Author: admin

They are inaccurate –

Computer deals with a lot of time-strapped and cash-strapped marketing departments and marketing agencies.  One of the most common mistakes we see when departments and agencies start budgeting is caused by their ambition. Organizations often believe their company is going to make much more profit or create a bigger dent in the marketplace than it really does.  In some cases, our customers don’t even have revenue targets for the following quarter or year.  Given these scenarios we make excessive and inaccurate budgets.  Or, invest way too much on things we don’t need to invest in.

Not cohesive with the marketing strategy –

When we talk about marketing we have to be as realistic as possible and aware of the organization’s potential and how much you are willing to spend to realize that potential. Even though it’s an important step you must take, you want to do it properly and planned with ultimate execution in mind. So take a step back, learn more about your target, where they are, what they do and how your product or service solves their problems. That way, you will know what you can add in your marketing budget and strategy for a period of time.

Unfortunately many organizations do the complete opposite.  They think that they don’t have enough money to spend on marketing because that is a luxury and end up doing marketing ‘half-way.’ This is very counter-productive, if you only get to half your market, you’re only going to sell half as much.  Find a way instead to reach everyone in a cheaper way and make your marketing budget work harder for you.  Let’s look at a traditional outbound marketing tactic such as outdoor advertising. If you need two billboards to get to two different zones but can’t afford it, you can change your strategy and deliver flyers on the streets. It’s less expensive and you’ll still get to all the people you need to while investing less money.

More cost = more success? –

Another big mistake is thinking that if one marketing tactic or partner costs more than others that it’s automatically the right choice.  We’ve seen marketing departments stocked with Ivey-league MBAs crash and burn miserably while others run with college-dropouts and little prior marketing experience do extremely well.  Most marketing heads and marketing agencies have premonitions about how much they should be paying for stuff….and if they are paying less they discredit it and if they are paying more they look to reduce it.  Things are not as always as they seem. For example, if you’re advertising a video game for teenagers, you’ll probably have a better reach to your target if your strategy is using social networks and a website than if you invest in radio commercials (apart from Pandora). So, in this case, the cheaper choice is best, because the audience you want to reach is more likely to be on the Internet than listening to a radio station these days.

Marketing Budget Is Non-Existent –

On the other hand, there’s also the common believe that marketing is not important and not worth spending money on. The truth is that you do need advertising and you always will. You can have the best product and service around, but if people don’t know about you, it is very difficult to increase your sales. So this is an important activity your marketing department or marketing agency needs to take very seriously.  Marketing agencies in particular spend so much time doing the marketing for other businesses that they forget to do it themselves.  You need to recognize the importance of marketing and creating a budget so you can spend as much as you need to. That’s the purpose of budgeting, to have it under control and make the best investment of what you have available for your marketing strategy.

1 – Produce your content in-house 

Employees already know your business and your customers. They know the common problems, questions, and issues your customers have too. They also know how to answer those questions since they do it every day! Have them take 1-2 hours weekly to put that info on paper. Or, they can record themselves giving those hints. Then, post them on your website and social media accounts. Using the expert employees that you already pay means you don’t have to pay outsiders like a digital marketing agency.  Plus, there are many things a digital marketing agency hides from you that you don’t know about.

Consider this, a few weeks ago I got the brakes on my car done. I asked the technician questions about why pads wear down and how I could maintain them better. She knew the answer to all of those questions immediately. Then, the person behind me in line asked her those exact same questions, and the technician was happy to give her the best impression of a broken record. Instead of wasting her breath, she could easily record a video series of those FAQs being answered on YouTube and have them loop in the shop and online.

2 – Recycle your content 

Be environmentally friendly! There is a good chance your content has crossover appeal. Hey, if Justin Timberlake can be an actor, then your video can be a blog post. or vice versa. Content marketing takes time. Producing all the content you need to turn your little presence online into a lead machine isn’t easy. Since you don’t have time or money, you need to stretch whatever content you have to as many formats as possible.

Let’s look at podcasts. Podcasts are easy ways to get content live. You can record a Skype call with someone and post it online, and anywhere else, audio plays. You can even replace the elevator music on your office phone with your podcast recordings. Podcasts make great blog posts, too. A recap of the podcast and links to any resources mentioned on the show is an easy blog post that will take minutes to tap together. Lastly, you can take that audio recording, convert it to a video file, and upload it to YouTube even if there is no video. If you do all that, you would have stretched that one 60-minute phone call into 4 different types of content (at minimum). Here are some other ways you can save time on content marketing.

3 – Outsource the Details 

Look, the hard part is all done. You’ve been diligent about creating new stuff once or twice a week, and you’re also repackaging that stuff in different formats to feed the content cookie monster different pieces. Now, you need a bit of web/graphic work to polish it off or create some landing pages on your site. In cases like that, you can get very affordable help through freelancer sites like Elance or Upwork. It’s great if you can do some design and coding on your own, but if you spend a few hours doing this, then that’s time you aren’t growing the business or helping customers.

Marketing automation software: to buy or not to buy? 

A lot of great software can help bring purpose to your content marketing strategy. Marketing automation software enables you to nurture leads and has many modules aimed at helping you measure, track, and analyze how well your content marketing is doing. In addition to regularly feeding targeted content to your subscribers, some of these tools include HubSpot (my favorite), Marketo, Eloqua, Cision, Infusionsoft, and others. Any of these applications will help you manage your content marketing strategy better…if you actually put in the work.

n to how much time they spend fixated on your loved ones, friends, and family. A sobering thought (unless you’re a Jets fan… then nothing’s sobering you up).  This is more serious than our attempt at business humor indicates. Instead of texting or Skyping, try using this new gadget called your eyes. The quality is amazing. It’s way better than HD. This new wearable technology is something you are born with and is going to change everything about how you see the world. If Google Glass weren’t dead already, these optics you’re born with would have killed it.

2. Contains the World’s Knowledge… and Lack Thereof:

Do you remember being eight? Wow, what a whirlwind. Even while mastering double-digit addition you still knew that there was a machine called the ‘calculator’ that could answer every problem you were doing by hand. Now kids feel the same way, but about every subject. Smartphones put the world’s knowledge in the palm of their hand! Every single thing/phenomena that has happened in the modern era has been mercilessly documented online. Even the stuff that probably doesn’t need to be. Doesn’t it tick you off that you can find out what shoes MacGyver wears just as quickly as you can find out when your flight lands? Great, now the readers of this article that didn’t know who MacGyver was now know everything about him, can read the synopsis of every episode, and didn’t have to waste 50+ hours of their life watching the show when it came out. Damn you, Internet!

Having pertinent information at our fingertips is valuable. Watching someone’s 1992 home video of them beating Mario Bros. while Vanilla Ice whales in the background? Probably not on your bucket list (I’m not judging you if it is).

3. Gives a real-time view about how far behind we still are:

Yes, for every useless video, Tweet, article or website there is still further to fall. You guessed it. We’re going down…. way down… to the comments section. Website comment sections say more about how far back we’ve gone vs. how much more we need to go. Just check out the comments section of Obama’s 2008 Inauguration address. Did you ever notice how fast the haterade river flows when done anonymously and how slow it gets when commenters need a Facebook account? Yes, in case you’re wondering, I do shed a tear for the good old days of ESPN.com circa 2009. You know, when the comments section on an article about Chris Paul’s free-throw percentage inevitably turns into a debate about why Kobe sucks, to Kobe vs. Lebron, to why Yankees fans are fair-weather and of course ends up on race relations in America for the win.

4. We’re all connected – for better or worse: 

Facebook is a great way to get a superficial look into the day-to-day happenings of people you’re acquainted with… .and even some of whom you actually know. This is great! It’s far easier to keep in digital touch with people you like, but don’t want to invest a few moments of your undivided attention to with a phone call (Oh no! The f-sounding word) or a coffee (an even bigger investment). Hey, it could be worse. On LinkedIn you get a superficial look into the daily activities of people you don’t know.

5. Everyone’s a marketer: 

In the information age doesn’t it seem like everyone is marketing something? The next wave of amazing Internet businesses will be ones that market to marketers. No degree? No experience? No worries! We have the perfect job for you… Internet marketer! Can you imagine how uncluttered the Internet would be without Internet marketers? It would be like the Gulf of Mexico before BP dumped their oil in it!

Marketing a startup is very tricky.  Chances are you have very little money and no marketing team.  It’s like you’re Gordon Bombay and trying to lead a bunch of rag-tag kids to the District 5 Pee Wee Hockey Championship.  The good news is that wasn’t impossible for The Mighty Ducks in 1992 and marketing a startup isn’t impossible for you today.  After all, every business was a ‘startup’ at one point or other.  Here are the 3 things you need to know about when trying to devise a startup marketing strategy.

1) Do The Opposite Of What Everyone Else Does

You probably don’t have a lot of time, since every sales or marketing task comes to you, or a lot of money since all of that is spent on making whatever product you are promoting.  So don’t pretend you can market the way McDonald does or use traditional marketing tactics.  You’ll waste whatever money you have and probably get thrown out by your founders.  Instead, do the opposite.  Reach out to customers directly, one-on-one and reach out often.  Forget about cold-emails.  If you have a phone # then call them.  If you have an address, and it’s drivable, show up, make an appointment (in person) and wait…all day if you have to. Make sure that this person knows i) why your product helps solve their problems and ii) they’ve seen how it does.

2) Straddle The Online and Offline World

Digital marketing is great.  You definitely need to blog, have a website and clear explanations about what your product does and what problems it solves.  There is also no easier way to promote that messaging than the online world.  Plus, if you’re into eCommerce, there is no easier or cheaper way to sell and make money than online.  However, this shouldn’t be the only thing you do.  There is a good chance there are people in your community or people you already know that could help you with product ideas or get you in front of potential customers.  Sitting down with someone, even if it’s just one person, and explaining your product/solution to them is valuable because it helps you clearly explain your product to someone who may not know anything about it.  Or, may know how to help you with your various problems in promoting it.  Don’t sleep on creating content – it’s cheap and easy after all.

3) Focus On Specific Targets

If everyone is your customer then nobody is your customer.  Remember, you don’t have the budget to market to everyone.  I realize your product is ‘revolutionary’ and anyone can use it, but you can’t effectively reach all of those people yet.  Instead, pick a target market or demographic that is the best fit for your product.  Then, promote it to a small segment of users extremely well in that area.  As that small sample gets used to it, and serve as your guinea pigs, you can spread your wings to a bigger piece of that target.  Then, once that market is cornered, you can spread your wings to additional targets/segments.  Look no further than Facebook for an example.  Facebook started off as a social network for just Harvard students, then other schools in the area, then all US colleges and eventually the entire world.  McDonald served burgers, fries, drinks and pies when the started. Not 100+ items like they do now. You’ve got to learn to crawl before you learn to walk.

When you start a project, enthusiasm, strength and passion are typically your main drivers, but unfortunately all these values have an expiry date. Only 15% of online businesses pass the 2-year barrier. If you want your startup to work bring with you this survival kit that will allow you to overcome the initial phases!

Here are 5 tips to overcome the initial phases for successful startups!

Successful startups have a scalable business model

The business model has to be scalable. The scalability of a business model is one of their most important attributes. A scalable business will allow the entrepreneur to test his idea, and change it if needed to adapt to the market.

Live commitment and dedication

Stop looking in the mirror. Although you may be “very handsome” without work and perseverance you won’t get anywhere. Being an entrepreneur involves commitment and dedication. Projects that only look themselves tend to fail miserably.

Build a strong team

The team that you surround yourself with will be crucial for success. Search complementary profiles that can bring different things to the startup, but above all use emotional intelligence to positively influence other workers.

Fiscally responsible

The financing is key in the initial stages at any startup. Any new company, or startup, which is marked by a clear element of risk, needs a financial cushion to cover possible contingencies. Funding can become a real headache for the creators. Depending on the phase of the startup may need a different type of financing: Business Angels, Venture Capital, etc.

Give to get

Give to get. The entrepreneur is part of a business ecosystem with rules. To get others to support you, you should offer something that provides value (although any startup in its initial phase will have a shortage of funds). A good example of this point would offer employees shares in the company, or what is the same, the promise that if things go well, everyone will benefit.

Startup marketing plan template

The back bone of your success will lie in how you are able to market your business.  How will you get the word out about the brilliant product or service you have? Set your self up right with the basics of a successful startup marketing plan. We’ve put together an eBook that will point you in the direct of a success startup marketing strategy, you can access it here.

The next time you love talking to a digital marketing agency will probably be the first time. Most  agencies have staff that blabber more than a used-car salesperson and get little results. These are stupid things that your digital marketing agency tells you that probably drives you nuts.

“Content Is King”

Really? Not to my toddler… or anyone else’s toddler for that matter. Marketing  people know that people go online to get solutions to problems. What marketers don’t know is how to make sure their business is an option when people go online searching. Giving them a lecture on where content sits in some weird-looking digital marketing family chart isn’t going to help them get more leads, appointments or sales. Digital marketers are too short on specifics and too long on generalizations.

“The buying process has changed”

No it hasn’t and us digital marketing agencies aren’t some Merlin-typed sorcerers either. People still use money to buy everything. Except on the playground. I believe sports cards work there…maybe marbles too? Pog perhaps?

Digital marketing agencies will tell you that the buying cycle has changed for your product. Don’t be scared or overwhelmed. It hasn’t. People have educated themselves about products and services to buy since forever. Before the web they would educate themselves with catalogs sent home, newspaper ads and a million other ways. Didn’t your grandparents research products and listen to friends/experts before making decisions?

It’s not like digital marketing agencies have invented the inbound marketing and content marketing processes either. Before inbound and content marketing were all the rage didn’t businesses use newspaper coupons, radio talk shows and free seminars to generate leads? Of course they did! Lead generation has been a huge need for businesses since well before the Internet came along. The battles for new business opportunities are rapidly moving to the online world, but you can still use your old-school fundamentals to win them. Any digital marketing agency telling you otherwise needs a stern talking to.

“A digital visit is just as valuable as a physical visit”

Said no savvy digital marketer. The only time a business’ website visitor gets more attention than an in-person visitor is if that website visitor is a hacker and the business is Yahoo. The in-person visitor should be considered a super-hero to you! Think about their origin story. Here’s what they did:

• They went to Google to find a solution to some problem they were facing
• Some articles and blog posts came up that answered their problem or shed some additional light on it
• Then, after a bit more research they found you.
• They looked you up, look up your reviews on third-party websites and social media
• After all that they decided to put their Netflix watching aside and stop in for a visit.

WOW! Just for you! And are now at your office or calling you on the phone. In case your wondering that’s a huge win for your marketing. How many times do you do that process when trying to figure out where you’re eating on Friday night? After all that research do you show up at the restaurant and leave without buying anything?! Um, no. You’ve done all the research already and know exactly what the pros and cons of the restaurant is.

Same rules apply for B2B sales and big-ticket items (like cars). A B2B service/product company may get  20,000 visits a month to their website, whitepaper, or webinar, but only 10 meetings with potential customers (call, Gotomeeting or face-to-face). Who gets more attention? Do you serve refreshments to your website visitors like you do your in-person visitors? Sometimes even the best digital marketing agency can forget these fundamentals.

When people talk about digital marketing plans, some small businesses used to take a step back. It’s a common misconception that if you are a small business, you won’t have chance to develop a good plan because you “don’t have enough money”.

1) Analyze your current situation

It’s time to look deep into your product or service, find out how customers would work with it, how is the economical situation for your business area, what are your growth’s possibilities and in what place your competitors are. Make sure your company offers something, which makes it stand out from the rest.

2) Strategy, strategy, strategy…

Figuring out the strategy for your company won’t be so difficult If you already completed step one. Focus on the objectives your business has when you are creating the strategy,  This is the time to define who is your target audience, how you can approach them and how long you can be in the market with this business strategy.

3) Optimize your channels

In this step you will define what channels to use and how to reach your target audience. Currently you have a lot of options, but understand that you don’t need to use all of them. Choose only the channels that fit perfectly –or better than others– in your business purposes. Consider in your options: Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Mobile SEM, Search Engine Optimization-, use of social networks, email marketing etc

4) Update your website…

Small businesses should have a website with its own domain and interesting, dynamic and updated content. It’s so important to offer quality content, no matter if it is a video, a blog post or third party content. This way you will improve traffic and your opportunities to reach your target audience. Oh, and remember to have responsive design as most Internet browsing now happens on mobile phones.

5)  Measure, evaluate and reorganize

As soon as your digital marketing plan is running, take some time to measure the results (ROI, traffic, sales) and evaluate how it’s going according to your business’s purpose. The results will determine whether you continue along that way or if you need to relaunch your strategy.