Break at Your Own Risk – 14 eMarketing Rules

Over recent years we have noticed things that work – and things that don’t with regard to emarketing. For what it’s worth, we thought we would share it with those who are committed to marketing that makes a real contribution to your Company.
1. Clarify the problem before rushing to solve it.
2. Show us a picture of your ideal buyer.
3. Speak plain English. You are dealing with real people. Drop the Corporate-Speak.
4. Be found. All the millions invested in advertising won’t come close to the results produced by a top 3 organic ranking for your relevant phrase or words.
5. Use video on your website – it communicates.
6. Never underestimate the damage an angry dissatisfied customer will create.
7. Never underestimate the power of a happy customer.
8. When designing your website – Pretty is great. Easy is better. Useful is wonderful.
9. You’re not your ideal customer. You don’t have to like the creative to approve it.
10. Treat people with respect, they’ll reciprocate.
11. Campaign analytics are a must. Test, Test, Roll.
12. IT is not Marketing. Don’t have them run the web site. It’s not fair to anyone, especially your prospects.
13. Plan, but be flexible. Listen. Make changes.
14. Don’t let your competition ambush you via the Internet.

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December 21, 2010|emarketing Strategy|Post Comment »

Check Out Who’s Eating Your Lunch

Business is good for some of us. And awful for others. We can blame it on the economy or the changing market, but the fact is, we all have choices about what we do and how we conduct our business.

Those of us engaged in online marketing have repeatedly tried to show traditional marketers just how effective inbound marketing can be. And how inexpensive it is relative to the results you can produce with a good strategy. We are not talking about “using Twitter” or “being on Facebook”. It serves no one for your staff to be online without a sound strategy that integrates with the rest of your marketing. Yes – it is early in the game, but our experience to date indicates it will be a lot easier to defend a top 3 organic ranking for a relevant keyword than to try to take it from a competitor who is defending it effectively. Creativity and innovation will beat big time spending in this marketplace.

We are talking about engaging in an honest open conversation with the people you believe should buy your product. But obviously, as bad as things are, most traditional marketers are happy with the current SPEND (lots of advertising and promotional dollars), HUNT (go out looking for customers) and HOPE (they remember you when it comes time to buy) model that has been dictated by the mass media marketplace we have all grown up in. This model is more about selling people than letting them buy.

We have done our best to convince businesses that the average consumer (B2B or B2C) just Googles what they are looking for and even if they do not actually purchase online (although Marketing Sherpa reports that over 34% do), they do make their buying decision based on their online research. Sure they still talk to friends and get advice. Sure they still shop in retail stores. But the strongest influence by far is the combined results of their Google search.

So, bottom line: take a 10 minute break today and type in the keywords or search terms that you think people would use to find your product or service. Not your Company name – the product or service you sell. See if you can be found when your prospects are looking to buy. And pay special attention to the firms that do show up on page 1 of the search. They’re most likely the ones your potential buyers are buying from.

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October 5, 2009|Inbound Marketing, emarketing Strategy|Post Comment »