McIntosh Marketing Blog

Over the last few years I have been asked for my marketing glossary several times.  Truth is, I don’t really have one.  I do have notes with definitions here and there but have never actually put them all in one place.  In fact, when I try to explain these marketing terms to someone, it seems to me that most of the time they think these terms don’t really exist!  It could be due to many of them sounding very similar to each other but trust me they have very different meanings.  I really felt the following keywords should be listed as they tend to be used most often and more commonly but for the full list with detailed definitions go to http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/

deep linking – linking to a web page other than a site’s home page.

description tag – an HTML tag used by Web page authors to provide a description for search engine listings.

impression – a single instance of an online advertisement being displayed.*

interactive agency – an agency offering a mix of Web design/development, Internet advertising/marketing, or E-Business/E-Commerce consulting.

keyword research – the search for keywords related to your Web site, and the analysis of which ones yield the highest return on investment (ROI).

search engine optimization – the process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a site, and ensuring that the site places well when those keyword phrases are part of a Web search.

By taking the time to learn these terms you will not only become more knowledgeable of Internet marketing but just by reading them you will start to understand more and more of what actually goes into your marketing.  I feel this list is pretty thorough list and can help even the beginning marketer to understand the terms of the online marketing world better.  Not only will you be able to learn more about the terms but once you start to understand them you will learn more about how marketing is actually done!

The words we use have so many meanings that they have begun to represent the same ideas. As they have become garbled, we have become confused. And so it is with the two words, marketing and selling. They seem so interchangeable that they have list there important distinctions and how they operate one with another.

In plain English, marketing is senior to selling. Selling is simply one part of marketing.

Marketing starts with ideas, and from there a survey of opportunities, possibilities and needs within a market. Someone had to conceive of the pet rock before it could be sold. Marketing is large and often complex mix of technologies, of which sales is one part. Marketing also includes market research, industry trends, sociology, surveys, design, branding, beta testing, PR, packaging, social media, web sites, copy writing, distribution, pricing and host of other methodologies and branches of business.

I hear many small businesses call their marketing efforts selling and many of their efforts to sell more, marketing. It may seem like I am being anal, but in reality it is important to not only know the difference, but to also understand the totality of what those words mean and represent in terms of action and depth of planning and application.

I have seen people struggle in their sales, not because they were unsociable or had halitosis. They simply had no marketing strategy, as well as basic marketing skills, and thus thought too small. Or in some other way went about their small business venture like Helen Keller driving a car. They were completely able and capable as a person, but yet still blind.  Helen Keller was an amazing person. She changed the world more than most people who can hear and see. But putting her behind a car and having her drive the Hollywood Freeway at rush hour is far from prudent.

While it may seem time-consuming, becoming educated on the techniques and methods are far faster and more effective than being ignorant. Short cuts never build success or empires. In fact, short cuts are just that. They cut things down and your goals come up short.

George Washington Carver once said, “There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation.” Never was this more true in small business, particularly in the fields of marketing and sales.

I know what most are thinking right now, “A blog is not a web site.”

Yes it is. In fact, for small businesses and entrepreneurs a blog really is the most ideal format in which to have your web site. But more than that, a bog as your web site puts you in control of the most important battle in web marketing: Generating original and  relevant content.

Having spoken to hundreds of small business owners, entrepreneurs, Dr.’s and even those in direct marketing, I know that blogs are not fully understood as to what they are and their power. While most have heard the term and even read them from time to time, most have not really understood what they are and how they are in reality your most effective marketing and PR tool when utilized correctly.

A blog is a a web site, but with some added bonuses. Communicating often and with passion positions you as a thought leader, an authority in the field. Not only that, every time you blog you are casting more fishing lines into the sea of business opportunity. Maybe your next blog will not generate a sale directly, but it starts a conversation, opens the door to a potential referral, or even being quoted in a trade magazine. Blogs set you apart, and the more you do and the more articulate you become, you start to rise the above the others.And studies have shown that the more you do it, this builds a cumulative benefit in that search engines recognize an active blogger, and so you earn higher rankings.

The Blog is short for “Web Log.”  Blogs are independent journals that allows you to not only demonstrate your competence, but it also allows you to add pictures and videos. This is your single biggest opportunity to get your voice heard. In fact, it can be the very anvil in which you can shape public opinion about you, your service or product, or even trends within your industry. Why be a bystander, a mere spectator, when you can be an active contributor to the ideals opinions of what is being commented upon. Blogs allow you to do this better than anything else.

Blogs can be placed into your social media sites, such as Facebook. Versus making a comment, link from Face book right to your blog. This build credibility and drives traffic your web site and blog.

Probably the best place to start is WordPress.org. This allows you to start your blog on a free format that is highly SEO friendly.

Let blogging become a way of communicating, sharing your vision and thus garnering more attention and business.

Never a day goes by when I am asked by a business person if they should actually engage in social media or not.

Have you noticed that phone books are getting thinner and smaller? Well, it’s not because the business is not dying. It is migrating to a new media that is reaching hundreds of millions per day. That is social media.

This CNN article is a case in point: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/04/08/social.media.small.biz/?hpt=C2

We could argue for days about whether we should Facebook or Twitter? Should I blog or should write articles? Do I use have flash, or do video? These tools do not replace studying, understanding and having a strategy.

Recently I visited some up and coming entrepreneurs at a networking conference in Laguna Beach, CA. All were eager to attend and hear from the keynote speaker on Linkedin. After the talk, the questions fired like cannonade and one thing was clear: They were confused.

He didn’t clarify much, he simply stirred up the hornet’s nest.

And not about Linkedin, but about all aspects of social media. And you know what? The speaker wasn’t prepared. He was just as confused, really. He picked that one topic and studied it hoping to look like an expert on that one subject. He did not realize that when he opened up the platform, he would be inundated by a tsunami of questions and a torrent of confusion.

He got caught not knowing his basics of one of the most important changes in business today: social media.

But one thing is for sure: The confused questions all indicate that this is where small business is going. It’s not turning back. Say bye-bye to the yellow pages book, because it will one day be in the museum with the T-Rex and the Dodo.