12 Most Crucial Strategies for Creating an Online Marketing Campaign

A month ago to help me get my blog onto  12most.com, a website that has taken over my brain. I had to have my blog published there. Why? Who knows; I love the concept and the creativity, and the writers are top notch. And I got some great responses, although it was hard, wasn’t it (?), coming up with topics that weren’t just 12, but 12 MOST… that tripped most people up.

I’m going with the suggestion of Jack Reilly. Owner of nothing other than a nice wardrobe and cool condo, Jack is in sales at a startup new media company in Philadelphia. He had a great suggestion, and here it is:

12 Most Relevant Things to Know When Creating an Online Marketing Strategy.

I had to fill in all the blanks. They’re juicy. Here goes:

1. Content is king. Your website might be fabulous. Expensive. Lots of bells and whistles. Forty-six pages, optimized up the yin yang, equipped with drop down widgets and music and luscious to look at, but if the content isn’t stimulating and a draw, it will be a bust. Glug, glug, glug…
2. You don’t have to recreate the wheel. Pointing visitors to interesting blogs, citing marketing experts and inviting guest bloggers to post on your website will round out your marketing and add richness to your offerings.
3. Integration and multiple strategies are key. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket and expect your business to sky rocket. Google Adwords is just one small piece of your overall plan.
4. Always be changing it up and adding new content to your website. New offers, specials, free info, events, a new blog entry, etc… The search engine crawlers (especially Google) are always looking for new, relevant and fresh content.
5. A blog is oh so much more important than you may think. Not only is it a constant stream of new and fresh content into your website, which is good SEO, but it’s also establishing you as an expert in your field. And once folks are in the site they will be blown away by all the wonderful and alluring services you offer — some free, some too good to pass up and some very easy ways to get involved in some way, shape or form with you and your services. ‘Nough said.
6. Don’t let the above scare you! You don’t necessarily need to be a great writer, although good writing skills certainly will make a difference. But ve have vays around that: As noted in No. 2, take advantage of all the great knowledge out there — and there is a LOT of great knowledge out there! Invite them into your blog to guest blog — people jump at that opportunity as it opens up new markets for them as well, and they can backlink to their site. Always, cite the authors however and offer that backlink. Or you can always hire great writers.
7. Keep a marketing calendar and stick to it. Folks learn to anticipate your offerings and this is a good thing. Consistency is key. Your blog should always be in their inboxes/posted on your site or someone else’s/in the online newspaper on x day, your newsletter on y day of the week, your Facebook entries on z day. Encourage anticipation.
8. Make sure your marketing is opt-in and permission based, not interruptive. The days of buying a mailing list and blasting out spammy emails are over, do you hear me? O-V-E-R. Can you spell delete? Yes, it may take longer to build that base, but trust me, in the long run it is worth it because the quality of your leads will now be authentic, interested potential buyers, rather than disgruntled and annoyed deleters. They are there because they WANT to be there. I got that from Seth Godin (God).
9. Put forth information and campaigns your target market wants and is asking for, not what you think they want. Take the time to do the market research and find out what their pain points are and then market and address those pain points. Relationship building, relationship marketing; it’s right up there with permission marketing.
10. Good, old fashioned referrals are still the best way to market your services and products. A good word goes far, so don’t be afraid to ask for them in various ways, ie: place a simple “I’d be so grateful if you would forward this to a friend” at the bottom of your blog email. Ask influencers to share your content. Nine times out of 10 they will be happy to.
11. Make use of all the social media networks and sharing sites out there to help promote your offers, blogs and educational marketing tidbits. This is how you will build markets outside of your own. Linked In groups are great for this.
12. Finally, remember that all online marketing, all marketing for that matter, is a process, and often a long one. Nothing in the marketing world happens overnight, as it takes time and consistent effort for a brand, a voice and credibility to sink in. You’ve heard of the seven touches. It’s true, and I see it in my work as well. I don’t even sign with companies or doctors wanting less than a six-month commitment these days. Trial and error still abounds, but with tools like Google Analytics and Woorank, we can now have a better handle on what is working and what isn’t over a period of months. So we analyze and we tweak, and eventually we succeed. Know your customers and their needs and focus not only on your marketing but your services toward that end. If your efforts have been focused correctly you’ll soon see lead generation convert to sales, slowly and steadily winning the race.

Suzen Pettit, a longtime Brookfield resident and marketer extraordinaire, is principal at Omaginarium and Omagine Health, a marketing firm specializing in growing small businesses and medical practices by creating search engine optimized websites, internet marketing, social media marketing, affordable SEO, blogging and email marketing. She’ll teach you the ropes to grow your business online.

Contact Suzen at 203-733-8578 or email her at Suzen@omaginarium.com.