Facebook Pages has an interactive course to get your started at:  http://www.learnfacebookpages.com/  So go ahead and follow along with Yvonne and Jeff from the Facebook Product Team and have some fun!

If you own a local small business, Yelp can be your friend or your worst enemy… depending on your reviews.  I use my yelp app on my mobile phone everywhere I go as did 66 million other folks in the 4^th quarter of 2011.   If someone is heading to your neck of the woods, chances are they will be checking your yelp reviews before pulling out their money.

What is Yelp?  Yelp is a guide that helps people find cool places to eat, shop, drink, relax and play, based on the informed opinions of a vibrant and active community of locals (and travelers) in the know.  38% of reviews are 5 stars – the top rating….people love to share the love.   

4 Easy Steps to Get Started on Yelp: 

• Take control of your listing – it takes less than five minutes to unlock your business account - and it’s free.   
• Complete your business info, add photos, update with announcements. 
• Respond to your reviews – the good, the bad, the ugly. 
• Place yelp badges on your website and a yelp sticker on your business front door. 

So what are you waiting for?  Yelp’s mission is to connect people with great local businesses – just what you want.   Download the app on your mobile device and go to yelp.com to unlock your business account….now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpvMjTz902k

You can take a look at the presentation from Facebook Power Hour.  You will not get the meat of the workshop, which is the live demonstration, but you will pick up some tips and get the checklist.  We are looking forward to more power hours and going to the intermediate and advanced level as well.

In the workshop, we ask this question: Where do you (a small business) spend your marketing dollars?   If you are working in an “old media” frame of mind, you’re spending your dollars on direct mail campaigns, yellow-page advertising, ineffective print advertising and static websites. If you’re working in a “new media” frame of mind, you’re spending your dollars on e-newsletters, dynamic websites with blogs, effective print advertising (integrating 2D or QR codes) facebook postings, tweets, and a YouTube channel.

Take a minute and print out the budget worksheet. Write down your current advertising outlets and what you think you’ve spent thus far in 2011 for each one. Then ask yourself, “What kind of results am I getting? How do I quantify my results?” For most of us, quantifying results through “old media” is quite difficult – it’s very hard to measure success. However, when you work with “new media”, you have tools available that will quickly show you who is paying attention to you, what they’re looking at that you’ve put in front of them, and how much mileage you’re getting from every dollar you spend.

After you have a fairly good idea of where you’re currently spending your marketing dollars, take a few minutes to think about the cost difference between “old media” and “new media”. Here’s an example of two different budgets – notice how the two compare, and how much more exposure the business on the right generates (and for significantly less money) simply by focusing on “new media” strategies.

Then, start thinking about ways you can capture more interest … and more business … by taking advantage of “new media” solutions like a dynamic website, with new, interesting and fresh content, an e-newsletter campaign, a social media campaign that includes Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and a very strategic plan for your Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

We’ve been talking a lot lately about New Media Marketing because we honestly believe that it is the most effective way for small businesses to find their niche, generate new customers and clients and ultimately increase their bottom line.  Take a moment to work with the New Media Checklist to see where you stand.

Because we feel that every business needs to create a “new media” plan, but we also know that it’s awfully hard to know where to start, we are offering a complimentary 1-hour consultation to help you determine where to begin, and what tools might be of the most benefit to you and your business.  E-mail julie@skagitmarketing.com or janet@writeology.net to schedule!

Here are the additional resources you asked for to learn more about New Media Marketing.

Facebook Help Pages 

Facebook Pages Guide

SEO Google Guide

Lastly, here is an example of how Julie was able to easily create content and re-purpose.

E-mail: director@laconnerchamber.com to register.  Free for La Conner Chamber Members or $15 for “potential” members.  1-hour workshop on November 14th from 8:30-9:30 am at the Wild Iris Meeting Room.

I’ve been having a lot of fun lately watching the squirrels in our yard scurry to and fro. They run up a tree, down a tree, along the fence, down the fence, leap from one branch to another, then back to the fence, then back to the tree. Then they chase a buddy squirrel around the tree, along the fence and back up the tree. Then they stop for 15 seconds to catch their breath (I’d be wheezing if I were a squirrel!) … then off they go again.

It’s an exhausting life being a squirrel. So much food to gather and hide; so little time before winter comes.

Watching the squirrels this morning got me to thinking about marketing. I know … it’s an oddly random way to get from point A (squirrels) to point B (marketing), but hear me out.

Even with all that scurrying around – with all that food-caching going on – I’ll bet you 99% of the squirrels in the world don’t remember where 99% of their nuts and seeds are, 20 minutes after they hide them. While there may be some sort of squirrel science involved here, to me it looks completely haphazard.

Which is how I got from squirrels to marketing. (Brains like mine tend toward random free-association.) So today’s post is about my theory of “squirrel marketing”.

If you’re scurrying around in your marketing efforts using a relatively haphazard plan (trying to figure out the best and most cost-effective ways to market your business, your product or your service) you’re not going to see the results you’re hoping for.

Squirrel marketing does not work.

Running up and down very tall trees all the time … with nothing more than a haphazard approach … will not only make you dizzy, it will always give you less than stellar results.

Here are two things you should do right now that will get the results you need to stay successful and profitable.

1. Say goodbye to shotgun advertising. Instead of the Yellow Page ad you buy every year that is completely haphazard in who it reaches, send out a monthly or quarterly email newsletter to the people who already know you, like you and trust you. Target your marketing to those people who are most likely to continue to buy from you, and who will happily tell their friends and family about you. The savings you’ll get from email marketing will easily leave you with more money for #2 … which is …
2. Say hello to being online – big time. Today, your website is likely your most important piece of marketing – and one that you can’t ignore any longer! If your site is more than 18 months old, you need to upgrade. You don’t necessarily need a whole new site, but you do need some new features and you definitely need fresh new content. The world is trying to find you online these days – and I’ll bet that they’re not finding you very easily. They also expect a whole lot more from your website. Is yours up to their expectations?

If you’re worried about generating new business by letting go of things like your Yellow Page ad, stay tuned – because that’s the next subject I’m going to cover. There are many ways of generating new business these days that are infinitely more effective and much less expensive.

Whatever your marketing plan looks like, make sure your plan is cohesive, focused and targeted, rather than haphazard and ineffective. No more squirrel marketing.

Today I was talking to a client about the struggles of trying to run a busy retail business, and yet still stay connected to the customers who keep her business afloat, but don’t come in every day (or week, or even month). She’s trying to post on her Facebook business page more regularly to stay in touch with everyone, but she’s having trouble thinking of things to post. Here is a list of 3 things that she can do right now to get started, and then 2 ideas to plan for down the road.

What’s new, right now, in your business?

1. Have you put your fall line(s) out? Tell us about them! Take pictures – show us how cool things are and invite us to come see what’s new. Fall clothes … especially … have yummy textures and patterns. Describe them for us.
2. If you have a new service, let us know why it’s perfect for us. Describe it, then add the important WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) piece.
3. Take pictures of your store, your storefront, the flowers in the box outside, your staff, or a particular product that you want to highlight. It’s summer produce season – do you sell a kitchen tool that makes slicing zucchini a breeze?

Create a plan – it will make it much easier!

1. Put a notepad by your register, or somewhere close to where your staff is. Ask your staff to jot down ideas for posts. Did you have an interesting conversation today that could be a fun post? Did someone give you a great tip? Did you hear a neat story about how one of your customers or clients used something they bought from you? It’s all about engaging folks so that they can get to know who you really are, and then giving them reasons to come see you again (and again, and again)!
2. Take advantage of buying cycles. Every successful business knows what their buying cycles look like – do you know yours? Who is buying what from you – and when are they buying it? Once you know that, create quick Facebook posts based on that idea. Think about my example above with the zucchini slicer. If you are a kitchen store and late summer/fall means your customers are in buying pots to process homemade salsa and food processors for pesto, tell them what’s new and why they need it. If you’re a hardware store and fall means yard cleanup, what garden tools do you have that should be in everyone’s garden shed?

Here’s a quick example for a women’s clothing store. Post a picture of your favorite fleece jacket and then a caption: ”Our fall line of luscious, super-soft and fuzzy fleece pullovers just arrived! The colors are fabulous and will give you that outdoorsy glow, even if you’re more of a sit-inside-by-the-fire sort of girl. Here’s a picture, but you really need to come in and feel the fabric.”

Engaging with your customers and clients doesn’t have to be a chore (although it’s easy to get into that mindset). Your posts can – and should – be short, interesting, and fun snippets of information that keep you top-of-mind with the people who already know you and like you.

Ready to post? Tell us what’s new and why we need it!

Want someone to take over the task of your e-newsletter, think Janet.  Want someone to add articles to your website or blog, think Janet.  Want someone to be your facebook/twitter voice, think Janet.  Want your business to not show up at the top of the google search page, think again.

I landed in Texas today.  Austin that is.  Guitars and baggage at the airport.  Sun shining and tex mex restaurants line the drive.  I find the Austin Convention Center (SXSW headquarters) no problem, score a parking spot and pick up my $1,025 badge to wear for the week (hoping nobody steals it right off my neck).  Creative thought landed me here with a home exchange, car exchange, and work exchange (for a badge exchange) all while being able to do my consulting work on the road. 

The best thing about the badge is free drinks, food and music.  After circling the convention center I land at the loftesque corporate office of uShip, inhale a couple plates of food (starving), grab a beer and rock out (with a small group of uShip employees and anyone else who was on the list to get in) with White Denim.   I meet Marshall who gives me a great tip for planning my music schedule: NPR’s  Austin 100 which includes the band he will be playing with:  Adam Arcuragi.   SXSW Music – Film – Interactive (MARKETING)… I think this is going to be a good week.