By Sharon Geltner, a marketing teacher and small business counselor at Palm Beach State College 

“The small businesses I work with know that social media has a lot of marketing potential,” she says. “I think in 2014 we’ll see new social media tools revealed and smarter strategies from small business owners.” 

These are noted predictions from Sharon Geltner:

1. LinkedIn will become the go-to social media site

 Linkedin is making big strides to earn you attention, Geltner says. The site, known among Geltner’s clients as “Facebook for grownups,” has attracted a lot of new users with business-centered features like endorsement tools and the ability to join groups. 

“LinkedIn will become a social media powerhouse in 2014,” she says. “More business owners are realizing the treasure trove of information that potential clients list on profiles.”

Geltner expects business owners to search LinkedIn for potential clients and use the information offered online to do research before cold calling a prospective customer.

2. YouTube channels will grow

Geltner predicts more businesses will turn to video to spice up marketing campaigns in 2014. With YouTube channels growing in popularity and video equipment becoming cheap and easy to use, Geltner says more emails and social media posts will contain videos rather than lengthy paragraphs.

“People click on videos,” Geltner says. “If your business can pack information into an informative and

, online retail store, Zappos, says 250,000 visitors were driven to its website by YouTube in 2012.

3. Small businesses will get selective about social media

Every small business struggles to balance time, money and resources. While many small businesses gravitate towards all social media platforms because of their free marketing potential, Geltner expects businesses to be more efficient and selective in 2014.

“The novelty of social media is starting to wear off,” she says. “Business owners don’t need a presence on every social media site that exists.”

She believes small businesses will focus on one or two platforms rather than offer a meager presence on every site. A shift towards quality over quantity is also expected.

“Small businesses have enough experience with social media to realize that they don’t have to post every 30 minutes, but when they do, the content should be worthwhile to readers,” she says.

While Geltner says social media tools are an affordable way for small businesses to generate leads and promote a brand, she reminds owners not to forget about traditional media. Geltner says social media isn’t a silver bullet and advises every small business to combine its social media marketing with traditional marketing tools like email marketing to have the most successful year.

Brochures are a marketing mainstay because they’re highly effective in multiple applications. Leave-behinds, point-of-sales, and sales support are all names for different types of brochures that take different approaches to achieve the same end– more sales. Listed below are some key components for successful brochures:

Headline and offer

A bold, compelling headline is the first thing most people notice. When well written, brochure headlines captivate your audience and reel prospects in to read the rest of your message. Powerful headlines play into your audience’s emotions. They solve a problem, fulfill a desire or avoid a fear. Often, the most powerful headlines combine the element of emotion with the presentation of your offer: “Stop paying too much for Product XYZ. Save 15 percent or more when you call us today!”

As mentioned, the offer is integral to brochure success. Make sure your offer is front-and-center – if it’s not in your headline, make sure it’s in your first paragraph of body copy. A good offer has value to your target audience, so try to imagine what it would take for you to take the next step in the purchasing process so you can find ways to trigger your customers’ motivators.

Features and benefits

Features and benefits make up your brochure body copy. Remember that a feature refers to a static fact about a product, service or company; while a benefit refers to how a particular feature will make life easier, better or more secure for your audience. Successful brochures also include supporting evidence to back up performance claims. This can come in the form of testimonials, call-out boxes, quotes, statistics, charts, graphs and other devices.

Offer recap and call to action

The end of your brochure should always include an offer recap to remind your audience that a great deal is on the table, and a call to action that motivates immediate response. Provide several response channels, including e-mail, telephone, website or physical location, so your prospects can respond within their respective comfort zones. Put a deadline on your offer for a more powerful call to action.

Stunning visuals

Great design lends a core theme to successful brochures and funnels readers through the key points and on to the offer recap and call to action. Invigorating images that evoke complementary emotions should be used throughout your brochure; and from a bird’s eye view every brochure should play a role in branding your company.

Quality printing

No brochure is complete with out professional finishing. Successful brochures are printed on high-quality gloss or matte paper stocks; using vivid inks on state-of-the-art printing presses; and have crisp, clean folds. With high quality and professional printing, your designs brim with brilliance and your brochures feel sound and comfortable in your prospects’ hands.

Republished Article: Marketing Ideas

Does your business card only deliver your contact information and nothing more? Does your business card compel you to buy a product or service, or at least to take the next step in the purchasing process?

Consider the purpose of business cards and how they will play into your sales scheme. If you are your own customer,  what impression does your business card give and what impact does it have on you the customer? Does it inspire the customer to contact the person on the card or to even keep the card for reference. The goal, of course, is to make your own business cards into a mini sales rep. Here are some ideas on how to make your business card work harder for your business.

Call to attention

If business cards could talk, most of them would sound like Ben Stein’s character on “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” It might go something like: “My name is so-and-so, and I’m an account representative at this company. My phone number is 555-555-5555.” Not very appealing.

Instead, your business card should work to grab immediate attention. Some ways to do this include bright colors, a die-cut  shape such as rounded corners or an angled parallelogram, and an action photo that takes up most of your card (versus a squared mugshot).

Highlight benefits

As we’ve examined, simply stating who you are and what your job title is isn’t going to excite your customers. You have to answer the golden customer question: “What’s in it for me?” You can do this by highlighting the benefits of doing business with you.

Let’s say you’re a mortgage broker. Your business card might read: “I will find you the lowest possible interest rate, guaranteed.” That’s a definite benefit and a good reason for clients to call you, based on your business card alone.

Add value

Another way to make your own business card more exciting is to add value to it. You can do this by including a coupon or coupon code, an exclusive offer that is only available through you, or by simply including a useful chart, calendar, sports schedule or other information that your customers might want to keep on hand for reference. If your business cards have value, you can elicit direct sales and brand yourself into potential customers’ memories. Even if they don’t need your service now, they’ll be sure to call you when they do.

Call to action

Last but not least, your business card should include a call to action. What do you want your prospects to do? In most cases you want them to call you and buy something, though that is not always immediately realistic. There are other calls to action you can employ along with your sales pitch.

For example, you might offer a free giveaway for a referral. Or, you might offer valuable advice on a regular basis in exchange for an online newsletter signup, which you can use as a frequent marketing tool as well. Whatever it is, don’t leave your customers hanging with nothing to do other than file your card or toss it away-give your customers a reason to call you and to call you today. That’s how you can make your own business cards into mini sales reps!

Republished Article: Marketing Ideas