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In an economic drought, good customer service is digging for water. You have to work at it and be smart about it, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. Here are a few things you can do right now to improve your customer service.

1. Listen to your customers
Listen to their complaints. Listen to their problems and their solutions. Listen to their successes and failures, their goals and plans, hopes and dreams; their boring and crazy stories. But don’t just be passive. Ask your customers to talk!

These are the people you need, and who need you. They are the lifeblood of your business, and they are your community. Get to know them, build relationships. Build trust. It starts with listening. Share their excitement, but be quick to root out and squash the causes of their frustrations.

2. Listen to your colleagues
The employee is every bit as important as the customer. An employee can make or break a sale; can gain the trust and loyalty of a customer, or lose it forever.

Listening does not just mean hearing sounds; it’s not passive. It means comprehending, it means dialogue. It means suppressing the ego, looking for the causes of problems, and solving them.

If you are a business owner, your staff represents YOU to your customers, but they also represent your customers to you. Better pay attention. If you work for someone, listen to your co-workers in the same way. This builds trust and shapes a cohesive unit, leading to better customer service.

3. Be open to change
Listening is good, because it allows excitement to be shared and also the burden of frustrations. But understanding the things you hear is one thing – acting on them is another. What created the excitement? Can we try to create more of this? What caused the frustration? How can we avoid more of this?

Change is hard. But it happens with or without you. Your customers and employees, both, will expect poor situations to be fixed. If it doesn’t happen they will no longer be yours.

4. Follow through
Do what you say you’re going to do. I absolutely hate it when people don’t follow through, all the more so because I’ve failed in this area so many times. But it’s as critical as it is fundamental; if you say you will provide a service, then do so. If you say “we provide quality customer service,” or “service you can depend on,” well dammit you’d better deliver.

The corollary to this, of course, is don’t tell me you’re going to do something if you don’t know for sure if you can. A little open communication goes a long way.

5. Strive for consistency
Say you go to a restaurant where you absolutely love the food, but are disappointed by poor quality. How likely are you to return? How likely are you to say to others, “yeah, this place is going downhill”?

Maintaining consistent quality of product or service is difficult. There are many variables, but remember you’re not in this alone. Your customers will tell you if you’re slipping, and so will your employees. Take care of points 1 and 2, and you’ll stand a much better chance of staying on top of this one. But also remember consistency has to apply to all the above points.

Good customer service takes unceasing effort. Maybe that’s why so many businesses don’t have it, or don’t have it consistently. But does any of this stuff work? Is it worth the effort? Am I full of crap?

–

Photo courtesy of Tonamel

5 Ways To Improve Your Customer Service is a post from: RSA Blog

Blogging is a waste of time?

Seriously, why bother? Isn’t this kind of a waste of time? It’s not like blogs really matter – it’s just throwaway content, after all. What really matters is the website.

False.

Look, the web is about two things: content and search. Content because that’s what you’ve come for, and search because that’s how you find the content. Nothing else matters.

In light of this, a blog can be the most important tool you employ for two reasons:

1. A blog is all about content. But you have to make that content matter. It needs to be quality content; relevant content. Guess who loves quality content? That’s right: your customers and the search engine they used to find you. This content is useful to them; it helps them make decisions, helps solve their problem. It gives them a reason and a method to engage you.

2. Blogs are inherently search-engine optimized. They make you much more findable, which can drive a lot of traffic to your website. But SEO needs to be strategic. You have to pay attention to your audience and the keywords they use to make this work well (no, using random keywords based on intuition is not optimization – that’s called blind guesswork; fumbling in the dark).

Your website is important, to be sure. It is the hub around which all your online activity orbits (and often the blog *is* the website). But a blog can be an “orbital” with one hell of a gravity well, attracting searchers to your content and your website,  so don’t write it off too quickly.

Alright, you’ve got my opinion on it. What do you think? Are blogs just a place to toss extra content that doesn’t matter? Why bother?

Why Blog? is a post from: RSA Blog

Don't get robbed.

I don’t know anything about rockets or surgery. If I wanted to find a good rocket surgeon, I wouldn’t have the faintest idea where to start. I’m not at all confident I could find the right person for the job; someone who won’t rip me off or do a half-baked job (hey, no disrespect to rocket surgeons, but some of you are kind of shady).

If you feel that way about finding a good web designer*, I may be able to help (yeah, some of you are shady, too).

There are key values, practices or qualifications in any profession that can help you judge its practitioners. So you might proceed in your search with greater confidence, I’ve outlined below some key things to look for in a good web designer (Surprisingly, little of it has to do with actual ‘design’ skill).

1. A good web designer listens.
It’s incredibly difficult to solve a design problem without knowing what that problem is. A designer who listens when you explain your business and web needs is going to be much better equipped to provide an effective solution.

If the designer seems to be doing all the talking, consider moving on. They might be the best designer in the world, but if they haven’t listened and understood your problems, it’s unlikely they’ll give you an effective solution.

2. A good web designer asks questions.
In my experience, clients are not always able to articulate their needs, wants, or problems the first time. Sometimes it’s the questions they’re asked that will bring issues to the surface, or reveal directions or solutions right away that may have been overlooked.

If a designer isn’t asking any questions, he’s either telepathic or he doesn’t care much about solving your problem.

3. A good web designer solves business problems.
It’s not about making things pretty. Many designers – and clients – get caught up in the aesthetic aspect of the work, or the latest design trends and tricks. If you want a product that will address your specific needs, however, you want a designer with a more ‘objective’ perspective, who focuses on *your* business problem, not someone who churns out another carbon copy of their latest design obsession.

Look at their portfolio with a critical eye. If they show work in diverse industries, the graphical elements and overall styles should be very different.

4. A good web designer helps you understand what he does and why.
Some people don’t like having to explain themselves or educate clients on design or usability fundamentals. Their language will be intentionally vague and full of buzzwords in an effort to bedazzle or confuse, or they’ll simply talk to you like you’re a third-grader.

Look for someone who cares enough to help you understand everything that’s going on. Their language will be accessible, and they won’t talk down to you.

5. A good web designer has a wide range of in-depth industry knowledge.
Unless you’re on a three-figure budget, you probably don’t want to hire the kid next door who took one HTML class and has a Geocities (RIP) site. To ensure a successful outcome, you’ll want to make sure your designer or agency is proficient in basic tools such as Photoshop or Fireworks, XHTML and CSS, and also has skills in things like search engine optimization, programming, web writing, marketing, the web-hosting process, and maybe even some print graphic design.

Ask the designer about her process. What steps will she take to solve your problem? What tools does she use? Does she adhere to web standards?

6. A good web designer thinks of the end-user.
He knows it’s his job to be the advocate for the people who will be using your website, and for the content those people will be viewing.

While your opinion on design, content, interface and usability decisions is important, it’s only important to the degree that it’s informed by business sense and knowledge of your customers and industry. If your opinion is merely based on personal preference or assumptions about your audience or web users, a good web designer will argue the point – and he’d do well to argue vigorously (but respectfully, right designers?).

If a designer isn’t concerned about how the people visiting your website will use it, but only about his own preferences – or even yours – it’s time to move on.

7. A good web designer is a professional.
Design isn’t all about skill in creating dazzling graphics. It’s also about knowing enough about business and marketing to create an effective solution to whatever problem you face. It’s about being consistent in communication, professionalism, and work. It’s about delivering as promised.

A designer who doesn’t care to dress reasonably well, speak well, or solve your problem effectively in a timely manner probably doesn’t care much about you as a client. Or eating anytime soon.

8. A good web designer is honest.
Hell, any good professional is honest. Right? RIGHT? If business is all about making money at the expense of quality work and lasting relationships, then we’re all doomed. (Notice anything about our economy lately?)

A good web pro will tell it like it is. They won’t make guarantees about your search engine rankings. They won’t claim to be a social media “guru”, or expert, or rock star, maven, ninja, wizard, or god. They won’t inflate the price of their work to unreasonable proportions but neither will they deep-discount their work just to make the sale.

If the designer you’re talking to does any of this, run away. Better yet, call me.

And more…

There are plenty more I could list, but you get the idea.

The most important thing you can do when looking for a good web designer is to ask questions. Asking more questions will help you understand the process of web development much better if you’re talking to a good web pro, or it will bring up a lot of red flags if you’re face-to-face with a poor one.

Have you ever had a bad experience with a designer? Tell us about it here, and offer your own advice for finding a good web designer.

–

* This implies ‘one person working independently,’ but for the purposes of this article I mean to include all web professionals: agencies and other web organizations; anyone you might hire for your web project.

How to Find a Good Web Designer is a post from: RSA Blog

Twitter overload...

I was reluctant – VERY reluctant – to write this post. Do we really need another post about Twitter? I’ve run across some Twitter users (for biz) lately that tells me perhaps we do. After all, some people are just now signing up, and may not have read any of the twizillion “Twitter 101″ posts available.

So… here we are. How to set up and use Twitter for business.

1. Use your real name.
When you sign up your account, include your real name. It can be your username or not, but include it in the “name” field at the least.

If you don’t want people to know who you are, social media probably isn’t for you.

2. Fill out your bio.
In general, I don’t follow people who don’t have a bio, and I’m not the only one. Why? Because the only reason I would want to follow you is because of who you are. If I don’t know who you are, I’m far less likely to follow.

Beyond just telling other people who you are, the bio can also help explain why you’re on Twitter in the first place. Many people use Twitter for business, so they naturally include their occupation and position in the bio, along with interests pertaining to their field of work.

If you don’t want people to know what you do, go ahead and skip Twitter.

3. Fill in your location.
Some people are leery of this because of privacy issues. But consider: 1) if you’re using the internet, your location is already compromised, and 2) no one really cares where you are except that it somehow relates to themselves.

In other words, the fact that I am in Rapid City, South Dakota only matters to other people in this area, and can already be found out through other means (see: Google).

The advantage of posting your location is it will be much easier to network with locals, and associates you with your region in searches. So use your city and state (not GPS coordinates, you geeks – no one knows what those mean!)

If you don’t want people to know where you are, avoid the internet. And mobile devices. And electricity.

4. Don’t protect your tweets.
This is bad enough for personal use, but for a business? You might as well not bother with Twitter.

So many people will say “no one gives a crap what you think,” and maybe there’s some truth in that, if all you are posting is a useless stream of narcissistic minutiae. But I think people are more interested in each other than we’re willing to admit, provided what you have to say is relevant to others.

Tweets I can’t see are not relevant. Part of how I decide whether or not to follow someone is by looking at what they’ve been talking about. If I can’t see that, I’m just not going to bother.

If you hop on Twitter and protect your updates, it’s like walking into a mixer and standing in a corner whispering. Are you here to network, or what?

If you don’t want people to hear what you have to say, don’t bother with the internet at all.

5. The only thing that matters about your avatar is consistency.
People will tell you to post your real picture with a smiling face, and they’re not wrong. But if you can’t bring yourself to do that (I’m working on it), then at least make sure whatever you post as your profile picture is something you want to keep there for a while.

Your profile photo should reflect your company somehow, to keep things consistent. A variation of your logo is a good choice. Just try not to change it often.

When I scan my Twitter feed (at a certain point you will have to do this), I find myself stopping at specific tweets because of the person’s avatar. Either the picture stands out, or I’ve grown accustomed to paying attention to that person’s tweets. Either way, the avatar is what keeps me from overlooking that person.

The problem is these people may change their profile photo frequently. Now I don’t recognize them, and am more likely to overlook them when scanning the feed.

If you don’t want people to know what you look like… uh… you’re probably like me.

6. Use a custom background.
The default backgrounds make me sleepy. Change it to a solid color, if you have to, but PLEASE use something custom. You can Google search for pre-made backgrounds, too, but keep in mind the background should also fit your company or brand.

Change your background under Settings, in the Design tab.

If you use the default backgrounds, you’re boring. Or lazy.

7. Engage!
Now you’re set up so people know who you are, what you do, and where you are coming from. These are all good things when you’re networking, especially for business.

Twitter isn’t a role-playing game. Be real or begone, ye foul beast!

Use Twitter search to find others like you or people having conversations about topics of interest to you. Find people to learn from. Find people to teach. Find people to laugh with, argue with, or people you can help or who can help you. Use TweetDeck, Seesmic or Hootsuite to streamline your efforts.

And have fun.

Seriously? Another “Twitter For Business” Post? is a post from: RSA Blog

Are you ready for the holidays?   Well, it is now October – Rapid City’s first snow has fallen.  Yes, it is long-due time to start thinking about the holidays – and holiday advertising (see tips below).

With a well crafted message, promotion and placement, holiday advertising can be incredibly effective.  Whether your business is retail or service oriented and regardless of your product’s gifting nature, the holidays are an opportune time to connect with people.

Reasons for holiday advertising:

• People are in the buying/giving spirit and feeling nostalgic.
• Your competition is surely advertising.  If they’re not, you have a huge advantage!
• TOMA (top of mind awareness). During the holidays, people have a number of things on their minds.  Even if you’re not selling gifts, you don’t want them to forget about you.
• People are looking for deals and gift ideas – paying attention to ads.
• Increased sales numbers. We’ve seen clients experience a 50% sales increase (or more) from a holiday ad campaign!
• There are plenty more.  What are your reasons for advertising, or not, during the holidays?
  

Ok, but why so soon?

Honestly, the sooner the better – many companies even start planning in the summer. Locally, it is best to have your holiday campaigns planned and placed (or at least started) by mid-October!

Whether the plan is to run television ads, newspaper inserts or radio ads, the media companies have a limited ad space inventory. The time of day, shows and networks bought can have a dramatic affect on your advertising results.  Reserving  spots now will ensure you reach the right people with the right messages and at the right time to get the most out of your marketing budget.

Tips for Effective Holiday Advertising

1. Direct Mail can be great for holiday promotions.  Just remember that it has to stand out.  Especially during the holidays when everyone is trying to get people’s attention, your direct mail pieces have to be unique in size, fold, shape, colors and overall design. You’ll also need an offer (buy one, get one; dollar or percentage off; FREE; bonus; etc.) and call to action significant enough for people to care.  It needs to immediately capture attention. And remember that if it looks like junk, it will probably end up in the trash (or compost bin in my case).
   
2. Television is a common favorite for holiday advertising.  Since people are generally more emotional during the holiday season, television with its visuals, music and creative concepts, is able to successfully appeal to people’s emotions.
   
3. Radio can reach people when they’re already in the car, out and about shopping or traveling.  This can be especially good for retailers and restaurants.  Restaurants, for instance, can appeal to people busy with holiday shopping, parties, and planning when cooking is often the last thing they want to deal with.
   
4. Newspaper advertising, having similar benefits and challenges as direct mail, has to be unique enough for people to notice in the slew of ads and inserts.  This can be highly effective, though, especially for retail businesses that are offering a sale.  Many people scour sales ads in the newspaper before setting out to do their holiday shopping. Again, the offers have to be significant enough for people to care.
   
5. Web marketing before/during the holidays can greatly benefit retailers.  A lot of people do their holiday shopping online these days.  Using social media, a website, or online ads can help draw shoppers back to your physical retail store.  Offering special insentives and sales exclusively for  your online followers can get them through your front door. And as always – make sure that your offline advertising reaches your online audience by making all of your messages available online to those searching for more info.

All-in-all, if your business does not currently advertise during the holidays, it is definitely something to look into and it’s not too late.  If you do advertise during the holidays and haven’t started planning, production or placement – get on it!

Are you ready?  Have you already started your planning?  Have you already started your holiday shopping?  Do you pay attention to ads during the holidays?

Holiday Advertising is a post from: RSA Blog

We’ve embedded the slide deck below for your reference, and also included some key takeaways from what we talked about. As always, if you have any questions leave a comment or get in touch with us in whatever way you prefer. ;)

We’re also going to be posting some more related info in the coming weeks that should help clarify some things we discussed, so stay tuned for that. Go ahead and subscribe if you like, so you don’t have to remember to check back!  We are always open to suggestions for new blog posts.  If there is something you would like us to write about or if you have any questions, feel free to comment below.

Promotion in the Marketing Mix

• Markets: where buyers and sellers interact for goods, services, and information.
• Marketing: the full management process from concept to customer (businessdictionary.com)
• Promotion within traditional marketing (mediums) and interactive marketing is different in where advertising and promotions are placed: traditional being television, radio, magazines, newspapers, while interactive is online.
• Millions of people still use traditional media on a daily basis and companies would be wise to combine their placement of advertising/marketing with traditional media and online.
• Online is where marketplaces are growing as viewership, listenership, and readership decreases among traditional mediums. Every demographic is online from young to old with interests in every industry. In fact, retirees and baby boomers are the growing demographic online.

Benefits of Interactive Marketing

• The marketing principles are the same – you’re still addressing people with a want/interest/need that you fill and letting them know that you have the solution.
• Five core elements of interactive marketing (web marketing, online marketing, internet marketing, new media – all the same): website/blog, SEO/SEM, banner ads, email, and social media.
• People need to be viewed/approached differently.  It’s not all about you.  BE HELPFUL.  Share what you know and give back to the community.  Once you gain people’s trust (and interest), you can start mixing in promotion.
• Networking, fostering relationships and authenticity online shows that you care about the people you do business with and makes people feel good about doing business with you.  People buy from people and social interaction gives your company a face and a personality.
• Gain insight and influence.  What’s going on out there?  What do people want from you?
• Interactive marketing can be used as a sales tool…on many different levels.  From blogging and raising awareness, to directly addressing and filling an expressed need.
• Your online audience is very targeted and direct. When you are online and relevant…and optimized, people that want what you have will find you.
• It is important to “connect the dots” for your audience.  Take your offline messages to your online audience.
• Finally, interactive marketing is efficient.  It does still take time and money if you want to do it right, but what you put into it goes a long way.
• There is truly a lot that interactive marketing can do for your company, I just tried to highlight some main points.  In summary, the stronger your company’s online and interactive presence, the stronger its relationships/findability will be, and more likely people will choose you over another option.

How to Use Interactive Marketing

• Listen, listen, listen. This gives you insight into your audience and market, as well as opportunities to engage. Use Google Alerts, Technorati, BoardTracker, and tools like Social Mention. Use regular search engines. Create online polls for your existing customers.
  
• Have an objective. What do you want to accomplish online? This should be based on your research (listening), and should serve your overall business strategy.
• Form a strategic plan for your online efforts. Makes as many decisions and answer as many questions as you can before you begin: budget, staff, resources, content, presentation, metrics…this will save you time and money in the end.
• Make sure your tactical process serves your strategy, rather than your personal taste. Each technology has a specific purpose, and your business won’t need all of them. Most (but not all) organizations will benefit from use of a blog, Facebook page or Twitter (or all of the above). The best way to learn the technical side is to dive in and start using these tools. Just make sure to start with your objective.
  
• Evaluate your efforts. You decided in the beginning what you wanted to measure, now assess how you did. What other data did you gather that may give you unexpected insight into the process? If you don’t know what worked and what didn’t work, you’ll have a more difficult time justifying and improving your efforts. So evaluate what you did, refine your objective, and repeat the cycle.

Remember, marketing hasn’t changed. It’s fundamentally the same, whether offline or online. It incorporates both traditional and “new” media into a synchronized relationship, giving you access to your entire audience (they ARE in both spaces), and the power of new technology.

What are you waiting for?

Interactive Marketing For Small Business (Followup) is a post from: RSA Blog

Play to win! Focus on the objective and build a strategy to get there.

Having a web strategy is a lot like declaring a major in college – once you decide on a career path and declare your major, you have a clear objective, something to work toward. This defines the classes you take, maybe your extra curricular activities, and even the people you associate with.

What’s your objective?
Defining your objective helps you focus on the building blocks required to successfully take you from your freshman year to graduation to a promising career (this also makes your parents happy, as you will graduate on time and end up costing them less money).

Missing Pieces
If you don’t declare your major, you may take alot of classes and feel like you know alot of “stuff”, but none of it will lead to an actual career (last time I checked, “career students” didn’t get paid very well).

If you just take classes with no goal in mind, you will be missing pieces of your education. This will mean additional semesters, which will lead to added years of college – a college education doesn’t come cheap, so unless you have money to waste, this also means more money will be spent trying to “figure it out as you go along”. The same situation can be applied to your website.

Strategically Speaking
If you have a website with no objective and therefore no strategy, to put it bluntly, you are wasting your money.

With no strategy, your web presence is floundering around in “cyberspace” with no real purpose -  it’s just kinda “there”. It may be a place you can refer existing customers to, but if they’re already your customers – unless your website is a customer service tool – why are you sending them to your website if they already know you?

Set Goals
Goals are important, they make you aware of how people use your site and give you the opportunity to adjust the strategy to meet their expectations.

What do you want people to do once they find your site?  Do you have something to sell? Do you want them to contact you, visit a specific page, learn something, download a PDF? Is there a way for you to stay in contact with them? Do you want them to return – are you giving people a compelling reason to come back to your site?

If there are no goals in place, then there are no goals for your users to accomplish, no conversions to track, and no way of measuring the success of your website…if you can’t measure the success of your website, what’s the point?

Think ROI
Many people build websites with no strategy and then they wonder why it didn’t work – it may look nice, but where’s the growth? Why isn’t it bringing more leads? Why isn’t it generating sales? Why aren’t there more revisits to the site? Where’s my return on investment?

A web strategy is an investment and it will show you a return - its primary focus is on an objective tied to your business goals, whether that be making money, creating awareness, changing minds, or encouraging involvement.

(photos courtesy of lilit via flickr)

Web Strategy? Why do I need a strategy? is a post from: RSA Blog

*It is far easier to ensure good customer service than to repair the damages of bad service – like trying to repair a broken window. (Photo credit: Shoes on Wires)

Why are any of us in business? I think that’s a question more people should ask themselves. Sometimes, I don’t know why some businesses bother to go on.

Lately service, or rather a lack of it, has really got to me. I recently ordered some replacement glass for my new house from a local (nameless) company. One of the windows was cracked when I moved in. It was delivered after two weeks which is when the trouble started. Not only was the glass too big, but I also had to pay a Glazier for a window that wasn’t fitted.

The glass company happily took the window back, admitting that it had measured it wrong (good so far). They said that they’d let me know when the new glass was ready. Fast forward six weeks; one more incorrectly measured pane of glass, and I am now fuming. For some time they weren’t even answering my calls; even the shop was closed when I went to visit. Eventually after several phone calls – and a call to the owner’s personal residence – I have a new piece of glass that is supposed to be going in this weekend (I’ll keep you posted). What really annoyed me was the lack of contact and severe delays with no explanation or apology. Rest assured I won’t be going back!

If I contrast this with another story of poor service, it illustrates how things can start out bad, but turn out for the best…

In 1998 my niece was born. She was living in Germany and I was living in England. At the time I wasn’t flush with cash, so, saving for a flight took some time. Nevertheless, I couldn’t miss an opportunity to see my sister’s first child, a beautiful baby girl. So I ended up in Dusseldorf, Germany, and spent a week there, taking pictures of my new niece and having a generally great time (I am a big beer drinker, eater of fresh pretzels, ahh… Ahem, that’s another blog).

So I got back to England and rushed the pictures to the developers – I didn’t have a digital camera at the time and in England, I used to use a well known chemist who also developed photos. Unfortunately, I did not use the 1-hour service which means that your photos stay in the store. Instead, I used the more affordable option, which took longer, but meant the photos were sent away to a processing center. The developer then lost the photos. I angrily explained the importance of these photos as they were of a newborn far away in Germany; therefore not immediately accessible for more snaps.

A week went by and I received a letter from the company’s Operations Manager, who apologized for the loss and gave me a check for £100 (about $155). While it was nice to receive a check, and also a signed letter, it did not bring my photos back. So I wrote back and enclosed the initial check, explaining that the photos were worth far more than this. A few days later, the company called me, and suggested that they pay for first class plane tickets back to Germany over Christmas for me and my family (three of us). I couldn’t believe my ears – I was ecstatic and accepted the offer – we spent a delightful Christmas and New Year in Dusseldorf.

Even after all of these years, I recall this story easily; it truly restored my faith in this company and it also demonstrated that humanity and dignity are a considerable element in quality service. It also proves a point, that while some customer experiences are negative, they can be turned into a positive if managed in the proper way.

Everyone accepts that things go wrong, we all make mistakes; doctors remove the wrong kidney; our troops are hit by “friendly fire”; it’s not intentional – it’s regrettable. I don’t for one minute believe that the harsh realities of modern warfare or mistakes in the medical profession are comparable to my customer service stories. But ultimately the most important thread in all of these analogies is how we deal with the aftermath, how we deal with difficult situations. In my view we need to embrace our mistakes; put measures into place that eliminate their reoccurrence and constantly evaluate our performance. Ultimately, a great customer experience should be at the heart of all we do. We just need to remind ourselves of that sometimes because in this day and age, customer service is a matter of survival. Customer service should never be an afterthought.

Why Good Customer Service is so Important is a post from: RSA Blog

Photo Credit: Mykl Roventine Marketing on the Internet is a logical piece of the 21st century business puzzle.

Though people have been finding ways to market on the Internet for years, its broad marketing potential is still pretty new.

In my experience, most small business owners aren’t yet familiar with what internet marketing is and how it differs from/relates to traditional marketing media. I hope to answer some fundamental questions, or at least paint a clearer picture with this post.

Since we are talking about the world wide web, there are many advertising and marketing possibilities.  But what’s best for your business?  Well, that depends on your desired outcome (and budget). I’ll highlight three of the most common ways to market on the internet.

In addition to a company’s website, search engine marketing, social media marketing, and banner ads have proven to be highly effective in generating both web and foot traffic.  All of these are useful marketing elements that enhance a company’s internet presence to promote offline business and online sales.

1.) Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
This is largely organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization). A comprehensive SEO plan is an essential component of any online marketing strategy.

SEO is all about relevant links and content – making both people and search engines happy. When a site’s content is laid out in a way that is easy to navigate, provides valuable/relevant  information and stays up-to-date, people are happy when they land there, stay there, come back, link to it, etc.   Search engines know what makes the people happy within a site and are programmed to promote sites that people will find valuable when they search.

Every website has a ton of SEO content potential, but few small businesses take advantage of how the internet works and how people can ultimately end up on their website.  Without SEO in mind, small business websites are close to useless (as no one will find them).

SEM also encompasses PPC (pay per click) sponsored search results.

Tracey’s written previously on the value and process of SEM/SEO.  If you’re thirsty for juicier SEO details, take a look at Tracey’s Google and the Basics of Search or How to Get to the Top of Google?.

2.) Social Media Marketing (SMM)
A very hot topic, this one is kind of tricky to nail down and can be broken into multiple levels and methods.  Marketing in social spaces is not cut-and-dry; you can’t just get on and broadcast your message.

Social media is fundamentally about social people, but it can function as a marketing tool for relationship and reputation building/management – and there are many ways to go about it.

But why should you bother?

• TOMA (top of mind awareness)
• Customer service
• Brand management
• SEO
• …the list goes on.
  

The stronger a company’s online interactive presence, the stronger its relationships will be with the customer, and the more loyal the customer will be to that brand.

3.) Banner Ads

Of all internet marketing platforms, banner ads are the most similar to traditional marketing and advertising.  The concept is actually fairly simple, initially.  You pay a relevant web site owner to post your ad and hope that people will click through to the advertised website or simply show up at the store to buy the advertised product.  Banner ads can also be placed as PPC (pay per click) and incorporate geo-targeting, etc.

4.) ***Bonus: Email Marketing

I don’t really consider email as a type of internet marketing, but many marketers do and it is certainly worth mentioning.  For the most part, it seems that people are more familiar/comfortable with email marketing (because it’s not new) than with the things that I mentioned above.

Email is a great opportunity to precisely target/personalize/adjust your messages, track results, stay in touch, etc.  From newsletters and tips to promotions and coupons, email is a consistent marketing player and has a strong ROI potential.

Most of the online marketing strategies that we’ve seen to be effective include one or more of these elements.  Plus, when used in conjunction (and right) each piece will complement the efforts of the others.  And if approached properly, internet marketing can be a win-win situation for both companies and customers.

Please comment with any questions that are still unanswered!  I’d love to hear what you have to say, even if you don’t have questions (i.e. you love this post, hate it, disagree; we’re 100% on the same page; I missed something, etc).  Say hello.

Elements of Internet Marketing is a post from: RSA Blog

Meet Mr. Social. He’s practical, sensible and sensitive.

(Image credit: Allied Newspapers Limited | via letslookupandsmile)

From my cousin asking about Twitter or my boyfriend’s mother about Facebook, to random people I meet that gripe about social media being a waste of time, it seems to be everywhere I turn.

But why?

What makes social media so special?

Whether you look at it from a marketing perspective or simply as a way to stay connected to friends, family and the rest of the world, social media is quite practical in our modern, speed-of-the-web society. Here are 14 practical uses for social media.

Personal:

1. Conversation - You are able to connect with people of like interests and talk about things that matter to you.
2. Relationships – Social media opens up opportunities to build relationships with people you would have otherwise never met in your lifetime, be they from across town or around the world.
3. Connection - People use social media tools to keep in touch with family, friends and anyone else that might be interested – sharing photos, videos, stories and random life snip its.
4. Learning – You might be amazed what you can learn from what other people share, be it links, inspiration, tips, etc.
5. Research - This kind of goes hand-in-hand with #4, but social media is largely dominating the news and information scene. Understanding how to use and filter the information shared can be a major asset.
6. Personal brand/networking - As more companies begin incorporating social media into their business models, many reference the online presence and tone of bid/job applicants. It’s all about the people you know, and the people that know you. A greater online presence can give you both a personal and professional edge.

Business:

7. All of the above, of course. It is quite helpful when social media is used as much personally as for business. Frequent personal use aids in authenticity, and a strong (positive) personal online reputation greatly benefits business efforts.
8. Raising brand awareness - Comparable to #6 above. The more actively your company is represented in social spaces, the more people will know who you are and the more likely you will be the one they think of when they have a need/want that your services or products fill.
9. Customer service – An active business social media presence makes you available to customers where they are. Social media can be used as a fast, efficient and effective component of your customer service regime.
10. Networking - Again, it’s all about who you know. Social media opens up opportunities for partnerships and new business every day. Being actively involved and interacting with others in your industry, or in industries that yours serves, helps keep that door of opportunity revolving. The principles and potential are the same as a local chamber mixer, only on a larger scale.
11. Establish/maintain industry authority – The nature of social media evokes authenticity. If you, as a company, are active in this realm and are truly good at what you do, people will see it. On the other hand, if your competition is better at connecting with people or has a stronger online presence, they could be perceived as the authority.
12. Brand management – This is a pretty big one. With the rise of social media, brand management has moved into the hands and opinions your customers. They will talk about you, good or bad, whether you’re involved in the conversation or not. You need to know when your customers are unhappy. Social media helps you to find their complaints, praise, or whatever it is and empowers you address it then and there. You can now be a part of that conversation and take/keep control of your brand reputation.
13. Attracting search traffic – When social elements are incorporated into your website with the ever flow of fresh and user-generated content, it draws search engine attention and authority. Social media can also aid in link building, but this is generally not the point or main objective.
14. Keep ‘em coming back for more - Visitors are more likely to return when you incorporate interactive and social components on/with your website, keeping it up-to-date with new information and user-generated content.

The social web is a medium of many hats. There are probably many more practical, and not so practical, uses of social media than I have mentioned here. I would love to hear what you think.

14 Practical Uses for Social Media is a post from: RSA Blog