Making Your Small Business Stand Out

A recent (12/10/11) report from lead generating firm MerchantCircle/Reply.com states that in a survey of 2,500 US small business owners, SEO is the way they would go. The way they would go, that is, If they only  had one choice on which to focus their marketing.

The survey asked, “If you had to put all your marketing time and budget into only one channel, what would it be?” The participants were then given 6 choices of marketing channels: SEO, paid search, traditional media, social media, mobile marketing, or none of the above. Nearly 33% of the respondents chose SEO as their marketing channel of choice, if that’s all they had available. The closest second was traditional media, garnering 19% of the responses. Traditional media was defined for the purposes of the survey as radio/television, newspaper ads, Yellow pages listings, and direct mail. Newspaper advertising space and direct mail were the two traditional marketing channels identified in the survey as the most used by the small businesses participating.

Another surprising result of the survey was to see that Facebook, not Facebook ads, was the number one choice for social media marketing. It beat out Google by 15%, LinkedIn by 18%, Twitter by 38% and YouTube by a whopping 50%. (There were a host of other media sites to choose from, including Bing, Yelp, and Foursquare.)

So what does all this mean for you? Well, if you are a small business (just under 80% of the survey’s participants had 4 or fewer employees, so we’re talking small business here) and you’re not using SEO strategies in your marketing campaign, you may want to rethink that for the coming year. It would appear that your competition has already figured out that SEO marketing is the way to go for their small businesses across the country. You may want to consider adding a bit of social media marketing next year, as well. You don’t want to be the only shop on Main Street without a Facebook business page, do you?

I think this survey also shows that SEO marketing and social media marketing aren’t just for the big firms anymore, and need to be taken seriously by the small business owner. Granted, the ROI in both SEO marketing and SM marketing can’t always immediately be registered. Nor can you typically find good SEO marketing and SM marketing providers right around the corner like you can your local newspaper or print shop. It takes some time to find a SEO marketing firm that you’re comfortable working with. It takes some research and effort to find a good SEO marketing firm you can afford and see the results from their efforts. It also takes a real investment of money – you can’t get something for nothing, not even on the Internet. By looking at the results of this survey from November, it would appear that the savvy, strategic small business owner can’t afford to NOT invest some time, money and energy into SEO marketing and a social media presence. His competition already has.

Using SEO in Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

Social media marketing is everywhere, and if you listen to the “experts” it’s the new face of the marketing world. What then, is an SEO marketer to do? The simple answer is to combine the two. SEO and social media marketing are really just two powerful weapons in the marketer’s arsenal, after all.

SEO and social media marketing are two forms of so-called “inbound” marketing. For those readers who aren’t familiar with all the technical terms of the marketing world, inbound marketing is anything that the customer goes to, as opposed to outbound marketing that goes out to the customer. So, SEO articles and other optimized content such as web pages are part of the inbound marketing crowd. Social media marketing also runs with that crowd, as customers find blogs, Facebook and Twitter accounts, YouTube videos and all the other boys in the band that is social media marketing.

SEO is used in conjunction with social media marketing then to pack a double power punch. Not optimizing social media content is like loading the gun with rubber bullets. If a customer or potential client can’t find your great social media content via search engines, what good is it? If a customer or potential client doesn’t realize that the great social media content they are reading or watching or following is your brand, what’s the point? Using SEO tactics along with your creative and awe-inspiring social media content is putting the hollow-point, full metal jacketed shells in the gun. It says you mean business and you intend to blow your competition away!

Using SEO with blog post content is relatively easy. You simply use all your best SEO strategies when writing the post – keywords, density, themed SEO content, backlinks, etc. Optimizing other social media content may take a bit more work and creativity. Strategically building a social web presence that promotes sharing of content and audience participation isn’t an overnight operation. You have to begin by knowing your client base and what types of social content they prefer using. Once you get your customers playing along, joining in and generating some buzz, your battle is half over, as the search engines will pick up on all that chatter and name dropping. Then, your rankings will start to climb.

Using SEO strategies without some sort of social web presence isn’t too smart in today’s marketing world, either. Your wonderfully optimized content isn’t much of a tour de force without the power of social media behind it anymore. The inbound links from all that sharing, voting and commenting literally can’t be bought! Your devoted fans generate more and more fans as they unknowingly target other members of your audience just like themselves. The exposure and traffic they can provide is invaluable to your marketing efforts – it’s word of mouth marketing at its finest.

SEO and social media marketing shouldn’t and really can’t, be seen as separate entities. One without the other is leaving half your troops in reserve. Combining the two makes the best sense in today’s tough marketplace minefield.

With over 175,000 blogs being created every day and well over 50 million blogs already online, you may wonder about the value of blogging in such a huge market. Why blog when there is so much competition? Should you hire a blogger to run your business blog? Why invest time and money into marketing your blog?

Even with hundreds of thousands of blogs being created every week in a seemingly bloated market, search engines look at updated, useful blogs as very valuable content. If you create and maintain a valuable blog, you can attract the attention of search engines and bring in an endless supply of potential customers.

Why hire a blogger?
The problem many blogs face is they fail to stay updated. If you only post once a month, do you really expect customers to flock to your pages? Hiring a blogger to maintain a fresh flow of content can be invaluable, but only if s/he understands your company and your customers.

Get the Most Out of Your Blogger
Your bloggers words are the words that will be ringing in the ears of your customers. Make sure his/her message, tone, content is what you want your customers reading and make sure your blogger is reaching your target audience. One thing you can try is to set goals for your blogger to reach. For example, you might give him or her a goal of 5,000 RSS subscribers in one year. You might have him or her link to social sites and build your following. Creating challenges for your blogger can help ensure you’re getting the quality content you need to captivate your audience.

Importance of Useful, Updated, and Unique Content
Useful content can define web brands. Updated content keeps consumers interested. Unique content differentiates your business from others. These are all essential. Challenge your blogger to provide useful content that speaks to your customer and hits at the essence of your brand identity. But remember, you get what you pay for. Good content very rarely comes cheap.

If you want more value and professionals in your content, make sure you’re paying the right rate. But at the same time, don’t over pay for content that’s under performing. As with any advertising or marketing effort, you should get a return on your investment. It’s important to track your leads and the performance of your blog and make sure you’re happy with your ROI.

Get Creative
Inspiring creativity may sound secondary to what you pay. However, it’s just as important. You can challenge your blogger early by brainstorming with him or her. You can discuss where you want to go with the blog and what you’d like to accomplish, but it’s okay leave it open ended. If you’re paying a professional to handle your blog, they should have the marketing skills and know-how to accomplish your goals.

Get the most out of your blog and your blogger with clear marketing objectives and goals. With the right message, updated content and clearly defined objectives, you never know where your blog will take you.

In their book, “The Must-Have Customer,” Robert Gordman and Armin Brott give some valuable insight into what really matters in terms of customers. While the book goes over marketing in general, the basic idea, which many expert marketers will agree with, is that you don’t always want more customers.

It may seem odd, but you don’t want more customers in general. As Gordman and Brott point out as a huge flaw in our perception of the buyer/seller relationship, “the customer isn’t always right.” And when dealing with difficult customers, that no matter what you do will never be happy, more is definitely not better, or even profitable for that matter.

Another common mistake many businesses make in an effort to win more customers is a price war. This is an almost pointless way of going down and down in price hoping to get the wrong kind of customers. What you want, rather than simply more customers is the right customer.

The right customer is loyal, is a repeat buyer, spreads the message about your company to friends and family and helps your business overall. He or she may be your best buyer and your best seller all in one. You cannot only depend on them to buy from you regularly, but they will also tell friends and family. They are often the best opportunity for new customers. Word of mouth has always been vital for businesses and now online with social media, everyone is just a few clicks away.

Your core customer can be one of your most valuable assets. If you can determine who your core customer is, it will define your business and your marketing strategy. Your core customer is an individual in your target market. They can be described in terms of demographics, psychological and regional terms. In other words, you want to know who this individual is, how s/he thinks, where s/he lives and how s/he spends his or her time. Knowing who your core customer is will allow you to cater your marketing efforts to reach your target more effectively.

Does that mean you should turn away customers? This may sound like an easy answer, but it’s not. Some customers are simply bad and will actually cost you money. For example, if you offer a 100% money back guarantee, they might actually ask for their money back even if your product or service helped them. The hope is, that by catering to your core customer, you will attract more of the right customers and avoid the wrong ones.

It’s important to remember that customer is not always right. If they cost you money, it’s time to start looking for a new buyer. Core customers make you money, and that’s why they’re always right.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising can do more than simply create traffic for your website. If creatively executed, you can put the search engines to work for you and create a brand people can identify.

When it comes to PPC advertising solutions, Google AdWords is pretty much king. But since Google’s king of search engines, that’s really no surprise. Customers search Google more than any other search engine.

A recent study comparing AdWords to Yahoo Search Marketing noted that it’s often 50 percent cheaper to bid on keywords with AdWords. So not only is Adwords based on the most used search engine, but it also tends to be cheaper. That doesn’t mean you should only consider using AdWords. Using both Search Marketing and AdWords can be a good strategy. But if you’re operating on a small marketing budget, AdWords could help save some money.

PPC is designed to create traffic, but of course, like any advertising strategy it does have limitations. PPC can sometimes fail to bring business to companies competing with larger corporations. In other instances, you’ll fail to reach a receptive audience. Many searchers choose not to click on the paid search results, believing the organic results are going to be more relevant. And sometimes, you just can’t compete with the main keywords of your niche because the cost per click will simply be too expensive.

However, PPC advertising has many advantages over other internet advertising programs. Here are some key advantages to using PPC.

Shoestring Budget
It is possible to start a PPC campaign with a just a few bucks. With an endless supply of keywords and keyword phrases, you can generally build a localized or very niche, long-tail keyword campaign on a small budget. You might get fewer impressions, but when you do win the click you have a better chance of actually being what the search is looking for. Of course, if you’re looking to go after more generalized or popular keywords just as “books for sale” or “movie sales,” to compete you’ll need a much bigger budget.

Branding
If you want to build a brand, you need to market not only your services or products, but also your company. PPC is one of the best tools for getting your company name noticed. With PPC, your company name and ad will display at the top of the search engine when potential buyers search your keywords. Even if buyers don’t click on your ad, they are still seeing it, giving you free exposure.

Page Domination
Like I stated earlier, a lot of people choose not to click on the sponsored search results because they believe the organic to be more relevant. Well the opposite is true for another subset of searchers. Therefore, one of the best strategies for PPC advertising is to use it in conjunction with search engine optimization. This can give your website the potential to show up in the sponsored and organic search results, allowing you to dominate the search results and show that you are the true expert in your industry.

You may have never considered it, but in a way Pay-Per-Click and branding actually do go hand in hand. But with the amount of exposure search engines offer, it’s really quite simple. Your buyers are using them to find you, why not make it easier. A well executed PPC campaign can get you brand exposure, help you build your brand identity, establish you as an expert in your field and direct traffic to your website.

Just about every company is implementing cost-cutting measures to deal with the current recession. In many cases, companies are significantly cutting their advertising budget. A number of recent studies have come out that would suggest this is a significant mistake. Indeed, a recent research study by McGraw-Hill of 600 businesses found businesses that maintained or increased their ad spend saw higher sales growth during a recession and in the years following. The study found those who maintained or increased their ad budgets experienced a 256% increase in sales compared to those who cut their budgets.

Armed with this information, the prudent course would suggest a company maintain or increase its advertising budget during the current recession. Agree? Actually, this is a trick question. It’s similar to saying “practice makes perfect.” However, that’s simply not true. Only perfect practice makes perfect. This is also true of advertising. A significant amount of money can be easily wasted by advertising in the wrong media. For example, the phonebook is infrequently used to find business services. The go to source today has become Internet search engines. I doubt few would argue with this. Many of us use a search engine, like Google, every day. In my own case, which I believe is representative, I rarely use the phonebook to find goods and services. Today, Google is even used to find phone numbers. In effect, it has replaced the phonebook. Therefore, advertising in the phonebook would likely yield a poor return on investment.

Getting results in today’s economy

As the president of an Internet marketing company, it would be self-serving for me to suggest that search engine marketing is where a company should spend its advertising dollars. Not only would that be self-serving, but in my opinion it would be a half truth. Getting results in today’s recession economy requires a new approach. I believe the new mantra should be promotion during a recession, not simply advertising.

Obviously search engine advertising has its place and deserves serious consideration when developing your marketing communication plan. However, there are numerous other marketing, public relations and sales thrusts that deserve equal consideration.

Here are some to consider:

Search Engine Optimized Website

Every company, from a one-person consultancy to a Fortune 500 enterprise, needs a search engine optimized Website equal to or better than the competition they face in the marketplace. Let’s face reality. The go-to source for information has become Internet search engines. Having a competitive Website is simply not enough. Statistics show that approximately 90% of all Websites are found as the result of a search. Therefore, if your Website is not found in the search engines, and more specifically within the first two pages of search returns, your Website is virtually invisible. 65% of searches stop on the first page of search returns. Only 35% proceed to the second page. Seldom does anyone go further. Therefore, the first step in the new mantra of promotion is to have a search engine optimized Website equal to or better than the competition.

• Read more about search engine optimized web design. (http://www.iblogmarketing.com/2009/06/01/website-design-critical-to-business-success-online-and-off-line/)

Optimized Press Releases

Companies want to work with companies that are busy. They probably don’t teach that in the Harvard business school, but it’s a fact of life. One great way to demonstrate that the company is both busy and in the forefront of its industry is through the use of search engine optimized press releases. When done properly, the search engine optimized press release will rank highly in key news portals, such as Google News and Yahoo! News. Over 70% of journalists use news portals to keep abreast of the news in the industries they cover. In addition, search optimized press releases are picked up by numerous Websites throughout the Internet. This is also a great way to build link popularity (i.e. external links pointing to your Website), which in turn will help your Website rank highly in the search engines.

E-Mail Marketing

E-mail is making a comeback and provides an excellent way to generate leads, increase sales, and keep your company top of mind. I covered this in a recent blog post, E-mail Marketing Soars in Recession.

• Read more about e-mail marketing. (http://www.iblogmarketing.com/2009/05/26/email-marketing-soars-in-recession)

Social Media Marketing

Lastly, consider launching a social media marketing campaign. Social media sites like Facebook, networking sites like LinkedIn, and micro-blogs like Twitter are proving to be highly effective marketing and communication channels. Our agency, TMA E-Marketing, has been helping a wide spectrum of clients, ranging from Fortune 500 enterprises to startups, develop effective social media marketing campaigns tailored to their specific objectives.

• Read more about social media marketing. (http://www.iblogmarketing.com/2009/04/20/social-media-marketing-critical-to-business-success-part-i/)

As an Internet marketing, advertising and public relations agency, we strongly believe in the value of advertising. However, don’t be fooled by statistics that simply hail the merits of advertising in a recession. We believe that the advertising must be strategically targeted to reach the right audience. We also believe in a balanced approach, including the elements discussed above. Don’t simply develop an advertising plan. Develop an integrated marketing communication plan that cost-effectively promotes your company to your target market.

Part 1:  What is Social Media Marketing?

Most businesses back in the 1950’s relied heavily on “word of mouth”.  Of course, there were also several significant advertising mediums available, such as newspaper, radio, direct mail, and the new embryonic media called television.  However, “word of month” played a significant role and for some businesses was their life blood.

In today’s high-tech world, “word of mouth” still plays a significant role. 

Let’s look at some recent statistics:

• Recommendations from family and friends totally outweigh other consumer touch-points when it comes to influencing purchases (ZenithOptimedia, AdAge, April, 2008)
• 86.9% of respondents said they would trust a friend’s recommendation over a review by a critic, while 83.8% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. (Marketing Sherpa, July 2007)
• Consumers say that word of mouth is still the number one influencer in their apparel (34.3%) and electronics (44.4%) purchases (Retail Advertising and Marketing Association/BIGresearch Study, November 2008)
• According to a global Nielsen survey of 26,486 Internet users in 47 markets, consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising among 78% of the study’s respondents. (Nielsen, “Word-of-Mouth the Most Powerful Selling Tool”, October 2007)

Undeniably, on the Internet, “word of mouth” has become “word of mouse” and a critical element in influencing the decisions people make.  For example, comScore and the Kelsey Group reported that reviews generated by fellow consumers on Internet shopping sites had a greater influence than those generated by professionals (comScore/The Kelsey Group, October 2007). 

What does “word of mouth” have to do with Social Media Marketing? 

Actually, it has everything to do with Social Media Marketing.  Just consider the results of JupiterResearch.  Online social network users were three times more likely to trust their peers’ opinions over advertising when making purchase decisions. (“Social Networking Sites: Defining Advertising Opportunities in a Competitive Landscape,” JupiterResearch, March 2007).

What is Social Media Marketing? 

From my view point, Social Medial Marketing is a form of Internet marketing which seeks to achieve branding, marketing communication, and sales through:

• Participation in social media sites – such as Facebook, MySpace, Classmates.com, YouTube, Flickr, iBlogBusiness, iBizRadio, LinkedIn, and Digg
• Utilization of social media – such as blogs, micro-blogs (like Twitter), audio/video media & podcasts, and public bookmarks

Now, we are ready to address the key question:  Why is Social Media Marketing critical to business success?  Stay tuned for Part 2, which addresses this question.

Part 2:  The Internet Marketing Plan

It is widely accepted that the Internet has become the “go to” source to find products and services.  For this reason and in today’s difficult economy, it’s critical for every company to utilize the Internet to generate sales and/or leads to fuel their business.  Whether you’re an enterprise company or a small business, you should have an Internet marketing plan.  Obviously, a larger company requires a more sophisticated and comprehensive Internet marketing plan.  However, independent of company size, the central element of any Internet marketing plan is a search engine optimized Website.  This being the case, let’s examine what it means to have a search engine optimized Website.

A question I am often asked in my seminars and workshops is:  What makes a good Website?   The answer to this question is relatively simple:  It needs to be equal to or better than your competitors’ Websites and it needs to be easily found in the search engines.  There are all types of Websites and generally, the price of the Website is directly proportional to the level of sophistication.    It is possible to spend millions of dollars developing a Website.  Good examples of a multimillion-dollar Websites are Amazon and Dell.  These Websites contain some of the most sophisticated technology available.  However, the technology has only one goal: Meet the company’s online sales objectives.  So the complete answer to what makes a good Website is three fold:

1. It must be equal to or better that your competitors
2. It must be built to achieve your company’s online objectives
3. It must be easily found in the search engines for keywords that your target market is likely to use

If it doesn’t meet all three criteria, it isn’t a “good” Website.  No matter how attractive and sophisticated a Website may be, it must meet the above three critical criteria to actually do a company much good.  Think about it.  Let’s assume you have an attractive Website and when people see it they usually say “Wow.”  That’s really a “so what” if it isn’t easily found in the search engines.  The reason for this is that search engines account for almost 90% of all the found sites on the Internet.  That means that even a company like Amazon must be easily found in the search engines.  Do a simple search for any thing that Amazon sells, for example “gardening books” and you will find them on the first page of Google.  If the result isn’t in the natural listings it will be found in the paid listing (i.e. listings a company pays for when someone clicks on their advertisement).  They do this because even with their immense branding and online presence, they completely understand the power of search engine marketing.  In the example I just gave, as of March 8, 2009, Amazon had the number one paid listing in Google and the number one natural listing.

Do you have to spend millions to have a “good” Website?  The answer for most of the companies that will read this blog is no.  You will need to spend whatever it takes to meet or beat the competition and be easily found in the search engines. 

Another question I am often asked in my seminars and workshops is:  Can I do it myself?  For most companies, even those with Information Technology people on staff, the answer is no.  The techniques of building a competitive Website that is easily found in the search engines isn’t just a technology challenge.  Technology plays a role, but it also requires:
• A thorough understanding of user friendly, as well as attractive, Web design
• Online copy writing that compels the target market to take action once they get to the site
• A thorough knowledge of search engine optimization

Obviously, while a search engine optimized Website is the central element of any Internet Marketing Plan, there are numerous other elements to consider.  These include:

• Social Media Marketing
• Mobile Marketing
• Online/Traditional Public Relations & Branding
• Shopping Comparison Site Advertising
• Email Marketing
• Integrated Media Advertising (i.e. integrating Print/Radio/TV with Internet marketing)
• Blog Development & Promotion
• Audio/Video Production
• 360’s Panoramic Views
• Podcasting & Promotion
• Contextual Internet Marketing (example:  a hotel banner ad on a travel site)
• International & Multicultural Internet Marketing

All elements of the Internet Marketing Plan need to be responsive to the company’s objectives.  Some companies may stop with a search engine optimized Website, while others may utilize some or all of the elements delineated above. 

Once again, it’s not about technology.  It’s about using technology combined with marketing savvy to meet the company’s return on investment (ROI) objectives.