Building an Online Marketing Plan

What’s the big deal about online marketing?

90%+ of people search online before making decisions, big and small
Search engines find content, categorize it, and connect people with what they need
To get found, you need online content that’s relevant and fresh
Some of the steps in building your online presence are “do-it-yourself” and some are “do-not-try-this-at-home” so don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it

Building blocks of an online marketing strategy

The building blocks of an online marketing strategy: build a foundation of a robust website; add the three pillars of search marketing, e-mail marketing, and web analytics; and cap it off with a social media strategy.
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Building blocks:  Your website

Top 5 reasons your website is the foundation

60% of prospects will visit your website
Search engines direct visitors to your site
First introduction might be online
Prospects use traditional websites
You control the information
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3 important things to consider

Usability – architecture, navigation, and analytics
Content – clear, simple, easy to contact you
Design – stand out but be appropriate, use only graphics that support your messaging
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6 main sections your site should have

Home page
Products or Services
About Us
Contact Us
Custom Information
Dynamic Content
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Building blocks:  Search

A search strategy is the first pillar of your plan

Create content that targets your customers’ needs
Use words customers search for, including negatives
Long-tail keywords improve results and target your audiences
Update content often
Create compelling, link-worthy content
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SEO: Getting links to your site

Link to your site from social networks
Comment on blogs and online communities
Add yourself to online directories
Use social bookmarking
Submit online press releases
Answer questions online
Ask for customer reviews
Ask for links from influencers
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SEO: Technical recommendations

Find keywords relevant to your business, include keywords in the page content, write naturally
Properly name pages, 
meta data, headlines, 
URLs, and links
Make clean, organized 
coding a priority
Give it time
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Building blocks:  E-mail

E-mail is the second pillar of your plan
Users overwhelmingly prefer e-mail as a contact
E-mail keeps customers informed about new products and solutions, or industry news.
E-mail offers a great return on your investment

E-mail best practices

Build your list with customers, colleagues, people you meet, and online signups
Create a master calendar and send a combination of newsletters, promotions, announcements
Get results with well-designed, straightforward, compelling, brief e-mails
Use analytics, testing, and segmenting to target e-mails
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Other online marketing tactics to consider

Online ads – banner ads, PPC, sponsored content
Video and podcasts
Flash demos
SMS text advertising
Branded apps

Building blocks:  Analysis

Analysis is the third pillar of your plan

Set up tools to get the most accurate analytics
Web analytics
SEO analytics
E-mail analytics
Monitor your online presence, mentions, links, activity, competitors, industry
Test and refine

Use analytics to refine your site, SEO, and e-mails

Fine tune your website and SEO
Dashboard, Visitors Overview, Traffic Sources Overview, Keywords, Top Content
Improve your e-mail campaigns
How many were sent, received, and bounced
How many people opened, clicked, forwarded, opted out, signed up
What was clicked
Compare to past campaigns
Test and refine
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Monitoring your online presence for free

Setup an RSS reader to watch keywords, companies, people, Twitter #hashtags, LinkedIn answers
Check LinkedIn and Facebook pages and groups
Search for terms on Addict-o-matic
Use grader.com to rank yourself
Use Tweetdeck for real time info
Respond to issues before they’re problems, find new customers, build your reputation
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Building blocks:  Social Media

Social media is the capstone of your plan

Social media enhances all of your other efforts.
Engaged customers are more likely to buy
Social media influences search results
Links drive traffic to your website
Conversations about you are already going on online
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Top social media tools

LinkedIn – Profiles, Companies, Groups, Answers
Facebook  Profiles, Pages, Groups
Twitter       Profiles, Companies
Blogs    RSS reader
Local search – Google, Yahoo!, bing, getlisted. org
Review sites – Yelp, TripAdvisor, industry sites
Social bookmarking – StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit
Other – forums, wikis, industry or interest group websites, local websites, local organizations
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5 Quick steps to get online

Sign up for membership on targeted sites
Fill out the basic information (you can add more later)
Find groups of peers and/or customers
Listen and get a feel for discussion etiquette
Add value to conversations
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Maintaining your online brand

Branding 101

Keep your design and content consistent
Maintain a unified design on your website, e-mails, social media sites, and presentations
Make sure you develop guidelines, image and copy assets, instructions, 
written strategy
Provide feedback on all marketing pieces anddon’t allow anything off-brand.
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Branding and messaging across multiple media

When you develop online sites, pages, and profiles, be sure to use consistent graphics and messaging.
Develop a set of images you can use for each platform that are optimized for each use
Develop a set of copy blocks you can use in a variety of lengths
Keep a list of sites to update when you make a change in messaging or imagery, when you launch a new product, or when you have news to share.
Keep things consistent everywhere!

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