According to statistics compiled by the Royal Bank of Canada in mid 2009, Women are responsible for 83% of all consumer purchasing and make 95% of all household financial decisions.

Women have firmly established their presence on the social web, and account for the majority of users on many popular social media sites.

The findings of an independent study conducted by iVillage, an online community for women and SheSpeaks, a social media platform that ‘creates and operates consumer insights and influencer communities’ show that Internet marketers able to reach women through social media are well-placed to influence their purchases. When it comes to prompting purchases among women, the most influential channels are online coupons (68 percent), online product reviews by consumers (61 percent), emails from companies or brands (45 percent) and online articles (41 percent).

Much like the direct-mail opportunities of the eighties, this very focused market is online and shopping, whether it be directly online purchasing or seeking advice and information regarding a traditional purchase.

Jodi Kahn, Executive Vice President, iVillage had these comments on the findings:

“For brand marketers and retailers alike, the insights are clear – finding the right balance of trusted content with community advice is the best way to reach women along the path to purchase.”

 “If brands can motivate trusted customer recommendations and couple them with a ‘call to action’ such as a coupon, it’s a powerful one-two punch that drives sales and advocacy,” said Aliza Freud, CEO of SheSpeaks.

In the same recently released report, the Royal Bank of Canada also tells us that:

Ø      Two out of three women in Canada use the Internet.

Ø      57% of women business owners make purchases online.

Ø      90% of women Internet users are online at least every other day

Ø      The majority of women spend their Internet time gathering information and communicating via e-mail.

The broad scope of female influencers on platforms such as twitter is remarkable.  Ex-Much Music VJ and “Yummy Mummy Club” founder Erica Ehm has a remarkable influence, and is constantly representing trusted companies such as Kraft Foods; companies that swear by the direct increase in exposure of campaigns and sales when their online promotions are repped by her.

Thetop10.ca founder Caroline Risi observes it in this way: “I think women are intuitive, it has nothing to do with being the most technical, it’s more about understanding where good information is and then seeking it out. Online shopping and using the Internet to aid in your purchasing decisions is a quick way to make a broader, more informed choice, quickly, and women realize that, from Halifax to Ottawa, Toronto to Vancouver.”

How you are going to most effectively target and bring in your customer base is everything, and the one thing you need to identify first is who your customer is.

Now, at first glance, of course, we all know who our customer is. You either sell locally or around the world, to a specific age or lifestyle group that you’re fully aware of, right? It is so important to ensure ‘knowing our customer’ isn’t actually being ‘stuck in a rut’ that is limiting your business and failing to see a broader customer-base-opportunity.

Repackaging, pairing products, adding a service element, looking to encourage a younger (but aging demographic) are just some of the options to consider when evaluating who your customer base is.

Example: Your Ottawa-based shoe repair company also repairs leather bags and accessories, you realize with all of the designer bags out there, perhaps you need to market this more, even offer a shipping & repair service to out-of-towners, showcasing examples of the beautiful repairs on your website, you also decide to advertise on the online designer-bag-reseller areas of Kijiji / Craigslist and more; well, there’s a wider customer base right there, reaching into a broader demographic.

Have a real brainstorming session! That Ottawa-based (Miami-based, Vancouver-based … etc!) company almost always has some untapped potential. 

Once the *brainstorming has culminated into a list of business possibilities, you need to then decide how to get the word out there, or even re-position and broaden your existent online presence.

Nine times out of ten the Internet offers a world of inexpensive marketing opportunities. Blogs, web presence, facebook, twitter, discussion groups; the list is long, once you start investigating. Deciding where to start and what to do is a challenge made easier by search engines such as Google. A few key words pertaining to your service or product and you’ll find your customers and competition pretty fast.

The more difficult challenge, of course, is becoming the company being found in those searches: the SEO work, in layman’s terms: the strategic (top) technical placement of your various online platforms. This is where SEO specialists come into play. Be warned: SEO is the new Wild West; your company needs to carefully scrutinize the possibilities. The prices vary inexplicably, and the services can be minimal and made to look grand! Anyone can ‘tag’ your website – make sure you’re not overpaying for this simple one-note service. Comparison shop, don’t let the technical experts ‘talk over your head’ and look for value ads in the service. Our team at thetop10.ca takes pride in simplifying the process, offering a unique and guaranteed local-search-engine platform as well as a variety of value-add services CUSTOM FIT to your company and customer base. Whatever choice you do make when evaluating these criteria,  we encourage you to make an informed choice.

*BRAINSTORMING: Every company should plan a regular strategy-brainstorming session, encouraging radical ideas, open comments and free discussion in a relaxed atmosphere, at least quarterly!

“Content is king”, the new SM cliché. We’re all tired of seeing it in print. You want search engines to find your blog, business, service, or creative ideas, and a statement like this offers no true guidance on the subject.

If you’ve read this far, you are looking for short cuts, resources and answers.

You also are probably aware that you need to be very wary of ‘tag-driven-content’; also known as content created around key words for searches, which often sounds choppy, vacuous and contains very little actual information. Constantly publishing this type of information will serve to discredit you and your business in the long run.

It’s important to remember, you and / or your company OFFER something. The problem may be: It’s a widget. A ball bearing. A doorstop. Now maybe you LOVE doorstops, the problem remains; doorstop stories are not flying off the proverbial Internet shelves these days.

Well then, get creative.

4 Tips for Generating Good Blogs AND Good Blog Traffic

Call or email a supporting industry leader and ask to interview them.

The one catch? You’d like them to mention how useful your product is to theirs.

A leading door manufacturer has great tips on how to install a door (how they survived the housing construction crunch etc.), and boy, do they love your doorstops!

* If THEY have their own blog, do a cross-promotion

Allow your blog and other Media Platforms to become more multi dimensional as an information source.

Perhaps your doorstop blog should be a do-it-yourself blog, helped along by various business interests that will in turn promote you; perhaps your coffee shop blog becomes a forum for local moms to blog neighbourhood events, offering a special to the reader if they drop in afterward. Whether your business is large or small, the possibilities are endless.

Seek and encourage Guest Bloggers.

Flatter those you respect in the industry by asking to use their words. If you’re willing to also promote their interests, you’ll definitely attract good content.

Utilize a service relevant to finding your niche market, rather than filling your blogs with drivel.

There is no cheaper investment than a few good, well-positioned media-marketing choices to help people find you. There is an adage that applies here “Never put all your eggs in one basket”, utilize many platforms and opportunities to attract blog-traffic, one method is never enough.

This is why thetop10.ca is in business. We’re specific to local city searches, offering our services to only the top ten (of everything) in your region. A customer or client utilizes our services, the proven best are found easily for free.

Perhaps your business works differently, and you need to buy ads or marketing opportunities specific to an international product or service placement. There are several great services available for this.

In short, your online marketing plan needs to be multi-dimensional, smartly using a variety of services available to you.

How to balance the seemingly contradictory tasks of improving standards of living worldwide while cutting down on fossil fuels, reducing pollution, and conserving natural resources is a challenge; well, the good news is that green business itself is becoming profitable business, helping to grow our economies.

Embracing green practices in business is ultimately creating a demand for more efficient and environmentally friendly business processes and products.  An Internet search on the topics of energy efficiency and renewable resource management, pesticide-free agriculture, information management, alternative transportation, recycling and recovery, and ecotourism, among other topics, quickly proves that these businesses are thriving new markets. Stuart Hart recently wrote in the Harvard Business Review, “Over the next decade or so, sustainable development will constitute one of the biggest opportunities in the history of commerce.”

Whatever business you’re in, you know that online services and other sources of information have replaced paper, mail services and more. The job-demand market has shifted as a result, decreasing the need for older-style manufacturing on some fronts, while increasing demand for development and manufacturing of other more energy efficient services. This is a shift we can all, as a society, live with in the long run.

It stands to reason that as a result of these shifts in demand and future projections, having a business mandate toward sustainability is a relevant and very real part of any modern business looking to move forward effectively and profitably with the times.

Whether your company employs five or a thousand and five, implementing a policy and mandate for sustainability is not that difficult.

Start with a simple ‘internal audit’

Start simply – look at and evaluate your:

• Waste (simple – how much garbage goes out weekly versus how much recycling?)

• Energy bills

• Paper use

• Manufacturing costs

• Packaging

• Transport costs – fuel, shipping etc.

And then evaluate how you can reduce in these areas and what you can replace or give back to.

Reduce your paper use AND plant trees every year, now there’s a mandate!

Write down a reasonable projection of what your company can accomplish, and then stick to it.

Let your clients and customers know what you’re doing by publishing your Sustainability Mandate. Not only does this show a caring involvement for your environment and community, it also encourages others to hop on board and do the same.