Alisa Detwiler

Yelp... I have mixed reviews about this.  I have mostly 5-star reviews on my Yelp account.  Customers check out reviews to determine if a business is worthy of their patronage.  By reading reviews, a person can get a pretty good idea as to the type of service, quality of products, and overall experience they may have with a business.  I received a 1-star review from a lady who was NOT my customer.  She had booked a machine with another margarita machine rental business, and they did not show up. She actually called me to ask where her machine was.  After speaking with her for a few minutes, we determined that the man she spoke with was, indeed, the owner of another business.  I empathized with her as I can only imagine how frustrating it would be for a vendor to not show up for an event.  I explained that even though she had booked with someone else, I did not have a machine available or I would have rushed one to her.  She thanked me for m...

A few online marketing tools that would be important in growing my business are Yelp and MeetUp.  I have a Yelp account with mostly 5-star reviews.  Many of my customers tell me that they chose to book with me because of my Yelp reviews.  There are a few other margarita machine rental businesses that do not have such favorable reviews. I think it would be wise to upload more photos to my Yelp account so that customers see fresh content.   It would require stepping outside of my comfort zone, but I think MeetUp could help grow my business.  I can attend events and networking meetings to spread the word about Margarita Man.  

Email marketing can be a valuable tool in driving sales for a business.  In the first page of this weeks lecture, the graphic states that “Customers who receive email marketing spend 83% more when shopping.”  When I stopped to think about my spending habits, I had an “a-ha moment.” I thought about how many times I received an email from one of my favorite stores that advertised “30% off your entire order...” My husband says I’m a marketer’s dream as I often get sucked in to this type of advertising.  That being said, I have to agree that it is fairly effective. For my business, I feel that one newsletter post every 3-4 weeks would suffice.  Even though I have repeat customers, people don’t typically rent a margarita machine on a regular basis.  I have a few corporate clients that rent every month or two, but most repeat customers rent no more than two or three times a year.  I would not want to bombard my customers so one post every 3-4 weeks should suffi...

My target audience includes a wide age-range of men and women.  They are middle to upper-class, enjoy socializing and going out to restaurants/bars, and consume alcohol.  I feel the following categories would appeal to my target market and increase traffic to my site: Events (our customers' events) Extras (fun things to add to any party; life-size Connect 4, ice cream machine...) Entertainment (ideas to kick start any party) Mixed Drinks (old favorites, and new drink combinations) Party Themes (let's "taco" 'bout a fun party theme) Out and About (the adventures of the Margarita Man) Customer of the Month (our favorite customer each month) I feel all/most members of my target audience would find many of the posts in these categories interesting.  People searching for party ideas may stumble across my Blog and realize they "need" a margarita machine at their event. ___________ I liked or followed all of my classmates' Facebook, Instagram,...

People want to make connections.  When they see or hear something that triggers emotion, they are more likely to be interested.  If they feel connected to the content of what they are seeing or hearing, it sparks basic human interest, which will keep them coming back for more. Readers who also happen to be young mothers are more likely to respond to a post with a headline such as "You'll never guess how I finally got my baby to sleep through the night," or "Teach your child these 3 things and they'll excel in life."  These headlines will entice young moms (and other curious people) to scroll through the blog or website to find the "magic" answers they've been searching for. Appealing to human interest is a great way to drive traffic to your blog or website.  However, if it's an awkward or even tragic topic, sticking to the facts may be best.  If the Blog is for a professional business, you may have to refrain from getting too personal. ...

My new Twitter account can be found at  https://twitter.com/MargaritaManSD  or @MargaritaManSD.  I added the same profile picture to Twitter as I have on my Facebook page so people will recognize that it's the same business.  First of all, I chose to follow all of the Twitter sites of my classmates who had posted their links.  I thought it would be great to increase their number of followers, and hopefully they'll choose to follow me in return. I used the following key words to find business connections:  margarita man, margarita machine rental, san diego event planner, san diego wedding planner, san diego party rental, san diego taco catering I chose to follow several businesses that I felt could be a good connection for Margarita Man San Diego.  They include @AshleysPartyRentals, @SDStyleWeddings, @SDWeddingParty, @VisitCarlsbad, @socal_events, @BestBarMitzvah, @TacoGurus, @MamaLikes2Party, @ModernTimesBeer The two lists I created on Twitter ...

My Margarita Man San Diego Instagram account has 98 followers and follows 132.  A total of 32 posts have been made.  Post "likes" range from about 8 to 50.  This shows me that I need to spend more time determining my target market, hashtags, and posting inviting photos. Hashtags that I commonly use are: #margarita #margaritas #margaritamansd #margaritaman #sandiego I also include hashtags that pertain to the particular post.  E.g. #cincodemayo for a Cinco de Mayo post Visual media can be an excellent tool in promoting my business.  After researching some of my competitors' websites, I have found that most of them do not have a Facebook or Instagram page.  Using the information I learn in this course, I can use this knowledge to my advantage to increase brand awareness and boost sales. Following are stats pulled from competitors sites: Margarita Man San Diego www.sandiegomargaritaman.com I have Facebook and Instagram but no links on the websi...