Make Marketing Happen

Process documentation may sound less than thrilling, but its potential for creating an incredibly how-to file that can be used for internal purposes and marketing is off the charts. The basic issue is that you're just not writing down how things are done at your business.  Well, Charley and Mike want to fix that in this week's Make Marketing Happen podcast!

Attaching your message to a piece of breaking news can be a daunting idea for small business owners.  They fret over the possibility for negative backlash, which prevents them from being helpful.  Being paralyzed by fear means you don't reach the people who need the information you have.  You're not doing yourself any good, and you're certainly not helping members of your community. Learn from Charley and Mike how to ethically and effectively use breaking news in your business to generate content and leads!

Skype.  Google Hangouts.  GoToMeeting.  These are all tools that you should be looking at for your small business - and they all fall in the realm of video conferencing.  Whether you need a better way to communicate with remote employees or the ability to have a "face-to-face" with clients over longer distances, video conferencing can scratch that itch. So listen in as Charley and Mike go over how to make the most of video conferencing in your small business.

In a topic near and dear to Charley's and Mike's hearts, the guys this week are tackling some more of the marketing vultures out there while highlighting best practices that you should be looking out for when making decisions on where to spend your next marketing dollars!

Looking for gifts and promotional items for your small business to giveaway to prospects and customers?  Do away with giving away pens and coupons.  Learn from Charley and Mike how to stand out as the truly gracious gift-giver in your community.

While you're wrapped up in your internet marketing, designing print ads, and writing great sales letters, don't forget about opportunities in your immediate community.  One of the best ways to maximize your local presence is through speaking engagements.  These can come about in many ways, but ultimately it is up to you to find these opportunities and then to make the most of them. Fortunately, Charley and Mike are going over speaking engagements and exactly what you can do to book them, promote them, and maximize the marketing chances in this week's episode of the Make Marketing Happen podcast!

Press releases are an underutilized form of marketing that can boost your search engine optimization, increase your level of authority, and improve your celebrity status.  Plus, you may be featured in the local and/or regional media. So, listen to this podcast right away if you want to make significant improvements to your online and offline marketing with this incredible tool!

There's one thing that is hard to reflect in your numbers and that is the happiness of your customers/clients/patients.  It's also an issue that is sometimes ignored by even the savviest business owners.  Yes, they want the experience to be a good overall but shooting for outright happiness is another matter entirely. The good news for small businesses is that they are usually nimble enough to make the changes needed to improve the happiness factor.  They can give the personal love and attention warranted to make lifetime customers out of irregular visitors. And if you really want to get good reviews and referrals, thinking of happiness is a great jumping off point, which is what Charley and Mike are delving into this week!

YouTube is an incredibly powerful tool for small business owners who want to compete in a crowded online marketplace.  It allows for search engine optimization that can outperform average articles and mild web pages.  Put together well enough, and they can drive significant traffic to your website. Unfortunately, most small business owners don't use the service well enough and instead post poorly shot videos with no consideration toward the text blocks they have available. Well, Charley and Mike are prepped to help all small business owners get on the right track with their YouTube videos!

So you've got a website.  Good!  (And if you don't, start making calls to get one - NOW)  Maybe your webmaster even told you about Google Analytics, but they're going to send you monthly reports so you don't have to worry your pretty little head about all that wild and crazy data.  Or you've got it and have been tinkering but too often have the same phrase running through your head: So what? Well, Charley and Mike are ready to get your primed to delve deeper into Google Analytics with our beginner's guide podcast! You'll learn about separating the different data pieces in Analytics, including demographics and incoming traffic.  Plus, you'll find out just how to apply the wealth of information you are about to unlock to improve your website starting today.