Business Building Tips Archives | Your Online Marketing Team

The 5 Most Common Online Marketing Questions – With Our Answers!

April 8, 2021 by Jama Leave a Comment

Along with some help from one or two online resources, and based on our own experiences supporting entrepreneurs like you, we’d like to offer a short-list of the most common online marketing questions.

Let’s not waste any time and get right to it, shall we?

“How hard is it to build my own website?” Well… It’s hard! Especially if you’ve never built a website before, the task can be daunting. Using WordPress certainly helps because they offer ways to simplify website construction (and WP is very Google-friendly!). You can even get a free website from them, but they won’t allow you to monetize one of their free websites. (It can be a great solution for a blog-only site though.) For a commercial website, you’ll need to pay for a hosting service, buy a domain name, and discover tons of patience. (Better get ready for a pretty steep learning curve!)

There are also multiple site-building apps available online. These tend to make all of their sites look alike but, if you’re looking for the cheapest solution for building a business website, one of these may work for you – temporarily, anyway.
“What about a blog? Do I really need one?” Like most things, that depends: on your goals, your products or services, and whether you hope to be found through organic search or are willing to pay for ads and clicks (PPC). (Did we just hear a big “Huh?”)

It is almost always important to educate your target audience about what you have to offer them, be it a unique product or a helpful service(s). After all, they have no idea who you are and why you believe you deserve their attention, not to mention their hard-earned dollars. So yes, having a blog on your business website is a great way to educate and stay connected with your target audience in a real, relevant way. It also keeps your site fresh with new content helping to boost your SEO (see below). Some website owners write their own content, while others outsource the task to experienced professional copywriters. (We can help you there, no problem.)
“Oh, Kaaay… What do you mean by organic and PPC?” Being found online is always a challenge. The information you share on your website is regularly “crawled” by the search engines which then “index” and “rank” your site. The more fresh, relevant, and timely your blog content is, the higher you’ll be ranked and the more easily prospects will find you. This is known as “organic” search engine optimization (or organic SEO).

Or, you can pay Google, Bing, or Yahoo to put your website at the top of their search results (SERPs). Based on the relative value of certain key phrases you use (your keywords), they will charge for every “click-through” from their SERPs. (That’s why it’s called “Pay Per Click” or PPC.) Depending on the number of clicks you receive per month, this can get pricey. Also, whether that click-through results in a sale is moot to them. They charge you for sending a prospect to your site. What happens then is irrelevant to them.
“What about social media? Do I have to use it for marketing my business? Yes! The real question for an entrepreneur is where to engage your target audience on social platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and many others have such massive audiences that it becomes imperative to have a presence on at least one or two of them.

Choosing the best platforms for your business depends on a few things (at least): what you’re selling, where your target audience is most active, and where your competition has built a following. If your offerings are best described visually, Instagram and Pinterest may be your best choice. If you need to educate your audience Facebook and its audience of two billion subscribers may be your best bet. As for Twitter, well, if your audience has a brief attention span, yeah. Maybe. (Can you tell we’re not huge fans of twitting? Oops, we meant tweeting.)
“I’ve heard email marketing is dead. Is that true? OK, that’s a big NO! Email remains one of the most effective marketing tools you can place in your toolbox. We offer more on the subject here and here but, the brief explanation is that you need to first build a subscriber list of email addresses, which is one of the most valuable business assets you can acquire. Then, you can begin to engage with them through an email nurture campaign, enabling you to generate more interest, enhance your reputation as an expert in your niche, and begin building trust.

Once they get to know and trust you, you can lead them toward conversion; that is, entice them into doing something that will benefit them, such as watching your free webinar, they opt in to another informative gift or something else of value. Soon, you should be able to guide them toward buying from you, whether a solution-based service or a product.

As you can see by this brief list of the most common online marketing questions, making an impression out there – not to mention making sales – is challenging indeed. In fact, it may be more demanding than becoming an expert who has something valuable to offer.

That’s where we, the YOMT team of online marketing experts, come in. We have the experience, knowledge, and training to support your efforts, and to help you build a foundation and marketing strategy that can take you all the way to the success you’ve dreamed of.We know this is a lot to take in from a single blog post, and it can be intimidating. That’s why we have a couple of ways for you to get more answers to the most common online marketing questions. First, you can click here to learn how we can help you build a foundation to get started, or click here to schedule a complimentary consultation and get your questions answered.

Why People Buy One Thing Over Another

March 25, 2021 by Jama Leave a Comment

Have you ever taken the time to think about why people buy one thing over another? Whether a product or a service, what is it that flips the switch for them; the thing that makes them say “Yes” to one and “No” to the other?

It’s a pretty important question for anyone in sales and/or marketing. If you’re unclear on why prospects purchase the things they do, you’re going to find it close to impossible to entice them into doing business with you.

At the most basic level, marketing (and selling) is about educating your target audience about the features and benefits of the products or services you have to offer. Or, as stated at PsychologyToday.com, “Simply stated, a buying decision is the result of a consumer learning pathway where the consumer must learn about a product or service and relate it to their specific situation to make a favorable buying decision.”

Now, there are two parts to that sentence that need our attention: the “learning pathway” bit, and the “relate it to their specific situation” section.

The reason these are so important is because, through your messaging, you can help your target audience both learn and relate to the products or services you have to offer. In fact, these are the only things your marketing message should be about.

How Your Knowledge Base Affects Your Messaging

In a previous post about Benefits Based Copy, there is a sentence that some of you may have glossed over. The gist of it is, “the fact that you know these features will make your ideal client’s life better does not mean that they do”.

The point we really want to make here is that, sometimes, the more we know about something the easier it is to take for granted that others know something about it too. In other words, our familiarity does not breed contempt, but rather, the more we know the more we assume too much about our target audience.

For example, we know a former mattress salesman who once encountered a customer who asked, “Are there springs in that box spring?” Nonplussed, his response was, “Uhm, yes.”

You see, he thought the name alone was so basic and self-explanatory it needed no explanation. But, for his potential buyer, the name had little to no meaning. It was just the thing that goes under a mattress to keep it off the floor.

It would be easy to make fun of this naïve customer however, it’s more important to understand the impact this had on our salesman; the powerful realization that he had let the customer down. That, simply because he had intimate knowledge of his subject, he had no business assuming his client base did as well.

It struck him that the more he learned, the more expert he became, the more he forgot to talk about the basics. And that his ability to share the most fundamental facts of the products he sold would go a long way to determining his success at selling the products. At the same time, when appropriate, he had the wide base of knowledge to display his expertise when the situation required.

Ultimately, it was not that he knew too much, just that he needed to always be mindful that many people would know far less and it was his job to help them learn what they needed to make an informed buying decision.

Help Your Prospects Learn

Imagine for a moment that you have a degree in advanced calculus. If you happen to get hired to teach fourth graders, your knowledge base will be fairly useless since they are still learning addition and subtraction. If you forget that simple fact, you’ll make a poor teacher.

Similarly, if your marketing message ignores the basics and focuses on things that only experts tend to know, you’ll miss the mark more often than not.

This might mean a coach who talks exclusively about reaching goals will find it difficult to entice prospects who have trouble setting goals. That’s a fundamental step in business, life, and other types of coaching that can be easy to forget. Goal setting is a skill that must be learned before a client can be taught how to achieve their goals.

And so, taking from the example of our mattress salesman above, when you’re developing your marketing message, be careful you are not sharing knowledge your audience may not yet be ready to learn. Never assume, as he did, that they have a foundation of knowledge similar to your own.

No, they have a desire but lack the knowledge to make it happen. That is where you come in, and that is why your message, when properly constructed, will resonate with them.

Unfortunately, getting the answer to the “Why do they buy?” question only gets you so far. Once you know that, you then have to ask yourself, “How do I get them there?”

We are here to help you with that and have put together the team and the tools to help you do so.We know this is a lot to take in from a single blog post, and it can be intimidating. That’s why we have a couple of ways for you to gather more information about getting your message right. First, you can click here to learn how we can help you build a foundation to get started or click here to schedule a complimentary consultation and get your questions answered.

The Online Marketing Process – Don’t Let Intimidation or Frustration Stop You or Slow You Down

March 11, 2021 by Jama Leave a Comment

Marketing is and always has been something of a process. Online marketing though is ALL about process. It’s a science, really. In other words, marketing has always involved attracting and engaging the right prospects. With the right focus and efforts on choosing your target audience accurately, they are nurtured towards buying because it’s a good fit. This can seem much easier to do in a traditional face-to-face encounter than in a virtual environment.

Why? Because even today, despite a quarter-century of internet marketing, there remains little that can be thought of as traditional in an online encounter – and even less that’s done face-to-face. (Despite the rise in Zooming!)

Where the Marketing Process Begins

From product development surveys to establishing your ideal client profile and getting to know your competition, the online marketing process begins with research: market research. After all, if you don’t know who your target audience is and what their pain points are, you’ll have no idea what kind of product or service they need, or how to present your targeted solutions to them.

Having said that, here are five critical steps in the online marketing process:

Messaging – Telling people who you are and what you have to offer are the keys to effective messaging. Now, while that may seem obvious, too many marketers struggle to explain the second half of that step – they forget that what they have to offer is benefits. If you can’t communicate how your prospects will benefit from doing business with you, your marketing strategy will fail. That is, ALL your messaging must be benefits-based.

Incentives – Using opt-in gifts to build your email list allows you to begin the engagement process with high-value incentives. Some might see this step as bribery (especially if done wrong); however, when planned and implemented effectively, there is nothing dishonest or slimy about this extremely important aspect of the process and science of online marketing. It’s an accepted and expected marketing practice to ask for an email address in exchange for a high-value digital “Freebie”. In short, if you’re not offering at least one opt-in at your website, you’re not actually marketing your business.

Do you have more than one gift you want to give away? If so, it’s perfectly acceptable to offer more than one freebie, targeted toward different segments of your audience. But, make sure it’s still of interest to your ideal client and don’t put more than one offer on a page.

Nurturing – Despite what you may have heard, email marketing is not dead. In fact, it’s easily the best way to cultivate potential customers using a progressive series of value-added freebies. According to the subscriber list-building experts at OptinMonster, “With a potential return on investment of up to 4,400%, email marketing remains the best way to attract and retain customers.” Why? Well, as a quick example, the engagement rate for social media is less than 1% but for email, which reaches 85% of the people you send it to, it’s closer to 25%.

Engagement – The follow-up to nurturing your list is building relationships. This can be particularly difficult in a virtual environment, but it certainly can be done. How can you do this when you’re not in a face-to-face situation? Through your messaging, opt-ins, and nurturing. Show empathy. Be compassionate. Display your expertise. Provide understanding. Offer solutions. Give value. Build trust. Take our word for it, once they start to trust you, you’re more than half-way toward making the sale.

Conversion – Want to know the Big Secret about why successful salespeople excel above the average? They ask for the sale! Yes, it’s really that simple. Once they’ve done all of the qualifying and presentation, they ask their client if they’re ready to buy. In the world of internet marketing, the equivalent step in the process is known as a Call-to-Action or CTA. With every blog post, with every email, with every product or service page on your website, you must ask your audience to act on something.

It’s important to keep in mind that your CTAs do not always have to be about buying your product of service. Why? Because conversion is itself a process! Prospects can:

Subscribe to your list
Leave a comment
Click “Reply”
“Click to Contact”
“Click to Register” for a webinar or workshop
“Click here to Buy”

You see, once they begin to take action with each step of your ‘Ask’, they begin their journey on your predetermined path of becoming your Customer!

This is a lot to absorb in a single blog post. It can be intimidating. We have a couple of ways for you to gather more information about the online marketing process, so you don’t have to go it alone. First, you can click here to learn how we can help you build a foundation to get started, or click here to schedule a complimentary consultation and get your questions answered.

Your Strategic Marketing Foundation Bears Quite a Load

February 25, 2021 by Jama Leave a Comment

OK, so… Everyone says you need a strategic marketing plan, right? In fact, you may feel like you’re getting hammered with that little bit of advice (including from us). Then you find out you need a marketing foundation to build it on. That’s OK; until you discover the foundation has parts that need to be included.

Wait, what?

Since when does a foundation have PARTS? It’s like, a simple slab of concrete with a few load-bearing walls. There are no parts to a foundation! Are there? Argh!

Turns out, as long as we don’t take it too literally, there kind of are parts to a foundation. Plus, and more importantly, we have to remember the purpose of a foundation: To distribute the load of the structure – your marketing strategy – over a large bearing area to bring the intensity of loading within the safe bearing capacity.

In other words, as a bit of a metaphor, your strategic marketing foundation must be able to bear a pretty heavy load or your marketing plan may collapse. Then where are you?

Identify the Parts of Your Marketing Strategy

Now that we understand how the foundation of your strategy supports your marketing plan, keeping everything upright and functioning properly, let’s take a look at some of the component parts you need to put in place.

As we mentioned in a previous post, nothing that lasts can be built without a solid foundation. Plus, considering the stress and confusion of the year we’ve just been through, overcoming uncertainty and even fear of failure in 2021 could be really tough. The solution then is to take bold action that will enhance your online reputation, build brand awareness, and engage with your target audience in ways that lead to conversions!

All of this begs the question of exactly what that foundation you’ve worked so hard to build will be supporting.

Identify your ideal client – Who do you want to work with and whom do you think will want to work with you? Have you answered these questions? You need a profile of precisely whom you will be targeting in your marketing plan. Without it, you’re going to be all over the place with your messaging.

Create your unique customer avatar – Success is in the details. An avatar helps you take that profile to the next level and makes the ideal client real to you. Instead of trying to appeal to some kind of vague “them”, the focus of your marketing message will be on individuals with an identity, the real human beings who will benefit from doing business with you.

Hone and build your individual brand identity – Who are you? What do you have to offer? How do clients relate to you? All of these questions (and more) must be answered as part of establishing yourself as an expert in your niche. That is where brand identity comes from.

Narrow your target market to engage them more effectively – You simply can’t be all things to all people (and you must stop trying). While it might be nice if every person on the planet wanted what you’re offering, that is just not realistic. You need to fully commit to the ideal client profile you’ve created and accept that your client avatar includes your entire audience.

Build your initial market strategy on these foundational steps – Wow. That looks like a lot of market research and planning, doesn’t it? It sure does. And, once you complete it, you’ll have a concise, straightforward approach to basic marketing concepts and the foundation of your strategy. Yum!

But (there had to be a “but”, right?) But, where do you go from there? That’s why we’re here! To help you answer that question and all the others that are suddenly racing through your mind. (Can you tell we’ve done this before?) 😊

With our Foundations Strategy Package, we’re here to help you bear the load of building your marketing strategy while offering you the blueprint you need to set the stage for success. It’s time to put in place the building blocks needed to support your bold approach to marketing your business in 2021… AND beyond!

If you’re ready to get started on your new, bolder marketing strategy right away, click here.

If you still have questions about how we can be your strategic marketing partner for 2021, click here to schedule a complimentary consultation and get your questions answered.

Curiosity and Agility – The Keys to Post-Crisis Business Survival

February 11, 2021 by Jama Leave a Comment

Wherever you choose to search the internet for business advice today, opinions abound. But, because the health crisis has yet to fade, facts are tough to come by. Based on our own experience, we know it’s impossible to build or grow a business from a foundation constructed on mere belief. In our research, we’ve discovered a fact-based platform you can use to move your business forward successfully in these unprecedented times… using curiosity and agility as your keys to business survival.

If you’re unfamiliar with the cloud-based survey development company Survey Monkey, you might want to check them out. Not only do they offer you a platform from which to create surveys yourself, they also survey various businesses and share their findings. (You can receive these directly to your Inbox by subscribing to their email list.)

Now, we’re not here to plug their services but, rather, to share some real-world info on how businesses have been surviving the constraints of the past year or so. Based on their latest surveys of various organizations and the public, there are reasons for optimism about business and the economy in general.

Of course, this begs the question of where this optimism comes from and how you can be part of it!

Being Curious Can Give Your Business Nine Lives

According to the Survey Monkey report, searching for – and finding – new ways to do business has been critical for organizations trying to adapt to the radical changes we’ve all experienced and witnessed lately. And, while the choice of the word “curious” may be, uhm… curious to you, being inquisitive and proactive about finding solutions makes perfect sense.

This point is made emphatically in the report: “Without curiosity, even agile organizations are left rudderless.” And further,

“The organizations that foster a culture of curiosity find new and creative ways of adapting to problems by synthesizing all the information they have available to them. This includes data like sales and revenue, and feedback from interviews, surveys, and focus groups.”

OK, so here are some of those facts we mentioned above:

Some 59% of successful organizations handle challenges by using creative ways to adapt to changing circumstances.

Just 34% of organizations that gathered feedback from employees or customers reported a financial decline at their company.

A whopping 65% of curious organizations remained stable or have had minor to major financial growth despite the pandemic.

The upshot of this is that business owners who are curious by nature have a far better chance of keeping themselves ahead of the curve post-pandemic.

Staying Nimble Will Always Benefit You, and Your Business

Agility in response to rapid change or crises has always been a recognized characteristic of successful entrepreneurs. Yet, it now seems that the current crisis is so unusual and unpredictable that the ability to pivot in new directions has been stifled in many of them. According to the report, accepting this state of affairs can be deadly for your business.

In other words, “Without agility, curious organizations struggle to adapt quickly enough.”

“Swift, bold action is a prerequisite for doing business in [these times], and the organizations that are able to fundamentally change how they do business have the best shot at adapting to a fundamentally different paradigm.”

Since we’ve already shown how being curious can be a big plus in crisis business management, it’s time to share how being agile has helped other businesses – and can also benefit you:

People who work at less agile companies are 50% less likely to say they’re meeting their customer’s needs.

Nearly 50% of agile companies find it easy or relatively easy to keep their customers (as opposed to about one-third of less agile companies).

200% of employees at agile companies say they are doing better during the pandemic.

While forcing yourself to be nimble can sometimes feel like dancing on the head of a pin, and we know how stressful that can be, the ability to pivot in new directions when needed will always be a big plus for you and your business.

Practice… Practice… Practice…

Like all human endeavors, learning new skills or enhancing those you already possess requires conscious effort and practice. And, opinions from online “experts” aside, it’s apparent that survival in a crisis will be easier for entrepreneurs who employ curiosity and agility as foundational elements in building and growing their business.

If you need help developing a foundation of curiosity and agility as part of your skillset, our Foundations Strategy Package may be just what you’re looking for.

If you still have questions about how we can be your strategic marketing partner for 2021, click here to schedule a complimentary consultation and get your questions answered.

Brand Building: How You Can Get It Done

January 28, 2021 by Jama Leave a Comment

Even though you’re spending hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on marketing each month, your audience isn’t growing. You’re only followed online by a few clients, some bots, and your mom. (Yeah, not even your dad is paying attention to your brand-building efforts!)

And so, for a change of pace, instead of a lengthy introduction to our subject by explaining how difficult brand building is and why it’s so important, let’s do this. Let’s assume you already know those things and are frustrated by the time, effort, and expense to do it. That way, we can go straight to how you can get it done.

5-Step Brand Building Strategy

If you’re like many entrepreneurs and small business owners, your business hasn’t grown despite all the work you’ve done to market yourself. But, despite the poor return on all of your efforts, you feel obligated to continue because you know you need an online presence. Of course, we can help you with that if you’d like but, in the meantime…

1. Consistent Messaging is Marketing Gold

Consistent messaging throughout every platform is vital to building your brand. This includes the content you create, the logo and graphics you use, images, and the calls-to-action for your target audience. This last can change according to the type of strategy you’re promoting, e.g., list building, engagement, special deals on products or services, etc.

Inconsistent messaging does more than simply confuse your audience, it also creates doubt in your abilities and expertise. For example, if your social media content diverges significantly from the messaging on your website, you create uneasiness and questions in the minds of your audience. When this happens, rather than contacting you for answers, it’s far more likely they’ll simply move on to a competitor whose messaging is clear and (yes!) consistent to them.

Once they leave, it’s unlikely you’ll ever be able to bring them back.

2. Your Identity is Unique, Make Your Brand Unique Too

Separating yourself from your competition can be challenging in the extreme. However, being unique in some way(s) is what brand building is all about, i.e., creating an identity that has a singular impact on your target audience.

Focus on who you are. Share your vision and mission, which stem from your purpose. Do all you can to make yourself real in the virtual world where you’re doing business. These are the things that make you more human and will separate you from your competitors before you even describe your business, your products, or your services.

Video is a great tool for doing this type of brand building. The cool thing about using video to create an identity and reputation online is that they don’t have to be long. In fact, the best videos are quick, laser-focused on solutions, and highly targeted to your audience.

What should you include in your 2-to-3-minute branding videos? One subject. Expert analysis. Solutions. Call-to-Action. That’s all you need to gradually build your brand and online reputation through video marketing.

3. Poignant Messaging is Powerful Messaging

Emotional appeals are an incredibly powerful part of your messaging. This requires consistent messaging about the benefits of doing business with you. Not features. Not tech. Not changing the world. Benefits to your target audience!

If this somehow sounds selfish, that’s OK. Your goal is to cater to the self-interest of your audience after all, so don’t get distracted by things that do not reinforce that benefits-based message. Always work to answer their most important question, “What’s in it for me?”

Whether your goal is to make people feel better, look better, think more clearly, or be more productive, a positive result is what they are looking for. At this point in your messaging, it is absolutely not about you… It’s all about them!

4. You Need a Loyal Audience

Creating loyal followers (and eventually paying customers) is only possible if you display your expertise and honestly share the benefits they’ll receive from first engaging, and ultimately working, with you.

Your audience is your most valuable asset and by engaging with them and showing interest in their comments, you can keep them coming back. Once they show interest, by subscribing to your email list for example, you have a valuable opportunity to pique their interest further and engage on a deeper level.

This is the stuff of dreams for any online marketer because you now have a chance to build a relationship that has a high probability of conversion. How you handle these opportunities will determine the long-term success of your business. And it all comes from implementing a solid brand-building strategy.

5. Always Ask Them to Take Action That Benefits Them

Ultimately, the goal of your marketing is to compel your audience to take action that benefits you, and them. (Don’t ever forget them!) Whether your short-term goal is to get them to subscribe to your email list or take some other step that will lead to increased engagement, you need to get them to act.

These various types of activities are designed to help you begin building a relationship with them that will, eventually, lead to conversion; that is, making a sale. Your consistent emotional messaging combined with your unique identity and poignant appeals will create the loyalty that will entice them to act and do business with you.

Now, back to the intro we didn’t make you read… Yes, building your brand and a unique identity may be the most challenging part of your marketing strategy. But, just like that marketing plan, a strategic approach will be a huge benefit for enhancing your online reputation and your brand.

If you’re ready to get started on a foundation for successful marketing that emphasizes brand building, click here.

If you still have questions about how we can be your strategic marketing partner for 2021, click here to schedule a complimentary consultation and get your questions answered.

25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate

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Why People Buy One Thing Over Another

Your Strategic Marketing Foundation Bears Quite a Load

Curiosity and Agility – The Keys to Post-Crisis Business Survival

Brand Building: How You Can Get It Done

25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate

... to save you time and money