Author Archive for bstoller – Page 2

Internet Advertising is On the Rise

April 4th, 2011 by bstoller

I ran across this article today. It gives a good indication of what is going on in the advertising world today.

Despite the recent economic downturn and reduced marketing budgets, online ad spending continues to rise. According to Jason Gamwell, CEO of Morning Falls, a Denver-based Internet marketing firm, statistics show online ad spends were up 13.9 percent to a record $25.8 billion in 2010. Gamwell expects this trend to continue for many reasons, from the expanding use of social networks to the shrinking numbers in newspaper ad spending and readership – to the lower cost and higher tracking advantages of the Internet itself.

2010 was the first year in history U.S. marketers spent more money to advertise online than in newspapers, and the first year online readership exceeded print readership. Overall, newspaper spending, including advertising in print and online editions, fell to $25.7 billion, a decline of 6.6 percent, making Internet advertising second only to TV in media spends. Source: eMarketer.com

The reason for this continued growth says Gamwell is that Internet marketing is relatively inexpensive when calculated using the standard formula of the ratio of the cost against the reach of the target audience. When advertising online, companies can reach a wider and more diverse audience for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising.

The Internet also enables consumers to research and buy at their own convenience. Studies show over 90 percent of customers go online to check out potential purchases, competitive pricing, consumer ratings, and other factors before they buy. As a result, businesses have the advantage of appealing to consumers in a medium that can bring results almost instantly.

Online advertising also offers greater pricing flexibility as firms can run campaigns based on a variety of payment options such as pay per impression and pay per click; and, it provides more accountability, as marketers can measure their return on investment (ROI) quicker and easier than with other forms of advertising.

29 percent, or one in three businesses, say they plan to increase social media spending this year.

According to Gamwell, the advent of social media networks is also fueling online ad spending. In a report published by internetretailer.com, small- and medium-sized firms plan to up their online budgets this year by nearly 29 percent to $40.6 billion from $31.5 billion in 2009, primarily to leverage the rapidly growing social media phenomenon.

With over 550 million users, Facebook is now the web’s most popular site. Almost 72 percent of U.S. Internet users are now on Facebook, and over 70 percent of local businesses are marketing through this social media site – more than anywhere else online. Source: digitalbuzzblog.com.

Naturally, added Gamwell, Internet media spends are most effective when part of a mix of other mediums, including print, radio, and TV – depending upon a brand’s budget and demographics. Despite the dramatic changes brought on by the web, some things never change, such as the fact that repetition and consistency still bring the best advertising results, said Gamwell.

About Morning Falls. Based in Denver, Colorado, Morning Falls provides Internet-based media solutions to businesses worldwide. Established in 2004, the company has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for its clients around the globe. Morning Falls offers advertisers a single point of access to thousands of premium advertising channels online and billions of Internet users worldwide via its robust display advertising network, cutting-edge ad serving technology, and state-of-the-art analytics. The firm also provides lead generation, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media marketing as well as marketing and advertising support. More information on Morning Falls can be found online at http://www.morningfalls.com.

Categories : industry statistics
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Small Business Marketing Has Changed – Will You?

March 29th, 2011 by bstoller

Small Business Marketing has changed. For those business owners struggling to understand how to get customers in the door in today’s environment, we have some good news and some bad news.

The Good News

Social Media and Local Search are Taking Over Small Business Marketing

The good news is that your advertising budgets should decrease!! Traditional marketing and advertising used to involve spending money on ads for the newspaper, radio, tv, magazines, etc. While there ARE still applications to these mediums, the internet is quickly changing this.

This is good news for small business owners, as they can actually keep up with the larger companies that have historically dominated with their large advertising budgets. Social media (word of mouth) is now the top method for people to hear about your business – and it doesn’t cost you a dime. At least once you get the hang of it. Search engine marketing is a great opportunity for businesses as well.

The Bad News

Ok – with the good there always seems to come the bad. In this case, how many business owners know how to optimize their Facebook pages? How business owners even know how to SET UP a business page? How many business owners know how to optimize blogs, blog posts, press releases, videos, etc.???

There is a LOT of confusion as businesses are going through this new marketing transition. Social media managers are becoming vitally important to even the mom and pop stores out there.

Back to the Good News

Getting back to the good side, business owners can cut back on the amount of traditional advertising spending and invest that money into higher impact marketing. There currently aren’t enough good marketing consultants out there who specialize in helping small businesses, but you can contact Discovering Profits to help. We specialize in small business. There is normally upfront setup fees to get everything going, but once you are set up, you normally have to only pay a small maintenance fee to keep rankings and social branding going.

More Good News

Discovering Profits offers a free consultation to help business owners understand the new trends in marketing and how they can not only save you money in the long run, but take an aggressive position in your particular market niche. Call us today or e-mail us for more information at info@DiscoveringProfits.com

Categories : Marketing Strategies
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Feel Good About Improving Your Business Performance

March 1st, 2011 by bstoller

Here’s a great thought that can really help any business owner (or anyone else). We can’t control many factors, but we CAN control how we react to them. A great attitude is a tremendous help when faced with all that running a business can throw at you.

Here’s an excerpt from Rich Sheffren, one of the top internet marketing coaches in the world.

Improve Your Outlook and Performance

What if there were a foolproof way to become more optimistic, feel happier, and think better? What if it took you less than five minutes a day to do.but you reaped the rewards all day long?

Would you want to know it? And more importantly would you do it? If so, pay careful attention, because that’s exactly what I’m revealing right here.

There’s been a tremendous amount of research proving two different concepts that I’ll bring together here to fulfill on what I just promised you. They are…

(1) Your mood and your level of optimism have a significant impact on the success you’ll achieve in business.

(2) Expressing three things that you’re grateful for each day along with the reason why you’re grateful will make you a happier and more optimistic person.

Here are three examples from my journal. You can see that they cover a wide area.

That stated, it should come as no surprise to you that I strongly recommend you start developing the habit of writing out those three things you’re grateful for (along with the reasons) daily.

If you keep a journal and do the journaling exercises I’ve recommended, in less than a few weeks you’ll notice the difference in your psyche.

Keep it up for a few months and you’ll notice the difference it makes to your bottom line.

Keep your day positive and be prepared for good things to happen!

Categories : Just Good Stuff
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The Role of Facebook in the Egyptian Revolution

February 26th, 2011 by bstoller

If you think your business can’t benefit from Facebook – think again. This story found in Mashable.com illustrates just how powerful Facebook really is.

How Facebook Supported the Egyptian Revolution

15 hours ago by Emily Banks 4

Officially, Facebook has remained mum on its role in the protests in Egypt and Tunisia, which grew into full-on revolutions. But this week, reports have surfaced that reveal a somewhat active involvement in the events and outline Facebook’s support of democracy and civic engagement.

Facebook reportedly worked to protect the identity of Egyptian activists, according to The Daily Beast. The news site claims to have obtained e-mail correspondence from Facebook executives and the administrators of the Facebook Page that was the revolution’s digital epicenter — the We Are All Khaled Said Page, which was created in memory of an Egyptian man murdered last summer by police.

The Page mysteriously disappeared as activists prepared to substantiate what would likely be rigged elections in November of last year. It turned out someone had likely notified Facebook that the Page administrator was using a pseudonym, a violation of Facebook’s terms of service.

Facebook stuck to its policy, but Richard Allan, Facebook’s director of policy for Europe, offered a loophole.

“There is no discretion here as the creation of fake accounts threatens the integrity of our whole system,” he wrote. “People must use the profile of a real person to admin the page or risk it being taken down at any time. It is not important to us who that real person is as long as their account appears genuine. So if they can offer a real person as admin then the page can be restored.”

An Egyptian immigrant and activist in Washington, D.C., lent her account password to Wael Ghonim in Egypt, who continued to run the page.

The Daily Beast‘s e-mails reveal that the social network put the key Facebook Pages under protection, the night the protests in Egypt began in late January.

“We have put all the key pages into special protection,” Allan wrote. A team, he said, “is monitoring activity from Egypt now on a 24/7 basis.”

Promoting Democracy & Civic Engagement

In a document filed January 28 with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission — in response to the FTC’s privacy report for consumers, businesses and policymaker — Facebook expounded its role and the greater role of social media in promoting democracy and civic engagement.

“The Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University cited Facebook and Twitter as playing key roles in spreading dissent-and up-to-the-minute news-in Tunisia, leading to the removal of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who gained control of the country in a 1987 coup d’etat,” the 26-page document states.

A footnote to that statement also provides an interesting perspective. Referencing the Atlantic article in which that fact appeared, the footnote says the article “…describ[es] Facebook’s rapid response to attempts by the Tunisian Internet censor to compromise dissenters’ Facebook accounts.”

Twitter executives, on the other hand, have spoken publicly about the micro-blogging site’s role in Egypt, mostly downplaying its role in the revolution. And when the Egyptian government blocked the site, its creators declared that the government must let the tweets flow.

Until now, Facebook’s role and perspective on the events in Egypt and Africa were unknown, and although the company has still not openly commented — neither to Mashable nor The Daily Beast — we now have a little greater understanding of the role it played and its stance on the events in the Middle East and Africa.

Categories : Social Media Marketing
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How To Choose a Social Media Manager

February 13th, 2011 by bstoller

Choosing a Social Media Manager can be VERY tricky.

Many simply opt to have an employee or college student make posts for their company. This may seem like an inexpensive way to make posts, but what often happens is the enthusiastic person starts out doing well, then often simply loses interest. Another big problem for the business owner is that the unqualified person starts responding to comments in a way that makes the business look bad.

From my conversation with some of my clients, there ARE concerns with others representing their companies. There must be “rules” and “guidelines” set up in advance.

Here’s why…

What if people are asking questions and the social media manager doesn’t know enough about your company and simply “makes up” answers?? This is very dangerous and can backfire quickly.

I always recommend that our clients set up ground rules for social media. For example, a marketing strategy must be communicated to the social media manager. If the messages sent are not communicated properly to the manager, he/she will not be getting the right word out and the business suffers because of it.

We like to communicate on a weekly basis (e-mail even works well and is efficient) so we know if the business has items that they are needing incorporated into their messages. This also helps us come up with events so they can be properly promoted.

Back to ground rules. We like to put “levels” in place. For example,

Level 1 – very easy responses to comments that don’t require any thought or potential damage to customer.

Level 2 – Need to have a general knowledge of the business in order to respond

Level 3 – Potential damage can be done if business owner is not involved with answer. This normally involves sending an e-mail or text for clarification on response.

Basically – the social media manager must be thought of as an extension of the company. If you don’t feel you can trust the manager’s ability to represent you – move on to someone else. Your business is to valuable to let a high school or college student make decisions on PR for your company.

Many times it proves helpful to have a qualified social media “guru” coach the person or persons that will be making the posts for you. A qualified marketing consultant can help you set up your guidelines and help teach the business owner to set up a social media “system” in order to maximize this new “free” marketing tool.

If you feel you need help, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line at Discovering Profits. We’ve spent countless hours researching what works and we can help you set up your system – it’s a very small investment to insure you maximize your return for social media.

Categories : Facebook Marketing
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Facebook Pages Gets a New Look

February 11th, 2011 by bstoller

Facebook has begun a new redesign of Facebook Pages. This new design will bring the Pages look to feel more like Facebook user profiles.

Facebook actually launched the redesign in December – accidentally. They quickly took it down.

The main thing that people will notice is that the tabs have been removed, and it gives page administrators the ability to post and comment on other Facebook Pages while using the new “Login as Page” feature.

According to Mashable.com, the lead product manager for Facebook Pages, Rohit Dhawan, “the company has wanted to redesign Facebook Pages ever since it launched the profile redesign. “We strongly believe you should have consistent experiences when possible,” Dhawan said.

Noticeable Differences

Users will notice the new layout immediately. The old tabs at the top of the page are now replaced with the new navigation menu the closely resembles the Facebook Profiles recent redesign. The old “information box” is now gone. Page admins, however, can now add info about their business or brand at the top of the page under the main title.

On the right hand side of the page, there is now a section that features all the page admins as well as a section that shows all the people who have “liked” the page. The big noticeable difference is that the page now features relevant photos at the top. While this may at first seem to mess up your page, the creative people can really come up with some very neat designs.

Click for more design ideas from Mashable.com

Other Differences

Some other big differences between the old version and the new one involves the page administrators. The new feature called “Login as Page” gives the admins the ability to interact with the rest of Facebook as a page, not an individual. Another difference is that Page Admins will see a different version of the News Feed when they are logged in as their page. The News Feed will show the most important news from the pages you have “liked”. This now allows pages to interact with other pages as if they were individuals.

Pages can’t do everything a user can, though. Most importantly, they cannot post on a user’s wall or comment on his or her status. The lone exception is for a user who has opted for the “everybody” privacy setting; Pages can comment on status updates for those individuals.

The new design is optional until March 10th, when all pages will be converted automatically. Facebook has a tour that you can take and provides a manual explaining the differences.

Categories : Facebook Marketing
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Online Marketing Messages for Small Business

February 5th, 2011 by bstoller

Online Marketing for Small Business – It’s All About the Message

Small businesses must make sure that their audience hears what the business is trying to tell them. Of, course they have to make sure that their message truly represents their company’s vision.

Here are some of the all time blunders in marketing, as found in LeftLifeIn.com.

1. Coors put its slogan, “Turn it loose,” into Spanish, where it was
read as “Suffer from diarrhea.”

2. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”

3. Clairol introduced the “Mist Stick”, a curling iron, into German
only to find out that “mist” is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the “shit stick.”

4. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same
packaging as in the U.S., with the beautiful Caucasian baby on the
label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what’s inside, since most people can’t read.

5. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called “Cue”, the name of a notorious porno magazine.

6. An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish
market which promoted the Pope’s visit. Instead of “I saw the Pope” (el Papa), the shirts read “I saw the potato” (la papa).

7. Pepsi’s “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” translated into
“Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”, in Chinese.

8. Frank Perdue’s chicken slogan, “it takes a strong man to make a tender chicken” was translated into Spanish as “it takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate.”

9. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as “Ke-kou-ke-la”,
meaning “Bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax”, depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent “ko-kou-ko-le”, translating into “happiness in the mouth.”

10. When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were
supposed to have read, “it won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass
you”. Instead, the company thought that the word “embarazar” (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”

The moral of the story? Make sure your message is what you want your readers to hear!!

Categories : Marketing Strategies
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Social Media – Online Strategy for Small Business?

February 4th, 2011 by bstoller

I ran across this article that puts social media as an online strategy for small business into perspective. People need to understand that social media may not be an instant return….

The social media approach that nobody wants to hear

by Hugo on January 26, 2011

in Business,Marketing,Social Media,Twitter

Every so often I have someone ask me how to go about building up a social media presence for a new startup. They are usually interested in how to acquire social media’s usual suspects:

-Facebook likes

-Retweets

-guest post on influential blogs

-comments on their own blog

-inbound links from social sites like discussion forums (yes, building links for SEO and otherwise should be a standard goal within a social media strategy)

Their plan was to begin building out content on a daily basis, so what they wanted was a sound approach for acquiring that aforementioned social currency to help build out their brand awareness and generate sales conversions for their business. Essentially, what they wanted to know was what to do after each new piece of content was created.

They were surprised by the answer I gave them. Maybe even disappointed.

Basically, what I told them is that they need to do a whole bunch of things, before they could really hope to get any of that aforementioned social currency. In fact, I told them that they would likely have to do a lot of things weeks, months, maybe even years in advance before being able to reap the rewards of social media traction.

This is a difficult concept for traditional marketers to understand, because they grew up with media formats that delivered immediate exposure and where easily measured. You produce a TV ad and then pay for a specific number of runs in a specific number of time slots reaching a particular size audience. You produce an online display ad and then pay for a specific number of impressions in a specific time range on specific websites (or Google’s search results). So on, and so forth.

Instant exposure and a quick turnaround.

Unfortunately, the more organic online channels like SEO and social media aren’t that cut and dry (unless you buy paid links or display ads on Facebook, but I digress). And that annoys and frustrates the traditional marketer. But back to my answer for this startup.

What I told that they needed to do, before being able to collect the social media currency they coveted:

Build a website that is conversion friendly and sticky (e.g. is intuitive and makes it easy for users to interact with it and share with friends)
Begin engaging within relevant Facebook groups & posting on relevant Facebook pages (not with promotional messaging, but instead with content that adds value to the community)
Begin following relevant Twitter users and retweet the content of said Twitter users
Begin commenting on influential blogs and forums (not with promotional messaging, but with content that adds value to the community)
Begin linking to said blogs and forums from within their own site’s content
Begin attending industry events and mingling with influential peers (don’t just promote yourself or your brand. Add value to the conversation)
Begin to gradually connecting with these influencers via email and other online communication channels (not to promote yourself, but to genuinely connect and add value to their efforts)
If they have a substantial email database, start thinking about innovative ways to encourage email subscribers to engage with your social profiles and social content (some of your subscribers might be influencers)
Think about the proportion of your perspective consumers that prefer to consume contact via mobile devices (including tablets) and then figure out what you’re going to do to accommodate them (some of your niche’s influencers might prefer mobile formats)

All of these steps are needed in order to build enough social karma (yes, I said karma) to facilitate things like guest posting opportunities, retweets, likes, etc. And mind you, sometimes, taking these steps won’t result in anything. Some influencers are part of impenetrable cliques or simply horde their social media mentions for other major influencers (not exactly the spirit of social media in my opinion, but it happens).

Moreover, if your content/product/service isn’t remarkable, you’ll struggle to get social currency no matter how many good deeds you perform for the community.

Most people don’t want to hear this. They want social media engagement to be immediate, and frankly, they don’t want to believe that you have to invest so much in advance and then hope that the effort gets repaid at some point in the future. But you know what? It’s worked for me. It’s worked for clients I’ve worked with. It’s worked for colleagues I know in our industry.

And it will work for your brand if you plan for it and if the executives at your company have the fortitude of mind to stick things out and deal with little to no ROI in the early stages of effort (which could be up to a year in some cases). And unlike more traditional marketing channels, which provide little or no marketing equity, this approach to social media will typically pay dividends into perpetuity.

For a link to the article click here

Categories : Social Media Marketing
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Choosing Local Online Marketing Consultants

January 30th, 2011 by bstoller

Choosing Local Online Marketing Consultants – Key Questions

Local online marketing consultants are quickly becoming vitally important for small business owners. Company owners and marketing managers are scrambling to figure out what they need to do as the shift goes from traditional advertising methods to those that offer a tremendous exposure for a much smaller amount of investment.

What should you look for when trying to decide who to use as your local online marketing consultant?

Here are some key areas that you want to know about your potential consultant:

1) Have they actually owned a business or businesses?

Business owners all know the difficulties of owning and running a business. Whether you have 1 store or 10 locations, there are things that most people just don’t understand unless they have actually had experience as an owner.

2) Is your potential consultant really out to help you or simply sell you their services?

While this may seem like a difficult question to get an answer, check out to see if the person has any testimonials posted on their website. You can ask for referrals as well. There are many “quick buck” consultants who want you to simply sign up for their directory and will offer very little help with your marketing strategy. That’s ok if you simply want to be seen on a directory, but there may be better methods for your particular business.

3) Will your potential consultant provide ongoing consulting and strategy sessions?

Part of a good marketing plan is to have someone to bounce ideas off and to help stimulate ideas. If you are simply hiring someone to set up a website and call that marketing, you are not doing your business or you any justice. A good consultant will either participate in your strategy sessions and provide recommendations at least quarterly. This is important because a good marketing plan must be able to adjust to an ever changing business environment. A good marketing consultant will be able to keep you on track and is worth far more than the fees that they will charge.

4) Do you feel a “connection” – will you be able to communicate with your potential consultant?

This may seem obvious, but don’t underestimate the importance of being able to communicate with the person who is going to help you formulate an extremely important part of your business – marketing.

5) Will your consultant provide means to track your marketing efforts?

A good local online marketing consultant will set up and provide traffic reports, normally on a monthly basis, so results can be reviews and strategies modified when necessary. This is important, as one of online marketing’s advantage is to be able to actually see results.

Choosing a local online marketing consultant is confusing because not very many business owners or advertising managers actually understand how the internet and social media works. I hope that this will help you to understand that you don’t have to know everything – you just need to be able to choose someone who does.

Call us today at 866-856-5828 or visit us at www.DiscoveringProfits.com if you want to discuss your business – we’re always happy to help. One thing that we guarantee is that you WILL learn at least one good idea from our conversation.

Categories : Marketing Strategies
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Low Cost Marketing Idea for Small Business – Facebook

January 23rd, 2011 by bstoller

Need a marketing idea for small business?

Look no farther than Facebook. If your business is on a budget, then you should consider making either a fan page or a group for your business on Facebook. You may have heard of other businesses having success with a Facebook page and you want to experience this same success. There are many benefits to having your business on Facebook, but there are also some things you’ll need to avoid so you don’t experience any disadvantages.

Doing it Right Makes All the Difference

A poor Facebook page for your business is worse than not having one at all. So if you are thinking of making a Facebook page, make sure you do it right. Don’t just spend a few minutes on it by creating it, and then leaving it alone. You need to tend to it for at least a few days, and make sure that it provides a good experience to the user. If your business has a blog, you’ll want to set it up so that your blog posts go right to your Facebook page’s wall so that there will always be some new information for people to read. Update as much information as you can, including your business hours so that people know you’re a real entity and not some scammer with a Facebook page.

If you notice in the picture above, it shows one of Nine Irish Brothers fans posting a “thank you” on their business page. This is the ultimate and shows other customers that the business works very hard to keep their customers happy. Engagement with the customers is key.

Getting to Know Your Customers is Critical

If you cater mostly to baby boomers they aren’t going to care too much that your business has its own Facebook page. It’s not going to make them want to do business with you any more or any less than they already do. They’ll likely find your site through other means than through Facebook. If you cater to pre-teens, teens, and twenty and thirty somethings you definitely need to have some presence on Facebook. If you don’t, you run the risk of looking out of touch with your core market. While this trend is changing, if you cater to a target market over 60, you may not be as successful using Facebook – at least for now.

Encourage People to Visit Your Website

If you have a main website that you want be to use, you may find that they never make it there because they’re getting all of the information they need from your Facebook page. If you spent a lot of time and money to make your website, and you want people to use it and appreciate it, then you might want to limit how much you put on your Facebook page and just use it as a teaser to get people to click through to your website. Either way, it’s still one extra step they have to take to get to your website, and many people might not bother to click through. One way to get people to your website from Facebook is to provide a link to your site that is attached to your posts or pictures. If you have an interesting post and it links to your website, you have effectively used Facebook to drive traffic to your website.

There’s not too many disadvantages to having a Facebook page, as long as you follow the advice given here and do it the right way. The only thing it can do is potentially give you more visitors, and it provides another avenue for people to get to know more about you and your business.

If you are like most business owners – you don’t necessarily have the time to devote to gaining this knowledge or you may not have the time to do posts and respond to questions and comments. Feel free to call us and we’ll be glad to either help train you or be your outsourcing to handle your social media for you.

Categories : Marketing Strategies
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