For sales and marketing people looking to get more leads for their business, the Internet offers great opportunity wrapped up in some interesting challenges.
Online marketing explained with cows
Disclosure: Just so you know, we may sometimes earn a small commission from affiliate links on this site.
It can be a challenge, especially if you're new to the game, understanding what marketing jargon means. Inevitably you end up having to go and find some definitions to help keep track of what everyone is going on about.
So if online marketing is a scary and unfamiliar world, with danger everywhere, like this:
Then it's time to see how our bovine friends can help clarify what the marketing world is on about.
Social marketing
You have a cow.
You share a clip of it chasing a friend on FaceBook.
Everyone wants to meet your cow.
Social influence
You have a cow.
A reporter interviews you about it.
People start asking you about cows.
Affiliate marketing
Your neighbour has a cow.
You tell your friends about it.
He shares some of its milk with you.
Traffic
You have a cow.
You put it on the side of the road.
People stop to look at it.
Spam
You have a cow.
You put it in the middle of the road, stopping traffic.
A few people buy some viagra from you; so you put more cows in the road.
SEO
You have a cow.
You put up a road sign with "Cow" in the title.
Passers by stop to look at the sign; you sell them milk.
Content
You have a cow.
You write about it.
Your cow gets covered in the news.
Advertising
You and your neighbour each have a cow.
You both put signs up to advertise them.
You pay a premium to move your sign directly in front of the neighbour's.
ROI (Return On Investment)
You have a cow.
You pay $50 to dye it pink.
People buy tickets to see your cow; you earn $1000.
Conversions
You have a cow.
You spread the word that it is amazing.
People pay to look at it.
Fake it 'til you make it
You tell everyone you have a cow.
You don't.
Enough people buy tickets to see your cow that you are able to buy one.
Reality
You have a cow.
No-one cares.
Hopefully with those common marketing terms nicely explained, the world of marketing is much more friendly, like this:
But, if you still don't understand online marketing, take a look at our marketing resource page that is full of useful tips and information to get you up and running like a pro in no time.
PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising on a platform like Google AdWords can be challenging to ge
When I started my first company some years ago I placed all my focus on creating a great offering, but almost no effort went into sales and networking. Needless to say that it took an incredibly long time to get off the ground - 6 years in fact.
During that time I learned a lot about how business works, and my focus has shifted almost completely onto sales, marketing and networking.
Nowadays, a good idea with a quality product backed by excellent service is the bare minimum required to succeed. Because there is so much competition (especially online), what sets companies apart these days is how effectively they can network and promote themselves.
Content fatigue, when it comes to finding innovative and creative marketing advice, is becoming a serious time burglar for me.
Coming up with marketing ideas for small business can be a challenge.
Modern email marketing campaigns, especially from small businesses, need to be able to grow a killer mailing list and deliver awesome emails to the right aud
Anyone looking to grow their business using a mailing list will likely want to make use of one of the leading online email marketing services - but which one?
As a business owner, you probably don't have time to set up a free trial on every site around, so it helps to know which one can get you started the easiest.
SME Pals has already done an analysis and comparison review of the top email marketing services, but that analysis doesn't really speak directly to how easy or hard it is for a beginner to set up their own email based campaign.
With a list of the right marketing tools, it's possible to be your own best small business marketer and SEO - without having to hire an expensive digital mar
Social media marketing is one of those things that most entrepreneurs and small business owners wonder if they really need.
In general, my answer is yes, but I need to qualify that by saying that the amount of time, effort and cash you invest must be proportional to the returns you want (and can realistically achieve).
I serve on the board of a wonderful not-for-profit, registered charity, and we have utilized the tools and technologies provided by the Web, and in particular, social media, to drive visibility, engagement, and awareness that would simply be out of reach otherwise.
Here's the thing about moving traditional customers online; you have to find innovative marketing strategies and ideas to get them to migrate.
Email marketing is a popular and effective online strategy for small businesses (as well as large corporates).
Competition in the world of online marketing is fierce - I mean really fierce - making it vital to choose the best possible marketing strategy to deliver sus
