Do you need to advertise on the Internet? Yes! The internet has already become the must find place to be and that will only continue to deepen. There are many ways to advertise on-line and we’re going to do a whirlwind tour!
STOP! Before you think about doing any online advertising do you have a Marketing Plan? Do you even have a USP or Unique Selling Proposition for yourself or your business? Do you have an interesting story?
Advertising is all about creativity but it is equally important to be clear and concise about who you are and what you’re advertising. Take a minute and get Medieval about your Marketing Plan, click here.
As you get ready to Advertise keep these things in mind.
- Consistency and Frequency Count
You are embarking on a campaign not a one shot deal. Whatever you do please do it with some consistency (do not keep changing horses) and frequency. The e-mail blast twice a year is an e-mail bust. - Integration matters
This is consistency across your business. Have matching logos, colors, tag-lines! it may sound simple but even something as small as answering the phone with the website’s name that you advertised is critical! You are trying to create a consistent set of congruent impressions. Sorry for the big words, call me and I’ll translate! 484-639-9789… - Buzz like a Bee
You may like Vanilla Ice Cream but your approach needs to be Ben & Jerry. Buzz or Viral is important because you get the benefit of on-line word of mouth. Don’t go crazy, your message needs to stay Brand Consistent, however, go a little crazy at times and try to get and edge, some buzz. - Pragmatic wins every time!
Keep the crazy creative hat on, but be pragmatic! Who is going to do what when? How much will you spend and how will you measure success? If you cannot answer these questions then stop in your tracks. You are about to waste a lot of time and money. - Good news! You can Measure it
Unlike many traditional forms of advertising online has some inherent benefits. Structured correctly it is easy to measure! Done right you can measure direct cost of sales or Return on Investment. Keep this in mind as you develop your approach. If you cannot measure the results then you probably should not do it… - Spend at goal levels!
Be initially timid as you start just to make sure you can understand the mechanics, but then spend right away at goal levels. Internet advertising and it’s sister work SEO (search engine optimization) are huge flywheels. They take initial effort to get up to speed. The good news is that once up to speed they can be maintained for a lot less energy, effort, and costs. Jump start your online campaigns with heavy upfront spending.
Now, onto the basic types of Adverting and Promotion online:
- Banners and popups?
No! If you think banners & popups are state of the art online advertising… Never-mind, they are not. They have their place but just do not go there right now! - Free Local?
Yes. You can look for free local advertising such as certain local newspapers may offer. You can also venture out on things like Craig’s List. But, you are getting what you pay for here. Not much differentiation and typically low quality results. Do it for comprehensiveness, maybe, but focus elsewhere first. - Slog your own Blog!
Do you really need a blog? Yes! Is it a good Advertising and Promotion tool? Typically not. Your blog can and ultimate should attract people to it, however, it is more of a credibility check and a resource than a proper promotional tool. Keep it on your “doing list” and get it started as a support to your main on-line advertising and Social Media Strategy. - Let their fingers do some clicking; go Yellow!
Sure, everyone uses the Yellow pages, right? No. Yellow Page type directory services are less than 1% of the Internet search traffic. Many people will “google” or bing/yahoo for information first. They do have their place though. Certain types of businesses, especially local ones, lend themselves to on-line directories. If someone knows exactly what type of business they are looking for then they might use the yellow pages first. Don’t count on it though. Make sure you are clear on what you will be paying for and MEASURE IT. You want to understand the ratio of impressions to actions to results. Say your category is “Italian Restaurants” and that category in your area gets 90,000 impressions a month. How many impressions does your add get? How many people take any action on your ad? (do they click for more information or phone number) How many phone calls do you get a month? These and other things can be measured and need to be measured. If you are selling Pizza and the average order is $42 and you are spending $89 per sale… - Put yourself on the Map!
You really need to put yourself on the Map. Google, Bing, and Yahoo offer fair easy ways to get your business Map Listed. This is currently a free listing that can help drive business to you. Google is now offering “Tags” for a fee to monetize map listings (for them and you). For now, get yourself listed. Click here for more information. - Release your inner Rock Star and do a Music Video!
Videos are a great, advanced way, to generate interest, buzz, and traffic to your site. Have them as part of your long-term plan. By all means if you have some video get ready to youtube it. Keep in mind the basics of clear consistent message integrated back with your corporate Brand. Then get a little crazy for Buzz.
Make sure you do VSEO and meta-tag it properly… - CPM, CPA, PPC, WTF? We’re talking Adverting types!
Face it, there are tons of buzzwords and TLAs out there and Internet advertising is rife with them. Let’s keep it simple. You can do an Internet Billboard — that would be Cost Per Impression. Or set up a Cost per Action program or the more common Cost Per Click or Pay Per Click. This is my number one recommendation: Do a Google AdWords Pay Per Click program using long-tail keywords. This is a post all of it’s own so click here to learn how to be a Google AdWords Mad Scientist! - Ownership is long-term critical.
Did we establish the fact that you need your own website? My mistake, many people still do not have their own website. Even worse, they might think that they do and they do not! If you do not have and own your own domain then you are at a major disadvantage. If you are not sure what I’m talking about then call me right now 484-639-9789. - Don’t be a Twit or Social Media.
Are you Twitter ready? As of September 2010 no one has yet figured out how to make money off of Twitter (including Twitter). The worst thing you can do is set up a Twitter Account, Tweet once or twice, and then let it fade. So get Twitter Ready. Build out your other Social Media such as a Facebook Fan Page. Build this on top of your Blog. Your blog is built as an adjutant to your overall marketing campaign. It can and will all fit together. Once you have enough content and are generating that content on a consistent and frequent basis then fire up Twitter.
Confused? Don’t be. You can master the basics of on-line advertising and quickly see results for your business. Accelerate your learning curve and business result by calling Josepf today at 484-639-9789.
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Passionate about applying the SEO Analytics mindset to any and all Marketing efforts. Why? Because today's CMO needs to Metric and Measure everything to build enduring business benefits!
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