January 31, 2012

7 Easy Steps to an Effective Digital Marketing Strategy


Everyone is using digital marketing to grow their business and increase brand awareness. More and more companies are transitioning their marketing budget from traditional media (TV, Radio, Print, etc.) to digital media (Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Mobile, Social, Blogs, Websites, Videos, etc.). In fact, a study came out from McKinsey in 2010 stating that from 2009 to 2012 Digital Marketing will grow from a US$30 Billion to an US$80 Billion Market and over 50% of that increase will come as substitution for traditional Media. That is a lot of dough. This true for all businesses; big or small. The most concerning question is, “How do I get better results?” The simply answer is a strategy. It all starts with a plan. Who is my audience, what channels do I use, what do I do with the channels and when, and who is responsible for doing the specific duties? These all are questions that needs to be answer specifically to establish an effective digital marketing strategy.

In this post you will get a 7 step process of developing a digital marketing strategy that we all need to have to accomplish our business goals. Last week on the American Businessperson Internet radio show hosted by Rich Killian, I discussed the process in great detail. See below for the link to the show and listen. Beneath the link you will see the 7 steps in an outline. These steps are created by Digital Marketing Institute.Without further ado, let’s begin.

Digital Marketing: Low Cost and Effective

Steps to creating a digital marketing strategy:

1. Situation Analysis: Current State of play; we launched the website and it has not been updated since. What is your current situation? Where are you now?

2. Audience(s): *Most important part of the plan. This area dictates the rest of the plan. Put your customers first. Who are you trying to reach? Who is it you are targeting? Is it 1, 2, or 3 groups of people? Rank them by importance to allocate resources accordingly.

3. Objectives: Set objectives for those audiences. We have 50 new visitors a day to our site; we want 250 visitors by the end of the campaign for this particular audience group. We have 15 Likes on our Facebook Page; we want 100 new likes by the end of 2 months. No fluff. Vague objectives; raise awareness of this product. Attach numbers to the objectives. You can track your objectives.

SMART: Specific – usually a number Measurable – you have the systems in place to accurately track this metric Actionable – actions to influence this outcome are under your control Realistic – it’s reasonable for you to expect to achieve this objective Timed – you have a deadline for delivering on the objective.

Our Objectives: 12,500 searches per month for my search phrases

Estimated at 25,000 unique searches

Aiming to attract 10% of these to our website = 2,500 visitors

Aiming for a visitor to conversion rate of 2% = 50 enquiries

Based on current enquiry rates, we estimate that 50 of these will be quality leads = 25 leads And our conversion rates usually 1 in 4 4 new customers = $25,000

4. Channels: Identify SEO, PPC, Social Media, Affiliate, Email Cannot not be 10. It is impossible for you to run a 10 channel campaign. Most relevant to the audience. Audience at the heart of the campaign.

5. Action Plan: What are you going o do? We are going to update our Facebook page twice a day for Mom’s 35-45 years old. I am going to spend an hour a day. Mary is going to monitor the activity twice a day, only spending 30 minutes max.

6. Budget: Assumptions. People cost is the biggest expense. Social media is free. Your time is not free. Your time is the biggest part of the budget. Am I going to do it or is someone else going to? Companies with $250 a month budgets tend to have the better digital campaigns compared to large corporations with $100k a month budgets. The small companies need to be creative with their time and money.

7. Measurement & Interaction: Crucial. Measuring the objectives. Can be simple as counting emails, enquiries, phone calls and asking where they found you. To as complex as analyzing the Google analytics. You decide whether you want to keep it simple or want to be more complex.

Please post your questions below.

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Filed under Brand Awareness, Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing Certification, Digital Marketing Training, Digital Marketing Training Chicago, Interactive Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Online Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEM, SEO, Social Media Marketing

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December 9, 2011

3 Easy Steps to Getting Results with Internet Marketing


$17.5 billion today, and $36.7 billion by 2014, those are the budget numbers for online advertising. Online marketing is an area that can serve as a tipping point for most businesses today. A strong strategy, implementation plan, and management will either skyrocket a business, or a lack thereof could be its demise. All sorts of businesses are scrambling to figure out this never-ending equation.

People always want to know steps in solving a problem. Before we dive into this extremely easy guide, let’s review some important information. What you need to know before solving the problems are the 3 different options. There are always options.

  1. You can do it yourself.
  2. You can hire staff to do it.
  3. You can hire a firm to do it for you.

Let’s dissect each option:

  1. Do it yourself

Pros: You save a lot of dollars.

Cons: You spend a lot of time researching, planning, and implementing. Time is still money. How much is your time worth? That is the question you must ask yourself here.

2. Hire a person to do it.

Pros: You save money from doing it yourself. You free up time for other duties & responsibilities that will get you a higher return.

Cons: The most qualified people for the position are the most expensive. Some applicants do not have degrees in universities, yet. You have to go on what people tell you and what you can find out about their history.  Remember, just because they are in their 20’s or early 30’s does not mean they know how to market a business on the internet.

3. Hire a firm to do it for you.

Pros: They have the most experience and a proven track record (from what they have told you). You save money by not paying a salary, benefits, and taxes. Your time is not jeopardized.

Cons: Firms do not know your business as well as you do. In fact, the firm is managing multiple businesses and even your competitors. Are you educated enough to know what firm is best for you?

Now you know your options, let’s begin the 3 easy steps.

  1. Decide which of the three options is best for you. All successful businesses use a combination of option 2 and 3. However, the decision maker is already educated enough on the matter or at one point in their career they have done it themselves. In reality, the best circumstance is a combination of all 3 options.
  2. Before you go on hiring an agency to do a portion of your online marketing, you need to hire a person on staff for the sole purpose of conducting your Internet marketing duties.
  3. The last step is putting the decision maker of the marketing responsibilities (i.e. Director of Marketing, Chief Marketing Office, Marketing Manager, etc.) and the people or person on staff that will be the practitioner of the online marketing duties through an online marketing training course.

Keeping things simple is the way to go. Once you dive into the research of Internet marketing and online advertising you will see that people in the industry already make it complicated enough. Do not let yourself get mixed up in all the industry lingo. Revert back to the K.I.S.S. method. Keep It Simple Stupid. Taking a hands-on course that will teach you everything from strategy all the way down to implementation and management is your best option. By taking this approach you will get more out of the entire situation. You will be educated enough to do it yourself. You will know enough to hire the RIGHT agency and manage the employee. It all begins with the proper education. Knowledge is power.

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Filed under Business Development, Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing Certification, Digital Marketing Training, Digital Marketing Training Chicago, Facebook Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Internet Marketing, Lead Generation, LinkedIn Marketing, Marketing, Networking, Online Advertising, Online Marketing, Pay Per Click Advertising, PPC Advertising, Sales, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEM, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing Strategy, Twitter Marketing

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August 22, 2011

3 Easy Ways to Approach Your Prospects on LinkedIn


In the past couple of posts, we have discussed setting up a strategy for prospecting on LinkedIn and how to qualify the leads. What do you do when you actually find them? How can you take the relationship to the next level that makes sense for both parties? The answer to those questions are inside this post.

If and when they look like a good fit on paper there a number of different approaches. Let’s explore the 3 major ones:

The first approach is the most aggressive of the three. The second tactic is going to provide you with the warmest lead; however, it takes the most time. The last approach can only be used when you are in a number of groups on LinkedIn that your potential clients are active in.

  1. The most proactive approach is
  •  Go to the person’s profile and Click on “Add [person’s name] to your network button

  • Inside the message you will want to input a template message. (Look for upcoming post “Creating a Powerful Message”.)
  • The message will have call of action built into it.
  • Then send the invitation
  • Once that person responds to your invitation, you will want to schedule a time to connect with that person offline. Start with an introductory phone call. Then see if it makes sense to meet face to face. Keep in mind that you want to qualify the prospects. The less time you waste of theirs and yours, the better. Social media allows you to continue to nurture the lead even if they are not initially a hot lead.
  •  If you use a CRM, then track your activities and progress. If you do not have a CRM, then use the profile organizer tool in LinkedIn.

2. Create a potentially warmer lead by using your connections:

  • Find the person you are connected with and send them an actual email.
  • Do not use an introduction through LinkedIn. This feature can create a very long process and an unrewarding outcome.
  • An email outside of LinkedIn will be a much faster and it is a direct approach.
  • Send the person an email asking them about the person in which you would like to be connected with and that they know.
  • Ask them how they know the person and if they would be a good introduction for you.
  • Your connection can respond in one of two ways:
  • They can say, “Yes, [person's name] is actually a great person for you. He/she is a good friend of mine and a really nice person. We have done business with each other for years. He/she and I have a very trusting relationship. Now that I think of it, they had mentioned a need for a service like yours.” That is an ideal response.
  • The other possible response is, “You know, that person is a real jerk. I know him/her, but not that well because we just did not get a long when we first met. Plus, I think he/she already has a strong relationship with one of your competitors.” That is great information as well. Obviously that is not a good lead for you; however, it is better to know that upfront rather than waste countless hours trying to convert that person.
  • Once you determine they are a good fit for you, you ask your connection to make the introduction.
  • To be sure the introduction is at its highest quality possible, make sure the person who is making the introduction asks the prospect if it is ok to introduce you to them. That way there is no surprises and they expect your email or phone call.

3.  The last approach is for connections that you ONLY share a group with. If that is the case, you are step above being a 3rd degree connection. As a member of a group, as long as their settings allow them to, you can send messages within LinkedIn to your fellow members of the group.

Start with selecting on of the groups that you joined. [Reminder: The groups you joined should be where your clients are located.]
  • Click on the Members tab inside the group
  • Enter the Keyword you are searching with in the Search Box located on the left side
  •   Click on “Send Message”

  •  Enter in the title of the message. Make sure it explains your reasoning. Such as, Connecting or Social Media Marketing or Consulting Offer

  • Then the last step is to enter the message that, again, needs to include a call of action step at the end. Make sure to keep it short, sweet, and to the point. Long and self promoting messages are about as good as a cold call.


Each method can be used for different situations. The circumstances will dictate which approach will work the best. Follow up is going to be a key element to your success with prospecting on LinkedIn. Be diligent.
Please let us know how they are working for you and if you have any questions. 

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Filed under Brand, Brand Awareness, Branding, Business Development, Businesses, Connecting, Interactive Marketing, Lead Generation, LinkedIn, LinkedIn Marketing, Marketing, Networking, Sales Process, Social Media Etiquette, Social Media Marketing

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August 4, 2011

Prospecting on LinkedIn: Qualifying Your Prospect


In our last post, we discussed setting up a strategy for prospecting on LinkedIn and creating prospect profiles. In this post we show you how to research and qualify your prospect. Enjoy!

After you have completed your strategy and have established your prospect profiles, it is time to start hunting. To begin the process you must do your research and qualify your prospective client. You want to make sure you are not going to waste their time or yours. Keep in mind there is only so you can learn about someone over the internet. You can only fully qualify a person until you have a conversation with them whether that is via email, phone or in person; preferably the latter two. That will be information for a later post.

I am going to provide you with a step by step process of how to find and qualify the prospect through LinkedIn. You will need your prospect profiles handy. Do you have them? Great!

Let’s begin.

1. Log-in into your LinkedIn account.
2. Begin prospecting with the Search Box on the upper right section, right below your nam

3. Start with entering the position of the person you are looking to contact within the company in the Search Box
a. Such as CEO, Managing Director, Owner, etc.
4. Click on the Blue Button that looks like a magnify glass

5. The Results will appear like this

6. Begin to narrow or filter down the search
a. Pick the location in the Location Box on the left side below Relationship
b. You can only pick Major Cities (Chicago, New York, Phoenix, etc.)
c. Select the industry if you would like to narrow it down that far or you can choose to keep it general and just based on the Position
d. Make sure to select 2nd Connections and Group Members only in the Relationship box

7. The search results should look something like this

8. Then Click on the person’s profile

Once you have reached the person’s profile, your job then is to see if they are qualified to be a prospect. If it looks like it makes sense to reach out, you will want to make contact with them. How you do that successfully with LinkedIn? That will be in our next post. Wink!

Do you have any questions on how to research and prospect using LinkedIn that we did not answer here? 

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August 2, 2011

Prospecting on LinkedIn: Setting up the Strategy


Now, that you have an optimized LinkedIn personal profile and company page, you are presentable for business opportunities. The next step to increase the amount of people who benefit from your business is prospecting. Before you begin to prospect on LinkedIn or anywhere else, you need to have your “Best Client” profiled. Be as specific as possible. What that includes is the following:

  • Type of Industry
    • i.e. Manufacture, Technology, Business Broker, Financial Service, etc.
  • Position within the Company
    • i.e. CEO, CFO, Director of Marketing, Executive Director, etc.
  • Size of Company
    • Based on Revenue or Employees or both
    • i.e. $500k – $25mm; 5-50 employees
  • Location
    • i.e. Illinois, Mid West, Chicago
  • Other attributes (Attitude, environment, culture, etc.)
    • Leader that knows what he doesn’t know
    • Attitude of continuous improvement
    • Goal oriented culture

Create as many profiles as you possibly can, the more the better. Put the profiles into a Word Document and save them. You can even use the profile sheet for when you are networking with other professionals or asking for introductions (referrals) from clients. Keep the sheet handy as you are prospecting on LinkedIn.

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July 12, 2011

To Follow or Not to Follow, that is the Question


Written by: Brandon

In the recent month’s we have been helping a local Chamber of Commerce get accommodated to using social media for their marketing efforts. Just yesterday, the gentleman we have been working directly with sent us a question that we thought everyone would benefit from seeing and would also appreciate the response.

I have a real quick question that I forgot to ask on Friday. Is twitter etiquette to follow everyone that follows you? That might be a dumb question but hasn’t it been proven that a tried and true method of getting followers is by following others? I just didn’t want to be that a-hole twitter user, ya know?! – Brian W.

People should follow people who they will directly benefit from. Are you interested in following a rocket scientist? If so, then follow him. If you are not interested in that subject, then do not waste your time. Just because someone is following you does not mean you are an “a-hole” for not following them. It means that you do not see a commonality that directly relates to the foundation of your relationship. That is what Twitter and social media is about. People need to build communities and relationships with others that makes sense for them. They need relationships that will create a mutual benefit. That person should already have these type of community members established in their social media marketing strategy.  You can use the software TweetAdder for finding followers and following others that make sense for your specific efforts. The following searches zero in and locates profiles pertaining to you, then stores them to be followed. You can even export the results to your computer!

Remember social media is not necessary about the masses, it is about the quality of the followers. Think about it for a second, what is more rewarding…having 10,000 followers who do not interact with you. They do not spread your ideas and thoughts. You get no feedback or conversation from them. Or is having 500 followers that you consistently talk with, you share ideas with, and you build a community of like-minded individuals who want to help each other grow. Which one would you benefit more from?

Do you have a philosophy on who you follow?

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Filed under Lead Generation, LinkedIn Marketing, Sales Process, Social Good, Sports Marketing

June 21, 2011

Who has time for Social Media Marketing?


Written by: Brandon

Recently, I read a blog post titled “Why an agency should not be your brands voice on social media”. The post is direct and to the point. Although there is not a lot of support to the argument, I understand the point the author is trying to make. I have to say, I do not agree. If we have learned anything over the years and through the evolution of social media it is that time is the key factor of determining whether a business will be successful or not. Business owners do not have it. We have seen this too often. People try to do social media themselves and they give up. They are not getting the results the results they are looking for.  Give them the benefit of the doubt, when you are active and you do not get any satisfaction, naturally you lose interest. Imagine if you wanted to lose 20 lbs in nine months. You went to the gym five times a week. You ate very healthy and you maintained the lifestyle for the duration of the goal. At the end of that period, you managed to lose just 5 lbs. How would you feel? Would you feel discouraged, frustrated, and even angry? These are the same emotions one feels as they embark on the journey of social media marketing, only to find themselves a couple of steps ahead of where they were nine months ago. There are a number of factors that play it to these situations. Most people do not have time. Others, lack the knowledge. And in a lot of cases they have problems in both areas. A lot of small business owners, entrepreneurs, start-up companies and even medium-sized businesses lack knowledge, expertise, and time for social media. Money becomes an issue as well.  There are only three good ways to resolve these conundrums:

  1. Handle the Social Media marketing yourself
  2. Hire an employee to manage the social media activities
  3. Hire an outsourcing firm to do it for the company

There are complications and difficult ties to handing the responsibilities over to another person. It is hard to have someone else be a spokesperson for your brand however it is not impossible. It happens all the time. You need to find the right person. There are agencies or even individuals who will not do you justice. They even have BOT programs that are setup for small business owners for the social media accounts. This dilutes your efforts and results with social media. You do not want just a large following, you want a community. A community builds off of relationships. If you do not have time to do to lay the foundations of the relationships yourself, outsource the activities to a  social media marketing firm that will add customer service and inside sales tactics. That is essentially what a social media marketing firm will do for your company any way. Yes, there is the option to hire someone to do it for you as an employee of the company. There are risks to this as well. The turnover ratio is high. The investment is as high or even higher, than doing it yourself. The amount of time it takes to train someone on the brand is enormous. Certificates and degrees in social media marketing have not yet arrived, so you never know what an intern or recent college graduate can really offer your company. Payroll taxes are a factor in this scenario. You have benefits and possible bonuses to keep in mind.

Hiring an agency is not a good idea if they are only going to create generic messages. You will have to do your research and interview the right candidates to find an outsourcing company that will get you results. That is ultimately what everyone is looking for. The key is to find a company that trains their employees as brand ambassadors, customer service agents, and inside sales people all in one. Even if a person works for another company and is not in your business all 40 hours of the work week, they can still accomplish the results you are looking for and more. Possessing the necessary skills is the key to success with social media, period. Whether you are an owner of the company, a hired employee, or a representative of an outsourcing firm everyone needs to possess a certain skill set to complete the goals of most businesses on social media.

In your particular situation, what have you done to better the companies presence on social media? Tell us your story, so we all can learn.

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