FREE is a Wonderful Word this Holiday Season!

This holiday season is the perfect time to start using free online services to market and build customer relationships for your business while reducing costs.

Here are a few of the free online services and one trial your business should take advantage of to make this holiday season a success:

• Social Media - Start marketing your business online using FREE social media tools you probably already use for personal use like Facebook, YouTube, Yelp!, and Twitter (lot’s more too.) These services enable businesses and customers to share thoughts, photos, videos, and more while you learn your customers opinions about your business. Nordstrom, Inc. and Coca Cola are examples showing Facebook features. Note how you can intermingle social network content. Having “Facebook Fans” is fun too.
  
  
• Blog – Get the word out simply and frequently about industry news, your business, products or services with text, photos, and video. Or sum up your year about business or personal happenings. Use free services like Windows Live Spaces, Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, YouTube for video blogging, and many more. Then manage all your blogs with Windows Live Writer.
  
  
• Email marketing, Event Marketing services (NEW), and online survey tools help small businesses and organizations connect to customers quickly, easily, and affordably—and build stronger relationships. Increase your website traffic, inform your customers, and attract new leads with email marketing. It’s not a free service but the free trial will get you through the holidays and realize its full potential. 
  Learn more and FREE 60-Day TRIAL!
  
  
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Look for and learn about the free “Webmaster Tools” and information available to optimize and improve your website ranking on search engines. Make this a priority today.
  
  
• Google™ Analytics - Measure your website’s visitor habits, campaigns, and  see web page successes and failures. Get automated reports emailed to you.
  
  
• Business Listings - Promote your business on the myriad of search engine local listings and other listing services which also provide detailed maps and directions. See Bing’s local listing for Starbucks.
  
  
• Free Microsoft® Services – 
  1. Office Live:
     • Office Live Workspace - View, edit, share and store documents online up to 5 GB with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint integration.
     • Office Live Small Business - Create a free website.
  2. Windows Live (in short):
     • Email with Calendar and Contacts synced to mobile phones.
     • SkyDrive – 25 GB of secure photo and document storage.
     • Windows Live for Mobile – Stay in sync on the go.
     • Free Windows phone apps - Windows Live for Mobile, Facebook, Bing (search, maps, and a ton more.)
     • Messenger – A very powerful under utilized tool offering screen sharing, instant messaging, online status, PC to PC voice and video calling. Chat with customers right from your website.
     • Movie Maker – Get Noticed! Create a video and post it online.
       
       
• Skype™ – Almost everyone uses Skype these days enabling your business to contact its customers, clients and vendors from anywhere while saving money. Skype offers instant messaging, PC to PC voice and video calling and more.

You can find plenty of self help documentation if you want to do it alone. Use your best marketing and media law practices, test it, and keep it simple before communicating with your customers.

If any of the services are too complex or time consuming for your small business to handle and you still want to take advantage of them, don’t worry, we will help you through the process or do it all for you. GreenSea Media’s services aren’t free but but we offer a free consultation, essential experience, and affordable rates.

Contact Us Today!