The internet affords an opportunity unlike anything in history to create publicity for products or services. Unfortunately most people do NOT get the results they hope to achieve. The reason for this while simple may not be so apparent.
1/2 Of One Percent
The standard return on investment, the number we've used in outbound marketing since the beginning, has always been 1/2 of 1% on outbound messages. It may be a little more, often a little less and some may argue, but this is the benchmark. Stop and think about what that means. It means if you tell 1000 people about a product or service 1/2%, or five people will likely respond. That does not mean buy - it means respond in some way.
The standard return on investment, the number we've used in outbound marketing since the beginning, has always been 1/2 of 1% on outbound messages. It may be a little more, often a little less and some may argue, but this is the benchmark. Stop and think about what that means. It means if you tell 1000 people about a product or service 1/2%, or five people will likely respond. That does not mean buy - it means respond in some way.
If this number holds, and it is the generally accepted standard, this means to make five sales you will need have 1000 visitors to your website. So how many visitors do you have on a daily or weekly business basis? Write that number down and multiply by 1/2 of 1%. How many Facebook followers to you have? Do you have 1000? If so you can expect about 5 responses for a given message. How many Twitter followers to you have? Do you have 1000? If so, you can expect about 5 of them to respond to something.
Many people are really surprised when they see this number. It may not be that you're not going a good job - it may be that you're not doing enough in regards to generating the required numbers required to produce good returns.
The Wrong Way
In regards to creating Internet publicity there is a right way and a wrong way. For instance, most people use social media as a networking tool rather than as a marketing tool. They generate a larger and larger list of followers and then pitch their product to that list. This is social media networking, it is NOT social media marketing. Frankly this is somewhat un-professional, it borders on being manipulative and usually does not produce good results of all. Endlessly pitching a product to a very small group of people will usually not create good results and frankly may create the opposite effect.
In regards to creating Internet publicity there is a right way and a wrong way. For instance, most people use social media as a networking tool rather than as a marketing tool. They generate a larger and larger list of followers and then pitch their product to that list. This is social media networking, it is NOT social media marketing. Frankly this is somewhat un-professional, it borders on being manipulative and usually does not produce good results of all. Endlessly pitching a product to a very small group of people will usually not create good results and frankly may create the opposite effect.
What will create good results is to tell a huge number of people about a product and create word of mouth or, these days, word of mouse. This is the opportunity the Internet affords. Here we are not talking about hundreds of people - we're talking about thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people.
The only way to generate these huge numbers is through organic traffic. Organic traffic is not the relatively small numbers of friends or followers you have - organic traffic comes from the very large numbers of interested buyers who are members of the buying PUBLIC.
The Right Way
So what is the right way? There are two key components to doing it the right way are two:
So what is the right way? There are two key components to doing it the right way are two:
1. You must get your message in front of interested people that is those who've demonstrated an interest previously and
2. You must get it in front of huge numbers of those people.
How Can This Be Accomplished?
There are many ways this can be accomplished, but this always depends on the product or service being offered. Overall the strategy is to use search engines - especially dedicated search engines - to deliver your message to the large group of interested people.
There are many ways this can be accomplished, but this always depends on the product or service being offered. Overall the strategy is to use search engines - especially dedicated search engines - to deliver your message to the large group of interested people.
In the old days, 'getting the word out' was accomplished through traditional media. We sent a news release to newspapers, magazines, television, and radio stations to inform them that a product existed and to ask them to consider putting OUR message in front of THEIR audience. This does not work like it used to, as traditional media has lost much of their marketing value due to the advent of the Internet. Today nearly everybody uses the Internet when doing research on which products or services they intend to buy. But the theory still holds and the Internet engines now serve the same function.
Inbound VS Outbound
Remember" people do NOT like to be sold, but they do love to FIND WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR. If you try to yell, tell and sell, your message will likely be rejected. But if your pre-qualified clients FIND what they seek, they are much more likely to tell other people what they have found. Think about it - when you receive an advertisement, do you immediately send it along to your friends? When you get an unsolicited message, do you send that to your friends? Of course you do not. Yet, when you FIND something you feel is interesting you will often send it to your friends.
Remember" people do NOT like to be sold, but they do love to FIND WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR. If you try to yell, tell and sell, your message will likely be rejected. But if your pre-qualified clients FIND what they seek, they are much more likely to tell other people what they have found. Think about it - when you receive an advertisement, do you immediately send it along to your friends? When you get an unsolicited message, do you send that to your friends? Of course you do not. Yet, when you FIND something you feel is interesting you will often send it to your friends.
Their many other ways creating effective Internet publicity can be accomplished but the message is this - the singular problem that most people face in regards to creating real success on the Internet is the fact that they think too small. If you hope to compete on a regional, national or international level, a few hundred Facebook followers or a few thousand Twitter followers is simply not going to make that happen. Your Facebook page is but one of millions. You are one of millions of people on Twitter. There are millions upon millions of blogs and some say upwards of a trillion web pages. You want to consider an Internet publicity strategy that creates real awareness and the does so in sufficient numbers to produce good results. Again there are many ways to do this but the method you should be use for your product depends on your product, your target market profiles and a number of other very specific factors. There is no 'one-size-fits-all' marketing strategy.
One thing is certain: if you hope to create real success, concentrating on small groups of people will not cut it today. If you hope to achieve real success, you will need to get that message where it can be found not by hundreds or thousands of people, but rather by millions of people on the worldwide stage. The question you must ask is this - Is what I am doing now producing the results I desire. If the answer is no, then something needs to change.
Don McCauley is a marketing strategist with over 30 years of experience. He helps individuals, small businesses and professionals create low cost publicity and marketing campaigns to increase sales. He demonstrates how anyone can develop a massive marketing and publicity campaign for little or no money by utilizing cutting edge strategic marketing and publicity resources. The goal is always to produce bottom line results.
Don serves as facilitator of the Free Publicity Focus Group. He is an author and currently writes for regional and national print and electronic publications. He serves as host of The Authors Show radio program, a production of eBroadcastMedia.com. He is an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional and is Web CEO University Certified.
Prior to establishing his marketing and publicity consulting business, Don spent many years as a marketing manager and trainer for several large US corporations. He has also personally built three highly successful service businesses from scratch across three different industries. He spent 8 years as marketing director of a regional corporation. During this time he was responsible for developing, implementing and managing marketing and publicity campaigns.
More information is available at http://www.freepublicitygroup.com. He can be reached by email at don@freepublicitygroup.com.
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