Figure out what’s working.  Honestly, this is the only way a marketing campaign stands a chance of success.  You absolutely must track the success of your marketing efforts.  How do you do that?  Get a calendar and set up Google analytics on your site.  Whenever you start a new push, or run a contest, or write a blog post, mark the calendar.  (Trust me, if you don’t write it down, you’ll never remember – a very hard lesson learned.)  After you start a new campaign, give yourself a few days and check the analytics.  Did you get more traffic after you started the campaign?  Did your conversion rate increase?  Did anything happen at all?  You’ll know what’s working by checking out the analytics before and after.

Limit your social media time. Yes. It’s fun.  It’s entertaining. And, it can be a super time sucker.  Before you know it, three hours are gone and you haven’t even begun to work!  Before you start social media, determine which social media outlets will work best to achieve your goals.  Then, make a strategic plan to conquer!  Do not waste time on social media – use it with efficiency and purpose.  Keep your business goal in mind and get tweeting (or your social media gerund of choice)!

Get organized.  Of course this one is a no-brainer.  If you have a plan and stick to it, you’ll see results much more quickly.  And, when you’re running your business and handling the marketing, quickly is the most important adverb!

Hire help.  If you can afford it, hire a marketing firm. (I never promised to avoid shameless plugs.)  If you can’t afford it, hire an intern!  I’m partial to the Kansas State internship program (K! S! U! Wildcats!), but you can choose a local school or your alma mater.  Location doesn’t really matter as much anymore, since all communication can happen via email, text, IM or Skype.  Give a kid some experience and get some of their valuable feedback, too!

So, there it is.  A little list that will save you a ton of time! Now, get marketing!

If you don’t know the answers to these questions — don’t worry.  It’s just as easy as checking in with your marketing team and making sure they are working toward your goals in the most efficient way.  Here are a few tricks of the trade to make sure that your marketing dollars are going as far as possible.

1. Ask questions.  I know this one seems obvious, but it’s definitely worth a mention. Ask your team what they’re focusing on and why.  Determine if that’s where you want them to be spending energy and effort.  If not, be specific about the goals and time lines you have in mind.

2. Get reports. Marketing is only as good as the reporting you get.  If you get good reports, you’ll see the results.  No reports — no results.  So, make sure you’re getting reports.  You should see some hard numbers that show what is happening.  Be sure to ask for only results that reflect the current marketing campaign.

3. Meetings, meetings, meetings.  I know — the only thing worse than a meeting is a long meeting.  But, meetings are there for a reason.  You can be productive in a very short period of time, you just have to know what questions to ask.  So, here you go…

• How many hours have you put in on this project?
• Where did we start (in terms of numbers)?
• Where are we at now?
• What seems to be working, and how did you come to that conclusion?
• What is not working and how did you come to that conclusion?
• What is your recommendation going forward to achieve our goal the quickest?
• How much will this recommendation cost?
• Who is the best person to carry out your recommendation?

There you go!  Fastest meeting ever.  But, you learned a lot about what is happening and why.

4. Read up a bit on the latest and greatest online marketing news.  My personal favorites are SEOmoz.org and SearchEngineLand.com.  If you review these two sites once a week, you’ll get all of the information you need to be “in the know.”  When you know a little bit about online marketing, you’ll feel more confident when your team starts talking in “lingo.”

So there you have it!  Lucky Marketing Firm’s four ways to keep up with your in-house marketing team.  You’re feeling better already, aren’t you?

So, to attempt a “proper prepping” and to act as a resource for the future (when I inevitably improperly prep), here is a mini-list of things to expect when you’re working with an online marketer.

1. Expect a lot of communication with the marketer, and expect to help out a bit.  The marketer knows how to market, but she doesn’t know your business like you do.  She understands social media and content writing and affiliate deals and PPC and the rest of it — but she doesn’t know YOUR business.  (At least, not as well as you do.)  She will need to know the goals for your business, time lines you’re working with, previous marketing you’ve done and probably more information along the way.  Please, please, please communicate openly and often with the marketer.  Believe me, the better the communication, the more successful the campaign.

2. Expect to hear about and to be open to new ideas.  The marketer is coming at your product/business/website with a fresh set of eyes.  This can actually be helpful to you!  She is looking at a problem with her own experience and will come up with some ideas that you have never tried.  That’s what she’s there for!  Be open to the ideas, and add to them.

3. Expect to test and test some more.  One of the most important parts of online marketing is the testing aspect.  Your marketer will come up with an idea.  You’ll agree to the idea and she will put it into play.  Now, the testing begins.  If you have a very large online presence, you may be able to test the idea in a couple of days or even a couple of hours.  However, if you have a smaller online presence (fewer than 5,000 unique visitors per day), it may take several weeks to see if an idea will work.  It’s part of the process.  Go with the flow on this.  Trust me.  Sometimes, the payoffs are huge.

4. Expect to give the marketer some time.  Nothing happens overnight online (well, almost nothing).  For search engines to “discover” website changes and properly rank takes weeks or months, for new campaigns to roll out may take weeks or months.  Do not expect to see much action before 90 days.  (If we’re being perfectly honest, it may take as many as 6 months to really see progress.)  This is completely normal, and you should be prepared.

5. Expect to spend money before you make money.  Things take time, particularly online.  You will definitely spend money before you make any.  Your marketing budget should be large enough that you can go for at least six months without a return.  Of course, this depends on your goals and your site.  However, six months is a good rule of thumb.

6. Expect some failures.  Marketing is ultimately about brainstorming for new ideas and taking a new approach to things.  As as result, some of the ideas won’t be home runs.  (Don’t get me wrong — some ideas will work beautifully, but not all.)  Expect to have a few set-backs and a few discussions about how to tweak a current campaign.  If you or the marketer knew exactly what would work and exactly how long it would take, we’d all be billionaires!  Remember, there is a very volatile third party involved — the consumer.  It’s not always (in fact it is rarely) that this group is predictable.  We can do our best to make an educated guess, but sometimes we guess wrong.

7. Expect to learn a lot about your business and get a lot of information from your marketer.  You should be getting reports about the work that is going on and the progress you are making.  You should be hearing from your marketer at least once a week with new information.  You should be able to contact your marketer and ask questions.  After all, she’s working for you.

Overall, online marketing can make a good company a great company, and an online marketer can help you succeed.  However, it’s very important (for you and for the online marketing firm you hire) that you have realistic expectations.  If, for any reason, you aren’t sure that you’re ready to take on a marketing campaign, wait.  Seriously.  You will be thankful and your marketer will be thankful.

So, let’s get right to it.  There are a few things you can do right now that will help your conversion rates begin to creep up a bit.  Take a look and let me know your tips for a higher conversion rate.

1.  Get social! Make sure that there is a “like” button by your product and other share buttons nearby.  When someone buys a product, add a small opt-out that encourages people to share that they just bought the product.  (Make sure it’s opt-out, not opt-in.)  People love to see what their friends are buying, and they may buy, as well!

2. Add compelling content.  More visitors = more conversions.  If you add a great article/blog post, more people will be drawn to the site and your conversions will begin to increase.

3. Delete some steps.  If it takes more than one click to get from the home page to the conversion page, start deleting.  Make it as easy as possible for someone to convert.  With each click, you will lose potential customers.

4. Take a look around your site.  Is it simple to navigate?  Can people find what they want very easily?  If not, it’s time to do some rearranging.  One of the top reasons people leave websites is because they get lost and cannot find what they want.

5. Exploit your best-selling products.  If you have one or two stand-outs, add them to the home page, start Tweeting and Facebooking about them, just get the word out!  (Yes I did just use them as verbs.  A grammar revolution is here — either join or be trampled.)  Your popular items can help draw people in, and since they are top sellers, they will convert at a higher rate than your site average.

OK, folks. There it is: My top 5 ways to help your conversion rate.  Are you working on your conversion rate?  Do you have other great tips?  (There are hundreds!)  Let me know how you lowered your conversion rate.  Or, if you’re struggling with your conversion rate, contact me.  We’ll talk.  No big whup.

Marketing is one of the best ways to bring money into your company. In fact, marketing is the only type of business expense that comes with an expected ROI (return on investment). So, put some of your businesses’ money into marketing! If spent wisely, you will see your money (and maybe more) come back to you. (It’s been well-documented that businesses investing in marketing tend to fare better than those that do not.)

How much should a business budget for marketing?  Well, the answer is the very unsatisfying “it depends.”  The percentage of revenue spent on marketing varies considerably.  I’ve seen companies invest less than one percent, and I’ve seen companies invest 30 percent of their annual revenue.  (I don’t recommend either, by the way.)  The biggest variables are location of the business, competition within the industry and the level of risk aversion in the owner of the company. Is your business in a big city?  Is your industry saturated?  Do you think sky-diving sounds like a good time?  Your business will probably the higher end when budgeting for marketing.  On the other hand, maybe your business is in a non-competitive industry and the thought of wasting a dollar for a soda makes you nauseous.  Your business will probably sit a little lower on the marketing budget scale.    

Once you decide how much to set aside for marketing, it’s time to figure out how to spend the money you’ve allotted.  This is where most business owners really run into problems.  Many business simply want to do what was done the year before.  This may be a good idea if the marketing projects were successful.  However, if they weren’t successful, or just ho-hum, it may be time to invest in a new marketing plan. 

When planning to use your marketing budget, take a good, hard look at the following.  It will begin to be very obvious how to spend your marketing budget and get the ROI that you’ve been wanting.

1. Goals for the business.  What are your goals for your business?  Are you looking to grow?  Any plans to expand into other cities, hire new employees, create a new product or offer new services?  If so, the sky is the limit with your marketing campaign.  this is the time to get aggressive!  Maybe you’re wanting to hold steady in 2010.  If so, keep your marketing budget where it was for last year (including a little extra for inflation, of course).  It could be possible that you’re looking to downsize a bit.  This does NOT mean that you should cut out marketing.  It simply means that you need to figure out the best way to spend your marketing dollars efficiently.  Sit down with a pen and paper (remember those?) in a quiet place and really concentrate on what you want for your business in 2010. 

2. Target demographic.  To whom are you trying to pitch your products/services?  Are you aiming for 30-somethings?  (Try Twitter.)  What about women over 55? (Facebook is the answer.)  How about teenagers? (I see a texting campaign in your future.)  Interested in selling to mothers with small children at home?  (Blog, baby, blog!)  Your demographic will help determine where the marketing budget should be allotted.

3. Current/previous marketing efforts.  What did you do last year?  How about the year before?  Were any of the campaigns successful?  Look back on the tracking that you did for the projects.  If they worked, great!  If not, it may be time to tweak them a bit.  Don’t be afraid to try new things, but it’s important to look at what has worked historically for your business, as well.

4. What is your level of expertise and how much time can you devote to marketing?  How much do you know about blogging and social media?  Do you have 2-3 hours per day to devote to marketing efforts? If you (or an employee) is a marketing whiz, and you’ve got time to spare, you’re in great shape.  However, what if you’ve never been on a blog and you’ve only heard about Twitter on a commercial?  Or, worse yet, you have absolutely NO time to work on any marketing projects.  Never fear!  There are professionals everywhere who are ready and willing to help your company a success.  However, those professionals cost money.  Be sure to figure the cost of either hiring an employee with marketing knowledge or bringing on a consultant to help with all things marketing.   

No matter how you decide to spend your marketing budget, be sure that you HAVE a marketing budget.  Need help?  Contact us!

On September 23 from 6-8 pm, Angie will be teaching Website 101 at PACE LA Business Development Center.   This class will cover the basics of websites for small businesses.  You’ll learn why you need a website, how to pick a domain, how to plan your site, creating the design of the site, managing the site and more.   

On September 30 from 6-8 pm, Angie will be teaching Website 102 at PACE.   If your business already has a website and you’re ready to move to the next level of Internet presence, this is the class for you.  In this class you’ll learn the basics of SEO, how to find key terms, how to implement some SEO strategies yourself, the importance of inbound links, landing page basics and tracking your marketing efforts.    

On October 14 from 6-8, Angie will teach the third class in the series, Website 103, at PACE.  This class will cover the basics of social media strategies, including deciding which social media sites are best for you, how to start a successful social media campaign, and knowing when to turn your campaign over to a professional. 

All classes will be held at 1055 Wilshire Blvd, Ste 900B, Los Angeles, CA 90017.  They will be held from 6-8 pm each night.  Please click on the links above to enroll.  Most importantly, the price is right — all classes are free!   We’d be so lucky to meet you.  Please, come join us!