26 Jan 12 Marketing firm accepting nominations for free services
Karen Morstad & Associates, a Greenwich-based marketing and branding firm serving the financial services industry, has launched its annual program, “KM&A Gives Back.” from now until Feb. 6, KM&A will welcome proposals from not-for-profit groups in need of marketing and branding services.
Each year, KM&A opens its doors to the community and selects a not-for-profit organization that it feels can best benefit from its professional expertise; including tailored marketing, branding, advertising and web design solutions. Local nonprofits are encouraged to submit their requests, which must include organization name, contact information, and their immediate marketing challenges by Feb. 6 to Karen Beauchamp at . the KM&A team will then choose an organization based on its selection criteria.
“Our team looks forward to the time of year when we shift our focus away from business and toward the countless organizations that work with great humility and conviction to improve the lives of others in our community and throughout the country,” Karen Beauchamp, director of marketing at Karen Morstad & Associates, said. “Each year we are left speechless and inspired by the hundreds of proposals representing so many worthy causes. the recipient of this year’s campaign will be awarded a marketing strategy worth $50,000 dollars — twice the amount we awarded to nonprofits in the past.”
KM&A has provided successful, pro bono marketing and creative solutions for several foundations and charities such as the Craig D. Tifford Foundation and Invest in Others.
Founded in 2004 by seasoned marketing veteran, Karen Morstad, KM&A offers tailored marketing solutions designed to inform and motivate an audience. Experts in the field of visual communications, KM&A works with a group of clientele in the areas of financial services, banking, brokerage, family entertainment and software technology by providing personal and customized service to meet individual marketing needs. for more information, visit karenmorstad.com
19 Jan 12 Photography Business
If your images are a very good standard and you are making a few quid from a few jobs on the side, maybe its time to consider taking the plunge of entering the world of the professional. Before you start you need to take a look at what is involved in running your own business and learn how to promote it properly.
If no one knows about you no one will give you work as a photographer and no one will buy your images. The following article is a guide to setting up a photography business and the promotion that will be needed to succeed.
For any individual or group setting up a photography business the first and most important area to cover is promotion and marketing. this is the key to success and the more marketing you do the higher the chance that you will succeed.
Once you have set up a business with your accountant, the first thing needed is to create business cards and promotional material. this material should have all your photography details and the services that you offer. place as much promotional material as possible in local businesses.
Local businesses will nearly always help if you are not competing with them. this is a great form of free advertisement. many supermarkets have notice boards and allow local businesses to use them. Libraries will always let you put up some type of advertisement. And, of course the web is an escalating place for self-promotion.
Most businesses have a website and your business will look more professional with one. your website does not have to be too large, five or six pages may be large enough but do have the following pages: contact page, services page, and a portfolio page.
Depending on the type of photography you do, I would advise that you hold regular galleries if you sell prints. this will lead to sales and may also give you free advertisement in your local press.
Many new businesses today advertise in their local newspaper. My advice to you is that if you are using this medium be careful, as it is a costly means of marketing and you could spend a lot with very little in return.
It is very important to keep records of every thing you do. Try to find out from clients where they heard about you. this will help you to understand what type of marketing work best.
Don’t ever take on a job that you cannot do. this will give you a bad name and harm your business. Word of mouth will help your business and in some cases this could be the best means of getting work.
Every business needs to make a profit. One of the most important items to work out with a new photography business are the rates that you are going to charge. If you are too expensive you won’t get work. If you are too cheap your business may struggle. Before you do a job you must take everything into account, and make sure that you are charging enough to cover costs, have a wage, and make some profit.
15 Jan 12 Local Search Marketing Services – Get More Local Customers
More and more people are tuning to Google and the other major search engines to find local businesses as opposed to the old fashioned use of the yellow pages. Think about it, isn’t it much easier to enter dentist in Dallas into Google than thumbing thru the yellow pages and trying to find the correct category to look under.
Today over 60% of people use the Internet as their primary source for finding local businesses.are they finding you or your competition?
The way to target this local traffic is to get your business online. Even if your business does not have a website, it can still be entered in the local search directories and appear for local searches for your services and products. Getting your business listed in these directories is even more critical with the rise in use of web enabled cell phone and GPS devices.
Local Search Directories far exceeds the more traditional forms of marketing allowing you to post pictures, videos, and customer reviews. Additionally unlike the yellow pages where the business with the largest advertising budget gets the biggest ad and visibility, your businesses position in local search results depends on ranking factors not advertising spend. Local search is free and if you optimize your listing you can beat out all your competitors and rise to the top.
Here are some of the things you can do to optimize your local business listing within Google:
1. go to the Google Local Business Center and add your business. Be sure to complete as much as the profile as possible.
2. Get Citations for your business. A citation is where your business name and address is mentioned (or cited) on another website. As Google crawls the web it keeps track of where your business name, address, & phone number are listed and awards you a point for each reference. Getting more citations will help your map listing rank higher. Business directories are a great place to gain citations.
3. Encourage customers to review you business. The Google Maps Listings allows the public to add reviews to your listing. Getting more and more reviews will help to improve your ranking.
11 Jan 12 How to Increase Website Traffic With Social Networking
If you want to increase website traffic with social networking, you must be willing to put in some work, as well as learn some new methods of traffic building. You see, social websites are dominating the internet right now and it is only going to get better. With the rise in Facebook users, there couldn’t be a better time to climb on board. You can be very sure that website traffic can easily be increased when you realize how many new Facebook members are joining the social chat every day. So pay attention.
How to increase website traffic with social networking, demonstrated below:
Set up a fan page. If you want people to learn about you and your business, you need a Facebook fan page. it is crucial that you showcase your expertise here. People need to know what you’re about, so make sure that your have a headline that tells the whole story. your profile should be very professional. However, don’t be afraid to be humorous, as Facebook is great for that kind of marketing.
Post updates about your business. it is important to note that posting too often could appear to be spam. So, only post when you have something of value to offer. You can easily increase your website traffic by hundreds of views if done right. Keep in mind that these are people just like you, and like you, they have emotions. So, take advantage of this by targeting their hot spots. What do they need help with. Find out what they struggle with and deliver the information that could help them.
Social networking is really about branding yourself. People need to feel that you know what you are talking about. So, offer real value by giving away teaser products or free PDF documents. Free giveaways are awesome for gaining the trust of your Facebook prospects. make sure that whatever you give to them is of high quality. the more you give to the people, the more website traffic you will get.
Use very compelling post titles. the best way to increase your traffic with social networking is to post very short descriptions of what you want people to see. your post must be interesting enough to get the attention of Facebook or Twitter users. Include a link to your website, but don’t do this too often as you will get people who will most likely believe you are spamming them. Take the time to really get a handle on these social sites and watch how much your website traffic increases.
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