News at JP’s We have been busy little bees over the break with an upgrade to our website (www.jppromotions.com.au). We have created a distinctive tab-like layout with Uniforms and Promotional Products separated so that you can easily navigate and find products much quicker. And of course! There are 100’s of new products, colours and designs of promotional products for 2012.

We also have a revolving image banner at the bottom right hand corner of current clients. If you are interested in having your company logo as part of the line up simply contact jarrod@jppromotions.com.au to discuss further. It’s free! And we have 1000’s of visitors a month!

Power Of Marketing Material In this competitive world of business, companies strive to attract new customers. Promotional Products have become a key strategic marketing aspect. Companies are now looking for 'First to Market' Promotional Products. They're asking for items which will have a lasting impression but also practical items as well. See the email blast for new 2012 products!

Social Media Social Media is not about communicating a message to another individual online. It is about influence, news, referrals, market research, goodwill, generating content, promoting content, and generating traffic, leads and revenue. It is one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to build an online community you can engage with, and who will talk about you and your business. The following 5 tips can help you effectively introduce social media:

1. Incorporate Social Media into how you market your business online. In the same way that you account advertising, promotional material and Google adwords as ways to promote your business, Social Media should also be included as another means to do so. Therefore set goals for what you would like to achieve, make it priority and evaluate it. Try this: After researching your customers, develop a plan to target which Social Media sites they are using. Find out which is their preferred media? Twitter? Facebook? Youtube? Linkedin? Remember that regardless of what Social media site you choose, it is essential that you invest time to build relationships.

2. Set objectives Just like any approach for promoting your business, you should expect to receive a return on investment. It’s important to know what you want to achieve so your social media activities have a purpose. Try this: set SMART (Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) goals so you can measure your return on investment (and while social media is “free” it is an investment of time). Your goals might include increasing your position in search engine rankings, an increase in traffic to your website, or an increase in subscribers to an e-newsletter. Remember to set up Google alerts so you can respond appropriately when others are talking about your brand.

3. Be yourself, be authentic and be true to your brand When posting updates or contributing to your social network pages, don’t outsource the content. No one knows your business better than you, and it’s most effective when individuals from within your organisation are engaging and posting (and be interesting!). This isn’t to say you can’t seek outside help to set up your social media presence. Try this: as well as sharing company information, offer opinions on current events and industry news; highlight events you are attending (where you can meet online contacts in person); show your personality. Remember to be consistent when creating your company’s Twitter page, Facebook fan page, or when creating a company profile on LinkedIn, including brand colours, words, images. Make sure your profiles are complete – fill in the required and optional fields when setting up your profiles, and include a photo or an image (such as a logo).

4. Update regularly The whole point of social media is that it allows you to update your followers with what you are up to, your 20 minutes 2-3 times a week for Facebook, and time to write at least 1 blog post a week. If you don’t have time delegate the responsibility of updating your social media to 1-2 people within the organisation who are interested in social media (but set guidelines!). Remember that if you don’t update regularly your followers will quickly lose interest.

5. Share your knowledge Sharing knowledge helps you become recognised as an industry leader, which can lead to other opportunities such as publicity and speaking opportunities. Try this: rather than promoting your company directly, write a blog post or an e-book about the benefits of using your product/service and make it freely available. Promote the blog post via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Try not to be too pushy or overtly “sales-y:” Remember to encourage your followers to share your content that they enjoy – you can easily do this using social media bookmarking links.

Source: Promotion Magazine www.promotionmagazine.com.au