Digital media: danger zone for small business marketers

It’s a small business marketers’ dream world. Digital media gives us immediate access to customers and prospects. We can e-mail, podcast, Facebook and RSS them. Now we can Twitter and Plurk them.

But from a marketing standpoint, there’s a dark side. Just because the technology is available (and fun and cool), doesn’t mean it is right for your company. Far too many businesses are using digital media tools without thinking through the strategy behind them. Equally alarming, many businesses overlook or ignore the basics in favor of adding more digital media capabilities. Three clients we met with recently have Web sites that are woefully out of date. They have no organized way of reviewing and updating, and even worse, no one in house or outsourced who is set up to quickly and efficiently make updates.

We’re not saying you shouldn’t use new media, just that you need to use it with the same thought and carefully analysis you would use with any other marketing tools. Read the whole article.

Add Web Strategy to Your Strategic Planning To Do List

I know you have a website. But do you have an integrated web strategy? Does your website not only look good but make your phone ring? How do your other marketing efforts mesh with your online presence?

When clients ask us where to find the best answers regarding web solutions we send them to our friends at Flyte New Media. Rich Brooks and his team don't build websites, they build customized web strategies.

Whether you need answers on how to drive traffic to a site, want to build an ecommerce solution or enter the blogging game, Rich has the expertise to create a customized solution for you. 

So do some e-marketing homework. Sign up for Flyte's free e-newsletter, download Rich's articles or listen to a Podcast and when you need a partner for your next e-project, you will know who to call.

Why Your Customers Won't Wait

Are you losing sales, clients or prospects to competitors who are faster, nimbler or more responsive? These days, your customers and prospects can get the information and products they need almost instantly. If you can’t do that for them, they’re simply not willing to wait. Speedy interactive web sites, email, text messaging and all those other technology tools that keep us so connected have trained us to expect immediate responses.

Here’s what you can do if you are hearing lots of “I already bought it somewhere else” or you get lots of inquiries but can’t seem to close the sale.

Look at your sales processes. Do a little flow chart – doesn’t have to be anything fancy – of how your prospects hear about you, contact you and buy from you. Look at the time between inquiries and responses, offers and the actual sale. Where are the gaps in your process that keep your customer waiting – and that give them opportunity to look elsewhere?

Automate your processes. With all the technology available to you, there’s really no excuse for not having a bang-up system for responding immediately to people who show you they are interested. That might mean emails that go out automatically and interactive tools on your web site that guide people through the sales process (or event the information gathering process).

Make it easy to buy. Don’t you want to make the sales transaction as easy as possible for your prospects and customers? We’re amazed at the unintentional road blocks people put in their sales processes – everything from too much paperwork to convoluted policies that discourage buyers to plain old bad service. If you can’t make it easy on your customers, they’ll find someone who will. Check out Converting Telephone Inquiries into Sales. It’s good advice for all types of inquiries, not just telephone.

Four days. That’s the time limit one of our clients has for handling sales leads. If you can’t contact the prospect within four business days, they say drop the lead and move on to someone else. It’s not that they don’t care about that lead, it’s just that their research shows after the four day mark the chance of making the sale is almost zero. That person has purchased from someone else – or is so far along the sales process that it’s too late.

And speaking of four, a recent study from Akamai and JupiterResearch showed that the average online shopper will wait four seconds for a site to load before they move on. That’s right – you have four seconds to get your page loaded and wow that prospect.

Your response cycle may be four seconds or four days. But whatever it is, you better get to your prospects in a hurry – or someone else will.

Second Life: Marketing in a Whole Other Universe

Second Life has been on the virtual scene since Fall of 2003. But now it seems to have entered our e-reality!

While I'd like to dismiss it as just another "on line video game" unworthy of discussion, on May 1st Second Life reached 6 million members. That's far too many people to ignore. Giant brands like Nike, IBM, and Reuters have jumped in and small business marketers are there as well.

The tough part comes in trying to decide if you can find any profit-making opportunities in this alternate universe.

Those that have already jumped into Second Life are utilizing this space by:
1) Selling virtual products and services
2) Marketing their real-world products and services

Since I'm not a techie, I can't tell you how to develop virtual products you can sell to virtual people. I do want to help you decide whether or not your company needs to have a Second Life presence. Here are a few articles to get you stewing on it:

Eric Kintz, Vice President of Global Marketing Strategy & Excellence for HP, wrote a great blog last month discussing his skepticism behind marketing to "avatars", the characters you create on Second Life.

This article in Business Week last October talked about the media's presence in the alt-world.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has even jumped on the bandwagon. This interview with their Second Life go-to guy discusses the process that went into the developing of their presence.

If you're a Harvard Business Review subscriber, check out their archives for a story titles "Avatar-Based Marketing." The author, Paul Hemp, is now looked to as an expert on the subject.

So how do you decide whether to take the plunge?
As a small business marketer, with local brand recognition, you may not want  to invest a ton of time marketing in the alt-world, but should consider offering products for sale to the "avatars." This could generate a small additional cash flow, but can also increase opportunities for recognition upon real-world expansion.

Read the articles. Get familiar with the subject. Then make sure you keep it open as an option. In 6 months user numbers went from 1 million to 6 million. It's up to you to decide your breaking point for when it will become a necessity.

Check Out this List of Brands already established in Second Life:

Adidas	Major League Baseball
Aloft Hotel Suites	Make Magazine
American Apparel	NOAA
Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH)	Reebok
BBC Radio 1	Reuters
Channel 10 (Microsoft)	Scion
Dell	Sun Microsystems
Duran Duran	Text 100
Global Kids IBM

In Marketing and Life, Think Strategy Before You Jump!

Several weeks ago we posed the question, when is it OK for small business marketers or nonprofit organization NOT to blog? I was delighted to see Elizabeth Holmes' article in today's Enterprise section of the Wall Street Journal tackling this issue too.

Remember when your mother asked you "would you jump off the Brooklyn Bridge if all the other kids were doing it?" Well no. And you shouldn't jump into blogging or on line marketing just because everyone else is doing it either. Bottom line, it's only appropriate to blog, or have a website, or advertise or engage in any one particular kind of communication strategy when it fits your STRATEGY!

We see so many entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations working hard on all fronts, including their marketing. But often what gets overlooked is strategic marketing planning. Taking the time to think about what communications strategies will best connect YOUR products and services with YOUR target audiences will undoubtedly give you better results than investing precious dollars on promotional strategies that don't make any sense.

So, do you need a website? Maybe. Do you need a blog? Maybe. Do you need to advertise? Maybe. Do you need a strategic marketing plan? YES -- ALWAYS!

If you need help with your strategic marketing planning, log on to our website for lots of free tools or contact us!

Communication 2.0

I'm already tired of Web 2.0. It seems like that term just entered my brain space and already it's been so over used and abused that I can't wait for it to go away. Nonetheless, since it's all the buzz, let's talk about Communication 2.0.

Just because you are talking doesn't mean anyone is listening. That's what separates talking from communicating. Communicating is about collaborating. When we share ideas, when I talk and you listen and together we build something that is bigger than either of us could have built on our own -- that is true communication.

Whether you are a nonprofit marketer or a small business marketer-- if you want your customers to pay attention to you, you have to get them interested and to do that you have to engage them in a conversation. It's not enough to put up a Website and hope that someone will use it. It's not enough to post an advertisement in the newspaper, or a letter in the mail. You have to engage your donors, customers and clients. What do they want? How do they want it delivered? When? How often? By whom? In what color? Shape? Form? Frozen? Soft?

Want to be a stand out? Stop all the talking and start listening!

Strategy: Everyone's Using It!

It warms my little marketing heart to know that others are as gung ho about strategy as we are at The Marketing Source and Fixyourmarketing.com. In fact, it seemed everywhere I looked this week other bloggers were blogging about strategy. Bottom line: Strategic planning needs to seep into every nook and cranny of your small business or nonprofit. Strategic planning keeps you true to the core of who you are and what you have to offer your customers and clients.

Our friends at Diva Marketing Blog got it right with their post about strategy in the social media realm. Blogging is a great tool to build "the corner grocery store relationships" with our customers. But don't try to be all things to all people.

The Duct Tape Marketing Blog was talking strategy earlier this week too. The strategy there, though, is about where not to be in the on line community. Just like in the business world where you work every day there are places you don't want to be associated with and people with which you don't want to do business, the web works the same way. Since search engine optimization is always on our mind, we need to remember that we don't want links from just anyone in order to pop up on the top of a Google search.

It's spring, so as you are cleaning house, clean up your strategic marketing planning too! Pull out your plan, dust it off or start fresh. Brainstorm new tactics, new approaches and don't forget to honestly evaluate the marketing tactics that you've used in the last 6-12 months.

Have a good weekend and happy marketing!

Small Business Bloggers use Technology to Improve Customer Service

Small business bloggers, using technology to hear what your customers want to continuously tweak your products and services? Good for you! But don't forget strategic planning! Use your plan and knowledge of the core of your company to define yourself so you don't stray too far left or right. You can't be all things for all people. Read Diva Marketing Blog today. We couldn't have said it better ourselves!

Small Business Marketing and Non Profit Marketing: "I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends"

We're in the business of telling our clients how give their small businesses and nonprofit organizations a marketing a "fix." But, this week, I've been the one learning a lot about getting connected. By this point in life I think I have mastered the art in the real world, but it has been amazing to learn how different virtual networking is!

Blogging offers so many forms of education to small businesses and nonprofit marketers. Here are our favorite sources. Duct Tape Marketing Blog -- John's article about the snack culture only reiterates what it is that blogs are all about -- bite size treats (yum, my favorite). Likewise, props to Made To Stick. While you are reading what Chip and Dan Heath have to say, also download their Talking Strategy Manifesto. It's worth the read. Nonprofit Communications Blog is a great site for very specialized tips for a non-profit organizations. This week's piece about re-designing a non-profit website struck a chord. Most people see non-profits only as different in their lack of funding. What they don't realize is that the differences involve top line strategy. A website for a non-profit should look very different than a site intended to sell a product. Read Kivi's tips and make sure your nonprofit site is making the grade.

I wrote about "When not to Blog" earlier in the week. Would love to hear from more of you why companies should pass on blogging. It seems our friends at Diva Marketing Blog had this on the brain too. They offer a great expansion on the subject.

So, happy Friday and happy MARKETING! Talk to ya'll next week!

When Not to Blog

Yesterday, a client asked us "when is it advisable NOT to blog?" I have a list a mile long why we DO blog, but what is the best answer to this intriguing question of why NOT to blog?

I tell my kids, just because you can doesn't mean you always do something (e.g. just because you can jump out the window rather than use the door, doesn't mean you should!) I'm guessing the same applies to blogging. And After all, not every CEO is a charismatic speaker and/or writer. And, not every nonprofit organization and company, large or small, has the resources and know-how to keep a blog current and effective.

So speak up! We want to hear your reasons not to blog! We are throwing it to our friends at Flyteblog.com. Rich, what do you have to say?