Applying the Lessons Learned from the Yellow Pages

and other Traditional “Offline” Media

There was a time when a Yellow Pages marketing position was the sales job to have in the United States; and, the competition for those jobs was fierce. I have a friend, a very good friend, who is an incredible advertising salesman. In fact, he got me my first advertising and marketing position.

“Dave” and his wife worked for a Yellow Pages sales and marketing firm selling ad space througout the Midwest. They made a comfortable living and had a very nice life together.

Aside from the traveling, a Yellow Pages advertising sales position was a great gig to have. I was offered a job with the company they worked for and, mainly because I just can’t stand that kind of “living out of a suitcase existence,” I turned them down. There were times afterwards when I regretted the decision, mainly because of the money, but it all worked out for the best.

As a result of my relationship with “Dave,” I learned a lot about the ins-and-outs of Yellow Pages marketing. It was a real eye-opener. You see, Yellow Pages ads are sold once a year. Or at least they were. The sales and marketing team was dispatched to an area and they’d canvas business-to-business.

However, unlike cold calling or other door-to-door methods, they almost always got in to see the owner or the general manager; and, they were almost never treated as a nuisance. No gatekeeper issues to speak of.

The message was simple:

“Take-it-or-leave-it, we’re the only game in town!”

Quite the sales pitch.

The only game in town!

Remember those days?

Some of you will.

It was the hayday of sales and marketing in the USA. Interestingly, because they were the only game in town at the time, it was pretty much a laydown…a full-price transaction with virtually no resistance.

Significantly, there weren’t a lot of off-shoot or generic brands of the YellowPages at the time, a few local editions and some small town directories, but that was it.

Consequently, the competition that would later “mess up a really good thing,” particularly for the Yellow Pages, the marketing company, and the sales people had yet to appear.

So, businesses were at the mercy of the sales and marketing team; and, from year to year, retail businesses, from mom and pop stores to big chains, service businesses of every kind (i.e, plumbers, HVAC, etc) to professional practices, would guard their territory make sure they were available for the annual sales visit from the “Yellow Pages guy or gal.” Their terminology, not mine.

If not?

They might lose their ad space for an entire year. And that was a huge gamble, often resulting in a very big hit to the bottom line.

Like I said, it was a great gig.

But all things change and, so it is said, all good things come to an end…or at least evolve.

In retrospect, the change from outbound advertising to inbound marketing has been dramatic. However, while the transition was taking place, the changes seemed more like minor irritants than a major shift in the sales, advertising, and marketing landscape.

Isn’t 20/20 great?

In the course of twenty-five years we have watched a major institution crumble before our eyes because, like many of the offline institutions, it failed to make the transition from an old media, outbound marketing model to a significant online presence by way of the right inbound marketing strategy.

The Yellow Pages failed to react early to what appeared to be a growing trend, perhaps believing they were well-established and indispensible. The same sort of failure to react can now be said of the New York Times, Barnes and Noble, American Express, the music industry, and now, seemingly, the book industry.

And old mentor of mine used to say:

“If you think you are irreplacable or indispensible? You are!”

He was always fond of saying:

“If the President of the United States passed away tonight, they would have his replacement sworn in and doing the job by morning. So, how irreplacable and indispensable are you?”

Good point!

In the case of the above-mentioned examples (and there are myriad of other examples):

• Yellow Pages to the Internet — and on to “Googling”
• The New York Times — the newspaper industry failed to react in time and is now feeling, and reeling from, the impact of the Internet — to the Huffington Post
• Barnes and Noble fails to buy (or become) Amazon — the entire book industry has failed to make the transition – now fighting digital books
• American Express fails to buy PayPal — eBay does for 1.5 billion

And so on!

Is the Yellow Pages phone book dead?

Not entirely, but I think we have yet to see its next incarnation. There is still a sizable percentage of the world that does not use the Internet, so their will always be a demand for a Yellow Pages-type directory. However, the YellowPages of the future will undoubtedly look very different from the one we have come to know for the last several decades.

The Marketing Takeaway: Nothing is set in stone and failure to adapt to current marketing trends may have a profound impact on your business’ sales, profitability, and ultimately its future.

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
Skype: johnzajaros1
216-712-7004

Inbound Marketing A through Z: Beginning a Marketing Consultancy – Part III

Once you have come to know your prospective client and have agreed to go forward, making sure you will be able to work together for some time to come, it is time to get down to business!

Up until now the discussion has been about strategies and branding, unique selling propositions (unique selling point – USP) and video marketing, the power of the new media to build relationships and how inbound marketing is the best thing since sliced bread. You have no doubt discussed how, with the proper mix of inbound and outbound marketing strategies to include blogging and the use of social media, you will be able to enhance your new client’s Internet image, getting them to page one of the various search engine results pages (SERPs) for the keywords that will reach their target audience.

If you are really sharp, you have also discussed how you will, at the same time, use traditional marketing, now referred to as old media, outbound marketing strategies, to gain additional traction.

Please note: It is crucial to use what works.

Marketing is not an either-or proposition, as in inbound marketing or outbound advertising, it is about converting leads, prospects, and prospective patients into life-long customers, clients, and patients. The proper marketing strategy will yield an ongoing relationship that profits both sides of the equation for years to come.

When viewed as a comprehensive strategy, there is one goal:

To increase traffic to the website and through the door, literally or figuratively, converting traffic into leads, appointments, and sales; thus building a relationship before, during, and after the initial sale and, as stated, gaining a client for life.

How?

Well, whether you are reading this as a marketing consultant beginning to build your own inbound marketing consultancy or as a prospective marketing client, attempting to get an idea of what is in store for you if you take the next step and initiate a formal, inbound marketing consultation and competitive analysis, the process is fairly straightforward.

If you have been through the inbound marketing consultation, whether as the consultant or as a prospective client, you will know many things about your niche and your target market.

The information you need can be derived from the following resources:

• First, “Google” you’re your client’s business name and personal information, if relevant.
• Alexa Rank
  • Traffic Stats: Daily Traffic Rank Trend (up or down over 30 and 90 days)
  • Reach (percent of global Internet users who visit your site if your client has one)
  • Pageviews (percent of global pageviews)
  • Pageviews/User (daily pageviews per user)
  • Bounce % (the percentage of visits that consist of a single pageview)
  • Time in Site (daily time of site)
  • Search % (the percentage of visits that come from a search engine)
  • Search Analytics
    • Search Traffic
    • Top Queries from Search Traffic
    • Search Traffic on the Rise and Decline (based on keywords)
    • High Impact Search Queries (popular queries relevant to the client’s site)
  • Audience
    • Audience Demographics
    • Visitors by Country
  • And much more
• Quantcast
  • Daily, Weekly, Monthly Traffic
    • Per Person
    • Visits
    • Pageviews
    • Pageviews per Person
    • Visits per Person
    • Global Traffic Frequency
  • Geographic Data
    • Countries
    • States
  • Demographics
  • Business
    • Small
    • Medium
    • Large
    • Business Activity
• Google
  • Keywords (Free Adwords – External Keyword Tool)
    • Wonder Wheel
    • Current Trends
    • Video for Keywords
    • And much more!
  • Analytics
  • Page Rank
  • Ultimate SEO Tool
  • Google Rankings
• Market Samurai – In my opinion the best overall keyword tool available
  • Keyword Research
  • SEO Competition Research
    • Extremely useful analysis of page one competition, analyzing a myriad of factors
  • Page Rank Research
• SpyFu – In my opinion the best competitive analysis tool on the Internet
  • In Depth Keyword Research
  • In Depth Competitive Keyword Research
  • In Depth Competitive Comparison and Analysis
    • Includes competitors’ advertising trends, budgets, keywords purchased, and ads run over the past 12 months
      • Incredibly valuable tool
• KeywordSpy – Competitive research is on par with SpyFu and should be used together with SpyFu when possible
  • Excellent resource for tracking variables over time
  • Easy to use Mozilla plug-in
  • Amazingly powerful window into just what the competition is doing!
• Google, Yahoo, and Bing
  • Check for number of pages each of the Big 3 acknowledges
  • Check for number of links

If you have used most or all of the above, you are ready to create an inbound marketing strategy what will work. If you haven’t…what are you waiting for?

If I had to pick 3 tools and was contrained by budgetary concerns, the 3 I would choose are:

• Google (Beginning with this link)
• Market Samurai
• SpyFu

In that order!

If budget is not a concern, and it shouldn’t be by the time you begin servicing clients, all of the above mentioned resources are vital. Significantly, most are free.

Research completed, the first step is to create a social media profile. The social media profile should be comprehensive and across an array of niches but focusing primarily on social media sites relevant to your client’s audience.

Use the following socioal media hubs as a guide. There is a great deal of overlap but if you cover the four mentioned below your client will have excellent inititial coverage and you will have an easier time getting their message out.

• Ping.fm
  • Crucial – I use Ping.fm for all of my clients, daily. Use Ping.fm’s list of “networks,” setting up all of the networks available.
• OnlyWire
  • As important as Ping.fm and as easy to use – Again, set up all the “services” available.
• HelloTxt
  • Once again, a very useful hub – set up all the sites that link through HelloTxt.
• XeeSM
  • Like XeeSM a lot! XeeSM has a super array of apps and is very easy to use. The creators are very responsive and it fills out the four hubs I set up for every client.

If you have set up all four of the social media hubs above your client will have approximately 225 social media profiles and you will be able to control the daily message through the four hubs.

Not bad, huh?

The video sharing and article directories are next.

Video marketing is absolutely crucial for a number of reasons.

You have undoubtedly heard the saying:

Video is king!

Consequently, video is essential to new media, inbound marketing success. We live in the video age. Video will reach incredible numbers quickly and the shelf-life of well produced videos is worth the time and expense to do it right.

The best tool available to get you message out quickly and efficiently is TrafficGeyser (or Traffic Geyser). TrafficGeyser is a powerful resource, one you simply cannot do without. TrafficGeyser combined with something as inexpensive as a $200 Flip MinoHD and a decent tripod will get you started creating quality videos in no time.

TrafficGeyser offers a number of advantages when setting up your client’s inbound marketing strategy:

• TrafficGeyser allows you to set up multiple profiles for clients, thus allowing you to control all your clients’ campaigns from a single platform. At TrafficGeyser’s Platinum level you will have access to approximately 125 additional sites, including:
  • Social media sites
  • Social bookmarking sites
  • Article directories
  • Video sharing and video marketing sites
  • Podcast sites
  • Blogging sites
  • TrafficGeyser will then allow you to upload blog posts to all of the blogs you set up to reach through TG.
  • TrafficGeyser allows you to upload all your videos to the various video sharing sites, thus saving you hundreds of man-hours over the course of a year. Control all of your accounts through a single interface.
  • TrafficGeyser allows you to post articles to the various article directories with a click.
    • That’s right! You can set up your article directory memberships through TrafficGeyser and then upload them to the various directories from a single platform.
    • This feature allows you to set up all of your article directory profiles from one platform and then control them from your TG account. This is a real timesaver!
    • TrafficGeyser allows you to post to the various podcast sites.
    • TrafficGeyser allows you to set up RSS feeds.

By the time you have completed setting up the first four hubs (Ping, OnlyWire, HelloTxt, XeeSM) and your TrafficGeyser profile for your new client they will have approximately 350 new media marketing profiles across the Internet. With this kind of coverage, provided you create quality content, your client will see a significant bump in traffic, leads, prospects, appointments, and sales within 90 days and a huge jump in the first 12 months.

The secret is really no secret at all, it simply takes quality content delivered consistently over time. If your client already has a USP or you help them create one (upcoming blog post) and combine that with the right inbound marketing strategy using all the resources available to you and mentioned above, you will be a hit and your clients will love you!

The formula is simple:

Links + Longevity + Quality Content = Increased Traffic

A well-focused message will reach the proper target audience. If you develop a unique seeling proposition (USP) that captures your target market’s imagination and deliver quality content over time, you will have people linking to your site and it will increase in authority. Couple the above with a well-constructed video marketing, delivering first-rate, well-written articles to the various directories and you will own you niche in less than a year.

Consistent, quality content delivered over time equals inbound marketing success and guaranteed profitability using the new media.

Above, you have everything you need to get the ball rolling!

In the next article we will talk about site construction, blog versus static website, premium WordPress theme versus the freebies, and the various shopping carts available. We will then get into email marketing and the various providers. We will also consider a number of other resources and various factors to consider when building your client’s Ultimate Internet Image.

I will then go into detail concerning the various resources available to streamline submissions even further, how to upgrade your video equipment, including why and why not, and what audio program is the best and when to use it.

For now?

You have enough to get started, beginning to serve your clients well!

If you would like a comprehensive inbound marketing consultation, to include an assessment of your current marketing strategy, as well as a comprehensive competitive analysis, contact me today at The Ultimate Internet Image (see the number below).

Good luck!

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004
440-821-7018

Inbound Marketing A through Z: Beginning a Marketing Consultancy Part II

In yesterday’s article I discussed my inbound marketing consultancy, The Ultimate Internet Image, and also discussed the Offline Gold Rush, the race to inbound marketing consulting riches and those individuals exploiting this trend with hype and irresponsible claims:

“Step right up and make $5,000 to $10,000 per month with your eyes closed! Oh yeah, while standing on your head…Yeah, that’s the ticket!”

I think I mentioned something about prime oceanfront property in Arizona while I was at it?

And PT Barnum?

Well, once again:

”Step right up!”

Additionally, I discussed the awareness, empathy, and experience required to effectively advise and assist traditional offline businesses. The aforementioned awareness is an absolute necessity whether you are working with brick and mortar businesses (retail), professional practices, service-oriented businesses, and/or specialty shops.

Hopefully, I put the seriousness of the commitment we all make when we take on a new client in perspective? The relationship you have with an inbound marketing client, with any client, should indeed be viewed as a marriage!

Finally, the online and offline worlds were discussed as they relate to an overall marketing strategy, a marketing strategy that includes both inbound marketing and targeted, quantifiable outbound marketing under a single umbrella, and umbrella I refer to as a synergy of the two, hybrid marketing.

In this article I will discuss how The Ultimate Internet Image prepares for a comprehensive, inbound marketing consultation and competitive analysis. Interestingly, at The Ultimate Internet Image we focus first on an inbound marketing consultation, helping the prospective client understand new media marketing, and then, once the client is on board, work towards integrating the best outbound techniques into a hybrid marketing model tailored to the precise needs of the client.

In many instances, preparation for a marketing consultation and competitive analysis begins long before we receive the call from a business or professional practice (another kind of business) for an appointment. The preparation begins with targeting an audience, a target market we feel will be receptive to our message.

Significantly, the same methods we use to acquire clients, a hyrid approach to marketing, are often used to acquire clients for our clients. If it works for us, it will generally work for our clients, with a few variations and tweaks of course. So, we are aware of how many of the businesses and practices operate, at least generally, before we ever receive the call.

Once the call is made or email sent, an appointment is set. The initial marketing consultation is usually set a few days out. Interestingly, I grew up in the school that advocated the opposite, striking while the iron is hot, “porcupines in heat” and all of that (I will explain later).

However, we have found that a little extra time accomplishes a number of things:

• It eliminates the tire kickers. Remember, this is a long term relationship and we only want clients who take a long and broad view. If someone is in that big of a hurry to meet, while we will certainly do all in our power to accommodate them, warning bells begin to sound. Slow and easy wins the inbound marketing race, not pressure and hype, from either end.
• It allows for qualified appointments, appointments that allow the prospective client to do a little poking around. If they do, they invariably find out that we are the real deal and can do what we say we will do.
• It allows us to do all the research we need to do in order to understand their business inside and out.
• It allows us to crawl inside the niche and understand who the players are and how we are going to attack them. Yes, attack!
• It allows us to put all the data we collect into a binder so when we present our findings to our new client. As a result, they know we are serious and we do our homework. We do NOT use a canned presentation or “pitch book!” Every clients is unique, if we do our homework without a commitment and without being paid, how much more will we do for them once we are on board?
• It allows us to get beyond credentials, references, and business cards and on to how we can serve them as a marketing expert.
• It eliminates money as the deciding factor in almost every instance…or at least moves it way down on the list of objections and obstacles.
• It allows us to answer most objections before they ever come up!

Once we do our homework, homework that includes a myriad of factors, we meet with the prospective client. The inbound marketing consultation and competitive analysis, as stated in Part I, takes between and hour and a half and two hours on average and is the first of at least two meetings.

UII never closes on the first visit, there is too much in stake on both sides of the table.

In the inbound marketing consultation and competitive analysis we discuss the following:

• How the owner got into business or profession they are in, including where they went to school and where they live now.
• Did they grow up in the area?
• How long have they been in business?
• What is the biggest challenge they are currently facing?
• What is the issue they are currently and consistently grappling with that concerns them most?
• What have they tried to do about it?
• What marketing strategies are they currently employing?
  • Are they online?
  • Do they have a website?
  • Do they understand SEO?
  • Do they use social media?
  • Who writes their copy?
  • Are they using PPC (pay-per-click)?
  • What is their monthly ad spend?
  • Are they tracking the results?
  • If so, what are the metrics?
  • Do they use video?
  • If they use video, how?
  • Who produces their video for them?
  • Do they use audio?
  • Do they have a blog?
  • Do they have an online shopping cart?
  • How big is their email list?
  • Do they have an email list?
  • How often do they contact their clients, past and present?
  • Do they have an active referral system?
  • Do they know how they rank with Alexa?
  • How do they rank with Quantcast?
  • Do they use analytics?
  • Do they show up and page one of the various search engines?
  • For what keyword phrases?

And so on!

Interestingly, by the time we meet with a prospective client, by the time the questions above and many more like it are asked, we already know the answers.

The Ultimate Internet Image does a comprehensive analysis of not only the prospective client’s business or practice, their Internet Image, their online presence and effectiveness, we also do a complete analysis of the top ten competitors in the niche.

Significantly, with the tools at our disposal, we are almost always right on the money.

Pun intended!

Using the resources we either own or have memberships to, we will know what a prospective client’s PR is (Google’s Page Rank), how they rank with Alexa and Quantcast, what keywords they are paying for and how much they are spending per click, per day, and per month.

UII will also know what keywords a competitor is buying and which ones overlap with the ones our prospective client is focusing on. The Ultimate Internet Image will also know which keywords are competed for organically and how vulnerable the prospective client and their competitors are to being bumped down and/or off of page one.

We also have a complete list of the keywords and their frequency, every keyword phrase used, on the client’s site. All the data is assessed and quantified. We then do the same for each of the competitors.

Links and Longevity

Links and longevity are two of the most important factors in achieving a page one ranking for the various keywords of interest on the various search engine results pages (SERPS). The number of pages a website has will have a profound impact on its rank, provided the pages, as well as the website as a whole, are put together properly and have the proper focus (i.e., keywords, keyword density, overall construction, etc.).

Significantly, UII will also know how many pages our prospective client’s site has indexed with the various search engines. The Ultimate Internet Image will also know how many pages each of the competitors’ sites have. In other words, every page indexed with Google, Yahoo, and Bing will be accounted for and compared. We will also know how many incoming links each site has and where they originate.

This is, of course, the tip of the iceberg. However, it provides a window into just how complete an analysis is required if you are to understand a prospective client and their competitive niche.

This takes more than a $97 e-course or a $997 e-course, it takes everything mentioned in Part I, and above:

• Awareness
• Empathy
• Experience
• Preparation
• And so much more!

Ultimately, the decision of whether to create an inbound marketing consultancy is your’s. However, whether you are considering the creation of a comprehensive hybrid marketing firm or one that is more specialized, a consultancy dealing solely with inbound marketing, social media management, video marketing, or one of the many other niches within marketing, you must become a student of your craft, a student of not only one aspect of marketing but of the businesses you intend to serve.

Success in inbound marketing, in any aspect of marketing, is a Herculean task and one not to be taken lightly.

The Siren’s Call?

The $5,000 to $10,000 per month?

It is do-able!

However, you must over-deliver and you must become a student of marketing. Forget about The 4 Hour Workweek and that business about working 2-3 hours a day. If you are going to serve your clients to the best of your ability, you will have to put in the time…and the money!

As stated in Part I, when you take on a client you are taking on a trust, you are entering a long-term business relationship not unlike a marriage. So, once again, become a student of your business, inbound marketing, social media, whatever; and, their business. If you do so, you will serve your clients well and have a good shot of making it long-term; and, you will make a lot more than the amount advertised by the Internet marketing “gurus” attempting to cash in on the latest Gold Rush, the Offline Business Gold Rush.

Finally, Michael Gerber stated, in The E Myth Revisted, that 80% of all businesses fail in the first 5 years. He goes on to note that 80% of the remainging 20% fail in the second 5 years.

A sobering statistic!

You have the opportunity to help others make it through the transtitional periods, including the marketing shift currently underway; and, in the process become not only a lasting business in your own right but earn life-long clients, as well.

In Part III of Inbound Marketing A through Z: Beginning a Marketing Consultancy we will address many of the strategies we use at The Ultimate Internet Image to take clients from a 0 PR, often stuck there for years, and absent from page one of the various SERPS, and create for them a powerful and lasting online presence…The Ultimate Internet Image.

Contact us anytime for a comprehensive inbound marketing consultation and competitive analysis.

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004 (bus)
440-821-7018 (cell)

Can There Be A Balanced Approach to Outbound Advertising and Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing is all the rage, and justifiably so. Inbound marketing is an effective way to get in front of a lot of people searching for your products and/or services online. In other words, by applying a targeted new media, inbound marketing strategy, a business or professional practice can get in front of their target audience in a way simply not possible using most outbound advertising strategies.

Hence the Debate in Marketing Today!

You see, there is a debate going on in marketing today, a kind of tug-of-war between the traditional, outbound marketing world and the young turks of the new media, those consultants and consultancies applying inbound marketing strategies often to the exclusion of all else. Significantly, what we are seeing, instead of a synthesis, instead of a synergy of old and new, the most effective of both marketing worlds being tied into a single and effective strategy, most marketers are in the “My dad can beat up your dad!” mode.

There’s Offline and Online Marketing and Never the Twain Shall Meet

What exactly does that mean? Never the twain shall meet?

It means that two things are so different there will never be an opportunity for them to unite. This mentality is at the crux of the outbound advertising – inbound marketing debate and is symptomatic of what I refer to as marketing myopia. Marketing myopia is rampant and is a typical response whenever a new idea endangers the old-guard. I will explain in greater depth in a moment but for now think of how inertia works against progress and you are on your way to understanding what is ultimately behind the debate.

Inertia and the Crux of the Matter

The ongoing debate is particularly puzzling for traditional brick and mortar business owners. If the experts can’t agree, and when do the experts agree about anything, how is a business owner to know who to believe and which strategy is best for his or her business? The ongoing debate, whether to engage in outbound advertising or inbound marketing is ongoing and is an essential marketing point requiring resolution.

However, like most debates, there are strong feelings on both sides and many ways of looking at the myriad and complex issues.

In order to understand the issues at the heart of the outbound – inbound debate, it’s important to understand that while inbound marketing is indeed all the rage, the emergent and soon to be dominant force in marketing today, there are still very complex three worlds, three overarching strategies, and three audiences (not always separate and distinct), when it comes to marketing:

The Offline World

The Online World

The Online/Offline World

Significantly, while there are three very different worlds, or target audiences. The three audiences are very broad; and can, in fact must, be broken down still further into a seemingly infinite number of niches and niches within niches. Significantly, how we reach an audience is often niche specific, having less to do with a particular advertising or marketing bias and more to do with how a particular audience receives the bulk of their information.

How a particular audience receives information has as much to do with demographics, psychographics, and firmographics as the message itself. There are also a variety of socioeconomic variables, those not addressed in the variables listed above, that come into play and must be addressed if a marketing campaign is to be truly effective. For a marketing message, an advertising campaign, to be effective it must reach the targeted segment of the market (target audience), those receptive to the message and willing to act upon it, or at least consider it.

According to Wikipedia, “psychographic variables,” or simply psychographics, “are any attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles. They are also called IAO variables (for Interests, Activities, and Opinions). They can be contrasted with demographic variables (such as age and gender), behavioral variables (such as usage rate or loyalty), and firmographic variables (such as industry, seniority and functional area).”

Interestingly, many marketing consultants would have the businesses and professional practices they advise target a particular audience based on the biases of the marketing consultant rather than based upon how a particular audience receives and accepts media messages (i.e., advertising).

Unfortunately, most marketing consultants would have a client lump all their efforts into one basket, often to the exclusion of all else, based solely on the strengths of the marketing firm and not on the needs of the business and its target audience.

Hence the Phrase: Marketing Myopia!

While there can be little doubt that the offline world, meaning those who either intentionally or unintentionally are without Internet access, is disappearing. This trend is real and the growth of the online world is exponential, particular in the developing world.

While the offline world is still much larger than the online world, at least worldwide, the gap is closing.

The table below provides the numbers from Internet World Stats

The Online World

In certain areas of the world, the percentage of the population with Internet access has overtaken the numbers without computer access and an Internet connection.

Interestingly, the numbers for the US, Europe, and Oceania/Australia indicate that if you are in a traditional brick and mortar business in one of these areas of the world, inbound marketing must be an integral component in your marketing strategy. However, there is still 23.8% of the population in the US without Internet access; 47% of the European population is without Internet access; and, 39.2% of the population of Oceania/Australia is without Internet access.

Additionally, and this question must be asked is, although 76.2%, 53.0%, and 60.8% of the populations in the various regions of the world, respectively, have Internet “access,” how many of the people with access actually use a computer regularly? How many of those individuals with access ever use or care to use a computer, much less log-on to the Internet? This is still a huge segment of your possible market and, if you ignore this segment of the population or simply fail to reach them, you may be leaving an incredible amount of money on the table, an audience completely untapped.

The online world is, at least in the areas of the world mentioned above, the majority and is growing rapidly.

Hence, the reason to be in front of this trend!

Consequently, it is crucial to recognize the offline segment of your target market and tailor your marketing strategy to reach them as well.

An aside: Notice the incredible growth rate in Asia, the Middle East, Latin American and the Caribbean, and, in particular, Africa with an 1809.8% growth rate. If you are considering an online business, these regions should play into your business development and marketing plans.

The online world is growing around the world and, hence, inbound marketing must play a pivotal role in your overall marketing strategy. However, engaging in an inbound marketing strategy should not be at the expense of the traditionally offline world, those individuals without computer and Internet access and/or those individuals who choose not to use a computer and the Internet in their daily lives.

The Twain Shall Meet: The Student Instructs the Teacher – The Tail Wagging the Dog!

Significantly, the online/offline world is where most consumers spend their time, attention, and money, balancing both and using whatever works, whatever they are comfortable with situationally. Other factors impacting the efficacy of outbound advertising and inbound marketing strategies are the variable mentioned above: demographics, psychographics, etc.

Interestingly, while many outbound advertising techniques no longer have the same effect they once did, either because the attention span of the target audience has been diminished, it has been segmented and fractured, because consumers no longer have the patience for the intrusive strategies engaged in by many of the outbound advertising campaigns.

• Network Television: Consumers are no longer watching network television or, if they are they are, they’re using TiVo and DVRs to edit out commercial messages. Cable is the standard and OnDemand, as well as online versions of Netflix and Blockbuster have eliminated the need to find something to do during commercials. The old-fashioned 60 second sprint to the restroom during commercials has been dealt with by using the pause button.
• Commercial Radio: Consumers are listening to dedicated satellite radio (e.g., XM-Sirius) instead of commercial radio stations or they are listening to their own music. Yes, the old-fashioned CD is still around. Does anyone even have a cassette player anymore? MP3s are built in to cars now, standard equipment. Of course, many listeners still do it that old fashioned way, they change the channel. Listener loyalty is only as powerful as the next commercial interruption. How much did you say you paid for a radio spot? Yeah, think again!
• Newspapers: Newpapers, including the New York Times and the Washington Post are in trouble. The Huffington Post, a completely online news service will make more money this year than either. Time, CNN, and even the network news companies are scrambling to create an online image with blogs, social media strategies, and the like as fast as they can hire competent social media management.
• Yellow Pages: When was the last time you used the Yellow Pages? A recent study revealed that consumers are no longer using the Yellow Pages to seek information prior to purchase but are going directly to search engines. The Internet has replaced the Yellow Pages as the vehicle of choice for consumer search. This means that more local consumers of goods and services are using the Internet to find local merchants, service providers, and professional services online. The report also revealed an increased usage frequency for online sources versus that of Yellow Pages usage. Not only is the Internet being used more than traditional print media, it is being used more often. This trend promises to increase over the next decade. Significantly, in 2008 62% of all consumer search activity involved the Internet, and that included an appallingly low 1% search via mobile phones. The mobile phone data is certain to explode in the next decade as most cell phones integrate fast and inexpensive Internet access. Yellow Pages search dropped to 30% and yellow pages-type directories are scrambling to gain a footing online, something they should have been doing a decade ago.
• Direct Mail: One of the neat new tools used to gage reader attention online is called a heat map. The heat map tracks a reader’s eye movement online, that they read first and what holds their attention the longest. If there was a “heat map” in your home or office that tracked your pattern of activity, it would be bright red from the mailbox to “File 13!” The path from the mailbox to the garbage can is well-worn and the trip is made on complete auto-pilot. You have that much time and perhaps 3 seconds at the trash can to gain your reader’s attention long enough to get them to open what you have mailed…or it is gone forever. Interestingly, the same is true for websites. You have long enough for someone to “Blink” (read Malcolm Gladwell’s awesome book “Blink”) and it is over. The reality of the situation is, most direct mail and most websites fail to make the cut…gone forever!

The question becomes, if the numbers are so powerfully skewed in favor of the Internet and inbound marketing, why do I need to use outbound advertising at all? Given the current trend, why should I consider outbound adverting, wouldn’t it be wiser to invest solely in inbound marketing?

Great questions and I hear them time and time again. The answer is surprisingly simple, because there are three worlds and while the Internet is an incredibly powerful force, there is still an incredibly deep and broad segment of almost every audience that is not plugged into the Internet. Yes, there are instances where almost 100% of your efforts should be online. If you are selling Internet access, you might want to be online. However, you must also consider the person who is not currently connected but is looking for the right online solution. For that individual, you need to be offline in order to take the prospective client online. Yes, they will undoubtedly do their research but the right outbound advertising campaign will reach that prospective client too.

The secret to Outbound Marketing?

You need to be where your target audience is and the message must be targeted. And, the content must hold the prospective client’s attention long enough to convey the targeted marketing message and prompt them to act. You have 3 seconds! Gone are the days of the full page spread with a bunch of pictures and the headline:

“Biggest Selection – Lowest Prices!”

Did that every work? I wonder!

Ultimately, and this is going to fly in the face of much of the conventional wisdom and be counter to what many of the marketing “gurus” will advise, but the final component is patience, taking a long view. Rome wasn’t born in a day and you are not going to see a response to most marketing campaigns overnight, that is unless you are willing to pay the search engines a lot of money to get the exposure you want or you are willing to pay the right consultant, one with a track record for being able to get their clients to page one organically, and keep them there.

So, direct response does not mean immediate response!

I tell all my clients, whether targeted outbound advertising or direct response, new media, inbound marketing, marketing is like farming:

First you plant, then you wait, and wait, and wait………and wait; and then, you harvest!

Most of what happens occurs below the ground, out of sight, and with seemingly nothing happening it is easy to become impatient and even disillusioned. However, there is a process, just beneath the surface, and if you are patient, if you take the long view, your harvest will be amazing.

If you take the short view and fail to continually nurture your fields (i.e., continue to promote consistently), you will end up failing to reap anything close to what is possible with the right approach and the proper perspective.

It is important to have a method of tracking results and it is also important to know when to quit and move on to something else, but taking a long view in marketing is crucial.

Finally, a balanced marketing campaign is essential, one that integrates the best of outbound advertising and inbound marketing into a cohesive and targeted message that works. It is imperative to integrate what works now, today, in 2010 and beyond and not what has worked in the past, in 1964 or 1974 or even 2004.

How do you know if it will work?

Test! Test! Test!

Here’s a final observation and a question for you to think about until next time:

A spot on page one of Google has an incredibly powerful impact on your business’ bottom line, particularly if it is maintained over time and across a number of keyword phrases. An additional spot on page one (e.g., one sponsored and one organic) will not generate twice the impact, the bump is at least 3 times as pronounced! That means you don’t get double the impact, you get three or more times the effect from a double listing on page one. Now, imagine you own most of page one for a given keyword phrase across a number of SERPs (search engine results pages) and across a number of search engines. Now imagine you are aggressively promoting proven, targeted outbound advertising strategies (e.g., targeted direct mail).

What sort of a bump do you think you can expect?

Unlike other marketing strategies that rely heavily on one marketing vehicle, a linked inbound marketing and outbound advertising program accelerate results and have a dramatic impact on your bottom line.

Hopefully, we are on the way to enhancing your awareness of marketing myopia. If you can recognize it, you can avoid it. Don’t fall victim to the marketing biases of your marketing consultant, a consultant or consulting firm advising a single pronged approach is much like a boxer with one arm, you are only going to get half the punching power. Yes, it may be directed…but imagine what you can do with both arms working together!

In the next article we will address various advertising platforms, as well as linked inbound and outbound marketing strategies for brick and mortar businesses.

Contact John Zajaros today for an in depth marketing consultation and competitive analysis.

John Zajaros

The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004 (bus)
440-821-7018 (cell)

]]> http://ultimateinternetimage.com/marketing-myopia-inbound-marketing-vs-outbound-advertising/feed/ 2 http://ultimateinternetimage.com/ideas-mind-maps-flow-charts-and-inbound-marketing-consulting/ http://ultimateinternetimage.com/ideas-mind-maps-flow-charts-and-inbound-marketing-consulting/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:01:07 +0000 admin http://ultimateinternetimage.com/?p=184

The Ultimate Internet Image

In Your Eyes:

Becoming a Student of the Business Part 2

I spend a good amount of time every day looking at what the competition is doing in my business, primarily the business of inbound marketing, although I do have other business interests. I focus most of my attention on how traditional brick and mortar businesses, also referred to as offline businesses by the online community, interact with the online world, the Internet.

Interestingly, I not only spend a big part of my day studying my business, how to build it, how to make it more effective, and how to market it better, how to serve my clients in the best way possible, I also study the businesses of my clients and the businesses of my client’s clients; and, most importantly, their competition.

Studying the business practices of others is essential in sales and marketing; and, particularly in outbound advertising and inbound marketing consulting.

Additionally, it is imperative we become students of human behavior; and, particularly of buying behavior.

How are we to market to our target audience if we don’t know who they are and what motivates them?

I am constantly amazed by marketing firms, some I have dealth with, that spend a ton of money on flow charts, mind maps, graphs, and fancy websites offering this, that, and the other thing; and yet, have no idea how to market themselves, much less support their clients’ needs.

But man can they make an awesome mind map or flow chart!

The USP or Unique Selling Proposition (or Unique Selling Point)

Significantly, even if we know who our target audience is and what they react to, if we are incapable of reaching them and gaining their confidence (i.e., know, like, and trust), it is more likely than not that we will meet each other on the unemployment line.

Without the proper message, USP or unique selling proposition or point, and the proper messenger, your marketing efforts will fall on deaf ears…or no ears at all!

“Standing on the Shoulders of Giants!” Modeling and Marketing Success

Modeling what works and learning from what doesn’t as a business strategy has been around for a very long time.

In fact, modeling has been around for centuries. Wise men and women have been taking what works, “borrowing” it if you will, and building something even bettter for at least 400 years that we know of; and, probably a lot longer. The 400 years, give or take, is just how long wise men and women have been talking about it.

As early as the twelfth century, scholars have referred to modeling in very specific terms:

Bernard of Chartres (d. after 1124) spoke of being “like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they….”

Isaiah di Trani (c. 1180 – c. 1250) “Who sees further a dwarf or a giant? Surely a giant for his eyes are situated at a higher level than those of the dwarf. But if the dwarf is placed on the shoulders of the giant who sees further? … So too we are dwarfs astride the shoulders of giants. We master their wisdom and move beyond it. Due to their wisdom we grow wise and are able to say all that we say, but not because we are greater than they.“

And of course the most famous of all, the individual often credited with this quote, mistakenly so, is Sir Issac Newton (1643-1727):

“If I can see further than anyone else, it is only because I am standing on the shoulders of giants”

Others who have acknowledged the need for modeling, for the perspective gained from those who have come before include:

Isaiah di Trani (1180–1250) “If I can see further than anyone else, it is only because I am standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Diego de Estella (Didacus Stella) a 16th century Spanish mystic and theologian.

Robert Burton (1577–1640) English scholar and vicar at Oxford University, wrote The Anatomy of Melancholy.

René Descartes (1596–1650) French philosopher, mathematician, physicist, writer. He has been dubbed the “Father of Modern Philosophy.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) 19th-century German philosopher.

Interestingly, the quote is also used in a myriad of different ways, including on currency, as a business motto, and the title of a book:

The British two pound coin bears the inscription “STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS” on its edge and has so since 1997. Google Scholar has adopted “Stand on the shoulders of giants” as its motto.

Google!

Tony Robbins refers to modeling often, as do many others across a variety of endeavors and disciplines. Tony Robbins has made a career out of helping others understand and apply modeling to their lives, personal and business.

Tom Hopkins is another modeling expert, a sales and marketing trainer who has built a career teaching sales professionals to model certain, time-tested sales strategies.

Why Entrepreneurs Engage in Modeling

It is because modeling has been demonstarted to be effective through the ages and across disciplines that successful businessmen and women engage in it.

Entrepreneurs, Internet marketing “gurus,” brick and mortar business owners, academics, medical practitioners, sales and marketing consultants, athletes, and even politicians engage in modeling to achieve their goals.

Yes, thinking “outside the box” is essential but doing what works will usually get you there faster than attempting to reinvent the wheel. In fact, we would be foolish not to apply the lessons learned by those who have blazed the trail before us in our daily lives; personal and, certainly, in business.

The questions on your mind if not on the tip of your tongue, because they were on mine, are undoubtedly:

Who do we model?

How do we know what specific strategies and behaviors to model?

And ultimately:

Who do we listen to?

In other words, who really knows what they are talking about?

The reality of the situation is that unless we do our homework, we can’t know!

When we are in school we do homework to get a passing grade; and, if we work hard enough we get an A. Conversely, if we don’t study there is a good chance we will fail.

How much more do we have riding on our business success and/or failure?

Interestingly, and in spite of all that is riding on an individual’s success or failure, many business people, online and offline, simply open their doors and hope for business. Whether in the form of leads, actual floor traffic, orders, patients or appointments, many business and professional people simply get up in the morning, go to work, open the doors, and hope.

This is a recipe for failure!

Often, and at times out of desperation, the brick and mortar business owner will throw a little money at the problem, usually in the form of outbound advertising (i.e., newspaper, radio, yellow pages, shotgun direct mail, or novelty advertising, etc.) with no way to track results and little hope a lasting impact on the business.

Again, a recipe for failure…and disaster!

Tracking the Who What, Why, and Where: A Successful Marketing Strategy

In most instances, a customer walks through the doors, looks around, perhaps even makes a purchase, and leaves without ever being asked their name, how they got there or any relevant contact information.

Cash?

“Thank you very much. Have a nice day!”

Goodbye Forever!

What is the  likihood they will ever be back? How can you know if you don’t track it?

One Sale or Many: An Overall, Ongoing Sales and Marketing Strategy…Inbound and Outbound

The most difficult and the most expensive client to acquire is the one is walking through your doors for the first time based on your marketing efforts. Incredibly, and inspite of the cost, this is also the visit we fail to monetize properly. At the very least we should be collecting contact information (i.e., name, phone number, email address, physical address, etc.) so we can market to them again, and again, and again…

…until they buy from you again, and again, and again….

Interestingly, we also fail to market to the clients or customers we have already acquired, our current and past customers. In many instances we can’t market to them because we failed to collect their contact information from them in the beginning, even at the point of sale!

The Value of the Client/Customer List

A business’ client list is the most valuable resource they own; and yet, most businesses fail to engage their past clients on a regular basis through routine follow up and targeted marketing strategies.

This is why it is important to become a student of your business and your competitors’ business, so these opportinities are not missed and every possible resource is fully exploited.

When I say exploited, I mean it is a positive way and not in the negative context. Exploiting clients, past of present, in a negative manner is the shortest route to disaster.

Once you have acquired the relevant information from your clients and prospective clients, it is imperative you understand your market and the marketplace or you will not reach them. Or, if you do reach them, it will not resonnate with them because it is off target.

Becoming a Student of the Marketplace: Understanding the Market and Human Behavior

Ultimately, you must also become a student of human behavior, as mentioned above, and a student of the marketplace. Sadly, many business owners do not.

How could we not?

Particularly if we deal with the public day in and day out?

Market Forces, The Economy, and the Impact on the Overall Sales and Marketing Strategy

Unfortunately, and particularly in this economy, with most businesses large and small simply trying to keep the doors open, many business people feel all of their efforts need to be, must be, directed towards the business itself and not on the advertising and marketing.

Or, the business owner believes he or she must conserve their resources (i.e., money, capital, etc.) in order to make it through, until things “turn around.”

Big mistake!

In fact, in a down economy there is an even greater need for an effective sales and marketing strategy!

However, a businesses marketing must be targeted, it must be trackable, and it must provide a reurn on investment that justifies the expenditure.

Simply throwing image building ads in the local Gazette is not only a waste of resources, it is money that could have been spend on a direct response advertising strategy that is trackable and will work.

If it doesn’t?

You will know it and you can adjust it accordingly.

The days of:

“Biggest Selection and Lowest Prices!”

…are gone!

Unless of course you are a big, dumb company with deep pockets.

Or?

You are independently wealthy.

Many business owners look at the current business climate, and the pressure to market their business effectively, as Catch 22!

• If I spend more time and money on the marketing end of the business in order to better understand it, and the forces that drive traffic through the door, in whatever form, I have to take time and money away from the day-to-day running of the business.
• If I take time away from the day-to-day running of the business in order to learn the marketing of the business I may not have a business.
• However, if I don’t take time away from the day-to-day running of the business to learn how to market it more effectively, I may not have enough business to have a business.
• Additionally, I can’t spend money on marketing strategy because money is tight.
• However, if I don’t spend money on marketing, people won’t come through the doors.
• If people don’t come through the doors, I won’t have enough business to make money.
• If I don’t have enough business to make money, I won’t have a business!

A Yossarian-like dilemma:

Entrepreneurial Catch 22!

Ultimately, a decision must be made:

Am I going to sink or swim?

Help is Available: Inbound Marketing and the Brick and Mortar Business

Interestingly, many business people think they are in it alone and that help is either impossible or is out of their price range.

Neither is true!

Many business people, particularly when struggling just to stay afloat get so preoccupied in the struggle, fail to look around for a life preserver.

It is at this moment a decision is crucial:

Do I continue to flounder until I go under or do I ask for help?

It is always interestingly, and more than a little sad, when I experience first hand a business person who would rather drown than ask for help. I would argue that after procrastination, pride and ego, branches of the same tree, are the root cause of almost every business failure.

Help is always available!

The business owner, whether online or offline, has got to come to the realization that:

“I need help to make it because I am going to drown out here on my own. If the business is worth saving, and mine is, I need help. The business is making enough money to keep the doors open, so it is time for help!”

Michael Gerber and The E Myth Revisited

Whether an economy driven crisis or need due to growing pains, the transition  Michael Gerber refers to in The E Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It as infancy to adolescence, there comes a time when an entrepreneur, whether a brick and mortar business owner or an Internet marketer or ecommerce business owner, must ask for help.

It is at this crucial point most entrepreneurs, brick and mortar business owners and online business people, turn to a marketing consultant for help.

The point of desperation?

For some, certainly!

In the case of a dying business?

It is precisely the wrong time to take such action, it should have been taken long ago. Yet, it may be the last gasp, the last prayer for a dying business, but it must be done if there is any hope of saving it.

Interestingly, the businesses I do my best work with and for are the businesses who call as soon as they know they have an issue, put their marketing in my hands, and say:

“Fix it!”

Interestingly, every business will go through the same sort of growth experience, growing pains if you will.

One thing is certain, without assistance, most businesses will fold!

Michael Gerber notes that most business people look at the first 5 years as the make or break period, make it through the first 5 and they are home free. In fact, Gerber points out that of the 20% who make it through the first 5 years, that’s right, only 20% make it through the first five, only 20% of those businesses make it through the second five years!

That’s 4 businesses out of 100!

The F…O…U…R that make it…the 4%?

They get help!

The rest go back to whatever they were doing before or worse. Sadly, many can’t go back to what they were doing before and now, broke and disillusioned, have no clear idea what they will do next.

The reality is tragic when considered against the alternate reality.

The alternate reality?

Help is available. The proper marketing strategy could have not only assured the business’ long term survival, it would have contributed to building something meaningful and lasting instead.

Finding help is the topic to be explored in Part III.

For now I will say this:

Caution!

Most Internet marketing gurus and most inbound marketing consultants have little time in the trenches and a lot of time on the benches.

In other words, a significant portion of their careers have been devoted to telling others how to do something they have very little experience doing themselves.

Give me a marketing consultant who has also been a business owner with over 20 or 30 years in the trenches, someone who understands the importance of a  target audience, the marketplace, and the forces that drive both and I will show you someone who can add something to your experience.

Significantly, that is also the kind of marketing consultant and business owner who is receptive to strategies offered by others, someone who is always learning.

Interestingly, the average Ultimate Internet Image client has been in business for 24 years!

Two of UII’s clients have been serving Northern Ohio for over 40 years!

One of my clients has an MBA and is a Six Sigma Balck Belt!

It is the wise entrepreneur who knows when to say:

“I need some advice, can you take a look at this for me and see what you can do!”

I have been in sales and marketing, building businesses and helping them grow for more than 35 years. Aside from a short stint in academia, running around the rain forests and tucked away in museum basements doing research, I have been a student of sales and marketing, of building brick and mortar businesses…and now of Internet businesses, as well.

You know?

Many would argue business people with over 40 years of experience would no longer need the assistance of an inbound marketing consultant, or any kind of marketing consultant for that matter. The opposite is true.

The aforementioned businesses have been in business as long as they have because they are receptive to advice and they are responsive to shifts and changes in the marketplace.

In other words, the wise business owner understands they must adapt or perish; and, they also know when to ask for help.

Contact The Ultimate Internet Image (UII) for a comprehensive sales and marketing consultation, to include a competitive analysis.

While primarily an inbound marketing consultancy, UII’s mission is to deliver results in the most efficient and effective manner possible. By applying both outbound and inbound marketing strategies, our focus is on trackable, direct response marketing strategies that work. In other words, marketing strategies yielding the greatest return on investment in the shortest amount of time!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
440-821-7018 (cell)
216-712-6526 (offce)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com

Ultimately, the transition must be made or extinction will be your business’s reality. Like the dinosaurs happily grazing on grass, or eating each other for lunch, the end of outbound advertising is upon us. The transition to a new form of marketing, inbound marketing, has arrived and has, at least for the time being, transformed the landscape.

To use another evolutionary phrase here:

It is “survival of the fittest!”

Those who are willing to adapt will flourish; and, those unwilling to make the necessary transition will find they are facing the new reality head on.

The transition does not have to be painful, in fact it can be quite pleasant given the proper guidance and the implementation of the proper strategy. The days of outbound advertising being enough are over, inbound marketing and creating The Ultimate Internet Image will determine your evolutionary fitness and your ability to succeed long term.

It is up to you, extinction or adaptation.

The resources are within your grasp!

Unlike the dinosaurs who had nowhere to hide and no clue what was about to transpire, you have the knowledge and the wherewithal to alter the course and avoid an E.L.E!

The choice is yours!

For a free inbound marketing and comprehensive analysis, contact me anytime!

At The Ultimate Internet Image (UII) our goal is to be the best in the world at serving you and the needs of your business, online and offline!

Making such a statement may sound a bit brash, even a little arrogant. However, to be any less than the best we can be, the best in the world, would be a disservice to our clients. We at The Ultimate Internet Image strive to be the very best in all our affairs in order to bring the very best out in you and your business. At UII we know one thing to be true above all else, excellence, like success, is contagious. It is our desire to spread both as quickly as possible.
If you are a traditional brick and mortar business owner struggling to come to grips with the transition taking place in marketing today?

You are not alone!

The shift from what is known as outbound advertising (i.e., newspaper, television, Yellow Pages advertising, radio, and other forms of intrusive advertising) to a search-based, consumer driven inbound marketing strategy has transformed advertising and marketing around the world. While outbound advertising remains useful, particularly when applied in the proper manner and targeting the right audience, there can be little doubt that inbound marketing is the key to the long term growth of your business; and, in fact, its very survival.

You will see tangible results from The Ultimate Internet Image.

In fact, if we feel we cannot contribute significantly to your lead generation, traffic flow, sales, profitability, and ultimately your bottom line, we will suggest someone who can.

To date, we have yet to consult with a business, in any niche or profession, we could not help. At UII, we believe a partnership is essential and we view all of our clients as partners. We have one goal, the growth and profitability of your business.

The Ultimate Internet Image will deliver the following:

• A complete, no-cost analysis of your current marketing strategy.

• A comprehensive competitive analysis, so we understand your target market and your competitors’ marketing strategies completely.

• An in-depth analysis of current trends in your niche and/or profession.

• A comprehensive strategy, tailored to reach not only your current client base but to expand your target audience significantly.

• A dramatic increase in traffic, lead flow, and sales by defining and reaching target audiences.

• Overall business or practice growth based on an increase in traffic, leads, and sales.

The Ultimate Internet Image will generate dramatic results while enhancing your business or practice brand.

• If your business is stuck in the static, going nowhere mode? Or worse, fighting for your survival in the current economy:
• We need to talk.
• If your business is growing but not to your complete satisfaction?
• Again, we should talk.
• And, if your business is growing but you want to take it to the next level and you are throwing money away on advertising and marketing strategies you can’t possibly track?
• We must talk at once.

In other words:

• We should talk immediately!

For a complete and in-depth consultation and marketing assessment, contact us today.

After all, what do you have to lose?

The time spent with UII will be the most important and eye-opening in the history of your business or practice.

Guaranteed!

And, if you are already dealing in e-commerce and have a static website?

• We should have talked yesterday!

If you apply The Ultimate Internet Image system, and our marketing strategies, implementing them as advised, you will experience an overall improvement in your lead generation and traffic flow; thus leading to more sales and overall profitability.

Guaranteed!

Contact me today for a consultation!

John Zajaros
Director of Marketing
440-821-7018 (mobile)
216-539-7412 (office)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com

How Can a Traditional Brick and Mortar Business Thrive in Today’s Economy?

Before I explain the title, and the subtitle, let me take you back to another recession, the recession of the early 1980s. The mid to late 1970s was a transitional period, there was much going on in the world:

• The Vietnam War had just ended.

• President Richard Milhous Nixon had resigned from office in disgrace.

• President “Gerry” Ford did his time…”Go Wolverines!” I’m a Buckeye fan myself!

• Then we had a peanut farmer in the White House who promised never to lie to us. Interestingly, many of us believed him, and still do! Knowing the man, it is not hard to believe he was, in fact, telling us the truth…even about that!

• The Cleveland Plain Dealer announced $1 per gallon gas prices and by the following Monday morning every small car in the tri-state area had been sold off of dealers’ lots!

• The workers at The American Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio, also known as AmShip, went on strike. George Steinbrenner said go back to work “Or else!” and, when the workers refused, George closed the Lorain yard down after an 82 year history of building ships. People knew to take George seriously after that…even Billy Martin!

• The Midwest became known as The Rust Belt.

• The domestic automobile industry was traumatized, reshaped, and rebuilt.

• Interest rates for cars went to 22%, the prime was through the roof!

• US Steel was sold to the Japanese, and guys making steel and $80,000 to $100,000 a year in the mill were on the streets. Republic Steel was resurrected as LTV Steel before eventually going the way of many US steel companies.

• The manufacturing base shifted and we made the first steps to an information-based, service economy.

• Millions were outsourced, put out to pasture, either by layoff or by means of early retirement, and faced unemployment, re-training, re-education, and a much different working and personal life than the lifestyle they had experienced just a few years before

• Some businesses went under and others flourished, much as we see today!

I could go on indefinitely but you get the idea, I hope…we have faced this sort of thing before, and, we will undoubtedly face tough times again.

Interestingly, each and every time we go through a down economy, regardless of what we end up calling it (i.e., recession, mini-depression, “the worst downturn since The Great Depression,” etc.), we come out the other end stronger and more vibrant, a “leaner, meaner fighting machine!”

Are the transitions difficult?

To be sure!

Are their casualties, business and personal?

Absolutely!

However, difficulties and casualties aside, the strong survive…if they are also flexible and open to new ideas, concepts, and technologies.

Likewise, the business owner who is unable (read: unwilling) to change will go the way of the Dodo and the Wholly Mammoth!

In order to survive, flexibility and adaptability are essential.

So, what does the above have to do with websites and the survival of traditional brick and mortar businesses?

What does all this have to do with the Internet and what is now being referred to as new media, inbound marketing?

Well, to be perfectly frank, if you aren’t on the Internet or thinking about getting there soon…R…E…A…L…S…O…O…N…your traditional brick and mortar business may not make it!

There is in fact a transition underway and, interestingly, there is a transition within the transition occurring as we “speak!”

What the heck am I talking about?

OK!

Enter the Internet and Online Marketing: E-commerce and the Emergence of the Website

In the early 1990s the Internet was emerging as the place to be, people were making a lot of money, many doing nothing more than throwing up a website with a few products on it and collecting the money.

That may be an oversimplification…but just barely!

In retrospect, the first websites were something akin to the Model T, particularly by today’s standards; and, most businesses did little more than Marketing 101 kind of “stuff,” stuff being a technical term, to drive traffic to their online presence, their website.

Google, YouTube, Blogging, and Email

Fast forward a few years. Enter Yahoo, then Google, YouTube, blogs, and email marketing. By the mid 2000s, online marketing is in full swing and the Internet begins to affect and impact traditional brick and mortar businesses in a big way. Online and offline businesses begin competing for the attention of consumers and websites appear in offline advertising, what is now referred to as outbound advertising.

Outbound advertising being anything intrusive:

• Television

• Radio

• Newspapers and magazines

• Phone directories

• Direct mail

• You know the drill

With the transition to online marketing, and the need for a well-established Internet presence in high gear, consumers begin to initiate the search for products using the Internet and “Googling” becomes a verb! Inbound marketing emerged as a consequence of search-driven consumer inquiries and behaviors.

Search-Driven, New-Media, Inbound Marketing is Born

Significantly, as the transition from an emphasis on outbound advertising to inbound marketing has taken place, the transition from the simple, “slap five pages together for free” website to a complete Internet image, an online marketing presence, has occurred.

In fact, those days are gone!

More to the point, some of the websites being offered up today won’t even last the time it takes to “Blink!” If you are unsure what I am talking about, read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005); and then, look at your website from the perspective of a first-time visitor.

The Death of the Website

In 2010, it is not enough to throw up a website and sit back and wait for people to find it. If you wait for the money to begin to pour in, you may be waiting a long, long time!

It’s like an old mentor of mine used to say:

“Don’t hold your breath waiting for a response…unless you tell them to ask for Blue Boy!”

The “If you build it, they will come!” mentality must be changed, the transition recognized, and the proper strategies implemented. If the proper marketing strategies are not applied, the traditional brick and mortar business, and many online businesses, will simply go the way of Lucy, the Dodo, and the T-Rex.

Yes, even the rock group T-Rex. I know I just dated myself with that one!

As we enter the final year of the first decade of the 21st Century, and yes, we have one more year; the days of the free website are gone. The era of search-driven, customer initiated search is in full swing.

The Ultimate Internet Image is now a requirement if you are to compete and make it, online and offline, in today’s economy!

The Emergence of the Blog, Video, and the Landing Page

A few years ago I heard the term blog and quite frankly I had no idea what people were talking about. Now, I wouldn’t be without one…for every online and offline business I am involved with, and as the central feature of every online marketing strategy I develop.

Blogging for Business: The Central Hub & Linchpin of the Ultimate Internet Image

The blog has taken the place of the website as the center piece for many forward thinking businesses, the hub or linchpin for not only relationship building but as an e-commerce vehicle, as well. The premium blog theme of today has built-in capabilities to service virtually every need of the online and traditional brick and mortar business. The blog offers a video and article distribution platform, as well as a complete shopping cart for merchandise marketing and distribution. In other words, the blog can be set up to be a fully functional relationship marketing and e-commerce solution for both online and offline, brick and mortar businesses.

Video and Article Marketing

Video is the rage, online and offline. If you are not using video to promote your business, both using the Internet and the latest podcast technology, you are leaving vast sums of money on the table.

Both in terms of keeping in touch with and marketing to your current clientele, ten times more profitable than marketing to the “cold” market, and as a vehicle to promote your merchandise and service(s) to prospective clients, video is not simply an option, it is essential.

The use of articles, also essential, enhances your authority, both online and offline, enabling you to reach your current client base with your message, as well as establishing your authority with those considering your merchandise or services.

Additionally, articles are an excellent vehicle for building links and traffic to your blog or website. Links and longevity, along with traffic, will enhance your page rank, still important. By this I mean the search engines will validate your Internet real estate by moving you ahead of your competitors and on to “page one” much sooner.

The Landing Page

The landing page is a central feature online and should be an integral part of your marketing strategy, even for offline, traditional brick and mortar businesses. The landing page, also referred to as a “squeeze page,” is a very important component in any effective online marketing strategy.

The idea behind the landing page is to offer the client or prospective client an enhancement for providing you with their name and email address.

There are as many techniques for securing a “lead,” a prospect’s name and/or email address, as there are businesses online but only a few work and only a few of them are strategies I would recommend for my clients.

Ultimately, it is about providing something of value, something the client wants, usually in the form of information, and providing it free of charge. Significantly, you must make sure it is something of value, something you could charge for!

That is the key, providing valuable information in return for the understanding that in the future you will only “bother” them, and because of the spam most marketers send out today, you will only send them items of value (i.e., information, coupons designed for your email recipients alone, a newsletter, or some other enhancement).

By only sending quality content to your prospective clients, you have a better chance that they will want to open your mail, click your links, and continue to subscribe to your messages.

This gets deeper into email marketing than I had wanted to but it is important. We will cover email and the proper use of it in an upcoming article and post. For now, suffice it to say, if you have people visiting your website and you are not actively attempting to collect their name and email address, you are losing business with each and every visitor who leaves your website and does not bookmark it or tag it in some other way.

Bottom line?

If you are unsure of whether to send an email message to your subscriber-base?

Don’t!

The fastest way to be unsubscribed en mass is to fill the inboxes of your list with junk!

It’s like every one of our online grandmothers would say if given the opportunity:

“If you don’t have something of quality of send, don’t send anything at all!”

Poetic license and all!

If you are not collecting names and email addresses actively, and you have a lackluster website, 99.999% will not be back!

Get current and get active!

The Tip of the Inbound Marketing Iceberg

There is a lot more to cover, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to developing an online presence, The Ultimate Internet Image.

Blogging for business is essential. Continuing to lose business with a static, often stale and outdated website is costing you money and may eventually cost you much more.

Video marketing is not only effective, it’s where the clients are; and, it is where you need to be!

Article marketing enhances your presence both online and offline, creating interest and links back to your site…crucial in today’s world of links and longevity.

Email marketing, if done properly, and using the right sort of landing page and enhancement will develop and/or improve your relationship with current and future clients by providing useful information in a timely manner.

Metrics, tracking your visitors, not only to your online real estate by means of analytics, but tracking and developing a relationship with clients and prospective clients who visit or call on your business in person via your blog and email is crucial and should be integrated into your current marketing strategy.

Helping People versus Providing Value

Ultimately, it is about helping people and providing value. Interestingly, when an interviewee goes to a medical school interview the first question they often face is:

“Why do you want to be a doctor?”

I would ask the same thing of an inbound or Internet marketing consultant competing for your business:

“Why do you think you are the person to help me with my online presence?”

And, more importantly:

“What separates you from every Tom, Dick, and Julie competing for my business?”

The answer the prospective med student provides usually goes something like this:

“I want to help people!”

This is the response heard day in and day out by interviewers at medical schools across the country…and it is not enough!

The answer from an inbound or Internet marketing consultant, and it should be the former and not the latter, if they do not understand the nuances and the profound differences keep searching, should go like this:

“I love what I do, enjoy people, and take your success personally. You get me with every transaction and for the life of the relationship and, most importantly, I will provide real and lasting value!”

You see, anyone can say they can “help” you with your Internet marketing strategy. All a consultant has to do is throw up another static, stale, and dated website and they will help you all right…help you out of your money and help you right out of business!

The true master of his or her craft, an inbound marketing consultant, one in business for himself or herself, will be able to offer real and lasting value…because it is there name and reputation on the line too!

Additionally, someone in business for themselves as an inbound marketing consultant, using that designation…inbound marketing consultant…will take very personally your success, and failures, on the way to a long term relationship and The Ultimate Internet Image. An inbound marketing consultant will understand the dynamics of inbound marketing versus outbound advertising; and, how to use that understanding, and both strategies, to your advantage.

Once again, there is so much more and we will cover it in future videos, articles, and blog posts.

We will discuss in depth “moving the free-line,” the idea of providing an information product or some other enhancement, something you could easily sell but are providing at no charge in order to build authority, credibility, a relationship, and your list.

In order for a traditional brick and mortar business to survive and thrive, in fact for any business to survive the current economic downturn, an understanding of and providing for all of the above must part of your marketing strategy.

Inbound marketing must be applied to and be an integral aspect of your business model.

In other words, the transition must include you!

The use of blogs, video, articles, landing pages with free offers, email marketing strategies, viral marketing, and more must be an integral part of your marketing strategy.

Enhance your authority online and in your community, have people from Tampa to Timbuktu saying your name and promoting your business! It must be designed and implemented properly and, if done so, the viral effect will occur all day, every day…it is amazing! It happens to me each and every day. It can happen for you too!

Build wide, build deep, and above all…build based on inbound marketing!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
216-539-7412
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com

PS, For a free consultation and assessment of your current marketing strategy, as well as a localized competitive analysis, contact me at 216-712-6526 or email me excellencepaidforward@gmail.com

An Effective Inbound Marketing Strategy versus Traditional Outbound Advertising: The Power of Video in Achieving the Ultimate Internet Image

A listing on Google’s page one is worth its weight in gold. Companies routinely pay hundreds and even thousands per day, every day, for the kind of traffic and lead generation power a page one listing often yields.

Whether an organic listing, a listing on the left side of the page, or a sponsored link, a paid link on the right, top or bottom, the results can mean the difference between a company making it or going under, particularly in the current economy.

So, when someone comes along and offers you a page one listing or the vehicle to acquire one, it is time to listen!

In the past 18 hours I have made 3 videos for prospective clients and in each instance they went to page one in a matter of a couple of hours, as you will see in the video below.

A similar video with a little different slant can be viewed at The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed.

In the course of just 8 hours we were able to acquire 3 of the coveted page one listings for a Lakewood pizzeria. Similar results were achieved for the other prospective clients we applied this strategy for.

Can you imagine what a concerted effort, focused on a specific strategy and spread over a period of weeks or months, would do for the exposure, traffic flow, and,
ultimately, their bottom line? The video in the example below was thrown together for illustration purposes only, just imagine a comprehensive marketing strategy and what it would do for traffic generation, sales, and the bottom line. I don’t have to guess, I know! It would be significant.

BTW, these results are typical and The Ultimate Internet Image can duplicate them for any brick and mortar company interested in the results demonstrated in the video mentioned above.

Generate increased traffic, leads, and/or sales with inbound marketing strategies developed specifically for your business by The Ultimate Internet Image!

Contact us 24/7 and if we are out of the office we will get back with you in a matter of hours, often less.

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
President and Director of Marketing
216-712-6526
216-539-7412
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com

Inbound Marketing versus Outbound Advertising: The Proof is in the Video!

The transition from traditional old media outbound advertising to new media inbound marketing hasn’t always been smooth, easy or pretty, as is evidenced in this video.

The Ultimate Internet Image is about the transition from old media, outbound advertising to new media, inbound marketing. Outbound advertising is perishing and it is a slow and painful death, particularly for those businesses, offline and online investing large sums of money in a strategy that is no longer viable.

The video at The Ultimate Internet Image will demonstrate what I mean.

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
216-539-7412
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com