Compare and Contrast works for Keywords & Content too

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My 6th grade daughter said she had to write a compare & contrast essay this week.  I usually think about positioning as the contrast part of this process- how are your products or services different from your competitors?

Really, really local Internet marketing

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I had a chat with a client today about organic search optimization.   This client is a local general contractor and we’ve discovered that their organic results have deteriorated over time, as more and more contractors have created websites and have been optimizing, too.  I realized that, although their results are not as good, the results are also not as good for the person who is trying to find them.

To HTML or not to HTML?

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That is the question when it comes to Email Marketing.  Perhaps more specifically, it should be “To add images or not to add images?”

Email clients these days often require a confirmation from the reader to download the images so using images in an email campaign or newsletter is not always a guarantee that the reader will see your pretty (and more time-consuming) communication.

WOMMA

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A few years ago I was preparing for one of my classes by doing some Internet research and found out about WOMMA.org (Word of Mouth Marketing Association).    I visit the web site during my marketing management class to introduce students to a resource about leveraging word-of-mouth in business contexts.   WOMMA started in late 2004 and has grown rapidly since then.   As WOM marketing has become more professional (is that an oxymoron?), the authenticity and of course, the ethics of it, have become bigger issues.  

Don’t forget your sig line

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It is a simple thing to do … but so many people don’t do it.  They don’t make use of the sig line — also known as the Signature Line (or lines) — that is built into most email programs.

It’s important to continually convey your marketing messaging, and the signature line is an easy and cheap way to remind people of what you do and why they should consider your company versus any other company.

A few quick how-to steps:

For Microsoft Outlook:

Get Local with your Internet Marketing

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Many service and retail businesses focus on their local geographies in their marketing. Some of them have felt that Internet Marketing was really for companies that were bigger or that wanted to reach a wider market. And, in the earlier days of the web this was probably a fair assessment. Today, however, consumers are doing more and more of their searching for service providers on the web - especially for local services.

Positioning: How are you different? And why does that matter?

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Your position in the marketplace is the perception that your customers and/or prospects have about your company and services. Ideally, they will believe that you are different from the competition in some way — actually, ideally, they will believe that you are different from the competition in a good way that matters to them. Your job as a marketer is to communicate your position to your clientele so that they understand the reason to buy your stuff instead of someone else’s stuff.

CraigsList Tips

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CraigsList.org offers a great, inexpensive way for skilled tradespeople and other service providers (like Web developers) who focus on a more local market to advertise their services. There are several benefits to posting on CraigsList.

Targeting & Positioning

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I find myself walking through some marketing basics with our clients time and time again. The first question I usually ask is “Who is your target customer?” The answer I often get is some variation of “anyone who wants my stuff.” The problem with that answer, is that it becomes very difficult to position your goods and services in a unique way if you’re going for the lowest common denominator. As counter-intuitive as it might seem, limiting your target market (within reason of course) is often a first-step to successfully marketing your st