McIntosh Marketing Blog

If you are up on marketing and sales management, then there is no introduction needed for either Seth Godin or Tom Peters. Both are not only accomplished authors with millions of followers, but both are as well committed to educating others on how to excel in marketing, blogging and social media. They both understand the advantages of blogging and the future of blogging

Blogging has been a huge tool for both these icons of modern marketing. Note the importance that Tom Peters gives blogging as a marketing medium. Note from Seth Godin how to get better at it. There is much truth in what they say in just a few minutes on this YouTube video. Don’t watch it; watch it over and over. Assimilate this information into your mind and into your marketing planning and scheme. And watch your profits grow.

It has been a long known that precise market research is the heart and soul of successful marketing. Without research, you are not only going at your online efforts utterly blindfolded, but also wasting your valuable funds. Moreover, you will see much less ROI from your marketing dollar.

The problem with most start ups, small and medium businesses, and innovative entrepreneurs is the lack of time and finance to spend with a professional market research company. Limited budgets and a slight desperation to get money in the door on an immediate basis can be a major road block that most companies never overcome. It is for sure that long-term success never comes about from short cuts.

Here is a small list of cost effective methods that you can implement to gain some fairly rapid insight on how to generate a better, more rapid ROI with your marketing dollar:

1. Study those who are successful.

Intrinsic to their success was doing something right. Apple did not invent the computer, but they have the found a better way to sell them. You will be amazed at how accessible successful people are through books, blogs and workshops. Those who are passionate and successful are also those who love to share and give back to those people who are truly striving to make a success out of themselves.

2. Study those who have already purchased from you.

I am still amazed on how many successful people who have thousands upon thousands of past clients in their files and lists, yet have never conducted any type of survey as to why they purchased from them or what reasons they have for buying more. I had one client who had a multi-million dollar business who could not tell me what her typical client was like. We then listed her top 50 clients and studied not only what type of business they were, but how they were originally procured and sold and the bright ideas started to ignite. Once we determined what market was generating most of her income, it became simple to determine what similar markets to target in future marketing efforts.

3. Study “Heavy Users.”

I bet you that 10% of your clientele comprises 30% or more of your revenue. This is true of almost all industries or businesses. What drives any business is a core group of clientele that spend much more than the others. Imagine targeting “heavy users” as a consolidated marketing campaign.  You will drive in more ROI and profits with less effort.

4. Talk to people, ask lots of questions and have your ideas challenged.

You can do this informally, through emails and even by conducting a focus group. If you intend on selling life insurance, then one would know through industry journals who are the typical clientele. But go beyond just numerical demographics. Talk to people personally that fit into that category. Walk around neighborhoods or attend conferences where these type of people frequent or do business. Real market research is about getting your hands dirty, rubbing elbows with those who are involved, discovering how they feel and even listening and noting the phrases and buzz words that they use.

5. Learn the basics on market research.

It is not as hard as you think. Become a student versus an ignorant victim.

Although there are a million ways to market your products incorrectly, the big mistake I see is to forget that your public are humans and fail to build relationships with them.

Making 5,000 “friends” on a social network like Twitter or Facebook is a good idea. But if all you do is send them bulk advertising messages, it’s not going to work.  You’re dealing with live people who have interests and ideas and opinions. The more you find out what is needed and wanted and deliver THAT, the better off you’ll be.

When someone receives a generic “Thank’s for following” plus a link to where they can go to give their hard-earned money to that Twitter member they just decided to follow, they are rarely appreciative. This is because the human element is missing.

The first thing you always do in a successful marketing campaign is research. You find out if your proposed business is in demand and by whom. Then your marketing plan will be geared toward that public. You get to know this public via various channels they use. Yes, Twitter and Facebook are fine channels, as long as your purpose is to GET TO KNOW YOUR PUBLIC THERE.  Then as your marketing campaign rolls out, feedback from your public will help you understand what they like and don’t like, what they’re looking for, etc. This will continue to streamline your campaign messages so that they are effective.

There are research tools you can buy and get for free online, keyword research tools, search features on social networks to see what topics are of interest to people currently, and various kinds of feedback forms and surveys you can create for your public, once you’ve identified who they are. Google’s Keyword Tool is a free and valuable keyword research tool, and a good place to start.

Just remember that your public are made up entirely of individual human people. And getting to know them, their interests, their needs and wants, is the only way you will succeed in any business venture.

The Big Three has meant for decades, “GM, Ford and Chrysler”. But with their problems comes the next evolution of that term, particularly when talking about web marketing, SEO and SEM.

The Big Three in the internet marketing world is Facebook, Google and YouTube. Make it big with these three media giants and you will make it big in business. Let’s be real. Facebook is social media, Google is how you find almost anything and YouTube is the new TV. Hopefully you are gearing your mind-set, your marketing budget and how you interface with the world’s newest Big Three.

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.

Recently Facebook has changed the phrase “become a fan” to the single word, “like”. While this is not their only change, a comment must be made on their choice of words. Welcome to the world of semantics, or is said in the world of marketing, “hot buttons”.

If you spend some time on contemplating this seemingly innocent switcheroo, this change is a clue to the evolving world around us. Believe me, Facebook put a lot of time and thought into this before making this bold, simplistic move. Something so simple as a change of words is actually a comment on how we view things and how we interact.

A fan looks up to something, “like” is equal to, on the same level. It also means I am not obsessed, like some fans are. I enjoy your company and I am probably not fixated or blinded by a zealousness.

When you look up the word “like”, it has many meanings, all of which mean different things to different people, all suggesting various emotions and thoughts. Moreover, I am sure that in the day to day jargon of how we live, we use the word “like” much more often than “fan.”

Without question the most requested information is how Google Adwords actually works.

Ah, if it was just that easy.

There is no question that your product or service can reach new, higher realms of sales and profits through intelligent use of Google Adwords. And on the other hand, you can lose a lot of money with very little ROI with mishandling it. The reason for this is that most people throw good money at bad marketing. They simply do not do their homework and thus lose money.

Here is a video that may clarify the issue a bit:

Before I knew better, I was sure that many “experts” understood how SEO worked. The word was thrown around so much, that I literally started to feel that I was the only guy in the room who was left behind, stupid and left to rot in SEO hell.

But apparently, I was the guy who was willing to admit it. Reality set in quickly and I discovered that many had been taken advantage of this, because the recently turned SEO expert perceived the weakness in most business people. Most business people delve into their fields so heavily that they consider that the SEO guys do the same. But I have discovered that this is not at all the case.

I recently met up with an internet “expert” who last job was listed as the senior teller at B of A. I guess being a senior teller is more prestigious than a regular one. Anyways, he was about 22, had started to grow some chin hairs and all his Facebook friends looked like the people he hooked up at his last frat party. When it comes to SEO gurus, I either to run into that type of crowd or the recently displaced mortgage broker who now has gone to a seminar or two and is now, Tah Dah, an SEO expert!

Sergio Zyman, a past Marketing Director of Coca-Cola and best-selling author, said it best. These marketing guys sell the voodoo to get business people believing that marketing is all a bunch of arcane information, understood only by special people born with innate marketing know-how and artistic abilities. Baloney! They play this games of charades to get away with the fact that they don’t really know their craft,  and they can’t produce a viable result.

Ok, so I am going to give the secrets away that is going to give these voodoo children a heart attack. All the secrets are published. You know, with Google and in books, like “The New Rules of Marketing & PR” by David Meerman Scott. For regular people that don’t practice voodoo.

Whew, I feel better now.  Like I went to SEO confession.

The expertise does not lie in what you know, but in execution. Doing is worth more than just knowing.

I just found an amazing resource for Chiropractors to be more educated on how to market their practices. As any Chiropractor will tell you, it is important to have great word of mouth to build more and more referrals. But the question is how?

While most Chiropractors are excellent doctors, so few have the time to learn how to market their practice correctly so as to gain more new patients. While McIntosh Marketing has worked with many doctors for years, here is a link to some educational materials that could help Chiropractors market their practice even better.

From: http://ergonecessities.com/chiropractic-website-marketing-massive-free-traffic/0628

McIntosh Marketing, a leading website marketing consultancy, announced today the launch of its new local Internet advertising site at http://www.McIntoshMarketing.com.  This website provides ideas and strategies on the freshest ways for companies to create higher profits and traffic from their online presence.

Stanton, California, March 29th, 2010 – McIntosh Marketing, a leading online marketing company, announced today that they have launched their new local Internet advertising consulting website at http://www.McIntoshMarketing.com.

This website is seamlessly designed to provide businesses with an opportunity for a free local web market analysis and marketing plan to boost traffic and income.  Bill McIntosh and McIntosh Marketing have constructed more than 1,000 websites that garnered over $20 million in revenue.  It has gained over 40,000 Twitter followers and over 500,000 views of CEO Bill McIntosh’s YouTube videos.  The company has successfully weathered the dot.com bust, 9/11, and the recent recession to continue helping businesses’ websites generate increasing profits.

On the new website, companies can learn more about the many methods of creating an effective online presence while deciding if McIntosh Marketing will suit their needs.  Some of the categories available at this site include products and services offered, questions and answers, customer reviews, CEO Bill McIntosh’s blog, and much more.  McIntosh Marketing’s website gives a clear overview of each step to optimize the Internet as a marketing tool, especially affiliate marketing, creating loyalty, word-of-mouth online advertising, website design, pay per click management, search engine optimization, and new media such as social networking sites.

The website will be updated frequently and McIntosh Marketing plans to offer the newest information on Internet marketing trends.  Aggressive advertising for http://www.McIntoshMarketing.com will commence shortly.

About McIntosh Marketing:  McIntosh Marketing is an experienced, real-deal online marketing consulting company that specializes in improving businesses’ online presence, income, and traffic.

Contact:

Edwin Dearborn

12235 Beach Blvd. Suite 206
Stanton, CA 91505

(877) 797-6825

http://www.McIntoshMarketing.com

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