Email marketing is a great way for small businesses to connect with their audience and nurture leads in a personal way. The benefits are endless, however, this tool is often under utilizied, or not used to its full potential. Many small businesses avoid email marketing because it seems like just another thing on their plate or they aren’t seeing any payoff. That’s a big mistake.
Continue readingFinding Great (And Legal) Images for Your Website and Social Media
Images are an essential inclusion in your website, blog post, or social media. They can help you get more shares and interactions on articles and social media and create a visually-attractive user experience on your website. However, did you know it’s illegal to use some images you find online in your business? There are laws prohibiting you from grabbing any image you see online.
In this article, we’ll share how to find stock images you are legally allowed to use and share a few of our favourite free stock photo websites.
Continue readingCase Studies – Unlock the Hidden Gem in Your Marketing Toolbox
Case studies are awesome. They’re an often overlooked tactic in the marketing world and an important tool that we rely on here at Out-Smarts. Aside from generating leads and influencing sales, case studies build trust, strengthen credibility, drive traffic to our site and show potential clients the value we can add. We use case studies all the time in both our marketing process and our sales cycles.
Blog posts are great. You know that, you’re reading this! However, case studies can be a more versatile and personal way to tell the story of the impact your business has and the problems you solve for clients.
Continue readingWebsite Accessibility Checklist: Make Your Small Business Website ADA Compliant
If your website isn’t easy to use, you’re not only frustrating your potential and current customers. Google and other search engines are likely to use it as a strike against you when determining search engine rankings for your content.
You want your website to be easy to navigate and find information no matter the ability of your visitors. Google’s complex algorithms can pick up on certain website accessibility features (which we’ll discuss in this article). If these features contribute to a positive user experience, they can help you rank higher in search results.
Continue readingBecoming a B Corp in Canada – Words of Wisdom
How can you show people your business is doing good in the world without proof? You can say you care about the environment and people, but having a third-party say it is stronger and more credible. This is one reason some organizations seek B Corp Certification.
In this article, we’ll share what it means to get B Corp certified in Canada and how you can use it to your advantage without being accused of greenwashing.
Continue readingHonest and Ethical Ideas for Earth Day Social Media Posts
Are you doing sustainability and green marketing posts on social media? Are you doing it in an authentic, ethical, and on-brand way? With Earth Day coming up in April, now is the time to start planning any Earth Day social media posts and messaging to ensure you’re not perceived as greenwashing.
In this article, we’ll discuss how to do Earth Day posts for 2023, whether you regularly engage in green marketing or it’s the one time of year you dabble in it.
Continue readingHow To Use ChatGPT To Your Advantage for Marketing and Small Business
What is ChatGPT?
Have you heard about the new tool everyone is buzzing about? ChatGPT is a new artificial intelligence, created in 2021 by OpenAI, a research organization focused on the development and promotion of friendly artificial intelligence. It is one of the largest and most advanced artificial intelligence systems available to the public today and has the potential to be an extremely helpful tool for a wide range of uses. We’re fascinated by this technology and are excited to explore ways it can be used in our agency and other businesses.
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