King Marketing

For Marketers, Social Media Should be a Habit

Jan 26

Posted by admin in Internet Marketing / Online Marketing, Marketing/Advertising, Social Media | No Comments

Success in using social media starts with remembering to use it. At one time, marketing consisted of meeting with your newspaper rep, giving him or her the info on your upcoming “Dollar Day” sale, and letting them run it in the local paper a couple times. By the middle of the 20th century, you could add radio and TV along with the paper, and that combination stood for nearly 60 years.

Today, it’s not just that newspaper circulation is declining, or that TV and radio audiences are fragmented, the switch to social media is taking place precisely because it works. At least it works if you remember to use it.

First, every time you plan a sales event, think about how you can include social media…Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, and others.

Second, start thinking of new marketing events you can do only with social media.

It’s a habit you not only should get in; it’s a habit you must get in for the future of your business.

If you need help with social media, it’s out there. Visit our Social Media page on our website (www.kingmarketinginc.com), or Google “internet marketing” to find local agencies that can help.

(We are planning a free Social Media seminar in March or April. Go to our Facebook page and “like” us, or follow us on Twitter. That way you’ll find out the date and times. And, don’t forget our free Search Engine Optimization Seminar on February 7. Sign up here.)

Tags: Advertising, Facebook, Google, internet marketing, King Marketing, LinkedIN, Social Media, Twitter, YouTube

Revise the Marketing Plan! The PC-Tablet Revolution is Underway!

Jan 23

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The number of people who have an e-reader or tablet PC (such as the IP-Pad) has just doubled. If you were paying any attention this past holiday season, you knew that these devices were high on everyone’s wish list, and apparently, Santa came through big time.

The Pew Research Center reports adult ownership of tablets went from 10% before Christmas, to 19% after. 29% of Americans now have mobile devices such as tablets or smart phones.

What does this mean to you? It means people will be spending more time on line reading e-books and e-zines, watching videos, chatting with friends, and perhaps, visiting your website or social media site. Since there are only so many hours in a day, it means these same people will be using old media less and less, putting physical printed books and newspapers on the endangered species list.

These devices, like smart phone in 2011, will be game changers in 2012 and beyond. They will change the rules of marketing yet again, perhaps in ways we haven’t even thought about yet.

Are you reading this post on your new tablet?

Tags: Blog, I-Pad, I-Phone, King Marketing, PC-Tablet, Smart Phone, Social Media

Google Changes SEO Rules, Again.

Jan 20

Posted by admin in Internet Marketing / Online Marketing, SEO | No Comments

The world’s most popular search engine, Google, continues to refine the way it ranks web sites in its search results. For 99% of us, it’s good news.

Have you ever searched on a topic, then clicked on a website only to have to hunt through tons of ads, finally finding the actual content toward the bottom of the page? Chances are, once you found the actual information, it wasn’t very good anyway. The new Google algorithm will move these sites down, giving legitimate sites, like yours, a better chance of getting found.

Google changes the rules for its search engine on a regular basis. Sometimes we know about it, sometimes we don’t. This means we must monitor the search rankings of our sites constantly, making changes when necessary in order to stay towards the top of search page one. This is part of the process called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short.

We’re holding a free one hour seminar on SEO on Tuesday, February 7. This is a good chance for non-tech people to learn what SEO is and get a few tips that can be applied to their sites to improve their search standing. Click here to learn more about it and register.

Tags: fort wayne, Google, internet marketing, King Marketing, search engine optimization, SEO, SEO Seminar

FREE Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Seminar on February 7

Jan 16

Posted by admin in Internet Marketing / Online Marketing, Marketing/Advertising, SEO | No Comments

We’re proud to announce our first FREE Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Seminar will be offered on Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at the beautiful new IPFW Alumni Center located just across the street from the Coliseum.

Today, people find products and services by searching on line. Most of these potential customers will only click on the three or four websites found at the top of page one of their Google, Bing, or Yahoo searches. If a business website is on page two or three, it’s out of luck. The procedure of getting a website to the top of page one is called search engine optimization, or SEO for short. The process requires many steps, several of which the average website owner can easily do on his own.

This isn’t a program for tech people. It’s designed for the average business or non-profit website owner. Our goal is to have everyone who attends be able to go back and put some of our suggestion in place, and see some upward movement in the search rankings. If you’re a business owner and have been hearing about SEO, this conference will explain what’s going on in simple, clear language.

Two sessions will be offered, the first at 8:15 am and the second at Noon at the IPFW Alumni Center,1528 E. California Road, Fort Wayne, just north of the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. Each session is one hour, with plenty of time afterwards for questions. There’s free parking at the door.

Watch our video below, then sign up at seo.kingmarketinginc.com. You can also call King Marketing at (260) 489-2884.

Tags: internet marketing, IPFW, King Marketing, search engine optimization, SEO, web design

Social Media Fuels a New Consumer Movement

Jan 5

Posted by admin in Marketing/Advertising, Social Media | No Comments

Back in the 1970’s, union farm workers in California organized a lettuce boycott. Not being particularly fond of lettuce, I was happy to join in. This was one of only a few successful consumer boycotts of that time, and it took years to make it work.

During the past six months, we have witnessed three consumer boycotts that produced the desired results within only a few days. The first was the customer revolt against Netflix when it decided to, in effect, double their rates. The slow response from the company put it’s stock into a tailspin, and in the long run, they may never recover. A few weeks ago, Go Daddy customers decided to protest that company’s decision to support SOPA (If you don’t know what SOPA is, click here and learn.) Tens of thousands of hosting customers cancelled their service. Here, do the math: $5.99 per month, every month times 32,000 customers, the number that quit in one 36 hour period, comes to over 2.3 million dollars a year. Go Daddy now thinks SOPA is flawed as is, and has withdrawn its support. And just last week, Verizon tried to charge its customers a $2.00 service fee if they paid their bill by credit card. That boycott barely got off the ground before Verizon said “uncle.”

What’s different between now and 1970’s is the power of the social network. The farm workers had a tough time getting their voices heard. After an appeal made during the Democratic Convention, lettuce sales dropped for two weeks, then went back up. People probably thought the problem was over, and had no way really to know otherwise.

Today, however, the news about NetFlix, Godaddy, and Verizon sped around the world within hours. People reported it in blogs. The blog posting were spread by Facebook. The buzz on Facebook was picked up by the media. And all of this was done within hours. Bloggers proposed solutions, such as “Leave Go Daddy Day” set for December 29^th last year.

All of this shows that consumers now have a tremendous new power for dealing with large corporations, or as in the Middle East, with dictatorial governments. It also shows the power of social media, and how it can be used for good or bad, depending on which side you are on.

Companies, large and small, must embrace this power, understand it and harness it for their own good. Have you posted on your company blog and Facebook page today?

Tags: Facebook, internet marketing, King Marketing, Social Media

Besides SEO, Why Blog?

Jan 4

Posted by admin in Internet Marketing / Online Marketing, SEO | No Comments

Once you start blogging, it becomes a way of life. In other words, it does get easier the more you do it.

When we tell Internet Marketing clients they need to blog, they wonder exactly who, if anyone will ever read it. Our answer is simple: We don’t care if anyone reads it, it’s an important part of your search engine optimization (SEO). Google indexes blogs, and shows them in search results, so do it.

But there is more to it than that. “Content” is the big word for 2012. Users like content, and Google is adjusting its search methods to increase the search rankings for websites with good and changing content. Your blog handles both of these issues.

So, if users want content, are they reading my blog? As we study the analytics of our Internet Marketing clients, we see that users do read your blog posts. They may not do it as soon as you post it, and they may not ever respond to it, but eventually, they do see it.

They see it when they’re on your website trying to decide whether or not to do business with you, or someone else. An intelligent blog post will help position you as a leader in your business, as someone who knows what he/she is talking about. In other words, someone people want to do business with.

Another great reason to blog I read on another blog recently. Blogging keeps you sharp. Think about it. In order to write an incisive blog post, you have to keep up on the changes in your industry. You have to do a little research in your trade magazines or on line. You should do this anyway, but let’s face it, blogging forces us to do this. It’s why I sit around reading the latest SEO and Internet Marketing blogs at night when I used to veg in front of the TV.

(As part of our Internet Marketing program, we do your blogging for you. Learn more about it here.)

Tags: Blog, blogging, internet marketing, King Marketing, SEO

Resolutions for a More Successful 2012

Dec 27

Posted by admin in Internet Marketing / Online Marketing, Marketing/Advertising, SEO, Social Media, Web Design | No Comments

Over the past few weeks, several people have commented to me that they have a feeling the economy here in Northeast Indiana doesn’t feel so bad anymore. They are right in this assumption. Unemployment has fallen primarily because the auto industry is doing fairly well, and this area is still reliant on manufacturing. While the housing market has not recovered, big construction projects like Parkview Hospital are keep workers employed who otherwise might have been building houses. With all this said, things aren’t really back to where they were in 2008, or before 2000., and they may not be again, or at least for a long time. Unemployment is still too high and personal income for those who are working has been falling.

So, the good news as we start a new year is that money is out there and people are spending it. The bad news is that they have less of it than before.

This means we need to work smarter and more efficiently than ever before if want to earn our “unfair” share of the pie.

The definition of advertising is whatever causes people to buy your product or service. In other words, they can’t buy from you, if they don’t know about you or understand how you product helps them fill a need.

This means that all business starts with advertising or promotion. A lot of businesses today simply don’t have the same amount of resources available for advertising as they did even a few years ago. Still, in this economy, where fewer consumer dollars are available you need to increase your share of sales in order to maintain business at the same level you had it before the recession started.. That normally would require increasing your advertising budget, but for most businesses today it means taking a smaller ad budget and making it work harder.

This won’t work with traditional advertising such as radio, TV and newspaper. The biggest returns on advertising investment today are on the internet.

Sure, you have a web site, but that’s not enough. Your site must have the information you need to tell your customers presented in a compelling manner. Your site must be on the first page of search engine results, or no one will visit it. You must build a relationship with your potential customers using social media so they will feel comfortable about doing business with you and not someone else.

So, as you think about what you can do to make 2012 a better year for your business, here are some New Year’s resolutions you should make and keep.

1. Review your website. If it’s old, or not very informative, bring it up to date. Add video and a blog.

2. Do a Google search of your business using common search engine terms a potential customer might use. If you don’t show up on the top of page one, contact a search engine optimization (SEO) company (such as ours) and get them working on your website immediately. You can take the cost of this out of your ad budget because the higher your business shows up in a search, the more likely potential customers will click on your site. If you’re on page two or worse, you’re getting a very low percentage of the action. Every position you move up will increase your website’s traffic, and if you have a good website, that will increase your business.

3. Get involved with Social Media such as Facebook or LinkedIn. Your competition has already started doing this. This is only going to become more important as the year’s roll on. Start now. No, right now. Again, if you don’t know how, get help.

No matter what business you’re in, websites, social media, videos, blogs, and social networks are taking over. Resolve today that your business will be a part of it in 2012.

By the way, we resolve to offer free seminars in 2012 to help educate businesses on using Internet Marketing. Watch for them here on our blog, become a Facebook Fan, or subscribe to our Twitter feed.

Everyone here at King Marketing wishes you the very best in the coming year. Let’s turn every challenge into an opportunity so we can really have something to celebrate on December 31, 2012.

Tags: Advertising, internet marketing, King Marketing, SEO, Social Media

Merry Christmas from King Marketing

Dec 19

Posted by admin in Marketing/Advertising | No Comments

The stockings have been hung by the receptionist window with care, so it must be holiday time.

Looks like someone has larger expectations from Santa than others. Lulu, our mascot, knows that good things come in small packages.

Happy Holidays fro all of us at King Marketing!

Tags: Advertising, internet marketing, King Marketing, SEO

The Battle of the Mobile Action Codes

Dec 7

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Sounds like a holiday action film, but there’s no blood and gore in this battle, if you can even call it that.

What is a Mobile Action Code? It’s those funny boxes that are showing up in magazine ads, on the sides of candidates buses, and even in airports. The idea is to scan them with your phone or smart phone and have that engage us in some form of digital action, often taking us to a web site or video.

They are being used, although most consumers have no idea what they are. And to add to the confusion, there are not three different formats which don’t really work together on most phones.

QR Code
The one you’ve probably seen the most is the QR Code. To scan them with your smart phone, you need to download a free app. Once you do, you can scan, and be transported to a web site, video, Facebook page, etc. The Advantage of the QR Code is that they are the most used right now, and they’re free. Disadvantage, only about 13% of smart phone users have the app, and, QR Codes are pretty ugly as graphics go.

Microsoft Tag
The Microsoft tag is either prettier, or gaudier than the QR Code, depending on your viewpoint. Magazines are starting to embrace it because it looks better, although it is generally believed that QR Codes get a better response. Down side, you’ve got to pay to create an MS Tag. That’s fine for Coca Cola, but hard on small businesses.

Snap Tag
The Snap Tag is loved most by Graphic Artists because it looks the best of the three. You can put your logo or other graphic inside the code ring. Before you get too excited, here’s how these things work: You take a photo with your phone, then text or email that photo to an address listed under the code, and that engages some kind of digital action. One advantage is that everyone who has a phone with a camera (About 88% do) can use the Snap Tag. With QR Codes and MS Tags, you just point your camera and it takes you to a website. With Sanp Tags, you still have to email or text, which might even cost you money, to start the action.

In the end, the users will determine which of these codes they prefer to use, if any. Only a fairly small number of people use them now, and I stopped using them after I tried a few out of curiosity. For right now, I’d stick with the QR Codes. They’re free, people are starting to recognize their use, and you can colorize them and make them look a little bit better.

What do you think?

Tags: Advertising, fort wayne, internet marketing, King Marketing, marketing, MS Tags, QR Codes, QRC, Snap Tags, Social Media