What do Egypt, Tunisia, Short Sales, Sarah Palin, Superbowl, Australia Flooding and Winter Weather have in common?

At first glance, probably not a lot. However, after a moment’s consideration, you might observe that many of these items have been in the news this week (although I’ve not read much about Sarah Palin over the past few days…)

So what’s this got to do with marketing?

Well, at the risk of sound smug, I think there’s good chance you’re reading this because something in the headline grabbed your attention. Perhaps you arrived at this post because one of the search terms you were looking for brought you to it. On the other hand, you may just have wondered what sort of stupid question was being asked.

My point is that connecting your business or personal blog, press release, social media post, or whatever to a current event can attract a greater readership.

 
But isn’t it dishonest?

I’m not advocating that you write a headline that implies something completely different. Heck, you might as well  start putting up those annoying fake banner ads that tell you you’re the “1,000,000th visitor”. What I am suggesting is that you can often find some sort of relationship between things that are going on in the world at large, and your chosen subject of interest.

I’m the first to admit that this sort of approach to generating search results or attracting visitors may be questionable to some. As I said, and I repeat, I’m not advocating dishonest headlines that have nothing to do with content, but when you consider what’s going on “out there”, and you look at your business, is there not something that you share?

To prove that I’m not full of it, I will start – the current unrest in places such as Tunisia, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries has largely been possible because of social media. No matter how hard governments seem to try and lock it down, social media is a very hard genie to put back in the bottle. It’s allowed for the word to get out, for both organizers and those observing on the international scene. Would something like this have been possible a decade ago? I doubt it.

What’s that got to do with marketing? Well, consider the power of social media. It’s been able to change countries and appears to be able to topple governments. I haven’t even said “Wikileaks” yet…

I think it goes to show what a little technology in the right hands can do, and if you’re not using it, perhaps it’s time to rethink the strategy?

That all said, I hope you found something of interest in this post and you don’t consider yourself short-changed.

SOME FREE / LOW-COST MARKETING IDEAS

This economy sucks for most of us. Sure, there are reports that the "recession" is "coming to and end", but while you’re waiting for hell to freeze over, here are some low cost and free ideas to keep your marketing afloat…

• Update your website :Not only is this a good mental exercise, it helps your search engine interaction. Editing your site content is a good way of taking a fresh look at what your marketing message is and how you’re putting it across. Updating the content lets search engines know that your site is being updated, and to come back and re-index it.
• Update your blog / Start a blog :If you don’t already have a blog, START ONE. They are free. You can link them back to your website, helping your search engine exposure. You do not have to be a best-selling writer. Everyone has an opinion about something in their industry, even if that opinion is the opposite of everyone elses. Share advice and express yourself. Take a few minutes once a week or every couple of weeks, and put the word out.
• Email Signature :Is your email signature up-to-date? Is your website/blog and contact information in it? No? Then what are you waiting for?
• Social Media : Do you have a Facebook page for your business? This is different from your personal FB page – it’s one that is for PROFESSIONAL purposes only. Seriously consider having one of these, even if all your do is post links to your site/blog in it. It’s a good SEO tool and a free marketing tool. Take a look at Twitter and other social media tools. They may not be for you, but taking a look won’t hurt….
• Online Ads : Use free services such as Craiglsist to place free ads, with links to your website. Don’t put contact information in them, just links to your site/blog. In addition to search engine exposure, you can drive traffic to your website. Make the ads eye-catching and interesting. Just keep them honest. If you have products to sell, consider an eBay auction. You can set a reserve price, and put links back to your website, giving you instant access to a global audience.

Coming up with free / low cost marketing ideas can take a little imagination, but they are out there. Your investment won’t necessarily be financial, but you will need to invest something, even if that "something" is a bit of time.

I’d love to hear about any others. Until next time!

ONLINE MARKETING IS A LABOR OF LOVE

This brief post came as a result of a conversation with a client. She was frustrated by the amount of work she was having to put into her online marketing, feeling that is was an effort with an uncertain reward…

…and of course it is! Last time I checked, there were no guarantees that just because you built a website it was going to be visited by the masses. No one promised that anyone was going read your blog, reply to a tweet or "like" you Facebook.

Whether you’re online for pleasure or business (or both), nothing is certain. There are ways to help improve the potential audience, and by extrapolation potential market, but don’t assume if you build it they will come.

This is why I repeatedly tell clients that online marketing, whether with your site, social media, a blog, emails…however you do it, has to be a labor of love. If you don’t feel passionate about something then why the heck should anyone else?

You started "following" people on Twitter but they didn’t all seem to follow you back. No one seems to retweet your posts either…and sheesh, no one commented on that blog post. It was all good stuff; useful information. Why doesn’t anyone care?

You have to find your online voice and message. Call it a "personality", but your online "self" is the person you are in cyberspace. That person may be just like you in real life, or very different. Yet that person has to have a voice, and a message. If you have no voice, no one will hear you and if you have no message, you have nothing to say. Think, for a moment, about all the crap you see in an average day online…how much of it is really useful or meaninful?

In my opinion, your message needs to be something that means something to you. You can’t always be clever. You’re not always going to have success, but if you care about what you’re "speaking" about, if it’s a labor of love, it will grow.

It’s a bit like gardening. You till the earth (set up your Facebook, website, blog etc) and you plant the seeds (start developing content). You nurture (follow others, leave feedback, interact), weed (unfollow, remove excess or irrelevant content) and harvest. It’s a rare gardener who doesn’t have some casualties along the way, but one hopes, in the end, that is was worth it.

If it seems too much like work, then perhaps you should ask yourself if this is something you should be considering and, by extrapolation, ask yourself if any of this is really what you wanted to do in the first place. Better to find out now…
We gave my client an online “makeover”. She found her niche and passion and her online presence is growing like you wouldn’t believe!

HOW DO YOU REFURBISH A WEBSITE?

When many people hear the word “refurbish”, they tend to think of electronics that have been rebuilt or repaired and then sold at a discount as “almost, but not quite new”. While this is one of the variations of the word, I prefer the dictionary definition (Merriam-Webster) for “refurbish”…

to brighten or freshen up

…especially when it comes to websites.

These are tough economic times, no disputing that fact. In addition, many small business owners or self-employed individuals are watching every penny. I include myself in this. As a web designer, I fully appreciate the decisions that people make to build a website. It’s an expense and a risk. One one had they know they need it, on the other hand there are no guarantees.

For others, however, there is a middle ground that I call a website “refurbish”. Simply put, it’s a clean-up and refreshing of an existing website. It’s not a rebuild, it’s an update. Here are several things that I do and you can do too:

• Update your photographs. Good quality pictures can make the worst-designed website look good. Bad pictures can ruin a well-designed website. Updating your photos periodically is like redecorating a room.
• Change your page colors. Web design color schemes seem to go in cycles. Many people are going back to a more simple, white-or-light scheme with the colors coming from the artwork.
• Take a look at some of your competition and see what they’re doing. I’m not condoning plagiarism of course, but there’s nothing with a little creative “window shopping”.
• Check the formatting and spelling of the content. Have someone else give you sincere feedback. Yes, the truth hurts, but wouldn’t you rather know the truth?
• Dynamic content. If you have a blog, does it “feed” into your website? Getting a “feed reader” from your blog plugged in to your website is, in most cases, very easy. It’s a great tool for search engines because when you update your blog, you website content is also updated.
• Get some basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization). You don’t have to spend a fortune on high-end programs. If you maintain your own website, you can do this yourself. If not, have a web designer update your “metatags”. These are pieces of code on each page that are used by search engines to index your page. Have him/her make sure your “headers” are correct. Headers are (usually) the big titles you’ll see in a page (ie YOUR WEB DESIGN COMPANY). Work with your webmaster to ensure that both your tags and headers are relevant to your business. Have them also check the image “alt tags”. These are pieces of text that display if a browser has trouble showing a picture on your site. They’re also used by search engines because search engines can’t “read” pictures. This basic SEO should NOT cost a lot!!!
• Make sure your website is in at least the “big three” search engines. These are Yahoo, Bing (MSN) and Google. You can see how your sites are being indexed by going to the home page of each search engine and typing SITE:[www.yourwebsitename.com].

These are a few things you can do that don’t cost an arm and a leg, or at least shouldn’t, but can make a huge difference to your online presence and hopefully help you feel brightened and freshened up.

EARNING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING S-T-R-I-P-E-S

It’s all the rage. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube, Digg, Reddit…not to mention all the little tools and utilities out there that we can use to update all of the above.

Where does the novice start?

STRATEGY : You need a plan. A plan starts with a goal. Without a goal, how do you know whether you’re succeeding? A business goal will help you determine what social media tools will help you achieve it.

TIME : Yep, the old enemy of humanity. The old saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” applies here too. Like anything worth savoring, from financial investments to fine wine, social media is going to take cultivation, effort and time to mature. It does occasionally happen overnight, but don’t count on it.

RESILIENCE : You are going to make mistakes. You are going to try things that don’t work out. You may even invest in the wrong tools or resources. This is part of doing business, and it’s part of marketing. Learn from your mistakes, pick yourself up and dust yourself off. Then get back into the fight.

INVESTMENT : Accept the fact that you’re going to make an investment if you’re really going to try and use social media. Investment is going to mean time, effort, money or a combination of these.

PATIENCE : This goes hand-in-hand with time and investment. Understand that you’ve got some learning to do, some time to put in, before you start seeing a return on your investment.

EDUCATION : Social media can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. There is going to be some learning involved in order for you to figure out what the right plan of attack is for you. Read blogs or books on social media and social media marketing. Play with the tools, most are free. Better yet, get trained – by some like me

SINCERITY : Don’t try to make yourself or your business seem like something it’s not. Listen as well as talk. Social media is just that, “social”. It’s a two-way process. There are too many people out there treating the web as a recording studio and not a telephone…don’t be one of them.

So, if you want to earn your social media stripes, you have some work to do, some learning and some investment, but doesn’t anything worthwhile need these things?

Social media doesn’t have to be intimidating. It can be fun and rewarding. Take your time, dabble, ask lots of questions. Like any new relationship, social media will take a little time to get to know; but who knows where it may take you?

(ALMOST) 2 BILLION AND STILL GOING UP!

Holy Internet Batman!

In January 2009 I wrote an article titled “1.5 Billion Internet Users…and Growing“, exploring the incredible development of the use of the web in recent years. I just happened to be (web) surfing this morning when I decided to visit the authority on Internet statistics, Internet World Stats…

…almost 2 BILLION! We’ll perhaps a slight exaggeration. The numbers at the end of 2009, a mere 11 months after I wrote my last were 1,802,330,457. That’s an increase of 400,000,000 users, or 26% of the world’s population.

In North America, the US is way out front in terms of number of users (220 million) but in percentages, it’s behind Greenland (90% but only 57,600 population). Canada has a 75% penetration which translates to 28 million users.

Asia still lags behind with 20% of the population having Internet access, but that’s an increase of 250 million people, almost as much as the entire North American continent. That number is primarily comprised of Chinese web users (384 million or 28% of the population), followed by Japan with 75% (96 million) of the population and India a close third with only 7% but 81 million users.

In Europe, the top three countries, number-of-Internet-users wise are Germany (54 million), the UK (47 million) and Russia (43 million). However, on the percentage scale, the leader is Iceland (93%), Norway (91%), and Sweden (89%).

Netcraft’s 2010 survey of websites reports that 207 million websites responded to their tests. Remember that these include sites such as WordPress which have “sub sites” below them, but this is still an increase of 20 million since my January post (187).

I could go on and on. Take a moment to check out the numbers for yourself. In conclusion, what this all means is that over a quarter of the planet is wired to the web. From an e-marketing and e-business standpoint, that’s an incredible ocean in which to go fishing and all indications are that the numbers are going to continue to go up. The ratio of users to websites is going up, which I guess is good for those of us who have sites, there are more users to go around.

Can’t wait to see how this all looks in another 12 to 18 months. Isn’t the World Wide Web an amazing place?

Reference sources
Internet World Stats at www.internetworldstats.com
Netcraft at www.netcraft.com

POWER OF THREE (part iii)

If you’re seeing this subject for the first time, you can catch up with parts 1 and 2:

• POWER OF THREE (part i)
• POWER OF THREE (part ii)

The topic of today is next next part of “TORCH”, the “R” or “Resources”. Thus far, you should have:

• 3 target audiences (“T”);
• 3 objectives (“O”), 1 for each;

Now we need to determine what resources (time, money etc) that need to be applied in order to achieve the objective for each target.

I call this “reverse engineering”. We know ultimately what we want and who we want it from, but in order to get from here to there, what’s it going to take?

Now is the time to put down what you realistically are going to have to spend to get from here to there. I used the term ”spend” a little loosely. A resource is anything that has to be used in order to achieve a goal. This does not have to be money. It could be time and effort. It could be another person or company.

In order to really understand what resources you’re going to need, you’re probably going to start formulating your plan or “how”. This means jumping around a little between the “R”, “C” (Calendar) and “H” but that’s okay.

WIDGET INC

I’m going to continue to use “WIDGET INC” as my example, but so as not to run on forever, I’ll focus on just one of their three items. If you remember, WIDGET have decided on:

Target: plastic dinosaur factories

Objective: $100,000 in new income

So, they now have to ascertain what it’s going to take to generate $100,000 in new income. They figure that every five leads turns into an actual paying client. The average paying client spends $5,000 in a given year. So, to apply the reverse engineering strategy, this means they would need 20 paying clients (20x$5,000=$100,000) in a year to meet their target.

In order to get 20 paying clients, they’re going to need five times as many prospects (1 in 5 becomes a paying client). So, they’ll need 100 prospects. A “prospect” in WIDGET’s case, means someone who has made contact, whether by phone, email or in person.

WIDGET’s marketing team determines that they’re going to use a three-pronged approach: a mailer, coupled with a blogging campaign and email incentive. They figure that if they can get email addresses then they will have an audience they can marketing to repeatedly. However, in order to get these email addresses, they’ll need to do something a little different, so they’re going to do an old-fashioned mailing to all the plastic dinosaur factories in the US (1,000).

They’re also going to set up a blog to discuss elements of their widgets aimed specifically at plastic dinosaur manufacturing called “AGE OF THE DINOSAURS”.

Money at WIDGET is tight, so they don’t have a lot to spend, but:

• The blog is free to set up, it’s just going to take some time to write the content;
• If they do a clever postcard mailer, they can hopefully grab attention enough to get people to visit their website and sign up;
• The website is already in place, but they’re going to set up a separate page with domain name so they can track respondents to the mailer more accurately.

POWER OF THREE

As you can see, a lot of the “how” is covered in the “resources”, so you’re doing some work ahead of time, but in order to accurately develop a plan, you need to know what’s going into the recipe.

Also, in your case, like that of “WIDGET”, you’re going to have three different plans. Hopefully you can see the benefit of spreading your resources and risk around.

HOMEWORK

The next assignment is to begin developing your plans. If you find that three plans are a little too much, start with one. You can always repeat the exercise for other plans.

What you’ll need at the end is a good idea of how much time, effort and money is going to be needed to achieve the goal.

• Be realistic and honest with yourself. If it takes more than you first thought, at least now is a good time to find out.
• Don’t allow the process or resources intimidate you. You’ve still got to do the “how” in full, and you’ll probably be surprised.
• Consider all resources, paid and otherwise. What “freebies” are there out there?

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Please let me know if I can be of any help.

POWER OF THREE (part i)

I thought I’d share one of my marketing development programs with you. It’s called “Power of Three” or “P3” for short:

• three markets
• three targets
• three plans

In a nutshell, the idea behind P3 is to pick three very different markets, develop three different goals, and the put a plan together for each.

Why three?

Well, I’m a big believer of not keeping all the proverbial eggs in a single basket. I am also a believer in not trying to do too much.

With P3, you pick three “markets”. These could be demographics, industries or other cross-segment of potential clients. This can be tricky. We all have our comfort zones. That’s why when I work with clients on the P3 program I specifically ask them to pick three unrelated market segments.

When done, pick three targets or “goals”, one for each. A goal (or target) is, in this case, defined as something that is you feel is achievable by you as it relates to the market.

Now, you put a plan together.

TORCH

In order to accomplish all of the above, I use a system called “TORCH” (Target / Objective / Resources / Calendar / How). It’s a process that can help focus your attention and hopefully give you some ideas.

“T” is for TARGET, our intended audience. This could be a certain type of company, an income level or geographic region…depending on your industry, this will vary. But for the P3 program you need to pick 3 different ones.

In part 2, I’ll go into TORCH in more detail. For now, if you’re interested in giving this program a try, I’ll leave you with some homework:

Pick your three target markets. This is easier said than done. You’re looking for three sets of potential clients that you’d like to go after. Consider all options and pick the three that suit you best.

In the meantime, feel free to contact me if you’ve got any questions.

DO I HAVE A PRODUCT FOR YOU…!

• Looking for a thud-thud?
• Well, check out this whiz-bang. It does everything a thud-thud does and more!
• It’s only 10 klizzons!
• Tell your friends and we’ll even take their current thud-thud as a trade.
• How many do you want?

With apologies for my dreadful name creation for nonexistent products (stone age meets Star Trek?), the above pseudo-conversation is comprised of sales and marketing cliches. My question to you is, which of the five bullet points are sales and which are marketing.

As you sip your coffee and wonder why the heck you’re even bothering to read this post, I ask you to indulge me, if only for a minute or two.

Many people confuse sales and marketing. In fact, so many companies combine the two that they’re somewhat synonymous or interchangeable. Yet the fact of the matter is that marketing is 80% of the process that comprises "sales and marketing", the ultimate goal of which is to sell something, close a deal, agree a contract, etc.

80%…if applied to the conversation above, that would mean four of the five bullets are marketing related. If you’ve read this far, you probably know which is the odd-one out (sounds a bit like Sesame Street, doesn’t it).

Whoop-de-do Dave, so what’s your point?

My point is that by confusing, whether deliberately or otherwise, the two processes, sales and marketing can become more work for everyone involved. After all, the two require very different approaches. Marketing is, as the name applies, about bringing an item to market, letting people know it’s there, letting them know what it can do to improve their life. What it can do to address a need they have. If you’re looking for a good example of this, take any one of the pharmaceutical ads on TV. It’s a creative process. Whether you’re "dressing up" a product or service or not is up to you, but as a marketing person, you’re present your product’s best side and the benefits it can bring.

Sales is about closing the deal. It’s about negotiation, possibly persuasion. At this point there is at least a perceived desire on the part of the customer. The sales person needs to fill that desire…this making all the customer’s dreams come true.

I see many cases, especially is small business, but in larger companies too, where the desire to close the deal becomes so important that it overshadows the marketing. Consider many door-to-door solicitors. It’s about getting the quick sale before the door is closed, keeping the customer talking, persuading, charming, whatever it takes…all sales….without knowing that the customer may not even be interested. Ditto phone solicitors.

The difference…?

Marketing is about understanding the needs of the potential client and proposing your product or service as a solution. It includes advertising, feedback, market research and all those tasks that help give that the product (or service) every opportunity to succeed.

Without understanding marketing, forget the sale. If you’re like me, a person who is CEO, Janitor and everything in between, you’ve got to wear different hats for different parts of the sales and marketing process.

When wearing your "marketing" hat:

• Know your product(s).
• Learn your clients needs.
• Present your product(s) to your clients to meet their needs.
• Work to generate interest.

Then put the "sales" hat on and close the deal.

Go get ‘em tiger.

Dave Segrove is a Phoenix Small Business Web Designer and Marketing Consultant. You can learn more about Dave’s products and services at www.JDELtd.com.

10 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS…FOR MARKETING OF COURSE…

1. Resolve to learn from your marketing experience of 2009. You’re a year wiser (and, alas, older), so put the knowledge to use in the coming year.




2. Resolve to (and actually do) write a short marketing plan. Use the "GAME" or "TORCH" program methods (you can read about these on my blog or contact me). But put it in writing!
3. Resolve to try at least one new method of marketing in the coming year. This could be online, offline or anything in between (hm, that slogan sounds familiar).




4. Resolve to blog at least once a month. I know, I know…same old…but blogging is a very effective marketing tool. Don’t take my word for it, search Google for "blog marketing".




5. Resolve to network. Whether this is by joining a business organization or another method, it’s worth doing. Get your name in from of people in other industries. Make new contacts. You never know where it might take you.




6. Resolve to update your website. Hopefully it’s a JDE site, but even if it’s not, you should be updating content periodically. If you don’t have a site…




7. Resolve to try social media. It’s free and can be quite effective. It’s also very simple. "Social media" includes everything from blogging to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and more.




8. Resolve to find new ways to promote your brand. Do you have your logo and marketing message in your email signature? What about a decal on your car or truck? Lots of ideas…and potential.




9. Resolve to learn something new about your business. In most, if not all, industries, methods and technologies are continually evolving. It’s important to stay current, especially if you’re a small business.




10. Resolve to give yourself a break. The market for much of 2009 has, to put it mildly, sucked. Not your fault.

That should do it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND ALL THE BEST FOR 2010!