In the ever-expanding digital landscape, search engine optimization (SEO) has become essential for businesses looking to thrive online. SEO involves different techniques to improve the quality and quantity of website traffic from search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and others. Companies use various factors such as keywords, content, off-page SEO, local SEO, and search engine marketing to enhance their online visibility and achieve their business goals.

One of the primary reasons why marketers turn to SEO is to increase their brand awareness and secure higher rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). As internet users, we heavily rely on search engines to find information, products, and services; therefore, when you run a business, it is crucial to have an online presence that features content using effective SEO strategies.

Keywords play a pivotal role in SEO, acting as the bridge between a business and its audiences. By incorporating these keywords into content, marketers can optimize websites for search engines, making it easier for potential customers to find a brand. Mixing content up into short and long-form, while utilizing local keywords is recommended to ensure marketing content gets its maximum reach and relevance.

Content is another crucial component of SEO, as it refers to the material marketers provide to an audience to increase visibility and engagement. For example, a car shop owner might publish blog articles on topics like selecting the right car for specific occasions or share promotional videos on social media platforms.

While on-page SEO focuses on optimizing elements within a website, off-page SEO involves external optimization practices. Off-page SEO primarily revolves around building backlinks, also known as hyperlinks, from external sources to a website. Using backlinks makes a particular website valuable and authoritative to a search engine, which leads to improved rankings.

Local SEO is particularly relevant when targeting local customers. When someone searches for a nearby business using their mobile device, local SEO helps a business appear in relevant search engine results. By implementing local SEO strategies, marketers can effectively reach their local audience and drive foot traffic to a business’s physical locations.

In addition to organic SEO efforts, search engine marketing (SEM) techniques can enhance online visibility. SEM involves paid marketing efforts, such as online advertisements and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. While SEM can help businesses reach new audiences and generate immediate results, it should not be solely relied upon as the primary component of an SEO strategy. Instead, it should complement other SEO efforts to achieve optimal results.

Whether you want to attract more organic traffic through keyword optimization and valuable content, leverage off-page SEO techniques to build authority, target local customers through local SEO, or employ SEM to reach new audiences, SEO offers a comprehensive approach to bolstering online visibility and driving success.

If you're wondering how to get your business listed on the most popular search engines and maximize your online presence, you should invest in a well-rounded SEO strategy. By understanding and implementing the fundamental principles of SEO, you can position your business for long-term success in the competitive digital landscape.

Let Belden Communications help with your business’s SEO strategy today!

Sources: 2021 Marketing Statistics, Trends & Data — The Ultimate List of Digital Marketing Stats (hubspot.com); 33 Local SEO Stats That Are Mind-Boggling, Even In 2019 (seoexpertbrad.com); What Is SEO & Why Is It Important? | DMI (digitalmarketinginstitute.com)

In recent years, personalization has become a buzzword in the marketing industry, where you use data and technology to create unique messages and offerings that meet the specific needs and preferences of individual customers. Some examples include personalized emails, product recommendations based on browsing and purchase history, customized landing pages, blogs, and more.

With the vast amounts of data collected on consumers, personalization allows you to target specific types of customers through your content.

So, why is personalization so important in marketing?

Personalization increases brand loyalty: When you invest in implementing personalized marketing strategies, you can earn brand loyalty and consumer satisfaction. This is because personalized marketing caters to individual preferences and needs, making customers feel valued and understood. Therefore, dedicating time and resources to personalization is a worthwhile endeavor for businesses that want to excel in today's competitive marketplace.

Personalization can improve the customer experience: In today's digital age, people are looking for more than just faceless business entities. They want to connect with brands that feel authentic and relatable. That is where personalized marketing comes in. By speaking directly to your audience and tailoring your messaging to their unique preferences and needs, you can make your business feel more human and approachable. This, in turn, can help establish a stronger connection with your customers and increase their likelihood of returning to your business.

Personalization can improve ROI: Personalized marketing is a more cost-effective strategy than traditional advertising and can drive customers to spend more with your business. According to McKinsey & Company, one of the world's leading producers of marketing insights, personalized marketing can increase sales by 10% (or more) and deliver up to eight times the ROI on what you spend on marketing.

Personalized marketing requires many steps, such as running tests, and observing analytics to help create a digital marketing strategy that puts your customer first. So put yourself in your customers’ shoes to see how you can meet their needs.

Contact Belden Communications, LLC, to help implement personalization into your marketing strategy today!

Source: (1) New Messages! (constantcontact.com); What Is Personalized Marketing? | Mailchimp; The Importance of Personalized Marketing — BOLD x COLLECTIVE

Storytelling has been a crucial aspect of human communication for centuries, from campfire tales to bedtime stories. People have always been captivated by the power of storytelling to engage, entertain, and inspire. In marketing, storytelling has proven to be just as important, and is one of the most powerful tools in a marketer's toolkit.

Today's consumers see messages and advertisements for different businesses and products on social media, in magazines, as well as on billboards, tv, and the radio. However, by implementing storytelling into your marketing strategy, your brand can stand out by connecting with its audience emotionally.

A well-crafted story can create an emotional connection between a brand and its audience, helping to build brand loyalty and increase brand awareness. One of the main reasons that storytelling is so effective in marketing is that it helps to humanize a brand. By sharing stories about the people behind the brand, its values, and its mission, a brand can connect with its audience on a more personal level to help create a sense of trust and authenticity, which is crucial for building strong brand relationships.

Storytelling helps to make complex concepts and ideas easier to understand. When a story can illustrate a product or service, the audience has a better chance to remember the information and be more engaged with the brand because stories create mental images and memories that are more memorable than simple facts and figures.

Proper storytelling can also help to drive conversions. By creating a compelling story around a product or service, a brand can help to increase its perceived value, making it more appealing to potential customers.

Whether used to build brand loyalty, increase brand awareness, or drive conversions, storytelling can connect your brand with audiences on an emotional level, creating lasting memories and building strong brand relationships.

Let Belden Communications help you incorporate storytelling into your marketing strategy today!

Sources: Why Storytelling Wins In Marketing (forbes.com); The power of storytelling in marketing - Square Holes - Deeply understanding real people; The Importance of Storytelling in Marketing | AS Marketing (asmarketingagency.com)

In the small business world, it is a known fact that customers interact more with a business that they know, like, and trust. Email marketing is the perfect tool for getting your brand, product, or service out to your target market. However, for small businesses, especially up-and-coming ones, it may not be easy to see the benefits of an email marketing campaign.

Here are five benefits to help grow your business using email marketing:

Emails are cost-effective. 

When you are running a small business, cost means everything. An email marketing campaign is the most cost-effective marketing strategy you can implement as a business owner. Designing email campaigns is not complicated and allows you more time to focus on other aspects of your business.

Emails increase your brand recognition. 

With a lot of industry competition, email marketing campaigns help improve your brand recognition with existing customers and help potential customers learn more about your business. Brand recognition goes a lot farther than design and formats. Customers look for consistent, relative, and valuable content that meets their needs.

Emails help build credibility.

It is a known fact that many people do not open emails from people or businesses that they do not know. However, if they voluntarily subscribe to your email list, they know your business exists. Once you hook a potential customer, you must reel them in by tailoring your content to fit their needs and becoming a credible source of information within your industry.

Emails increase your sales.

Sixty percent of customers say they make purchases because of a marketing email they received. Emails help spark impulse buys from your customers by letting them know of specials or promotions on your products or services, inciting FOMO, or the fear of missing out.

Emails drive traffic to your website. 

Using your email campaign to place targeted content into your emails using relevant links to your product’s landing pages helps drive more traffic to your website than it will organically. Add engaging content to emails to help promote engagement with your social media channels, and other content on your website, like blogs or promo codes for special sales.

Email marketing can build your brand, outdo your marketing goals, and set you up as an expert without breaking your budget. Communicating with your customers and prospects on a consistent basis is a standard industry expectation in today's world. Email marketing lets you do just that and more by creating a mutually beneficial relationship between your business and your email subscribers.

If you need help setting up an email marketing campaign for your business, contact Belden Communications, LLC today!

Sources: 39 Top Benefits of Email Marketing for Small Business (with Examples) (constantcontact.com); 10 Benefits of Email Marketing: Why It’s So Important | Mailchimp; Top 10 Benefits of Email Marketing - Business 2 Community

Your marketing strategy should be about sending the right message to promote your business over the holidays to ensure your business is heading in the right direction.

So, where is the best place to begin?

Know important dates for the Holiday Season. 

First, there are a few key dates to consider, like:

• Black Friday
• Small Business Saturday
• Cyber Monday
• Giving Tuesday
• Super Saturday

Deal seekers are all about waiting for these key dates for their holiday shopping. Now is a good time to think about what types of discounts and promotions your business would like to run, whether it be a 40% off Black Friday sale, a gift with a $50 or more purchase for Small Business Saturday, or a 15% for all new items on Cyber Monday. 

No matter what deals or promotions you produce, you want to get the word out in advance for customers to know when and how to shop with your business over a competitor. 

Sources: Get Your Elf Ready for the Shelf_ A Guide to Planning Your Holiday Marketing - Constant Contact (wistia.com); 10 Holiday Marketing Tips & Tricks For 2022 | (Part 1) (nationalpositions.com); 12 Smart Holiday Content Marketing Strategies You Should Use in 2022 (clearvoice.com)

Schedule your content in advance

When creating your content, you want to appeal to visual interest with festive imagery, speaking to the theme of seasonal events and key dates. Make your messaging stand out by appealing to your audience's emotions and position your business as a resource, not just a sales pitch.

Using a content management scheduling tool allows you to create your content in advance while scheduling your posts and emails for a specific date and time relevant to the messaging of your content. When you plan your content out in advance, you get to fill in the gaps on what type of content you want to share.

You do not want to fill your social media content calendar or emails with tips and tricks for the season and not push out any promotional material for your products or services. You want to blend the type of content you are sharing this holiday season as efficiently as possible and scheduling your content in advance can help.

Sources: Get Your Elf Ready for the Shelf_ A Guide to Planning Your Holiday Marketing - Constant Contact (wistia.com); 10 Holiday Marketing Tips & Tricks For 2022 | (Part 1) (nationalpositions.com); 12 Smart Holiday Content Marketing Strategies You Should Use in 2022 (clearvoice.com)

Grow your email list

The holidays are the best time of year to grow your email list. You can offer a specific discount for new customers when they subscribe to your email list. You can simplify the sign-up process by generating a QR code, and sharing it all over your social media channels and in your email blasts.

Referral bonuses are also a big hit around the holiday season. Everyone loves a deal, be sure to give your existing customers some extra attention this holiday season with a special promotion for any new customers they refer to your business.

Sources: Get Your Elf Ready for the Shelf_ A Guide to Planning Your Holiday Marketing - Constant Contact (wistia.com); 10 Holiday Marketing Tips & Tricks For 2022 | (Part 1) (nationalpositions.com); 12 Smart Holiday Content Marketing Strategies You Should Use in 2022 (clearvoice.com)

Remember, holiday shoppers like ease and convenience. 

During the holidays, people value ease and convenience, as they are busy shopping for their loved ones, decorating and preparing their homes, dinners, and more.

Appeal to shoppers' needs by offering unique gift sets, gift wrapping services with their purchase, or free delivery. Showing customers you care by simplifying their shopping experience provides a better chance of repeat business or new customer referrals. 

Sources: Get Your Elf Ready for the Shelf_ A Guide to Planning Your Holiday Marketing - Constant Contact (wistia.com); 10 Holiday Marketing Tips & Tricks For 2022 | (Part 1) (nationalpositions.com); 12 Smart Holiday Content Marketing Strategies You Should Use in 2022 (clearvoice.com)

Most businesses begin thinking about their Holiday marketing strategies in August or September, but there is still time if you have not started preparing yours already.

Let Belden Communications, LLC help you with your 2022 Holiday Marketing Strategy today!

As a business owner, it can be hard to run the day-to-day operations of your business but when you add a social media campaign into the mix it can get even harder. 77.6% of small business owners use social media to promote their businesses or make sales and cannot afford to let the quality of their content or engagement rates falter.

This is why business owners who run social media campaigns must understand what social media fatigue is, what signs to look for, and how to get a grip on the situation and move past it. 

Social media burnout (or social media fatigue) is not a buzz phrase or a self-help concept but an actual researched, scientific condition. One study explains that social media fatigue is a user’s tendency to shy away from social media participation when they become overwhelmed with information. Another study found that compulsive social media use causes social media fatigue and links to high anxiety and depression.

Source: Social Media Burnout: 16 Effective Tips To Save Your Sanity (contentstudio.io); How to Beat Social Media Fatigue as an Entrepreneur (jessicathiefels.com)

Social media management companies like Belden Communications, LLC, know and understand the signs of social media burnout and have a staff of knowledgeable and experienced social media managers to help you and your business manage your social media campaign. 

Here are a few common signs of social media burnout:

• Trouble staying focused on your social media strategy.

• Falling behind on your planned social media posts.

• Running out of content ideas.

• Posting low-quality content.

• Not responding to comments.

• Posting angry replies to negative posts.

• Not engaging with your followers in a way that builds relationships.

Source:Social Media Burnout as a Business Owner - The Women's Journal (womens-journal.com)

As a business owner, you may be aware of the importance an active social media presence can have but ignoring the signs of social media burnout or avoiding social media at all costs is bad for business. There are many ways to manage stress and anxiety when managing a social media campaign as an entrepreneur, and at Belden Communications, LLC, we have compiled a list of a few tips to help you and your business stay on track. 

Use the right social media platforms.

Ensuring your business is on the right social media platforms to reach your target audience is the first step to combating social media fatigue. Not every business needs to be on every platform, only where your clients are most active. Select two or three social media networks, and drill down on growing your audience and engaging with them.

Source: Social Media Burnout: 16 Effective Tips To Save Your Sanity (contentstudio.io); How to Beat Social Media Fatigue as an Entrepreneur (jessicathiefels.com); Social Media Burnout as a Business Owner - The Women's Journal (womens-journal.com)

Have social media office hours

When you establish social media “office hours,” you are dedicating time for specific social activities or focusing on just one platform each day to avoid becoming overwhelmed. If you need to, set a timer to help keep track of your time; when it buzzes, be done for the day. With clear boundaries, you can better manage anxiety and burnout. 

Source: Social Media Burnout: 16 Effective Tips To Save Your Sanity (contentstudio.io); How to Beat Social Media Fatigue as an Entrepreneur (jessicathiefels.com); Social Media Burnout as a Business Owner - The Women's Journal (womens-journal.com)

Block time to create new content

Setting time aside once a week or a few times a month to create your social media content is a great way to combat social media burnout. But that does not mean filling up your entire posting calendar, either. You should leave room for sharing behind-the-scenes content and reposting content. When you batch your content and schedule your posts in advance, you can put time towards other aspects like engaging more with your community or finishing other projects. 

Source: Social Media Burnout: 16 Effective Tips To Save Your Sanity (contentstudio.io); How to Beat Social Media Fatigue as an Entrepreneur (jessicathiefels.com); Social Media Burnout as a Business Owner - The Women's Journal (womens-journal.com)

If you feel you are way over your head in managing multiple social media platforms and it has negatively affected you and your business, then turn to the professionals. Social media management companies have the resources and qualifications to help small business owners build their brands without the added stress and anxiety that causes social media burnout. 

If you feel like you have experienced social media burnout in your business, let Belden Communications, LLC help you manage your social media accounts today!

When you have a small business, you want to garner as much publicity for your business as possible, to help create public awareness of your product or service. Free media publicity gets the news and other media outlets to cover your business with avenues like articles, podcasts, blogs, and websites while helping you build relationships with journalists, reports, podcasters, or bloggers.

Generally, publicity is a part of your business's marketing campaign, and marketing agencies like Belden Communications, LLC help manage publicity for individuals and businesses by increasing positive publicity and minimizing or responding to negative coverage. Publicity will not replace traditional advertising, but it can help in gaining more attention from potential customers.

Source:Publicity: What Is It? (thebalancesmb.com)

In what ways can you begin getting more publicity for your business?

Leverage your social media presence. 

Use the power of your social media presence on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Tik Tok to find Brand Ambassadors – people who believe in your product, service, or cause – to help promote your business organically. LinkedIn is a great platform that allows you to control your brand's reach but also helps find a business or two with customers that share the same values as your own. Either avenue you take, you can use these opportunities to co-brand with these Brand Ambassadors or other businesses to help grow your social media audience. 

Source:Publicity: What Is It? (thebalancesmb.com); Your Marketing Roadmap - Content, Publicity and Personal Branding | SCORE; 14 low-cost ways to get good publicity for your business (fastcompany.com)

Do not underestimate the power of Word-of-Mouth marketing. 

If you did not already know, Word-of-Mouth marketing is one of the most effective forms of marketing. When you create a great customer experience for your customers, they generally leave a positive review contributing to Word-of-Mouth marketing. Happy customers are more inclined to share their experiences and refer your business to others. On the other end of the spectrum, businesses can take the success stories of their customers' interactions and build out the story. The more traction the story gets, the more publicity your business can gain, especially if it gets the attention of a news source.

Source: Publicity: What Is It? (thebalancesmb.com); Your Marketing Roadmap - Content, Publicity and Personal Branding | SCORE; 14 low-cost ways to get good publicity for your business (fastcompany.com)

Teach your customers over selling to them. 

As entrepreneurs, you are considered thought leaders in your specific areas of expertise. When seeking more publicity for your business, you should narrow down whether you are the story or the expert. Your decision should be clear in your pitch to the news outlets, podcasters, or bloggers you want to promote your business. If you are the story, tell your tale, teaching the audience of your values and why your business is unique. If you are the expert, then be practical while sharing information that can help people, the community, or your specific market area. Videos are the most popular medium to market your business and should focus on spreading your message creatively; if your video goes viral, your business can gain plenty of exposure.

Source:Publicity: What Is It? (thebalancesmb.com);Your Marketing Roadmap - Content, Publicity and Personal Branding | SCORE;14 low-cost ways to get good publicity for your business (fastcompany.com)

Take advantage of all these opportunities to gain free publicity for your business and grow your brand.

Let Belden Communications, LLC help with your business's marketing and publicity strategy today! 

Ditch the panic posting habit and create consistent, high-quality content. 

Producing your own marketing content (or hiring a marketing agency like Belden Communications, LLC to create your content for you) is extremely important when planning out your content marketing strategy. Creating your own content can be overwhelming and time-consuming, especially if you are not privy to the type of content that caters to your target audience or how to share your content consistently.

You may find yourself staring at your computer screen, waiting for inspiration to strike whenever you try to create your content, but the more content you produce, the easier it will become. 

However, just because creating content becomes easier does not mean it becomes more consistent. All it takes is a busy day or week, and you can quickly fall into ‘panic post’ mode, where you push out anything to keep up your online presence. However, that can damage your business and your reputation over time.

So, what are the best ways to ditch the ‘panic post’ habit?

Balance the content you are posting. 

The main goal of maintaining a consistent online presence for your business should be reaching your target audience, but you also want to maintain a balance between your formats. Balancing your content means you are not posting too much of one type of content over another. For example, posting videos with different tips and tricks twice a day, every day, can cause an imbalance with your other posts, like blogs or infographics about your business that goes out only once a week.

Source: The Importance of Consistency in Social Media Marketing - Auburn Advertising Blog - A Service of Inner Spark Creative;How To Consistently Create A Lot Of Content (luisazhou.com)

Implement a content calendar. 

There is no special scientific rule or formula to kick the panic posting habit, but you are better off spending a few days or even a week off from posting to social media or your blog than posting just any type of content. Taking a break from posting content allows you the time needed to implement a content calendar. A simple month-by-month calendar or planner will suffice, and it will help you plan out what type of content to create, what images to use (or not), and helps figure out when and where to post your content when it is complete. 

Source: 4 Reasons You’re Not Consistent With Your Content Creation (and Online Marketing) — Personal Branding Coach | Online Business Consultant | Michelle Knight (brandmerry.com); How To Consistently Create A Lot Of Content (luisazhou.com); 5 Ways to Master Consistent Content Creation | Content Clarity | Content Planning & Creation Made Easy

Batch and repurpose your content.

Save yourself some time when you produce your content by batching content of specific formats together. For example, if you are shooting videos, make all your videos on the same day, and when you are creating ad copy or blogging, do it all in one sitting. Batching your content together harnesses good time-management practices and is more productive, as you are taking the time to write, create or film all your content in one sitting. Once you are in the zone, you will get through creating your content a lot quicker.

Repurposing your content takes the content you have already created and uses it to create new content in other formats, like ads, blogs, images, videos, and social media posts. For example, turn a how-to video into a blog post or use an infographic on a flier as a social media post. With your calendar in place, you will have all the captions you need to write the videos you have already produced and the blogs you have already written. Seasonal content is the best content to repurpose each year and is a great place to start on your social media calendar for that month.

Source: How To Consistently Create A Lot Of Content (luisazhou.com); 5 Ways to Master Consistent Content Creation | Content Clarity | Content Planning & Creation Made Easy

Let Belden Communications, LLC, help you ditch the 'panic posting' habit today!

Start using TikTok to promote your business. 

TikTok is the newest and fastest-growing social media platform that allows users to create and share fun, silly, and creative short videos like content once found on the outdated platform, Vine. Launching in 2018, TikTok (formerly known as Musical.ly) has made some traction since its release, having been downloaded more than 1.65 billion times and was the second-most downloaded app in 2019.

Many businesses overlook using TikTok in their marketing strategy due to the platform’s reputation and its reach to a younger demographic. However, social media marketing experts agree that it is unwise not to take advantage of TikTok marketing as many of today’s top social media platforms started as 'fads' with a younger user base.

TikTok seems like a place for funny lip-sync videos, not a place to showcase products and services. However, small businesses can have the potential to use TikTok to reach their audience in a fun and creative way. 

When deciding to use TikTok to promote your business, you can fit into the culture naturally by studying what type of content works on the platform and how to interact with other users (or TikTokers). Examining 'trending' content can determine how your business can connect creatively and authentically with your target audience. Start your research by looking into TikTok’s discovery page for trending content, hashtags, and keywords relevant to your industry. 

Source: TikTok for Business 101 – How to Use it for Marketing - HostPapa Blog; How to Use TikTok to Promote Your Business (entrepreneur.com)

The good thing about TikTok is that you do not need to have perfectly polished content. TikTok is all about authenticity, fun, creativity, and in-the-moment content. Creating content for TikTok is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to promote your business.

TikTok can help highlight your authentic self with content that shows your brand’s fun side by participating in TikTok hashtag challenges. A hashtag is a keyword or phrase preceded by the pound symbol, and the hashtags associated with these challenges are discoverable by millions of users. It can present an opportunity for your brand to be cross-promoted on other social media platforms, and you do not need smooth dance moves or professionally produced videos to use the platform successfully. Accounts that share simple, consistent, and popular content tend to have a good chance of going viral. Some ideas for authentic and creative content can be introducing yourself and your team, giving your audience a walk-through of your workspace, sharing an inspirational story, or displaying your various products or services with video testimonials or tutorials. With the right TikTok content, the possibilities are endless. 

Source: How to Use TikTok to Promote Your Business (entrepreneur.com); TikTok Marketing: Top 3 Strategies + Best Practices for Small Businesses | Bluehost Resource Center; TikTok for Business 101 – How to Use it for Marketing - HostPapa Blog

Partner with TikTok influencers by making branded content that talks about your product in a video and provides links to your product or website in the description. To find the right influencer for your business, you can look for online tools that let you search bios on TikTok for mentions of other relevant brands and ensure their audience matches your target audience.

Eighty-six percent of marketers have used influencer marketing to raise brand awareness or generate sales on TikTok. The platform's top content creators can rake in millions from ad revenue and endorsement deals but remember that Micro and Nano influencers (content creators with 1,000 to 100,00 followers) can gain more brand engagement than their more influential counterparts. The best course of action to collaborate with influencers is to send Direct Messages (DMs) to influencer accounts describing how you want to work with them to promote your brand.

Source: TikTok Marketing: Top 3 Strategies + Best Practices for Small Businesses | Bluehost Resource Center; How to Use TikTok to Promote Your Business (entrepreneur.com)

So, if you are looking for authentic, fun, and creative ways to gain attention to your business, start by participating in challenges, taking advantage of influencer marketing, and begin to grow your brand's presence on TikTok.

Let Belden Communications, LLC, show you how to make fun and authentic TikTok content today!

How to ask for customer reviews on your business. 

Did you know that reviews have a colossal role with small businesses?

Four out of five Americans read reviews on a business, a product, or a service before making a purchase, and could negatively affect your business if you have little to no reviews.

When you proactively ask for feedback, it can strengthen relationships with your customer and connect you to the voices that matter most. Businesses that know how to ask for reviews tend to produce a higher percentage of five-star ratings and reviews.

Businesses can ask for reviews in numerous ways and doing so appropriately is a skill. So, what are some best practices for asking customers to leave a review?

Request reviews in person.

With a Brick-and-Mortar business, your customer interaction is easier to obtain, which in turn, makes it easier for employees to ask customers for feedback on their experience. When asking for reviews in person, you should ask for feedback over asking for a review, as the term review can intimidate customers.

Some examples of how you can ask your customers for feedback is:

- Where can we improve?

- What can we do to earn a five-star review?

- How was your experience with us today?

Knowing how and when to request reviews from consumers is important, and the best way to get consumer reviews is to consistently deliver excellent customer experiences, by focusing on providing what your customers want and need.

Source: Asking for Reviews from Customers: The Ultimate Guide | ReviewTrackers; How To Ask Customers For Reviews (forbes.com); How To Ask For a Review From Customers: The Complete Guide | Indeed.com

Request reviews via email or SMS (Text message). 

You want to time your review request for when your customer is happiest, which is usually right after a transaction is completed. Seventy percent of reviews come from post-transactional review request emails or text messages. When you ask for reviews from customers via email or text message, you will want to personalize your request campaigns to acknowledge each recipient and keep it short. The best way to keep your review request short is to embed a rating scale survey with an odd number of options (like a five star-rating scale) or by including a link in the text message or email for a customer to write a review.

Fifty-six percent of online reviews originate from a mobile device. There is a ninety-eight percent open rate for text message requests and a forty to fifty percent open rate for email campaigns. Be sure to stick to a company-wide template relating to your brand to ensure your review request process is consistent.

Source: Asking for Reviews from Customers: The Ultimate Guide | ReviewTrackers; How To Ask Customers For Reviews (forbes.com); How To Ask For a Review From Customers: The Complete Guide | Indeed.com

Request reviews via social media.

When asking for reviews on social media, you should include a link to your review space (like Google, Facebook, or both). Be sure to ask crucial questions that demand an immediate reaction when posting review requests on social media, ensuring that your business collects the vital information it needs to succeed.

Seventy-five percent of Facebook interactions occur within the first five hours of the post’s creation. Respond to your customer reviews (both negative and positive) promptly and by expressing appreciation, and acknowledgment. You can create engagement and activity with your customers, even with negative reviews by making sure your responses acknowledge the problem and offer specific steps to resolve the issue.

Source: Asking for Reviews from Customers: The Ultimate Guide | ReviewTrackers; How To Ask Customers For Reviews (forbes.com); How To Ask For a Review From Customers: The Complete Guide | Indeed.com

No matter which road you choose to take when building your business's review request process, remember that you want to provide your customers with the opportunity to freely express their experience with your business, product, or service. 

Reviews are valuable to a business, and people are willing to write them; however, you need to make the review process as easy as possible for your customers.

Let Belden Communications, LLC, help get the vital reviews your business needs today!

What are the benefits of reviews for small businesses?

Reviews are a form of feedback from consumers evaluating a business, product, or service based on their purchase or user experience. When your business features these reviews online it can help consumers find the products or services that fit their needs and can assist with your conversion rates and sales.

Seventy-nine percent of consumers admit to reading reviews to ensure that a business, product, or service is good.

Consumer reviews help search engines, like Google, arrange their search results based on the information found in review ratings that are featured on multiple sites, and determine where your business will fall in the order of returns on local search results. 

Reviews help build SEO 

Having written consumer reviews of your business online can help grow your organic and local search rankings with SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Written reviews featured on your social media pages or website will help implement organic keyword density while encouraging more reviews from other consumers. Different types of review topics can also serve as blog inspiration and prompts for a Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQ section, on your website to further your SEO performance.

Source: Asking for Reviews from Customers: The Ultimate Guide | ReviewTrackers; How To Ask Customers For Reviews (forbes.com); How To Ask For a Review From Customers: The Complete Guide | Indeed.com; https://localiq.com/blog/reviews-matter-for-your-small-business/

Reviews help build a reputation.

Most online reviews can help build your business's reputation and credibility while providing social proof to help influence consumer behavior. Consumers in today's day and age take the time to do their research by reading reviews and putting them into consideration before making a purchase decision. With higher reputation standings and ratings from consumer reviews, your increased online presence can stimulate shopper confidence and drive conversion rates into increased sales. 

Source: Asking for Reviews from Customers: The Ultimate Guide | ReviewTrackers; How To Ask Customers For Reviews (forbes.com); How To Ask For a Review From Customers: The Complete Guide | Indeed.com; https://localiq.com/blog/reviews-matter-for-your-small-business/

Reviews provide feedback to a business and build trust. 

Consumers not only pay attention to what others are saying about your business, but they also watch how you manage the information received. Eighty percent of consumers feel that a small business cares about their consumers more if they respond to online reviews than if they do not. Not only should you respond to consumer reviews or feedback, but you should use that information to fix any issues that could potentially turn into a bigger problem. Reviews also assist with building trust with your customer base, as positive reviews can highlight your mission statement and show that your business is willing to deliver on its promises. 

Source: Asking for Reviews from Customers: The Ultimate Guide | ReviewTrackers; How To Ask Customers For Reviews (forbes.com); How To Ask For a Review From Customers: The Complete Guide | Indeed.com; https://localiq.com/blog/reviews-matter-for-your-small-business/

Reviews can impact a consumer's purchasing decision and are beneficial to your business's brand and online presence. 

Let Belden Communications, LLC, help get the vital reviews your business needs today!

Give your marketing a fresh new twist in 2022. 

With 2022 on the horizon, now is the time to sit down and develop a new twist for your business marketing strategy before the clock strikes midnight in 2021.

Marketing trends for 2022 will focus highly on digital and content marketing, branding, and being proactive with customer retention. Incorporating new yearly trends into your existing marketing strategy can not only help keep your business in front of your customer base but ideally expand your reach to gain new customers.

Digital marketing will become more critical in the new year, and Belden Communications, LLC, has the perfect team in place to help your business start the new year right. 

Digital marketing is a broad term that incorporates most ads you see on social media and also refers to using digital storytelling as a new way of marketing and personalizing what content your business pushes out both online and offline. Be sure to include different storytelling methods into your marketing strategy to highlight aspects of your business. With cookies - or data created by a web server while users browse a website - going away in 2022, now is the time to begin checking other avenues of gathering data on your target audience. Adopt conversational marketing automation technology that manages marketing processes and multifunctional campaigns across multiple channels to help build stronger relationships with your customers and learn more about them by tracking what they see online. Once you have narrowed down what your customer base is searching for online, you can use that data to help you think creatively for a more unconventional way to market your products.

Source: 11 Creative New Year Marketing Ideas to Jump-Start Your 2022 (shanebarker.com); 6 Profitable New Year Marketing Ideas | yellowHEAD

Content marketing is no longer key - Simplicity is. 

Delivering high-quality and unique content is becoming more challenging with each new year, as customers are becoming more intelligent and savvier about new technology. There are different types of high-quality content with unique approaches to solving customer issues, like blogging and influencer content; which, is growing exponentially. By adding a personalized twist and experience stories, you can educate your audience overselling to them. Recommendations also help you become a more credible leader within your industry. People will only become more selective in what they see online in the coming years as their expectations increase.

Source: Twelve Digital Marketing Trends For 2022 And How To Take Advantage Of Them (forbes.com); 11 Creative New Year Marketing Ideas to Jump-Start Your 2022 (shanebarker.com)

Branding is still a key element to have in your marketing strategy. 

Creating a stronger brand image for your business is imperative to your marketing strategy to help generate word-of-mouth recommendations. Choosing the right words, communication channels, and providing quality service will strengthen your brand awareness and trust. Customers are more willing to share good experiences, which can assist in raising organic brand awareness. Add educational content for your products and services like video tutorials, podcasts, and other web content. Having multiple content marketing options is crucial when building a better brand for your business. To be beneficial to your brand, the content you choose to deliver needs to be relevant and engaging to your customer. You do not have to post content every day either, and you should focus more on quality over quantity. 

Source:11 Creative New Year Marketing Ideas to Jump-Start Your 2022 (shanebarker.com); 6 Profitable New Year Marketing Ideas | yellowHEAD

Be more proactive in your customer retention.  

Customer retention is a huge factor in any business industry, and in the new year, you should become more proactive in engaging and retaining customers. Host contests and giveaways with your customers' favorite products, offer New Year's sales and launch new products catering to the needs of your audience for more engagement both online and offline. Adapting your New Year's marketing strategy to focus on impulse purchases through upselling products to your customers proves you think about their needs while offering these items at a discount shows you care. This way, when customers are ready to make a new purchase, they are more likely to return to your business.

Source:6 Profitable New Year Marketing Ideas | yellowHEAD; 11 Creative New Year Marketing Ideas to Jump-Start Your 2022 (shanebarker.com); Twelve Digital Marketing Trends For 2022 And How To Take Advantage Of Them (forbes.com)

Fundamental changes are coming to marketing in 2022. Get ahead of the competition by adopting more attentive advertising methods in the new year.

Let Belden Communications, LLC, help with your 2022 marketing strategy today!

Avoid the post-Christmas sale blues.

With the 2021 Holiday season-ending, it is time for your business to begin preparing a post-holiday marketing strategy, as most people remain in the holiday spirit, even after the holidays are over.

After the Christmas season, your business may experience slower customer traffic, see an increase in returns, and a dip in sales, as people are spending time with family, traveling, and making memories. By implementing a post-holiday marketing strategy, you can keep your business booming well after the Christmas season.

Combat slow customer traffic.  

Holiday sales begin picking up after Thanksgiving and drop off after Christmas, but what about post-holiday sales? If your small business is experiencing slower customer traffic, remember that you’re not alone. Focus on your digital marketing to make any after-Christmas sales stand out and promote discounts, clearance events, and end-of-season sales to get your customer’s attention. Utilize email marketing campaigns and social media posts promoting your after-Christmas specials to gain traction with your business after a busy Holiday season.

Source:Post-Holiday Marketing Strategy: 10 Tips to Boost Sales | Inkit; What to Expect From After Christmas Sales in 2021 (dealnews.com);10 Post Holiday Marketing Strategy Tips to Get More Sales (serverguy.com)

Prepare for product returns. 

Holiday returns make up eight percent of Holiday sales, and your business should prepare for an onslaught of product returns and work toward using returns to grow your customer list. Just because someone received your product as a gift does not mean they know about your business. Educate those customers who are processing returns on what your business is about, and work toward converting a return into a new sale; but also, promote discounts or upsell your products by encouraging product exchanges over returns. Ensure your return policy is seamless and easy, not only for your customers but your employees too, and be sure to record your returns to keep your books up-to-date and accurate. 

Source: How To Handle Those Post-Christmas Sales Blues (forbes.com); 10 Post Holiday Marketing Strategy Tips to Get More Sales (serverguy.com)

Offer discounts to avoid a dip in sales. 

Once the Holidays are over, you want to entice customers to return to your business with post-Christmas specials to help get rid of some of your seasonal inventory. Bring more traffic to your business after the holidays with unbeatable post-Christmas discounts. Be mindful that most after-Christmas sales begin before, or on, the actual holiday and are necessary to help clear your shelves and inventory to make room for other seasonal items that come up in the new year. Post-holiday is the time to remind people that they should get something for themselves and that buying the gadget, product, or service they have been after for a long time is not wrong; so, why not offer it at some discount for them to make the sale work for both you and the customer? 

Source: What to Expect From After Christmas Sales in 2021 (dealnews.com); 10 Post Holiday Marketing Strategy Tips to Get More Sales (serverguy.com)

Most people are in good spirits after giving gifts to family members, and happy people make good customers. 

Let Belden Communications, LLC, help you adapt to change and attract after-Christmas customers today!

Last-minute tactics to increase your sales throughout the remainder of the 2021 Holiday season.

Christmas is quickly approaching, and families will be ramping up their purchases for their loved ones and getting their homes ready for family get-togethers faster. Drive them to your business with a few last-minute sale tactics to increase your sales.  

Being this far into the Holiday season, businesses should have already begun ramping up their sales strategies, but it is not too late to implement a few tactics to your campaign. 

Offer special discounts for Loyal Customers.

Your existing customers are crucial to your business, more so than you may think. It is the holiday season and the best time of year to give returning customers an incentive to come back. Offer your most loyal customers a special discount as a gift that they cannot refuse and will ensure their return in the future. It’s harder and more expensive to acquire new customers than it is, to maintain your current ones. Existing customers share great experiences with local businesses and are more willing to recommend you to their family and friends, which can help further drive last-minute holiday sales.

Source: 17 Proven Ways to Boost Holiday Sales & Revenue in 2020 (wordstream.com)

Reel in new customers with special offers. 

While stated above, that it is harder and more expensive to acquire new customers, it does not mean you should not gear some offers towards them this Holiday season. New customer offers, especially around the holidays, can take on many different forms, like a first-time customer discount, free shipping on your first online order, or even a gift. There are plenty of options for your business to attract new customers to your business, just get creative!

Source: 6 Ways to Increase Holiday Sales and Engage Your Customers (bplans.com)

Upsell and cross-sell your products.

Upselling and cross-selling are well-known strategies that are effective, especially during the holidays. Upselling offers customers an upgraded version of the product they are looking to purchase, while cross-selling can offer a relatable product to the initial purchase. Upselling and cross-selling products can help increase your product sales and highlight good customer service skills, showing customers you are willing to assist with finding products relatable to their interests.

Source: 21 Hands-on Tips To Increase Holiday Sales In 2021 | MakeWebBetter; 6 Ways to Increase Holiday Sales and Engage Your Customers (bplans.com)

Countdown to your limited-time sales.

When customers feel like they may miss out on a deal, they are more inclined to make an impulse purchase. Use countdowns for your sales, discounts, and product inventory counts to create a sense of urgency for your customers by prompting a fear of missing out (FOMO) response. FOMO helps convert customers who are on the fence about buying a product because they feel it will be available later. Go a step further and offer reward points to customers if they buy your products under the deadline.

Source:21 Hands-on Tips To Increase Holiday Sales In 2021 | MakeWebBetter; 17 Proven Ways to Boost Holiday Sales & Revenue in 2020 (wordstream.com)

The holidays are the time to show clients that your business cares and appreciates their business. Take these ideas and others to make the most out of this Holiday season and increase your sales.

Let Belden Communications LLC, help you increase your business sales today!

Incorporate the Holidays into your podcast. 

With podcasting becoming the newest trend in marketing your business, it is imperative that podcasters continuously have relevant and exciting content to keep your audience engaged. With the Holiday season upon us, you must begin planning ways to incorporate the Holidays into your podcast.

Your overall numbers for podcast analytics dip during the Holidays because people are busy with holiday shopping and other preparations. However, that does not mean that you cannot see a rise in your numbers being people are traveling and may turn to podcasts to escape or as a new way to entertain throughout the holiday season. 

Source:(99+) HOW TO plan your podcast around the holidays | LinkedIn

The Holiday season allows podcasters to get creative and have a little fun with the content they are releasing. Add some holiday cheer and even a little bit of ‘magic,' it can go a long way.

Share some holiday traditions. 

Do you and your family wear matching pajamas, host a Hallmark Christmas movie marathon, participate in the tradition of the Christmas pickle, or have a unique holiday tradition that you would want to share? Whether you host a solo episode discussing your favorite or your worst holiday traditions, delve into what makes the Holidays great by sharing what the holidays mean to you. Reach out to your audience to engage with you throughout the episodes through phone calls, emails, or sharing their accounts on social media and read them off during your podcast. 

Source:(99+) HOW TO plan your podcast around the holidays | LinkedIn; Out-Of-The-Box Holiday Podcast Episode Ideas | We Edit Podcasts

Explore other Holidays relevant to the season. 

The Holiday season is more than just Christmas and incorporates Chanukkah, Kwanzaa, to name a couple. Several specific holidays take place during December, so there would be plenty of history, cultural importance, and, of course, Holiday-specific traditions and rituals for you to research and share. Gain experience about other cultures and their holiday by inviting community or religious leaders onto your show to share their traditions and the significance and importance of their special days with your listeners.

Source: Out-Of-The-Box Holiday Podcast Episode Ideas | We Edit Podcasts; (99+) Preparing your podcast for the holidays | LinkedIn

Share stories inspired by the Holidays. 

Stories make great content; even if your podcast is usually facts-based or takes on a serious tone or nature, it does not mean that you cannot spice things up over the Holiday season. Sharing stories is a terrific opportunity to share your own Holiday stories, invite friends or family that may have memories to share, or once again, engage your audience to share their accounts of good-natured and inspiring holiday stories and memories. Storytelling builds connections to people, and you want to nurture the relationships you have with your listeners by giving snippets into who you and they are.

Source: Out-Of-The-Box Holiday Podcast Episode Ideas | We Edit Podcasts; (99+) Preparing your podcast for the holidays | LinkedIn; (99+) HOW TO plan your podcast around the holidays | LinkedIn

Create a compilation or a blooper episode. 

The best part about podcasting is that you may have a bunch of edited, never-before-seen content just laying around. Use that content to give your audience a behind-the-scenes look into your production by creating a compilation episode or a blooper reel of your favorite moments while setting up for your show or having informal conversations with your guests or co-hosts. There is no right or wrong way to create a compilation episode, so have fun with it and get creative. You can even countdown throughout the episode to your favorite highlight at the end of the show. 

Source: Out-Of-The-Box Holiday Podcast Episode Ideas | We Edit Podcasts; (99+) Preparing your podcast for the holidays | LinkedIn; (99+) HOW TO plan your podcast around the holidays | LinkedIn

Do something fun. 

The best part of hosting a podcast is the freedom to do whatever you want. You can stray away from your podcasting schedule and shift your airing schedule for the week, especially if your podcast is on the day of the holiday. All it takes is a simple message informing your audience of any changes to the airing schedule or creating one of the special episodes named above. However, you plan to incorporate the Holidays into your podcast, be sure to notate that your podcast episode is a “Special Holiday Episode.”

Source: Out-Of-The-Box Holiday Podcast Episode Ideas | We Edit Podcasts; (99+) Preparing your podcast for the holidays | LinkedIn

The Holidays are fun and breed creativity; either way, you will want to start planning for the Holiday season and your podcasting schedule to add a little spice to your content.

Let Belden Communications, LLC help produce your podcast today! 

Ramp up your holiday sales with a Thanksgiving-themed content marketing strategy.

With the Thanksgiving season upon us, fine-tuning your content marketing strategy for the upcoming holiday is a crucial step for any business owner.

Thanksgiving is the unofficial kick-off to the holiday shopping season, being fifty-eight million people begin shopping online during the Thanksgiving weekend.

Source: 10 Thanksgiving Marketing Ideas To Stand Out & Boost Sales | Constant Contact

Here are a few tips to turn up the heat in the kitchen this Thanksgiving, with a ramped-up Thanksgiving content marketing strategy.

Start by decorating your social media channels for Thanksgiving. Decorating your social media channels can be the easiest part of executing your online marketing, but you may be limited on what you can or cannot do, depending on which platforms you use. By adding simple social media decoration, your business gets your consumers ready to think about their needs for the upcoming holiday season. Spruced-up profiles and content marketing gives you the freedom to do a little decorating without straying too far from your brand. Keep your social media decorations simple by using simple Thanksgiving-themed overlay images for cover photos and profile pictures across the board.

Source: How to Create a Holiday Social Media Strategy | Constant Contact; 5 Clever Thanksgiving Marketing Campaigns You Can Try This Year (penji.co)

Create your content to focus on thanking your customers, suppliers, or business partners this Thanksgiving. There is no cookie-cutter way to 'Give Thanks' to those most important to you and your business, so long as it is meaningful and comes from the heart. Add variety to your content marketing by mixing your Thanksgiving-themed social media posts with various promotional materials produced for emails. 

Source: 5 Clever Thanksgiving Marketing Campaigns You Can Try This Year (penji.co)

Now is the time to inform your audience of exclusive offers you plan on running for the entirety of Thanksgiving weekend. It's never too late to start promoting your Thanksgiving weekend offers. Utilize your email marketing strategy to promote any Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, or Cyber Monday specials or promotions. Your content marketing strategy should be focused on various elements that center on the Thanksgiving season.

Source: 10 Thanksgiving Marketing Ideas To Stand Out & Boost Sales | Constant Contact; How to Create a Holiday Social Media Strategy | Constant Contact

Use your Thanksgiving content marketing strategy to engage your audience and further ramp up your sales this holiday season.

Let Belden Communications help your business build

the perfect holiday marketing strategy for your business today!

What content should you include in your email marketing campaign? 

Email campaigns are a marketing tool that shares information about a company and its products via email to customers who have opted to receive correspondence from a business.

Using high-quality email content is a popular form of marketing, being it differs from social media content. It is believed to be more personable and targeted toward your audience. The best email content to use when creating a campaign should be focused on a single-minded idea with one goal, be relevant to a business and its audience, be visually easy to read, and define what the reader needs to do next.

The first element you should be using in your email marketing campaign is a relevant and unique subject line that catches the audience’s attention. Good subject lines bring satisfying open rates to most email campaigns and should address the reader directly. Subject lines that are irrelevant to the content shared in your email will confuse your audience, which reflects negatively on your business.

Source: How to Write Content for Email Marketing (expresswriters.com); Guide for Perfect Email Marketing Content - MailerLite

Welcome Emails should be the first email received, welcoming a customer or subscriber to your email list. Welcome emails are an expectation when a customer or subscriber makes their first purchase or subscription. Your emails should help build a relationship with your audience. When you focus on building relationships and rapport with your customers, your efforts will help drive sales. 

Source: 8 Types of Email Content to Send Your Audience | Campaign Monitor; How to Write Content for Email Marketing (expresswriters.com)

Promotional emails provide a good mixture of engaging content incorporated in an email. Businesses can place ‘Limited Time Only’ information or promotional content into these emails to drive audience engagement and make emails more focused on the product or the offer behind the email. Use the Fear of Missing Out theory – or FOMO – to drive your customers to take advantage of a promotion, event, or new product that has timed limitations. Time constraints urge the customer to make a purchase now rather than later.

Source: 8 Types of Email Content to Send Your Audience | Campaign Monitor; How to Write Content for Email Marketing (expresswriters.com)

Share your guides, blogs, and other content, used in your marketing strategy with your audience. Run your email marketing strategy parallel to your content marketing strategy. Email campaigns cannot be successful without high-quality content. Recycle your content created for emails for use on your website and social media, or vice versa. When you recycle your content, it helps free up time to produce newer quality content and further cultivates your brand’s trust and credibility.

Source: Guide for Perfect Email Marketing Content - MailerLite; 8 Types of Email Content to Send Your Audience | Campaign Monitor

Use loyalty and rewards emails to cater to your most loyal customers. Sending out loyalty and rewards emails directed towards customers who complete tasks or reach a milestone goal can strengthen the relationship between your business and customers. You can use your email campaign to promote customer appreciation sales and discounts or share promotional coupon codes. This type of content is a terrific way to show appreciation to your customers for their valued and continued support of your business. 

Source: 8 Types of Email Content to Send Your Audience | Campaign Monitor; How to Write Content for Email Marketing (expresswriters.com)

Let Belden Communications, LLC help you create the content for your email marketing campaign today!

Why should your business use an email marketing campaign?

Email campaigns are a marketing tool that shares information about a company and its products via email to customers who have opted to receive correspondence from a business. By formulating powerful email marketing strategies, businesses can help strengthen customer relationships, build a stronger brand, nurture leads, and convert prospects.

According to a study, seventy-three percent of consumers said email is their preferred marketing channel. 

Source: Email Marketing for Small Businesses: Everything You Need To Know (unlayer.com); Email Marketing 101: A Beginner’s Guide for Small Businesses | Mailchimp

Email marketing is favorable for both a brand and its customers; the customer wants something from the business, which in turn, wants something from the customer. A brand can use email marketing campaigns to offer freebies, specials, or something its audience cannot resist. Welcome emails, monthly or weekly newsletters, promotional emails, and other email campaigns can be sent out to consumers, keeping them connected to a brand. 

Email marketing is what customers want, as seventy percent of consumers prefer emails over direct mailers. 

Source: Email Marketing 101: A Beginner’s Guide for Small Businesses | Mailchimp; Small Business Email Marketing Strategy & Tips for 2021 | Sendinblue

Email campaigns are the perfect place to reuse existing content; however, email campaigns should have one clear and specific goal. The message of your emails should be clear and concise through the content used to build your email campaign. Have a current blog post you want to share? Want your new customers to shop through your products? By adding a clear Call-to-Action (CTA) to persuade customers to act through your email, you can quickly guide them to take specific actions with your business.

As the most lucrative form of marketing, email campaigns have a proven record of providing a substantial return on investment – or ROI – of up to 4400 percent, meaning that for every dollar spent, businesses can see a return of $44.

Source: Email Marketing for Small Businesses: Everything You Need To Know (unlayer.com); Email Marketing 101: A Beginner’s Guide for Small Businesses | Mailchimp; Small Business Email Marketing Strategy & Tips for 2021 | Sendinblue

Email campaigns are a helpful form of marketing that helps form connections and build long-lasting relationships. Emails offer one-on-one communication with customers, allowing a brand to learn more about its audience. Use an email campaign to show appreciation to your most loyal customers or welcome new clients (or subscribers) to your business with a welcome email.

Either way, you can use your email campaign to build rapport with your audience. When utilized correctly, emails have a significant role to play by creating lasting, profitable relationships between small businesses and customers. 

With proper implementation, a sophisticated email marketing campaign can create lasting profitable relationships with customers while providing businesses with new opportunities to engage new audiences by utilizing lead magnets, a magnet that pulls in leads no matter where they are.

Source: Email Marketing for Small Businesses: Everything You Need To Know (unlayer.com); Small Business Email Marketing Strategy & Tips for 2021 | Sendinblue

Email marketing campaigns are very versatile, allowing businesses to do and say a lot with a well-crafted email campaign. Emails can give consistent performance, are trustworthy, and add credibility to any small business.

Let Belden Communications, LLC help build your Email Marketing Campaign today! 

Holiday Marketing Trends for the 2021 Holiday season.

We are currently in the home stretch of 2021 and will be ringing in 2022 before we know it. That means the Holiday season is upon us, and marketers have started ramping up their holiday marketing strategies. Industry leaders have analyzed the social data and social listening information, creating a list of current trends for this Holiday season.

What is social data and social listening? 

Social data is information recorded on social media user habits while online that is publicly available. Social Listening is how marketers track the information to what your consumers want or think and helps identify diverse topics or trends relevant to your industry. Marketers use this information collected in both areas to narrow down the focus on the latest social media trends.

Source: How to Make the Most out of Your Social Data in 2021 | Sprout Social

Where do you analyze social data and social listening information? 

The information learned by marketers on the latest up-and-coming trends starts by monitoring social data and social listening with research into your target audience. The best starting point is to narrow down your focus into a simple question. As you find the answer to that question, more questions will surface, leaving you well versed in what exactly your target audience is looking for this Holiday season.

Pinterest and Reddit are other great tools used to help you jump on trends earlier than your competitors, stay on top of social media news, and you can use their data by following other brands and creators in your industry.

Source: How to Make the Most out of Your Social Data in 2021 | Sprout Social; Optimizing For Q4: Identifying Holiday Trends & Using Social Data To Guide Your Strategy | Sprout Social

Based on current research, the first trend for the 2021 Holiday season will follow an over-indulgence strategy. 

Most people during 2020 picked up new hobbies like cooking or baking, and this year they want to show off what they have learned by hosting big dinner parties with fancy place settings, according to Daniel Weryha of Tag Canada. Some examples of how marketers can incorporate this strategy into their marketing include sharing how-to videos featuring elaborate decorating techniques, create blogs on hosting a large dinner party, or add simple recipes that are well suited for a holiday feast. 

The return of nostalgic Christmas decorations, like the iconic ceramic table-top Christmas tree, is also a big trend for this holiday season. By adding a little nostalgia to their content, marketers can further build engagement with their target audience and possibly expand their reach. 

Source: Optimizing For Q4: Identifying Holiday Trends & Using Social Data To Guide Your Strategy | Sprout Social

The second trend predicted for the 2021 Holiday Marketing season takes a smaller, more eco-friendly approach to over-indulgence. 

Many people will shoot for huge elaborate dinner parties, professionally decorated with partygoers dressed to the nines. Others will still aim for big family get-togethers while using hand-crafted decorations made from recycled materials and DIY crafts. Marketers can focus on sharing simple recipes that each family member can help with and making valuable memories while spending time together. 

Source: Optimizing For Q4: Identifying Holiday Trends & Using Social Data To Guide Your Strategy | Sprout Social

The last forecasted trend for the 2021 Holiday season is not as whimsical as the others and focuses on a new cultivated term known as "The Great Resignation." 

The Great Resignation focuses on talent shortages leading to competitive hiring and organizations having to combat more than just COVID-19 safety. Currently, resignation rates are the highest among mid-career employees between the ages of 30-45 years old, with rates calculated at more than twenty percent between 2020 and 2021. With the shift to remote work during the pandemic and new employees not receiving in-person training, the demand for mid-career employees is high. This new demand allows employees to leverage their experience to secure new positions but prioritize their value and worth. 

Due to the "The Great Resignation" theory, we may encounter a predicted shipping shortage this Holiday season, which could affect both businesses and their consumers. 

Source: Optimizing For Q4: Identifying Holiday Trends & Using Social Data To Guide Your Strategy | Sprout Social; Who Is Driving the Great Resignation? (hbr.org)

Have a client that is looking for staff? Focus their marketing content on why they are a wonderful place to work, share stories highlighting their diversity, and how they value their employees.

Forty percent of consumers admit they start their holiday shopping before Halloween. Marketers should, in theory, begin planning their holiday marketing strategies no later than August, if not sooner. If your marketing team has not already, you may want to start creating your holiday marketing strategy now. 

Source: Optimizing For Q4: Identifying Holiday Trends & Using Social Data To Guide Your Strategy | Sprout Social; The Biggest 2021 Holiday Marketing Trends You Need to Know Now - Step Out Buffalo Business

Let Belden Communications help your business build the perfect holiday marketing strategy today!

Why is a website crucial for a small business?

In the technology-driven world that we live in, everyone has visited a website or two at some point. If you have not accessed a website before, a website is a set of related web pages located under a single domain name or web address (URL). When you browse various social media channels or make a purchase online, every page a person frequents on the internet lives on a website. 

When it comes to small businesses, having a website is crucial. Since a website is an online presence for a business, your website must represent the nature of your business and your brand.

Eighty-four percent of today’s consumers think a website makes your business more credible than companies that only have social media profiles.

 Websites are the best place to brag about the accomplishments your business has, with professional certifications and awards. However, you do not want to over clutter your website. Formatting matters, and keeping your website clean and smooth can help ensure a more attractive flow to guide your visitors through your website. 

Source: How to Build an Engaging Website - Build a Website (websites360.com); Do I Need a Website for My Business? 10 Reasons Why the Answer is Yes (themeisle.com)

When people visit your website, they do so with a specific goal in mind.

Whatever the reason a person visits your website, you should not make it difficult to find things on your website. Easy navigation helps your visitors find pertinent information about your business, like contact information or how to conduct business with you. A website houses many different pages, each full of links that divert customers to other content internally. You want to arrange that content sensibly to ensure your visitors have easy navigation while browsing your products or services.

Source: 10 Key Steps To Building A Great Small Business Website (forbes.com); 5 Tricks for a More Sharable, More Engaging Website (crazyegg.com)

Websites can help drive customers to your product or service while giving a glimpse into who you and your business are.

Providing quality content, which is relatable to read or interact with, will better educate your customer and build trust. This kind of content can persuade consumers to act, thus making your website more engaging. Engagement with your visitors can range from guest posts to reviews showing that you are interested in building a positive relationship with your audience.

Source: 5 Tricks for a More Sharable, More Engaging Website (crazyegg.com); How to Build an Engaging Website - Build a Website (websites360.com)

Are you looking to build a website or revitalize your current one? Let Belden Communications, LLC, help you construct a more professional and engaging website today! 

Make your business stand out with a website.

A website is a powerful marketing tool you can use to bring attention to your business. It can help introduce yourself to new customers and assist with keeping existing customers engaged. When creating a website, you want to ensure your visitors receive an optimal user experience by including some elementary features in your website’s design.

Your website’s purpose is to reflect your business’ personality and is a pertinent feature to share information, build credibility, and stand out from your competitors.

A website is like a digital storefront for your business. Just as you would decorate a brick-and-mortar store to represent your business and your products or services, you should do the same online. Images and text used on your website should mirror your business’ beliefs and values while portraying what you stand for.

Source: 55 Features Every Business Website Should Have (INFOGRAPHIC) - Small Business Trends (smallbiztrends.com)

Educate your customers on who you are and what your business is all about.

What do you offer? Where can customers purchase your goods and services? You can answer these questions, and others like it, with particular features implemented on your websites like a Home Page, an About Us page, a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, contact forms, and call-to-actions which can persuade customers to interact with your website. 

Source: Top 5 Features Every Small Business Website Needs (aofund.org); 42 Must-Have Features for Your Business Website in 2021 (g2.com)

Engage your customers with high-quality, relevant, and consistent content that can be shareable on various social media channels.

Content like blogs, infographics, videos, and other content are perfect examples of sharable content visitors can engage with on your website by sharing or commenting on it. By having relatable content on your website, there is a good chance you can reach new visitors.

Source: 42 Must-Have Features for Your Business Website in 2021 (g2.com)

Let Belden Communications, LLC ensure your website is making your business stand out from your competitors today!

Effectively increase traffic to your website.

One problem a business owner can make when creating a website is not knowing how to increase traffic to their site. When searching for ways to increase website traffic, you should begin by focusing on different strategies that can expand your reach, put yourself in front of a new audience, and generate conversations around your brand.

One of the best ways to reach new audiences is through Search Engine Optimization or SEO. 

Implementing high volume - low competition keywords can put your website higher in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Gaining the trust of search engines, like Google, can give your business and website authority. Other techniques that do not use keywords to improve your website SEO include the Cocktail Technique, which allows you to merge content by consolidating related works and turning them into one brand new piece of content that deserves more traffic.

Source: 23 Proven Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Website (forbes.com);11 Proven Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website (ahrefs.com)

Promoting your content in relevant online communities like Facebook Groups, Reddit, and other online Forums can help expand your reach.

Engage with your audience by creating posts that encourage your followers to respond and share your content. Your content should be relevant to your business and engage the customer to attract more consumers interested in your brand. While sharing your content in relevant online communities expands your reach exponentially, you can double your audience reaches by using paid social media ads or boosted content. Paid ads can instantly generate hundreds of clicks by getting your ads in front of the right people by sticking with the social media giants – which can get costly. However, advertising on lesser-known platforms whose audience aligns with your products can be more effective overall. 

Source: 11 Proven Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website (ahrefs.com); How to Increase Your Website Traffic Without SEO (neilpatel.com)

Interacting with other blogs or guest blogging is an effective traffic-driving strategy that uses somebody else’s audience to increase your website traffic by allowing you to write a guest post. 

The main issue with using a guest blogging strategy is finding pages that accept guest posts. After finding a website that utilizes guest posts or blogs, it is crucial to ensure their content is relevant to your industry and include links to your product or service within the content you create. By utilizing a guest post strategy, you can also repurpose older content found on your website. Repurposing content does not mean you create a brand-new blog post or image; it could be as simple as updating the pictures or adding new source material. 

Source: 11 Proven Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website (ahrefs.com); How to Increase Your Website Traffic Without SEO (neilpatel.com); 27 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website (backlinko.com)

Email Marketing is a perfect blend of content marketing and social media marketing strategies rolled together to help increase traffic to your website. 

The best feature of using email marketing is it lets you reach potential customers directly. Email marketing allows you to send out a weekly email or newsletter, where you can share stories or behind-the-scenes content that shows just how relatable your business is to your audience. You should also ensure any links relevant to your business or website, like social media, blog posts, and links to your sales page, are also implemented. Emails are an appropriate place to include any call-to-action that can persuade clients to make a purchase or find out more about your products and services. 

Source: How to Increase Your Website Traffic Without SEO (neilpatel.com)

Belden Communications, LLC has a team of professionals waiting to help you increase traffic to your website today!

What is content marketing, and why is it important?

Even before the creation of the internet, businesses have utilized strategic content marketing strategies to promote products and services to consumers. In recent years, the production and sharing of high-quality content evolved to be used more frequently in an online setting.

Content marketing is a strategic tool in marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a specific audience. The content is shared publicly through various channels, including social media, and should tell a story about your business and your products and services.

With 3.6 billion social media users globally, social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Linked-in, will allow you to produce and share videos, pictures, and other creatives, building trust and credibility for your business.

Source:  The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing in 2021 (hubspot.com)

What makes content marketing so important?

Content marketing allows marketers to build an audience and attract their attention.

With the help of the internet, marketers can reach more people in more places than years ago. With a vaster reach, the possibilities of the type of content one can create are endless. Modern technologies and applications help gauge which content will catch your audience's attention, building up your customer base. Consistently producing high-quality content to engage your audience positively ties in trust to your brand and can persuade your audience to choose your products and services over a competitor.

Source:  Content Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide (neilpatel.com)

Content marketing helps increase web traffic and support lead conversions into potential sales. 

Conversion rates are six times higher with content marketing than with other digital marketing tactics due to the implementation of call-to-actions. A call-to-action is words or phrases used to guide potential customers to take specific actions relevant to your business. Call-to-action devices used in marketing can be placed anywhere in your content and give potential customers a clear path to your landing page.

Source:  Why is Content Marketing Important for Your Business? - LYFE Marketing

Content marketing improves brand recognition and reputation.

Producing content that engages and educates your audience on topics relevant to your industry builds brand trust and makes you a trusted source of information and education. Consistent, quality content will keep your business relevant to your audience, strengthening your relationships with your customers. Use your content to start meaningful conversations and talk to your audience; allow them to ask questions that revolve around their problems or interests.

Source:  What Is Content Marketing? (forbes.com);  Content Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide (neilpatel.com)

Content marketing builds organic awareness. 

Fifty-one percent of content consumption comes from consumers who reach your business through organic results. Organic results are search results uninfluenced by advertisements. Implementing proper SEO practices into your content creation will improve visibility for your business organically. Your online presence starts by producing optimized content with high-quality SEO skills.

Source:  What is Content Marketing? - Marketo

Content marketing is becoming one of the most effective methods to increase audience engagement, develop a brand presence, and drive sales to your business.

Let Belden Communications, LLC develop your content marketing strategy today!

What types of content should you be using in your content marketing strategy?

Content marketing focuses on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online and includes many distinct types of content. Depending on your target audience and which social media channels you use, it might be a daunting task to produce quality content to promote your business regularly. 

Belden Communications, LLC, has a team of knowledgeable and skilled content creators that dedicate their time to creating several types of engaging content that can help grow your business. 

If you are asking yourself, what type of content should I create? Then you are in the right place.

Blogs

Blogging is the most powerful and cost-efficient way to improve your website SEO and position yourself as an authority figure within your industry and generate organic web traffic. Blogs are a quick and efficient way to create short-form educational material putting you at the forefront of your audience and building your customer base. Being blogs are a powerful marketing tool; this also means that they are the most common. You must create content that is relevant to your product and of value to your users.

Source: Here are the Top 10 Marketing Content Types (With Examples) - Mirabel Marketing Manager (mirabelsmarketingmanager.com); Top 8 Types Of Content (How, When, & Where To Use Them) | StrategyBeam; The 12 Types of Content Marketing in a Marketer's Arsenal (hubspot.com)

Infographics and Images

Infographics and images are an easy and fun way to catch the eye of your audience and educate them on your products or services. Infographics house relevant data and statics, imagery, and context, making it easy to understand complex information. Images supply visual content that relays relevant information in a shareable format. Both infographics and images are shareable across multiple social media channels and marketing mediums. They are also a suitable place to include a call-to-action – words or phrases used to prompt an immediate response from your audience or encourage a sale. 

Source: Here are the Top 10 Marketing Content Types (With Examples) - Mirabel Marketing Manager (mirabelsmarketingmanager.com);  The 12 Types of Content Marketing in a Marketer's Arsenal (hubspot.com)

Videos

Fifty-four percent of audiences want to see videos from brands they support, which is more than any other type of content. Video content is versatile, engaging, and easy to digest, and is also easily shareable across multiple social media channels, like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Content creators should be careful when creating video content. Creating videos can be costly and time-consuming, with the primary goal being to convey information while standing out in search engines like Google or Bing.

Source: The 12 Types of Content Marketing in a Marketer's Arsenal (hubspot.com);  Top 8 Types Of Content (How, When, & Where To Use Them) | StrategyBeam

Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach leads and customers, and it has one of the highest turnover rates of any other form of content marketing. Email marketing is a fantastic way to supply your audience with daily or weekly newsletters that include updates to your products and services, events, and other types of content that are relevant to your business. Marketing emails can feature links to your blog posts, social media channels, and even house call-to-actions.

Source: Here are the Top 10 Marketing Content Types (With Examples) - Mirabel Marketing Manager (mirabelsmarketingmanager.com)

While this is just a brief list of some types of content your business can use in its content marketing strategy, there are no limits to what you can create.

Find out what type of content Belden Communications, LLC, can create for your business's content marketing strategy today! 

Is it time to boost your content marketing strategy?

Content marketing is a profitable marketing strategy that doesn’t cost anything but time, centering on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online. When you invest time, effort, and money in poor content that does not deliver desired results, you work against your marketing strategy. 

Source:  Here's How to Improve Your Business's Content Marketing (entrepreneur.com)

Your content marketing strategy should spell out your business’s goals on client retention, conversion, and the education of your audience. However, it should also appeal to your target audience and their interests. 

When should you begin boosting your content marketing? 

Once you have created your content, you should start seeing results in the engagement of your audience. If your audience is not engaging with your content, it may be time to re-evaluate what your business shares on social media.

Before creating high-quality content, enlighten yourself with your target audience and what they want to take away from your content. After you complete your research, begin creating and sharing your re-imagined content with information that will remain true, relevant, and useful long after posting. 

Source: 5 Creative Ways to Boost Your Content Marketing ROI (searchenginejournal.com)

So, what are the best ways to boost your content marketing strategy? 

Deliver targeted content relevant to what your audience would like to know about your products.

Targeted content should address a question your audience has and help them solve a specific issue or challenge. The best way to address the needs of your consumers is to fill your content with high-quality Search Engine Optimization (SEO) practices, which will make your business visible organically. Your content marketing goal should be to rank in the top five results under the paid-ad links on the Search Engine Results Page or the SERP. Start with broad keywords or topic areas before narrowing down the keywords that show your audience that your products or services are a solution to their problem. 

Source: 5 Creative Ways to Boost Your Content Marketing ROI (searchenginejournal.com);  Here's How to Improve Your Business's Content Marketing (entrepreneur.com)

Choose the right Social Media Channel that puts your content where your audience is. 

Choosing the right platform to share your content is essential to your content marketing strategy and coincides with knowing your target audience. Boosting your content marketing plan can be as simple as scheduling daily posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Choosing the type of content to use in your content marketing strategy will also help narrow down which platform to use. Image and video content works best on all platforms but is a requirement for Instagram posting. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter posts flourish with text-based content; however, adding an image or video is recommended. 

Source: 5 tips for boosting your content marketing strategy | AZ Big Media;  Here's How to Improve Your Business's Content Marketing (entrepreneur.com)

Ensure your content is working for your business by boosting your content marketing strategy now. 

Let Belden Communications, LLC boost your content marketing strategy today!