In most parts of the world social marketing and PPC advertising is growing faster than here in the US. The Middle East PPC market is exploding thanks in part to the access to broadband connections and the growth of smartphones. Now with more people having access to tools like Twitter, Facebook, and FourSquare advertisers are trying to tap into this growing market. Companies are constantly looking for new markets to enter and with social media the cost to entry can much quicker and easier. Social media in this part of the world is also shaping political futures and have been leveraged by small groups to increase their voice and even help in the political process. The expansion of social media has been targeted by various Middle East countries and the evolution of using this medium is just at it’s infancy as consumers start to see the power in sharing and shopping through these sites. The graph below shows some the stats of what this new market is doing and the possible opportunities.

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We recently came across this article and graphic that highlights companies that have taken the next step in social marketing by using their influence and money to help those across the country and world. A great example is from Pepsi where they used their Facebook fan page to help change approx. 163 K lives. This is not only creating awareness for a specific cause but allowing their customers to be more involved with the brand and what happens in their community.

Via: Wpromote

Companies are jumping on the social networking bandwagon but only a handful have been able to master the tools.Companies like Wpromote can help companies of any size with their social media optimization to help increase ROI and customer engagement. The companies that are listed above have taken their clout and used social marketing to help raise awareness and funds for needs organizations. The ability to have your customers reach you across multiple channels and then creating a sense of ownership and input can create exciting things for any company.

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Written by my friend Roosevelt Spence

There weren’t a lot of reasons for me to get directtv satellite - I work late almost every night and I didn’t have a roommate anymore to split it with, but I did anyway when I came across a good special and boy am I glad I did! I love watching all the stuff on A&E and I sometimes bring my work home to catch the shows. Hoarders and Intervention are two of my favorites, if not the most depressing, and I also really like Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead on AMC. I just never would have pegged myself for a “TV person” but now that I’ve got access to better channels guess that’s exactly what I am! I don’t know why it took me so long but I guess it had something to do with not knowing what I was missing at the end of the day. I love being able to get home, put on the TV and just lose myself in some show instead of stressing about work all the time.

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The latest truss for new trade shows.
Many companies spend thousands to have a presence at trade shows which enables them to engage their customers and introduce new products or enhance their brand. From the trade show displays to the logo floor mats no small detail is left to chance when it comes to providing the brand image and messaging more impact for those companies in attendance. Companies like Camel Back displays can provide you everything you will need for your display like the exhibit booths display to help you create a unique experience for your customer.

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We have all seen and probably received company branded clothing. Many companies will give their customer branded hats, sweatshirts, and polo shirts. Employees will wear shirts and polos with their company logos and branding. This not only helps to create goodwill amongst your customers and employees but helps to create and reinforce your branding. You will find Hats and Caps that can be tailored with your brand message or company logo. It is keeping your company top of mind and the hope is that people will remember that brand when it comes time to do business. These items are great for this time of year when companies are recognizing their top customers and employees.

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Sometimes to catch the big boys in business you have to play like them. I know a lot of small businesses can add a professional touch to their company by selecting gift cards with their name or logo on it. A small business could create a typical gift card that would be good for buying merchandise or services from their own company. I think this would add a nice touch to any business and a gift card is just one more promotional tool a company could benefit from. There are other ways a business could take advantage of gift cards and only giving them out to employees is another way to give off that professional appearance. Sometimes in business a company has to project their selves out larger than what they really are. They can use quality management software to help track customer service responses with the use of the cards and help improve the process. This strategy can pay off later if the employees and customers start to believe this big business image and the tables could get turned; where the competition is now chasing your small business.

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People that post photos or up load videos online is branding their self online. I hear from a lot of online marketers how it’s important to brand your self or your product and adding your photo to a few web pages is a good way to promote your self. Once you can promote your self; then you can get people’s attention enough to show them your products or services online. Several ways you can put your photo online and some web pages make it real easy to upload a photo that you might have saved on your computer. You can use the services of photo restoration companies to help make your images sharper and clearer for your audience. Most people just use their scanners to scan a photo and then save it to their computers. You will find lots of services that offer photo sharing and this is a good way to spread your picture around. Be sure to check out different services and look for the best deal.

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Now how do you get listed on these search engines? What does SEO mean? Can I really benefit from hiring a SEO company? These are some of the questions that people face all the time, when trying to get extra traffic (visitors) to their website. You can go directly to the search engines and find out the different ways to submit your website. Then they will send out a robot that will crawl your website. The robot will check for all sorts of things, like keywords, copyright, and just what exactly is going on at your website. A good way to talk to this robot, is by having a meta tag located somewhere in your website. A meta tag gives you the chance to choose things like keywords, and give a description of your website. So if you are selling widgets from your website, you might select keywords such as widgets, info on widgets, buying widgets, installing widgets, widget repairs, and so on. Using a directory submission can help improve links back to our site with keywords that you specify. The more keywords you have, is the better chance someone will do a search on your keyword, and find your website.

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I’m sure lots of online marketers have seen the value in traffic exchanges text link advertising banner advertising, CPA (cost per action) advertising, and advertising in blogs. People that are new to online marketing just need to get their links to their website or their referral links on as many websites and blogs as possible. I strongly believe in mass advertising and using several different methods to promote your website when you first get started. Having a UK CPA Advertising Network partner like Status Media can help save you time and money. Once you have distributed your link around the Net and you feel you have enough message forums, blogs, and other websites that have your link on their website, what’s the next step? Or the steps that need to be repeated each day for the best results? Is there one thing you try to do daily to give your online business or website a chance for more visitors? I think if we could find the number 1 thing that works best for our online interests, which would lead us to the most success, if we focused on that one thing enough.

Using our time more effectively online is important. I’m sure a lot of online marketers waste a lot of time each day by using poor methods of advertising and promotions for their websites. I know I don’t manage my daily time online in the proper manner each day and I have lots of room for improvement in my marketing efforts. I do want to make better use of my time, so I thought it would be wise to seek the most effect ways to advertise online. If you have a great way to promote a product or service or just a way to find more referrals or sign ups; then please share your methods for advertising online. I would love to hear fellow marketers make suggestions about online advertising and I’m sure my readers would too.

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There are consultants and  consultants for hire on the web.You will find this consultants directory a great resource where you can get help from experts at a reasonable cost.

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Many small businesses today struggle to manage their day to day inventory. Carry to much and you are tying up capital that can be used for other projects in the business. Carry too little and you can run the risk of losing sales. Finding the perfect balance of inventory to sales can be complicated unless you enlist the services of a outside consultant or a software solution that can help track your inventory. The benefit of SIMMS inventory software is that it allows you to set and plan the variables to help keep your costs under control. This system was designed by business owners who understand the struggles of keeping inventory and overhead costs low in order to compete in a demanding market.

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This past weekend I was looking through my closet for my winter clothes and came across an old sweatshirt that I was given from a past employer. This was one of the many corporate gifts that I have received over the years as a sign of appreciation or just to celebrate a new product launch. Every year companies provide promotional items to their customers and their employees as a way of saying thanks but also to create brand awareness. This is one marketing vehicle that can present your brand in front of thousands of eyes if given to the right person in the right situation.

It is also true with promotional products where you receive a free sample of am item to try it out in hopes that you will purchase additional units or replace your current item with theirs. You see this all the time with toothbrushes in the dentist office. You will get the latest Oral-B toothbrush and then more than likely you will purchase a replacement when that one gets worn out. One of the better promotional products that we received was a stadium blanket that folded up neatly, but had the companies main product branded on the front. It was warm and did keep us dry at this years game down in Pullman, but we had to keep explaining to people that we did not sell that product, so it did it’s job by creating awareness and probably some additional customers.

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For many companies 2009 will bring about some changes in how they advertise and market to their customers. The time is now to improve your brand recognition and show your customers that you are here to stay and build on your product and brand awareness. Anything from promotional pens to banner advertising on the web should be seen as investment vehicles to help grow your current customer base. If you stop advertising then your customers will assume that you are not as stable and possibly low on funds. So market and build your brand in these challenging times and you will reap the benefits once the market starts to improve.

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At USWeb, they offer services that will help maximize your site for search engines, as well offer PPC management to optimize your keyword searches. Originally founded in 1995 they have worked with small to fortune 100 companies to develop successful web campaigns. Getting noticed on todays web involves some luck, but a lot of research and preparation.

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Here’s are some ideas that we came across to help you get your blog noticed by the Search engines:

So now, the only missing component necessary to our success is now finding out how to be the best site Google finds for a category that has a deficit.

One of the strengths of Google, as perceived by people who like it, is the vast amount of fresh content it contains that is relevant to almost any topic, or keyword, typed into it, no matter how narrow or broad.

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