How PokeMon Go Can Boost Your Business

Posted on by Chris Jenkin

Do you run or help promote a local business?

Interested in taking advantage of the latest gaming craze?

Pokémon Go is close to topping the number of daily users on Twitter and average time spent on the Facebook app. That’s why it’s time for your business to capitalize on it.

In this article, you’ll discover how you can boost your business’s social media engagement with Pokémon Go.

#1: Invite People to Play at Your Business

Your first step to boosting social media engagement via Pokémon Go is to get players to your business.

Use your social channels to invite people to come play at your location, like Monroe Bank & Trust. Better yet, turn it into a contest! Just be sure to follow the rules on each social network, like Facebook.

#2 Offer Free Wi-Fi and Charging Stations

If you want Pokémon Go players to play at your business, there are two vital things they’ll need: Wi-Fi and charging stations. Use your social channels and window signage to let people know that you offer both so they’ll feel welcome to play.

#3: Ask Players to Tag Their Photos

To make sure your business gets some social exposure, ask players to share their favorite Pokémon photos taken at your business and tag your business when they do.

Depending on which social network they share to, they can either tag your business in the post or tag it as the location they were playing at. Either will give your business some social media engagement among the player’s audience, and further if they share the post publicly.

Be sure to look for public mentions so you can thank players for coming and further engage with your customers and fans!

#4: Encourage Players to Check in While Playing

Another way to boost your social engagement (and local Facebook page credibility) is to encourage players to check in while playing. Hopefully the check-ins will either lead to more players coming to your business or new reviews on your Facebook page.

#5: Get Players to Take Pictures of Pokémon With Your Products

Another option is to incentivize customers to play Pokémon and share their pics on social media. Ask players to aim Pokémon on products they want to buy, and each photo they share with a product tagged with your business name will get them a special discount!

Be sure to start by showing your customers how to do it on your Facebook page, Instagram, and other social profiles.

#6: Encourage Players to Share With Snapchat Memories

Snapchat isn’t completely out of the loop when it comes to Pokémon Go, thanks to the new Memories feature. Although you can’t get customers to add your custom geofilter to their snaps from Memories, you can encourage players to share snaps of catching Pokémon inside your business (using Memories and their camera roll).

#7: Film Pokémon Players

This could go a number of ways. Your employees could film players (with their permission, of course) while they’re “on the hunt” for some Pokémon. Or they could film players after they’ve successfully caught a special Pokémon and have them show off their Pokédex. Depending on the space, you could even have a drone fly over a large group of players congregating at a Gym.

Consider filming videos for live platforms like Facebook or Snapchat, or upload videos later to Facebook, Instagram, and so on.

In a “these results are not typical” kind of way, an animal shelter in Indiana came up with the idea to pair Pokémon Go players with shelter dogs so that players could play and walk the dogs at the same time. The idea was so creative that Facebook sent a team to film it and the video was featured on news outlets nationwide.

Author credit: Kristi Hines

5 New Marketing Trends You Tried to Ignore

Posted on by Chris Jenkin

Yep! You can teach an old dog new tricks. Check out the following 5 new marketing trends you haven’t considered doing…yet.

Videos

Specialists predict that by 2017, 70% of online traffic will be videos. Gone are the days of the television. If you want to reach your target audience you need to go where they go- their phones! As mobile technology continues to rise, video technology will become even more powerful. For best results, consider creating a series of videos that engage the viewer and invite them back with anticipation for the next big reveal.

Facebook Live Streaming

Take one. There is no two or three. Live streaming is one of the hottest marketing trends to date, and shows no sign of slowing down. Whether it’s on Twitch or on Facebook, live streams allow your audience to interact with you one-on-one, in real time. The most important thing to remember about this digital marketing trend is that your stream should be exciting to encourage viewers. Save the boring, non-essential details of the day, and focus on worthy company launches, products, services, and news.

User-Generated Content

Do your customers promote you? User-generated content is a hot new trend in marketing that enables you to put your customers in the driver seat.

Whether it’s blogs or recommendations, user-generated content is a trusted and reliable way to influence future buyers. Rather than write generic, run-of-the-mill copy, consider building brand awareness by reaching out to your audience and encouraging them to review your business and share their experience. You can do this by way of encouraging online reviews on Yelp, or asking for shares and testimonials on your social networks. Better yet, ask for guest blog post submissions and stories about your product and brand, and hold a contest for the entries.

Social Influencers

While your company might not be able to afford a celebrity spokesperson, you can still find a social influencer that will help you connect with your audience. Influencers gain followers through blogs, live feeds, and their visibility on social networks. If you can capture the attention of an influencer in your industry, you might be able to get them to talk publically about your brand and endorse it. Since influencers already have their own following, a mere mention of your product or company can launch you in the spotlight. How can you do this? Simple. Reach out! Discover the leading trendsetters in your industry and connect with them personally. A tweet, a share, or a personal message can set the domino-effect in motion, so think outside the box and go where your audience is.

Storytelling

More than advertising, storytelling takes customers on a personal journey. Convey your unique brand message to your audience and entertain them by learning the art of storytelling in your marketing. Your readers don’t want to be bored with numbers and facts. Relating to them on an emotional level is a fresh and honest approach that will help build brand trust, and keep customers coming back for more.

While traditional marketing methods have long been successful in creating brand exposure, Internet technology has increased advertising options significantly. When you’re deciding which mediums to invest in, consider these 5 new marketing trends first. Digital media can help you create a loyal brand following, at the lowest cost.

Do you need campaign ideas or digital marketing inspiration? Contact gotcha! Mobile Solutions today to learn more about our award-winning suite of digital advertising services.

How to Launch a Successful Business By Writing One Sentence

Posted on by Chris Jenkin

Good copy helps websites attract people and gain new business. No matter how much time or money you invest in your website content or blogs, nothing will ever be more important than the description of your company, in one sentence.

Digital Marketer’s Ryan Deiss shares the most crucial sentence you should craft to launch a successful business.

I have GREAT news…

The buyer of your new product or service is EXTREMELY predictable. They only care about one thing:

What’s in it for me?

I’m about to show you two simple exercises that answer this question for your prospective customer in a single, crystal clear sentence. This sentence is the foundation of your marketing and the reason your business, product or brand deserves to exist. You can use it in your…

Company tagline
Elevator pitch
Ads
Headlines (on sales pages, blog posts, presentations, etc)
Product descriptions
… and virtually any other marketing communications you’ll create to launch your new business, product or brand.

Determine the “Before and After”

You’ve likely heard some variation of this before:

“People don’t buy features, they buy benefits.”

The story goes that people don’t go to the hardware store to buy a drill. They go to the hardware store to buy a hole.

In fact, they don’t even want the hole — they want, for example, the feeling of satisfaction and happiness of seeing a family portrait hanging on the wall. They need the drill and the hole to get that outcome.

What is the outcome your prospects are searching for?

Picture your prospective buyer in their ‘Before’ state. They have yet to experience your product or service. They are unsatisfied. Discontent. Perhaps even angry, frightened or frustrated. What is causing this unhappiness?

Now, picture them with your product or service — what has changed in their ‘After’ state? What outcome or benefit have they received as a result of doing business with you?

Ask yourself these questions about your customer’s ‘After’ state:

What do they have? – “I used to have a leaky roof (‘Before’ state) but now I have a dependable, leak proof roof.” (‘After’ state)
How do they feel? – “I used to be worried about the future of my family if I were to die (‘Before’ state), but now that I have life insurance, I have peace of mind.” (‘After’ state)
How is their average day different? – “I used to drive to work every morning in my boring old car (‘Before’ state), now I’m excited to drive to work in my fancy new car.” (‘After’ state)
How has their status changed? – “I used to be a good father to my children (‘Before’ state), but now I am “Super Dad” because I bought the whole family tickets to Disney.” (‘After’ state)
It’s important that you determine your customer’s ideal ‘After’ state because…

Good marketing (and copywriting) simply articulates the move from the ‘Before state’ to the ‘After’ state.
Good marketing articulates the move from the Before state to the After state.

Once you know your customer’s ideal ‘After’ state, you simply need to be able to describe it in your marketing. To do that, you’ll need…

Exercise 2 – Create a Statement of Value (SOV)

If you want to describe the value your business or product or brand brings to the market — and you should because it’s all your prospects care about — you need to complete this sentence:

_____________ enables _____________ to experience _____________.
Here’s how to fill in the blanks on this Statement of Value (SOV)…

The first blank should contain the name of your product or service. Alternatively, go broader by inserting your brand or product name.

The second blank should describe your customer.

The third blank should describe the customer’s desired ‘After’ state.

Let’s look at some example Statements of Value…

Weight Watchers enables overweight people to experience a simple, proven system for losing weight and feeling confident about themselves.

Lego enables children of all ages to experience the joy and challenge of building something that is uniquely theirs.

These first two examples are Statements of Value for brands or companies and fairly generic customers. Let’s look at an example of a single product targeting a more specific customer…

Company: State Farm
Product: Homeowners Insurance
Customer: Home owners in areas prone to natural disaster
Statement of Value: State Farm homeowners insurance enables home owners in areas prone to natural disaster to experience peace of mind that their home and finances are secure.

Once State Farm is clear on the value they bring to this specific customer for this product, they simply need to articulate it in their marketing. Notice how this Facebook ad from State Farm remains congruent with the Statement of Value. Notice how it speaks to the customer’s ideal ‘After’ state. Notice how it speaks directly to the “What’s in it for me?” the prospect cares about.

Before you create a new business, product or brand — you need clarity on the value you bring to market.

Take some time to fill in the blanks on your Statement of Value.

Author Ryan Deiss
Digital Marketer

5 Things That Will Boost Your Local SEO

Posted on by Chris Jenkin

Having your website perform well in the results page of a search can play a vital role on the success of your business. This is why there are a number of companies that invest a lot of money on SEO practices to help them achieve this goal. Because there is now a growing demand for this, it can be difficult for businesses to reach a good SEO spot. Even if you are working at improving your local SEO ranking, it could still not be enough to get you the results you need. With so many other companies vying for local visibility, it’s important to know the things that truly matter in local SEO.

While most SEO practices are still applicable in today’s time and age, it pays to know a few other things. Considering nearly everyone uses their smartphone to help them with their everyday tasks, it helps to know how best you can make use of this medium to have a strong local search presence. Here are 5 things that will boost your local SEO:

Claim Company Profiles and Local Listing Pages

With so many different local listing websites available, it is so easy to improve your local rankings without costing a lot of time and effort. There are a number of websites to choose from, which is why it is recommended that you claim your company page on websites such as Google My Business, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Yelp, Foursquare, and YP.com. There are also industry-specific business directories that you can take advantage of to help your business be recognized by your target market.

An important piece of advice to remember when you are claiming such listings, is that you have to keep your information up to date. This means you have to ensure that you have input the correct location, phone number, operating hours, and any other information that will make it easier for potential customers to find you. Whenever you make a change to one of these, you should also change it on these websites.

Depending on the local listing websites you use, you may need to verify that you are indeed the owner of the business. You will have to either verify your email address or send in the PIN code they send via mail. This helps confirm that you are the right representative of the business.

Optimize Your Website

If you have a website, you need to make sure that it appeals to the algorithm of search engines but remains readable for humans. To improve your local SEO, you need to use the right keywords. However, you have to be careful in how you use keywords as they can hurt your rankings; particularly if they have been used poorly. Remember that through the years, search engines have been modified to recognize websites and pages filled with keywords for the hopes of upping its SEO ranking. These search engines are able to identify which websites do these and penalize them. Apart from that, customers don’t really enjoy looking at websites purely devoted to keywords.

Instead of focusing too much on your keywords, opt for providing quality links, reviews and just a few strategic keywords. You should also make sure your content is suitable so you can have more people visit your page and find it useful.

Make Sure Your Website is Responsive

We live in a time wherein information is accessed through smartphones and tablets. This is how majority of websites are currently being accessed. As such, you have to make sure your website is responsive to mobiles and tablets so you can attract customers to visit it. Otherwise, your customers will look for other alternatives on where they can find a business similar to yours.

Investing in a responsive website can help transform your business and build its success.

Encourage Customer Reviews

One of the best ways you can earn the trust of potential new customers is through your website. You can ask your past customers to leave behind a review of how well they enjoyed dealing with your business. And when you have enough positive reviews, your online credibility and trust can be built for future customers.

A good way you can invite customers to leave a review is to let them know which websites you are on. And while there are other businesses that offer incentives for leaving behind a review, it is not always a guarantee that you will have positive reviews. The things that would are excellent customer service and an even better product.

Make Use of Social Media

Social media has revolutionized how people do certain things. Almost everyone is on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or even on all three websites. In order to build your local SEO, you need to identify which social media platforms will work best for your business. As much as you can, interact with your followers regularly and upload fresh content. When possible, advertise local events, offer discounts for residents, and even sponsor a local team. These things will help build your brand as people will look for your information online.

These things are organic ways you can boost your local SEO. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on it but with the right techniques and practices, you can be successful with building your brand online. Need help boosting your local SEO? Contact gotcha! today.

14 Summertime Digital Marketing Ideas

Posted on by Chris Jenkin

Written by Catherine Marsden

With days getting longer, kids home from school, and the backyard grill calling your name, it’s easy to give digital marketing a pass during the summer months. However, this approach can backfire come Labor Day when inbound sales leads have slowed to a trickle and your largest customer let’s you know she is leaving for a competitor.

Rather than completely taking your digital marketing off the boil this summer, here are 14 free marketing strategies to give your brand a refresh, and keep your summer sales sizzling.

14 simple digital marketing tactics to do this summer:

Update your branding
De-clutter your website. Fixing broken links, revising outdated contact information or changing an old profile picture can improve your website’s performance and improve your visitors’ first impression.

Dust off your blog
When it comes to digital marketing, content and consistency are king. Summer is not the time to let your blog go cold. Stay in touch with your readers and provide useful content that answers their questions, even in summer.

Create a new sales handout
On a simple 8.5 x 11 explain who you are and what services your company provides. Keep the branding consistent with your website and have a few of these printed up for the next time you meet with a new prospect or head to a networking event.

Revisit your January business goals
Remember when you were super-charged and set those amazing 10X goals back in January? As the mid-point of the year, summer is a great time to circle back with those goals and see how your business is doing. Remember this isn’t supposed to be a blame game. Just spend some time with these goals, set new priorities and make adjustments, if necessary. The point is to re-charge, renew and reinvigorate your business.

LinkedIn
Review your LinkedIn profile. Check whether your LinkedIn profile is up to date with your most recent positions, job titles, awards and skills.

Reach out to your network
It’s a misperception that you need to be executing a large sales campaign on LinkedIn in order to use it effectively. I find the simple things done consistently can have big payoffs. Send a message to a colleague or friend and tell them what you are up to. Better yet, send them an article of interest, and expect nothing in return. Manage your recommendations. Secure one new recommendation for your profile and delete one that is from a long time ago.

Facebook Business Page
Add new services to your business page: Facebook allows you to add in new products and services to tell visitors what your company is all about. For directions on how to add products and services, click here.

Verify your business page
This only takes a few minutes, but doing so will help improve your organic reach. Head into the Settings tab on your business page and click “Verify page”. Facebook will either call a number you give them or send you a code via text message. Once entered, your business page will receive a check mark on it indicating it has been verified, and reward you with increased organic reach.

Update your FB background/cover photo
Just like a store window that needs to be changed to fit the season, you can refresh a stale Facebook business page with a summer-theme.

Build your skills
Take a class. Summer is a perfect time to up your digital marketing game by taking a class or watching a webinar.

Email Marketing
Clean up your email contact list. Gather up those business cards and enter any new contacts that you want to stay in touch with and eliminate duplicates.

Launch an end-of-summer contest or event
Use email marketing during the summer months to spread the news about a free give-away or special promotion.

Twitter
Retweet or share a customer’s tweet. Staying active on Twitter is as easy as using your cell phone during your free time. Rather than reading your email while at the doctor’s office or when waiting in line, tweet, share or comment on a Twitter post.

Newsjack a summer event. Newsjacking happens when a company adds a clever twist to a current event in the news. Keep an eye on the headlines and see if something doesn’t pop out at you this summer. Create a clever meme or snag a headline by adding your own perspective on a current event.

Distribute Summer Gift Cards

It doesn’t matter whether you own a store or a small business. A summer gift card is an easy way to get more customers flowing in through the front door! Offer decent discounts on your services to ensure people get interested.

5 Summertime Marketing Ideas

Posted on by Chris Jenkin

Summer is the perfect time of year to launch a campaign that drives new customers and increases brand loyalty. Get inspired by the following 5 summertime marketing ideas, and give your customers a well deserved break from ho-hum sales.

Giveaways- What’s better than free? Your customers LOVE to be appreciated and provided the opportunity to score some cool swag for a change. Clear the remaining winter and spring inventory off your shelves and send it off into the universe. Host a social media giveaway, and ask for subscribers while you do it. You’ll get rid of the old, and make room for new loyal followers who are excited to learn more about your company.

Creative Summer Sales- From a small purchase discount to a birthday or summer soireee sale, gift your customers the opportunity to indulge in something, and make it easy on the pocketbook as well. Because summer usually involves vacation, activities, and extra household spending, your customers will appreciate a promotion while the dog days of summer leave their wallets strapped for cash.

I you want to incorporate a feel-good cause for support, why not offer customers something free or discounted in exchange for donated goods or services.

Stock Up on Promotional Items- Build brand awareness and loyalty with creative promotional products that represent your company, as well as the season. From sunglasses to water bottles, now is the time to pass out logo gear in a variety of materials and bright colors. Invite your customers in through email or social media announcements, and be sure to attract new curbside traffic by drawing attention to your storefront.

Host a Party- Nowhere to go? Get dressed up anyway. Throw a summer party right at your local business and make it themed for summertime as well as your products. Whether it’s a tropical getaway or a sightseeing escapade, dress the part and send out invites to your loyal customers via email, mail, and of course on social media, to promote your company summer bash. Consider extending store hours to accommodate sales and new customers.

Be Fun- People love to support a business that’s bustling with life and energy. When the sun starts shining, fill your vases with flowers, place bright balloons around your door, and use sidewalk chalk in bright colors to promote sales and new inventory. Invite people to sit aspell and take a break from the heat. Be sure to provide complimentary fresh water to keep customers comfortable as they shop.

While many shoppers retreat to the indoors and vacation while your business remain open, summertime is still an ideal season to reach out and attract new clients as well as greet the old. These 5 summertime marketing ideas will keep your sales sizzling while the temperatures soar.