small business marketing – Page 3

Santa’s Little Helpers Unleashed: Creating Cheerful Company Christmas Cards with Canva

‘Tis the season to be jolly, and what better way to sprinkle some holiday cheer into the workplace than by creating company Christmas cards that are not only festive but also pretty fun?

In this blog post, we’re diving into the whimsical world of Canva, sharing some little nuggets of inspiration and tips on how to craft the most memorable Christmas cards for your colleagues and clients.

Whether you’re aiming for a classic or a more modern approach, Canva’s wide range of templates and design tools will surely help you unleash your creativity and spread some laughter this holiday season. So grab a cup of hot cocoa, put on your Santa hat, and let’s get started on making the most unforgettable company Christmas cards yet!

Step 1: Rally the Team’s Christmas Spirit

Call upon your crew to unleash their inner holiday spirit! Whether they’re donning ugly sweaters, tinsel tiaras, or even elf ears, encourage them to embrace the festive madness and capture it all in a group photo.

But what If your team isn’t local, or maybe everyone is too busy to gather for a group photo, don’t worry! You can create a virtual group photo! Simply upload individual photos of your team members–we’ll show you in the next steps how to arrange and edit them in a festive layout to capture the spirit of togetherness, even from afar. This is a great way for busy teams to still feel connected and celebrate the holiday season together!

Step 2: Canva Wonderland

Enter the magical world of Canva, where the Christmas design possibilities are as vast as Santa’s toy workshop. Before we can get to the actual editing, you’ll need to choose a template, or background, that really —whether it’s a classic design or a more modern twist—and get ready to sprinkle some digital fairy dust. Consider your audience and your company’s style when selecting the backdrop for your creation.

Step 3: Elfie Upload Extravaganza

Now, it’s time to really showcase your team’s holiday spirit! Upload that group photo or the individual elfies—I mean, selfies—right into Canva and start arranging them like the cast of a Hallmark holiday rom-com. Canva’s drag-and-drop feature makes this as easy as sliding down a snow-covered hill.

But wait, how do we make the images really pop? Let’s get rid of the office background with Canva’s photo editing tools. Use the background remover and add some fun filters or overlays to give the images that extra touch of holiday magic. With Canva’s editing tools, you can transform your boring photos into a digital masterpiece that will make your card recipients really feel the holiday cheer!

Step 4: Jingle All the Way with Festive Elements

With Canva’s extensive collection of festive elements, you can take your holiday card to the next level. Whether it’s adding a touch of sparkle with twinkling lights or bringing in a line of some playful snowmen, the possibilities are endless. And of course, don’t forget to include Santa hats and elf ears for that extra dose of holiday cheer! Get ready to spread joy to all with your personalized masterpiece.

Simply select an element, drag and drop it onto your card, and resize or rotate it to fit your desired look. You can also customize the color, opacity, and position of each element to create a truly unique design. With Canva’s easy-to-use interface, you’ll have a blast experimenting with different combinations and creating a holiday card that stands out from the rest. So go ahead, have fun, and let your imagination run wild as you bring your holiday greetings to life!

Step 5: Jolly Jokes and Yuletidy Text

What’s a Christmas card without a dash of humor? Whether you’re aiming for a laugh-out-loud moment or a subtle chuckle, Canva’s text tools offer endless possibilities for adding humor to your holiday card. From playful fonts to creative text effects, you can easily transform your words into comedic masterpieces that will leave your recipients in stitches. So go ahead and craft a message that really sleighs—I mean, slays!

Not your style, or do you need something more professional? Canva’s text tools also offer a wide range of elegant and sophisticated fonts, allowing you to create a more professional and polished holiday card. You can find the perfect typography to convey your warm wishes in a classy and refined manner.

It really is a gingersnap to get your company’s holiday greeting cards customized quickly. So go ahead and let your creativity shine, whether it’s through humor or professionalism; Canva has got you covered!

5 Secret Ingredients: A Recipe for Social Media Marketing Success in 2023

In the fast-moving world of the internet, social media marketing has grown into a crucial tool for businesses to connect with their audiences. It wasn’t too long ago when these platforms were just for talking to friends and family. But things have changed a lot. In a recent survey, over 90% of marketers said that social media has greatly boosted their brand’s visibility. This means that if you’re not using social media for your business, you’re missing out on a big opportunity.

In this article, we’ll uncover the hidden treasures of social media marketing, just like a chef reveals the secret sauce that makes a dish extraordinary.

1. Social Media and SEO: Serving Up Important Content

You might wonder what social media has to do with making your website show up on search engines.

The idea is simple: search engines know which pages on your website get visitors. When your content gets shared on social media, it sends people to your website. This tells search engines that your website is still important, and it helps your site stay high up in search results. Obviously, more individuals are exposed to your content when more individuals share it.

It’s like having a secret spice that makes your dish unforgettable. When your website consistently receives traffic from social media referrals, search engines interpret it as a signal of relevance and credibility. Consequently, they prioritize displaying your website in search results, increasing its visibility to a wider audience.

This effect can make your website’s online presence much stronger and bring in even more free traffic.

2. Know Your Audience's Taste

Social media is a bit like a detective tool. By paying attention to the people who follow you, you can learn a lot about your target audience. Just by checking out their profiles and the other pages they like, you can figure out what they like to buy, what they enjoy doing, and which brands they prefer.

Understanding your audience’s preferences and interests allows you to tailor your content and marketing strategies to effectively engage with them. By leveraging this knowledge, you can create personalized experiences that resonate with your target audience, fostering stronger connections and increasing customer loyalty.

Ultimately, this invaluable insight enables you to stay ahead of the competition and deliver exceptional value to your customers. The more you know about your audience, the better you can make your products or services fit their tastes.

3. Creating the Best Flavor for a Strong Brand and Relationships

People don’t visit social media to look at ads. They go there to chat and have fun. So, when you talk to your audience and make friends with them, it helps you build a strong brand and connections.

Social media is not just about keeping your old customers happy but also about finding new ones. By engaging with your audience on social media, you can be the one who brings the best dish to the party.

Showcase your brand’s personality and values, and make it easier for potential customers to connect with you. Additionally, by actively participating in conversations and sharing valuable content, you can attract new customers who may not have been aware of your business before.

4. Stirring Up Your Message for a Second Chance

What if you could cook up a winning meal that hits the spot every time?

On social media, you can! You can choose who gets to see your ads, making sure they’re the right people.

And here’s the fun part – if someone almost became your customer but didn’t quite make it, you can give them a second chance. It’s like having a secret cooking technique that never fails.

By targeting specific demographics and interests, you can ensure that your message reaches the right audience, which is more likely to be interested in your products or services. Additionally, by retargeting those who have shown interest but didn’t convert, you can remind them of what they missed out on and entice them to give your business another try.

5. Affordably Appetizing

You might have thought that you needed a lot of money to do marketing on social media. But it’s not true! Making a business profile is free, and so is chatting with your fans.

If you decide to advertise on social media, you can start small if you want. The great thing about social media is that it’s fair. Big brands might have more money for ads, but anyone can make a social media account for free and talk to their audience. Social media platforms also offer affordable advertising options, allowing you to reach a wider audience without breaking the bank.

With targeted ads and analytics, you can ensure that your marketing efforts are reaching the right people and generating a positive return on investment.

So don’t let budget constraints hold you back from leveraging the power of social media for your business. You can have your marketing cake and eat it, too!

In a nutshell, social media marketing is no longer just a choice for businesses; it’s a necessity.

This smorgasbord of hidden secrets about social media marketing shows how it can boost your SEO, help you understand your audience, create strong brand connections, allow for targeting the right people, and not cost a fortune.

If you need help with your social media journey or want professionals to assist you, feel free to contact us at IFTS!

Boosting Your House Painting Business Revenue: Four Proven Ways to Improve Google Ads Results

Are you a house painting business owner who wants to save money on Google Ads and get more customers?

We’ve got four simple tips to help you do just that.

In this blog post, we’ll show you how to make Google Ads work better for your painting business, and it’s not as hard as you might think.

Tip 1 - Make a Special Page For Your Google Ads (Your Landing Page)

To get better results with Google Ads, you need a special page on your website, called a landing page, just for the people who click on your ads. This page should make it easy for them to contact you.

Be sure that you include your phone number in the upper-right hand side and have a form that they can fill out. You may also want to consider having a way to directly schedule the appointment, like a calendar or a chat function for the people that cannot wait to get started.

Don’t worry about making it show up on Google. It doesn’t have to be optimized for SEO (search engine optimization) because you are sending paid traffic to it.

Instead, make it all about getting people to contact you or leave the page.

This simple change can make a big difference.

Tip 2 – Make Sure That Your Ads and Page Match (Ad Congruity)

If your ad talks about a specific service or benefit, make sure the page it leads to talks about the same thing. If your ad is about painting a room, the page should be too. If it’s about fixing a ceiling, the page should be all about that. This way, people won’t get confused, and more of them will contact you.

You will also want to use similar fonts, colors and images.

This technique is called “ad congruity” and it helps potential clients make the connection from your ad to your landing page in their mind. The more they can look alike, the better.

If your website hasn’t been updated in a while, this article will help!

Tip 3 - Focus on What People Want (Focus on the Client’s What’s In It For Me?)

Instead of talking about what you do, focus on what people want.

People who need painting services want their homes to look great. So, tell them how your painting services will make their homes look amazing. Talk about the results and benefits they’ll get. This will get more people interested in what you offer.

People always want to know, “What’s in it for me?”

So, answer them in a way that will elevate their status, but will highlight what you can do. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Tip 4 - Show You're Trustworthy

People like to see that others have been happy with your services. In fact, 46% of consumers feel that online business reviews are as trustworthy as personal recommendations from friends or family according to BrightLocal.

Add reviews from past customers to your landing page. These can be written reviews and even short videos where your happy customers talk about their experience. You can even use widgets to embed the latest reviews from Google into your Website if you are using WordPress.

By making it easy to see what people are saying, it helps people trust you and decide to contact you.

Sometimes, people don’t leave reviews because they don’t know what to write. To make it easy to leave a review, send your client some variation of the following email:

“Mrs. Smith –

We hope that you found our service to be extraordinary. If that is the case, we would love for you to leave us a review.

To help you get started (and avoid writer’s block), we have found that the most impactful reviews answer these questions:

What work did we do for you and where are you located?

Was it done well?

Why did you pick our company?

What was the best thing about working with our company?
Would you recommend us to family and friends?

Please click here and it will take you directly to our Google Review Page: [Link]

Thank you for choosing us and we really appreciate you taking the time to leave a review.”

We recommend asking for a review after your final walkthrough, which is when your client should be the happiest.

By asking these questions, you help guide them to use the words and phrases that will make your reviews relevant to most searchers looking for companies like yours. In addition, they will leave reviews that look non-spammy and well thought out.

Where To Go From Here

Improving your Google Ads results is doable, even if you’re running a house painting business by yourself.

By following these simple steps, you can save money on advertising and get more customers. Just make a special landing page, match your ads to it, focus on what people want, and show that you’re trustworthy. These changes can help your business grow.

If you need more help, feel free to reach out to IFTS. Good luck with your house painting business!