From Media to Mediums? Human insights and lead scoring.

 

Yesterday Marketo, the global leader in Revenue Performance Management published 'the definitive guide to lead scoring'(link) a free comprehensive 50 pages guide to lead scoring techniques.

Lead scoring is a method in which you assign points to each client prospect. The higher is a client score, the more they mirror the target market segment prospect that is actively subscribing to your services and buying your products. Reason what they should be the centre of your customer care strategy.

Lead scoring entails the collection and analysis of both explicit and implicit information. The explicit details includes: statistical data, such as company size, industry, and job title; while implicit scores derives from monitoring the customer behaviours: for example clicks, keywords, web-site visits, downloads or e-mail services subscriptions.

Once determined the scoring criteria and assigned the points to each client, you can determine your ideal target market and control their 'scoring variations' across time and goals. The scores allow you not only to pro actively respond to clients needs but also to prioritize the customers with higher ranking!

At RedIdea  we reckon that using the client 'hit parade' in combination with social media activity and customer survey 'impressions' lead to a valuable dialogue with the empowered-interactive audience book (Thanks Henry Jenkins!). 

A cross- over strategy that mixes 'lead scoring' and 'human interpretation' empower you to anticipate the audience feelings and responses. So the number of your 'high- ranking' customer will be more likely to grow rapidly.

Do you want to fly high or score high? Red Idea is always here.

Faster than Influencers: Extricating an inspiring plan for digital marketers.

With 'Influencers', directors Paul Rojanathara and Davis Johnson -and their agency- reached the hype, at a glance, after 2 weeks form the online pubblication, they count 216.000 views on Vimeo, 9962 likes on Facebook and 1009 Twitter followers.

In a time in which creativity is both over- estimated and re- evaluated, the video exhibits opinions and attitudes of 'contagious tastemakers'. The chosen documentary form makes the public feeling closer- almost participating- to their influential aura: very involving.

Their strategy is crystalline as the quality of the HD format, tasteful as the video editing techniques and effects, glamorous as the vintage funky- vinyl music selection, hi-tech as their sponsor and as cool as the subject.

Speakers explore topics such as branding and interactivity, huge within the environment created by recent technological and sociological breakthroughs, and specifically significant for digital marketers.

In fact, their creativity entails additive layers of mastery and consciousness.

They are faster than trends, precise as radars when identify influencers and catch their attention with valuable contents and innovative products and solutions.

Harnessing the tools and networking power of New Media, digital marketers orchestrate creative patterns of activity in which shaping the architecture of the users' -influencers and mainstream- experience.

It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it!

GQ Magazine - Follow The Leaders

I'm featured in an article at GQ Magazine as a Social Media Expert, giving my views on the Political Leaders Twitter accounts, below you can read the full analyse.

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1 Barack Obama (3.4m followers) @barackobama

Twitter

Despite having a massive following, Obama’s tweets are bland snippets  about his work life and  agenda. From 741 tweets received, he only  re-tweeted on a couple of occasions. However, given the profile and status, and the carefully choreographed language it is perhaps unsurprising that the tweets are not really freely engaging with his followers. A missed opportunity I think!! There are also several links on net saying that never used twitter, therefore that people that manages his account, not doing effectively.

Facebook

Every post on his facebook fan page attracts an average of 1700 comments, an astonishingly high figure. It is truly astounding how   much people care and want to communicate with him, but  as with his tweets, he never really answers these and you just get the sense that someone far removed from Obama is sitting at their desk diligently monitoring and responding to traffic with standardised and cleared lines.  Very uninspiring

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2 Benjamin Netanyahu (2,800 followers) @netanyahu

Twitter

Not being conversant in Hebrew doesn’t help here, as perhaps unsurprisingly the vast majority of correspondence is in that language, with just a couple of references in English.  His twitter account is quiet, but he does offer links to facebook. However, as with other politician accounts, don’t expect a personalised, straightforward and helpful answer. In fact, as with others, there are lots of comments on his facebook account which are seemingly ignored. Another poor social media strategy.

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3 Hugo Chavez (560,000 followers) @chavezcandanga

Twitter

This is the most organic twitter account I have seen so far, seemingly every person who tweets gets a response. Cleverly, ‘he’ also uses his Blackberry to respond, giving that personalised nature to his responses rather than using for example other media such as twitterdeck , twitterfeed or even hootsuite. This makes him sound approachable, someone who listens and is willing to engage. Of course, this may be far from the truth but an illusion is created. 

The management of his social media profile is impressive, concentrating on a few fora (Twitter, Blog, Flicker, RSS and youtube), he is able to constantly update and consequently leave an impression of engaging far more proactively with his followers, and others. Overall, well managed, maintained and personalised. A pretty good effort.

The best social media strategy!

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4 UK Prime Minister (1.7m followers) @ number10gov

Twitter

I cannot say much about this, as  the profile states - The official twitter channel for the Prime Minister's Office based at 10 Downing Street. – Therefore this is not intended to try and personalise a relationship between the PM and his followers, its all about access to formal information.  Therefore they could change slightly to make it less formal and more open and  approachable.

Facebook 

They have created a bespoke layout but you are unable to comment on the anything…essentially what’s the point? The Facebook integrates the  official website so that you can read and see video but you cannot put your opinion. The only way  you can give an opinion or comment is by writing an e-petition.

Basically this gives the impression of not  caring what people’s views are, another Politian that does not listen to the public or even has any pretence to do so.  Social Media is an open resource that everyone can plug into, creating debate and establishing relationships between the owner and the fan. 

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5 Jordan Queen Rania Al Abdullah (1.2m followers) @QueenRania

Twitter

From the looks of things the Queen and/or her team really understand Twitter, her messages are informative and  personalised, a good mix of the formal and informal. Engaging and useful. She has also focused in other a few social media fora and manipulates them in a consistent and effective manner..

It is clear that they have cleverly worked in conjunction with online PR, sending links with interviews and articles she has done to magnify her profile. . This improves her ‘ranking’ on Google, and is a fairly useful method to do this. 

Unfortunately, this success does not extend to her Facebook account, with lots of comments and engagement from her followers but no reciprocation from her.

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6 Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (918,000 followers) @KevinRuddPM

Twitter

Twitter account is ok, nothing special or inspiring. No real thrust to utilise fully but nonetheless he is trying to communicate directly by replying to some of his followers..

Use of Facebook poor, with no replies to comments and a distinct impression of a lack of engagement or focus..

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7 Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama (403,000 followers) @hatoyamayukio

Twitter

A complete mess in terms of engaging with the ‘twitter’ generation. Complex and difficult, he has loaded up full policy statements. Not accessible, key thing in utilising social media is short and sweet sentences, engage and re-engage to retain momentum and build constructive relationships. There is a clear discrepancy between his bio and his tweets.

Bio not just talking about politics, I have many topics to write about Ikere happened to check. Feedback on the @ hatoyamayukio thank you.

In addition, there isn’t any  links if you want to check his website or other social media plataform.

The worst social media strategy so far.

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8 UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum (330,000 followers) @HHSHKMOHD

Twitter 

 No evidence of retweets or replay but positively there are loads of personalised comments.  This is also the case on his Facebook account. However, overall I think there is a very poor understanding of  new technology, which I am sure could be easily addressed .

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9 Chile President Sebastian Piñera (74,000 followers) @sebastianpinera

Twitter

Good use of twitter, keeping his entries short and sweet personal and approachable but still provides information about his agenda and his views on domestic and world politics. On the other hand there isn’t any RT or tweets replys, therefore not much engagement between him and his followers. Also, once again comments on his facebook page underline that politicians do not seemingly answer questions, and therefore scope for improvement if he wishes to fully utilise the opportunity.

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 10 Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper (48,000 followers) @PMHarper

Twitter

Nothing special on his Twitter, another public figure providing information about his agenda. Facebook account shows a  bit more engagement with people really discussing the posts, but if you look deeper you will find - This is a page for all Conservative Party supporters. The views expressed herein are those of the individual writers and not of the Conservative Party of Canada, or this fan page. Again they miss the opportunity to engage and capture those comments to use on website, or even synchronize with the twitter. They could create a much better digital marketing strategy. The buzz is already there, they just need to know how to use it.

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11 New Zealand Prime Minister John Key (8,000 followers) @JohnKeypm 

Twitter

 From his twitter, you would guess  that he is not used to engaging or communicating with his followers! The only thing he does is provide information about his own agenda. The same thing on Facebook. I think he’s missing the point of having a twitter account, if you are not going to use for building up a relationship don’t open one, focus on  your website. 

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 12 43rd President of the United States Of America. 2001-2009. (George Bush) @George_WBush

 Twitter

 There are several ‘clones’ of George Bush on Twitter, ultimately giving very bad PR. His team should address that, and use his twitter or other social platforms to communicate with his public to deliver the message he wants conveyed and not those of imposters. Basically the real Bush twitter profile has not been used that much – in fact he or somebody working for him has only tweeted only 3 times. It appears he only began to use on 2^nd June so that may explain a lack of engagement but in that time he already has accumulated 8.646 followers, making it extremely popular on that evidence. But given that his ‘popularity’ isn’t reflected in his use I would rate zero on that basis.

 Facebook

 The difference between other Facebook accounts and Bush is unbelievable, his team has created a data system incorporated into the Facebook platform. In order to join the fan page you have to give him access to your profile and friends. I would say clever move but some people might be dissuaded from engaging on this basis There isn’t any engagement/conversation between him and his fans. However, given the basis on which he has set up his Facebook account, he should quite easily be able to capture useful data to inform a new strategy, which personally I think he needs. Other major issues are that there is no way you can comment, and  if you want to be a member you must pay $25.00 … absolutely  ridiculous…

Given these issues, there seems to be a real misunderstanding of social media. It is fundamentally about engaging and communicating with your target audience, create a relationship with your ‘fan’. Bush’s motivation seems primarily about ripping people off.. Quite disheartening frankly. 

10 ways to beef up your LinkedIn profile

Spending time on crafting your entry on LinkedIn will help boost your profile and will make it easier for others to find you when they are searching for freelancers. Here are a few tips that you might find useful:

1. Your photograph: make sure your photo looks businesslike and professional. This isn’t Facebook where you are hanging out with your mates. And if you haven’t quite got round to uploading a photo of yourself – make sure you do so TODAY!

2. Job title: does your current description say something like ‘Freelance writer’? Turn this into a client benefit rather than a straight description of what you do. For example: ‘Freelance copywriter who helps businesses raise the profile of their marketing communications‘. Think what people might be typing in to find freelancers like you. What kinds of key words might they use?

3. Website links: Use these as a marketing opportunity by including benefit statements, or key words, or descriptors. So, instead of ‘My website’, I have ‘My Company or Marketing Services‘. Instead of ‘My blog’, I have ‘My blog about Marketing‘. And make sure you use your third link, even if you don’t have a third site to point people to. I now have my portfolio page as my third link but, before I launched that, I pointed people to the testimonial page of my linked in. The link said: ‘Read what others say about me‘. Also you can point people to your Facebook Fan Page, Tumbler or any other social media platform. 

4. Testimonials: make sure you have some! And ask for several.

5. Your summary: don’t simply cut and paste factual stuff from your CV into your summary – make sure you really sell yourself. You have 2,000 characters to tell a compelling story about yourself. And don’t forget to include key words to increase the chances of people finding you when they do a search.

6. Status box: update this on a regular basis. I keep my contacts updated with the latest project I’m working on. This means I always show up in the digest of activity. You can also automatically tweet your status to your Twitter followers.

7. Applications: make use of the free applications to boost your profile. LinkedIn has lots, from Slide Share to Google Presentation to Portfolio Display. For instance, I upload pdfs using Box.net Files to show examples of my cases, so people can see my work without having to go to my website.

8. Link your blog to your profile. This is another useful application I use.  The title and first few lines of your blog post show up – and the title is a link that takes you straight to your blog. Try out some of the other applications and see how they might be able to enhance your profile.

9. Join lots of groups. You can belong to 50 groups on Linkedin. The more groups you join, the more people you can link to (without having to upgrade to the paid-for service).  And the more active your are on your group discussions, the more you’ll raise your profile among your target audience. Or why not start your own group?

10. Promote your profile. Cut and paste the code for a LinkedIn button and use it on your blog, website, Facebook page etc etc. The information LinkedIn provides on how to do this is as follows:Click on “Edit Profile” from the “Profile” dropdown menu found in the top navigation bar of the home page. Click “Edit Public Profile Settings” in the upper right-hand corner of the Profile page. Click on the “customized buttons” link found in the Public Profile box. Choose a logo button and copy the HTML code provided next to it. This code will include a link to your Public Profile. Paste the code on to your blog, message board or website. You can also create an email signature that contains a link to your LinkedIn profile. Here’s the link to find out how to do a LinkedIn email signature.

What tips have you found work well in boosting your profile on LinkedIn?
If you want to find out more Red Idea is always here.  

Source: Carole Seawert, FreelanceFactFile.com

Why the Retweet is such a powerful engagement tool?

                           

In a very short time “retweeting” has become one of the most powerful ways of connecting online effectively. Technically “retweeting” means taking someone else’s twitter messages and sharing them  with your followers, but why is it such a powerful engagement tool?

The most important aspect of a twitter account is the value it adds to followers. The more interesting and relevant the content the more helpful a resource your twitter account will be. You will have people coming back to check out your content, and also increase your followers too.  By retweeting great content, you are giving over quality material and building your own brand, but this reason misses a fundamental point....retweeting shows you ‘care’. 

In the online world everyone is seeking attention and wanting to get their brand as much attention as possible.  By retweeting you are paradoxically sending people away from your site to someone else’s site! But in fact the dynamic builds a deep, trusting relationship with your followers. You are showing them that it is not only about ‘you’ and ‘your’ content, but that you want them to get value from their experience of being involved with you. Retweeting sends out a message of confidence to your followers, and it highlights you are not only ‘agenda-driven’ but actually care about your sector and your followers.

 Another not so obvious benefit of retweeting is that you also build relationships with people in your sector or industry. When you retweet someone’s article or blog and give them credit, you are complimenting their work and immediately a relationship is born. They will perhaps return the compliment by retweeting your links and so on. You are also directly promoting them through their work so this isn’t simply about saying a ‘hi’ in a networking session!

With retweeting, you are building relationships with your followers who are your clients and customers who in turn will naturally spend more time and money with you. You also build relationships with fellow professionals, experts and other people who are interested in the content your followers are interested in.  And by building your powerful network your Twitter account is transformed! No longer is it simply about self promotion and trying to stand out, but moving an entire sector forward and working together in unity towards a better, wiser and more connected world. By adding this kind of value to your twitter account, greater sales will naturally follow and people will want to continue coming back.

If you want to find out more Red Idea is always here. 

Social media tips for small businesses

Small businesses looking to take advantage of social media have been given some valuable advice by an online marketing expert.

Research by payment provider Sage Pay has found that customers visiting an online store through a social media site are ten times more likely to buy something than other users, once again highlighting the importance of services such as Facebook and Twitter.

According to Tania Jackson, managing director at Red Idea, small businesses are at an advantage when turning to social media and she had some advice for them.

She said: "You have to come across as informative, knowledgeable and full of expertise but also show a little bit of your personality, by talking about an office party for example, otherwise it’s just like another website full of information and no one wants that.

"You really have to look at the brand strategy as a whole, but if you get it right it will bring customers through the door."

A survey by Econsultancy and digital agency Guava recently demonstrated that 81 per cent of businesses now market themselves on Twitter, while 78 per cent use Facebook.

Social media tone 'crucial for marketers'

The tone of voice adopted by companies using social media helps determine how successful their marketing is through this channel, one expert has claimed.

Tania Jackson, managing director at Red Idea, said that small businesses must portray themselves as being specialists in their field if they wish to attract new custom online.

She commented: "You have to come across as informative, knowledgeable and full of expertise but also show a little bit of your personality.

"Otherwise it's just like another website full of information, and no one wants that."

Ms Jackson said the control exercised by small business marketers in particular should enable them to keep the tone of social media consistent, something larger organisations may struggle with.

"You really have to look at the brand strategy as a whole, but if you get it right it will bring customers through the door," she said.

Earlier this year, marketing industry expert Jon Maddison claimed that social media and email marketing benefit each other, and help create integrated advertising campaigns.

Written by Mark Hainsby
Link: http://ow.ly/27NCH

Search Engine Marketing and Optimisation

One of the best ways to attract potential customers to your website is to feature high in the free listings of search engines like Google. Because these 'organic' listings are not paid for and - to an extent - reflect your popularity, potential customers tend to trust them more.

You can improve your chances of appearing above your competitors in the free results through 'search engine optimisation' (SEO). If you combine this with pay per click advertising (PPC) on search engines, you will greatly boost the traffic to your site
- and increase your chances of making sales.


Your search engine marketing strategy

Search engines are one important source of website traffic for many businesses.
Alternatives can include promoting your website directly to existing customers (including using traditional offline marketing methods), or buying PPC advertising on websites your target customers are likely to visit.

If you expect your target customers to use search engines, consider the competition. You should be able to anticipate the keywords and phrases your potential customers will enter into a search engine and feature these on your site and in your pay per click campaign. If your competitors are using the same keywords, however, it might be difficult to get a high ranking.

You'll also need to decide how much you are prepared to spend on search engine marketing and what website traffic is worth to you.


Basic search engine marketing

For search engine marketing to work, search engines need to know of your site's existence. Search engine submission is a simple way of doing this, and is usually free for the major search engines.

But you will need to make sure that your website contains the right keywords and phrases. If it doesn't, your site will not appear on the results of a search using that keyword.

You should also make sure that online business directories, such as Yell.com and the Open Directory (http://www.dmoz.org/), are aware of your site. If you take out PPC adverts on a search engine, your site will appear on the first page of results even if many other websites are higher in the free search engine rankings.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

SEO involves using keywords and phrases intelligently on your website while generating good content that other sites are happy to link to. It will improve your ranking in the free listings on search engines.

Using the right keywords and phrases in prominent places (such as page titles and section headings) can boost your ranking for any search using those words. Links from relevant websites will increase your profile further - particularly if they are highly-ranked themselves. Encourage other sites to link to you; simply offering interesting content is generally seen as the best way to achieve this.

You'll probably have to keep testing and developing your approach to search engine marketing to keep yourself high up in the listings. Quick fixes like 'stuffing' your pages with keywords generally do not work: the search engine software will not be fooled.

Mistake-Proofing Your Start-Up Business

With so many people out of work during this recession, it should come as no surprise that many are thinking about starting their own businesses. And with so many jobs moving offshore, even people who are still employed might consider starting a business as a back-up plan. Even if you’re the owner of a successful start-up, the recession might have you worried. So how can long-standing business owners and first-time entrepreneurs survive these tough times? There’s an easy way to mistake-proof any business – all it takes is a little time using free online tools and search engine research with Google.

Mistake 1: Not Listening to the Voice of the Customer
Most entrepreneurs become enchanted with an idea and pursue it without thinking it through. They end up with a garage filled with unsalable merchandise and wonder what went wrong. Others open a store and name it something cute, like a hair salon named Curl Up And Dye. Or they start an Internet business but don’t bother to understand what customers really want. Why do they fail? The answer is simple; they didn’t understand the “voice of the customer.” Businesses large and small can collect and analyze the voice of the customer to understand what customers want and how to deliver it. Toyota uses this to design better cars, and you can use it to design a better product or service.

First, figure out where the crowds of customers are going and then get in front of the crowd. In the old days, this would involve lots of market research, focus groups and money. Today, these answers can be easily found on the Internet for free with Google’s key word tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

Let’s say you want to start a pet food bakery that makes healthy treats for dogs and cats. Just search Google’s keyword tool for “pet bakery” and “pet food.” You’ll quickly discover that there are over 500,000 searches a month for “pet food” but only 8,000 a month for “pet bakery.”

There are also 33,000 searches a month for “wellness pet food.” From this one might conclude that “pet food” is too broad and would have to compete with the big chains; “pet bakery” is too narrow; but “wellness pet food” might be just the niche to explore because these customers are probably willing to pay a premium.

Mistake 2: Not Speaking Your Customer's Language
As learned from Mistake 1, customer language can differ from our own. Based on the search terms above, it might be smarter to name your store “Wellness Pet Food” (customer language) instead of “Bow Wow Biscuits” (your language) because that’s what the crowd wants. Don't paraphrase (using healthy instead of wellness); use the customer's exact words. Then check domain name availability for “wellness-pet-food.com” or “wellness_pet_food.com.” If it's available, register it (try a site such as www.GoDaddy.com); if not, try adding other key words likely to attract customers such as your location.

Be aware that Google cannot identify compound words, so registering a site like “WellnessPetFood.com” won’t be as effective as “Wellness_Pet_Food.com.” Separate the words with a dash or underscore to improve the site’s search engine ranking.

This "get in front of the crowd" strategy also works for service businesses. Let’s say you are a hypnotherapist in Denver with “HypnoDenver.com” as your site. Many other hypnotherapists in town also have hypnosomething.com as their site name. What are prospects searching for? They don't want “hypnosis;” they want to “stop smoking” or “lose weight.” Domain names like “Stop-Smoking-Denver.com” and “Lose-Weight-Denver.com” would be a great start.

With more than 100 million Internet users in the U.S. and billions of Internet-capable cell phones, no business can afford to ignore the power of the web. Even if you don’t plan on having a Web site, you will want to own the domain name to prevent others from using it. And if the business succeeds locally, having the domain name will make it easy to expand into a regional, national or global Internet business.

Mistake 3: Not Making Your Product or Service Better, Faster and Cheaper
Too many entrepreneurs try to enter an already crowded market. Search the Internet for your product or service to find out how many competitors are out there. When searching for the key words, "pet food Denver," Google finds 726,000 results. "Wellness pet food Denver" yields 149,000 results. If Google reveals too many competitors, consider another line of business. If Google reveals no competitors, that can be just as bad. Someone, somewhere should be offering a similar product or service. If not, there are no customers.

“Pet food” for example, is crowded with low cost super chains. From the voice of the customer perspective, customers want you to be better, faster and cheaper than the competition. Are you more innovative? Do you provide better customer service? Are you more effective and efficient? When customers can't distinguish one business from another, they default to the familiar or low cost one. If you’re not sure what customers want in a particular product or service, start by asking your friends, family, neighbors, and even people on the street. Capture their responses. In general, are they saying:

• “I want better ________ (e.g., pet food).”
• “I want cheaper ________ (e.g., cell phone service).”
• “I want faster ___________ (e.g., healthcare, service, delivery, repair, etc.)

Then ask: “What is the competition offering (better, faster or cheaper)? What can we do differently?” If you can’t answer these questions, neither can your customers.


Mistake 4: Not Testing the Business Concept
Once Google has revealed what customers want (in their language, not yours) and you’ve identified a unique value proposition from the voice of the customer (better, faster or cheaper), it’s time to test the concept. For this, Google offers another powerful tool: Adwords (adwords.google.com). Google makes its money by putting ads around its search results. Many entrepreneurs use Adwords to test business and marketing concepts before they throw a lot of money at it.

Tim Ferriss, bestselling author of “The 4-Hour Workweek,” used Adwords to test various titles for his new book. He bought pay-per-click ads using various titles (Adwords will alternate them for you) and each ad took the Internet user to a different Web page about the book. Ferriss let the “wisdom of crowds” choose the best title for him.

All of this research might take a few weeks and a few hundred dollars, but it’s a lot cheaper than wasting your hard-earned money on a doomed startup.

Mistake 5: Not Bootstrapping the Business
Most people start looking for a "business loan" (3,350,000 Google searches) before they think about a "business plan" (1,500,000 searches). Entrepreneurs don’t always need a lot of money to get started. If Mrs. Robin Andrew's third grade class at Pelham Elementary School in Pelham NH can start The Bow Wow Biscuit Company (www.bowwowbiscuits.org), you can too.

If the business is a product, don't make 10,000 of them. Put up a Web site; bake a few in your kitchen and sell them online or give away free samples to test the response. Or make a prototype and get people to try it and provide feedback. Post-it™ notes are a classic example of this and look at how successful they are. When customers start clamoring to buy your products, then get money to do a production run.

If the business idea is a service, print some business cards (carefully crafted with the crowd's keywords and phrases) and pass them out at local business meetings.

This is how entrepreneurs bootstrap businesses that grow. It's also how they avoid sinking huge sums of money into bad ideas. This “crawl-walk-run” strategy works as well for new businesses as it does for new babies.

If the first business idea doesn't click, try another one. Walt Disney went bankrupt several times before succeeding … but then again, he didn't have Google. Good luck with your start-up!

Text by Jay Arthur, the KnowWare Man. Jay is author of "Double Your Profits: Plug the Leaks in Your Cash Flow." To plug the leaks in your cash flow, sign up for free Lean Six Sigma lessons online at: http://www.qimacros.com/freestuff.html

What is Digital Marketing?

What is Digital Marketing?

Wherever I go, people ask me: What is Digital Marketing?

My answer is simple and clear: Digital Marketing is a new and essential marketing tool for today's businesses. It is not about the hard sell, it is about engaging with your customers, understanding their needs and building relationships with them.

Why so much talk about social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked IN and others? Because these are part of the digital marketing mix.

In order to understand your customers, it is advantageous to listen and engage and in the digital age, there is no better way than through Social Media interaction. By doing so provides a key new opportunity for business to research their target market, through both personalised engagement, and to enable the measurement of success of this interaction through quantification techniques, for example through real time numeric data on who has read and/or visited your site.

So why doesn't every business seek to utilise such a useful tool? Is it too complex? Too time consuming?

No. That is where we, at Red Idea, can help you.

But what to do?

Should I blog? Should I send a newsletter? Should I set RSS?

Yes, you should if you have something to say, and want your message to be out there. If you know your market and know your clientele, you will add value to your customer community by sharing knowledge and becoming recognised as THE specialist in your business sector.

How should I go about embedding this in my marketing strategy?

This is only a brief introduction to digital marketing. In developing a digital marketing strategy, full utilisation of the range of digital media should be considered, including the internet, television, radio and mobile platforms. Commentators agree that these technological developments and opportunities are key in driving business growth in today's marketplace.

Save both time and money by employing us to advise, guide, and set up the necessary tools for you to fully benefit from our expertise in designing and implementing digital marketing strategy.

If you have more questions, we are here at Red idea to help you.

Pitch your business in minutes

Potential investors and customers don't have time for lengthy presentations - they want to know what you're offering, fast. Pitching your business in a snappy, confident way can be the difference between a sale and a snub.

1. Be confident: confidence makes it easier for people to believe in you. Smile, make eye contact, use relaxed gestures and be enthusiastic without being over the top.

2. Practice your pitch in front of the mirror, family, friends, colleagues and anyone who will listen. Take note of their feedback.

3. Keep it brief: listeners lose interest in long presentations. Give them the essentials and invite further questions after your pitch.

4. Vary your pitch according to your audience: investors will be interested in how you plan to make money, customers will be more concerned with the benefits to them.

5. Clarify your unique selling proposition: your audience needs to understand why your business is different from others in your sector. When you introduce yourself, say what makes you special.

6. Focus on your solution: what are you proposing with your pitch? What problem will you solve? Why should they invest or buy from you?

7. Stick to headline points: outline your key messages swiftly and avoid lengthy explanations. You can fill in the detail later.
8. Simplify: make your product accessible by describing it in layman's terms. Don't use technical terminology unless your audience has specialist knowledge.

9. Show awareness of your market and acknowledge competitors. Demonstrate that you know what they're up to and how your offer compares.

10. Invite questions: after your initial pitch, invite questions from your audience. Be prepared to prompt them by asking some of your own - about their needs in particular.

11. Anticipate: knowing your audience will enable you to have ready answers to hand to likely questions.

12. Listen: listen to what they have to say and answer their questions clearly and calmly. Don't be defensive if you feel you are being quizzed or pretend to know what you don't - if you don't have an answer, admit you don't know and offer to find out.

13. Thank your audience for their time and hand out business cards and marketing material. Invite your audience to contact you if they think of something else they want to know or if they would like to meet you again.

14. Make notes afterwards and learn for next time: what worked well? What didn't? What questions were asked? Be prepared to adapt or even completely change your pitch in order to make it work better each time you deliver it.

Cardinal rules

Do:

* show confidence in yourself and in your business
* encourage a two-way dialogue
* be brief, clear and to the point
* differentiate your business

Don't:

* be aggressive or pushy
* use industry jargon
* talk over people
* get defensive under questioning

Distribution and Channel Strategy

A good distribution strategy will identify the best sales channels for your firm and tell you how to exploit them. It can open up new opportunities, fuel growth and dramatically boost your takings and profits.

Your distribution channel requirements

If you sell food, the chances are you sell it face to face, either through a shop or delivery service. Customers want perishable goods quickly and they usually want to see what they're getting.

But selling face to face can be expensive and it might not be the most efficient or profitable way to reach your customers. If you sell software, for instance, you probably sell via online downloads.

Many firms find it more cost-effective to sell through other companies rather than direct to the end-user. A stapler manufacturer will probably sell through an office supplies wholesaler rather than individual stationery retailers. Even service providers use partnering strategies - a carpet-fitter working alongside a carpet retailer, for example.

Your choice of sales channel will also be influenced by what you want it to do. You might need a channel that showcases your product, for instance, or provides installation and customer support. If you want to build relationships with end-users, you'll need a sales channel that gives you direct control.
Distribution strategy preferences

The right distribution strategy will fuel your business growth. Working with sales agents and companies with established customers, for example, is an excellent way to expand into new markets where the cost would otherwise limit your ability to reach customers.

The degree of control you want to retain is important, too. By working with a sales agent you can control your pricing and perhaps establish a direct relationship with the customer. If branding matters to you, work closely with a small number of distributors rather than selling through too many different intermediaries. The same selective approach applies if you need to invest in your distribution channels - by giving sales agents product training, for example.

Distribution channel management

An effective distribution strategy will enable you to use your sales channels effectively and maximise profits. Focusing on a small number of sales channels lets you invest in each one and build strong relationships with key intermediaries.

A strategic approach to distribution will also identify conflicts and minimise them. For example, if you sell your product directly online and through other offline retailers, you will find yourself in competition with your own distributors.

Online networking and PR

Developing good relationships with potential customers, suppliers, industry contacts and the press raises your profile, generates sales leads and creates a 'buzz' around your business. But handling public relations (PR) and networking online can be quite different from doing them in more traditional ways.

Online networking and online PR key issues

It takes time to build relationships and reputation. Online PR and networking both benefit from a slow-burning, indirect approach. For example, a powerful benefit of online networking is the improvement in your website's search engine ranking as your network produces links from other sites. People will only do this if you are a valuable contact with something to offer their customers.

Online networking works best if you contribute regularly and help other members of the network rather than just pushing your own agenda. Similarly, an online PR campaign to publicise a new product launch is more likely to succeed if you have built relationships with online publications and news outlets.

Yet there is a vast range of different networks and communities, publications and social media - it can be very easy to spread yourself too thin. Concentrate on a small number of online networks where you can get actively involved and focus your PR on groups of customers who are interested in what you have to offer. A little market research will save you a lot of wasted effort.

Online networks

The online network you choose depends what you want to get out of your networking. For many businesses, the main goal is to generate sales leads and some online networks are focused on referrals.

But you can also use online networking to find suppliers, share knowledge, carry out market research and for mutual support. Your trade association probably has an online forum or organises online events; business support websites and dedicated business networking sites are where you're likely to find other entrepreneurs, business customers and potential suppliers. Potential customers are also likely to gather on sites related to your product or service: if you sell bicycles, for example, you'll find them in the forums of cycling websites.

You can also make informal online networks work for you. Email is a good way to keep in touch with existing contacts; online social networking can produce business benefits as well. You could even create your own online community on your website by providing a customer forum which you can use to build relationships, encourage repeat visits and conduct informal market research.

Online public relations

Online PR often mimics traditional PR and many business owners issue online press releases and contribute articles to online publications. But the web makes it easier and gives you more options. For example, you can post comments on other people's articles with a discreet signature identifying your business and web address. You can also publish your own blog on your own website.

Social media - online communities such as Facebook - add another dimension to online PR. You can generate publicity and website traffic through social media marketing. You can encourage people to recommend pages of your website to sites like Digg and Reddit, for example, or write amusing or interesting blog entries that community members themselves choose to spread.

Online Advertising

Online advertising can promote your brand, boost traffic to your website and generate sales - it should be an important part of your Internet marketing strategy. Unlike traditional advertising, advertising on the internet can deliver visitors immediately - through a simple click on your ad with easily measurable results.

Deciding where to advertise online

You can plan your Internet advertising as you would traditional press advertising, by looking for websites that have the right audience. This could include online publications or price comparison sites that cater to your target market, for example.

You should also run a search with key words and phrases your customers are likely to use. Provided that the websites that come up aren't competitors, they may well be good places to advertise. A quick check will tell you whether each site has the right image and offers the web advertising opportunities you are looking for.

Or you could buy advertising from a 'content network' that automatically displays your ads on websites that are likely to have the right audience. You have less control over where your online advertising appears, but it can be effective nevertheless.

Pay per click advertising and other online advertising options

There are other alternatives, too. Pay per click advertising (PPC) is ideal for putting your product in front of people who are ready to buy. You only pay for people who actually click on your ad to come to your site. This enables you to track visitor journeys while monitoring the effectiveness of your search engine keywords.

You can also pay for website advertising according to the number of times the ad is displayed. So the more people who visit the web page on which your advert is featured, the more you pay. Often referred to as CPM ('cost per mille' or 'cost per thousand displays'), this is good for brand exposure.

You can even pay for your online advertising on a cost per action (CPA) basis, where you only pay for the number of viewers who actually buy your product as the result of an ad. This kind of payment scheme requires a close relationship with the website where your ad is published, and is typically part of an affiliate marketing relationship.

Web advertising design

You are likely to have different online advertising options. For example, you might be able to buy different ad sizes in different places or choose which pages of a website to advertise on.

Prices will vary according to the size, location and style of your advert (you might include animation, for example), but the most expensive may not be the most effective. A banner ad on the home page might get the most exposure, but an ad on the page most relevant to your product might deliver more people to your site.

Tips for Building Online Community with Online Events

Online communities are an important place for business professionals to connect with others, consume cutting edge information and expose themselves to different people, ideas and content. In Integrating Online Events into Your Community Development, BrightTALK’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jan McDaniel, discusses why online events are important to building and tracking a thriving online community.

Here are the ten top tips from this event:

1. Create an online community to stay connected through the long B2B buying process.

2. Build a community based on your audience segmentation and customer insight.

3. Give your B2B audience targeted, valuable and relevant information about processes, techniques, technology, products and services, and new approaches to problem solving.

4. Provide product and solution information as well as thought leadership to balance your program.

5. Increase time and interaction with your brand to build mindshare and influence. One way to do this is to integrate your online events in to your website.

6. Collect customer insight. Find out what is resonating with your audience, what messaging is working and how engaged your viewers are with different content.

7. Gather an advanced level of data informed by user demographics, activity, preferences and interest.

8. Amplify your voice, regardless of your company size, by building a community with your partners and by syndicating your content.

9. Involve yourself with media companies’ communities by appealing to their editorial content and developing co- marketing arrangements to access their audience base.

10. Capture audio from on-site events and re-use prepared content in your community channel. This provides a longer shelf life for your content and creates demand generation opportunities for event sponsors.

View the webcast: http://academy.brighttalk.com/best-practices/2010/2/9/integrating-online-events-into-your-community-development.html

What tips would you add?


Source: Kathryn Kilner @BrightTALK

Market segmentation and your target market

Trying to satisfy a wide range of different needs is rarely effective. Splitting your customers into different groups of similar people will enable you to market your products or services specifically to the ones that will be most profitable to you.

Identifying market segments

Start to identify the different segments among your existing customers by looking for groups with similar characteristics. Consumers are often segmented by age, gender or income. Business customers can be broken down into different industries or by size. In practice, location is often a key factor, whether you are targeting local customers or looking for export opportunities.

Segmenting your market should enable you to identify the similarities between your different customer groups - and the differences. You will be able to more clearly understand what aspects of your offer appeal to each of the groups and adapt your product or service to more closely match their requirements.

This might mean modifying your product - or working on delivery, service, reliability or some other need that is important to that market segment. It might also mean adjusting the way you market your offer - so you might change your pricing policy or use distribution channels that reach your target customers more effectively. You should also adapt your promotional messages to the different customer segments.

Choosing and evaluating different market segments

Knowledge is everything when it comes to identifying which groups of customers you should be targeting. Market research will help you understand more about the needs, tastes and spending habits of different groups of potential customers. This should tell you about the customer segments most likely to buy into your offer and the kind of marketing and sales activities they will respond to.

A SWOT analysis will help you assess your strengths and weaknesses as a business and spot the opportunities and threats that are looming in your market. It will help you evaluate if you're in a position to carry out a strong marketing and sales campaign with your target groups of customers. Significantly, it will also enable you to see how you measure up against the competition.

Understanding what your rivals are up to is critical. How are they working with your target group/s? Would you do better or worse? Where are the gaps - in their offer and in their marketing? Are groups of customers being ignored by rivals? Could you target these profitably?

This combination of market research, SWOT analysis and benchmarking should give you a detailed picture of your marketplace and your own potential. This in turn will tell you where you should be directing your marketing activities and how. Only when you are armed with this knowledge can you confidently tailor your message to different segments of your market and have persuasive conversations with your potential customers.

The Comprehensive Marketing Plan

As well as marketing communications, your marketing plan should span the full mix of marketing activities. Developing new products and building your distribution network might be important parts of your strategy, for example. You will also need to plan carefully for any price increases or tactical moves such as an end-of-season sale.

You might also want to strengthen your marketing capabilities. Note in your marketing plan whether you intend to give staff sales training or introduce new customer relationship management (CRM) technology. Maybe you need to introduce more efficient systems or measure customer satisfaction. Including activities like these in your marketing plan helps ensure that they are identified as priorities and that you dedicate time and money to them.

Marketing communications and promotional activities

Your day-to-day business marketing activities are likely to be focused on communicating with existing and potential customers. Your marketing plan should set out when and how you will do this.

Start building a schedule by identifying key times of the year - for example, when business customers plan the next year's budget or seasonal purchasing peaks (such as Christmas). Time your marketing campaigns to fit with these dates and look for other opportunities, such as trade exhibitions, that you can take advantage of.

If there are significant gaps in your marketing schedule, fill them out with cost-effective activities to help maintain customer awareness. You might send out a newsletter, for example.

If you rely heavily on a fairly small number of important customers, consider developing individual account management plans for them. Rather than mailshots and other forms of general marketing communications, key accounts merit regular phone calls, meetings, business entertainment, and so on.

Marketing objectives, budgets and deadlines

An effective marketing plan must set clear objectives that will help you towards your longer-term strategic goals. Where your marketing strategy includes targeting a particular customer segment, for example, your marketing plan should have specific, measurable objectives for helping you achieve this goal, such as increasing sales by a target percentage. Setting deadlines and agreeing marketing budgets to work with helps you focus on your priorities and commit to achieving them.

You should make sales forecasts and targets a key part of your marketing plan and feed them into your overall business plan. But other performance measures could be just as important. For example, you might set targets for numbers of enquiries, numbers of new customers, average transaction value, and so on.

You can choose targets like these to reflect your strategic goals. They can also help you identify where your marketing is - and isn't - working; for example, if enquiry levels meet targets but sales do not.

Text by:http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketing-strategy