A new leaf. A fresh start. Whatever metaphor you use, the new year is upon us. I know many of us have goals, plans and strategies laid out to make this year our most successful yet. Well, in terms of adding more customers and increasing sales, I'd like to share 4 of my favorite marketing tools that make the daunting task a bit easier and you may even have a bit of fun in the process.
Contributor: Kristen Simmons, Marketing Associate for Cyrious Software
1. Animoto (www.animoto.com)
Why it's great:
It's incredibly easy. What does it do? You upload images, video clips and input text for a "slideshow of the future." Once you put in the elements you want and select a song, Animoto automatically creates a video in sync with the audio with some pretty neat transitions. It's an easy, fast, cheap (you can do a lot with the free account) way to create professional videos of what you do.
How can you use it?
Create 1-2 minute demos of the types of signs you produce, showcase your installations, or your employees working in the shop. Put this on your website, share it with your social media connections, or email it to prospects about your products.
2. HootSuite (www.hootsuite.com)
Why it's great:
Two birds, one stone. In one platform you can manage multiple Twitter accounts or your Facebook status updates. It's free and you can set it up in a browser or through an app on your smartphone.
How can you use it?
Perhaps you don't have 13 twitter accounts and 4 facebook profiles. BUT you may have 1 Twitter account and a Facebook fan page for your sign business. With one tool you can post the same (or different) updates from one place. Plus, you can schedule tweets and updates in advance.
3. Mashable (www.mashable.com)
Why it's great:
A bit different in nature, this is simply an info source for everything social media, marketing, iPhone, Android and tech related. You can visit them on the web or subscribe to their daily morning digest.
How can you use it?
In a quick glance you can get a sense of the the latest feelings toward social media, cool tools, and other ideas to implement into your marketing plan as a way to attract new customers.
4.SEO Book (www.seobook.com)
Why it's great:
They offer a slew of free web based analytic tools to measure the health of your web presence including: keyword list generators and page comparison tools.
How can you use it:
If you are trying to beat your competitors' sites in terms of ranking and trying to earn a top stop in search results, you'll need to know where you stand now and look for ways to improve. Use any number of their optimization tools to spiff up your site and make it even easier for potential customers to find you when they need you most. Start with the FireFox Page Ranker Extension - it's free and you can see where you stand on various keywords that are used to find your business.