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General comments. As a preface, I established several online marketing teams at a multinational ad agency, back when things were new enough that they didn't hav

General comments. As a preface, I established several online marketing teams at a multinational ad agency, back when things were new enough that they didn't have anything in place. I am super skeptical of most claims about online marketing. Fundamentally, whatever you do, marketing has to be based on three things: * Honesty (no b.s. about your products, don't mislead) * Integrity (play hard but play fair) * Respect (always treat your customers with the golden rule) Never, ever sacrifice those values. Always gauge all marketing against those values. Seems obvious but many marketers (both client side and agency side) don't do this basic check. Ok, onwards. ---------------------------------------- 1. Make sure your site is as search engine friendly as possible. This is your foundation and without it any future promotion, marketing, word of mouth will fall flat. 2. Make sure your site reflects the impression you want to leave your customers/prospects minds. Be brutal in your evaluation. Do not skimp on this. First impressions on the web occur in a matter of seconds. 3. Measure measure measure. Get a baseline on traffic to your site. Use Google Analytics to track progress through the site. This is just like being a store owner and seeing who comes in, what merchandise they like and how long they stay. 3. Identify your targets. How do they communicate? Are they emailers? Twitterers? Where do they hang out online? Draw up a profile of your prospective customers. This is the beginning of an online media strategy. 3.5 Figure out what you want to tell these customers. If you have some existing customers talk with them. Craft your message. You may have multiple messages for different prospective customers. 4. Start slow, small and free. Drop honest, open non-spammy comments into forums that you are already a part of (no sock puppets). In other words: this should be dealt with much like you are dealing with any product you believe in. Be honest that it's your product, welcome feedback, but don't be shy about saying why it's good and why you feel it would be interesting to the people you're talking to. 5. Always approach any marketing as, fundamentally, a conversation. Never talk at people. Even print advertising should be one side of an ongoing dialogue with customers. 6. As you start to get the word out, watch traffic. See what works. Stagger your efforts so that you can track results easily. This is poor-man's media planning. Plot it out in a spreadsheet or proj.management app or calendar so you know when you'll start to communicate certain messages in certain channels. I could go on about this. Not sure if this is the feedback you're looking for. Happy to write more. ---------------------------------------- (edit: formatting)

jbr 17y ago
Wow, this is exactly the sort of advice I was looking for. Do you have a blog? Book references? I'm approaching this as a skill that I know I don't have, so I'm looking for learning resources. Thanks!
- Adaptive 17y ago
  None of my blogs are about online marketing. Was happy to leave it as a profession, even if I enjoyed it the years I was in it. First, let me assure you that you do, in fact, have many of the prerequisites for successful marketing, even if some of the skills will have to be learned. The most important skill is clear, consistent communication. Again, so easy to say but look at how many companies get at least part of that wrong. Some are unclear in the message (could be too much copywriting, poorly designed website or communication materials, etc.). Some, like Microsoft, are chronically inconsistent in message. Are they fun and hip (seinfeld)? Cutting edge? Appropriate for kids (the tedious ads with cute kids printing photos and claiming to be a PC)? Cheapest product out there (laptop hunter)? Millions spent on throwing darts at a map. Pick a strategy, stick with it. If you don't know your communications strategy, it is probably because you aren't entirely sure about your business strategy. Get the biz strategy right and the communication strategy follows. A couple other thoughts: 1. Consistent communication. Again, probably obvious, but don't pull a Drop Box (love them, btw, and they are learning how to communicate as they go) and fall off the map for a couple months. Choose your channels (blog, twitter) and commit to posting regularly. Doesn't need to be long, should be relevant. Your customers and prospects are interested. 2. There are a lot of buzzwords and jargon in advertising/marketing/pr. A lot of it you can ignore. If you are going to work with an agency or outsourcer and they use buzzwords or jargon, make them explain everything in english. There are some useful concepts (branding--over used, misused but useful; positioning--very useful) that are worth knowing and exploring. 3. A lot of marketing is really and truly about market analysis. Spending a bit of time mapping out the market (even simple exercises like a quadrant analysis) can give you some feel for how customers look at your product in relation to other products in category. 4. Google is like gravity for internet marketing. Consider using ad words. You can cap costs, there are a ton of features for targeting ads, it's very flexible and you can box clever with it. The cost capping means you can experiment with low risk. Awesome. 5. If you aren't tracking it, don't spend money on it. 6. Stay away from banner ads and the like until later in the game. Easy to waste money there. 7. Can you target your audience on specific sites? Do those sites allow sponsorships? 8. New channels. Look into advertising in new places like twitter clients. Only if it's cheap, the cost is controlled, and the duration is capped. Don't get sold into a longer buy than you are comfortable with. Emphasize you want to experiment. This is down the road, but these new channels can be very effective. Again, depends on your audience and if they use those channels. You may brainstorm other ideas. -------------------- As for books, most of the online marketing books I see flick past are out of date by the time they are published, or are targeting absolutely clueless old schoolers. It's still worth going way, way back in time and picking a copy of "Positioning". Good foundation, still relevant. Blogs... I just culled my feed reader and nuked my marketing folder in its entirety. There's a decent list at: http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2009/07/sites_where_i_learn_stuff.htm http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2009/07/sites_where_i_l... I've read a couple articles on that fellow's site before. He seems not insane and not too full of bs, but i haven't really delved into to that site either. It's worth prowling around some of the SEO sites out there. SEO can be a black art but I tend to believe that much SEO hand waving is serious overthinking. I trust Google to do a decent job indexing my site if I build it properly. Make sure your copy is tight, relevant and hits the right words and phrases you want to be found on. Not rocket science. There are lots of other SEO techniques, but those basic tips get you 80% of the way there.

jbr 17y ago

Wow, this is exactly the sort of advice I was looking for. Do you have a blog? Book references? I'm approaching this as a skill that I know I don't have, so I'm looking for learning resources. Thanks!

Adaptive 17y ago
None of my blogs are about online marketing. Was happy to leave it as a profession, even if I enjoyed it the years I was in it. First, let me assure you that you do, in fact, have many of the prerequisites for successful marketing, even if some of the skills will have to be learned. The most important skill is clear, consistent communication. Again, so easy to say but look at how many companies get at least part of that wrong. Some are unclear in the message (could be too much copywriting, poorly designed website or communication materials, etc.). Some, like Microsoft, are chronically inconsistent in message. Are they fun and hip (seinfeld)? Cutting edge? Appropriate for kids (the tedious ads with cute kids printing photos and claiming to be a PC)? Cheapest product out there (laptop hunter)? Millions spent on throwing darts at a map. Pick a strategy, stick with it. If you don't know your communications strategy, it is probably because you aren't entirely sure about your business strategy. Get the biz strategy right and the communication strategy follows. A couple other thoughts: 1. Consistent communication. Again, probably obvious, but don't pull a Drop Box (love them, btw, and they are learning how to communicate as they go) and fall off the map for a couple months. Choose your channels (blog, twitter) and commit to posting regularly. Doesn't need to be long, should be relevant. Your customers and prospects are interested. 2. There are a lot of buzzwords and jargon in advertising/marketing/pr. A lot of it you can ignore. If you are going to work with an agency or outsourcer and they use buzzwords or jargon, make them explain everything in english. There are some useful concepts (branding--over used, misused but useful; positioning--very useful) that are worth knowing and exploring. 3. A lot of marketing is really and truly about market analysis. Spending a bit of time mapping out the market (even simple exercises like a quadrant analysis) can give you some feel for how customers look at your product in relation to other products in category. 4. Google is like gravity for internet marketing. Consider using ad words. You can cap costs, there are a ton of features for targeting ads, it's very flexible and you can box clever with it. The cost capping means you can experiment with low risk. Awesome. 5. If you aren't tracking it, don't spend money on it. 6. Stay away from banner ads and the like until later in the game. Easy to waste money there. 7. Can you target your audience on specific sites? Do those sites allow sponsorships? 8. New channels. Look into advertising in new places like twitter clients. Only if it's cheap, the cost is controlled, and the duration is capped. Don't get sold into a longer buy than you are comfortable with. Emphasize you want to experiment. This is down the road, but these new channels can be very effective. Again, depends on your audience and if they use those channels. You may brainstorm other ideas. -------------------- As for books, most of the online marketing books I see flick past are out of date by the time they are published, or are targeting absolutely clueless old schoolers. It's still worth going way, way back in time and picking a copy of "Positioning". Good foundation, still relevant. Blogs... I just culled my feed reader and nuked my marketing folder in its entirety. There's a decent list at: http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2009/07/sites_where_i_learn_stuff.htm http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2009/07/sites_where_i_l... I've read a couple articles on that fellow's site before. He seems not insane and not too full of bs, but i haven't really delved into to that site either. It's worth prowling around some of the SEO sites out there. SEO can be a black art but I tend to believe that much SEO hand waving is serious overthinking. I trust Google to do a decent job indexing my site if I build it properly. Make sure your copy is tight, relevant and hits the right words and phrases you want to be found on. Not rocket science. There are lots of other SEO techniques, but those basic tips get you 80% of the way there.