Main Street Fort Dodge, Alpha Media Fort Dodge, Spin Markket + Digital,, NCI Small Business Development Center, and Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance are inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting with other business leaders in our area to discuss the unique complexities of running a business during the COVID-19 shut down

You need to come up with a nonstop stream of relevant content and engage with customers across all social channels, every single day. We help by giving your business one place to stay social. Generate leads, schedule ready-to-publish content, and communicate with your followers all from one place. Finally, a tool that makes managing social media simple. WATCH THIS VIDEO Post everywhere from one place: Publish and schedule posts for all your social accounts including Facebook, Instagram, Google My Business, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Engage your followers: Connecting with your followers is simple. Respond to customers, share ready-to-post content, and build stronger social relationships with your followers. Generate social leads: Discover new leads on Twitter and engage them with the click of a button! Mobile-friendly: Use on any device, any time—this means you can post and respond in the moment, and never miss a beat. Spin Markket + Digital 515-302-8026

Reviews, accurate business information, and social media activity impacts your reputation and whether a consumer decides to do business with you. You need a way to manage all of these factors in a scalable way. We can help! Monitor what people are saying about you online and improve your visibility in local search. See how you stack up against the competition, stay in the know with automated alerts and get progress reports to see how your reputation has improved. WATCH THIS VIDEO Take control of your online reputation today! Manage your online reputation from one place: Compile reviews from dozens of sites so you can easily see what’s being said about your business online. Plus, use competitive benchmarking to see how you stack up to the competition. Show up where people are looking: Improve your search rank by identifying online business listings that are inaccurate or missing from essential directories like Google, Facebook, and Bing. Hear what customers are saying all over the web: Monitor when your business is mentioned in a variety of sources, including news sites, blogs and social networks. Plus, highlight the most positive and negative mentions using automated sentiment analysis. Stay informed with automated reports and alerts: Executive reports break down how your business is faring in online conversations and helps you understand what to do. Alerts are also sent every time new information is found. Spin Markket +Digital 515-302-8026

In fact, nearly 90% of consumers say they’ll only consider using a business if they have an average rating of 3-5 stars. Smart business owners are getting serious about soliciting feedback, but asking customers for reviews can be time-consuming. We offer a business tool that does the heavy lifting for you, so you can gather customer experiences to boost online star power and drive more business. Win the trust of new customers, collect valuable feedback, and show up where people are looking. WATCH THIS VIDEO Unlock a powerful feedback tool that will have you seeing stars! Use your happy customers to win new customers: Leverage the voice of your brand champions to improve online word-of-mouth. Invite existing customers to share their experiences online so new customers know they can trust you. Collect feedback to better your business: Ensure you’re giving customers what they want and expect. Invite them to share their experiences and put their valuable feedback to work. Build a targeted presence across popular review sites: Make sure your business reviews show up where your customers spend the most time. Focus on collecting feedback on the review sites that impact your business. Help your business shine in local search: Maximize the SEO benefits of positive customer experiences. Gathering authentic reviews will help you show up in search so new customers can find you. Reach customers wherever they are: Customer Voice gives you the flexibility to request reviews on the medium that works best for your customers—either text message or email. Spin Markket + Digital 515-302-8026

Advertising Intelligence is live Google Ads / Facebook Ads reporting and analysis that provides a real advertising ROI for your business. Its smart comparison tools help you to uncover recipes behind rockstar campaigns, pinpoint what’s making you money, and see the big picture of your advertising efforts. Advertising Intelligence gives you the power to become the expert in digital advertising. Bring your Facebook Ads and Google Ads campaigns under one roof to determine what’s working across ad platforms. Pinpoint what’s making you money. Advertising Intelligence provides more than the traditional ad metrics and data points. By combining live reporting and unique sales data, you can see your true ROI. Smart comparison tools make for smarter campaigns. Look at your advertising data with confidence. Smart insights and comparison tools will help you understand what types of ads are giving your business the best results. Spin Markket + Digital 515-302-8026

Don't get caught using out of date terms, like “fleek” Unless you spend every waking moment on social media, it can be tough to keep up with the terminology. Good news, you don’t actually need to know what “fleek” means. Here are some things you should know: • Audience: Your audience on social media is the group of people you’re able to reach with your content. This includes your followers and anyone who sees or interacts with your posts in their feed. • Engagement rate: Engagement rate is a social media metric that tracks how actively involved your audience is with your content. Typically, a higher engagement rate means your post was more compelling. • Hashtag: A hashtag (#) is a way of connecting your posts on social media to other posts on the same subject or trending topic. By searching for a specific hashtag, users can find all public posts that have it. • Reach: Reach is a social media metric that tells you how many people have seen your post. It differs from impressions in that even if a user sees your post multiple times, they still only count as one person reached. This would be considered the tip of the iceberg, but it’s a great place to start when it comes to understanding what it takes to be competitive in the world of social media.. Spin Markket + Digital 515-302-8026

Establish accurate business listings and appear in more places across the web. Packed with three powerful presence management tools—Listing Sync, Listing Distribution and My Listing—this is the most comprehensive business listing solution on the market. WATCH THIS VIDEO Listing Sync: Quickly establish accurate business listings on dozens of reputable sites. Plus, sync to Google My Business, Facebook, and Twitter for no additional charge. Listing Distribution: Build accurate business listings on the four major data aggregators—Infogroup, Neustar/Localeze, and Factual. These aggregators are referenced by over 300 websites. My Listing: Create a mobile-responsive business listing that is optimized for local search. Google Insights: Understand how your business is performing on Google Search and Maps. Google Insights in Listing Builder provides a valuable glimpse into your customer's activities. Spin Markket + Digital 515-302-8026

For you that were not able to attend the first Business Community Support Webinar, here is the video of the presentation. The next one is scheduled for April 9th at 9:00 am. Today was our first Community Support Webinar designed to provide information to local business owners dealing with the business complexities of COVID19. Here you'll find a link to that video. Special thanks to Main Street Fort Dodge, Spin Markket, Alpha Media Fort Dodge, NCI Small Business Development Center for organizing this event and to The Messenger, Fort Dodge, Iowa and Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance for their participation in the event. If you would like to ask a question for our next webinar or have something you believe local business owners should know, please send an email to info@mainstreetfd.org. Spin Markket + Digital - 10 North 10th Street - Fort Dodge, IA 50501 515-302-8026

As individuals and businesses rely more on the web during this time, your brand's online presence is more valuable than ever. Our goal today is to share valuable insights to help you maintain your organization's digital marketing efforts on your website and social media profiles during COVID-19. Millions of individuals are working from home, self-isolating and turning to the internet for education, entertainment and more. Your website content, search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and social media profiles have the power to attract more eyes and make a deeper impact than ever before. Here are some specific marketing best practices to help your organization gain visibility and provide value to your audience. You may have also seen changes across different platforms since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. Some of these changes, such as Google Reviews, are designed to protect businesses from comments and messages that do not truly represent your business. Other changes can impact how your posts are viewed and where they are seen. Shifting regulations and processes require changes on your end to maintain traffic and engagement. People are developing new trends and what content they are seeking currently. While they want information on the COVID-19 situation they are also looking for a break. Seeking ideas to communicate creatively, pulling out from the past ways that families connected and simplifying their lives are just a few. Today your SEO and website visibility are even more important. It is also more than just find the right keywords. There are some real strategies to accomplish this along with continuing to improve and stay on top of the search. While posting and working on your brand’s voice is important you also need to better engage your audience on these social platforms. Seeking comments and shares not only expands your brand’s exposure it also connects with your audience and today connecting digitally is more important than ever. Businesses that utilize their Google My Business effectively see results. There are some new features and regulations that Google provides that are excellent ways to respond to the COVID-19. Also scaling down on Google Reviews to protect your business from comments that may not be warranted but submitted in frustration during this time of uncertainty has been implemented. Not every digital platform is best for every business. A strategy of what your goals are and how that platform performs need to be considered. There may even be platforms that you should be avoiding at this time. And what to do after we come out of this hibernation created by the coronavirus. Today is the time to take a hard look at your marketing. Updates, changes and preparing for the ramp up are part of a great offense plan to prepare you for a predicted fast growth and catch up period of our economy. Clear direction today on your business’s brand with online content and digital platforms that work for your business will give you the edge in the coming days, weeks and months. Spin Markket + Digital provides marketing strategies that work for businesses while providing real time tools to track ROI. Contact us at 515-302-8026 or info@spinmarkket.com today to schedule a call. You can also go online and get your own detailed snapshot report of how you are doing online today at spinmarkketdigital.com in about 24 hours.

How To Read This Graph? The vertical line is Demand for Services. The horizontal line is Time. BC - Before COVID-19: The period before COVID-19 impacted the demand for services. The ‘business as usual’ phase. Demand Crash: The period immediately after COVID-19 outbreak, schools closed, social distancing commences, resulting in cancelled appointments and orders, decreased foot traffic & office closures. Hibernation: Most/all businesses and offices are closed. Businesses and offices are laying off employees or having employees working from home. Management are planning for the re-open and thinking about how they’ll prioritize and make up for lost time. Quarantine Lifted: Begins when the news/government is saying ‘The worst is over and people emerge from hibernation. Everyone begins thinking about getting back to a normal life and routine. Businesses begin re-opening, filling their schedules, production, activity and staffing up. Rush: The floodgates are open, and everyone is returning in mass to get back to a routine and normal lifestyle. Businesses will likely need to triage based on urgency and ramping up. The Surge: Demand will potentially exceed a company’s ability to satisfy need with normal working hours and staffing levels. Businesses will want to augment their employees (hire more employees) and potentially add working hours/days to meet demands for products and services rather than risk customers going elsewhere. Back to Normal: The crazy period is over, and demand has returned to normal levels. Next Steps During This Critical Time: 1. Stay in Action 2. Manage your Focus 3. Stay Connected Action: · Communicate with your team - your intention and vision for your business once the shutdown is lifted. · Stay in communication with your team to maintain connection and reassurance as best you can with what’s possible when coming back together. · Update your customers regularly about what is happening in the business, how to reach you for information and how you’re putting new and updated procedures in place to ensure their health and safety. · Encourage your team to remain connected with each other and help support each other during this time. Have weekly online meetings with your team to stay up to date on any new developments and share ideas and the implementation of new protocols and procedures in the business. · Be prepared for once your doors reopen: make a list of all your customers who needed to cancel/postpone products or services during the shutdown period; run reports of customers who are overdue for products and services; run reports of customers who have unscheduled ordering. · Use this as an opportunity to create new systems and best practices by creating a reactivation system to reintroduce current and future customers to your business; prepare a new and updated protocol for increasing safety measures for all the team; make a list of items you may need to order to put new protocols in place; update policy and procedure manuals; update job descriptions, roles and responsibilities. · Create a new marketing plan and strategies to generate new customers attention; update your website; create social media platforms and/or update existing profiles and accounts; post daily to your existing customer base and followers; provide resources and updates on the status in your community and what you’re putting in place to enhance products and services; reassure your customers that you’re there for them in the event of an emergency and you will be there for them once business returns to normal again. · Participate in online continuing education, training webinars and podcasts Focus - Believe that what you focus on expands. It is a recommendation of turning OFF the news and consciously plug into those resources that are there to specifically support you and develop a game plan of action. Also, take time to redirect your focus to those who may be in need or where you can connect with others. · Focus on what you may be able do to help your community and spread hope and compassion for those in need. · Focus on the opportunity you have to use this time to connect with loved ones, call a friend or family member you miss or would like to catch up with; spend quality time with your children and your spouse or significant other; create a vision board as a family project, play games, bake, color or do puzzles together. · Focus on ways you can improve the company - opportunity to spend time creating new and better systems for your team, enhance services, brainstorm with your team or consultant on what’s possible; connect with your referring customers and colleagues to support each other emotionally and lift each other up during this time. · Make wellness calls to your customers and especially to those who are elderly or have special needs and are home bound. Collaborate with your team to bring essentials to those who are in need. This is the most loving thing you can do for your customers right now and, it feels so good! · Focus on personal goals such as self-care, introducing healthy habits into your routine, get out in nature, exercise, write/journal, read, catch up on professional journals and educational materials you haven’t had a chance to get to; tackle some overdue home projects. Please don’t be overwhelmed by this. This is intended to support you in identifying different ways you can stay in a creative space and healthy mindset. Choose one or two things that will create the greatest impact for you. For Additional Information: Spin Markket + Digital, 10 North 10th Street, Fort Dodge, IA 50501 515-302-8026 / spinmarkketdigital.com

Recruiting in our Digital World. Digital marketing is changing the face of recruitment and staffing. An ability to blast job openings to any person in any place has sped up the hiring process and created new opportunities and challenges for job seekers and HR professionals. Businesses planning to hire at any point in the next decade need to take a good hard look on their employment brand and online presence. A recent study by Glassdoor shows that 94% of people would apply for a job if a company “actively manages their employer brand.” This creates a serious problem for HR and companies today as there are many interpretations from the top down as to what this means. Questions like are we taking the right steps with our company’s brand or are we making things worse are thrown around during team meetings. Today our world is digital and how you look digitally is the foundation that needs to be addressed first by any business. Without a solid foundation you can see your entire branding and marketing campaigns quickly crumble with just one digital shift.. Taking a good hard look at areas such as: *Your Business Listings across the major data providers *Your business reviews and comments about your business *Your Social Media presence, engagement, comments etc. *Your Website and how it performs *Your Digital Advertising and how it is performing *Your SEO and VSO Having a solid foundation greatly improves any digital marketing and campaigns across all platforms. It also provides you the necessary resources to evaluate your digital marketing and adjust improve performance levels. Also Consider ……… *Build Environmental Appeal *Find Ways To Give Back *Create Personalized Campaigns *Millennials are different from other generations because they’ve grown up in a world where technology is infused in every aspect of life; they have access to an unprecedented level of access to information, people, and brands. Your Online Business Presence is just 24 hours away. Go to www.spinmarkketdigital.com and enter the information and your Online Presence Performance will be emailed to you. Spin Markket + Digital shows our clients how to have a solid foundation for their online presence. How your business is listed online and your reputation are the first thing your customers and clients see. That solid foundation sets the stage for your digital marketing and the best ROI (Return on Your Investment). Not all digital marketing platforms are a right fit for every business, but with the Spin Markket team we are able to find that special recipe that wins over your current and future customers or clients.  We’ll deliver a web presence along with a social strategy that tells your unique business story at a budget and time commitment that is just right for you. You only have one opportunity to make a great first impression and Spin Markket will make that happen! 515-302-8026

Mobile marketing has been taken to the next level with geofencing, which gives companies the ability to advertise specifically to potential customers within a certain geographic radius. Geofencing constructs a virtual boundary around a business location using a combination of technologies, including: GPS The Global Positioning System is a network of satellites orbiting the earth that can triangulate an individual’s location to an accurate degree. Radio frequency identifiers Bluetooth technology contains small computer chips that use radio waves to connect with each other. Beacon technology works with location services in smartphones and alerts apps when you approach or leave a location. It uses a Bluetooth signal that can tell when you’re close to a beacon, such as a checkout counter in a retail store. While geofencing has actually been around for a while, the popularity of smartphones and mobile devices now makes it incredibly valuable as a marketing tool for business owners. Geofencing offers a world of possibilities for mobile users, from interactive shopping lists (and reminders to pick up milk) to home security systems, garage door openers, automatic coffee pots, limited-time offers for your favorite restaurant, or a suggestion for a new restaurant you haven’t tried before. For marketers, the focus is on push notifications and mobile advertisements that can be tied to a business location. There is no doubt that hyper-targeted, location-based marketing is going to be the next big thing in digital marketing. Now is the time to get started. Let’s first look at the benefits of geofencing, and then we’ll discuss how you can be a proactive marketer with this technology. 3 Benefits of Geofencing for Marketing Enhance Local Sales  Local optimization, or the ability to rank high in local searches, is extremely valuable for most businesses (and their SEO). If you are making efforts to improve your local performance, you need to look into geofencing. Since it is a location-based system, you can target local customers in a defined geographic area. One way to do this is by sending promotions via push notifications to customers in your area. You can easily change promotions each day or have limited-time offers that will lead to increased sales from local customers. Increase Analytics and Tools for Metric Analysis Local sales can be difficult to measure. What is it that brought a customer into your shop? If you don’t have the chance to survey every customer who walks through your door, this can be difficult to connect to your online efforts. However, if customers are coming in with your promotions from geofencing, there are a number of metrics you can measure, including their sales, how long they are in your store, and how often they visit your business. All of this can be valuable information that adds depth to your analytics. Provide Personalization for Customers Another benefit of geofencing is that it allows you to collect data in order to personalize customer offers. It gives you demographics about the local population, including what kind of offers interest them and get them in your store. If you look at purchase history and realize that local customers prefer a certain product, you can alter your promotions accordingly. It’s clear that geofencing is a powerful tool, but perhaps one of the biggest beneficiaries is online marketing, since it allows marketers to take their efforts to a new, localized level. Here are some of the benefits of marketing with geofencing. How to Implement Geofencing into Your Marketing Strategy Getting started with geofencing is easy: All you need is an app and GPS coordinates. As I mentioned earlier, this is not something that every customer has the capacity to use on their phone (not yet, at least), so take proper steps to inform your current social audience that you are now actively putting out geofencing promotions.The key to implementing geofencing is being proactive. Consider all of the typical aspects of your existing marketing strategy before you launch, including the following: Know Customer Demographics and Insights. Before you begin marketing with geofencing, make sure you understand customer demographics and who your local customers actually are. This helps ensure that the promotions you use are, in fact, the ones that are going to be most successful and get the kind of results you want. Keep it Close You do not want to have your geofencing area too large. In fact, the general rule is a four-to-five minute travel radius. If you are in a city where most people walk from point A to point B, then this means you want to keep it a four-to-five minute walking radius; alternatively, if most people drive, a four-to-five minute transport distance is the maximum to be successful. Immediate Action Make sure your call to action (CTA) is clear and requires immediate action. The goal is to advertise in a way that is going to get people into your location immediately. Respect Privacy Be transparent with mobile customers. Let them know how you have access to their information, especially when it’s through the app they use. Give them confidence to interact with your app and location-based marketing, and help them feel comfortable returning in the future. Targeting Techniques According to INMOBI, context targeting, day-parting, content targeting, and retargeting are a few of the targeting methods that you can implement with geofencing. These options let you customize and target multiple specific audiences. Tools and Analytics Optimize your campaigns. There are several tools for optimizing your geofencing, and looking at analytics will help you refine your efforts. Need more information about Geofencing and all that is Digital? Contact us at Spin Markket + Digital today.