Graphic Design – Page 8 – IFTS, Inc. Blog

6 Reasons Why You Should Use Social Media Marketing For Your Local Business

It is amazing how many new clients and prospects you will find in your neighborhood by using social media to promote your local business!

On a daily basis, millions of individuals use Facebook, Instagram, and other social media networks. There is a good chance that your potential customers are already “friends” with your competition on social media. Make sure that you aren’t missing out! It’s impossible for people to realize your business exists unless you’re engaged on social media. It’s critical to have a strong online presence in order to interact with more prospective customers and expand your business in today’s social media era.

Reason To Be On Social Media #1 – Social Media Marketing Is Quick, Affordable and Effective

Using social media to promote your local business on a tight budget is a great option! It’s easy to use, can run ads for as little as $3/day and has great local targeting abilities. You can start advertising your business right now by creating a free business profile. Using the right techniques, social media marketing will bring in more local leads, increase website traffic, and boost revenue.

Reason To Be On Social Media #2 – Social Media Posts and Videos Helps You Create Client Trust For Your Brand

Every single day, millions of individuals throughout the world engage in social media activities. You can create genuine relationships with your fans on social media because of this. Increasing your brand’s visibility and establishing trust with your consumers has never been easier.

People like to do business with people, so put a face to your business name on social media. Use this space to give your clients a glimpse behind the scenes at your company. It’s a solid opportunity to humanize the brand.

Reason To Be On Social Media #3 – Social Media Marketing Helps Promote Your Local Business (And Sales)

You will greatly enhance your click-through rate, your website’s traffic, and your revenues with intriguing posts and videos on your online properties. If you have a product or service that you want to advertise locally, you may simply do it with the help of social media and social sales tools, which are always evolving. Another great place to do this is your Google My Business Profile.

Reason To Be On Social Media #4 – It’s Easy To Learn LOTS Of Information About Your Clients on Social Media

It’s simple to discover more about your consumers because the information is so accessible on these platforms.

How well-versed are you in the demographics of your target market?

Businesses can learn a lot about their clients by using social media insights and other third-party tools. When you introduce a new local service or product, you can leverage the knowledge you’ve gathered about your target market to design compelling ads.

Reason To Be On Social Media #5 – You Can Easily (And Cheaply) Narrow The Scope Of Your Ads To Your Ideal Audience

Use social media marketing for precise audience targeting. You will find that most platforms have ads that are fairly inexpensive, which will allow local businesses to compete with the “big dogs” as well. In addition, social media sites provide real-time insights into the performance of your campaigns, allowing you to continually improve your advertising based on real-time information.

Reason To Be On Social Media #6 – You Can Easily Spy On Your Competitors

Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer! Local companies may easily “spy” on their competition using social media. You can see available ads, targeted keywords and more!

Keeping tabs on the competition is easier than ever before thanks to social media. Learn from your rivals’ marketing strategies so you can tailor your own plan to reach more customers.

Want Some Help?

If you want to start marketing your company online, but aren’t sure where to start, let us help! Call IFTS today at 412.715.6266 or email us at si@iftsdesign.com.

Your Small Business Should Use Social Media To Market Your Services: 11 Reasons Why

Have you ever heard that your business doesn’t exist if it isn’t on Facebook?

This is because your clients may already be “friends” with your rivals if they utilize social media to follow other companies.

When it comes to reaching new clients and prospects, social media marketing is an extremely effective method! If you aren’t on social media, no one will know about your company. How could they?

In another post, we share 5 social media marketing secrets that nobody has told you about…

With sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, companies can communicate directly with their customers. If you aren’t doing this, you’re losing out on key opportunities.

Local companies should always have social media campaigns as part of their marketing plans. Making and distributing content on social media sites will assist you in achieving your marketing and branding objectives quickly.

Using paid social media advertising in conjunction with regularly posting updates, videos, and other material to engage your audience will help you reach more prospective customers, build loyal brand supporters, and increase sales.

To connect, engage, and develop your business, here are 11 reasons why you should work on your social media presence:

1. Speed

Using social media to market your business is a quick and easy way to get your message out there. You can start promoting your business in minutes after creating your profile.

2. Price

Because of the low cost of social media campaigns, you have more control over your advertising budget and may expand your social media presence at a rate that is right for you.

3. Effectiveness

To contact your target customers and construct a successful marketing campaign, you need to use multiple social media channels.

4. Brand Awareness

Social media is used by millions of individuals every day all over the world. Consider social media marketing as a surefire technique to raise exposure of your brand.

5. Relationship Development

General marketing methods do not “talk” to the client in any meaningful way. You can, however, develop genuine relationships with your potential clients by connecting with them on social media.

6. Trust Building

Customers are more likely to believe in your brand when you use social media to build trust with them. Successful social media campaigns should help you become a leader in your market.

7. Website Traffic

Making your social media updates engaging will raise your click through rate and drive more attention to your website, increasing sales.

8. More Leads

To produce more leads, you’ll need social media marketing. With social media marketing, it’s easy to run free social media campaigns or pay for advertising.

9. Content Promotion

You should make use of the social media channels to spread the word about your work. If you’re doing content marketing well, you should use social media to get the word out about your products and services.

10. Involved Followers

Increase the link you have with your fans by getting them engaged in your initiatives. Your followers will become more engaged if you just ask them what they want.

11. Spy on Your Competition

Spying on your competition is a cinch with social media. Don’t let your guard down whether it comes to your friends or foes. With social media, it’s simple to monitor your competition on multiple platforms.

Need help getting started with social media? Call IFTS today for a free strategy session at 412.715.6266 or send an email to si@iftsdesign.com

How To Build a Website for Your Painting Business + 5 Alternatives

A professional website is an essential element for every business’s brand strategy. Apart from being an authoritative platform on which the company communicates its brand, it also helps considerably with engagement and conveying your services.

Having a website makes it very easy for people to find you and discover what you do. It also makes you stand out as a professional in your field.

Then, there’s marketing. Through website analytics, a business owner can quickly tell the demographics of those who show interest. On-page and off-page SEO also goes a long way in building online visibility and search engine ranking.

But how do you actually build a website? And what are other options if you can’t afford one?

Before we get started.. We have 7 simple steps that will help you get your business in front of the right customers, downloadable as a free guide.

The Painter Marketing Broad Brush Effect

Get a FREE download of our 7 simple steps that will bring in more painting customers than you can handle in 2021 and beyond.

Ready to roll?

How Do I Build A Website For My Painting Business?

There are various ways to go about building your painting business website. And frankly, anyone can create a website these days with a good Internet connection. Here are your options:

Template-based website builders

These require no design or development skills at all and are exceptionally popular when it comes to building a website on a low budget. Some of the best website builders out there include:

Do keep in mind that you will still need to pay for things like a domain name, business email, hosting, and customized themes. There’s also photography to take into account, or the purchase of stock images. You will additionally need to put in some time and effort to learn the platform of your choice. WordPress, in particular, is the trickiest but also the best when it comes to ranking on the search engines.

Seek out a freelance web designer/developer

It is not a secret that you can hire freelancers online these days for a fraction of the price you would pay your local creative agency. This again applies to those on a small budget who are also short on time and other resources.

Some of the most popular freelance outsourcing sites include:

While this is an affordable option, finding the right freelancer will take some time and effort. To streamline the process, make sure you create an ad with specific details about what you want, so that the freelancer can bid on it knowing all the specs of the job.

Don’t hire someone simply because they’re cheap; check out their profile and portfolio first and have a look at what projects they are currently working on (you would want to avoid anyone already working on 27 other projects!).

Before you decide to hire, hop on a video call with your candidates to verify that they are not scammers or fake profiles — unfortunately, this does tend to happen when there is no supervision or control over who creates a profile.

Hire an agency

Agencies will be your best option when it comes to creating a professional-looking, fully functional website.

They won’t limit your options with template designs and quick fixes, and they usually consist of specialists, in which case you may be able to get a full package of web design, marketing, and branding services by a team of real experts who know what they’re doing.

But do be aware, these professional services come at a higher cost due to the quality they offer, and a website alone could cost you anywhere from $500 to $10,000!

As a small business that requires an uncomplicated website with only a few pages, consider putting aside $1000-$3000. If you’re serious about your painting business, you will not hesitate at making such an important investment.

At IFTS we work with our clients to make customized solutions for your website development and marketing needs.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you are considering creating a professional website for your painting business.

5 Alternatives to Building a Painting Business Website

Are you hoping to avoid the whole website-building hassle altogether? If you are, you can still build your online brand and presence. It’s only the platform that will be different.

A website is not the only tool that a business can utilize to create an online presence. There are various alternatives you can look at which are much less pricey, too. Below are some of the most commonly sought after alternatives for painting businesses:

1. Google My Business

A Google My Business page is an all-in-one listing management tool. This tool displays your business information and your business’s location will also appear on Google Maps.

You can also take advantage of other tools, like Reviews and Insights. You can even create a DIY site if you like and promote events and special offers. It will boost your visibility on the search engine results page when a relevant query is placed.

A GMB page is responsive, mobile-friendly, and can be optimized for SEO.

Need help creating or optimizing your Google My Business profile? Check out our Introduction to Google My Business for tips on how to set up your profile correctly and accurately.

2. Online Local Business Directories

Yes, you can pay for a listing on your local online business directories such as Yellow Pages and Foursquare.

These online directories allow you to optimize your listing for SEO and showcase as much information about the business as you can. You can also just list the basics – name and contact information of the business and services and working hours, and you’re good to go.

3. Review Sites Listings

Review sites such as HomeAdvisor, Yelp, and Angi are well-optimized for search results. Hence, a listing on these sites will allow you to take advantage of their undeniably impressive business-boosting functions.

The best part of registering your business with review sites is that clients tend to trust any review they read on them! And if you’re low on reviews, you can always invite your current customers to these platforms and have them give their two cents.

Want to know how to win over customers with your online reputation? Here, we discuss proactive tactics for online reputation management to get more clients.

4. Facebook Business Page

Facebook has over two billion active users. It is one of the few platforms that are continuously improving their B2B offerings and helping new businesses promote themselves.

With a Facebook business page, you can create an ecommerce store, accept payments, book appointments, share content through posts, create promotions, announce events, set up ad campaigns, and do pretty much anything you need to attract and retain customers.

You can also use Facebook for SEO purposes or targeted advertising. The possibilities are endless!

5. Online Marketplaces

Online marketplaces perform well on the search engines, and a listing on them can significantly boost your presence and sales.

They are also a great starting point for small niche businesses, as you can position your business in front of your target audience without the need to resort to advertising.

For home services business, your go-to marketplaces should be Handy, ProReferral, and Serviz.

Regardless of the options you choose, you must maintain a professional online presence at all times.

Be sure to craft an online marketing strategy and implement, review, and improve your online marketing efforts constantly.

Click the button below to download our free guide, The Painter Marketing Broad Brush Effect. This guide will walk you through 7 simple steps to bring in more painting customers than you can handle in 2021 and beyond.

If you need help creating a website for your painting business, or figuring out a marketing strategy that drives results, feel free to ask us any questions! Give IFTS a call at 412.715.6266 for a free consultation.