Understanding the Importance of Social Media for Offline Businesses

Long-time business owners may not think social media and offline business should coexist, but in realtiy, and particularly in today’s marketplace, a social media presence is essential. Brick and mortar businesses can use social media for branding, gaining name recognition and visibility at an extremely reasonable cost. Social media and inbound marketing are valuable tools in an advertising toolkit and should be an integral part of any business’s marketing strategy. Social media is also called the new media marketing.

How can you become involved in social media as an offline business? Start with a blog about your business and what you do. Be sure to update the blog often and encourage participation by way comments. You can research, discovering which social networks your customers use and become a presence on those networks. For example, you can create a Facebook page and invite customers and friends to visit your page. The page will link back to your blog and drive traffic back to your site and provide additional exposure for your business, thus increasing brand awareness.

Twitter is a very popular social media network. Most followers on Twitter are very loyal and will help promote your brand providing you engage without spamming. You must learn the social rules of Twitter and follow them accordingly or you will lose more clients than you will gain but if you use the proper etiquette you will profit for your involvement.

To make social networking work for your company, you must provide useful content that people will want to share. Bloggers today are becoming a leading source of information; work on building relationships with other bloggers through social media networks and they will provide valuable links for you.

Several social networks are specialized for businesses.

Examples include:

LinkedIn

ecademy

Xing

XeeSm

Naymz

viadeo

Explore these and other business/social media sites for the best fit for your company. It may not be wise just to join a large number of networks that you cannot maintain.

LinkedIn is one of the largest and most popular social networking platforms for business. By forming a LinkedIn group related to your company, you can attract possible sales leads. Ask your employees and others in your field to join your group. The group page will be linked to your blog, so users can find you easily. As an expert in your field, you can also answer questions on LinkedIn and gain exposure in that way.

Ecademy, spelled ecademy (small “e”), is another social network for companies and has grown quickly, having a loyal membership base. Ecademy allows you to post your business profile and connect with other entrepreneurs. Business owners can receive advice as well as promote their own services worldwide. Networking groups are a popular destination on ecademy.

Xing claims to be the number one business/social network in Europe. Over eight million people use Xing. Xing sets up connections between businesses so they can find others to meet their needs and sell their services and products. You can search among all the professionals listed to find the right match for your needs. Xing also features groups and popular events, where you can meet other network users. Job seekers will find a separate application for them on Xing.

Naymz is an online network that offers some different features from some of the other business networks. Over one million people subscribe to this free service. Naymz offers a blogging feature and identity verification, among other things. The main idea on Naymz is to establish a positive reputation. Users build their reputation score through various assessments. If you have a high-scoring reputation on Naymz, the network will provide you with a sponsored Google listing. Naymz also assists in monitoring internet sources for any time your name appears online.

XeeSM states that they are “a social business application platform.” Professionals can keep all their contacts and their individual social networks together in an orderly fashion. Salespeople are able to reach clients through any number of social media; therefore, time and money are saved. XeeSM also provides a way for recruiters and job seekers to find one another quickly. XeeSM also offers various applications, including a business level app that is quite useful.

Brick and mortar business should embrace new media, inbound marketing, Web 2.0, etc. Social media is a low-cost way to build your image worldwide. Social media and inbound marketing are the future of advertising; it is better to become involved sooner than later but in the right way, with an overall marketing strategy designed to create brand awareness and a unique online identity, the ultimate Internet image.

Would you like to talk about your business’s social media strategy? Allow us to help you create brand awareness and a social media identity that will connect with your target audience!

Contact Us Today!

John Zajaros

The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004 (bus)
440-821-7018 (cell)
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com

What is Inbound Marketing and How is it Important to my Business?

You’ve worked hard on your online or brick and mortar business and feel prepared to offer consumers something they need, but how do you bridge the gap between those potential consumers and your high-quality content, products, or services? Inbound Marketing utilizes an understanding of how consumers actually use the Internet to seek information and make purchases, and applies this understanding to every element of content, advertising design, and overall marketing strategy.

Whether you have an established Internet image or are in the conceptual stages, working on your website, taking advantage of the Internet’s vast marketing resources can be a daunting task worthy of serious consideration, a perhaps the help of someone qualified. Even the web savvy can benefit from the professional assistance offered by an inbound marketing consultant. Ultimate Internet Image offers the advice and expertise you need to establish that ultimate Internet presence and build the consistent and convertible Internet traffic your business needs to survive and flourish.

How is Inbound Marketing Different?

In the past, if you wanted to sell a product or service, outbound advertising was your only real option. Expensive billboards, TV commercials, Yellow Page ads, trashy direct mail pieces, telephone prospecting, and radio spots where your only way of reaching consumers; and, this relationship was a one way street. There was usually no way to track how an ad was doing until the campaign was over, if then. How do you track a billboard ad? At least most of the ones you and I see every day! What happens to most direct mail? Straight from the mail box to “File 13,” the trash basket! When you received your last cold call, how long did it take for you to hang up? There are some marketing firms still engaged in this increasingly obsolete and incredibly ineffective method of marketing, outbound marketing, exclusively.

Ultimately, there must be a balance between inbound and outbound marketing; and, it must be trackable and the return on investment worth the risk. When all is said and done, all advertising has an element of risk. The task of a qualified inbound marketing consultant is to attempt to reduce or, whenever possible, eliminate risk.

Today, the consumer plays an important and active role in the buyer-seller relationship and marketing must reflect this transition. Consumers are identifying themselves, their interests, and their purchasing power, by way of search habits and Internet usage patterns, to anyone with the tools to listen. Your brick-and-mortar business or internet startup needs these tools and a savvy marketing consultant can and will provide them.

How Does Inbound Marketing Work and What are Some of the Key Components?

There are a number of ways to market products online. The Internet will enable you to reach potential clients, patients, and customers in a way outbound marketing cannot.

1. Search Engine Optimization or SEO – SEO is the method of organizing your web content to make it easier for search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing to “read” and rank. Search engines use “crawlers” (some call them “spiders” or “bots”), as well as other specialized software, to crawl your content in order to position your website pages on the appropriate search engine results pages (SERPs). By using the proper keywords and metadata, along with improving the website’s architecture, a previously obscure web site can improve its ranking across the Internet and improve overall visibility. This is the most cost-effective, long term strategy for building an online presence and, ultimately, you Internet image.

2. Social Media Marketing – Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Friendfeed, and LinkedIn (to name a few of thousands) have members in the tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions. Not only does social media reach more people (i.e., consumers of products and services) than any other medium, users of social media organize themselves into marketable niches (i.e., Tribes or congregations). A well constructed social media marketing strategy will reach more people faster than the slickest ad campaign ever devised, and for pennies…or “for free!” An understanding of how people interact on these sites will help you take advantage of the biggest lead generator in the world. Interestingly, like people, these social media platforms all have their distinct personalities; and, there are rules to adher to. Unless you want to be tagged as a spammer, certain death online, the message must be subtle and the focus of your strategy needs to be one of relationship building rather than overt selling. While difficult to track, the results can be impressive, provided the proper strategy is employed.

NOTE: Social media marketing is something of an oxymoron! You do not overtly or aggressively “market” online via social media. Anyone who suggests you should is not someone you want to work with. Being tagged a spammer, as mentioned elsewhere in this article, is the quickest and surest way to being tagged a spammer…and that is a social media death sentence! Keep in mind that the big companies and the “successes” they boast about online have more to do with brand recognition. The results are not about social media marketing strategy, we are comparing apples and oranges because most businesses do not have that sort of brand recognition and must therefore develop brand awareness before they can expect the kind of results the “big guns” derive from their social media marketing efforts.

3. Blogging – Building and maintaining relationships with clients and customers has always been one of the biggest challenges for businesses, and marketers, trying to build a brand and a business. One of the most neglected, most profitable groups of clients, customers, or consumers for any business is their current client base, people who have purchased their information, goods, or services before. A blog is one of the best ways to cultivate new prospects, keep in touch with current prospects, and engage current clients on an ongoing basis. Full featured blog themes provide online endeavors and brick and mortar businesses (i.e., offline businesses) an opportunity to interact prospects, clients, customers, and patients on an ongoing basis, creating previously unimaginable channels for user-feedback, long-term relationships, and even e-commerce.

NOTE: The static website is becoming increasingly obsolete, as well-informed businesses are moving towards full-featured websites and blogs to take ful advantage of the relationship building tools available to them through what Seth Godin and others are referring to as the “new media.” In other words, the static website is rapidly going extinct as Web 2.0 and the new media emerge.

4. Pay-Per-Click or PPC – PPC advertising provides traffic the old-fashioned way, by paying for it. Search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and many others will post your banners, ads, and other approved links and messages, charging you based on your campaign’s architecture and how effectively your ads generate clicks to your site (click thru rate) . Pay-Per-Click can also be very expensive, particularly if you don’t possess the know-how to convert user interest (traffic) into sales. PPC can be an incredibly effective method for generating traffic, leads, prospects, and sales but it must be focused and you must know what you are going…or it can get away from you fast. If you are a novice, you would be wise to spend some time getting a feel for this advertising method before jumping in or keep your daily budget (you are allowed to set a daily maximum spend) to a minimum until you have a sense fo what you are doing. The best case scenario is, of course, to hire a PPC specialist, sometimes referred to as an AdWords specialist, to run your campaign. Most full featured inbound marketing consulting firms will offer this service.

Only by balancing the elements and strategies above can you improve web traffic, and traffic to your business, online or offline; and, build new relationships, and establish a lasting, and ultimate, Internet Image for your business. The best strategy is always to use the experience of others whenever possible. Why reinvent the wheel? Find an inbound marketing consulting firm you have confidence in and allow them to get to know you and your business. In doing so, you will be on your way to what is known as The Ultimate Internet Image.

Don’t leave your business’ future to chance, get an in depth marketing assessment and then get traffic, leads, prospects, and sales!

Contact us today!

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
216-712-7004

The Ultimate Internet Image Begins with The Ultimate Real World Relationship

I have been in business in one way or another for almost my entire adult life, since the age of 19. The power of relationship building, regardless of the setting, from the army to academia, has been the reason for my success and has defined who I am today.

Several wise men and women have all echoed the same sentiment:

Your Business Defines and is Defined by Who You Are as An Individual!

I would agree with the above and expand upon it:

We Are Defined By Our Commitments to Each Other and By How Well We Honor Them!

Interestingly, as a salesperson, I never worked well with others, my peers I mean.

Why?

To be perfectly frank about it, I was never a very good salesman!

What I have always been is a very good people-person!

I have never made a sale in my life, and yet I have made tens of thousands in a single month selling.

Why?

Because I do not sell anything, ever, I build a relationship and the sale takes care of itself!

The thing most salespeople miss, the quality I built a reputation and several businesses on, is the relationship!

The sale is the beginning of the relationship, not the end. In fact, everything flows from that initial transaction…the sale comes later.

Let me explain!

At times a sale is made because someone has a specific and immediate need.

The Process!

However, very often the sale is preceded by a process. The process is initiated by a connection of some sort, a feeling out process, if you will.

The Connection!

The connection is made and, if comfortable and determined to be mutually beneficial, it leads to a relationship.

The Relationship!

The relationship is built upon a connection, if the connection is found to be a good one, mutually beneficial to both parties, a relationship is formed.

Trust!

Trusting someone is a big step, difficult for many, impossible for some…and for good reason!

However, without trust, there will be no transaction…of any kind! The relationship is the first test in the process of developing trust.

Interestingly, the Internet has brought forth an amazing transformation, the world is indeed a smaller place. Social media is a window into our thirst for connections, for relationship building, and for friendship…but it entails trust!

Social media marketing, when misunderstood, is often a perversion of the relationship building process.

Social media marketing attempts to capitalize on the longing for connection and relationship building.

Interestingly, most fail to get the nuances of the milieu and pervert the relationship building process, failing miserably and claiming that social media marketing doesn’t work!

Social media marketing fails because the marketer is focused on the marketing and not on the relationship…the center, the linchpin of it all!

Social media is a mirror into the psyche of modern humans; and, it has yielded an interesting challenge:

Who can we trust? In fact, can we trust anyone?

It is a sad commentary on life when the most common phrase most people think of when they think of trust is:

“Don’t trust anyone!”

So, how do we develop trust? How do we break through the defenses in place?

Time and Effort = Results and Experience!

With time, patience, and effort, baby steps if you will, we achieve noticeable results and that experience allows trust to grow. The more time, the more effort, the more results…and our experience with an individual or company builds.

The Bond of Friendship!

With time and effort trust allows a bond to form and the bond builds and friendship is born!

Friendship may have many different forms but the process and the basis are the same:

Connection…Relationship…Time….Effort….Bond…Friendship…Sacred Trust!

To be perfectly honest with you, I’ve had very few clients in my life, fewer customers…I have had a lot of friends who I do business with!

You see, if a friend trusts you with their livelihood, you will honor that relationship with the best you have to offer!

If you provide the best, and take every relationship, marketing or otherwise, to heart, you will never fail.

If a friend trusts you with his or her business, they are demonstrating the ultimate form of trust.

Why?

Because their livelihood, in fact their well-being, and that of their loved ones, is in your hands!

Sacred Trust!

Ultimately, if you take this approach and internalize the mindset, you will never fail! In fact, you will have more business than you can possibly handle!

If you view every relationship as a sale, part of the marketing process and nothing more, you are doomed to repeated
failure.

Success and/or Failure is a Consequence of Mindset!

If you treat your customers as clients, your clients as friends, your friends with the same trust they place in you, and honor it, you will never go hungry for business or the real nourishment we all crave…

…the connection, built into a relationship, yielding trust, solidified by a bond, resulting in a lifelong friendship made stronger by the sacred trust conferred upon those we value enough to call…friend!

The money will take care of itself…always!

In fact, money will become an afterthought!

The real value, what defines us, will be the number of friendships we have forged over a lifetime.

Time and Effort

The satisfaction of helping others, the effort, combined with time, yielding a friendship and building into a sacred trust will yield success beyond measure:

Financial – Personal – Spiritual!

Treat your customers as clients, your clients as friends, and your friends as family…you will never know lasting failure!

Contact me anytime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526 (24/7)
216-539-7412 (24/7)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com (for a personal response)

PS, For a free in depth consultation and competitive analysis contact me at the numbers above, I will return the request personally!

The Questions Every Business Must Ask Before, During, and After Each and Every Inbound Marketing Campaign

Many companies pay huge sums of money, either to search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN (Bing) for pay-per-click sponsored advertising or to SEO firms, to get to page one, the first page for various coveted keyword phrases responsible for generating leads, traffic, prospects, and ultimately, sales.

While both inbound marketing strategies may be effective, they are certainly not the most effective methods overall, both in terms of costs and/or results, for dealing with the marketing conundrum, the puzzle presented by Google and the other search engines.

The puzzle?

How does a business, either an online, Internet-based company or a traditional brick and mortar business, get the most exposure in the least amount of time and for the least amount of money?

In other words, how can a company optimize not only exposure, the ultimate Internet image and presence, but how can I do it in a cost effective manner?

How does a company optimize the ROI, return on investment?

These are the questions every company, online or offline, participating in online marketing or, as it is now referred to, inbound, new media marketing, needs to be able to understand and address. Unless a company can properly address these questions, these issues that cut to the heart of both short term and long term Internet marketing strategies and efforts, they are going about it in the wrong way.

As noted previously, there is a revolution underway, a transition within a transition. The Internet has forever altered how we spend money on sales and marketing campaigns. The shift is two-fold at its most fundamental level, and there are transitions within transitions, the state of Internet marketing, and thus the state of inbound marketing, is fluid, in a constant state of flux, evolving as knowledge of how to fully optimize the platform and its strategies are understood at a greater and deeper level.

The initial transition has occurred within and away from outbound advertising, the traditional in-your-face, intrusive advertising (e.g., Yellow Pages, television, radio, billboards, etc.), to a consumer oriented, search driven marketing strategy, later to be referred to as inbound or new media marketing. Within this transition several more have taken place. However, the most significant and interesting shift has been in the social media milieu because it is reshaping the Internet at a fundamental level. As the latter continues to occur, how we target and reach various segments of the Web 2.0, social media population is defining inbound marketing.

The use of social media and video marketing, along with the emergence of the blog, social bookmarking, and the mini or micro-blogging phenomenon have reshaped the strategies of companies big and small, both traditional brick and mortar companies moving online and emerging Internet marketing concerns across a variety of niches.

Ultimately, the transition is far from over, yet one thing is a certainty, the old media style of advertising, the outbound method of marketing is fading and the new media, inbound marketing approach to client and customer acquisition is here for the foreseeable future. The ROI may be incredible, given the proper strategy and an understanding of inbound marketing.

The next article in this series: The Use of Video and Social Media to Achieve High Levels of Search Engine Visability! will deal with how to integrate these two powerful models into your inbound marketing to create the Ultimate Internet Image long term!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
The Ultimate Internet Image – International
216-539-7412
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com

PS, Call for a free consultation and video marketing strategy workup.

The merging of a comprehensive social media marketing strategy, also referred to by many as Web 2.0 marketing, with an overarching, inbound marketing campaign is crucial if our goal is to fully optimize advertising and marketing strategies online. The Internet marketing campaign, both in terms of monetization and branding, must reflect an understanding as well as a synthesis, an integration of the various tools, applications, and platforms available and necessary for an effective inbound marketing campaign. In order to achieve the ultimate Internet image, in other words, in order to effectively brand yourself and your product, you must pursue and implement a program designed to optimize the best Web 2.0 has to offer with various other “new media,” Internet marketing techniques (e.g., email marketing, on-site marketing, affiliate marketing, free advertising, etc). In order to fully exploit the growing popularity of social media generally, and certain social networking and video-sharing sites specifically, it must be understood that there is a major sift underway, a transition taking place on the Internet today. While I have addressed this transition at some length in previous articles, I will review and also discuss the various usage trends evident on the web, particularly as they relate to new media and online business.

Social Media and the Twitter Hawks’ Promise!

Social networking sites are myriad, with more popping up every day. Social bookmarking and video-sharing sites are just as plentiful. That being the case, it is imperative we understand the transition and the trends underway and ongoing if, as Internet marketers, we wish to take advantage of the veritable gold rush underway on the web today. However, a word of caution! While I use the phrase gold rush, I must add a caveat. Without the proper understanding, preparation, and an intelligent, well thought out inbound marketing strategy, the online campaign will come up bust every time.

Vanishing: Attrition and Social Media

There are marketers disappearing as fast as they appear, 60% attrition from Twitter at last report, because they simply do not understand the intricacies, the balance, and the psychology underlying this rush to gold. Certainly it is true that not all of the 60% are or ever were marketers but the drop off is illustrative of just how fast the attraction and the luster fades. Interestingly, certain social media sites have come, and others gone, while you read this article, some fading into oblivion and others popping up to take their place.

The Twitter Gold Rush

Many of the Twitter marketers (i.e., Twits, Twitterers or Tweeple) find out quite rapidly that a simple link doesn’t convert as well as the Twitter Hawks, I term I coined to label those individuals selling the dream, the “picks and shovels” to Tweeple looking to cash in on the Internet version of the California Gold Rush or was it the Alaska Gold Rush? Many soon discover it takes more than a metaphorical pick and shovel, meaning the latest load of rehashed and replayed Twitter marketing “stuff,” a lot nicer than the four letter word I was considering for a lot of it, from one of the myriad of Twitter marketing “gurus,” some with almost no followers and following even fewer…but they are experts? The Twitter Hawks out there are just waiting for the next 49er to come along, dreaming of gold and panning for it on Twitter, facebook, or perhaps YouTube.

Twitter and Four Letter Words,br>

I mention Twitter because it is illustrative and symptomatic of a much deeper problem on the web generally, and within social media specifically. I am speaking of what rests at the very base, in fact is the basis of any effective marketing campaign, online or offline traditional brick and mortar, anywhere in the world, and in any field. The problem has to do with a clear lack of understanding of the sales process. Yes, we call it all kinds of fancy names in order to avoid saying the “S” word, that four letter word everyone hates. You see, S…E…L…L…is the ultimate four letter word! “I can’t SELL!” “Do I have to SELL anything?” “Will it involve having to SELL something?” “I didn’t know I’d have to SELL anything!” The best one, “He just wants to SELL me something!” The list goes on and the italicized emphasis placed on the four letter word doesn’t do the disdain, the utter contempt, the revulsion and/or the fear associated with the word justice. But it the best I can do.

I am certain you can hear people in your mind as you read the quotes, these are real and I have heard them all, so have most of you. Have you ever uttered any of the above quotes? Certainly! We don’t like to be S…O…L…D…we like to buy! The irony here should be immediately apparent. In order for you to buy anything, someone else has to do that four letter word to you. Interesting!

The S…A…L…E…and the Sales Process

We refer to the sales process, selling and sales, in many different ways, some are: online business; Internet marketing; inbound marketing; new media marketing; old media and/or outbound advertising; and, just about anything else but what it is, a S…A…L…E!
Significantly, what many are talking about when speaking of sales and marketing is getting someone to take out their wallet and plunk down some cash. Interestingly, a sale is more than just an action and a transaction, much more! You see, you are selling when you get someone to donate their time, listen to your teleseminar, follow your tweets, check out a favorite quote, read a book you recommend, click on your link, join you on LinkedIn or facebook or friendfeed, etc.

It’s About Selling!

So, whatever you do, wherever you do it, most of it is selling. Sometimes sales is about cash, occasionally a lot of cash! And that may actually retard the selling process, we will talk about why in a upcoming article, but selling is not about the cash, it never is, never has been. Cash is a byproduct of the sale, small letters and no emphasis. Sales is about what makes sites like Twitter and facebook and the hundreds of others popular, it’s about the connection, the relationship, the bond that forms before most sales are ever made. Let me say that again…

…it’s about the connection, the relationship, the bond!

Tweeple, the S…A…L…E…and Self

Unfortunately, many Tweeple, in fact most people new to sales, advertising, and marketing simply do not have what it takes to make a sale, much less a S…A…L…E! There is a secret to selling and I am going to share it with you here. I’m going to share it with you so you too may have the success I have had over the years, as a direct result of selling. Yes, selling! You see, life is a sales and marketing process, all of it. If you are successful at selling your self, you will find a mate. If you are successful at selling your self, you will get a good job. If you are successful at selling your self, your kids will listen to and respect you. If you are successful at selling your self, the youth soccer team you coach will listen to you…and they may even win a game or two. Get the idea? Life is a sales process, every hour or every day…sales!

The Other Four Letter Word!

Did you notice something else? S…E…L…F…is also a four letter word, one just as detrimental to the sales process as the word S…E…L…L! So, get your S…E…L…F…out of the sales process and make your prospective client’s self-interest your focus!

The Secret and The Close…Another Four Letter Word

Oh yeah! The secret? The secret is two-fold and you have the answer above. The secret is that there is no sales process! If you attempt to S…E…L…L…anything, you will fail. Yes, you may close the S…A…L…E, and close should be another four letter word. A lasting relationship, one built on a connection and a bond, means you will have a steady client, referrals, and repeat business. The close? Closing someone leads to cancellations, an unhappy client, and clients focused on one thing, price! The price fixation is never a good situation, always a bad S…A…L…E!

It’s About 3 Things!

Selling is about what? Yes, that’s right! The sales process is all about the connection, the relationship, and the bond. I have always been an unconventional salesman. I have never followed a sales script, never. If an employer wanted me to follow a script, the script I followed was an exit script. Why? You already know the answer! I made a connection, that connection led to a relationship, that relationship led to a bond, and the bond allowed for trust, the trust enabled the sales process to culminate in another relationship, one based on a relationship combined with self interest, the client’s self interest…not my S…E…L…F, and certainly not because I made a S…A…L…E!

Internet Image and Social Media

Inbound marketing is a process, it begins with a connection, the connection leads to a relationship, the relationship leads to a bond, and once a bond is formed, another type of relationship builds, a mutual one, one profitable to both parties. Social media is an integral component in the connection/relationship/bond building model, but just one aspect, one ingredient. In fact, there are several key components, all necessary if a traditional brick and mortar business is making the move to an online presence or an Internet marketing concern is stepping up its Internet image. In either case there is one absolute, social media is about the connection and the beginnings of a relationship, to achieve the next component, the bond, the business, offline or online, will require additional steps to ensure its success. In the upcoming three articles we will deal with the various aspects of social media, social bookmarking, and video-sharing sites. Next, in Part II, we will discuss the various social media platforms and how to best integrate them into what will become the ultimate Internet image!

Contact The Ultimate Internet Image for a free comprehensive analysis!

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

The Ultimate Internet Image is a consulting and training company with one goal: Your complete satisfaction!

We are involved in and focussed on the various social media networks and social bookmarking platforms. Additionally, we are involved in developing an innovative, complete, and up-to-date strategy to keep pace with current trends and in order to assure you achieve The Ultimate Internet Image. We have just signed on a brilliant new programmer, already involved in creating social networking software geared towards simplifying and streamlining your online marketing experience. UII is focused on future, innovative applications development. The Ultimate Internet Image International is orientated towards marketing novices and newcomers, as well as seasoned marketing experts and software developers looking to stay abreast of the latest trends in inbound marketing.

Finally, The Ultimate Internet Image is an Internet marketing agency, an inbound marketing consultancy, and a digital marketing mastermind. UII can meet all of your web-based design requirements and assist you in meeting and overcoming your unique Internet application development challenges and concerns. The Ultimate Internet Image is also a full service SEO specialist, skilled in attraction and integration marketing, as well as various advertising strategies using Web 2.0 and social media networks and platforms.

Internet marketing is once again in a transitionary phase, shifting from a traditional, website centered approach, to a more complete and holistic blog and social media strategy. As discussed previously, this also entails a dynamic shift from an outbound, advertiser driven approach to consumer driven, inbound marketing. It is imperative both online and traditional brick and mortar businesses stay on top of this latest trend. UII will help you better understand and implement the various strategies necessary to achieve the ultimate online business presence.

Remember:

Your Success is our Success!

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

How to Build a Hub or a Linchpin for Your Inbound, Internet Marketing Campaign – Blogging and Social Media Marketing – The Ultimate Internet Image!

There is a transition occurring today in the marketplace from an outbound, old media marketing strategy to an inbound, new media approach presents an interesting, challenging, and even profitable environment for business owners willing to incorporate and even embrace current transition. The shift from old to new, outbound, even intrusive marketing to an inbound, customer/client driven methodology appears to be profound and lasting. The current economic trend is challenging, and that’s putting it mildly. Yet even the most experienced entrepreneurs and Internet marketing specialists are grappling with the right strategy, the right combination of tools, necessary to survive this downturn. In order to survive, businesses must adapt, rethink, and redesign their current approach to advertising and marketing. As a result of our current economic challenges, businesses are finding it increasingly important, imperative, to develop and strengthen relationships, not only with prospective customers, but with their established customer base as well. Engaging in a relationship building strategy with customers they have already done business with at some point in the past is one of the most effective methods for improving a business’s overall profitability, while decreasing advertising costs. It is the established customer/client base, combined with a successful relationship building campaign that includes a number of tools and marketing platforms, that will ultimately lead to not only survival in the current economy but prosperity…in spite of it!

The Emergence of the Weblog!

The emergence of the weblog (web log) or blog, blogging in today’s parlance, revolutionized the way individuals communicate on the Internet. Significantly, what was once considered to be solely a social communication vehicle, almost a means to “gossip” on the web, quickly became the darling of the Internet for individuals and businesses alike. Today, everyone from the neighborhood grandmother talking about her most recent trip back east to see the grandchildren, to The Ford Motor Company and Skittles are blogging and the reasons are myriad. Blogging allows a connection between participants unlike anything I have witnessed in marketing to date.

Marketing History: A Flashback to Bobby and Billy!

In my 54 years I have weathered several recessions, a number of presidents, including a resignation and an assassination, and a couple of attempted ones, the Bobby Riggs and Billy Jean King marketing masterpiece, the “New Coke” marketing debacle, the ultimate political spin of the Clinton Presidency, and the annual marketing bonanza also known as the Super Bowl. However, I have never witnessed anything like the emergence of the “blogosphere.”

The Blogosphere? What the Heck is the Blogosphere?

The blogosphere? Well, if we use Technorati’s definition “The blogosphere is the collective community of all blogs.” How many? As of Technorati’s August 2008 report on the state of the blogosphere there were 133 million blogs indexed by Technorati since 2002, with 1.5 million per week being added per week since then. Surely Technorati’s numbers have changed vastly in the last year but the fact is no one really knows how many blogs exist. There is however one undeniable fact, the blog is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future.

The Demographics of Blogging

The face of the average blogger is a difficult one to perceive. The numbers grow and the demographics shift but the average blogger is male, over 25 years old, 50% of all bloggers are over 35 years of age, married, college educated, with an average yearly income of over $50,000, and 48% live in North America. Four out of every five people blogging, known as bloggers, identify themselves as personal bloggers. Interestingly, there is a great amount of overlap between bloggers, professional, corporate, and personal, with many designating themselves as two out of the three or all three. Almost half of all bloggers noted that they have had or continue to have multiple blogs, 60% of all bloggers having two or more years of blogging experience, with the average tenure being three years. Female bloggers make up 34% of active bloggers, males make up 73% of all bloggers in Asia, and the youngest blogging population seems to be in Europe, with half of all respondents being between the age of 18 and 34 years of age.

The Emergence of Social Media

With the emergence of social media, and the realization of the power social media marketing offers, including the mini-blog phenomena Twitter and facebook, the blog has maintained its pivotal role as the “hub spot” from which an increasing numbers of companies, from the mom and pop corner store to Fortune 100 corporations, are building inbound, Internet marketing campaigns. The blog offers the ideal platform for relationship building. Connecting with prospective clients, as well the current customer/client base in a way no other medium offers, the combination of the blog and various Web 2.0 platforms is both organic and dynamic. Blogging is a crucial component in any “new media,” inbound marketing strategy. Added to the blogging hub, the social media or Web 2.0 campaign offers an innovative and forward thinking approach to prospective customer and established customer relationship building never before offered in this way by a marketing strategy.

What the Heck Happened to the Website?

So, what happened to the website? Well, first of all a blog is a website! Yes, it is a website, and it’s not, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. Internet marketing has experienced a transition, a revolution of sorts, from the traditional website to the fresh and organic approach of the blog. The blog should be an integral part of any online marketing strategy. Blogging not only provides useful content for a business’s target audience, it also builds relationships and strengthens the connection between current customers and businesses engaged in this useful marketing strategy. The business blog has virtually, and literally, replaced the conventional website as many company’s primary customer/client communication vehicle, and rightly so. The combination of other media, along with the blog, as in the case of social media marketing mentioned above, offers an inbound marketing strategy, cost-effective and profitable, short and long-term.

Weather the Storm and Prospering in the Current Economy!

The question every business owner today must ask: “How do I develop a marketing strategy that will allow me weather the current economic storm?” The fact is many of the traditional marketing strategies, also referred to as outbound or old media advertising strategies have been replaced by inbound, new media marketing methods, with impressive and lasting results. The cost of new media marketing is substantially less than most traditional, outbound methods engaged in by traditional brick and mortar businesses today (e.g., television, radio, newspaper, etc.). Given the current economic climate, this certainly seems counter-intuitive. During a time when businesses large and small are struggling to stay afloat, it would seem prudent to engage in any strategy that promises to increase traffic while decreasing the cost of doing business. Additionally, the reduction in the cost of doing business associated with an inbound, new media marketing strategy is generally accompanied by an increase in revenue and an improved and strengthened customer/business connection. The benefits of the new media, inbound strategy are derived solely due to the blog as the central component, the linchpin or hub, driving the entire program and making the entire business more profitable and even prosperous, regardless of the current economy…or perhaps because of it.

Why UII?

The transition from traditional, outbound, old media marketing to an innovative, inbound, new media strategy is the focus of The Ultimate Internet Image, a new venture created to serve traditional brick and mortar businesses and Internet marketers alike. The Ultimate Internet Image focuses on an inbound marketing strategy while realizing that there is still power and usefulness in some outbound marketing media platforms. The UII marketing strategy creates a synergy, a synthesis of the old media with the new media in order to create a marketing plan designed specifically for the individual client, not a cookie-cutter, one size fits all approach so commonly seen online.

Where Do I Find UII?

The Ultimate Internet Image has offices in Maine, Florida, New York, Minnesota, Ohio, and Illinois, with more opening every week. We welcome you to explore the ultimate opportunity, as a client or as a director and owner. Contact information is available at The Ultimate Internet Image’s blog, listed below.

We invite you to discover what it means to offer The Ultimate Internet Image!

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