This post corresponds to podcast Episode 10: A Holistic Approach to Online Marketing with Denise Wakeman which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own.
Our last post concluded the first two areas of the Free Marketing Made Easy Program with a discussion on Site Optimization and Conversion. If you are following along with the course outline then you could have built an entire marketing infrastructure already, and you are now ready to plunge into social media.
To begin, imagine visiting your doctor and being told that you have Blanchard Psytiaris. What would you do? You know nothing about Blanchard Psytiaris so you are completely dependent on your doctor’s advice.
Later on you go home and do some studying. Now you are prepared with some questions, answers and ideas about the best treatment options. You are becoming empowered and you can advocate for yourself to make sure you get the right kind of care from the right specialists (if needed).
Fortunately there’s no such thing as Blanchard Psytiaris – I made that term up. But this scenario happens all the time and it’s very similar to your position as a small business owner if you don’t understand the basics of online marketing. Nobody’s going to try to sell you anything here at Free Marketing Made Easy. But we will do our best to educate and empower you, so you can make the best decisions for your business.
But wait, what if you own a regular “brick and mortar” business like a dentist’s office or a restaurant? Why should you be concerned with online marketing?
Denise Wakeman, founder of the blog squad and contributor to the “Free Marketing Made Easy” program puts it this way: “Marketing online is not a luxury. If you can’t be found online then you don’t exist.” 1.7 billion people currently have access to the internet. It is entrenched in our lives, so much so that people are making applications like Yelp and Urban Spoon famous for their restaurant reviews. Get it?
Besides, if you aren’t making your online presence known then other people get to shape the conversation about you without your voice being heard. That’s not a good place to be.
Not everything’s right for everybody…
Websites, email, SEO, membership sites, ecommerce, affiliate marketing, social media, photos, videos, blogs, discussion forums, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn….
…and you don’t need to worry about being perfect.
A wonderful thing about online marketing is that most things can be changed easily. Using the internet to market your business can be tremendously beneficial because it levels the playing field between you and the competitors who are shouting for your customers to hear them. For just a few hundred dollars you can have a great looking website and blog plus pages on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
From there you’ll be able to engage and interact with customers and prospects in ways that can make remarkable improvements to your top and bottom line.
But here’s the thing…you need to start.
The easiest things you can do right now would be set up a Facebook page and Twitter profile. From there you can also start blogging (you’ll need to have the right platform, so be sure to read our sections on WordPress) and create a YouTube channel (once you’ve reviewed the Free Marketing Made Easy section on online video).
Don’t get overwhelmed by trying to do them all at the same time. Breathe. Take small steps…just walk to the end of the driveway and see how far you can go from there.
But one last word: if you are going to get started with online marketing (and hopefully you will) then make it worthwhile by learning what to say and not just how to say it. Be sure to review the Free Marketing Made Easy section on Content Marketing for more details. Once you are ready, let’s turn out attention to the art of Blogging for Business.
AfriGadget
Kiva