NGA Webinars Have Value: Marketing

Frank Reed, Managing Editor of leading Internet marketing blog, Marketing Pilgrim, led a webinar for NGA members early this month.  This webinar was free to all members. Frank went over the basics of social media for local business and ave an overview of the social media landscape including Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and location based services like Foursquare.

NGA members can view Frank's session anytime! And can attend the NGA member webinar series for free. https://www.glass.org/education-training-webinars.html

• If you would like to watch the Social Media webinar, click here and enter the password ngamember.
• If you want to learn more from Frank, you can download his July 2011 webinar: Maximize Your Local Marketing Efforts with Google Places. Click here and enter the password ngamember to download the recording.

Visit www.glass.org/education-training-webinars.html to view a webinar schedule. These webinars and are only available to NGA members. Webinars are just one of the benefits you get by being an NGA member. Learn more about your NGA membership benefits.

Let us get the media working for you!

When was the last time your local newspaper ran an article about your company?  How often are you asked by a reporter for your expert opinion?  What do you find when you Google your company's name. If you don't like the way you answered those questions, we can help.  Champion Management specializes in providing marketing and public relations support to small- and mid-sized businesses that don't have the internal expertise or resources to do it themselves. 

A sophisticated and effective PR campaign can give a needed boost to your next product/service launch, generate new customer leads, increase your top-of-mind awareness and dramatically improve your search engine visibility.  Done right, PR provides a much bigger bang for your buck than traditional advertising.

Champion has designed a package of public relations services exclusively for WDDA members. We can also customize services to address your unique market challenges, starting with a comprehensive strategic assessment of your marketing/public relations approach. Those services will be discounted at least 25% for WDDA members. Contact us to get started today, and be sure to tell us you're an WDDA member for your special rate.

Ladd Biro
Champion Management
lbiro@championmgt.com
972.724.3039

Feed A Bully – A Strategy For Local Business Internet Marketing

What do the entries on the list below share in common?

• Google.com 
• Local.yahoo.com 
• Yellowpages.com 
• Yelp.com 
• Yellowpages.aol.com 
• Local.com
• Mojopages.com 
• Localsearch.com

Answer: The opportunity to make or break your company’s reputation.

The funny, or not so funny thing about the Internet’s evolution is how powerful it has become. At times, like a bully, it demands that you either play or be crushed. That’s the predicament many companies find themselves in today with regard to the proliferation of online local listings that include reviews.

The above list is only a partial list and reflects a growing trend of what might be called yellow page sites or sites that aggregate business listings. Because these are paid sites they will more than likely trump other search engine optimization strategies you might be deploying.

Check this out for yourself by Googling the city where your business is located and your business keywords. For example, I Googled San Jose window dealers. If your search produces a non-paid listing, of your company, somewhere on pages one through five, congratulations. But, the reality is that the rules for SEO, which serve to get your company’s natural listings to appear at the top of the search heap, aren’t working like they used to. Not against this new wave of paid listings. And as I mentioned earlier, these sites wield the crushing power of a bully unless you play.

Not only do they buy their search ranking, they are collecting and publishing reviews about your company. How can you proactively manage this new trend?

The first thing is to get listed with Google Local Business Center, Yahoo Local, and other key local Yellow Page like listings in your area. You do this by simply registering on the website.

The second thing you do is to ask your customers for reviews on these sites. You need lots of good reviews. I’m often asked how does a company counteract a bad review? You can proactively combat a bad review by having lots of good reviews. When a client thanks you, mention how much you’d appreciate an online comment and give them a site location. Why not put a link to your Google local business profile in your signature line, with an invitation to leave a review?

A good class on bullying will teach you that a technique to reduce the chance of being bullied is to ignore a bully. I’m telling you, don’t use that technique here. First of all there’s more than one potential bully and second, they simply want to be fed. Feed them reviews and watch what happens.

Sharon Aby
Beyond Ideas Marketing LLC

The Value of Earned Media

Are you reaching your customers, and potential customers, in the most cost-efficient manner?  Are you pouring marketing dollars into advertising that may not be delivering enough bang for your buck? The NGA and WDDA understand the value of "earned media" -- favorable publicity generated by non-advertising such as public relations.

Champion Management - a partner of the NGA and WDDA - specializes in providing marketing and PR support to small- and mid-sized businesses that need outside expertise to support new product/service launches, lead generation, increased awareness and/or improved branding/image with contractors or the consumer public.  

We offer a package of services exclusively for members - tailored to the specific needs of glass and window & door companies.  Champion can also customize services to address your unique market challenges, starting with a comprehensive strategic assessment of your marketing/public relations approach.  Those services will be discounted at least 25% for members.

Contact me to get started today. Be sure to tell me you are an NGA or WDDA member to secure the special rate.

Ladd Biro
Champion Management WDDA NGA

Ladd Biro is president of Champion Management LLC, a leading marketing and public relations agency.  For more information about the NGA’s new PR services offered through Champion, please email lbiro@championmgt.com or call 972.724.3039.

Creative Marketing for Small Businesses

I just read an article in Fast Company that got my attention: Creative Marketing for Mom and Pop Shops. 

Effective branding and communication does not need to cost a gazillion dollars. It does, however, require a whole lot of creative thinking, great storytelling skills, and, of course, you’ve got to be doing a great job and offering impeccable service. With that in mind, here are three real examples of businesses that found creative solutions to their marketing problems.

No matter the size of your business, the glass and window & door industries have felt the impact of the economy over the last couple of years.  Have you changed your marketing strategy to creatively engage your customer base?

The NGA and WDDA would like to help you engage your potential customers.  We've partnered with three companies that can help you get the word out about your business (and you get a discount if you're a member):

• Champion Management NGA WDDA
  Are you reaching your customers, and potential customers, in the most cost-efficient manner?  Are you pouring marketing dollars into advertising that may not be delivering enough bang for your buck? Champion Management has public relations services that can help you find your customers.
• LocalBasix NGA WDDA
  LocalBasix consults with small and medium businesses to help them learn, understand, and navigate the quickly changing world of internet marketing. LocalBasix is prepared to train and empower your business by giving you insights into search marketing, social media, blogging, mobile and more.
• Marketing Pilgrim NGA WDDA
  Can your customers find your business on Google? Are your competitors number one on Google, while your site languishes on the fifth page of results? Marketing Pilgrim can help you boost your web presence today with expert online reputation management.

Already have a creative strategy?  Let us know what you're doing!

Public relations should be part of your marketing mix

Glass shops and window and door companies typically invest significant sums in local market advertising to promote their businesses.  But many of these firms are missing one of the most important ingredients of any successful marketing mix: public relations. 

Here are just a few reasons why public relations should be a frequently used arrow in your marketing quiver.

1. No one can tell your story better than you.  In the absence of a proactive public relations strategy, you risk letting someone else establish your brand identity in the marketplace.  Whether that’s the media, your customers or – worst of all – your competitors, no one should be allowed to define your public image other than you.  A well-crafted series of timely press releases and article submissions can enable you to break through the clutter and distinguish your business from the competition.  Embracing social media and establishing a corporate spokesperson as a respected authority in your industry and/or local market can further elevate your brand and position your shop to capture a premium share of the market.
   
   
2. It’s cost-efficient.  A sophisticated PR campaign can be executed at a fraction of the cost of most advertising campaigns.  Advertising – broadcast, print and even online – can be very expensive, particularly in larger markets.  PR placements, often called “earned media,” can result in editorial visibility in the same news outlets in which you advertise without virtually any out-of-pocket cost.  Many small- and mid-sized firms have found that diverting as little as 10 to 20 percent of their advertising budgets to public relations pays significant dividends in terms of increased name/brand recognition, enhanced image and new customer recruitment.
   
   
3. It’s more credible.  Advertising is paid self-promotion, and consumers are rightly skeptical of it.  Public relations carries the imprimatur of a third-party endorsement, which dramatically increases its credibility.  As a rule of thumb, a positive article written about your firm is worth five to 10 times the value of the same amount of advertising space, simply because the editorial placement is more likely to be read, and believed, by the audience.
   
   
4. Building relationships with reporters can make all the difference.  The time to develop positive relationships with the news media is not when disaster strikes.  Reaching out to reporters in your area, as well as within your industry, when times are good can pay huge dividends in times of crisis.  One of the most effective ways to develop a level of trust and positive rapport with the media is by helping reporters working on deadline.  Always return their calls promptly, even if you aren’t certain why they’re calling.  You can always diplomatically decline to answer their questions, or ask to go “off the record.”
   
   
5. It’s a virtuous cycle.  A robust PR campaign goes beyond generating positive headlines.  The more visible you become, the more the press will seek you out for your expert opinion on other pertinent stories, which further increases your media currency.  A high-profile local glazier could be seen as a third-party expert on the residential construction market, for example.  An auto glass professional could be asked for his explanation about how the windshield protected a family from harm in an ugly car accident.  In addition, media hits can dramatically improve your web site’s search engine rankings.  The more online mentions of, and links to, your company, the higher your site will appear on Google and other leading search engines.

Ladd Biro
Champion Management WDDA NGA

Ladd Biro is president of Champion Management LLC, a leading marketing and public relations agency.  For more information about the NGA’s new PR services offered through Champion, please email lbiro@championmgt.com or call 972.724.3039.