mastering digital marketing

Copyright © 2010 Richard Butler www.DigitalMarketingDublin.com

MASTERING DIGITAL MARKETING

LOW COST METHODS TO INCREASE PROFITS

As a business owner in today’s economic climate, you are likely

more concerned than ever with your bottom line. It’s critical to

both increase sales and reduce costs. Every part of a business has to

be analyzed to determine if it is increasing profits — or just costs.

Marketing is no different.

Just a few short years ago a business could place an ad in the

Yellow Pages followed up with a few newspaper ads or direct

mailings. Today, frequently the only time the phone book is

touched is when a new copy is delivered. Newspapers are also

quickly becoming obsolete when compared with the instant news

found both online and on 24-hour news channels.

However, both newspapers and the Yellow Pages act as if they still

have the advertising monopoly that they held for so long. They

price their advertising as if there are no other options.

“OLD” -VS- “NEW” MARKETING

If you ask a room of 100 people if they’ve used the Yellow Pages in

the last month you might see one hand raised. Ask the same crowd

if they’ve used Google to search for a business or business phone

number and nearly all hands will go up.

+353-(0)87-6361907

[email protected]

Richard Butler

Digital

Marketing Dublin

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Richard Butler is a

trained business coach

and consultant to

small/home office

businesses.

In 2000 he wrote one

of the first books on

internet usage

published by OakTree

Press. His articles have

also appear in The Irish

Marketing Journal

He has lectured on

internet marketing for

business.

+353-(0)87-6361907

Mastering New Marketing DigitalMarketingDublin.Com

Copyright © 2010 Richard Butler www.DigitalMarketingDublin.com — 2 —

The average consumer is getting more connected every year. We’re

moving from desktop computers to wireless laptops to web-

enabled cell phones. It just makes sense that people will use

whatever is easiest, and today they’re looking towards the Internet.

Does this mean that traditional marketing methods no longer have

a place? Absolutely not. However they have become a small part of

a much larger whole. A business that ignores the Internet as a

marketing medium will quickly be passed by competitors who use it

effectively.

ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE MARKETING

Internet Marketing allows a business to have a great deal of

flexibility in their marketing efforts. Since all of the marketing

methods are digital, it’s very easy to change and tweak parts of

campaigns or even entire campaigns to either improve them or to

react to changing markets or to add new products or services.

Internet marketing efforts can be worldwide or can be targeted for

a region or a specific town or even a neighborhood. If a business

adds additional locations, new locations can be added to the mix

very painlessly.

For those who want to spread their marketing message across the

world, there has never been any advertising vehicle like the

Internet. A chocolatier based in a small mall in a suburban area can

sell and ship their chocolates anywhere in the world — without the

need to print and distribute catalogs. But not every business needs a

worldwide reach.

The Internet can also be used to target nearly any market segment.

No matter how specific your target market, the Internet can help

your customers find you. No longer do businesses have to rely on

the shotgun approach of traditional advertising. You can see exactly

what customers are searching for online and place your marketing

ARE YELLOW PAGES

DEAD?

Of course not. The printed

phone book is being used by

fewer people each year, so

the price tag just doesn’t

match the benefit.

NO ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL

SOLUTION

Every business has different

marketing needs. Even

direct competitors in the

same field might have

different marketing needs

based on their market

share, the age of their

business, and even the

segment of the market they

are targeting. Thankfully

marketing on the Internet

gives plenty of flexibility to

meet each business’

individual needs.



message in front of customers who are looking for your product or

service.

LOW COST

Traditional advertising is very expensive. The investment required

for a comprehensive Internet Marketing package, even when fully

outsourced, is a fraction of what a single Yellow Page ad might

cost.

MEASURABLE

No longer do you have to take shots in the dark. You won’t have to

rely on statistics from advertising salesmen either. With Internet

marketing, it’s easy to see real-time results of each piece of your

marketing campaign. When one part is making a larger impact, it

becomes very simple to ramp up that portion of your marketing

campaign. Finally, poorly performing methods can be turned off

nearly instantly. This can dramatically improve the cost

effectiveness of your advertising.

GROWING MEDIUM

Use of the Internet continues to grow at an incredible rate. In 2007,

58% of all American adults (both Internet users and non-Internet

users) stated that they used the Internet to research a product or

service (source: Pew Internet). This year that figure is expected to

be higher than 70%.

Doesn’t it make sense to place your marketing message in front of

those who are looking for it?

MARKETING ON THE INTERNET

THE SURVEY SAYS:

According to a December

2008 survey, 74% of

American adults use the

Internet.



When asked, most business owners will say that they are already

marketing on the Internet. “We have a website.” In truth, often a

business’ website is often nothing more than an online brochure —

it does little to help increase sales or to attract customers. Even an

effective website is only one part of an effective marketing

campaign online.

If you are serious about using the power of the Internet to drive

your company’s profits, consider the following marketing methods.

YOUR WEBSITE

What’s the purpose of your company website in its current form?

Does it “claim your space on the Internet” or perhaps provide an

address and phone number for those who are searching for your

business? Here are some other things that a website can (and

should) do:

Attract customers. A website should help your business attract

new customers who are searching for or researching your

product or service — or those who have the need your product

solves.

Capture leads. Once a visitor has found your website, if you

capture their contact information you’ll have multiple

opportunities to present different marketing messages.

Pre-sell your product or service. Show the benefits of your

product or service to start warming up your prospect for the

sale.

Sell your product or service. Using a shopping cart or other

methods actually sell your product or service directly from your

website.

Build and strengthen your customer relationships. Show

your customers that your company is made up of real people —

CALL TO ACTION

Every page on a website

should include a single

clear action for your

visitors and should tell your

visitors exactly how to take

that action.



people who have common interests.

Increase customer retention. Provide support or other

methods to make sure the customers you have today will be

around tomorrow.

Each of these actions works best if done somewhat independently

— each on its own page or section of your site. Changes to an

existing website can often be accomplished by simply adding a few

pages. For example a service business with an existing “brochure”

website might only need to add the following pages:

Pre-sell service A

Pre-sell service B

Lead Capture

So while the prospect of website changes might seem daunting,

often smaller focused is called for rather than broad wholesale

changes.

Finally, where at all possible it is important to build in a tracking

mechanism. This helps you to learn which parts of your site have

the most impact.

EMAIL MARKETING

Thanks to a few who have abused the system, email marketing

often gets a bad rap. However, email can be a powerful yet cost-

effective way to market to new prospects as well as a way to stay in

contact with existing customers. Possibly the best part of email

marketing systems is that they can be set up to be semi to fully

automated.

For prospective clients, once you capture their lead information,

the email marketing system can send them a series of pre-

composed emails — each with your specific sales message based on

EMAIL IS KING

91% of internet users send

and/or read email



whatever frequency your sales process requires. These emails might

be a series of soft-sell messages, each discussing a benefit of your

service. They could alternatively be used for weekly or monthly

product specials

It’s often significantly easier to get a pleased customer to return

than it is to attract a new customer. For this reason, email

marketing can be an extremely effective means of communicating

with existing customers. Give the fans of your business a way to

sign up for a “rewards program” or “birthday club” or even a

“lunch special” list, and you can give them incentive to return more

frequently. Not only will these emails bring your customers back,

they can also be used to strengthen your existing relationships by

staying in contact with your customers just to let them know what’s

happening within your business. Even automated emails can read

like a personal one-on-one contact.

If your product or service is one that requires ongoing support, a

support list can be a great way to provide information on product

updates or changes as well as common support issues. It can also

be used to remind customers how to find support (i.e. visit this

website or call this number) at set intervals after purchase.

As with most other marketing methods in this report, measurement

of results is an integral part of email marketing.

COMPANY BLOG

Nearly any business owner would agree that if he could take a

customer to lunch or for a round of golf, he has a great chance of

making a friend that will remain a customer for a long time. A blog

can be used for the same thing. When semi-regular blog posts are

made by the business owner (even if ghost-written), customers can

feel as if they are having a conversation with the owner. This feeling

is bolstered by their ability to leave comments, which makes it a

true two-way conversation.

BLOGS

A company blog does not

have to replace your

existing website. Normally

it is set up as a subpage.

For example:

www.yoursite.com/blog.



Blogging is a big part of relationship marketing. It can help the

customer feel he has a stronger relationship with the owner and the

business.

Blog posts don’t always have to be long essays with tons of

information, nor should they always be purely personal. However a

good mix helps show your customers that you are a real person

with a life not too different from theirs. Rapport is the key.

Also in the mix can be posts that pre-sell your product or service.

Each of these posts could target a specific benefit. Certainly if you

are in the news or get positive press, this should be mentioned. Any

new product developments could be detailed. All of this can help

establish your authority in your customer’s eyes.

Finally your blog can help direct new customers to your “action”

pages. This should be done gently, but that should be a goal with

any online interaction.

PPC (PAY-PER-CLICK)

PPC is a type of online advertising where an advertiser pays for

each click-through to their page. This type of advertising can be

very effective, but there is a small downside — you are paying for

visitors (often pennies for each).

PPC advertising can be extremely beneficial as a means to drive

customers to your action pages. Once a certain number of visitors

have been on a site and their actions have been measured, it’s easy

to calculate the average dollar value for each visitor. This

information can help indicate whether a particular area should be

increased or not, but it can also indicate whether or not to continue

or even ramp up further PPC advertising.

If a visitor has a “value” of $1 (i.e. you earn $100 profit from 100

visitors on average), and if this traffic only costs $.05 per click,

you’d want to get as many of these visitors as possible.

GOOGLE ADWORDS

Google sells PPC

advertising that is

displayed both in search

results and within related

pages on the Internet.



Direct mailing is the only other form of advertising where this level

of measurement has been possible. However with PPC, your

overall budget doesn’t have to be in the thousands of dollars —

unless you chose to ramp up based on real results. You set your

advertising budget from the outset.

PPC advertising can also be targeted to a very specific geographical

area. If you add a branch office in a different town, advertising can

be “turned on” for that town extremely easily.

Of course, PPC advertising can be tracked and measured in order

to maximize its effectiveness.

PRESS RELEASES

Most businesses are familiar with traditional press releases.

However it’s now possible to submit online press releases as well.

These press releases can serve the same purposes as traditional

press releases, but they also have other benefits.

Online press releases can be picked up by traditional media sources,

but they are also often used by online sources which can widen

your online “net.” When you use press releases as a way to

announce new products or services, they can drive traffic to your

action pages. These printed “stories” can help establish your

company’s authority in your field.

Finally, not only can these pre-sales articles help directly boost your

sales, they give you the opportunity to be called upon as an industry

expert in the future by news sources which can lead to even more

exposure.

YOUTUBE

Online video is huge. Even online commercials have a chance at

becoming viral — the “will it blend?” videos are great examples of

this. However, online videos don’t have to be seen by millions to be

effective.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Online press releases can

pull in visitors to your

website as well as draw

customers to your

physical location.

SIMPLE VIDEOS WITH

BIG IMPACT

Even the most basic

online videos for a

business can help

strengthen and even

establish customer

relationships.



Reality-style commercials made by low-cost cameras such as the

Flip cameras can be used to highlight products or services. These

videos, when linked from your various web pages can help pre-sell

your product, help establish your authority, and help build

relationships with your customers. Often when customers can see a

real person they feel much more connected to a business.

These videos can also pull in traffic which can then be sent to your

physical location or to one of your action pages.

Finally, videos — even low-cost videos shot with a cheap hand-

held camera — can be used to provide support to your customers.

Often businesses are hesitant to produce anything but super high-

quality video, but that’s not what YouTube and related sites are

about. Companies are just now beginning to understand how these

types of videos can be used to help their business.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are all

about relationship building. They are easy ways to maintain ongoing

contact with your customers. This makes it more possible to

develop a group of loyal fans.

Not only can these sites be used to announce new products,

services, or specials as well as other changes or news about your

business, they can be used to solicit feedback from existing

customers — feedback that can help steer your future business

actions.

Like so many other online activities, social media sites can help you

establish your authority or expertise in your field. As long as your

style is not too pushy, these sites can be effectively used to pre-sell

your product or service, too.

None of these sites takes much effort to keep updated, but Twitter

is by far the easiest. On Twitter, you can post no more than 140

characters at a time. Anyone should be able to type a sentence or

A CONVERSATION WITH

FRIENDS

Social media can be

thought of as a social

gathering. There are lots

of conversations, and

people tend to wander

around, joining in when

they hear something that

interests them.



two about things happening with their business. Twitter can also be

tied to a blog so that when you create a blog post, Twitter is

automatically updated. This makes it even easier to provide ongoing

contact with your customer base.

HUB PAGES / SQUIDOO / GOOGLE PAGES

These sites all have social elements, but from a marketing

perspective they can be thought of as secondary blogs and should

be used in similar manner. The main difference is that these sites

should only be used for informational posts. Each time a new site is

created, whether a blog or on a social site, a company’s presence is

widened on the Internet which makes it easier for potential

customers to find them.

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

Social bookmarking sites are another way that a business can use

the Internet to pull in visitors and customers. These sites allow an

individual to list their “favorite” sites, and as such each bookmark

becomes a “vote” for a site on the Internet.

When you bookmark each new piece of content you post on the

Internet, not only do you have the potential for others to find your

page via that bookmarking site, but also each vote gives your site a

bit of authority with search engines such as Google. Each

individual bookmark carries little weight, but the overall effect over

time can be significant.

ARTICLE DIRECTORIES

Online article directories can also be an excellent way for a business

to be found by potential customers. These directories are used

extensively by online businesses for their marketing efforts but are

SEARCH ENGINE

OPTIMIZATION

It’s possible that your

business might have been

approached by someone

wanting to sell their SEO

services. Search engine

optimization is the

method that internet

marketers use to help

pages rank higher in the

search engine results.

SEO is an integral part of

every element we create

for marketing on the

Internet. While these

steps should be applied

to your main website,

their effect is significantly

stronger when applied

across an entire

marketing campaign.



only beginning to be used by local businesses for the same

purposes.

Each article should be written about an area of “pain” or need that

your product or service solves. For example, if your business is a

tax service, an article might be something about tax audits or late

penalties. This helps individuals who have a problem find the

solution that your product or service offers. Then at the end of the

article they find a link to your page with the answers they need.

The real benefit of article directories is not the traffic that comes

directly from the site, although there typically is some. The power

comes when a website owner publishes your article. They are

required to leave the link back to your page intact, so their site, in

effect, becomes another traffic source for you.

These articles can’t really be used to directly sell your product,

however they can be used to help establish your expertise in your

field. Each article also widens your exposure on the internet.

CRAIGSLIST AND KIIJII

Online classified sites such as Craigslist and Kijii are heavily used by

individuals and even businesses who are searching for a product or

service. Each of these sites has rules for the type of advertising that

can be placed, however the ads are free and can be effective at

targeting local customers with a specific need.

When used to target a higher-volume product or service or even to

highlight a special, online classifieds can bring customers through

your door.

MEETUP GROUP

Meetup.com is a site where you can set up and schedule a regular

meeting for a group with a common interest. From a business

perspective, if your client base might share a common interest

CLASSIFIED

On any given day about

a tenth of internet users

visit online classified

sites, up from 4% in

2005.

RAVING FANS

Meetup groups give you

a chance to build

relationships with the

crowd that has the

strongest interest in your

product or service.



strong enough to want to meet to talk about it, a meetup group can

be a very powerful way to reach out to potential and existing

customers. These meetings can be a great way to build relationships

with the “serious” customers who can then become raving fans of

your business.

If hosted by your business, these group meetings easily help

establish you as an authority and also have the benefit of bringing

prospects directly into your location. Obviously you would want to

keep the focus of the meeting to be purely non-sales, but the seed is

planted, regardless.

As an extreme example, do you think it might be worthwhile for a

Harley-Davidson dealer to host a meetup group for Harley lovers?

EBAY

eBay is one of the most widely-used sites on the Internet. If you sell

a physical product, the exposure you can get from setting up an

eBay store can far outweigh the small cost. Even if a potential

customer doesn’t buy directly from the eBay page, they can be

directed to one of your other action pages.

eBay has a significant amount of buying traffic. Doesn’t it make

sense to place your product in front of this crowd?

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Google provides a free service for websites to track their visitors,

their visitors’ sources, and their visitors’ actions. This is the tool

that makes measurement on the internet so powerful.

It’s important to set up tracking on every page you have as well as

on every potential action your visitors could take. The reports

provided by Google Analytics can be invaluable for measuring and

improving the performance of your online marketing efforts.

WHERE ARE YOU

GOING?

One of the strengths of

marketing online is the

ability to accurately

measure performance

then quickly make

changes to adjust to

real-time results.



OUTSOURCING

Often outsourcing can be a powerful way for a small business to

perform like a much larger business. For example, a mom-and-pop

store could keep their books in Quicken and file their own taxes.

However when they hire an accountant, they gain the benefit of his

years of training and experience to be able to save money at tax

time.

Marketing on the internet is another great example of this. While it

might be possible for a business to handle parts of an Internet

marketing plan in-house, isn’t it better to spend your time focusing

on running your business?

At Your Company Name, we have spent the past ## years

supporting Your City companies. We have helped businesses from

retail shops to service companies harness the power of the internet

to attract customers, increase sales, and build customer

relationships. We can help your business, too.

WHAT ABOUT YOUR WEB

DEVELOPER?

Some companies might

be tempted to ask their

web guy to help them

with some or all of these

marketing areas.

This would be like asking

a roofer to build a house.

While a roofer might be

able to learn how to do

all of the tasks, you’d be

much better served by

hiring a contractor from

the start.

Web design is just a

small part of the overall

picture.



HERE’S HOW TO GET STARTED

Call now for a no-obligation needs assessment to see how we can tailor an

online marketing campaign for your business to boost your bottom line.

+353-(0)87-6361907

Or send me an email at [email protected] to

schedule an appointment.

Be sure to sign up for you free video series detailing 14 ways to market your

site. Simply visit the website http://www.DigitalMarketingDublin.com and

sign up on the right hand side.

Richard Butler 27 New Row Square

Dublin 8

Phone: +353-(0)87-6361907

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.DigitalMarketingDublin.com

Thanks to Richard's efforts in optimising my website I

regularly receive inquiries. My site is now at the top of

numerous search engines for keywords important to

my client base. My business has grown appreciably

thanks to Richard's work”

Dr David J Carey,

http://www.DavidJCarey.com.

http://www.digitalmarketingdublin.com/

www.DigitalMarketingDublin.com

mastering digital marketing

Business

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