Are you in New Media Denial?

From Anthony Burke at WSI Digital Marketing

Old Media Marketing and New Media Marketing - How to Blend Old and New

New Media Marketing is a new phrase in the marketing world and it can mean many things to different people. There are many phrases that are being used by different people at different times to describe what they mean.  Some of the most widely used phrases are:

• Inbound marketing
• Internet marketing
• Web marketing
• Social media marketing
• Online marketing
• Digital marketing 
• E-marketing
• Interactive marketing
• Digital Marketing

Here at WSI, we prefer to use the term "digital marketing" to describe what we mean.  So now one question:

Is a marketing strategy that includes blogging, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter still new?  

We are at the end of 2010 not 2008 and things are moving at a truly amazing pace and new media is not so new anymore!  The world economy is being digitised and so are your clients and prospects! However, there are many businesses that are still in new mediadenial. There are still some businesses who think they can ignore new media and believe that old media is still the way to market their products and services.  The result is that they focus all their efforts and budget on the offline advertising techniques that they are familiar with and still use the telephone, print advertising, tradeshows and direct mail as the sole way of marketing their business. It is unlikely that these businesses will continue to trade and posper.  Some weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about a prospect who questioned the need to go online for her new business and is focussing only on offline marketing. Well her business is now open but not doing very well.  She puts it down to the holiday period!

The old media techniques are not useless and they can still be effective but they need to be blended with the new media opportunities and be adapted to the new media experiences of your clients and prospects.  The economy is becoming digitised and so are your customers and prospects.  Let’s look at each of these old media formats and how they can be converted to new media marketing.

Telephone 

Telemarketing is a much maligned marketing technique.  This is usually because it is conducted in very poor manner. The telephone can be used in different ways. So instead of only cold calling for sales prospects, think of some more innovative ways to use the telephone.  For example, call people to conduct a survey on a relevant industry topic.  Invite them to take a survey on the phone or online. If they prefer the online survey get their email address and send them a link to your online survey. Be sure to offer them a free copy of the survey results. Keep them informed by email in the future. Don’t always try to sell anything in this phone call. The person will remember the content experience about your brand and possibly buy from you when he or she is ready. Of course, the best use of the telephone is to call all the leads you develop through your inbound marketing strategy.

Print Advertising

Many businesses advertise in print but have no idea if the ad is working for them.  If you are advertising in a relevant publication, put a clear call to action on the ad and  make this call to action accessible online via a  unique landing page that you can link back to the ad.  This way you can measure it and work out if it is working for you.  Obviously, it is very difficult to manage what you can't measure.   If you have a phone number in the ad, be sure it’s unique so you can measure the results of the ad.  For many businesses, print advertising serves to build or strengthen your brand and sometimes the best result is brand awareness.  However, make sure that the reader can engage your brand online in a way that can be traced back to your ad.

Tradeshows

Tradeshows are still a great way to get your products and services in front of your customers and prospects and they usually offer up a great networking and learning experience.  Some industries work better than others.  There is a great opportunity to blend and integrate your tradeshow marketing with your online strategy in several ways.  For example, if you are exhibiting or even just attending a tradeshow you should always talk about the event online before, during and after the event.  If you use LinkedIn, you can communicate to your connections that you are attending a particular Tradeshow. Make sure that you use your online PR, your blog, Facebook and Twitter channels to discuss your contribution to the event as well as the contribution of others. You can share photos and videos from the event via Flickr and YouTube.  When you meet people at the tradeshow, then make sure that you connect online to keep the relationships going after the event.

Direct Mail

Direct mail is often an overused old media technique but still has value in an integrated marketing plan. Similar to print advertising be sure to have a measurable call to action. Consider linking the call to action to personalized URLs landing pages. This will allow you to measure the results of your direct mail campaigns very clearly with online interaction attributable to your direct mail campaigns.

New Media Transitions

There are many businesses that continue to use old media marketing strategies very well by integrating them with new media channels. In order to get some great sales results you need to integrate your old media and new media plans by connecting and engaging people the way they want to be engaged.  Don't use using old media strategies in a vacuum. Also, avoid using new media tools in a similiar vacuum especially as a megaphone to blast your sales message.  Rather integrate your old media and new media channels into the marketing 2.0 mindset

So your clients and prospects will want to connect with you and your brand to explore what you can do for them via the channels that they want to so it is important to integrate all your marketing efforts - both online and offline.  It is the businesses who adopt the mindset of a content publisher and a relationship collaborator which are the ones whose content marketing strategy delivers the best results. Even old media marketing can convert to new media marketing using an integrated approach.

So are you an old media traditionalist? How are your integrating your old and newmarketing ? Tell your story below.

 

Writing Great Content for the Web - Top 10 Tips

From Anthony Burke - WSI Digital Marketing

Top 10 Tips on How to Write for the Web

Writing for the Web is very different from other forms of writing and when writing for the web, you should always keep the following comparison in mind - the Internet is like a jungle and web users are information hunter gatherers who are foraging in the information jungle. Typically, the majority of web users only scan websites when they are looking for useful information. So it is important to write in a way that promotes conciseness, scan-ability and objectivity. I have worked with John Bancroft at Incognate and learned a lot. John is a great copywriter and taught me how to write better copy for the web.  John Bancroft at Incognate runs a great copy writing service and we have worked together on several projects. So what have I learned and what are the best guidelines to follow to make sure you are a successful writer on the web?

1. Be Clear and Concise

The majority of Internet users have a low attention span really only scan websites for the information they are looking for so good website writing must be clear, concise and to the point. A general rule of thumb is that the word count for websites should be about half that of traditional writing. You want your visitors to get the main point of each paragraph as quickly as possible. Long and complex sentences or abstract language will not work well on the web and will drive users away from your pages.

2. Divide into your text into manageable chunks

As a good web copywriter you have to break the text into chunks and make them easy to read  for readers who are glancing through your pages.  Dividing these chunks of text up with clear subheadings and telling the reader what the next paragraph is about is a good way of engaging your web visitors. Readers can then quickly decide whether your site is right for them without even having to read any of the “finer print.” One great tip is to use bulleted lists because they are a great way to provide the most important information in a quick and easily understandable format.

3. Check your copy with different browsers

Make sure you understand how your website looks in each different browsers and with different screen sizes so that you know what visitors see when they come to your site. Make sure you know how much of your home page is seen before having to scroll down, and make sure that the most important and eye-catching information is placed at the top of the page before the scroll. Google has a useful tool to show you how much of your web page is visible to most users.  You can see it here xxx

4. Try to Draw Readers In

Often, website homepages are organised so that users can click and navigate to other pages on the site via several options. Three things are important to make sure that your pages grab attention:

• headlines
• deks
• related photos or multimedia

Printed materials like magazines and newspapers rely on their headlines to attract passing news buyers at newsstands. Website copywriters need to make sure that the headlines work in a similar way because headlines and deks on the homepage are the only chance a writer has to “sell” that story to a visitor, The web writer needs to make sure that they are simple, clear and attractive to readers. Headlines should emphasize action verbs and highlight items that will inform or entertain readers. It is important that they reflect what the article is about as there is nothing more annoying for an Internet reader than clicking on a link expecting to get one type of information and finding something quite different.

5. Keep Your Most Important Information at the Front

Once users have clicked on an article or a page, website copywriters should follow the tried and tested inverted pyramid style of newspaper writing. This way of writing means you put the most important information first, then expanded throughout the rest of the article. In other words, the “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” “why” need to be answered first. The “how” will make up the rest of the article. Most web readers will not click through to a second page so this is another reason for using the inverted pyramid style. Place the most important information to readers before the page break.

6. Make sure you think of SEO

All the main search engines have been working hard and evolving their engine algorithms and will trap keyword stuffing so this is no longer a way to achieve recognition for your website.  However, SEO literacy is just as important as ever. Consider the keywords most relevant to your page, and think of ways to include them in the title and body of your article. Today’s web copywriter will use applications such as Google’s Keyword Tool to add a scientific dimension to their intuition.

7. Hyperlinking for best effect

Hyperlinking is very important and web writers should understand the function of hyperlinking. Hyperlinks provide relevance and more information to readers without bogging them down in reading through detail. For example, if you refer to a specific topic, but you don’t want to go into all the details, then it is best to link to the other article or site that contains that information.  You can highlight one specific word, which will give your readers an idea of what information that link will provide.  So for example, you can write something like "go here for more information on copywriting in Spanish,” and link on the words "copywriting in Spanish".  Another reason to hyperlink is for attribution especially if you are quoting another source.  It is always best to provide the reader with that information.  Sites that hyperlink to other well-written and helpful sources are move valuable for readers.  Web visitors will return to your site if they know you will provide more sources and information they can use at their own discretion.

8. Keep Your Readers on Your Site

Most webusers know how to open a link in a new window or tab but I prefer to set the link to open in a new tab or window so the reader will be able to get back to your website easier. Otherwise, readers will be taken away to another site and may forget they ever began on one of your pages.

9. Use Multimedia

One of the great advantages of the internet is that it can mix all forms of information and entertainment. So make sure you use photos, graphics, videos and flash to grab readers’ attention. Be careful and don't overdo use of attention grabbers because you don't want to distract the reader by relying on these things too heavily. Make sure you are always thinking about how to best illustrate your text with multimedia.

10. Last but not Least - Style!

Finally, the style that you use should be personal and will make your website stand out while engaging and drawing your readers in. For most websites, an informal yet lively style works well and keeps your style simple and makes your copy easy to read. Typically, most internet readers prefer sites that are written in a conversational and informal style. Make sure you write in the active rather than the passive voice. Writing in the active voice will also force you to be concise.

Twitter Marketing can drive International Business

From WSI Digital Marketing - Twitter has international marketing appeal

All types of businesses and general human interactions and activities are going global.  The use of Social Media and Social Networking platforms is growing exponentially. Twitter is a runaway success story and the success of this social networking phenomena called Twitter can be attributed to its global appeal. Twitter recently announced that its 20 billionth message or tweet had been posted.

The interesting fact is that the 20 billionth tweet was not written in English and shows that Twitter is now benefitting from a worldwide following. When you consider that the 20 billionth tweet is not in English, this fact help us to understand Twitter's growth.

Twitter really has taken off in the non English speaking countries and if you want just one example, look at how Twitter was hugely important during the disputed Iranian elections. It is the speed of Twitter and the ease of access to Twitter that is so important. According to Twitter, the landmark tweet was sent by a Japanese graphic designer in Tokyo. The firm said that around 12 per cent of worldwide tweets are now posted in Japan, which is the second largest national proportion behind the US.

So Twitter is an extremely powerful digital marketing tool because it has location based services and also Twitter has gone global so it is the perfect networking platform for small, medium or large companies who want to reach out  and engage with customers and prospects - locally or internationally.

You can use this song to keep you happy when you are tweeting

Writing for the Web - Top 10 Tips http://goo.gl/Nk0E

Is Google is polluting the internet? http://goo.gl/1c5B

the top 10 consumer mobile applications for 2012, as predicted by Gartner (November 2009) http://goo.gl/O7Ae

Twitter Added 30 Million Users In The Past Two Months http://goo.gl/aGMf