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Leveraging the Net

Yesterday I got tied up in a discussion which ended up covering topics such as replacing print-media magazines with online versions and the interesting problem of promoting an organisation without spending money.

Internet to the rescue?

I wonder how many people are still living in the past and unaware just how much free marketing you can get from a clever online strategy?

Quite a few me thinks!

So how do you promote something for free in the online world? What mechanisms are available and which are most effective?

Unfortunately, I've noticed that a lot of businesses really don't have a clue about promoting themselves online.

Far too many simply pay an arm and a leg to have a website built and then sit back waiting for the stampede of interest and orders.

Unfortunately, just because you built it doesn't mean they will come.

Other companies seem to spend inordinate amounts of time and money creating a presence on Facebook, no doubt hoping to tap into the social-networking craze in some way.

Why build yourself a commercial presence in an environment where your competitors are able to advertise themselves right next to you -- perhaps alongside critical posts or complaints from disgruntled customers?

Having built a website, and found that it wasn't the massive success (in terms of traffic or referred business) they'd hoped for, many businesses then turn to Google's AdWords as a way of promoting that site. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't -- but either way it does cost money.

I'd be interested to hear from those who have tried out the various methods of online promotion -- what worked and what didn't?

If someone came to me today and asked "how do I promote xxx on the internet" I think I'd have the following advice to give:

Firstly, make sure your website is good -- don't rely on the claims of your web-design company, if their work is crap they're unlikely to say so. Get some independent perspective on just how well your site performs as a sales or informational resource.

Secondly, find out how well you're ranked by Google. Again, take the words of your web design company with a grain of salt. They may be able to demonstrate that you appear in the first page of search results -- but do they use the same query term that your customers will use? And forget about the fact that you're ranked in 300 different search-engines, Google is really the goal here.

Thirdly, create yourself some good YouTube videos and get them up. You can embed them in your website so as to deliver the kind of information or pitch that can't be done without video and you'll start appearing in the YouTube search results. However, make sure those videos are professionally done and that they're uploaded with a title, description and tags that are carefully optimised for the kind of search query your customers are likely to use.

Now many reading this will likely say "that's all commonsense" -- but the reality is, based on what I've seen recently, such commonsense is a rare commodity these days. Far too many companies, clubs and other bodies are squandering their budget unnecessarily.

In the case of the group I was discussing things with yesterday, they're presently spending over $20K per annum publishing a bi-monthly magazine in hardcopy for distribution to their 2000 or so members.

Why?

The magazine is really only sent out to paid-up members so it's not acting as a marketing tool to promote the body involved -- as it would if it were online.

What's more, that $20K would go a very long way to creating exciting, interesting, valuable content for the body's website. It's also clear that most people actually prefer e-content than pulp. The proliferation of smartphones and "connected" PCs means that it's often more convenient to read electronic publications than the print-equivalent and the given the way technology has changed, print is now a very limiting media.

So what are your experiences with online promotion?

What method of paid (or unpaid) promotion have you found to be most effective?

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