Online Marketing

Online Marketing Minute: How Can Social Media Help My Business?

Business people, did you know that about half of direct mail is never opened? And, that over 200 million of us have joined the no-call list. We are also great at deleting spam with blinding efficiency. How can businesses reach their customers then? One way we can reach our customers is through social media marketing. We are inherently social creatures. We work, live, talk, and play together. Social media is a blending of technology and talking to each other...anywhere, anytime, with anyone. … [Read more...]

Online Marketing Minute: Why do search engines matter to my business?

You may already think you know the answer to, "Why do search engines matter to my business?" But let me take a minute to show you why they don't just matter, they really matter. By the Numbers As of 2011, 92 percent of US Internet surfers use search engines. In December of 2011, 18.2 billion searches were conducted with the major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. (Google alone had a staggering 12 billion, followed by Bing with 2.7 billion, and Yahoo! with 2.6 billion. Google has … [Read more...]

Online Marketing Minute: What is online marketing?

Hearing a lot of hype lately about online marketing? What is online marketing? Online marketing uses the web to tell people who you are, what you offer, and how they can get it. Instead of offline options like newspaper, fliers, and radio, online marketing uses websites, email, social networks, and more to get and keep your customers. Nearly 80% of the US uses the Internet! That includes everyone, kids through seniors. 97% of us use the Internet to research products and services in our local … [Read more...]

Online Marketing Plan

What is An Online Marketing Plan? I believe that an online marketing plan is the way you intend to use the web, mobile, and other digital resources to support your business's overall marketing plan. In that sense, it's just one piece of the pie that may also include non-online slices like radio, print, television, and publicity. This post briefly describes the pieces of a marketing plan as I see it. Setting Your Online Marketing Objectives The objective addresses the “big picture”. How will I … [Read more...]

Should I Still Use Yellow Pages?

Although I normally focus on online marketing, print is still an important part of the marketing mix. I thought I'd take a quick look at yellow page phone books because 1. they used to be the gold standard, and 2. there are now online versions. Yellow page phone books seem to have been losing relevancy over the past decade or so. Dex's own advertising recognizes that more and more often yellow pages are being used as doorstops and booster seats than finding a business. Last night my wife … [Read more...]

Is Your Online Marketing Plan Better Than A Cattle Guard

Simplicity of Design While driving in the country the other day we passed several cattle guards.  I was struck by how they work. Basically it's just a few piece of steel separated by a few inches each. Like any good piece of engineering, the cattle guard is simple yet effective. If I had been asked to design a way to keep cows out let cars through easily, I probably would've come up with something very complex involving gates, hinges, levers, pulleys, or some sort of electrical engine.  Just … [Read more...]

Making Your Business a Wild Horse

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the little book cliffs wild horse area.  We planned the trip for a couple of weeks ahead of time and looked forward to it with great anticipation. We had a great time driving around exploring and discovering several of the horses. As we passed several easily viewable horses in pastures on our way home I wondered what made wild horses so different that I was willing to suffer car sickness, cold weather, and high winds to see them from a great distance when … [Read more...]