Bright Ideas

Facebook has become the platform that everyone is a part of; your potential customers are likely browsing through their newsfeed right now. Everyone from teens, college students, CEOs, and seniors are all a part of Facebook. It has transformed into the ultimate stage for businesses and consumers alike.

When thinking of people that are constantly working at their profession to get better, stay ahead, and win, professional athletes easily come to mind. They have one job: to constantly work at their particular sport to improve; whether training for a big game or the Olympics, they are continuously training and training hard.

I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded, but just in case, videos are all the rage. Videos of all genres, lengths, content, and quality are filling the internet. The bottom line is that consumers love to be in the know and learn new things; they are constantly on the search for information. Unfortunately, they don’t want to read long-winded books, documents, or posts to get that knowledge. Consumers prefer to search for a short video, watch it a time or two, and consider it learned.

As an up and coming business, you have a lot of things on your plate, right? You’re in a stage of growth, new employees are coming on board, and you’ve got a pretty strong name in the local community but you’d like to take on a bigger market. You’re doing everything the 24 hour day will allow minus time for sleep, usually. So what about those online reviews you don’t have time to worry about? Who actually reads those anyway? Unfortunately, a lot of consumers read those reviews and they can greatly affect your business.

Does your company have a local business page on Facebook? Does it put your best foot forward for customers to easily find you? If one or both of those answers was “no,” the good news is you have time to update the situation without falling too far behind competitors. Facebook has recently launched Facebook Professional Services, which will allow businesses to be found more easily along with a quick description, ratings, and reviews. Customers can search and find the best rated local companies for all of their business needs.

The air of a car is usually filled with music and advertisements. But do people actually remember what they heard? You’d be surprised. As advertisers, this is a time when reaching the audience through ads is more important than ever; not getting your name out could be the end of your company. One of the most cost effective ways to get your message out is through radio. Nielsen did a study covering various forms of media and advertising and discovered that the reach of radio cannot be beat. Radio advertisements reach nearly 223 million adults listening weekly; that’s about 93% of all U.S. adults. When that many consumers are reached, messages are spread quickly.

As a small to medium sized business, you most likely don’t have pages and pages of online reviews. Those big companies make it look easy, that getting reviews is like getting a new shipment of supplies because they’re always coming in. However, the trick behind getting online reviews is to be pro-active about it. Waiting for reviews is not ideal, especially as a small or medium sized business. Here is a list of five simple ways to generate online reviews without having to twist arms.

Video marketing is not a new strategy in the marketing world. It is growing in use each year and it is important that your company puts its best foot forward when generating videos. Video production is not an easy process - it takes time, effort, and creative thoughts. However, when video content is put to good use, your company can reap great benefits from this tool.

Imagine rounding up a six person sales team each day and sending them door to door. That seems like a slow way to reach customers and not very cost effectively, right? But, what if that sales team was able to reach hundreds of homes each day without losing steam? Now that seems like a worthwhile investment. Sending a direct mailer does just that. One envelope packed with the right pieces can be just as effective as the sales team at or from your dealership. Each component of the mailer lines up with a part of the sales process: from the opening lines of the envelope aimed to strike a want in the customer, to the endorsement of a fellow customer in the lift letter, to the call to action in the business reply envelope. The purpose and voice of each different piece comes together to form a full sales pitch. Malcolm Decker, in the book “Million Dollar Mailings” breaks down the various components of a direct mailing piece that, when they work together, can only lead to success.

Each day is an opportunity to learn new things. YouTube is not one to sit in the back seat and watch technology develop. As one of the leaders in streaming advertising, YouTube has introduced something new and exciting into this arena.

This year, YouTube began supporting the upload of 360-degree videos. These videos allow the viewer to explore the filming area: look forward, backward, to the left, or right. Going beyond the “standard” view of most YouTube videos, we are now free to explore what is happening all around the video, check out all the angles while the video is playing. YouTube is bringing many of the features of virtual reality to its app - not only can you watch the video, but you can feel as though you’re in the video! “Your phone becomes a window to a story happening all around you” Wilms & El Guerrab.