Author: Infuze Marketing

Ever ask a small business owner what their favorite time of year is?! There is a HIGH chance they will say the holidays. Is this because of work parties and holiday goodies? CLOSE, but NOPE! This is because small businesses bring in 20 to 40% of their annual revenue during the LAST TWO months of the year! 

Incorporating them into your marketing plan will help you meet and exceed your revenue goals and increase your brand’s reach. Customers are willing to spend extra money this time of year but don’t know where to spend it. Putting your brand and the promotion in front of them through creative digital campaigns can make the difference between them buying your product vs. your competitors. 

Unfortunately, many companies execute their holiday campaigns poorly and tend to simply add to the “holiday noise.” We are here to help you add to the end of year cheer and not to the holiday ad eye rolls. 

Now is the time to quit dawdling and get festive (and strategic) because we have some merry marketing to do…

Here are 4 effective promotional tactics we recommend: 

1. Gift Card Deals — 80% of shoppers will buy gift cards this season, according to the National Retail Federation. On top of that, shoppers will spend an average of $172 on gift cards, and when recipients use the gift cards, they will likely spend 20% more than the gift card value. 

Suggestions 

• Use incentives: offer 5% discount on the purchase of gift cards
• Use a bonus: customer gets a $5 bonus card after purchasing $25 in gift cards

2. Utilize Social Media Ads and Targeting — Social ad impressions are up 20% year over year, and 52% of all online brand discovery still happens in public social feeds.

Pro-tips

• Display campaign with retargeting on Google: It is simple… the user visits your site, leaves it, sees your ads, feels more and more drawn, and sooner or later makes a purchase. 
• Educational videos that explain your business differentiators
• Posts highlighting sales, end-of-year deals, and anything else you’re offering
• “Unboxing” content that allows people to see your products/business up close
• Reviews praising your services, employees, and business
• Use messaging, tone, and photography that is unique to your brand and your voice
• Boost posts featuring winter related discounts
  • “Below freezing special! When the temp drops below 32, your drinks drop 32%”

3. Gift Guides / Holiday Menu Guides — Many shoppers shuffle a variety of wish-lists and often get overwhelmed, not knowing where to begin. Gift guides help a customer in steering them in the right direction and inspiring them through a bundle of gift ideas and price point deals. Think about what kind of guide fits your business? What price point would work for your customers specifically? 

Suggestions 

• 5 holiday appetizers under $10
• 10 Hanukkah gifts for $100
• 3 pajama sets mom will love for $50 or less
• 5 gifts for your other half for under $75 

Pro-Tip

• Pick ten or less products. If you have more than ten, split them into a handful of gift guides. Simple and clear always wins. 

4. Give Back to Your Customers — There are endless ways to show your appreciation of your loyal customers. They appreciate knowing that they mean something to your business, and that you do not take their purchases for granted. When you support your customers, they support you back. 

Examples

• Email campaigns featuring a free gift, free guide, fun holiday event, or to simply say thank you for being a loyal customer 
• Run an Instagram holiday giveaway to give a little extra love to your customers (close to 20% of customers will buy a product after tuning into a giveaway campaign) 
• Create an added appeal by building holiday specific rewards or loyalty programs that run the length of the holiday season (this type of campaign is often enough to get lookers to stop in and/or choose you over a competitor) 

Pro-Tip

• When offering free content or guides, be sure to always list holiday deals, discounts, loyalty programs, and specials.

As a holiday gift from us, here are some suggested social media captions and/or email subject lines you can use anytime. 

• We Like You a Latke!
• Hanukkah Deals to Make You Dizzy!
• Gift ideas for all 8 nights inside 
• The best host gifts for your Hanukkah celebrations
• Let’s start this year right. 10% off throughout January
• The holidays may be over, but the savings aren’t!
• Spread some cheer with us — open house sale!
• Season’s Greetings and Holiday Savings!
• Looking to get ahead of the holiday rush? Early sale starts now!
• It’s snowing savings! See our top deals.
• Gobble up these Thanksgiving specials!
• We’re thankful for our customers: Coupon Inside!
• Stuff yourself with savings 
• Gather ’round for savings!
• Thanksgiving Schedule Changes & Weekend Specials
• Savings to be thankful for — 8 deals you can’t miss.
• Celebrate Small Biz Sat with us: BOGO sale 
• 5 Ways to Support Our Community This Small Biz Sat
• It’s our 8th annual Small Biz Sat sale! Join us?
• Walk off those leftovers: Small Biz Sat sidewalk sale
• Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your List 
• 12 Days of Savings Starts today!

HAPPY HOLIDAY PROMOTIONS! — Infuze Marketing 

So Your Social Media Efforts Aren’t Making You Money? 

Every business in the digital world is on social media. As we all know, social media is not only time consuming, but competitive and ever changing. Read below to learn how to increase revenue through social media and drive traffic. 

Affiliate Marketing

One of the major ways that social media entrepreneurs are making money in 2021, is through affiliate links. Affiliate marketing, specifically through links, generates revenue by essentially paying a commission on all sales you generate. For example, if you share an Amazon affiliate link on your Instagram page and someone uses that link to buy something, you get paid! 

One way to do this is by posting a review on social media or your blog and share what you did or didn’t like. Be honest with your audience so they are more likely to trust you and go to you for advice in the future.

This can be done for any industry. You should do research for your niche to see what is trending and what is offered. One popular program is the Amazon Associates program. 

Another great resource for this is ClickBank.

Important Note: The Federal Trade Commission requires disclosures of all ads — this includes sponsored posts, affiliate links, or promotion of free swag. Before you start posting affiliate links, be sure to review all the applicable regulations.

Create Downloadable Content/Courses

Other great sources of revenue from digital marketing and social media, are downloadable content and ecourses. With everything going on in the world, school and education is almost purely online. 

Create and share content about things you are knowledgeable and passionate about! There are never “too many” online courses; there is always someone with something valuable to share. 

One thing to keep in mind if you are going to make digital content, is to make it purely educational.

How to promote your courses and downloads? 

One great way to reach a bigger audience with your content is Facebook Groups and Facebook Marketplace. Join Facebook groups related to your niche and offer your expertise there. Be sure to read the group guidelines before posting promotional materials.

Another way to promote training is on Pinterest and link it to your website. Pinterest can drive traffic to your site and to your ecommerce store. You can direct users to sign up for your newsletter and grow your email list as well! 

Here is the Pinterest board we created just for you on how to create an online course or ebook. Don’t forget to hit follow for more! 

Promote Trainings Or Coaching Over Social Media (this could be paid or for free)

Training, courses, books, coaching — all things that are similar when it comes to learning. You could use your platform to do coaching calls and consulting. If you do it for free and someone likes you, you can charge in the future and gain a customer. If you decide to charge right away, more power to you! 

Pro Tip: Post your training on Youtube and make them into podcasts as well! This is a great way to recycle your content and reach a bigger audience. 

Here is an article more about consulting business models. 

Sell Your Photos To Stock Photo Companies

Are you already taking great photos? 

Another source of income to explore for photography is selling your photos to an online platform such as Unsplash or Pexels. 

You could also share your photos, pose ideas, behind the scenes, and flatlays on Pinterest to generate more traffic to your site, and hopefully gain more clients! 

Use Hashtags (Drive Traffic and Gain Followers)

Hashtags can make it easier for people to find your brand, your service, or your product. In order to do this, you have to know who you want to attract, also known as your buyer persona. 

First decide how you want your brand to be positioned. Then start brainstorming! 

What hashtags should you include? (We will use Infuze as an example.) Infuze is a local, small business, woman-owned, — marketing company located in Sacramento, CA. 

Including hashtags for your location: 

#CaliforniaMarketers #NorthernCAMarketing #LocalMarketing #SacramentoMarketing

Characteristics: 

#SmallMarketingCompany #SupportLocal #FullServiceMarketing #UniqueMarketing

Skills:

#GraphicDesigner #BrandingExperts #Photography #Videography #WebDesign #SocialMediaExperts #MarketingBlog

These are just some ideas on how you can diversify your hashtags! 

Hopefully this gave you a better idea of some ways to make money online, drive traffic, and increase revenue. 

Comment below — What is one way you have made money online or through social media? 

– Is your website traffic low?

– Is your business stagnant?

– Do you need new tools?

– Are you putting in all the work with little to no results?

Use 5 simple steps to improve your site’s SEO to increase website traffic, grow your business, rank higher on Google, and reach audiences ready to engage with your brand. 

What is SEO? 

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. But what is it exactly? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving the quality of content to increase traffic to your website via organic search engine results. SEO strategy relies, in part, on keywords to optimize your website and earn a higher ranking on Google.

For more in depth information on SEO get out Google’s beginner guide: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/beginner/seo-starter-guide?hl=en&visit_id=637408066478876682-625770552&rd=1

5 SEO Tips and Tricks

SEO isn’t all or nothing. Here are a few simple ways to start optimizing your website’s content.

1. One simple way to start optimizing your website’s content, is to create a list of “keywords” that fit your niche and that are popularly searched. By doing this, you can ensure that you can easily include keywords to use throughout your website, blog, and even social media. 
2. Avoid word stuffing. You do not want to stuff a bunch of SEO phrases or words into one sentence or paragraph just so that Google catches on. An example of this for a marketing company might be: “Welcome to our page about marketing services, where we are a California based marketing company who specializes in small business marketing, california marketing, and marketing tips”…. That leads me into the next one
3. Remember who your audience is! You need to create quality content that is easy to find, read, and digest… firstly for people, then secondly Google. 
4. Find relevant keywords that people are looking for and focus on those. Some phrases are more popular than others. For example, more people search “California Marketing Services” than “Marketing Services in California”…. Small changes can make a big difference. 
5. Optimize your website for mobile use and make sure it is speedy! 

How to do Keyword Research:

1. Phrasing: Try mixing it up and researching which structure of sentences to use. For example if you have a wedding photography business, use the resources provided throughout this blog to guide you in finding out if you should be saying “California Wedding photographER” or “California Wedding photographY” for the best search results. 
2. URL Keywords: Make sure to change the URL to be more SEO optimized – shortening the URL verbage to make it easier to find e.g.: 
   1. http://infuzemarketing.com/free-business-marketing-tips
   2. http://infuzemarketing.com/tips-for-how-to-market-your-small-business
3. Search Trending Words:  https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=marketing
   

Resources for your business to succeed in SEO: 

1. Is your website mobile friendly? Having a mobile friendly page will assure that consumers can reach you from anywhere, not just a desktop. Now more than ever people use their cellphones for everything, especially a quick Google search! Check if your website is mobile friendly here; if it’s not, find out how to change it: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly?id=LA5ft42KWvEpty2x8cQfPA
2. Speed, Speed, SPEED. How fast is your website? People will give you 3 seconds. You get 3 whole seconds (if they are generous, maybe 2 seconds) for your page to load. If it hasn’t loaded in 3 seconds, it’s sayonara and onto the next! The good news: there are so many resources to improve the speed of your website! 
   1. Pingdom: Test the speed of your site and get insight on how to improve. https://tools.pingdom.com/