Portrait of a youthful Steve Jobs

How can a golden age of online marketing take place amid turbulent stock markets, high unemployment and a growing European financial crisis that threatens the U.S. Banking system? Maybe it’s premature to say “golden age.”  Just one more dramatic downswing and we may see a double-dip recession. Yet, when I think of all that’s been happening I say quietly to myself, “hey, this may be the golden age of Internet marketing.”

It may be wise to address this issue because the transformational power of technology has grown more quickly than other parts of our economy. Considering the end of an era with Steve Jobs’ passing, one can easily assert that a very special golden era has also passed with him.

Moammar Gadhafi: Brought down by cell phones?

But there’s something about social media and the state of all things digital that keeps me thinking we’re in the midst of a spectacular run, with everything accelerating at Tech Speed.  Indeed, the fall of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, and the stunning swiftness of the Arab Spring, was sustained by cell phone technology.

With regard to marketing, just take a look at the customer. He/she is an empowered person with Mouse-in-Hand who enjoys enormous and unparalleled freedom:

• Finding great websites and blogs
• Great information on nearly any product or service
• A robust era of social media sharing
• A  host of ways to publish and republish individual passions and ideas
• With everything one could possibly want online everyday

Yet people are not getting into the car, or punching their phone lines as they once did with basic questions. Clearly online content is profuse — as wide as it is deep. The customer has become very savvy and well educated before contacting a particular business about a specific product.

Business-to-business and business-to-consumer, everyone sees the same thing: human behavior has fundamentally changed. Right now people are looking for your product: locally, regionally, internationally. Their quest for information growing. If you own or manage a business, are you taking advantage of everything that’s happening? Are you seizing the day? Or, are you still waiting for something, or someone, to light a match under you so that you can finally take action?

Here’s three big reasons to move:

• Internet Marketing is continuing to grow and evolve.
• The Internet is beginning to mature, e.g. Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin now dominate social media (with Google + on the way up)
• The customer has spoken. They have the mouse, cell phone and tablet in hand. They’re excited by the Internet and it shows.

The time for action is now. You have every reason and incentive to get underway with that next idea or strategic campaign. There’s blogging, content marketing, micro-sites, mobile media, search engine optimization, online advertising and more. These tools are tremendously adaptive and effective. But you should think of them as much more than a random shopping basket of techniques. You’ll need a strategy to make everything work. (Full disclosure: that’s what our business is all about, finding the best strategy and tactics for the company involved.)

So, what do you think? Is this the Golden Age of Internet Marketing?

As always, your comments are greatly appreciated.

Lean Manufacturing Photo by Numerical Precision Inc.

Can internal production teams involved in continuous improvement and lean manufacturing help us discover new marketing ideas? If so, can lean manufacturing provide hidden benefits beyond the shop floor.

As always, by simply looking for new ideas one can often find them.

On 16 November 2011, I attended a Lean Manufacturing breakfast held by the Shah Center in McHenry, Illinois. The Shah Center has been doing these meetings for a few years, thereby providing a place for regional manufacturers to make “lean” presentations on what they’ve been doing to eliminate waste and inefficiency while following up on shared themes such as:

• Value Stream Mapping
• or reviewing the Toyota Production System
• or gaining a greater understanding of the Seven Wastes

As a creative marketing professional I always find the slide shows intriguing and fascinating to behold. Though not so much for the design values or creative impact of the presentation — they often seem much too long, convoluted and amateurish. Yet at times while listening, I’ve said to myself:

Does their marketing department know what they’re up to on the shop floor? With so many innovative ideas and processes the energy level must be high. The ideas flowing. Is there a unique proposition based on the actualities of a particular lean manufacturing practice that be might be moving prospective customers to place new orders? And, if that’s the case, where is the marketing department or creative agency in all of this?

Mr. John Huber, Continuous Improvement Manager for Watlow, a world leader in heaters, sensors and controllers, was the main presenter on this particular morning. He commented on how customers often appreciate lean manufacturing. In particular he referred to reducing those aspects of the procurement cycle where the customer felt the most ‘pain.’ By implication, I assumed he was referring to delivery, quality and/or engineering issues. Additionally when he spoke of value streams, he made my ears ring.

Whenever you have breakthroughs in manufacturing that concern a potential shift in perceived customer benefits, the marketing department should be there actively watching. However, in following up on “lean” benefits the marketer shouldn’t be trying to lead it, or mess with it. Just be there to listen, learn and look for new themes and ideas for Internet marketing, social media, public relations, etc.

In fact, today the Internet is driving something I’ll call “Lean Marketing.” It is a very pervasive world-wide trend incorporating content marketing (or inbound marketing if you will), social media, SEO, online advertising, intelligent calls to action (CTA’s) and landing pages using specialized information transactions.

Okay, so here’s my hypothesis. It’s a simple one:

Lean Manufacturing can help drive Lean Marketing.

It may be too early to be carried away with this idea; it’s just a hypothesis. In my view Lean Marketing is driven mostly by the Internet. But the lean manufacturing movement seems to me as if it’s moving in a parallel universe.

Anyone care to add a few points to this?

This is an old post that we thought might deserve another look. It contains some observations on copy and content, which in my mind is always helpful. Much of this was inspired by Jacob Nielsen’s famous research on “prioritizing web usability.” He can be tough on creative types, art directors in particular who chafe at his hide-bound rules and restrictions on design values. But there’s no getting around the quintessential strength of his advice.

So here’s the original post written a few years back. As always, please let us know what you think:

“Through technology…”

… we have adapted our eyes into optical tools that seek nuggets of information. Think for a moment what it means to scan content (as opposed to reading a novel). Your eye is searching for keywords, lists, highlighted phrases and links.

Because of this usability research now shows us how Web content should look:

• Concise subheads
• Highlighted keywords
• One core idea per paragraph
• Concise lists
• Succinct headlines, page titles and first paragraphs
• Lean copy (cut word count)
• Dark type on white (or on light background colors)

For direct marketers, much of this is old news. Yet, old school hard sell tactics or hype (often misused in print advertising and direct mail) is a very bad fit online. Users are busy people in control of their searches or verification of online credentials. They want hard facts and real information, without exaggeration or hype.

If you’re an old school marketer, it’s time to learn new ways. High quality graphics, good copy and outbound links show that you know your stuff. Credibility goes up. People respond to the content because so many websites are driven by people who are trying to exploit or misinform.

Save money by writing your own Web copy? You may want to think again. Does it make sense to save money and lose sales? Or, at the very least, if your site has poor information architecture, convoluted copy or dense blocks of text, you are not doing your cause any favors.

As in everything else in marketing, it pays to put things into their proper place of importance.

Up To 55% More Visitors To Your Website

Here’s some news: you can receive 55% more visitors by adding a company blog to your website. But it will take some work to realize the benefits. As reported by Compucast, according to a recent study by HubSpot of 1,531 customers (mostly small- and medium-sized businesses) showed those with blogs received 55% more visitors, 97% more inbound links, and 43% more indexed pages. (795 businesses blogged; 736 did not.)

By creating engaging content, coupled with proper navigation, good usability and copy, you can drive increased visibility in search engines. We like to call this “Natural SEO” (Search Engine Optimization) because that’s what it is. A beneficial process that occurs from writing interesting content and creating a sustained online dialog with customers, colleagues, friends, prospects and industry professionals. Additionally, you’re building inbound links when you let site visitors reply to your pages or posts. It’s something search engines are programmed to find online.

Explore The Benefits of Using WordPress As A Content Management System (CMS)

In a site powered by WordPress, you receive an attractive, modern site that’s easy to manage: simple enough for beginners; powerful enough for experienced users. Here’s a brief list of potential features:

• Personal administration page
• Ability to add pages, articles, press releases, photos, videos, PDFs
• Multiple user accounts
• Ability to accommodate visitor comments
• Search engine ready: just add content. The system builds useful page URL’s automatically
• Well designed ‘look & feel’ to reflect your Brand

Not Ready For Blogging?

That’s okay. You can still take advantage of powerful Web 2.0 features. By adding new pages to your company website with interesting news, services or products, you’ll get a boost in site traffic. Allow visitor comments and you’ll gain even more. We enjoy building websites that incorporate a content management system (CMS) so our customers can update their own content whenever they wish.

There may be significantly more opportunity than you think in creating informative blog posts, thereby establishing a voice within your industry or market. Take care to do it properly. With a little planning upfront you can create an inbound marketing program that develops strong leads to sales performance.

Please comment below with your thoughts on the subject of business blogging and the benefits of “Natural SEO” for your Internet marketing program.

Interesting LinkedIn quote on Mashable that may mean something important for entrepreneurs. Overall, LinkedIn appears to rank in second place among the best, i.e. “top ten” social media sites for up & coming start-ups and highly entrepreneurial businesses:

From hiring to networking with cohorts and potential clients to participating in groups and question threads, LinkedIn is a powerful social network for entrepreneurs and business professionals of all stripes. It’s a great place to both discover and research potential job candidates (with a reported 75% of hiring managers using it over Facebook and Twitter), as well as both keeping up with and extending your network.

Like many other entrepreneurial firms, our Agency is working fast and furiously on social media strategies for clients and ourselves. LinkedIn has been growing exponentially in recent years. However, like other social media choices, it’s not an instant success kind of thing. You need to position yourself as an expert in the LinkedIn Answers domains, particularly in the ones that will best reflect your professional interest. This is a very good way to underscore your credentials and experience in a fast growing professional social media environment. As the aforementioned post on Mashable suggests, you’ll increase your authority and drive more traffic to your website with an effective use of LinkedIn.

Additionally, it’s a good idea to ask for advice on LinkedIn as well. You don’t have to be the oracle of the tribe at all times. It also works well to be asking intelligent questions.

Here’s another good link on LindedIn from a recent post on “Lept Like a Blog.”

Are you making good use of your LinkedIn presence?

As always, we like to hear what you think.

Consider The Long Tail When Thinking About Strategy (image from Wired Magazine).

As you think about developing a unified strategy for Internet marketing, you may find many points of creative fusion between your traditional advertising program and the emerging possibilities online. When you study unique characteristics, such as the Long Tail, you’ll encounter many transformative new ideas that may completely reshape your assumptions about business. As you get underway please remember:

1. Simply building a website won’t grow your business;
2. You’ll need an effective strategy to be successful online;
3. In fact, your current website may represent only the first step in a larger online program.

Many marketers fail to realize their website is just the beginning of a larger process. The overall purpose and depth of content on your domain may suggest a compelling new strategy. It’s important to have a sense of where the latent energy of your site may be going: to substantiate your credentials? Tell a product story? Generate leads? Or, direct sales?

Marketers Often Become “Stuck” On Strategy

Most people think creativity has more to do with art, music and literature and less to do with business, science and engineering. But that’s not the case!

• Creativity is the act of producing new ideas, approaches and actions;
• Innovation is the process of generating and applying ideas in a specific manner and context;
• Both definitions apply for your business, especially if you’re planning to leverage Web 2.0 applications;
• The Web is all about innovation!

Here’s where it gets interesting, and potentially exciting, especially if you think outside the box. Today, new competitors are rapidly emerging as traditional marketing practices evolve into new online propositions. To ride the waves in today’s economy we need to engage in lateral thinking and divergent thought. Today it is possible to do things we could only dream a few short years ago.

1. If you check out wootwine.com you’ll be looking at a special sale, for one day only. “Woot” is a domain that specializes in daily deals, one item only, at a very discounted price. We learned of them in a recent issue of Inc. Magazine. They build their customer relationships via Twitter. What’s interesting to us is the simplicity of the business model, one sale each day on one select item, a strategy that would be nearly impossible in the traditional retail world.
2. Kogi Korean BBQ, a company with just a little over one year of operations, serves Korean style meat in Mexican-style flatbread (an innovative idea!) in Los Angeles. Kogi designed its delivery system using Twitter to inform customers where their delivery truck is headed during the course of the day, so impassioned customers can enjoy their Korean fast food fix (see kogibbq.com).
3. Ms. Brigitte Dale won Yahoo!‘s Best Internet Personality 2008 for her quirky video blog posts. What’s she selling? Her creative talent of course. Though it may be difficult to envision her approach for business, these charming online videos feature sharp scripts, self-produced on a shoe string with surprising sophistication. Here’s a recent post on YouTube.

Practical Questions Must Be Encountered

Successful strategy is often built from tactical advantages (note our Online Marketing Awareness Map). Whether to build slowly with a focus on Content Marketing or more quickly with Internet Advertising, may depend on whose asking the question.

I. An e-commerce site dealing in branded items sold at discount might focus on:

• Area 1: Websites;
• Area 2: Online Advertising;
• Area 6: Landing Pages, Analytics & Conversion.

II. Whereas a manufacturer or B2B services firm might focus on:

• Direct mail and inside sales;
• Area 3: Content Marketing or Blogging;
• Area 5: Online Video;
• Area 6: Landing Pages, Analytics & Conversion

Start With Small Steps

It helps if you have a strategy. It can make a huge difference. But if you don’t have one (or, it’s just too confusing) you’ll benefit by taking smaller steps. It is hard to go wrong with good landing pages and well designed content featuring important keyword groups and site analytics. Pilot programs make sense. Add a company blog to the mix, or perhaps a Google Adwords campaign. Adwords can work quickly, which is one reason why sponsored search listings are so popular.

Yet, a hasty campaign cobbled together with little planning is unlikely to work very well, unless you’re very lucky. False starts can be demoralizing and damaging due to the possibility of a poor Quality Score from Google, which can take months to overcome. Better to work deliberately and strategically, even with a small beginning. Content marketing, especially from blogging, is designed to build up carefully over time.

Once again, let me suggest an important reminder: We’re striving to keep things simple (not simplistic) to help you in framing your initial approach. What’s right for you will depend on your product and the unique vision you may have for your business or enterprise.

Be Thorough In Developing Keywords

Marketers engaged in their first encounter with online advertising are often surprised at the amount of time they need to develop effective keywords and Adgroups. Using Google’s Keyword Generator can help you create hundreds of keywords. But don’t fall into the trap of letting the software do your thinking for you. Instead, as a first step, take the time to really think about your customers. Stand back, look at them as real people and don’t pigeon hole them. Ask how they might type a search query to find your product or service. Doing this in a candid manner makes you relate to them personally. This is a simple step that can help your website, online advertising or content marketing as well. It is also a great marketing practice for strategic planning in any medium.

There‚ is no end to the possibilities one can use in making the transition to online marketing. This may be a great time to reexamine your business and restart your marketing in a more innovative direction. We can take you through a few current campaigns we’ve done in helping our clients create a smooth transition to online marketing:

• Dorion-Gray Retirement Planning, Inc.
• Numerical Precision, Inc.
• RaueInsider.com

Thank you for taking the time to explore this “outside the box” online marketing series.  If you have any questions on how to get started, contact us, or leave a comment below.

Additionally, please take a moment to share any interesting strategies that you see online!

Online Marketing Awareness Map™

If you’ve been reading this five part series “Thinking Outside The Box On Marketing,” you’re acquainted with The Online Marketing Awareness Map (if not, please see part III published earlier in this space). We developed the Map as a visual aid to enable client discussions of online methods and media. Here, in Part IV, we would like to continue our brief survey of techniques. In particular, we’re picking up with a review of Social Networking, then with Webinars, Videos and (Email) Newsletters, and finally with a few key thoughts on Landing Pages and Analytics. The final post in this series, Part V, will take a preliminary look into online marketing strategy.

Social Networking

Social Media

Though there’s an abundance of new applications to chose from, for social media we think of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Flickr. The growth rate of these applications has literally defined the participatory Web as a place where users access free utilities which give them the ability to upload and control their own content. Social networking allows millions of users to join online communities, share content, links, ideas, rediscover old friends and new online relationships. It’s fitting to mention that Twitter enjoyed a 93% growth rate in 2009. Additionally, there are more Facebook users worldwide than people in the U.S. It seems hard to believe that Facebook was a mere start up company in 2004. However, Myspace is now worth quite a bit less than the $770 Million that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp paid for it in 2005. Perhaps the shakeout in Social Media is still in the making?

As a result of these and other stories related to surging qualities of Social Media, many established marketers, especially smaller companies, are moving slowly to embrace it. Some national brands have been monitoring their online reputations by responding quickly to customer complaints — a natural arena for real time public relations.

What has most impressed us about Social Networking is it’s obvious popularity. People simply want to socialize and share links, a fact that seems to underscore a basic human need for connection. Additionally, these sites have been referred to as “digital campfires.” The fast penetration of social media into popular consciousness is very significant. Apart from online security or privacy concerns, socializing online is here to stay.

So why not enjoy yourself and jump right in? According to Larry Brauner at Online Social Networking, the social media curve is very steep. His Top 10 social media challenges include the following list of concerns:

• Results aren’t achieved nearly as quickly with social media
• It’s easy to spin wheels and waste lots of time
• Social media is still evolving rapidly and tends to be a moving target

However, there’s every reason to start your engagement with social networking. Just make sure to continue with your traditional direct marketing, in-house sales efforts and direct marketing for the time being.

Webinars, Videos & Email Newsletters

Webinars, Videos and Email Newsletters

Webinars have been enjoying a surge in online popularity. Content marketers often have them in mind as a goal when they begin blogging (of turning out an ambitious website). And, if it’s not a webinar per se, it may be that a mix of content from online videos and photography to email newletters that’s driving their development of special content. Think of this content as a special gift to your visitors, intended audience or current customers. A Webinar is a special form of educational experience controlled by you, as if you had a class in front of you. Additionally, with online videos you lead them through an important subject where you:

• Consolodate important blog posts
• Add sound to your PowerPoint show
• Entertain, teach, surprise, astonish
• Provide tutorials, manifestos, viral videos and exotic demonstrations

And, don’t think email is dead. Quite the opposite. Today, the email space continues to grow, especially if you follow best practices in using double opt in subscription and build your list organically (stay away from paid lists). With a quality email newsletter you can enjoy seamless communications with your best customers, an average open rate of 30% or higher and a click through rate of 10% or more.

Think of webinars, videos and email newsletters as contributing to a larger cycle of persuasion that builds over time, across many different types of people.

Landing Pages/Analytics

Landing Pages

Remember to keep in mind that landing pages for each campaign should mirror the advertisements that bring the traffic to your site. If the wording changes abruptly, or the visual themes don’t match, your bounce rate, or time spent on the all important landing page with fall off disappointingly. This is the place where it’s okay to do explicit selling. The visitor clicked on an ad that represents their interest in your product. Be sure to give them succinct copy loaded with benefits and maintain a warm, friendly tone of voice with a good call to action. Build confidence, desire, trust. Remember, selling is an art.

Regarding the subject of Analytics, the Web Analytics Association has come up with a common definition:

Web Analytics is the objective tracking, collection, measurement, reporting and analysis of quantitative Internet data to optimize websites and web marketing initiatives.

This is the part where clients really begin to see and feel some of the unique benefits to online marketing. Google Analytics is a very popular utility (it’s also free with your Google Account), that gives you the ability to see fresh data from your website domains and online advertising campaigns. It is a very important area for any online marketer. One book we advise you to read if you wish to become more deeply involved in this area:

Web Analytics, An Hour A Day — Avinash Kaushik

That pretty much sums up (in short space) a complex and challenging set of topics contained within our Online Marketing Awareness Map. These last two posts have attempted to introduce the topic of online marketers who may be considering their entry into the online marketing space.

What do you think? Did we adequately represent a useful overview? Experienced online marketers will be looking for more in-depth content. However, we have used the Map in private discussions and found it to be useful.

Please tell us how you feel this visual tool is working. We’d love to hear from you.

Additionally, please note that part V in this series is coming next.

Thanks for reading Infusion Blog.

Best…

GJ

In this third part of our series we cover an important topic. Based on recent pieces we’ve seen online, or in magazines, many private business leaders are frustrated with the complexity of digital marketing and it’s new applications, online tools and strategies. While many of today’s consumers blithely transition to the Next Thing,* a host of marketing managers and corporate VP’s find themselves camped on the threshold of important changes.

Our Online Marketing Awareness Map

How to make the right decisions with so many new choices? We’ll admit there’s no single easy answer to that question. But then, marketing has never been easy. Web 2.0 is often called the participatory Web, a place where blogs, social networking sites and media sharing sites have transformed the world of marketing.

Our own efforts in this regard are straightforward. We developed an Online Marketing Awareness Map as an early step in creating a visual tool for discussion. It has since led to a laptop presentation, and to this particular series of Infusion Blog posts (please see Part I and Part II if you haven’t already read them).

Your Website Is The Base Station For Your Online Marketing Program

Websites

Our map begins (see illustration) with the top circle, labeled Websites. Today we field fewer questions about websites (we’ve all seen our share). Yet many clients do not fully realize their website is just the beginning of their online marketing program. Yes, it must be supplied with good content, usability, optimization and branding. It is indeed the base station for an entire online marketing program. Yet, it’s also a latent form of energy. For most business websites there’s much to be done in bringing real excitement, traffic and new results. Often the goal is to transform a static asset into a compelling and effective online marketing program. Think of  your business site as the first step. It’s important to have a sense of where that latent energy may be going: to substantiate your credentials, or tell a product story, or generate direct e-commerce sales. The purpose and overall depth of content on your domain may suggest a follow up strategy for online marketing.

Online Advertising

Moving clockwise to Online Advertising, our next circle. Again, few of us are strangers to this. By online advertising we refer to web based ads such as banners, tiles, widget ads or sponsored listings on Google (organic listings are discussed in Content Marketing). For banners, tiles and other units we’re looking at a Push Strategy similar to offline advertising, where you pay for exposure based on a cost per thousand impressions (CPM). Sponsored listings emulate the search characteristics of organic listings in everything but price, since you must pay for them, typically using a Pay Per Click (PPC) model. Online advertising in all its forms… requires a direct monetary investment. Dollars for traffic!

Dollars for Traffic!

For many marketers this is as far as they go: build a website and buy online ads linked to specified landing pages. An ecommerce site with branded items or specialty merchandise, coupled with good prices can do this pretty well, especially if they have read their niche properly.

Content Marketing - Builds traffic, credibility and reputation.

Our next category is Content Marketing. We see Content Marketing as long content designed to display thought leadership with high “favorables” on search engines. This means well developed websites, blogs, or sites in combination with blogs. With a blog you add fresh content and a new page to your domain with every post. Attract visitors with comments and your blog is building inbound links, another natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO) benefit. Blogs build traffic, credibility and reputation — nice things to have for one’s professional life or brand.

A good approach to blogging may require originality, or an Outside the Box approach to a niche topic. But it doesn’t have to be creative per se. Start by solving a problem your audience cares about. Find a voice. Build trust, confidence, desire. Be engaging. And, don’t oversell. In effect, you may want to begin by commenting on something that others in your industry have expressed or said. When you begin blogging, you’ll want to read other blogs and make appropriate comments. Join the discussion. Just don’t be too obvious about selling or becoming a shill for your product. Think of yourself as attending a business reception. Show a sincere interest in something someone else has said or written, that’s a good way to obtain natural reciprocity in a return visits to your blog.

Blogs humanize a brand, which is a very special thing. Who is blogging these days? A huge number of organizations and people involved in virtually every business and profession, from software development, training and freelancers, to product manufacturers, distributors, wineries, galleries and travel destinations, etc.

As with everything else, you’ll want to open yourself and your business to further innovation. Think of it as a creative fusion between the offline marketing you may be accustomed to and the new digital marketing you’re seeking to engage.

This discussion of the Online Marketing Awareness Map continues in Part IV.

Stay tuned.

Best wishes…

Greg Johnson

We’re continuing our discussion of digital marketing strategy and why many marketers should look at their business with fresh eyes. In this post, we will briefly review two illustrations, then look into how Web 2.0 might affect your future marketing decisions.

Traditional Sales Funnel - Push Strategy

In the Traditional Sales Funnel the marketer targets a “universe” of people through demographic and psychological profiling and sends out branded messages in conventional advertising campaigns, public relations, direct response, sales promotion, trade shows and other tactics. In simple terms this is known as a Push Strategy. The marketer is pushing his message through to a targeted population, hoping to inform, persuade, remind and influence their purchasing behavior.

As you’ll note in the illustration, nestled nicely under the target universe is funnel which represents the collective efforts of the company’s sales department. Essentially, the marketer is looking to generate “precipitation” from their advertising in the form of sales leads, retail traffic, bounce back cards and other prospect behavior. The company seeks to control the funnel as their sales people work to convert their prospects into customers.

Internet Sales Funnel - Pull Strategy

Now in contrast to this, let’s take a look at an Internet Sales Funnel, which is considerably different from the traditional one. Here the entire world sits atop the World Wide Web. Although there is a certain amount of Reach and Frequency based advertising in this model,* the primary focus is different than conventional advertising.

By virtue of the sheer mass of Internet activity, for business, education, shopping, and entertainment, etc., a natural funneling takes place based on the stuff people are doing online.  This funneling phenomenon occurs every minute of each day. Someone searches for a digital camera, or advice on photography, or photographic supplies, or a professional photographer. Each user finding appropriate sites and information without any third party controlling of their quest for information.

The marketer doesn’t control this funnel. Instead of pushing a message through to a targeted online audience, the marketer engages a Pull Through Strategy to capture a share of traffic from people who are looking for their service or product in real time on the Web. Translation: every day people are looking for you. They have begun their shopping online. They’re already funneled into millions of discrete points of interest. Your task is to pull your fair share of this traffic by being in the right online place at the right time with a profitable click through rate.

How To Be Found Online?

How to be Found Online?

That’s the big question for most online marketers. Here’s a short list of the most often used techniques:

1. Online advertising: includes display ads or sponsored listings on websites & search engines. Basically you are exchanging dollars for traffic, based on Cost Per Thousand (CPM) impressions or Pay Per Click (PPC).
2. Content marketing: through blogs, social media, wikis, media sharing, email newsletters, webinars, etc. You are investing your time and resources in building great content and optimizing your web presence, so it becomes much easier to attract more visitors and traffic. Technically speaking, organic results from search engines is free.
3. Traditional marketing activities such as advertising, direct mail and public relations.

Spending money to generate traffic from online advertising is done in two distinct ways: A) through a somewhat traditional model of reach and frequency exposure** from banner ads; or, B) through sponsored listings sold as Pay Per Click (PPC) advertisements.

The second method of online discovery is through Content Marketing. Here we open the world of Web 2.0 and start thinking about blogs, social media, wikis, media sharing sites, email newsletters and webinars. Essentially, we’re seeking to engage in spirited Search Engine Optimization (SEO) practices by creating a site, blog, wiki or social networking that results in higher organic search rankings, or viral marketing exposure. Link building, online conversations and social bookmarking are continuous efforts which the marketer might choose for this strategy.

Our third method, Traditional Marketing, won’t be covered in this series—except as it may help us make a particular point or reference. The thrust of our effort is focused on Web 2.0, content marketing and social media.

Outside The Box Thinking Can Help

Most users engaged in serious online advertising or content marketing are surprised at the amount of time they need to develop effective keyword phrases. Using the Google Adwords Keyword Generator can help you create hundreds of keyword phrases. But don’t let the software do your thinking for you. Instead, take the time to consider your customers. Stand back from them, think of them as people (don’t pigeon hole them) and ask what they might type into a search query if they wanted to find your product or services. Doing this forces you to relate to them more personally. For many companies this is truly outside the box, because it makes them engage the psychology of their customers.

Stay tuned. There’s more to come on innovative thinking.

Best wishes…

Greg Johnson

This may be a great time to restart your business in a much more innovative direction.

There’s such an abundance of information on Web 2.0 that it is hard to write a focused summary of current use. The term Web 2.0 emerged in 2004. It is a popular label for the “participatory web” now so prevalent in the rise of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Youtube, Flickr and other social media. Additionally, Web 2.0 encompasses the continued growth of the blogosphere, and the ever increasing number of hosted applications that run through web browsers and allow users to own and control their own information. This architecture of online participation, and its surging popularity, has changed the face of marketing.

Transitioning To Digital Marketing

So, the question of how to think outside the box on marketing using Web 2.0 is a very important question if you’re thinking about using social media, or building and maintaining your professional blog, or engaging in link building and search engine optimization (SEO).

We have seen marketers who think that a blog is a static thing, similar to a website. They may also assume their blog content should mimic their other advertising and marketing, not fully realizing they need to completely retool their approach. Additionally, we see and hear a lot about social marketing from customers who seem willing to dismiss it as too much work. They fear it will become a huge drain on their time and lead to false starts in an unproven medium.

Digital marketing presents a path of confusing complexity for many potential clients. Where a comprehensible program of traditional methods once prevailed, a new set of digital choices has emerged that represent game changing possibilities. Additionally, this new paradigm may not fit in with the current company culture.

If you have encountered Infusion Blog before, you may be aware that our firm (rnjohnson.com) specializes in working with independent companies. Many of our customers are transitioning to digital marketing. This blog is written for them. We make it our business to synthesize information and provide helpful guidance to independent marketers (i.e. small companies) about what to do and why.

Looking At The World With Fresh Eyes

As a first step, we have stressed the need for all parties to start looking at the world with fresh eyes. This may be a great time to reexamine your core strategy and marketing tactics using new techniques and restarting your business in a much more innovative direction.

But you need to look at the basics and be creative about content. To gain online traffic to your blog, you’ll need to jump start the process with new thinking, analysis, product demonstrations or a more effective and creative way to showcase  your expertise. Maintaining a blog allows customers, prospects and outside experts to interact with you online. But, the old command and control management style may get in the way. That’s why you’ll need to spend time thinking “outside the box” on a host of new questions.

• Are you ready to provide compelling blog content on a regular basis?
• Have you been visiting blogs, or participating in social media on your own, taking the time to understand what others in your industry are doing?
• Are you ready to respond helpfully and quickly to blog posts?
• Do you have a strategy for attracting readers and leveraging the blogosphere?
• Most of all: are you prepared to think outside the box?

Most people think creativity has more to do with art, music and literature and less to do with business, science and engineering. But that’s not the case. Creativity is the act of producing new ideas, approaches and actions. Innovation is the process of generating and applying ideas in a specific manner and context. Both definitions apply, especially if you’re planning to leverage Web 2.0  for your business.

But how to do this? What’s the best way to engage this process?

Good question. We have been working on this five part “Outside The Box” series as a way to share our thoughts and research. There’s so much occurring with Web 2.0 applications in social media, search engine optimization and link building that it is virtually impossible for a smaller marketing agency or company to stay abreast of everything. Our solution is to adhere to the principle of simplicity (some may say we’re simplistic) in seeking original ways to categorize or map the world of online marketing, to break out the fundamental action steps a potential client might use to prioritize their investment.

We considered a wealth of data. There’s such a long list of sites, blogs and major publications covering the world of technology. We’re grateful to the writer’s, contributors and publisher’s who enabled us to stand back and consider the larger picture of online marketing:

• Hubspot.com
• Online-Social-Networking.com
• Medialifemagazine.com
• Mediapost.com
• Mailchip.com
• Copyblogger.com
• Wearesocial.net
• Web-strategist.com
• Online.wsj.com (Wall Street Journal Online Edition)
• Ephrononmedia.com
• Wikipedia.org
• Mashable.com

Since we allude to innovation, and the ability to think outside the box on Web 2.0, we thought it might be fun to reference the Nine Dot Puzzzle (at right) and ask you to attempt it on your own. We’re told the puzzle appeared 1914 in a early humor magazine and that it was rediscovered after WWII. If you have never worked on it, please print this page and try to connect the dots. For the answer, see Part IV Thinking Outside The Box On Strategy.

And here is one final question: would you like to share a creative online marketing solution with us?

Test your creativity... Answer: See part V of series.

We would love to hear from you.

Best wishes…

Gregory Johnson

Next up is Part II: Thinking Outside The Box On Web 2.0, Blogs and Social Media