Tag Archives: Big Dreams and Hard Work Blog

by | January 11, 2012 · 9:32 am

Social Media Becomes a Local Resource

By Gail Z. Martin

Google AdWords offers specialized services to target customers within a 20-mile radius from your business. AdWords permits you to add or exclude areas, and can integrate your targeted AdWords campaign with text messaging.

Facebook can serve as a showcase for your community activity. When you host an event that benefits a local charity or sponsor a local sporting team, promote before, during and after the event with updates, photos, Web video and testimonials. Encourage attendees to become part of an ongoing conversation. Many companies successfully use their Facebook page as an instantly updateable second Web site to let their community know what’s going on and to share information and updates.

Twitter has been used by local charities to mobilize volunteers for projects or to alert donors to immediate needs. Animal rescue groups and humane societies have used Twitter to match shelter animals with new homes. Schools have demonstrated Twitter’s ability to alert parents to unplanned closings or to request badly needed supplies or last-minute parent volunteers. Businesses tweet about their upcoming live entertainment, dinner specials, or daily discounts.

Twitter can also help you promote upcoming local events, share photos and video via links, and give your online press releases a broader readership as you tweet news and provide links to coverage you’ve received in local online publications. Your blog can also be an effective part of your online marketing program by sharing the story behind your achievements or by providing deeper insight into what’s happening with your business, which deals and events are coming up, or the news of your industry as it impacts local customers.

(Excerpted from the brand new book 30 Days to Online PR and Marketing Success: The 30 Day Results Guide to Making the Most of Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and Blogging to Grab Headlines and Get Clients by Gail Z. Martin)

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by | January 4, 2012 · 9:31 am

The World Wide Web is Also Local

By Gail Z. Martin

You can also use online PR and marketing to cultivate a local audience by making sure that the content you post has a very local focus. Make your blog, Web site and social media pages the go-to location for your friends, neighbors and customers to see local news first. Create contests that encourage your neighbors and local patrons to send in photos of themselves, their kids or their pets. You can bet that when their photo is posted they’ll shoot off an email to several hundred of their social media contacts and drive traffic to your site.

Capitalize on the local angle of your social media pages, blog and Web site by running your own online banner ads to highlight your company, products and services. Use Facebook ads that target readers within a geographic area or with locally-focused keywords. Don’t overlook paid advertising in online publications to reach local readers. Realize that you’re also reaching consumers at their laptops and on the go as they read the publication—and see your ad—via mobile devices.

Mobile advertising is a growing element of online marketing. Many local companies have gone from asking customers for their email address to asking for their mobile phone number—and permission to send coupons, event news and updates via text messages. This can work especially well for entertainment providers, such as nightclubs and theaters, that benefit from customers making a spur-of-the-moment decision on what to do and where to go based on mobile advertising. Likewise, letting your customers know about a special deal, an online-only coupon or a newly available hard-to-get product via text message can result in sales you’d otherwise miss. Sites like AdMob and MakeMeSocial specialize in helping companies add text messaging to their online marketing mix.

(Excerpted from the brand new book 30 Days to Online PR and Marketing Success: The 30 Day Results Guide to Making the Most of Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and Blogging to Grab Headlines and Get Clients by Gail Z. Martin)

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by | December 28, 2011 · 9:29 am

The Local Side of the World Wide Web

By Gail Z. Martin

So much as been made of the opportunities opened up by the Internet for companies to deal globally (or at least, outside their local market) that many companies don’t realize that the Web has a local side as well.

Your neighbors and customers, as well as prospects in your geographic area, go online as part of their everyday routines. They read online newspapers and magazines, search for information with Google, shop from online retail and wholesale stores, and download books, music and software. If your business isn’t part of the range of information they see when they go online, you’re missing out on sales.

Some business owners feel that by having a Web site they’ve done what’s necessary to attract their online neighbors. But most Web sites are fairly static. Few businesses update their Web sites with the frequency with which social media sites, online newspapers and magazines or blogs add new information. Internet search engines favor recency and relevancy. That means that information bubbles to the top of search results when it is very closely related to the search term (thanks to keywords) and recently posted. The twin factors of recency and relevancy often work against Web sites because most sites don’t change frequently enough.

Here’s where online PR and marketing can play a huge role in assuring that your business gets it share of attention from local customers.

Online PR about the local activities your company sponsors can help your business connect better with local customers. Does your company host special events such as educational seminars, workshops, or grand openings? Do you participate in community programs, such as sponsoring Little League or holding a charity food drive? Do you offer daily or weekly specials or have live entertainment? If so, these are all very locally-focused reasons to post online PR.

Many companies send press releases to their local offline newspaper or to local paper magazines. True, some of these publications also have online related sites and some of those local press releases may find their way onto the Internet. But many companies forget to target their news to online-only local publications, which means they are missing out in two ways: they miss readers of the online publication and they fail to derive benefit from the search engine hits on their name/topic.

(Excerpted from the brand new book 30 Days to Online PR and Marketing Success: The 30 Day Results Guide to Making the Most of Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and Blogging to Grab Headlines and Get Clients by Gail Z. Martin)

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