Media Marketing Resources

Welcome to Media Marketing Resources for Businesses and Organizations

If you're looking to keep your clients, get new ones and reduce marketing costs, then you've come to the right place for practical information, expert advice and the latest effective trends.

Xenos Media Group presents Media Marketing Resources for you to plan smarter and make better decisions. Here, you'll find useful articles, videos, podcasts and more to help.

We are the "one stop media shop" for businesses and organizations. Free initial consultation. Contact us and we'll get back to you today: 1.888.511.0555, clientcare@xenosmediagroup.com.

Summer Marketing Strategies, Part 1: Event Marketing Heats Up

This article is part of our Blogs for Business Series-“Seasonal Marketing: Ideas for the Summer.” Have a question about seasonal marketing or other media marketing topic? Let us know — it may be a good fit for an article and... a great cross-promotional opportunity for your business here on Media Marketing Resources.

Part One of a Three Part Series on Seasonal Summer Marketing

Summertime for business can be both more profitable and more fun with more effective marketing. The months between Memorial Day and Labor Day are key for businesses to market to their potential or current clients, and to gain momentum with marketing campaigns going into the fall and holiday season.

During the summer consumers are spending more of their time outdoors, with family and friends. We are all more spontaneous with our money, and are taking part in more festivals, fairs, and sporting events. The hot weather and a “vacation mode” can slow marketing efforts by businesses—so this is also a great time for to stand out.

Businesses should plan marketing events and campaigns that will take advantage of the weather and capitalize on popular summer rituals and trends. One of the many marketing efforts that businesses should participate in during the summer months are networking and community events.

Here are a few practical ideas that any business can implement as part of their summer marketing strategy:

• Organize A Community Service Day-
  • Many businesses dedicate a portion of their time and money to support causes that are important to them and their customers. During the summer businesses should consider organizing a community service day. Businesses should select a cause that helps give back to the community and attract potential customers, who fit into their target market. This is an opportunity to get local residents and employees involved, and give back to the community.
• Community Day or Festival Marketing-
  • There are numerous community days and festivals throughout the summer complete with sponsor and vendor booths, food and drinks, and events and activities for the entire family! Businesses can use these types of events to increase awareness for their brand by reserving a booth, setting up an informational table, handing out business flyers or pamphlets, and running promotional giveaways, raffles or contests. Events like these are great opportunities to meet new people and have new prospects follow up with your business.
• Summer BBQ or Picnic-
  • The summer months are ideal to throw a company BBQ or picnic. Get the grill fired up, bring all your favorite summer food and drinks, and don’t forget to pack the frisbee. Have your current clients and employees all invite out a potential client or referral to the BBQ or picnic. The laid back atmosphere of this type of event will give ample opportunity to talk with and get to know those potential clients.
• Community Pools and Water Parks-
  • One of the most popular activities during the summer is spending time at pools and waterparks. Community pools are great places to network and meet people in the surrounding area. Sign up for a membership and visit on a frequent basis with a stack of business cards or flyers in your bag, or sponsor/host an event at your local pool. Businesses can sponsor a lunch with free admission to a water park or community pool for a day, or utilize free passes or admission to use for client appreciation.

These are just a few event marketing ideas your company can take advantage of this summer. Of course, each of these ideas works best when marketed in traditional and online ways, including social media, mailings and public relations.

For marketing strategies and social media marketing services within your budget contact Xenos Media Group at 1.888.511.0555, clientcare@xenosmediagroup.com. Free initial consultation, including actionable follow-up information. We Make Media Work for You.

Human Networking in the Social Media Age

Have a question about networking and social media or other marketing topic? Let us know — it may be a good fit for an article and... a great cross-promotional opportunity for your business here on Media Marketing Resources.

Person-to-person networking has always been an important aspect of business development and career advancement — and it’s even more so in our social media age. How are we to make most effective use of your limited time with so many options?

Fortunately, there are a number of key opportunities to meet potential business partners, clients and/or employees by attending local events. Here are just a few practical and productive ideas for you to implement as part of your marketing strategy right away:

Topical Networking Events: If you own your own organization, attending topical networking events is a great way to make yourself and your business known in the local community by building relationships with other attendees. Try using Meetup.com, Plancast.com or your favorite social networking sites to find topical networking events, for example on sales, software or niches.

Sponsoring Events: When possible, sponsoring local events either financially or by providing free products or services is another great way to promote your business within different niche communities. For example, if your business is in the legal or financial industries, sponsoring events at local libraries is a great way to raise your reputation and profile while growing your prospect list, and only costs you your time.

Industry and Partner/Client Industry Conferences: Attending your industry’s conferences is a common and powerful networking option, but so is attending conferences of your potential clients and partner industries. If this is cost prohibitive for you, don't worry. Many more casual events take place throughout the year, even several times a month, and for which attendance is often low-cost or free.

Tweet-Ups and Other Low-Cost Networking Events: If you are already using Twitter and “follow” people with similar personal and professional interests, chances are you have come across mentions of an in-person even . Alternatively, there are many 'un-conferences' popping up organized around everything from technology to cupcakes.

These words need to be in your human networking vocabulary: Tweet-ups (in person meet-ups organized through Twitter), meet-ups (Meetup) and old-fashioned conferences (both technology-related and industry-specific). Each is an effective to meet other forward thinking individuals and organizations working in the same space, as well as a likely place to meet potential clients and hires.

Suggestions to get the most out of your attendance include live-tweeting or blogging the event, using any designated hashtags in Twitter, and linking to other attendee/speaker blogs. Also, be sure to bring business cards to every event you attend highlighting your current contact details and social media handles (hint: it’s often better to ask than to give your business card).

When it comes down to purchasing a product or service, people buy from people. Engage with your community, form relationships and build trust by attending local events and being effective in your human networking efforts—they can never be replaced by digital ones.

For human networking strategy and social media marketing services within your budget, contact Xenos Media Group at 1.888.511.0555, clientcare@xenosmediagroup.com. Free initial consultation, including actionable follow-up information. We Make Media Work for You.

Choosing Topics for Business Blog Posts: Blogs for Business Series

This article is part of our Blogs for Business Series. Have a question about blogging for business or other media marketing topic? Let us know — it may be a good fit for an article and... a great cross-promotional opportunity for your business here on Media Marketing Resources.

Two in five US businesses will use blogs for business marketing purposes this year. If yours does, how will your posts compare to your competitors? If yours doesn’t, here are ways to choose better business blog topics, or make sure the professionals you hire do.

Topic Selection for Business Blogs

Obviously, blog topics for business blog should be related to the business and what it offers. However, readers get bored very quickly with businesses trying to always sell them or tooting their own horn with their blog posts. Two keys to selecting topics for business blogs are being customer-oriented informative and diverse within scope.

Being customer-oriented informative is not as simple as it seems, and how it’s done makes the difference between gaining and losing readers. Take, for example, a power tools company blog. Instead of providing technical information on their products, it would be more effective for sales purposes to provide information on how the tools can be used for everyday or special topics. There is only so much you can say about a power tool that’s interesting, what it can do for your customer’s home is better.

Being diverse within scope is equally important. Writing about the same thing, or the same thing for different angles, gets boring very quickly. By diversifying the topics for your business blog while keeping them relevant to your company and its offerings, readers stay engaged and a community is built. For instance, if a business provides sales services, it might want to write about trends in the sales industry, give success stories with its services, inform about the sales process, sales tips and techniques, etc.

The primary purposes of choosing better topics for business blogs are to:

• Engage your readers (current and potential customers) to participate in your blog by commenting.
• Encourage readers to subscribe to your feed, or visit again, and share with their colleagues and friends.
• Establish you as an authority in the industry, gaining customer trust.
• Keep readers up-to-date about your company, its offerings and industry trends.
• Leading (not pushing) readers/customers towards doing business with you.

For better business blog posts written for you within your budget, contact Xenos Media Group at 1.888.511.0555, clientcare@xenosmediagroup.com. Free initial consultation, including actionable follow-up information. We Make Media Work for You.

Location-Based Marketing: A Simple Guide

Have a question about location-based marketing or other media marketing topic? Let us know — it may be a good fit for an article and... a great cross-promotional opportunity for your business here on Media Marketing Resources.

Location-based marketing, still in its infancy but growing in popularity quickly, is based on two recent technologies: mobile devices and social media, or social commerce. Here is how it works, and how it can work for your business or organization.

1. Businesses sign up with a “check-in” service provider, such as foursquare, Gowalla or Facebook.

2. Customers with mobile devices also sign up with them.

3. When a customer enters the place of business, they are automatically “checked in.”

4. Businesses can provide compelling offers, triggered automatically by checking in, when customers are closest to the point of decision.

5. Businesses can also gather information about their customers’ intent, state and habits.

Make no doubt about it, location-based marketing is a vital component of best business practices in the future (today), and yours can get ahead of the pack. Market research firm eMarketer projects the number of mobile social network users will more than double between 2010 and 2015, and adoption of location-based services will rise with it. Will your sales?

For location-based marketing services and production within your budget, contact Xenos Media Group at 1.888.511.0555, clientcare@xenosmediagroup.com. Free initial consultation, including actionable follow-up information. We Make Media Work for You.

Postcard Marketing Campaigns from Start to Finish

Have a question about postcard marketing campaigns or other media marketing topic? Let us know — it may be a good fit for an article and... a great cross-promotional opportunity for your business here on Media Marketing Resources.

We get them in the mail all the time. Some we keep, some we throw out. Here is an eight-step process to get new customers with postcard marketing campaigns.

Turning PowerPoint Presentations into Online Marketing Tools

Have a question about turning PowerPoint presentations into online marketing tools or other media marketing topic? Let us know — it may be a good fit for an article and... a great cross-promotional opportunity for your business here on Media Marketing Resources.

Say you’ve perfected your PowerPoint presentation and delivered it to great success. How can you get more returns on your investment of time, effort and knowledge? Here are four ways you can turn your PowerPoint presentation into effective online marketing tools.

Brochure Design Ideas that Work

Have a question about brochure design or other media marketing topic? Let us know — it may be a good fit for an article and... a great cross-promotional opportunity for your business here on Media Marketing Resources.

A brilliant brochure can be an important part of the marketing and sales efforts of any business or organization. But a botched brochure can be counterproductive to the same degree. Here are brochure design ideas that work.

Is Your Website Effective? 17 Quick Questions to Find Out

Have a question about website effectiveness or other media marketing topic? Let us know — it may be a good fit for an article and... a great cross-promotional opportunity for your business here on Media Marketing Resources.

Here is a no-nonsense list of seventeen questions you need to be able to answer about your website's effectiveness in order to: instantly improve your website, get better search engine rankings, spend your online advertising dollars wisely, and engage in social media.

Creating Fact Sheets for Sales Purposes

Have a question about fact sheets for sales purposes or other media marketing topic? Let us know — it may be a good fit for an article and... a great cross-promotional opportunity for your business here on Media Marketing Resources.

Preparing a series of fact sheets— single-page marketing materials about the products and services you offer— can be a cost-effective way to steer your current and prospective clients towards choosing you over your competitors. Fact sheets work on the basis that informed client is in a better position to buy.

That said, although fact sheets are best used as part of the sales process, the purposes of fact sheets in sales are often misunderstood. Here are some tips and strategies on preparing and delivering fact sheets for sales purposes.

New Revenue Streams from Your Business Blog: Blogs for Business Series

This article launches our Blogs for Business Series. Have a question about blogging for business or other media marketing topic? Let us know — it may be a good fit for an article and... a great cross-promotional opportunity for your business here on Media Marketing Resources.

Blogs have become an essential business tool to communicate with clients, and as a vital part of a media marketing strategy. But blogs can also be transformed into new revenue streams for your business, bringing in income that can positively impact your bottom line. Here are three proven ways to create new revenue streams from your business blog.