by admin | Feb 6, 2012 | Blog, Promotion
If you are the owner or founder of an SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) or are the person responsible for sales or business development in any size organization then your reputation – your personal branding is paramount in your personal success and the success of your organization.
‘Brands are like people’ is an analogy often used to describe the companies they represent. Virgin is the brand built by Richard Branson and the two are hard to separate. Consumers buy into the personality of the founder and what it represents and promises.
In many cases however ‘brands are people’ – every celebrity is a brand, from Oprah to Dr.Phil, to rock stars and actors to sports people like Beckham.
Business brands take on or communicate the values of their founders. This is especially true for start-ups and new businesses, professional services firms where the names of the founding partners make up the brand names. Although this is not the best way to brand your services business this is still the dominant reality for many.
So the brands are designed and communicated by people. People, especially in services industry is who we all buy from! So it makes sense that ‘these people’ have an optimal representation of who they are and what makes them special in the place where it matters most, the place where positive perceptions are formed – online!
Your online identity and representation is made of your online assets:
- LinkedIn
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Blog / Website
- YouTube Channel, etc
The most important of these in the SME (B2B & Professional Services) is LinkedIn, and we’ll cover this next.
by admin | Feb 5, 2012 | Blog, Content, Design, Strategy
All websites can be classified into 4 types:
1. A site that sells product(s) or service(s) by the quality of design and copywriting, which is in turn
2. A lead generation site that attracts potential new clients
3. A customer support or self service site that reduces costs by completing routine tasks, replacing or reducing human interaction
4. A content site that educates or informs visitors about your organization or service
Most websites are a mixture of the above, yet content strategy is the key! They all need to do 2 things to be successful:
- Attract enough new prospects to survive and prosper by cost effectively letting their target audience know that they exist (PUSH), and/or getting found (PULL).
- Once prospects land on your website, their experience there needs to be positive, and this is a decision that is often made in less than 1/20th of a second! The user experience is determined by the quality of design and copywriting which is in turn developed by following a strategic process outlined by the diagram below:
Website marketing is an ongoing process, similar to designing and building a house. It is then important to maintain and build the value of your marketing properties and prevent this value being depreciated through neglect of infrastructure or promotional activity by competitors.
To get the best return on the marketing investment, time needs to be dedicated to answer the questions that assist in building a solid foundation for the marketing of your business online.
By starting at the bottom and working up, the process will be shorter, less painful and more profitable.
by admin | Feb 4, 2012 | Blog
All websites can be classified into 4 types:
1. A site that sells product(s) or service(s) by the quality of design and copywriting, which is in turn
2. A lead generation site that attracts potential new clients
3. A customer support or self service site that reduces costs by completing routine tasks, replacing or reducing human interaction
4. A content site that educates or informs visitors about your organization or service
Most websites are a mixture of the above, yet they all need to do 2 things to be successful:
-
Attract enough new prospects to survive and prosper by cost effectively letting their target audience know that they exist (PUSH), and/or getting found (PULL).
-
Once prospects land on your website, their experience there needs to be positive, and this is a decision that is often made in less than 1/20th of a second! The user experience is determined by the quality of design and copywriting which is in turn developed by following a strategic process outlined by the diagram below:
Website marketing is an ongoing process, similar to designing and building a house. It is then important to maintain and build the value of your marketing properties and prevent this value being depreciated through neglect of infrastructure or promotional activity by competitors.
To get the best return on the marketing investment, time needs to be dedicated to answer the questions that assist in building a solid foundation for the marketing of your business online.
By starting at the bottom and working up, the process will be shorter, less painful and more profitable.
by admin | Feb 4, 2012 | Blog, Design, Promotion
The web allows ‘small business Davids’ to compete with corporate Goliaths.
Your website is the most flexible and accountable content marketing weapon today. Usually the first thing that your prospects see and experience about your business, it is your most public face to the world, a showroom open every hour of every day.
- The investment into your website is 100% measurable and hence accountable.
- Your website is an interactive medium and a distribution channel that allows 1 : 1 personalization
In the case of a recession the use of the internet by consumers will only be accelerated as they will spend more time at home. So remove the cobwebs from your website today!
Internet Advertising is still very underutilized.
A typical US consumer might spend 25% of their media consumption time on the Internet but a typical US advertiser spends only 7% of their communications budget on the web.
Web technology is more accessible than ever: Low Cost and Easy to Use, if you choose to DIY in-house and cheaper than ever to be outsourced to a third party web marketing agency. But be careful who you choose!
Design, Build, Promote, and Maintain to maximize results and make your website work as hard as you do to:
- Provide visitors with a taste of your product or service
- Tell visitors why they should buy from you and not your competitors
- Collect information about your customers
- Customize customer experience
- Improve customer service and provide a vehicle for feedback
- Generate sales leads
by admin | Feb 3, 2012 | Blog
The web allows ‘small business Davids’ to compete with corporate Goliaths.
Your website is the most flexible and accountable marketing weapon today. Usually the first thing that your prospects see and experience about your business, it is your most public face to the world, a showroom open every hour of every day.
- The investment into your website is 100% measurable and hence accountable.
- Your website is an interactive medium and a distribution channel that allows 1 : 1 personalization
In the case of a recession the use of the internet by consumers will only be accelerated as they will spend more time at home. So remove the cobwebs from your website today!
Internet Advertising is still very underutilized.
A typical US consumer might spend 25% of their media consumption time on the Internet but a typical US advertiser spends only 7% of their communications budget on the web.
Web technology is more accessible than ever: Low Cost and Easy to Use, if you choose to DIY in-house and cheaper than ever to be outsourced to a third party web marketing agency. But be careful who you choose!
Design, Build, Promote, and Maintain to maximize results and make your website work as hard as you do to:
- Provide visitors with a taste of your product or service
- Tell visitors why they should buy from you and not your competitors
- Collect information about your customers
- Customize customer experience
- Improve customer service and provide a vehicle for feedback
- Generate sales leads
by admin | Feb 3, 2012 | Blog, Promotion
While marketing tactics deal with needing Original Ideas & More Creative Execution, more importantly, you need to SHARE!
- 12 Half Page Print Ads are more effective than 6 Full Page Ads
- One Colour, called spot colour can be used instead of Full Colour to decrease the cost without effecting effectiveness if the design is used creatively to compensate for this.
- Use 30 Second Radio Ad v 60 Second Radio Ad
- Decrease the Direct Mail List Size and follow them up with Telemarketing or
- Share the cost of Direct Marketing – Printing, Mailing and Distribution with a complimentary Product / Service.
- You can share the cost of traditional advertising like print by coming up with a creative advertisement that promotes 2 complimentary products in one advertisement and generates synergy between the products to the benefits of both.
- The same concept can also be taken online by sharing Pay Per Click bid costs and the costs of the Landing Pages.
Start thinking and sharing.
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