Vision, Taking Action, Inbound Marketing, and Page One

Over the past few months I have had the pleasure of working with several business people who all have one thing in common, a vision of their future! As many of you reading this already know, vision without implementation, without correct and focused action is useless. Knowing you want to reach a destination may get the ball rolling but without a plan of action, a map, all the vision is the world won’t even get you out of the driveway!

Interestingly, and sadly, many people have also lost their vision. The vision that once drove them daily, got them out of bed in the morning excited to great another day, has taken a back seat to the mundane, day-to-day struggle just to stay afloat in this economy.

And that is, as noted above, extremely sad!

In today’s advertising and marketing world, with its rapid transition from the old media, outbound approach to marketing, to new media, inbound marketing, many businesses simply do not have the time or the knowledge to implement the strategies necessary to stay current with the latest trends…much less get their face (i.e., their brand and their message) in front of as many prospective clients as possible.

The market has changed and what was once an outbound, market driven economy is now a consumer driven, search-based world.

Googling has become a verb. The buyer is now taking an active role in the process, seeking out merchandise, services, etc. It is no longer enough, if it ever really was, to stick your business’s name in front of enough people, knowing they will come. “If you build it, they will come” just doesn’t cut it any more.

In the current marketplace, it is necessary to:

• Be where prospective clients are searching for your services or merchandise
• Capture their attention
• Provide a reason for them to continue to focus on your message
• Provide them with an incentive so you can capture their contact information
• Build a relationship with that individual until they are ready to make a purchasing decision
• Continue to build a relationship after the transaction in order to create an ongoing relationship with your clients and hence increase your business’s overall profitability

Once you understand the dynamics of new media, inbound marketing, how do you apply the model to your business, whether a practice, a retail establishment, or service-based business?

The fact is, unless you want to spend several hours a day, for at least a year or two, educating yourself, you can’t. In today’s world, you simply can’t do it alone.

The world has changed and, if you want your business or practice to survive and flourish, you must change with it.

Change is never easy, we all resist change. Change is indeed frightening for many and the inertia we all feel is, at times, overwhelimg. Inertia is a powerful force in nature, and in business; and, once set in our ways, it is a difficult task to consider a new approach, something that may be intimidating, something we are not familiar (read: comfortable) with…but is essential if you are to survive and prosper.

Understand this, regardless of whether we are physicians or plumbers, accountants or exterminators, attornies or landscapers, woodworkers or photographers, we are all salesmen; and, we are all marketing a product. Be it ourselves or a specific product, we are all selling something!

Don’t like the idea of being a salesman?

Get over it! We are all marketing a product, a service…ourselves!

If you want to sell yourself, and, in the end, that is what we are doing, regardless of your business or profession, you must be where the buyers are and you must provide enough of a reason for the buyer to pick you out of a myraid of choices available to them.

With 360,000 competing web pages for the keyword phrase “how to stop sciatica,” how do you get to page one? For any keyword phrase that pays?

Pays?

By pays, I mean a keyword phrase people are searching for. By people searching, I mean your target audience, people searching for what you offer, be it a product or service; and, people ready, willing, and able to make a buying decision.

Because, and this is key, if you aren’t on page one, do you really think you have a shot?

Do you think people seek you out if you are on page 8 or 10? Or even on page 2, 3 or 4?

Almost never!

I talked to a new client the other day and he stated, rather emphatically as a matter of fact, that he never searched beyond page one! This is the rule, not the exception.

You have to be on the first page of Google, Yahoo, Bing, and yes, even Ask, for all the keywords important to your marketing message, if you are going to prosper in the consumer-driven, search-oriented world.

Period!

If you want to get the attention of your target marketing, your target audience, in today’s new media, inbound marketing world?

You must be where your prospective clients are actively searching, and that means you need to focus your message on yourtarget audience and on the keywords they are searching for…and more!

Now, most individuals, even most Internet marketing professionals, and even a few inbound marketing consultants, particularly those heavy into search engine optimization (SEO), will tell you that you can get to page one in one of two ways:

1. You can pay an incredible sum of money each and every month to be on page one via pay-per-click advertsing (PPC).
2. Or you can earn your way onto page one “organically” by way of SEO, meaning by way of links and longevity, and only after a long period of time, usually a year to a year and a half, and only after expending a lot of money to do so.

I call that a lose-lose!

Again, for most individuals and businesses to get to page one there are only two ways, pay a ton of money or spend a lot of time and money (i.e., SEO).

Remember this!

For every <em>day</em> you are not on page one, it is costing you a lot of money!

Why?

Because you aren’t where people (read: your target market) are searching for your products and services!

Millions and millions of people access the Internet daily from their computers and from other mobile devices; and, more are joining them every day. If you think you can survive with a weekly newspaper ad, an occasional radio spot, and a yellow pages listing?

Good luck!

Those days are long gone!

In today’s search-based, consumer-driven economy, you must be where the action is!

The action is on page one of the various search engines, Google getting the lion’s share.

The action is also in social media.

Your business or practice needs to have an Internet presence, an Internet image if you will, throughout social media. The various facets of Web 2.0 (social media, blogging, etc.), including a central hub (blog instead of just a static website), and pages on Facebook and Twitter, are crucial to your business’s long term viability, and profitability.

Additionally, you must aggressively build an image as an authority, an expert in your niche or specialty.

While building The Ultimate Internet Image, you must build a relationship with current and future clients, patients, and customers. Relationship marketing is not just a catchy phrase, it is a reality and it should be at the foundation of all you do, your entire focus should be relationship-based. We will discuss relationship marketing at length in a subsequent blog post.

Significantly, if social media has demonstrated anything, it is that people are ravenous for social connection, a relationship.

Provide it and win!

Once again, more on this in an upcoming post.

Ultimately, the transition from outbound advertising to an inbound approach to client acquisition does not have to be painful. In fact, the transition can be an exciting, exhilaratingly profitable experience, one that can and often does transform the way you do business…long term!

Inertia is a negative force, one counter-productive to success in business, any business; and in life, any life!

The Ultimate Internet Image specializes in assisting brick and mortar business owners make the transition to a highly effective, focused, inbound marketing strategy, one guaranteed to enhance lead production, sales, and overall profitability.

Inertia is powerful, what we do is more-so!

Contact us today for a no cost, inbound marketing consultation, as well as an overall competitive analysis.

John Zajaros
Director of Marketing
440-821-7018 (mobile)
216-712-6526 (office)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com

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 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.

The Failure of Outbound Advertising

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.

Businesses have been resorting to a “take no prisoners” 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!

As businesses moved to the online business environment, they discovered several things almost immediately:

1) Prospective clients and/or customers were defining the search.

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
or perish.

3) The companies able to adapt and get in front of their target market flourished.

4) Inbound marketing consulting emerged.

5) Inbound marketing consultancies serving traditional brick and mortar businesses with their online image, the Ultimate Internet Image if you will, offered a dynamic new form of advertising and marketing.

6) There was a huge disparity in competence among these inbound marketing consultancies, particularly those claiming to be SEO or search engine optimization specialists.

Enter the Inbound Marketing Consultant

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?

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.

Fortunately, two things occurred:

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.

2) As with most things Internet, the consumers, in this case the traditional brick and mortar companies seeking the Ultimate Internet Image, 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!

Hiring Competent Consultants: Growing Pains

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.

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.

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.

The Birth of an Inbound Marketing Consultant and Consultancy

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:

“How? How do I do it?”

Of course, the next statement is generally something like:

“I am not a salesman, never have been, and really can’t imagine myself being one. I hate selling!”

Interestingly but not surprisingly, the response is typical…and that’s a good thing!

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 Ultimate Internet Image for that client.

The No-Selling Sale!

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.

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:

It is impossible to fake competence long term!

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!

Call for information and a free outbound advertising consultation and inbound marketing assessment to achieve the Ultimate Internet Image.

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

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…the results will be the Ultimate Internet Image…for you and your new clients! Webinar and information good until Saturday 12-19-2009 at midnight, so don’t delay!

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

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

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

The puzzle?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ultimate Internet Image: Inbound, Internet Marketing and a Page One Ranking Equals More Traditional Brick and Mortar Business

More leads and more traffic, particularly in todays economic climate are invaluable, they can quite literally mean the difference between making money and going under! Just as important as recognizing the need for more traffic and more leads, which in most cases is glaringly apparent, is to find the right Internet marketing consultancy, an Internet marketing company that understands traditional brick and mortar businesses and can help you make the transition into inbound, search driven Internet-based marketing, what some people are now referring to as new media marketing.

The need for more than a simple website should be apparent to anyone who has one. A website without traffic and consequently a website that does not in turn generate traffic to your business is a worthless as a menu in a restaurant without diners, an auto body shop without damaged automobiles or a car dealership without customers. The website is, in fact, only a first, rather tentative step into the world of inbound marketing.

To establish your brick and mortar business as a legitimate online presence takes creating the ultimate Internet image, hence the name of our company.

Without the proper Internet image, without the ultimate Internet inbound marketing formula, you have a website, and empty vehicle with little or no hope of moving up in the search engine rankings.

To move up in the search engine rankings, to establish your company online and achieve the ultimate Internet image, you must have a properly orchestrated inbound marketing strategy, one that incorporates search engine optimization, article marketing, video marketing, and the proper Web 2.0 strategy and image.

It is no longer enough to simply slap up a 2-5 page website and wait…the competition is to fierce, there are simply too many voices screaming for attention!

Ultimately, it is not the loudest Internet presence that wins the battle for more leads and more traffic online, it is the ultimate Internet image, it is the best presented package of a properly optimized website with a relationship building blog, along with the proper balance of article and video marketing, and all tied together in a cohesive strategy designed to increase search engine ranking and get your business to page one organically; that is, without the use of incredibly expensive, sponsored PPC or pay-per-click advertising.

Interestingly, clients know which ads are paid for and which ads are organic. Meaning, in the prospective clients’ eyes, the left-hand side, the organic listings, “earned” their ranking. Whether or not this is a valid consideration, consumers place more weight on an Internet presence on the left side of the page, an organic listing versus a sponsored link.

Meaning, if you are paying for advertising, in a subtle way it is counted against you. Strange but true!

So, where do we need to be? Yes, absolutely, to get more leads and more traffic, on page one and in the organic listings!

How do we get there? Well, some of this has been covered above and the remainder will be covered in the next few blog posts dealing with the Ultimate Internet Image, inbound and Internet marketing, and the generation of more leads and more traffic. All of this is designed to get you to page one and keep you there long term which will translate into more leads, more traffic, more business, and more profit!

For more information and a guaranteed page one listing contact:

John Zajaros
Director of Marketing
216-539-7412
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com

How to Develop an Ultimate Internet Image Through Advanced Search Engine Optimization – SEO

As an Internet marketer or simply as a traditional brick and mortar businessperson attempting to build traffic to your website, one of the key ingredients necessary for an ultimate Internet image is an effective SEO strategy. SEO, for the uninitiated, is search engine optimization and means, quite simply, developing an online strategy that will enable search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, ASK, and the myriad of others to find your Internet real estate, web property, your website and/or blog. SEO is more of a process than a single action and it takes time and an intelligent, well thought out strategy requiring time, patience, and yes, money. However, if the SEO strategy is developed properly, and with an eye towards long range goals, in other words getting to page one of the various search engines and staying there, a holistic approach to your ultimate Internet image and your inbound marketing, search engine optimization strategy is required.

Why Inbound Marketing and SEO?

Why SEO and online, inbound marketing as opposed to a traditional offline, outbound advertising strategy? Well, there are a number of reasons but one of the main reasons is there has been a shift, a transition from outbound, intrusive advertising to a customer/client driven, inbound, new media approach to marketing. Why? Quite simply it has to do with the emergence of the search engine and the ability of prospective customers to initiate the search process and seek out marketers, particularly businesses offering the service and/or products they require. There has been a transition from the consumer as a passive recipient of advertising messages to the catalyst in the process, seeking out and finding merchants online, via the various search engines competing for their attention, and their business.

The Importance of Page One

So why SEO, why not some other form of marketing, some other Internet image building strategy? Significantly, it has been demonstrated that as many as 80% of all individuals initiating a search on the Internet by way of the various search engines, “Googling” as it is commonly referred to, do not actively record where they have been or the web addresses they have uncovered. It has also been demonstrated that individuals engaged in a search rarely go deeper than page one, on any search engine, and almost never deeper than page two. Interestingly, many times the prospective client initiating the search, instead of going on to page two or page three, will simply types in a new search term or phrase, referred to as keywords or long-tail keywords, and continue on rather than going deeper into the search engine result pages or SERPs. As a result, it is critically important to get to page one on the various search engines as soon as possible if you want to have a chance of being discovered.

The Cost: “Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later!”

While SEO may be expensive initially, the long-term costs when weighed against other forms of marketing and promotion may in fact be the most cost-effective way to promote both online and traditional brick and mortar businesses. The main drawback to SEO, if you can call it a drawback, is that it generally takes time. Search engine optimization may also be expensive, at least initially, but in terms of a long-term marketing strategy it is relatively inexpensive. When compared against PPC or pay per click advertising and traditional, outbound marketing strategies like the Yellow Pages, television and newspaper advertising, SEO is in fact a pretty good deal.

SEO Chops Shops: When the Price is Too Good!

Of course there are what I refer to as SEO chop-shops. But beyond mentioning them, and reminding people of the age-old adage, “You get what you pay for,” I am not going to say a whole lot about them. The results you get from such sources, I won’t even dignify them by calling them specialists, are generally impermanent and, interestingly enough, may end up causing you your good name and your ranking. So take care when considering price alone as the determining factor because the adage is true and the cost may ultimately be much higher than anticipated to undo the damage caused by these “experts.”

When Old SEO was Enough

To continue, for a long time search engine optimization consisted of making sure a website, blog, or both, was keyword rich. Optimization included a keyword appropriate domain name or URL, an optimized website or blog title, the appropriate meta tags, an optimized description, and a solid linking strategy. While there are other components, these are the main ones traditional SEO specialists concentrated on, in fact many still do. We will cover each of these in an upcoming article but for now suffice it to say, these were considered the necessary ingredients, The Holy Grail of SEO.

The Changing Face of Internet Marketing and SEO

Interestingly, there has been a change in optimization strategy and in what is now referred to as new media or inbound, Internet marketing. Significantly, traditional SEO is simply not enough by today’s standards. Old search engine optimization strategies are certainly not enough to get to a search engine’s first page, and stay there. In today’s competitive world, a holistic marketing strategy must be engaged if one is to achieve a lasting presence and The Ultimate Internet Image. In subsequent articles we will cover this in greater detail but for now, what I refer to as a holistic marketing strategy is one that includes not only traditional SEO methods, but e-mail marketing, blogging, video marketing, social networking, social bookmarking, and a comprehensive branding strategy developed with one goal, getting to a search engine’s page one…and staying their! In the next article in this series we will discuss, in great detail, the various ingredients necessary to achieve a solid ranking and The Ultimate Internet Image, an online marketing strategy employed to not only get you to page one but to keep you there, long-term.

Transition and The Ultimate Internet Image!

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

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

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

For more on this topic: The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed

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

The Ultimate Internet Image – There is a revolution going on…join us!

The Ultimate Internet Image, International, with offices in several states,
is a new and innovative marketing company with a single focus…your success!

Excellence!

If we had to sum up in a single word the services we provide, it would have to
be “excellence!” Only through superior support and service, combined with tangible and
guaranteed results, can we help you achieve the level of success we guarantee.

By providing real value, and then standing behind our efforts to
ensure your prosperity, we will revolutionize your current marketing strategy
to fully optimize the best of traditional marketing strategies with innovative
and highly successful new Internet marketing techniques.

The techniques and strategies UII uses are the same techniques now being employed
by Diet Coke, Skittles, The Ford Motor Company, CNN, Time Magazine, and
The New York Times, just to name a few.

There is a revolution taking place, a transition from traditional, off-line or “outbound” advertising
to an innovative synergy of traditional image building and online, Internet marketing strategies.

We offer a comprehensive analysis of not only your business,
its previous and current marketing strategies and focus, but also
an in depth review of the current local and regional business climate.
We will provide a review of your competitive niche, to
include a identifying and targeting your audience and market.

UII’s analysis will also include an in depth study of your nearest competitors,
their marketing strategies, focus, and present Internet presence.

Once completed, we will build a customized marketing strategy, one
guaranteed to generate more targeted leads, more business through
the door, literal and virtual, and an improved bottom line.

Once again, our review and individually tailored marketing strategy,
complete in every sense, will incorporate the best of traditional
marketing techniques with a revolutionary and innovative approach
to customer and prospective customer relationship building.

The Ultimate Internet Image will not only reshape and enhance your
current marketing strategy and profile, we will increase traffic to your
business, improve customer/client relationships, and develop a new
and exciting Internet presence. UII guarantees we will increase your
overall profitability, both in terms of absolute dollars and ROI, return
on investment, or you don’t pay!

100% money back guarantee!

Call today for an immediate consultation, online or in person.

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

There is a transition underway, a shift from traditional, offline or “outbound” 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.

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.

Outbound Advertising: Prospective Customer and Customer Antipathy

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’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 “around” newspaper ads, focusing solely on the stories, the “Irish Sports Page,” the obituaries, and of course the funnies or comics.

The Emerging Trend and the Beginning of a Revolution

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.

The Emergence of the Search Engine and “Googling”

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.

The Death of The King: Long Live The King!

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.

SEO: What the Heck is SEO?

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.

A Transition within a Transition

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 Twitter’s mini-blog format and facebook’s 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.

The One-Two Punch: Blogging and Social Media

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.

The Skittles Revolution

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.

Old or New? Struggle or Prosperity?

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!

Look for our next article: The Ultimate Website and the Blog: Blogosphere, Web 2.0, and the Autoresponder – The Ultimate Internet Marketing Revolution Continues!

Let Our Family Serve Your Family!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
CEO and Founder
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com

See also and more to follow:
Our Illinois Internet Image Director and Partner: All Garretson

Our Florida Internet Image Directors and Partners: Brandie Rose Bushwitz and Harry Bushwitz

Our Maine Internet Image Director and Partner: Lisa Sawyer

Our Minnesota Internet Image Director and Partner: Stephen Jankowski

Our New York Internet Image Director and Partner: Ross Diamond

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