Build Your Brand - The New Reality

The internet and social networking has allowed the professional business owner the ability to market their business with little financial costs to them. The reality of social media such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace has changed the frontier from the wired world to the main world. Do you use the web, blogs and social media to help build your brand? Here are a seven must-haves that are worth the investment should you decide to expand your horizons in technology. 1. Have a CRM (contact relationship management program) for managing your customers. 2. Use a good email marketing program. I like Constant Contact but there are others out in the market. 3. Consider launching an e-commerce web site if you are in a business that sells product. 4. Review your search positions. Research from Cornell University showed that searchers spend the bulk of their time looking at the initial 10 results on the first page, with a sharp drop occurring after the 10th result. 5. Test banner ads and headlines, graphics against each other to see which performs best. 6. Continually refresh or update your blog, Twitter and any social media that touches a prospect. My personal goal is three entries a week on each of my technology related media and I know that is probably not enough. 7. Finally if you are using email marketing, make sure your message is well thought out and offers an appealing incentive and a call to action or next step. By using today’s technology tools you add more to your little bag of tricks at little cost to your bottom line. What do you have to lose?