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Actively Implementing Marketing Solutions One Year Celebration!

Its Actively Implementing Marketing Solutions 1 year Celebration! We know we could not have done it without all of our amazing small business owners and customers. So I just want to take this moment to say Thank You to all of the small business owners who over the past year have worked with me to grow my business. 
I know that working on marketing campaigns and social media can be a pain in the a$$. I just want to say that it means the world to me that you choose Actively Implementing Marketing Solutions to assist in growing your marketing efforts. 
Moving forward we hope to make this year better than the last. With our clients support and trust we hope to work with more amazing small business owners to help develop; social media, lead generation, customer retention, and build a positive online presence. 
So again I just want to say a heartfelt Thank You to everyone who has supported Actively Implementing Marketing Solutions over this past year. 
What am I doing to celebrate you might ask? Well right now I am in China visiting a friend who is finishing up her international internship. I know a cake would have been easier but this is so much more fun.

The Professional Way to Connect on Twitter

Follow friends and business partners

 

First things first, follow the people you already know. Follow the people and businesses you already do business with. Sounds simple, but it can be misleading. 
Ask yourself if the person you are following will benefit your Twitter interactions. An example is if I am an insurance agent is it a good idea to follow my friend’s sister’s cousin who is a student at Oregon University? Well maybe, what is she tweeting. If she is tweeting informative content about local and relevant news then maybe it would be worth reading her tweets. More likely she is tweeting about a final or big party she went to last night, and then it would not make sense for me to follow her on twitter. 
Read what people are tweeting before follow them. This is a warning so you do not have to read mindless dribble all over your twitter feed. It’s not mean its pre-screening with a purpose. 

Follow your industry leaders

 

Find people you respect and look up to in your industry and follow them on twitter. Once you follow your industry leaders check out who they are following. Chances are they will be following amazing people in your industry you didn’t even know about. 
Also follow industry news sources.  So you are up to date on the latest news stories in your industry and field. 

Tweet relevant material 

 

This step should be easy if you have followed the steps above. Now your twitter feed is full of interesting relevant material to your business. You should be overloaded with blogs, news reports, local updates and helpful tips from your industry’s leaders. Now to wade through it all and find relevant material your twitter audience would be interested in viewing. 
Keep your content focused with an emphasis on giving relevant information that with benefit your reader. Then retweet and share content to your heart’s content. 

Connect

 

Now everything that is up above will get you new twitter followers and create a abundant source for you to share with your customers. This is all good, but the real gold in twitter in connecting with people. If you like someone’s blog post comment on it. Make them a friend on Facebook or LinkedIn. Making these connections is the entire point of using social media. Be Social! Be Yourself! Start Connecting! 
How do you use twitter? Do you use any of the techniques talked about above.

Hootsuite: Organize You’re Social Media

I am the person who signed up for Hootsuite after a riveting marketing discussion with Kevin Chow and never touched it again… until recently. I am glade to say I did. After talking with a few other people about why they have yet to truly embrace Hootsuite as a social network posting tool the answer was clear. We don’t know how to use it. So I am just going to go over some of the basics of Hootsuite and show you how I use it and why I like it. Hope this blog inspires you to get your social media in order and start using Hootsuite or other platforms like it to simplify your life.  

Getting Started

If you are like me after I created the password for Hootsuite I left and never really touched it again. The first step is getting started.  Add social networks to your Hootsuite board. I am currently using the free version so I am limited to 5 tabs which is fine with me because I am only using 4 of them. They make it simple to connect but you will have to give Hootsuite permission to post on your sites.

Learn How to Read Your Social Steams

Now you should have a tab for each social media you added to your Hootsuite board. Learn how to read them and what they mean. It can be a little daunting at first with so much information on one page. Decide how often you would like to refresh the content on the board to keep it up to date.

Publisher or Scheduling messages

This is why I learned to love Hootsuite and started using it all the time. Scheduling messages to be sent out on multiple social Medias. Using the compose message and the scheduling button I can now schedule all of my social media posts throughout the week. If I am on vacation it is no problem. I can still have my Facebook, Twitter and Google plus have relevant content on a daily bases without lifting a finger.

Reports

Reports from Hootsuite are another great feature. Getting a good look at what social media posts got the most clicks, or where the traffic was generated from is helpful in how I structure my social media strategy.
Check out what Alexandra Cojocaru has to say about it in her blog. 
Now that you are thinking of giving Hootsuite a chance feel free to call or email me if you need help navigating it the first few times. 
Do you use a social media platform to keep you organized and on top of social media? If so which one do you use and why do you like it?

Using Testimonials

We all strive for that testimonial of true appreciation. Were the customer is truly happy about working with your business and is nice enough to share it with the world. Now what to do with this little nugget of social proof that confirms your company’s awesomeness? Well I have a few ideas for you. 

You’re Website! 

 

 Putting testimonials on your website is a no brainier. Social proof is one of the best ways to persuade your prospective clients to work with you over your competitor. Put the testimonials on the home page; give them their own tab, put really good ones on forms. Use them often and keep them visible on your site.  

Emails 

 

At the bottom of your email put a P.S. testimonial. If you have two that are really good add a P.S.S. testimonial. These show people you are communicating with on a daily basis that you care about what your customers have to say, and you are proud to show the success of your business. It is easy to add testimonials to your emails by added them to your email signature. If you need some help adding testimonials to your Email signature click here to get the step by step instruction from Microsoft Office Support. 

Postcards/Mailers 

 

Adding even one testimonial from a neighbor, friend, or fellow community member can make all the difference in a postcard or mailer. If you are mailing to a niche try and select a testimonial from leaders or successful people within that niche. Make sure they stand out and try and put more than one testimonial if you have space. Or check out this blog from Dr. Larina Kase to make your testimonials more effective. 

Social Media

 

Try to put all of your testimonials on social media. That is where people can see the social proof of their “friends” literally singing your company’s praise. Post them to Facebook and make sure to highlight them. Make an iFrameand have a few testimonials and also a form to allow your customers to add testimonials. Tweet your testimonials; post them to Google+ and a few to LinkedIn.

Business Cards/Brochures  

 

Add a testimonial to the back of your business card. Put at least one or two on a brochure or other company handouts. Put testimonials on any promotional material you can.
To sum things up put a testimonial on anything you can. Use testimonials to your advantage and see your business grow. 
Where do you see the best results in your business when using testimonials? 

5 Things To Do Durning A Slow Business Period

Every business has it, the dreaded slow month where the phones barley ring and everyone in the office goes on vacation. Well if you are still stuck at your desk here are a few ideas to turn your slow period into a productive period. 
Clean Up
When it is nice and slow is always a good idea to straighten up the office. Clean off your desk of all the piles of paper, file what is important and recycle the rest. Why should I clean my desk you say well here are some statistics from John Campanelli on the matter:
·       85%of workers believe that a clean desk says that “someone is on top of things.”
·       40%of workers admit to “frequently” losing paperwork because of their messy desks.
·       There are almost 21,000 bacteria per square inch on a average worker’s desk.
·       There are more than 25,000 bacteria per square inch on a average worker’s phone.
·       Compare that to 49 – the number of bacteria per square inch on the typical office toilet seat. 
Clean off your computer desktop. Go through all of your emails and file the important emails and delete the rest. Go through your office supply closet clean it up so you know what you have and what you need to buy the next time you go to the store. 
Read
Pick up that brand awareness book or the social media expert book and read. Read articles and industry reports. If you are like me you make a pile of to-read material. I would like to say I get to it all the time, but I don’t. During a slow period I find when I read these documents I get inspired to improve my business. 
Need some inspiration check out the 800 CEO read list of the Business Book Bestseller List for 2012.
Review
After you get inspired by that awesome Time Management Book review your business and see where you can implement your new knowledge. Look for everyday tasks that could be made easier. Try to stream line processes and reduce nonsense paper pushing. The goal here is to try and make your business as efficient as possible while still covering all of your bases. 
During this review process it is a good idea to do some research. Take the time to research your new idea and see how it would benefit your business. Make sure you talk with your staff about procedures before you edit them to make sure it would truly improve their work flow. 
If you think you don’t need to review your business because it is already perfect, check out this blog from Under30CEO. 
Implement
Now that you have decided to improve your business, put your ideas into action. If you have wanted to start a welcome campaign for all your new customers now would be a great time to do it. Follow through with your implementation and test out your results while it is slow. Then during a busier period you will not be trying to learn a new thing, making it even harder to serve your customers. 
Need some inspiration check this Brit out for some advice. 
Plan Ahead
Right now if you are like, uh I have already done all of this stuff. Then you should start planning ahead for your busy period. Start writing blogs for the next 3 months. Use social dashboards like Hootsuit to plan out your social media posts and tweets for the next month. Write free reports to give to your customers. Refresh old letters and emails that you send to your customers. 
If you have done all of this and can’t think of anything else to do then your slow period can only end with you taking action. Hit the cement and go get yourself some more customers and when they flock to your business you will be organized and prepared to serve them. 
What do you try to accomplish during a slow period in your business. Try to be specific.

Introducing Our New Service: Social Media Management

Do you ever find yourself wishing you had more time in the day to use social media for your business? Being able to post blogs once a week, have interactive content on Facebook, and integrate that content with Twitter, Google Plus and even on Pinterest. 
Well now you can have it all. Actively Implementing Marketing Solutions is now offering Social Media Management. This is a great offer helping you create useful content for your blogs and web page and integrating content throughout multiple social networking sites. Actively Implementing Marketing Solutions will even track your social media statistics monthly, to easily see your social progress.  Your company will be social all year round and you will be building a content library giving you customer’s quality content as well as boosting your organic search. 
Planning ahead with you digital marketing efforts can save you time and help grow your business. Using a social media expert to help you be social all year round is necessary to keep social interaction at its best.
Luckily this service from Alternative Insurance Marketing Solutions is extremely affordable. 
Every week you will receive:
·       1 blog creation and posting
·       Office updates
·       And linking back to website to drive traffic 
Every Day you will receive:
·       Facebook postings
·       Twitter tweeting
·       Google plus postings
·       Pinterest posts
Everything listed above normally costs anywhere between $500 – $5000 dollars. Example1 Example2. Actively Implementing Marketing Solutions only cost you $237 dollars a month, which is $60 dollars a week. I bet you spend more money eating lunch out a week than it would cost to make your business a Digital Social Giant. To hire a part time employee to do the same work you would be paying up to $960 a month at $8 an hour! Jump into the social business networking with confidence. 
Choose Actively Implementing Marketing Solutions to handle your Social Networking needs today. All you have to do is fill out the short form below or call us at 401-400-2467, and Actively Implementing Marketing Solutions will be getting a hold of you shortly.  

Insurance Blog Idea of the Week

Become a part of our email list to start receiving weekly insurance blog ideas.
Each blog idea will come with a few sites you can get more information from to help in the writing of your insurance blog.

Blogging is important because it creates fresh new content to your website, keeps your audience/customers engaged and in touch with your company and shows potential customers that you truly are an expert in your field.

One of the hardest things about blogging is coming up with an idea or having the time to research your idea. Well here at Actively Implementing Marketing Solutions we are constantly trying to make using technology to market your business easier. We hope you like the new weekly blog ideas and can utilize the ideas into your company’s blogging.

Thank You,

Cheri Lesueur
Vice President
Actively Implementing Marketing Solutions
53444 Bridge Dr.
La Pine OR 97739
401-400-2467
cheri@implementnow.org

Blog Idea for the week of July 23-27…….



For more information about getting on our email list for weekly blog ideas fill out the form below. 


The 1-2-3’s of Insurance blogging

Are you an expert insurance blogger? Great leave a comment below to help the rest of us.
I am just going to say it, blogging is not easy. Insurance blogging is also not easy, but with a few tips to make it easier. So I give you the 1-2-3’s of insurance marketing.
  1. Good Content
The heartbeat of every blog is the content. Lucky for insurance agents it is endless. I tend to think of ideas that evoke fear in the audience. Now I am not talking about Edgar Allan Poescary I am talking about everyday fears. Like having my house getting broke into, getting in a car accident, or getting hurt on a vacation in China kind of fears. These daily fears are the reason why people buy insurance in the first place. To have some sort of peace of mind that they will be taken care of if something bad happens. They key to blogging about insurance is to remind the reader of a scary event that could happen then give the reader prevention techniques or ideas.
An example:
Use photos to tell the story for you. An image can say a thousand words about what an article is about before the reader even looks at the title. Every blog should have a basic image that references the topic of the blog.
An easy example:
A blog on boater’s safety should have a picture of a family boating on a lake. 
      2.  Call To Action
Now that you have the best content around you need to have a call to action. Now that your readers have learned a few new tips to keep their family and property safer close the deal. Every blog you post has the potential to get you new leads, and customers. If your content is compelling then your reader is more likely to go to the next step and complete your call to action.
An example:
·       Like this? Share it on Facebook.
·       Need more info on X, Y, or Z? Get a quote now.
·       Check to make sure you are covered. Call 800-888-1234
             3.  Sharing
Now that you have written your blog with compelling content, and have a call to action you need to spread the word. No one will read your blog if you do not put it in front of their faces. I try to share my content with the people who will benefit the most from reading each blog post. Post the blog to your company website, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Email your clients and prospects the blogs that pertain to them.
An example:
Bike safety can go to everyone on social media and all of the clients that have auto and home insurance as well as any bike shop businesses or bike rental business covered by the agency. Or even better put the bike safety blog out during bike to work week and  send it to everyone!
Blog Often
So now that you know how to make a killer blog do it often. Try for once a week or once every two weeks. The more content you have out there the better for web searches and internet based lead generation.
If you are like me and don’t like thinking of a topic subscribe to our email list below and I will be sending out insurance blog ideas once a week.

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4 Tips: Presenting to Potential Clients

Presenting to potential clients is never fun. You spend a lot of time getting all of the facts in order and making your PowerPoint and in the end you are not sure if you will even get the client/job. 
We all know making a good presentation is important, but what are some of the ways to make an impression and a sale. 
Visuals 
Having the information easy to understand with clear visuals is one way to make an impression.
If one presenter hands you a document full of number and graphs you are not very likely to read them or understand everything you are reading.
 On the other hand having someone hand you a iPad with touch screen so they can touch a graph and see where the information comes from is a completely different story. 
Visuals such as graphs and charts are meant to accumulate the data in an easy to read format. Don’t overdo it. 
Creativity
 Who says you have to give a PowerPoint? Get creative. Think outside the presentation box. Use items in front of your audience so they can touch or change an item you are talking about. Use video, music, art just get the concept crossed without your audience falling asleep. 
One idea is to line a table with paper. Start your presentation with a drawing of what you are offering. Let everyone in the room write on the paper with questions or concerns after you give them the big picture idea. At the end of the presentation you will be able to see how each step of the presentation went and it keeps your audience engaged and part of the process. Not just a silent blob waiting for you to shut up so they can go to lunch. 
Present for the Audience
Ask yourself this one simple question when preparing for a presentation – So What?
When you stand up in front of your audience make sure they are not asking themselves, So What? You want to tell them why this information you are presenting pertains to them. Why is it important to them. Answer that question in every presentation and you will make sales. 
An example:
“Thank you for your time today. I want to begin by telling you about my company, my product, and myself. My company was founded in 1858, and we now have more than 5,000 employees worldwide. Also, we have recently won a customer satisfaction award, and we have been named one of the best places to work in America…”
Bla bla bla why does any of that matter? So What?
Or
“Do you know how many investment salespeople come in and simply want to pitch their latest product? Well, what I do is entirely different. What I want to talk to you about today is what matters most to you and your clients: safety, guarantees, and income.”
“To give you some background, my company was founded in 1858. The reason that’s important is because we have survived wars, recessions, earthquakes, and depressions, and have kept every promise we have made to our clients. This is an important thing to remember when making an investment that you want to last more than 30 years.”
“We have over 5,000 employees worldwide, which is big enough to make us a serious player, but small enough to know who you are.”
“Finally, we were recently named one of the best places to work in America. The reason this is important to you is because of the quality and experience of our service representatives, whose average tenure at our company is 12 years. What this means is that a real person will answer your phone call in less than 30 seconds, and they can usually answer your question the first time”
Now I know why each of those thing pertains to me! The audience member. Ask yourself So What?
Content above taken from the book So What? By Mark Magnacca. 
Confidence
Walk to the front of the room with some confidence. It can make a world of difference if you walk up to the front of the room with your head held high and a smile on your face than if you saunter up trying not to meet anyone’s eye as you start talking. 
Get To It
So for your next presentation for a prospective client or just your office staff, try these 4 tips to keep everyone awake and engaged.
What type of presentation tips do you use?

Completing Task Notifications

Sometimes completing your task notifications can be a pain in the you know where.
Here is a video on how to complete your task notifications like a pro.
If you find your self overwhelmed with the pesky notifications call me Cheri Lesueur at 401-400-2467. I specialize in Send Pepper, Agency Revolution, and Fire Fly database management.

Enjoy the video!

Have any questions or need help with your data management system? Please call 401-400-2467 or email me at cheri@implementnow.org.