2010 July | shesgotclients.com

Location-Based Marketing: How Small Businesses are Leveraging Foursquare

July 29, 2010 By Christine 1 Comment

Maybe you’ve noticed a trend lately on Facebook or Twitter where certain people “check in” at wherever they may be at the time—perhaps the local Starbucks, their neighborhood bookstore or even the post office. At first glance you may have seen some of your friends and followers doing this and thought, “who cares where you are?”

If you are a small business owner yourself, however, you might want to take a closer look at what’s going on.

In most cases, these location-based “shout-outs” are being done via an application called Foursquare. While there are other similar apps out there (such as Gowalla), Foursquare has emerged as the most buzzed-about geo-location tool, and the application you’re most likely to see pop up in your Facebook News Feed or Twitter stream.

What Is Foursquare?

As the official website explains, “Foursquare on your phone gives you and your friends new ways of exploring your city. Earn points and unlock badges for discovering new things.”

While you will often see it integrated with social networks like Facebook or Twitter, Foursquare is not used in the same way as these sites. Whereas you might sign into Facebook or pull up Twitter to see what your friends are talking about, people use Foursquare, primarily via mobile phone, to make a “game” out of letting others know where they are at any given time.

For example, say you’re out and about downtown. You would take out your phone (be it an iPhone, a Droid or a BlackBerry), click on the Foursquare app, and via GPS, you would see a list of all the nearby locations. You would then click on the business where you happen to be and then “check-in,” adding a custom message and posting it to Facebook and/or Twitter if you’d like.

As you check in at new places, stop at multiple places or make repeat visits, you earn points and unlock “badges” in the game. Check in to one place regularly enough, and you get a chance to be named “mayor” of that location.

Sound silly? While on the surface Foursquare may seem easy to dismiss, many small businesses are already embracing it to engage with customers and build loyalty. Foursquare recently passed the milestone of 100 million check-ins, and it even made Entrepreneur Magazine’s annual List of 100 Brilliant Ideas.

How Local Businesses Are Using it

Geo-location is huge in social media, and will continue to boom in the coming years. In fact, at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Conference it was announced that spending on global location-based services is on track to exceed $7 billion over the next three years.

Realizing this, savvy local businesses are taking advantage of Foursquare by using it to offer specials, discounts and rewards programs to pull in new customers.

To illustrate, here are just a few examples of current offerings by businesses near me:

* Sports Authority in Cherry Hill, NJ: Get a $10 Cash Card towards a purchase as a thank you for being Mayor

* Exit Skateboard Supply in Philadelphia, PA: Get a free T-shirt for your first check in on Foursquare

* Whole Foods Market in Marlton NJ: Free small coffee for the Mayor anytime; plus a free reusable bag on your 10th check-in

* Tortilla Press Cantina in Pennsauken, NJ: Free appetizer on your first visit; Mayor at end of month gets a $20 gift card

Another bonus for business owners using Foursquare? Access to venue analytics tools that will let you explore some pretty cool stats. For example: who the most frequent visitors are, the total number of unique visitors, what times of day people check in, who the most recent visitors are, and more.

What About Online Businesses?

While virtual businesses may not benefit the same as brick and mortar ones, online business owners can still use Foursquare to make connections—the same way they do via other social networking sites.

One example of a virtual biz owner using Foursquare successfully is a Facebook connection of mine, Rebecca Thompson of CLR Virtual Connection. Someone she “ousted” as mayor of a location ended up hiring her after becoming aware of what she did for a living in the process. In another instance, a Twitter follower engaged her after noticing that they often both checked into the same places. That conversation led to a request for Rebecca’s services.

It just goes to show—you never know where your next client or customer is going to come from. And while cutting-edge applications like Foursquare might not yet be as widely used as a social media behemoth like Facebook, with the exploding popularity of smartphones and location-based social networks, business owners would be wise to take a second look.

Resources

Join Foursquare
Find out more about Foursquare for business (and claim yours)
Foursquare support

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: Foursquare, local business, location-based marketing

Is it Time to Hire Someone to Help You with Your Social Media Strategy (and More)?

July 15, 2010 By Christine 10 Comments

Rather listen to this? Just click play!

Many small business owners—especially solopreneurs—end up wearing all the hats in their business when it comes to the day-to-day nuts and bolts of running things. Sometimes they end up in this situation because they believe they can’t afford to bring on extra help; sometimes it’s due to feeling that no one else could take care of things as well as they can.

Whatever the reason, sometimes you need to step back and really assess whether it is in the best interest of your business as a whole to continue to try and juggle everything alone. In terms of affordability, there are many reasonably priced virtual assistants out there who can take a lot of the administrative tasks off your plate so that you can focus on the activities that make you the most money instead.

If a virtual assistant charges $40.00 an hour and that frees up time for you to work with clients where you can make triple that amount in an hour, wouldn’t it be worth it?

Despite that, I know there can still be some real resistance to bringing on help. Even I still have to take my own advice sometimes, as I like to be in the thick of things in my business because I enjoy it so much! However, I’ve learned to delegate and let some things go. In fact, concentrating on your “genius work” and outsourcing the rest is absolutely necessary in order to get to the next level.

Even some social media activities can be delegated to an assistant, as long as those activities don’t require your personality or voice. Here are some examples of those types of tasks:

• Researching quality content for you to share via social media
• Finding ideal people to send friend requests to
• Uploading videos
• Creating events on LinkedIn and Facebook
• Pre-scheduling certain social media updates

Additionally, there are many different administrative-type activities that could easily be delegated as well (just think of all the time you’ll save!):

• Handling registration for events
• Bookkeeping
• Proofing written material
• Shipping products
• Managing your inbox
• Responding to inquiries
• Website/blog maintenance
• Creating graphics
• Submitting your articles to article sites

So remember, just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean you should. There are lots of things an assistant can be doing instead of you—freeing you up to work on true, money-making activities. After all, isn’t that what we’re in business for?

Photo Credit: Jordan Perez

Filed Under: Outsourcing and Delegation Tagged With: delegation, outsourcing, social media automation, virtual assistant

Three Ways to Build Relationships Beyond Social Media

July 8, 2010 By Christine 2 Comments

Two of the biggest components of effective marketing are reach and frequency. Reach refers to the number of people you “touch” with your message; while frequency refers to the number of times each person is reached on average. Frequency is a way to build trust and drive your particular message home.

In the marketing world, it is often said that you need to “touch” a prospect 7 to 11 times before they buy. Online, someone needs to hear your message at least that frequently—if not more–before they will be ready to spend money with you.

We know that social media is great for building relationships, but what about outside of that? Just as there is more to the Internet than social media sites, there are many other ways to grow and strengthen relationships with potential prospects online. Here are three of the most effective ways to do that:

1) Build a list of email subscribers.

It is important to build a list of targeted subscribers to market your products or services to. You want a list that’s responsive and your job is to keep in touch with them regularly so that you remain top of mind for them. Most people won’t be ready to buy after only interacting with you a couple of times on a social site or visiting your website once or twice. It’s the building of trust and the relationship that makes it more likely they will make a purchase down the line. Having permission to contact them on a regular basis means your emails do the heavy lifting.

2) Maintain a blog and build a list of blog subscribers.

What makes a blog a blog and not a website is the fact that it’s updated frequently. When people visit your blog and see that it has consistent, fresh content, it’s likely they will keep coming back for more. The goal here is for those visitors to become subscribers of your blog via RSS feed or email. This allows them to be notified as soon as your blog has a new post published, either in their email inbox or their favorite feed reader.

3) Send a regular email newsletter.

Once you’ve begun building a list of email subscribers, your job is to provide value to them on a regular basis. It’s not enough to send emails that only promote your offerings or ask for the sale. The members of your list have given you the privilege of contacting them because they have decided they want to hear what it is you have to say. An email newsletter is the perfect way to give them valuable content while staying on their radar screens. A newsletter does not need to be in HTML or be especially long. A few tips, a top ten list or some recommended resources are fine. The key is for your list to see your information as useful, and to keep you and your business in front of them.

Once you’ve attracted people into your community and begun furthering that relationship, be sure to take good care of them. It can pay off handsomely in the end.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: Blogging, email newsletter, List Building, Relationship Building, subscribers

5 Simple Keys to a Successful and BUZZ-Worthy Launch!

July 1, 2010 By Christine 3 Comments

You’ve listened carefully to what your market wants. In response, you’ve crafted your new offering with care. You’re SURE it’s going to be hit and you’re ready to begin racking up those sales.

Tah-dah! You’re ready to unveil your new product or service….and then….nothing.

Uh-oh. What went wrong?

Well, you could have the most amazing offering in the world, but if you are not using some form of a launch strategy when you are ready to begin selling a new service or product, you could already be dead in the water.

Unfortunately, “if you build it they will come” does not apply here!

The solution? You need to create an increasing BUZZ and sense of excitement about your upcoming offer in order to increase the chances that people will buy. In fact, what is known as the “pre-launch” period is arguably more important than the launch itself—and take it from me, it can make a HUGE difference in the number of sales that you make.

It actually starts with the strong foundation of having a list you have been building a relationship over time with—a list who you have been continuously asking about what it is they most need help with. However, don’t forget to incorporate these other important strategies for your most successful launch ever.

Objections

Through surveys to your list, comments on your blog or your interactions through social media, you will often uncover potential objections to your offering. Don’t cringe, though! This is actually a good thing to know, because you can then make sure you answer each of the objections for your prospect on the sales page for your new product or service.

Testimonials

If you have offered the product/program before and have testimonials, by all means gather them for the launch. If it is the first time you are offering it, consider giving it to colleagues for free in exchange for (an honest) testimonial prior to the launch.

A Complimentary Preview Call or Webinar

When I am launching something new, I spend just as much time and energy promoting a no-charge preview call all about the topic my new product, course or service will be covering. Why? Getting as many people as possible on an info-packed call about a topic they’ve raised their hand and said they care about is smart. Once they experience your knowledge, personality and excitement first-hand, they are more likely to buy once you tell them—live on the call—that your offering is ready for purchase.

Time Limit

Creating a sense of urgency around the release of a new offering can be a really effective strategy. This is one of my favorite techniques to use and it always results in more sales. For example, consider offering special bonuses or a price break for the people who buy within a certain time frame. (This is perfect for announcing on the aforementioned preview call.)

Limited Quantity

With physical products, if you are only producing a certain number of them, be sure to make this known. A big buzz-builder tip: keep people informed periodically as the number available decreases via your website or by emailing your list.

Finally, make it an event! The idea is to build up as much buzz, excitement and anticipation as you can. Once you’ve done that, you can count on more “ka-ching” than ever before.

Happy launching!

Filed Under: Product Launching Tagged With: buzz, free teleseminar, launch strategy, product launches