So, number one, I just thought that was cute, and I hope it made you smile – very gumby-esque (or bob the builder-esque for you new schoolers). But number two, I wanted to remind you that great work can be done with some very light lifting.

Hi guys. I know Thursday is not my usual day for posting, but we recently received an interesting e-mail here at TatStore that I wanted to pass on to you guys. Before I get into this topic I’d like to express the two distinct reasons I’m sharing this post with you. One, I think this could be a great opportunity for our customers. Two, Visa’s marketing strategy is very interesting, and at least nominally, we received this because we blog.

As for the first point, the Visa Business Network is an application developed by Visa to cater to the needs of (small) business owners, specifically their networking needs. This program is unique in a couple of important ways. First of all, it is legitimately free and accessible. That’s kind of a big deal when information products and business networking services are fetching a pretty penny, many of which fetch it monthly. Also, they developed it to synthesize with facebook perfectly. I’m hesitant to call it a “facebook app,” even though they do, because it is not exclusively available on facebook to the best of my knowledge. It seems like the content is consistent no matter where you access it whether at visabusinessnetwork.com or apps.facebook.com/visabusiness. However, the app parts of it seems well executed.

Once within the program you will have access to several tools and resources that seem to include video training programs, forums, and networking tools. I would like to say that I only signed up yesterday and didn’t poke around a whole lot, but I felt like I looked around enough to know that at least it seems valuable. If you’re still not sure whether it’s worth checking out or not, Visa is willing to offer you a $100 credit toward facebook advertising. The one piece of advice that I have heard that I would like you to keep in mind is that you need to be very careful when managing your facebook advertising campaign. I have heard from several sources that you should be incredibly focused with your targeting, and also track it closely. Make sure that it’s making customers and making money for you, because people on facebook tend not to want to be advertised to.

Now the second larger point that I would like to make, is that this particular marketing effort pursued by visa is very innovative, and I think will be successful and become more common on our steady march into the future. Mark received an email from a real person containing the following opening paragraph.

“Tatstore Blog last week and I’m digging you guys. Kudos to you and your team for being a well-written and informative resource for your readers. I dig the hybrid of geeky tech reviews, tattoos and marketing. I’m hoping that you guys will find my information below useful and relevant to your readers. Hopefully, it will be another resource in making their business websites more search-engine optimized and a platform where they can show off their unique art work. Please don’t take this as spam. I’d truly love to get you and your staff’s feedback on our launch announcement.”

Now, for a very simple paragraph this tells me a lot of things. First of all, this may be spam, in the fact that I may not want the content (in this case I did), but it is definitely not spam in the sense that it was not written for me. This salesperson at least took a moment to quickly scan our blog and put together a pretty concise and pertinent compliment. But not only that, with her first comment she actually transferred to us something of social value, namely a digg. Not surprisingly, it seems that Digg was not particularly happy with her and banned her account, but the marketing principle is right on. And then, the most important element to any marketing campaign, is the quality of the offering, and she follows through with a wonderful form email which explains her program and her incentives. Keep in mind though, it could have been an even better offering, and we would have missed it if we didn’t have a blog for our business.

Like my grandpa says, “Let this be a lesson to ya’.”.

Read the press release from Visa here.

When a searcher types in a word or phrase into a search engine, they start a process to locate information about a particular subject of interest. The searcher will continue to add or adjust the words and phrases they use until they get the results they want. When a searcher has a specific interest in mind, they will add more words to a phrase. These individuals may have already searched the subject and know what they want already. Their need for information is specific, so their search becomes specific. This is known as the “long tail” search, so named because the searchers use more words in their phrases to get specific results.

How can this concept help local businesses? Simple. Long tail searchers have most likely done the research for a product or service and are now interested in finding a business that can supply their needs. In other words, these people are ready to buy and are looking for a business from whom they can purchase. For the local business, this means that they are looking in their area, looking for you.

This brings us back to the item of content. Search engines need content to help their searchers find what they are looking for, quickly. When a long tail searcher searcher wants a dog trainer, they will use the phrase “dog trainers Grand Rapids Michigan”. So what do you need to do? When you are commenting on blogs or forums or creating new web pages, list your special service, but so not forget to mention your local area. When you edit your forum profile, be sure to add a line saying that you are serving a particular part of a city or even a county in your state.

An added benefit of this approach is that so few local merchants use this technique, your listing will be near the top of the search results page!

First of all, remember that your website should be a direct extension of your business.  Your website, booth, uniforms, business cards, everything your customer sees should contain the same colors and look like they belong together.  Like this example at the right.  See how the website and business card have a similar theme, color scheme and wording? This gives your business branding, helps people associate your business with these colors and helps establish a professional image that always wins more customers.  I’m not saying you should go out and buy new stuff so it all matches. Remember,  I told you this would all be free.  What I would suggest is changing your website, which is free, to look more like your uniforms and marketing materials.  Have tie-dye t-shirts as uniforms? Use a tie-dye designed banner at the top of the page like the one below.  It took me a grand total of about 5 minutes to make it from conception to pasting it on this page.   This is a quick and easy step toward having the uniform branding that keeps your customers thinking about you when they are planning an event or looking to get some body art before going on vacation.
Now, let’s talk about you.  Well, you, your employees, and your business in general.  One step that works very well for local businesses is to begin to establish a comfort level with your customers.  A great way to do this is to have a company photo or video on your website.  Let’s start with a photo, because it is much easier and everyone has a digital camera these days, so it’s also free-er.  First have everyone that is associated with your business put on their uniform and then snap a good group photo.  Use props like your booth sign or airbrush guns, have everyone put a tat on their arm with the business name, etc.  Make it fun, remember, you want people to associate your company with having a good time.  Now go through and have everyone at your company take a picture in uniform and have them write a short paragraph about themselves, how much they love their job, how fun events are etc.  Now on your website you probably already have the standard “about us” page since most website templates have them built right in.  On that page post your group picture at the top and your narrative about your company below it.  Now underneath that make a grid of your employee pictures and their little blurb about themselves.  This gives your website and your company as extension credibility and is a great relationship starter, it will also be a way to show people that tat parties are fun without shoving it down their throats with obvious advertising copy.  When people can associate a name and a face with the statement it is 10 times more believable then just having text.
As a little bonus, make sure your picture files have SEO words in them.  Use titles like “Party_Entertainer_Walt.jpeg” or “Private_Event_Entertainers_group.jpeg” these file names that people can’t see are still picked up by search engines like Yahoo! and Google, and are absolutely essential to coming up in image search queries.  Now you are on your way to branding success.

CRM or customer relationship management is a very popular buzz word that has been being thrown around a lot in the business and marketing circles.  Unfortunately, most people don’t address small scale customer relationship management, and how valuable it can be to a local business. CRM is basically just keeping in touch with your customers in order to build a strong relationship with them so that they hire you to do their parties and recommend you to their friends and families.  Now that you know what it is, lets get started…

First things first, you will need to build a customer database, now this isn’t hard so no worries.  The first step in this process is to get a spreadsheet program.  If you have Microsoft’s Excel, this will work very well, however you can also use Open Office which is a free download that has similar features to the Microsoft Office Suite.

So go ahead and download that or open up Excel.  Now go to this link, and download the template I created for a very simple customer database.  Now when a window pops up that looks like this:

click the save file toggle then click OK, a second window should pop up and you should be sure to save to Desktop.

Now open up your Spreadsheet program, click open and select the file titled CRM, this will open the template.  Which should look a lot like the image above.  Now just save the file in your business folder so you can use it later with ease.

Now that you have a simple database, begin collecting the information for the database from you customers.  Maybe you have a list of names and emails, or a list of old phone numbers etc. Compile all of this information into this database for easy reference.  Don’t forget, when a new customer comes in, have them write down all their information.  This simple database will become invaluable in your CRM program.

The next step in the process is to begin managing you customer relationships…use the database and shoot an email or a simple letter out to the customers who haven’t got a Tat in a while, encourage them to come back with a small discount or special offer of some kind, like a free glitter tat kit. If they come back, great, if not find out why and try to fix it if you can.

Another way to use this is to send your customers holiday promotions.  If you have time, shoot an email out to your entire database, use customer names, and encourage them to come in for a valentines tat for their loved one or to celebrate that they don’t have one.  Include one or two high quality pictures of Valentines day themed Tats, use your imagination.  This will be sure to bring in customers that forgot all about you and are in need of a unique gift idea. Doing something like this for every holiday, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Mothers Day, Father Day, Fourth of July, will increase the amount of times your customers come in, and its completely free.

But, this isn’t just for holiday advertising, keep in touch with your customers, after they get a tat, shoot them an email and see if they have any questions, if they had a party ask them if they had a good time and remind them that they should refer you to their friends and family, if you haven’t heard from them in a while, send them an email to find out why.  This gives customers a reason to come back and keeps your business in the forefront of their mind.

And, that’s it, use your imagination, and you’ll be sure to retain more customers and increase your sales and your businesses reputation.  If anyone has any questions please feel free to email at marissa@tatstore.com.

In an article on Local Search in Tough Economic Times, there are few important points to remember. Link building is always essential. You need to go to this article and either list yourself in the directories provided, or go to your listing in the directories and make sure you are still high on the page. There is also a big emphasis on branding. Make sure that your “brand” is as broad as possible. You are not a specific service provider, but your service can be used for many things. For instance, you do not just do airbrushing, but you are essential to the success of a party, thus you are an event planner as well.

If you have been following the advice on this blog, then now is the time to take advantage of your work and move people closer to the purchase decision. When you were at events, people became aware of you. If they received at tat and you told them how save their tat forever, then you have an email that you can use.

Create an email campaign that compares your broader brand identity, letting them know that entertaining people at parties, even creating parties with tats as the theme is advantageous to other forms of entertainment.

You have been working hard on your marketing for a while. Now is the time to take advantage of all that work and create business now.

Today we are going walk through using YouTube to market your business. YouTube is an incredibly valuable tool to inform and educate customers and to bring in new customers. It is the quickest way to effectively tell customers about your services. You could put up a video of you explaining how to care for their tat, a video talking about tat parties, or even videos of customers getting tats. Much like the idea of hosting customer photos on your website, this is a method of driving traffic to your website. We’re going to talk about putting customer videos on the web, as it will likely be the most viral type of video.

The first step in this process is to get a video camera. Don’t go wasting your money on a complicated setup that will just make the process more difficult and more expensive anyway. I’d recommend Creative Vado Pocket Video Cam, it is simple to use and a steal at only $79.99 and free shipping. This also uses a hard drive so you won’t have to deal with pricey disks or tapes. While you’re at it, buy a cheap tripod.

Once you have a camera, you need to get a YouTube account. Go to www.youtube.com, and in the upper right hand corner click the sign up button. Fill out the form to the right and click create my account. Now you will have to check your email for the confirmation YouTube just sent you. Click the link in the email to confirm. Now you will be taken to the YouTube page. Congratulations you now have a YouTube account.

The next step is to video tape your customers. Do a couple practice rounds with a friend or spouse and see what angle looks best. Now when a customer gets their tat picked out start videotaping it. Make sure you stop rolling as soon as your done so you don’t take up all the space on the video camera. When your customers are finished, let them know they can find their video on YouTube by visiting your website and clicking the YouTube link. Continue to video tape all of your customers throughout the day. At the end of the day, use the software that came with the video camera to break up all the videos by customer.

Now you need to upload the video to YouTube. Go back to www.youtube.com and sign in. Now click the yellow upload button in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Click the grey browse button and find the file where you saved the video files and upload each video. Now you will be taken to a screen where you need to fill out title, description, keywords and category. In the title be sure to put the name of your business and the first name of the person being tat-ed. Add a small description, and be sure to put keywords. For category, I recommend “how to and style.” Now click the save changes button, and then repeat the above process until all of your videos are uploaded.

Now in the upper right hand corner of the screen click your screen name. This takes you to your YouTube profile. Copy the address in the address bar and add the link to a prominent area on your website, instructing visitors to click it to find their video.

You should at this point go back to your YouTube page and click the yellow “edit channel” button in the upper left hand corner of the page. Fill out the form on the next page and leave the default toggles selected. Click update channel. Now go to the channel design link at the left of the page. Here you will pick a color scheme and a featured video. Then click update channel. Now in the upper right hand corner of the screen click “account”. On the left click profile setup. Now upload a picture of your business’s logo or another photo that accurately represents your business. Then write a description and put your website’s address into the website box. In addition fill out the hometown box, so that those in your town can easily find your business.

Now you are done setting up your YouTube account. Encourage customers to comment and share their videos, and before you know it all of their friends will be coming to you wanting to get that TAT they saw on YouTube.

The next step is to promote your website. Everyone knows about banner and search engine ads, but these cost money that doesn’t need to be spent. There are tons of ways to promote your website and your business. The two we are going to talk about today are offline promotions directing people online and internet yellow pages.

Offline promotions are the easiest of the three so we’ll discuss them first. I think one of the best ways to get people on your website is to put them on it, as in pictures. If you take pictures of peoples tats and host them on your website and let them know they can find them there, they will without fail visit your website. (A good way to let people know and help them remember this service is with flyers, they are super cheap and easy to make. Here is a tutorial for making flyers on Microsoft Word.) This is especially true for your younger clientele who are always trying to collect pictures of themselves for their MySpace profile. To do this, get a simple digital camera (the cheapest one you can get will work just fine) and, take pictures of people’s Tats. If you understand how to use photo editing software, add a watermark of your business name and website to the bottom corner of each picture, if you don’t, don’t worry about it.  Upload these pictures using the software that came with your camera to your computer, and then host them on a free photo hosting site, such as Flickr. Create a link from your home page to your Flickr page, and now people can get their pictures, but they have to go through your site to do so. This will increase click through and will help rank you higher on search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Additionally, it will introduce people to the idea of booking you for their own events, increasing your business.

The next topic, is completely free and easy. Online Yellow Pages are quickly replacing the old paper bricks of old, especially for those between the ages of 10 and 30. If you are not listed on these sites, to many you simply do not exist. This is also a chance to direct people who aren’t ready to call and book to visit your website and learn more. Fortunately this is not only free but also rather simple.

First, visit open this link in a new window. Fill in your phone number in the space provided and click search. The next page will prompt you to fill in business name and address. Don’t check the boxes below zip code you want as much information displayed as possible. Click on the continue button. Next you will need to pick categories. In the first column pick a broad category and then a less broad one, then a specific one. The categories I suggest are below:

Entertainment & Arts: Entertainment: Entertainers Family and Business

Entertainment & Arts: Entertainment: Adult Entertainment

Entertainment & Arts: Arts and Crafts: Artists-Commercial

Entertainment & Arts: Parties: Party Supplies-renting

Entertainment & Arts: Parties: Party Planning – Entertainment

Select these categories and then click continue. The next page is the more info page. Here is where you’ll fill in a head line, your website url, your business email, a toll free number if you have one, a fax number if you have one, and an additional phone number to the one you already entered on the first page. You’ll also put what languages you speak, The year your business started, your hours of operation, what kind of payments you accept, general information about your business and any affiliations you want to list (like tatstore.com). Fill in as much of this information as you possibly can because the more you write, the more likely the yellow pages search engine is to find you. When finished enter the access code in the box provided and click create listing.

Next you will need to fill out a member form which includes the basics, just fill it out and click register. Now your listing is done, it will be reviewed and then listed within 30 days. You can find more free phonebook listings by simply Googling yellow pages or online phone book, most are free to list.

That’s all for today, tune in next week for a little about ditty about YouTube marketing!

Before I get started with this week’s topic let me introduce myself, I am a recent graduate with a degree in business and marketing, I am also in grad school getting my MBA in Marketing. I work here at TAT International since about a week ago and I work in social media marketing. Likely, if you were on our email list, you’ve seen my work with Facebook and MySpace.

Now, let’s get on with it. Today I’m going to talk to you about using the web to market yourselves. The Internet is the easiest, most cost effective (free in many cases), and most versitile form of direct marketing. That being said, everyone should start with a simple landing page. A landing page is just a webpage that people who search for you or type in your web address end up at. For example, ours is www.tatstore.com.

If you are good with HTML programming I encourage you to build it yourself. If you just Google “Webpage Design Tips” you will get tons of helpful tips to help you make a great webpage. The next thing you should do is optimize your site for search engines. This will let sites like Google and Yahoo! Search to find your service right away. This basically involves picking the right keywords, and adding content so that you have more pages available for search engines to pick up. Click here for a good thorough review of search engine optimization.

This may all seem a little daunting at first, but internet advertising is becoming less and less optional for success. You will almost certainly find more success in your business if you simply get your name on the web. Customers will be able to find you, you will be able to better communicate with customers and understand their needs and desires.  All of this combined is great for business.

That’s all I have for today. Stay tuned next week for another quickie on direct marketing on the net.

Marissa