Sales and Marketing Funnel To Grow Your Business

What is Hashtag Marketing and How Can It Help You?

5 Tips for Winning with Hashtag Marketing

Hashtags have taken the world by storm, and the arena of marketing is no exception. They are in nearly every post, for many different reasons. Born on Twitter, which remains the most prominent venue for hashtags, they have become a form of shorthand for a world that’s already short!

Now even Emojis are getting into the act, with Instagram announcing support for the little darlings. (Not yet on other networks)

Hashtags help you discover more about your audience, find out what they’re talking about and interested in, encourage engagement, and also help you with branding.

To get you pointed in the right direction, here are 5 tips you can use to make your hashtag marketing more effective.

5 Tips for making the most of Hashtag Marketing

Research what your audience is talking about – One of the highest and best uses for hashtags is to grab some quick intelligence on what your audience is already thinking, reacting to, and talking about. This is golden, and can help the entire scope of your marketing efforts.

Consider paid promotion – Once you find you have a popular campaign going, seriously consider using Twitter’s promoted hashtag feature to add fuel to the fire. If your message is clever and you can make it onto the trends list, you’ll have won big.

Utilize local hashtags for brand promotion – If you’re attempting to promote more than one local location of your business, it can be a good idea to employ locations in your hashtags. This is a quick and easy way to grab some Twitter search visitors from those looking for a service in a specific area.

Join the conversation on trending hashtags – A great way to leech off of popular hashtags is to simply join the conversation, but by adding your own unique voice to the mix. An excellent way to leverage the popularity of popular hashtags.

Energize your other marketing efforts with hashtags – The judicious use of hashtags can be an easy way to amplify your already running marketing campaign. Pointing to and drawing attention with the sensible use of hashtags can bring you visitors you may not have had.

Hashtags are easy to use, and can be an added tool in your marketing arsenal. Start using them today!

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What Was the Google Phantom Update About?

Were Your Sites Affected by Google Phantom?

You may have noticed this, it may have gone totally unnoticed, and for a few of us, it had a major impact. But recently Google rolled out what has been termed the Phantom update. It hasn’t gotten as much attention as the more famous creatures, Penguin and Panda, but had significant impact all the same for more than a few websites.

While Google says it does between 500-600 search algorithm updates a year, many of them are very minor, and attract little attention. Others, like the aforementioned critters, wreak havoc.

This one is between those. Let’s take a quick look at what the Phantom update was all about, and how you can respond if needed.

The Google Phantom update – What was it about?

Google warned us all that they were on the warpath for thin and poor content, and it looks like Phantom is another update designed to combat this pox on search engine results.

This included sites like HubPages, eHow, WikiHow, Answers.com and others. It is also looking to more domain oriented, meaning that more than the offending pages could be affected. Not good.

Several specific things got their attention this time around. A few of them are going to sound familiar to many who got burned in other recent Google updates. Pages with “thin” content, meaning scant content on the page designed merely to get a click or another action, were targeted. Also high on the list were pages with “clickbait” headlines, as well as lots of stacked videos, too much poor user-generated content, pages with tons of ads, or unedited curated pieces.

Key takeaways for your use

If you think that you may have fallen prey to the Phantom update, the first thing you’ll want to do is to perform a sitewide content audit. Once you’ve got the data showing you which of your pages were negatively affected, fix or delete this content. Often in the case of old stale content, it’s advisable to lose it entirely than to try to apply a band-aid.

What you want to do here is come out of this with your best foot forward, showing Google and all who arrive at your pages that it contains the most relevant and current content you can provide. Do that and you needn’t worry about Phantoms!

The post What Was the Google Phantom Update About? appeared first on NH Strategic Marketing.

Sales and Marketing Funnel To Grow Your Business

www.NHStrategicMarketing.com - In this episode of the In the Trenches Small Business Marketing Podcast Kyle Battis from New Hampshire Strategic Marketing talks about how you can use a sales and marketing funnel to grow your small business.



People like to do business with people they know, like and trust and its possible to use online marketing media like Google AdWords, Search Engine Optimization, Facebook ads, referral marketing, and more to move people down your marketing funnel and eventually want to do business with you.



https://plus.google.com/+Nhstrategicmarketing/about?hl=en



https://plus.google.com/110540330303045250127/about?hl=en



Learn more about Kyle Battis and NH Strategic Marketing at www.NHStrategicMarketing.com or if you like the Facebook visit us at:  https://www.facebook.com/NHStrategicMarketing



There is also Yelp but nobody really likes Yelp ;-)  http://www.yelp.com/biz/nh-strategic-marketing-concord

10 LinkedIn Tips You Want to Know!

10 Cool Tips for Your LinkedIn Toolbox

LinkedIn has become ever more the go-to source for business leads and connections, but only if you are able to get out of the beginner mode. There are several great features which allow you to make connections, share content and extend your reach exponentially, but to be able to make the best use of these you need to be not only active but smart.

The best way to mine LinkedIn for leads and sales is to get active here. In order to help you get going with that, here are 10 terrific LinkedIn tips.

10 LinkedIn Tips to Maximize Your Reach

Optimize your URL – Take a minute and change your LinkedIn URL to coincide with your company’s name or online handle. Be consistent with other social properties if you can.

Create a Profile Badge – Take advantage of being able to add a LinkedIn badge on your site or blog. It will help add to your connections and site authority. There are a few different designs to choose from.

Be sure to optimize your page – Complete and make the most of all the features you can when it comes to your company page. You definitely want to make a brand statement.

List your skills to get endorsements – Be sure you list your particular skills when filling out your profile. This enables your connections to make that easy + click to endorse you for any of these they’re aware of.

Leverage your LinkedIn Groups – There are two distinct advantages here: you can direct message members of the group who you are not connected with, and you’ll also be able to view profiles.

Create Showcase Pages – Since LinkedIn got rid of the Products & Services tab, you’ll want to use Showcase Pages to promote products and services directly.

Directly mail your group – A cool little feature called LinkedIn Announcements allows you to directly mail the members of your LinkedIn groups once weekly.

Use Saved Searches – Are you aware that you can save your searches on LinkedIn and they will automatically send new leads to you based on what your search criteria is? Awesome.

Ask for Introductions – Find someone connected to one of your connections that you’d like to connect with? Simply ask them for an introduction, or permission to say that you two are connected. This is very effective and can help you get great connections you might otherwise be unable to.

Reorder Your LinkedIn Skills – You now have the ability to edit your skills and within that you can reorder your skills to emphasize what you’d like to. It can also lessen the number of no-picture endorsers present there.

The post 10 LinkedIn Tips You Want to Know! appeared first on NH Strategic Marketing.

How to Publish Effectively on LinkedIn

5 Reasons You’ll Want to Publish on LinkedIn

Okay, all of you that have published on LinkedIn raise your virtual hands…

That’s what I thought. Not many consider LinkedIn when choosing where to publish content, and in point of fact, that’s a big mistake.

Now that the platform is accessible to all LinkedIn users, we need to reset our minds to think of how LinkedIn can work well for us. To put it simply, LinkedIn is a powerhouse goldmine for content marketers who figure out how to mine it judiciously. In case you need any convincing, we’ve put together 5 great reasons why you need to be using LinkedIn to publish content.

5 Reasons LinkedIn needs to be your content choice!

To build your own authority – Publishing on LinkedIn in front of professionals who take you seriously can go a long way toward helping cement your position as a thought leader in your market.

Rework older content – Recycling good but somewhat older content you have already published on your site is a terrific way to help boost authority and standing. Moreover, most of the audience on LinkedIn probably missed it the first time around! You also have the chance to update it as well.

Getting your content before a targeted audience – This is a professional site populated and frequented by pros, and as such you will find a lot less of the fluff traffic that may otherwise come upon your content. This is accomplished by publishing before your connections, and to LinkedIn Groups for wider reach.

Killer engagement – People active on LinkedIn are highly engaged, and likely to comment and contact you if they see something that appeals to them.

The possible viral effect – One way LinkedIn publishers hit it big is when their content starts to get some traction, LinkedIn often steps in and promotes it on of their Pulse category pages, and even better, sometimes on the home page itself! Do that and you’ll be well on your way to authority status on LinkedIn and off!

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What you need to know about raising startup funds

What you need to know about raising startup funds

When starting a new business, at some point you’re likely going to need to raise funds for it, and if you’re like most of us, you haven’t a clue as to the sort of questions you’ll need answers to, both for your business and for your potential investors.

Potential investors will want to know your answers as well, and rather than head into the process unprepared, let’s take a step to make you more ready by listing at least some of the important questions you’ll want to have answers to.

7 Basic questions you need to answer for startup funding

How much capital do you need? – Having a clear idea about how much you need obviously simplifies the task considerably. Assess what your costs are going to be, and understand that it always costs more!

What will it cost you? – What are you willing to offer for this money? Is it going to be shares of your company, and how much is that? 10%? 25%? This is something you need a firm grasp on, and at least initially not be swayed from.

When do you have to pay it back? – When will you be expected to repay this investment? Are the terms you’ll be getting conducive to running your business while doing so? How much strain will this produce on the business?

What’s your business growth strategy? – You and your investors should be quite interested in your plan for growth. Not only is the plan of importance, but also the time frame for growth.

What are you willing to risk? – Are you willing to put up equity (other than sweat equity) in your startup? This can sometimes make it easier for others to see their way clear to invest.

How much input do you want? – Making it crystal clear from the beginning how much outside input is welcome is a good idea. Many investors want nothing to do with this, but there are others…

Who buys and uses your product or service? – Who is the ideal customer, and how do you intend to market to them? Having a firm grip on your eventual buyers calms many investment fears!

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