You need to have all the right pieces in place for Internet marketing to be successful.
I firmly believe that every small business owner needs to be doing some sort of Internet marketing.
Marketing has always been a huge piece of running a successful business. With technology and communication these days, marketing can be more efficient than it ever has been.
When you have your marketing running like a well-oiled machine, you can focus on your operations and exceptional customer service to build a very powerful business.
You are good at what you do, but sometimes the business sense or marketing mind doesn't come naturally.
This has inspired me to create what I call the Internet Marketing Mindset for Small Business Owners. These are a collection of key points you must understand and implement in order to achieve maximum success with your Internet marketing campaign.
Your Internet marketing campaign starts with a plan and an understanding of how and what you need to do to be successful.
It starts with you, your mindset and your understanding of how Internet marketing works.
Firstly, I'd like to get a few key points covered right away.
#1: "Build it and they will come" doesn't exist
When you build your website, people don't just stumble upon it. There are over 1 billion websites on the Internet. It takes time and work in order for people to find it, trust you and then do business with you.
#2: Why you do what you do
What you will learn in this program will assume that you have a brand message and/or core meaning behind why you started your business.
If you don't understand what I'm talking about, it would be a good idea to talk with a Businsess Consultant or Business Coach to iron out your business plan and or strategic plan before starting Internet marketing.
Your marketing contractors or marketing director would appreciate looking at where you are heading and why.
Your marketing will work much better if you have a clear and concise direction on where you want to go and what you want to achieve.
When you hire any marketing contractor, s/he should minimally do a small discovery meeting with you before beginning marketing. However, when people come to me with no plan or no understanding of strategic planning or business planning, I often suggest they dig deeper with a business consultant before starting Internet marketing as you will get more value starting this way and will often build a stronger and more consistent Internet marketing campaign.
#3: Brand & Materials
The information you will learn in this program will assume that you have the basic level of branding completed including a logo, brand colors and all relevant files from the designer. This would require hiring a graphic designer who should give you the proper files that you'll need throughout your marketing moving forward.
Internet Marketing Mindset for Small Business Owners
Professional Website
This is an obvious must. Your website must be professional in order for your business to succeed, let alone your Internet marketing campaign. In later chapters, I'll go through what needs to be included in your website.
Content That Converts
Your website content needs to talk directly to your ideal customers. Your website should build trust, express credibility and educate your visitors on why they should buy from you. You need to include pain points, calls to action, and testimonials.
Ease of Navigation
Website visitors need to find the information they are looking for quickly. Your website should be easy to navigate. Guide your website visitor to finding the information they are looking for. What are the most common questions your customers ask you? Those answers should be in prominent locations throughout your website.
Effective Advertising
Remember: "build it and they will come" doesn't exist. If you want people to find your website, you'll likely have to do some sort of advertising, social media marketing or search engine optimization in order for people to find it. Depending on your industry, common options include Google Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, LinkedIn Ads, etc.
If you are running these campaigns yourself, are they actually being effective?
The keyword here is "Effective Advertising." If you are spending the money on advertising, do it right to succeed. Maybe take a course or hire someone to teach you if you are going to do it on your own. My advice is to hire someone, so you can focus on what you should be doing with your business (which is serving customers exceptionally and fine tuning your operations or products).
Measure Your Success
Any marketing campaign needs some form of measurement. One of the main reasons Internet marketing can be so efficient and effective is that a lot of your campaigns can be tracked and measured. Use software to track the amount of visitors to your website. Our suggestion is Google Analytics. It's free and installs directly into your existing website. You can code your advertising campaigns, social media channels and any link you want to measure the amount of visitors coming to your website.
The biggest key is measuring how many people email you from your website forms or email addresses.
These are key tracking points as well as coding if someone is clicking on your phone number and calling you from a mobile phone. I also suggest keeping track of your sales and inquiries that you are getting as a direct result of Internet marketing. Put procedures in place for tracking leads and converted business. These are all valuable data to find out whether Internet marketing is working for you.
Next Chapter:
>>> Checklist for Internet Marketing
