 |
Chat Session
Conducted for Students and SEM
Practitioners with
Ongoing Access to the Resources of the
Academy of
Web Specialists
Back to Chat
Index
SEO as One Part of your Internet Marketing
Mix
November 04, 2002
Conducted by Sally Kavanagh
Academy of Web Specialists
Take
search engine marketing training!
Sally Kavanagh - Can each of you tell me briefly how much
marketing you have done - and perhaps what you want to get out of this chat?
Sheetal - I have been doing SEO for about 4/5 months now.
Sally
Kavanagh - The first rule I think should always be that any particular part of
a marketing campaign should support every other part. So, the website should
support advertising, and advertising should support the website, etc.
Sally Kavanagh - Everyone agree with that?
Sheetal - Yes.
Clarence - Yes.
Aviv - I've been concentrating on permission
e-mail marketing.
Sally Kavanagh - Great Aviv, probably the most
effective medium there is at the moment.
Sally Kavanagh - OK. Back to
being comprehensive, make everything support everything else. This also gets us
into the need for corporate identity.
Burgwald - Give examples of
advertising.
Sally Kavanagh - What I mean is off line advertising,
display ads in mags, etc. Perhaps I should outline the various media available:
Display advertising, editorial, sales letters, direct mail, websites - they
must all support each other.
Sally Kavanagh - So, lets talk about on
line marketing and how it interacts with other media. Adverts, its important
that visually they link in with the website corporate identity.
Sally
Kavanagh - Also, make sure the web address is easy to find and easy to
understand. Its surprising how many people confuse email and websites, they
think they are the same. So, I suppose I am saying, always assume your market
needs their hands held and you wont go far wrong.
Sally Kavanagh -
Editorial, press releases and articles can be very cost effective method of
generating interest, but not as good as it used to be in my view - Again, refer
to the website.
Sally Kavanagh - Direct mail, target you audience's
response at the website. Sales letters, like ads, make sure it all ties
together and again use the website to say all the things you haven't room to
say on a letter, and, most important to us, the website itself, try and get the
most out of it.
Sally Kavanagh - I am beginning to believe the most
valuable contribution a website makes to the marketing department is in the
stats. Where else can you monitor exactly what your customers/prospects were
looking for in order to find you? Come on - the internet is all about
interactivity, interact!!
Clarence - When starting a marketing campaign
with a small budget where is the best place to start?
Sally Kavanagh -
I'm assuming you already have a website...
Clarence - Yes.
Sally Kavanagh - Then it depends upon your market, is it B2B or B2C?
Clarence - B2C.
Sally Kavanagh - Are you selling mainly locally
or nationally/internationally?
Clarence - World.
Sally Kavanagh
- In which case you are limited really to the website and perhaps relevant
trade and technical publications, especially if you are in an international
market anyway. You can also use a newsletter, again together with your website.
Clarence - Yes, I do have a newsletter and found it to be really
helpful.
Sally Kavanagh - Mailing to current customers to tell them
about other products you sell, and to new prospects who need jogging.
ChezParis - What do you recommend for a marketing campaign with
essentially no budget! Any free things out there that you recommend?
Sally Kavanagh - Editorial is the only free one - If you don't have to
cost the time it takes to write the copy. Also silly little things like
stickers on the back of your car with your website address on.
ChezParis - What exactly do you mean by editorial?
Sally
Kavanagh - Tell me what you are trying to sell and I'll give you an example.
ChezParis - One example is a mortgage banker who wants to sell
refinancing loans/ first home loans.
Sally Kavanagh - Write an article
about when its a good idea to take out a refinancing loan, what are the
pitfalls to look out for, how to select the right loan for you. But first
contact the editor of a relevant finance magazine and offer the article, giving
him an outline of the content you propose.
Sally Kavanagh - Be subtle
in your mention of the client, sometimes you don't even need to mention the
clients name in the article, just say written by Joe Bloggs of 'client name'.
Get the editor to accept the article before you write it, they take a lot of
effort.
ChezParis - How do you get them to accept it?
Sally
Kavanagh - Magazines need to fill their editorial pages. If the copy is good,
and give worthwhile information to their readers, they will be delighted if
they get the copy for free. But it must be informative and objective, not just
a speil about one company.
ChezParis - Do you recommend that I be the
writer/reporter, talking about the various stuff?
Sally Kavanagh - No,
you ghost write it for your client. So it shows that your client knows his
field, is prepared to give information and it also gives the client status and
credibility in his field.
ChezParis - Do ghost writers get paid by the
magazines?
Sally Kavanagh - Of course, the client must approve the copy
if it has got his name on it. I am talking about you providing a copywriting
service for your client as a marketing service.
Sally Kavanagh - The
magazine doesn't care who writes the article so long as it is good (informative
and honest) and doesn't cost them anything. This isn't the glamorous world of
ghost writing as per exposes on royalty, etc.
ChezParis - Great info!
You answered by question and many more!
Sheetal - What advice would you
give about marketing for a search engine optimization company who's budget
doesn't allow for offline marketing apart from word of mouth and search engine
positions? We have leaflets and business cards...
Sally Kavanagh -
You've got no budget, just a website, business cards and leaflets?
Sheetal - It's really a small budget..
Sally Kavanagh - OK,
networking is probably the best option. Are any of you familiar with BNI?
Sheetal - Networking? No.
Sally Kavanagh - Business Networking
International. It's an organization that runs local chapters where different
trades and professions meet regularly for the purpose of getting new business.
Sheetal - What do you mean by chapters?
Sally Kavanagh -
Networking, in general is getting out there, and meeting as many organizations
as possible and making sure that every one you meet knows what you do, has your
business card (and leaflet).
Sally Kavanagh - Chapters is just the posh
name they use for individual groups. Are you all in the States?
Sheetal
- UK.
ChezParis - US.
Sally Kavanagh - OK, Sheetal - I'd
suggest looking into finding a local BNI group, and what about the local
chamber of commerce, Federation of Small Businesses. These sorts of
organizations all hold meetings, go along, make an impression (preferably good)
and hand out business cards.
ChezParis - I belong to a networking group
here in central Ohio, called Network Professionals Inc.
Sally Kavanagh
- Do you get a lot of work from it ChezParis?
ChezParis - No, not
really, but it is a great place to master your presentations skills and address
questions you would not otherwise address. The referrals I feel will come
eventually
ChezParis - And I have a great resource of people to refer
my clients to, so I look like I have all the answers. I.E. my client has
problems with his Internet connection or phone lines - I refer him to a telecom
guy.
Sally Kavanagh - Exactly ChezParis, this idea is quite new to our
area, I live on an Island and so its not always practicable to travel to
meetings on the mainland.
Sally Kavanagh - With the BNI, the group
meets every week and each member gives a one-minute presentation. I'm finding
that people weren't aware of SEO, so I am getting quite a lot of work that way.
Does your group work along the same lines? By the way there is only one person
per trade or profession allowed in any one group
ChezParis - Yes, we
meet once a week, and 2 members will give 20-min. presentations to the group.
Sally Kavanagh - Has anyone got any other comments or shall we call it
a day for now?
ChezParis - Do you develop the marketing campaign at the
same time as the website?
Sally Kavanagh - Ideally yes, but its not
always an ideal world. What I would say is that any marketing should take into
account what else has been done and build on it.
Sally Kavanagh -
Sheetal, have a look at www.bni.com and see if you think it's for you - you
have to be at the meetings at 7am each week!!
Sally Kavanagh - Thanks
all for coming and hope to see you again soon. Bye.
Back to Chat
Index
Enroll in a Search
Engine Marketing Training Program
|