Similar to a GoToMeeting, Join.Me is an application that allows you to share your screen with others online. Not only can others see your screen, but you can chat with them, call them, and even give them control privileges to where they can control your screen, too. While sharing a session with someone, you can also share files. Oh, and did we mention there’s a free version and you can use it on your iPad, iPhone or Android?

The great thing about Join.Me is that it’s super, super easy for others to use. So, for example, if you’re DA Designing and you’re trying to explain how something works to someone who’s not exactly web-savvy, a Join.Me session is just what you need. Participants don’t have to download any software nor programs. There is no log-in for those who join you. You simply send them a link with the Join.Me number and walla – they can see your screen. I just had some friends show me this the other day and my world was changed.

Check out Join.Me, and remember it for next time you need to demonstrate something to someone online and want zero hassle!

People will search Google, Yahoo to find a business, but your website will not come up. It could be because you’ve not optimized it, but most likely, it’s because it wasn’t built in the right platform. Whether you have a template site, or built a site in a platform that search engines don’t prefer – your website won’t be easily found.

The DA Difference in Web Design

We build websites people can find. We build our sites using CSS, one of the latest technologies in website programming. This allows search engines to find your website easier based on the foundation it was built upon.

In addition, we work with Turn The Page Marketing so that your website can be found. We’ll teach you how to optimize your site (or get it found online.) It’s not enough these days to have a great looking website. It must be able to be found by those searching online for the products/services you offer. We’ll teach you how to do that, just like we’ve taught several clients already who are finding great success.

We Stand Behind our Approach

We’re so passionate about our approach, and our design, because we know it works. Too many small business owners are taken advantage of by web design companies who nickle and dime them, charging outrageous prices for websites that cannot be found. There’s a better way out there, for less money. We’ll help lead the way.

No matter what genre of music you prefer, just about every radio station has a similar plan when it comes to playing popular songs: repeat. It seems like just about every hour or so, radio stations will play certain songs so that listeners can hear the song they just tuned in to hear. The problem for those of us who leave the station playing constantly, however, is that we tend to hear the same songs over and over and over.

Learn to Repeat your Marketing Tactics

While we may become annoyed when it comes to radio play and favorite popular songs, there’s an important strategy hidden beyond all of those tunes that marketers must clue in on: the art of repeat. The stations play “Firework” and other songs so much because 1) people want to hear them, 2) people will come to know them 3) people request them. And while we eventually become annoyed, upon first hearing the song and learning the lyrics, we couldn’t get enough. This should be the goal of our marketing, too.

Repeat the Right Marketing stuff

We may not have a catchy hit song like “Firework” to market to our audiences, but we do have valuable information that if presented creatively, will eventually stick with our audience. They’ll seek out your business if you put yourself in front of your audience over and over. Info like your website address or phone number, or even your business name, is important to constantly repeat when it comes to marketing.

Some find a catchy jingle to help people remember a number, others find unique ways to display their web URL. But whatever it is, it’s important to find a way for your audience to know and remember you, and then find a way to repeat that over, and over, and over.

For those of you who are trying to market your business to moms, here are six ideas that we’ve seen find success:

1. Use Facebook To Target Moms.

If you’re friends with anyone with children, your news feed is probably full of mommy-focused statuses, photos of babies, toys for sale and more. It seems like most moms are always on Facebook. It provides great community for them, as they often feel their brains will turn to mush if they don’t get human interaction. Use Facebook to your advantage when targeting moms by being creative. Be generous with your Facebook page offers. Be creative and flattering with your status. Target your ads specifically. Make sure you get noticed by them.

2. Market through Email Coupon Offers and Sites.

Moms, and especially those who stay-at-home, are often looking for great discounts and deals. Sites like Groupon and Mamapeida have blown up with popularity from moms and others looking to save some money. If your business is trying to attract moms, and looking to grow its  fan base, consider signing up for a “deal of the day” through a site that targets moms.

3. Update your Online Business Listings & Reviews.

Moms do a lot of online research. It’s quicker than looking through the phone book. It’s more helpful, as you can read other’s reviews. So, make sure your business is updated. Look at your Google Places listing, and make sure the information is correct. Ask some of your loyal customers to write an online review so that you can attract more business. Make sure that as moms find you online, they’re won over by your updated listing and glowing testimonials.

4. Marketing to Moms through School Support.

Moms care a lot about their children, and their children’s education. That’s why it’s important to find ways to support the schools. Whether your target audiences attends private or public schools, there are always creative ways to partner with the schools. From sponsorships, volunteer hours to supplies, find a way to show your moms that you care about their child’s school, too.

5. Play up your “safety” factor to Moms

Whether you’re in financial services, auto repair, insurance, food services or even retail sales – find ways to show moms your safety factors. Make sure your marketing efforts show moms that by choosing your business, they’ll be providing safety for their family. Whether it’s a safe decision, or a safe product, market yourself as family friendly and a safety captain.

6. Find Ways to Emphasize Their Kids.

Moms love it when other people love their kids. Everything from “kids eat free” meals at IHOP to the gesture of the dentist having a “no cavities” board for children’s pictures goes a long way. If your main target audience is moms, find a genuine way to show them that you care about their kids, too. It will stick in their minds and make them even more loyal to your brand.

If you’re looking for a way to improve your marketing skills, however, one great place to start is becoming a better writer.

Why Write?

You may be wondering why it’s important to become a good writer, and especially when you can hire companies like yours truly to write your website copy, blog posts and emails for you. But – the one important note is what while you can pay someone to do much of your copy writing for you, they don’t write EVERYTHING for you. You’re still responsible for your emails, signage, and even short memos. In the marketing world, all of this adds up. So it’s important that you practice your writing, no matter how much or little, goes out for official publication.

Writing is like Riding

It’s often been said that writing is like riding a bike. It gets easier and easier with practice, and often will become second nature. To become a better writer, you simply start with writing more. Practice writing your emails, or even blog posts. Don’t worry – you can still have someone edit them – but at least the practice of writing will help improve your skill. Find opportunities to write – whether it’s online or even a traditional letter. It’s sometimes hard to push yourself to try something new, but the more your write, the more you really will get better.

Write Feature Stories

A marketing tool that’s becoming more and more popular is writing feature stories. This means that you highlight a person, and their experience, rather than the facts. Tell a story. The rise of Facebook and Twitter has all of us in each other’s business these days, and the trend of writing is taking the same turn. Tell the story that’s happening beyond the front door. Dig deep not only to share information, but the emotions, feeling and impact that information has had on someone. Not only will this help your writing, but it will make your marketing efforts go further.

Put  Writing in your Marketing Toolbox

As a small business, you’re constantly adding to your marketing toolbox. You need smart partnerships, a strong business plan, and many marketing tools to grow your business. While writing can often go overlooked, it’s one of the best ways to communicate your vision, and sell your business to potential customers and clients. As you set your goals and evaluate your marketing this year, make sure to make a place for writing and continue honing your skill.

As marketers, we have an opportunity to capitalize on the idea that people love receiving something extra. And it doesn’t have to cost us much. From big items to small, we have the chance to give our customers something that goes above and beyond what they were expecting.

This spring, we encourage you to sit down with your marketing team and brainstorm ways that you can give your customers a little unexpected “extra.” It will be very different and unique to each business, depending on your industry and your budget. But, find those little ways to delightfully surprise your customers. Who knows, you might be delightfully surprised in return.

A few ideas from our team to get you started:

- Offer a coupon for a free, or even half-off service.

- Write a blog with free tips, so they don’t have to search the Internet for the information.

- Offer links on your website. It makes it easier for your website visitors to navigate other pages. (and helps your SEO.)

- Postage-paid envelopes, or return slips.

- Packaging – whether you’re bagging items, creating a folder, etc. – if people are going to walk away with many items, make them easy to carry.

- Make your phone system VERY simple, and easy to get to the right person/place

- Offer texting to notify customers of news, updates, when their order is ready, etc.

We know there are a TON more! What are some of your ideas?

As he propped his computer open, his company’s logo was proudly displayed on the cover of his laptop. And as I diligently  observed him work, I was pretty impressed. Impressed because he made me think of so many of you who are also trying to build your small business and generate new leads.

He started by opening his computer and making follow-up calls to several individuals who he must have met previously. He was friendly, kind, yet clear in why he was calling. After he’d end a phone call, he wouldn’t look mad or disappointed, but go to the next. He didn’t look desperate, but calm and composed. I was pretty impressed, as I’ve watched other sales people in Panera before. They don’t quite have the same composure. And no, I’m not a stalker. I’m a blogger; it’s totally different.

Anyway, after his calls were over, he got out his manila folders and started going over paperwork. That’s when I started working on my own work and let him attend to his, without me observing him.

After the experience however, I walked away with a new appreciation and perspective for those who are trying to build up a business – either as a sales professional or a small business owner. Just by staring at him watching him for a few minutes, I realized several things about success in business building:

• Dress nicely. He wasn’t over-dressed. But he wasn’t in his pajamas, either. Yet, he wasn’t overdressed in a suit, hanging at Panera. He was comfortable, yet appropriate. I appreciated his appearance. No, I didn’t hit on him.
• Be kind. In the business world, it’s easy to get frustrated, but stay kind, people enjoy a friendly voice. Even if nobody sets up a meeting with you after you call five or six people, stay friendly and kind. People will respond to that.
• Stay diligent. It’s also easy to get distracted or give up if people aren’t responding the way you hope. But be diligent, work harder, become more organized, and stay persistent.
• Get out there. This guy was smart, he was working out of Panera. He could have stayed home, but instead he opened his branded laptop, and now I’m aware of his company (which actually I had seen their billboards and TV ads, so this just reinforced what I’d already seen – seven touch marketing in place for sure.) Now I’m curious about what they do, and would actually give it a shot based on this guy’s disposition.

Watching this guy the other day was refreshing. It gave me hope and encouragement in the small business. So if you’re in the same spot as he is, keep at it, and keep going. And just ignore the dark haired girl in the corner at Panera who looks like she might be observing you… she’s probably just blogging about how cool you are.

Our History with Five Guys

We initially hesitated to choose Five Guys based on our first experience. Several years ago right after Five Guys opened in our area, we decided to give it a try. After all sorts of rave reviews and national awards Five Guys had received, we figured it would be good and couldn’t wait to try it. Boy were we disappointed though. They had just opened, and their food and service definitely didn’t match up to their reputation. Burgers were swimming in grease, fries were unsalted and soaking wet brown paper bags. Staff wasn’t very friendly nor helpful. It wasn’t good. We vowed to not return, as it was a digestive nightmare and total letdown.

Word of Mouth Made Us Wonder

While we stood on our “no more Five Guys position” for several years, as friends continued to try Five Guys, they’d rave about how awesome it was. They’d come over to our house with their “Five Guys cups” and talk about how yummy the food tasted. At first we tried to convince our friends that they were wrong, but as they years went on, they’d continued to rave about their food.

So, We Gave Five Guys a Second Chance

Back to that day we were in the car, deciding where to get a burger…

We thought of Five Guys and remembered all of the good feedback from our friends. So, we decided to give it a second chance. And after we scarfed down our delicious burgers and great fries, we realized why our friends were raving about their food. It was awesome. They had really made some changes since we were last there, and we would totally go back!

Marketing Lesson from Our Five Guys Experience

So, what all of this has to do with marketing. Our experience with Five Guys has taught me so much about marketing. It’s a typically story of hope in the second chance. While I initially wrote off the restaurant, they stayed strong, focused on what they did best, and have really turned things around. I would totally go back now.

As I’ve looked back at my second chance with Five Guys, I’ve realized a few marketing tips along the way:

- When you launch your business, make sure it’s the best that it can be upon Grand Opening.
(We tried Five Guys initially right when it opened, when it received some buzz. They had some tweaks to work out, thus we didn’t return for several years. When you launch a business, make it the best it can be when you’re going to get the most attention and visitors.)

- Keep it Simple, do what you do best when it comes to business.
(Five Guys has a simple, clear menu that offers a limited amount of good choices. They stick to it. Make sure your business offers aren’t over-complicated. Focus on a few things you do best, and perfect them.)

- Encourage Word of Mouth from loyal customers/clients
(Between our friend’s rave reviews and branded cups they brought to our house, it put Five Guys in front of us, and made us want to try it again. This could be done via your Facebook page, website testimonials, etc. If people LOVE you, find ways to make sure they’re telling others about how much they LOVE you so others will LOVE you too.)

- Believe in the Second Chance.
(Don’t give up, stick to what you do best, and trust that people will continually give you a second chance if your consistent, honest and loyal to your brand.)

If you’re like most of us, you want your blog to be popular. You want people to have a great experience with your blog, the same kind of great experience you have when stumbling upon another’s blog. And while it’s easy to desire this, growing a popular blog can take some time, and some very intentional efforts.

While there are no “secrets” to creating a popular, or even well-read blog, we’ve noticed that some of our favorite blogs tend to have common themes or patterns to them. While some of my personal favorite blogs span from marketing tips to cooking to DIY home improvement – many of the popular blogs I read use the same formula. Here’s what I think I’ve discovered:

clear blog theme + frequent posts (a minimum of once/week) + occasional photos + an occasional giveaway + a personal, down-to-earth voice + questions for the readers (who leave comments to reply) + SEO = popular blog.

Okay, so maybe we’ve simplified it too much, but here are the common threads we find in our dearly loved blogs. And while it can be a little like becoming famous or winning the lottery – there are some steps we can take to at least give our blogs a fighting chance in the marketplace!

Did we miss anything? What do you think it takes to create a popular blog?

Among the many discoveries that my husband and I are currently making, one of my favorite has been the “Rockabye” CDs, which are special lullaby CDs especially popular among parents who grew up in the 90′s and 2000′s. In tune to songs from bands like U2, Coldplay, Kanye West, No Doubt and even Green Day, this company has taken well-loved songs and set them to the theme of lullabies. Our daughter is actually snoozing to a CD we made her today as I type.

As I’ve listened to some of the songs I love to rock out to go through the filter of a lullaby, it’s got me thinking of marketing and the awesome opportunity we have as small businesses to continue recreating ourselves like the bands and creators of “Rockabyes.”

Instead of waiting for the children to get older so that listening to such rock songs would be interesting (or even appropriate,) these creators have instead found a way to expand their market. They took their product and thought about how to grow into other markets – instead of waiting for the other markets to grow into them. They found a way to stay true to who they were (thus, the songs follow the same tunes), yet evolve their product to fit their newest target audience (the lyrics are removed and instruments replaced with xylophones.)

For those of us who work in small businesses, how can we follow the example set by the “Rockabye” creators? By thinking outside of our traditional paradigm, we just might embark on the newest idea that will really take our business to the next notch. What other target markets are out there? How can we be creative and take our product to another audience, while staying true to who we are? Is there room to grow through another venue we’ve not thought about?

In order to grow our businesses, evolve with the culture and stay in-step with an ever-changing marketplace, we must challenge ourselves to think outside of the box and possible even step to a new tune some days.