There is a lot of effort going into online marketing these days. Call it what you will (social media etc.) there is a lot of business activity being transacted on the internet and small business is no exception. One of the applications for online platforms is, of course, marketing. Twitter, Facebook and Linked In are the “big three” in this arena, but there are many, many others.
Does marketing change online? Are different skills required?
Before addressing that let’s consider one of the key differences that relates to the medium itself. That is: You are sitting in front of a monitor/laptop/iphone/blackberry when you are marketing. That is a significant change from face to face. Why? Because you do not have the advantage of immediate feedback and body language to tell how your message is being received.
Of course, you don’t get that in traditional marketing activities such as advertising and direct mail, but on a computer you can generate and send out material quickly, without necessarily having to think too hard, and it’s free! You are likely to spend far more time composing your message etc. for a direct mail campaign.
Effective marketing hasn’t changed with the medium. In other words you are still trying to do the same things that are central to success in marketing your small business.
- Grab attention from your best prospects
- Build interest credibility and trust
- Discuss whether working together is a good “fit”
- Leading to the hiring decision
The first of these is critical, and a potentially great role for online activities.
However there is a potential issue here. The anonymity of internet sites can embolden you to behaviors you would NEVER demonstrate in person. Because you are denied the immediate feedback, there is less opportunity to decide whether an approach is working or actually upsetting people.
On line this can lead to overt selling before steps 1 and 2 mentioned above have ever been completed. In other words the equivalent of standing on a table at a networking event shouting: “Over here everyone, look at me! Have I got a great deal for you today!” It is equally off putting on line.
In addition, there is a limited opportunity for people to call you on extraordinary claims. Hence you see a lot of self-proclaimed “gurus”, “experts” and “mavens” out there. Perhaps it is best to leave those labels to others rather than affix them yourself?
So what is the solution? Basically the rules still apply. In fact they may be more important given the competition for attention online. The things that work off line can easily be adapted to online applications and the underlying principles still apply.
- Give value – your expertise is attractive to prospects. Give some of that value away. This can be in the form of tips, ideas, links you found useful, articles for others etc. This takes some time to establish but is a far better way to grab attention
- Contribute – find other blogs, reply when you see something interesting on twitter, answer Linked In Questions. There are many opportunities to get involved but remember rule 1 – give value. It is counter productive to reply to a post with: “I can help you with that, hire me” or similar.
- Think about your clients and prospects – make your contributions about them, and the issues they are dealing with. Not about how great you are. This will have much more resonance.
These things (and more) apply to all marketing activities. The nature of the medium shouldn’t change that!
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