Purple Diamond Marketing Blog

OK, so that is probably a strange title for today’s Purple Diamond Marketing Blog, but as I listened to the news talk about Groundhog Day and if the Groundhog will see his shadow to help us know if winter will soon be over I laughed and realized it is much like the trends in marketing.  In the past couple of years, small business owners have scrambled to keep up with ALL the latest and greatest marketing tools to promote their business.  My clients and many business owners continue to struggle to know what works and what doesn’t and how to spend their time and money.  The questions are constant…“What is social media, have you heard about Facebook, do I really have to “tweet”, why do I have to have a listing on Linkedin?  How about Blogging, will it really help my business? I just heard about Google+ and what is that new thing on Facebook? Should I be doing video and posting on YouTube? By the way, how many sites on the internet do I need to list my website? Hey, my web designer said my site is not coming up on searches so he suggested I use some Word Press format and add content daily so I guess I now need to sink more money in to doing a new website? By the way, do you really think that QR Codes are the latest and greatest and helping my print marketing?” These are just a handful of the barrage of questions I get from small business owners who have no time to research the trends in marketing, but really just want to know if they sink time and money in to these that it will result in sales.

Much like Groundhog Day and the old belief that if the little critter sees his shadow there will be 6 more weeks of winter, business owners are trying these new marketing trends hoping they will lead to more clients.  But, for a small business or sole proprietor testing these new trends can exhaust resources quickly.  Ten minutes on Facebook leads to hours and the cost to maintain Blogs and other social media sites with creative content that supports your brand and brings customers closer can be challenging.  So, do you refuse to participate and hope that the reports about companies growing their business with the help of these trends is all a crazy superstition like Groundhog Day? Or, do you join in the fun and get some help from professionals who can help you to decide the best way for YOUR business to use the tools without wasting time or additional money?

Well, I just heard on the news that the Groundhog saw his shadow and we will now have 6 more weeks of winter.  Hard to believe with the mild weather we have had in Massachusetts this year, but that is what they predict.  And, the prediction about the latest and greatest marketing trends is also that this is how businesses will continue to gain customer loyalty and sales.  So, if you are reading this Blog and you still haven’t created a strategy for how to work all of this in to your marketing portfolio, please contact Purple Diamond or another marketing/social media specialist.  Purple Diamond specializes with small businesses and helping them make some sense of all the new things that come their way.

All my best to your success!~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

Your company has embraced social media marketing and you now have leads coming in from your efforts and from your website, but you are not making sales….why? Most likely it is because you haven’t developed a process for handling the leads.  Businesses continue to struggle with how to convert internet leads and what is the “correct” way of approaching the contacts you have on social media sites because they fear the backlash of coming across as “too sales focused” and not “social” enough.  But, this has also kept them from doing what they have done naturally for years with leads that they have cultivated from networking events and referrals….RESPOND!

If you want to get sales from your efforts on the internet go back to the basic 4:

1.) Respond QUICKLY to requests for info & make a genuine connection!

2.) Create TIME each day to interact and develop a relationship with the people who follow you on social media or visit your website.

[ Consider adding a "LIVE HELP" feature as part of your website to attract questions from visitors to your site . Also, use the features on the social media sites to email directly to at least 5-10 followers/contacts a day with a personal message thanking them for connecting with you and offer to meet with them one-on-one or promote a phone meeting. It helps to have a message developed by your marketing team that will get attention and a response.]

3.) Develop creative content to post to your on-line sites that will increase your followers so that you are seen as an expert in your field.

[Selling to someone who is already “SOLD” on your expertise and has chosen to “follow” you is almost as great as having a client refer their friend for your services. The key is for you to RESPOND to them in a personal way.]

4.) Ask for the sale!

[Close…close…close…..if you are lacking skills in sales consider working with a coach or hiring a salesman to help your business, but the BEST way to get a sale is to ASK for one!]

All my best to your success ~ Charlene.

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

1.)  Maintain a customer data base and enter all customers and prospects in this system and continue to update with notes about their birthday, hobbies, family, their likes and dislikes, etc.

2.) Make a list of topics for future press releases to use during the year and go beyond sending them to just the newspaper.  Pitch them to a radio or TV station and self-promote them on-line with social media.

3.) Have regular brainstorm sessions on new products and services; advertising concepts; taglines; social campaigns for on-line marketing; contest ideas and sales promotions; and review of what your competitors are doing and what you offer that is different from them!           [note: if you do not have anyone to brainstorm with be sure to consider hiring a marketing coach like Purple Diamond!]

4.) Set-up strategic alliances and partnerships.

5.) Set stretch goals and action items to achieve them for each month, quarter, year, 5 year and beyond.  Be sure you create an overall marketing plan, but be organized and disciplined to have a weekly plan of meetings and action items written down prior to the start of your week! PLAN for success!

6.) Update website on a regular basis and maintain an on-line strong social media campaign to drive traffic to your site. Consider launching a thoughtful email marketing campaign that draws attention and offers useful information so that you have a greater open click rate.

7.) Be sure to THANK your customers and offer excellent customer support. Consider having a special customer service fun event to invite your clients and top prospects to as a way to show them that they are appreciated! If your budget is small and does not allow for this be sure to at least take the time to send a hand-written note thanking them for their business.

8.) Attend networking groups, join the local chamber and participate in charitable organizations that give back to the community that your business belongs to.

9.) Know your numbers, measure results and ASK other business owners what they have used that has had a significant impact on their business.

10.) Work with a Marketing Coach who understands your market and what challenges you face and how to get you the results you need today!

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

Social Media Marketing is a key concern for most businesses today.  As social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and many others continue to grow, businesses scramble to use these sites to gain the eyes of their target audience.  But, what happens to the small business who has under 5 employees or no resources [time or money] to devote to this form of marketing?  Or, maybe they lack a strategy for their campaign or content to post each day, what happens then?  Their social media marketing ends up being less “social” and often falls to the bottom of the list of “To Do’s” which is the pitfall of social media marketing and why many businesses are not getting the results they had hoped for.

Should a business ditch the social media marketing campaign because they are not getting the results they had hoped for?  Not if they want to attract the next generation of consumers! The solution isn’t to ignore the problem, but to get the help you need to handle your social media marketing.  If your company does not have the resources to outsource your a social media marketing to a marketing specialist or to hire a person to handle your campaign in-house, consider hiring a marketing consultant to come in and brainstorm with you about a strategy and content that will work for your business. You can also attend seminars and training on how to use social media for your business. Research what is available in your area and take action. The more time you delay on adopting a sound plan for your business, the less chance you have to reach your desired marketing goals.

All my best to your success ~ Charlene.

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

When was the last time you submitted a press release about your business that got published or a social media post or blog that got a large response, or delivered a 30 second elevator speech to a group of business owners that had people asking to know more? Your message must tell a compelling story or offer a message that attracts attention and stands out from the rest.  Message magic with your marketing will help you to jump ahead of your competition, but it does not require “magic” to get great results.

The key to having a marketing message that engages your audience and gets results for your business requires 3 things!  First, you have to know what 3 benefits your product or  service offers.  Having a clear understanding of what value you offer and what needs your business satisfies is essential.  Second, you must know who your true target audience is for this product or service and where to reach them to deliver your message.  Finally, the third component to creating a message that gets noticed is to have strong writing and communication skills or be willing to hire a professional writer or marketing professional who can help you in this area.

To have a magical message that stays with people is much like the 4C’s of Purple Diamond.  Clarity requires a clear message. The cut must be above the rest. The color is rare and equals great wealth and the carat weight is always up to you!  Contact Purple Diamond if you want to take your marketing to another level.

All my best to your success! ~ Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

If you own your own business and your marketing and sales efforts this year are just “OK”, do you want more? Seems like a silly question, but it might be the reason you are not getting the results today that you want for your business.  During tough economic times there is always a large percentage of companies that have no growth or fail, but there is also the ones that seem to gain large market share and thrive.   So why are some businesses doing well and others are living with “just OK”, much depends on attitude and the willingness to step out of their comfort zone and try new things. But sometimes it can be that the owner of the small to mid-size business is at a loss for knowing what else they can do. There is a blind spot that they do not even know exists and that blind spot has been created from working year after year in a better economy and never having to look for new ways and ideas to help grow their business.

Business owners who want more are getting help today for their business by hiring marketing coaches and business consultants who are able to bring a fresh view to what can bring your company from OK to great.  Purple Diamond has helped over 50 local businesses in the past couple of years with affordable and effective marketing coaching and services with the emphasis on “success”.   The coaching service was created after a year of hearing local business owners say that they were overwhelmed with the sluggish economy, decline in their business and the confusion of what really works for advertising today.  Most of these owners were sole proprietors who didn’t want to take their worry home to their family, but really needed someone to share their frustrations with and to brainstorm new and innovative ideas.  So, Purple Diamond created a marketing coaching service that allowed businesses to hire a coach for a couple hours a month.

If you are OK with “OK” or really don’t want to have better sales, then this solution is not the right one for you.  However, if you want your business to be better than good consider hiring a marketing coach or business consultant to work with you today!

All my best to your success! ~ Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

Taglines and slogans are more than just catchy phrases, they are how businesses continue to stand out from their competition and remain in the minds of the consumer.  As an advertising agency and marketing coach Purple Diamond has created many taglines for their clients, but the biggest struggle is to help the business owner to understand that a tagline or slogan only works when used consistently in marketing material and verbally said when speaking about your business.  If you are not using your own tagline when talking about your company why should anyone else remember the phrase or identify it with your business?

So, how do you know if you are using your tagline effectively? First, check your website,

Purple Diamond Tagline

email signature, business cards, letterhead, creative ads, and all other marketing material and see which ones have your slogan or tagline.  Is the line listed 100% on all materials or is it MIA [missing-in-action]?  Next, when you are doing a 30 second elevator pitch do you end your pitch with the tagline for your business or slogan for the product you are promoting? This is another way of knowing how effective your tagline is. You should be comfortable saying the line and using it consistently.  Finally, do all your clients and many of your prospects know your tagline?  If not, you are missing one of the key ways to help your target market identify with your business with a simple phrase.

And, if you are still someone who is not sure of the importance of having a tagline for your company and wonder if it will have a great impact on marketing your business consider the lines you  have heard from local businesses and from national ad campaigns that use theirs consistently.  “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands” for M&M’s ,”Just do it” for Nike, “You’re in good hands with Allstate” for Allstate Insurance are just a couple of taglines that  I quickly remember.  My own tagline for Purple Diamond, “Success wears the Purple Diamond!”, tells my clients that our brand is “success” and that when they choose to work with Purple Diamond either as an advertising agency or marketing coach we are committed to helping their business achieve greater success!

All my best to your success!

Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

Purple Diamond Marketing Blog took a 4 month break from BLOGGING.  What prompted this action and did it have a negative impact on my business? Curiosity prompted my decision since I am often asked if people really need to BLOG and if BLOGGING is helping my business in the local market.  Guess what….the short answer to if taking 4 months off from BLOGGING  directly impacted the bottom line to my business is “no”.  New marketing projects and annual coaching client contracts continued and Purple Diamond was hired for 2 new social media campaigns and 2 paid speaking engagements! The time usually spent on BLOGGING was strategically used to work on client projects and creating new ways for my clients to increase their own profits which resulted in numerous new recommendations posted on my Linkedin profile about my work.

So, if everything still went forward in a positive way without BLOGGING why am I BLOGGING right now?  Well, the one area that did drop off was where my company is listed on search results on-line.  With a website that was created with FLASH for a more visual appeal, I knew that my site would not come up high on searches by itself.  So, my BLOGGING and my time spent on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin and now Google+ and listing a link on many free sites is my way of helping Purple Diamond to be found by local businesses via the internet.  So, to enhance my website with fresh new content which helps with searches I will continue to BLOG!

What is your reason for BLOGGING or not BLOGGING?

All my best to your success!

Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond”

Website, Google Ad Words, SEO Campaigns, Email Marketing, Video Messages,  Social Media Sites, Blogs, QR Codes, Smartphone Marketing & Apps, Cloud Computing, On-line Malls and the list goes on and on! If your business is at least 20 years old there is a good chance that you never used any of the marketing technology that businesses are being asked to consider as essential today when you started your business.  Are you embracing the new tools you have to promote your business and see it as a marketing dream or headache for your business?

Chances are the answer to that question is a little of both and as a marketing coach I think that is a wise answer.  Though we all want to help our businesses succeed and gain strong market share, the “doing something because everyone else is doing it” is not a sound marketing strategy for your small or mid size business.  Consider the cost and weigh out the effectiveness of the various on-line marketing trends to see what makes the most sense to capture your target audience.  If you are busy writing a blog each day and your stats are low for readership and it doesn’t seem to be getting your website noticed or phone ringing, then this time might be better used in a more productive way.  However, if you are in a technical field that draws your targeted audience with quality content on a blog or by publishing white papers, then using time to write on-line could be essential for your business. The key is to measure results and analyze what is working and what you can afford.  To spend heavily to come up high in rankings on search engines without closing sales or to over burden your staff with phone calls that are “tire kickers” and not real prospects is not helping your bottom line.  But, if you are a small store and you lack walk-in traffic on a rainy day and you find that an on-line presence using Facebook and Twitter has helped drive prospects to your shopping cart on your website, then this new on-line marketing strategy is a “dream”!

Dream or headache or maybe it is both! Technology in marketing continues to move at a rapid pace and often we want to jump in and use it before we have even questioned if it is something that will help our business.  Attend seminars, talk with other business owners in your area, research on-line and consult with marketing and advertising professionals to help you decide what is “hot” and what is “not” for your business.  Technology will help you in your marketing, but be sure you know what technology tools are the best for your business and avoid the urge to use something just because others are and it is new!

All my best to your success! ~ Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

Charlene St. Jean, Purple Diamond LLC

Many businesses have added a blog feature to their company website as a way to help with their on-line rankings with Google and other search engine sites.  Blogging is an excellent way to enhance  your on-line marketing, but the comments that are received from people who visit your blog might be hurting your rankings if they are from sites that have a reputation of spamming.  There are automatic spam solutions that are built in to many blog formats, but often there is still a small percentage of creative spammers who get passed these filters.  For this reason you should always make sure that you have turned on the comment moderation option so that you actually review the posters’ comment before accepting and adding it to your site.  Another way to cut down on SPAM is to not allow any hyperlinks in the comments left or have only people who actually are listed as approved followers be able to leave comments.

When the Purple Diamond Marketing Blog was first launched I had a limited understanding of what were true comments or SPAM and I quickly got excited by the volume of comments being left on the site. Thankfully, I am surrounded by technical expertise and I quickly learned that what I was accepting for comments to my earliest articles were clear examples of SPAM and that I was hurting my site in rankings.  My technical team added the SPAM filters and instructed me on the importance of only accepting quality comments.  How do you know if a comment is a quality comment or SPAM? Well, if the comment is a random comment that is not specific to the content of your blog article or it is an advertisement for a product it is safe to say that this is a spam comment and should not be allowed on your site.  Some SPAMMERS use more sophisticated programs and offer comments that might be linked to keywords in your article or on your blog so be sure that the comment has direct meaning to the posted article they have commented on.  An example recently that I received that was clear SPAM started off with this message: ” I always read jewellry related blogs, but your blog contains nice information about jewellry”. Beyond the spelling error of the word “jewelry” within this comment, anyone who reads my Purple Diamond Marketing Blog articles know that it has nothing to do with jewelry.  “Purple Diamond” is  the name of my advertising agency/marketing coaching business, but my messages are geared towards offering helpful information about marketing.

The key to successful blogging as a marketing tool is to build interest in your company and the readership to your blog while offering a platform to interact with existing and potential customers.  Comments that are posted that will pull down your rankings because search engine sites identify them as sources that are sending bulk junk messages to numerous blogging sites will detract from your sites ability to come up higher in searches.  Be sure to have SPAM filters in place and delete any SPAM comments that get passed the filters that do not directly relate to your article!

All my best to your success! ~ Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”