by Scott Meadows | Nov 7, 2014 | Industry News
If you’re a business owner hoping to improve your brand’s exposure, you’ve probably already invested in online marketing. You have to take note though, that online marketing is like a large tree with many spreading branches, so you’ll have to work with dependable advertising agencies in Greenville, SC such as Spark Local Marketing that know current and effective marketing practices—especially online reputation and customer relationship management—like the back of their hand. The Impact of Customer Reviews: From Word-of-Mouth to Online Posts These days, if a person is happy about a purchase, he doesn’t just rave about it to friends—he makes an online feedback. The same goes for dissatisfied customers who take to web forums or review sites to rant and complain. To maintain a good image, both online and offline, businesses typically depend on the marketing experts of Greenville, SC advertising agencies for help. With 70 percent of global consumers stating they trust online reviews (based on Nielsen’s latest Global Trust in Advertising report), and 61 percent of customers reading online reviews before making a purchase, there’s no doubt that the power of online reviews is not only growing, but becoming much stronger. Future of Online Reviews An article by Tomer Tagrin for Entrepreneur.com discusses the relevance of customer reviews for businesses today and in the future: With reviews already such an important part of the buying process, it’s easy to see how reliance on them will only increase in the future. For example, over the next few years, we can expect to see the anonymity of reviews fade away and instead become linked to shoppers’ real identities on Facebook, Twitter...
by Scott Meadows | Nov 6, 2014 | Industry News
Just like most things in life, there’s no way for you to do better, learn more, or grow further in your business if you don’t scratch beneath the surface of tasks that you have to do—be it hiring people or promoting your products. This means that to succeed in an endeavor, you’ll have to devote considerable time and effort into mastering it. For instance, take local Greenville, SC marketing campaigns, especially local SEO (search engine optimization), wherein a number of business owners fail to see the bigger picture and rarely go beyond posting in local directory listings. As Neil Patel states in his article posted at Entrepreneur.com: Local search engine optimization (SEO) can be tricky. Not only do you have to do all the customary SEO stuff, but then you have to do a new layer of complex SEO activities. Most tech-savvy local-business owners have a decent idea of how to do local SEO, but diving to a deeper level can get confusing. For example, most people think that in order to have successful local SEO, you must have directory listings. This is true — to a point. First, though, you have to make sure that several other things are in order. (Directory listings don’t come first in local SEO.) This is why business owners can significantly benefit from the services of leading Greenville, SC advertising and marketing companies like Spark Local Marketing. Other than ensuring that your business is listed with the right directories, they’ll see to it that the following are put into effect: Active Social Media Accounts These days, an official website isn’t the only proof and...
by Scott Meadows | Nov 4, 2014 | Industry News
The 2014 Senatorial race may not be as tightly contested in South Carolina as it is in other states, but it closely follows a nationwide trend: the growing spending of PACs (political action committees) and non-profits in promoting certain candidates. As reported by Sarah Schweppe in The Wall St. Cheat Sheet, PACs and non-profits are behind 50% of television ads in tightly-contested states. The report also says that, while TV remains the traditional medium for political advertisements, the promotion of candidates has now spilled over to the Internet: Not to mention both parties have turned to digital campaigning (thought television ads remain the largest format), spending about $11 million on online marketing. Again, Republican and Democratic groups spent about the same amount. Here, NextGen Climate Action has spent more than $3.6 million on ads promoting Democratic candidates — including web videos and posts on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Crossroads GPS, a nonprofit that supports Republicans, has spent more than $660,000, and American Crossroads has spent an additional $541,000. This development only goes to show how powerful online marketing has become, a fact borne out by numerous statistics. The Internet has become a great leveller, providing the same marketing opportunities to small and big businesses alike. For this reason, local companies need to employ the services of online marketing companies in Greenville, S.C., who can help them realize the full value of this booming medium. New Platforms To address the changing needs of the growing online marketing arena, industry leaders are constantly adopting new avenues and tools to promote products and services. Online marketing has evolved from simply...
by Scott Meadows | Nov 3, 2014 | Industry News
Start-up companies are seen as smaller towns’ best weapon against brain drain, giving opportunities for talented locals to grow their own business and profitably practice their crafts. In South Carolina, in fact, the government offers support to start ups and other entrepreneurs through its NEXT program. One thing start-ups in Greenville, SC and similar locations need to avoid, however, is to miss out on the importance of a great web design. As Forbes.com contributor Neil Patel says in an article: Entrepreneur coach Martin Zwilling explained one of the shortcomings of entrepreneurs is “they skimp on the design of their website. In the eyes of your users, design is everything. Your website is the company. Your website is the product. Your website is your reputation. Is design marketing? Absolutely. Brian Collins said this: “Advertising becomes the penalty paid by companies that cannot design well.” Admittedly, even start ups that offer an impressive new technology may know little to nothing about coming up with an effective web design, and can therefore benefit greatly from the services of Greenville, SC web design experts. Anyone can create a website, perhaps using one of the free website making tools available on the Internet. Not everyone, however, knows what it takes to create an effective site that will attract and hold viewers’ attention long enough to result in sales. Elements of a Good Web Design The basic elements of a good website include an appealing layout, topnotch content, and easy navigation. To achieve these, such factors as font, colors, spacing, and images have to be carefully planned. Content has to be current, updated, and...
by Scott Meadows | Oct 27, 2014 | Industry News
Like Ali Baba saying “Open Sesame,” the right combination of words can be a key to profits. In this case, it’s the implementation of SEO for Greenville, SC businesses. Ranking high on a Google search means that your website will be one among those appearing on the first few pages of the search by a customer. However, keyword optimization isn’t what is used to be; you can’t just repeat a word over and over to get your page noticed. What you need now, as Jon Rogenud states in a recent article for Huffington Post, is high quality content: Believe it or not, one of the most important concepts that you must understand when it comes to Google is that their standards for the quality of content are very high. Despite the millions of website operators who strive for better rankings within the search engine, the most important parties to Google are their (paid) users, which means that they want to provide content that satisfies and makes readers come back again and again. One of the ways that Google gets to pick up your content is the sense of quality as more and more people link up to your site. This makes link-building an important aspect of marketing your website. For example, if you want a local search to feature you, you’ll need to submit your profile to a popular local site like your regional Chamber of Commerce. Try to create connections via an informative blog that people will actually find useful on your site. People link up to articles and images they like on your webpage, which actually...
by Scott Meadows | Oct 24, 2014 | Industry News
Sometimes the difference between being a successful company like Amazon and being a forgotten one is the right marketing campaign. To get it right you’ll need the help of professional Greenville, SC advertising agencies like Spark Local Marketing to help refine one’s marketing approach. There are several approaches a company can take in its marketing campaign. For example, Alex Espenson, in his article for Business 2 Community, suggests some fresh ways to get one’s company in the limelight. One of his recommendations is to launch a promo via social media: One way to gain followers and to build your reputation online and locally is to use social media. When you are using social media, you need to be inventive if you want to get retweets or followers. One inventive way to attract attention is to create a cool giveaway, where you encourage users to follow your business and share the contest with their social media followers. This will earn you subscribers and give you a chance to promote your own products in the process. For the cost of a single product, you will generate loads of prospective clients so that you can build brand awareness. Reliable advertising agencies in Greenville, SC would advise that a marketing campaign should have multiple approaches so that it can reach as many people as possible. A contest on Facebook will only attract people who are on Facebook so you’ll need to provide a way so that your brand’s presence can be felt across other social media platforms. A reliable marketing agency can set up your website designed to better attract visitors and increase...
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