Transcript Online Marketing Tactic Currently Use It?

East Bay Entrepreneur and
Small Business Meetup
Agenda
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Introductions
What’s in it for Me?
Online Marketing
Referral Marketing
Next Steps
How to benefit from this
group?
1. I'm in the following stage of my business:
• Planning
• Startup
• Growth
• Mature
• Decline
2. If you're already in business, how long?
• 0-6 months
• 6-12 months
• 1-2 years
• 2-5 years
• 5-7 years
• 7-10 years
• 10 years +
3. Some of the things I'm looking to gain from belonging to this group are information
or support related to:
•Networking opportunities
• Establishing a business plan
•Financing for my business
• Solidifying an existing business plan
•Bookkeeping for my business
• Expanding marketing opportunities
•HR standards and hiring
4. Our group is scheduled to meet in-person monthly. Do you prefer to:
• Monthly works best
• Meet more frequently
• Meet less frequently
• Not meet in person, rely on phone or email
5. Meetings are typically held at a public venue where food and beverage are served.
Do you prefer:
• Restaurant
• Restarant/bar
• Coffee shop
Getting More Customers
with Online Marketing
• 63% of all Americans expect that a
business will have a website about a
product that they are considering buying.
• 74% of all households use the web to search
for information about local merchants and
service providers
• 45% of local searches had a buying intent.
Kelsey Research Group
Where to begin?
• start with your customers. Who are they,
what are they likely to be looking for
online and how do they like to
purchase?
Competitive Analysis
• be aware of what your competitors are
doing. When you search for information
about your own product or service,
which competitors rank highly in the
search?
Look Inward
• consider your own product or service.
Some products and services are easier
to communicate and sell online than
others. Compare notes with fellow
Entrepreneurs and Small Business
Owners.
Online Marketing Audit
• Use the following list to take a quick
audit of which online marketing efforts
your currently use and which ones you’d
like to try. Note any questions you’d like
to group to address.
Online Marketing Tactic
• An email address with a business
domain name, not a service provider
domain name (i.e.
[email protected])
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• A website with marketing and contact
information available
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• A website with the ability to buy
products online or to reserve/request a
service (i.e. book a room)
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• Business information registered with
local versions of search engine (i.e.,
Google Local, Yahoo! Local)
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• Search engine optimization efforts (i.e.
using keywords in your web content to
drive natural search)
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• Search engine marketing efforts (i.e.
paid rankings, Google Adwords, etc)
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• Internet advertising (i.e. banners,
sponsored links)
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• Email marketing – using email to drive
sales, referrals and repeat visits
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• E-newsletters – using email to provide
information to customers
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• Writing your own blog
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• Recording and sharing your own
podcasts
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• Making your inventory available and
searchable online
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• Viral marketing campaigns (i.e. “tell-afriend” links in your outgoing emails)
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Online Marketing Tactic
• Other
Currently Use It?
Why / Why Not?
Word of Mouth Marketing
• Is marketing just for big companies or
more established companies?
• Many small business owners think
marketing means expensive advertising,
flashy brochures or extensive websites.
The reality is that marketing is just
another way to say “getting customers.”
Word of Mouth: 2 types
• Organic: natural conversation that
occurs between your customers as a
result of an experience with your
company.
Word of Mouth: 2 types
• Amplified word of mouth is pro-actively
created by you and occurs as the result
of a campaign specifically run by a
business to affect how customers tell
each other about a company.
Word of Mouth Marketing
Principles
• Making sure that your product or service
is high-quality, meets your customers’
needs and competes effectively ensures
that you’ll have good organic word of
mouth.
Amplify
• by, first and foremost, making it easy for
your customers to talk about you.
• provide relevant, meaningful information
to your customers that can be easily
shared with their friends, family
members or peers.
5 Activities You Can Do Today
• Ask for the referral: many customers would
be willing to provide them. Let your
customers know that you’re interested in
growing your business and ask them if they
know someone who could benefit from your
product or service. One easy way to do it –
include extra business cards in your
correspondence with customers. Extra cards
remind your customers about your request
and make it easy for them to share.
5 Activities You Can Do Today
• Give your customers something special to
share - can be as simple as a friends &
family discount that only your best customers
can share with others.
• develop a special newsletter for your top
customers that provides insight into your
business that others don’t have.
• These inside pieces of information make your
talkers feel special and encourage them to
share news about your company.
5 Activities You Can Do Today
• Learn how others get referrals: Other
small business owners are your best
source for learning about word of mouth
marketing. Ask your peers about how
they’ve grown their business with word
of mouth.
5 Activities You Can Do Today
• Team up with other related businesses:
Small business owners often exist in a ecosystem within an industry.
• e.g., the wedding industry is made up of
wedding planners, caterers, event locations,
dress shops and more. These professionals
can team up with other businesses that share
the same quality and philosophy about their
customers to cross-promote each other.
5 Activities You Can Do Today
• Uncover your biggest fans, make it easier
for them to talk: 10% of your customers will
make most recommendations
• When you’re told that a customer found out
about you from a referral, ask who made the
referral
• put together special programs to help them
talk more.
• Take care not to tie rewards to their referrals,
which may make your customers feel like
your sales team.
Open Discussion Points
• Where do you spend money on marketing
today?
• How much time do you devote to your
marketing efforts?
• Is word of mouth marketing the number one
way that you get customers?
• If word of mouth marketing isn’t how you get
customers, what marketing do you do?
Open Discussion Points
• How do you currently use word of mouth or
referral marketing tactics?
• How many of you think that word of mouth
just happens, and you don’t have any control
over it?
• What pitfalls have you faced with trying to get
more referrals?
• Is there something you wish you’d known
when you started trying to get more referrals
that you know today?
Resources
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www.ducttapemarketing.com
www.smallbiztechnology.com
www.quickbooks.com
www.actionplan.com/
www.getclientsnow.com/
www.womma.org
www.jackrabbit.intuit.com
Next steps
• Meetup location?
• Meetup frequency
• Time