Masterful Marketing » Internet marketing

If I Can’t Find You Online, Do You Exist?

Debra — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:24:20 +0000

Eight down and one to go in the year end marketing review series to help small business owners get ready for a wonderful new year.

Before we plan our marketing activities for the new year, we have one more review – do you and your business exist online? As a small business owner, how you are perceived when people search and find your information will determine whether they contact you about your products and services. So as hard as it may be to know the truth, we must understand whether:

We have an online presence or not;
Our online presence consistently projects how we want to be perceived.

Do You Exist?

This may be the easier issue to deal with as you get to start with a clean slate and do it right from the beginning. Make developing your online presence and marketing your business online the major part of your marketing plan this year. If you’re not sure how to go about developing your online presence, it may just be worth it to hire someone to help you make choices. Make sure this person has strong marketing experience in both online and traditional marketing and understands the challenges of small business owners. Make sure this person will guide you through the entire process, from brand and message development through implementation.

Is Your Brand Consistent?

With all the new tools and applications hitting us regularly, it is very common for our brand identity to get out of alignment and become inconsistent from one social network to the next. Maybe you wrote your profiles from scratch each time rather than create one document from which to pull all your information. With profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Business Pages, Google, YouTube, FriendFeed, Technorati and … well you get it, it isn’t uncommon to find old information that never got updated when you updated one. And I bet if you go to your Website, your “about” section may say something different as well. Since you are already online, your marketing effort is to ensure consistency across all online profiles. This effort takes work and regular maintenance, but it is well worth it if you do take control.

What to Review and Tackle

Start with a “vanity search” – that is search for your name and your business name and observe what comes up. Are you or your business easy to find? What is the first impression?
Review your company name, logo and color scheme. Does it project what you do and who you are as a business? Does it work with your differentiators that you determined in part 4 of this review? If your brand no longer aligns with who you are, or you simply never had one developed, it is worth the investment to have one done professionally as it will be what people will see and associate with you. Not too long ago, you could manage with just your company name on a well designed business card. Today, marketing yourself online requires a visual identity that has strength and memorability.
Do you have a Website and blog and are they up do date? If you don’t, get a quality domain name that aligns with your business name or a key differentiator. Have your Website built on WordPress so you can keep your content up to date. Add your blog and provide quality, relevant content that your prospects will appreciate.
Which social networks are you currently using? Are your profiles consistent in what they project to your friends, followers and connections? Is there online content about you that you were unaware of and need to do something about?
Once you determine the state of your online brand, update profiles for consistency and provide new content that will get indexed by the search engines. The more people can hear what you can do and how you can help them, the more likely they will think of you when they are ready to buy. Plus fresh, up-to-date content about you and your business is the best way to counter any old, negative information that may be out there.
Plan to monitor your reputation regularly. Add Google alerts for your name, your business name and your field of expertise. See what people are saying and where your name is showing up.

Online Marketing supports Offline Businesses

Whether your business is a professional service or a local storefront, online marketing, including the use of social media, is a cost effective way to market your products and services. Your online “storefront” is always open for people to find out what you can do for them. And since 69% of people research online before making purchase decisions, your business needs to be online just to be considered. But once you are there, you must be consistent.

What does your online presence say about you and your business?

Small Business Internet Marketing – Part 2

Debra — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:08:51 +0000

In a post called Small Business Marketing on the Internet, I introduced a diagram that outlined the two parallel types of marketing activities using the Internet, and discussed why you should start by developing a solid web presence and managing your identity on the Internet. I will be writing a series of posts taking you through this diagram to help you develop your small business Internet marketing strategy.

Let’s talk about the Internet marketing side of the diagram. Although all types of Internet marketing are valuable, for service professionals, the Internet marketing activities that have a high payback include article marketing, eNewsletters and sponsorship links on relevant web sites. Service professionals need to subtly promote their expertise, and to do that requires that you do a bit of writing. Through your blog, articles and comments, you demonstrate what you know in a non-threatening way. Your words speak for you and help you develop the reputation for being knowledgeable in your specific discipline.

Article marketing promotes your expertise to various target markets, helping you gain visibility while demonstrating your expertise. If you like to write, it is a great way to get your name out into the communities that may be in need of your services. My previous post on article marketing talks about some of the resources out there to help you.

eNewsletters are also a way to build your expert reputation. The hardest part of using an eNewsletter is building your opt-in list. If you have a great publication that is entertaining, you are more likely to get subscribers. If you haven’t built a good list, an eNewsletter is of less value. For a great example of an eNewsletter that you just want to read, subscribe to Blue Penguin Development’s eNewsletter. Every other Friday you get a short, funny newsletter that offers great tips on eNewsletters.

Sponsorship links can help drive traffic to your web site. I personally have gained many new clients because they found my listing on SalesVantage.com. For marketing and sales professionals, SalesVantage.com is a very targeted offering. Business.com is another resource. Both provide visibility as well as valuable relevant links to your web site or blog.

Internet marketing is a low cost way to get your name in front of your prospects. Start building your personal brand using these three tactics. We’ll add more to the marketing strategy later.

Small Business Marketing Review

Baby Boomers Not Interested in Social Media

Debra — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:53:21 +0000

According to a survey of 1800 people in the baby boomer generation (born in 1946 through 1964) by ThirdAge/JWT Boom, people over age 40 participate heavily in word-of-mouth and value personal recommendations and expert opinions, but they have not embraced social networking or blogs despite being heavy users of other online services. Given that this generation is 78 million strong, controls more than 83% of consumer spending and that spending will increase $800 billion to over $4.6 trillion by 2015, I think this survey would be of interest to most marketers.

Being a boomer myself, I have to say I don’t resemble that remark! I’ve always liked being a bit different than the rest – having majored in computer science long before computers were in vogue. And in the social media space, I’m definitely ahead of most of my colleagues and friends. Did I ever mention how much I just love iTunes?

But the information in this survey comes as no surprise based on my anecdotal observations. Most of them look at me funny when I bring up social media topics, how it relates to marketing and whether they use Twitter, have a Facebook page or do they blog. Actually I never talk about this stuff with with my friends, but my 15 year old niece though her aunt was pretty cool having a Facebook page!

The major findings of the study indicate that Boomers:

Connect and interact with others in their communities around shared interests and common issues, but they use more traditional web communications tools, such as email, to keep in touch.

Participate in trusted online communities and share opinions about brands. They’re also open to traditional marketing and e-marketing, as long as the message is coming from a source or brand they know and trust.

Were most likely to trust a Web site’s content if the site corresponded to a trusted brand or featured credible expertise.

Participate in viral or word-of-mouth marketing as much as or more than younger age groups.

The following chart indicates where the Boomers have no interest in spending their time:

The good news is that this generation can be reached online using the more traditional Internet marketing activities. What this says to me as a marketer is that you need to continue to mix traditional and new media marketing into your marketing plans. Unless your ideal client is firmly entrenched into the 45 year+ crowd (and there are definitely businesses targeting that demographic), your plan must include a multi-channel marketing mix across all traditional and new media. This online marketing mix will guarantee the broadest reach to your set of ideal clients.

Small Business Marketing on the Internet

Debra — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:31:28 +0000

Getting found on the Internet is one of the most cost effective mechanisms for finding new business, yet many business owners don’t have the time to figure it all out or the budget to hire someone to do it for them. Using the Internet to market your business has its complexities like all marketing strategies, but understanding the basics can go a long way towards having new customers find you when they are in need of your services.

There are two valuable avenues available for marketing on the Internet – Internet marketing and social media marketing. These are two different, but very related and overlapping strategies.

Internet marketing is using online media to execute more traditional marketing techniques such as advertising, direct marketing, and public relations. Social media marketing uses the Internet to create relationships via conversations, networking and word of mouth marketing techniques. One could say that Internet marketing uses “push” marketing and social media marketing uses “pull”.

Using the Internet to Get Clients

To start down the path of Internet marketing for your business, you need to understand what you want to accomplish with marketing on the Internet. Just like all other marketing programs, before you decide that you want to “do” Internet marketing, you need a plan. And, like any marketing program, if not planned properly, you can spend a lot of money with little result. Figure out what you want to accomplish with Internet marketing and if your target audience is using the Web to find the services you offer.

The following simple diagram gives you a roadmap to help you implement these strategies without becoming overwhelmed.

Develop Your Web Presence

The first thing to do is to invest in a good web site or blog optimized for search engines. You may be thinking, “Well duh”, but I still speak with many business owners who really don’t have a web property of any kind. And if they do, their web site was created by a friend and has not been touched for a few years. The following tips will help you get started:

Regardless of whether you choose a web site or a blog, consider having it created in WordPress. In the past year, I have been converting the web sites of most of my clients to WordPress. Even if they don’t need a blog right now, they still have a flexible site where they can manage the content for themselves. In a very timely post, Shama Hyder lists the top 10 reasons for using WordPress for your web site.
Get a great design that is easy to navigate and consistent with your brand.
Build your web site and continue to work the content so that it reaches your ideal clients with the precise message that resonates with them.
Write regularly on your blog with content that appeals to your target audience. A blog without regular posts lose its readers quickly.
Purchase the domain name for your company name and your personal name. You will take control of your complete online reputation. Both domains can be pointed to the same site or blog initially. Matt Dickman has a post on Owning Your Digital Identity that suggests you not only get your domain name, but secure your ID as soon as possible for all social media sites now.

These are only basic tips to get started. If you are not sure how to proceed, get help from someone who understands this space and can mentor you through the process. In addition, this is only the first in a series of posts about marketing your business using the Internet. There’s a lot more coming in future posts that cover many of the topics in the diagram.