The Merrie News - Feb 16, 2009

How to Get Online - Part 1 of 2

In the last issue of The Merrie News I looked at why you need to build e-marketing into your business and marketing strategies.

I promised this time that I would run through the different types of online presence you can have depending on what you want to achieve.

Before you look at the various options you need to consider what it is that you're selling. Forget your product or opportunity for a moment: you're selling you. But - what is it about you that differentiates 'you' from everyone else out there?

You need to know this before you start creating anything online (or offline come to that), or you'll find that your efforts are a complete waste of time. If you've had any coaching with me personally (don't forget I offer a free hour's consultation to anyone who has bought The Renegade Marketer ) you'll know that I would have asked you to "stick your stake in the ground" somewhere. You need to focus your efforts so that you have an effective business plan and a marketing plan that works for you.

You can focus your efforts on one aspect of business building if you have skills that can help others trying to build their business, or you can focus in on one aspect of your product range - one that you're passionate about.

But focus you must.

So, what has the internet got to offer you in terms of having an online presence? Well, there are probably three main areas: email marketing, blogging and websites. This week I'll look at the first two for you and I'll cover websites next time as it needs a bit more "page space".

EMail Marketing

To do this you will need an autoresponder. (The Merrie News is sent out via an autoresponder.) If you don't know, it's a programme that enables you to send an email out to a list of people, automatically. You can set it up so that your emails get sent out in pre-determined intervals, so you do the work once, writing a series of emails at time gaps that you decide (eg weekly for 10 weeks).

Once you have it set up, the work is done. When people subscribe to your list they get the emails automatically. Alternatively you can send out a "one off" email, like I do with The Merrie News. I tend to write this about a week in advance and then just set it up to go out when I want. Job done.

You have to pay for an autoresponder on a monthly basis, but they're mostly around $15 - $20 a month, depending on your list size, so won't break the bank. There's a list of autoresponders on my new Resources Page so go and check a few out to see which one you like.

Email marketing is the online version of "direct marketing", that is, sending 'mail' to a named recipient. Direct marketing works: businesses spend hundreds of thousands on their direct marketing activities. However, it's a real numbers game. These businesses spend this much on DM because they can predict with a fair amount of certainty what return they will get.

(Interestingly though, Direct Marketing used to be seen as the poor relation to its glamorous, and more expensive, big sister Advertising, even though you can never be certain that you will get a response with advertising. You should, but you may not. Nowadays, the various disciplines of the marketing world work hand in hand with each other: each have their particular strengths depending on what you want to do, and DM is now seen as just as important as advertising).

Direct Marketing is probably the most effective activity that you can do as a small business. You can really get your testing and number crunching down to the minutist degree, and you have complete control over it. There are recognised response rates (ie how many respond to you - which is not the same as how many buy or sign up - that's the conversion rate) which means working out your mailing figure is easy.

In the paper direct marketing world, the more people you want to reach, the more it's going to cost you. In email marketing, that's just not true. For the same(ish) monthly subscription, you can pretty much email as many people as you want.

For email marketing the average response rate is roughly around 2% response rate. However, because of the ease of the online world, this can shoot up to 20% or even more if you're good at what you're doing and dependent on what you are offering.

So if you want to get 2 more people interested in your products, then you will need a list of about 100 people to mail to. Free information and reports will always get you a high response rate (or click through rate). If your list has to buy something, expect a lower rate. How to get those people on your list is a whole other subject area though!

Email marketing is very under-utilised and is a very easy way to keep in touch with your target market, and enables you to establish yourself as knowledgeable in your chosen area very quickly. Autoresponders are quick and easy to set up and you can have a basic email campaign set up in a matter of hours. Check out Michael Rasmussen's Email Promos Exposed for a set of FREE video tutorials (but nonetheless excellent) on email marketing:

Remember that people won't buy until they've seen a message between 5-7 times. This does not mean you have to write 7 sales emails, but it does mean that you have to spend time building up a relationship and giving good quality information before you attempt to sell anything, or invite your subscribers to look at your opportunity.

Blogging

For the uninitiated, a blog is an online diary. You post, however often you like, on subjects that interest you; your thoughts, feelings, interesting news items, useful articles on the web and so on. People read your blog posts and comment on them, and soon you'll have a band of followers. Other bloggers link to your blog and you end up with a lot of people being interested in what you do. Your blog is somewhere that you can show the "real you", but don't be lulled into a false sense of security.

There's a great article in The Sunday Times (in the UK) today (Sunday 15th Feb, Culture section) on blogging, which says "At once, there it is, out there for all to see. Remember, I do mean "all". There's a shocking disconnect between one fact - you sitting at your computer - and the next - what you just wrote being instantly visible to the entire world. Try to think of it as like stepping out of the toilet to find yourself standing on the centre spot at Wembley on cup-final day."

If you're using a blog to create your brand-of-one then think about what you write, and how you want to position yourself. Don't hit "Post" until you're certain that what you've just written, shows you in the best light.

Blogging is completely free, but you will need to ensure that you post regularly, so there is therefore a regular time commitment. They're quick and easy to set up: you can have a blog up and running within the hour if you want. Try www.blogger.com and www.wordpress.com for a couple of good blogging sites (but there are plenty more).

Quote of the Fortnight

"Five years ago, we thought of the Web as a new medium,
not a new economy."
Clement Mok