We received a wonderful email from a happy Trusted Regina Partner today ....we love our job and we love that we are able to help such wonderful local businesses in so many ways, it really shows how our commitment to ADDING VALUE INCREASES TRUST & LOYALTY with our clients  !!

" Thanks for the great seminar last week and thank you for taking the time to meet with Brian and I this morning. Now to put this knowledge to work !! We know slow and steady is going to win this online race. Could we pick your brain at tiny bit more, just name a time , and we will met you here. Thanks again, it certainly was our pleasure spending time with you. Have a great afternoon and Many Thanks again. "

How Much Does Marketing with an ad agency, marketing company , social media company and video companies really cost?

At times Trusted partners and prospective partners don't know how to measure their online marketing success , and they may not realize the full VALUE of the many extras only Trusted offers our clients...

...You might want to grab your fainting chair — The industry average marketing rates will give you a case of the vapors. Not your Trusted Marketing Services in Saskatoon, SK though.

Blogging

Custom design and template creation most Charge – $1,000-$3,000 /month

Writing/Editing Content for the blog plus ongoing training – (Assume 1-2 posts a week at this rate) Most Charge – $1,000-$3,000 / month

Ghostwriting blog posts – Most Charge – $75-$200 per blog

Cost to Trusted partners- FREE

Twitter

Set up Twitter account and personalise Most Charge – $500-$1,000 one time fee 

Ongoing Account Management and Training – (For this service, the more content you need provided for you, the higher the fees) Most Charge – $500-$1,500 a month

Cost to Trusted partners- FREE

Facebook , Google Plus, Linkedin and You Tube

Initial Setup Most Charge – $500-$1,500 one time fee Trusted does it for FREE

Monthly Content Management and Creation –Most Charge – $1,000-$2,000 a month Facebook Promotion Creation- Short-Term (1-3 months) Contest, including branding for the app, limited promotion on other channels such as Facebook and Twitter to promote the contest. Fee doesn’t include prize and Facebook Ads to promote – Most charge $1,500-$20,000

WE PROMOTE TRUSTED PARTNERS INFO ON FACEBOOK to 1000's of local consumers FOR FREE and actually invest in Facebook ads for individual partners for no additional cost!

How Much Does an Audit of your social media cost?

What if you just want an audit of your current strategy with an expert consultant, with a few pointers on how to improve? Better bust out the AmEx, because it's going to cost you anywhere from $2,000-$10,000.

Trusted does it for FREE

Cost of videos ( comparable quality to Trusted videos )

Average cost for 2min video - $500-$750 

Cost for creation of 25min ‘ slideshow’ Talk to Experts style video with audio bed - $500 -$800

Cost for 2-3 Minute ‘tour’ Video with music bed - $1,000 - $3,000.

Cost of a Talk to the Expert RADIO Show with 21 x 30sec radio ads running week of show to promote

$2000

Trusted invites partners on the show for FREE and pays to promote the partners via Facebook for a week before 

SEO Consultation

- $200 - $500hr plus travelling expenses

Trusted does it for FREE

The average Trusted partner invests just $4000 a year in Trusted ..and we offer all this as additional value, along with dispute resolution, mystery shopping, free catered networking events, a coop rebate program, a Trusted gift certificate program, online reputation management consulting, free booth time and individual promotion at local trade shows and a category specific local Google Adword campaign.

The Trusted team are confident that we offer more value and a better service than anyone in the advertising world...  so the question has to be WHAT do your Yellow Pages, Radio, TV, Magazine, Newspaper reps and other media companies do for their money ....

Contact us if you want to find out more - Sara@trustedcanada.com 

Sources - 

http://www.mackcollier.com/cost-of-social-media-in-2012/ 

http://www.contentfac.com/how-much-does-social-media-marketing-cost/

So does your marketing work? How do YOU measure the effectiveness of the medium and the company that you choose to advertise with ?

Many business owners expect their customers or the public to tell them where they got their names from and how they ended up calling/ visiting them .

The hard fact is, is that it is simply NOT THE CUSTOMERS JOB to remember or even care where they found you or heard about you....so if this is the main way you measure,  you need to re think your position!

Of course we understand the need to know what works and what doesn't work, especially for the small- medium businesses with limited marketing $'s to invest, local businesses  like the ones we promote and partner with on www.trustedsaskatoon.com  and www.trustedregina.com directories.  

Sara the Trusted Online Directories founder sold advertising in the past, everything from Yellow Pages to Radio and was frequently asked about measurability from clients. She always said if you get busier and the only difference is that you have bought something new, chances are that is why you are busier! This was true especially of long term consistent branding radio campaigns ,  as lets face it, customers rarely walk into a retail store and say " Hi, I heard your ad on the radio on Wed morning and decided to come in and see what you had " .

Yellow Pages was a different beast,  as much of time customers were calling businesses like plumbers etc..with the book in front of them, so when asked on the phone where they got the companies number from they said immediately Yellow Pages , even though lots of times they were searching specifically for that business because they had heard their ad on the radio, or they had seen their van at a neighbors house and that company was ' top of mind' in that category for them at that moment- which should be what every company strives to be!      

Now lets talk about the internet - the ultimate tool of measurability we are told, yet many businesses still don't have a website, nor do they understand how measurable,  measurable really is and most don't know what to do with the data, or what it means.  

The Trusted websites are local directories with local resource libraries attached and as such people go there for a SPECIFIC NEED not just a read like other local websites that carry news, weather , traffic reports and other entertainment.

When we sell the product we make sure to explain to the partners that we do not sell CLICK through's, as it is not an accurate measurement of the Trusted product. You see our directories have very comprehensive listings with a lot of information to help the consumer to make their decision, and the consumer can contact the business right there- we make it easy and this mostly means the consumer doesn't click through to the businesses site unless they are super interested and want even more info than what has been provided. We would expect other online directories that just list the basic details- name, number, www, category  and a sentence or 2 about the business to have a much higher ' CTR ' ( Click Through Rate) as people look for more info to base their decision on. You see people in Canada spend 75% of their total shopping time online these days- research is key ( and if you can't be found you will LOSE the chance of getting the sale completely !!)  

So we were pretty interested ( and a wee bit surprised) to see the analytic data from 2 of our partners on www.trustedsaskatoon.com. We are sharing the source traffic data - that shows how visitors to their website actually got there and I think you will agree we have just proved our worth...

Case Number 1- company listed in Kitchen and Renovation Categories on the Saskatoon directory 

• www.trustedsaskatoon.com is the 1st referring source after Google.
• The most time spent on the website is from visitors from www.trustedsaskatoon.com( this indicates quality and engagement)
• Trusted team helped this company set up their Facebook page and help them manage the content to get the best results from social - clearly it had helped.

Case Number 2- company listed in Auto Repair and Tire Categories on the Saskatoon directory 

• Number 1 referring source after Google
• Way ahead of any other online directory ( this company advertises in Yellow Pages)
• Great level of engagement 
• Currently doesn't do much with Facebook and what has been done has not been that effective - we are helping them to implement a new plan and expect to see this have an immediate effect on the numbers. 

So absolute proof of the valuer of Trusted - analytics don't lie :) 

If you want to meet with us to chat please contact us by emailing sara@trustedcanada.com

The Trusted Team  are yet again  THRILLED, Excited & Proud to announce that S & E Trusted Online Directories Inc  - the business that owns the  www.trustedsaskatoon.com , www.trustedregina.com online directories and  www.trustedcanada.com has just been announced as one of the 6 FINALISTS for the 2013 ABEX award for Marketing -These are the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce awards for excellence in business!

Sara Wheelwright the Trusted Founder received a phone call from the Saskatchewan Chamber with the news...and it was quickly announced to the media in the following press release:

Finalists named for 30th Achievement in Business Excellence (ABEX) Awards September 13, 2013

The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce the list of finalists for the 30th anniversary Achievement in Business Excellence (ABEX) Awards.

The adjudication panel chose 54 businesses from the list of highly qualified nominations received, to compete in 10 ABEX categories. “We were very pleased by the quality, number and wide range of nominees for this year’s awards,” said Steve McLellan, CEO of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce. “Saskatchewan’s entrepreneurial spirit is going to shine very brightly on October 26th; the ABEX will be showcasing strong, innovative and high quality businesses, and the contribution they continue to make to our vibrant economy.”

A special gala evening is planned to mark the 30th anniversary of the ABEX Awards, Saskatchewan’s most prestigious and longest-running celebration of private sector achievement. The event is hosted by the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, and presented by Conexus Credit Union. The ABEX is open to any private sector business registered within the province, regardless of size, location or industry.

Tickets to the 2013 ABEX gala, set for October 26th at TCU Place in Saskatoon are available now at www.saskchamber.com . Announcement of the 2013 recipients of the Hall of Fame and Business Leader of the Year (sponsored by Viterra) will be made prior to the event. The Business of the Year ABEX Award, sponsored by David Aplin Group will be announced at the event October 26th. 

Marketing Award sponsored by Handy Special Events:

• Diamonds of Detroit [Humboldt]
• Imagine That Media Inc. [Saskatoon]
• Knight Archer Insurance [Regina]
• Prairie's Edge Development Corp. [Humboldt]
• Refresh Enterprises, Inc. [Saskatoon]
• S&E Trusted Online Directories Inc. [Saskatoon]

Trusted would like to extend wishes to the other  finalists in all categories  of the ABEX awards Congratulation and Good Luck ..we look forward to meeting all of you at the October  Gala in Saskatoon..to celebrate excellence in business in the province of Saskatchewan ..it what we live and love!!

Thanks must go to our media partners, Family and friends along with the Trusted Partners for their ongoing support!

Just like we said in our 30 page application - " We are driven to do what we are doing because the Trusted team believes we are doing a good thing- for business in the province as well as for the public….we are rewarding and promoting excellence in business from local Saskatchewan businesses big and small …and we are doing it because we BELIEVE in what we are doing ..and we BELIEVE in our Trusted Partners

!

Kudos also must go to the following Trusted partners that are also ABEX Finalists 2013

Jess Tetu - owner of Just For You Day Spa ( Trusted Saskatoon and Regina Spa) - Finalist for Young Entrepreneur

Metric Design ( Trusted Saskatoon Interior Designers) Finalist for Innovation award