I often write on this website and blog that Las Vegas businesses often try to market to the masses, which is a huge marketing error for any business or company in Las Vegas. To run truly successful marketing campaigns that are targeted and well planned, you should identify your target market.

Even with your target market in mind when running a marketing campaign, another successful marketing strategy and tactic that many Las Vegas businesses use is targeting zip codes. Targeting a zip code will enable you to reach a specific demographic in the Las Vegas valley or a group of potential customers close to the area where you do business.

By considering targeting a specific zip code, you can plan a mailing, door-to-door marketing, flyer, print, newspaper or internet marketing campaign and target zip code/s of your choice.

Resources to find Las Vegas zip codes and Las Vegas demographics:

• Zip Code Lookup – Yahoo! Small Business
• Las Vegas Zip Code Map – Henderson Zip Code Map – greatlasvegashomes.com
• Las Vegas Zip Code Map with detailed views – act4u.com
• Las Vegas, Nevada ZIP Code Map – hellovegas.com
• Free Las Vegas Demographics Report Available For Area Business Owners And Operators – lasvegasnevada.gov
• Las Vegas, NV – Neighborhoods & Demographics – neightborhoodlink.com

Email Marketing can help spread the word in Las Vegas and nationally about your business, products and services. More on why email marketing is important. Defined, Email Marketing is direct marketing to a target market you are trying to reach using email. It can contain news, tips, articles, promotions and specials, but it’s main goal it to market.

When you compose an email for marketing purposes, keep these points in mind:

• Create a title for the email that will cause readers to want to open your email. People glance at the first few words of the email title to even decide if they are going to open it or delete it.
• Write interesting headlines. So you’ve gotten the reader to open your email, now give them a reason to read on. Glancing at the headlines should make you want to read the news item.
• Keep main articles concise, interesting and to the point. Get to your point quickly, whether it is an offer of some sort, or any other call to action. People’s attention spans are very short, especially in email.
• Create links back to your website when possible.  Readers will click on the links if they want more information.

There are many places you can source an email list for marketing purposes. Most of the time you must buy a list and the prices and quality of the lists you purchase may vary. A good place to start is by exporting the contacts from your email or address book.  They are most likely current clients, business associates and friends. The first time I exported my address book years ago, I was surprised to end up with a list of over 400 email addresses.  If you would like to purchase a list of email addresses, there are many options available to you. Remember to decide upon a target market for your purchased email list. For example, are you trying to source a list in Las Vegas of Small Business owners on the west side of town or specific to zip codes or is your target a national audience of dog owners let’s say.

Websites you can purchase email marketing lists from:

The process is fairly simple. You need to find an online company, set up an account, pay a monthly fee depending on how big your list is and how many times a month you email your list. They will have instructions on how to import email addresses from your address book or the list you’ve purchased.

Blog marketing has become a powerful way to get more people to know what a business offers and why they should should use the product or service that is being offered. Blogs are no long just online journals. Large and small businesses alike are using blogs as marketing tools to expand their research and generate new business.

What Is A Blog Anyway?

The word “blog” is actually a shortened form of the the phrase “web log.” When blogs first appeared with regularity back in the 1990′s, they were used almost exclusively as “online diaries” where people would simply write down their daily activities, personal opinions, thoughts, goals, and dreams. It took a few years for businesses to recognize the potential that blogs had to connect with prospects and customers. Blogs can be a part of a website or stand alone.

How Blog Marketing Can Help Businesses?

1. Be An Expert. A blog allows a business owner to communicate with individuals on a personal basis. Blogs are generally not static. Instead, they tend to be updated regularly and are less formal in nature. Blogs let business owners cover a variety of subjects and issues related to the niche the business is in. This will increase the credibility of both the business and the owner, and demonstrate the knowledge and expertise associated with that niche. Blogs also allow owners to go over additional information that just can’t be covered via other forms of advertisement methods such as commercials, display ads, telemarketing, and direct mail.

2. Increase Exposure. Most blogs generate a RSS feed that third party websites and individuals can use to instantly get updates whenever the blog has a new post published on it. “RSS” stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is what lets a site to subscribe to a blog and receive the new posts as they occur. What this means for the business owner is a dramatic increase in exposure. Every time the blog gets new posts, the posts are immediately distributed to all of the RSS feed subscribers. So hundreds, even thousands of people outside of the blog will be reached.

3. Increase in Traffic Generation. Because blogs tend to be highly focused on a specific topic, they tend to rank well in search engines like Google and Bing. The higher the blogs rank, the more people will find them in their search for information. Getting a blog to the first page of Google can result in an explosion of highly targeted traffic. Businesses thrive on theses type of prospects.

Blog Marketing for Businesses

Although blogs have become very simple to create and maintain, most business owners still prefer to use the services of an internet marketing consultant to help them establish a professional-looking and effective blog. These internet marketing firms can also create keyword-rich content related to the niche the business is in, as well as managing the time and effort to publish those posts at specified time intervals.

Today’s business owners are quite aware of the marketing power provided by the efficient use of blogs. Besides being a way to generate new customers, it also gives owners the ability to interact with past customers and develop long-term relationships with them.

As a busy las vegas company or business owner, there are only so many things you could do in a day, especially things where some element of skills is required. Designing your own website is one such activity, one which should really be designed by a professional Las Vegas website design company (we like to keep business local). If you are not a professional designer and developer, you should leave it in a professional’s hands, and a professional web design firm (like my company Perkolate.com) will work closely with you to ensure it meets your marketing goals and is properly and professionally designed.

Here are the key reasons you should hire a local Las Vegas website design company:

It’s Technical – Leave it to the Experts

Designing websites is definitely not something that just anyone can do. Sure, there are do-it-yourself websites out on the internet, but they have a lot of limitations. You neeed a professional company that can help you shape the design and flow of your website. You need a company that is experienced in specific coding languages like PHP, ASP, HTML and professional softwares like Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and Flash. If you are not familiar with these languages and softwares, you may well have to learn them, because without them, you cannot even think of starting to design a website.

Time is of Essence – Don’t Waste Yours

If you’re the average business owner or run a company, do you really have the time to be trying to build and launch your own web site? Rushing through things at this stage, even if it is assumed that you have the appropriate skills for web designing could mean you making a complete mess of your website. That is why I recommend that you hire a professional web design company right here in Las Vegas who will get everything done quickly and effectively.

More Cost-Effective In the Long Run – Don’t Do It Yourself

If you hired someone in house, you would have to cover all of the costs associated with hiring an employee. That employee most likely will not have all of the marketing, strategy, programming and development skills you might need for your corporate web site. Or if you are trying to build the website yourself, I ask you, wouldn’t your time be more wisely spent doing what you do best in running and growing your business and leaving a professional web design company to do what they do best and in your best interested? In most cases, working with a professional web company works out to be the most cost-effective option.

For more information on professional website design and development solutions, visit my company’s website at www.perkolate.com. (We are located in Summerlin)

Cheers!

Las Vegas business owners and companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on their marketing efforts.  Unfortunately many smaller companies don’t even have a marketing plan or strategy in place to help guide them and judge the results of their efforts.  Many times, it seems like money wasted.

Put on your Marketing Strategy cap!

There are numerous highly effective marketing strategies that can help you grow your Las Vegas business that can help you refine your marketing efforts. Just takes a bit of time, thought and research to figure out a plan. Here are some suggestions:

• Identify Your Target Market – Who buys your products and services and why? How old are they, are they male or female, conservative or liberal? How do they think and feel?
• Market to Existing Customers – Your existing customers are your most valuable resource. Be aware of what services you’ve provided to them and anticipate if they need additional products or services. They aren’t always aware of all of the products and services you offer. Help them, they already trust you.
• Niche Marketing – What customers or clients do you currently have where you deliver the best results and generate the most revenue? Many marketing experts agree this is one of the simplest and most effective ways to generate business.
• Provide Free Information – Providing potential clients with free information, facts, resources that will help them solve their business problem and save them time and money is a valuable strategy in getting your foot in the door for a prospect to become a client.
• Maintain Communications – Keeping in touch with present and potential clients is personable and keeps your name and company in their mind throughout the year. You can send postcards, mailers, email newsletters or call them on the phone to check in.
• Customer Referral Campaign – Offer an incentive (gift certificate, free services, etc.) for your existing loyal customers to keep your services in mind with the people they already do business with. They can act as sales people for you and you should do the same for your Clients as well.