New ways to market your small business online

21310494582_business-directory-1.jpgThere has never been a better time than now to market your small business online. From social networking to blogs to search engine optimization, there are dozens of new and useful marketing tactics.

Marketing Tactic #1: Blog Marketing
Small businesses rely on an intimate relationship with their customers to succeed. The fact of the matter is that it is the personal element that makes a small business better to work with than a big business. Small businesses can add value to a product or service that big businesses cannot. The blog is the most personal and effective way that a small business owner can connect with and get to know potential clients. By writing a blog, commenting on other blogs and truly developing a relationship with your clients, you can create lifetime customers rather than one-time buyers. One lifetime customer is worth a dozen one-time buyers.
Marketing Tactic #2: Social Media Marketing
The Internet provides hundreds of ways for people to get together. Whether you are talking about message boards or chat rooms, people have been talking with one another online from the beginning. New social media tools like Twitter have taken this marketing approach to a completely new level, and have created tremendous opportunities to market your small business online. Social media much like blogging, takes a much more personal approach to marketing your small business. It also allows you to connect with your clients in a way you cannot do when you use traditional marketing techniques.
Tactic #3: Search Engine Marketing
Creating a blog or a web site and populating that site with content related to your small business is one of the most common ways to market your small business online. However, there are new ways to go about search engine marketing that combine the first two tactics, and rely on truly “organic” or “white hat” techniques to market a small business. Today’s search engine marketing is vastly different from that of just five years ago. Mastering the latest techniques in search engine marketing brings your business to an entire new audience.
There are many more ways to market your small business online. However, most small businesses will find that they can experience some degree of success with one or more of these three tactics.

Using Cover Letters as Marketing Tools

01310676177_13.jpgA well written cover letter can make a lasting impression on job recruiters and is an additional way to showcase skills and achievements that may not appear on your resume.

Using Cover Letters as Marketing Tools: Research the Company
Researching the company and including a statement that references familiarity with the company’s growth and business model shows professionalism and an interest in the industry the company operates in.

Cover letters should never be generic. Cover letters that could be written for any company, in any industry will quickly be discarded and may only lead to your resume being scanned for two seconds or disregarded entirely.
Using Cover Letters as Marketing Tools: Include Additional Metrics
Cover letters can be used to include additional metrics (i.e. managed quarterly budget of 2.5 million) that you may not have been able to include in your resume due to space or formatting requirements.

A bulleted list works well when listing additional employment metrics and is easy to scan by prospective employers.
Using Cover Letters as Marketing Tools: Include the Benefits You Will Bring to the Company
A cover letter may be the perfect place to showcase additional benefits you will bring to the company if chosen for employment. Benefits should focus on what you can do for the company, such as extensive experience that gives you insight into the company’s industry.

You may also want to include a brief synopsis of one of your biggest accomplishments that benefited your former or present employer.
Using Cover Letters as Marketing Tools: Include Additional Training
It is often difficult to list all the continuing educational courses or certifications you have earned on your resume. Including these in your cover letter will ensure all pertinent training is documented.

A paragraph or bulleted list is the easiest way to show additional training that you have completed.
Using Cover Letters as Marketing Tools: Clear up any Discrepancies
If you have a large gap in employment (6 months or more), your cover letter is the perfect place to clear any questions up if you have a valid explanation. Stating that you took time off to take care of a sick relative, go back to school or volunteer overseas shows that you are aware that your resume has a hole in it and understand this might be a concern.

Keep explanations to one or two sentences only, prospective employers do not need to know your life story. If an additional explanation is needed, you’ll be asked during your interview.

Crafting a cover letter can be time consuming, but doing so can help give you an edge in the long run.