Marketing is probably the biggest challenge for small business owners and executives. We typically spend so much time running the business day to day that establishing and maintaining a marketing focus just doesn't happen. The accelerating pace of Internet marketing change makes it all that much more challenging.
Happily, Stephanie Diamond has written that rare book which both forces us to think in new and different ways about marketing issues-and simultaneously provides a detailed roadmap so that we can put those thoughts into action. Once you have finished the book, you will be ready to develop and deploy a successful Web marketing strategy.
Her new book, Web Marketing for Small Businesses, is a much-needed addition to the literature of online marketing. This book enables us first to grasp complex concepts and then to put them into practice with easy to follow steps. Even solopreneurs will find significant value in Stephanie's book. I know that I have already begun to implement several of the strategies about which she writes so knowledgeably.
Stephanie conveys so much valuable content in her book that it is difficult to do it justice in a short review. So, I will simply share some of my favorite stuff.
My 7 favorite lessons learned:
1. Making it easy for your Web visitors to buy from you is essential, but it's even more important to make it easy for them to tell your story to others. This is the key to word-of-mouth marketing. You must tell stories that are so compelling and memorable that dozens of others will be retelling your stories to dozens of others.
2. Power has shifted from sellers to buyers on the web. This means that your web presence must provide plenty of compelling content that makes it easy for buyers to take action. Don't give them an excuse to look elsewhere for essential information.
3. Develop a precise and in-depth understanding of your buyers. Create a `persona' for your buyer that makes her a flesh and blood human being for whom you can craft just the right messaging.
4. Simplify. Simplify. Simplify. Make it incredibly easy for your web visitors to understand why your products and services will provide perfectly tailored solutions for their most important needs.
5. Always think of what actions you want your visitors to take. Provide content within an information architecture that will lead your visitors to take those actions naturally and effortlessly. This action-focused approach applies to every part of your website.
6. Your website is effectively a direct response mechanism. Therefore think like a direct response copywriter and ask "so" questions. For example, "our widget is the lightest in the industry." So? Then finish the equation... "so you can carry it with you wherever you go."
7. You must do usability testing no matter how small your marketing budget. It's really just a question of recruiting several users who know nothing about your company, your products or your website. Put them in a room in front of a computer and let them figure out what your company and your products are all about-and what action you would like them to take. Keep repeating the process until even the most clueless user instantly and intuitively understands what your website and your company are all about.
7 step plan for "explosive business growth"
Plenty of variables may affect the business growth you can achieve by following Stephanie's seven step plan. But, because so many of us will never create a thoughtful and realistic plan on our own, her seven steps are just what the marketing doctor ordered to spark significant growth.
Stephanie devotes an entire chapter to each step with description, references, and examples. I think you will find just about the right amount of information in each chapter to begin developing and deploying your strategy. Here are bare-bones descriptions of the 7 steps:
1. Niche-precisely define your perfect customer and developer niche to match.
2. Brand-make it "obvious, repeatable, and ready for storytelling by the customers who will carry your message."
3. Story-tell stories about your company, its people and its products that are true, compelling, and unique. Make sure these stories are easy to retell.
4. Search-be easy to find on the web. Craft your content so that it is search engine friendly and so that it can be found quickly by your ideal customers.
5. Tactics-social media-carefully consider core social media methods such as business blogging, videos, podcasting and the social networks. You can experiment with each of these inexpensively and should probably choose one or two as a starting point to avoid straining always limited resources.
6. Tactics-tried-and-true-although for some small businesses these tactics may be somewhat unfamiliar, they have been effective online for a decade or more. Among these tactics are: eNewsletters, article marketing online press releases surveys and loyalty programs.
7. Results- you must continually reassess each of your online marketing initiatives to determine what's working, what's not, and what to change accordingly. Measurement online is easy and essential.
Plenty of practical elements in the book
Stephanie gives just enough description and explanation so that those of us who are not steeped in Internet technology and leading-edge marketing practices can understand fundamental principles. And, most importantly, she teaches us just how to put those principles into practice.
Throughout the book she provides worksheets that enable readers to begin laying out a practical plan for a successful Web marketing strategy. These worksheets lead you from where you are today to the new kind of thinking you'll require, to a definition of your customers and your niche, and ultimately to the action plans to execute your Web marketing strategy.
Thanks to Stephanie's book, developing a successful Web marketing strategy has now become eminently doable for even the smallest organization.
