Effective marketing isn’t just about the tools you use, it’s knowing how to use them! You may have a website, a Facebook page and a Twitter profile but merely possessing them is not enough. In order for them to be effective marketing tools, they must be both active and relevant.

“Well that’s great, but what does that actually mean for me?” I’m thrilled you asked! I am going to be doing a series over the next few weeks that will break these concepts down across multiple media platforms and help you to implement them in your business.

Website Content

Marketing Tips

Let’s talk about websites! In this increasingly technological world, a website is an invaluable tool for growing your business. It is highly effective in that it offers large potential return on a relatively low-cost, and that’s always a plus.

So, how do you tap into that potential? The first step is content. Yes, you read that right, not traffic but content. It does you no good to have a ton of people coming to your site if what greets them is so off-putting that they click away in disgust. You want someone who visits your site to be intrigued, interested and above all, engaged.

This is achieved through a few simple steps:

• Break Up Your Text – Even novelists know that nothing is more intimidating to a reader than a wall of text. Break your passages down into short paragraphs and maybe use a graphic or two. Don’t be afraid to increase font size a bit. Don’t make your reader squint! The goal is to reduce that impenetrable wall into easily handled bricks!
• Write How You Speak - You’re probably not Earnest Hemingway, and that’s okay; nobody expects you to be. That doesn’t mean you should toss spelling and grammar out the proverbial window, but you don’t have to be formal either. Write to your customer as you would speak to them. Be conversational.
• Keep it Fresh - You don’t have to change all the text and photos on your site constantly. Who has that kind of time? But you do want to keep your customers informed of the new and exciting things happening in your business! Did you get a new product? Do some show and tell! Do you have a gallery of your work? Continue reading “Marketing Tip of the Week – Website Marketing (Part 1)” »

It’s so important when you own a business that you build up your brand. Why? When people see your business, they should recognize it. That’s what’s going to get them making visits to your store. How do you come about building up your brand though? This week’s marketing tip will focus on how you can  build up your brand and get recognized.

Reputation - Before people buy, they research. Therefore, it’s important to have a good reputation. People go online, talk with their friends and read to find out the best of the best. Don’t you want to be in that category?

Be Visible - Yes, having a great reputation is good, but, it doesn’t do any good if you’re not visible to your target market. Research where you can reach your target market.

Increase your visibility with great content, partnering with local businesses around your community and social media. These three ways are great ways to get noticed.

It’s important to build a great brand. And two key ways to do this is with a great reputation and being visible to your customers. Of course, once they find your company, Continue reading “Marketing Tip of the Week – Building Your Brand” »

There are various marketing tactics you stick with for your business. However, do you focus on local marketing enough within your strategy? It’s so important to get the word out to your target market that surrounds you. FGmarket’s weekly marketing tip is going to focus on local marketing and how you can better implement it within your business.

First things first, how do consumers search for your business? How do they even find you? The days of searching through the phone books are somewhat passed, and people now search for services online. Google is definitely the place to be found. So, have you claimed your Google Places yet? It’s important you make sure your information is accurate so potential clients can find you properly. People do all their research online, so it’s important your business information is correct.

Next. spread the word on other local directories. Yahoo and Bing have their own platforms as well. You can also go on Yellowpages, InsiderPages or Local.com. These websites truly have many visitors each month, so they are all good places to be found.

Also, featuring reviews on these websites doesn’t hurt either. Ask your loyal customers to place reviews on local directories. You can also advertise it on your business cards or social media pages. Don’t forget, if you receive any bad reviews, it’s always nice to respond. This shows potential consumers you’re professional and only want Continue reading “Marketing Tip of the Week – Local Marketing” »

Now is a great time to assess your business. Analyzing your sales, your business role in your industry and inventory of all things are a great place to start. It’s important to size up your business from time to time to know exactly where you stand and to understand it completely. So, this week’s marketing tip will focus on taking stock of your business.

Taking Stock of Your Products

First, analyze your sales. Are you making profit and do your products align? It’s also a great time to take a look at what you didn’t sell. You’ll understand what’s working in your store as well as what’s not. Do you have products that are selling very well or noticing new trends? Or, have you noticed a decline in some of your products? Now is the time to analyze sales and products. This will help increase your revenue.

Taking Stock of YOU

It’s also a great time to understand your role in your business. Your business may have grown since last year and it may be hard to juggle all the responsibilities. Maybe it’s time to delegate out some of those responsibilities. You’ll be more successful focusing on what you love to do. You may be running around taking care of marketing, accounting, social media, customer service and various other tasks. Start delegating priorities or even hire new employees. Once you’re free of those tasks, you can really focus on what you love to do, which will truly help your business grow even more.

So, analyze your business and see what you need to eliminate, add or delegate out. Take a look at your business and understand what’s going on throughout it’s entirety. Continue reading “Marketing Tip of the Week – Taking Stock” »

One of your main priorities for your business is marketing your store so you can attract new customers. It’s important that you get new faces into your door so you can increase sales, as well as actually growing your business. So, this week’s marketing tip will focus on ways to attract new clients.

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   Marketing Tip
   Who is your target market - Who are you even trying to target? Which target market and you marketing your business to?
2. Understand what your customers want - They key to attracting new customers is actually understanding them. What products best suit your target market and what’s the best way to market to them? Answer these questions to understand them. Once you do, you can start attracting new consumers.
3. Serve them up what they want - Once you completely understand what they want, you know how to achieve their desires. Package your services or products to them that will achieve the end result they are wanting. You know them, understand what they want, so now it’s time to figure out how to deliver them just that.
4. Create an offer they can’t refuse - You’ve offered them exactly what they’re wanting, they can’t refuse. It’s all about understanding your customers and knowing what they want.
5. Now, go find them - So, you’ve defined your target market, understood what they want, figured out the end result and how to achieve that, now it’s time to go find them. Where can you market your store so they’ll see? What publications do they read, television stations or are they more prone to be reached through the radio? You know this, since you understand them. Just make sure you market to them where they can be reached.

Attracting new clients is simple, you just have to understand them. Knowing what they like, dislike and where they can be reached is essential. Once you know this, Continue reading “Marketing Tip of the Week – Attracting New Clients” »

Spring is here! Now is the time to refresh your store. Clean up and revamp your marketing tactics. If you made New Year’s resolutions, now is the time to figure out whether they’re working or not, as well as evaluating your store. So, in honor of spring, FGmarket’s marketing tip will focus on tidying up for your store for the new season.

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  Marketing Tip
  Get Rid of the Old - Look at ALL your materials. Is anything old or outdated? If so, get rid of it. However, if you see some that could be of use later, save it and re-purpose it. You may find items have an old phone number, logo or even address. Now is the time to toss it out.
• Update Your Social Presence - Update cover photos, profile pictures, new store hours and store information. It doesn’t hurt to go through your Tweets or posts to see what grabbed your customer’s attention. You can start incorporating the ones that worked more into your routine.
• All About Timing - Timing is everything right? Pull out your marketing calendar and see what you have or haven’t got planned. How are things spaced out, too close or too far apart? Do you have marketing campaigns for holidays and are you promoting them enough beforehand? It’s all about timing and reaching your customers at the right time.
• Check Out Your Search Results - How are you ranking? If you haven’t researched or checked out how you’re ranking in a while, now might be the time. Google is always changing up on how they rank pages. It’s your job to stay up-to-date on all this and make sure your website is adjusted accordingly.
• Time for an Update? - Is it time to update your brochures, business cards, website or store? Now is the time to do it. Do you feel as if your look is outdated Continue reading “Marketing Tip of the Week – Spring Cleaning” »

How can you better your business? There are many ways you can try, but the best is to get feedback from your customers. Your customers know first hand what they would like to see from you. How do you get that feedback though? FGmarket’s marketing tip will focus on how you can ask for the information to better your store.

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   Marketing Tip
   Ask Them - The easiest way to get feedback is to just ask them. What would they like to see in your store or what services would they like? They’ll give you their honest opinion and it may help better your store.
2. Your Own Customer - Rate your own business. Act like you’re visiting any other store and rate yourself. Yes, it’s hard to critique your own business, but it works if you look at it from a non-bias set of eyes. If you see things you don’t like, you know you must change it.
3. Questionnaires & Surveys – Ask customers to fill out surveys and questionnaires when they check out or even mail it out to them. Having them put it in writing is a great way to learn about your business. Sometimes when you ask, they may feel intimidated and not want to tell you the truth at the risk of hurting feelings or making someone angry. Tell them you want their ideas so you can offer them the best that you can.
4. Your Staff - Ask your staff. They work with your customers everyday, so they know first hand. What have they heard from your customers or problems that are Continue reading “Marketing Tip of the Week – Getting Feedback” »

Don’t think of social media as a platform to help boost your sales. There’s more to it. Your customer service should truly be active within social media. Why? Social media is more than just a marketing message, it’s about brand management as well. This week’s marketing tip will focus on how you can use social media for more than just spreading your message.

Customer service is what helps build a business and a good reputation. Social media is a great place for brand defence, word of mouth marketing, and is a great place to handle complaints. Here are a few examples on how social media can help besides spreading a marketing message:

• A customer has a complaint about a product or the service they received and posted this on Twitter or Facebook. This is seen by all of their followers or friends. You see their complaint and are able to respond with an apology and are able to contact them directly to work out any issues they may have. You are able to fix the problem and you have a satisfied customer, which then Tweets or updates their status on how they are ecstatic with the customer service they received from your company. Again, their followers or friends will see this update and see exactly how your company handles business.

Customers are now bypassing marketing messages and are looking for reviews and recommendations from their peers. They trust their friends more so than marketing Continue reading “Marketing Tip of the Week – Social Media = Improved Customer Service” »

Your store is supplied with lots of inventory. Are you managing it properly to improve cash flow? Inventory has the tendency to just sit there, especially if it’s not in season or if you aren’t efficiently getting it out to the floor for customers to see. This week’s marketing tip will focus on how you can manage inventory properly while gaining profit.

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  Marketing Tip
  Have you heard of the 80/20 rule? It states that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your inventory. The items that are on trend drive your sales. The issue with this rule is the 80% that’s only generating 20% of your sales. How can you change this? Do you notice that you steadily add products to your previous inventory, which adds to SKU counts and inventory levels, without sales. This can leave your customers with way too much variety that they may become overwhelmed. To resolve this issue, stay focused to your mission for your customers and store. You can’t be everything to all your customers and more. Pick your target market and stick with it.
• Always keep your cash flow in mind, not your sales. Do you think if you buy more you’ll sell more? That’s not the case at all. You have no way of predicting what will sell and what won’t. Think of if this way. You bought enough inventory to never run out during this current season. Then what do you do after the seasons over after you’ve paid your invoice and sold the last of what you could through sales? You won’t end up making much or any profit at all. Again, stay focused. Only purchase what needs to be and you can skip out on last season’s inventory and markdowns.
• Don’t let your inventory go dead. All products have a certain lifestyle. So, if you end up with leftover product at the end of the season, don’t forget to make Continue reading “Marketing Tip of the Week – Managing Inventory” »