This is the final post of the series. To start from the beginning. click here.

In this post we will briefly explore the last example in that post. For a recap, the business up for discussion involves a toy company. The following bits of information were given.

1. The company’s website is subpar.
2. They are considering a radio campaign.
3. They are launching a new product shortly—so shortly, in fact, that they have determined that it is unlikely that they will be able to wait for a purely internet marketing campaign to return results.

This will likely be the most expensive of the discussed campaigns (though by no means are we going to forget about trying to reduce costs by developing a deliberate marketing strategy), so it may be a lesson that planning early is key to minimizing costs. Luckily, if the company is considering the use of a radio campaign, they already know that they may need to spend a couple bucks.

When conducting a radio or television campaign, the first step must always be to prepare the website. Quick changes which make the web presence presentable are key. The reasoning behind this argument is that in nearly every case, a radio or television advertisement drives potential customers to Google for a quick web search. In most cases, the consumer should not be left to respond to the call to action directly. Rather, the consumer, it should be assumed, will forget nearly all of the information from the advertisement. The use of any active marketing strategy, therefore, should only be expected to influence the desires, and therefore searching habits, of a desired consumer base.
The first step, therefore, is an emergency website facelift.

Next, quick optimization tactics (META information optimization, content generation, etc.) is key to try to tackle some of the keywords of utmost importance.

Third, frequent and directed press releases (and article directory submissions) can produce significant results in minutes to hours. Though these will do little to boost the company’s website itself, the press releases will give the company high ranking search engine results for difficult keywords.

Fourth, the radio campaign may be conducted. The building blocks are all set, and after the other steps are complete, the radio campaign can be a success. In order to minimize costs, the campaign should begin with an attempt to get free exposure from local and college radio stations. Frequently they want local content and will allow the company to get air time at no cost.

Fifth, the radio campaign should be complimented by an inexpensive direct marketing strategy (mailing, flyer distribution, etc.) to maximize the return.

I will now discuss a typical marketing campaigns for the second scenario posed in the first blog of this series. If you missed it, click here. The situation is this:

An established mechanic finds his business in heavy competition in recent years. Many shops are popping up around his, and he is seeing a steady decline in business and must lower his rates to stay competitive. He doesn’t want to spend a fortune on marketing as his operational costs are significant, but he can’t fathom a 20 thousand dollar a month advertising strategy.

Three key elements of this scenario really stand out as the most important. Once again, we must consider the stated fact that his operational costs are high. Second, the budget is described to be low. The third point, which is that time is of the essence, is perhaps of even higher priority. I will describe these issues in reverse order.

First, time is of the essence. That is to say that no matter the plan, no matter the marketing campaign, no matter the tools used, we don’t have much time. The difference between this example and many others is that while the mechanic cannot spend money like an enormous corporation would, he cannot afford to stay in business very long with the current trends: lowered prices, increased competition, etc. This information is not given, but it comes with knowing the industry. Having had experience in the automotive repair industry, casey troy marketing, has worked closely with clients to develop strategies that would fit their budgets while dynamically adapting to their industry. As such, it has become abundantly clear that there are two ways in which automotive repair/mechanic businesses run. First, they may employ mechanics at an hourly rate. Second, they pay by the job. In either case they face the risk of operating costs running above revenue generated or losing employees if they do not maintain adequate business. In other words, marketing strategies must have a quick turnaround.

Next, the budget must be considered. While we will seek a plan that maximized budget, step one is to determine the type of budget. In this case, the budget is described to be on the low side while taking into consideration the above paragraph’s message.

Lastly, his operational costs are high. This is incorporated in the paragraph above last, but the fact is distinctly important in that the implication that the business needs to see a turn return remains important.

All things considered, a fitting campaign may include the following:

• Guerrilla marketing tactics to hit high yield niche locations and demographics. If the shop is near a school, flyering, direct distribution of coupons, etc. should be inexpensive yet effective.
• Press releases are key if the area is small enough to capture. casey troy marketing, for example has been working with many clients in smaller districts of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas. Smaller area such as Santa Clarita (Valencia, Newhall, Canyon Country, Castaic), Gardena, Santa Monica, Studio City, etc. are areas in which conquering keywords with frequent press releases is feasible.
• SEO… just about always, these situations dictate some basic search engine optimization, search engine marketing, or SEMM.
• Cheap radio/Television publicity. All attempts should be made to gain free or affordable exposure through local TV and radio stations.

These strategies (and others) should give high yields with low costs, fit the industry and business model, and be dynamic enough to strategically change over time.

Stay tuned for more.

In continuation of the previous blog post (if you missed it, click here), I will discuss the answer to the questions posed. That is, what kind of marketing strategy would best fit each of the mentioned businesses?

The first example was as follows:

A law firm is opening a new service which relies upon unique customers calling in. Their marginal cost is low but fixed operational costs are high. It is therefore important that any proposed strategies create a bang. It simply isn’t cost effective to keep lawyers in the office, sitting around waiting for phone calls.

The first thing to note is that the business relies upon unique customers. Next, the call to action is a phone call. These points alone suggest the need to an active advertising strategy. This alone will not promise a successful marketing campaign, but the recognition of these facts is an important start.

Next, the example discusses the business costs. Often marketing consultants take little heed of the advice I am going to give, but the world would be a better place if we could all promise to change our dirty ways. If you are interested in marketing your own business, then this should already be clear. The advice is this: understand the business cost structure. Otherwise, if I didn’t know how the company makes money and how they pay it out, as a marketing consultant, I would just be a salesman shoving another cost down your throat. If I understand your business just enough to see what kind of money comes in, how, and where it goes, I can tailor the marketing strategy just so.

Apparently, in this example, the fixed costs are high, but the marginal costs are a fair bit less of a worry. This is not uncommon for a brick and mortar business. Often rent, equipment leasing, and even the most basic employee payouts are the most substantial of costs. Therefore producing sixteen pieces versus fifteen pieces has a far smaller impact on the overall money flow than anything else. This situation (high fixed costs and low marginal costs) are indicative of the need for a BANG! type of marketing strategy. That is, there is no time to sit around waiting for customers to stroll around and find the business. Costs are too high, so even if it is pricy, it is very worthwhile to make sure that any campaign will let the product (or business) hit the ground running.

Now let that percolate for a few. Done? Okay, read my proposed strategy below.

I would suggest an extremely content heavy website campaign about six to nine months ahead of launch. This would give the hardworking internet marketing team plenty of time to hone in on important keywords, put significant content up, and get the social media marketing juices going. Over time, this will help the company’s web presence gain some seriously important rankings. But what will get people to the website?

I would then suggest the most proactive advertising media that the budget will allow. I utilize what I call a “tiered budget diagnosis.” Don’t look it up—it’s my term, but I am thinking that it will stick one day soon. What I mean by that is that if you can only afford a small viral Youtube-esque, blog-commenting, direct mailing style campaign, go for it. If the budget allows for radio, do that, but (here’s where my term comes into play) do NOT cut out the lower tiers. They are a give-in, they are successful if done right, and they should not be neglected. Further, if the budget allows for television ads or billboards, etc, etc, great! Then get those going, but don’t, no matter what, forget about the lower tiers.

The idea is this: Any of the (coincidentally) more expensive strategies will inherently advertise for the competitors as well. That is, if a law firm advertises for a call-in service on the radio during morning commute, any law firm boasting such a service will reap benefits of increased consumer interest. Inevitably, though, the potential customer will forget the name of the company, probably the location, the number, the website, and basically any bit of information that would make that campaign give a decent return on the investment. What will stick, however, in the minds of the important listeners (the paying customers) is the idea to check the service out online. The interested potential customer may get on Google and try out a few search strings, say “los angeles law firm phone” or “radio ad law firm klos.” Whatever the search strings may be, if the first step (the web marketing one) was deliberate in nature and successfully planned, these string should turn up the company in question. If not—if another company dominates the strings—well then the company who bought the radio ad just wasted a lot of money.

And it all comes full circle.

Stay tuned for discussions of marketing strategies for the other examples.

There seems to be a debate amongst many marketers (I really do prefer the term marketer—it reminds me off Willy Wonka!) between the proponents of internet marketing and classical marketing strategies. The argument is heated and peoples’ businesses are at stake, so it is important to understand both sides of the debate, the pros, the cons, and those involved.

The fact is that marketing is a field which is ever changing, often subjective, sometimes unquantifiable, and is dabbled with psychology and sociology. The field is arguably as old as mankind, but in its current form, with highly analytical and scientific notions, it is easily dated back to the industrial revolution. Any one of these facets would understandably make for a debatable subject, but all together, the mix makes for a messy, messy situation.

In my years working for a street-level/guerrilla-esque marketing firm, I heard over and over, “Sure internet’s great, but it takes too much time,” “SEO takes months or even years to bring results, and business owners don’t understand how to wait that long to see a return,” or most nasty of all, “No matter what happens in the advertising world, they’re always going to need us.”

I also spent my share of time involved with a web marketing group in my early years. There the statements ranged from “There just isn’t anything as cost effective or as worthwhile as SEO and web marketing’” to “Web marketing can do everything that other forms of marketing can do cheaper, better, more strategically, and with more traceable results.”

I challenge these attitudes. Neither marketing tactic replaces the other, and there are many scenarios in which either medium alone falls short. Take these two examples, and see what sort of strategies you would propose:

1. A law firm is opening a new service which relies upon unique customers calling in. Their marginal cost is low but fixed operational costs are high. It is therefore important that any proposed strategies create a bang. It simply isn’t cost effective to keep lawyers in the office, sitting around waiting for phone calls.
2. An established mechanic finds his business in heavy competition in recent years. Many shops are popping up around his, and he is seeing a steady decline in business and must lower his rates to stay competitive. He doesn’t want to spend a fortune on marketing as his operational costs are significant, but he can’t fathom a 20 thousand dollar a month advertising strategy.
3. A toy company is considering a radio campaign. Their website is a mess, but they are launching a new product and can’t afford to wait for search engine marketing to return results.

I will break these examples down in the coming posts, but for now, think about them, and challenge yourself to think of a deliberate and dynamic marketing strategy.

If you need a little help—here you go. The reality is simple. Nearly every company needs an effective web presence. Every business knows that the larger their footprint, the better the chance of catching the attention of their potential customers. A web presence is much like having another store operating in a busy thoroughfare. A website is basically the least expensive satellite store you will ever be able to open. Still though, how you do you capture the attention of the masses of those for whom a website would mean nothing (those in their car, outside, too busy to peruse, or not net-savvy)?

Stay tuned for part 2.

In my experience, clients are often concerned about their site’s ranking, but they don’t know how to tell if their site is truly utilizing their website to its fullest capacity.

The fact is that one of the most important facets of search engine optimization isn’t the actual optimization but rather determining the current flaws in the website and considering practical and desirable goals. Perhaps even more important (and something you can start yourself, even if you aren’t a computer expert) is investigating to see if your site is in need of help (and it probably does).

Below are some of the initial steps I take when analyzing a website for a client. These are the questions you need to ask yourself. In future posts, I will discuss in more detail what exactly you want the answers to be and what you can do to get there.

On first look:

1)      Is the site text heavy?

2)      If there is a lot of text, are the keywords placed in the top and bottom of the document?

3)      Are there hidden keywords?

4)      Is the text dynamic?

5)      Is it all flash or images?

6)      Are the titles the same for each page?

7)      Are there even titles?

8)      In the titles, where is the company name placed?

9)      Is it among keywords?

10)   How many words are in the titles?

11)   Are there many links?

12)   Are they outbound? Internal?

13)   Are the links utilizing good anchor text or are they words that are not beneficial?

14)   What is the domain name?

15)   Does the domain name contain any keywords?

16)   Are there any bad redirects?

When looking at the source code/file structure:

1)      Are the images named descriptively?

2)      Do they use alt tags?

3)      Are there meta tags?

4)      Is the description tag filled out well?

5)      How many characters are in the description?

6)      Are the page links nofollow?

7)      What about a robots.txt?

8)      Is there a sitemap?

9)      Are there hidden divs?

10)   Is the site w3c compliant?

11)   Does it matter—is this messing up the site’s ranking?

12)   Is Google Analytics being used? Who’s monitoring the site’s status?

After heading over to Google:

1)      Where is the site placed for the most valuable keywords?

2)      What is the Alexa ranking?

3)      How about page rank? Yahoo… etc…

4)      What does Google Analytics think about the keyword use?

5)      What is the competition for the major keywords?

6)      What about location—are there better keywords for the business’ physical location?

7)      What are the inbound links like?

8)      What is being done to get more?

9)      Is Google Adwords being used?

10)   Does it have to be?

When considering the client (or your own business):

1)      If they had to choose ten keywords that would make them millionaires, are they practical?

2)      What kind of money/time (they’re same thing) do they have to put into search engine optimization?

3)      Is anyone on staff able to do content management/generation?

4)      Can they handle the task of learning about keywords?

5)      Who will research market trends, keywords, and client interest?

Lastly, after everything (that mentioned above and much, much more):

1)      What is the priority of each of the goals?

2)      Are they practical, and what do we do if not?

3)      What kind of return on investment are we looking for?

As you can see, it’s really not as simple as thinking about valuable keywords and color schemes. In fact, the major questions come lower on the list, which ask if the proposed methodologies are realistic and beneficial.

Don’t let this discourage you, though. SEO is a lot of work, but it is worth it, and the results do come. In fact, not all of the issues need to be resolved immediately—any progress can have dramatic results on your site ranking.

As a short anecdote, I have been working (as I mentioned before) with an established web-based company just north of Los Angeles (Santa Clarita—Valencia, California to be exact) for the last month or so. These questions were the first that I considered when beginning to take them on as a client. The answers have directed our work thus far, and they still help us keep on our goals. Proper analysis is invaluable from start to finish.

Good luck on your quest for first page rankings.

Last year I was able to travel to many different countries, and suffice it to say that I was astounded by the differences between marketing strategies across geographical boundaries. Successful pubs in England, for instance, are in a relatively unique situation in which they often keep a customer for life. In Norway and France, however, clubs seem to be hot one week and not the next. Businesses are therefore forced to develop strategies which are truly tailored to their target markets. This is square one, I typically tell my clients. The fact is that Industry A may benefit from strategy A and industry B may benefit from strategy B, but not vice versa. Many business owners are left scratching their heads when they find that their marketing tactics which were successful in previous ventures are slow to have an effect in current ventures.

Now, I will get to the point. In the last month, I have been counseling two businesses in Santa Clarita—Valencia, California to be specific. In my market research I have found that Valencia (but Santa Clarita as a whole—Castaic, Newhall, Canyon Country, etc.) hosts a unique and eclectic mix of consumers. Market trends are actually quite easy to predict in these areas, and captivating the desired audience is very practical. For example, in what is perhaps a perfect microcosms for entrepreneurial efforts, restaurants go through very typical cycles, and when considering their target market, such research leads to a far more likely success.

As a tip to businesses in the area, in my work thus far, I have found SEO (search engine optimization) to be the name of the game in these Valencia businesses. For these businesses, search engine optimization has been the most affordable, most targeted, and most dynamic of strategies. I nearly always recommend that businesses put quite a bit of effort into proper (though ingenious and clever) web marketing, and in future posts, I will go into some more detail about how I have been able to capture the consumers’ attentions in the Santa Clarita Valley.