A while back, we discussed various free online tools that allow you to monitor your brand’s reputation online. These tools enable you to search blogs and websites that have mentioned you and your company. But how often do you Google your business?

There are several reasons you should keep up with your brand’s ranking on Google. First of all, if you run a business online, it’s likely that you put effort into search engine optimization. So, a common reason to use Google here would be to check out your keywords. Say your site sells parts for cars and you want to check your rankings for certain keywords you focus on, such as “ford explorer shocks” or “cold air intake.” To get an effective idea as to how your site and pages are ranking for these keywords, you should be using Google at least twice a week to check up.

In addition to the monitoring tools mentioned in the link above, you should also randomly check Google throughout the week to see what’s being said about your brand online. There are several third party sites that house reviews and coupon codes for websites that show up in Google searches. While some of these sites offer positive effects to your company, some of them can be so negative that they result in damage to your business.

Sites like epinions.com and measuredup.com allow consumers to create a profile about your company and review their experience. Back to the car part store – let’s call it “shopcarparts.com.” If you Google “shopcarparts.com” and you find a negative review about your company, what do you do? Keep in mind that if you see it on Google, customers (and potential customers) are seeing it, too.

Over at the Personal Branding Blog, they suggest sending out a press release as a way to control your Google results. Although they discuss sending out a personal press release, which may or may not be relevant to your business, it’s still a great idea to build off of. Not only is a press release a good way to gain results in Google, it also provides links and anchor text that boost SEO value.

These are just a few reasons it is important to use a site as simple as Google to keep up on your customer service and marketing endeavors. Are there any other suggestions your business has used? We’d love to hear them in the comments!

Can you imagine looking forward to filing? Maybe even being obsessed with filing? Me neither. Until I stumbled upon these creative file folders from Sorting with Style.

They are so pretty that they make me want to start filing papers and get organized. Not only do they look fabulous, but they are heavyweight and durable as well. These letter-size folders will immediately add flair to any tedious filing job. Plus, they have different tab locations for efficient organization.

Or, if you aren’t a big filing kind-of-guy-or-gal you can use these beauties to store documents for meetings and presentations – your coworkers will be green with envy!

While these decorative file folders are a tad more expensive than traditional manila folders, they are clearly a LOT more fun. As you can see from the two designs shown, they cater to both men and women.  

There are folders with funky damask designs with a hot pink interior to brighten anyone’s filing experience. For the manly man, there is a nice wood spiral file folder that adds a personal touch to handling and storing documents. Sorting with Style has tons of great file folders – from maps of the world to parakeets to polka dots.

How would you use these fun file folders – for actual filing or just for decoration?

In a recent post on The Basics of Variable Data Marketing, we discussed using variable data marketing to enhance the marketing program within your small business. Variable data can be used in emails and direct mailing to reach out to customers, using personal and relevant content that relates to each customer individually. From using this form of marketing, a loyal relationship is established between the customer and the business.

Such a relationship is formed because the customer feels a connection through the personalized marketing. To maintain this connection, PURLs are introduced through direct mailing. A PURL is a personalized URL given to customers for a specific use. Typically the PURL address has the customer’s name at the end of your company’s website.

Hopefully you have used your PURL here at the Supplies Guys, as seen above. If so, you know that it is our website with your name and zip code at the end. Here, we use PURLs to make ordering easy for our customers. But that isn’t the only function of PURLs; they can be worked into any type of marketing plan for any type of business.

For example, many companies use PURLs to obtain new customers. Mailing lists can be rented for one time use so that a company can reach a new audience. To entice the potential customer, it is suggested that the company offer a discount or free service if the person visits their PURL site.

Once the customer is at the site, the company has several options to keep their interest. A short video can be played that explains the services of the business. Or, a quick survey of 3 to 5 questions can pop up to gain an understanding of the customer’s wants and needs. Whatever you want people to see at their PURL site is completely up to you.

Additionally, there are some ideas that have been proven to provide effective results in PURL campaigns. For starters, many marketers suggest leading your customers/potential customers to an informative landing page. If you’re going to include a survey, don’t require the person’s email address or phone number. Studies show that asking new customers to provide personal information at the PURL landing page often causes many customers to abandon the page. Secondly, make sure the PURL, direct mail and email all have relative content and artwork so the customer feels comfortable and familiar. Most importantly, you need an exciting incentive so your customer will want to check out their PURL.

Not that we know what PURLs can do for your customers, let’s talk about what they can do for you. Because customers are interested in a website with their name, PURLs generally bring a high response rate. Since you can immediately see who is visiting the site and learn what they’re saying right away, you can quickly generate your response rate. If a survey or questionnaire is part of the site, the PURL functionality gives you automatic results each time a customer responds.  Such real-time reporting allows you to start initiating follow-ups and serve appropriate offers as soon as you receive the responses.

From knowing what your customers are looking at on the PURL and what items or services they are interested in, you learn what you can do to keep the customer coming back for more. Best of all, the PURL enables you to connect your sales and variable data marketing plans together for a more efficient system.

Finally, the PURLs are environmentally friendly for your business. No longer do you need large, colorful flyers. Marketing materials can be small postcards, as long as they include the PURL, where the customer now obtains important information electronically and personally. Also, PURLs are great to include in your email marketing. All it takes is one click and your customer is at their PURL!

What do you think about PURLs and variable data marketing? How would they be useful to your small business?

If your small business is currently implementing a direct marketing or email marketing campaign, have you considered variable data marketing? Essentially, variable data marketing is personalized marketing. It allows your business to create marketing materials that relate directly to each customer by including their first names and highlighting products or services they’ve purchased in the past.

To do this, data is taken from a structured database and inserted into the chosen artwork. Just as the name states, the data is varied for each piece – whether it be a postcard, email, brochure, etc. The customer’s name, the product being offered, the graphics and text can all be changed from one postcard or email to the next without interrupting distribution.

Here is an example of how we utilize variable data within our direct marketing at The Supplies Guys:

Just on the front of this postcard, we are able to vary the data three times: the customer’s name, a special offer for a product they’ve purchased from us, and their personal web address. (More on that web address, called a PURL, in a separate post!)

To create these postcards, we first determine the artwork to be used. When it is time to print, the database is prepared with the customer information which is then plugged in to the corresponding areas on the postcard. The data is inserted and then printed out continuously. A benefit to variable data marketing is that even with this data changing, the methods aren’t interrupted. Also, there is no need to print large quantities; you can start small to test out the return on investment.

So, now that you have a better idea of what variable data marketing is, and how it can be used in various marketing materials, it’s important to know the benefits for your business. Because of the customization put into variable data, costs are higher than for standard direct and email marketing campaigns. However, studies have shown that because messages are relevant to customers, response rates tend to be higher than with standard campaigns.

The relevance and personalization of variable data marketing resonates with customers and builds their loyalty to your company. By working with your customer database, you are able to know things about them, such as frequency of purchase. Variable data marketing enables your company to send offers based on the individual customer’s timeframe, establishing reliability.

These simple things, such as knowing the customer’s purchase history and habits gives the business owner full control of enticing the customer with appropriate offers. In doing so with variable data marketing, customers take notice of this special interest. From this, customers establish loyalty and become longtime customers…that will hopefully refer your company to their friends and family!

So, those are the basics and benefits of variable data marketing. Do you see this form of marketing as an option for your small business?