The (big) problem with traditional marketing:
Poll after poll shows that up to 80% of buyers use the Internet to research products and services and then choose a company to contact. Most people dispose of telephone books within days of receiving them. In fact, two years ago I was told by a former manager at Dex that Dex has a five year plan to move all listings and services onto the Web and get out of the paper telephone book business. What’s that tell you? Newspaper readership is at an all time low making the ads you buy much less effective (but not less expensive.) Radio? Nope. Not without major investment and testing.

The Web has what you need to move your business forward.
To keep your business healthy and growing in the most cost effective and profitable way, you need to use the web to better serve your customers, add value, and increase profits. Not having a web-based marketing strategy can actually have a negative effect with client perceptions about your company and gives your competition the edge.

I understand that you’re very busy (I am too) and the idea of marketing your business online may seem daunting. I promise you it doesn’t have to be the case. Read on!

Here’s an outline of a very basic, affordable web-based marketing strategy:

- Build an email list for your new newsletter. (Contact me for easy ways to produce good newsletter content.) Collect email addresses from customers and from the business cards you’ve collected over the course of operating your business. Feel free to contact me for ways to successfully build your email list.

- Deliver a message and offer that is of столове real value. Make your subject line compelling enough for your mail to be opened. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just of value. Be your personable self and ask everyone for permission to continue emailing your newsletter.

- Ask the recipients of your emails to share them with friends, co-workers, and family.

- If you have a good web site direct them there for more information. If you don’t have a good website, take it down, redo it, or don’t give out your web address.

- Rinse and repeat every 2-3 weeks or longer depending on the nature of your product or services

This one strategy alone will produce more quality leads and sales for you once you build your customer list and use it wisely (and a good list makes your business worth more as well…) There are manyoptical communications more ways to further profit from your list…

For additional marketing strategies that will produce more sales and profits for your business, email me at Michael@GoldfishNetwork.com

Social Networking as defined by Wikipedia is here. Our focus here is, of course, how your business can use social networking tools and sites and this is a basic intro.

What’s the big deal about Social Networking?
The impact of user-generated content on marketing has been great. Web 1.0 users were considered consumers by marketers but now with Web 2.0, they become participants. To interact on the Web, people use web sites, blogs, forum participation, audio and video, to participate by commenting and/or adding content that other users can interact with. Well known examples of Web 2.0 social networking sites are Wikipedia, Digg, MySpace, Twitter and Flickr. The content of these sites can usually be shared, rated and even sometimes edited or added to by visitors (user-generated content). Social networking also uses content on the Web influenced but not necessarily created by visitors to those websites.

How basic marketing happens with Social Networking tools and sites.
Now, visitors to your site/blog can comment on your blog or they can create blogs of their own and include content from outside sources (including you/your company). Again, content such as forum participation, text, video, and audio.`To better market your business and/or products you can join in on discussions, offer help, and generally use your knowledge to interact with customers and potential customers. Ask for their input and interact with them. Use a slide show with audio or just audio to tell your story, give tips and advice. And look out because here comes video. It’s got a lot of impact (and it’s not as hard to use as you may think…) Use the best of what you can do to show examples of why your company is the best choice for the customer. By the same token, ask others for advice or comments. Why? Because interaction is a two way street. Link to other sites of interest and have them link to yours.

Again, this is a basic overview but it should give you a better idea of what’s going on with social networking.

“Hey Michael, how can you help my business?”
That’s a great question! I can help you market better and make more money by coaching and showing you how to implement cool web stuff that creates more business. Is this something that you might be interested in? If so, call or send me an email.

Hey, next time I’ll have something you can use in-house to improve your business (and/or use for social networking)…Wikis!

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. The Wikipedia definition is here. An RSS feed allows a person to “pull” content of their choice to their computer (unlike email being “pushed” to your account). You can “subscribe” to the news sites, newsletters, blogs, and podcasts that you want delivered to you and control the flow of info. When something new becomes published, it is delivered directly to your computer. There are thousands of blogs, info sites, or entertainment sites that continuously create great content on almost any topic you can think of. The content can be text, audio, or even video.

When you subscribe to a RSS feed, you receive only the information you want. Usually, a “feed reader” or “Feed aggregator” must be installed to subscribe to the content. Go ahead and Google “feed aggregator” there is a lot to choose from. Oh, yeah, they’re free.

“How does RSS change my business?”
Here’s one big one. Your customers can easily accumulate shopping info and prices and availability of items or services that they’re looking for on the internet. You want to be involved in that shopping activity don’t you? You want it to be easy for your customers to be reminded of your presence and aware of your new items, new services, and your special offers. Your business should be set up to deliver useful information that your customers would want to receive along with those special offers. “Useful information” can be seasonal tips, industry news, event news, new products, new uses for your products and so on. Each delivery of that information is your billboard directly on your customers computer screen. Be smart and make your delivered info something that your customers will want to pass on to friends and family.

To sum up…
When you offer and deliver an RSS feed to your customers, you stand out as a useful and informative business that cares about them. It’s a personal message served directly to your customers. They’re easy to set up and delivery is automated. You should offer the RSS feed on your website and tell your customers about it through email and/or in-store info, (flyers at check out…) If your business has a blog (as it should) a new entry can be delivered to your customers by making an entry to your blog. When you get up to speed and use powerful, available tools, like RSS, you’ll serve your existing customers better, create new customers, and see a payoff in the bottom line.

*Warning* Utterly shameless plug ahead…
I can help you market better and make more money by coaching and showing you how to implement cool web stuff that creates more business. Is this something that you might be interested in? If so, call or send me an email.

Next time we meet here…Social Networking!

A lot, especially if you’re a business or a person…

Hi! Michael here. First of all, here’s the official definition by Wikipedia.

Ok, here’s my quick and simple definition for businesses:
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Web 2.0 is now the way smart businesses are using the web to reach their markets…and have their markets reach them. That interaction between business and client transcends the “conventional” way businesses have used communication for marketing. Web 2.0 is about interaction with clients using the new tools that the web is providing.
______________________________________________

But wait there’s more!
Tools such as blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, and Podcasts are used with serving community in mind. They are ways to stay informed and in touch. Blogs, for example, are a huge phenomena in the business world and are used by millions of people to criticize, praise, and give suggestions to businesses (the ones that listen…)

“So what?”
So, businesses that listen to their customers and act on what they learn, prosper. And customers also compare notes with other people (fellow customers or potential customers) by having conversations about the company’s products or services. It’s a very powerful way for businesses to not only engage their market by actively taking part in that conversation, but to also gauge ongoing marketing efforts, product or service satisfaction levels, and test new product or service ideas. That’s what.

“What’s all this mean to me and my business?”
Web 2.0 is changing so many things about doing business so fast that companies are struggling to keep up with what’s going on. The phrase “lead, follow, or get out of the way” is quickly becoming more true than ever. “Listen up” is also a nice, useful phrase here. For businesses that are making the moves and getting up to speed, it’s a very good thing. Good for everyone involved. The customers win with more information and insight from the company and the company wins with more information and insight from the customer.

*Warning* Shameless plug directly ahead… I can help you get up to speed with all this and make sure you win (so your customers win too). Because when I help you make more money, you’ll give me some (which I give to my wife). It’s a win-win-win…win situation. My telephone number is up on the header of this page…

Ok!
Well, that’s my simplified overview of what’s fast becoming a way of life for people and a fact of life for companies.

The next post will give some examples of how “disruptive” (wait…that can be good, very good) “Web 2.0″ has been to the old way of marketing…. See ya then.

I just don’t know about “the recession” we’re supposed to be in. Business has been very good and we’re hiring. Our current clients all seem to be doing well and optimistic.

I do know that sometimes (at least with me) a recession can be in my mindset. How I perceive business to be for us Goldfish can change at times but I find that I’m the one that decides, based on the short term and that’s a mistake (for a few reasons).

If I buy into the recession mentality I’m really doing a number on myself and my business. It’s not fair to either one of us (especially the business). So when I get the feeling there’s more room in the fish bowl, I ask myself…

Pipeline not as full as you would like it? Well then, let’s “2 more” the problem.

2 more phone calls per day to potential clients.
2 more emails per day to potential clients.
2 more hours per day of brainstorming better solutions for my clients.
2 more current hosting clients I can ask for referrals.

Just thinking about things “by the numbers” helps me.
And…I know this sounds like I’m all wet to some of you….actually doing the things on my “2 more” list helps even more.

Here’s to you and 2 more!

1) Your business is very important to you. Ours is very important to us. We have a reputation for going “above and beyond” for clients like you and for delivering top quality websites and website development. Besides, if we don’t pay attention, we won’t be able to pay anything else.

2) You’ll find that we’re “people people.” We actually enjoy the interaction we have with our clients and the satisfaction that comes with a successful project and happy people who give us checks.

3) When you work with us, you will appreciate the fact that we are business people running a media arts and marketing company, not artists trying to run a business. That means we understand budgets, project deadlines and other factors necessary for a business to succeed.

4) Most web design companies won’t take projects under $5K. They have high overhead and can’t make smaller projects profitable for their company. We actually specialize in redesign. Why pay for more work than you really need?

5) We offer unique “Time Block” billing. This allows you, the client, complete control of your project scope and budget. Unheard of in the web design world!

6) You’ll find that we communicate well. Telephone messages, faxes, emails, whistling, and hand signals all get a prompt response from our team.

7) You can actually walk in and visit. We love meeting our clients face to face and sitting down with them to understand and deliver the online image they want. We offer a FREE initial consultation of up to 1 hour. Besides, we also have a vast tea selection, great coffee, and bags of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish snacks.

Contact us at www.GoldfishNetwork.com and we’ll be glad to be of service to you.
And you’ll have new friends in the web design and marketing business!

Thanks!
Michael and Lisa Thayer