Maggie SpizzirriMaggie Spizzirri
Providing Marketing and Social Media Management
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When Less is More
2 Jun 2015

admin Marketing 0 comments

When Less is More

I love minimalism. After moving from apartment to apartment and finally across the country you really realize how much clutter and ‘stuff’ seems to pile up over the years. It’s incredibly refreshing to find yourself with fewer things. Just the basics are really required. There’s less stress in being able to find things, there’s no over piled shelves, no worry of where you are going to store something that you haven’t touched or looked at in years. Just the basics.

I love minimalism in not just in my own life but in the way things are marketed and designed as well. Boiling down messages to the simplest possible form. The use of white space in design. All often overlook or forgotten about with the need to pile and shout more and more information onto one simple piece.

One of the best exercises I find that a business can do, is answer the question:

What is your message?

If you can answer that question quickly and easily in a few words, then you’re golden. However, many of us try to focus on so many things in our business. We’re here to help people with problems a. b. c. d. and e. When really your overall message can be boiled down to a few simple words. Being able focus on your businesses key message will allow you to get your message across easily and efficiently, without clutter or confusion. And in the end, that’s the main goal. Getting your message out to the customers who’s problems you can solve.

Your actionable this week:  If you could describe your message in one word, what would it be?

I’d love for you to leave a comment and tell us what your message is!

DIY SEO Tips and Tricks
19 May 2015

admin Marketing, Social Media 0 comments

DIY SEO Tips and Tricks

Over the past few months I’ve had more calls about search engine optimization (SEO) then ever before. Some have gotten a website designed for a very low cost and are wondering why their site isn’t showing up on search engines. Others are trying to improve their status so that they can grow with the times. And others still are digging deep into their content and wondering if a refresh will help there status.

When it comes to SEO there are many categories of what can be done. Things you can do yourself and things that you need a web developer to do for you.

Saving money by getting an inexperienced web designer/developer to build your site might help you save money in the short term. But ensuring your site is built properly so that search engines know how to read your site properly is worth it in the long run alone. With so many websites available, being hindered by a website not built correctly is the last thing your business needs to succeed online. As Chad Pollitt says:

“SEO is not something you do anymore. It’s what happens when you do everything else right.”

Now let’s take a look at a few tips and tricks you can do yourself.

Keywords and Key Phrases:
Keyword research is one of the most valuable activities in the SEO field. However, it’s not all about keywords but about phrases. Keep in mind that it’s not always about getting visitors to your site, but about getting the right kind of visitors. For example, consider if you are a shoe store and someone is searching for the word “shoes” they are likely just browsing. Now if someone were searching for “best price on Nike Air” that person is more likely to be ready to buy! Phrases, or “long tail” searches convert at a much higher rate then standard popular search terms. When developing your content for your online presence take into considering key phrases that your target market might be searching for.

There are multiple resources available to determine the best keywords and phrases for you. Google AdWords Keyword tools is a great starting place as it suggests keywords and provides an estimated search volume.

Link building:
Including links and having other sites and pages link to your site provides an increased trust within search engines. There are a few things to consider when including link building in your strategy:

Global Popularity: The more links to your website the more popular it is. Consider Wikipedia and how many sites link to them as a reference, increasing Wikipedia’s popularity.

Local/Topic-Specific Popularity: Search engines also take into consideration local popularity and related topics. For example, if your website sells pet supplies, earning links from the Dog breeders Society matters much more than links from an off-topic site.

Anchor Test: If many links point to a page with the right keywords, that page has a higher chance of ranking well.

Link Neighbourhood: It is important to link to reputable sites. Search engines take into account that if you link to a spam site, you are likely spam yourself.

TrustRank: It’s no surprise that spam is everywhere. Getting linked to by an already trusted site can significantly boost your scoring. Examples of trusted sites include: universities, government sites, non-profit organizations.

Freshness: It is important to keep your website fresh and have new keywords, phrases and links. Which is why blogging has become popular and is a great way to keep fresh content on your site.

Social Media: Although links from social media are treated differently then direct site-to- site links they are increasing in popularity and there is no denying the rising important of social channels.

A great way to increase link building include directories (such as YellowPages, Chamber of Commerce, etc); having your customers link to you; blogging informative, valuable and entertaining ideas; be newsworthy and noteworthy; and create content that inspires social sharing.

Fresh Content:
A great way to keep your content exciting and up to date is to utilize tools such as blogging and social media. Telling your own story is always the best way to connect with someone across the globe. Everyone understands experiences. They get excited as you write and draw a picture in their mind. Because of this blogging can be a powerful tool to use and can be utilized across your social media strategy.

It’s important to note that keywords and link building should always read and be natural. If stuffing of words is used your story won’t read naturally and this will harm your SEO results.

“The objective is not to “make your links appear natural”; the objective is that your links are natural” – Matt Cutts, Google

Imagery
Use more, higher quality photos. Employ interface background images for visual effect. Define and implement an image file naming convention and alt tag strategy to improve search engine optimization. These small changes will help your images and site get noticed.

Your actionable this week:  Take a look at your online content, can you implement some of these tips and tricks to help your SEO?

I’d love for you to leave a comment and tell us what has worked best for you!

Defining Your Target Market the Easy Way
5 May 2015

admin Marketing 0 comments

Defining Your Target Market the Easy Way

Defining your target market can sometimes be a difficult thing to do. Many people think well isn’t everyone my customer?! As Seth Godin says simply:

“Everyone is not your customer.”

The best way to be able to market your product or service is to understand exactly who it is that you will be talking to. People have different tastes and opinions. When you know who you’re talking to, you can speak in their language.

I was listening to a podcast the other day, and the podcaster, John Lee Dumas, of Entrepreneur on Fire, described his target market as a person. I thought to myself “how perfect is that!” Not only is it the perfect way to exactly describe in detail who your target market is, but it’s a fun and enjoyable exercise.

Gone are the standard and bland “define your ideal target market’s geographic, demographic and technographic merits.” Why not make it a fun exercise and give your target market and name and personality.

For example:
My target market’s name is Leena. She’s a 35 year old Entrepreneur. She wakes up every morning, does 15 minutes of power yoga and drinks an energy boosting smoothie to start off her day.  She heads out to her boutique shop and works hard but notices that her message simply isn’t getting out to her own targeted audience and wonders how to go about doing that. She does some research online and finds my website, reads a few blog posts and decides to sign up for the FREE marketing materials to see how she wants to move forward with making her mark in business.

Does your target market have a name? What do they do during the day? What problems are they having that you can solve?

Your actionable this week: Take a look at your target market, give them a name and describe what they are all about.

I’d love for you to leave a comment and share who your target market is!

The Important Concepts of your Brands Image
21 Apr 2015

admin Marketing 0 comments

The Important Concepts of your Brands Image

I often get asked why it’s so important to have a uniform look across all of a company’s marketing materials, from business cards, to websites to your print material. Many times brochures are designed separate from a website and they tend to come out looking nothing alike. But why is that such a bad thing?

Let’s take a look at 3 main factors and what i categorize as style, connection and simplicity.

1) Style
When you think about going to a high end restaurant there are certain things that come to mind, maybe elegance, cleanliness and modern decor. If you were to walk into a high end restaurant and their decor gave off a fast food vibe, would you stay? Or does their choice of decor say something about the restaurant as a whole? Likely. The same feeling should apply to the design of your marketing materials. They should all give off a similar feeling and style which should portray what your company is all about.

2) Connection
Style is not the only important thing when it comes to unifying a brand. Easily making a connection is another. McDonald’s has their signature golden arches, Nike has their swoosh and Apple has well, their apple. Everyone makes the connection which shoe is Nike’s and which computer is Apple’s quickly and easily. There’s no confusion. Imagine if your image was something different on each piece of material, potential customers may not make the connection to who you are. And no one wants that!

3) Simplicity
No one likes confusion and sending multiple messages, in multiple looks, in multiple varieties… your customers are simply not going to understand what you are trying to say. So remember to KISS – Keep It Simple Silly!

Your actionable this week: is to review your materials and see if they have style, connection and simplicity!

Are you looking to hire an online consultant?
7 Apr 2015

admin Marketing 0 comments

Are you looking to hire an online consultant?

As society turns to a digital world and people enjoy the flexibility of working from home, how do you know what you’re getting into when you hire an online consultant? So many people put smoke and mirrors as their business face and it’s difficult to tell whether you are being told truth or lies. So how do you distinguish between the two? Here are a few key points to consider:

  • Do they provide references, successes and failures? Past work is often a great way to tell how the end product turned out.
  • How will they be measuring success? Success should be measured throughout the project to ensure it’s being kept on track and in the end you can see how far you’ve actually come.
  • What documentation of the work completed will you be getting?
  • Take a look around their office. Is their website professionally designed? Are things easily accessible in a logical way? Is it welcoming or unorganized? A website should be like seeing into someone’s business and getting a taste of what they are really like.
  • Do you get an overall good feeling like you want to dive in right away? Go with your first instincts.
  • Does your personality and chemistry mesh?

Don’t forget that in order to have a great relationship with an online consultant, you need to put in the effort to communicate as well. If everything is one-sided the project will never be a success. But if both parties communicate, then you’re on your way!

I’d love for you to leave a comment and share some of the best and worst experiences you’ve had with an online consultant.

Are the 4 P’s of Marketing Still Relevant?
24 Mar 2015

admin Marketing 0 comments

Are the 4 P’s of Marketing Still Relevant?

The marketing mix or the 4 P’s of marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion, were developed in 1948 and were easily described as the launching pad of your marketing plan. You simply couldn’t have a plan without completing the 4 P’s. The question is, are the 4 P’s still relevant?

I would say yes, absolutely! People can’t stand without a spine – a marketing plan doesn’t have a base without the 4 P’s. How they are defined may have changed over the years but the essence of the marketing mix is still very much the building blocks of any good marketing plan. In the 1990’s the concept of the 4 C’s were introduced as a replacement to be more customer driven: consumer, cost, communication and convenience. In 2012 another 4 P’s theory was proposed with people, processes, programs and performance.

Times have changed so much that the initial concept of looking internally at the 4 P’s is no longer valid, however, if we switch them around and look externally at what our customers want, the 4 P’s are still very much valid.

Product
Product is no longer about the physical product or service that you are offering, but rather studying what your customer is really looking for. Take a walk in your customers shows and see if there are things you would change in the entire product experience.

Price
Relying solely on the best price won’t get you anywhere. People are looking for what value you can offer.

Place
We live in a much more global world. Place is no longer one location, a business can be locally run, a global business or even a glocal company… businesses offering online services both locally and globally!

Promotion
Promoting your business is no longer about blasting your potential customer with ad’s and bulletins, but about truly communicating with people and showing them you have something of value to offer.

Your actionable this week: What are your 4 P’s and how can you adjust them to bring them into modern marketing methods?

I’d love for you to leave a comment and share with the community what your 4 P’s are.

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Maggie Spizzirri
© Maggie Spizzirri 2021
Providing Marketing and Social Media Management