We Know You're Posting... But Is Anyone Listening?

Content marketing consists of compelling, relevant content that is not directly promotional but is of value to your audience. As you can imagine, marketing with a focus on pertinent information is attractive to your audience as it shows that you care about them and your relationship with them, not just making a sale.

Now more than ever, we are able to reach our target audience due to the various media channels in use today. While this is a positive for businesses, it can also be misused and overused- resulting in a dwindling audience. Just think- what is the first button look for when you get too much information that doesn’t interest you…? UNSUBSCRIBE!

So, in efforts to avoid losing followers, here are some rules to live by while marketing to your target audience:

1.    Make sure your content is truly compelling:

Before you post, ask yourself if what you are posting would grab your attention. Is it entertaining or informational? If you can confidently answer yes, then post away!

2.    Don’t forget about your existing relationships:

This may seem obvious but many people become shy when it comes to utilizing their existing relationships. The fact of the matter is, people with whom you have a connection with are the most likely to share and compliment your content. This will allow their network to reach (and hopefully hold onto!) your content as well.

3.    Get organized:

Compile a list of media outlets and your contact at each channel. This will allow you to form a relationship (and most likely get price cuts, etc.) within each company you are promoting through. It will also keep you on top of what media outlets you utilized for what and gives you a place to keep track of your success rate for each. Maybe one media channel is better for more entertaining content and another has an audience that searches for more information-based content.

4.    Be consistent:

As important as it is to reach out on a regular basis, it’s also important to be consistent with your message and branding. Take time to craft your message in a way that grabs your audience’s attention and that reminds them of your brand every time they read something that comes from you.

At the end of the day, these four ‘rules to live by’ are ensuring a company is strategic in their outreach. Just as our logo illustrates, rather than throwing anything out there hoping something sticks, make sure it’s relevant and shoots straight to the point!

Social Media For Sales?

Anyone who has worked in sales knows how often a call can be made, an email sent or a meeting held, without any conversion occurring. And we ALL know how it feels to be constantly bombarded by sales calls and have become pros at turning them away. Bottom line - it's tough to make a sale, but forward-thinking business people are utilizing a modern sales tool in order to to break down these old communication barriers: social media.

Social Media is not only being used to get a company's message out to it's audience these days- it has become a sophisticated way to gather foundational information, analyze reactions, network and more. A recent study shows that salespeople using social media in the office outperformed peers not using it by 73 percent! Clearly, social media is giving people a competitive advantage- let's figure out what they are doing to catapult their sales...

1. Using Social Media to Break the Ice
Using insight from social media platforms can give you a basis of information that is invaluable while reaching out to new clients. For example, analyzing mutual friends may give way to a personal introduction or seeing an executive's pictures of summer vacation my lend itself to the perfect conversation starter. Having some background information on a company or person may give you the edge to get that face-to-face meeting or phone conversation you've been working at.

2. Using Social Media for Referrals 
Back to mutual friends and degrees of connections- social media allows you to discover that you may know someone within that company that you have been trying to land a meeting with for months. As we are all bombarded with sales calls, the average person is much more willing to meet if they know you are being referred or have some kind of connection to them.

3. Using Social Media for New Opportunities
When people are not happy with the service or product they receive, it is not uncommon for them to blog or write a status about it and this can be used to your advantage. By keeping an eye on your competition and their client's social media pages, you will gain insight to their strengths and weaknesses, giving you a helping hand with your company's strategy.

Social media- once a way to keep in touch with family and friends, has turned into a major player in the business world. Learning how to use these tools to give your company insight that can take your business strategy to a whole new level will enable you to reach your clients in another way. How do you use your social media platforms? What have you found to be the most effective?

A New Season, A New Chapter

As a new season is upon us, the Purple Arrow Marketing team found it to be a great time to get to our Spring cleaning... and we have taken it to an extreme. 

Most people's 'Spring Cleaning List' incude dusting, cleaning out a closet, and filling their refrigerator with fresh fruits and veggies- ours list was a bit different. We decided to use this seasonal benchmark as a time for change, inside and out. We undertook the project of rebranding TLS Marketing and are excited to start off the new season under the name Purple Arrow Marketing! But it wasn't only the name that we changed, oh no... 

As you may know, every member of the Purple Arrow team shares a few passions: small business, travel, relationships, and of course marketing. Purple Arrow is made up of two branches, which embody all of those passions. The first branch is Purple Arrow Small Business Marketing; in essence we become the Marketing Department for small businesses that do not have the resources to have a marketing team in-house. The second branch is Purple Arrow Travel Marketing, which represents high-end hotels and resorts overseas that are in need of direct contact with the United States market. 

So as we bound into this new season with nothing but excitement for our 'Purple Plan' we ask one thing from you- follow us! We're filling up Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and our blogs with all kinds of tidbits that you can't wait to get your hands on!