COFFEE IN SICILY...WHO WANTS TO JOIN ME?

 

COME PROMUOVERE LA PROPRIA ATTIVITA E TRASFORMARLA IN UN CAPOLAVORO

 Prima di tutto decidi cosa vendere ....quale prodotto o servizio. Cosa offri tu che manca sul mercato? Se un prodotto piace a te non vuol dire che piacerà agli altri, assicurati che questo prodotto sia necessario ai futuri clienti e che renderà la loro vita più semplice. 

Una volta che hai le idee chiare sul prodotto che vuoi vendere, devi farti conoscere. Come? Costruisci un sito web e posizionalo sui motori di ricerca.Il sito è il miglior investimento per promuovere la tua azienda.

 Iscriviti ai social networks e cerca di essere più attivo possibile. Se utilizzati bene i social networks sono ottimi canali di vendita.Nei post parla di te, della tua storia, cosa ti ha spinto a creare questa attività. Ma sopratutto parla dei vantaggi del tuo prodotto, perchè e come sarà utile ai potenziali clienti.

Più che altro devi DIMOSTRARE quanto sei bravo, e perchè devono comprare il tuo prodotto invece che un altro.. Nel marketing questo è uno dei punti più importanti.

Crea contenuti interessanti, più sono interessanti e più saranno condivisi dai tuoi followers. L'obiettivo è di conquistare il pubblico e creare una maggiore  brand awareness.

Costruisci un HVCO (High Value Content Offer) nella forma di video, webinar, comunicato stampa o altro che possa essere utile ai potenziali clienti. Tieni in mente i possibili problemi che i clienti hanno e che potrebbero essere risolti con il tuo prodotto o servizio.

The Remarkable World of Digital Marketing

If you’re an entrepreneur and your business is not present online you are missing out a lot. You cannot afford to concentrate on product development at the expense of marketing, especially digital marketing. You need to keep up with new technology if you don’t want to be left behind. Any respectable business today can be found online, whether with its website, a blog or on the social networks. Establishing a strong web presence is crucial for any business in today’s world. You need to invest some money in order to get visibility online but it’s well worth the expense.

I noticed that older  business people who come to me for advice are suspicious of online marketing. They are stuck to their ways, refusing to accept the fact that traditional marketing techniques are practically obsolete, or will be so soon anyway. The future is in digital marketing and that’s where they need to concentrate their marketing strategy.  But these old-fashioned die hards don’t geti t. What is it good for, who will see us, how will potential customers buy our products unless they actually see them or touch them? These are all questions they ask me. It’s all due to ignorance. Ignorance about the web and its benefits. Their business is slowing down but they pin it down to the crisis. Certainly the crisis plays its role, buti f they stopped stubbornly resisting going online, they might see their business grow again. In fact the businesses growing today are the ones who invest time and money on digital marketing. Many of these businesses are run or created by the younger generation of entrepreneurs who are firm believers in the power of the web.

A 25 yr. old client of mine just started a business selling her own creations and the first thing she did was to create a website for her business. She then opened a blog so that she could introduce her products to the blogosphere. Next, she joined all the major social networks from Facebook to Instagram, from Twitter to Youtube, as well as Tumbler, Pinterest and Stumble-upon, which believe it or not,  is still  alive and well.

As I said earlier, you need to invest money and time if you want to build a strong online marketing   strategy for your business. Since the girl I mentioned above needs to concentrate on creating her products, she has little time to dedicate to online marketing. What did this smart girl do? She hired a digital marketing expert. This is what I call a wise investment. It’s not beneficial to be on all the social networks and then not being constantly present. You need to attract as many followers as possible and make your brand known out there on the web. You also need to get your business on top of the first page of search results.  To become number one is preferable. 

Good luck!  But this is where SEO (search engine optimization) has a big role. What it means is that your website needs to be extremely highly  optimized  for the search engines. SEO is tremendously  competitive though. Everyone there on the web is fighting to get on top - or anywhere else - of the first page of search results.  The trick is to get the best SEO company. That’s another subject which is well  worth investigating. 

GET PERSONAL

 You have created your "page" on Facebook. Now what? Where do you go from here?

Well, first of all you need to promote your page. How do you do that? Share the link among your FB friends and relatives and ask them to "like" your page. Remember, these are "friends and relatives" not CUSTOMERS.

You are looking to SELL your product, not simply talk about it or share the information with your friends. You need people who will BUY!

So, next step is to join as many social networks as you can. Facebook and Instagram are ok, but you will always see the same faces there, you need to spread out, to reach NEW people, especially potential customers.

Create a Youtube channel and make a video of introduction. Talk about yourself first ....people love listening to personal stories. Tell them about your origin, your background, do you have children, dogs, cats....and anything you deem appropriate. Don't forget to talk about your BUSINESS. What it is about, how did you come up with this idea, why do you think your project will be good for people, how will it be useful to them, etc.

Once you upload the video on Youtube, share it on Twitter and your blog. Yes, blog. Be sure you also open a BLOG where you will talk about yourself and of course, about your business, with lots of attractive pictures to get people interested.

HOW TO GROW YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS

If you own a business and you are wondering how to make it grow online, here are some useful suggestions. 

Your Competitor is ahead of You?

Years ago, I’m talking about the dark ages, before globalization and internet, a business had to compete with a rival down the block, or somewhere farther in town, or at most in a nearby town. Checking up (spying) on the rival business meant keeping up with their prices or products. If one increased it’s prices, the other one would lower his. If one got newer products, the other would do the same; or get different or newer products. It was as easy as that. If you owned a business you felt relatively safe; you didn’t go around running like a headless chicken, trying to stay ahead of your rival business. That was then. Light years away. 

With the advent of the internet, all that changed. Now your competitor is no longer the other guy from the block. Now your competitor is the WHOLE WORLD! That’s because the whole wild world is accessible to anyone. Sure, if you’re the type who can keep up with technology, you have probably put your business online. Yes, but so has nearly every other business in the world. Just as your customers, or potential customers, can access your website, so can they easily access your competitors’ website. This is probably giving you many sleepless nights, if not a nervous breakdown. How do you compete with hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of other businesses who sell your same product or provide the same service that you do and who are easily accessible with just a simple click? Why should clients stick with you or potential clients buy from you and not from your competitor? In this age of temporary everything, why should customers be permanently loyal to you? What makes you so special to make them come back for more? Do you have a USP? (For those of you who don’t know, USP means ‘unique selling proposition.’) If you don’t, then you better come up with one. Make sure it differentiates you from the others.

 I will use an example that is close to my heart. In my town, there are hundreds of cafes/pastry shops. You’d think one of them would sell something different. No, they all serve the same plasticky croissants, the same old pastries, the same old flavors of ice-cream. I once dared to ask one of these shops if they served banana split. I got a look as if I came from Mars! They didn’t even know what I was talking about. This is to say, they obviously have never heard of USP and are not interested either. That’s why most of them, close as quickly as they open. If you don’t want to end up in the same boat, here are my suggestions:

1.  Play your cards right and make a unique selling proposition, that will attract not only your present clients but new ones also.

2.  Don’t stagnate. Keep up with what is new in your business. The internet makes it easy…just use Google Search.

3.  Be a fortune teller. Foresee the future of your business and plan accordingly. Do you see it expanding or shrinking? Do you want to keep selling the same product or would you want to sell additional ones?

4.  Take your business to conventions or EXPOS abroad to get known by foreign markets.

5.  Last but not least: INVEST. If you want to be known, you have to be seen. Invest in Online Marketing, SEO experts and Social Media Managers.