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Influencer Marketing For Small Business: Do’s and Don’t’s

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Influencer marketing – the age of ‘smart selling’!

Have you ever bought a random product just because your favorite rock star advertised and endorsed it? Well, I for one – am guilty of stacking multiple items – most of them are useless – as they were advertised by a celeb. And I did it in my teens – so blame it on immaturity and blind faith in my famous idols! This form of advertising and promotion is almost like influencer marketing.

It is a type of marketing that prioritizes influential individuals rather than a ‘market.’ Influencer marketing involves the identification of ‘influential people’ who possess the power of – influencing – potential buyers into taking the necessary marketing actions.

The marketing strategy used for identifying and propagating influencers is called influencer marketing. And influencer marketing for small businesses is what we are going to talk about today.

Who is an influencer?

Influencers are individuals who are capable of persuading a target audience to take the necessary purchase decisions or desired actions. Influencers are not restricted to being famous personalities. They can be bloggers, passionate social media users who have numerous followers, who are active on blogs, social media, gamers, online community members that possess the knowledge, and authority and have a healthy relationships with fellow members, journalists, etc.

Influencers are advocates and promoters of brands, products, services, etc. They increase awareness and drive action.

Why should small businesses opt for influencer marketing?

influencer marketing

  1. Expansive audience reach
  2. Boost brand awareness
  3. Increase business/brand credibility
  4. Streamlines marketing focus
  5. Inexpensive
  6. Effortless
  7. Boost SEO performance
  8. Guaranteed Profit

Do’s and Don’t’s of Influencer Marketing

via GIPHY

  1. Choose influencers that have potential engagement and reach, not simply because you like him/her.
  2. Do the necessary research and checks on the chosen influencer. Determine his / her record or results related to the brands s/he collaborated with.
  3. Remember to make the necessary payments to the influencer.
  4. Allow the influencer to be creatively independent.
  5. Approach influencers strategically, keeping your business goals and user needs intact.
  6. Search for influencers who can become advocates for your brand.
  7. Be completely transparent to the influencer – from your brand, its purpose; your wants to even the marketing budget.
  8. Don’t shy away from using micro-influencers. They might have a higher engagement rate, in spite of a lower reach.
  9. Building connections and networking is not an easy task, especially, if you’re solely responsible for business growth. The best thing to do is hire a community manager to do the job.
  10. Invest time and effort in helping the chosen influencer trust your brand and believe in it. This will help him/her to emit passion in his / her work towards brand promotion.
  11. Influencers are more than buzz-creating individuals.
  12. Allow your influencer to churn in as much creativity as possible and make way for storytelling that will garner a higher rate of attention and engagement.

How to choose the right influencer for your brand?

Before you go ahead connecting with a prospective “influencer,” to collaborate with your brand, you should understand the different types of influencers. It’s key to delivering the best results for your small business using influencer marketing strategies.

via GIPHY

So, what are the types of influencers?

There are basically four types of influencers:

  1. Nano influencers
  2. Micro-influencers
  3. Macro influencers
  4. Mega influencers

Nano influencers 

Nano influencers usually have followers anywhere between 100 and 10,000. They are like any social media users — yet to be on the “pro” side of being a bonafide “influencer.” Their social media content mostly revolves around images of themselves, family, friends, pets (like their dogs), and other viral content.

Micro-influencers 

Micro-influencers are “influencers” with followers between 10,000 and 50,000 across their social accounts. You can say they are almost treading the lines of being a celeb….. Almost!

Macro influencers 

Macro influencers typically have between 500,000 to a million followers and/or subscribers (in case of them having YouTube channels). The follower-subscriber number proves their impact on brand deals and audience.

Mega influencers

Mega influencers are your A-list celebrities with over a million followers across different social media platforms. As the term suggests – they are MEGA. And having them as your brand ambassador would not only deliver impactful results but also be an expensive deal at the same time!

Influencers are not hypnotizers or sorcerers who can cast a spell on your audience and get them take the desired decisions. They are your strategic marketing partners and resources, with whom you have to collaborate and execute the strategies utilizing the techniques and methods of influencer marketing.

Top 10 Ways A Blog Can Benefit A Small Business

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Blogs – packed with social media, can become a powerhouse conversion, branding, and customer acquisition tool for small businesses. Then why most small businesses refrain from tapping the blogging opportunities? What benefits can small business blogs bring in?

Three Reasons Why Small Businesses Avoid having Blogs

Small Business Blogs

  • Lack of time
  • Knowledge and technical know-how
  • Unaware about blogging benefits

Small Business Marketing Blog – A Lost-in-the-Crowd Blogger Syndrome?

When I started blogging (remember blogger.com?) – and wrote on essential issues – ranging from politics, life, health to trends – I did it as a part of my hobby. Never thought of continuing it as a part of our in-house marketing strategy.

Why am I Working on my Company Blog?

  • Share information, communicate key messages and connect with our users
  • Drive traffic to our site
  • Conversion

And these three reasons are equally relevant for small businesses too – that currently are absent of blogs.

Top 10 Benefits of Small Business Blogs

Small Business Blogs

1) Connect with the Target Audience and Keep Them Informed About your Business

A website has its core pages – About Us, Services, Contact Us, and other pages – and each is designed and created for meeting a particular purpose. But these pages cannot connect your business with the target audience.

A blog is a single entity of your website that will act as a bridge – filling up the gap between your small business and audience. You can add content discussing your new products, launches, services, buzz around your enterprise, and more and give your audience a direct ticket to the same.

You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on campaigns, billboards, press media, and other paid resources to connect and share information with your users – The blog will do the JOB!

2) Leverage and Drive Active SEO Results

When updated with fresh and optimized content, small business blogs boost SEO scores and suffice the sites’ SEO criteria.


With a blog, you can add content, images, and creatives – integrated with backlinks and targeted keywords, which will enhance your website’s SERPs.


Update blog for your small business on a scheduled basis – aligning with the best SEO guidelines and techniques – and you can be ahead of the SEO game – called high PageRank.

3) Enhance Social Media Presence

Having a strong social media presence is essential for small businesses. And a blog helps in meeting this component of both small business marketing and social media marketing.


Social media is where you can find your potential customers. The platform not only connects brands with users but also creates a two-way communication system for both parties.


A blog acts as a trigger to boost the social media entity of small businesses. Add social media buttons to the blog and help users share and build awareness among your brand’s community.

4) Build and Maintain Relationships with both Old and New Customers

When you create valuable and informative content for your small business blog – you’re building authority in your sector. And your audience will consider you as a reliable source and start believing in you.


More than SEO ranking and brand promotion – a blog helps in building a cohesive customer relationship. It will work as a tour guide for your audience – taking them around the website and providing them beyond a set of informative static pages.


Blogs talk about the different experiences, pain points, ups and downs of the concerning business and the customers, which enables the audience to connect and relate to. With a blog, you’ll create a foundation for a more substantial and long-term customer/business relationship.

5) Cost-Effective Marketing Campaign

If you know the basics of Blogging and are driven by your business’s purpose and proposition value, you’ll definitely make the best use of a small business blog.


Blogging is one of the most cost-effective and result-oriented marketing investments. Creating regular posts and updating blogs with fresh, original, and engaging content will drive users to your site and build brand identity and awareness and help promote your services/products/brand value to both old, existing, and new customers.

Small Business Blogs

And the best part of having small business blogs – is that you don’t have to spend a dime in using Blogging as a marketing tool – unless you hire writers and professionals to work on your blog.

 

6) Create Opportunities For Sharing

One of the most significant advantages of having a blog is that it gives users the chance to share the blog or post—people who read your blog and like the content can share it with others. But, again, this is only possible if the content you create adds value.


If your blog does add value, then the possibilities are endless. Visitors can share our post via social media platforms or even email the post – you could be the next Brian Dean of your industry!

7) Collecting Emails of Interested Customers

Small business owners can use Blogging to collect interested customers’ email addresses by asking them to subscribe. These can be used in the marketing funnel to promote more business. The more touchpoints you have to your customers, the better chance you have of connecting with them and converting them.

8) Generating Demand 

Generating demand is the first step when it comes to lead generation tactics. Most companies use their blogs to help peak the interests of their customers. Adding useful information such as product features, how-to-use, and the solutions your brand provides are all great ways to generate demand for your products.

Take a look at what Apple does. Before the launch of a new product, they host a keynote presentation explaining the product’s advantages, features, and benefits. This helps excite followers and users to buy the latest upgrade.

9) Converting Leads

When it comes to connecting with customers, there are three stages of the customer journey:

  • Awareness Stage
  • Consideration Stage 
  • Decision Stage 

No matter which stages your customers are on, you can showcase your brand and highlight product importance via blogs.

You could use ‘checklists and tips to help attract new customers in the awareness stage.

Additionally, in the consideration stage, you could showcase blogs based on ‘how-to’ topics. Finally, in the decision-making stage, testimonial content pieces can act as the push needed to buy.

Remember, Blogging is an essential part of converting your customers into leads.

10) Building your network with Influencer Marketing

Along with Blogging, another great addition is influencer marketing. Giving an influencer the option to create content for your eCommerce store is a great way to get more customers interested in your brand. With the right influencers’ correct reviews, your brand could reach more people than you thought possible.

For small business owners, what matters is getting your brand out there. By tying up with the right influencer, you could gain access to the right audience, which would open doors for your brand that would not be possible otherwise. Think about it. Influencers have hundreds if not thousands of followers. Just by posting a review or writing a piece about one of your products could give you the push to jumpstart your brand.

Wrapping Up

We all know just how important a blog is for a website. But adding only one or two posts will not help you. You need to make sure that you have a solid content marketing strategy in place with a robust content calendar.

Make sure that your posts are engaging and that whatever you write helps add value to the customer. Only then can you hope for brand visibility and an increase in sales.

How You Can Employ AI In Your Digital Marketing Today: Small Business Marketing

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What is Artificial Intelligence and how can we use it in digital marketing strategies?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is way beyond a robot or advanced machine that is stereotyped in all movies and TV series (read: I, Robot, RoboCop, Tron and so on).

What is artificial intelligence?

No, it’s nothing like the RoboCop. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the ability of computer systems and machines to complete human tasks. Its performances included language translation, decision making, speech recognition, visual perception and more.

Artificial intelligence is changing consumer-brand relationship dynamics

The shifting paradigm of digital media from the web to virtual reality proves that AI can enhance the digital marketing world today.

Cambridge and Stanford Universities conducted several studies related to the connection between digital marketing and Artificial Intelligence. And most of them assert the fact:

Computers are capable of comprehending human beings in higher clarity than human themselves.

Examples of artificial intelligence and its use in digital media

How to use Artificial Intelligence in your small business digital marketing strategy?

Content Personalization Machines will author 20% small business content by 2018 – Gartner

Content is the backbone of every business and digital marketing plan. One of the crucial elements of an engaging and result-driven content is an impactful Call-To-Action. Call-To-Action or CTAs increase the conversion rate by 42%.

Copywriters and marketers have been creating personalized call-to-actions in various blog posts, landing pages, newsletter and marketing materials.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is gradually taking the baton from the hands of digital marketers and writers. Now, with the help of AI, you can generate CTAs and content to drive sales, traffic and boost conversion.

The new phenomenon called Programmatic Advertising. Artificial Intelligence is slowly taking over every protocol of digital marketing. In fact, it is making the process less strenuous and more efficient.

What is programmatic advertising?

It is the process of programmatic marketing, advertising and media buying. It involves real-time algorithmic selling and buying of ad space, via the use of the software. More and more marketers are opting for programmatic advertising because it’s customer specific and targeted.

Small Business Marketing Tips For The Holidays

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Halloween kick-starts the holidays. ‘Tis the time to be jolly and cash in on the consumer’s spending spirit. Holidays give way to marketing campaigns, sprouting faster than mushrooms. Every business works out marketing campaigns. However, not all succeed. Holiday small business marketing is all about Smarketing or Smart Marketing.

Here are a few examples of significant brands cashing in with the intelligent Holiday marketing campaigns. Check these 19 excellent holiday campaigns and use some of the strategies in your small business marketing campaign.

Holiday marketing campaign success stories

Another fantastic source of inspiration is Shark Tank. The show not only sharpens our innovation and creative streak but also helps hone your selling skills. Businesses that pitch on their special holiday episodes also provide tremendous insight into the opportunities that you can tap into niche or theme products.

The Living Christmas Company is a live Christmas Tree Rental company – to Tipsy Elves and their quirky, signature, Ugly Christmas and Tacky Christmas Sweaters. These and many others are a great example of how we can tap the Holiday Market. Watch here.

Scotty – from The Living Christmas Tree Rental gets a sweet deal from Mark Cuban for a 40% stake in his company and $150,000 investment. Tipsy Elves, on the other hand, last year itself had $900K in sales!  Watch here.

Another excellent holiday campaign that took the world by storm was the WestJet Christmas Miracle. The Canadian airline embarked on a project to perform 12,000 mini-miracles. The campaign celebrated the true spirit of giving with this campaign.

Next, we have the REI OptOutside campaign, where REI made a bold move and closed all their retail stores on Black Friday. Employees were given a day off, and the customers were encouraged to reconnect with one another and nature. While the campaign was risky, people raved about it long after Thanksgiving was over.  

Target’s ‘My Kind of Holiday’ offered its customers a personalized shopping experience. They combined their unique value offers with desired products to help people extraordinarily celebrate the holidays. The campaign extended to social media to spread the word with its own hashtag #MyKindOfHoliday. 

Here are 11 tips to start your Holiday marketing campaign immediately. 

11 tips to jump-start your Holiday marketing campaign

1) Emails Overhaul Hallmark

Emails overhaul Hallmark this holiday season. The fact that was using an app or email to wish your colleagues, near and dear ones – no doubt about it – is a lot easier than snail mail and traditional greeting cards. So, here is a brief Holiday Email Marketing Report that you can download and get ahead of the game.

You can also keep it simple and make it fast with this excellent Email Marketing Holiday Calendar and Planner 2016 – 2017. Or trust the champs – MailChimp – of email marketing with their season’s best tips and advice for your email marketing campaign strategies.

2) Adjusting Social Media for Holidays

Utilizing social media to reach your audience, especially during the holiday season, is a great and effective way to increase your sales. Here’s a tip you could follow, start frequently posting on Instagram. Why? Because according to the Holiday eCommerce Revealed study by Shopify, Instagram ranks as the #1 most successful non-paid platform to acquire new followers or subscribers. 

So, post social media content for a holiday. Add new creatives with discounts or deals for holiday-related products. You could also share lifestyle tips or new ways to improve gift-giving during the season. 

3) Publish Holiday Content

If you already have a blog or newsletter, then this is the perfect time to tweak it. Add content that targets your customers’ needs during the holidays. For example, if you see cookware, add new holiday-themed recipes that customers can make using your products. But, whatever you do, remember to include relevant keywords to improve your rankings for organic search.

Publish guides, how-to’s, and best gift ideas to show your customers you care. Adding comprehensive and quality content will attract new customers and remind previous customers why they chose you in the first place.

4) Partnering with other Businesses

As a small business owner, you need to get your business out there as much as possible. One of the best ways to do that is by teaming up with other companies. Look for complementary businesses that work with your brand, and connect with them to develop a comprehensive strategy that will help you both.

Collaborations are a great way to amplify your brand presence and to get people to buy. So, try pairing with products or services that go hand-in-hand with your brand. For example, if you sell cookware, then team up with a furniture store or a cafe.

5) Collaborate with Bloggers and Influencers

We all look actively look for gift ideas just before the holiday season, or we turn to our influencer gurus to give us ideas about what’s trending in the market. To get your business the value it needs, you need to collaborate with bloggers and influencers. That does not mean that you should connect with anyone and everyone who has a large audience. You need to collaborate with those people who connect with your brand.

Let’s say you sell cookware. It would not help if you collaborated with beauty bloggers or influencers. You need to connect with food bloggers or food influencers who have fans interested in food and cooking.

6) Develop a particular holiday product

Next on our list of tips is creating a unique holiday product. This tip may not help really small businesses, but it is a great way to get people interested in your brand. Let’s say you run a clothing and accessories line; you could create a holiday-themed collection that is stylish and in-vogue.

Another good idea is to create products that are not overly tied to the holidays but is also available during other periods, like limited-edition speakers. You can send out pre-order emails with discounts or deals and generate a buzz of excitement during the holiday season.

7) Decorate your website

To ensure that your customers know that your brand is going big this holiday season:

  1. Decorate your business for the holidays. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, then start decorating the store based on the holiday.
  2. If you sell through a website, add holiday-themed creatives to your site.
  3. Add decorative pieces to your emails and newsletters.
  4. Highlight the holidays with collections and pieces that are specific to the season. 

But, remember, while being creative, you need to make sure that your website or your store is not hurting others’ sentiments. Make sure you understand the holiday and plan according to it before you actually start the process of decorating for the season.

8) Join the community

People will always support others who support the community. For the holiday season, consider partnering with your community. Try giving back to the people who helped build your business. Depending on what you sell, you could always make a one-for-one donation, like TOMS shoes, or donate a percentage of the purchase to an organization like Everlane.

During holiday seasons, people are looking for worthy causes to fight for, so helping your customers give back to the community will help convince them to make a purchase and help make them happier. 

9) Create Unique Holiday Value Props

When creating different holiday strategies, remember to explain to your customers why they should buy your products in the first place. Make sure you tell them how your products solve their problems, especially during the holiday season.

Think about what makes your products unique, especially during the holiday season. Make sure you include those factors, especially when targeting a holiday audience. Start by updating your website to reflect the holidays, and make sure that you add value props to all social media posts, promotional materials, and email campaigns.

10) Offer Special Gifts for Holiday Season like Gift Wrapping

Shopping for the holiday can be extremely tough and stressful. So, going the extra mile by offering your customers a bonus will help increase sales and reward you with loyalty points.

So, you could offer customers gift-wrapping or seasonal decorative items to make sure they have all their bases covered.

You could also include holiday-themed cards with season greetings. If you offer delivery services, then you could also have free delivery options. If your customers buy in bulk, then you could offer them a small free product or service—anything to make customers understand that your brand is big on special events.

11) Host a Special Holiday Event

Hosting an event is a great way to connect with customers and visitors to your business. You don’t need to spend too much money, but a little goes a-long way. You could add unique games or wheel pop-ups to your site to make it more exciting. You could offer unique gifts or hidden surprises when people shop at your store. You could even host free tutoring sessions or webinars to help connect with your customers.

If you have an online business, you could also try partnering up with a popular retail store and host an event.

Wrapping Up

When planning your Smarketing list, make sure that you consider the products you sell and the audience you target. Ensure that you target the right audience; otherwise, you just might be showcasing Christmas-themed products to Hanukkah celebrating households.

Digital Marketing For Small Businesses: Weekly Round-Up – V2

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Lots happened last week. The pressure was undoubtedly high in Silicon Valley, with Peter Thiel double endorsement for Trump and Mark Zuckerberg defending The association. Silicon Valley is experiencing a Political Evolution, with its complete support for Hillary Clinton. Let’s get into the weekly update digital marketing for small business update and bypass this political fiasco for few minutes, shall we!

52 ways to get the best out of your content marketing strategy. Joe Pulizzi from Content Marketing Institute in his recent research pointed out the Result-Generating-Period for a company’s content marketing plan. He says, “It takes 12 – 24 months to get results from your content marketing efforts.” But, you don’t have to wait for 2 years. Use these 52 ways and start witnessing the impact in your business!

Online Marketing PODCASTS to look out for. Visual and audio content are gradually stepping up over other content formats. Here’s a list of 10 peer-to-peer online marketing podcasts that can help you in creating result-driven strategies.

Boost brand influence and increase its exposure amongst your target audience with these top live streaming platforms.

It’s Customer Experience Day. And what better way to kick-start it, with these expert-recommended books on CX. Focusing on Customer Experience is key to the success of every business.

Today, the marketing is customer-centric. Given the rise of social and digital media, along with the transforming buyer behavior, it is only mandatory to prioritize customer experience above every other business goal. These books will provide you with insights, expert advice and guidelines towards delivering the best customer experience.

2017 – digital marketing experts and analysts bet – will be about interactive emails. The market is flooded with apps and smartphones. Statistics suggest that users are becoming less keen on downloading majority of these apps.

Email – though considered as an underdog – is slowing gaining a lot of popularity amongst different businesses. It’s, in fact is becoming a key channel for communication.

More and more newsletter and email content are being integrated with GIFs. So, the concept of interactive emails is a possibility.

Interactive or static, whatever content format you use for your email marketing plan, you need to engage your audience and convert them into potential leads. Here’s a list of ways you can increase email marketing engagement and succeed in your outlined plan.