How to Extend Your Reach

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Business owners may be under the delusion that they should only advertise or market their business with one form of media. Perhaps you advertise your company in your local newspaper. You have a basic website and Twitter account set up. But the more avenues you use, the wider the reach to your audience.

What are some different methods to advertise or market your business? Wading through the options can take some time. Most businesses have a website but you’d be surprised at how many don’t. With today’s tech savvy shoppers, if you’re not online, you’re likely not going to get a visit.

Today, a savvy shopper will do their research before deciding if your business is worth a visit. They’ll check Yelp and Google Reviews to see your rating. They’ll visit your business’s website to see the range of services and products you provide. Can they order products online? How about ordering services? Can they order a meal online for takeout? If you run a restaurant, the menu should be posted online.

Customer testimonials posted to your website are a great way to advertise. Reading favorable reviews can draw someone to your business. You can place comment cards on your counter and offer a prize draw at the end of the month, to people who filled out the comments form.

Many small business owners refuse to use social media, claiming it’s a waste of time. But if you’re a business owner, and you ignore the value of social media, you’re missing out on a whole different consumer market. There’s thousands of social media sites, but Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google +, and Tumblr are holding steady for being the most popular.

Each social media site draws their own niche crowd. Social media can be used to promote your business. Once you’re set up, accounts should be updated daily. If you have coupons or specials, they can be posted online. If you have a shopping club card, you could talk about it. You may want to post photos of merchandise. Social media accounts don’t need to constantly promote your business. You can provide some fun articles and photos here too. For example, if you run a catering company, you could have a blog with party ideas. That way you’re not tiring your audience with constant chatter about coming in for a visit.

Video killed the radio star may be true, but podcasting is in, particularly with the younger crowd. Listening to radio and audio over the net has been steadily growing. There are many popular podcasts to listen to. And, advertising on a podcast is one of the options to advertise your business. It can be a whole lot cheaper than advertising on your local radio station too. So, give this a consideration.

Large format visual display billboards are often overlooked by small business owners. They are a highly effective way to reach that part of your audience who doesn’t have time to be online. They’ll effectively advertise your business on billboards near popular transit flows.

Television ads don’t have to be expensive. Most cities have a local cable channel where they run local programming. You can have an affordable 30 second spot and your message will directly reach your target market.

You can see that there are several different advertising and marketing models for you to choose from. Please contact Direct West Media Group Inc. and they’ll help you organize the best marketing plan for your business.

How Can Retargeting Work for You?

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One of the mysteries of website marketing is website retargeting. Likely not too many new website owners will understand what it is, or how it works. It’s a highly effective marketing tool, used by many websites to gain a higher conversion rate for their online businesses.

A major issue for most websites is the conversion rate. Can you interest your customers enough to have them take action on your website? If you own an online store, a higher conversion rate can be extremely important. The higher the rate, the more sales you’ll have.

Depending on your type of business, a conversion may not necessarily be related to ordering one of your products. A business may wish to encourage potential customers to email a question to them. Or, as a business, you may have an email sign up form, offering to send them a newsletter once a week. As you keep track of statistics, it’s important to compare the number of visitors to your actual conversion rate. If 2% of your website visitors clicked on your contact form to receive your newsletter, than that’s a 2% conversion rate.

Depending on the type of website you have, conversion rates may be more important for some. For example, if you have an online store, and you depend solely on the income from that store, you need to not only bring buyers to your site, but also encourage them to make purchases, through attractive photographs and descriptions on your site.

This is where retargeting comes in handy. Let’s say that last week you had 200 visitors to your online web shop. Of those, only 50 made a purchase. The other 150 browsed your goods, but then left your site after a few minutes. You’re not really certain why they had a look around and left. Perhaps they didn’t like what they saw, or didn’t find what they were looking for. Maybe, like most of us, they just didn’t have the time to spend looking around.

Most business owners would think that’s it, those customers are permanently gone. Of those 150 perhaps a few may return and make purchases when it’s more convenient to them.

With the use of retargeting, you can reach those customers who didn’t convert immediately.

The technology is actually quite simple. Much like most of the web, cookies are utilized by your site. A little Javascript code is anonymously used that follows your audience around the web.

You may have noticed this before, when you’ve visited one website, then you leave. Later you see their ads all over the place. What a popular business, you think to yourself! But there is obviously a little trick that websites do to achieve this.

A cookie is placed on your company website. When a customer visits, a cookie is placed onto their computer. Cookies are used by virtually most larger websites today, especially any with shopping cart applications.

When your customer is browsing the web later, this cookie will let each of their visited websites know that the website should show a particular ad. This results in your ads being shown only to the customers who have previously visited your website.

You can see how clever this technology is. If this is something that you feel would be beneficial to your own website business, please contact Direct West Media Group Inc. now. Their marketing specialists have the expertise and knowledge to help your business grow.

Finding Your Beacon Through the Fog

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You’ve done your research and know there’s a market for your business. It can take time to build up your clientele. How exactly should you start your marketing plan? There are many different avenues, some more costly than others. How can you create a marketing plan while still having time to run your business?

There are almost as many advertising and marketing groups as there are businesses. Wading through your options can be much like a ship at sea trying to find the nearest lighthouse beacon. Some marketing groups are brighter than others. You can’t base quality on the amount of money they charge.

Contact Direct West Media Group for all your business and marketing needs. We provide a one-stop shop with our experienced Account Managers. Our staff have the expertise and knowledge that you require in order to successfully market your business. We’ll work within your budget and provide fair market pricing for our services. We’ll work with you to create a marketing plan that works for your business, not something that comes from any ship’s hold. Each type of business needs an individualized marketing plan.

If you’ve contacted the busiest ad agencies only to find that they don’t return your calls, it’s time to find someone who genuinely cares about your business. Direct West Media Group’s account managers will develop a business relationship with you. They’ll be available to you during normal business hours should you have any questions. No question is too big or small. Please ask away!

As a business owner you don’t have time to spend updating online social media or obtaining printing quotes. Even setting up social media accounts can take some time. There’s pitfalls to each. Did you know that Twitter will suspend your account if you do too many Follows in one day? Did you know that you can’t sign up on Linkedin as a business, that it has to be under the owner’s name? There are so many little rules, and you don’t want to be shut out of your social media account before you’ve even gotten started. Finding the right printer for your business marketing tools can be tricky too. Some printers only make signs, some only make stationery. If you’re wanting to publish a small informative brochure it can be tricky finding an excellent printer who’ll provide you with great service.

With Direct West Media Group, you can find out how to make your business stand out in the crowd. We provide a variety of business services, from enhancing brand awareness and recognition to advertising and marketing services. We’ll help you increase sales and find the ideal clientele.

A new business owner likely doesn’t have the time or expertise to handle their own direct marketing and advertising. Don’t push it off to the side, leaving your business sinking. Hire an expert to help you out, so you can meet your business goals tomorrow.

While not start by visiting the Direct West Media Group’s Main page and fill out our easy online form. Get started on your way to fulfilling the dreams of your new business startup. Direct West Media Group will help you find your way through the fog!

Our next blog post will talk about why you need to hire Direct West Media Group Inc. NOW!