Marketing used to be something really simple. You make a commercial, write an ad, put up a billboard and call it a day. That’s no longer the case with the development of the internet. That’s not shock, but if you have no awareness of what you need to be versatile in, then you may be shocked and you many not understand why your business isn’t blooming like it should be. Internet marketing strategies aren’t optional anymore, you have to be aware of them. If you’re not a marketing expert, you’ll need to get one.

Here are some examples of things that you need to be versatile in where you’re business is concerned, beyond that fantastic product and great customer service.

Website!

Your website is your what your front doors used to be. It’s what represents your company to everyone passing by on the internet. It’s what makes them stay and shop for your product, or move on down to the next company that sells toys! Your website is what makes you set apart form the rest of the pack. If you have a great website, when you’re customer lands on it, they’re going to feel like they’re home. They want to stay with you and not go anywhere else. Your website is the same as your being dressed in fine clothes or wearing a bathing suit when someone walks in your business.

Not only does your website have to be good from someone’s laptop or desk top, but it has to be responsive to cell phones. What that means is that you have to have your website be able to adjust and make the needed changes for viewing when it’s on a cell phone verse on a desktop or lap top.

Social Media!

Social media is what coffee shops used to be. Coffee shops used to be where you’d go and talk to people and in the process of a cup of coffee find out what they liked and didn’t like. What was the best place in town to get advertising for your job? What is the best place for toys? Now you go to social media and you throw your question out there.

Even if you don’t know what company’s are social media, you know them. You’ve heard of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and a never ending list of social media sites. Social media is where people now meet and greet and let everyone know what they think about everything, including how a company is doing. If you’re not on social media, you’re missing a huge market!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is the fancy name for internet marketing. It’s the umbrella term that includes such things as Growth Hacking, Social Media, Marketing and Reputation management. SEO takes you from being lost among millions, to being on the front page with the big boys. It’s the difference in 300 a month and 1000’s a month. If you’re not making what you want to be making, you need SEO.

Marketing Strategy!

Where are you going? What’s your target market? What impact do you want to have? Where do you see your business in 10 years? These are all questions that a marketing strategist asks when they first come on board. They are the ones that can invision where you are, but more importantly where you can be. They not only can invision it, but they have the ability to get you there.

Part of the talent that comes with being a strategist is their ability to know when doing something that is counter-intuitive is actually the correct thing to do. A strategist doesn’t understand the concept of a box, let alone being in one. They are a unique breed that most people can’t begin to understand, but they are critical to your business growing, developing and being their in 10 years.

All Of Them!

The answer to your next question is all of them! That’s right, if you’re company is going to grow you are going to need all of these people in your business. That’s especially tough in the beginning, when your company is a mom and pop type of store, but they are all needed. You can look at what you have and what you’re going to need to determine what is first, and move from there. You can do it! It is possible! Just take your first step and before you know it, you’ll be flying!!!

05/2016 by Sarah Roussos

Success In Business

When someone starts a business, it’s never their intent that it fails. If you consider that you were going to fail and that would be the outcome, you never ever would have started to begin with. Realize that 8 out of 10 business fail in the first 5 years. So what does that mean for you and what can you do about it?

Multiple Assaults

Starting a business should be handle much like when a country goes to war. The generals never just go into the battle and guess what they’re going to do, they have gone to school, studied, learned their enemy and strategized. So when they go on a mission, they know what they’re going to do and when they’re going to do it. They know when airstrikes are going to happen, when ground troops are going in, and when to set up a M.A.S.H unit. Because the realty of war is death and injuries. They don’t go in half hearted to fight, it’s a full on assault.

They same has to be true for you and your new business. You need to study! Yes, you need to do your homework. You need to study the enemy (your competition) and find out what he/she does well, but also what they do poorly. You need to have a M.A.S.H. unit. That is, you need to have your plan in place for when things don’t work the way you planned. For example, if sales don’t come when you think they will; have resources lined up so that you don’t have to close your doors, have your car repo’d and you don’t have to lose your home. You have got that plan in place.

Your Arsenal!

Like an army, your arsenal has to be in place. Do you have your SEO agency in New York in place? So that your name and your company is getting out there? Do you have your social media marketing agency set up, so that you can get onto the social media sites and get your name out there for you. So that when they see that little red ant, they think of you? Are you online at all? Do you have your website designed and user friendly? Is your website designed in such a way that it’s responsive to cell phones.

Is your arsenal ready?

Your Product!

The product that you’re choosing to merchandise is important. You can have all of your ducks in a row, but have a terrible product and it never fly. If you are one of 20 restaurants on a corner, then it’s not necessarily how good your food is, but your location. Are you one of 5 dentists in a strip mall? If so, you’re going to have a hard time getting new customers over the other 4 businesses that are in your neighborhood. Worse, is there a genuine need for what you have and what you do? Are you feeling a void that currently exists. This is why Microsoft worked so well. Not only did they fill a void, but they created a need that we didn’t even know existed. Now you can’t imagine not having a computer, let alone talking with someone around the world!

Is your product needed?

YOU Can’t Live!

That’s right, YOU can’t live without being in business for yourself. This is a must above everything else. Why? Because you’re going to be working seven days a week. You’re not going to see your family. You’re going to miss important events. You’re going to work late into the night and then turn around and get up early in the morning. It’s all part of the unspoken cost of starting a business and making it work for at the very least, the first 5 years of it’s existence. Then you might be able to start cutting back on hours…maybe.

Are You Ready?

That’s the question that remains; are YOU ready? It’s a time of blood, sweet and tears. It’s a time when you have a lot to loose, but you also have a lot to gain. So do those around you, those that you live with…your family. It’s a hard road, but if you succed…well there’s nothing better! Ask Bill Gates!

02/2016 by Sarah Roussos

GladLabs.com

The art of taking another person’s business to the next level, is just that…an art! It’s not something that everyone has the ability or experience to do. It’s one of the many things that sets GladLabs apart from the rest of the pack. Consider some of the amazing things that they do, to make you seen above the crowd.

SEO!

Search Engine Optimization is not for the faint of heart. It takes time to move you from the bottom of the barrel to the top and anyone that tells you otherwise, is tickling your ear. When people come to GladLabs, it’s because they have no clue how to make their business better than it is or how to get their product out there to the masses. Which is one of the reasons that GladLabs, is more than an average company. All of their clients are on the front page and all of their clients see and increase in business! After all, isn’t that what you’re after…an increase in business?

Web Design!

Web Design in conjunction with landing pages can make and break your company. If you don’t know how long someone’s staying on your homepage, then you don’t know if they’re getting the full impact of what your business does, let alone how you can help them. Is your product being shown to the best of it’s ability? Are people getting the full messages that they need to get and that you’re intending for them to get? Most of the time the answers to these questions are NO! The reason being simple: you know your product and what you’re trying to convey, the person that lands on your page doesn’t, and if they’re not caught immediately you’ve lost them, and your bounce rating is going to be high!

Social Media!

While you probably know what social media is, do you realise the millions to billions of dollars that are influenced to companies other than yours, all because they are using social media and you’re not. There’s any number of combinations in this area that can work for you and get your name out there. It’s not something that many can handle let alone know how to handle, but it is second nature to GladLabs! They have experience in this area for an extended period of time and are prepared to take your company to the next level IF this is what works best for your company. Social Media Marketing is not a one size fits all. Your needs and the effort given to promote your company is specially designed and grafted meet your needs.

Your Reputation!

Sometimes the challenge is your reputation. When one comment on your business can stay at the top of a review listing for months, then it’s your business that’s going to suffer. It’s one thing if it’s true about your business, it’s another if it’s not. That’s where GladLabs steps in and will take you to the next level with great pleasure. This is also an area that GladLabs shines in and you’ll find no judgment or condemnation from this group of professionals. GladLabs knows that things happen and sometimes you just need a helping hand to make it right!