The article refers to survey results showing that three out of five small businesses plan to increase their investments in mobile marketing this year. Are you on board?

With mobile devices constantly reaching higher levels of penetration in the market, integrating them into your overall marketing strategy is becoming more and more vital. A recent Nielsen study showed that more than half of all U.S. mobile subscribers owned smartphones as of March 2012, up from 47.8 percent in December, with the devices being especially popular among adults age 25-34.

At 10fold Solutions, we put a huge emphasis on the importance of mobile compatibility for your website. Companies ignoring this exploding market segment are going to be left behind. Check out our Mobile Development capabilities and contact us today to learn more.

We’d recommend downloading it to get the full perspective, but here’s a quick look at the 10 steps presented by HubSpot:

1. Benchmark your current metrics.
2. Determine your goals.
3. Avoid pitfalls. Inventory your assets.
4. Analyze the competition.
5. Identify your unique value proposition.
6. Design your site around personas.
7. Optimize your site for search.
8. Identify calls to action.
9. Create an ongoing content strategy.
10. Don’t forget the extras!

Many of these important procedures get overlooked in corporate website overhauls, which is a shame because they’re all extremely important. Notice that you don’t see “Make it look pretty” listed above; that should go without saying. A business needs to focus first and foremost on building its website around usability, content strategy and lead generation.

That’s how you keep people coming back to your home page, and that’s how you turn it into a powerful marketing tool.

Because of this, consumers are wary of marketing communications they receive from companies, making it more difficult to break through the clutter. Building a database of customers or prospects and reaching them directly is a great way to get your message across and strengthen relationships if done properly, but it’s easy to get it wrong.

While direct mail and telemarketing have faded out as marketing channels to a degree, email marketing continues to hold up as a relatively inexpensive and effective tool for companies looking to cultivate and grow their customer bases.

Here are a few practices we’d recommend for a successful email marketing campaign:

• Utilize an opt-in model, where customers give companies permission to send them communications rather than needing to unsubscribe only after receiving unsolicited advertisements. This builds trust and leads to more efficient use of resources.

• Make your email stand out from the crowd with quality copy and an eye-catching design. Getting people to open and read your messages is half the battle.

• Ensure that you’re using good, targeted recipient lists. Past customers who have provided their email addresses are prime candidates for continued engagement.

• Keep an eye on your campaign metrics. One of the best things about email marketing is that it’s very easy to track the results in considerable detail. What percentage of people opened up your last email? What percentage clicked on a link? How many messages were bounced (returned as undeliverable)? Use this information to adjust your campaigns for maximum effectiveness.

Need help getting your email marketing campaign off the ground? 10fold Solutions has the experience and know-how, with services built around the powerful RocketMail tool. To learn more about our capabilities, feel free to contact us today.

One particular no-no on the list that resonated with us was this last item:

7. Taking the DIY route.

Your website is often your customers’ first experience with your brand. If you don’t have design experience, do you really think you can do it justice? Remember first impressions are everything. Don’t allow your customer to make assumptions about your business because of a poorly designed website.

Right on. We preach that your website is the main way you market your brand to the world in this digital age. In light of that fact, allocating the appropriate attention and resources to your online presence is vitally important.

Too often we see small businesses hurting themselves with ugly, non-functional websites that turn away potential customers. It’s simply not a shortcut worth taking, especially when the expense of enlisting the help of specialists is far from prohibitive.

According to The Kelsey Group, 70 percent of U.S. households use the internet when shopping locally for products and services. We all know that improving search rankings can be a tricky process, especially when working with limited resources, but local search can serve as a shortcut to the top of the results page.

Google owns the online search market, and their Google Places service is a powerful tool for small businesses. By creating and optimizing a profile, your company can jump to the front of the line when people are searching in your area for the services you offer. Not only will your location conveniently pop up on a map icon, but searchers will be able to find details and coupons with one click. Bing and Yahoo!, among others, offer similar tools.

As physical newspapers continue to fade out, so too are traditional means of reaching local customers. Approaching that goal through the digital space can be effective and highly rewarding if you know how to do it. Get in touch with us today at 10fold Solutions to learn more.

Certainly Facebook has the wider reach, but Twitter’s functionality caters more to conversation and community. By accruing followers and interacting with them, you can expand the scope of your business while adding personality and accessibility to your brand.

In order to maximize the effectiveness of your Twitter presence, it’s important to have a defined strategy in place. How much time are you willing to commit to fostering conversations? What type of people and businesses are you hoping to connect with? How will you measure your success?

At 10fold Solutions, we can help you plan and execute a winning Twitter strategy. See our Social Media Marketing capabilities and contact us today to get the discussion started.

Instead, they go to the social networking site that has taken over the internet and altered the way we approach online marketing. With more than 800 million users worldwide, Facebook cannot be ignored.

Many companies have been reluctant to engage with this platform, either because they don’t understand it or they simply don’t like it. But if people are trying to find your company, they will search for it on Facebook. And if you don’t have a presence there, or if it’s underwhelming, this will impact perceptions about your brand.

While it’s natural to associate Facebook with college, kids and gossip, the fastest-growing user demographic consists of people aged 25 and up. The site is increasingly gaining traction as a business tool, as it offers a number of different strategies that can enhance your marketing efforts. You can connect with customers and other companies, advertise to new audiences, embed videos, hold contests and more. Plus, a well designed and interactive Facebook landing page will ensure that you’re projecting the right image.

We’d love to chat about ways Facebook can benefit your brand. Read more about our Social Media Marketing services and then contact us today.

Your website is not just a billboard on the internet. It should be an organic, interactive portal to your brand that is easy to use and – above all – easy to find. Re-designing can have a profoundly positive impact in both those areas, helping you reach a larger and more targeted audience while delivering a top-notch experience to users once they arrive.

They say not to judge a book by its cover, but lets face it: time-conscious consumers and executives often will judge your company by the way it presents itself on the Web. Are you doing enough to capture the interest of users and capitalize on your internet traffic?

We see too many companies, small and large, that are doing themselves a disservice with an underwhelming web presence. Upgrading to a modernized, user-friendly site is easier and more cost effective than you might think. Check out our capabilities and get in touch with us to learn more.

Mobile access is not only booming on a global level, but also here in the United States, where 69 percent of mobile users access the internet daily. The reach of this medium is growing wildly, and any forward-thinking company would be remiss not to jump on board if they haven’t already.

Is your website compatible with smart phones and tablets? Are you offering the type of simplistic design and interactivity that on-the-go mobile users crave? Are you taking advantage of the numerous features that make mobile marketing an ideal channel for connecting with customers and building leads?

If you feel you could stand to improve in these areas, or further expand your presence in the mobile space, check out the capabilities offered by 10fold Solutions and contact us today.