A Look At The History Of Marketing Channels

Infographic & Viral Marketing from Dream Systems Media

http://www.dreamsystemsmedia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/history-of-marketing2.jpg

Would you like to use this info graphic on your site or blog? That is fine by us, as long as you provide attribution by either using the share code below or including a text link to http://www.dreamsystemsmedia.com/blog/index.php/timeline-of-marketing-channels-graphic/ and citing Dream Systems Media as the copyright owner of this info graphic.

Highlight, copy and paste the HTML code below into your site if you want to share the graphic:

<a title=”A Look At The History Of Marketing Channels” href=”http://www.dreamsystemsmedia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/history-of-marketing2.jpg”><img alt=”A Look At The History Of Marketing Channels” src=”http://www.dreamsystemsmedia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/history-of-marketing2.jpg” border=”0″ width=”100%”></a>

I get confused on the social media sites like, Facebook, Twitter, even Skidoo etc. Should I be setting up a profile under my name to follow me specifically or setting up something that tells people to follow my website?

Here are my thoughts:  My answer depends on the specific network, as well as what you are trying to accomplish, but let me first touch on the specific networks you mentioned in this question.

Twitter

Twitter: If you are trying to gain more business, and use Twitter as a platform to attract more customers and get more of the word out then you need to set up a more formal business account.  For example; If my name were John Doe and I had a business called ISellWidgets.com I would set my Twitter account up to be:  Twitter.com/ISellWidgets (or something similar depending on availability) and NOT Twitter.com/JohnDoe.  This way you could do a better job at attracting the right kind of followers, and get the word out to the correct industry.  Reason being – Lets just say you are into fishing, and that is fine, but that would do much better on a personal type account, where you can find, talk and connect with other people who love fishing, but do you see how that would do your business no good?  The business account would be better left to connect with same industry minded people.  Now you can also set up a personal Twitter account if you want to use it for those kind of reasons mentioned above, but hopefully this does a better job showing you the line between the two style of accounts.

Facebook

Facebook: Create a personal page so you can have access to all that Facebook, but once you have a personal page set up, you can also create a FAN page for your business.  Use the personal page for your personal matters, but the fan page to get the word out about your business matters.  If you don’t want to create a Facebook page to connect with people you may not even like from back in the day, that’s fine – just use the FAN page/business portion of it to connect with potential customers.

Squidoo

Squidoo: Wow, do I even touch this one with a 10 ft. pole, or make a joke after all the attention it’s got this week? Ha Ha -  My thoughts are to create a page for your brand/company on Squidoo, but don’t pay Seth 400$ a month for it.  I mean, Squidoo is free (as far as I’ve ever used it), and if you even have any (even) small ability as an SEO or Internet marketer, you can get the page you create to rank pretty easily for your brand.

I think there are other networks out there that you can use as personal accounts that would also serve your purpose as a business owner, but you have to get in and really understand what that specific network is about, and how to best use it.  If your main goal is to drum up business, and that is THE ONLY REASON you are using social networks, then the answer is simple – always create it for your business.  Create the domain/ID name/profile/brand whatever centered around your business.  I think this is what you are really asking with this question because it does not seem like you are the person that is wanting to set up these accounts to keep in contact with friends or find a long lost love?  Am I right?

He made the comment that after seeing all of my Twitter updates, and Facebook status updates he really just didn’t understand what I did. He said he was trying to figure out what it was I did for a living. I told him that he should have looked at the URLs listed (this one included) on all my profiles, because tuld have been pretty self explanatory as to what I do.

I wish I would have saved the chat (because it was classic), but I didn’t …. so I am going to do my best to share it as it happened. Just so you know the conversation was much more then this, but this was the part that was most frustrating that I wanted to get into.

Here goes:

Him: So what exactly is it you do for a living?

Me: I explained to him that I co-own an Internet marketing firm which helps people who want to be found online. (I did not go into depth about SEO and everything else at this point)

Him: Oh, so you teach people how to use the Internet better? That’s kind of like what I do. (he does Internet hookup etc.) We help people get online and use the Internet.

Me: No, that’s not really what I do at all. I help online business owners be found for the keywords they want to be found for when people are doing searches online.

Him: Pretty much everyone has a website now huh? We help people get the Internet going and get them online .. etc. etc. so its the same thing right?

Me: (aggrivated) NO, I work with real actual business owners that want to be branded online, care about online reputation, want to be found for keywords etc. I went into much more detail, but this is the just of it, and I tried really hard to explain to him that some people may have a website but if they are not found, then what good does it do them? I gave the example – There might be 40 dentists in Gilbert Arizona that are online and have websites, but only a few of them are going to get the most traffic on Google when people search for phrases like “Gilbert Arizona Dentist”, and that is because only a few of them are going to be in the top results of the search engines that people will actually click on.

Him: OH, ok so you help people get and register their domain names with Google? And, You get people to the top of the Google results in those sponsored sections?

Me: (very aggravated now) No, that really is not what I do. Getting businesses into the sponsored results is a form of search engine marketing, but I really am more on the organic side of results. I go into explain what the difference between the PPC results and the organic results are …. walking him through some specific searches and showing results. (hoping he finally gets it)

Him: So really you are just helping people register their domain names on Google and other search engines?

Me: Yes, that’s “exactly” it ….. (quickly finds excuse to leave conversation as I know its going nowhere)

The reason I share this is because everyday I get asked the question; “What exactly is it you do?” This reminds me how brand new our industry really is, 2) it reminds me that we have a big opportunity to inform and help business owners, and 3) that there are a lot of people out there that think they are helping people “get online” and “registered” with Google, but really have no clue what Internet marketing is. We have to be the educators of this industry and be the part of this industry that gives it a GOOD name.

Could I have done a better job describing what Internet marketing is?

I thought I would take this question to my friends on Twitter. I want to see if maybe my Internet marketing friends can help answer this question (140 chars. or less) better then I could, so if my friend is reading this post – he just might learn something! Thanks to @brandonbuttars @atraine @AlanBleiweiss and @dan_patterson

What is Internet Marketing?

• Bringing visitors to the site.
• Getting the website/business discovered.
• Conversions – not just bringing visitors, but converting them
• Using all marketing channels – SEO, SEM, SMO, PPC, Viral, etc.
• Marketing strategy – how all strategies will be used on a site.
• Online marketing objectives – what are the goals for the site?
• Increasing traffic – more traffic = more sales (at least it should)
• Converting traffic into sales – the bottom line here!

These bullet points (taken from answers above) should really spell out what Internet marketing is, and what we do for a living. If you are talking to someone about “just getting your domain registered” You are NOT talking to an Internet marketer. I should have had more patience with my friend and done a better job at “educating him.” Unfortunately, many people just DON’T seem to get it, but I did realize that it is my job to (try) educate people/businesses about our industry because it is so brand new. We have such a huge opportunity and major growth ahead of us. I for one am very excited to be a part of this industry!

I would love to hear other stories from those who can relate.  I think this could be a fun post if you were to share any similar stories that you may have had when talking with friends family or whoever!  Thanks in advance!

Here is why I am so giddy about this.  Just before I left for my trip to Disneyland, my son was out in our garage and he was messing around with our cats pet carrier.  I went ahead and took out the old iPhone and snapped some shots knowing that it would be good material for a later date.  Remember this is me, the guy who can’t think about anything without trying to find a way to turn int viral.  Here are the pictures I snapped:

Here he is investigating (you can see the wheels turning huh)

Hmm, this looks like a cool place

As you can see he was quite pleased with himself

Now you can see why I was so happy to get asked this question!  When I took these pictures I was thinking to myself – These would do well for a person who wanted a viral marketing idea for pet carriers, and the title I would give it is:  “Well Thats One Use Of A Pet Carrier“, or “What To Do With Your Kids When They Are Out Of Control” and my favorite is you could find other funny things that people have done with Pet Carriers and title it “10 Uses Of Pet Carriers The Manufacturer Never Intended”

Some other funny ideas that I had came from my other experienced with Cats and pet carriers.  I would love to see crazy insaine Cats that don’t like to be put in carriers.  I had this one Cat that was like the Tasmanian Devil when you tried to get her into one of them carriers – it seriously was the only time I liked that Cat.  It was so funny to watch that thing freak out.  I would love a top 10 video post including videos like that with the title: “10 Of The Craziest Cats You Will Ever See Caught On Video” or “10 Cats You Never Want To Get Near”

I think you see where I would take this, but hopefully this gives you some more ideas where you could go with content.  With all the talk more and more about quality content and information on your site in order to get links instead of having to buy them, this would be your ticket to great content, leading lots of people talking and linking to your site.   That is the whole point of a viral marketing campagin in getting people talking about your site, sharing it with others and linking.  Generating that buzz that you need to help make your site more popular.

I think one of the most important keys to creating quality content, as well as viral campaigns is to make sure you are always thinking and paying attention to things around you.  What kind of information would you like to read, what kind of stories would make you laugh and make you want to share with others.  That is why I take a picture of anything that strikes me as funny, or why I am always writing my ideas down when I think I have some good ideas for content.  You have to think about it and be creative and make it happen.  It is not just going to fall into your lap.

Within 3 hours of listing it I had received 24 phone calls and 9 emails and 3 people had scheduled to come see it that same night, although I only made it to appointment #2 because that looker bought it so I had to cancel on #3. Looker #2 actually gave me $500 to hold it for them while they went to look at just one more Focus, but then called me about 10 min. later and said, “I have decided I’m buying it for sure without looking at the other one and I’m on the way to my bank right now to get a cashier’s check.” The best part is I got my listing price for it and the price was the blue book price I found for the car on www.kbb.com. And we are talking about a Ford Focus; this isn’t a highly in demand vehicle. I know this because there were over 200 of them listed on ksl.com for sale in years between 00′-07′, and ranging in price from about 1k-14k. Many of the listings had been on there for over 3 weeks and have had 1000 plus page views. I honestly didn’t think I would sell this car and would end up trading it in.

So here’s how I did it.

First of all, I cleaned the car really well inside and out and cleaned the heck out of the engine. The engine honestly looked new it was so clean. Then I photographed it with my $140 digital camera (more to come below), and then I listed it on both sites and linked the Craigslist add to the more robust add at ksl.com (more to come on that later too).

Here are a few images of my Craigslist listings. Obviously I provided a thorough description of the car and it’s features and provided great details on the premium audio system in it a well as I knew that was a hook for many potential buyers. However instead of just using a title such as:

2001 Ford Focus

I used this title to set it apart and “focus” on the better features of the vehicle:

****2001 Ford Focus SE/ZTS****35 MPG, Premium Stereo System

You can see from the picture below that in the listings, mine stood out because I used the **** in my title, it’s real easy to see, even in the picture, because it’s really the only one that stands out. All others are just plain text strands, although some use ALL CAPS, which is a great way to get your add flagged…idiots.

Now, once the looker clicked into the add, I provided more details on the vehicle including features, mileage, etc., but more importantly I provided the looker a chance to visit my other add on ksl.com (see image below for how I set up the link on Craigslist) which allowed for more and larger images along with a free CARFAX report and many other specific details.

Once the visitor found my add on Craigslist they could go over to my ad on ksl.com and basically be re-sold on buying my car and see a ton of more pictures that are larger and more quality. You can see what I’m talking about here as I show an image of the many offered pictures, and take this tip away from this read if this is all you take away, when taking photos of whatever you are selling…take a ton from all angles and show as many pictures as you can. Pictures sell! When on ksl.com the pictures of course would become large for viewing.

Now just so you can see I’m not misleading you, I took a screenshot off of ksl.com the night of the 18th before changing the add over to being marked as sold, along with deleting my Craigslist add, and you can see there were 95 page views at that time on my ad…about 20 of them were me viewing the add to make sure it looked right while I was making adjustments etc. Point being…it didn’t take long to sell it and didn’t take that many visitors at all.

To prove my point again, go search ksl.com and you’ll find hundreds of Ford Focus’s listed right now. At the time I’m writing this post there are 291 listed with the first one showing at a price almost half the price of mine.

Hopefully you can see that doing a few small things can improve your sell rate and speed in drastic ways and I hope that these tips help, for those of you out there that are rocking sells on Craigslist and other classified sites.

And that is how you get 24 phone calls and 9 emails and sell your car on Craigslist in 3 hours!