Three-phase marketing method
Create, publish and connect. We put our practices in an easy-to-understand framework that we refer to as our three-phase marketing method. By working with LOCAL Na8ion or watching our do-it-yourself videos you’ll begin a journey that can literally set your business free from the tyranny of expensive and ineffective local advertising.
Connect – phase III
There’s a whole new way to connect with your potential customers and the best news is that the doors to these new markets aren’t guarded by media companies like the Yellow Pages and ad agencies eager to separate you from your money to gain entrance.
In fact, if you’re willing to work at it you can gain direct access – forget the middle men.
Your new online marketing program needs to center around relevant, interactive outreach.
In the past our traditional forms of outreach were creative advertising and public relations like T.V. and Radio or Magazines, but they represented a terribly inefficient and therefor costly way to connect with your customers. Today the creative marketing messages that once dazzled and enticed us fall on deaf ears, the victim of information overload.
That’s why people are so energized by the power of social media – online communities built around people with like interests and passions all conversing with each other. People are organizing themselves in communities of like-minded people and the good news is that they have the same kinds of passions that you do, but with one big difference – you’re a professional. And these individuals and communities are looking for information and recommendation on products and services to buy from real local experts.
You know what you know because of your experience, your training and your education. You have the expertise to help them, the motivation to help them, and you have the tools to help them with your products and services.
We have two main goals when we reach out to our customers and engage and interact with them. First, make sure they can find you and then demonstrate credibility and show them you’re listening by giving them content that speaks to their real needs and desires. You need to show up early in organic search engine rankings when people are looking actively for what you have. You need to participate and be present in online communities and networks where your customers are looking for credible trusted information to inform their buying decision.
What many businesses today don’t know can hurt them when it comes to marketing with social media. You have to do your outreach in the right way, have something to add to the conversation (you do), and you have to put your content in the right place at the right time. It sounds really difficult but it’s not. If you think like you do when you’re helping a friend you’re probably on the right track. Staying helpful, and providing credible trusted information (even when it’s about your competition) are just some of the ways to realize this goal.
Getting yourself and your company on to the myriad social media and web 2.0 sites is critical to both your outreach and your search engine rankings. You may not think that a plumber, attorney, or local florist should be on Facebook or Twitter but you’d be wrong. Not only do these sites offer you the chance to directly interact with potential customers, they get mega-doses of search engine love and by simply appearing on them you can dramatically improve your own website’s organic search engine rankings.
These strategies are representative of new marketing with social media and web 2.0 sites. They may seem more daunting than buying an expensive ad from your local newspaper or Yellow Pages but if you think back to how long it took to sort out the real-deal on them, and how much it cost you in the process, the difference here is quite astounding. After all, these tools that we recommend are largely free to use, our three-phase Internet marketing method is free to apply, and there aren’t any ads that you have to buy in print or online. The leverage this system and process gives you can literally set you free. That’s why we call the tools and methods we use revolutionary.
Please get involved, take ownership, collaborate, and connect and use this and other sites to expand your horizons, challenge assumptions about what can and can’t be done, and unleash the true potential of your business. Good luck!
Read about the other two phases of our three-phase online marketing method.
» Create relevant content
» Publish and design your state-of-the-art web site and blog