In this tough economy, many marketers are looking for ways to maximize their decreasing budgets. Some even reduce their advertising during economic downturns, resulting in long-term loss of market share and reduced brand recognition. A great way to maintain traffic to your website and preserve your online brand awareness at a relatively low cost is search engine optimization (SEO). There are minimal upfront and maintenance costs associated with SEO, yet the possibility of long lasting ROI.The goal is to achieve first-page rankings on the major search engines’ organic listings (non-paid listings). This can drastically boost online impressions and traffic to your site, without paying the cost-per-click (CPC) charge of paid search. Organic traffic also helps reduce your overall online CPC and CPS (cost per sale) if you are running traditional paid search campaigns.SEO only requires a small portion of your total online budget and can generate similar levels of targeted traffic to your site, when compared to paid search. If your website is able to obtain a first-page paid search and organic search ranking, you can reduce the number of competitor links and increase your chance of receiving clicks.When reviewing your budgets for 2009, keep SEO — one of the most cost-effective and long-lasting online tactics — in mind.
If you’re not incorporating social media tactics into your communications strategies, you may be missing an opportunity to share your message with a more targeted audience, gain valuable information about your core demographic and generate additional coverage beyond traditional print, broadcast and online outlets.Here are three simple ways to enter a new universe of social networks:Create Facebook and/or MySpace profiles for your company. This allows you to create a persona for your company — you can actually give it an age, interests, etc., that correspond with your target. By better relating to them, you can begin an online dialogue. Videos, images, press releases, relevant news and information can also be posted.Create a Twitter account for your company as a way to stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. Twitter is a good place to post links to press releases, media coverage and other relevant news by driving "followers" to specific urls. See how it works.In your online pressroom, develop an interactive blog with relevant news about your company. This online hub for all social media activity should link to your social media pages. Videos, images and podcasts can be posted, and the blog would be searchable via Google Blog searches, Technorati, etc.
Want to learn more about social media? A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World, is a great place to start.
Now, how do you ensure the comments and postings about your company both from your own staff and from customers don’t spin out of control, creating negative publicity? See next month’s Creative Strategies for insights on monitoring your social media campaign.
Social networking — something only kids are doing or an opportunity to reach millions of new customers? Take note:1. We’re still entering the age of social networking.2. It’s not too late to jump into the dance without looking awkward.3. It is a lot easier than it seems.You’ve known about social networking since you were a child — it’s spending time with people, sharing ideas, listening to their stories and then feeling good because you’ve connected with someone. It’s just now those interactions are done online. Unfortunately, the majority of online marketing has forgotten how simple this idea is and has tried to apply standard marketing plans (buying ads, adding a free shipping offer, etc.) to its entrance into the social world. The truth is, it’s about making connections — something much easier (and more affordable) than you’d imagine.How to best connect with consumers is unique to each industry. Papa John’s pizza, for example, recently gave away a free pizza to anyone who signed up for its Facebook page. It earned more than 180,000 friends and significant industry recognition. Try asking yourself how you would interact with your consumers if this were 1908 — and then simply follow the same methods, just do so online.
Brand Confusion is a big scary guy with a hockey mask and set of nunchucks — and he’s waiting for you.You cannot see this villain, but he is standing squarely between your brand and your target market. He thrives when companies imitate the brand messaging of their competitors. He alienates target markets and kills profits.The reason? Fear. In a difficult economy in which fear prevails, imitating what “worked for them” appears to be the only solution. But that is just what Brand Confusion wants you to do. So, before you walk down that dark, unoriginal hallway (insert scary music here), resist temptation and gather your courage. You are already on your way to becoming a brand leader.This new year, resolve to invest the time it takes to properly strategize your company’s unique brand message. It will win the hearts and minds of consumers, and it just may save you from the horrors of Brand Confusion.