Here are 9 great tools that have helped me with my Internet Marketing efforts:

After 8 years in the Internet Marketing business I’ve tried many, many tools out there that promise to save you time and money. There are very few out there that do, but here are a few of my favorites:

1. Gmail.com – for those of you using Microsoft Outlook and aren’t extremely happy with it, I recommend you look into Gmail. You can still send email from your existing email accounts, while syncing with Calendar and Task applications that are a) Free and b) crash a lot less than Outlook does. Reliable and flexible email is part of the foundation of a successful Internet marketing campaign.

2. Google Sync – access your calendar, email and task list from your smart phone- none of this blackberry email nonsense that’s expensive and unreliable.

3. Wisestamp.com – the only downside to Gmail that I had experienced was that it did not allow for a rich signature (one that has logos or images). Wisestamp changed all that with a downloadable application that lets you create a fabulous signature complete with links to your social media accounts. This allows you to capitalize on your social media marketing efforts- a major component of an internet marketing strategy.

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Yes. A 90’s boy band can help you figure out if internet marketing is right for your business…..a large majority of business owners like yourself are suffering from head-in-the-sand syndrome.

Leveraging the internet to grow your business is something you know you should look at. But without a thorough understanding of the risks, rewards and how-to’s it’s tempting to put your head in the sand and hope it will all just go away.

Unlike New Kids on the Block, the internet as a marketing tool is not fading away.

Online marketing is certainly not a magical solution that will instantly deliver thousands of sales. But it is an important tool that more and more small businesses are using to successfully grow their businesses.

It may be beneficial to you to evaluate whether internet marketing could benefit you too. But where do you start? Continue reading →

If you have been playing around with the idea of using internet marketing to drive your organization’s sales, congratulations! Internet marketing is one of the most affordable, measurable and effective marketing techniques available to businesses today.

However, there is a right and a wrong way to use internet marketing. Here are the 5 most common fails and how to avoid them.

1. Leaping before you look:

In the fast paced world of the internet, technologies and tools are constantly evolving. Almost daily there is a new product or technique that claims it is the greatest thing since sliced bread, so it can be tempting to create a Facebook page, or a Google maps account before you have a well thought out plan as to WHY you are choosing these specific tools.

As boring as it is to hear, and quite frankly, say, having some kind of plan or strategy to reach your target market BEFORE you start will save you time and frustration in the long run. A few things to consider:

• Who is your client base, and where are they hanging out online?

• What are you promoting anyway? You need more to say than just having a sales pitch

• How do you want to be perceived? What do you want people to think when the encounter you online

• What is the end result you are trying to achieve? Have a goal before you start, so you can make sure your actions are all working towards achieving that goal.

2. Poor messaging:

As mentioned above, if you make your internet marketing ALL about you, no one will listen. It’s like the person at the party that talks ON and ON about themselves, without letting you get a word in. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are different than traditional marketing in that they encourage a dialogue. Deliver value, ask questions, be personable, but please do not make it all about what you’re selling.

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Internet marketing is the process of using the internet to market yourself, your products and your services using the internet.

Like all marketing, the purpose is to increase exposure and sales. The only difference is the medium, or tools you use to achieve these objectives.

5 of the most common ways to increase your sales and exposure using the internet are:

1. To have your website show up when people search your products and services in Google
2. To create a Facebook page
3. To have a Google places account
4. To have a LinkedIn account
5. To send your prospects and current customers an email newsletter

3 reasons internet marketing is different than traditional marketing.

1. It is a lot more cost effective. There aren’t flyers to print, TV ads to produce, and glossy ads to produce. Since the internet is an intangible way to connect with people, the production costs can be much lower.

2. Interactivity. Many types of marketing are a two way dialogue. Where consumers can give feedback on your offerings and respond directly to your messages. While this can be challenging when faced with less than positive feedback, it is beneficial to actively engage the consumer.

3. Measurable. Advances in technology allow just about every online marketing activity to be tracked and measured in a way that traditional media cannot. This is beneficial as it tracks your return on investment

3 reasons you should seriously consider implementing internet marketing:

1. Your competitors already have. If you are like most people, Google is the first place you go for information. Chances are, at least some of your competitors are on the first page of results and are getting the resulting business from that exposure.

2. It’s more effective. Sending out mail outs or doing print or radio advertisements that connect with consumers when they aren’t necessarily in the market for what you’re offering leaves room for them to ignore your message. However, if your company is present when consumers are actively searching for your products and services, they are more likely to contact you, as they are already in the buying or pre buying mindset.

3. It produces results you can measure. Instead of hoping that a marketing activity will work, you will know for sure. This gives you more power to direct your resources to areas that are providing a return on your investment.

Summary: The benefits of internet marketing are: decreased marketing cost, improved ROI and the opportunities for increased business.

How do I start Internet Marketing?

The first thing to do is meet with an internet marketing professional that can discuss your needs, goals and budget. Make sure that you research their track record though, as the internet marketing industry is unregulated, you should base your choice of provider on references and proven results.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin

How my discovery into Yellow Book Internet internet marketing practices could save you thousands of dollars.

In this short but informative video learn why it doesn’t pay to buy Internet Marketing from a provider better known for their yellow pages:

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The New Media Group is a Calgary based website design and Internet Marketing firm that specializes in serving small and medium size businesses within the real estate & construction industries. Our services include website design, internet marketing and graphic design.

A short video on how to increase your Calgary business’ bottom line by 10-20% by using Internet Marketing

As you probably already know, it’s much easier to get a satisfied client to buy again then getting a brand new customer to purchase from you.

Although this is common knowledge, it’s so surprising to me how many of my Calgary based clients don’t internet market to their existing customers consistently. A really easy and affordable way to do this is through email marketing. By capturing and using your customer’s email addresses to stay in contact with them, you accomplish several important goals.

1. The first and foremost is that they don’t forget about you- It’s not your customer’s job to remember you – it’s yours. Often the repeat sales cycle can take years to fulfill, and in that time they would have no doubt been made aware of your competitors in some way or another.

2. The second goal is additional sales. Often there are peripheral products and services that you offer that your customer may not be aware of. Whether it’s ongoing maintenance or accessories or cleaning products for your core offering, imagine if you could increase these peripheral sales by 10%-20% – what would that do for your business.

The major obstacle for many companies is that their customer’s contact information is all stored in paper files, and it would be an endeavor to convert this information into some kind of digital format.

Despite the perceived magnitude of a task like this, the benefits are ongoing. Once you have a digital list, you can leverage it as much as once a month to contact your customers via email or internet marketing.

Now, a lot of the feedback I get is that everyone gets a lot of spam mail already, and no one wants to be the company that comes off as that pushy, aggressive company.

Well you don’t have to. There is a wrong and a right way to email market and the key is to get your customers to open your emails.

If you’re always asking your customers to buy something from you, surely they will get sick of your emails and view them as annoying, which wont increase your sales or your company’s reputation at all. The best way to have your customers happily receive email from you is to deliver value.

What are common problems your customers have? What are they concerned with? If you speak to solve their issues, you will position yourself as a helpful expert- someone they can trust. In return, you will stay present in their memory when they are ready to buy again. Also, it positions you so sending out the occasional sales pitch won’t annoy them.

Probably the best part about email or internet marketing is that you can track your success very easily using built in statistics through the email marketing software- so you can tweak your messages accordingly. Two very popular programs are Constant Contact and Aweber- both of which cost under $40 a month.

We are a Calgary based Internet Marketing and Website Design Firm. If you have any questions about how to use email and internet marketing to help you increase your Calgary business’ sales, please don’t hesitate to contact us using the form below.

A short but informative video on Internet Marketing.

Sources:

• 85% internet usage in AB & BC- Statistics Canada http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/100510/dq100510a-eng.htm
• Consumers Subjected to 5000 messages a day- Book, Fascinate by Sally Hogshead, her website can be found at-http://sallyhogshead.com/
• Internet Usage surpassing tv –http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/canadians-internet-use-exceeds-tv-time/article1508091/
• Internet surpasses tv as the most essential media- http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/internet-surpasses-tv-as-most-essential-media-12499/?utm_campaign=rssfeed&utm_source=mc&utm_medium=textlink

The three major brands discussed here are: American Express, Mountain Dew & Papa Johns pizza: Original Articles here: http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2010-05-10-socialonly10_ST_N.htm

and http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/internet-use-in-canada-continues-to-grow-statscan/article1563383/

Find out how this local drywalling company was getting sabotaged online, and learn how to avoid or manage this situation if it happens to you!

I was looking at http://maps.google.com/ the other day searching for a contractor, when I found this local drywalling firm’s listing. The listing said there were 2 reviews which I clicked on. They are displayed below:
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Rip off artists ‎‎

By jensinclair47 – Oct 30, 2007 Rip off artists and unprofessional!!!. I highley recommend that you look around and price out contractors before you choose one. Do NOT use ******* stucco, you can get a much better price somewhere else and better service.‎ maps.google.com 3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful? Yes – No – Flag as inappropriate

Do not Use ! By BurN3D – May 20, 2009 Worst drywall & taping forever, and they backcharge a lots, be carefull dont use ********* if you dont want to be screwed.‎ maps.google.com 3 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful? Yes – No – Flag as inappropriate

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Obviously, this is a bad situation, and it unfortunately could happen to you without you even being aware of it. Lucky for them, I knew an individual at this company and I called and informed them of the situation so they could manage it… but what if I hadn’t?

There are now literally hundreds of websites out there that offer the public the ability to review your business. In most cases you will never know about the review or take the steps to address it, unless you check the Internet regularly by “googling” your company name.

Make sure there aren’t any bad or bogus reviews about your company that could potentially sabotage the hard work you have put in to build and maintain a good reputation. If there are, try to contact the individual to rectify their concerns.

As there is no way to remove the reviews yourself, you either have to ask the complainer to remove the posting, or ask happy clients to review your company in order to balance out the reviews your company is getting.

Along with http://maps.google.com/ Yelp is also a popular peer review website: http://www.yelp.ca/calgary

Not as harmful, but still prevalent are websites such as:

• http://thiscity.com/
• http://www.foundlocally.com/

Known in the online world as “directory” sites, they will list your company information without your consent or knowledge. This is great additional exposure as long as their information is accurate and complete- check to make sure that your phone number and address is correct, and your website address is included.

In summary, managing your online reputation just got a lot more time consuming and complicated, but if you want to ensure a squeaky clean online image, make sure you do these checks at least once quarterly.

For more information about online directory sites, peer review sites, placement in google or internet marketing please feel free to call 403 614 6708.

04. 09.10
Exposure to online advertising is fundamentally changing the way consumers shop, according to research from Yahoo! and comScore, Inc.

The study, which examined the impact of search and display advertising on in-store sales for five major retailers, showed that consumers exposed to online advertising tend to research or ‘pre-shop’ online prior to purchase, and this behavior ultimately leads to increased in-store sales. These highly-engaged ‘pre-shoppers’ spend an average of 41 percent more in-store when compared to consumers not exposed to online advertising.

“Although recent research cites 89 percent* of consumers shop for information about products online, less than 7 percent** of retail sales actually take place online,” said Amy Vener, Senior Director of Retail Category at Yahoo! “This means retailers have a prime opportunity to engage this audience of ‘pre-shoppers’ through online advertising to capture incremental sales in-store.”

Source: ComScore, Inc.