Get personal with your target market and success will follow. Successful marketing plans demonstrate a unique and in-depth knowledge of a target audience. It knows their habits, age, location, income, likes and dislikes. It responds to their changing needs. 
Does your marketing plan achieve these goals? If not, here are just a few ideas to get you started:

• Identify your target audience: Age, sex, income, location, purchases, etc.
• Focus your branding: Use colors, fonts and artwork that relate to your audience.
• Timing is everything: Time the posting of social media to match your audience’s availability.
• Divide and conquer: Fine tune your marketing efforts to target specific groups based on age, interests or product purchases.
• Be a resource and provide value: Position your business as a source of information about a product/service, then provide your product/service at a price your audience will see as reasonable. 
• Keep it fresh and easy: Update your website and social media on a regular basis. Change the layout or artwork on your emails. Keep a conversation going with your audience and always provide an opportunity for your audience to reach out to you. 

Want to learn more about getting personal with your target audience? Contact Us to get started today! 

Successful marketing is a relationship. When you build a relationship with your customers, the benefits are amazing. You discover what they desire and work to provide that product or service. In turn, your customers trust that you will have what they want, when they want it. It’s not a print advertisement with a screaming headline in all caps or an inflatable contraption swaying in the wind and anchored to your roof. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship without pressure or contrivance.

At Fusaro Consulting, we practice what we preach. We take the time to clearly understand your business – your challenges, successes and goals. In turn, we strive to provide marketing responses that overcome hurdles, achieve goals and highlight your company’s strengths. Working together, our relationship and your business will grow and thrive.
​
It doesn’t feel like marketing, but it’s the best marketing. Contact Fusaro Consulting today to see how it can work for your business.

​1. Your website is un- responsive. “Responsive” websites look great on all platforms - desktop, mobile and tablet. According to the PEW Research Center, 64% of Americans use a smart phone to look up information online.  If your website doesn’t look good on a phone or tablet, you could lose clients.
 
2. Your competitor’s website looks better than yours. They upgraded, redesigned and rebuilt. Now they look better than you. What are you waiting for?
 
3. Your website is busy & hard to navigate. It only takes 8 seconds to lose a client from your website. If they can’t find what they’re looking for in under 8 seconds, they’ll find it somewhere else. If your site is too busy, how are they going to find anything?
 
4. You’re site should start a relationship. Always include an option for viewers to provide you with contact info or to get in touch with you.
 
5. You can’t track activity on your site. You should be able to track when clients come to your site, what pages they are looking at and how much time they are spending on your site. Tracking viewer trends on your site can provide you with valuable marketing data.
 
6. Your content is old. Fresh, updated content will encourage readers to dig deeper into your site. It will also position you as an expert in your field and increase your search engine optimization… which is your page ranking in Google.
 
7. Your pages load slowly or images don’t appear. It only takes a matter of seconds to lose a viewer’s interest. Update to a hi-speed website and retain more viewers.
 
8. You have to call a web developer to update a page. Fusaro Consulting provides an easy to use and easy to access content management system that allows you to make changes to your website when it’s convenient for you. Don’t waste time or money hiring an expert coder just to make minor updates to your site.
 
9.  You can’t find your website in Google. Fusaro Consulting will create a website for you that is “search engine optimized.”  This means current and potential customers will easily find your site on major search engines like Google.
 
10. Your site doesn’t link to your social media sites. Social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc) is a great way to connect with your customers. Your social media accounts should link back and forth to your website. You can even have a post on your website appear automatically on your social media accounts.
 

​
Let's face it. We all make mistakes. Unfortunately, mistakes can cost time and money. The good news is, we can correct our mistakes and learn from them. Here are a few of the most common branding mistakes made by businesses and organizations:

• Lack of planning - There's an old saying that states "Prior planning prevents poor performance." This is so true. Take the time to create a branding/marketing plan and calendar. Planning will help you stay on task and on budget throughout the year.
• Inconsistent brand image - We've all seen it. A logo that's faded or stretched. How about an organization that uses several versions of their logo with a variety of colors, fonts and designs? To remain "top of mind" you must have a consistent brand. That includes logos, colors, fonts, email & newsletter templates, web design, your social media presence and more.
• Producing low quality content - While it may be easier to post generic content in your newsletters and on your websites, you're not doing yourself any favors. Localize your content. Target your information. Get specific and personal. Never forget to proofread. Present your information in the most attractive and engaging way possible to ensure viewer engagement.
• Underestimating online marketing opportunities - The easiest and fastest way to engage your audience is via online marketing - website, email, text, social media. Online marketing also provides you with a wealth of data on your audience. Knowing audience preferences, such as when and how they prefer to receive information about your organization, will increase your branding ROI.
• Not listening to your audience - Always ask for input from your audience and always respond to their input. It keeps your branding efforts in sync with the needs of your audience. An important part of successful branding is audience "buy in." Your audience should feel engaged, appreciated and acknowledged. 
• Badly designed and hard to navigate website - Ugh! This is so common, yet so easy to fix. The beauty of online content is you can track what viewers want to find. Follow their lead and make your most important content easy to find. Less is more. Keep it simple. If it takes more than 2 clicks to find, then it's not in the right place. If you can't update a web category and keep it fresh don't post it. 

Are you making any of these branding mistakes? It's okay. Keep calm. Help is just a click away. Fusaro Consulting is ready to share over 30 years of branding and marketing experience. Contact us today for a free consultation.

77% of consumers prefer email promotions and offers over any other marketing channel. With that in mind, here are a few easy tips and tricks to help your business develop a creative, effective and successful email campaign.

• Keep your subject line simple (under 50 characters)
• Including incentives in your subject line can increase open rates by 50%
• Entice your audience with excitement, humor and mystery
• Don’t use all caps or lots of punctuation
• Avoid spam related words like “free,” "bonus,” or “call now”
• Keep your font choices to a maximum of three
• Include your logo in upper left corner of a branded template
• Separate sections into easily definable areas
• Don’t use busy or distracting backgrounds
• Make your email template no larger than 600 pixels wide
• Send engaging and interesting content
• Include a single call to action in each email
• Keep content short – use website links for full content
• Make emails visually appealing – white space is your friend
• Don’t use images that flash or move
• "Mobile optimize” emails for viewing on cell phones & tablets
• Don’t lump contacts into one big list – target and segment
• Include an “opt-out” feature and remove addresses immediately when requested
• Email on a consistent basis – don’t overdo it. 47% of recipients opt-out because they receive too many emails

 
Fusaro Consulting can help your business with your next email campaign.
CONTACT US for a free consultation.

Every year, more and more shoppers are turning to digital and social media to help with their holiday shopping choices. Using your website to communicate your image, products, and services is a great way to market and brand your business. Your website should be fresh, creative, engaging and effective. More importantly, it should be easy to find and serve as a resource for current and potential customers. Increase profits and brand recognition this holiday season with a new website from Fusaro Consulting. Here are just a few of the features we offer with our unique website designs:

• Website design - fresh, attractive mobile and traditional formats with engaging content and unlimited pages
• Traffic reporting - how many people visit, what pages are viewed, mobile vs desktop views, viewer location, etc.
• Content Updates (weekly, monthly, seasonal) - keep your content updated to ensure return visits
• SEO (search engine optimization) - make your website easy to find on Google and other search engines
• Integration with social media and email campaigns - Expand your audience with social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) and email campaigns
• Connect to Your Own Domain/URL - Already have a web address or website? Now problem. We can direct your current web address/URL to your new website.
• Customized Form and Polls - Get valuable feedback and information from site visitors - even establish your own mailing list!
• E-Commerce - Offer your products and services 24/7 with an easy-to-use online store
• Outstanding Visuals - Home page slide shows to photo galleries, videos and more
• A wide variety of website options - To view a complete list of website options, click here 
• Competitive website pricing - Based on site size and selected options
• Local website training, service and support – Available 24/7. Help when and where you need it.

​Change is good. Update your current website or establish a new website now - before the holiday rush. For a free consultation, contact Fusaro Consulting.

There's good news about bad website design! It's easy to identify and it's just as easy to fix. Here are a few examples of common design errors and how to fix them:

1. Don’t make your viewers search for the search box
Every website should have a highly visible search box – most commonly placed in the upper right corner.
TIP: Always test your search box to make sure that viewers can quickly and easily find the content they are looking for on your website.

2. Choose the right font style and size
Good web design features a specific set of font styles and sizes. In this case, less is more. Font choices are commonly influenced by your branding, but careful attention should be paid to size, color and style to ensure easy reading on the web.
TIP: Sans serif fonts are always a good choice and try to avoid light color fonts on light backgrounds.

3. Organize and prioritize your content
Your web content will drive traffic to your site, but content without organization and prioritization will drive traffic away. Most viewers scan web pages for points of interest.
TIP: Highlighting your most current and impactful text is key. Allow content of a lower priority to be secondary, but still searchable. Outdated content should be removed. The use of color, borders, artwork and even headlines, sub heads and bullets are just a few simple ways to organize and prioritize content.

4. Use a “3-Click” test for your navigation
Research shows that if users can’t find what they want in 3 clicks or less, most will immediately leave your website. That’s why your navigation should be seamless, intuitive and consistent.
TIP: If you’re using text links in your navigation make them short, concise and easy to find. Bad links should be avoided and removed. Group links that have a common subject together.

5. Consistency is key
If you want to flaunt your creativity by having a different design for each of your web pages, you certainly have the right to do so. Unfortunately, this will confuse and annoy most viewers. If the overall look and feel of your website is not consistent, users can’t relate to it, feel less in control and end up leaving as soon as they arrived.
TIP: Be consistent with your brand by using similar colors, fonts and artwork. Web pages should have a design that transitions across all pages and unites your website with a branded theme. These steps will provide your site with a brand, a personality and style that viewers will relate to and remember.

6. Responsive design
Responsive design means that your site will appear quickly and flawlessly on a variety of media – desktop computers, laptops, tablets and cell phones. Viewers will not have to endlessly scroll or enlarge your site to make is visible and usable. 
TIP: Work with your web designer to ensure your site benefits from responsive design. Always test each type of media to make sure your design looks great on all of them.

7. Avoid complicated registration forms
It’s important to remember that users visit a website to acquire information. Not the other way round. Don’t frustrate viewers with a long list of questions. Web viewers want ease of use and speed.
TIP: Ask short, concise questions. If you ask more than 10 questions, give your list a second look to see if you can make it smaller. Less is more.

8. Images – quality and quantity
Too many images on a web page are a huge turn off. Images should be used sparingly to direct the viewer’s attention to specific content. Don’t skimp on quality.
TIP: If your image isn’t crisp and clear or if the colors aren’t just right – do not use it.  Find another way to draw attention to your content – perhaps headline art, color, background or border.

9. Whitespace is your friend
Whitespace is a web designer’s best friend. To avoid having a busy, cluttered and unreadable page, use whitespace. Whitespace allows your site and its content to reside in a comfortable, clean, organized space. More importantly, viewers will have an easier time navigating, consuming and retaining your site content.
TIP: Think of your web site home page as a billboard that you have 3 seconds to read as you drive by. What are the main points you want to get across to viewers? Are these points prominent on your home page? If not, remove items that complicate your page and prevent viewers from focusing on the main items.

10. Test, Test and Test
Test your website by looking at it from the consumers point of view.
TIP: Check your website for the following:

• Does your site work on a variety of browsers? (Chrome, Safari, Mozilla, etc.)
  
• Does your website function perfectly on all media? (Laptop, Cell Phone, Desktop, Tablet, etc.)  
  
• Do all your links work correctly?
  
• Have you removed outdated content?
  
• Are your forms easy to complete and function properly?
  
• Does your website have a consistent design that matches your company branding and identity?
  

11. Keep it simple
If it’s simple, it’s usable – by you, your staff and your customers. Don’t build a website that’s difficult to monitor, update or use. Simple can be creative, easy to use, attractive and engaging.
TIP: Embrace having a simple, user friendly site that’s easy to update. 

For more tips and tricks on how to make your website creative, engaging and effective, contact FUSARO CONSULTING for a free review of your current website or to discuss the development of a new website.

If you’re ready to grow your business, but don’t have the time, staff or skill set to dedicate to marketing efforts, it may be time to hire a Marketing Consultant. Marketing Consultants can save you time and grow your brand and business using print, digital and social media. Still on the fence? Well, here are 10 reasons why you should consider hiring a Marketing Consultant.

1.     Expertise
Marketing Consultants have in-depth knowledge on a wide variety of topics, including SEO, content marketing, social media, branding, and paid media. Use their knowledge to grow your business and free up your time.

2.     Tools That Work
Marketing Consultants can connect you with the best platforms for marketing – email vendors, web platforms, social media hosts, etc. With their guidance, you will be provided the best tools for the tasks you want to undertake and the goals you want to accomplish.

3.     New Perspective
Bringing in an outsider who’s not as close to your brand can provide valuable, unbiased feedback. Marketing Consultants can assess and create new ideas from the perspective of the consumer rather than the employee.

4.     Cost Effective
For the price of a single hire, you can have access to a wide range of professional services for print, digital and social media. Marketing Consultants can be hired for a single project or for ongoing marketing assistance. You determine the time frame, scope of work and cost.

5.     Best Practices
Marketing Consultants work with a broad range of businesses and they know the best marketing practices that get results.

6.     Measurable Results
With so many moving pieces in a marketing strategy, it can be difficult to show real ROI. Marketing Consultants know how to track campaigns and consumer engagement. They know how to create and measure success.

7.     Consistency
Starting and maintaining marketing programs is difficult if you're also responsible for managing other company initiatives and putting out fires. A Marketing Consultant is focused on your marketing efforts 100% of the time for maximum benefit.

8.     Divide & Conquer
Keep your staff focused on sales, customer service or product development. Let your Marketing Consultant handle all marketing tasks for consistency and efficiency. 

9.     Room To Grow
As your business demands increase, a Marketing Consultant will grow with you. Expand your target market, add new products, celebrate a new location – a Marketing Consultant will be by your side to ensure the success of each endeavor.

10.  Get Up & Running Faster
When you hire a Marketing Consultant, you don’t have to re-invent the wheel or navigate a learning curve. You can take advantage of their experience and resources to get your marketing campaigns running sooner rather than later.

If your business to ready to start your journey towards success, contact Fusaro Consulting for a FREE consultation.

For those new to the world of digital marketing, here’s a simple overview of what it is, why you should invest in it and how you can get started. Now’s the time to let digital marketing increase your sales and expand your customer base.  

WHAT is digital marketing?
Digital marketing encompasses a variety of ways you can promote your business using the internet. It includes your website, email campaigns, social media accounts and more. Your digital marketing should have consistent branding across all platforms. Your branding, content, artwork and even the tone of your text should accurately reflect your business’ personality and standards. There are a variety of techniques to use when presenting your business to existing and new customers using digital marketing. Knowing when and how to use each form of media will help your business rise above your competition and increase your ROI.

WHY should I invest in it?
Still on the fence when it comes to investing in digital marketing? Here are a few facts that will demonstrate why you should begin developing a digital marketing plan. 

• The average American spends nearly 6 hours each day using digital media (cell phone, laptop, tablet, desktop, etc.). 
  
• Facebook leads the social media boom with nearly 1.5 billion registered account users. 
  
• Mobile devices account for 49% of total time spent on digital media. 
  
• The amount of time spent on mobile devices has increased 20% since 2010. 
  
• 52% of retail traffic originates from mobile devices. 
  
• 78% of smartphone-based searches have resulted in a local purchase. 
  
• 64% of tablet-based searches and 61% of PC or laptop-based searches have resulted in local purchases. 

Now that you have the facts, what are you waiting for?

HOW do I get started?
Navigating thru the world of digital media and marketing can be daunting. Here are a few words of advice:

• Start small. 
  
• Focus on quality, not quantity. 
  
• Target your audience.
• Develop a digital marketing plan that will help you learn and grow. 
  
• Use analytics to track results and adjust your actions accordingly. 
  
• Be flexible and responsive to your audience and your situation. 
  
• More importantly, you do not have to take this journey alone. 
  

Fusaro Consulting will work with you to develop a customized, digital marketing plan that suits your available time and budget. A successful digital marketing plan is completely attainable. Let’s get started today! Contact us for a free consultation.