Unless you are a web developer by trade, you will inevitably waste your time building an ineffective, confusing web presence. Even worse — having a friend or relative do it for free or trade. (Good luck meeting your launch deadline and working out payment.) The truth is, your website will be the least expensive and most effective part of your marketing (if done correctly), so the answer is a no-brainer: hire a professional.

Today’s web developers have to be highly specialized to remain competitive. They need to be experts with web markup, Javascript, design and color theory, typography, blogs, content management systems, databases, proper search engine optimization techniques, online marketing, usability, accessibility, social media integration, image editing, video compression, hosting and registration, security — the list goes on.

So spend your time making your product or service the best it can be. Determine price points. Study the competition. Find the most effective advertising stream. Meet industry experts. Find Facebook fan clubs and attend local events. Follow industry leaders on Twitter and attend their meet-ups, drink-ups, and other social gatherings. Small business is highly personal, it is about you, so spend your time building you, not a website.

In addition, when building your new website, take in consideration that your provider must be an expert in online marketing and social media.  If these important metrics are not built into the site – your website is as good as a home with no address.

If you would like to schedule your free consultation, and learn about integrating online media with an effective website, contact us, NOW!

Buzz marketing can be divided into three categories:

1. Unbranded buzz
2. Campaign buzz  and
3. Product buzz.

This article proposes that product buzz is the most effective form of buzz marketing and has the greatest potential to engage customers and positively effect sales over the long-term. Buzz is a contagious talk about a brand, service, product and idea and can be divided into two categories:

1. Organic- naturally occurring [such as idea buzz] and
2. Amplified- encouraged and enabled by marketers [such as campaign buzz and product buzz].

By choosing to amplify buzz, marketers unlock the natural talk-ability of a campaign or product. Although achieving buzz of any kind may seem like a marketing success, it is widely acknowledged within the industry that buzz is only beneficial to a brand if marketers commit to predicting, facilitating and listening to the messages being circulated. Unbranded buzz serves no marketing purpose unless it is efficiently harnessed and then built upon for a branded campaign.

Business Online Social Networking Builds Brand Recognition and Offers Additional Advertising for Better Search Engine Placement

As the Internet evolves, so do our marketing practices. With the current shift to a “relationship economy”, connecting with your customers has never been more important. Social networks and online communities present exciting opportunities to reach and engage your audience in more meaningful ways, and our business social networking and word of mouth advertising services are designed to help you leverage these opportunities to reach your specific goals.
How Social and Buzz Marketing Will Turbo Charge Your Web Marketing Efforts …

• Searches on social networking online Websites are becoming more popular.

• Social media sites gives users methods of interacting in ways that traditional Web pages can’t offer.

• The more involved a company is in social media, the better rankings their very own Websites can receive on search engines.
Why is social and buzz “word of mouth” marketing so effective?

1. Influence – Consumers are less influenced by traditional marketing and more interested in popular opinion and information share. We’ll identify appropriate methods of leveraging word of mouth principle that generates a buzz and positively impacts your brand.

2. Access – Actively engaging in online community brings forth new opportunities to connect with both customers and business development opportunities. With social network marketing, we’ll position your business where important discussions are happening, and help you develop a social networking strategy that produces measurable results.

3. Awareness – 3/4 of journalists report that blogs, social networks social media communities influence their editorial direction. We’ll create a social media marketing or word of mouth strategy that captures media attention and compliments your current public relations marketing.

Buzz Marketing, Online Social Networking and Social Media have to be carefully set up to support and enhance your marketing message, and are offered in many different capacities to suit the needs of your business.

Here are some word-of-mouth marketing strategies for your own website or business.

1. Leverage Existing Social Networks. Online communities have a tightly knit group of users who can help to increase brand awareness for your product. Tap into these communities with tools or content targeting their specific sub-culture and you are likely to get a lot of attention.

These can include applications for platform-specific websites like Facebook, which each have a large body of users. Content which examines mentions or analyzes mini-communities or sites within large overall niches will work as well.

2. Target the Influencers. Look for individuals who are trend-setters or authorities on a specific topic. They should preferably be individuals who have many personal connections or a large and loyal audience.

If these people spread your message, your website or product will very easily be disseminated within a targeted group of potential users.

Identify these influencers, build a relationship with them and market through their existing sphere of social influence.

3. Micro-Market. While online viral marketing leverages the interconnectedness of the web to spread unique content or user-supported promotional schemes, micro-marketing focuses on marketing to the individual by providing highly customizable products.

4. Industry Marketing. Instead of focusing directly on customers, focus on the people who can build your brand. Instead of seeking for thousands of views from a wide audience, make your mark within a niche community to build relationships and leverage-able connections.

Get recommendations from others in the similar industry to be mentioned, promoted or included in an industry-specific ranking or recommendations list. This builds your overall brand within a specific niche, which in turns promotes your site to traditional media and buyers looking in from the outside.

If you were a consumer, would you buy from a reputable brand that is recommended by many others within the same industry or would you go for a little known company with no reputation or recommendations?

Not only is word of mouth ten times more effective than print or TV, word of mouth is more important today than at any time in the past, for four reasons:

1. The ad clutter is rising to intolerable levels in America
2. Traditional forms of media are rising in cost, compounding the issue of clutter.
3. We’ve been lied to so many times with advertising, it seems like the only message we trust these days comes from regular people like you and me.
4. Technology is accelerating word of mouth

Because of technology, word of mouth is moving faster than ever before. Text messaging, e-mail distribution lists, chat rooms, message boards, Web sites and blogs. If you see a great movie, you are sending an e-mail to sixty-three of your friends in an instant and you have buzz currency of being in the know. If the movie stinks, an e-mail goes out to those sixty-three friends warning them to save their money. You become the hero for saving all your good buddies $20 for a pair of tickets and popcorn.

Most important, though, word of mouth used to travel in unique setting where a conversation could never be heard again. Now, with the internet, a permanent history of word of mouth stays recorded forever. Bad or good, the internet has transformed word of mouth from a single-engine dogfighter to an F-16.

Word of mouth can be your biggest asset in today’s marketing world. Flying this powerful machine requires knowledge, patience, deliberation and a lot of control.

Are consumers talking about you?

Do you know how important word-of-mouth marketing is? Did you know it can turn a business around from failure to success overnight? Well, that is if it’s positive word-of-mouth marketing, negative word-of-mouth marketing can have the exact opposite effect.

Truth is that the trust of the consumer is diminishing quickly. Think about how many scams we see on the news and that is explanation enough of why our potential customers are very leery. This is where the power of word-of-mouth marketing comes in. As consumers we may not believe your commercials or the other venues you use to advertise with, but we will believe what someone else says about your products and services.

Look, we hear it all the time, word-of-mouth marketing is the best marketing because it comes with credibility and it costs you nothing. When I say this I see the other party scratch their head and get that serious contemplation look and I know exactly what they are thinking: “How do I generate word-of-mouth buzz for my product or service?”

Word-of-Mouth marketing is the most difficult to measure, but it’s also the most cost effective, because it costs you nothing. Your customers are the best vehicle for positive word-of-mouth marketing, but how can you get them to talk about you?

Word-of-mouth marketing can be generated, but you must do a few basic things to make it happen. Let me show you five tips:

1. Ask them to try your product.

If you want consumers to talk about your product, ask them to try and then to tell others about it. This is an effective way to build excitement and genuine recommendations.

2. Find ways to make your customers feel like company insiders.

Involve them, ask their opinion and then listen. Make them feel like their feedback and opinion matters. Create a list that shares with them upcoming events, product or specials that are coming up.

3. Provide a forum for influences to have a conversation on behalf of your brand.

Give influencers a forum to share their opinion and feedback. This could be a company sponsored cocktail party or as simply as an online forum for selected customers only.

4. Provide quality service and treat every customer with respect.

Give your consumer something good to talk about. Show them quality in service and treat every customer with respect. Do you think Starbucks became popular because of their $4.00 lattes? No they became popular because they made an effort to know their customers names and remember their favorite drinks. They provide quality and experience, that’s why customers paid $4.00 for a latte. Unfortunately they’ve gotten a little lax on it lately, but in the beginning they had it down to a science. Perhaps if they were focus on it again they might see a brighter economic future in these tough times.

5. Stay in touch, provide them with specials that they want to talk about.

Put your consumers in the know. Inform them of specials, send them coupons and by all means stay in touch. This will not only increase their visits, but it will get them talking about you.