Are Customer Personas the Next Big Thing?

 

Are Customer Personas a Valid Marketing Methodology?

There is some debate as to what a persona is and whether it is valid methodology to implement for marketing strategy. With the rise of social media, personas have gained some attention among marketers as a way to connect personally with a faceless community.

What is a Customer Persona?

According to Wikipedia, a persona is defined as "Fictional characters created to represent the different user types within a targeted demographic, attitude and/or behaviour set that might use a site, brand or product in a similar way. Personas are a tool or method of market segmentation."

Well, yes and no. A segment will help you to define patterns of behavior. It still does not give you a real person to talk to. I like to define personas as Jeffrey & Brian Eisenberg state in their book, 'Waiting for Your Cat to Bark'.

"Personas are the representative stand-ins for the modes in which it is possible for individuals to interact with you and your business."

This definition brings to mind actors and their characters. We can identify with characters and their struggles and triumphs. If asked to talk to a pre-teen boy whose parents were murdered, how would you approach him? Kind of at a loss? But if you were told that pre-teen boy was Harry Potter, would you have a better idea on how to approach him?

Why is this an important distinction? Because individuals in a demographic segment can change from mode to mode, even within the same pattern, depending on their goals at the time.

For example, when you purchase a children's book at Amazon for your nephew, the next time you return all your recommendations are for children's books and toys. You are no longer in that mode, but because Amazon has put you in a predictive persona, you will keep getting those recommendations.

Understanding modes of motivation gets you closer to the heart of your customer and helps you to develop empathy for them. In other words, walk a mile in their shoes. In terms of customer service and innovation, this your golden goose.

Should You Use Personas in Your Marketing?

I choose a marketing career for one simple reason, I was fascinated by people and what motivated them to do the things they do. Why is it that 2 people within the same environment and genetics can be so totally different in how they view and approach things? (Have kids- tell me you do not see that!)

3 Reasons to Use Personas for Marketing Strategy

1- Create empathy. It's the golden rule... updated. Rather than treating people the way you would like to be treated, treat them the way they want to be treated. This brings us back to walking a mile in their shoes.

2-Design a persuasive structure. Don't misunderstand me, I am not talking manipulation. I am talking about creating a system that helps people to find what they are looking for, in a way that is pleasing to them. (this is also called user experience or informational architecture, but more than that it is also copywriting). In the end, you have a much happier customer because the message matches the experience.

3- Eliminate the noise and clutter. Sit in on any marketing meeting and you will encounter multiple perspectives on what the end customer is thinking and wants. Who is to say who is right? By creating persona characters, it is no longer about what the VP says or the CEO, it is about sticking to what the customer wants. Content and design decisions are no longer based on what you assume, but are based on empathy.

Not sure if this is more than a philosophical discussion that is not practical to implement? I admit, it is a big concept to get one's head around. Stay tuned for my next post where I will talk about the critics of customer personas and how you can overcome them in your orgnization.

Until, then- market on.

 

Using Inbound Marketing to Market Smarter Online - Part II

 

 

In my last Inbound Marketing blog I talked about Hubspot's State of Inbound Marketing Report, which had the following three key findings:

1. Organizations using Inbound marketing strategies to generate leads have a 60% lower cost per lead than organizations who use traditional outbound marketing strategies to generate leads
2. Social media and blogs are the most rapidly expanding category in the overall marketing budget
3. Businesses are generating real customers with social media and blogs

What you need to be doing to generate more leads and reduce your cost per lead.

1. The two most cost effective ways to generate leads are:
1. social media
2. blogs.
2. Inbound marketing budgets are increasing whilst outbound marketing budgets are decreasing.
1. Inbound marketing channels are defined collectively as: PPC, social media, seo and blogs.
2. Outbound marketing channels are defined collectively as: trade shows, direct mail and telemarketing.
3. Inbound marketing channels were identified as more important than outbound, and compared with 2009's report social media, blogs and seo were identified as more important in 2010 than 2009 as a marketing channel.
4. The one inbound marketing channel that decreased in importance is PPC.
5. Email marketing which can be either inbound or outbound was also rated as an important marketing channel for 2010.
6. The major factor for businesses increasing their inbound marketing budget in 2010 is because of past success with inbound marketing.
7. Small business is more likely to spend more of their budget on inbound marketing than medium or large firms. This is the same for both B2B and B2C
8. The top most important social media channels for business in 2010, in order are:
1. Company blog
2. Twitter
3. Facebook
4. Linked In
5. YouTube
9. On average 40% of companies reported getting a customer from; company blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
1. B2B was higher with LinkedIn at 45%
2. B2C was higher with Facebook at 68%
10. Frequency of blog is directly linked to customer acquisition.
1. 90% of companies that blog daily acquired a customer, compared with:
2. 38% of companies that blog monthly acquiring a customer
3. A weekly blog is the most common frequency and is up in 2010 compared to 2009.

The take away for business owners and marketers. 

If you're looking to increase leads, remain competitive and decrease your cost per lead you have to:

1. Get started with a company blog, LinkedIn (B2B), Facebook (B2C) and Twitter (B2C and B2B)
2. Blog as often as you can, at least weekly

If you don't have the time, or you haven't seen results spend some money and hire an inbound marketing consultant to help you.

If you're interested in learning more about this research: The State of Inbound Marketing

This was a guest post from Stacie Chalmers an Inbound Marketing Consultant and HubSpot  partner. She has been involved with marketing since the dinosaur and has graduated from the Inbound Marketing University as a Certified Inbound Marketer. You can read her blogs at Stacie's Inbound Marketing Blog.  Originally from Australia, Stacie spent 2 years living in Maine before recently moving to the warmer climate of Florida. However she still maintains her support for Red Sox, Patriots and Bruins !

 

 

Part 4 & 5: Harnessing the Power of Internet Marketing

 

Step 4 & 5: Internet Marketing Measurement, Testing & Optimizing

"No one ever won a race looking sideways." ~Chris Brogan

An internet marketer's work is never done.

Admitably, Steps 1,2 & 3 are a fair amount of work and due diligence. But as I tell my kids, doing things the right way is rarely ever easy. But when you reach steps 4 & 5 and start seeing those results, it makes it all worth while.

The purpose behind Steps 4 & 5 is to build on your successes (not someone else's failures- ie: 'best practices'). So many people are looking for a standard to go by to prove their successes without ever considering where that 'standard' came from. Make your own goal post, and then surpass it. In Step 1 you set your baseline, now set a new one. Wash, rinse and repeat.

Internet Marketing Analytics Tips

Even Google Analytics now allows you to automate some of your reporting tasks. So here are a few tips to do this part of your job in 5 minutes. (you can still tell your boss you labored all afternoon, just make sure they don't see this post or you at the beach!)

• Create your reports according to your department hierarchy. Determine who needs what information and how often then schedule the reports to run automatically to those people in Google Analytics. 

• Create alerts for certain actions- good and bad. This is a new feature (in beta) with Google Analytics. Taking what you have planned out in Step 2, set your alerts when you need to be notified to investigate.

Don't Assume- Test!

Science is a wonderful thing, I sometimes envy really smart people- not just because they are smart, but they are also patient. Plan your optimization tests as carefully as you have planned everything else.

Optimization Testing Tips

• Set your testing method. Plan your tests just as carefully as you have planned everything else in your process. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples.
• Don't use someone else's best practices as your rules. If this process has taught you nothing else, it should make you realize that your business goals and customers are not going to be the same as someone else's.
• Make sure you are testing the right thing. Start with the obvious things first, then get more granular.
• Wash, rinse, repeat. Just because you tested something 3 months ago does not mean you are done with it. Things change, so expect to re-test to anticipate that change.
• Go for the why, not just the what. You tested A and B, and found B works better. Ok, why? Until you can answer the why, you aren't done yet.

Making the Data Actionable

Because you already know what your web site’s objectives are, you already know what decisions you need to make on the data presented during measurement, and optimization testing. Much more than the ‘oh, how interesting’ metrics that are drowning marketers and decision makers today, you know exactly what to look for in your visitor's behavior to take action for improvements.

Now, look at your plan and decide what you need to tweak. Then again (you guessed it!)  wash. rinse. repeat.

 

Part 3 of 5: How to Harness the Dynamic Power of Internet Marketing

 

Step 3: Implementing the Plan

Harnessing the herd without going over a cliff.

"If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute solving it." ~Albert Einstein 

Unfortunately for many business owners and marketers, this is the stage where they start. There is a distinction between strategy and tactic. Step 3 is all about the using the strategy as the guide book for the tactical.

Your investment in steps 1 and 2 will more than return to you in the  amount of time saved going back and forth with design, copy and functionality changes.

The implementation phase of your internet marketing is where you take the 'how' and turn it into the 'what'. With step 1, you have identified the influences your competition, business and industry have on your prospects as well as how they go about their search. In step 2, you have figured out how to navigate the landscape, tied it into your business goals, set the plan of action and figured out what you need to make it happen.

How to keep a clear head during your internet marketing implementation.

Purpose of Implementation

Well that seems rather obvious doesn't it? Or does it? Inbound marketing is a fundemental shift for marketers and business owners. It means that your prospects are voluntary participants in your sales process and studies have shown that they more likely to buy. Being in the right place, at the right time, with the right message has been made all that much easier with the internet.

The tactics you use for your inbound marketing is likely to be a combination of things, such as:

• Web Design & Development
  
• Search Engine Optimization
• Pay-per-Click Advertising 
• Social Media
• Email Marketing

Process for Implementation 

1-Identify the necessary elements of your persuasive copy. Taking what you know about your prospect's buying mode and your sales process, your goal here is to align your sales process with their buying process using all of the inbound marketing tactics available to you.

2-Create the mock-up. How does the layout come together visually? Elements to consider here are navigation (UI), branding, page titles (SEO), header graphics, etc. Each element should have a function and priority in the conversion process. By giving elements priority it is easy to decide which ones need the most emphasis and where they should belong on the page.

3- Design without color. I know of some designers who will spend weeks deciding on just the exact shade of blue to have the right emotional impact. That is fine, however at this stage you want to be able to look at the mock up to decide without emotional influence. If it looks good in black and white, it will be fantastic with color. This will make your design decisions easier and faster.

4-Add color. I leave this to my designer experts. It is an art and a science all of it's own. The right use of color should create consistancy and a positive emotional response.

5- Development. It's alive! Now begins the HTML development. (Again, something I leave to the experts!) Things to consider here are download time, compatibilty with multiple browsers, CSS that is compliant with Web standards and fonts that can be easily read on a screen.

6- Testing! Before your site or campaign goes live- test that links go where they should, forms work, copy is proof-read, etc. Even though a website will always be a work in progress, it doesn't hurt to put your best face forward.

By first creating a persuasive wireframe that lays out the processes that are fundemental to your business goals and to conversion, you create a structure that your designers and developers can work within and support.

Imagine cowboy Joe and how much time he would waste (and cattle going off a cliff) because he did not know the landscape, where the preditors lurk, or ended up on a route that was impassable. He just trotted out and followed all the other cowboy's paths, because they must know where they are going right?

Now imagine cowgirl Nellie with a GPS, topography map, and a heat sensor to see where animal activity is happening. Which one do you think is more likely to make it to their desitination (goal) safely, on time, and within budget? Does this mean that Nellie won't encounter issues and dangers? Of course not, but she is less likely to be overwhelmed by them, is able to keep her sanity and cool, and deal with issues  swiftly and decisively when they arise.

Does internet marketing overwhelm you? Do you feel like part of the herd headed straight for the cliff? Download the presentation I did with the Maine Marketing Association where we will talked more about how you can take the reigns of the internet for your business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 2 of 5: How to Harness the Dynamic Power of Internet Marketing

 

Step 2: The (Action, Conversion, Marketing) Plan

Putting the map together to navigate safely to your destination.

Anything worth doing is worth doing right, or so my mother always told me. Little did I know how then that advice would guide (almost) everything I would do later in life. My high school graduation, my wedding day, my children's birth to my college graduation- every major event involved some type of plan.

So when I began my first marketing jobs out of college, I was thrown off by the utter lack of a plan for anything that was done. Why did it seem that most marketing deptartments were just responding to the need to make noise for sales or some other fire drill type exercise? 

I knew there had to be a better way. And why was 'plan' such a 4 letter word anyway?

How to Put the Research to Work and Construct an Action Plan.

I stress the word action, because many seem to have the perspective that research and planning means delaying action and missing opportunities. What I have found is that those that research and plan find more opportunities.

Purpose of the Plan: The 3 W's

Who do you want as a customer? I was chatting with a smart marketer this past last week and she very astutely stated,"Not everyone is your customer, not every customer is profitable. Businesses should focus on customers that are the most profitable over their entire relationship. What is their lifetime value? Who is the easiest to deal with and not a draw on resources? Who comes back again and again? Where is the biggest opportunity?" Right-o Aileen-those are the customers we all want!

What do you want them to do? Sounds simple enough, we want them to buy right? As I heard the infamous Chris Brogan say once, you wouldn't walk up to someone in a bar, say hello, stick your tongue down their throat and then ask them to marry you right? It works the same way online, depending on where someone is in their buying cycle, asking them to hand over their private info (or worse- hand over their hard earned cash!) before they are comfortable and confident giving that out is like trying to make out with strangers. (ok, maybe an extreme example, but one that will stick I bet!)

Having a plan that has a content and/or touchpoint strategy will gently guide your prospects to conversion, at their pace.

What do they want? This means understanding their buying motivation, their real motivation. To do this personas are a key element. In the book 'Waiting for Your Cat to Bark', Jeffrey & Bryan Eisenberg (2 really smart and funny guys! As said in my best SNL impression) define personas as"...representative stand-ins for the modes in which it is possible for individuals to interact with you and your business." This goes far beyond segmentation of demographics or likes and dislikes.

But this is another blog post altogether.

Process to Create the Plan: AIDAS (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action, Satisfaction)

This is really the whole point to having the plan, to know what to do and when to do it. Right place, right message, right time. And the sexy part? You can measure it and test to make improvements on results.

Attention- How will they find you?

Things to Measure: SEO ranking, traffic sources, CTR, social media reach, new unique visitors, top entry pages

Interest- This is where your customers are going to seek more information- about you, your product, your industry, your competitors.

Things to Measure: Top Content pages, blog post visits and subscriptions, RTs, entrance path, product views, product review, returning visitors

Desire: They want a solution, you've given them reason to want yours, now give them a clear and easy way to take action.

Things to Measure: Trial downloads, whitepaper downloads, request for proposals, add to cart

Action: The decision is made.

Things to Measure: lead to closed business ratio, conversion rate, average order value

Satisfaction: A repeat customer is a happy customer (is a profitable customer).

Things to Measure: customer lifetime value, customer retention rate, repeat order value

Of course there are many more things that can be measured. A big part of your plan should include what you will measure and what action you will take on it.

As you can tell by the length of my post here, I love this topic. I could go on and on. If you would like even more information on thsi subject, download the 5 step Internet Marketing Process presentation and learn how you can use it harness the internet.

 

 

Part 1: 5 Steps to Harnessing the Dynamic Power of Internet Marketing

 

Step 1- Internet Marketing Research

"A Dream is Just a Dream. A Goal is a Dream With a Plan and a Deadline " ~Harvey Mackay

Learn everything you can about the landscape you need to navigate.

Seems so blah doesn't it? Research- oooh how exciting. Not.

But it really is a critical first step, and being a closet science geek- I think research is really more like a CSI episode. Or like a cowboy deciding his route through the landscape.

I will even go so far as to say research is sexy, like detective work to find the killer and save the day.

And with so much information available to us on the Internet, the opportunities are endless.

Which is really the problem isn't it? There is too much information! How do you not become buried and overwhelmed?  Like with all new ventures, have a purpose and a process.

Purpose(s) of Internet Marketing Research

• See Your Business and Industry Through Your Customer's Eyes. Your customer's are not experts, so don't assume they know what you know. That is why they are looking to you.
• Understand Your Customer's Buying Modes and Motivations. Your customers really don't care how great you say you are. They do care about solving their problem, in their time frame and finding information easily.
• Differentiate from Your Competition. More than just the next guy who does what you do,but what other options do your customers have other than you to solve their problem? (Remember, doing nothing is always an option, so you will always have competition.)

• Develop Relevant Content. Recent surveys found that buyers only find relevant content 42% of the time. A lack of relevant content reduces your

  chance of closing the sale by 45%. When you understand your customer's perspectives, it is that much easier to develop a relevant and compelling content strategy and schedule.

A Process for Internet Marketing Research

• Business Uncovery. Based on the Johari Window of disclosure, business uncovery is a process that 'uncovers' what information you and your customers know about each other, or don't know about each other. This will change over time as your customer relationship is established.
• Business Topology. I first heard this coined by the Bryan & Jeffrey Eisenberg, two really smart guys. Business topology is just what it sounds like, the landscape. This includes your competitor analysis, your perceived business value, and other similar business models.
• Key Word Analysis. I know, it seems like I am beating that same drum over and over. And I will continue to do so until people stop typing their questions and needs into a search engine. Not likely to happen anytime soon. So use their key words, not your office lingo. 

Keep the Internet Manageable. Give Yourself a Research Deadline.

This part is totally up to you. Personally I limit research to a set number of sites, keywords, and/or key personnel.  You might want to set a timeline, or actual date. The goal here is to not to allow yourself to be overwhelmed with the volume of information, but keep in mind your purpose for researching. If what you are looking at does not suit the purpose, move on. Want to learn more about how to effectively incorporate this process into your internet marketing? Download the 5 Step Process Presentation to learn more.

 

Using Inbound Marketing to Market Smarter Online - Part I

 

The term "inbound marketing" is the process of attracting prospects to your company.  In relation to today's technology this means using the search engines and social media to drive traffic to your website. 

Examples of inbound marketing:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Social Media
• Blogging
• Email marketing - opt in lists
• PPC

The comparison is ‘outbound marketing' which is the process of pushing your message to consumers.

Examples of outbound marketing:

• Trade Shows
• Telemarketing
• Direct mail

Hubspot recently conducted a report on The State of Inbound Marketing. The purpose of the report was to understand the current usage and results of inbound marketing to help business owners and marketers. Three of the key findings were:

1. Organizations using Inbound marketing strategies to generate leads, have a 60% lower cost per lead than organizations who use traditional outbound marketing strategies to generate leads.
2. Social Media and Blogs Are the Most Rapidly Expanding Category in the Overall Marketing Budget
3. Businesses Are Generating Real Customers With Social Media and blogs

In my next blog I'm going to summarize the findings and simplify what business owners and marketers need to be doing to generate more leads and reduce their cost per lead. To make sure you don't miss out subscribe to this blog today!

This was a guest post from Stacie Chalmers an Inbound Marketing Consultant and HubSpot partner. She has been involved with marketing since the dinosaur and has graduated from the Inbound Marketing University as a Certified Inbound Marketer. You can read her blogs at Stacie's Inbound Marketing Blog.  Originally from Australia, Stacie spent 2 years living in Maine before recently moving to the warmer climate of Florida. However she still maintains her support for Red Sox, Patriots and Bruins !

 

5 Time Saving Tips for Social Media Management

 

As the 1986 wonderhit 'Save Some Time for Me'  goes:

"I was thinking I could wait until the work is done

But you'll only want to get back out and have some fun

Why can't you save time for me...

There isn't much but it's all that I want from you

I showed you what you had to do to make some sense
But time moves fast
And it doesn't last"

 

(Yes, I am being sarcastic on the wonderhit part)

If you're struggling with finding the time to use social media, you're probably wrestling in two ways. You either spend too much time on social media and not using it effectively for marketing, or you're struggling to find the time.

Fortunately, the solutions for both issues are the same!

Five Time Saving Tips to Make the Best Use of Social Media

1. Know your audience and have a purpose. Be intentional about the time you're spending on social media. To do that, you need a plan, a marketing plan. What do you want to accomplish? Who are you trying to connect with? What is important to them?

Recognizing new media as an important part of your marketing plan, and designing action steps, can help you control and use your time efficiently. Understanding that before hand will keep you on task and prevent you from developing ADHD in Twitterland.

2. Schedule your time on social media like an appointment. Set aside time several times a day to check Facebook, log on to Twitter, or read your blogs. If you set aside 45 minutes a day, in three 15 minute increments, and actually put them on your daily planner, you'll begin to control the time spent.

If your marketing plan calls for you to comment on one industry Tweet a day, and one blog, make sure you've scheduled a reasonable, appropriate amount of time to do that.

3. Use social media tools. Tools like Hubspot allow you to manage your social media accounts all within one application, saving you the time of going in and out of multiple accounts. In addition to saving you time, you can also analyze your social media reach and how many leads you are generating from social media. 

Some other tools you can use are Google Alerts, Tweetdeck or for analysis TwitAlyzer.

4. Shut off notifications to eliminate distractions. Don't keep your accounts open so that you hear every ping! Intentionally log on when it's time to check an account, remind yourself of what you're trying to accomplish, spend your time there and then log off. You are in charge!

5. Be selective. No one is demanding that you overwhelm yourself with interesting -but essentially useless - content. Sometimes less is better. Stick with those sources that you have come to see real insight through.

Bonus Social Media Tip

6. Create a content schedule that includes social media. If you're supposed to be posting a blog every week, set aside the time to develop an editorial calendar, and then schedule your blogging time every week. If it's an important part of your marketing plan, be intentional, and then follow through.

Not sure if social media is the right fit for your business? Sign up for our Internet Marketing Audit to set you on the right path.

 

5 Reasons to do a Keyword Analysis as part of your Internet Marketing

 

I was not sure where to start with this week's post- most of the time my posts are inspired either by questions clients ask me, questions clients should be asking me, or recent trends and topics that I have read elsewhere (that I either agree with or wonder ....what the heck are people thinking?). Since I did not know where to start, I made the very wise choice to start at the beginning!

One of the first steps to search engine optimization is a keyword analysis. For any search engine optimization or paid search campaigns, it is still an essential first step. In order to drive traffic to your site, you need to know how people are searching for your product or service. You need to use the words people use when they're searching (not the ones you use, your boss uses, your sales team uses- but the ones that your potential customers are using!)

How to use your key word analysis:

• Copy writing

Write relevant and compelling website copy by incorporating terms that people immediately identify with. Use the phrases in your keyword analysis to speak the same language as your customer, not the lingo of your industry. Don't limit it to your web copy, create a consistent message with your email copy, or print copy, or ad copy- you get the idea...

• Pay-Per-Click Campaigns (PPC)

Plan profitable pay-per-click campaigns by building up a broad range of
keyword phrases that will capture your market. There is no need for guesswork- develop your PPC strategy around your key word list and offer.

• Content Strategy and Management

Develop the content that directly addresses your customers' needs. Is there a large search volume surrounding particular phrases? Review your web site content to see how you address those needs and fill in the gaps.

• Customer Behavior Marketing

Understand your customers' behavior and concerns by analyzing the words that they use. Are their search terms more general, indicating that they are early in their buying process, or are they more specific? Are they searching on ‘how to' or ‘best' or ‘compare'? A keyword analysis gives you the clues you need to understand their motivations.

• Market Research

Measure the size of a potential online market by the number of searches conducted. Determine the competitive landscape by the number of occurrences that appear for the same key words.

• Business Expansion

Develop new revenue streams by using popular keywords to inspire new product
and service ideas. An example that comes to mind is the custom luxury home builder who asked me to set up their PPC campaigns for them. After finishing their key word analysis we found a large number of searches focused on custom home design. The builder wisely decided that in order to gain the building  contracts that they needed, they would need to have a designer or architect  on staff to bring people in.

Ok, I know the post title says 5, but I just could not leave out the last one.

And one more tip- a keyword analysis is not something you do once and then forget it. Ideally a key word analysis should be updated quarterly so that you can see where trends are going, see how volume has changed, and pick up on any new phrases that are emerging.

Whenever someone comes to me overwhelmed by all the components of internet marketing, this is where I tell them to start. A good key word analysis is the rock solid foundation of any successful internet marketing initiative.

 

Does Your Internet Marketing Plan Include These 6 Key Components?

 

I drive a lot, and some of the ways that I amuse myself is reading vanity plates in traffic. Some have humored me and I have even taken pictures of a few. (like the guy in the convertible mustang who had the plate "NOWIFE". I sent that one to my husband.)

This week's memorable mention is also what inspired this week's  post. Some have asked me why I put so much emphasis on internet marketing plans. The NH resident with the brand new black Escalade said it perfectly with his/her plate "PLNAHD". Didn't catch that? Oh, let me explain- the person in the 65k car (in the middle of a recession and by the way more than I paid for my first house) says PLAN AHEAD.

Yes even in the new age of marketing on the internet, putting pen to paper and planning ahead is a vital first step to achieving success with any internet marketing efforts.

When developed and used in collaboration with your business plan (again-you do have a business plan right?)- your marketing plan provides you with the road map to direct your business towards success.

Thinking about your marketing strategy is the easy part, putting it into an actionable plan is going to require some documentation.

Consider history- if it can teach us one thing it should be this: remarkable things happen when there is a plan, incredible things are remembered when they are documented.

Effective (internet) marketing plans should identify and account for the following aspects of your business:

• Business Model & Objectives (the what, why, and how you do what you do- what is your goal here!)
• Market & Audience (who will benefit from what you do, and why they should care)
• Competitors (who else does what you do!)
• Customer Profiling (more than  just who they are, but why and how they will approach your business)
• Marketing Strategy (how will you let people know about the wonderful thing you do? )
• Measure, Align, Report (what will you measure according to your objectives and what decisions will you make based on those measurements?)

An internet marketing plan should also have a hidden agenda- take the ego out of your marketing. When you have a plan that identifies your key performance indicators (KPIs), aligns those with your business objectives, and determines your reporting, there is not a lot of room for whomever to say "well, I think, I like, I want to see, what about..". Your marketing is not tossed about at sea with the latest storms of the latest and greatest.

You can develop a strategic and tactical plan that can be analyzed, optimized, and lead to innovation. You will be less stressed chasing down a half thought out idea, you will waste less money on ineffective campaigns, and you will have the road map you need to drive your dream car to your desired destination.