Social Media: Effective communication tool or just more noise?

We have seen clients just jump into social media marketing without a strategy.  They would never have thought to run a newspaper ad campaign without a clear objective, but for some reason they see social media in a different light. But if ever a sound strategy was needed, it is now (emarketing toronto services).

During the ‘mass marketing’ period when we spent a lot of money (advertising), hunted for customers (cold calling) and hoped they remembered us when it came time to purchase, we could “broad stroke” our mass media strategy and still affect enough people to cause the desired result. Many pundits have said for years “ half my ad dollars are wasted – I just don’t know which half.” We know now: it was more than half.

Then The Google Age arrived. Web 2.0. Social Media. It brought millions of people online for many hours at a time. But more important; it returned the buying power back to the consumer. It literally changed the way people buy. For almost anything we are thinking of purchasing, for business or personal, we usually Google it. We do our homework so we are a much more educated buyer.

This transformed process means we are less likely to “be sold” something today than we are “to buy” it. And that shift changes everything for marketers. Rather than ideas and promotions that sell people, we are seeing firms give away a tremendous amount of “inside information”. Information designed to help educate the public. An open and transparent way of doing business. We are educating them and allowing them to buy. Some might say the good marketers have always done that.

The transfer of power is simple: prospects can now “click a brand right out of their life”. If they are uncomfortable or annoyed – poof, they’re gone. And so are you.

So strategy has never been more important to marketers. You must:

1. Know (and speak to) a single primary target

2. Understand and articulate clearly, exactly what you are selling.

3. Understand the single, relevant issue that people need to know in order to buy.

Make sure that social media does not just become more noise. The consumer will just turn you off.

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May 2, 2010|emarketing Strategy|1 Comment

Social Media Marketing – No Quick Fixes

Time and time again we hear clients asking for the short-cut – the quick, cheap fix that will allow them to participate in social media marketing. Although some activities result in immediate results, overall, a sound digital strategy takes some time to bear fruit.

That does not mean your digital agency gets a 6 month pass. They should definitely be accountable for their actions even while they are laying a strong foundation for a long term online strategy. Buck Rogers said “It’s no good picking up speed if you’re on the wrong road” and we could not agree more. So to take time to think through your approach, test a few theories and do some A / B testing to see what works makes a lot of sense. But so too does setting clear objectives within a specific time frame.

Speaking of time – it is only going to get more expensive to get in this game. As competition increase, both for PPC and for organic search terms, it will take more time and effort or require more dollars to achieve your goals. So jump in now. It is far less expensive to defend a first page ranking for a keyword than to gain it.

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March 18, 2010|Inbound Marketing, emarketing Strategy|Post Comment »

Digital Strategy – Learn To Be Hunted

We have developed a smart process to generate qualified leads online. In essence we help clients make the shift from “hunting for customers” to “being hunted by customers”. And for almost all it makes perfect sense. They nod their heads and even engaged in good questions and they truly “get it”.

Yet they continue to buy newspaper and radio ads. They continue to use the expensive, mass media options we all grew up with (or at least most of us). The 2 most alarming or mind-boggling responses we get are:

“We have no budget for online lead generation this year – we will look at it next year” – well folks that may be one of the best examples of closing the barn doors after the horses are out” that I have seen. The consumer has already changed the way they buy. In fact, The Globe and Mail recently interviewed the CFO of Google who reported that more than 70% of all consumers do their research online before buying. In other words -  they come up with their short list. It’s really simple: if you are not there, you do not make the short list. This year, or next! We know change is often difficult, but stop wasting money on expensive mass media options. We now know they don’t work.

Target smart. Allow yourself to BFOUND when people are looking.

“Who are they?” – that’s the typical response when we show a “traditional marketer” the Google results of the term they think they should dominate online. You see they know their product inside out. They know that they are the best at X. Problem is: the rest of the world (and Google) does not know. They have not done the basics. The fundamentals of being found.

So what comes up on the search page elicits the response “Who are they?” as they point at the new competitors who are eating their lunch. They know business is off, but they blame it on the soft economy. They don’t realize it is never coming back. Like it or not, Google has changed the world. Now people know how to find you easily when they need you (or somebody else just like you). The consumer has become the hunter and the marketer must learn to be the hunted.

That’s a mind trip isn’t it?

Wake up while you can still influence the organic listings for certain productive search terms. In a few years the competition will be fierce and the cost to impact organic positioning for important keywords or phrases will be stiff.

Me thinks Google is in the cat-bird seat.

www.e10egency.com

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March 7, 2010|emarketing Strategy|Post Comment »

Facebook Beats Google!

According to All Facebook, Facebook was the most visited site on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, taking over the #1 visited site from Google. Impressive numbers for both.

Yet they are not competitors. So how can one beat the other in any truly meaningful way?

Google is the tool we use for SEARCH. When we want to look for something or someone. When we roughly know what we are looking for, and indeed when we are actually searching for something specific, Google is the go to site. They help us narrow it down until we find what we are looking for. So on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, it is not surprising that people were not searching for stuff.

On the other hand Facebook and most other social media sites are DISCOVER-based sites.  In other words when you want to be discovered, or you want people to trip across your message, social media is often the place. People are not really searching when on Facebook, they are being entertained by other people in their own communities. They are discovering what others in their community are up to. So again over Christmas, it is not surprising that people were checking in with family and friends. They were discovering rather than searching.

Being SEARCHABLE and being DISCOVERABLE are 2 completely different ideas, yet both allow you to BFOUND online. And being found online is a competitive edge that most businesses can no longer ignore. After years of learning to HUNT for customers, business is just now waking up to the opportunity of BEING HUNTED. Why try to sell people your product when you can simply allow them to buy?

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January 1, 2010|Inbound Marketing, emarketing Strategy|Post Comment »