Impressions - June/July 2015 - 40

options, including Facebook, Google Plus,
Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Being on
any or all of these networks offers a prime
opportunity to share content. Facebook, for
one, has done a great job of understanding
individual users, drilling down to demographics and age. It allows a business to
follow or engage with people who could
be tomorrow's customers. It can position
a company where its prospects may reside. Furthermore, once the business has a
presence, Facebook advertising can gain exposure for a shop's brand and position it to
a precisely targeted market, ﬁltering your
ads to certain age ranges, interests, etc.
Social media requires a time investment. Apparel decorators should post content regularly, preferably daily. Scheduling
it in advance simpliﬁes the process and
minimizes the time you spend. Most importantly, your message should indicated
what your business is doing to help. What
problems are you solving? These are ways
to get people thinking about you with respect to their own needs. Incorporating
photos with your posts will boost interest.
If you're using several outlets, social
media apps like HootSuite and Buffer
allow you to link your social media accounts
and broadcast to all using one tool. This
multiplies the return on your time investment. It also enables you to automate and
schedule content, and build a queue. These
apps also use algorithms to determine the
optimal day and time to send content.

Social media now has become a
critical tool to promote your business. The
expectation is that if you are a legitimate
business, you will have it.

3.
40

Pay per click. For a fee, Bing,
Facebook and Google offer business owners the ability to display
targeted online ads based on

Impressions | June/July 2015

At a minimum, you should email
your customer list once a month, whether
you send a newsletter, coupon or new
product release.
keywords. You can pay based on thousands
of impressions (e.g., every thousand people
who see the ad); you also can pay per click,
or when a consumer sees your ad and then
clicks on it to reach a destination.
The latter is more effective because
it drives people to your website rather
than having them simply see your ad. You
bid on keywords or phrases for ad placement. The relevance of your website also
can factor into your positioning and what
it costs you, as the search engine is concerned with customer satisfaction.
The most important thing here is tracking your results. Commit to three months,
but check the responses you get daily. Also,
be sure to ask people how they heard about
your company and provide a way to track
any coupons you offer. Facebook and Google
offer tracking assistance. There should never
be an instance where you don't know if a
marketing approach is working.

Email marketing. This is
another way to communicate
with new prospects and existing
customers. Existing customers
are the easiest people to whom you can
sell. Don't make the mistake of doing a job
for a company and assuming you will get
its repeat business. Once you have a customer, it's about staying in front of him
and reminding him about your services.
Newsletters featuring new products
and services are a great way of doing this.
Email marketing is inexpensive, and many
services provide templates and tools you
can use. If you include something like a
special offer that the reader clicks on,
which sends you data, you also may consider sending him a secondary message.
Email your customers monthly to reconnect them with your brand and identity.
Email lists are permission-based. You
can include a form on your website or
send customers an initial email inviting
them to opt in to receive your newsletter.

Offering to take over the fundraising sales and order-taking/processing
function for a customer gives you a big edge
over your competition.

You also must include options to unsubscribe or report your emails as spam.

Fundraising. This is a great

approach to online marketing.
In today's economy, there are
many organizations trying to
raise funds and companies trying to fulﬁll
orders. Offering to take over the sales and
order-taking/processing function for a customer's fundraiser can give you a big edge
over your competition, boost your margin,
and raise your proﬁle and customer base.
Instead of fulﬁlling orders collected by
someone in an organization and selling to
them at wholesale to be marked up, you
can set up an online store, sell the fundraising items for near-retail prices and
give the group a percentage-based commission or donation. This streamlines the
process and reduces headaches for you
and your customer.
You can expand the product offerings
and sales, as well as the reach of your company and the organization, by having its
member share the online store link. It's
an extension of your company and the
higher price brings in more money for the
organization. Presenting this option that
consumers are supporting to non-proﬁt
groups can attract new customers. It's a
goodwill gesture and good marketing.
It's an investment of time and some
money, but there's no better way to build
your company than engaging in regular
marketing activities. Hopefully these ideas
will give you the motivation and incentive
to get started.
J.P. Hunt is one of the founders of InkSoft, a company that offers a comprehensive
business suite including an online designer,
e-commerce platform and other business tools.
He also is the vice president of sales and marketing. For more information or to comment
on this article, email J.P. at jphunt@inksoft.
com or visit www.inksoft.com.
impressionsmag.com

http://www.inksoft.com http://www.impressionsmag.com

Impressions - June/July 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - June/July 2015