6 Steps to Online Marketing Strategy

1. Know your business. A digital strategy does not exist in isolation. You must really know and understand your business in order to integrate your online strategy and tactics with your offline strategy and tactics.

2. Know your online customer. All good marketing requires knowledge of your customer. However when you’re developing an online marketing strategy it is essential that you have a solid understand who your online customer is. This customer can be different from your offline customer. You need to know how they think, what motivates them, what gets/keeps them engaged and what turns them off.

3. Watch for Trends vs. Fads. Though the term trend may be used interchangeably with fad, a fad is generally considered a fleeting behavior whereas a trend is considered to be a behavior that evolves into a relatively permanent change (Wikipedia). For example, the Internet is a Trend. Using a Facebook page for every business may prove to be a fad, BUT using Social Media as a marketing tactic will likely be a trend for many years to come. As a business owner or influencer,  you must watch out for the latest hype and know how to separate the fads from the trends.

4. Be brave. Don’t be afraid to try new things. No one has all the answers. Sometimes the best thing to do is to put a reasonable amount of time, effort, energy and intelligence into a strategy or tactic and evaluate it to prove or disprove its worth.

5. Know your online options. You’re going to need to have a good grasp of what’s available to you and why/how your company might use it. Research and document all the online resources, tools and options you have available to you. With literally thousands of tools, platforms and options out there this may seem like a daunting task, but there are tips to get you started and keep you focused.

1. Make a list of the obvious. For example:

-Company Website
-Facebook
-Linkedin
-Pinterest
-Twitter
-Email Marketing
-Google+, etc.

2. Next add anything that might be specific to your industry. Zillow or MLS might be an example for a Realtor.
3. Finally add any online tools, platforms and options that your customers are using.

Once you have a table with all of your options, add a column for YES, NO , MAYBE and INVESTIGATE. Your research from number 1-4 should be a good guide at this point to tell you which options make the most sense for your business. Never be fooled into thinking every business needs to use every tool available or be everywhere. Think for yourself and ask the right questions such as:

• What are the pros and cons to using this?
• How much time, money or knowledge does it require?
• Do I need to hire extra resources?
• Is this area growing or shrinking?
• Is my target audience using this tool or on this platform? Would they find it beneficial?

6. Get professional help. When in doubt hire a professional to help you see the big picture and develop a strong strategy. When looking for a pro, start with referrals, but remember just because someone creates beautiful websites does not mean they can help position your company for success online. Another way to find good strategy professionals is to use LinkedIn. Start by doing an advanced people search for terms like “digital strategist”, “online strategist”, “online strategy”, or “digital strategy”.

The bottom line is every company may not need to use every marketing tool available, but every company needs an online marketing strategy.

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- Is there a technical glitch?

- Did our company say or do something offensive?

- Are people really leaving Facebook at such a rate?

Who Stole My Facebook Likes?

None of these are likely (although a technical glitch is always in the realm of possibilities). The more likely scenario is that those followers were not human to begin with! During their quarterly earnings report, Facebook admitted to approximately 8.7% fake accounts on their network. That’s 83.09 million accounts if you’re doing the math. All those fake accounts are bound to have an affect on some real companies. Shortly after the report, Facebook announced it was starting what it called “improvements to its site integrity systems.” Since then companies of all sizes have been asking themselves, “Where did all of our likes/followers go?”

Cleaning House

The impact of Facebook’s massive house cleaning efforts has been being felt by companies of all sizes and in all industries for months. When the site improvements were first announced it took only two days for accounts like Zynga’s Texas HoldEm Poker to loose almost 200,000 Likes, pop star Lady Gaga lost about 66,000, and “The Simpsons” dropped about 21,000. All this due to fake Facebook accounts.

Now in March of 2013, we’re continuing to see signs of Facebook’s improvements to its site integrity systems. Smaller businesses that may have unknowingly allowed bots to replace humans are watching in horror as hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of “likes” vanish overnight.

How Did We Get Here?

Many businesses mistakenly believe that the number of followers (Likes) a Facebook page has is equal to the number of potential sales they will derive. This is a false assumption. For some this false assumption has led to poor decisions and misguided advice from both client and social media specialists. Clients leaned on their social media specialist to get them more followers/likes and social media specialists who didn’t know better, or didn’t know how to explain that this was the wrong metric to look at, found ways to make the numbers.

Where Do We Go From Here?

When it comes to social media, the quality of likes, fans, followers or connections matters. The number of followers obviously has a role as well. After all, if you only have only follower, even if they are of the highest quality, it is unlikely that you will achieve your social media goals.  The point is, when thinking about social media followers, likes, fans or connections, you should never sacrifice quality for quantity. Period.   

Further Reading: Interested in learning how to determine if a Facebook fan page has fake fans? Read Pam Moore’s excellent post on the subject. She also reveals tools that can help you determine if you have robots or people following you on Twitter! I’m happy to say I have 100% people. Thanks for following @Listen2You .

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1. Creating enough content
2. Creating engaging content
3. Creating a variety of content

It’s no wonder these are the top three. Businesses continue to struggle to engage multiple audiences across an array of on- and offline channels. Fortunately, there’s a solution that can vastly simplify the job: Develop a ‘stretch mindset.’ In other words, before you produce your next piece of content, consider how it might be altered, bundled, cropped or otherwise stretched to increase its mileage and its impact. Here are a few ideas:

1. Slice larger works into bite-sized pieces.

Got an eBook, white paper or presentation you’d like to share? Chop it into smaller chunks and presto, a multiplicity of content.  Consider serializing the bites and tweaking them so they go a bit more in-depth than their original incarnation.

2. Bundle smaller works into something of greater value.

Round up a selection of smaller pieces under an umbrella theme and offer it as an eBook, video series or training course.

3. Encourage conversation.

Comments are content, too. Be sure to engage in any conversation around your content to keep it moving. Many times I find comments as useful as the original work.

4. Begin with multiple formats in mind.

Consider up front how you might alter content to work in the various formats your customers prefer. For example: Transcribe video presentations and interviews into text you can easily edit and post. Or serve up the audio tracks as podcasts.

5. Tweak posts to fit multiple social platforms.

Just because you’ve posted something to Facebook doesn’t mean you can’t also post it to Google+ or Twitter. Make changes where needed to ensure the content fits the format and audience, and remember the objectives you have for each platform before ‘blanket posting.’

6. Create templates.

Templates allow you to write more quickly and efficiently. They also build consistency, letting customers know what to expect and where to look for the information they want most. This approach works for any content that can be standardized, such as case studies or product reviews.

7. Keep a list of content ideas.

Finally, whether you carry an iPad or paper and pen, make sure you have a way to capture content ideas when they strike. You won’t believe the amount of time and frustration this will save you later on.

^*B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends-North America released in February 2013 by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs.

About the author

Alison Fairbanks is a messaging strategist and copywriter, and is founder of NotableBiz.com, which provides branding and content marketing tools geared especially for small business.

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I don’t need a website I have…

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Google search
• Google+
• YellowPages
• A blog
• Word of mouth

While these are all great tools to have in your marketing tool box, nothing compares to the business work engine — your website. A good social media strategist will tell you it’s not Facebook or Twitter, Google+ or LinkedIn that will sustain your business over the long run, it’s your business website. We call this the hub and spoke of online marketing. Your website is the hub and the various marketing tools (i.e. social media sites, Google search, blog) are the spokes that extend from and back to your website.

Why is Your Website More Important than Facebook?

Clients often ask, “Which is more important, my Facebook page or my website?” The answer is always your website. The reason is simple, you don’t own anything on Facebook (or any other social platform). Not your name, not your content, not your fans/followers/friends/likes, not even the page you spent hours setting up and working on. A social media platform such as Facebook can change, discontinue, charge, or go out of business at any time without warning.

When Facebook made their big design change to Timeline about a year ago, many businesses lost money due to investments they had made to produce customized pages or apps using the old formatting. Other than grumbling, businesses couldn’t do much about the changes considering Facebook offers their tool for free and clearly identifies who owns the content in their Terms and Conditions.

Now contrast this with your hosted business website. You own the content, domain name, and any leads you gather from your site. One caveat here, you own everything IF you did not sign a contract with a design firm or developer that essentially gave away your rights to these very important assets. I want to point out that it is important for business owners to read their web design, development and hosting contracts carefully. Some firms still require businesses to sign away all rights to their assets. I’ve seen some pretty nasty lawsuits result from such contracts.

What Content Should I Have on My Website?

There are as many answers to this as there are websites, but let’s take a very basic B2B service site for an example. This type of site might include:

1. Contact Details: full company name, people to contact (if appropriate), email(s), possibly a form for contacting, phone numbers, physical address, fax (if you’re still using those things ) and links to all your social activities such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

2. About Us: Tell your audience a little about your company. This is commonly called the About Us section. Although it’s not sexy, this section is very important to establish who you are, what you do and how you serve your customers.

3. Services: What do you do? How can you help? This section could also be “Products”, “Solutions” or have other creative names to let your customer know that this is where they will find the tools they need to solve their problem.

Other sections to consider for your website would be a Blog, Downloads (PDFs) or Videos.

How Do I Make the Website a Hub and Social Media a Spoke?

When thinking about online marketing strategy, remember that nothing online is linear. That means unlike a traditional book or magazine, we don’t pick it up and go from page to page to get to a particular end point. We move through the online world in a non-linear fashion, jumping from link to link, page to page, search term to search term, to get the information we want or enjoy. To leverage the hub and spoke system, refer people back to your website whenever possible. For example, refer to articles, pieces of information or even images that are housed on your site rather than always uploading them directly into social media posts.

On the flip side, refer to your social media platforms on your website. For example, you might encourage people to visit your Facebook page to get the most up-to-date news and comments about an event or activity. Or let people know that they can find inspiring images and ideas on your Pinterest boards.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that most companies need both a website and a social media presence. They complement each other and one can be used to promote the other. While it’s true that you do not need to be everywhere on every social platform, you should have a solid website and know the social platforms and tools that will best serve your business.

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1. They provide an ongoing source of useful information.

2. You can find resources you never knew existed by following the “link trails”.

3. They are a focused networking tool.

4. You have an opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise with people that care.

5. You can find your next job or project using Linkedin groups.

Now that were clear on the five benefits of Linkedin groups, it’s time to cover the details behind how to chose a group. With over 1.5 million groups available, knowing what you want, using an efficient search methods and learning how to evaluate a group will help you find Linkedin groups that are of value to you and your business.

Strategies for Finding Linkedin Groups

Know What You Want

By clearly defining what you are looking for in a group you focus your attention on what’s important. Do you want a group for resources, ideas and information about a particular industry or subject matter? Are you looking to connect with industry peers, clients or other business leaders?

Try to be as specific as possible about your reasons for joining a group. Don’t try to make one group fit all your needs. For example, if you want to connect with peers and potential clients, choose two different groups. Yes, you might end up connecting with clients through the group you designated as your “peer” group, but by defining the group as a peer group you can go in with a consistent voice and not sound like you’re trying to sit on both sides of the fence.

Use Efficient Search Methods

Avoid wasting time by determining your search method. There are multiple methods to go about searching for groups. I will cover three here, but you may be able to come up with more as you explore the possibilities.

Learn from Others: Think about all the people you respect, people who are active Linkedin users or others whom you feel might join groups that you would want to be a part of and look at their Profile. As you review their Profile page you will see a section called “Groups” click on the groups that interest you and review to determine if there is a fit. See “Evaluating Linkedin Groups” below for tips on how to determine which groups are a good fit.

Browse: Some people prefer to just browse in order to see what’s out there. If this is your style, then you will like the Groups Directory page. This is a huge alphabetized directory of every Linkedin Group. The page starts with a list of “Featured” groups and continues through the alphabet for all groups.

Customize Search: When you want your search to be catered to you, use the “Groups You May Like” section. You can find this when you log in and go to the top and choose: Groups>Groups You May Like. You may also see samples from this list on the right hand side of the page when you are in Groups.

On the Groups You May Like results page you can chose to browse the whole list or use keywords on the left side to refine your results. I recommend going back to what you learned during the “Know What You Want” phase and use keywords to find your groups. For example, I might search for “Social Media” or “Online Strategy”.

Evaluating Linkedin Groups

The bottom line is, only you can determine the right Linkedin Groups for you. There are tips and tools, but at the end of the day you need to decide if the group is of value and in alignment with your goals. Groups are a valuable tool and one that you should not ignore but, keep in mind that behind every group are people and people change. This means the group can change. Be sure to try new groups every so often to ensure the most value from your Linkedin Groups.

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If you have been anywhere near Linkedin lately you have seen the awards. They read:

“Recently, Linkedin reached a new milestone: 200 million members. But this isn’t just our achievement to celebrate — it’s also yours. I want to personally thank you for being part of our community….”

A Million Reactions

What is more exciting than the awards is the reaction of the members. Hundreds of my connections are posting and tweeting proud comments such as:

• “Wow, top 1%!”
• “Thank you Linkedin.”
• “I can’t believe I’m in the top 1% of Linkedin users!”
• “What an honor.”
• “Check it out, I’m in the top 5%.”
• “Top 5% who knew?!”

It’s interesting that such a simple gesture can mean so much to so many. What it says to me is that as professionals we don’t receive a lot of public praise or recognition. Sadly, I would venture to guess that for as many professionals that are posting and tweeting about their accomplishment, there are equally as many feeling they didn’t achieve something because they didn’t receive a little blue award certificate. Of course they will firmly deny their feelings if asked, but the feelings remain if you look into their eyes or listen carefully to their words.

The Need for Recognition

Linkedin first tapped into the heart of the human need for public recognition when they launched the Endorsement feature. Today, daily emails from connections endorsing your skills is almost a daily occurrence. For many, it no longer comes with the rush of excitement it had. In the early days of the Linkedin Endorsement feature if a client, peer, boss or connection endorsed you for your skills it felt good – great in fact. Then the newness wore off. People started misusing the feature and endorsing everyone for anything even if they had never worked with them or seen them in their lives. The magic was gone. Don’t get me wrong, it can still feel great to have the “right” person endorse you for your skills, but it’s not quite the same as when it seemed special.

Uncovering A Need

Linkedin has rediscovered something we all need but we don’t often recognize — recognition and praise. More specifically, PUBLIC recognition and praise in front of our peers. I commend them for trying to putting a positive and personal spin on the sometimes negative or emotionless nature of business. I have read/heard the naysayers out there who are irritated that Linkedin is using the 200 million member mark for marketing purposes. The naysayers believe Linkedin is using members as megaphones around the web for their message. Although this may be true, the fact remains that the message made people feel good!

Businesses, bosses and even clients can learn something from this little Linkedin experiment, recognize your people, your clients and your employees. They NEED it.

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How Linkedin Groups Benefit You & Your Business:

1. A great source of information. A good group will have members who share solid information about subjects that matter to you and your business. Not just surface ideas or ads disguised as information, but real down-to-earth information that you can use.  

2. A useful resource. Not to be confused with information, the resource part of Linkedin groups comes into play when you dive deeper into the information presented. I’ve found new online tools, businesses that I wasn’t aware of and made valuable connections when I followed “link trails” found within the  information provided by members.
*Link trails are the links found inside posts that lead you to other resources.

3. A focused networking tool. You can’t read anything on Linkedin groups without learning what a valuable networking tool it can be. You virtually meet people in every group you join. The best way to get to know them better is to join the conversation. The best part is that a good group will have members with similar interests or goals to yours, making the conversation easier and more purposeful.

4. A way for you to share your knowledge and information. Knowledge and information is  not a one-way street in groups. You have the opportunity to share what you know either through your comments, posting thought-provoking articles or adding links to your own useful blog posts.

5. A place to find your next project or job. Nearly every group has a job section. In some groups this section can be a gold mine for not just for job seekers, but freelancers and small businesses. Because jobs can be posted by members for free, you may need to sift through the undesirable before finding your gold.

Now that you know the benefits of Linkedin Groups, I’m guessing you’re eager to find the right group for you. Watch for upcoming posts on how to sort through the over 1.5 million groups and find the best groups for you and your business on Linkedin.

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How a Toy Store Is Turning an Event into a Long-term Sales Generator

Recently I received an email from a kids’ toy store that sells unique toys. The email announced an upcoming event being held at the toy store. The owners were inviting parents to bring their child(ren) into the store for a painting party. Not just any painting party, but a time to paint a ceiling tile with their child’s hand print on it. The tile would then be used on the ceiling of the store.

As I finished reading the email, I thought of how clever this small business owner was. She had taken something simple, a painting party, and made it into a long-term marketing and sales opportunity. Here’s how:

Value for the customer

Who wouldn’t want to get their kids out of the house on a cold January afternoon to paint? Kids love it. Parents love activities that prevent cabin-fever.

Benefits for the customer and business

Of course once parents are in the store there is plenty for both kids and parents to discover. Exciting forward-thinking toys that can’t be found just anywhere. Samples of toys throughout the store to try out. It all adds up to a recipe for lots of shopping.

The long-term benefits

Then there is the best part of this simple idea, the personal touch and ownership attached to having the children add their hand print and signature to the tile. As a permanent fixture in the store, the ceiling tiles will be an added incentive for families to visit the store for years to come. One, two, five years down the road they will be coming in and pointing out little Emily’s hand print at age four. It may even be enough to entice a few grandparents or friends to come in to see the artwork. And when a grandparent enters a toy store, well if you have kids and they have grandparents, you know what happens!

Personalizing your marketing

Have you personalized your marketing? Do you have ideas after reading this post on how you can apply personalized marketing to your business? Share your ideas or success stories by commenting  on this post or emailing us. Need help coming up with your own personalized marketing plan? Contact us, we’re here to help.

 Photo: © Stephconnell | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

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If you’re selling a complex product and you don’t have the “right stuff” available online, your potential customer may just buy from the competition because it’s easier!

So how can you effectively and painlessly sell a complex product online? Start with a multi-touch strategy. By multi-touch I am referring to the many ways your customer can interact with your product, your service and your brand. The following is a handy checklist for a multi-touch, online strategy that a complex product might use.

Checklist for Selling a Complex Product Online

Video: This is one time when video can save the sale. When you have a complicated or complex product, showing can be much better than just telling. Demonstrate how the product works, how it looks from different angles, how it sounds, what features are available, etc….

Comparison chart: I don’t recommend comparing yourself to the other guys. Not only do you open doors you may not want to open when you have an us vs. them comparison, you can look well…cheep.

Instead, compare your product line. Why would one model serve the needs of a customer more than another? What are the needs/wants of the person who would buy a particular model or style? Don’t be greedy in your comparison chart and try to get people to buy the highest priced item. Serve your customer’s needs first and they will come back and/or refer business to you.

Online chat: Chat can be a quick sale saver. Everyone loves instant gratification. When you can answer a customer’s question the moment he/she thinks of the question, you’re two steps ahead. Just be sure you clearly indicate the hours your chat is available so customers don’t become frustrated.

Contact details: When selling a complex or complicated product easy contact — phone, email, social media, etc. is critical. Be sure your contact details are clearly visible on every page of your site.

Reviews: Too many businesses fear customer reviews. More often than not, reviews help you sell more, not less. Customers who have purchased your products can be terrific sources of information about pros and cons that may not be covered by sales and marketing.

Worried about what’s being said? Monitoring reviews is fine, just don’t shy away from negative feedback. You want honest, believable feedback. Not more marketing. Most customers can separate out the crazy, over-the-top reviews form the ones that are of real value.

Excellent product specs: You don’t want to miss a thing when it comes to specifications for confusing products. Think of it this way, if you leave off the fact that your laptop is available with SSDs and your competitor clearly states that their laptops have this feature, which laptop do you think will be chosen when it comes down to this specification? If you’re worried about information overload, consider how you present your materials rather than how much material you present. 

Photos: No matter how boring you may think your product is, or how obvious you may think it looks, include photos. Photos not only give more information in a visual way, but they reassures the shopper that they are purchasing or visualizing the “right” product.

Guarantee: Complex products inherently come with some worry. “What if I pick the wrong one?” “What if it doesn’t work?” “What if I don’t like it?” Put your customer’s mind at ease by offering a guarantee. Free shipping both ways has worked wonders for Zappos. A money back guarantee, no strings attached, is always a favorite. Make it easy and worry-free.

Complex products can be successfully sold online, but they require due diligence from both the buyer and the seller. Make sure you and your site are up to the task to service your customer and you will convert more visitors into buyers.

Image: http://www.stockfreeimages.com/

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News about how our information is being used by the websites we frequent continues to surface. From Instagram’s announcement and then retraction of new Terms of Service that would allow them to sell your personal photos to advertisers, to Google’s greed for data and the selling of your data to compete with Facebook, it’s easy to see that WE are the currency of choice.

So what?

Should we care that advertisers have our information? I would argue yes. Not just that advertisers have your information down to what bra size you wear, but the fact that it’s not going to stop at advertisers. Information is already prevalent and freely available online. If you’ve ever heard Sam Richter speak, you know it doesn’t take a genius to find out everything about you, sometimes right down to your credit card number — in seconds, for free, from your computer. If we don’t pay closer attention to what we put online, how it’s used and how to prevent it from being misused, it may be too late by the time we see the big picture.

But, I’m a marketer/advertiser

I admit, I actually LIKE targeted advertising. If you must advertise, show me something I might be interested in instead of irrelevant ads. That being said, I want to have the choice to ASK for targeted advertising. I don’t want my information sold and, believe it or not, I don’t need to tell the world about everything I am doing, buying or saying online (Google are you reading this?). I mention Google because you may have noticed that you can’t write a review, use an app, etc. within the Google ecosystem without being forced to tell your Circles everything!

“Sam Ford, a 26-year-old Navy petty officer, says he signed up for Google+ on his smartphone because it would let him automatically upload new photos to a Google+ folder—one that he kept private. Later, he says, he was surprised to see that his Google+ profile page—which includes his name—was tied to a software review that he wrote recently on the Google Play online store.” http://on.wsj.com/TzhSj5

What can we do?

The alarming part is that unless you pull the plug on your online presence, it’s nearly impossible to avoid giving up your information. I would venture to guess that most of you still want to buy online. You want to communicate with others via social networks. You want friends, family and business associates to find you (most of the time). However, in most, if not all cases, you can’t pay to stay private. You can’t write your own terms of service. So what can you do?

While one person may not be able to stop the avalanche that is already falling, maybe the power of many can. I believe awareness and crowdsourcing the issue could be two potential solutions to this increasing problem. What do you think?

Now that you know more, what will you do?

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