3 Pre-Requisites to Social Media Success

Posted on May 24, 2013 by deborah

Social Media can be an incredibly effective tool for your business’ marketing and branding. Are you looking to refocus your online presence? Good on you! Your willingness to adapt to a new era is the first step in putting your business on the path of growth. But before you jump onto Facebook or Twitter, STOP! Read the following pre-requisites any business needs to fully reap the benefits of Social Media Marketing:

A relevant product/service – Whatever you’re selling should serve a purpose in your customer’s life; more importantly, it should be relevant. In an increasingly dynamic market, it is important to ask yourself: Is my product a “must have”? Who is my customer and what are their preferences? Is my brand visible? The answers to these questions can provide a starting point in measuring your business’ relevancy. Additionally, it can give you insight on whether there is a need to optimize your marketing strategy, your product, or both.

Top-notch customer service – Keep in mind that your customers have easy access to information about your company and sharing the customer experience online has become common for many. Hence, superior customer service should be a central and consistent aspect of your business. Ensure that all of your employees are knowledgeable, amiable and work urgently without compromising the quality of service. If you haven’t already, familiarize yourself with Yelp, an online local business directory that doubles as a social network. With more than 100 million users, it’s necessary that your business have a presence there – for both branding purposes and to measure your business against customer reviews.

Shared values – People will want to do business with you if they like who you are and what you stand for. In order to strengthen the relationship between your brand and your customer, you need to send them a message other than “buy my product.” Engage in community service causes that appeal to you – volunteer as a company, be an event sponsor or educate about an issue; then share your efforts online. Adding an additional dynamic to your brand may be the reason why someone chooses your product over your competitor. If your goal is to drive sales, remember: altruism is good for business.

The Importance of Email Marketing

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Wing

Remember the days when we used to send emails to our family and friends, instead of relying on instant messaging or Facebook communication? Well guess what? Despite the advancements in methods of communication, emails are still as popular as always! According to the Radicati Group Inc., www.radicati.com, a company that specializes in “providing quantitative and qualitative research on email, security, instant messaging [...] and more,” an approximated 294 billion emails are sent each day, which means around 2.8 million emails are sent per second. Emailing is not only a great way of communicating with co-workers and businesses during working hours, it is also an impactful tool used in marketing.

Welcome to Email Marketing 101. Something that many individuals don’t always recognize is that email marketing is extremely useful in the marketing arena. In terms of both quantity and quality, email marketing is an effective tool if a business wants to keep their audience. Let’s talk about quantity. Statistics show that emails have nearly three times as many user accounts as those of Facebook and Twitter combined. Whether the account belongs to a high school student who needs to exchange project ideas with a classmate, a CEO of a company who needs to communicate with employees or a grandfather who is keeping in touch with their grandchildren, owning an email account seems suitable for individuals of all ages and useful in all circumstances. It is a universal tool that everyone will use whether at work or at home; therefore, email reaches a larger audience than most communication platforms. In terms of quality, email marketing techniques are more personal than those of public platforms. If a company sends electronic newsletters that are filled with company updates, coupons, and promotions to those on their customer email list, their recipients will most likely be interested in their newsletter and become more loyal and attached to that company. A well-executed email marketing campaign will prep subscribers to start expecting future emails. Email marketing is a great way to make subscribers feel more exclusive because a limited number of people will receive the business’ emails. Email marketing is a great tool for any business!

Though methods of communication have advanced, emails have not lost their importance. Billions of emails are distributed each day by individuals of all ages and both genders. Email marketing is a useful marketing channel, a great way to grow any business’s relationship with customers as well as being an impactful tool for driving new customers sales. Let Ready Artwork help your business with email marketing to help you create a more personal experience with your present and future customers! Call us at 626.400.4511, and we’ll be ready to assist you!

How Will Blog Marketing Help Boost Traffic to Your Business?

Posted on February 5, 2013 by vivian

In the late 90’s, early 2000’s, blogging was a tool for personal diaries that were not always shared on public websites. Today, blogging has become a mainstream method of marketing. Did you know that blogs on company websites results an increase of 55% more visitors? According to Content Plus, 37% of marketers say that blogs are the most valuable content type for marketing. Businesses can utilize their blogs to help drive traffic to their websites and increase sales. Compelling content helps drive sales by informing consumers about the products/services your business offers. It also expresses a more personable side to your business. 70% of consumers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than ads, which may get costly. Blogs are also beneficial to companies because it is a great way to establish your brand to the public. Branding tells a story, and stories rely on the content of your website.

But are blogs really that effective? According to Content Marketers, there are many directions you could go to increase web traffic, such as webinars/webcasts, case studies, videos, and even blogs.

Let Ready Artwork count down the top 3 traffic drivers for websites…

3.) Case Studies take up 32% of web traffic

2.) Videos take up 36% of web traffic

1.) Blogs take up 45% of web traffic

Blogging works! 57% of companies have acquired a customer through blogging. Based on statistics, it is smart to always keep your blog page updated with relevant content.

Blogs can also help you establish your company as an expert within your industry, while engaging with consumers intellectually and visually with relevant content and pictures. Let’s not forget about the SEO aspect of blogging. Because modern Search Engines consider up to date and relevant content heavily in their ranking system, blogs are more important than ever. Blogs create quality searchable results for your company by noticing keywords and phrases used in the content of your blog. This helps the web crawlers from search engines search and rank your websites. Having your website in top search results is a key factor in how much traffic you will get.

After hearing about the importance of blogging, did it open your eyes to a whole new way of marketing? Here at Ready Artwork, we blog every week in order to keep our fans informed with the most up to date website and marketing trends, while displaying our expertise. Our marketing team also helps our clients write content and blogs. Need help getting started on a blog? Visit us at www.readyartwork.com.

Work Hard, Play Hard, A Motto We Live By…

Posted on January 9, 2013 by sing

Many of us agree that 2012 passed by way more quickly than we anticipated. We have survived the end of the world and are beginning to plan resolutions for the New Year! Here at Ready Artwork, we make sure that we balance ourselves between work and play; therefore, we are refreshed and rejuvenated to keep our creative juices flowing throughout the workday. We want to share a recap of Ready Artwork’s holiday celebration before the New Year!

We had an End of the World-Christmas Party where we gorged ourselves with delicious homemade pot stickers, spaghetti with meatballs, slabs of lamb, curry fish balls and mouth-watering chocolate brownies shaped like candy canes. What a great way to give thanks to the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013.

We have much to be grateful for here at Ready Artwork, in addition to our family and friends, we have also bonded together over multiple team events, good food, and great memories. We wanted to say Thanks to each of our colleagues through our Secret Santa Gift Exchange. We wrapped our gifts and added colorful strands of ribbon and put it under our beautiful Ready Artwork Christmas tree.

In addition to presents, good food and great company, Santa also came and visited us with the City of San Gabriel Mayor, Kevin. We were surprised and thrilled when we heard fire engines and police officer sirens going off in the Mission District.

Santa, along with the City of San Gabriel Mayor, Kevin Sawkins, and the City Council awarded Ready Artwork as the most well-decorated and spirited business in the San Gabriel District! What an honor to be awarded the 2012 “Light Up San Gabriel Business Award”.

Everyone here at Ready Artwork wishes you a Happy Holiday and an amazing New Year. We hope your holiday season is filled with lots of love, joy, and happiness. ‘Tis the season to give thanks for the things we are blessed with. We are thankful for each other, our customers, fans, and everyone who has supported us throughout the years!

New Year’s Resolutions: I Want to Grow My Business!

Posted on December 10, 2012 by vivian

Forget those typical New Year’s Resolutions for dieting and exercising. You can always make those commitments later in the year. What about setting New Year’s Resolutions to help you and your businesses grow? Once you set your resolutions, you will be more motivated to keep them and the end goal can help develop your business and take it to another level. Here are some suggestions for your New Year’s Resolutions on how to grow your business:

1. Set your sales goals early on. Have you ever set sales goals for your business? Was it forecasted daily, weekly, or monthly? Think of it as an important process to achieve success. When you’re coming up with a sales goal, you need to know how much more sales you wish to make compared to previous years. Depending on how aggressive you want your business to grow, you can set your sales goals to increase by a 5%, 8%, or even 10%. Pull up your old records to do a comparison and analyze your growth rate. Afterward, you can calculate your growth trend and forecast your sales for the upcoming year. You always want your sales goals to be slighter higher than your forecasted sales as a way of motivation. After that, you can start coming up with an implementation/execution plan.

2. Set marketing objectives for the year. What do you wish to accomplish for this upcoming year? Is it to build brand awareness, increase your website or storefront traffic, or build your fan base? You can set multiple marketing objectives for your business, but try not to overstretch yourself. Know your limits! Once you know what objectives you want to achieve, you can start coming up with your marketing plan. Let’s just say your marketing objectives is to increase your fan base, how will you achieve that? Is it by word of mouth, Facebook promoted ads, or other campaigns? Once you figured our your marketing objectives, planning can become much easy. Check your progress! Objectives are great references to go back to at the end of the year. You will feel that you have accomplished so much more, when you’re crossing these objectives off your list.

3. Listen more. Getting feedback from your employees and customers can help improve your business and increase your sales. We sometimes simply can’t see all the flaws in our own business and/or website. By asking for feedback and actively listening to them, you will know how to better yourself and your business. Sometimes the littlest things can affect sales, services, or even the operation process.

4. Take care of yourself. A lot of business owners sometimes forget to take a break, while running their businesses. You need to have some time to relax and clear your head. Sometimes that’s the best way to generate new ideas for marketing, sales, and many other aspects of a business! You are as important as your customers. You are the only one who can take time to care for yourself.

In order to run a business successfully, you need to keep these tips in mind. What better way to start your New Year off than with some great New Year’s Resolutions!

Here at Ready Artwork, we can assist you and your business in achieving your goals. We offer website development, graphic design, social media marketing, and many more. These services all can help you achieve the biggest New Year’s Resolution of all – Growing Your Business!

Business Success Story: San Gabriel Mission

Posted on December 7, 2012 by vivian

Business Success Story: San Gabriel Mission

San Gabriel Mission is a fully functioning Roman Catholic mission and a historic landmark that resides in San Gabriel, CA. Ready Artwork first took on the San Gabriel Mission’s Facebook account back in September of this year. Because it was such a fairly new account, we struggled to bring in new fans and followers. One of the challenges we faced when building a community was the vast amount of Facebook pages, people, and places created for San Gabriel Mission by community members. We took on that challenge and tackled it with grace. For the month of November, we claimed all the possible Facebook pages, people, and places created for San Gabriel Mission by patrons. Because of that, Ready Artwork was able to help San Gabriel Mission increase their fan base by at least 85%. We are proud of our success and accomplishment!

On behalf of San Gabriel Mission, we have been posting relevant Facebook posts about any Catholic holidays/events and current happenings at the San Gabriel Mission, San Gabriel Elementary School, San Gabriel High School, and the San Gabriel Community. We were able to increase in engaged users and reach by over 83%. There was a dramatic increase in the amount of people talking about the San Gabriel Mission by over 137%. We look forward to promoting more events held at the San Gabriel Mission and getting the community actively involved!

Previously, many visitors were confused during check-ins because there were multiple locations to do so. Now, we were able to ensure steady check-ins at the San Gabriel Mission. By collecting everything into one account, Ready Artwork was able to ensure consistent information and message is given out to San Gabriel Mission’s fans.

Many businesses have problems with multiple locations that their patrons have created for them. These locations confuse others during check-ins, follow, and even obtaining information.

Here at Ready Artwork, we were able to assist San Gabriel Mission to claim all the existing Facebook locations and pages for them. Because of that, we were able to gather all accounts’ fan bases and increased their check-ins, reach, virality, and many more. Visitors no longer have to ponder on which site/location to check-in at.

How Many Clicks Does It Take For Conversions?

Posted on November 12, 2012 by vivian

Is your website losing potential customers? This blog will explain the importance behind minimizing the amount of pages and clicks on your e-commerce website. Making a purchase is like committing to a relationship. It is suppose to be effortless and easy to click; however, there is always hesitation. Let’s face it, our customers do not want to jump through hoops to make a commitment and confirm their purchases. The simpler the process of purchase, the better it is. Ready Artwork will explain to you how businesses can convert online sales and increase their click through rate.

According to Jeffrey Zeldman’s “Three-Click Rule”, businesses need to understand the way people use the web, and in this case, the importance of the check out page. By knowing this “rule”, we can understand how to create landing pages that appeal to the customer and are user-friendly. An important key factor for businesses to pay attention to is the amount of clicks it takes for someone to purchase a product on the checkout page. If there are more than a few clicks required to get to the shopping cart or “confirm purchase” page, you will lose a potential customer. According to Bizreport, 77% of shopping carts were abandoned in the last six months. The impact of shopping cart abandonment should not be ignored!

Sometimes less is more, and in this scenario it applies to your shopping cart. When a customer enters your website, the suggested number of clicks it takes to navigate and search for information is no more than three mouse clicks. It is based on the belief that customers will become frustrated and often leave if they cannot find the information they need within three clicks. This is one of the few reasons why optimizing your landing page and check out page is important for website optimization. Why do individuals focus so much on being ranked in the top three on Google’s Search Engine Results Page? It is because people usually click no more than three times to find what it is they are searching for. Statistics state that the top three spots on Google get 58% of clicks. Three is the lucky number!

To ensure the success of clicks, businesses need customers to feel at ease while shopping around. Adding items into a shopping cart should be non-committal and effortless. After all, customers are putting items into their shopping carts for possible future purchases. When customers are required to click a “BUY” or “PURCHASE” button to add an item to their carts, it is often unsettling for them since they are not necessarily ready to buy the item at the moment. They just want to place it in their shopping carts. Buying is the final step in the shopping experience and it should not be presumed that adding an item to the cart is a commitment to buy. While developing a site for your business, it is important to make your “clicks” efficient.

Here at Ready Artwork, we offer services such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and web site development. We live by the three click rule and know how to make every click count. Contact Ready Artwork today to optimize your business before the holidays!

Halloween Happenings with Ready Artwork!

Posted on November 7, 2012 by sing

Here at Ready Artwork we like to show our holiday spirit by participating in multiple company events! We wanted to share with you some of the festivities we coordinated during the month of October. We kicked off the Halloween merriment by having a pumpkin decorating/carving contest between colleagues. The competition was fierce and we received extremely creative pumpkins! We had a wide variety of pumpkin’s ranging from three dimensional to colorfully painted!

After we lined up our pumpkins, we decided to let our Facebook fans participate in guessing who decorated which pumpkin. We promoted this Facebook post and encouraged our fans to participate in this “Halloween Pumpkin Guessing Contest”!

The winner, with seven correct pumpkin decorating guesses, was Brenton Weist! He received a Halloween candy basket and a $10 gift certificate from Candy Chef ! He shared with us his winnings in a fierce, Wolverine costume. Surprised Wolverine had time to save the world and share a picture with us.

The fun doesn’t end there; we also held an internal pumpkin voting contest! Each staff member voted for his or her favorite decorated/carved pumpkin and the winner was …drum roll please… Joanna Hsu! She painted her pumpkin like a bat with a cute mustache & sharp white fangs!

What comes after an awesome Pumpkin Decorating Contest? The costumes of course! We encouraged our staff to brush off the dust on those Halloween Costumes packed away on the top shelf of their closet. We held a Spooktacular Halloween potluck and posted all our costumes for our Facebook fans to see! Which one was your favorite one: Voldermort, Mad Hatter, Greek Goddess, and the others?

We love to get into the Holiday festivities at Ready Artwork, and want to share all of the fun events with you! We also participated in a preschool pumpkin decorating/carving contest. We were thrilled to announce the winner of a colorful and exceptionally creative caterpillar pumpkin by a pre-kindergartener.

In addition to pumpkin decorating and costume wearing, we specialize in website design, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and graphic design! Call us for further information or stop by our studio in the San Gabriel Valley! We hope you had a Happy HOWLaween.

3 Easy Tips to Avoid Committing Social Media Suicide

Posted on October 17, 2012 by sing

Have you heard of the popular social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and Pinterest? You better start getting familiar with them because it is true when small businesses say that Social Media is slowly taking over the world. Fifty percent of individuals in North America are actively using Facebook as their social media platform to market and connect with friends and fans!

Since social media is continuously trending, we want to give you 3 tips on how to gain more followers and avoid committing social media suicide. Don’t worry, this blog is not morbid in any sense, on the contrary, it is an optimistic outlook on how you can enhance your business and reach one of the 174,586,680 users on Facebook and many of the other social media platforms!

Tip #1: Know your product/service and send a relatable message that will reel in your target demographic. What does this mean? Set a goal for your company. Are you looking to increase ROI (Return on Investment), conversions, foot traffic, or brand identity? Through setting a proper goal you will be able to build up this foundation. If you are looking to promote your brand, then visuals are crucial. If your product is not tangible, then provide your customers with a visual that allows them to see the product that they are interested in purchasing. This is the bait. You can’t lure anything in if you don’t have the proper incentive. Know your businesses goals before you start to build your success.

Tip #2: Build a lasting first impression. From Webmasterworld.com, owners of websites listed engagement time of users on their website, and more than 50% of visitors stay from 0s – 30s. Therefore, unless someone see’s what they want and need in 0-30 seconds they will be clicking away from your website. To help avoid high bounce rates and users leaving without even “bookmarking,” revamp your landing page and direct the user to what they need immediately. An effective tip to improve your website landing page is to incorporate an image slider, or include content that showcases your services. If a user were shopping for a pink lipstick and was directed to pink nail polish, they would leave that landing page as fast as they got there.

In addition, to making edits to your website, you will need to showcase your specialty on social media platforms. Let people know about who you are, what you do, and how you are better than your competitors. Build a lasting relationship and level of trust with your viewers and potential clients by being personal and attentive to each of your client’s needs they will feel appreciated and valued.

Tip#3: Be clear and transparent with your client. Know what you want and communicate it clearly to your target demographic. If you promise your fans that if they “click” your link they will receive a Free Quote, and then they get charged for their “free” consultation, they will not be walking out the door happy or wanting to return. Social Media is a platform that allows you to build a transparent and honest relationship with your fans. With social media, you are able to inform your fans about your company, new product releases, and current specials you might be running. Facebook features Ads where you can “reach the exact audience you want with relevant targeted ads.” These ads are used to promote your businesses contests, services, and/or products. Utilize this feature to expand your reach about your services and products to eager prospects!

These few tips will help you to effectively use social media to build long-term relationships with your customers. Be sure to plan ahead on your posts and remember to always be transparent with your audience.

Call or visit us at our studio in San Gabriel, CA to discuss how social media marketing can help your company connect with your target fan base!

Embracing Customer Feedback with Yelp

Posted on September 19, 2012 by rachael

As we discussed previously, great customer care is a major part of any business’ long-term success. As a business owner, you know that customer feedback cannot be overlooked. Both positive and negative feedback needs to be carefully reviewed and responded to in order to help your business grow. In fact, customer opinions are one of the most important factors that determine how you choose to run your business day in and day out.

This is where social media can be a great (and did we mention free?) asset for business owners. Consumers rely on word-of-mouth information when making decisions about where to spend their money. One of the best social media platforms for consumers to vent their frustrations or sing the praises of their favorite places to shop, dine and hang out is Yelp.

If you look at the statistics, almost 25 million reviews had been posted on Yelp by the end of 2011. With that many people talking and sharing opinions about different stores, restaurants and locations, it’s crucial for business owners to take note of what is being said about their own business.

If you own a local coffee shop, for example, you need to pay close attention to your customers’ shopping experiences. One bad tempered waitress can drive away customers with a glare, a long wait in line can dissuade repeat business, and mediocre coffee can spell the end of all your hard work. With Yelp, you can listen and react to customer feedback, and begin to remedy dissatisfaction and gain loyal customers.

The best place to start is to claim your venue on Yelp with a quick phone confirmation and pin number.

Once you are able to manage your venue, you’re on your way to building a positive online presence! It’s best to add as much information as possible to make it convenient for customers to learn about your business. Upload photographs of your business location, products or even employees to add a personal touch. Take a look at Ready Artwork’s Yelp page!

The next important step is to respond to customer reviews, whether they are positive or negative. Always express your appreciation for the time and thought that a customer put into writing a review about your business and acknowledge their concerns.

For example, one Yelp reviewer had a negative comment about his experience staying at a hotel. The General Manager of the hotel then took the time to respond to the review in a professional, courteous manner.

When you let your customers know that you are listening and you value their opinions, your customers will see that you are proactive, engaging and reliable. The General Manager’s comment shows how a negative review, however slight, can be turned in to a positive. When someone thinking about booking a night at the hotel sees this conversation on Yelp, they will see that the General Manger who runs the hotel is responsible and polite.

“With over 85% of the Yelp reviewers rating a business 3 stars or higher, odds are your business will receive more favorable than negative reviews” (Bee-Social.com) . So, encourage your customers to write reviews! The more positive reviews your business receives, the higher your business will be listed on Yelp’s search engine results page.

The difference of a high number of reviews:

Social media is a great way to reach out to potential customers and loyal customers alike. So, why not get active and join the conversation?

For more information on social media marketing and how Yelp can influence your business’s online presence, call us today or schedule an appointment to stop by our studio in San Gabriel, California! We’re always happy to work with businesses of all sizes to help them reach their goals!

Category Archives: Marketing

The Importance of Email Marketing

New Year’s Resolutions: I Want to Grow My Business!

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