Yes, there are some marketing strategies that like a dilapidated building need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Then, there are those that may not be award winning, but show great promise and with a few key tactics can go from zero to hero.
When you look at your business marketing, you may feel like you need a radical marketing makeover when what you need is simple lift to get you want to be.
Here are a few Quick Fixes to improve your marketing:
Create More Landing Pages. Make sure to promote links to new landing pages via social media updates
Make sure your emails are being sent from a person and not a company. “In a HubSpot email A/B test, we found that sending email from a real person's name from our marketing team generated a click-through rate of .96% compared to email sent from "HubSpot," which generated a click-through rate of .73%. That winning email also generated 292 more clicks and 131 more leads. Email should be sent from humans, not companies.”
Respond to Reviews. The good, bad and the ugly. Be sure to thank the person that took the time to post such a nice review and don’t be afraid to publically reach out to the not so great review with a professional and customer-centric response.
Create Blogs that not only inform but will generate traffic. Check the search traffic for keyword variations prior to publishing a blog to get the most out of your time and effort.
Optimize your Website for Mobile Devices. Mobile Marketing for your business is where ‘it’s at’. Remember, there are 6.8 billion people on the planet. 5.1 billion of them own a cell phone, but only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush.
Test, Test and Test some more. Change the color of call to action button, update images and promotional graphics and test which the success rate of each one.
Share. Add Social Sharing to your blogs, emails, landing pages, products and much more.
Open House, Guest Speaker, Author Series, Art Walk, Trunk Show. Most all industries benefit from hosting special events. The key to success is marketing those events to ensure a great turn out and return on investment.
Here are a few ways to help you market your next event:
- Mail a Save the Date postcard
- Create a promotional graphic to display throughout your website
- Send an email invitation to your customers and prospects
- Write an article about the event and provide to your local newspaper.
- If you do all the legwork, they are more apt to include your great content.
- Create and event on Facebook
- Promote on LinkedIn and Twitter
- Schedule weekly social media posts at least a month in advance
- promoting the event and where to go for more information
- Create a video that generates buzz and creates excitement. Make sure that the video ends with a link back to your website for more information
- Create posters and rack cards for local distribution
Generate a press release and send out to all relevant local and state media outlets
Promotion doesn’t end with the Party does. Great follow up is a fantastic way to go the extra mile and keep your audience thinking highly of you….
- social media to reach out and share photos and thank attendees for a fun time
Ok, so you’ve heard the
hype. You understand the concept. You are proudly in support of the inbound marketing bandwagon. For you it’s all about the money, money, money.
What many small businesses don’t realize is that inbound marketing strategies are far more cost effective than traditional methods of advertising and generates more successful ROI.
Costs Less:
Outbound marketing is expensive. Buying ad space in magazines, email lists for email marketing, renting huge booths at trade shows in an effort to ‘get more attention’ are all weigh heavy on the marketing budget. Inbound marketing uses cost effective solutions such as content creation, SEO, social media marketing to not only draw thousands of people to your site but also give you the opportunity to analyze and track the success of your marketing dollars.
Reaching Your Target Market Better:
Outbound marketing requires thousands of dollars spent on cold-calling, mass mail and email campaigns that are traditionally poorly targeted. The days of throwing something out there and hoping it sticks are no longer an option if you are looking at the best way to maximize your marketing dollars. Instead of hoping, inbound marketing puts the proven techniques in place to attract the right buyer at the right time brining you more qualified leads and a better sales conversion ratio.
An Investment that Lasts:
Many outbound marketing practices such as pay-per-click advertising and subscription based marketing are only beneficial to your business as long as you keep paying for it. However, when you invest in inbound marketing tactics, you are building your resources for the long haul and remember slow and steady always wins the race.
Inbound marketing is looking at the world of marketing from the perspective of “ inside-out” vs. the “outside-inn”.
For years, marketing has been ‘outbound’ and directed to the masses. Print Ads, Bill Boards, Commercials…all working diligently to interrupt your day and entice you to buy. Traditional marketing methods focus on companies working to find customers. Cold-calling, magazine campaigns, TV and Radio advertising and spam email are all great examples of outbound marketing. They are also great examples of marketing techniques that are no longer as effective today as they were in the era of our “mad men” advertising team.
Technology is truly to blame. Today we have caller id to block our calls, TiVo to avoid commercials, spam filters to block unwanted (or needed) pharmaceuticals. Oh sure, these things still work but to do so costs much more than it ever has before.
Inbound marketing takes a new approach and appeals to a new buyer. Instead of interrupting people with commercials, they create entertaining videos that people enjoy so much they feel the need to ‘share’. Instead of costly newspaper or print publication advertisements where they are limited by the circulation numbers and characters on a page, they create their own business blog for people to subscribe to and look forward to reading. Instead of the cold call that usually ends a quick push of the red button on their cell-phone, they create useful content and online tools that prospects can use and benefit from.
This resourcefulness that turns a cold shoulder to yesterday’s advertising tactics of driving a message into a crowd over and over again hoping to wear a small percentage down, now brilliantly attracts highly qualified customers like a magnet.
The concept is as simple as the key strategies to make it work.
Content Creation (blogs, videos, white papers, and eBooks)
Search Engine Optimization (on-page, off-page, link-building, keyword analysis)
Social Media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Yelp, Pinterest, Forums, Blogs, and Articles)
If you are tired of doing the same things year after year without seeing any new results, now may be the time to approach marketing from the inside out with strategic inbound marketing solutions.
1. Market Your Business
Do you have new products, promotions, services or an upcoming event? Use your blog to help you spread the word on all the great things your business is doing.
2. Keep Your Website Fresh with New Content
Search engines love the sites with unique and frequently updated content. Use your blog to help with your inbound marketing strategy.
3. Establish yourself as an Industry Expert
Use your blog to showcase your depth of knowledge and industry experience to help build trust and credibility.
4. Express Your Opinions
Don’t be shy. Use your blog to express your opinions and create opportunities to interact via feedback from your readers.
5. Offer Help & Guidance
Be a resource by sharing helpful hints, best practices and general guidance to make someone else’s live a little easier.
6. Connect & Network with Readers
You’re your blog to post questions and interact with your readers.
7. It’s Your Employee that Never Sleeps and is always working for you
Leverage the power of 24/7 and know that they time and effort you put into your blog will comeback many times over.
8. Keep your site visitors coming back for more
Through resourceful, insightful and entertaining blogs updated on a consistent basis, your audience will return to your site often to see what’s new.
9. Can Serve as Your Personal PR Machine
Let your blog be the PR leg of your business and use it for white papers, press releases and short updates on what’s new and great at your company.
EDINBURG, TX – The University of Texas-Pan American Foundation is celebrating the beginning of its 30th year with the launch of a new website at utpafoundation.org that reflects the charitable organization’s significant commitment to the university over the last three decades.
“Our new online presence provides us the opportunity to appropriately acknowledge our donors and to share stories about how their gifts are enriching the academic experiences of UTPA’s students and the scholarly work of the faculty,” said Foundation Board of Trustees Chair Jaime Ramon of Dallas. “Of course, we also offer an accessible, secure way of making gifts to the Foundation.”
The UTPA Foundation, which is guided by a volunteer board of trustees, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that was created in 1982 solely to benefit UT Pan American, a public university with a student enrollment of more than 19,000, a large percentage of which are Hispanic. A part of The University of Texas System since 1989, the university was founded in 1927 as a public junior college in Edinburg, Texas, which is located in the Rio Grande Valley in far-South Texas.
“The UTPA Foundation trustees are proud of the assistance we have been able to provide to the university for the last 30 years, including building an endowment valued at some $27.6 million. With our assets, we are able to provide scholarships, program enhancement funds and flexible support so that President Robert S. Nelsen can take advantage of unexpected opportunities.”
“You only need to visit the UTPA Foundation’s new website to understand how important that this organization is to the university,” said Dr. Nelsen. “Not only do we benefit from the ever-growing endowment, the trustees as a group and individually are tremendous advocates for UT Pan American. We are so fortunate to have them working on our behalf.”
According to Lydia Aleman, UTPA’s associate vice president for university advancement who guided its development, “the new website was designed for us by J2O Designs, a San Antonio-area marketing firm that understands higher education, our Foundation and our university.”
Visitors to utpafoundation.org can also get to know the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, learn about Foundation-sponsored programs, be introduced to current fundraising priorities, visit both photo and video galleries and engage with the trustees and UTPA University Advancement staff through blogs and social networking platforms.
According to Aleman, the clean, welcoming design of the new site was created with the user in mind. Improved navigation makes for finding details on funding priorities, ways to give, programs and events, and giving opportunities much easier than in the past. The site is developed in a content management system, which makes it easy for staff to make changes, add new features and evolve the site in new ways as the Foundation continues its work on behalf of UT Pan American.
Through the secure online giving option, donors can make unrestricted gifts or give to support specific programs.
“We are very proud to have a website that reflects and celebrates the progressive – and aggressive – work of the Foundation,” said Chairman Ramon, “and we invite anyone interested in knowing more about our mission and our current funding priorities to visit us at utpafoundation.org.”
“Help! I’ve hit a wall. I can’t think of a single topic to blog about!” If this sounds like you, don’t despair. Whether you feel fresh out of ideas or gun shy to get started, it doesn’t matter what industry you are in, there are a few key tactics that can help you blog better in any business.
Here are a few 
of our favorites:
Share a testimonial.
Ok, you just got an awesome email from a customer thanking your for your attention to detail and great customer service. Celebrate your success by sharing an excerpt of the note on your blog for all to see. If this particular customer reads your blog (and shouldn’t he/she), that person will appreciate you making the time to acknowledge their kind thought. For others, it’s a great way to show credibility and your ability to keep your customers happy.
Play the Role of Customer Service.
I’m sure there are a handful of questions that get asked to you over and over. Use your blog platform as an opportunity to address these questions in simple terms that anyone can easily understand. This should help your internal operations as well as your efforts to educate your customers and prospects about important aspects of your business.
Argue the point.
Who doesn’t love the ‘pot stirrer’? Though we may not always agree, we often find him entertaining and sometimes insightful. Be that guy. As a blogger, you have the ability to share your opinions, insights and argue on topics that you are passionate about or take a unique stance on. By posting a link to an article or video and then arguing the content or sharing your perspective on the subject matter, you are showcasing your ability to challenge the norm and share your experience in a fun and respectful way.
Make a list.
We love saying that when it comes to blogs, traditional writing skills may not need apply. You don’t have to write essays or short stories to have a successful blog. Sometimes the most appreciated blogs by your readers are those short and sweet. Top 10 lists are a great way to quickly put together your ideas on a topic or share a fresh angle. Think, best practices…. key things to know…. worst mistakes, etc.. All of these could be used as topics for a list that applies to just about any business or industry.
Your blog is a great place to be a big mouth and break news. Business announcements, upcoming events, special awards….these are all ideal topics to share with your readers. After all, they want to be the first to know, so don’t let them down.
Some love it, others hate it but it’s important that we all do it….blog, that is
We here at J2O Designs often get asked the question, “How often sho
uld I blog?” If you too, are struggling to find your blogging Zen, there are a few questions to ask yourself to help you find the answer.
Results? There’s no reason to make the time to blog if you haven’t identified what it is you hope to get back. Are you looking to establish yourself as an industry expert? Are you hoping to become the go guide for all things relevant for your area or industry? Do you define success as more traffic and look at blogging to help you reach your traffic goals? All reasons are great reasons to blog. However, the need for frequency will depend on your objectives. A person looking to establish himself in the industry can get by with quality blogs once a month, where as the one looking to utilize blogs as a method to increase traffic will see better results with a weekly blog update.
Resources? What kind of resources can you devote to blogging? Can you schedule the time to give your blog the attention it deserves? We find that many people have great success drafting a collection of blogs all at one time and scheduling them out at regular intervals. Others find it beneficial to outsource the development of blog content to a dependable to ensure consistent updates.
When it comes to blogging, the key thing to note is the word, “consistent”. Whether you are blogging once a month, week or day, it’s imperative to be consistent and always work to keep fresh content in front of your audience.
Data Search, Inc. enlists San Antonio Web Design Firm, J2O Designs to Help in Online Marketing Campaign.
In an effort to create a strong online presence, educate, better serve is customer base, San Antonio company, Data Search, Inc. has enlisted the help of J2O Designs, a leading San Antonio Web Design and inbound marketing firm, to develop and implement a comprehensive marketing campaign.
DataSearch has been serving the Medical Indsutry since 1973 and was started by a San Antonio business man named Sam San Marco. Sam San Marco had the knowledge and understanding of knowing what the medical communities throughout San Antonio and the State of Texas wanted in a third party collection vendor. His commitment was second to none in providing better than average results and first class service to every customer. Today, DataSearch Inc. is a premier full service account receivable management and collection firm that performs work throughout the United States. Being an exclusive provider of medical accounts receivable gives DataSearch Inc. an extensive knowledge of what it takes to work in a hospital environment. While DataSearch Inc. is still a family owned corporation, its commitment to the collection industry is to the highest degree of recovery and integrity.
With a wave of new programs, features and customer service initiatives, this leading medical billing company saw an opportune time to update branding and messaging to implement and rebuild a web presence from the ground up. J2O Designs was selected as the firm to assist with all aspects of the marketing strategy from branding, corporate collateral, web design, social media and inbound marketing.
“We are so excited to build on the success and commitment to excellence this company has proven over the past 30 years,” stated Jim Odom, J2O Designs Creative Director, “We look forward to the collaborative efforts that will result in online marketing strategies designed to increase exposure, enhance usability and better communicate all the many service this fast-growing company can provide to the medical industry.”
The project will kick-off in March and new campaign initiatives will begin being introduced as early as April.
Boerne Public Library Foundation unveils new site created by Texas Web Design Firm, J2O Designs
“Lady Bird Johnson once said that ‘perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest,’” said Ariel Brooks-Stevens, Executive Director of the Boerne Public Library Foundation.
To ensure that the citizens of Boerne continue to understand the ongoing activities of the Foundation, the ways to support fundraising efforts and to understand the impact that our library has in the community, the Boerne Public Library Foundation has unveiled a new website.
Not only can visitors browse the new website at
www.boernelibraryfoundation.org to learn more about many of the library’s offerings, those who want to help perpetuate and expand certain programs now have an easy, accessible, secure way of making gifts online.
“The Foundation, which is governed by a volunteer board of trustees, exists”,” said Brooks-Stevens, “ to raise funds and awareness to benefit the Patrick Heath Public Library. Now that our beautiful facility is completed and open to serve visitors of all ages, we are focused on funding several of the Library’s diverse programs and on-going capital needs. We are also excited about the programs that the Foundation runs and how these programs are expanding with increasing interest from our community.
“The new website, designed for us by J2O Designs, a Hill Country marketing firm that well understands our community and our outreach efforts, gives us the opportunity to share information about existing programs and upcoming events and to keep our friends and partners updated about our fundraising initiatives.”
Brooks-Stevens said the Foundation was thrilled with the new website. “The design is as breathtaking as our new building and showcases all of the many programs we proudly support. We love that users can get to know our board members, see images from our recent events, engage with us via our blog, and support us through online donations and by purchasing tickets for our upcoming events.”
According to Brooks-Stevens, the clean, welcoming design of the new site was created with the user in mind. Improved navigation makes for finding details on programs, events and giving opportunities much easier than in the past. Through the blogs and social networking platforms, visitors are encouraged and inspired to connect and engage with the Library and the Foundation, she noted.
The site is developed in a content management system, making it easy for staff to make changes, add new features and evolve the site in new ways as the Foundation continues to support the Library and its patrons online and in person. Through the secure online giving options, patrons can now make donations to support specific programs and make reservations for upcoming events such as the Moveable Feasts, a highly successful program brought to life by the Foundation.
“These remarkable dinner parties are evenings designed with a theme that relates to a book of choice by the host,” explained Brooks-Stevens. “These events can be small, intimate dinners among friends, tea parties for little girls or larger events bringing in hundreds of guests. The intent is to raise awareness for the Library and funds for Foundation operations, while creating a unique literary experience for participants.”
Roberta Belanger, president of the Boerne Public Library Foundation board, said that she and the other trustees are committed to cultivating interest in lifelong learning and helping to provide cultural and enrichment opportunities through the Patrick Heath Public Library.
“We advocate and fund raise throughout Boerne and the surrounding area for the continued development of a vibrant library that provides program and educational opportunities for those who live in, work in, and visit our community,” she added. “We look forward to our new website enhancing our efforts.”
Joining Belanger on the Boerne Public Library Foundation are Celeste Wall, vice president; Peggy Bowie, secretary; Rusty Meador, treasurer; and trustees Ben Adam, Janet Costanza, Wayne Gibson, , Susie Moseley, Debbie Russell, Carol Schultz and Shelly Swinghamer.
“What a privilege it was to work on this new website for such a dedicated group of individuals committed to raising the bar and doing more for their community and donors,” noted Brooks-Stevens. “We are proud of the end result and the collaboration between the Boerne Public Library Foundation and J2O Designs.”
For more information about the Boerne Public Library Foundation, contact Executive Director Ariel Brooks-Stevens by email at ariel@boernelibraryfoundation.org or call her at (210) 421-6132.
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J2O Designs services clients throughout the United States and is based in the heart of the Texas Hill country, outside of San Antonio. The company specializes in merging creativity with technology to deliver successful marketing campaigns that can include web site design, online marketing, social media management, corporate identity and print graphics. The team is a blend of over thirty creative gurus, experienced print designers, cutting-edge web designers, seasoned writers, brilliant programmers and results driven brand strategists with experience in a wide range of industries, technologies and services. The diverse talent is unified in its commitment to implementing successful web, print, and multi-media solutions for a fair price and in a timely manner without compromising any degree of quality.
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Non Profit Marketing Services, Please Contact us Today