<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>The Ultimate Internet Image &#187; Online/Offline Marketing</title>
	<atom:link href="http://ultimateinternetimage.com/tag/onlineoffline-marketing/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://ultimateinternetimage.com</link>
	<description>A Revolutionary Way to Merge Traditional Image Building with Your Internet Marketing Presence</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:18:08 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4</generator>
		<item>
		<title>How to Prepare an Inbound Marketing Consultation &amp; Competitive Analysis</title>
		<link>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/how-to-prepare-an-inbound-marketing-consultation-competitive-analysis/</link>
		<comments>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/how-to-prepare-an-inbound-marketing-consultation-competitive-analysis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brick and Mortar Business and Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How to Prepare an Inbound Marketing Consultation & Competitive Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inbound and Internet Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Outbound Marketing Inbound Marketing and the Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Understanding Outbound Advertising versus Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How to Start Your Own Internet Marketing Consulting Firm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing for Offilne Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online/Offline Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Ultimate Internet Image and Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traditional Brick and Mortar Business and the Internet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ultimateinternetimage.com/?p=237</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Fhow-to-prepare-an-inbound-marketing-consultation-competitive-analysis%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Fhow-to-prepare-an-inbound-marketing-consultation-competitive-analysis%2F&amp;style=normal&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Inbound Marketing A through Z: Beginning a Marketing Consultancy Part II</strong></p>
<p><strong>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:</strong></p>
<p><em><strong>“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!”</strong></em></p>
<p><em>I think I mentioned something about prime oceanfront property in Arizona while I was at it?</em></p>
<p><em>And PT Barnum?</em></p>
<p><strong>Well, once again:</strong></p>
<p><em><strong>”Step right up!”</strong></em></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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!</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Significantly, the same methods we use to acquire clients, a hyrid approach to marketing, are often used to acquire clients for <em>our</em> 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.</p>
<p>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).</p>
<p><strong>However, we have found that a little extra time accomplishes a number of things:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>It allows us to do all the research we need to do in order to understand their business inside and out.</li>
<li>It allows us to crawl inside the niche and understand who the players are and how we are going to attack them. Yes, attack!</li>
<li>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?</li>
<li>It allows us to get beyond credentials, references, and business cards and on to how we can serve them as a marketing expert.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>It allows us to answer most objections before they ever come up!</li>
</ul>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong><em>UII never closes on the first visit, there is too much in stake on both sides of the table.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>In the inbound marketing consultation and competitive analysis we discuss the following:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>How the owner got into business or profession they are in, including where they went to school and where they live now.</li>
<li>Did they grow up in the area?</li>
<li>How long have they been in business?</li>
<li>What is the biggest challenge they are currently facing?</li>
<li>What is the issue they are currently and consistently grappling with that concerns them most?</li>
<li>What have they tried to do about it?</li>
<li>What marketing strategies are they currently employing?
<ul>
<li>Are they online?</li>
<li>Do they have a website?</li>
<li>Do they understand SEO?</li>
<li>Do they use social media?</li>
<li>Who writes their copy?</li>
<li>Are they using PPC (pay-per-click)?</li>
<li>What is their monthly ad spend?</li>
<li>Are they tracking the results?</li>
<li>If so, what are the metrics?</li>
<li>Do they use video?</li>
<li>If they use video, how?</li>
<li>Who produces their video for them?</li>
<li>Do they use audio?</li>
<li>Do they have a blog?</li>
<li>Do they have an online shopping cart?</li>
<li>How big is their email list?</li>
<li>Do they have an email list?</li>
<li>How often do they contact their clients, past and present?</li>
<li>Do they have an active referral system?</li>
<li>Do they know how they rank with Alexa?</li>
<li>How do they rank with Quantcast?</li>
<li>Do they use analytics?</li>
<li>Do they show up and page one of the various search engines?</li>
<li>For what keyword phrases?</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><em>And so on!</em></strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Significantly, with the tools at our disposal, we are almost always right on the money.</p>
<p><strong><em>Pun intended!</em></strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong>Links and Longevity</strong></p>
<p>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 (<em>i.e.</em>, keywords, keyword density, overall construction, <em>etc.</em>).</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong>This takes more than a $97 e-course or a $997 e-course, it takes everything mentioned in Part I, and above:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Awareness</li>
<li>Empathy</li>
<li>Experience</li>
<li>Preparation</li>
<li>And so much more!</li>
</ul>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong><em>Success in inbound marketing, in any aspect of marketing, is a Herculean task and one not to be taken lightly.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Siren’s Call?</strong></p>
<p><strong><em>The $5,000 to $10,000 per month?</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>It is <em>do-able!</em></strong></p>
<p>However, you must over-deliver and you must become a student of marketing. Forget about <em>The 4 Hour Workweek</em> 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&#8230;and the money!</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Finally, Michael Gerber stated, in <em>The E Myth Revisted,</em> 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.</p>
<p><strong><em>A sobering statistic!</em></strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>In Part III of <em>Inbound Marketing A through Z: Beginning a Marketing Consultancy</em> 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.</p>
<p><em><strong>Contact us anytime for a comprehensive inbound marketing consultation and competitive analysis.</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>John Zajaros</strong><br />
<strong>The Ultimate Internet Image</strong><br />
<strong>Lakewood, Ohio 44107</strong><br />
<strong>216-712-7004 (bus)</strong><br />
<strong>440-821-7018 (cell)</strong></p>
<script type="text/javascript" class="owbutton" src="http://onlywire.com/btn/button_58108" title="How to Prepare an Inbound Marketing Consultation & Competitive Analysis" url="http://ultimateinternetimage.com/how-to-prepare-an-inbound-marketing-consultation-competitive-analysis/"></script>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/how-to-prepare-an-inbound-marketing-consultation-competitive-analysis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Inbound Marketing A through Z: Beginning a Marketing Consultancy &#8211; Part I</title>
		<link>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/inbound-marketing-a-through-z-beginning-a-marketing-consultancy-part-i/</link>
		<comments>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/inbound-marketing-a-through-z-beginning-a-marketing-consultancy-part-i/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jun 2010 07:22:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Outbound Marketing Inbound Marketing and the Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image and Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How to Build an Internet Marketing Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How to Start Your Own Internet Marketing Consulting Firm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inbound Marketing Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online/Offline Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Ultimate Internet Image and Inbound Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ultimateinternetimage.com/?p=233</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Beginning an Inbound Marketing Marketing Consultancy and the Gold Rush Offline Gold, 4 Hours a Week, and the Business of Marriage First, before we get started I want to warn you, this is going to ruffle a few feathers. In fact, that is part of the reason I am writing it! There has been a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Finbound-marketing-a-through-z-beginning-a-marketing-consultancy-part-i%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Finbound-marketing-a-through-z-beginning-a-marketing-consultancy-part-i%2F&amp;style=normal&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Beginning an Inbound Marketing Marketing Consultancy and the Gold Rush</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Offline Gold, 4 Hours a Week, and the Business of Marriage </strong></p>
<p><strong><em>First, before we get started I want to warn you, this is going to ruffle a few feathers. In fact, that is part of the reason I am writing it!</em></strong></p>
<p>There has been a lot of talk about Offline Marketing Gold, particularly as it relates to social media management and inbound marketing. This article is the first of three parts. The first is more conceptual, broad strokes and my take on what is happening online in marketing today. I also talk about whether you are the right fit to pursue inbound marketing as a career.</p>
<p><strong>And <em>yes</em>, it is a career! </strong></p>
<p>An inbound marketing consultancy is not <em>The 4 Hour Workweek</em> and it is not 2 hours a day from the beach. My clients at The Ultimate Internet Image want results and they want to see me or at least hear from me&#8230;often.</p>
<p>After all, I have their professional lives in my hands (I will explain below).</p>
<p>So, just a warning before we begin. I will be all over the place today but tomorrow I will pull it all together and provide the actual nuts and bolts, the resources I apply from the time I begin to assess a prospective client through signing them as a marketing client of The Ultimate Internet Image.</p>
<p>In Part III of <em>Inbound Marketing A through Z: Beginning a Marketing Consultancy</em> I will address the various options you have for developing a client’s Internet image or online presence, the software we use at The Ultimate Internet Image to get clients to page one in hours (our record in 56 minutes) and the strategies involved in keeping them there. Additionally, and this is crucial, I will address how we get page one listings to convert into clients, ultimately into dollars.</p>
<p>Yes, Google’s page one is nice, you can’t beat it, but once there, and once someone visits your website as a result of a page one organic (or sponsored) listing, how do we get the visitor to act? The strategies we use at UII will be addressed in detail in Part III.</p>
<p><strong>So, on to the Gold Rush!</strong></p>
<p>I have been reading a lot about all the money to be made in “offline” business consulting, inbound marketing consulting to be more precise. The offline business world is made up predominantly of brick and mortar businesses (retail in all its many manifestations), service oriented businesses (e.g., HVAC, plumbers, landscapers, contractors of all sorts, computer repair, etc.), professional practices (e.g., medical doctors, dentists, chiropractors, podiatrists, attorneys, accountants, etc.), and speciality providers. I use specialty providers as a catch-all for those types of businesses where a special service or a special order is required, you can’t just walk in and buy something; there is a process.</p>
<p><strong>In other words, there’s a lot of </strong><em><strong>“gold in them thar hills!”</strong></em><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong></strong>Or at least that’s what certain savvy marketers would have you believe.</p>
<p><em>“Step right up ladies and gentelman,”</em> as PT Barnum would say, <em>“watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!”</em> Or? $5000 to $10,000 a month!</p>
<p>Those are the numbers I see thrown around each and every day. Significantly, the numbers are being thrown around on the Internet; and, almost always by Internet marketing “gurus” selling programs on how to make $5000 to $10,000 a month offline!</p>
<p><strong><em>Hmmm?</em></strong></p>
<p>I am often amused when I read such claims, not because there isn’t some validity, because there is, but because it seems the offline world, whether retail, service-oriented, professional, or specialty, has become the latest <em>California Gold Rush</em>. And, as is always the case when “<em>gold fever</em>” strikes, there is no shortage of shrewd Internet marketers out there ready, willing, and very able to stoke the fire and fuel the hype. We’ll get into the distinction between hype and reality in a bit.</p>
<p><strong>Picks and Shovels Anyone?</strong></p>
<p>You may have heard the story of Samuel Brannan (1819-1889), the founder of the <em>California Star</em> and the proprietor of the Sutter Fort store, among many others. Sam Brannan made his fortune selling picks and shovels, predominantly shovels, to the miners and wannabe miners caught up in the California Gold Rush (1848-1855) fever of the day. The story is told by J.S. Holiday in <em>Rush for </em><em>R</em><em>iches; </em><em>G</em><em>old </em><em>F</em><em>ever and the </em><em>M</em><em>aking of California</em> (1999).</p>
<p>Interestingly, it is said that Brannan used tithes collected from members of the LDS Church to buy the shovels and then ran (some say strode) through the streets, holding a small vial of gold dust and yelling:</p>
<p><em><strong>“Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!” </strong></em></p>
<p>The tithes were actually colllected from the earnings of the LDS miners themselves.</p>
<p>Brannan never spent a dime of his own money, he simply parleyed the money of others and then fueled the hype so people who were thinking about cashing in had nowhere else to turn for their supplies. The Sutter Fort store is said to have sold $150,000 per month worth of supplies in 1849.</p>
<p><strong><em>In 1849!</em></strong></p>
<p>Not bad for someone who never mined an ounce of gold himself. Sam just preyed on the gullibility and the greed of others to make his fortune, Brannan’s own greed is, of course, notwithstanding.</p>
<p><strong>I <em>hope</em> you can see the parallels?</strong></p>
<p>It seems every time there is a new idea, a gimmick, or whatever, there’s no shortage of Sam Brannans ready to cash on the gold rushers. In this case, the offline gold rushers looking for all that offline business gold.</p>
<p><strong>Inbound Marketing Gold!</strong></p>
<p><strong>Is it real? <em>Yes&#8230;and no!</em></strong></p>
<p>Yes, there is money to be made inbound marketing consulting, or offline business consulting if you will. And no, it is not as easy as many Internet marketing gurus would have you believe, not by a long shot. But that doesn’t stop savvy marketers from charging $97 or $997 or $997 or $9997 and up for the <em>Holy Grail</em>, the secret to end all secrets, the ultimate cash-in:</p>
<p><strong>Offline Business Gold!</strong></p>
<p>Let me qualify all of this before we go any further.</p>
<p>I almost said <em>“Let me say this about that!”</em> A Richard Milhous Nixon moment – Phew – what a flashback!</p>
<p>OK, back to inbound marketing consulting!</p>
<p>There always has been and, no doubt as we move into an era of greater and greater specialization, always will be, a need for consultants. However, we are talking about the need for marketing consultants who are intimately in tune with the offline business world and, in particular, with the needs of the traditional brick and mortar retail business, professional practice, service-oriented business, or specialty shop. The familiarity does <em>not</em> have to be specific to the client’s business but there must be an overall awareness of what it takes to survive in the “offline” world. There must also be an awareness of how outbound marketing may still fit into an overall sales and marketing strategy.</p>
<p><strong><em>Why?</em></strong></p>
<p>Because without awareness and flexibility there can be no empathy and if you can’t put yourself in your client’s shoes, how can you possibly understand their needs, wants, and desires?</p>
<p><strong>Online vs Offline</strong></p>
<p>Additionally, we do not live in an online world, we live in a world that is both online and offline; and, to neglect either is to fail your client. Yes, we are becoming increasingly connected, particularly in the developed world, and the developing world is catching up fast, but remember, being connected, having access to an Internet connection, does not always mean using the Internet connection.</p>
<p>It’s interesting how many advertising and marketing people I talk to, online and offline, inbound and outbound, who think in terms of one world when in fact there are two.</p>
<p>Some people never turn on a computer, don’t know how to set up an email account, much less check it, and really could care less. If you neglect that portion of your client’s market, you are leaving a ton of money out of the equation; and, perhaps it may be the difference between profitability and bankruptcy.</p>
<p>OK, so you say you have an awareness and you have empathy. You also feel you understand the importance of a hybrid approach to marketing, the synergy between outbound and inbound marketing strategies. And, finally, you have been there, done that in one way or another.</p>
<p>That’s great! If you can communicate your awareness, and your empathy, to you prospective marketing client you may have a shot.</p>
<p>If not?</p>
<p><strong><em>You may want to consider a different career choice.</em></strong></p>
<p>I am not trying to burst anyone’s balloon here but we are talking about peoples’ lives, their business and personal well-being will be in your hands. If you fail, there is a good chance your client’s business will fail…or at least take a significant hit. This is serious and <em>it takes more than a ninety-seven dollar course or a nine thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-seven dollar course</em> to get you there, it takes time, awareness, empathy, imagination, experience, and thick skin.</p>
<p><strong>Yes, <em>very</em> thick skin!</strong></p>
<p>This is not checkers, this is chess; this is about strategy and the stakes are high! As I have said in previous articles, you take on a scared trust when you acquire a client. And, if you drop the ball, your client takes the hit professionally and personally. Additionally, your performance affects your client&#8217;s family&#8217;s well-being, their employees’ and their empolyees’ familys’ well-being; and, particularly if the client has a sizable business or practice, you may affect the entire community.</p>
<p><strong>Still want to be an inbound marketing consultant?</strong></p>
<p><strong><em>If so, there may be hope for you!</em></strong></p>
<p>Combined with your marketing knowledge generally, and inbound marketing experience specifically, you must be able to integrate the business’ personality, and that of its owner, into your marketing strategy. That sort of understanding and familiarity takes getting to know your client over a period of time. To that end, you must have access to your client on a regular basis.</p>
<p>In many ways, your new relationship with your marketing client will be like a marriage; and, you should be prepared to be in it for the long haul.</p>
<p><strong><em>Beware!</em></strong></p>
<p>If someone is looking for a quick fix, look out!</p>
<p>Quick fixes are rare and generally take a lot more money than the individual requiring such a<em> “fix” </em>is willing to invest. It is kind of the like the tutor who gets a phone call two weeks before the end of the school year, the child is failing, and the parent wants the tutor to help the child pass the course. Some things are beyond repair and others, while not beyond repair, simply take more time than you are afforded.</p>
<p>Assess your individual clients carefully, listen to what they are saying, and select your clients after getting to know them. Remember, you are going to be married to them for a long time! Make sure you can work together and do not go into an arrangement simply to make a sale thinking you can fix it later. Most of us who have been or are married know that doesn’t work. Make sure you are on the same wave length right from the start.</p>
<p><strong>Inbound Marketing vs Outbound <em>Advertising</em></strong></p>
<p>Additionally, just as you must understand there is an offline and an online world, you also need to understand that marketing is not an us or them proposition, outbound versus inbound. In marketing, it is whatever works, whatever communicates the message the client is attempting to get across and doing it in a way that converts a prospect into a client. In other words, you must be able to tailor your marketing message, your <em>USP</em> if you will (unique selling proposition), in such a way that it causes people to take a specific action…whatever that may be.</p>
<p>Ultimately, marketing is about creating a message that will be received in a positive manner; and, the message must prompt a specific, quantifiable action. Significantly, while this is indeed becoming an increasingly relationship-oriented, permission-based world, particularly as it relates to marketing, inbound marketing; there are times when a targeted outbound marketing strategy is warranted. Interestingly, a targeted direct mail strategy will often work quite well, particualry if it is well crated and focuses on the client’s target market. Additionally, there are times when a focused, properly tailored ad campaign will delver results in the local newspaper.</p>
<p>However, and this is big, the outbound marketing campaign must be targeted, trackable (<em>ROI</em> verifiable), and it absolutely must be part of a much broader holistic, hybrid marketing strategy. In other words, the marketing strategy you create must be the best of both worlds, inbound marketing and outbound marketing under a unifying umbrella.</p>
<p><strong>Still with me?</strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Perhaps you will make it!</em></strong></p>
<p>Given you have the necessary awareness and empathy, combined with experience; and, once you have an understanding of your client and your client’s business, you are ready to devise a marketing strategy that will fit the needs of the business.</p>
<p><strong><em>How do you do that?</em></strong></p>
<p>Well, up until now we have been talking in broad strokes. Now that you have made the decision to create a marketing consultancy, you need to make a decision concerning the type focus your marketing consultancy will have. Will you focus solely on inbound marketing or will it be a hybrid approach to marketing? I recommend the latter.</p>
<p>In any case, once the decision is made, you can begin serving your clients to the best of your ability, knowing you have the ability.</p>
<p><strong><em>Then, the fun starts!</em></strong></p>
<p>OK! So, you have gotten past the philosophical hurdles, you have decided you are not just another gold rusher, and you have made the decision to go forward. Now, you can assess individual clients and decide whether you are the right person for them and their business. Equally, if not more important, you must decide if <em>they</em> are the right client for you and your business.</p>
<p><strong>Remember, this is like a marriage <em>so go slow!</em></strong></p>
<p>Next, I will cover how I proceed once a prospective client contacts The Ultimate Internet Image for a free marketing consultation and competitive analysis. The consultation and analysis take between one and one-half and two hours to complete in the client’s office. If the first session goes well, a second session is scheduled and an in depth hybrid marketing strategy is developed. The preparation time for the 90 to 120 minute session is between 24 and 36 hours.</p>
<p>Once again, this is not about The 4 Hour Workweek or a 2-4 work day. Nor is this something you can do with a $97 or a $997 investment in an e-course. If you believe all of that after reading the above, PT Barnum was right and I have some gorgeous beach front property to show you in the Mojave Desert.</p>
<p><strong>If you are still with me, I hope I have made you think a bit and I promise if you stay with me for Parts II and III, it will be worth your while.</strong></p>
<p><em><strong>Contact me anytime!</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>John Zajaros</strong><br />
<strong>The Ultimate Internet Image</strong><br />
<strong>Lakewood, Ohio 44107</strong><br />
<strong>216-712-7004 (bus)</strong><br />
<strong>440-821-7018 (cell)</strong></p>
<script type="text/javascript" class="owbutton" src="http://onlywire.com/btn/button_58108" title="Inbound Marketing A through Z: Beginning a Marketing Consultancy - Part I" url="http://ultimateinternetimage.com/inbound-marketing-a-through-z-beginning-a-marketing-consultancy-part-i/"></script>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/inbound-marketing-a-through-z-beginning-a-marketing-consultancy-part-i/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Website is Dead, Long Live the Website! Understanding Inbound Marketing</title>
		<link>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/the-website-is-dead-long-live-the-website-understanding-inbound-marketing/</link>
		<comments>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/the-website-is-dead-long-live-the-website-understanding-inbound-marketing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:15:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging for Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inbound Marketing and Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media Blogging and Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting Launch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image and Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image and SEO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Understanding Outbound Advertising versus Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Article Marketing and Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Choosing an Inbound Marketing Consultant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inbound Marketing Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing for Offilne Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Landing Pages and Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online/Offline Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traditional Brick and Mortar Business and the Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Understanding Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video and Inbound Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ultimateinternetimage.com/?p=105</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Fthe-website-is-dead-long-live-the-website-understanding-inbound-marketing%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Fthe-website-is-dead-long-live-the-website-understanding-inbound-marketing%2F&amp;style=normal&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>How Can a Traditional Brick and Mortar Business Thrive in Today’s Economy?</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>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:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	The Vietnam War had just ended.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	President Richard Milhous Nixon had resigned from office in disgrace.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	President “Gerry” Ford did his time…”Go Wolverines!” I’m a Buckeye fan myself!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	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!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	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!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	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!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	The Midwest became known as The Rust Belt.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	The domestic automobile industry was traumatized, reshaped, and rebuilt.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	Interest rates for cars went to 22%, the prime was through the roof!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	The manufacturing base shifted and we made the first steps to an information-based, service economy.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	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</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	Some businesses went under and others flourished, much as we see today!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>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.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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!”</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Are the transitions difficult?</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>To be sure!</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong> Are their casualties, business and personal?</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Absolutely!</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>However, difficulties and casualties aside, the strong survive…if they are also flexible and open to new ideas, concepts, and technologies.</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Likewise, the business owner who is unable (read: unwilling) to change will go the way of the Dodo and the Wholly Mammoth!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>In order to survive, flexibility and adaptability are essential.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong></strong>So, what does the above have to do with websites and the survival of traditional brick and mortar businesses?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">What does all this have to do with the Internet and what is now being referred to as new media, inbound marketing?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Well, to be perfectly frank, if you aren’t on the Internet or thinking about getting there soon<em>…<strong>R…E…A…L…S…O…O…N</strong>…</em>your traditional brick and mortar business may not make it!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>There is in fact a transition underway and, interestingly, there is a transition within the transition occurring as we “speak!”</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>What the heck am I talking about?</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>OK!</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Enter the Internet and Online Marketing: E-commerce and the Emergence of the Website</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>That may be an oversimplification…but just barely!</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Google, YouTube, Blogging, and Email</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Outbound advertising being anything intrusive:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	Television</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	Radio</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	Newspapers and magazines</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	Phone directories</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">•	Direct mail</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">• You know the drill</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>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.</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Search-Driven, New-Media, Inbound Marketing is Born</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Significantly, as the transition from an emphasis on <em>outbound advertising</em> to <em>inbound marketing</em> has taken place, the transition from the simple, <em>“slap five pages together for free”</em> website to a complete Internet image, an online marketing presence, has occurred.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>In fact, those days are gone! </em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">More to the point, some of the websites being offered up today won’t even last the time it takes to <em><strong>“Blink!”</strong></em> If you are unsure what I am talking about, read Malcolm Gladwell’s <strong><em>Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking</em></strong> (2005); and then, look at your website from the perspective of a first-time visitor.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>The Death of the Website</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>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!</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>It’s like an old mentor of mine used to say:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>“Don’t hold your breath waiting for a response…unless you tell them to ask for Blue Boy!”</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The <strong><em>“If you build it, they will come!”</em></strong> 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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Yes, even the rock group T-Rex. I know I just dated myself with that one!</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>The Ultimate Internet Image is now a requirement if you are to compete and make it, online and offline, in today’s economy!</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>The Emergence of the Blog, Video, and the Landing Page</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Blogging for Business: The Central Hub &amp; Linchpin of the Ultimate Internet Image</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Video and Article Marketing</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>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. </strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>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.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>The Landing Page</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>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.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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).</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Bottom line?</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>If you are unsure of whether to send an email message to your subscriber-base?</strong><br />
<strong><em> </em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>Don’t!</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>The fastest way to be unsubscribed en mass is to fill the inboxes of your list with junk!</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>It’s like every one of our online grandmothers would say if given the opportunity:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em><strong>“If you don’t have something of quality of send, don’t send anything at all!”</strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Poetic license and all!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">If you are not collecting names and email addresses actively, and you have a lackluster website, 99.999% will not be back!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Get current and get active!</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>The Tip of the Inbound Marketing Iceberg</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>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.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>Blogging for business</em></strong> 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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>Video marketing</em></strong> is not only effective, it’s where the clients are; and, it is where you need to be!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>Article marketing </em></strong>enhances your presence both online and offline, creating interest and links back to your site…crucial in today’s world of links and longevity.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>Email marketing</em></strong>, 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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>Metrics</em></strong>, 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.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Helping People versus Providing Value</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>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:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>“Why do you want to be a doctor?”</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>I would ask the same thing of an inbound or Internet marketing consultant competing for your business:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>“Why do you think you are the person to help me with my online presence?”</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>And, more importantly:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>“What separates you from every Tom, Dick, and Julie competing for my business?”</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>The answer the prospective med student provides usually goes something like this:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>“I want to help people!”</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">This is the response heard day in and day out by interviewers at medical schools across the country…and it is not enough!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>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:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>“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!”</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">You see, anyone can say they can <strong><em>“help”</em></strong> 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!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>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!</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>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.</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Once again, there is so much more and we will cover it in future videos, articles, and blog posts.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">We will discuss in depth <strong><em>“moving the free-line,”</em></strong> 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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>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.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>Inbound marketing must be applied to and be an integral aspect of your business model.</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>In other words, the transition must include you!</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">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!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>Build wide, build deep, and above all…build based on inbound marketing!</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.</strong><br />
<strong>216-712-6526</strong><br />
<strong>216-539-7412</strong><br />
<strong>Skype: johnzajaros1</strong><br />
<strong>johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com</strong></p>
<p><strong>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</strong></p>
<script type="text/javascript" class="owbutton" src="http://onlywire.com/btn/button_58108" title="The Website is Dead, Long Live the Website! Understanding Inbound Marketing" url="http://ultimateinternetimage.com/the-website-is-dead-long-live-the-website-understanding-inbound-marketing/"></script>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/the-website-is-dead-long-live-the-website-understanding-inbound-marketing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Understanding Outbound Advertsing versus Inbound Marketing</title>
		<link>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/understanding-outbound-advertsing-versus-inbound-marketing/</link>
		<comments>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/understanding-outbound-advertsing-versus-inbound-marketing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:01:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[How to Build an Internet Marketing Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inbound Marketing and Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing and SEO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Outbound Marketing Inbound Marketing and the Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting Launch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image and Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image and SEO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Understanding Outbound Advertising versus Inbound Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How to Build an Online Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How to Start Your Own Internet Marketing Consulting Firm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How to Succeed in Online Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inbound Marketing Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online/Offline Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ultimateinternetimage.com/?p=73</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Inbound Marketing and The Ultimate Internet Image: Traditional Brick and Mortar Business and Inbound Marketing Consulting Recently, there has been a great deal of discussion about inbound marketing, search driven advertising, local search, consulting with local brick and mortar businesses; and, helping business people transition from traditional, outbound advertising to the new media, inbound marketing [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Funderstanding-outbound-advertsing-versus-inbound-marketing%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Funderstanding-outbound-advertsing-versus-inbound-marketing%2F&amp;style=normal&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Inbound Marketing and The Ultimate Internet Image:<br />
Traditional Brick and Mortar Business and Inbound Marketing Consulting</strong></p>
<p><strong>Recently, there has been a great deal of discussion about inbound marketing, search driven advertising, local search, consulting with local brick and mortar businesses; and, helping business people transition from traditional, outbound advertising to the new media, inbound marketing approach to lead generation, traffic building, and new customer and client acquisition. This seems like a tall order and it is…and it isn’t! I will explain below.</strong></p>
<p><strong>The Failure of Outbound Advertising</strong></p>
<p>Traditional brick and mortar businesses have used what is now referred to as outbound advertising. Outbound marketing and/or advertising is intrusive (TV, Yellow Pages, radio, junk mail, etc.), driven by the business with the focus being customer acquisition by any means necessary. While this may seem like a bit of an exaggeration or at the very least a stretch, it’s quite accurate. </p>
<p>Businesses have been resorting to a <strong>“<em>take no prisoners</em>”</strong> approach to sales and marketing for decades and, until the dawn of the Internet, and particularly with the emergence of SEM or search engine marketing, things started to change…drastically and rapidly!</p>
<p><strong>As businesses moved to the online business environment, they discovered several things almost immediately:</strong></p>
<p>1) Prospective clients and/or customers were defining the search. </p>
<p>2) Traditional brick and mortar businesses seeking to engage their prospective target audience, their target market, had to adapt to this new and dynamic environment<br />
or perish. </p>
<p>3) The companies able to adapt and get in front of their target market flourished.</p>
<p>4) Inbound marketing consulting emerged. </p>
<p>5) Inbound marketing consultancies serving traditional brick and mortar businesses with their online image, the <em><strong>Ultimate Internet Image</strong></em> if you will, offered a dynamic new form of advertising and marketing. </p>
<p>6) There was a huge disparity in competence among these inbound marketing consultancies, particularly those claiming to be SEO or search engine optimization specialists.</p>
<p><strong>Enter the Inbound Marketing Consultant</strong></p>
<p>In order to answer the need for Internet savvy, inbound marketing specialists many companies settled for less than qualified consultants, rather than taking the time to develop competence in house. The niche was there and if XYZ Inbound Marketing Consultancy didn’t fill it, ABG Internet Marketing and New Media Specialists would. Both companies are, of course, fictitious but you get the point, hope?</p>
<p>Consequently, in the rush to fill an ever expanding niche, a few inbound marketing consultancies failed to deliver. This failure gave an entire industry a black-eye. Sadly, a few unscrupulous SEO consultants simultaneously gouged their unsuspecting brick and mortar clients attempting to create a better online image of hundreds, often thousands of dollars in order to reap the short term windfall; the long term consequences be damned. </p>
<p><strong>Fortunately, two things occurred:</strong></p>
<p>1) The inbound marketing consulting landscape changed, it adapted and, consequently, flourished…exposing and pushing out most of the hacks and replacing them with competent and professional Internet and inbound marketing consultancies, companies in it for the long-term. </p>
<p>2) As with most things Internet, the consumers, in this case the traditional brick and mortar companies seeking the <em><strong>Ultimate Internet Image</strong></em>, and all the profits that go with such an online presence, got smart. With the emergence of greater competition, the consumer, the traditional brick and mortar business benefited in a big way!</p>
<p><strong>Hiring Competent Consultants: Growing Pains</strong></p>
<p>One of the greatest challenges facing new Internet companies focusing on inbound marketing was and remains to be how to hire and/or develop competent staff, marketing specialists capable of speaking the Internet/inbound marketing language. Additionally, these specialists need to have a working knowledge of the outbound strategies the companies and clients are engaged in. </p>
<p><em><strong>Once again, the inbound marketing consultant needs to have a working knowledge of the traditional brick and mortar business environment, and the outbound advertising arena, as well.</strong></em></p>
<p><em>I use arena for a reason, it has degenerated into something of a 3-ring circus, with no clear focus and little hope of competing in the new world of the Internet.</em></p>
<p><strong>The Birth of an Inbound Marketing Consultant and Consultancy</strong></p>
<p>One of the most common questions I receive from people considering a career as either an entrepreneur in a consultative role or as a sales and marketing specialist in the inbound marketing field is: </p>
<p><em><strong>“How? How do I do it?”</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>Of course, the next statement is generally something like:</strong> </p>
<p><em><strong>“I am not a salesman, never have been, and really can’t imagine myself being one. I hate selling!”</strong></em> </p>
<p><strong>Interestingly but not surprisingly, the response is typical…and that’s a good thing!</strong></p>
<p>What is crucial in inbound marketing is an understanding of consumer driven behavior, accessing target markets through an understanding of this behavior, an understanding of how the Internet works, and the ability to listen to prospective clients as they explain their motivation and their goals. Once the prospective client is understood, it then becomes a research driven task to build the <em><strong>Ultimate Internet Image</strong></em> for that client. </p>
<p><strong>The No-Selling Sale!</strong></p>
<p>Significantly, once a client understands that you have their interests at heart, and that you are competent, the sale takes care of itself. In fact, there is little selling to be done! The consultant presents and the traditional brick and mortar client accepts the vision of the consultant based on a relationship developed while engaged in the interview process.</p>
<p><strong>There is much more to this and we will cover it is subsequent videos and articles but for now it is crucial to understand one thing:</strong></p>
<p><em><strong>It is impossible to fake competence long term!</strong></em> </p>
<p>The charlatan will be found out in short order and the inbound marketing firm that is focused on the client’s needs wants and desires will emerge, adapt over time, prosper, and, unfortunately, clean up the mess of the few who ruin it for those who completely understand this exciting and dynamic marketing milieu!</p>
<p><strong>Call for information and a free outbound advertising consultation and inbound marketing assessment to achieve the Ultimate Internet Image.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.<br />
216-539-7412<br />
Skype: johnzajaros1<br />
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com</strong></p>
<p><em><strong><a href="http://www.TrafficGeyser.com/cmd.php?af=937414&#038;u=http://www.trafficgeyser.com/firepower/go">PS, For an amazing overall program for developing an inbound marketing consultancy, one you can plug in and go with, a turn key operation, simply click here&#8230;the results will be the Ultimate Internet Image&#8230;for you and your new clients! Webinar and information good until Saturday 12-19-2009 at midnight, so don&#8217;t delay!</a></strong></em></p>
<p><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="605" height="496" id="viddler_7448bbe1"><param name="movie" value="http://www.viddler.com/player/7448bbe1/" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed src="http://www.viddler.com/player/7448bbe1/" width="605" height="496" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" name="viddler_7448bbe1"></embed></object></p>
<script type="text/javascript" class="owbutton" src="http://onlywire.com/btn/button_58108" title="Understanding Outbound Advertsing versus Inbound Marketing" url="http://ultimateinternetimage.com/understanding-outbound-advertsing-versus-inbound-marketing/"></script>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/understanding-outbound-advertsing-versus-inbound-marketing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What is The Ultimate Internet Image &amp; What Do We Do for Online &amp; Brick &amp; Mortar Businesses?</title>
		<link>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/what-is-the-ultimate-internet-image-what-do-we-do-for-online-brick-mortar-businesses/</link>
		<comments>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/what-is-the-ultimate-internet-image-what-do-we-do-for-online-brick-mortar-businesses/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:57:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging for Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing and SEO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing and Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing and the Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media Blogging and Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media and Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media and Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting Launch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image and SEO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Advertising Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brick And Mortar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inbound Marketing and Social Media Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Image Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Image Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online Business and Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online/Offline Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traditional Brick]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ultimateinternetimage.com/?p=38</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Fwhat-is-the-ultimate-internet-image-what-do-we-do-for-online-brick-mortar-businesses%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Fwhat-is-the-ultimate-internet-image-what-do-we-do-for-online-brick-mortar-businesses%2F&amp;style=normal&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><strong>The Ultimate Internet Image is a consulting and training company with one goal: Your complete satisfaction! </strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong>Remember:</strong></p>
<p><strong>Your Success is our Success!</p>
<p>We look forward to serving you in the near future. </p>
<p>Call, Skype or email for a free consultation today! </p>
<p>Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.<br />
216-712-6526<br />
Skype: johnzajaros1<br />
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com</strong></p>
<script type="text/javascript" class="owbutton" src="http://onlywire.com/btn/button_58108" title="What is The Ultimate Internet Image & What Do We Do for Online & Brick & Mortar Businesses?" url="http://ultimateinternetimage.com/what-is-the-ultimate-internet-image-what-do-we-do-for-online-brick-mortar-businesses/"></script>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/what-is-the-ultimate-internet-image-what-do-we-do-for-online-brick-mortar-businesses/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Ultimate Internet Image: Don&#8217;t Fall into the SEO Trap!</title>
		<link>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/the-ultimate-internet-image-dont-fall-into-the-seo-trap/</link>
		<comments>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/the-ultimate-internet-image-dont-fall-into-the-seo-trap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2009 09:23:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging for Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing and SEO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting Launch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image and SEO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Image Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online/Offline Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ultimateinternetimage.com/?p=20</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Ultimate Internet Image &#8211; There is a revolution going on&#8230;join us! The Ultimate Internet Image, International, with offices in several states, is a new and innovative marketing company with a single focus&#8230;your success! Excellence! If we had to sum up in a single word the services we provide, it would have to be &#8220;excellence!&#8221; [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Fthe-ultimate-internet-image-dont-fall-into-the-seo-trap%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Fthe-ultimate-internet-image-dont-fall-into-the-seo-trap%2F&amp;style=normal&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><strong>The Ultimate Internet Image &#8211; There is a revolution going on&#8230;join us! </strong></p>
<p><em><strong>The Ultimate Internet Image, International, with offices in several states,<br />
is a new and innovative marketing company with a single focus&#8230;your success! </strong></em></p>
<p><strong>Excellence! </strong></p>
<p>If we had to sum up in a single word the services we provide, it would have to<br />
be &#8220;excellence!&#8221; Only through superior support and service, combined with tangible and<br />
guaranteed results, can we help you achieve the level of success we guarantee. </p>
<p>By providing real value, and then standing behind our efforts to<br />
ensure your prosperity, we will revolutionize your current marketing strategy<br />
to fully optimize the best of traditional marketing strategies with innovative<br />
and highly successful new Internet marketing techniques. </p>
<p>The techniques and strategies UII uses are the same techniques now being employed<br />
by Diet Coke, Skittles, The Ford Motor Company, CNN, Time Magazine, and<br />
The New York Times, just to name a few. </p>
<p>There is a revolution taking place, a transition from traditional, off-line or &#8220;outbound&#8221; advertising<br />
to an innovative synergy of traditional image building and online, Internet marketing strategies. </p>
<p>We offer a comprehensive analysis of not only your business,<br />
its previous and current marketing strategies and focus, but also<br />
an in depth review of the current local and regional business climate.<br />
We will provide a review of your competitive niche, to<br />
include a identifying and targeting your audience and market. </p>
<p>UII&#8217;s analysis will also include an in depth study of your nearest competitors,<br />
their marketing strategies, focus, and present Internet presence. </p>
<p>Once completed, we will build a customized marketing strategy, one<br />
guaranteed to generate more targeted leads, more business through<br />
the door, literal and virtual, and an improved bottom line. </p>
<p>Once again, our review and individually tailored marketing strategy,<br />
complete in every sense, will incorporate the best of traditional<br />
marketing techniques with a revolutionary and innovative approach<br />
to customer and prospective customer relationship building. </p>
<p>The Ultimate Internet Image will not only reshape and enhance your<br />
current marketing strategy and profile, we will increase traffic to your<br />
business, improve customer/client relationships, and develop a new<br />
and exciting Internet presence. UII guarantees we will increase your<br />
overall profitability, both in terms of absolute dollars and ROI, return<br />
on investment, or you don&#8217;t pay! </p>
<p><em><strong>100% money back guarantee! </p>
<p>Call today for an immediate consultation, online or in person.</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.<br />
216-712-6526<br />
CEO and Founder<br />
Skype: johnzajaros1<br />
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com </strong></p>
<script type="text/javascript" class="owbutton" src="http://onlywire.com/btn/button_58108" title="The Ultimate Internet Image: Don't Fall into the SEO Trap! " url="http://ultimateinternetimage.com/the-ultimate-internet-image-dont-fall-into-the-seo-trap/"></script>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/the-ultimate-internet-image-dont-fall-into-the-seo-trap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Ultimate Internet Marketing Image: A Synergy of Traditional Offline and Online Marketing Strategies</title>
		<link>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/the-ultimate-internet-marketing-image-a-synergy-of-traditional-offline-and-online-marketing-strategies/</link>
		<comments>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/the-ultimate-internet-marketing-image-a-synergy-of-traditional-offline-and-online-marketing-strategies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2009 01:04:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging for Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing and Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing and the Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media Blogging and Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media and Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media and Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting Launch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Image Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Image Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing and Outbound Advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online Business and Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online/Offline Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ultimateinternetimage.com/?p=14</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is a transition underway, a shift from traditional, offline or &#8220;outbound&#8221; advertising techniques to a synergy employing the best offline strategies and sophisticated online, Internet marketing platforms to engage the customer and prospective customer as never before. The marketing transition underway will yield increased customer traffic, lasting customer relationships, greater customer loyalty, and greater [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Fthe-ultimate-internet-marketing-image-a-synergy-of-traditional-offline-and-online-marketing-strategies%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Fthe-ultimate-internet-marketing-image-a-synergy-of-traditional-offline-and-online-marketing-strategies%2F&amp;style=normal&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><strong>There is a transition underway, a shift from traditional, offline or &#8220;outbound&#8221; advertising techniques to a synergy employing the best offline strategies and sophisticated online, Internet marketing platforms to engage the customer and prospective customer as never before. The marketing transition underway will yield increased customer traffic, lasting customer relationships, greater customer loyalty, and greater prosperity in spite of the current economic downturn. </strong></p>
<p>There is a revolution is underway, a shift from traditional offline advertising, also referred to as “outbound advertising,” to online or “Internet” advertising. The transition has gained momentum as its popularity increases, becoming the medium of choice for business owners large and small, from the tiny “mom and pop” corner store to Fortune 100 companies. The reasons for this transition from traditional forms of advertising to new and innovative online strategies are complex and, at first glance, don’t appear to make much sense. However, once a company examines the logic, and even the psychology, behind this shift in focus and tests it, in almost every instance they are convinced of the power and profitability of the Internet, as not only a sales tool but as a client/customer relationship tool, as well. Unlike any strategy available prior to the Internet, the web provides easy and, in many cases, automatic access to customers and prospective customers alike, often at the push of a button.</p>
<p><strong>Outbound Advertising: Prospective Customer and Customer Antipathy</strong></p>
<p>Unlike many online methods of advertising and customer contact, traditional “outbound advertising” seeks out prospective clients by what can only be referred to as an invasive strategy, a strategy often resented by prospect and established customer alike. The company or advertising agency attempts to reach prospective clients through TV advertisements, radio ads, newspaper ads, direct mail, billboards, and so on. Significantly, many of the traditional types of advertising campaigns carry with them a negative connotation or stereotype, they are viewed with disdain and even contempt by the very people the ads are attempting to impress. Prospective clients and even established customers will use the time during television commercials to go to the rest room, get refreshments or do anything else but taken in the message advertisers have spent hundreds, even thousands and tens of thousands of dollars, for them to see. During radio commercials, listeners often change the station searching for music, getting annoyed when they can&#8217;t find a station playing music instead of ads. When a homeowner receives the mail delivery, they immediately throw away junk mail, referring to the trash receptacle as “file 13!” Readers of the morning paper will make a conscious effort to read or look &#8220;around&#8221; newspaper ads, focusing solely on the stories, the “Irish Sports Page,” the obituaries, and of course the funnies or comics. </p>
<p><strong>The Emerging Trend and the Beginning of a Revolution</strong></p>
<p>Enter the website! For years those savvy enough to realize early on that an Internet presence would pay dividends, unlike anything available through traditional, offline, “outbound” advertising, benefited from the greatest new tool available, the website! The website allowed for instant access to a business’s products and services unavailable through traditional advertising methods and vehicles without incredible expense and a cumbersome, if not unreadable, advertisement.  The website revolutionized product and service presentation, making it one of the most popular and affordable advertising platforms a business can employ to generate interest in their business and increase traffic to the traditional brick and mortar companies using them as part of an overall advertising strategy. Interestingly, the website evolved into a vehicle in direct competition with traditional businesses as online business took off. </p>
<p><strong>The Emergence of the Search Engine and <em>&#8220;Googling&#8221;</em></strong></p>
<p>The emergence of online business, and Internet marketing in general, changed forever the focus and the method of both advertising and the way business is conducted. With the emergence of the website, advertising changed from an “outbound” phenomenon to an “inbound,” client driven methodology. Prospective clients and customers began to look for, and actively search out, businesses and thus, with the emergence of the search engines, at first as simple as the first AOL and Webcrawlers and ultimately to The New King of the Hill, Google, marketing was revolutionized and changed forever. Google and “Googling” changed the way businesses are searched out and presented forever. Now, instead of an invasive form of advertising, “outbound advertising,” the client actively engages in the process of seeking out and finding businesses fitting their specific search criteria, their “keywords.” Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, and many others began to use keywords and complex algorithms, mathematical formulas, to establish rankings for companies with websites on the net, and the race was on. </p>
<p><strong>The Death of <em>The King</em>: Long Live <em>The King</em>!</strong></p>
<p>With the emergence of Google and Googling, “The King of the Outbound Advertising Hill,” the “Yellow Pages,” will never again see the glory days of the past. In fact, many a “Yellow Pages” advertising directory may be found, if it can be found at all, on the back porch collecting mold and mildew, in the garage under a pile of debris or in some closet or cabinet taking up space and never to be heard from again, at least until someone from the local school comes around as part of a recycling campaign and takes it off your hands. Thousands of dollars, collecting mold, dust, and not much else, while businesses in the know, those who have already made the transition to the Internet, have reduced or eliminated their expenses in return for a more innovative, relevant advertising strategy, one optimizing the best of the traditional, offline and online tactics to increase traffic, improve the company’s bottom line, and all the time reducing costs.</p>
<p><strong>SEO: What the Heck is SEO?</strong></p>
<p>SEO, search engine optimization, a complex and all-encompassing strategy used to influence and improve a company’s web presence through a number of strategies, soon became the darling of the “new Internet.” SEO also became the most sought after, least understood, and most expensive of all web services. To achieve optimal search engine rankings, companies paid thousands of dollars in an attempt to understand, manipulate, and ultimately conquer their respective “niche,” competitive environment, and target market and audience. Traditional SEO continues to play a role in many business’ overall Internet marketing strategies. However, the time and cost of a fully optimized search engine optimization campaign, complete with website and/or blog enhancements, has made it somewhat less attractive, particularly in light of current economic trends.</p>
<p><strong>A Transition within a Transition</strong></p>
<p>Interestingly, there is a shift underway in Internet marketing, as well. We will touch on this transition within a transition here and in subsequent articles. For many years now, online advertising has been all about the website. In fact, when an Internet consultant interviews a prospective client for the first time, a “website” is the first thing most business owners, advertising vice presidents, company presidents, and even CEOs ask for.  However, the once requisite website has been usurped, no longer the King of the Internet Mountain, by the blog. Blogs and blogging represent the fastest segment of the Internet, with <em>Twitter’s</em> mini-blog format and <em>facebook’s</em> family friendly, community atmosphere and approach running alongside; and, both taking the net by storm.  The blog is a marketing sensation for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it allows for an intimate and ongoing exchange between the advertiser and the client and prospective client alike. The relationship building feature of the blog, organic in nature, results in a connection building process unlike anything available in any other single form of expression today.</p>
<p><strong>The One-Two Punch: Blogging and Social Media</strong></p>
<p>The relationship building capabilities of the blog, coupled with an intelligent overall strategy fully engaging the emerging power of social media, also referred to as Web 2.0, and a thoughtfully designed and properly incentivized email campaign, make it far and away the most promising new advertising vehicle available to businesses today, big and small. Interestingly, even companies like Skittles and Diet Coke are entering the social media milieu in a big way. Diet Coke now has a significant following on Twitter, yet nothing compared to the followings of President Barack Obama, CNN, Time Magazine, and The New York Times. Significantly, The New York Times, CNN, and Time Magazine have a multitude of blogs, all focused on various topics of interest to their readers, their target audience. The visual and print media companies have demonstrated the power, and indeed the necessity, of communicating directly with various segments of their audience through blogging, targeting them based on interest, and developing a loyal following as a result. </p>
<p><strong>The Skittles Revolution</strong></p>
<p>Skittles leads the revolution! Skittles has a small but active following on Twitter but it is their move to YouTube that is really opening eyes. Linked to their Twitter account, Skittles has moved to establish a profound and significant social media presence. The staggering fan base on facebook is actually the most interesting aspect of this story. With nearly 3,000,000 fans on facebook alone, there can be little doubt of social media’s power to create and maintain customer loyalty. Skittles has gone so far as to integrate a “squeeze” or “capture” page leading to their various Internet marketing platforms. While there are other companies fully engaged in an Internet marketing combination strategy, such as that engaged in by Skittles, the candy merchandiser has demonstrated an online marketing sophistication leaving many of the company’s competitors in the online dust. The use of mini-blogging, both on facebook and Twitter, along with video marketing, and the use of a “capture page” to collect data they are interested in, indicates and overall Internet marketing strategy capable of moving Skittles ahead of its competition. Interestingly, Ford Motor has engaged a social media manager, Scott Monty, who maintains, among other Web 2.0 platforms, a growing Twitter following just shy of 6500 and a loyal fan base on facebook, as well. </p>
<p><strong>Old or New? Struggle or Prosperity?</strong></p>
<p>There can be little doubt as to the magnitude of the transition underway in advertising and marketing today. Significantly, there is a transition within a transition taking place; and, blogging and social media are emerging as a powerful one-two punch designed to build customer loyalty and shape buying behaviour as never before. The powerful relationship building tools available to companies engaged in online marketing offer a promise never before possible through traditional marketing strategies and “outbound” advertising media. Those businesses unable or unwilling to keep pace and go with the current trend will be left outside looking in as marketing strategies continue to evolve and improve. The “blogosphere,” particularly as it relates to a business’s target market or audience, social media or Web 2.0, the use of sophisticated relationship building strategies, such as email autoresponder campaigns, and various search engine optimization techniques (SEO), will provide businesses engaged in the Internet marketing revolution an opportunity to grow and prosper, in spite of the current economic down turn. For the rest? It will be a long, hot summer!</p>
<p><em><strong>Look for our next article: The Ultimate Website and the Blog: Blogosphere, Web 2.0, and the Autoresponder &#8211; The Ultimate Internet  Marketing Revolution Continues!</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Let Our Family Serve Your Family!</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.<br />
CEO and Founder<br />
Skype: johnzajaros1<br />
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com</strong></p>
<p><strong>See also and more to follow:</strong><br />
<a href="http://ultimateinternetimageillinois.com"><strong>Our Illinois Internet Image Director and Partner: All Garretson</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://ultimateinternetimageflorida.com"><strong>Our Florida Internet Image Directors and Partners: Brandie Rose Bushwitz and Harry Bushwitz</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://ultimateinternetimagemaine.com"><strong>Our Maine Internet Image Director and Partner: Lisa Sawyer</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://ultimateinternetimageminnesota.com"><strong>Our Minnesota Internet Image Director and Partner: Stephen Jankowski</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://ultimateinternetimagenyrd.com"><strong>Our New York Internet Image Director and Partner: Ross Diamond</strong></a></p>
<script type="text/javascript" class="owbutton" src="http://onlywire.com/btn/button_58108" title="The Ultimate Internet Marketing Image: A Synergy of Traditional Offline and Online Marketing Strategies" url="http://ultimateinternetimage.com/the-ultimate-internet-marketing-image-a-synergy-of-traditional-offline-and-online-marketing-strategies/"></script>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/the-ultimate-internet-marketing-image-a-synergy-of-traditional-offline-and-online-marketing-strategies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>There is a Revolution Coming: Internet Marketing and Offline Business Consulting</title>
		<link>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/revolution-coming-internet-marketing-and-offline-business-consulting/</link>
		<comments>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/revolution-coming-internet-marketing-and-offline-business-consulting/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 09 May 2009 02:23:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ultimate Internet Image Consulting Launch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Image Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Image Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing Consultation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online/Offline Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ultimateinternetimage.com/?p=3</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Coming Soon! A revoltuionary way to merge traditional image building with your Internet marketing, online business presence!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Frevolution-coming-internet-marketing-and-offline-business-consulting%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fultimateinternetimage.com%2Frevolution-coming-internet-marketing-and-offline-business-consulting%2F&amp;style=normal&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><strong>Coming Soon! </strong></p>
<p><strong>A revoltuionary way to merge traditional image building with your Internet marketing, online business presence!</strong></p>
<script type="text/javascript" class="owbutton" src="http://onlywire.com/btn/button_58108" title="There is a Revolution Coming: Internet Marketing and Offline Business Consulting" url="http://ultimateinternetimage.com/revolution-coming-internet-marketing-and-offline-business-consulting/"></script>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://ultimateinternetimage.com/revolution-coming-internet-marketing-and-offline-business-consulting/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

