Smartphones are quickly taking over the mobile communications market, with more and more customers adopting high end phones. Nowadays, smart phones allow users to access the web, as well as take photos and videos and effortlessly share them with others. As more users adopt smartphones, companies are also taking note of this shift by adjusting their marketing campaigns. In order to effectively market to this changing audience, it is important that businesses utilize smartphones to its full potential.

5 Ways to Connect Smartphones and Marketing

Marketing to smartphone users has taken a number of different methods, oftentimes in unique and creative ways. The following examples are ways in which companies have made the connection between smartphones and marketing:

1) Online Searches

More than ever, customers are relying on local, online search in order to find and review the best product for them. As a result, customers are incredibly likely to make a purchasing decision before they actually see the product. In order to stay ahead of this trend, many companies are using utilizing the power of smart phones in order to market their products. For example, businesses create mobile-friendly ads and websites optimized for smartphones, in order to stay relevant in local search.

2) QR Codes

QR codes are a barcode image that can be embedded with a variety of information, ranging from URLs, videos and other content. In order to read a QR, the user needs to utilize a smartphone that can scan and analyze the data. Many businesses are using QR codes for their marketing endeavors, ranging from retail stores, museums and restaurants. QR codes are used in a variety of ways, including scavenger hunts and giveaways, allowing businesses to engage and interact with their audience.

3) Social Media

Nowadays, it’s hard to find a social network that is not optimized for smartphones. Furthermore, there are a number of social network platforms that completely rely on smartphone use, such as Foursquare. Foursquare allows users to “check-in” in a variety of locations, allowing them to score badges based on how often they register at a venue. It is vitally important that businesses understand which social networks have the most potential for their smartphone customers.

4) Emails

A common activity among many smartphone users is to check their email. Given this trend, it is critical that businesses tailor their emails specifically for their smartphone audience. Aside from the practice of optimizing emails for smartphones, there are a number of creative ways in which businesses can utilize email marketing. One way is to use coupons that do not require any printing, instead simply requiring the users to present the coupon in-store.

5) Advertising

With the increasing number of smartphone users, it naturally stands to sense that advertising would follow the similar trend. Mobile advertising appears in a variety of different forms, such as video ads and banner ads in mobile games. According to a Google infographic, roughly 82% of smartphone users take notice of mobile ads. Businesses would do well to take advantage of the high impression rate and utilize mobile advertising.

Many businesses, especially small, local businesses, may be skeptical of the potential of mobile marketing. However, it would be foolish to ignore the increasing numbers of users who are purchasing smartphones every day. Stay abreast of competitors and gain an edge in the market, by using the connection between smartphones and marketing.

Author Bio: Rachel Hyun Kim is a writer on topics ranging from electronic medical billing software to payroll services. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including telemarketing services for small business owners and entrepreneurs at Resource Nation.

To build a brand is to build the essence of your company through the eyes and ears of your customers, colleagues, and even your competition. It’s not an easy task in any environment but it can be exceptionally difficult to do a proper job of building a brand in the small business environment without the aid of big budgets and extensive personnel. There are, however, some simple guidelines to follow that will help ease the process and make your brand building efforts ultimately successful.

Focus on What Differentiates Your Business

This may sound simple but many small businesses make the mistake of branding their companies the same way the competition does. Don’t fall into that trap. Identify what factors set your company apart and accentuate those characteristics within your brand. Your brand should tell the marketplace exactly what makes you different from the competition. Whether that be your all-in-one offering, leading product innovation, or fast delivery, your brand must fit the strengths of your company.

Make Your Message Consistent

Branding is a process that never ends and the marketing of your brand must remain constant and consistent. Your message and accompanying logo should be present throughout all collateral materials you provide. That includes business cards, letter head, website, signage, even the packaging of your product. Keep your brand at the front of your customers minds at all times.

Keep Employees Involved and Active

Your employees are the front line of support for the brand you create and must be active participants in your company message. Spend the time to educate and sell your workforce on the brand you are presenting and the importance of their support. A brand is no good to you if your customers get one message from your marketing and another from your employees.

Long Term Marketing Campaign

Building a quality brand doesn’t happen overnight so you need to plan for the long haul. Put together a strategy that includes constant reminders of your branding message. This can include advertisements, scheduled press releases, blogs, articles in industry publications or the local newspaper, even educational seminars. Keep your brand at the forefront for the long term and you’ll reap the benefits.

Branding a small business requires proper planning and the discipline to enact an integrated strategy within the confines of a tight budget and narrow focus. Execute effectively and your business will reap the rewards.

Rebecca Jones is a contributing writer for Invesp, a company that assists clients with their conversion optimization efforts through site testing and adjusting pages to promote landing page optimization.

In an era of technological innovations, many businesses are embracing the trend of online marketing as a tool to augment their business model. That is all well and good but there are many common misconceptions businesses hold about online marketing.

Apart from the understanding that online marketing requires creativity and technological expertise, time, effort and money need to be devoted to the cause. Search engine optimisation is also integral to the success of an online marketing strategy. Here are five various misconceptions businesses hold about online marketing and myths that may be stopping them from achieving success in the cyber arena.

This will take no time at all

Success does not come overnight – ask Steve Jobs or any successful entrepreneur. The same principle applies to online marketing. It is not a quick method to make large amounts of money. There are many a people enjoying hefty profits and reaping the rewards of online marketing but it is important to note that they had a long term plan and followed it strictly.

You may have to spend several hours each week or employ a designated person to manage your website and your internet marketing campaign. Good SEO, an attractive yet functional website and consistency throughout your website are good starting points and will give you the solid foundation you need to position yourself highly in search engine results and entice visitors.

I am a market leader, my product will sell

You may be the industry leader in your field but to establish a strong online presence, it is crucial that viewers find you in search engines. Word-of-mouth advertising is not sufficient in this day and age and search engine optimization is vital. To increase your site’s chances of success in the online realm, you should have a concise yet descriptive website title that aptly describes what services your site provides. The title appears in a search engine’s result page. Content of the website has to be relevant and has to repeat specific keywords throughout for SEO purposes.

Avoid Flash as generally HTML increases search engine optimization. As Flash sites often take a longer time to load, the lack of speed may also deter certain customers. Internal lining within the website is a great way to get your website noticed by search engines and to increase the ranking of internal pages.

My site looks great therefore it’ll be profitable

Your website may have an aesthetically pleasing homepage and funky graphics that would captivate visitors but all count for naught if your website is not being clicked on. Websites do not sell themselves and if they are nonexistent on search engines, they won’t generate traffic and your products and services will not be known to anyone. Invest in proper search engine optimization to ensure this is not the case.

Social media is a fad

Many people talk about SEO, rankings and traffics when they discuss online marketing campaigns. The phenomenon of social media however beckons forth its integration into online marketing campaigns, despite naysayers who insist it is a trend.

There are many opportunities for business to tap into the emerging trend and use it to augment their business. If used properly, social media has limitless opportunities for customer growth, it is cost-effective and it is one of the most effective ways to promote marketing campaigns to a target demographic.

I’m successful, I can stop now

Never be content with what you have. Your site may be getting plenty of clicks and unique visitors, it may be selling product and services at an escalating rate everyday but always remember – competitor companies are not far behind and you can never rest on your laurels.

Constantly keep your website relevant, fresh and up-to-date because online marketing is all about perseverance, commitment and diligence. Businesses suffer when they start to neglect their websites as new concepts enter the online realm every day. It is your job to stay up-to-date with these developments.

When social media took flight in the days of Myspace, nobody expected it to be the way it is now. MySpace introduced the world to a new way of communication that seemed to change the life of every person. Then Facebook came along using the basics of MySpace while adding new features to enhance the social media experience.

As Facebook rose to the top, many new companies came along searching for a piece of the pie. Those who were loyal to MySpace kept their profile but Facebook gave them so much to get familiar with. As they seemed to forget about MySpace the increased competition sent MySpace to the grave and led to the rise of Twitter and LinkedIn. As Twitter stepped on the scene with its 140 characters and unique look, people who frequently communicate on Facebook, created a Twitter account to see what it was all about. The birth of these new websites still couldn’t slow down Facebook but Google + was in the background with a secret of their own.

Facebook continued to shows its hand and unveil new products not knowing that Google was working on Google+. While Facebook spent most of its time trying to keep it users happy, platforms like Google+ continuously look for ways to generate new users. People love options but the generic friendships on Google+ do not seem to have the same appeal and sustainability when compared to Facebook. With over 800 million users it is safe to say the 40 million Google+ users are more than likely already on Facebook. Many celebrities like Britney Spears and Pit Bull are fan favorites on Google+ but there is not any real communication. It is actually more of a promotional page that seems to be ran by publicist.

Google entered the social media scene and tried to control the amount of users who could sign up by making it invite only. That actually had a negative effect because it took away the interest for those who wanted to sign up right away. While Google built its social media brand to overthrow Facebook it looks like it will be many years before the search engine giant will reach the number one spot. The buzz surrounding Google+ and its hangout feature was supposed to be big selling point but it has not worked as a way to excite social media users.

What works for one business might not work for another, and Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter each have their pros and cons. As a result, many businesses create pages on all three sites, thinking that “more is better”. However, I don’t think that’s always advisable, especially for small businesses. This is primarily because many businesses tend to create and then abandon their social media profiles. Google Local finds information about local businesses based on their social networking information.

This means that if you have an abandoned social media profile, or one that has conflicting information with another profile, then you could show up local on Google Local business searches. This will hurt many local businesses a lot more than failing to reach out to the few people who are still on Google Plus or MySpace but not on Facebook. It’s fine to have multiple profiles if you maintain all, but remember that each social media site is different so content that works for one might not work for others. Social media is great for connecting with users, but it’s not really a broadcast medium. I’m reviewing Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter from a small business perspective so that you can figure out which one to use your business.

Facebook

Facebook is the most popular social media site and Facebook users are easy to target with ads. Small businesses can make pages for free and They can also have ads which are very easy to target. For example, your business can make an ad aimed only at people who “Like” a certain page. There are pages for companies, interests, and even individual movies and sports teams. Furthermore, ads can be tailored based on people’s browsing history, since Facebook uses cookies to track websites that people go to while they’re logged onto Facebook. These features are standard on most social networks but Facebook’s main draw is that everybody’s already using it, so they don’t have to go through an extra step of setting up an account to see your ads or be exposed to your company’s page.

Google Plus

Google Plus is similar to Facebook, but unfortunately it’s held back by low usership. Plus, Google’s tied it into other Google services, such as Gmail and Google Search, which prevents it from presenting a Google Plus brand to potential new users so it’s unlikely to ever become widespread among ordinary people. On top of that, Google Plus may violate anti-trust laws because Google yesterday announced that it will include things that people “+1” (Google’s version of Facebook’s “Like” feature) in their Google search results. If Google loses an anti-trust lawsuit over this tie-in, it might be forced to remove other tie-ins that are beneficial to small businesses, such as using people’s Google searches to tailor ads toward them in Google Plus.

Twitter

Twitter is a microblogging broadcast service, whereby users subscribe to other users and can send and receive blog posts of up to 140 characters long. This means it’s a great outlet for giving quick updates. However, it’s limited by the 140 character limit and there’s a large overlap with Facebook, since tweets are very similar toward Status Updates in that both are broadcast and seen by people who like your company’s page or are subscribed to your company’s Twitter account. The short post length makes it hard to reach out to subscribers with useful content, so many subscribers could become “blind” to your company’s Twitter account because they’ll see your Tweets as spam.

It is, however, a completely different type of social network than Facebook and Google Plus, and it has some advantages. People can talk about the same subject by using metatags and see what everybody else who’s using these metatags is saying (Facebook has a similar feature but it’s not ubiquitous yet). This means that you can use Twitter to create buzz about a product launch or whatnot, and then control the dialogue and reach out to many highly targeted users at minimal cost.

This is a guest post by Steve Sims. Steve does PR, marketing, and writing work for Influence People. Influence People is an online marketing and blogger outreach consulting firm in San Francisco. Influence People writers write on many topics, such as INTENTclick.

Social media has exploded in recent years due to sites such as YouTube, Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, and thousands of other social marketing websites. What really stared the trend was in 2004 at a web conference the term “Web 2.0” was coined by Tim O’ Rilley. Web 2.0 is a way for internet users to directly interact with other internet users on the web via social networking sites, social bookmarking sites, social media sites, blogs, etc. When internet marketers realized the potential of these social media sites is as a way to gather customer information they began to join social and actively participate in these networks. There is a goldmine of information that customers share on social media websites.

All these new means on communication created new jobs in the internet marketing field. There are now companies desperately seeking out designers, programmers, internet marketers, and social media gurus to maintain and grow the company’s presence on the web. Businesses even have entire departments devoted to social media marketing specialists that spend all day interacting with others on the web. This has become a full time job and if your business is not participating in social media marketing strategies then they are falling behind and losing customers to their competitors.

What does all this mean for you? It means there are many job opportunities available in the field of social media marketing due to the influence of the internet and the trillions of websites that have emerged. All these websites are potential employers and many of these businesses are very lucrative; while the majority is unfortunately failing. This is where internet marketing, specifically search engine optimization and social media marketing techniques come into play. If you are looking to get a job involving social media there are endless opportunities out there; from start ups looking to make a name for themselves to established businesses that are looking to boost their presence on the web.

Most social media jobs do not require formal schooling or college degrees, but rather prefer to see that you have had hands on training and experience in the field of social media. You have to love internet marketing and always stay up on the latest trends and topics because what works today may no longer work tomorrow. The internet evolves at a rapid pace so formal education does not play a role in the hiring process; although it is always a good idea to get a college degree in Business Marketing. If you are looking for upper level positions you may want to inquire a MBA program in your local area.

MySpace was once the largest haven for marketers, musicians, and people to visit. That lasted for a few years and then Facebook emerged. Facebook changed the game completely with the live stream, chat features, image and video tagging, and many other innovative features. A few years later Twitter emerged as a micro-blogging platform and has become a favorite site for most internet users. And do not forget about YouTube, which is the second most popular site on the web. All these changes happened so quickly and unexpectedly that to be a successful internet marketer you need to always be reading social media news.

Many job boards have emerged in recent years such as Monster, Indeed, Career Builder, Craig’s List, and many others. These are like social networking websites that allow employers to post jobs and employees to seek out jobs related to their expertise. Another useful way to find a job I to go to the website and search for employment opportunities or a contact us page. This will lead you on your way to finding out who is hiring and how the selection process works.

There are so many different social media platforms these days and tons of trends in each of those channels. As a small business, in the face of such overwhelming information, it can be difficult to determine where your time and efforts are best invested in social media. Here are five of the most promising trends in which for small businesses to invest in 2012.

Go Beyond the Most Popular Social Media Sites

Though Twitter and Facebook at presently the most widely used and well known social media platforms, targeting your niche demographic in a successful business marketing campaign may require you to look beyond the big social media sites. In fact, for many smaller businesses, taking advantage of more local and geographically appropriate platforms like Yelp and BuyLocal is extremely important. The time investment for building and maintaining a presence on these more local social media sites is minimal, but the return on that investment can be substantial.

Invest in Geo-Social Media

One of the best ways for small businesses to get their name out there and build a strong and positive business reputation is to invest some time and energy in geo-social media like FourSquare, a free service provider that has by more than 20 million users at present. Such mobile social media applications allow individual users to “check-in” at, and review different retail, dining and other establishments via their mobile devices with GPS and internet access. The feed from geo-social media not only appears to other users of the application, but can also be shared on social networks like Facebook, allowing a small business to tap into and gain the attention of potentially hundreds of social network members for each geo-social media user.

Integrate Social Media and Other Communications

Up to now, you may have been sending out business-related promotions and communications via multiple means, like email marketing, direct mail and social network updates. Increasingly, the trend is moving to a more integrated and time-saving method of communication. Consider the benefits of sending a single communication to all members of your mailing lists, social networks and website account holders through more efficient methods. Build a single announcement and upload that information to a service provider website or software program like Vertical Response or iContact, which allows you to distribute the communication by email, social media and other means, as well as to track responses and related data.

Take Advantage of Social Media Surveys

The ability to create, distribute and track surveys through social media gives small businesses many strategic information gathering opportunities. Use surveys for gauging customer satisfaction, interest in new products or services, or to gather feedback on any range of business-related topics. Such surveys require minimal investment in terms of time and no direct monetary expense, making them an exceptional value for small businesses in particular.

Incorporate Customer Service in Social Media

Quality customer service has the ability to drive higher revenue and improve business reputation. It can also build brand recognition through satisfied customers sharing their customer experience with their friends, relatives and social media networks. Including customer service topics in your social media information sharing is beneficial, as is incorporating direct customer service contact through social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. It will take some doing to establish and to maintain, but the benefits for a small business in particular can be substantial.

This post is written by John Lewis and he works at PriceCollate. You can checkout the blog of website here.

Google has long favored unique content, even going so far as to punish sites that publish duplicate content. But with its recent “freshness” update, Google is beginning to focus on content it considers fresh, or of interest to users on the internet. Luckily, this recent change to its algorithm provides a few advantages to dedicated bloggers and social media junkies. Because Google is putting more weight on the popularity of Tweets, blog posts and other online content, the search engine giant has created more incentive for SEOs to focus on delivering content their users want to see.

Find Out What Your Users Want, Then Update Your Blog

Taking advantage of Google’s freshness update requires two things: a knowledge of your audience, and creating content your audience will care about. Because Google is treating user interest in content as a signal for search results, your goal is to create compelling content that your users will reshare. This can be a bit of a nebulous idea, but take a look at what’s been popular with your audience in the past. Look through your Analytics data for spikes in traffic. What is it about these posts or sources that made them so compelling? By producing more content people find interesting, you’ll build your user base and improve your search rankings.

Build Your Social Media Presence

Social media sites have been popular for a long time, but Google has just started looking at social signals when determining search rankings in the last couple of years. Google’s freshness update is only going to add more weight to this importance. What more incentive do you need to take the time to develop a thoughtful, fun and engaging social media strategy? Unfortunately, there’s no magic bullet for an effective social media strategy. Every market is different, and while a Facebook contest may work well for one company, a similar contest may prove dismal for your brand. Developing an effective social media campaign takes considerable time and effort, but the freshness update makes social media more important than ever.

Social media provides a couple of benefits to websites: a popular platform for delivering content, and a means for interacting with users. Social media shouldn’t be simply treated as a method for holding contests and delivering advertisements. Use your social media accounts to interact with your audience and share interesting links, too. I’m not saying don’t use Twitter to advertise giveaways and specials, but be aware that you’re speaking to actual human users, and take what your audience wants to see into account.

Don’t Forget to Update Your Website

Regularly updating your website is another way for your content to appear fresher to Google. Large changes to body copy is seen as fresher than changing a single sentence or making a handful of small edits, but completely overhauling a website’s body copy every week simply isn’t viable. However, every website can rely on regular news updates, a company blog or social media activity to improve its freshness rating. Making regular updates has another benefit, as well. Google will crawl your site more often, which means your content will get indexed more quickly and become easier for users to find when searching.

This update won’t affect all types of searches, but will have an impact on search terms that are related to recent events, or regularly occurring, or otherwise frequently updated. The key to using Google’s freshness update to boost your own SEO is finding a way to relate this kind of content to your site. Blogging and social media updates are two great ways of doing this, but shouldn’t be seen as the only way of capitalizing on Google’s freshness update. The idea is to create quality content that your audience, clients or users will care about enough to retweet, reblog and share with others.

Author Bio: Tyler Moore lives in Indianapolis and works as a freelance SEO consultant with a focus on guest blogging and copy writing. Tyler currently works for DocRaptor, a web application used to convert HTML to XLS format. DocRaptor can also be used to convert HTML to PDF, and operates with a simple HTTP POST request.

Oxygen Media and Lightspeed Research recently conducted a study, and found that one-third of young women checked Facebook before they took care of personal hygiene. The women were between the ages of 18 and 24, which may be your target market. Even before they went to the bathroom, they were online checking their Facebook account.  No matter what you think of this behavior, you should definitely be thinking of the ways to effectively use social media to market your business to them.

Women and Men are Different

This study reveals that the young women on Facebook are engaged, probably addicted, but also ready to listen to what you have to say. They are in need of content, and if you approach them the right way, they’ll take the time to read what you have to say and learn more about you. Social media marketing to women is different from marketing to men, though. You have to know what women want, and adapt your tactics accordingly.

What Women Want

While there are many answers to the question of what women want, when it comes to social media marketing, it’s simple. Women want a combination of intellectual and emotional stimulation. You have to find a way to give them that, as it relates to your business. It takes some marketing know-how, and you may need the help of an experienced social media writer, but Facebook and similar social networking websites are perfect grounds for giving women both. It does require you to be a little bit more conversational in your approach, and you have to keep up with social media on a daily basis to keep women engaged.  That’s part of running a business, and if your sales increase, you’ll find that it’s worth it.