Mobile sites are specifically designed for the small screen, with the needs of mobile users (your customers) in mind.

A mobile-friendly site helps your business connect with customers and drive conversions.

To make sure your site is mobile friendly, and to see your site through the eyes of your potential customers, take ten minutes to use the checklist on the next page and ask yourself the important questions about your mobile site while viewing your website on your Smartphone:

Content

Does the site fit the screen?

Almost 50 percent of your audience already uses mobile as the primary internet access device. In other words, you are losing nearly half your audience if you do not make your website mobile-friendly. Make sure content fits on the screen and can be read without pinching and zooming.

Is the content readable?

Do not try to cram all the information you provide on your website into your mobile site. Make it easy for your customers to read and bear in mind that they might be reading in a place with low light.

Does the site load quickly?

Include important information like phone numbers, addresses and maps which would be useful to people on the move. Instead of giving a detailed description about your organization, provide a one-liner which is good enough to entice your mobile audience.

Do videos and animations load?

Avoid using large, Flash-based video files on your mobile site, as most smartphone browsers do not support Flash. Instead, use simple images to improve the look and fee of your mobile website.

Is the site responsive?

With the rapid evolution of touch-based smartphones and tablets, touch has taken over typing. When designing your mobile site, use drop down menus, check boxes, and pre-populated fields whenever possible, so that your mobile visitors can navigate and input information easily rather than having to fill in long forms.

Images

Are file sizes as small as possible?

Use simple compressed images and keep them small for faster loading. This will improve the look and feel of your mobile website – but make sure all images used on the desktop are sent to resize automatically to fit a mobile device’s smaller screen sizes.

Is there a home page icon set?

Nobody likes to be confused. Help users navigate between levels with clear ‘back’ and ‘home’ buttons.

Do all images fir on the screen?

Use plenty of negative space and don’t let the images overcrowd the page.

Usability

Do the gestures work?

Use large-centered buttons to reduce accidental clicks and make sure that they all work. This will ensure that visiting your site will not be a frustrating experience for your customer.

Is it thumb friendly?

People use their fingers to operate mobile devices, especially their thumbs. Design your mobile site so even large hands can easily interact with it.

Are number and email addresses actionable?

Remember to use click-to-call functionality for all phone numbers.

Are forms easy to fill out?

Use check boxes, lists and scroll menus to make data entry easier.

Would you stay on the site?

Try to be objective and try to look at this through your customer’s eyes.

If you were shocked and disappointed by the results, time to take action is now. Most potential customers aren’t going to revisit a site that was not user friendly the first time. Don’t lose customers over what are often times, easy fixes on your small business website.

Have you ever wondered why some local businesses seem to thrive and be incredibly successful at marketing themselves on the Internet while others can’t even manage to get one customer to their website?

If so, you are not alone. We realize that a lot of businesses find internet marketing very frustrating. There are literally thousands of different ways to market your business on the Internet, so we have put together some basic internet marketing tips we think will be useful to most local small business owners.

Google+ Local

Even if you only started your online business very recently, the chances are it will already be listed on Google+ Local. However, your mission is to make sure the information on your Google Local page is accurate.

To do that, all you need to do is claim your page and make sure that you fill in all of the information correctly (contact us if you need some help as it needs to be done properly or your ranking will suffer).

Local businesses benefit enormously from having their Google Places listing found at or near the top of the page 1 results on Google. Just this one tip alone could make a huge difference to your business.

Remember both Bing and Yahoo have their own local search platforms too

Okay, so Bing Local and Yahoo Local might not be as big and effective as Google’s local search platform but you should not ignore them as they can still drive a lot of traffic to your website. Like Google, they are free and relatively easy to do but it is vital to make sure that you give the search engines the exact kind of information they require in order to benefit fully from them.

Check your <Title> tag

Visit your website and look at the very top of your browser window. What do you see?

• Does it describe the page that you are looking at?
• Is it a personalized description relating to your website or is it a generic default description that could apply to any business online?
• Does it contain keywords and phrases you would expect people to use when searching for a business like yours in the search engines?
• If you are a local business depending on local customers in your area to find you, does it contain local search keywords?

If not then this will be another reason why you are not getting many visitors to your website.

Determine what you want your website to do

A lot of local business owners give total control of their website to their web designers. While they may be good at actually designing websites they usually don’t have a clue about marketing and making the website work efficiently for their clients. So instead of letting your designer have free rein, spend a few minutes thinking about what the goal of your website is? Yes, you want it to boost your profits by driving extra sales but how exactly will it do that? Start with just one goal, such as increasing the number of phone calls, and branch out from there. Although it is important to set goals, you also need to come up with a system for measuring the results of those goals.

Spread the word in Local directories

There are numerous directory sites on the internet, each with hundreds of thousands of visitors.  Some, like Insiderpages.com, even get millions of visitors per month. It makes sense to get your business listed in these online directories, especially if there is a directory relating specifically to your industry niche.

Not only will you benefit from the extra visitors from the directories but as an added bonus, being listed will actually strengthen your rankings in Google+ Local.

Check out your competition

When was the last time you visited any of you competitors’ websites? Do you know who your competitors are? Find out what sites appear when you type in keyword and phrases that you think potential customers would use when looking for your site.

Visiting your competitors’ websites is a great way to get ideas and take stock of your own company’s online marketing efforts in comparison to theirs. Take a look at the kind of information they have on their site and see how their site compares to yours? Try to analyse why their site might be ranking higher than yours.

Join your local chamber of commerce and networking groups

Although this comes with a price tag, the benefits of joining the local Chamber of Commerce or a local networking group like BNI.com are enormous. You have the potential to get much more business, save your business money with member-only deals and provide a boost in the local search rankings. Here is a list of just some of the benefits:

• Increased exposure to many other people and local businesses eager to do business with you.
• Substantially increased referrals.
• Participation in numerous networking groups each week
• Get invited to take part in tradeshows (where you’ll have an opportunity to market your business).
• Free workshops.
• And much more.

The knock on effect for your business is definitely worth the investment and your local business is likely to grow as a result.

Post online videos

Youtube is one of the biggest search engines on the Internet and Google owns it.  Google also rewards businesses who post videos on YouTube with higher search rankings, so it would be foolhardy to ignore it. Using YouTube and other online video sites is free and well worth the effort to create a video and post it online.

Don’t panic. You don’t need to produce a Hollywood Blockbuster movie. If you have a video camera or even a decent smartphone with a video camera on it, you can video yourself or members of your staff showcasing some of the services you provide or displaying some of the products you have on offer. Record a demo of how to use one of your products or you could interview some of your best customers. You could even give people a video tour around your premises.  If you don’t have a video camera, you could create a simple slide show presentation in Powerpoint with some pictures and add a brief voice over.

Then, create a YouTube channel and upload it. There are many videos on YouTube itself showing how to personalize and brand it.  In the video’s description add a full link to your website and make sure that it is clickable. Don’t forget to add “tags” using words that people are likely to search for (keywords relating to your business or the area that you live including your city or town).

Don’t just stick to YouTube. There are other sites such as Vimeo.com and Dailymotion.com to post on, and you can add your video to your own website by using the embed option from YouTube and your Facebook page.

Make Friends with local journalists

This is probably one strategy that your competitors are not doing and it works like a charm. But you are probably wondering how you would even start to make friends with a journalist. Watch your local news items on TV, read your local newspapers and compile a list of the local reporters. Most TV stations now include the journalist Twitter ID or email address alongside the correspondent’s name while they are presenting their news item.

Start off by commenting on a story that your journalist friend wrote in the newspaper or presented on the TV.  Don’t flatter them but make your comment insightful. Add value to what they have reported and make them think. You want them to remember you. Send them a story idea that has nothing to do with your business, something you think might be of interest to them. Write a blog post, Tweet or add a comment on Facebook about something that they have covered and explain why you found it interesting.

In time, you could start sending them stories you think would be newsworthy, or show them you are an expert in your particular field so if a story ever crops up relating to your business you will be the first person that they think of.

Get involved on Social Media

Why should you use Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter?  Well, many budget-conscious companies have already started using these free marketing source as a way to promote, connect and brand their company, and connecting with your customers is the main reason to use social media for your business.

You will be able to communicate with your customers easily because Facebook, Twitter, etc have become a daily habit.  Many log on to update as soon as they wake up, even before brushing their teeth.

To succeed with in social media marketing, don’t try and sell anything to your followers. It’s a place consumers can go to easily access your phone number, address, and other key information, even on their mobile phones.  Instead, start to engage with people interested in your business: Thank customers for their business; respond to customer complaints; market your business to people most likely to support your company. Try offering/sending out exclusive discounts and deals on your social media fans and followers.

Once you have your Facebook page and Twitter accounts up-and-running, try giving LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube a go. The more you use the world of social media, the higher your return will be – perhaps not in direct revenue, but with increased brand loyalty, greater word-of-mouth, and stronger emotional attachment to your brand.

1) Your Backing and Reinforcement: To get reliable results, it is necessary to remind your employees daily before start of each business day. Make sure they are promoting actively because the list created here becomes your important business asset, an asset that enables you to attract customers through your door and increase your revenue. When speaking with employees, emphasize that the text campaign brings in more people, which will lead to more hours and tips.

2) Ending Promotion Date: If you are using a “giveaway” or contest as an enlistment device, set a date when you announce the winner. Remember that 15-30 days is a good benchmark number for checking results; so you might say that on the “first of the month” you will announce the winner. Having a date gives you a specific target, and provides a ‘scarcity’ factor that persuades customers to act quickly and opt in for a chance to win. (People want to win; people want to avoid missing out!) Choose your date and promote it hard!

3) Observe: Observe your workers interacting with customers, and what they say about this promotion. Make sure they promote with integrity and tell the customer all the important details such as: the customer can opt out any time by texting the word stop, that every now and then your business will send special offers and discounts, and that the customer information is safe. Educating, enticing, and reassuring helps attract the customers, and also eases any caution or wariness customers may have.

4) Constant Awareness: Your text marketing list is your asset to create business on demand. The more you talk about it, the more your employees will talk about it, and the better your profits!

5) Employee Benefits: Depending on the type of restaurant you have, generally more customers means greater tips. In other businesses, more customers means more potential for hours for commissions, pay checks and raises. Make it clear to employees that helping you helps them.

6) Have Fun!: If possibly, reward employees for high effectiveness in promoting. For example, create a contest where you issue issuing associates a certain amount of handout cards or opt-ins. The employee with the least cards left or most opt-ins at end of shift gets a prize, cash award, or other incentive.

Why? Because image is everything!  So every business (or individual) needs to monitor and manage their reputation. All you need is just one dissatisfied customer, determined to tell the world what they think of you and your business and who posts their comments on all of the review sites and your reputation could be ruined. In some cases, they might not even be genuine customers.  It may be your competitors instead, using underhanded tactics to give you and your business a bad name.

For these reasons, all businesses, no matter how big or small, need to protect their image on the internet by monitoring, managing and improving their online reputation. If not, potential customers searching for your company will see these negatives and choose to buy their products or services elsewhere – from your competitors.

These tips should help you take control of your brand identity:

1.   Find out exactly what people are saying about you:

Some businesses try to pretend the internet doesn’t exist. They bury their heads and don’t even try to find out what people are writing about them. Don’t make the same mistake. The only way you can manage your online reputation is to find out what is being said about your business. It might not all be flattering, but it’s important to know what’s being said about you online. Unless you know what’s out there, you can’t respond to what others have to say. But there is an upside – if you find people giving you positive reviews, you can publicize it.

So bite the bullet and ‘Google’ your name and the name of your business. Look at the results that appear. In most cases you will find a lot of excellent reviews and some negative ones. Don’t worry if you do have some negative comments as this happens to virtually every single business and retailer online so you are not alone. It is not necessarily the negative reviews that could put potential customers off from doing business with you but how you handle these negative comments. If you handle them right you can still come out smelling of roses and look very professional. However, if you handle them badly, you could lose new customers in their droves.

2.   Respond to the negative reviews in a professional manner:

No matter whether you think the negative comments are justified or not, you must be utterly professional in your reply. Always remember: You are may be writing to the person leaving the negative review, but your comments will be read by thousands of other potential customers who will be very interested to see how you handle the complaint.

If you launch an attack on the person who left the negative comment by branding them a liar, rant at them for taking their complaint public rather than coming to you with it first, all you are going to do is add fuel to the fire and potential customers are going to avoid you like the plague. It will also add credibility to the person who left the complaint, even if it wasn’t true.

The best way to handle situations like this is:

• Be very professional
• Show care and concern for the fact that they did not have a positive experience.
• Apologize for the service they received.
• Accept the mistake and put down in writing the steps that you have taken to fix the problem to ensure that it never happens again.
• Invite them back to do business with you again so that they can see for themselves that you listened to them and do care that they were disappointed with your service.

Can you see how taking this course of action  not only wins over the person who left the review but it also reassures all of your other potential customers that you are good to do business with.

3.   Never ignore negative reviews:

Ignoring the comments altogether is not a good course to take, and can be just as harmful to your reputation as responding to negative reviews with abusive messages.

Disregarding even one negative review will seriously harm your business. Most people, when reading a negative review, will not take the time to carefully consider whether you or the customer is in the right, and by not addressing the adverse comments, you seem to be confirming them to be true.  More often than not, that one negative review will create enough doubt or uncertainty to send your potential customers into the arms of your competitors instead.

It is so important to have a set game plan of how to deal with online complaints. It is much smarter and more effective option is to learn how to effectively reply to negative reviews

(see tip above).

4. Invite the Customer to Amend Their Review

If you are able to resolve your customer’s issue and have shown them you want them back as a customer, the next step is to encourage them to return back to the site to remove their negative review, or at least amend it with a follow-up message describing how, with your help, the problem was resolved.

This may require some incentives on your part, but clearing up a negative review is definitely worth any immediate costs. If the customer refuses or is unable to change or remove their review, then follow up with your own summary of the events in a factual way, taking care not to anger or infuriate the customer into responding further and so drag you into an online war of words.

For example you could politely explain that as a business owner these things are unfortunate but they do happen and that the customer received a full refund or whatever action you took to address the issue.

This public display of customer service will go a long way in overcoming any damage done by the initial review and will win you more customers in the long run.

5. Encourage Positive Reviews from Satisfied Customers

An excellent way to manage your online reputation is to encourage your many satisfied customers to leave a positive review at the site hosting the bad one.  Again you many need to offer some incentives. This does not mean paying people to leave positive reviews but there are some subtle ways to encourage your customers to leave honest reviews to crowd out the bad ones.

It’s worth remembering you don’t have to wait for a bad review to start motivating happy customers to leave positive comments.  In fact, being proactive about this can prevent one negative review from having a drastic effect on your business. So make a habit of encouraging all of your happy customers to leave positive comment. You will be surprised just how many will simply because you ask them to.

It can be more difficult to get customers to post positive reviews rather than negative ones, even if you offer the most exceptional service in the world.  So take the initiative and try to steer them towards sites that will offer you the most benefits. Depending on the type of business you are or the service that you provide, look at identifying who your customers tend to be, (e.g. tourists, locals, foodies, professionals, homemakers, etc.).  Then choose a review site that best fits your niche and invite customers to leave feedback there.

The whole purpose is to try and control as much of the online conversation about your business as possible. By directing customers to a business-friendly review site (one that allows owners to reply to complaints or even offers some kind of reputation-management program) you’ll be able to limit the impact any bad review will have.

6. Never leave fake positive reviews for your own business.

As tempting or as easy as this may seem to write your own fake reviews there are many ways you can get caught doing this. Once your reviews have been exposed it will be much more damaging to your business’s reputation than a few negative reviews.

Try to realize that negative reviews are not the end of the world. In fact if you deal with the situation correctly, you can turn the situation around and come away with a positive boost to your business.

Customers don’t expect a business to be perfect. However, what they do expect is for a company to take responsibility for its occasional shortcomings and show that it cares about its customers and is willing to do whatever it takes to make them happy. If they see that you are a responsible business owner who genuinely tries to take good care of your customers you will win lots of new clients.

7. it’s Time to Get Social

By creating social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest etc. you can manage your online reputation even easier. By being active on the social networking platforms there is less room for other, potentially negative, pages to gain visibility. If a negative news story should emerge, you can react to it quickly; get your point of view across so that people searching for the story will see your side before things get out of control.

You can use the same idea by creating accounts on YouTube, HubPages, Blogger, WordPress, Squidoo and other sites. It is important not to spread yourself too thinly, but the more Social Media accounts you can comfortably handle, the more opportunities you will have to increase your visibility, and the more control you can exercise over your reputation management. This increased online presence will enable you to engage and interact with your followers and fans which will eventually build trust and loyalty with clients new and old.

8. Join Industry Specific forums

There are literally thousands of discussion forums on the internet so there is bound to be one specific to your industry. If there is, then you should seriously consider joining. It is a terrific way to reach out to a brand new audience who previously might not have heard of you or your business. You can also build a solid online reputation by offering great tips and advice and generally becoming a respected authority within your niche or industry.

9. Use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Management

An essential way to build a good reputation online and have a strong presence on the Internet is make sure that your website and social media sites are optimized for the search engines. What does this means for your business?  It makes your website more search engine friendly, so your site will be ranked higher in the search engines results AND your customers can find you much more quickly.

SEO tactics can also be used to rank other pages that are not on your website too. For example, if you have written an informative guest post on a well-respected industry blog or discussion forum, getting this to rank can be even more effective than getting your own social media profiles to rank and will give your instant credibility when potential customers search for your name or company.

You could take this one step further, using SEO to rank any positive press that you have received. If one of your products has received a glowing review in the national press, for example, use SEO to help this page to rank highly. This can present a very positive image of your brand even if you have negative reviews elsewhere and will win you over many more new clients.

10. Dominate the first pages by paying to rank higher

PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click.  It is a very popular and effective way of advertizing online.

If someone makes damaging statements about you or your firm online, you can use PPC (Pay per click) advertizing to kill two birds with one stone.  PPC can accomplish two things at the same time: Not only will it promote your services and get you high visibility in the search engines, but it also has the added advantage of being able to counteract the effects of the negative messaging. PPC is excellent as it allows you to create hyper-targeted ad campaigns. You can target your ad’s messaging to a particular online reputation issue.

With a PPC campaign, a business simply agrees to pay a certain amount of money everytime a prospect clicks on an ad related to a particular keyword or keyword phrase. For example if you were a florist you would use the name of your town and the word florist as one of your keyword phrases in a PPC campaign. That means when somebody local searches for florists in their local town your firm’s advertizement will pop up as a featured or sponsored advertizement. This allows the person searching for the florist to click on your link and make the order.

PPC can be a very powerful tool to counteract any negative statement. It combines public relations and advertizing, and is effective in getting a lot more sales.

11. Communicate through photos and videos

When you think of companies like Virgin and Apple which people come to mind? You immediately think of Richard Branson and the late Steve Jobs. Their images and personality are instantly linked to their companies and you could do the same with your company. People like to know who they are doing business with so why not add photographs and videos of you, your business and your employees. Give your company a face your clients can relate to and get to know. It has far more impact on the relationship that you have with your customers than an anonymous website.  If you tag your pictures with keywords and your company name they will even have an effect on your search engine ranking and improve your branding.

12. Think Before You Post:

Unless you want to stir up controversy and make situations worse, it’s important to watch what you say and be careful what you post. Anything you say can and will be used against you when it comes to social media. It is very frustrating when you read a comment about your business that is either unfair or even a downright lie, but before you post anything you need to think about the impact your words are going to have. What will your comments look like to everybody else reading what you have written? Will it damage your reputation even further in the long run? If you need to, write down what you want to say, leave it for an hour or even overnight and then re-read it. You might find that once you have calmed down you have changed your mind and decide to reword what you want to say. Never, ever publish anything that is going to cast you or your business in a negative light. Your aim is to protect your reputation and that means doing all you can to improve your company’s image online.

Above all….Stay on top of things.

It’s very important not to get lazy about monitoring your reputation. We recommend regularly checking for information that could potentially harm your online reputation. Take advantage of automatic monitoring tools such as Google Alerts. This way you’ll stay informed about what is being said so you can be proactive and limit the damage done.

Some local businesses realize the importance of doing this but are too busy running their companies.  They find they don’t have the time to monitor their online reputation enough.  Or they find it hard to remain professional and not get too emotional when leaving replies to negative comments because they are so passionate about their business.

Protecting a brand image is the most important thing a company can do. You probably have worked hard for years, if not decades, building your brand so you don’t want to let negative remarks or reviews about your company hurt your bottom line.

Traditional websites are good. However, in order to cater to mobile users, every business needs a mobile-friendly website.

Mobile websites are formatted to be accessed by mobile handheld devices such as iPhones, Tablets, Androids and the Blackberry; they load faster and make it easier for mobile users to find what they need.

Mobile websites also offer mobile-specific features like being able to click on a number and call it or location mapping that provides directions straight to your handheld device.

Why Should You Have A Mobile Website?

1.   Mobile Internet Searching is HOT – 1 in 5 Google searches are performed on smartphones. Without a mobile-friendly website, you are essentially ignoring your mobile audience.

2.   Local Consumers Are Using Mobile – Most local consumers perform “local” internet searches from their mobile devices. They’re usually looking for information such as your phone number, hours of operations, directions, or information about your product or service.

3.   Consumers Want and Expect Mobile-Friendly Sites – When mobile users have a negative website viewing experience, they will usually leave the website and never return.  Mobile-friendly websites create positive customer relations by eliminating the frustration and negative reactions that can be generated with a non-mobile-friendly website.

4.   Mobile Websites Generate Sales – Mobile websites generate more sales because studies show that users are more likely to return to those websites – as well as likely to do business with companies that have mobile websites.

5.   Mobile-friendly Websites Boost Your Brand – When mobile users come across websites that actually load quickly on their mobile devices, they are elated; and if the site is clean and simple to navigate, they love it even more.  The fact is that many businesses today still do not have mobile websites, which means mobile users are still having negative website viewing experiences overall.  By having a mobile-friendly website, your business gains credibility, as well as the edge over your close competitors.

With newer, better and more mobile devices being introduced to consumers every day, mobile internet usage will continue to grow. So there’s no better time than now to get a mobile website. If you are using Word Press as your platform for your website there are free plug ins you can add to make your website mobile compatible. View your website on a desktop computer, tablet and phone browser to see if your site is compatible and potential customers are able to get the information they need from your website to make a purchase.

In fact, some studies indicate that a majority of mobile users use apps more often than they access the Internet. This means if you are only using a traditional website as a marketing tool, you may be missing out on a large portion of your target audience.

You’ve probably heard about mobile applications, but are not sure if they are the right fit for your business. To help you understand the benefits a mobile app can bring, here are some of the top benefits of using mobile apps to grow your business

1.   Easy To Use

Not only will your business appear more technically savvy, but apps tend to be visually cleaner and easier to navigate than traditional websites. So your app users will appreciate the ease of use, which means they are more likely to actually use it.

2.   Ability to Quickly Reach Your Audience

With a mobile app, you’ll be able to reach more people faster and easier than you have before. In fact, your app will be right on your users’ mobile device screens for easy access. With push-button notifications, you can quickly send out offers and messages to your users, which they will receive immediately.

3.   Builds Customer Loyalty

Mobile apps are the perfect way to stay connected to your target audience. Since they will have your app readily available on their mobile devices, they are likely to think of your business when they need your type of product or service.

4.   Increased Customer Contact

A mobile app will make contacting your business an easy, one-touch process. Because of this, you’re increasing the likelihood that customers will do just that.

5.   Competitive Advantage

Having an app will convince potential and long-standing customers that your business is ahead of the digital curve. Not only is this great for branding purposes, but it will keep them interested in your company vs. your competitors.

Thanks to the popularity and ease of apps, all businesses should look into the possibility of getting one if they want to keep up with – and hopefully surpass – their competition in the coming months and years. We only recommend mobile apps to small businesses that have a comprehensive marketing plan in place that has already covered the basics such as text and email marketing and at least one social media platform.

1) Keeping your business full with customers, especially during non-peak hours.

2) Building a loyal list of repeat customers in this tough economy.

3) Breaking through the noise of getting potential customers to respond to advertising and marketing messages.

Do any of these questions sound familiar to you? Have you been asking yourself how to do these things in your small business? If so, keep reading on…

The average small business owner and their marketing and advertising campaigns are quite ineffective. The average business spends 3% to 10% of revenues on advertising. It is usually a shot gun approach where money is haphazardly thrown at ineffective campaigns such as TV, Radio and Newspaper. FYI, 86% of people now skip television ads and 44% never open direct mail pieces. Owners who make money from a direct result of their marketing efforts pinpoint their target audience and find alternative ways that aren’t saturated to effectively reach their customers.

Do you have an easy, automated way to follow up with your customers over time? It costs 6 to 7 times less to get an existing customer to buy from you than it is to get a new customer to buy from you. Text marketing allows you to build a list of customers and those interested in your business who will produce sales over and over again while they are on your list.

2%   of sales are made on the first contact.

3%   of sales are made on the second contact.

5%   of sales are made on the third contact.

10% of sales are made on the fourth contact.

80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact.

Having a follow-up system is like having a cash machine and text marketing allows you to stay with this interested customer throughout the purchase cycle. If you are not collecting potential customers contact information, you are missing out on 98% of potential sales!

Having a system like SMS marketing produces such huge returns on investment long term because for every $1 spent on mobile advertising, it returns an average ROI of $17 to $43 depending on your market and products being included in your text deals.

ROI like this with text marketing possible for 3 main reasons:

1) Can craft offers instantly opposed to waiting for print advertising. This allows you take advantage of limited time offers, happenings in your community, weather, slow sales days to drive instant traffic to your business.

2) All marketing is trackable. If you create  an offer and don’t track the results, did it really exist? Tracking your marketing allows you to stop wasting money on advertising that will never work and focus on and expand on marketing that produces sales that will grow your business. Start thinking in terms of 20% of your marketing will produce 80% of your sales.

3)  Able to provide custom messages to your customer base that provides timely information and special offers that deepens loyalty.

“It’s clear that retailers that don’t embrace mobile phone technology in the coming year will be left behind, as much as those who sat on the sidelines of digital or social media are now playing catchup”-Advertising Age

A main issue we here from potential customers is text marketing is too hard to set up or “I’m not great with technology.” This can’t be further from the truth. A new text marketing campaign can be set up in minutes no matter your experience level with technology. Our self serve platform walks you through each step of the process. In fact the only part left up to you, the small business owner, is promoting your new text marketing campaign to your customers to build your list. We even help with that by providing best practices to quickly and profitably build your list.

Mobile phone users keep their phones near them at all times and they love to receive and send text messages. The key to text messaging marketing involves providing a discount, a free item, or something else that the consumer finds valuable.

But how does text message marketing actually help small business owners?

Here are 5 of the top benefits a text message marketing campaign can bring:

1. 1.   Get Instant Sign-Ups From Customers

Text message marketing is a great way to establish an instant connection with your customers and potential customers. By getting consumers to opt-in to your mobile list, you now have permission to communicate with them via text messages to offer coupons, content, and information.

1. 2.   Consumers WANT What You’re Offering

By opting-in to your list, consumers are giving you their permission to stay in touch. Studies show that many consumers want to receive special offers on their mobile devices from the businesses they like doing business with.

Just make sure your messages are useful, timely, and valuable in order to keep unsubscribes down.

1. 3.   Text Messages are Opened and Read Instantly

Consumers today love to text! Approximately 95% of text messages are opened and read; better yet, these messages are instantly delivered. They are also quick, concise, and easy to read.

So they’re the perfect way to really get in front of your target audience.

1. 4.   You Can Say a Lot With a Little

Text messages do not have to be long to achieve their desired result. In fact, your messages can only contain 160 characters if you want to fit everything within one text message.  Furthermore, consumers today like to receive short, quick messages due to their busy lives – so keep them short and simple for the best results.

1. 5.   Text Message Marketing is Cost-Effective

Text messaging is quick, easy, and concise. Even better, it is also cost-effective compared to direct mail since no paper or postage costs are used in their transmission.

Furthermore, the cost to send text messages is very minimal – in fact, it’s just a fraction of traditional marketing costs.

As you can see, text message marketing is a great way to grow your local business and keep your customers coming back to do business with you.