The flagship service of General Media is to offer premium business consulting services to small and mid-sized businesses. Our consulting services include a free initial consultation that helps us to understand what the organization does and who they want to become along with other pertinent information. After the initial consultation General Media writes a comprehensive estimate detailing the recommended products and services, estimated time-frame for delivery, product / service costs and the monthly pricing of the consulting retainer or hourly rate as we help them to build their business in alignment with the custom roadmap we have presented to them.
General Media loves to help our clients tell their story. Marketing consulting services with General Media include a free, no obligation initial consultation. The purpose of this meeting is to understand what the company does, who they want to become, to evaluate the business’s current messaging, the desired amount of ad spend and to create and define an ideal customer avatar. After the initial consultation, General Media will deliver to the client a detailed estimate for the recommended services, their costs and the monthly pricing of the consulting retainer or hourly rate.
General Media understands that business owners and entrepreneurs wear a lot of hats. That is why we offer website and social media management packages that help them focus on their core business while we work with them to present their unfolding story online, develop customer relationships and grow their business through their web presence. Since General Media is already intimately familiar with our client’s business through our consulting services, their heart towards client interactions and their messaging, our clients trust us to manage and grow their business by overseeing their online presence. This includes the creation and distribution of engaging content, interacting with customers via social media, proactively connecting to new people, groups and organizations online through digital networking, engaging in tasks that will enhance natural search results as well as properly utilizing ad spend allocated to paid search and social media advertising.
General Media offers fully supported web services through the General Media web platform. These services include domain name registration, transfers, website builder, WordPress sites, online shopping carts, web hosting, web security, email marketing, SEO, workspace email, calendar and online storage. General Media offers these various services to be able to deliver on its mission to increase the holistic success of our clients while positively impacting communities and individuals across the globe. It empowers us to give substance to our advice regarding our client’s web presence and it can be managed either by our client directly or via a management plan with General Media. Let's look at the individual services in a little more depth...
Helping customers to establish a web presence for their business is a central component to a balanced marketing campaign. The registration process is user friendly with General Media’s online storefront. The customer can register a new domain name or transfer an existing domain name from another registrar. The customer can do this themselves via the website or one of our consultants can have it taken care of for them as part of a larger consulting or marketing package.
WordPress is an industry standard in website development platforms. WordPress offers a wide range of plug-ins and interactive capabilities so that General Media’s web developers can offer robust solutions for all of our client’s website related needs. General Media employs fully vetted independent contractors for web development when demand exceeds the capacity to produce the website in-house. Each website is thoroughly reviewed and tested to ensure a great client and visitor experience.
Website Builder is an easy to use tool for the DIY small business owner that is perhaps a little more adventurous and tech savvy. It is a tool that is essentially a drag and drop, front-end web development program. It requires little to no programming skills and can produce great looking sites in a very short period of time. While it does not have the flexibility and diversity of WordPress it is a great alternative for a small business owner on a tight budget…and they can always upgrade later as business demand require.
General Media offers consulting services to determine the types of web products and services that will be most beneficial to a business. Once the client vision for their webpage is discovered, their main goals for the site and the budget, General Media goes to work bringing their vision to fruition. General Media may at times bring in independent contractors, webmasters, to ensure all the clients requirements for the website are met or exceeded.
General Media builds all of its sites from start to finish with search algorithms in mind. We believe that a well built site will meet many of the SEO requirements for effective indexing before we even get started on optimizing the website. Once the website is established, or if we are taking over management of an existing site, we will systematically work on getting the top keywords ranking in the target demographics for the business. Our SEO packages may be worked on in-house or we may bring in independent contractors as business requirements demand.
Internet Security is paramount to our clients maintaining their public trust. That is why General Media always recommends the highest level of online security on the front-end and on the back-end. In addition to the basic security software that comes with many of our WordPress packages, General Media also offers three great security packages for the utmost peace of mind and expedited support and service. Website Security Express, Website Security Essential and Website Security Deluxe. Each package offers varying degrees of service and protection and should be considered by each General Media client utilizing our web services to host their website.
Connecting with clients on a regular basis is how our clients keep their products and services top-of-mind in their customer’s lives. Email marketing offers a way to integrate online forms with a dynamic database that has tools for sending email our clients ever growing contact lists. It offers them an easy way to share their company blog, make promotions known and generally stay connected with their stakeholders. This can be managed by our clients directly or General Media can manage it for them through one of our digital marketing packages.
Our blog writing services includes General Media doing all the necessary research to know our client’s business and to write engaging, SEO optimized content that will keep your client base interested in your company and returning to your brand on a regular basis. This will result in higher levels of brand advocacy and thus a higher customer lifetime value and more new business. All of our professionally written blogs include the social media posts and email marketing to make sure your new blog posts are distributed effectively amongst your customers and connections.
Each and every product and service that our customers offer needs to be presented to the public in a way that is honest and compelling. General Media writes copy that captures the essence of client’s messaging and ensures that the central message flows through all the written connection points from packaging to mailers to social media posts and beyond.
Having a professional email has become standard practice. While Google would love to have everyone’s personal and business email, an email associated directly with your business and its domain name is another great way to keep your own business top of mind with the public. It looks great on business cards and is fully integrated with Microsoft Outlook via Office 365 Online.
General Media produces high quality business plans. Our plans are intended to be a living document that will empower the success of your business. Our business plans are first and foremost designed with the healthy operations of your organization at every level. Secondly, General Media has worked to establish relationships with various banks and venture capital companies and we know what they need from the plan in order to meet their lending standards so that you get the funding or credit facilities that you desire to operate your business the way you determine is most effective. Finally, our plans are designed to capture the imagination of your stakeholders and give everyone associated with your organization a solid understanding of how and why you do what you do, leading to increased productivity and overall motivation.
Not everyone desires to engage in the process of writing a full, comprehensive business plan. We feel this is a poor choice; however, in such cases, we then highly recommend our clients engage in our dynamic process which offers an in-depth look at the heart of the business or organization and articulates its vision and mission statement in formal statements. These formal, written vision and mission statements then become the centerpiece of decision making for every employee at every level of the organization. They explain the core purpose and future hope of the company. Statistically speaking, organizations that have engaged in this process and produced written Vision and Mission statements are significantly more successful under certain conditions. (See Figure 1)
Process Model of Mission Statement Influence on Organizational Outcomes
(Adapted from Bart et al., 2001)
At General Media we understand that growing businesses require a certain level of flexibility, versatility and progress amongst each individual employee. The purpose of this is so that the organization as a whole can develop in a fruitful way. The development of our client’s performance development program within your organization is vital to the long-term success of the organization. Our performance development systems are scalable and have various components that have interchangeable variations. As our client companies grow and morph, pay structures may need to change, goals and internal messaging may all require changes to the performance development system. That is why our PDS’s are designed the way they are. Company’s installing our PDS’s will have the firm structure in place so that team members know what is expected of them in order to excel. Our client’s will also have the ability to make adjustments when needed with minimal impact the established feeling of security and motivational pieces that are in place
General Media can help you evaluate and decide on the best strategy to communicate internally and externally. Our consulting services in this area will include everything from mail services and intranet system for internal communications to logistical communications with vendors. Your business will need to make IT decisions, telecommunications and computer hardware and software to effectively run your organization and efficiently deliver your products and services. General Media is there to help you evaluate your options and make wise choices.
Working with various vendors can be challenging as our clients are looking for ways to acquire the things they require from wholesalers and other vendors in order to deliver the final product to their own customers. This area of our consulting services includes helping business owners negotiate pricing, locate the appropriate products, understand and take advantage of cost reductions through economies of scale, ensure efficient logistical systems, manage accounts payable and strategies to enhance vendors relations. Each plan is developed through careful consideration of many variables to do with each unique business that we work with.
Great service is increasingly hard to deliver since it has become the expectation of the modern consumer. Therefore, investing in customer service training is paramount to producing consistently high levels of customer satisfaction. General Media’s aim in this area is to develop training programs that result in a significant portion of their customer base becoming brand advocates.
Marketing plans are developed for the purpose of helping our clients sell their products with the highest return on investment. This means developing plans that efficiently get their brand and their products in front of the people that need and/or want their products and services. Our plans consider various types of marketing through multiple channels and are designed to lead potential customers into quality purchasing experiences while overcoming objections, minimizing buyer’s remorse and maximizing positive buying, brand and product experiences.