Have you noticed how social media sites are giving slide presentations a new lease of life?

Not so long ago PowerPoint (and its Mac equivalent Keynote) had a bad reputation with many presentations rightfully earning the label: “Death by PowerPoint”. Slides were often too busy, too wordy to read, or just too complex to understand. Even worse were those presenters who used them as auto cues, reading word for word and boring their audience to sleep.

But now it seems that a whole new generation of talented presenters are breathing new life into PowerPoint slideshows. The best ones are creating visually pleasing and attention-grabbing images, making text short & snappy and, most importantly, keeping us interested. No mean feat in this much reduced attention span age!

So in addition to using slide presentations at traditional offline events, such as when giving talks or running training workshops, there are now online opportunities for this frequently overlooked medium.

1. Presentations uploaded to Slideshare.net quickly show up in the search engines so it’s worth taking the time to categorise and tag them properly. A basic account is free to set up and very easy to use. Here are the Savvy Marketers presentations we’ve uploaded.
2. YouTube is already known as the second largest search engine and millions of videos are watched every day around the world. Recording your slide presentation, accompanied by audio, and uploading the result to YouTube means you can then embed the video in your website or blog, and share it with your Facebook fans & friends too. Other free video sharing options worth considering include Vimeo and Viddler.
3. Another good place to share your PowerPoint presentation is on your LinkedIn profile or LinkedIn Company page. You can either add the Slideshare application or embed the video into a Google Docs presentation.
4. Webinars are becoming an increasingly popular way of sharing information online. Depending on the service used, screen-sharing means including a slide presentation is straightforward and adds that important visual element to help get your message across and keep your audience’s attention.

Creating slide presentations is yet another great way to share that all-important content, and one that doesn’t require too much writing.

What new or different ways have you seen PowerPoint used recently? Please share in the comments below.

It’s no wonder many small business owners hesitate to get started with social media marketing

Social Media Marketing is not a replacement for traditional ‘offline’ marketing – but it is an excellent addition. Here’s why:

Connect

Social Media helps you to reach out to and connect with many more interesting & influential people than if you don’t take part. At a time when the majority of phone calls end up in the voicemail zone, using the social networks can be a more successful way to make that initial contact.

It’s surprising to find that quite senior decision makers and buyers are personally involved. You will find big business thought leaders, early adopters and big brands on Twitter or with Facebook Pages. OK, so they probably don’t send out every tweet themselves, but they will be kept informed of trending topics and notice people of interest.

Communicate

An important factor to remember with Social Media marketing is that it replaces the one-way message of the old, static, brochure-type website and enables you to communicate two-way and even multi-ways with your clients and prospective clients. You can find out what they really want, instead of merely guessing. Many large brands are discovering a whole new box of customer service tools in the social networks (those who get it are anyway).

You can send out your message to reach hundreds or thousands of people in an instant at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising or direct mail, and receive a response just as quickly. Your customers and prospective customers are getting used to having their say.

Consistent

With traditional marketing activities, you wouldn’t expect to do something only once or twice for it to bring you good results, would you? That would be like going to one networking meeting or mailing out one letter, and then sitting back waiting for the phone to ring. Instead you’d plan out a campaign of activities to take place over a few months or more. You would visit the networking groups regularly and send out a series of mailings – and follow them up too.

With Social Media marketing you need to commit to doing it consistently & correctly for it to work for your business. If you’re going to be on Twitter or any of the other online networks, you have to show up often to see any return. And if you have a blog, you need to post something at least once a week, every week.

Whether your prospective clients are parents, students, young mums, the retired or redundant or they are sole-traders or business tycoons, there is a way to connect and communicate with them using social media marketing.

What would you add? Please share in the comments below.

We hear a lot of people say

This question assumes that social media is something you can do once and not have to return to. Sorry to disappoint but Social Media marketing is a bit like a huge jigsaw puzzle and, because social media keeps on changing and growing, the jigsaw is never completely finished.

As an eternal ‘tweaker’ I can honestly say that there are so many little pieces, it takes forever to put them all in the right place on the picture that is social media.

What we find is that it’s often the little pieces of the puzzle that can make the biggest difference and have the most impact on business.

Here are just 15 little pieces that you may want to use for your own social media marketing puzzle:

Twitter

• Check that you have included a up to date live link back to your website in your bio.
• If you’re using automation tools, make sure the scheduled tweets are still relevant.
• Have you cleared out inactive or spammy followers lately?

Facebook

• On your Personal Profile, check you have included links to your Facebook Business Page, Twitter account and website(s) in the Contact Information section of the Info tab.
• Engage with friends and family on your Personal profile, but gradually move business acquaintances over to the Business Page.
• On your Facebook Business Page, set up a routine to add interesting content every day (auto-linking Twitter doesn’t count ).

LinkedIn

• Check that your profile is up to date – current employer & summary
• Have you selected your specialist areas yet?
• Create a Company page for your business and start promoting your products & services.

Blog

• Is your Sign-up box to collect visitor details and build your list prominently displayed?
• Check that the RSS feed link works (clicking on it should open a selection of readers, not a page of code)
• Give readers plenty of opportunities to share your articles around the internet.

Google+

• Create and complete your profile (with photograph) and include relevant links to your other online homes
• Create a Google+ Business Page and add your information to the About Page.
• Add a Google+ Profile Badge to your website and blog. (If you’re on WordPress here’s a plugin: http://plusdevs.com/google-wordpress-plugin/)

As with all marketing activities you will need to try, test and monitor to find out which social media pieces work best for your business.

Over to you – what jigsaw pieces would you include?

QR Code Generator – what you need to create your own QR code. Here’s a post with a useful list of code generators to choose from. (I’ve just used QRMobilize to set up my personal QR code and found it quite easy to use.)

We’re also experimenting with Goo.gl which is a URL shortener combined with a QR code generator. The benefits of this is that it lets you track the number of visits to the page where the QR code was read. Make sure you’re logged into Google and just type the URL of the page you want to direct people to. You’ll then see your newly shortened URL. Once you have your shortened URL, click on “details” and you’ll see your very own QR code has been automatically generated for you. You can then right click and save it as a JPEG (for best resolution) or take a screen shot of it. Then you can use it on any of the materials listed below AND you’ll be able to see clicks generated from the QR code and track what’s working for you.

QR Code Reader – which one you choose depends on which smartphone you have. For my BlackBerry, I’ve downloaded the free lynkee.com which was quite straightforward to do, and seems to work well. However I do find that you have to be very precise (and have a steady hand) when capturing the code to enable it to be read.

QR Code Applications for Small Businesses – While some TV ads are sporting QR Codes, personally, I’d struggle to snap the code in the very few seconds it was on-screen!

Perhaps their best applications are to be found offline, on printed media, such as:

• Business Cards
• Trade Show Literature
• Posters
• Direct Mail Postcards
• Take-away Menus
• Magazines and Newspapers
• Product Instructions
• and many more!

The QR code you can see at the top of this post is for our own Savvy Marketing Tips! In this case, we’re using it to encourage people to subscribe to our newsletter, and the link will take you to a sign up box.

If you’re using QR Codes, what’s the best application you’ve seen so far? Please share in the comments below, we’d love to know!

As with many consultants

I expect some of you have watched the latest run of programmes on the TV: Gordon’s Kitchen Nightmares, Hotel Inspector & Country House Rescue. They all have a common theme of businesses needing help. For the most part, the party involved took on the advice of the consultant, whether it was Gordon Ramsay, Alex Polizzi or Ruth Watson. However, there were a few individuals, who despite being in terrible debt with a failing business, refused to accept their advice. This is the first reason not to hire a consultant: if you don’t take any notice of what they say. Keep your money instead and keep doing the things to promote your business that don’t work – you know better after all!

The second reason is if you’re not committed to the project. Perhaps it seemed like a good idea at the time, but then other things got in the way and slowly but surely, the website got neglected, you don’t have time to follow up the actions recommended by your consultant, you have to stop for a while as other things have taken priority. If you’re not 100% committed to making the project work, then it won’t work. A half-hearted attempt with any marketing campaign is a sure fire way for it to flop. Like any marketing, internet marketing takes just as much hard work, time and commitment.

Finally, you’re desperate! Business isn’t good, you’ve neglected to market your business properly during the good times and now the economy isn’t great, you’re panicking. A cobbled together campaign in a very short time, in the hope of immediate sales and leads isn’t going to help your business. If things have got that bad then it’s professional business help that you need, not internet marketing help!

It can be tempting to think that the internet will bring instant results for your business and you can easily pay for leads and sales which will come flooding in once you get a presence on Google. If only it were that easy! If you’re thinking of hiring some help for any of these wrong reasons then think again and consider what type of help you really need.

Do you take the same amount of care over your Email Marketing?

Just because email is quick and easy to send out, doesn’t mean you can afford to get into sloppy habits. Or that you can simply ‘throw together’ your campaign email or newsletter in the hope no-one will notice if it’s full of typos. Because they will. If you’re lucky, your readers will take great pleasure in letting you know there’s a problem; if you’re unlucky they will just quietly unsubscribe from your list. After all, who wants to hire a [fill in the blank] if this is an example of their work.

Don’t be paralyzed by perfectionism

On the other hand, if you’re the type of person who isn’t satisfied with anything less than perfection, and who is forever making ‘just one more tweak’, your problem is slightly different. In your case, you need to learn that a misplaced semi-colon is not the end of the world – you might find this post about the curse of perfectionism helpful.

So, once you’ve got your Email message looking good and checked for typos, you’re ready to send it, right?

Not so fast Speedy!

Step back from the ‘submit’ button for a moment. There are a few more important parts of your Email Campaign to double check before sending it on its way. Some are obvious, others maybe less so.

1. The From field and From email address
2. The Subject Line is brief and spelt correctly, and the First Name is set up to show correctly (if you use this facility)
3. If you’re promoting an event, double check that the date, time and venue or call-in details are all correct.
4. Your contact information is correct (ie your name, business name, email, web site, phone number, postal address)
5. You’ve included clear information on how to unsubscribe with one-click – and make sure the link works.
6. ALL links work (both in the HMTL and TEXT versions of your message)
7. Send yourself a test message. This will make sure you see the message as your readers will and give you another chance to check for errors. If possible, have a proof-reading buddy who will let you know if they find any glitches when you send them a test message. It’s always so much easier to find other people’s typos than your own.
8. Send yourself ANOTHER test after fixing any problems and changing ANY text. Bordering on perfectionism perhaps, but it’s surprising how some changes can have an unexpected knock-on effect on another part of the message.

Once you’ve worked through this checklist, it’s time to publish your Email Campaign – good luck!

What have I missed? What else do you check before sending out your Email Marketing or Newsletters?

Whether your business sells products or services, the following list of low-cost and no cost ways to get more visitors aren’t at all techie to do.

1.  Tell people about it – don’t assume everyone knows about your website.  If you’ve recently added something interesting, that’s a good reason to mention it when you’re out networking.

2.  Business card – give people a reason to take a look at your website, offer them something interesting like an article or free report (this will also give you an opportunity to include them in future email marketing campaigns)

3.  Online Directories – there are so many of these directories that they aren’t as useful as a few years ago.  But it’s still worth taking advantage of free listings that include a link back to your website so long as the directory looks reputable.

4.  Social Network Profiles – people you connect with on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are more internet savvy and will probably want to visit your website to find out more about you, even before connecting.  Give them a warm welcome

5.  Email Signature – so often forgotten, this is a great place to encourage people to click through and visit your website (or blog).  Make sure to provide a ‘live’ link and check it works OK.

6.  Postcards and direct mailers – just because traditional mailings are offline, don’t stop promoting your business’s online home.

7.  Letterhead – same as 6. above.  (Does anyone actually use letterheads anymore?)

8.  Invoices – why not include a discreet promotional message and your web address? (I’d advise against anything too brash when you’re also asking for money)

9.  Voicemail – Use the outgoing message to encourage people to visit your website after they’ve left a message for you.  It’s quite unusual, so they may just do it!

10. Articles (online and offline) – If you’ve written something of interest, be sure to provide a link (url offline) so readers can click to find out more.

If you consistently use all the above methods, you will get more visitors to your website.

Do you have anything to add to the list?  Please share in the comments below, we’d love to know

Despite this, you still need to keep up your marketing as much as possible! It’s very easy to let things slide and get confused about where your precious time should be spent.

Just to help you, here are a few things you can do over the next month or so, to keep things ticking along:

1. Blog. Blogs are usually the first thing to get neglected, however, it’s important to keep it up to date. Once a week or so should be enough, no essays, a few short posts, but don’t be tempted to just leave it until September! For a bit of inspiration, see Mary Portas’s blog, which she is posting to even while on holiday.

2. Email Newsletter. If you send one out each month, don’t be tempted not to bother in August. Even if you’re off on holiday with your family, a lot of people aren’t and you still need to keep your business name in front of people. Your subscribers are the most important people to keep in contact with.

3. Social Media. If you’re usually quite proactive on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin, then don’t neglect your connections there either. You don’t have to be on these sites each day, a couple of times per week should suffice, but do find a few minutes each week to keep the momentum going.

4. Review Your Competitors. This is a good time to take a look around some of your key competitors websites and get ideas. Since August is quiet and you’re probably thinking about how you’re going to kick start things again in September, find out what your competitors are up to and get some new ideas. Going through competitors’ websites is a great way to ensure you keep on your toes with your marketing!

The key to this is preparation – get some blog posts and your email newsletter written in advance and you can determine which date the posts are published and the newsletter sent, all giving the impression that you’re busy working on your marketing, even if you’re lying on a beach!

For those of you off on your holidays, have a great summer – and we hope you at least manage to do a couple of the things listed above.

What plans do you have to keep your marketing going over the summer? Please let us know!

Shortening an unwieldy and long URL is very convenient. If you use Twitter, you’ll know the number of characters is at a premium (only 140 per tweet), so the shorter the url, the longer the rest of your tweet message can be.

When you use a long URL in an email, there can be problems as a long link is more likely to ‘break’, in other words clicking on it doesn’t take readers where you intended them to go.  Instead they end up with an error message.  While you’d think people would get in touch and let you know the link was broken, often they forget because they’re busy, and you’ll always wonder why there were so few click throughs to your latest promotion.

Some URL shorteners enable you to ‘personalise’ the result. For example, you might want to include ‘mynewproduct’ – so the shortened URL would be http://tinyurl/mynewproduct (hopefully not a real web page!)

If you use Hootsuite as your Twitter client, they offer two URL shorteners: Ht.ly includes a ‘social bar’ (see below – the bar is at the top of the screenshot).

This means you can easily Retweet the blog post and have access to submit the link to Digg, Reddit, Delicious, FaceBook, etc.

The second of Hootsuite’s URL shorteners is Ow.ly – which creates a simple short link.  Both Ht.ly and Ow.ly provide click through statistics.

Click through stats are possibly one of the most compelling reasons to use a URL shortener (not all of them provide this service, so check the one you use does).  Being able to see how many people are clicking through to your webpage or blog using your link is very valuable marketing data to have.

It’s a good idea to check the shortened link before you give it out – just click to make sure it takes you to the page you want to go to!

There are many (over 100) different URL shortening tools, some more reliable than others.  For an in depth analysis of performance and uptime, see Mashable’s helpful blog post from earlier this year.

Have you tried URL shorteners?  If so which do you like?  Please share in the comments below – and if you found this post helpful, we’d love a retweet

(Warning – this post is a rant)

As someone who has been online (seriously) since 2005 and who loves the whole idea of learning and sharing the good stuff with other small business owners, it makes my blood boil when I come across so-called experts who are nothing of the kind!

They jump on the latest bandwagon that shows promise – most recently social media marketing – and set themselves up to advise other small business owners.

Now, I have no trouble at all with healthy competition – in fact I believe there’s room for all of us to specialise in what we do best and of course our clients have the right to choose who they want to work with.

What I strongly object to are the people who haven’t earned their stripes yet & whose inexperience and consequent poor advice (and poor results for their unfortunate clients) give everyone in the business a bad name.

These ‘experts’ are often people who don’t even do what they tell others to do – how on earth can they know if it works or not?  They haven’t built a community on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.  Their profile pages are incomplete or out of date.   Some of them don’t even have a website (?) or blog , or they quickly populate a blog using other people’s articles.  The only thing they’re expert in is talking up a convincing storm!

In my opinion social media marketing offers some of the best marketing opportunities for small businesses around today!  Amongst the many reasons I could cite is that it has broken the stranglehold of expensive advertisers, traditional directories and thankfully, a lot of the more unscrupulous web designers.

But only a couple of weeks ago I spoke to someone fighting to recover internet property that is rightly hers, more proof that we still need to be careful who we hire.  (Sam and I intend to do a case study once all the legalities have been resolved.)

After the rant, today’s message is …

Please do some due diligence and find out if the ‘expert’ you’re thinking of employing is really walking their talk before you part with any of your hard-earned money.  Fortunately, it has never been easier to check their online presence – the easiest way is to Google their name (personal & business) and see how many entries come up – there should be at least 100,000 if they’ve been in business for any length of time.  And if they have a ‘common’ name, how many of the listings on the first page are for them?  Click on a few links on the first few pages of Google – if they’ve been building their own social media presence they should at least occupy the first few mentions.

(Although Sam & I have spoken many times about this topic, she’s on holiday & hasn’t seen this post prior to publishing.  As the opinions are my own, any brickbats should be aimed at me!)

Have you been taken in by so-called experts?  Please be brave and comment below – your experiences will help others.  If you found this post helpful, a retweet would be appreciated.