Diamex Design

Facebook Marketing For Small Local Business

Admin — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:08:00 +0000

Facebook applications are the very best and most cost effective way to market your small local business!

It is quite easy to create viral buzz around an event, contest or targeted download when you use a Facebook application to power it.

Here is what I mean ….

Using a contest app to promote your business;

Offer a worthy prize or set of prizes so that it will be worth the time of the contestants to compete for it/them.
Announce the contest everywhere possible prior to it launching
Launch the contest through your current Facebook contacts
Watch it spread
Use the app to capture contact info and add it to a database for later

Using a secret reveal app to promote your business:

Hide valuable content behind the app so that visitors must "Like" your page to see it
You can also acquire contact details for your database too

Using an event app to promote your business:

This can be one of the most powerful things you do to market your business because an event can run for a very short specific time or can be set to run continuously.

Choose the most attractive event you can that will appeal to your target customer demographic
You can capture and require all kinds of Facebook permissions on one of these events especially if it is appealing
You can use the app to reveal a coupon, invitation or any other reward for spreading the word about the event

Depending on the complexity of the application you require, it can usually be created and ready to implement in a week or less.

These applications can be developed to market any local business and can easily be combined with QR codes, print media and all other forms of advertising media to get maximum impact.

For example, a restaurant decides to have a VIP night every month as an event. They choose their least busy day based on past history and offer a special that night at a very enticing price to attract the crowd. The only way to get in the door is with a special VIP invite that was revealed to them as they went through the application on Facebook.

Meanwhile, the restaurant is filling it's business with eager patrons that will spend money on drinks and other extras and all the business mailing list is growing during the process making it all that much easier to announce any future VIP events.

To have a Facebook application and marketing plan developed for your business, contact me and set up a meeting or visit my other site here – http://vincecourtneyonline.com for other marketing ideas.

It doesn't matter what city or country your business is in by the way. With the right details, I can create and put one of these to work for you anywhere.

Mobile Marketing For Restaurants

Admin — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:28:58 +0000

Optimize Your Restaurant For The Mobile Web

When you use this mobile optimized website system to manage reservations, build customer lists and perform additional marketing through either SMS (text messaging) or by email, your restaurant will have just stepped ahead of all the other restaurants in your area – by a country mile.

More people search the web today using mobile devices than with traditional computers and that number is going to grow exponentially in the next 18 months meaning that your market is moving this way as well.

You are going to want to be there to meet them before your competitors are!

Now, smart phones like the one seen on the left come with the ability to scan static print codes such as QR codes placed inside your advertising which takes their owners to your mobile website where you can sell them your products and services.

This system has a built in easy to use QR code generator and combines it with an awesome set of marketing features ready for you to use for increasing your business.

Here is what you get with this system:

An exclusive online admin area where you can create and manage unlimited print or online ad campaigns
QR code generator that allows you to create a QR code for and attach it to a campaign with a few easy steps
A QR code overlay generator that will allow you to overlay your QR codes onto existing graphics from your hard drive so it is easy to create business card, postcard, flyer or newspaper ads with ease
Full reporting that shows the ad campaign media type, the amount of scans per day, the amount of reservations per day and shows changes in the campaigns over time plus the campaigns are listed together so you can easily compare results to see instantly which campaigns are working to bring you a return on your ad investment
You can add photos and details about your business to an “About” page with a built in page editor that makes it easy to do with just a few clicks of your mouse
It allows you to enter the physical location of your restaurant or the locations of unlimited locations if you own a chain and then you can create and manage ad campaigns for each of them
It allows visitors to get instant step by step directions to your location by simply typing in their present location
It collects and adds each person’s name, email address and mobile phone number to your client list so that it can be used for current reservations and also for future promotional purposes
It automatically allows people to opt-out of your future mailings with one click of their mouse so that you never receive spam complaints
It allows you to set up a complete day by day menu from Monday through Sunday that includes adding details for starters, main course, dessert, drinks or special offers for each individual day and allows posting of coupons as well. Then it tracks the downloads of the coupons for you so you can see how effective they are
It allows visitors to request a reservation from their phone that includes all the details required
It allows the prospect to choose to receive your reply by text message or by email
It allows you to approve or decline the reservation with one click and then sends the appropriate text message or email immediately that includes all the required info
It allows you to send out an automated reminder by text message or by email so that people don’t forget their reservations. These messages are sent to everyone you choose at once with only one click by you
It allows you or staff members to receive the reservation notices right to your mobile phone so that no one has to monitor a computer because as soon as a request comes in, your phone rings and you can manage it in real time
You can view reservation reports such as all approved reservations that show customer names, contact details, your location which is important if you manage more than one restaurant, number of guests, preferred time, the date and the reservation status
You can call up a list of people dining today to aid in planning for staff and food requirements etc.
You can send marketing messages to any or all selected and opted in customers by text message or email with just a few clicks
You can select customers and immediately send them a feedback survey by text message or email
There are other useful reports you can generate such as a list of last week’s reservations, this month’s reservations or even just all reservations so that you can use them in planning or marketing
It allows you to easily edit all the message templates based on the specifics related to your location for any given time or purpose for example, the marketing message can be edited to reflect your current specials just prior to sending it out to all your chosen recipients – powerful!
There is more but this is a good overview of what this system can do for your restaurant.

I have uploaded a sample restaurant site here – feel free to check it out by scanning the QR code to the left with your smart phone or just visit the site online by clicking here and placing the QR code ID# into the box.

Make a reservation and, once I approve it, you will get a confirmation message.

This system can be added to your existing online presence or set up as a stand alone system.

This is an amazing system and I am currently offering a 35% discount to the first 10 people to take me up on the offer to install it for their business.

To get more information or request an install, please open a support ticket at my helpdesk here.

Using QR Codes To Market Your Business

Admin — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:23:50 +0000

Many business owners have heard that they can use QR codes to market their business but have no idea how to do it.

I am going to illustrate a method in this article that should get your idea factories humming.

I just added a new marketing service to the list of services I offer here through Diamex Design and this site – Vince Courtney Online. I added a complete, turn key, mobile reservation marketing system for restaurants and will use it for this illustration.

Almost everyone these days has a cell phone and many of those are smart phones. The transition to smart phones will be steady and fast over the next few months which makes marketing with mobile all that much more attractive.

In this illustration I will show how to integrate various types of print advertising into online marketing strategies that allow restaurants to grow their market share and fill seats that would have otherwise been empty.

Scenario #1 would have a QR code printed on a business card that could be handed out to potential customers. The customer could then keep the card in their wallet and scan the card any time they wanted to make a reservation or see what specials were currently being offered.

Scenario #2 would have the QR code printed within a newspaper ad.

Scenario #3 would have the QR code printed on a flyer that was being delivered.

Scenario #4 would have the QR code shown on a web site ad. This could be on the owners site or could be placed anywhere online for that matter. QR codes can be scanned right off the screen.

So, let’s test this out. For this example, I have set up a demo restaurant and created a QR code to be used in advertising it. Scan it below and it will take you of to the mobile optimized website where you can make a fake reservation and browse the site to see what the menu is or what the specials are.

If you are browsing with a computer, click here and enter the QR ID# to access the reservation system.

Once a reservation is made, it shows as pending in the restaurant owners online admin panel where she or one of her staff can approve it or decline it with one click of the mouse.

A few exciting things happen at this point.

After approval, an automated text message is sent to the customers phone informing them that the reservation is approved.
Alternately, if the person chooses it, an automated email is sent instead with the same confirmation message. It is up to the customer to select what type of message they want to receive.
If for some reason at that time, you couldn’t accommodate the reservation, an automated message is sent stating that fact as well.
At any rate, the customer’s name, email and mobile number are now in your admin area so you can inform them at any time of special offers etc. and market to them on an ongoing basis.

Now, what if the customer has viewed your ad online while surfing with her computer? Well, if you have included a link to the page below the QR code as shown in the illustration above, it takes the customer to the same page right on their PC.

Then they have the option to enter the QR ID # (which can be seen below the QR code) into a box and the same reservation system is available to them online.

Try that now and see how it works.

I hope this little example has shown how effective using QR codes and mobile marketing can be for your business.

If you would like to know more about this service or how QR codes can fit into the marketing plan for your business, please contact me at the help desk here.

http://diamexholdings.com/support/

I will get back to you as soon as possible.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization For Local Business

Admin — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 19:25:01 +0000

Search engine optimization should be one of the skills that your web site design team should be capable of implementing as your site is being created.

Appearance and ease of navigation are important factors in a web site but without proactive search engine optimization your problems will certainly be a lack of traffic and the sales you need to make a return on your investment.

For many years, business owners have been hiring web designers to create a presence for their business online without actually having any kind of internet marketing plan whatsoever.

That is actually pretty amazing considering that most business owners are very successful at running their business in the sticks and bricks world. They normally wouldn’t dream of spending a sizable chunk of money on a new business asset without a potential for a significant return on their investment.

The problem is simply a lack of education and can be remedied quite easily. The business owner doesn’t need to become an internet marketer but should have a basic understanding of how new prospects can be reached online and then, with the aid of a professional internet marketer or team, develop their business web presence around a plan.

Here is a list of critical information to acquire before creating your site:

Your lifetime customer value.
That is the amount of money your business will earn over the life of each customer. You can calculate that by multiplying the average purchase made by the number of purchases made per year by the number of years that a customer typically stays a customer.

I have set up a handy online calculator that can automate that process for you here. Lifetime Customer Value Calculator

After all, how will you be able to calculate return on investment if you don’t know what a customer is worth to you?
Who your ideal customer is.
Every niche has an ideal customer demographic. Sites like Quantcast.com can help you to identify all the critical information about your customers like their age, gender, average income, married, single etc.etc.

This kind of information lets you develop your advertising/site content by tailoring it to that exact demographic. Because your web site is an advertising medium, you can see how powerful it is to have this knowledge before planning the site.
Keyword research for your niche.
The content of your site must be developed around what the potential prospects for your market are searching the internet for and the only way to do that correctly is to identify those phrases and their search frequency prior to creating your site.

Google provides a basic free tool that can help you identify and build a keyword report here.

This is where the search engine optimization comes in. A systematic approach must be taken to post optimized content based on those phrases and then to leverage “Off Site” tactics to push that content up in the search rankings so that it becomes visible to those doing the searching.

So, armed with that information, you can go out and hire a professional to create your online marketing plan and build a web site with features that will be able to put the plan into action.

Here is a hot strategy to employ immediately after you begin loading targeted content to your site. Begin building back links to your content using the service at Empire Marketing here. http://www.empiremarketing.ca/blog

VinceCourtneyOnline is an internet marketing company that can help you develop you online marketing plan and the site that will eventually get you earning money from your online efforts.

Don’t Hire A Web Designer For Your Local Business

Admin — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 19:10:49 +0000

If you intend to market your business on the web, don’t hire a web designer!

What you need is an internet marketing company that can position your business online to attract the most targeted traffic and sales possible.

Your customers are looking for products and services related to your niche market that will fill their needs, wants and desires. That is the bottom line.

Here is how a typical transaction unfolds online:

Everything online begins with a search based on a word or phrase related to what the prospect is looking for.
Then, using Google as an example, a page of search results is compiled and presented to the prospect.
70% or more of the people landing on that page will choose the website that appears at the top of the results.
10 – 20% of the remaining people choose the second result leaving just 10 – 20% of all remaining traffic as a result of choosing another site listed on the first page. It is rare that anyone searches page two or beyond.
If the site succeeds in delivering what the prospect was searching for, the site owner has a good chance of turning that visitor into a paying customer.

So let’s evaluate that process in view of hiring a designer to create your site versus an internet marketer.

A designer will go into great detail creating a site that will be visually attractive to visitors when they arrive but mainly, they will make it attractive to you because, after all, you are the customer they are trying to please.
An internet marketer, on the other hand, will develop the site based on what products and services you offer and more importantly, what people are actually searching for when trying to find what you sell.
A designer may ask you to supply the keywords that you would like the site to be found for and then many times will paste those terms into the meta tags of every page on the site.
An internet marketer (as an expert) would inform you of the most searched for terms related to your products and services and ensure that there were pages developed precisely for each of those terms. Then would suggest a campaign of “Off Site” techniques that would ensure that your pages were ranked highly for those terms.
A designer would likely work under a contract that promised specific details about the site, it’s functionality, it’s navigation and it’s appearance. They would agree to a timeline to deliver said site and then leave you to make money from the site.
An internet marketer would present a marketing plan that would act as a roadmap to ensure the site was gaining a return on your investment to put it into simple terms.

There isn’t any magic bullet that will get your site with it’s products and services in front of a market that is hungry to buy from you and anyone that has been in business for more that a day knows that.

Internet marketing is a skill that can mean the difference between your success and failure.

Don’t make the mistake of hiring a designer when what you really need is an internet marketer!

Vince Courtney Online is an example of an internet marketing company that specializes in getting top rankings in search results and leveraging social media to market your business.

Web Design Mistakes

Admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 20:09:16 +0000

The primary concern for every business owner with regard to their web site should be how they are going to get a return on their investment.

Up to now, many business’, when deciding to take their business online with a website, went in search of a web designer. They should have been looking for an internet marketer first.

Most of the existing, so called, business websites don’t do any business at all. When asking business owners over the past 10 years why they had a website they almost unanimously answered that everyone else had one and they didn’t want to be left out.

No Marketing Plan

A business decision that is going to cost you thousands of dollars and constant time, effort and finances to maintain should be based on better reasoning than that.

Over the years, I have asked “Do you get any business from your web site?” The response was almost always one of two things. A flat out “I don’t know.” Or “Maybe but I can’t be sure.”

Some business owners are paying hundreds and even up to thousands of dollars a month to advertise online with companies like Yellow Pages online or Can Pages online.

When I asked them if they were getting any traffic and return on their investment there, the answers were much the same as before.

The problem with those companies is that they are directories. When they optimize their directory to show your business at the top of online search results for your industry, they are doing the same for every other business in your category.

The results that your prospect sees then are a list of companies to choose from and yours is lumped in with all of them which is far less than ideal. The last thing you want your advertising dollars doing is helping your competitors rank along side you at the top.

The answer to these problems is simple ….

You need your site to be ranked at the first page of the search engines above all of your competitors for every search term used to find your type of business. That way your business stands alone and is the most likely choice for your prospects.