Web Marketing for Small Businesses
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7 Steps to Explosive Business Growth
New Book by Stephanie Diamond, founder of Digital Media Works, a marketing and interactive design firm. She spent eight years as AOL's Marketing Director.To get a free-ecourse, TOC and sample chapter:
http://www.webmarketingforsmallbusinesses.com
http://www.webmarketingforsmallbusinesses.com
Small Business Principles
Things to remember:
I have been working for Internet companies since 1994. The only online marketing rule I adhere to is that things are constantly changing. That could make marketing difficult. To keep moving forward, I use the following three principles:
1. Ask the right questions
Unless you ask the right marketing questions, you will waste a lot of your valuable time on things that don't matter. Abraham Lincoln was quoted as saying, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax." Gather the people you trust to work on business problems and ask them to make a list of the three main problems your customers have identified for you. Then analyze those problems to see what marketing questions you should be asking. Instead of asking how to increase revenue, perhaps you should be asking how to make it easier for your customers to check out using your shopping cart. Continue to drill down and simplify until you have a list of very specific questions and set about to answer those.
2. 'Think Big, Act Small'
This principle captures what I think is imperative for anyone marketing online today. Jason Jennings' book 'Think Big Act Small' details how companies succeed by maintaining a small business attitude. Embrace the qualities that 'smallness' provides- quick improvements, employees that are close to the problem and the ability to connect with your customers. I've worked with companies that assume their competitors are better because they have deeper pockets. The notion that more marketing dollars ensure success is misguided at best. Look at your product or service and continue to improve it. Online buyers want quality and service. That part never changes.
3. Search for what's different and strive to understand it.
The popularity of online marketing tactics go up and down like the stock market. Pop-ups, podcasts, ezines and blogs are all effective if applied to the right audience at the right time. The key is to continually ask yourself, "what's different today?" Are customers suddenly responding to something you don't highlight? Are they bored with your current promotion? Read everything you can about new ideas and cultural trends. You don't have to try to apply every one of them, but you do need to know what your customer knows. Keying into changes on a weekly basis ensures that you won't suddenly find yourself with an outdated marketing strategy and no custom
1. Ask the right questions
Unless you ask the right marketing questions, you will waste a lot of your valuable time on things that don't matter. Abraham Lincoln was quoted as saying, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax." Gather the people you trust to work on business problems and ask them to make a list of the three main problems your customers have identified for you. Then analyze those problems to see what marketing questions you should be asking. Instead of asking how to increase revenue, perhaps you should be asking how to make it easier for your customers to check out using your shopping cart. Continue to drill down and simplify until you have a list of very specific questions and set about to answer those.
2. 'Think Big, Act Small'
This principle captures what I think is imperative for anyone marketing online today. Jason Jennings' book 'Think Big Act Small' details how companies succeed by maintaining a small business attitude. Embrace the qualities that 'smallness' provides- quick improvements, employees that are close to the problem and the ability to connect with your customers. I've worked with companies that assume their competitors are better because they have deeper pockets. The notion that more marketing dollars ensure success is misguided at best. Look at your product or service and continue to improve it. Online buyers want quality and service. That part never changes.
3. Search for what's different and strive to understand it.
The popularity of online marketing tactics go up and down like the stock market. Pop-ups, podcasts, ezines and blogs are all effective if applied to the right audience at the right time. The key is to continually ask yourself, "what's different today?" Are customers suddenly responding to something you don't highlight? Are they bored with your current promotion? Read everything you can about new ideas and cultural trends. You don't have to try to apply every one of them, but you do need to know what your customer knows. Keying into changes on a weekly basis ensures that you won't suddenly find yourself with an outdated marketing strategy and no custom
Check out my blog
Marketing Message Blog
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byMarketing Tactics for Web 2.0
Tactics you must be deploying now to keep up with your competition
- A company blog
- A database of information that users can comment and add to
- Marketing articles submitted thru a distributor
- Podcasts
- Teleseminars
- Information Products
- Very customized products for narrowly targeted customer groups
- Microsites used for heavy testing of ideas
My New Free Ebook!
Small Business 2.0-How New Online Marketing Tools Can Skyrocket Your Small Business
- Small Business 2.0
- My new free ebook, Small Business 2.0 is here! It's not a comprehensive study of the impact of Web 2.0 on the future of business. It's a look at how new online marketing tools can skyrocket your small business TODAY.
With the advent of Web 2.0 I've had to figure out how it impacts small businesses so that my customers are prepared. So, I created the ebook to be used as a practical guide.
It shows you how Web 2.0 can benefit your small business and five ways to strengthen your business so that you can take advantage of Web 2.0 Use the link above to have it emailed to you.
Best of the Web
- Small Business Technology
- Smallbiztechnology.com - tech solutions for growing businesses. A resource helping small-medium sized businesses use technology to grow their businesses
- 8-page executive summaries of a new business book every week delivered by e-mail
- Summaries.Com e-mails subscribers an 8-page executive summary of a new business book every week. A business book summary reduces information overload, is efficient and affordable, provides new ideas and pays for itself in time saved. In a nutshell, we do your business reading for you and keep you up
- Entrepreneur Magazine
- Great information for the online entrepreneur.
- Larry Chase's Web Marketers Digest
- Featuring short reviews of the top Internet Marketing tools and companies in 40 marketing categories. Sign up for his newsletter, too.
- All Business
- Small business resources to help you start, manage and grow your business from AllBusiness.com including business advice, forms, agreements, business guides and directories.
Essential Tools
- Welcome to NeatReceipts
- Portable receipt scanner that helps receipt scanning and make expense tracking a snap with OCR software to scan and organize receipt data
- Link Popularity Check - Marketleap Search Engine Marketing Tools
- Link Popularity Check - Link popularity analysis is one of the best ways to quantifiably and independently measure your website's online awareness and overall visibility. Marketleap Visibility Index
Other Blogs Worth Reading
- Getting Things Done
- Written by David Allen who focuses on a 'smarter way to work and live.'
- Small Business Trends
- Small Business Trends brings you updates on trends affecting the small business market.
- Small Business Marketing Ideas and Strategies
- Affordable small business marketing ideas, strategies, and resources.
- Life Hacker
- Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the downloads, web sites and shortcuts that save time. Don't live to geek; geek to live.
- Seth's Blog
- The best of Seth Godin
Essential Reading
Reader Feedback
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Sep 30, 2010 @ 6:46 am | delete
- I like your lens. It is well structured and full of information. I especially like the tips that you have mentioned about Niche Marketing. It gave me some ideas that I can really follow myself. I mean these are easy to do tips and at the same time helpful. I would try some of them with my business and I am pretty sure it would yield good results. I highly recommend your lens to everyone who is engaged in online marketing. They will learn a great deal from your lens.As a part of Best website Designers Company connect with your lens.More Power!
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Reply
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Stephanie_Diamond
Sep 30, 2010 @ 9:47 am | delete
- Thanks so much for the kind words!
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Reply
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Norbert_Sczepanski
Oct 15, 2007 @ 4:44 am | delete
- hi stephanie,
great stuff here - wow - i asked 4 your free ebook am excited to get it.
your principles are very good.
thx
Best wishes.
To YOUR success :-)
Norbert Sczepanski
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Reply
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Aug 30, 2007 @ 4:57 am | delete
- Hello! I am excited to be the part of this dynamic lens I rated 5 stars. My kind requests visit my lens about commercial business loans.
Thanks
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by Stephanie_Diamond
Stephanie_Diamond
Stephanie Diamond is a consultant, writer, speaker and seasoned 25+ year marketing professional with experience in building profits for a broad range of... more »
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