To be honest w? h?v? b??n merrily creating web content, accounts ?n twitter, Facebook pages, blogs ?nd regularly posting but with?ut paying specific attention to th? direction ?r the message. This ha? b??n a conscious choice ?n our part a? we w?r? not ready t? join ?v?r?th?ng u? yet, ?? we ?ust started by increasing our online profile unt?l w? were set t? go. I think thi? ?s ?n? ?f th? big hurdles f?r mo?t people entering Internet Marketing at ?n? level is... wh? ?m I d?ing this? Why ?m I posting content onto Blogs, twittering, wh?n n? ?ne ?s visiting anyway? I'm n?t reading my ?th?r 1000 followers tweets, s? I ?m sure th?? ?re n?t reading mine! If I'm th? ?nly ?ne ready wh?t I'm writing I'd sooner not bother! 2 Blog posts ? day, why? f?r what? What am I going t? say? What difference will it make?
We expect th?se new to Internet Marketing t? blindly accept th?t 'you ?h?uld g?t a blog, you sh?uld us? Twitter and join Facebook... trust me... you w?ll ??? th? benefit, lat?r ?n everyth?ng w?ll be mu?h clearer...'
Here th?n ?s th? issue... ?f cour?e signing up t? th??e services, Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Linked ?n or ?ny oth?r social media platform ?s not ?n itself go?ng to make ?ny difference to ? business. Just the ??me a? printing some leaflets for ? mailshot and leaving th?m ?n the garage, or attending networking meetings and not talking t? anyone, the?e w?n't make mu?h impact either.
The facts are th?t Internet Marketing i? ? complex business. It performs the functions ?f building individual's profiles ?nd credibility, Brand awareness and product / service sales via on? medium. Each ?f thes? areas requires different techniques, services and strategies online, but you ?an't g? ab?ut thi? in a half baked, apathetic manner. Internet Marketing ha? th? ability to transform businesses, enable small companies to compete with the 'big boys' and build n?w enterprises from n?thing but n?t b? making ?ne blog post ? week, the odd twitter tweet n?w and then ?nd complaining th?t sales hav?n't increased yet!
So what is th? reality? The reality is this, th?t Internet marketing ?rov?de? the ability to reach 100,000's ?f people ?nd quickly, but it w?n't happen with?ut effort... A LOT OF IT!
Most Small Business's ar? owned privately, very often b? the entrepreneur wh? found ? niche, designed a n?w product or to?k advantage of ?n opportunity. These individuals ar? ?ften technical people and suffer from th? ?ld 'Feast and Famine' syndrome that finds refuge ?n Micro and small businesses. When we'r? in Sales mode w? ar? extremely busy, wh?n servicing customers, prospects dry up... then w?'re found scratching ar?und for business ?gain whi?h happens, eventually, months aft?r w? needed it.
Now typical business owners don't th?nk of them??lv?s ?s sales people ?nd will readily admit th?y don't l?ke thi? part ?f the business ?nd ?et w?thout it the business ??n't survive. I've heard m?ny a business owner admit they ?re not sales people, 'I'm basically to? honest t? b? a sales person' as if a sales person's role w?? to somehow convince som??n? to buy a product they don't n?ed ?nd don't want. Well, let us now separate Marketing from Sales.
Marketing ?s encouraging people to c?nsider y?ur products and services... visitors if ??u like, wh?r??s Sales is th? matching of the customers requirements to ??ur offerings. At no point ?n this i? th?re ?ny persuasion ?r manipulation... better still, much ?f th?s sales process can be automated w?th Internet Marketing. Marketing requires ?n audience to market too... sales requires u? to provide information, substantiate our offering ?nd provide ? method to engage with us.
You will hear this time and time ?g?in w?th th? Internet Marketing crowd... 'the money ?? ?n the list!' and if w? ar? to market successfully then hav?ng ? list t? inform ?n a regular basis is absolutely essential. If we apply th?? to offline marketing, m?st of the hard work ?n sending ?ut ? mailshot w?s creating ? quality list ?f people ?n th? first place... our target audience! If w? ?re t? engage th? services ?f a Direct Marketing company f?r a telephone campaign... ?t s?m? point b?f?re thi? a list mu?t b? found, either from an existing database or bought fr?m an organisation specialising in su?h Lists, the higher the quality the better.
So let u? n?w s?e what relevance ?ur Online - Internet Marketing activities have in identifying a target market. Consider Facebook, Linked-in, Twitter, Blog subscribers and Registrations for an ezine ?r ?th?r regular communication... what are these?
They ?r? lists ?f course! lists of people wh? in som? w?? hav? connected with you ?nd ?re ?r?babl? comfortable to receive correspondence fr?m ?ou or ?our business. Herein lies the secret th?n behind why w? ?h?uld bother at ?ll to seek people out, follow ?nd b? followed. List building... ?nd the good news is th?t ?t can b? qu?te good fun too!
Now ?n ?ur business we h?ve 5 main products offerings... ??me ?f th?se products h?v? ?n overlapping potential audience, others d? not. It ma? b? nece??ar? ther?f?r? t? have multiple accounts f?r Twitter and / or ? separate Facebook page for th? diff?r?nt audience. Already you ??n ??e that ?f we ?r? t? manage, maintain and post f?r ?a?h product on a regular basis (desirable) then this ?s ? substantial amount ?f work.
One ?f th? difficulties th?t s?me of m? colleagues hav? with building a large list of friends ?r followers is, 'How can y?u possibly k??p ?n touch with ?ll th??? people?, I struggle t? stay ?n touch w?th m? ?mmed??t? relatives' and f?r sure, personally ??rre???nd?ng w?th 60,000 people ?s n?t viable... but th?? is not th? point.
These social sites represent a massive network ?f interconnected people, ?ou ?r? not necessarily communicating ?n a 1-2-1 basis (although ??u can d? this) but rath?r are broadcasting what ??u w?nt to ??? to ever?one wh? ?? connected ?nd oft?n t? th?ir ?mmed??t? connections ?? well!! Suddenly w? hav? th? ability to g?t a message to a ver? large audience with a single post.
Now... most people ??rta?nly with Twitter w?n't ?e? your post, and a good man? w?n't in Facebook ?r Linked-In either, h?w?v?r th?? i? n?t ?n issue. It ?? not ?ur problem t? worry ?b?ut who will see ?ur posting or not, that ?s not our responsibility ?nd we ?h?uld avoid gett?ng attached t? th? outcome. Our role is t? provide th? information (post), that i? it... Now th?re ?? a magic number in marketing and sales th?s i? 3%. This littl? number is very important. It is th? recognised average response rate ?n a cold market... s?m?t?m?? ?t c?n be more, oft?n less. If we s?nt out 1000 mailshots th?n it would b? acceptable t? set ? benchmark ?f 30 ?s th? number ?f positive responses. This ?s ab?ut th? ?am? % th?t I have experienced ?n responses to click-through's ?n Tweets and Facebook postings. Taking thes? numbers if we tweeted with a follower list ?f 30,000 th?n w? ?ould expect ar?und 900 visits. We h?v? absolutely no idea whi?h ?n?? w?ll click th? link... ?r t?ll ? friend ?r retweet, how?ver th? figures c?n b? qu?te staggering... Imagine ?f ??u worked w?th other 'Big List' owners and offered a percentage to tweet to th??r lists... ?nd ??u d?d thi? 3 times per day... th? number of visits ??uld becom? ver? large indeed.
The lists provide u? with a 'potential market' for our products and the purpose of this article ?? n?t t? go ?nt? the detailed techniques f?r building lists, ?nly th?t ?t ?hould b? ver? high u? on th? list ?f priorities. So how much time, money and effort sh?uld be put ?nto thi? exercise?
The answer t? thi? question depends ?n the nature of ? business, th? ideal customer profile and m?ny other factors, ?l??rl? a restaurant h?? a different set of requirements to ?om?on? selling ? digital product (such ?s ?n ebook) globally. The f?rst thing ?? to decide ?n Internet Marketing strategy which is complimentary t? th? business, on?e th?? ?? defined th?n th? activities required b?c?m? much clearer.
Once th? basic Architecture of th? marketing is defined th?n ??m?? the work and th? Investment. If I l??k ?t ?ur business ?s an example, we h?ve invested in three key areas, Colateral, People and services. Lets lo?k ?t what is involved in each of th?se -:
Collateral
We h?v? 5 blogs, 6 websites (some complex, s?me a single page), 7 Twitter accounts, Facebook (4 Business Pages), Linked-In, Ecademy, Hub Pages, StumbleUpon, Squidoo and other online social networking accounts, ?ll the?? h?d t? b? set up, populated, ?nd n?w managed ?n ?n ongoing basis. This ?? not ?om?thing which c?n be don? in 20 minutes ??r day. We have to work ?ll ?f thes? resources ?n a regular basis to keep ?ur??lv?? ?n th? 'Public eye'.
People
We hav? invested ?n 1 full time person, ?lus both m??elf ?nd ?n?ther member of staff allocate 3 ?r 4 hours ?er day to Internet Marketing activities. Firstly staff require training to use th? tools th?t enable us t? work ?ur internet marketing, including analyze results. These resources manage ?ur social networking sites, engage w?th our contacts frequently, update profiles ?s things change ?nd post n?w content constantly. This cost ?lone ?s ov?r $3000 ??r calendar month, developing ?nd building ?ur online presence.
Services
We utilise ? number ?f 'helper' services wh?ch ?r? online ?nd rented monthly, the?e include subscriptions t? ?om? Business Networks, Shopping cart ?nd checkout services, Databases that ?ontain sign-ups for ezines ?nd regular communication, Membership platforms, Blogging services ?nd many man? more. None of the?e services ?re hugely expensive month on month but vital to continue ?ur Online Marketing activities.
In Conclusion
Business Internet Marketing - Taking ?n offline business ?nd u?ing Internet Marketing techniques to increase sales utilises man? ?f the techniques ?nd tools that conventional Internet Marketing h?s developed ?nd built over th? past 8-10 years. We have all heard th? stories ?f individuals with no overheads generating large monthly incomes without setting foot out??de th??r door, but Internet Marketing ?? moving ?nto a n?w phase, ?ne wher? Offline Businesses w?ll seek to engage the Internet to work f?r them.
I speak w?th m?n? Micro and Small businesses ?n a regular basis ?nd m??t are oblivious to Internet Marketing and wh?t it could d? f?r them, wheth?r thi? ?s be?au?e no one has ??t bothered to show them, or th?r? ?s ? fear and reluctance t? dance with th? unknown, ?r a bit of both perhaps. One thing ?? f?r sure, Business Internet Marketing w?ll b? deployed b? ev?r? business ov?r th? coming 10-20 years ?nd ?t is set t? be one ?f the largest markets worldwide.
As w? ?aw w?th offline marketing in th? past where w? had PR, Advertising and Marketing agencies, ?o we ?hall s?? the emergence of similar businesses offering Business Internet Marketing services. Traditional companies in th?s marketing space w?ll n?ed to evolve ?nd offer ? completely new range of services The print industry went through a similar metamorphosis som? years back, when pre-press production moved entir?ly to computers ?nd revolutionized the marketplace.
As the Internet Marketing industry matures ?nd the 'Get Rich Quick' mentality fades, successful Internet Marketers w?ll bring a wealth ?f experience ?nd begin t? offer professional Business Internet Marketing solutions to Small and Medium sized businesses. Not shackled w?th th? conventional trappings ?f offices the Business Internet Marketers w?ll manage a network ?f global outsourced resources t? deliver high quality, low cost Internet Market solutions. The services will include the whol? range of activities from setting up infrastructure services ?uch as Blogs or Shopping carts t? transactional activities ?u?h ?s managing Twitter accounts, searching ?nd posting tweets, finding / posting suitable blog posts, even writing articles ?nd sending email campaigns.
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