Social Media for Business — Grow Your Business in Dayton (Gybindayton.com)

Peter DeMott Photography and business portraits for web sites and facebook

October 5, 2011 By Peter DeMott 1 Comment

Danielle Deramo of Just Say It!

I met Danielle Deramo, the owner of Just Say It, at a couple of business networking events. What a lovely and outgoing person. Danielle’s business is about Message Crafting for businesses. It’s all about words, branding, and marketing for businesses.

When I saw her photograph on Linked In and on another web site, I mentioned that her photos were not doing her any favors. I told her that I could show her outgoing personality in a casual business portrait that she could use on Facebook, Linked In, and her web site to enhance her presence on those forums. You’ve heard the old saying a million times. “A picture can say a thousand words.”

Well, you tell me. I think these portraits say a thousand wards about Danielle. If you would like to complement Danielle or connect with her for her outstanding knowledge of marketing and branding for businesses feel free to send her a note at danielle.deramo@gmail.com

Is it time for you to have casual business portraits made for online social media? Find out more on my photography website here:

http://www.photosbypdemott.com/lifestyle-portrait-session-pricing/businessprofilefacebook/

“I was against getting a professional portrait. I didn’t want to take the time out of a busy work day. Peter arrived promptly and got to work making sure the lighting was perfect. Within 45 minutes we were finished with the shoot.
I was able to view the proofs on-line the same day and download my selections within minutes.
As soon as I posted new profile pics on my social media sites the compliments started rolling in!
Peter DeMott is an excellent photographer who I highly recommend.”

Danielle Deramo
Just Say It!

Filed Under Business Inspiration / Information, Growing your business, Social Media for Business Tagged With Facebook marketing, Facebook marketing for businesses, Grow your business, Networking, Social Networking for Business, web site marketing

Changes in Facebook and video walkthrough of the changes

September 23, 2011 By Peter DeMott 1 Comment

There are lots of discussions right now about the changes in Facebook that were just rolled out. I thought it would be a good time to discuss some things that you should consider related to your business. At the end of this post is a link to INVOLVER’s blog about the roll out that is under way right now along with a video they have put together to talk more about the changes.

But, first, are you putting all your internet marketing efforts into something you have no controls over?

If you think that Facebook is a great social internet networking tool for your business, I think that is great. But, here is the big rub. You have no control over changes that may occur from one day to the next which may totally change the value of the work that you have put into Facebook for your business. It is not YOUR platform. It belongs to Facebook and as you can see, right now, they are making changes that you may or may not like. Something that you have been doing up to now that may have been effective for building your business may be changed tomorrow in a way that suddenly makes all that effort and time flush down the toilet.

Alternatively, if you have a self hosted WordPress blog and web site, you can make changes, add content, and build a reputation that bring people to your site…. and it is YOURS. The changes and the content that you add build SEO (organic search results through SEO) over time. Along with that, your information here can be automatically fed into your Twitter feed, and your Facebook profile and Facebook Page. If one of those is suddenly changed (remember, since you do not own them, they could change completely overnight) to where it is no longer effective to bring in new clients and customers, you have still built something that will continue to grow your business.

Here are the changes that are rolling out right now – click on link or picture

http://blog.involver.com/2011/09/22/facebook-releases-new-timeline-profile-at-f8/

Mashable also has a presentation of the changes that are rolling out – click link below

http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-changes-roundup/

Fast Company has a quick review of how it might effect businesses

http://www.fastcompany.com/1782173/what-the-new-facebook-changes-mean-for-businesses

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine, Dayton’s favorite coupon magazine • pdemott@reachusa.com • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222

Filed Under Growing your business, SEO Search Engine Optimization, Social Media for Business Tagged With Facebook marketing, Facebook marketing for businesses, Grow your business, Internet marketing, Networking, SEO for small businesses, Social Media, Social Networking for Business, Tools for business, web site marketing

Why are businesses and consumers turning on Groupon and similar programs?

September 15, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

I came across this article that I thought you would find interesting. I sell advertising for a living and I know that some businesses have done well with Groupon and Living Social, but I also know others that have been encouraged to do things that did not work out at all for them. The sale people for these businesses want to have high responses and so they encourage businesses to run offers that generate high sales, but sometimes these offers are not helpful to the businesses.

This is a short information packed article. It’s an easy read, so as a business owner, to stay informed please read it. You may still use Groupon or Living Social or one of the local versions of coupons that consumers buy online, but you will be more aware of the issues you may face and how to cope with them.

http://personalmoneynetwork.com/moneyblog/2011/08/03/businesses-consumers-turning-on-groupon/

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine in Dayton Ohio • peter@reachusa.com • 937-478-6222

Coming soon: Holiday Gift Guide inside the December issue of REACH Magazine. Arrives in homes the week after Thanksgiving and will be inside all 260,000 magazines in the Dayton market with ad sizes from business card to 1/3 page. Full color and graphic design of your ad is included at no additional cost. Deadline is November 1st.

Coming soon: Wedding Planning Guide inside the January issue of REACH Magazine. I have an PDF that I can email to you explaining this exciting opportunity. Brides, there is going to be a great wedding package give away and vendors, there will also be a Bridal Event associated with this program scheduled for early February. Please email me and ask for the PDF to find out more or call me at 478-6222. Don’t miss this great opportunity to promote your wedding related business.

Filed Under Advertising in Dayton, Growing your business, Social Media for Business Tagged With Advertising in Dayton, Business growth, Coupons, Grow your business, Reaching consumers, Tools for business

New Media Dayton about Blogging Panel Discussion & Presentation

September 9, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

Dayton Childrens Hospital and others discussing blogging

Today at the New Media Dayton networking meeting there was a panel discussion / presentation about blogging.

The presenters were:

• Jessica Saunders – Dayton Childrens Hospital

• Erin Paulson – TricomB2B (an advertising agency)

• Grace Rodney – Dayton Childrens Hospital

• Betsy Woods – Care Source

Why Blog?

They discussed how they bring traffic to their companies with blogging and how they involve many within the company in the blogging process. For example at Dayton Childrens Medical Center they have someone pregnant blogging, now she has toddlers and she continues to blog about child safety and other concerns. They also have a doctor that blogs and guest bloggers once each week. The look to have 3 main blog posts each week.

If you are not going to blog at least on a semi regular basis, don’t add it to your web site

If you have a blog with no activity, that is not a good thing. It reflects poorly and should be taken down rather than stay up with no activity for the last 6 months. One company indicated that they shoot for about one blog post each week which is good for them.

Promote your blog with facebook and twitter and in your printed materials

To gain a broader audience the panel suggested linking from various places like facebook and twitter. Sometimes bringing links to major editorial content from major newspapers or other publications can also provide people more content on a topic so they can drill down on a particular subject that you are discussing. The “content” within your blog is what becomes the search content for Google searches and increases traffic to your web site/blog. If people find compelling content, then they post links, twitter and facebook the blog increasing traffic even more and gaining a broader audience and more readers.

Personal touches

I liked what Childrens Hospital did with a sidebar on their blogs. They have a photograph of the blogger and a short bio explaining more about the person blogging. It brings a personal face to the content. There is a balance for this and one of the presenters shared about having and editor for the blog that can filter out blog posts that are too personal or too unrelated to the company’s purposes and goals for the blog. But, it was agreed that being personally invested and sharing personal perspectives can increase reader appeal in a big way.

Having compelling or interesting content and even headlines is also important. I personally find that my subscription to a blog called Coppyblogger is helpful in challenging my thinking about headlines and compelling content for my two blog/web sites.

Here are a couple of the examples provided by Childrens Hospital:

http://www.justrightforkids.org

http://www.childrensdayton.org

You are welcome to visit my photography web site and blog as well:

http://www.photosbypdemott.com/blog/

If you would like to be more connected and stay up to date with what is happening with social media and the internet, consider become a member of the Linked In GROUP New Media Dayton or subscribe to their web site. They have meet ups and a meeting like this one once each month when you can learn more about NEW MEDIA and meet people who are successfully using new media for their businesses or the companies they work for.

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine in Dayton • pdemott@reachusa.com • 937-478-6222

Filed Under Giving Back to the Community, Social Media for Business, Your web presence

5 Tips for a Successful Campaign: QR Code Marketing in Dayton Ohio

August 20, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

This is a short quick article about QR Code Marketing that I found on Mashable. Just click on the link below:

QR Code Marketing: 5 Tips for a Successful Campign by Laura Marriott

One bad example on TV

One of my networking friends told me about a TV commercial that had a QR code as part of the commercial. The problem was that you would have to be a quick draw with your phone and be holding your phone ready focused on the screen as the QR code was only on screen for 5-6 seconds. Obviously if your phone was lying on the table in front of you you would not have time to pick it up, find the QR code scanning APP and scan the code (scanning itself usually takes 5-10 seconds) and see what was on the code. In all likelihood it would take the entire 5-6 seconds just to pick up your phone. This is not an example of an effective QR code implementation in marketing.

Local Examples of good implementations

I liked what she had to say about putting the QR Code everywhere. When I stopped by Michael’s Salon at Cross Pointe Centre the other day there were QR codes on their windows, near some displays, and on their business cards. Of course REACH Magazine is also a prime place to put well thought out QR Code marketing. In the upcoming September 2011 REACH Magazine here in Dayton, Ohio, check out several ads with QR Codes. Check out the one on Granite Transformations and also Papa Johns Pizza to see effective buy completely different usage of the QR Code. Also check out American Carpet Masters.

QR Code ideas for the Holidays

QR Codes would be perfect in our Holiday Gift Guide in the December issue of REACH magazine. Logo, web site, QR Code linked to a video clip walk through of a small boutique gift shop would work great. Or perhaps link it to your TV commercial online or a mobile friendly page with additional photographs of some popular products. Of course QR code usage is growing, but it is still small here in Dayton, Ohio. But now is the time to be experimenting and perfecting your usage. Just like the other things on the internet, early adopters can have the advantage when things get going.

Who scans QR Codes?

By Christmas 2011 more than 50% of all cell phones in use will be smart phones. Smart phone usage by young adults is very high and younger kids hardly know what the yellow pages are. They can search and research on the web as they walk into Starbuck’s and show the cashier their Starbuck’s membership on the screen of their cell phone, then sign in at Foursquare and tell all their friends where they are after posting to Facebook.

Embrace Technology and stay current as a business owner

Over a year ago I decided that I would “embrace technology” to be able to help my advertising clients to stay current. I participate in Dayton’s NEW MEDIA group which has a LinkedIn group and meets with speakers on timely topics each month. I now have people I recommend for social media consultations and web sites. My clients don’t just learn about REACH Magazine, Dayton’s favorite coupon magazine, but they learn about how everything can work together to help them get seen here in the Dayton market. If a small business in Dayton does not have a web presence, they are far behind and need to catch up. I can help with that.

Peter DeMott • peter@reachusa.com • 937-478-6222 • REACH Magazine Dayton

Filed Under Advertising in Dayton, Growing your business, SEO Search Engine Optimization, Social Media for Business, The power of the mailbox Tagged With Advertising in Dayton, Business growth, Dayton, Dayton's favorite coupon magazine, Direct mail, Direct mail advertising, DIY Marketing ideas, Facebook, Facebook marketing, Facebook marketing for businesses, Grow your business, Internet marketing, REACH Magazine, SEO for small businesses, web site marketing

There is an App for that – Presentation at NEW MEDIA Dayton

July 8, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

There was a nice group at the NEW Media Dayton meeting this month with a presentation about smart phone Apps. This was my second visit to this group which is also a LINKED IN group. If you join the LINKED IN group, then you will be notified of the meeting topics, meeting times etc.

During the presentation, the speaker asked how many people in the room were there because they were marketing related and how many were technology folks. It looked to me like about 1/3 said they were technology folks and another 1/3 raised their hands to say they were marketing folks.

The discussion explained the importance of mobile friendly web based apps and development of native apps (apps that are downloaded onto your smart phone and reside there). It sounds like businesses need quite a bit of guidance about applying these new technologies to their marketing mix as the speaker indicated that there is a lot of money that gets used for failed ideas, but at the same time there apps that can go viral and gain hundreds of thousands of users and even millions of users in a matter of months. It was clear that companies wanting to create an app need to have a good understanding about how consumers use them from start to finish and what makes an app a success from the consumers perspective. Given the development costs you should not dive in without a serious knowledge of where you will end up.

In any case, if you want to get some consultation with some marketing and/or techy type folks, this might be a good group for you to join and network in.

Here is a video clip showing all the networking that was going on after the meeting dismissed:

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine Dayton • 937-478-6222 • pdemott@reachusa.com

Filed Under Business Inspiration / Information, Customer engagement, Networking Opportunity, Social Media for Business

QR Code to video/audio presentation delivered directly to the hands of consumers

June 22, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

Engage with your prospects in their homes

I went to Comtactics and looked at some of the ways that they have used QR codes to help consumers join the conversation or engage. In one example they associated audio presentations with QR codes at each display at the Dayton Art Institute. People could pull out their smart phone, scan the QR code and hear an audio presentation played about that display at the museum.

Fragmented broadcast market

That got me thinking. With the extreme number of choices presented on TV and RADIO these days including internet radio and internet TV it is becoming more and more difficult to get an advertising message out using those forms of media. But with the amazing growth of smart phone usage and bar code scanning by shoppers, more and more people are becoming savy with these devises. People can now scan a bar code at a store and instantly do a price comparison online which shows them where else the product is currently available and at what price. QR code scanning is quickly becoming a way to give more information or engagement with consumers.

Consumer awareness growing fast

Comtactics has Scavenger Hunt which has been used in conjunction with QR code scanning at the GREEN here in Dayton and which is rolling out for other areas as well. Stores that participated put QR codes on their windows and engaged with prospective customers as they participated in Scavenger Hunt on their smart phones.

QR codes with audio/video delivered right into the homes of your best prospects

Here is where it gets interesting for me as a REACH Magazine senior sales executive. I have the ideal way to deliver QR codes to consumers in their homes. What I would like to start with is to find businesses that are willing to or currently have audio or video introductions, testimonials, or additional information about their products or services that we can associate with a QR code on their print ads in REACH magazine.

The QR code would be mailed as part of their regular coupon ad to from 50,000 to 260,000 homes in the greater Dayton advertising area. The QR code would say “play additional audio information” or “play additional video testimonials from your neighbors” or something of that nature. Instead of 60 seconds played on the evening news, a commercial or video testimonial or additional information could be playing all day, every day as people go through the pages of REACH magazine and see and scan QR codes on various ads.

REACH is so well read that it would be an ideal delivery method

According to THE MEDIA AUDIT Reach Magazine has readership well over 95% in the Dayton market. REACH is Dayton’s favorite coupon magazine. Direct mail delivery insures that geographic areas specified by you will receive the ad. By adding QR codes to particular ads (done correctly – There are important aspects of how this works) brand engagement could be increased significantly leading to, of course, more sales.

To keep consumers curious and participating, the QR code could be changed with each issue of the magazine testing various forms of engagement with valuable consumers. If you wanted to test various QR codes, we could mail different ads to different zones in the market. Through Comtactics we can offer QR code tracking as well which will tell you how many people actually engaged through this program.

Please comment. What do you think of this new media opportunity and how do you think that consumers will respond with additional no-pressure opportunities to engage?

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine • Dayton Ohio • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com

Filed Under Advertising in Dayton, Customer engagement, Customer Perception, Growing your business, more customers, Social Media for Business Tagged With Advertising in Dayton, Dayton's favorite coupon magazine, Grow your business, REACH Magazine, Reaching consumers, Tools for business, web site marketing

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