Build a Strong Foundation with Online Marketing Education
By now I’m sure we’ve all made our New Year’s Resolutions. I’m also sure that many of us have already broken some of them ;). I made some personal resolutions but I also made a career resolution. My career resolution is that in 2009 I’m going to emphasize education behind online marketing. In addition to helping you develop your marketing strategy, I’m also going to educate you every step of the way. Many business owners have basic knowledge about SEO, Social Media, PPC, etc but don’t understand the strategy behind it. Understanding the foundation of your campaign is extremely important to keep your business ahead of the competition and at the forefront of your industry, especially in such a challenging economy. Let’s backtrack and bit to 2008.
The hardships we faced in 2008 including the credit crunch, out of this world gas prices, mortgage downfall, high unemployment rate and extreme national debt made 2008 by far one of the most stressful years in history. I’ve seen more companies go out of business in 2008 than in my entire lifetime. However, despite such a down economy people are still spending, investing and buying. There are still opportunities out there, it’s just a matter of being smart on how you market and position yourself. I know it’s easier said than done as Marketers in 2008 faced tremendous roadblocks:
- Inability in generating qualified leads
- Struggle to get your website found
- Ineffective strategies for tracking ROI
- Traditional Media not working
Thank goodness 2009 is here and we all know it’s a year for change! Take action and don’t let the same roadblocks get in the way. When every single sale does matter and budgets are being cut left and right, developing a strategic and cost effective marketing campaign for your business is essential. I recommend you constantly educate yourself on new marketing strategies and not repeating old school methods that don’t work.
This February 4th-7th, marketers business owners and anyone interested in learning will have a chance to accelerate their marketing knowledge at the Online Marketing Summit in San Diego. They’re providing unique educational opportunities to attendees with certification programs, a career fair, hands-on workshops, on-site usability and SEO labs, thought-leader presentations on a myriad of online marketing topics and networking opportunities. This event is the perfect way to pump up your business for the new year!
Register here and receive a $400 online discount by January 10th. To ring in the new year I’m also giving away a free conference pass to 1 lucky winner. The prize is valued at $1,695. To enter please leave a comment with your biggest marketing challenge in 2008 and what you plan to do about it in 2009! Short comments are ok, doesn’t need to have a lot of details but if you’re willing to share I would love to hear more! Let’s get a dialog going! Make sure to leave your email address. A winner will be randomly chosen on Tuesday January 20th, 2009 (Inaguration Day!) Good luck and Happy New Year!
Sounds like a good plan! I’ll do a little research and see if work would be willing to front that reg fee.
Thanks George! I hope to see you at the event! Feel free to enter I’m sure your work would love it if you saved them the event fee 🙂
Not jumping on the latest social networking trend without a plan on how to empower our customers to carry the torch with us. I plan on figuring this out in the next few months.
Biggest marketing challenge of 2008 was finding more marketing events to be hired for.
In 2009 I’ll be hard at work to be recognized for all my experience as an event authority!
Thanks for sharing Richie! Once you get your website/blog transfered we’ll SEO the heck out of it. Start getting together recaps/content from all of your past events 🙂
Biggest marketing challenge of 2008? Marketing and branding MYSELF as an interactive marketer specializing in social media.
What I’ve started to do in 09: Actively network online and offline, meaningfully engage in my social networks, give back/add value to the marketing and social media community and work on my blog, videoblog and lifestream.
The biggest challenge for us as a bootstrapped startup is geting the awareness levels up without having dollars to spend on marketing, were did PPC, are working diligently at SEO and have started dipping our toes into social media marketing but havent hit on the magic formula yet.
My biggest challenge in 08 was trying to convince my boss that social media is an extremely important area to allocate some of our budget.
In 09 I plan to jump on all of the latest trends/services while they are in their infancy and hopefully be able to prove to others in my company that they are worthwhile.
=)
Violet- It sounds like you’re doing all the right things. Looks like we both have similar goals in 2009! I recommend setting aside some time every day to work on your own social media/community building. I started doing that in 2009 and so far it’s been working a lot better than when I had no plan!
Brant- The great thing about social media and any type of online marketing is you can show progress by sending your boss to the social networks you’ve signed up for where users are engaging, commenting and interacting with your company. Hopefully if he can sees some engagement from customers and prospects he’ll be less hesitant to try new things.
Melodie — In 2009 I’m working on convincing my company, that I tweet for, that other types of SM are good to engage in. It will save us tons of money and allow us to connect with people we usually don’t connect with.
Oh — that’s my personal blog by the way — not my company!
The biggest marketing challenge for WebWizards.Net was differentiating from competitors for those that think all hosting is the same, and shop by price or best known name brand.
2009 will be spent making more of a name for ourselves in the San Diego community, the social media circles, doing more marketing face to face via networking events and organizations, and sponsorships of causes and groups we feel have a great purpose.
We also plan on offering more than just traditional hosting… reseller hosting for web designers wanting full control of their client accounts and sites, billing/support automation, and more. We are emphasizing our affiliate program, where referrals to us pay a 25% commission every month for the life of the customer.
Thanks,
Rob
http://www.webwizards.net/
@DowntownRob on Twitter
I’m an IT guy with a site about blogging so online marketing is like learning how to walk for the first time. I am looking forward to learning how to utilize online marketing for my blog and convert readers to subscribers.
Rob- Thanks for sharing, I can tell you are already executing some of your plans by being involved in the community. I’ve used Web Wizards for less than a month and am extremely happy with the great customer service. I’ll definitely be enthused to recommend it to others and I’m sure that your other clients feel the same way! I like that you are using multiple channels to generate revenue such as the affiliate program. I’ll look forward to being a part of your acceleration in 2009!
Rowell, I’m always impressed with people who are not marketers that take the time to understand and learn about online marketing. By expanding your knowledge you’ll become even more of a resource as an IT guy!
Integrated marketing strategies will be the key to success in the coming years. No longer can you treat marketing channels as silos. There are a multitude of ways to integrate channels such as paid search, email, and social media/networking. All of which flow up to “branding.” I hope to help my clients embrace a “big picture” approach to their marketing strategy in 2009.
Biggest marketing challenge of 2008? Gaining new loyalties in readers, followers and event attendees. Networking and “putting the right foot forward” seems to be the approach for 2009.
Biggest challenge is to generate good focused traffic. What I plan to do about it is win the conference pass so I can learn how to do it.
For 2008 my biggest marketing challenge was staying focused on producing quality content. For 2009 it will be about building brand equity.
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