Whether you believe in global warming or not, in today’s market, you can really only benefit from initiating some “green” processes for your business. Not only will this boost your creditability to any potential conservation-conscious consumer, it may also help save you money.

One of the best things that may have ever happened to trees was the Internet. Here are some ways to use it to its “green advantage:”

Declare your business a “paper-free” zone.

-      Encourage your employees to use a shared drive to work on projects.

-      Instead of snail mail, use email to send out promotions and newsletters.

-      Use SEO and social media avenues to help increase web traffic to your site (therefore negating the need for mailings all together).

Understandably, most businesses can’t function completely without paper. But there are many ways you can still conserve.

-      Buy in bulk. Doing so reduces the amount of energy required for packaging and shipping. It will also save you money.

-      Encourage recycling by having bins available around the office.

-      Avoid printing large quantities of time-sensitive advertisements.

-      Avoid mass-mailings and instead send well-researched direct mail.

Every business setting is unique, so chances are there a variety of additional ways that you can help reduce, reuse, and recycle within your company. At Dreamscape, we purposefully chose a dark background color for our website, because darker pixels require less energy. This also helps us reduce our monthly energy bill.

But beyond saving money, you may actually see a return on your green “investment,” as many consumers consider environmental sustainability when choosing a product or service.

You’ll never be able to talk about a bird “tweeting” without thinking of social media ever again.

Twitter, technically, is a micro-blogging platform. Users write 140 character blog posts, or “tweets,” and can also share photos, videos, and web links. The service has gained a quick following and companies do best to jump on board.

Ways Twitter Serves as a Great Marketing Tool:

-      Encourages Dialogue

-      Broadens Promotions

-      Raises Awareness

Dialogue

Many companies use their Twitter accounts to respond to questions and ask questions of their followers. It’s a great way to establish a personal connection between you and your potential customers.

This dialogue is effective, but what may be even more effective, is when a figurehead of the company is the one with the Twitter account. The personalization that this allows is a far greater use of Twitter as a tool, because the more a consumer feels they can trust the people behind a brand, the more likely they are to trust the brand. Bill Gates is an example of this.

Another clever way to reach customers is by using a company’s character. These characters are typically followed because the content, if well written, is highly entertaining, like Geico’s Gecko.

Promotions

A great way to further your outreach via Twitter is to use Twitter as a format for promotions.  Say you have 800 followers. To increase your followers to 1,000, you could offer a special discount code for your online site if you reach 1,000 by a certain time period.

Not only will this help you build a stronger consumer base, it will also encourage people to make that “first-time buy” which will hopefully lead to many more purchases.

Awareness

There are many avenues you can take to increase awareness of your business using Twitter. The more interesting the better. For another idea, encourage fans to tweet pictures using your products or services. If a follower of theirs sees their tweet, they may not only follow your company – but also may be prompted to use your products or services as well.

The most important things to remember with a Twitter account is to keep it active and keep it interesting. A Twitter that is rarely updated or updated with mundane Tweets (such as, “Writing grant proposals today”) will not help the company. In fact, it may reflect poorly on the brand.

Marketing for any business must include:

-      Determining your marketing goals

-      Identifying your key demographic

-      Developing a plan to reach this demographic

-      Implementing this plan

When it comes to marketing for small businesses versus large businesses, the principles are the same. The difference lies in selectivity. Large businesses can afford to spread their marketing initiatives over a variety of mediums, small businesses have to choose the avenues that will be the most beneficial.

Dreamscape has a lot of experience improving the marketing efforts of small businesses. Here are some important aspects for you to consider:

Power of the Internet

It’s very important that all businesses have an online presence. This should start with a well written, attractive, and easily navigable website.  But to further your outreach, consider creating a Facebook page and a Twitter account for your business. Both services are free, and if you use them well, you will see a positive return on your time investment.

Some quick rules of thumb: enter at least one Tweet a day, post somewhere between 1-4 items on your Facebook page a week, and always respond to people that reach out to you on both mediums. Your customers want to be valued, starting and continuing a dialogue online is an easy (and, once again, free) way to show them they are appreciated.

Budget Marketing

Beyond free social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, most other marketing initiatives will cost you money. However, there are some actions you can take to reduce marketing expenses.

Budget-Conscious Marketing Ideas:

-      Piggy-Back

• Have a booth set up at an event, such as a charity walk or run, or partner with another business to send out mutual mailings and increase your customer base.

-      Barter

• Offer some of your products or services for advertising space.

-       Always be “On”

• Take every opportunity to promote your business. When you send out mail, toss in a brochure. At the end of your emails, list your web address and a very brief pitch.

It’s important to remember that any marketing effort, no matter how expensive or cheap, will do you no good if you’re reaching out to the wrong demographic. Always take the time to determine your demographic.

If you do this, chances are your “small business” won’t stay small for very long.

Facebook has been sued several times over privacy concerns. They’ve recently attempted to mend many of their security loopholes, but the platform is not airtight.

If you read the Facebook privacy policy, you will see that although you can control your privacy on the site to a certain degree, Facebook does have leeway with some of your content. Take for example, this statement in clause #3:

Even after you remove information from your profile or delete your account, copies of that information may remain viewable elsewhere to the extent it has been shared with others, it was otherwise distributed pursuant to your privacy settings, or it was copied or stored by other users.

Most Facebook users take for granted the “safety” of Facebook and many don’t consider Internet privacy in general. What’s important to remember is, once information is placed online, others can always find a way to access it.

Facebook as a Marketing Tool

From a marketing end, Facebook is a great tool. Beyond being a place for business-customer dialogue, many companies do well in developing applications (such as quizzes) that are entertaining for users. But it’s important to use user’s information cautiously. Certain applications that you may develop, could, if used improperly, get you sued. All press is good press – until you threaten your customers’ security.

Your Personal Facebook

On the other end, Facebook, and other social media sites like Twitter, can be very dangerous to your business. It’s important that your keep your personal life as private as possible. You never know what may offend potential customers. Let people follow your businesses’ Facebook page, but not your personal one.

The bottom line when it comes to putting anything on the Internet, is consider what your customers would think. If it’s something that may risk the positive perception of your business, don’t put it on the web. But if you must, make it as private as possible – at your own risk.

Technology has taken the marketing world from print media and focus groups to social media and Google analytics. And just like McDonald’s changed the pace with which we feed, so the Internet has changed the speed with which we consume information.

But beyond speed, we also receive so much more information than ever before. According to a 2007 New York Times article, the average city-dwelling consumer is exposed to up to 5,000 ads a day. That’s a lot of competition for a consumer’s attention.

The Necessity of a Website

Every business should have a website. It need not be flashy, unless your industry demands it, but you need to be available online. A modern customer turns to Google before they ever search other sources.

Another benefit of having a website is you can link it to Google Analytics. This is a free way to learn more about your demographics and the effectiveness of your website itself.

E-Mail Newsletters

If you have a website, having a regular online newsletter is an easy and highly effective additional marketing tool. You can have a sign-up  form available on your website. Use this sign-up area to also discover the demographics of potential customers – offering a catered mailing in return for answers to “gender,” “location,” and “age.”

This is also a great way to offer promotions and unique information  not available on your website. Make it worth the customer’s while.

Social Media: To Use or Not to Use?

Using social media is not a necessity. It really depends on your business whether or not what, if any, forms of social media would be appropriate as a marketing tool.

A business-to-business corporation would have less of a need for an online presence, whereas a business-to-consumer corporation would do well to create an online persona.

The best part of social media is you can quickly develop a relationship with your potential customer.

As technology and social media continue to expand, your marketing needs will continue to evolve. But it’s important to remember, that no matter how strong an online presence your business has, nothing can replace an actual conversation with a customer. Don’t get trapped behind the computer screen.

Back in instant messaging’s heyday, I was always a bit perturbed when someone left an away message with a not-so-specific location.  “At the nail salon.” Now, I’d love to join you for a pedi, but where to head? I’m from New York, where nail salons are about as common as pizzerias, so a generic reference whittled the possibilities down to, oh, about 6 shops in a 2-mile radius.

Today, Twitter is the hot way to tell everyone your business, and–much to my delight–geotagging has made its way into those 140-character posts. Applications like UberTwitter can automatically post a link to a map of the user’s location when a tweet is sent via cell phone. It’s a virtual “You Are Here” for anyone to see. No GPS necessary, either; the application uses the nearest cell phone tower to determine where you’re tweeting from. That New York nail salon? No longer in question.
Imagine the possibilities for marketing. Have an event coming up? Tweet the locale, so everyone knows where to head. Off to a conference? Let clients know which hotel you’re staying at. Have a traveling business or delivery service? Ask employees to tweet from the truck so customers–and you–can track their progress. Geotagging can help target marketing outreach and locate new areas to expand business.
Now, not everyone dabbles in Twitter. It’s one of those “love it or hate it” things, but when everyone from Lance Armstrong to Auntie Anne’s is tweeting, it’s more “gotta do it” than anything else. Fortunately, the Dreamscape Marketing team can take social media off your hands. We’ll stay on top of the latest trends, whether it’s managing your Twitter account or posting news about your latest product on Facebook. A social media campaign can boost traffic to your Web site, improve customer relations and help identify potential business associates–just leave it to us.