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irce trade show entrance

The rules of a successful trade show

Why is important to have a successful trade show?

Trade shows can be a great tool to develop customer relationships and yes, we are an online advertising agency and we are telling you that you should do it.

You can reach thousand of customers online and sell hundreds of thousands of dollars, but trade shows will always be there making sure that you can connect with key industry players, manufacturers and buyers in a way that only a trade show will do, not only because they are there but because they go there looking for the same reason as you, to share an experience and to put your name out there.
This is the reason why it’s so important that you follow a series of easy but often ignored rules:

1- they don’t care who you are only what you do.

This is probably the mos important thing to understand on any type of advertising, show your customer what you do, yes your brand is important but you need to transmit a clear message until your brand is big enough to speak for itself, so if you manufacture donuts that’s what you need to put there.

2- On 80% of the cases they are there to find a solution for a  problem 

Again like we told you on number one keep your message clear so when they pass by they’ll se it and think oh I need a donuts manufacturer.

3- Stop traffic

People will pass super fast in front of your booth so have something that drives attention outside or on the edges of your booth, it could be something non related to your business, or a prototype or something just make them stop so your sales guys can jump on them.

4- Don’t offer a product offer a solution

Stop trying to sell something, listen to the customer and try to find a solution for his problem, even if you don’t offer it they won’t forget you.

5- Make it memorable

Yes everybody uses a pen, but how many times have you stop to read the advertising on it?, don’t just give away useless stuff give away things with value, things that the’ll keep on their desks or their houses and please add what you do to the logo don’t just put the logo there.
Simple but effective rules like those will keep yo’r booth busy and will make a successful trade show.

Conversational Marketing

Create Conversations

Don’t call it engagement, it’s just a conversation.

Thanks to social media now we are connected around the world. We are able to shrink distances and be more informed.

Social media keeps changing constantly. People used to post only photos and brands only ads, but today social media platforms had become an awesome tool to reach your customer in their own space, making you able to boost your brand awareness and increase your revenue. However, you have to evolve at the same pace as they do or you will stay behind.

This means that you have to use every single update on your social channel, but use it actively, be constant and creative.

This is the case of “LIVE VIDEO” which will be able to increase 6X your communications and feedback with your audience. Don’t worry if you haven’t used it yet, here are some tips:

  • Start now, you don’t have to be perfect or own an expensive equipment, your cell phone will do a good job.
  • Have a plan or a topic related to your business and to be covered during your live video.
  • Let your audience know in advance when you’re going to be live and what you will talk about.
  •  Good light and sound are key, so be in front of a window and use your mic (the ones from you earplugs will work).
  • If you’ll be using any prop or you’ll be doing a tutorial, have everything ready in advance, this way you don’t have to be out of the camera.
  • Show the essence of your business, that means who you are? what do you do? and how you do it?.
  • Be yourself and genuine.

Remember that your audience wants to see the real person behind that business. They are looking for someone to relate to and someone to trust.

Why is this important to your business?

I have simple answers:

  1. People buy from whom they trust and their experiences.
  2. They want to be able to reach and talk about the product and how it can be used.
  3. They are looking for a solution to problems.

Live video is just important because people won’t buy if they don’t see how it works or it looks. When you are capable to show them your product in real life, using it and solving a simple problem with them you are making connections. You are at the first step of creating conversations about it.

Conversational marketing is part of our daily routine but it will be also the future of businesses, without that communication with costumers your sales might get compromised.

Social media is the best way to make this happen, so create live experiences, share value, communicate, care and help your audience. Be trustworthy.

 

Change your point of view and embrace the future.

 

 

 

 

Recent Upgrades on Facebook and Instagram

New Features for Facebook and Instagram

Have you heard?

Social Media is about to change everything again!!!

May has brought many changes to social media platforms, upgrades and integrations have been announced by Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, on different platforms own by Facebook. Is yet to be seen how all these changes will affect the rest of the social media competition and how it will impact marketing efforts.

Game changer for sure!!!

Let’s dig deep into some of then big announcements:

  1. Instagram explore and search page will get redesign. It will show not only what you seem to like but also you’ll be able to create channels about what you really want to see more often. This feature will give you more control over what will recommends.
  2. If you are a fan of live video, but don’t like be public all the time, a solution is on it’s way. Private video calls  with one or more people. This will be really helpful when you use your IG for business and you’re trying to coach a small group. On your direct messages a new icon will allow you to do it soon.
  3. Augmented reality it’s getting even real nowadays. Instagram will dive deep into this feature, not only with face filters, but also with the creation of them and the availability of tryin new products without even going to the store. Really futuristic right?
  4. Comment filters are ready to get rid of bullying on Instagram. Sounds great, however it will be done by machine learning technology, so we will se how it goes and how it will affect the users.
  5. Data privacy, a must to avoid any past misunderstanding. You will be able to decide if you want others to keep track of your data.
  6.  Great integrations with Spotify and GoPro to share directly into stories from the app. Sharing a link to listen or see the whole action.

Lot of changes in the air of Social Media, but we won’t be able to test them until they are out and about. Stay on the lookup for any new icons and be ready to use them.

Don’t worry changes are good even if you don’t like them, they will make everything more challenging but better.

showing the benefits of google analytics

What’s the big deal about of Google analytics?

Google analytics is probably the most useful tool that you can install on your website, statistics, behavior, bounce rates and so much more, did I also mention that is free?

Surprisingly we see a lot of stores without the tool, since Google analytics only starts gathering data once it’s installed all the data prior to the installation will not be there, as you can imagine this means that you’ll need to wait at least one month to have reliable data to evaluate your customer behavior.

So stop wasting data, go to Google analytics, sign in, create an account and install the code on your website (we’ll upload a tutorial to our youtube channel before monday make sure to subscribe)

It will provide you with statistics that go from your user location to your user age and sex, amount of visits, new vs repeated customers and many many more.

Let’s review some of our favorites.

1- User location

google analytics geo location

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most interesting and addictive of all, it shows you where are your users located from the country down to the city, not only works to find out where are your customers coming from but also to identify threats and locate attackers.

2- Adquisition

google analytics adquisition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where are your customers coming from, is that influencer working? are your ads driving traffic? all these answers are ready for you there everything that enters your site and where they came from gets recorded there.

3- Behavior Flow

google analytics behavior flow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where they landed? where they went after that? all your customer’s interactions are recorded there, this is extremely useful, it will show you if they like a page, if they don’t this is an extremely powerful tool  to diagnose customer behavior.

And these are only a few tools, Analytics is full of them and they are all free.

Now next time you get a website done or an online store ask your developer or advertising agency to install google analytics from day one.

If you have any questions fell free to contact us.

How to attract more customers online

The truth: It’s all about the money…

You’ll see what I mean.

 

In this digital era it seems obvious that you must have a business online, right?, So you make it happen , hopping for the best.

Doing the homework.

You found the best web developer, a great designer, the perfect package, an awesome product and you even set up your social media for the business. You have done everything that you could imagine, but not a single customer, not even a click in a product. Nothing at all.

Then it’s all about frustration, not knowing what to do and lot of complaints. You might identified yourself with this scenario. And I feel you, I know it I have been there too.

 

Why?

Usually people think that it will be like blowing a candle, but it isn’t. Customers won’t show up from nowhere (that will be a dream come true). You will have to do digital marketing, know your target, select your niche and even create an avatar of the perfect customer (which at the beginning it’s awkward, but trust me, it works).

There are several things that you must do to make your online business succeed. No long ago it was super easy to grow organically, but nowadays its not that simple.

Like in a battlefield you must need a plan, a what to do in case of….

A plan to solve problems with the right tools.

In this case you need to have customers checking your store and shopping from it, otherwise there is no point to have your store open, but how you can get them… You must pay, but not a fortune.

All the changes in every social media platform has made very difficult to grow a business without the knowledge  of how to do it right. I could give you different strategies like hiring an influencer, way to maximize your SEO, how to host a giveaway, how to shipshape every social media profile or how to boost your Youtube channel to grow your business. There are different tools out there to help your business, however is important to know how to do it right. Lets start with the easy ones.

How to get more customers online and not get broke?

  • Google display, this will show your logo, products or images in web pages and blogs related to your business. Not that expensive and generate lots of clicks. It’s kind of broad, but you’ll show up where you need to.
  • Youtube ads, great for brand awareness and good price, don’t be shy video will get your business to the next level.
  • Google shopping, you’ll be more specific, but first you need to be known (brand recognition), otherwise it won’t work because customer don’t buy from brands they never heard of.
  • Facebook and Instagram adds, extremely targeted, but the more targeted they get the more expensive they are.

You want to be sure that your business is out the in front of your audience, you need it to grow, so you have to invest. Do not spend a fortune and try to be sure that you are targeting your niche. Remember to study your analytics too.

If you need an advice to see what you can do with online store contact us for a complimentary review.

 

The Power of Instagram Stories for Business

Unlock the power

Social media has become a powerful tool in any digital marketing strategy. As social media platforms are improving constantly, new business applications are being discovered for them.

That is the case of Instagram, this ever-growing platform with more than 800 million monthly users, introduced “Stories” in 2016. By the en d of 2017 statistics showed 300 million daily active users of Instagram Stories.

IG Stories are basically a compound of photos or 15-seconds videos, that only last 24 hours, but now thanks to a new feature called “highlights” you can save them and leave them available.

In case that you can’t see a opportunity here, let me tell you some more. About 33%of most popular stories come from businesses and more than 20% of the stories made by a business end up int a direct message.

Lets go deeper

Why you should be using IG Stories for your business?

  1. It’s not over crowded at the moment.
  2. Increase visibility and engagement.
  3. Branding.
  4. Get discovered.
  5. Humanize your brand.
  6. Drive traffic to your online store.
  7. Learn about your audience with the polls feature.
  8. Increase followers and leads.
  9. Introduce call to actions.
  10. Fun part of your business.

All the numbers and reasons might sound cool, but now you are asking to yourself “How is it possible to take advantage of this feature in my business?, How can I make it work?” or just saying ” No way Jose, this is not for my business”.

But wait there is a way and I will show you the light…

  • Find a theme of the day and make a story about it.
  • It has to be fun, entertaining and with a good chunk of valuable information.
  • DO NOT SELL on Instagram Stories, but drive traffic to your online store.
  • Plan ahead.
  • Learn about your all the tools within IG stories, that way you will make it fun.
  • Include relevant hashtag and geotag.
  • Use the link feature to drive traffic (only if you have +10k followers), another way is by inviting them to click the link in your bio.

Great ideas for your IG Stories

This will help you get inspired for your next stories, but remember it needs to be as casual as possible and if you can use video instead of photos, that will be a plus.

Take your audience with you in a “day in business life” show them how everything works, introduce your business partners, take your audience special meeting or especial events.

Mini tutorials, a great way to show how your product works and best practices.

Tease with behind the scenes or how it’s made.

Celebrate important dates, achievements in your business or great things happening in your niche market.

This is just a start, now you have to get creative! Now is your turn to give Instagram Stories a try and transform it into a great channel for your brand.

 

I know it’s hard to keep up with all the social media changes and also run a business. However, I hope this information can make it a bit easier. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us, we are more than happy to help.

Have fun and see you next time. 🙂

If yo need any help or have any question drop us you info down here

 

Managing bad comments or bad reviews

How to manage a bad comment or a bad review on social media platforms?

A bad comment is bad for business they say. Not all the time!

When you do business online any kind of business from being a travel blogger, mommy blogger, crafty entrepreneur to a well known brand with lot of products or services, it’s fact to come into contact with different people.

The beauty of social media platforms is that they’re open to the world and you get exposure.  Exposure comes with a price. Your product, service or content does not have to be loved by everyone.

There is not solution to this matter and as one of my favorite singers says “Hater will hate”, that’s their job! But think about this, a bad comment is a comment after all. What you should do is learn how to manage it. Good things comes after bad ones, remember that.

Let me share some tips that will help you:

  1. Do not panic, this is so important.
  2. Read carefully, because you need to understand an emotion and what it’s trying say. Maybe you could get better as a result of this comment.
  3. Let everyone know that you’re open for any comment and wiling to fix if it is in your hands.
  4. Never delete a bad comment, the best way is to address them in a good way. However, those inappropriate ones might be better to remove them.
  5. Put yourself into their shoes and give an answer that will help to calm down the fire, even if it wasn’t your fault.
  6. Time sensitive, the key here is to monitor constantly, do not delay your response. Don’t let it go until is settle and keep monitoring.
  7. Fighting is never a solution, even if you know you’re right. Keep calm you, got this!
  8. Keep track of bad comments, because you’ll be able to give follow up to them and even know if this is a real problem in your business.

The digital world comes with greatness but also with nightmares. You spend time and effort to reach that greatness, but you have to master those nightmares too.

 

Please you you like it just comment and don’t forget to follow us where ever we go 😉

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social media calendar

Social Media Content Plan

Social Media Content Plan

Why you need a social media content plan?

Like everything in life, when you set a goal you’ll also choose a path that will help you achieve it.

A series of steps to keep your ideas organized, being able to monitor any outcome and knowing what to do when something goes wrong.

If a plan is being set, then is easier to make arrangements and adjustments depending on your customers behavior. With a plan you’ll be able to know what resources are need it to make it happen. It’ll keep your business focused on important strategies while saving time.

How to make a content plan?

  • Set goals for the month, be realistic on what you expect.
  • Depending on your goals, make a list of content to publish, include photo to post and don’t forget hashtags.
  • Set ups a photoshoot day for your monthly content if need it. You own photos will produce more engagement, so get creative.
  • Determine responsibilities. What to do?, who’ll do it?, how? and when?.
  • Keep in mind important dates during the month. This way you’ll avoid awkward posts.
  • Every social media channel is a different environment. Review each content before you post.
  • Set a spread sheet with your content, photo, hashtag, date to publish and responsible. this way it will be easy to monitor and keep track of results.
  • Last but not least, keep in mind your audience and what they expect from you.

Having a content plan will help you work better while creating great content for your audience.

Out of ideas? Here is a whole month of them, but don’t forget the tips above:

This is February with extra days to help you out.


Lot of info to process… I know, but if you need extra help we are all ears, contact us!

Remember there are other posts that can give you the answer to your question, check them out.

Good Luck!!!

 

 

 

Creating Social Media Success

The Promise

Who doesn’t want to be a Social Media celebrity, with thousands of followers willing to buy anything that promote?, sounds like fantasy!

Social media success does not happen overnight, it takes time and extraordinary efforts.

As a matter of fact you will need to learn, understand and anticipate different aspects of your audience depending on the social media platform.

 

Understand The Basics

Define your ideal customer

When you don’t know who you’re talking to, your message gets diluted in the crowd. In other other words, all your time and money will be wasted.

This is when the use of an avatar is a great idea, because you’ll shape it into your buyers persona.

This character will be the perfect customer and the perfect fit for your products or services. But there is a catch!

You must know everything about it and I mean EVERYTHING.

Give shape to this magical person, get creative and be specific. Here are some questions that might help you create the most important person in your business.

  • Name it, you have to do it, (Lets use Frank for example).
  • Where does Frank lives?
  • Age?
  • Marital status?
  • Any kids? How many?
  • What does he do for living?
  • Income $$$?
  • Hobbies?
  • Style?
  • When does he goes on line?
  • What was his last search?
  • Where does Frank shop, eat, party, relax, exercise (and so on)?

You need to know every detail of that perfect customer, the one that you’re looking for that will fall in love with your products, brand and services.

 

One size doesn’t fits all

Don’t try too sell your goods to everybody, that old strategy does not work anymore.

Understand the relationship between your product and the ideal customer. Take this for example.

Product: a ball. Ok great but, narrow the information.

  • This ball is for a boy or a girl?, the design and color matter.
  • Appropriate for what age?, not every size suite every kid.
  • Used? Specific sport or activity?, it’s not the same a soccer ball than a golf ball.
  • Is this product will be available at an specific location?, some communities won’t be able to use with your product ( I mean imagine golf in Alaska).

Questions like those will give you more specific information about why your product is different from others.

Learning about customers behaviors and characteristics from your buyer persona won’t guarantee you success, but is an essential part to make it happen.

 

Social Media is not just for fun, is a great tool to showcase your products while educating, informing or entertaining your audience, but it has to be done right.

If you need any help just ask!!!

 

Facebook is making drastic changes

Big Facebook Changes

2018 a year for changes in social media. Lets face it,  did you really think that everything was going to keep moving smoothly?, Nope!

Here it comes, more changes to Facebook Algorithm were announced at the beginning of the year.

The main goal of these changes are to connect people through meaningful interactions, while they spend more quality time on the social platform.

The change will affect directly the news feed; it will decrease the bombarding of posts from businesses, brands, publishers and media, which means less information too. Instead posts from family, friends and groups will be seen as a result.

This reaction came after a research,  showing that interaction between the people you care about was more engaging over other types of connections. This comes after a decrease of active consumers on the platform, different fakes news published and the increase of users only engaging through live-streams.

What does this means for your business?

A game changer for businesses. Expect less engagement and less content shown to your audience.

In other words, if it’s not making a conversation it won’t show up.

However, paid ads were not mention, suggesting a way to be seen as a result of the changes. Which might also bring an increase of price for advertisement too.

It seems that this won’t a fair game.

What can we do to battle the giant?

  1. One way to go around might be by using more user generated content (UGC) and influencers, that bring genuine character to every interaction.
  2. Create better content that inspire others to spar a conversation around it, with more opportunity of sharing it.
  3. Pay for ads to promote your posts.
  4. Live-Streaming constantly.

Now it is time to monitor closely the changes, to be able to come up with better strategies and get around the algorithm to make work in our favor. Don’t wait for the changes to come, work ahead with the little information that has been shared.

 

If you are here for business and you like great info to help your business, please subscribe or just keep an eye on our social media for more news and tips.

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