Build a Strong Foundation with Online Marketing Education

By now I’m sure we’ve all made our New Year’s Resolutions. I’m also sure that many of us have already broken some of them . I made some personal resolutions but I also made a career resolution. My career resolution is that in 2009 I’m going to emphasize education behind online marketing. In addition to helping you develop your marketing strategy, I’m also going to educate you every step of the way. Many business owners have basic knowledge about SEO, Social Media, PPC, etc but don’t understand the strategy behind it. Understanding the foundation of your campaign is extremely important to keep your business ahead of the competition and at the forefront of your industry, especially in such a challenging economy. Let’s backtrack and bit to 2008.

The hardships we faced in 2008 including the credit crunch, out of this world gas prices, mortgage downfall, high unemployment rate and extreme national debt made 2008 by far one of the most stressful years in history.  I’ve seen more companies go out of business in 2008 than in my entire lifetime. However, despite such a down economy people are still spending, investing and buying. There are still opportunities out there, it’s just a matter of being smart on how you market and position yourself. I know it’s easier said than done as Marketers  in 2008  faced  tremendous roadblocks:

• Inability in generating qualified leads
• Struggle to get your website found
• Ineffective strategies for tracking ROI
• Traditional Media not working

Thank goodness 2009 is here and we all know it’s a year for change! Take action and don’t let the same roadblocks get in the way. When every single sale does matter and budgets are being cut left and right, developing a strategic and cost effective marketing campaign for your business  is essential. I recommend you constantly educate yourself on new marketing strategies and not repeating old school methods that don’t work.

This February 4th-7th, marketers business owners and anyone interested in learning will have a chance to accelerate their marketing knowledge at the Online Marketing Summit in San Diego. They’re providing unique educational opportunities to attendees with certification programs, a career fair, hands-on workshops, on-site usability and SEO labs, thought-leader presentations on a myriad of online marketing topics and networking opportunities. This event is the perfect way to pump up your business for the new year!

Register here and receive a $400 online discount by January 10th. To ring in the new year I’m also giving away a free conference pass to 1 lucky winner. The prize is valued at $1,695.  To enter please leave a comment with your biggest marketing challenge in 2008 and what you plan to do about it in 2009! Short comments are ok, doesn’t need to have a lot of details but if you’re willing to share I would love to hear more! Let’s get a dialog going! Make sure to leave your email address. A winner will be randomly chosen on Tuesday January 20th, 2009 (Inaguration Day!) Good luck and Happy New Year!

Traditional Media Companies- It’s time to Go Digital

I’m going to touch on a topic that’s very close to me: Traditional Media. I worked at a Traditional Media company for 4 years before making the transition to an Online Marketing Agency and over the past few years I’ve seen the evolution of Traditional Media as it attempts keep its audience during an age where the accelerated pace of Social Media is taking over.

In many cases, there is little or no attempt from traditional media to engage their audience through social media. Setting up a Twitter account for your radio station and having it sit there doesn’t count. Creating a Facebook group for your TV station and never updating doesn’t count. Attempting to put your newspaper online word for word without a Social Media Optimization campaign, also results in FAIL (aka: the famous internet term for something gone wrong!).

For as long as we remember people relied on Traditional Media as their main source for news and entertainment. That is until recently. In the last year, Social Media has trumped Traditional media in usage. People spend more time on Social Media than they do reading the newspaper, watching TV or listening to the radio combined. This not the end for traditional media. This the beginning of a new opportunity to engage, interact and compel your audience to continue viewing your media as a credible resource!

Traditional Media companies pride themselves in being at the forefront of what’s current so if you don’t have an effective Social Media campaign you’re contradicting yourself. Need some ideas?

Radio: On-air personalities should create a Twitter account to connect with listeners through microblogging. Promote your on-air contests, on-site events and online photos and videos in real time to keep your listeners engaged even when they aren’t tuned in.

Newspaper: Most newspapers have digitized their articles. But few have worked on community building. Allow forums so readers feel connected as they post on different news stories. Allow readers to easily share articles through social bookmarking.

TV: Have your personalities blog about their broadcasts to create a more authentic voice than reading off a teleprompter! Blog about the TV shows on your station to boost your traffic from an entertainment standpoint.

You know what they say, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” What does this mean? Don’t get stigmatized as an old-school dying industry.TV stations, Newspapers, Radio Stations, Magazines, it’s time to hire an Online Marketing company to help you with an overall Social Media strategy that really shows your audience you get it!

Why You Should Hire a Millennial Marketer

I’d like to start off by saying I have the utmost respect for those who have been in the internet marketing industry for years (many marketers I meet say at least 10 years). I commend you for being an early adopter, futuristic and constantly adapting to the internet as it evolves. Your success is my motivation!

Whenever something new enters the market, there’s always speculation along with anticipation. Will the new restaurant succeed? Will this new product take off? How is the rookie going to do when faced with all seasoned Veterens? or you can look at it in a more positive way. I can’t wait to check out that new hot spot! The new product is going to blow away all the others! This blog post is dedicated to my own unique selling points as fresh, new Internet Marketer and why my new status will benefit your marketing campaign.

I’m a Millennial Internet Marketer! The Millennial generation born between 1980-2008 (may be variations), growing up in the 90s and 2000s and educated with bleeding edge technology. I entered the workforce merely less than 3 years ago with more drive, ambition and hunger for learning than you could ever imagine! I’ve created a buzz, challenged old school thinkers and started a revolution of new ideas from the perspective of the actual end user. I too was there from the very beginning in an even more engaged and active way than most.

• YES I was on Facebook when only college students had the privilege to use it
• YES I had a Friendster in high school when all of you who now use Facebook and LinkedIn thought Social Media was for “kids”
• YES I blogged on Xanga almost every single day!
• YES I knew every single numeric code for pagers
• YES I had a brick cell phone when they were embarrassing to be seen with one!

So what does this mean? I may not have 10 years of marketing experience but I have more than enough experience with the technology that these “kids are growing up with” because I AM that Millennial Kid! Couple that with my strong background in traditional marketing where I bring the successful aspects of old school marketing and accelerate those elements with the internet and my passion for the the industry and you have me! Melodie Tao aka: Marketing Melodie aka: @MyMelodie on Twitter aka your Millennial Internet Marketer!

If that doesn’t overcome your objections to hire me for your next Online Marketing campaign then I encourage you to reach out to me with more questions and challenges. I love what I do and I love educating people on why it’s essential to have an effective internet marketing campaign!

3K Interactive brings Internet Marketing to Las Vegas!

Earlier this week, the 3K Interactive team packed our bags for Vegas to show the DMA08 what Internet Marketing is all about.

I spoke to over 100 companies. Only about 5 were online/interactive companies. I know it was the “Direct Marketing” conference but I’m still perplexed by the number of traditional marketing companies present: specialty envelops, address list brokers, postcards, telemarketing companies etc. (especially since the event itself was marketed as a global event for “Integrated” marketing)

To all of the traditional marketing companies, I’d like to educate you on why you too should have an SEO campaign with 3K Interactive. If you are 1 of 50 companies who sells specialty envelops for direct mail advertisers, how are you going to stand out from all the others?

I actually asked this question to many people. Most responded with something along the lines “We’re the only company who uses soy based ink”, “We are the only eco-friendly company”, “We sell clear envelops that don’t look like junk mail.” It’s great to have a unique selling point but this does not mean potential customers will find you.

If I told you I have a way to get people who are ready to buy your service go to your website and place an order with you right away, wouldn’t you listen? Better yet I can even track it for you so you know where your customer are coming from! Sound too good to be true? Not even! This is reality with the career that I have become so passionate about, Internet Marketing!

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