How to Be Successful at Social Media Marketing | Business.com

Social media has provided multiple platforms where businesses can brand, advertise, and ingratiate themselves with their audiences. A strong social media presence can strengthen your company’s reputation and visibility while offering a window into your competitors’ strategies and activities.

Today, social media marketing is a crucial element of any business’s marketing plan. We’ve created a step-by-step guide to help businesses develop an effective social media marketing strategy, including pitfalls to avoid and tips to ensure successful social media marketing campaigns.

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Marketing to Gen X | Lydia Mehit

gen_x_silhouetteMany business owners think that EVERYONE is their customer, so they create a coupon, find a monthly delivery system (a coupon magazine or coupon mailer) and hope for the best. But, understanding your target customer can give you insights into how to price, how to promote, how to utilize media and what special offers will appeal to them.

If you are not in business yet, look at the neighborhoods where you are thinking of locating your business. What is the average age and income of the people in the immediate one mile radius? Check out the three mile radius also. If you have a retail business, the majority of your customers will be local to those areas.

If your answer is Generation X, have you made them the target of your marketing dollars? Do you know how to make your message resonate with them?

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How to Create an Effective Business Marketing Plan | Business News Daily

A marketing plan may not be at the top of every new business owner’s to-do list, but it should be. While a business plan helps map the direction for your company, a marketing plan helps your company understand how to get there by detailing important steps on the road to creating customer relationships.

“The single most important thing for a small business to include in its marketing plan is a very clear understanding of its customers and its competitors,” said Robert Thomas, professor of marketing at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Though a marketing plan can be formal or informal, at a minimum it describes who your customers are, where they get information, and how you are going to reach them. Thomas said the development of a marketing plan requires four specific tasks:

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4 Steps to Creating a Killer Marketing Plan Today | Small Biz Trends

Marketing is one of the most critical components of your business’s success. You may have a fantastic product or service, but if customers are not aware it exists, there’s no point in continuing the line of work.

In order to make sure your product is exposed to your target customers, you need to develop a robust, killer marketing plan. Once you’ve spent time identifying the four Ps, start adding some elements and details to your strategy. Let’s look at the areas you should focus on when developing your marketing plan.

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Public Relations Tips and Tricks for Your Business | Inc.com

getty_483612403_44942Creating an efficient PR and marketing plan is a cornerstone to building up your organization’s success. Marketing and PR, unfortunately, sometimes can be costly, particularly if you’re running a lean operation and just starting out. Thankfully, there will include a few affordable PR and marketing tips and tricks which may offer your small business a cost-effective way to successfully increase sales and grow your consumer base.

You may have an excellent service or product, yet if nobody has knowledge of it, generating sales might be difficult. Effective public relations and marketing include proactive methods for you to spread the message to your market and attract potential customers and clients.

Marketing is about discovering methods of reaching your targeted audience–these potential customers and clients who possess an interest in and possible necessity for what you are selling. Public relations includes obtaining positive press and publicity in regard to your business concerning its most recent services, brands, and innovations.

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