We are fond of the saying “in God I trust, all others show me data.” When it comes to advertising, data wins over the hype of advertising salespeople. Our website analytics and in-house tracking shows us where all our online leads come from, but I was guilty of being too busy working in the business rather than on the business. One day something angered me so I decided to look closer at the data specifically relating to our print advertising. Boy was it sobering. What had worked well in the past was simply no longer working.

Sure writing the periodic article and seeing our name in a traditional print newspaper was great for the ego, but was it generating business? The data said “no”. In fact the data was so telling that in January we shifted most of our print advertising dollars online. And let it be noted that the online marketing we did was no longer with the old traditional media. They’re busy trying to put a glossy online look to old methods.

So what was our result? Less money spent on ineffective advertising and more results from online marketing activity.

If you haven’t looked at where your business is coming from, do it today. You, like us, might be wasting a lot of money on ineffective advertising simply because of old habits. And be wary of old media with shiny new offerings. They may simply want to take advantage of your old buying habits.

That’s an important skill to have especially in this online world. People can smell BS. They want authenticity as well as personal and practical information that speaks right to them. Writing needs to be real. And to be real you need to develop a thicker skin.

When it comes to writing, it’s time to make it personal & practical.

We are currently in a marketing transition period and there is no clear road ahead. Becoming strategic in how you spend your marketing budget is even more vital. So, during this transition, how should you allocate your marketing dollars? Successful businesses measure the effectiveness of their marketing, eliminate what doesn’t work and reallocate funds to other methods.

Not sure where to shift your marketing dollars?

Ask your existing customers what the best way to reach them is, then shift your focus there. Newspapers, Facebook, WagJag, direct mail, eNewsletters, it doesn’t matter as long as your target audience is there. This approach also trains you to stop focusing on what you think works and discover what your clients actually prefer.

How many of your prospects research online before buying? Are they buying more online? Do they ask others before they make a decision and if so how? Once you discover their new habits create a plan to test these new vehicles. If you are not sure how some of these tools work, hire someone that does. Measure, adjust, try again.

Those companies that find the right combination sooner will gain a head start in this new accelerated reality. Waiting to act will put you at a disadvantage. The world of Internet marketing continues to change. The market now belongs to the agile and those willing to try new tools. It’s a brave new world, alright, and it’s exciting.

It just makes sense that if you are building or revamping your business website today you make sure that it’s mobile ready. Otherwise, you’ll be rebuilding it again in a few years. Because Flash sites are not search engine friendly or accessible on all mobile devices, we’re noticing that companies are starting to replace them with mobile-friendly sites.

But what should a business replace it with? There are various solutions depending on what your objective is. Business to consumer sites might only want to provide small bits of information that their clients want. A restaurant, for example, may want to provide their hours, a map, specials or coupons, a menu and maybe a link to their Facebook page. Others businesses may require their whole website to be seen.

It really comes down to the purpose of the website and what your customers want to see when they visit your site on a mobile device. We’re also seeing businesses starting to use QR codes to send mobile phone users to specific web pages, such as a coupon or product information page.

Whatever your needs, just ensure your website is mobile friendly. If it’s not, customers may simply not even be aware of your business.

While Social Media seems to be a hot trend right now, businesses have to remember that their Website is still extremely important.

Facebook, Twitter etc. are great ways to get feedback and to spread messages virally to friends and family but these platforms are still someone else’s website. Only on your website can you best showcase your business, and collect your customer’s email addresses.

Including your blog feed on your Website and also feeding it to your Facebook site is a great way to stay top-of-mind with your customers. Receiving feedback through your blog is a great opportunity to learn and connect with your customers while also optimizing your business in search engines.

Remember, when customers are actively looking for your business, they don’t go to Social Media to find you, they use Google.

It’s easy to get caught up by the social media storm. Don’t neglect your website, though. That’s where all your marketing efforts come together to generate revenue.

1. Topic

   Know your blog topic. Readers want your insights on a topic. Providing real-life examples is a great way to do that.

2. Use the title/headline effectively

   Grab search engine attention by using your key words in the headline or title. The post title usually becomes part of the page URL structure. This is key in getting Search Engine referral clicks.

3. Effective content

   Include useful and unique content. What do your customers want or need to know? If you’re not sure, ask them.

4. How much to write

   No one knows the optimal length, but extremely long or extremely short posts are not ranked as highly. A page or post of at least 250-300 words is probably a reasonable length.

5. Make it easy to read

   Web users scan copy on the web so use bullets, subheadings, paragraphs and space to make it easy to find the key words and information they are looking for.

6. Proof read and spell-check

   Nothing can undermine a great post more than misspelled words or bad grammar.

7. Don’t underline

   Don’t confuse users with underlining. On the web, underlined words have become the standard for links. If you need to emphasize text, use bold or italics instead.

8. Write frequently

   Keep feeding the search engines by writing regularly. Two or 3 times a week is ideal as long as the content is useful. Creating a regular task for blogging can help you keep on track.

9. Use pictures and videos

   Use pictures that make sense with the content. Try using videos to help tell a story.

10. Save your posts

    Always save before you publish – just in case you lose your internet connection or ….. anything can happen.

Do you have any other blogging tips to share?

Happy blogging!

“Content marketing is the only marketing left.” Seth Godin.

If you run any type of professional business today you’ll know that, in terms of marketing, the world has changed dramatically. Tried and tested activities for getting client attention just don’t work like they once did:

• Advertising rarely gets enough response to justify the considerable costs
• Your telemarketing efforts often get stonewalled.
• The specialist press you relied on for coverage has shrunk or even disappeared.
• The website you invested time and effort in creating doesn’t generate the leads you crave (and it’s really hard to update too).
• Even your trusted network isn’t delivering enough opportunities to keep you going anymore.

You are expert in what you do and know that there are clients out there who would really value your assistance. How on earth do you get their interest?

Changed buying behaviour in a web-driven world

In the past five to ten years, the web has transformed buying behaviour. In the past, if a potential client wanted information on your services he would call your office and engage you or one of your sales team to get the lowdown on your offering.

Today, his first port of call is undoubtedly the internet. He’ll search on Google, check out your website and expect to sign up to article updates or social media feeds to find out more. He is checking to see who he could best trust to solve his business problem. He expects to find valuable content.

Your clients are in control and you’d better make sure that the information you put up about your company answers their questions and positions you as the trusted resource they seek.

Today, effective marketing is all about creating high quality content and sharing this across the web. By quality content we don’t just mean information that is well-written or artfully produced. By quality content we mean information that is first and foremost of real value to your particular client base.

Educate your clients, show them best practice, tell them what to look out for, give them valuable tips on how to achieve success, demonstrate how you’ve helped others in their shoes; answer their problems, open their eyes.

Creating and distributing this kind of relevant, valuable and compelling information will help you turn prospects into buyers and buyers into long-term fans.

The opportunity

Create the type of information your buyers actually want to consume. Marketing with valuable content is a win-win for your company and its customers — your potential clients get the information they require and you get to demonstrate your expertise and usefulness.

Valuable content will help you sell. It helps your ideal clients find you and makes it easier for them to buy from you. It’s an opportunity to position your company as the “go to” place to turn to when the time comes to buy.

A different approach to client communication

If you want to reap the rewards that valuable content brings you need to start communicating differently. There are different rules of engagement here. The valuable content approach is not about continuing to holler about how amazing your firm is as we all did in the past. Unthink what you learned about sales and marketing messages.

Your position should be not “look how great we are” (as in a traditional brochure) but “look how useful we are – we have the answers to your problems.”

This approach is truly customer-centred. Create content that is genuinely useful to your customers. Make yourself indispensable.

Not easy but essential

Creating and consistently delivering this type of information takes effort. You need to build a deep understanding of the needs of your target client base and of where and how you add value. It also takes time and skill.

Valuable content may not be easy but it is an essential tool if you are going to grow and sustain a successful business in today’s web-driven world.

Done well, strategic web design can have dramatic effects. A new client landed $200,000 worth of measurable sales after only a few months. The steps are:

1.    Discover the niche

2.    Know the target audience

3.    Build and optimize the website inserting measurement tools

4.    Plan and execute a coordinated on and offline marketing strategy

5.    Measure and adjust.

6.    Go after additional niches.

Smart businesses have always known that marketing isn’t about cost – it’s about return. This client spent $1,000 per month to drive traffic to the website. Even after adding in the cost of the website, the return on his marketing investments were substantial. It’s not just about having a great website. It’s about ensuring you get results with your whole marketing strategy.

They need a website
They need to optimize that website for search engines
They need to have inbound links to their website
They need to update the site regularly
They need a blog
They need to be on Facebook and do regular updates
They need to be on Linkedin and have many connections
They need to be on Twitter and tweet regularly
They need a Facebook Fan page and have lots of people “Like” them
They need Yellow pages offline and online ads
They need ads in newspapers and online
They need to do Google Adwords
They need to do search engine marketing
And on and on and on …

Talk about overwhelmed and confused!  So what do you do?  And, who has the time? Is doing all this worth it or is it just a distraction?

It always comes back to this:  You don’t count – your customers and prospects count.

So, what are your prospects using to find companies like yours? What do they want?  How are your customers engaging with your company and companies like yours?  Answers to those questions will guide what you need to use.

The issue: Marketing that worked before wasn’t as effective as it had been in the past. Their solution: a website that could tap into a new market. Knowing a thing or two about web design and Internet marketing I asked: “Who is the target audience?” The answer I received was vague. Since it’s important to have a coordinated marketing campaign for something as big as what they were planning, I asked to see their marketing plan. “What marketing plan?” I was told.

The lesson: Business websites are simply communication tools. Typically, when you write it’s one to one.  You only have one face in the monitor on the other end. Before you begin any type of marketing it’s critical to know who you’re speaking to.  What’s their age, what do they like, what do they read, how do they like to see information etc.? I suggest putting your ideal customer’s face on top of your monitor. All marketing needs to be coordinated to speak to that person. If you have more than one audience create a different website and marketing campaign.

The Internet is all about niches. Being clear on what yours is, knowing your target audience intimately and coordinating your marketing to appeal to them is what works. The days of closing your eyes and blasting your message out into the masses of the world have ended.