3 Ways to Amplify Small-Business Marketing with Crowdsourcing

3 Ways to Amplify Small-Business Marketing with Crowdsourcing

BY SUSAN GUNELIUS 

Don’t have time or money to do all of the marketing you’d like? Why not get your customers, consultants, freelancers, experts, writers, and more to help you? That’s what crowdsourcing is, and it’s a great way to enhance small business marketing efforts. By tapping into the “crowd” (particularly the massive online crowd), you can jumpstart your social media and content marketing efforts, extend your brand reach, and amplify your messages through word-of-mouth marketing.

Crowdsourcing initiatives for marketing can be grouped into three distinct categories, which are described below along with easy ways to get the crowd involved so your messages spread wider and your brand and business grow faster.

1. Crowdsourcing for content marketing

One of the easiest and most effective ways to leverage the reach of the crowd is through content marketing. Brands like The Huffington Post and American Express OPEN Forum grew exponentially thanks to crowdsourcing. Both tapped into the crowd of industry experts and invited them to write free content for the websites. In exchange, writers received free links back to their own sites and an opportunity to get in front of larger audiences than they could reach on their own.

Related: From Intern to Venture-Backed Entrepreneur With a Little Help From Big Data

You can do the same thing by inviting customers, authors, business partners, and anyone else who could benefit from free cross-promotion or simply would enjoy having a place to publish their opinions online to write content for your business blog. You’d be surprised how many online media organizations and large businesses use crowdsourcing for content publishing.

Keep in mind, content can come in many forms, including reviews, comments, images, video, and more. For example, Skechers launched a crowdsourcing marketing initiative that tied into its rewards programs. Members of the Skechers rewards program earn points not just from purchases but also from content they publish on the Skechers website such as product reviews and answers to questions from other customers. Crowdsourcing for content marketing can tie in seamlessly with small business loyalty programs, too.

2. Crowdsourcing for social media marketing

To leverage crowdsourcing for social media marketing, invite customers to pin content to your pin-boards on Pinterest or share pictures and videos on your Facebook Page. For example, encourage people to share pictures of themselves using your products! If you prefer Twitter, set up a public Twitter account using a tool like Group Tweet, which enables 100,000 people to tweet to the same account, and invite people to publish tweets related to your business, products, industry, and so on to that account.

Related: Connecting Nonprofits With Pro Bono Help

You can even turn the process of sharing content into a contest where the person who publishes the winning photo or video or publishes the most content gets a prize. Big brands do this very successfully all the time. For example, Heineken used fan-generated content as part of a campaign related to its 2012 Olympic Games sponsorship for a Facebook promotion. It’s easy, affordable, and very effective for small businesses, too!

3. Crowdsourcing for design

Need a new logo or another type of marketing design? Use a site like Crowdspring or 99 designs to get design submissions from a crowd of individuals with varying levels of expertise and an endless amount of creativity. Need a picture that you can use on your blog, website, or marketing materials legally but can’t find the right one without paying more than you can afford? Post your request on Koi.io (formerly FotoKoi) and let the crowd of photographers help you. You can even tap into the crowd for a new slogan using Slogan Slingers where founder Rich Davis explains, “Most slogan projects cost between $50 and $900.”

Believe it or not, crowdsourcing for logo design and other marketing design projects is very common. From the local pizza business in Pennsylvania that used Slogan Slingers for a new slogan tailored to the shop to the U.S. Department of the Interior which used crowdsourcing for a new logo design via Crowdspring, the practice of turning marketing needs over to the crowd is becoming more and more popular.

Bottom-line, there are many ways to leverage the crowd to assist you with directly and indirectly promoting your business. Don’t be afraid to get creative and always encourage your audience to engage with you and join the conversation. Don’t ask them to promote your business. Instead, ask them to share brand stories and experiences. The power of the crowd comes from allowing them to take control of the conversation and the brand experience. Let them make your brand their own so they become loyal and vocal brand advocates that extend beyond a single crowdsourcing initiative.

Home

SwanTech Sound

BlackBerry 10 Keyboard – Vivek Bhardwaj Gives us the Scoop [VIDEO]

It’s no secret that BlackBerry fans love their keyboards, and for BlackBerry 10 we wanted to make sure that the typing experience is unmatched. Who better to show us around the keyboard than Vivek Bhardwaj, our Head of Software Portfolio and demo man extraordinaire!

He explained that we not only wanted to design the keyboard to be BlackBerry visually, but also to show the thought we've put into innovations in touch screen typing. At BlackBerry Jam Americas he told me that his favorite feature was the ability to switch between languages. Now, he’s got a new favorite – the space bar  We’ll let him explain:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Basically, if you miss hitting the space bar as you type, the keyboard is designed to recognize that and automatically add spaces between your words when you hit it next. This allows you to keep your train of thought and keep typing without having to go back and add spaces. Typing without interruption? Count me in.

And for those of you who love a physical keyboard, we’ll have both full touch and QWERTY models for BlackBerry 10. Let us know what you think of the BlackBerry 10 keyboard below – are you going to go QWERTY or full touch?

Blackberry - 10 Keyboard Video

Visit - SwanTech Sound

Home

7 Truths about Customers No Retailer Wants to Admit

7 Truths about Customers No Retailer Wants to Admit

By Chip Averwater

"The customer is always right" is a mantra that business owners hear over and over again. Of course, this way of thinking doesn't always hold water. Sometimes customers are just plain wrong. But if you don't want your retail store to join the estimated 95% of failed ventures, you'd better figure out quickly that even when the customer is wrong, he's right. It's a retail truth that you simply have to come to terms with if you want a successful store.

Retail doesn't get rave reviews. Most shoppers agree that the typical retail experience isn't good. Why can't retail rate better satisfaction? One theory is that consumers experience retailing almost daily and become highly discriminating in their standards. Also, consumers often see excellent examples of particular aspects of retailing individually, but rarely does any retailer get it all right at once. And finally, retailers who do manage to get it all right are too expensive to be competitive.

Be-backs don't come back. Customers say, "I'll be back later to purchase this!" to extricate themselves from the situation without disappointing the salesperson. When a customer says this, ask if you've shown her the correct product, answered her questions, and provided enough information  Keep asking questions and providing information. With persistence, maybe you'll convince your be-back to come back.

Happy customers come and go; unhappy customers accumulate. Dissatisfied customers have long memories and look for opportunities to warn others away. It's usually worthwhile to actively look for unhappy customers, open a dialog, and try to make up with them. Often, a little attention turns them into equally vocal advocates.

Complaints are signs our customers want us to do better. When a customer complains, it often means many others feel the same way but don't bother to tell us. One complaint represents an opportunity to improve service to all of your customers.

Low prices won't excuse poor service. Retailers must find a balance between service and price that appeals to customers. Sometimes a cheaper price with lower service works out, but often it leads to disappointment and dissatisfaction. Never believe the rationalization that poor service doesn't matter if your prices are low enough.

"Take it back where you bought it" alienates customers. Occasionally, you'll encounter a customer who asks for help with a product he purchased elsewhere. The customer is coming to you because they are unhappy with the competitor's transaction. Do you really want to send them back?

You don't see your competitors' happy customers. Remember that the complaints you hear about the competition aren't a balanced picture. Only dissatisfied customers come see you; satisfied customers are happy and have no reason to go elsewhere.

When you admit these truths are out there, you can begin to implement ways to keep your customers happy, keep them coming through your doors, and most importantly, keep them buying from you!

Chip Averwater is a retailer and chairman of Amro Music Stores in Memphis, TN. He has been a featured speaker on retailing in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia, and is the author of Retail Truths: The Unconventional Wisdom of Retailing.

R.I.S News

SwanTech Sound

Home