R.N. Johnson Creative Marketing

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