quickly.

In the world of training and speaking, video conferencing and webinars are becoming a cost-effective way to gain and share new knowledge. As for business communications, staying in touch with customers using e-newsletter software like www.constantcontact.ca and www.icontact.com cam be extremely effective.

Twitter and LinkedIn can be useful methods of sharing information and connecting with other like-minded individuals. These forms of social media tend to help us cast the net beyond our day-to-day connections.

Then there comes a time when we need to be conscious of our ability to balance communication via technology with picking up the phone or making time for direct in-person contact with our customers and prospects. If you can manage to maintain relationships using technology as well as direct contact with your clients then you are fully covering your bases.

There is no point in investing time, energy and money in marketing if your ability to follow through with a compelling conversation with interested prospects falls flat time and time again.

One way to get around this dilemma is to take advantage of a one-day training program that will change you and your team’s ability to connect with prospects in the best way possible without compromising your style of communication and your integrity. I have taken Howard Olsen’s two-day program and highly recommend signing up for this event on Saturday, January 30, 2010.

Howard Olsen is one of North America’s top sales training experts and is offering a full-day workshop at an amazing price. If you register by January 8, 2010 you will only pay $99 plus taxes.

Register now for the “Three Truths of Selling” by clicking on the following link: http://www.high-output.com/affiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=101

Tell your colleagues and take advantage of this special offer by January 8, 2010.

I understand that you often work with business owners in the health care profession and have had great success generating client leads with chiropractors. Can you give a few examples of how you have helped increase their revenues?

Answer from October 17 Media:

We love working with health care professionals such as chiropractors, registered massage therapists, naturopaths and others, and have seen some great results for our health practitioner clients. In particular, we’ve seen much success using online advertising http://october17media.com/services/website-marketing/ such as Google AdWords campaign management in terms of building new patients leads for their clinics.

For example, Dr. Tyler Hunsberger, Chiropractor at Broadway at Burrard Chiropractic, says: “Since we have started working with your team, our new patients have increased by 35%.”

And Angela Mackenzie, RMT & Owner at Rebound Health Services, says: “All therapists at Rebound have benefited from the added business we receive due to the increased visibility of our website. More and more clients say that they have found our clinic on-line and we are selling more gift certificates than ever before.”

Brenda Cadman
october 17 media inc
www.october17media.com