Posted by StrategicGrowth in Strategic Growth Concepts, Virtual Technology.
Tags: BlogTalkRadio, Internet, marketing, podcasting, small business, small business lead generation, small business owners, Strategic Growth Concepts, Strategic Growth Concepts for Small Business, virtual event technology, virtual events, virtual trade shows
Today’s epidose of ‘Strategic Growth Concepts for Small Business’ focusing on Virtual Events for Small Business Lead Generation is now available for download by clicking HERE.
This episode contains excellent information regarding Virtual Events:
- What are they?
- How businesses are leveraging virtual events technology to stay in better contact with existing customers and obtain new ones
- What steps should a small business take to get started with virtual events marketing?
- What costs are involved in using virtual events, and is the technology something that small entrepreneurial companies can afford to use?
- What skills are required to host a virtual event?
- and much, much more!
Be sure to download this podcast if your firm is seeking efficient, cost-effective ways of growing your business – without ever leaving the premises!
Posted by StrategicGrowth in Strategic Growth Concepts, Virtual Technology, Web 2.0.
Tags: 6Connex, BlogTalkRadio, Brent Arslaner, Cece Salomon-Lee, InXpo, Kevin Carbone, Linda Daichendt, marketing, small business, Strategic Growth Concepts, Strategic Growth Concepts for Small Business, Unisfair, virtual events, virtual trade shows, Web 2.0
Trade shows – you know what they are, a major element in business development and networking. Whether they be community events sponsored by the local chamber of commerce, or national events sponsored by a national professional or trade association; any business attempting to gain new customers is going to participate in some sort of trade show(s) at some point in time.
Some companies feel it’s imperative to have a booth, others want to attend the educational seminars (or present at them), still others prefer to ‘make the rounds’ and do extensive networking. One thing they all have in common is cost, including: booth rental, display development, staffing, travel costs such as hotel & airlines, and all the materials to distribute – frankly the list can be endless. According to Tradeshow Week magazine, mid-to-large size companies spend about $550,000 every year participating in the standard physical trade shows, with an average cost per show sometimes as high as $100,000 for the larger companies. Small entrepreneurial companies can easily spend in the range of $50,000 per year.
And recent studies have shown – not necessarily productive enough to be worth all that time and expense, particularly in today’s economy.
So what options does a small business have? It turns out, more than you might think! Welcome to the world of VIRTUAL TRADE SHOWS.
As part of Strategic Growth Concepts on-going education series for small business owners, the firm is focusing the next episode of their BlogTalkRadio program, Strategic Growth Concepts for Small Business, on Virtual Trade Shows/Expos/Conventions. Read complete News Release HERE.
This new technology enables small businesses to engage with current customers and find new ones in a highly cost-effective and efficient manner without ever leaving their desk.
We’ll provide a panel of industry experts including :
- Kevin Carbone, CEO of 6Connex;
- Brent Arslaner, VP of Channels at Unisfair; and
- Cece Salomon-Lee, Director of Marketing at InXpo
to educate us on how virtual events work, what they cost, how to maximize their benefit, who’s using them, and how your company can get involved. Learn how your small business can put this technology to work for your company!
Those interested in learning about this new technology can listen to the show live on Tuesday, August 25th at 2:30 p.m. EDT by calling (347) 215-6955, or they can download a podcast of the show at their convenience by accessing the show’s website at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/StrategicGrowthConcepts .
Posted by StrategicGrowth in Social Media, Strategic Growth Concepts, Web 2.0.
Tags: advertising, Facebook, GPS targeted marketing, LinkedIN, marketing, Marketing Plan, measuring social media activity, MySpace, ROI, small business, Social Media, social media measurement tools, social media strategies, social media strategy, social networks, Strategic Growth Concepts, Twitter, Twitter marketing, Web 2.0
While many of the Social Media tools are free to use, there is a cost involved in the time for development of the Social Media profiles and on-going management of Social Media activities. Measuring that cost with respect to results against goals that have been identified will determine whether or not your Social Media strategy has provided an ROI at the level expected, and how it stacks up against more traditional methods of Marketing. To help you achieve an accurate analysis of Social Media results that can be measured against those goals, please review the article below for a variety of tools to assist you.
Should you be interested in developing a Social Media strategy for your firm which has the ability to achieve a significant ROI against company goals, we at Strategic Growth Concepts would be happy to assist you. Please contact us via our
Website or via email at
info@StrategicGrowthConcepts.com to schedule your FREE initial consultation.
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by Jye Smith
3 Steps to Picking the Right Social Media Measurement Tools
- Understand business outcome
- Identify the social media activity
- Analyse the relationship between social media activity and business outcome
Then pick a tool.
I cannot stress enough how important it is though, to understand that relationship between social media activity and business outcome. That’s where the expertise is, that’s where the ROI is.
Which tools do I use to measure social media?
This would have to be the most asked question of the lot – but honestly, it’s like asking how long is a piece of string. Last night I presented at Social Media Club Sydney (slides and notes now available) and still there was a call to look at which tools. Which one are essential to me? Google Analytics and Bit.ly for starters. Katie Chatfield has done a presentation to look at some of the tools available – and you’ll instantly see how overwhelming it can be. But that’s ok – because you need to know what you are valuing first, and look at the tools last.
MeasurementCamp also published another list of social media tools you can use:
- Addictomatic A cool search engine that aggregates rss feeds into a nice visual dashboard
- Blogpulse Blog search engine with conversation tracker tool
- Boardreader Search forums and message boards
- Boardtracker Forum search engine offering instant alerts
- Buzzmonitor Embeddable widget showing recent instances of your search term
- Compete.com Comparable site metrics for any website
- Del.ici.ous Social bookmarking engine. Search by tags and subscribe to feed results
- Facebook lexicon Searches facebook walls for words and phrases
- Google alerts Email updates of key search terms
- Google insights Compare search volume over time
- Google trends Compare search term trends
- Howsociable Gives a social media score for your brand, with email updates of your score.
- Ice rocket Blog search engine with results rss feed
- Newsflashr News search engine, presenting results in nice dashboard
- Sphere Related content widget
- Summize Search for keywords in ‘tweets’.
- Technorati Blog and social media search engine
- Twing Discussion board and forum search engine
- Twingly Spam free blog search engine
- Twitturly Track what urls people are talking about on twitter
- Xinu Shows how well your site is performing across different metrics. Also gives a site diagnosis.
- Quarkbase Fricking cool mashup tool
- Twitter Grader Enter your twitter username to get your grade and ranking
- Twist Graph Keyword trends in Twitter. Very cool.
- yExplore Not strictly social media, but easy access to see inbound links to a page.
- Trendpedia Excellent blog search engine that graphs results over time.
- Website Grader Not completely sure how accurate, but cool tool anyway!
- Yahoo Pipes Err, yeah, can’t believe I missed this off in the first place.
- Socialmention Real time UGC search engine, with social rank
- Bit.ly and Cli.gs – analytics for your tiny urls.
Posted by StrategicGrowth in mobile, Mobile Marketing, Strategic Growth Concepts, Web 2.0.
Tags: advertising, ASPCA, cellular phones, ecommerce, economy affect on non-profit fundraising, Haiti, marketing, mobile advertising, mobile commerce, Mobile Marketing, mobile phones, non-profit fundraising, QR codes, Red Cross, Restorre the Gulf, SMS, Strategic Growth Concepts
Mobile Marketing strategies are now being put to work to help non-profit organizations provide information to their constituencies and also, to RECEIVE DONATIONS!
A recent article by Mobile Marketer Daily reviews a new Mobile Marketing campaign being implemented by the ASPCA (American Society for the 
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). They will be utilizing mobile strategies to disseminate animal health tips, shelter locations, and to receive donations. Obviously, this new campaign will also assist them in increasing their database of those interested in animal issues so they may refer to them for future programs as well. They’re accomplishing a lot by the use of Mobile Marketing strategies, and setting the bar at a high level for those non-profits who are struggling because of today’s economic environment and want to follow in their footsteps.
If you would like to learn more about the ASPCA’s Mobile Marketing campaign to consider how your organization might apply similar strategies, click HERE to access the full article.
EDITOR’S ADDED NOTE: An additional example of Mobile Marketing being used for non-profit fundraising is the Red Cross campaign to raise funds for Haiti. SMS (text) messaging was the mobile vehicle utilized, and the Red Cross did a great job of integrating the mobile donation option into their entire marketing strategy – TV, print, social media, etc. Within 48 hours, $5 million dollars were raised, to-date, over $40 million has been raised for this effort – all in $10 increments via text messaging!
A more recent example was the ‘Restore the Gulf’ campaign implemented by non-profit organization in New Orleans. This campaign utilized a QR code which allowed supporters to access a video and online petition in support of the cause. This celebrity-supported effort has made national headlines due to the unique nature of the campaign; results are not yet available.
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If you work for, or volunteer for, a non-profit and would like to explore the ways in which Mobile Marketing can be utilized to market your organization, we would be happy to assist you in developing a customized program to aid you in increasing donations and providing information to your constituencies. Please feel free to contact us via our website or via email at linda@StrategicGrowthConcepts.com to schedule a FREE initial consultation.
Marketing with New Technology 
