35 Content Marketing Tools To Promote Your Brand

35 Content Marketing Tools To Promote Your Brand

How to Effectively Promote Your Business with Tumblr [Infographic]

How to Effectively Promote Your Business with Tumblr [Infographic]

3 Creative Ways to Visually Market Your Business

Every picture tells a story

If there’s one thing that’s constant in social media, is that it’s constantly changing. And one of my favorite changes are the new profile design layouts.

Have you noticed that these new social site layouts are giving you more opportunities for promoting your businesses? Even the new Twitter design expanded their header graphic to give you more space to market your companies.

As small business owners, we should take advantage of this opportunity for the added marketing space.

I realize that it’s easy to just throw up your company’s logo and check that social update off your list. But have you thought about using images in that cover artwork or header area?

Think about it this way: Marketing is about communicating messages out to your audience. And one of the best ways to easily share your message is through images.

Read more at http://www.business2community.com/social-media/3-creative-ways-visually-market-business-0952666#Q6BYXqZmp3DxYPXG.99


3 Creative Ways to Visually Market Your Business

Tip - Domain Name

A Domain Name:  You have taken a leap of faith and started a new business.  Your corporate office has graciously given you a website with an address that may look something like this www.directsalescompany.com/new rep name.  Others I have noticed are www.partyplancompany.com/12345newrep123 – how can your customers remember that web address?  What if they don’t have your catalog or brochure with them but they do want to place an order?  You can purchase a domain name (that does not include the name of your party plan company) and have the purchased domain link directly to the website issued by your corporate office.  

Here is an example:  Scentsy rep – www.divaswithscents.com or www.getascent.com; Paparazzi Accessories rep – www.designeradornment.com do you get my point? 

As a home based entrepreneur, your personal branding is essential.  The corporate company already has online branding and this is your business. People will buy from you and they need to know “your” website address, not the one which belongs to corporate.  Remember, should you decide to leave one company and go to another, you own your domain and you can direct it to a new site.  I’ve used Godaddy as my domain choice simply because of their awesome customer service which is available 24/7 and their prices aren’t bad either.  

Must Have - Business Cards

Business Cards:  If you are in a direct sales/party plan company; most kits will come with basic business cards which will have an area for you to write your name and contact data (or to place a label).  Consider ordering free and inexpensive business cards from VistaPrint.  Why not place an order for cards with your company?  Because they will cost a lot more and most of the time when you are starting a new business, you will change the data listed on your cards multiple times before you are comfortable with the formatting.  You can order 250 premium cards from VistaPrint for $10.  Also, keep an eye out for Groupon specials for VistaPrint.  Running a business can be expensive and cutting cost can be imperative – it will also allow you to put the savings towards inventory, etc. 

Communication is Key

I would like to share an experience that was relayed to me by a friend, we’ll call her Karen.  Karen was researching for a direct sales business that she could relate too.  She discovered a fairly new cosmetics brand company and then began trying to contact representatives to find out more about the company and their experiences.

Karen also wanted to talk with representatives to find out why she should join their team.  She faced some obstacles.  First, she was unable to locate a telephone number for any of the representatives on their replicated sites.  Karen began searching Google to see if any consultants had created separate websites and only found a few, actually only two.  Of the two websites found neither provided a telephone number.

Here is my question?  Do you think an email address is sufficient to run a business?  It may be for some, but how do you get to know anyone strictly through email?  In my opinion, email is great however a phone number is even better for any business.  Because people prefer instant gratification, meaning they want to contact you now and not have to constantly check email.  If you joined a direct sales company to purchase products at a discount or just to have a little fun sure; only include your email.  If you joined a direct sales company to build a business then it means you will need to recruit and a phone number should be available.    Now if you are not trying to build a team or a business, stick to the email only.

Now in defense of the representatives with a company replicated site which does not allow a contact number, there are still solutions available.  Create a free website (check out our Tools or Categories) or blog.  On the first (and it can be the only page) introduce yourself and your business including all contact information, it’s really easy to do.  Then create a link on the same page which takes people directly to their replicated site.

Stay tuned to find out what Karen did to find a sponsor…………………………………

Simple Tips

Why not set up your own Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter page for your affiliated Direct Sales company (if this is permissible), this will allow you to get in touch with more potential clientele.These type of marketing venues will also allow you to share new products, sales and more.