From Lead Capture to Close…And Everything In-Between

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Jun 042013
 

Lead Captured! Done, Right?

from lead to sale

Not even close! Capturing leads is the FIRST step towards converting website visitors into customers or clients. Yes, the Internet has made it easier to reach larger targets of people in a MUCH larger geographical area (like Global) but you need to do much more while leveraging the Internet to capture those leads.

Improve Relationships With Your List

Regardless of the size of your list of contacts, the better relationship you have with your list, the more likely you are to get them to buy from you. Remember, people like to do business with people they know, like, and trust. building relationshipsIf you are using auto-responders, make sure to personalize them. Don’t used canned emails that don’t let the recipient get a chance to “know you”. That would be defeating the purpose of email marketing. If you are using a program that gives you shared auto-responders, by all means, use the campaigns, HOWEVER, make a copy and personalize them. Make sure they are speaking in your “voice”. For instance, when I use auto-responders, which of course I do, I write like I speak, just as if I am literally talking to you. I have gotten a few responses that refer to the “email I sent ‘them’! This is a compliment in that the recipient felt as though it was a personal email – which in essence – it was, even though it is part of an AUTO-responder campaign.

Increase Value To Your List

increase value to your list

Another way to Improve the Relationship with your list is to increase the value you provide for your list.  How? Share what you have learned – information you know will help your target. Give away free information – even if it isn’t your own. People love free things – they will be grateful for your sharing free value you have found with them. Remember, a subscriber can UN-subscribe from your list at any time. Make your content valuable enough to make them WANT to stay on your list!

Increase Exposure to Your List

If you are using an auto-responder and you come across something really valuable for your target (your list), send them an email – even if it is not included in your automated auto-responders. Again, if your target is interested in your area of expertise, this information will be valued by them. How about sending out holiday emails? People like to be remembered on holidays – it makes them feel special – because they ARE special!

From Lead Capture to Close…And Everything In-Between

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Building Rapport: Who Are You & Why Should I Care?

 2 Responses »
May 242013
 

Building Rapport With Your Target Market

who am i and why should you careFirst of all, what is “rapport”? It is the “connection”, the “understanding”, the “camaraderie” between two people. It is what bonds us as human beings to one another. Rapport is when two people feel that they have things in common and they feel comfortable with each other as if they’ve known each other for a long time. Haven’t you ever met someone that you didn’t know before but within just a few minutes you found yourself really liking them, and feeling like you’ve known them for a long time?

People like to do business with people they know, like, and trust – this is a well known fact! In this crazy world we live in, where we are “friends” with people literally ALL over the world  – thanks to technology – how do we develop that rapport over a computer screen? How do we use the 3+ seconds we have of someone’s attention to GRAB it in order to even get a CHANCE to establish rapport? It is NOT easy but it is doable!

Remember, “They” Are Thinking “Who Are You & Why Should I Care”?

Use your 3+ seconds wisely. Be different, be creative, be remembered. Once you GRAB their attention, then you can start building that relationship and building that “rapport”. Business relationships are not that different than personal ones in the sense that if it is “all about YOU”, you will not have many friends or very effective business relationships. Relationships in general are a two-way street – or at least they should be. Business relationships are more about “them” than YOU from the get go. Most people don’t care about you (until they get to know you) EXCEPT in what you can do for THEM!

Gear Your Marketing To Answering These Two Most Important Questions

  1. Who are you?
  2. Why should I care?

Period! That’s it! IF you have the solution to a problem someone has, you will get their attention. If not, they are off to the next website, social site, forum, blog, etc.

How Do We Do This Online?

The process begins with:

  • Capturing leads: grabbing attention with effective, compelling, valuable, and relevant information so that someone will give you their contact information
  • Following-up via auto-responders: use the auto-responders to tell a little about yourself (so they will get to “know” you), tell a LOT about what your opt-in offer is about – in other words, deliver what you say you are going to deliver. After all, that IS why someone opts-in.
  • Pick up the phone at some point and CONNECT personally with your lead.
  • Continue building that rapport and relationship.
  • Even if the person is not ready at that particular time to make a purchase, they will remember you BECAUSE of your relationship with them, when the time comes that they ARE ready to  make a purchase.

I Almost Forgot! Who Am I?

Julie Weishaar The Video MagicianWith over 10 years Corporate Marketing Management Experience, I now helps small business owners hone in on exactly what their business offerings are, who their target market is, and come up with creative ways to get their marketing message across to their target at the right time. Based in New York, but with an International target market, I also help business owners learn how to use video as part of their overall marketing mix.  I have a passion for creating videos and create and use videos to help business owners strategically plan how to use videos online, increase their web presence, and promote their brand. Video branding/marketing is the way of the future as video is such a powerful marketing tool. I also work with the automated marketing systems from Priceless Possibilities (very video-centric and incredibly powerful and valuable). Creativity is in my blood. I love coming up with unique and memorable ways to make anything stand out! :) My sidekick’s name is Sebrina. She is a 7-pound little white ball of unconditional love (also a toy poodle)!

Don’t Underestimate The Importance of Relationships

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Our Marketing Systems Have Unlimited Subdomains! What Does That Mean to YOU?

 No Responses »
May 202013
 

What Does Unlimited Sub-Domains Mean?

unlimited subdomains

It Means You Have the Ability & Resources to Create Webpages for ALL the Different Things You Promote

BrandingWhat does that mean? OK, if you are a network marketer, your company probably supplies you with a replicated website, right? That means that you can now send a customer or opportunity prospect to YOUR rep ID on the company website to buy or join. Great! But who is the person doing business with? You or the “company”? REMEMBER, people like to do business with people they KNOW, LIKE, & TRUST. You are not the company, you are YOU! So…

  1. With unlimited sub-domains, you will now be sending these prospects to a page that is branded to YOU – not the company. You can decide what information you want to include on that page and you might very well decide that you will include much of the same information that is on your replicated website. However, this page will have YOU on it: your brand, your face, your video, etc. You get the point.
  2. In addition, let’s say your company sells 8 different products along with the business opportunity. With your replicated website, you have ONE place to send your customers/prospects. You might have a separate customer site that has different pages for each product. That can be a little overwhelming for someone to have to search ONE website for the product they are looking for. What if they aren’t interested in the other products? With unlimited sub-domains, you can SUPER target your marketing for each offering and each market – thereby increasing your chances of reaching a specific target
  3. How about SEO? Are YOU being found in search when someone searches for company ABC’s latest skin cream or is the company you are a rep for being found? The answer to that is pretty obvious!

WAIT! I am NOT a Network Marketer so Why Should I Care About Unlimited Sub-Domains?

Does your company promote only ONE thing? Is your target market only one demographic? If so, then maybe you don’t have as strong a need for unlimited sub-domains; however, you can STILL super focus your targeted marketing

Do you promote more than ONE offering? Many do. Many folks are business coaches, affiliate marketers, have written or are writing a book, etc. Your website might or might not include all these aspects of “you”. With unlimited sub-domains, you can create a separate Sales Funnels for each offering. You can and probably should direct your sales pages BACK to your website where the “call-to-action” can be carried out: “buy now”, “sign-up now”, etc. You can and SHOULD SEO your sub-domains with the same targeted keyword/keyword phrases as you have on your website so you are increasing your changes of being found in search for your targeted niche. You have also now added the ability to capture leads, follow-up automatically with a targeted auto-responder campaign, and get people to your sales page for EACH of your offerings without having to either have multiple websites of complicated over-stuffed websites.

This Must Cost a Fortune, Right?

NOPE! Only $29.97/month or free with 3 paying referrals, and oh by-the-way, this is ONLY ONE small piece of an ENTIRE MARKETING SYSTEM for YOU for the same low-cost and easily FREE.

Select Your Niche Below & Click on the Image

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Build Your List: Creating Your Own Optin Offer For Dummies

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May 182013
 

Why Should Someone Opt-In So You Can Build Your List?

industry expert knowledgeWhen you are building your list, what is your optin offer to entice prospects to join your “list”?  You can give away products you purchase, or products you have gotten for free, or you can create your own optin offer. There is nothing wrong with using a product you purchase or get free, but remember that you are not the only one giving away that same product.

Why Not Create Your Own Give-Away/Opt-in Offer?

You have information in your brain that is valuable and/or helpful to your target market. How do you get that information into a format that you can give to prospects in exchange for their contact information?

How to Create Your Own Give-Away For Your List Opt-in Form

Establish Yourself As Your Industry Expert

By sharing your knowledge to build your list, you are also establishing yourself as your industry-expert because you are. People like to do business with people they know, like, and trust. The “trust” comes from them seeing that you know what you are talking about. The “know” comes from the emails/phone calls/follow-up YOU do after they opt-in to your list. The “like” is up to you LOL. Sometimes this is simply a chemistry – or not – issue.

Create Your Own Cool-Looking eCovers

Once you have your valuable offer, how do you package it and make it look pretty? There are many options available for you to be able to create a professional-looking cover for your work. I like to use Magic Ecover. You can Create Stunning Ecover Graphics In Under Five Minutes Without Photoshop! Click on the image below to get your own copy of Magic Ecover!

Create Your Own Cover

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Procrastination: Why Do Today What You Can Do Tomorrow?

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May 072013
 

Are You a Procrastinator?

procrastinateProcrastination is a common psychological behavior that most people exhibit at some point in their lives.There usually aren’t negative or long-term consequences to occasional procrastination, however, when it becomes more of an invasive trait, it can be a real problem – especially for a small business owner who really needs to accomplish things in order to make money.

It is a well-known fact that if we understand the reasons behind our behaviors, we will be putting ourselves in a better position to improve those behaviors that have negative consequences. For the small business owner, procrastination might very well sabotage his/her ultimate goal – success. They become their own worst enemy and a major obstacle in the success of their own business. Procrastinators might have the best intentions but often give credence to the phrase “good intentions are good for nothing”.

To get beyond your tendency to procrastinate, you will need to understand the reason(s) behind your behavior and use some strong will to overcome this tendency. There are many underlying reasons for procrastination that are often related to one another.

You are Feeling Overwhelmed

It is not uncommon for someone who is faced with complex or too many high priority tasks to feel overwhelmed. Because there is so much to do, one might not know where to start and may actually end up doing nothing. To overcome this it would help to break down the tasks into more manageable units that can be addressed step-by-step. If the task at hand is too complex and beyond your understanding, don’t be afraid to ask for help. As a small business owner, you might believe you should know everything. However, no one knows everything, so you need to realize and acknowledge this fact and don’t feel inadequate. There is help available for everyone about everything 24 hours a day. Use Google! Just type in your question in the search bar and you might be surprised at how much information you will find right at your fingertips.

Poor Organization Skills

You might think that everything has a due date of yesterday, but it will be more beneficial for you to admit that some things do have a higher priority than others. Try to review your to-do list objectively and consider what the true top priority items are. Make a list with those most important at the top and put the items that really can wait until tomorrow at the bottom. You will get to them – just not today.

Inability to Make Decisions/Fear of Making a Wrong Decision

Some people find it very difficult to make a decision. They evaluate all the available options over and over and over again without coming to any conclusions. They are looking for a guaranty that their decision is the right one, but we all know that the only two guaranties in life are death and taxes. While it is important to weigh your options carefully and make informed decisions, not making decisions will get you nowhere. Don’t be afraid to make a wrong decision because at some point in your business career, you will more than likely make more than one wrong decision. Assure yourself that you did all the necessary research and analysis and if your decision ends up being wrong, try to understand why and where you went wrong. Making a decision in business is no different than making a decision in our personal lives. Making mistakes is part of being human and small business owners are human. Just be sure that you deal with your mistakes without self-blame (or blaming others) and that you also learn from them. Give yourself a time-limit to come to a decision and stick to it.

You Tend to be a Perfectionist

You want everything you do to be perfect so you often end up doing nothing. No one is perfect and no one can expect themselves to be perfect. Perfectionists are constantly under stress as they strive to reach their goal because it is an unrealistic one. If you are a small business owner who is a perfectionist, sit back and objectively think about how this tendency is affecting your profits, which is your ultimate goal, and you will realize how your ideals are actually counterproductive. Lower your standards to a more realistic level, allow yourself the chance to be human and you will find that you will be much more effective.

The bottom line is, if you find yourself procrastinating more than you are comfortable with, break your projects into manageable tasks, make a prioritized list of tasks within a realistic and objective timeline, and allow yourself to be human by making decisions and forgiving yourself should you make a bad one.

Avoiding Internet Marketing Because You Don’t Know Where To Start?

Start by Understanding The Importance of Using Sales Funnels. Attend Our FREE Webinar: “Why Use Sales Funnels to Grow Your Business?”

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Corner The Local Search Engine Market: Get Google Search Exposure

 8 Responses »
Mar 082013
 

Four Steps to Ensure your Business will Capitalize from Local Google Search Exposure

Corner the local search engine marketIn today’s times, more and more people are relying on the Internet for an answer to whatever their question is. The Internet is more of a household necessity than passing fad. With the proliferation of smart phones, laptops and wireless internet, people can access the internet anywhere.  If someone needs information they are more likely to turn to a search on Google than they are a magazine, encyclopedia or even the handy yellow pages.  When people search Google for a local service or product, are they finding you or your competitor?

The power of Google has never been more alluring.  “Google” has now become a  verb: “I dunno, I’ll just Google it.”

Step One: Research

What Are Your Customers Searching For?

Since we are working on local search terms your research should be pretty simple.  All you need to figure out is “What do my customers search Google for”?  This search term will become your keyword.

Essentially it comes to a simple pattern; just combine your location with your product or service.  If you have a computer store in New York, then a pretty good start would be “New York Computers”.  If you live in a popular town name you might want to include your town name as well. Once you have combined your location with your product/service you can use the Google Keyword Tool to get an idea of how many people search for your term.

If you live in a smaller town you might not get many or any results in the keyword tool but that is OK.  Google’s tool doesn’t track terms that get less than 250 searches per month.  It doesn’t matter if not a ton of people are searching for your term though because everyone who does search for it is super targeted and on the verge of buying.

Once you have your “keyword” (your location + your product/service in most cases) then you are ready to optimize your website for local based searches

Step Two: Title Tag

The First Thing Google Sees

Google is constantly searching the Internet for content.  They use complex algorithms that change often and only “they” understand. One thing we do know is that Google doesn’t see your site like you do. It sees a text version without all of the bells and whistles.  The very first thing it sees is your Title Tag, which makes sense since it is as the very top of your website:  The title tag is found at the top of your web browser. If you are using WordPress, it is easy to change your title tag. Just change your “Blog Title” to your keyword term.  You can change this in the back office of  WordPress in  Settings –> General.

If you are using a traditional HTML website then you will have to manipulate some code.  If you have a web designer they can probably do this for you in a couple of minutes.  Either way you will have to edit the title tag in your header.  Somewhere in between the <head> and </head> tags will be <title></title> tags, just put your keyword between those tags and you are all set.

Step Three: Gotta Get Dynamic

Fresh Content is KING

A “dynamic” website consists of some sort of regularly updated content.  This is usually done by adding a blog to your website, or moving your site to a dynamic platform like WordPress.  Google values dynamic website more highly than static (rarely changing) websites.  A website with fresh content is naturally more relevant and up to date, so Google awards higher rankings for them.  This is why even the biggest names in the business world are adding company blogs to their websites.

Step Four: Backlinks

Backlinks: The Holy Grail of Google

What Are Backlinks?

Backlinks are the number one most important factor when you want your website to get to the top of Google searches.  In the simplest terms, backlinks are links on the internet that point back to your site.  The most effective backlinks have your chosen keyword as the anchor text.  Anchor text is the actual text that people click to visit your site.  When Google finds a link to your site that includes the keyword you want to rank for then it will boost that sites relevancy.

How Do You Create Backlinks? Many of the places you get links from will have a field for your web address as well as a field that is something like “Link Text” or “Link Title”.  Whatever you put into those latter fields will become your “anchor text”.

Where Do You Get Backlinks?

  • Your Own Sites: This is a nice easy step.  If you are trying to get one of your sites to rank for a keyword and need backlinks, the best place to start is with any other sites you might own.
  • Web Directories: The internet is full of hundreds (probably thousands) of online web directories where you can post your link. You can find a lot more by searching terms like “free web directory”
  • Blog Commenting: You can gain backlinks by leaving relevant comments on other people’s blogs that actually mean something.  You need to actually read the blog posts you are commenting on and then drop a thoughtful response.
  • Social Media: There is a whole world out there based on social interaction over the web that is primed for backlinks.  It has become the most popular backlinking method. Online profiles are a great place to get backlinks.  Almost any site that has some sort of “community” offers a profile section that you can use to add a link.  This is not limited to a certain type of sites, basically any site you can create a profile on.
  • Article Writing: Article writing can also give you decent backlinks.  Just write an article on your topic and submit it to an article submission site. Most sites allow a link (or two) in the body of the article, but even if they don’t, they ALL offer a profile that you can get a link on AND an author resource box that will be posted along with your article.  This resource box can be a perfect opportunity to sell yourself or website…plus of course the ever valuable backlink.

Using these four steps you will be able to tap into very targeted traffic that are usually people looking to buy now!  Who wouldn’t want that?  Good luck, and we hope to see you at the top of Google soon!

How To Corner The Local Search Engine Market

 

Top 10 Critical List Building Mistakes

 1 Response »
Feb 282013
 

The Secret Recipe to List Building

list building secretsIt isn’t actually a secret. It is really Marketing 101. Know who your target is and make sure you are marketing TO them! The more focused your marketing is, the more relevant your offerings are to your target, the more likely they will opt-in to your list and eventually make a purchase.

Leverage your existing websites (including social media sites) by increasing your exposure to your target market to build your list.

Advertise and get your marketing message to your best customers and your prospects.

Get your marketing messages automatically and consistently to your customers and prospects.

Improve your relationship with your list

Automatically follow-up with your list (Auto-Responders)

When it comes to making money online, developing a targeted base of active and repeat customers is an essential ingredient in the recipe to success. Having a list in your marketing arsenal will instantly maximize your outreach. while making it easier to make money with less work involved.

The Top Ten Critical List Building Mistakes Are:

  1. Not using a professional auto-responder
  2. Using poorly structured squeeze pages
  3. Failure to do split-testing
  4. Failure to build brand awareness
  5. Promoting irrelevant products
  6. Failure to deliver quality content
  7. Letting your lists run cold
  8. Failure to segment your lists
  9. Copy and paste fanatics
  10. Failing to monetize

Grab a FREE FULL Copy of The Top 10 Critical List Building Mistakes HERE!

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What is a Sales Funnel and Why Should You Care?

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Feb 272013
 

What is a Sales Funnel?

sales funnel A Sales Funnel is a System made up of 3 components to walk a prospect down a predetermined path with the outcome of getting more prospects to buy your products and/or join your business opportunity.

The 3 Key Components of a Sales Funnel are:

1) A Lead Capture Page (a web page to capture the contact info of prospects)
2) An Email Campaign (a series of email messages spread over time).
3) A Sales Page (a page to motivate prospects to buy your products and/or join your business opportunity.

Sales Funnels are Important for EVERYONE doing network Marketing but even MORE important for those in Network Marketing.

Without a Sales Funnel, if your distributors send prospects to their replicated website offered by their Network Marketing company, the prospects in most cases are NOT prompted (or required) to enter their contact info to learn more about your business. While that might appear to be a good thing initially, it actually can cost you a LOT of lost business because …

  • Your distributors would have NO idea when a prospect is on their website … and therefore no way to communicate with them when the prospect might be most interested in doing business with them.
  • Your distributors would have NO way to automatically follow up with prospects (because they didn’t capture their information) and as we all know, the Fortune Is In The Follow-Up!
  • Your distributors can NOT do targeted marketing and therefore your business won’t be as appealing to prospects and your sales will be lower.

In contrast, Sales Funnels have the unique ability to CAPTURE the contact information of prospects who visits a Lead Capture page and therefore we DO notify distributors IMMEDIATELY when a prospect is interested in your business rather than missing that opportunity that might never exist again!

As well, Sales Funnels Automatically Follow-Up with prospects by sending an Email Campaign (a series of email messages spread over time to educate prospects) so that a prospect is a LOT more likely to buy products and/or join your business.

Sales Funnels also can allow for Targeted Marketing so that prospects are a LOT more likely to see the value of buying your products/services and/or joining your business opportunity.  Doesn’t it make sense, that a college student fearful that they might not get a job when they graduate, has entirely different needs than a single mom who has very limited time and money, versus a baby boomer faced with the financial uncertainty of their future?

SEE What a Sales Funnel is Here!

Learn How to Create an Effective Sales Funnel

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Introduction to Email Marketing and List Building

 4 Responses »
Dec 162012
 

Creating Email Lists for Marketing Campaigns

If you plan to do some Internet markermail marketingeting to promote your business endeavor, you should seriously consider email marketing as at least one tier of your Internet marketing campaign. Many business owners shy away from email marketing because they believe all email marketing campaigns are purely spam. However, this is not true and not partaking in some form of email marketing can actually hurt your business! By not appealing to potential customers via email, your business may lose a great deal of business to competitors who are using email marketing campaigns to reach customers around the world. Email Marketing is the most cost-effective mean of “advertising” your business available today!

Email Marketing 1-2-3

Once you have made the decision to start using email marketing to promote your business you are likely facing the dilemma of compiling an email distribution list. This is essentially a list of email addresses to which you will email your advertising and promotional materials. One common way to gain a list of email addresses is to purchase a list from distributors. However, this method is not very effective at all and we do not recommend it. One of the problem with purchasing an email list is you have no way of knowing whether or not the members of the list would have any interest at all in your products or services. This is very important because while you want to reach a large audience with your email marketing you also want this audience to be members of your overall target audience. It is better to have a shorter list of TARGETED emails than a longer list of those who really have no interest in your niche!

Capturing Leads to Build Your List

There are many ways to capture leads for your email list. You can and should have an opt-in form on your website and blog. Or if you don’t like forms and prefer images, you can do what I did here on my blog. Look at the sidebar and see the image that I have linked to a lead capture form. You can also use lead capture pages that give away something or provide valuable knowledge to your target market.

Grab Your FREE Email Marketing Essentials Guide Below!

You will also learn about a REALLY COOL AND REALLY EASY program that will help you create awesome lead capture and sales pages WITHOUT having to know how to do ANY programming! Simply click on the image below. You will get a FREE report, join MY list, and be able to see more details about SalesPage Engine.

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Social Media is the Marketing Tool that will Make or Break Your Business

 1 Response »
Oct 112012
 

You Have To Be In The Game To Play

social mediaIf you are not using social media as part of the marketing strategy for your business, then the only thing you are accomplishing is losing business to your competitors. Your competitors are using social media to attract new clients and communicate with existing ones. It is no longer a question of whether or not businesses should be using social media networking and marketing; the question is now how businesses should be integrating social media into its marketing mix.

It’s Not a Trend

Marketing is one of those tasks in a business that is necessary but daunting at the same time. It may also seem as if a new marketing trend comes along all the time and if you tried every one, you and your business would be broke. This, however, is not the case when it comes to social media marketing. This type of marketing is not a trend and is here to stay.

What this means for your business is that you need to learn how to leverage the power of social media now or suffer the consequences of lost customers and a decrease in profits later.

It Creates a Sales Force

Still not convinced that social media is a powerful tool for promoting your business and boosting your sales? Consider that the average Facebook user has about 140 friends. Assume that one of your clients mentions that they just bought your product or used one of your services and how great it was. You just received a positive advertisement for your business that reached at least 140 people.

Then, multiply the 140 people the initial message reached by the 140 people each of these friends has on their Facebook page, and now we’re talking about some serious numbers. And, all you had to do is create the platform for these conversations to take place and your sales force to start spreading the word for you.

It’s Free

When it comes to the marketing budget, it is always music to a business owner’s ears when they find out that the use of social media marketing is free. You or an employee should put together a social media marketing plan and someone has to implement the plan, but other than the time it takes to do this, social media marketing does not cost you or your business a dime. Stop fighting it. Join the millions of small, medium, and huge corporations that are using social media as part of their marketing strategy today. If you continue to fight it, you may as well just refer your customers directly to your main competitor that is using social media.

The Power of Social Media


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