If you’ve been in business for any length of time recently, I don’t have to explain why it’s important to show up on the 1st page of a Google Search. But just to be on the safe side, if today’s the first day you’re considering an effective online marketing plan, let’s briefly cover two main reasons any business would want to show up front and center on the consumer’s computer screen: Referrals and Search

Referrals
Many businesses rely on referrals, but today’s referrals rely on the Internet. A few years ago, some of my current clients would have told me they didn’t need a website because they got plenty of referrals. In fact, they didn’t really need any marketing at all, they were so busy. That’s changed.

Why? Possibly because few consumers are unscathed by some kind of scam. Whom should one trust? Consumers often want to validate that amazing offer they just saw on TV, and these days, probably even what their friends are recommending. And even a great salesman is probably going to get checked out on The Internet before or after an appointment. What will the prospect find? Nothing? Hopefully they find your corporate social media campaign.

Search
If you aren’t in the room with the prospect, how are you going to sell anything?Think of a Google Search Results Page as a room with 10 possible solutions in it to the searcher’s problem. Pretty simple math. If you’re solution number 11, you’re in a different room than the one the prospect’s in. You might as well be solution number 72.

Search is a logical approach. The consumer figures out what words make the most sense to enter in the search request box. That’s where your long tail keyword research pays off. Once he’s arrived to your page the emotional reason to stay as well as purchase hopefully kicks in. Ah, but that’s a subject for another day, called Consumer Analysis.

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IT’S SO EASY…..
An effective marketing plan is based on the simple concept of connecting with your audience.  To do that, you need market research data about your audience.   Not just statistical totals and pie graphs, but what moves your audience emotionally, since many buying decisions are triggered by an emotional connection.

Our Optimized Market Research (OMR) is the secret to making that emotional connection with your target audience. If you skip the OMR research step, you’re marketing blindfolded. OMR takes the guesswork out of marketing.  That’s what we like to do. Our conversion rates are 4 to 8 times greater than industry average.  That’s why we’ve been in business 24 years.

In my book, 3 main reasons for a strong personal online presence are as follows:

1.      78% of consumers trust peer to peer recommendations (referrals). Social sites like Facebook and LinkedIn have built-in referral tools AND they show up very well on Google search requests (usually much faster than a new website can). That’s a great combo deal, and it can be “supersized” by someone who knows what they are doing.

2.      If you aren’t telling your story, either someone else is or the customer has to make up reasons why you aren’t showing up online (such as, “maybe he’s out of business now…”).

3.      People prefer to have a relationship with an actual person, not a logo. By honestly representing yourself and who you are will resonate with plenty of people. And the ones who don’t like you (for whatever reason) probably won’t buy anyway.

This is good news! Well, maybe not good for criminals or the sort of folks that like to scam. But any service provider with a decent product and good service will do well with an enterprise social media campaign. They will be lifted up by their own customers and shared, with or without an “official” market development strategy. And at low cost. So jump in the social media pool if you haven’t yet. The water’s fine!

Navigating a social media can be overwhelming, any way you slice it. The simplicity is ANY presence on ANY social network is going to be better than none. Buy why waste time opening and creating accounts on less effective sites when good ones can be used first? So here’s a list of qualities I look for in a social networking site for corporate social media campaign:

●        Are there plenty of places to include text? If you’re going to take a few hours to create a bio for yourself and your company, make sure to include words matching what people are already searching in Google or other search engines. Google can’t “read” audio files, pictures or video, so having text or at least being able to add captions to is important. Don’t forget to include your long tail keyword research anywhere you can in the text you create.

●        Is the site photo/video capable? People like pictures and video, regardless of Google’s inability to “read” them. Include some visuals, at the very least a decent profile picture.

●        Does the site look professional? Easy to navigate, clean and simple is best when it comes to business. Someone searching for an answer to a problem probably isn’t interested in suffering through fancy moving pictures that take a long time to load.

●        Can potential prospects connect to you personally and publicly? Just by being connected to current clients online could generate new business if the connection is visible to their contacts. Facebook is a great example of public, easily viewable connections between people.

●        Is it easy to reach you using modern channels? Email, text message, fax and phone?

●        Does the site showcase more than just the “standard” information one might find in a Yellow Pages listing? People look for answers online, so make sure you give them answers in your text. What are your products and services? Who are you and what sets you apart from the others in your industry? What kind of customers are you best able to help?

●        Can you modify the content and appearance of the site yourself, or does it require an IT Department or webmaster? Granted some elements will never be under your control (Facebook just might always be a hue of blue regardless of your preference). But social networking sites are usually set up so even a novice may just fill in content without having to hire someone technical.

●        Interactive. This is where business cards and online social networking part. And although this is listed last, it’s perhaps the most important, tying into the relationships aspect inherent in social media. Facebook has set the pace in this department by making practically everything on their site “shareable,” with or without a personal message from the sender. If everyone you know shared your business with just one person this year whom you could provide a service for, how many new clients could you gain? How much would it cost you? Hopefully the answer is “a lot of clients” and “it cost nothing.” This aspect alone is worth getting on board with online social networks.

Social media is an effective part of a modern effective marketing plan. Hopefully the above guide will help you find an appropriate site to use for your business.

Nurturing existing relationships into referral sources is akin to growing a garden. Nothing worthwhile  happens overnight, but it’s well worth the effort when the fruits appear. Fruit from your own garden usually tastes better, is less expensive than buying from the store, and is just a few steps from your kitchen. Often your online neighbors (clients, friends and family) lend you the ground and even plant the seeds, but you have to provide the water (online content) and fertilizer (caring, reliable and honest service).

Online social networking sites act as little plots of land for your garden. Here’s my recommended list of sites to establish a presence on, even if you don’t update all of them regularly. I choose these sites because they tend to show up well on Google Searches (sooner than later), with or without long tail keyword research. If you have SEO information, by all means include it in your text.

 Social Networking

1.      Facebook Personal Profile

2.      Facebook “Like” Page (business)

3.      LinkedIn

4.      Biznik

            Blogs

1.      Twitter (it’s a micro-blog, technically!)

2.      Posterous (if you can use email, you can use this blog system)

Review/Recommendation/Misc Sites

1.      Yelp

2.      Google Place Page (see the article I wrote on Place Pages here)

  Every effective marketing plan in this modern age should include a corporate social media campaign, and I highly recommend the elements above to be included. Good luck!

At the risk of stating the obvious, it is important to be on the first page of a Google search. Quite often it’s easy to get there using social media, if only for your own name and/or the name of your company.

But these days, part of any effective marketing plan must include online visibility from a search perspective. And it has to be relevant to your customers, services and products. And most of all, to you as the one being referred.

Still dragging your heels? Here’s a few points to consider:

You may rely on referrals, but those referrals now rely on the Internet

A few years ago, some of my current clients would have told me they didn’t need a website. They got plenty of referrals. In fact, they didn’t really need any marketing at all, they were so busy. But all that has changed. The referrals have dried up, and they were left high and dry without any real marketing experience. These business owners eventually turned to traditional marketing, but it didn’t work “like it used to.”

Validation vs. Reality

Few people these days are unscathed by some kind of scam. It’s hard to know who to trust. Consumers often want to validate that amazing offer they just saw on TV, and these days, probably even what their friends are recommending. And certainly the post card a company sent them (assuming they didn’t just throw that out).

Even the best provider of a service on the planet is going to get checked over on the Internet first, these days, before a call is made to set up an appointment. What will the prospect find? Will they be able to validate some reason to use your services or purchase your products? Or will they decide you must be out of business since they couldn’t find a website (or you) after a cursory search online? It may not be true, but if someone can’t find you online, you just may not exist.

If you aren’t in the room with the prospect, how are you going to sell anything?

Think of the Internet as a room with 10 possible solutions in it to the searcher’s problem. Pretty simple math. If you’re solution number 11, you’re on the 2^nd page. Might as well be solution number 72.

These days there are all sorts of solutions to getting online visibility, even if you don’t have a website. While it helps to be adept at long tail keyword research, use the power of large sites like Google (Place Pages), Facebook (Like Pages) and Yelp (review website) to carve out a bit of real estate quickly.

Not sure where to start? Google Place Pages is pretty easy! To get started, search “Google Place Pages” and you’ll locate all sorts of information about it.

Once again we are having our now famous Canon DSLR 5D Boot Camp at EVS in Burbank for
film and television professionals.

Are you thinking about shooting with the Canon 1D, 5D, or 7D DSLR cameras? Are you going to use it for principle photography, 2nd unit photography, multi-cam, background plates or SPFX shots?

Don’t fumble in the dark. Learn everything you need in our Canon camera classes. A number of our graduates, now with Canon certification by The Association, have gotten work because they were trained on the Canon 5D. You can too!

Click here to access the Official Registration Page:

AT THE END OF THE DAY YOU’LL HAVE THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS AND MORE

1. What’s the best setup of the camera?

2. How does DSLR compare to RED in terms of quality?

3. Can I mix DSLR footage with the RED or film?

4. What are the best lenses to use?

5. Can I use a Follow Focus?

6. Can I use available light to shoot and lower my lighting budget?

7. What is the transcoding process?

8. Can I use HDLRs for Timelapse?

9. What are the limitations of the 4:2:0 color space?

10. What’s the best support & handheld rigging?

11. What should I look for when choosing a shoulder mount solution?

12. Should I shoot “flat” or not?

13. Can I quickly mount the camera on a car or boat?

14. Does the CMOS sensor overheat and affect the image quality?

15. How do I monitor the image?

16. How do I set exposure?

17. What’s the best viewfinder?

18. Does the new firmware provide histograms?

19. Are there any particular lighting setups that are optional for HDSLR’s?

20. Do I use Auto Metering?

21. What is my post workflow…the different codecs and frame rates?

22. How do I handle audio?

23. What kind of memory cards do I use?

24. What do I use to offload the cards in the field?

25. What are the absolute essential accessories for making an HDSLR cinema capable?

26. How do I address moiré and aliasing issues?

27. How do I manage the rolling shutter issue?

Click here to access the Official Registration Page

Wouldn’t business be easier if twice as many customers arrived at your door with half of the effort? Modern technology has actually made this possible. And the timing couldn’t be better.

Let’s face facts. Today’s economy demands a streamlined, effective business operation to keep costs low while maintaining a high return. Is your company still using a new customer acquisition strategy from the 1800s? Yes, I mean the telephone.

Like it or not, today’s effective marketing plan must take into account that consumers typically aren’t interested in being interrupted anymore. And unexpected marketing phone calls are an interruption. However, because consumers are researching answers to their questions on search engines like Google and Yahoo in record numbers, we may now weave long tail keyword research into a corporate social media campaign, and any company may take advantage of the consumer’s tendency to use Google to find solutions to their problems. Since social media doesn’t cost anything to use, it’s obviously cost effective!

In other words, instead of “fly fishing” for new customers one at a time on the phone, create a net made out of useful online content and attract a bunch of fish who are looking for your “bait” right now. If you take the strategy a few steps further, you can create not only a net to capture new customers, but a series of steps to help your fish swim upstream, through all the noise and chatter online, and actually make it to your pond. By the time they call, they may have educated themselves through your excellent and informative content (your private stream), and hopefully they are prepared to do business.

Does it work that way all the time? No, of course not. But wouldn’t it be preferable to have interested customers calling you and asking questions about your product or service, rather than you call uninterested cold prospects who are annoyed that you have their number?

Direct Response TV Ads are usually associated with the shouting, British pitchman who you couldn’t ignore in a nuclear blast. But there’s also the soft spoken cosmetic ad in which women share their experience of nearly being lifted up to heavenly embrace with Favio. Both are Direct Response TV spots. But they are radically different. The rules that apply to one don’t apply to the other. Or do they?

Here’s 6 tips to make a DRTV ad that’s a good fit for your customer.

1) Start with your customer and what they need. This will determine the spin of the infomercial. If your consumer is looking for ways to lose weight, you might add a line “and lose weight effortlessly” to a bicycle commercial.

2) Understand what presenter they’ll respond to. Consumer analysis will tell you keywords to use that your consumer is interested in. Women might buy a car wax (for their husband to use) if it’s “environmentally friendly”.

Even if the product isn’t the best on the market, being “environmentally friendly” positions it as the responsible wax to buy.