Inbound Marketing Blog

There are lot of articles and blogs online about how to get started with Twitter so I'm going to skip over the ‘how to' side of Twitter and focus more on sharing my experience with Twitter as a business owner and marketer.

I recently discovered the Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael A Stelzer. 880 business owners, employees and sole proprietors were surveyed in an attempt to uncover the who, what, where, when and why of Social Media Marketing. There are a lot of interesting findings in this report, however, I've pulled out just a few results that I believe would be the most valuable to SMBs. If you're interested in reading the entire report you can download it for FREE at: Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

I find so many business owners, especially in small business, have a misconception about the ‘true' purpose of their website and therefore, aren't getting the most value out of their website. The most overlooked marketing tool that (almost) every business has is their website. Many business owners, when they start, set up a website because it's what is expected nowadays. Your prospects expect to find you on line and it's where your competitors are, so of course you need a website if you want people to take you seriously.

It's become evident to me that one of the biggest marketing challenges for business owners is how to measure their inbound marketing and return on investment (ROI).  

The business results you have today are based on what you did in the past. Consequently, what you do today to market your business, will impact your business tomorrow. So the question is... 

This is a quick guide to help small businesses, with little to no marketing budget, market their business on the internet. 

As a small business owner I get excited about the opportunity Social Media provides as marketing tool to better understand my audience.  I am surprised when I talk to other business owners who are reluctant to learn more about the benefits of social media for their business. One stand out benefit is the low to no cost of social media, giving small business the chance to compete on a level playing field with larger companies with deeper pockets.  My goal in writing this blog is to help small business owners understand the benefit social media can bring to their business and how to get value out of your online communities.

Blogging is a key component of SEO and Social Media Marketing to that should be implemented in every inbound marketing plan. Below are my quick takeaways from today's session that may help other small business owners to write effective blogs for their business.

A friend of mine sent me an email that she had received from an SEO firm seeking her business, several months ago. The email started with something like, "we tried to search for your business on line and couldn't find it, which means your prospects can't find you either."  It went on to say that they could guarantee top search rankings (for a monthly fee). It was quite a lengthy sales pitch but basically what they were promising was top search rankings for my friend's company, for what they (the SEO firm) perceived where the relevant keywords.  My friend thought this sounded great, so she presented it to her management team. After all isn't that what we all want, to be at the top of the search results and drive more traffic to our site?

The business world is no different from the wild, in the wild it's all about survival! Those that survive are strong, fit or clever. The clever species adapt (evolve, change) to their surroundings to survive.  In order for small business to survive the recession they must be clever. They must be prepared to adapt and evolve to their surroundings, the change in market conditions and the changing consumer.