Express Marketing Memo

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Traditional marketing methods push marketing messages to the consumer. For example, take the roadside billboard as an example of traditional push advertising. In the Fox Valley area of Wisconsin, they’re everywhere.

Many, myself included, consider these billboards an eyesore, not because they’re ugly or offensive, but because too many of them block the view of our beautiful countryside.

This isn’t a popular view among the business owners whose signs dot the landscape. Obviously a lot of eyeballs view these billboards and for some businesses this is an effective form of marketing communication.

Still, I wonder if it’s sustainable as we continue to move toward what some are calling a “Relationship Economy.” How many of these pushed marketing messages actually break through the clutter? If you step back and look at the question from your own personal experience, do you purchase the car because it looked great on the billboard or because your online research revealed it was a great performer, with excellent gas mileage, and credible third party reviews?

The billboard, television and magazine ads no doubt drew your attention, but today’s consumer wants and expects to receive more. We actively seek answers before we purchase. We look for real conversation, not just marketing-speak.

“All this ’social stuff’ represents power to the consumer, the people. The conversations people have amongst their relationships are creating the new economy.” ~ from RSS Applied

Read about the evolution from industrial era corporate communications to today’s social era on the RSS Applied blog.

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Don’t you just love spammers? Me neither!

It may seem that I’d welcome them with open arms, seeing as this is a “Do Follow” blog. In other words, the default “nofollow” tag doesn’t attach itself to the Web site URL you leave behind when you comment. Spammers no doubt consider this to be fertile ground!

So, in an effort to encourage legitimate comments and conversation, here’s my policy when it comes to whether or not your blog comment makes it past this human filter.

Leave your name, not a keyword phrase in the name field. It’s my first clue that there may be a human on the other end of the comment.

Like every other writer, I’m glad to hear when you like what I’ve written, but if you’re only telling me that to gain a link, please don’t. You’ll gain a link through contributing to the conversation. Tell me why you’ve liked it, what you’ve learned, add your perspective, or tell me that I’m all wet … here’s why. I’m all for reciprocal linking, but not just for the sake of the link … let’s offer each other’s readers some value.

Please don’t link back directly to your sales page. That’s like walking into a networking meeting and shouting, buy my products! It’s annoying to my readers and of no benefit to you.

When a comment comes through the second time word-for-word, it doesn’t make it past the spam filter. It may sound like a legitimate comment once, but the second time is a dead give-away.

To all who have contributed thoughtful comments, thank you! Your participation is appreciated.

Do you have a blog commenting policy?

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Comment Spamming Do Follow Blogs 101

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Keyword research is a form of marketing research, with the goal of learning what terms your prospects use to find your product, service or small business online. But that’s just the beginning. Keyword research will also show you the amount of competition for each keyword you’re targeting.

Your keyword research goal is to find the terms with the highest search activity and the least competition.

“Long tail” search terms are three to four words long and very specific. For instance, the term “pricing baseball cards” is very specific. It has a Google keyword effectiveness index of 878 according to Wordtracker, meaning it has very high search activity and little competition. Remove “pricing” from the term though, and you’re left with a poorly performing term with a keyword effectiveness index of only .05.

Effective Keyword Phrases for Marketing your Small Business

Optimizing for a highly effective keyword phrase can land your Web page near or at the top of the search listing. Settling for a poor performer with either low search activity, high competition or both, may well land your Web page at the very bottom of the search results.

Photo Credit: Bird Watching by squacco on Flickr. (Creative Commons)

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Long Tail Search Strategy Works for Search Conference
Choosing the Right Keywords for Your Demographic
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Effective Results Driven Web Sites

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Your customers aren’t the only ones making use of social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn or MySpace. The article “Journalists + Facebook = Scoops” on Scientific American asks the question, “Should journalists be hanging out on Facebook?”

Let’s skip the “should they be there” question and consider the FACT that journalists are already there. Does that worry you a little? Or open your mind to a few interesting possibilities?

I was made aware of this article via Friendfeed, an application that at first glance is overwhelming … a clear case of information overload. Ok, it was the same at second and third glance too. But thanks to Ed Dale of Thirty Day Challenge fame, I’m beginning to find my way around and finding that Friendfeed may have enormous potential as a market research and tracking tool, as well as be a convenient way to disseminate information.

Let’s face it, social media is rapidly changing the way we communicate with our market and opening new avenues for public relations. The traditional press release is still alive and well, but the way it’s distributed is changing. The information it contains is evolving. The smart small business owner will take note of these trends and consider the implications for his business.

Do you devote a portion of your week to learning about technologies, applications, or ideas that could improve how you share your message and market your business?

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If you’ve ever wondered just how important the Internet is to the overall marketing strategy for your local small business, wonder no longer. Is the Internet a transactions platform or a marketing platform that drives local transactions? Read more in today’s post on the Local Wisconsin SEM Blog.

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