Marketing - Poole Communications

Networking is an useful tool for promoting your company. Hannibal has two great networking events coming up: the Chamber's Annual Meeting on Friday, February 7th and the Hannibal Chamber Women's Network on Thursday, February 27th. Using networking, you can seek out those who need what your business has to offer. Networking and relationship-building allows for clients to get to know you better and trust your business more.

When networking, it is important to go out of your way to meet new people! While stepping out of your comfort zone to connect to people can be tough, using icebreakers and being friendly can help get conversations started. Try not to be pushy in these conversations, but instead be an active listener and a service to the people you meet.

Some ideas for icebreakers might include:

Asking about their businesses
Trading how each of you got into your business
Inquiring about personal things like interests or hobbies
Talking about family and friends
Sharing possible common interests
If meeting at an event, discussing the speaker or event

Networking Event

Use and give referrals to expand your network. When building relationships with customers and clients, giving and receiving referrals can help strength your relationships. Customers with positive reviews and testimonials about your business or services can be essential to growing clientele. Referrals are a networking heavy approach to advertising, where your existing clients and customers positively recommend your company. You want your clients to refer you based on the experiences they have with your business, the reputation your business upholds, and the area your business specializes in.

A good place to network as well as give and get referrals are the Show Me Business Builders meetings. These meeting occur every Wednesday at 7am at Logues Restaurant in Hannibal, Missouri. We would be happy to see your business join!

Need a little help to get started or would you like use to train your people? Contact Poole Communications at 573-221-3635... or email us at info@poolecommunications.com.

Planning for what's next is an essential part of starting a new year. Figuring out your 2025 marketing plan and budget can make marketing go a lot more smoothly as the year progresses. Creating a plan that realistically outlines your company's marketing goals using information from this past year can go a long way. Marketing is ever evolving, and with each passing year comes new trends, new ideas, and new approaches to marketing. Your business's marketing plan must reflect this. After all, a good marketing plan can allow for a lot of growth.

Making a Plan Can:

Help you build your brand
Allow you to target specific audiences
Allow for marketing consistency
Grow your customer base
Define your company
Outline a proper marketing budget

Happy New Year Balloon

Reflecting on the past year can help you identify trends, demographics, and potential markets you may want to work with. Furthermore, it is recommended that you look over marketing successes and failures over the past year to three years in order to improve during the oncoming year. There are many key ideas that go into developing a good marketing plan as 2025 has begun.

Here are some insights on planning:

Start by creating marketing goals
Look at what did and didn't work in the past one to three years
Do research on trends and on your market
Figure out who it is you're trying to reach
Know what sort of budget you want to work within
Come up with a strategy for executing your marketing plan
Reflect on the successes and failures after every year

Don't forget to also celebrate the successes from the past year! If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact us. We're in business to make you look good.

This Thanksgiving season, we at Poole Communications wanted to let you know how thankful we are for your business and friendship with us. As people all over are showing gratitude for the things they have, we also wanted to emphasize the importance of giving your all to your customers and community.

At the end of the day, good advertising can allow you to gain new customers, and also build relationships and business with customers you already have. Whether you are a large or small business, there is a benefit to providing your customers with support, service, and product. Not only that, but having good, honest communication between you, your customers, and your employees can create long-lasting partnerships and clients.

Good advertising is not just about bringing the customer in, but making an impact on the customer you are trying to reach. When your customers have a need for a product or service that you can provide, you want them to think of you first. Building relationships and partnerships involves a lot of thankfulness and generosity from both customers and businesses. Use good communication, honest marketing, and quality generous service.

When working for your customers, try and consider:

What are you able to provide, and what can you deliver?
What are the benefits to being honest as a company?
How are you taking interest in what your customers are wanting?
How can you offer to help people who need it?
How can you not only help your customers, but go above and beyond to exceed the norm?
How can you make your business more friendly for people to use and interact with?

We hope this Thanksgiving, you will not only give thanks, but give more towards building partnerships and relationships as you consider these questions.

Interested in learning more about how giving can help your business? This small book, The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann gives you great ideas and the logic behind giving.

The Go-Giver

“Most people just laugh when they hear that the secret to success is giving...Then again, most people are nowhere near as successful as they wish they were.”

Want help with marketing ideas like this one or would you like us to train your people? Contact Poole Communications at 573-221-3635

Is Good Marketing Worth It? Absolutely! Every business can benefit from having a good strategy for marketing in place. However, not everyone knows where to start. We know that creating and maintaining a brand identity is difficult. One of the first things we recommend is to understand who your target market is and who you are trying to reach when you advertise your company.

Here are a few tips for how to best get started:

Understand your audience
Solidify your brand
Take advantage of email and social media
Don't forget traditional marketing techniques
Know your community
Be engaging

Knowing your audience and your community can better help you engage with and grow as a business or company. Solidify your brand by keeping things consistent and networking as a representative of your company. Of course, we insist you not forget about the importance of advertising yourselves! Using methods like social media, email, and traditional marketing techniques like billboards and paper ads can help your community and strengthen your company.

Need a little help to get started or would you like us to train your people? Contact Poole Communications at 573-221-3635

I'm advocating for each small business out there to ditch their ridiculous and irritating voicemail system. Unless you are a super large company, quit pretending to be larger than you are—or more important than you are—and just answer the phone.

You'll stand out from the crowd and most likely offer MUCH better customer service. Your customers will be happier as well. NO ONE likes to wade through the slog of your voice mail prompts and the offer of other languages. Just pick up the phone and say, "Hello, this is Susan, how can I help you?" Then actually HELP someone find what they need or who they want to talk to and do it quickly. Time is money and you are wasting client time and not making any friends, by making them wait endlessly to speak with someone who can help them.

Granted, there are probably a few companies that really need a voicemail system...but thinking about it more carefully... AT&T didn't have one for decades. They used live operators. It worked for them and it can work for you. Next, put a person on the phone who is pleasant and helpful. We all understand that employees are hard to find, but surely you can find someone with a clear voice, level head, and a smile in their voice.

In the future, perhaps AI will help us here. We can then ditch our voicemail system because it's antiquated and never has worked well. We can get a computer to answer the phone in any gender or accent we'd like. Personally, my smart phone uses a British male and I like to pretend I have this super smart guy at my fingertips who is always willing to help.

An Example

Here's a perfect example: calling a television station recently, I knew my brand new representative's first name but could not remember his last name. I got their voicemail system and it fed me into their employee directory and guess what, you were to plug in the first few digits of their LAST name to get through to them. I wanted to buy advertising on their station and could not get through to anyone and ended up hanging up and sending an email. It took twice as long if not longer.

Consider the fact that this same station used to have a wonderful receptionist who knew everyone and everything at the station. I often wonder what happened to that brilliant woman. I'd like to have her working at my place.

Finally, call your office and listen to your voicemail system and think of ways you can improve it. Surely you can find someone in the organization who can answer the phone as you ditch your voicemail system.

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https://poolecommunications.com/business-google-ads-growth/

Google Ads are the way of the future. Get started now.

https://poolecommunications.com/go-mobile/

The importance of going mobile with your business.

What are Google Ads? I don’t know, Google it! The majority of consumers find themselves doing research online before purchasing a specific product. The benefits of an optimized Google Ad campaign compared to a newspaper or Radio ad is that it can target a wider demographic and the specific target audience for your business. According to Google, “Google Ads makes it easy to show the world what’s unique about your business, so you can reach customers searching for what you offer.”

One of the advantages to Google Ads, compared to other advertising options, is Google’s flexible marketing platform. This means that it is suitable for all sizes of businesses. You can set your budget based on business type and zip code. The budget is based on how many estimated client clicks your ad will receive based on the budget you have for the ad.

One of the key factors of a Google Ad is keyword themes. When someone searches for a keyword or phrase related to your business, your ad will show up in their search. When you create your ad, you will select a few relevant keyword themes that will help increase your advertisement reach.

In order for your ad to reach the correct audience, Google lets you choose the location where your ad will appear in relation to your business. You can target potential customers from within walking distance to even the whole country. The possibilities for your Google Ad are endless.

Google Ads specifically targets and selects the potential client for you. It has something for any size of business with different budgets, goals and target audiences. This is why if you are wanting an Ad that will reach your target audience, Google Ads are the way to go. If you need help with your Google Ad, give us a call and we will get you set up for success!

This is an older sample of a fake yellow page directory invoice. Domain and hosting invoices look very real and have fooled a lot of business owners.

The people we work with are receiving more fake bills than ever before. We're getting copies from clients, we're seeing them in the mail and in email - and they are looking like real invoices.

We have many smart business owners who we work with. I am surprised monthly by how many of these owners or managers have paid fake invoices. To their credit, these invoices look real. But read the documents carefully and MOST say that they are not an invoice, but an offer of services. Services you already have with another vendor. So please be wary when seeing a new bill for your domain name, hosting or email.

Currently we are seeing fake invoices for domain name or web hosting. Bills come in saying you owe them $250 for your domain name for the next year and say that you are in danger of losing your domain name. Realize a domain with us is not only safe, it will rarely be more than $25 per year. We've seen fake hosting bills for as high as $800 per year. Our hosting is right around $270 per year.

We recommend you keep your domain name, hosting and email with ONE trusted source. Then, you know at all times where your important web assets are, and it's much easier to make changes and update your website when your data is all in one place.

Unfortunately, we are also starting to see fake medical bills and attorney bills. Most of these scams are targeting older people, who diligently pay bills as soon as they are received. A unique target has been people starting a trust. There are public notices announcing the trust, and unscrupulous people see the notices and send invoices hoping for payment without providing any services. These companies are not related to the legal firm you've used. This scam preys on a person's lack of knowledge of process and these invoices are frequently paid. So KNOW who you are working with. Don't pay bills you don't recognize. If in doubt share them with your medical provider, attorney or agency.

As a free service, you are welcome to bring in any invoice that you suspect is not real. We can quickly look at it and tell you if it is an honest invoice or a fake. Send an email scan or photo to info@poolecommunications.com, send us a fax copy at 573-221-5161, or just come on by for a quick visit. We'll get right back to you and let you know what is real and what is fake.

Now more than ever people are searching for meaning, right down to what they buy and why. To connect with consumers in 2022, businesses must lead with values. Consider a plan and strategies to partner with like-minded organizations and individuals to show your customers how their buying power benefits the community and not just your bottom line.

First, make a partnership plan. Partnership by its nature is a win-win. However, it is important to plan exactly how and why a partnership will benefit both sides. This builds clarity, goals, and authenticity into the partnership. Review your company's mission and values and identify a non-profit organization, event, and influencers or affiliates that mirror your aspirations. Take the time to sit down with the non-profit director, event organizer, or influencer to talk about their objectives and needs to plot a course for how your two entities can work together. This can provide a framework and goals for both entities to implement the following strategies:

Pick a Non-Profit Event. After carefully selecting a non-profit organization that aligns with company values, co-host fundraising events that highlight your service/product and benefit their mission. For example, if you are a local clothing retailer, donate prizes such as gift certificates or a wardrobe for a year that can be auctioned or raffled during an event at your store. Invite supporters of the non-profit organization as well as your client list to the event and donate all proceeds to the non-profit. The event shows your community commitment and provides leads for future customers and even future employees according to LinkedIn.

Pinpoint a Percentage of Sales. Identify one or more projects that connect with your values and donate a percentage of sales toward them. Consumers are often willing to spend a little more, return more often, and feel better about purchases when they know their money is doing more than just buying a product. The most impactful way to show the added value of a purchase is to provide a visual or a tangible thing that will happen as a result. Some of the most successful examples of this include the TOMS Shoes One for One™ model. For each pair of shoes purchased, the organization donates a pair of shoes (or other items) to children in need. Another example is 'Merica outerwear, which plants three trees for each item sold and prominently tracks the total number of trees on the company's website.

Access Affiliate Marketing. Find and research local and national bloggers, social media influencers, suppliers - or even your own customers - who share your business values. Develop partnerships with these affiliates to use and promote your product or service with their followers, friends, or websites. The influencers can help launch new products, announce sales, and build credibility and new customers in return for an agreed-upon commission or trade for leads that convert into sales.
Place Product. Look for prominent, trusted events in your community that attract individuals who align with a market you would like to capture or expand. Offer to donate a product or a service at the event to "place" your product in front of a new audience. For example, a new coffee bar might offer free lattes and a discount or free drink as part of a local college's orientation or high school homecoming event can boost sales and connect with new consumers.

Intentionally choosing to put profits where your heart is will not only build business in 2022, but trust and community too. Poole Communications has built-in opportunities for any business to partner within the community. Contact us today to put your values into action.

You’re doing digital advertising. You have a website, use some cool graphics, email customer lists, post regularly to social channels, and run some paid online ad campaigns.

Great, can you confidently answer the next four questions?

Do you know about SEO, SEM, SERP, PPC, CTA, CTR, Google Analytics, and AdWords? Uncertain?
Is your digital dossier integrated to impact your overall lead and sales return on investment (ROI)? Yes, and no?
Do you think your ROI is on par in your industry? Maybe so?
Are you paying too much per click or lead? How do I know?

If your answers are like the ones provided, then what the digital are you doing with your valuable time and hard-earned ad budget?

Deep down, many small business owners feel the same way. They are all “doing the digital things,” but do not have the time to plan and connect the dots to see what is going well and what could improve.

The good news? You can remove some digital doubts with a little more time and organization.

Here are three tips to clear some doubts and maximize digital dollars:

Review and update your website to ensure pages have good Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This means many things, and all are about playing nice with Google. If you want the complicated details, check out the 200-plus ranking signals. Make sure that:

Pages have a mix of keywords and themes to connect with the demand for your business.
The structure of your site is intuitive to the user.
Your web coding is clear.
The site loads quickly.
Your pages have good meta descriptions, title tags, and URLs.
You have solid and numerous backlinks. (Other sites that link back to your pages.)

2. Set up and check Google Analytics. If you are not sure how to start, Google can help.

3. Combine your Google Analytics and Google Ad Words. Not doing Ad Words or want to check your skills? Yep, Google can help with that too.

Love the tips, but still spinning from all the data, analysis, and acronyms? Here’s some more good news – you can call your digital expert friends at Poole Communications to help. Ask them to look at your website and Google game. They can access or create the necessary Google and web accounts to streamline your strategy: 800-900-3635.

Source/Reference links:

Google’s 200 Ranking Factors: The Complete List (2021)