Many companies come to us after learning the hard way that the mentality of if you build it they will come just doesn’t work. Having a website is only the beginning. Having a beautiful website doesn’t mean instant online success. In fact, with the right marketing tools and SEO a $2,500 website could generate a hundred times more business than a $5,000 website. Yes, you want a website that reflects who you are and what you do – just don’t stop there!

Hubspot’s Website Grader was always a favorite of ours. We recommended the free tool to anyone who felt they weren’t getting the website traffic they felt they deserved. At the time, it was a great low risk way to show them some of the missing links between having a website and being successful online.  

With the trillions of websites out there and hundreds of thousands more being built every day, it is becoming more and more difficult to stand out in a crowd. Our guess is that Website Grader couldn’t keep up with all the new marketing methods and tools being used to get to the top of search engine results. So what happened is companies would come back with a website grade of 95, but not have the online results you might expect with someone whose website is 95% effective. 

The reason for this was Website Grader only took a few things into account such as Twitter, blog posts, Facebook, etc. But with an ever changing marketing landscape it wasn’t enough to keep up with the growing competition. As a result, a grade of 95 on Website Grader is closer to a 65 on Marketing Grader. 

Even Hubspot, an industry leader, didn’t get a perfect score from their own product. It doesn’t mean they aren’t great at what they do, it just means the competition is steep – and getting steeper.

If you haven’t already checked out Marketing Grader, you should, but don’t be discouraged if your grade is low. Marketing Grader will show you where you are lacking so you can make improvements. If you are not sure what to do or need help getting started contact us. 

BTW, be sure to check out this month’s special on SEO backlinking services!

Too many people put off what is important and act as though the time needed to accomplish a goal will present its self in the future without having to prepare. We tell ourselves, “I will eat healthier tomorrow… Start exercising next week… Save more money next month… Finish my book next year.” But unless you have a plan in place, and clearly defined  action steps, it is unlikely you will reach your goals. And in the mean time, you are missing out on the benefits you could be having today.

If this is the way you are treating your 2012 marketing plan then you are missing out on:

• Finding new prospects
• Building strong relationships with customers
• Increasing profits
• Staying ahead of your competitors

It is time to make a commitment and hold yourself and your team accountable. FOCUS on what is important, CONNECT with your target market, and GROW your business.

Focus

Know your target market and focus on the needs of your clients instead of chasing dead ends and spreading yourself too thin. Marketing strategies have become increasingly complex. There are so many ways to get distracted from what really matters and what works best for your company. It is important to keep up with marketing trends so you can maintain a competitive edge, but before implementing a new strategy or campaign make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. If you have strayed from your company’s core marketing values then redirect your energy into what has consistently worked for your company.

Connect

The landscape of communication has changed drastically over the years and is continuing to change. Know where to find your target market and their preferred method of communication, and be aware that those preferences could change. According to University of Dayton, 59% of B2B decision makers have used smartphones to research products and services before considering purchases. If this isn’t your target market now, then that may change in 2012 with the increased popularity of mobile searches.  Be ready to engage with your audience in new ways.

Grow

In order to grow you need to know what works and what doesn’t work. The only way to know is to measure the results of your marketing efforts. Do you already know where you are putting your 2012 marketing dollars? According to a report by Forrester Research, all industries are expected to spend nearly 26% of all advertising dollars on interactive marketing. If this is the direction your business is moving, then be sure to have an effective way to measure your results. Invest in what works for your company and 2012 will be a year of growth.

What are your 2012 marketing fitness goals? Need some help getting into shape? Contact us for a free 30 minute consultation!

With today’s ever changing marketing environment, people are desperately trying to do more in less time. Fortunately, technology has provided us with the tools to do just that. Learn how to boost your productivity with the following easy-to-use and inexpensive tools.

Automate Social Media Updates

Write and schedule your social media updates with tools such as:

• Hootsuite – This time saving tool has a Basic free plan that allows you to schedule your posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many other social media sites. Upgrade to the Pro plan for only $5.99 a month and you can upload all your updates at once for the entire month (or even more)!
• Social Sprout – Starting at $39 a month this robust social media manager will not only allow you to schedule your updates like Hootsuite, it will tell you the best times to schedule them and help you find people to follow.

Write Your Blog Posts For The Month

Blog posts are an important aspect of any marketing strategy, but it takes time to research and write valuable posts that boost your SEO ranking and establish you as an industry leader. If you are using WordPress you will save hours by writing all of your posts for the month and then using their built-in scheduling option to schedule them in advance.

Schedule Your Emails

Like with your blogs posts, it is best if you write your whole email campaign and schedule it in advance. There are a number of email schedulers out there that have similar features. If you don’t already have an email scheduler here are a few we recommend:

Email Marketing Tool	Cost for up to 500 subscribers
Aweber	$19/month.
iContact	$14/month.
Mail Chimp	$0 or $10/month with premium features
Constant Contact	$15/month

For more robust options that allow you to manage not only email, but automate your entire marketing system with a built in CRM and shopping cart, we recommend Infusionsoft (and yes, we are an affiliate).

Recycle Your Webinars

If webinars are part of your core marketing plan then you must check out The Automated Webinar. It is the least expensive (that we have found) and most powerful way to utilize webinars. With this software, you will never have to redo a live introductory webinar. Simply record your webinar once, schedule it and replay it to live audiences. It will appear as though it were a live broadcast. Schedule it as many times as you want into perpetuity!

We hope you find these tools helpful with saving time while improving the quality of what you deliver and your overall productivity!

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Website
Your website is your online storefront. It needs to be clean, attractive, and inviting. If it doesn’t have what it takes to grab a visitor’s attention then would be customers will likely pass you by for your competitors. Discover 10 things every website should have.

SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the roads to your company. The more you invest in roads leading to your online storefront, the more traffic you will have. If your sales funnel is well established additional traffic could easily turn into revenue.

Graph from Surviving The Current Marketing Mania With A Solid 2012 Plan by Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group analysis.

Social Media
There is no better tool to build brand loyalty than social media. It also boosts SEO and provides a two–way communication channel between you and customers. In a recent Forbes article Avi Savar said, “In 2012, social media as a bridge to commerce may seem obvious, but the journey will be much more interesting–and lucrative.”

Don’t you love to see the results of your hard work?  Whether it’s raking leaves or losing weight or building a successful social media marketing campaign, it’s a wonderful feeling to reflect on how far you’ve come. 

But what happens when you get no results?

You change your strategy, right? Otherwise you’re wasting your time.  A mighty smart man named Albert Einstein defined insanity as: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  

As marketers we understand this, which is why we are always testing new marketing strategies and then carefully studying the results to ensure the highest impact and best possible ROI. Sometimes people think you can’t track social media marketing results – but oh, you can!

We get clients all the time who never track the results of their marketing efforts.  None of them.  When we ask what’s been successful, we get shoulder shrugs or “well…..we think that….” But no measurements because they’ve never tracked the results!

In fact, a recent survey by the Atlanta-based cloud marketing automation software vendor, Pardot, revealed that nearly 30 percent of B2B marketers are not tracking lead generation and sales that come from social media marketing. Even more shocking, 42% of marketers who were tracking results replied that zero or an uncertain number of sales leads resulted from social media programs.

Not tracking social media results effectively is common because so many businesses jumped into social media without having a strategy in place.  They knew they had to “do something” with social media; so they did “something” – just not anything that was effective at building their business.  Social media marketing is so much more than just gaining Facebook fans and Twitter followers. Part of your social media strategy must include tracking leads and sales that come from social media marketing efforts.

In a recent article, The Tech Journal summarized the other survey findings:

• 55% of respondents said contacting a social media-generated sales lead by phone or email is appropriate, even if the prospect had not invited the vendor to do so

• Meanwhile, 48% said it is appropriate to respond to a prospect via social media, if the prospect contacted the vendor via email or phone first

• 100% of respondents said it is acceptable to invite a prospect to join a marketer’s online social networks, though some suggested the invites be limited to networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, Plaxo and YouTube, versus more personal sites like Facebook

• 31% said it is acceptable to critique a competitor via social media

• 64% of respondents used “internal, free tools”

• Only 9% respondents rely on an outside agency or social media expert for help with social media marketing.

Do you have a social media marketing strategy in place that clearly defines why you are using social media and what you hope to gain from it?   If you’re using social media, and not getting any results, then it’s time to change your strategy.  If you don’t know how, then hire someone who does.

Oh hey, we do that!  Click here for details.

However, it’s easy enough to send people right to your beautifully designed Facebook Business Page.   (If you don’t have a beautifully designed Facebook Business Page , this is something we do for our clients.)

If it’s not linked correctly you need to change it manually.
Follow these simple instructions to edit your profile and link to your Business page:
1.    Check that you have personally ‘liked’ your own Business page.
2.    From your personal profile page click ‘Edit Profile’.
3.    Choose ‘Education and Work’
4.    In the ‘Employer’ box type @ before the name of company page. (This is THE key step.  NOTE: If you’ve already listed an employer, you’ll have to re-create it because Facebook won’t allow you to edit the company name.)

5.    Click the correct page on the pop up.
6.    Fill out your ‘position’ or Company Title.
7.    Click Add job.
8.    Delete the old employer information.

Now you’ve connected your personal Facebook profile with your Facebook Business Page there is less chance of losing those potential customers!