Tips & trends for developing your online marketing plan #1

This time of year many businesses start the planning process for the upcoming calendar year.  In this blog and the next few in this series, we offer some tips for developing your online marketing plan.

If you develop an annual plan, great, we offer tips for streamlining your plan and things to consider with the ever changing world of online marketing.  If you haven't done any formal planning for your online marketing in the past, these tips should help get you started.

If you are like many small businesses, sitting down and putting together a comprehensive marketing plan is not at the top of your list.  But, we can't say enough about how important we think this step is.  You probably wouldn't set out on a road trip without a road map, GPS, Google maps etc.  A road map for the marketing of your business is equally as essential.

Spending some time now to discover more about your customers, your competition, what is working and what can be improved can not only give you tremendous insights but can also be a lot of fun and, we bet, rewarding.

Ok, hopefully we have you convinced on the importance of this step.  So let's get started.

(1) A good place to start is with a review of 2010.

• Actual performance vs. goals
• What marketing programs worked & why?
• What marketing programs didn't work & why?
• How much did you spend on marketing? Was it allocated properly?
• What was your ROI on marketing spend?

If you don't already know a lot about your customers, consider doing a survey.  Some of the things to find out;

• who are your customers?
• what do they like about your product/service?
• how did they find out about you?
• what else they would like to purchase from you?
• what could be improved?
• what social networks are they active on?
• are they following you? If not, why not?

Once you've done a good review of 2010,

(2) Set your goals for 2011.

(3) Establish your marketing budget.

We think the good news here is that if you are not already using social media or it represents only a small part of your marketing campaign, you can get a lot of mileage with social media for relatively low expense. More about that in the next blog in this series.

Of course we realize that every company and business will have unique needs and develop unique online marketing strategies.  However, we have developed the following points to consider as you build your marketing plans for 2011.

The buzz indicates that some key trends for next year will be Location, Mobile and Social.  We believe it will be important to incorporate these into your online marketing plans.

Today we will focus on Location based services.

There are an increasing number of applications and technologies that enable location based services for online marketing; Google Places, Facebook Places, Google Local Business Search Results, to name a few.  Make sure you claim your business on all of the location based services and then optimize your listing to ensure your business stays on top of lists and facilitates engagement with your customers.  If you haven't already done so, you might want to check out apps like Foursquare or Facebook "Places" to see if you can tap into the local online opportunities.  Click here for a good review of Foursquare.

Where the location based services become really interesting and powerful from a marketing perspective is when they are enabled on mobile devices. 

So, how could this be used for marketing your small business?  These tools could open up exciting possibilities for local advertising tie-ins, coupons, offers etc.  As a small business you may have the ability to display an ad or offer a coupon to potential customers who, through their profile, you know like the type of products and services you offer when they are currently near your business. Wow - we think that could be really powerful.  Click here to read our blog on using Facebook Places.

Look for upcoming blogs where we'll cover tips for incorporating Mobile and Social into your online marketing plan.

If you have any questions or would like help in optimizing your local business listing or developing your online marketing plan, contact us at OrganikSEO.com

Tap into customers online: Social networking's explosive growth

How consumers are spending their online time

Not surprisingly, consumers are spending more and more of their online time using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.  According to The Nielson Company, global consumers now spend nearly 25% of their online time in social networking activities.  However, the percentage of online time spent on email continues to decline.  But wait, don't give up on email yet. The exception to this trend is that email use on mobile devices is on the rise.

As a small business owner, it is important to follow these trends and follow your target customers.  As your customers spend more and more of their time on social networking sites and transition to accessing the web via mobile devices, it becomes clear that you want to increase your presence in these areas.

The Nielson Company also reported that U.S. consumers are spending an average of 6 hours per day on social media sites.  Wow! Only one other country spends more time on social networking - Australia.

Again, not surprising, Facebook and Twitter were the fastest growing social media sites.  Of the sites included in the Nielson report, only MySpace showed a decline in terms of consumer's time spent on the site.  And with Apple's recent introduction of their Ping social networking site, the decline in MySpace is only expected to accelerate.

The information from this report is just one more piece of evidence why, as a small business owner, it is so important that you develop and manage a social media campaign - with Facebook and Twitter as being the essential building blocks.

These stats on how/where consumers spend their online time also peaked our interest. 

How much time do you spend on social networking per day?  Are you a power user pushing the averages higher or are you on the other extreme of the scale?  Post a comment and let us know.

If you have any questions about this blog or your social media campaign, please contact us at www.OrganikSEO.com

Why Google page rank is no longer enough

Changes in the way we use the web are changing the way to get your small biz noticed

The web and the way we use it have changed dramatically in the past decade. The web experience is increasingly mobile and social. This means that the way people "search" for information, and the tools you need to get your small business noticed, must also become mobile and social.

Let me illustrate with an example. Let's say you want to start taking a yoga class.  Five years ago you simply Googled it. Today, you might still Google it, but increasingly you are also reaching out to your social network for information and recommendations. This could take the form of posing a question to your friends on Facebook or sending a Tweet, just to name a few.

A couple of statistics provide further evidence of this shift in our use of the web. Facebook now accounts for 17% of all time spent online worldwide, while 10% of our online time is spent on YouTube. Additionally, new software is continually being developed to help us manage our social networks. For example, tools like HootSuite and Flipboard take all of your Facebook updates, Twitter feeds, all the new sites you subscribe to and turn them into a constantly updated and personalized news magazine. Tools like this make it less and less likely that you'll need to "search" for anything.

The expanding footprint of Facebook and other social media channels are also offering advertisers an alternative to Google. As consumers are spending more and more of their online time on social networks, advertisers are following them and say they are looking for more and more ways to plug into these channels. Advertisers will spend $1.28 billion on Facebook this year.

So what does all of this mean for your small biz?  If you already have a SEO budget, you may want to look at allocating some of that budget to social media marketing.  If you are just starting out with your online marketing program, you should consider incorporating social networks into the mix.  Not only is the trend social and mobile, but social media marketing can also be a very cost effective component of your marketing mix.

For questions about this information or to learn more about how you can put social media to work for your small business, contact us at OrganikSEO.com

Putting Social Media to work for your small biz

How small businesses are using social media to grow

Small business ownership has many rewards but can be challenging at times.  Some days you may feel like you are all alone. But in reality you already have a fan club. Put social media to work for your biz by staying focused on those who appreciate you and already care about your products and services.

The number of businesses using social media as one of their marketing tools continues to grow.  If you've already started - great! If you haven't jumped in yet - there is a good chance your competitors have.  So, now is a great time to get started. But, you may ask, can social media really help me grow my business?  The answer is a resounding YES.  Social media is all about community. So what can community do for your small business?  Following are some of the ways that social media is helping small businesses grow.

Increase sales -

• your community will typically purchase more from you, more often vs. those outside your community

Reduce sales and marketing expenses -

• it costs less to reach your community. You already have channels to reach them and you already know their likes and interests so messages can be easily targeted and tailored

Create brand loyalty -

• customers in your community are more likely to develop an affinity for your brand, helping to keep out the competition

Develop new products or service offerings -

• if you are engaged with your community and take the time to listen, they will tell you what other products and services they would like to buy from you

Create evangelists -

• a business owners dream. Your community will help spread the word, about how great your products and services are, to their community

Stay tuned for tips on getting started and really putting social media to work for your small biz.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about putting social media to work for your small business, contact us at OrganikSEO.com