In order to chose a topic for the presentations, I start with the questions we often receive from clients and prospects who hope to make the most of their marketing budgets. The top two questions involve Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing.  The tie-in topic that comes to mind immediately is how is marketing changing how people shop, and what makes Internet marketing different than traditional advertising?  SEO and its relationship to Social Media are two HUGE factors in the new world of Marketing.

We know that more and more people (88% was the last number I’ve seen) go online to a Search Engine (Google being the most popular), to research a product or service before making a purchase. Well, that’s one clear difference between Internet marketing and traditional advertising – INFORMATION. Today, it’s so easy to see what OTHERS say about a company’s service record, performance standards, and customer satisfaction. In the past, all customers had to rely on was what the COMPANY said about itself and its products.

Another big difference is ACTIVITY. When you place an ad in the newspaper, and a reader comes across your ad while they’re reading the sports section, you’ve not necessarily hit the reader at the time of their need for your product or service (even though smart marketers will place targeted ads in specific sections).  But when a web-surfer enters a search phrase or keyword into Google, they’re ACTIVELY seeking a product or service (not just stumbling upon it). These people are READY TO BUY in most cases or very close to making a decision.

So where does today’s business owner need to be focusing his/her marketing budget and attention? They need to be findable, and they need to be engaging. They still need a website, they need to carefully choose keywords and apply these words to the onsite optimization of their website, they need to add fresh, relevant content to their website either through new pages, articles, and/or a blog, they need to be present on social media platforms and ENGAGE their fans, friends and customers, and they need to get onto other blogs, read and comment thoughtfully, and add a link back to their own site. Basically, today’s marketing holds completely new and different opportunities for companies.

These opportunities look like this: small companies can look big, big companies can look small, local companies can stand out and target specific areas and neighborhoods, targeted marketing can be done right down to what people are talking about NOW, this minute, rather than at press-time. Companies have the opportunity to monitor and manage their reputation in addition to offering customer service unlike the world has ever known. Business owners can react instantly to changes in the market, trends and demands — all because of online marketing.  Companies also have a unique opportunity to test, adjust, and measure results so fast, that thousands of dollars can be saved in advertising. Companies have an incredible responsibility to become transparent, to share their problems and allow their customers to help solve them – in the end… people buy from people… and a transparent company exposes the men (and women) behind the curtain.

Some might believe that all this new opportunity would result in the elimination of the professional marketer. I doubt that. Business owners still wear too many hats, and the reaction time required means almost constant monitoring by professionals who know the company culture as well as the owner. The professional marketer’s job is becoming more of a partnership every day. The key here is to not just attract visitors, fans and friends, but engage them and ultimately CONVERT them into paying customers. To convert, you need to engage on a human level. You need your company to stand out and deliver.

A blog can do this for your business. Planned and implemented correctly, a blog is the perfect solution to the question above: what makes online and traditional marketing different? A well written, targeted, transparent blog allows you to:

- Add new content using your choice of keywords,
which in turn: enhances your search engine rankings
- Open your company up to two-way communication,
which in turn: engages customers and prospects
- Monitor your reputation
which in turn: allows you to manage it – albeit transparently!
-  Meet the needs of your customers
which in turn, converts visitors and prospects

So…in the bout between Online Marketing vs. Traditional Advertising, who’s corner will your company be found in?

The new Junior Service League of Woodstock’s website design is a Wordpress blog based site using a customized template aimed at matching the colors and style of the League’s members. Use of Wordpress will enable the Public Relations and Communications chairs to make frequent updates to events, needs, sponsorships, activities and success stories of the League as the years progress. Also new to the website is the ability to purchase tickets to the annual Holiday Tour of Homes fundraiser coming in November, or pay for your sponsorship right online. They also can now take monetary donations online using Paypal or a credit card.

The new website should prove to be a great tool for this dynamic organization. Their hard work and dedication to serving the families of Cherokee county with donations of food, clothing, school supplies, shoes, toiletries, money, and caring concern deserves recognition and a big, giant THANK YOU!

› To learn more about becoming a sponsor of this year’s Tour of Homes, click here.

› To learn more about membership in the Junior Service League of Woodstock, click here.

If you know of a group or organization that needs a more professional, polished and functional website, please tell them about Inspired 2 Design’s website design services. We work with groups in Woodstock, Cherokee county, and all the metro Atlanta area. Plus, we often offer discounts to charitable and faith-based organizations.

Recently, we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Lori Baker from Next Step Ministries in Woodstock. We’d been introduced briefly at the Woodstock Community Business Association in the past, but this last time we met at the Canton-Cherokee Business and Professional Women’s meeting, enjoyed a meal, and the meeting, and the more formal introduction from Stacy Bailey of Absolutely Clean, also a client of Inspired 2 Design. We’ve worked together on her cleaning company’s website, her personal blog, and the Canton/Cherokee SALT/Triad website.

Next Step Ministries was in need of a new way to get the word out about the work they’re doing down off Trickum Road and Hwy 92 in Woodstock. They’d recently taken over the space occupied at one time by the Baby & More Thrift Store, (small world, we did their website a couple of years ago).  Now armed with a ton of space for their work, Lori and Jean (her right hand), just needed to let more people know what they’re doing.

So what are they doing down in Woodstock?
They provide parents with moderately to profoundly involved special-needs young adults need a readily available full day program to maintain the functional skills learned during school and to provide a safe and loving environment. Especially when these young adults can’t manage the day-to-day activities we often take for granted like:

• Feeding ourselves
• Communicating with words
• Performing basic activities without supervision
• Going to the bathroom without help…

Next Step Ministries offers several programs for parents and their special needs kids: Therapeutic Day Care, Saturday Respite, Camps. The Cherokee Tribune covered the Next Step Ministries story earlier this year. So if your business is looking for a special place to help via donations of time, money, or supplies, why not start right here in Woodstock, GA?

• Have time? They could use people to come in and read, play music, games, crafts.
• Have equipment? They’re in need of many things including some workout equipment, kitchen equipment, musical instruments.
• Have cash? Enough said!

Inspired 2 Design is proud to have partnered with Next Step Ministries in Woodstock to help support their mission, and help the families of special needs kids in Cherokee, Cobb, Fulton, Bartow, and Pickens counties. Their new website is a project of love and we’re thrilled to have had the opportunity to bless them with this functional and design-appropriate website design that they can use to educate, inform and capture the families that need their services in Woodstock, Canton,  Holly Springs, Acworth, Marietta, Kennesaw, Roswell, Sandy Springs, north Atlanta, and beyond.

For year’s we’ve heard that Content is King! And the Internet has propagated that fact repeatedly over the last 15 years. Now it’s 2010 and the convergence of different types of marketing is a growing trend – all based around content. But the message you need to get out there isn’t in a neat little tweet of 140 characters, and people don’t refer you if they don’t know you, if there’s no relationship. So let’s say that success to you means 200% growth in the next 5 years. To grow you need to increase customers, equipment, staff and possibly space. You also need to grow your marketing base.

We’ve heard for a couple of years that traditional advertising is a thing of the past. It used to be that you outspent your competitors to gain market share. The companies with the deepest pockets had the best known brand. That trend changes more each day. Today, your reputation is critical more than ever, and no amount of spending will remove a customer’s bad taste (just ask BP!). Today you need to spend more time on relationships, more time on content, and more time than money basically.

For many of us, time is more important than money. Time to do what we want, time with family, time for fun, time for rest, relaxation, exercise, hobbies, time for work, time for play… so what’s the best way to make the best use of your time? In a word… STRATEGIC PLANNING.

In order to create a strategic Marketing Plan for today’s marketplace, you need to start with the basics and those are your brand (reputation) and your website. These are the two most important elements of building a profitable campaign that’s always looking at the end result – your success (and however you’ve measured that).

Step 1: Discovery
Identify the value of your brand, its effectiveness, its consistency, its differentiation, and its general reputation level. What are the goals for your brand? Are you meeting them?
Identify the value of your website. Your website should connect, impel, and generate. Does your website contain accurate, up-to-date content that is consistent with your brand? Are call-to-actions clear, easy to use, and everywhere they need to be? Are you getting leads from your website? If not, contacting a marketing-based, graphic and website design company should be the place you start.

Step 2: Set Objectives
Since we’ve established you control what success is, the only way to get to that result is to set goals and objectives that clearly define the path. The ultimate goal is to build your brand and increase traffic and conversions on your website because, that momentum is what will drive you toward your success goal.

Step 3: Create Campaigns
The campaigns you create will all be designed to reach the objectives set in step 2 with the ultimate goal of enhancing step 1. These campaigns may include search engine optimization and search engine marketing, social media, networking, content building (blogs and articles), event marketing, and publicity. The success of each strategy creates momentum that drives your organization forward.

Step 4: Set Budgets
Budgeting time and money is critical to success. Make sure you leave room for moving either from task to task as you work the campaigns so you spend time and money on the marketing areas that are working the best. In other words, if your Facebook fans are hot on a subject, engaged and interacting, don’t be rigid and say… “time to work on the blog”. Keep your audience engaged where they are, and be flexible.

Step 5: Measure
You have goals, you have budgets, you have campaign ideas. Now you have to set the times you’ll measure, evaluate and update your plan.

Step 6: Devil’s in the Details
Here’s where it gets sticky. Inspired 2 Design recommends creating a full year strategic marketing calendar for businesses. This is a detailed plan, by month or by quarter. It includes all the above, specific details. What event, what keyword, what blog entry, what Tweet, and the task assignments, responsible parties, time allotments etc.

This 6-Step Marketing for 2010 Outline is critical to success (whatever that means to you and your business). For help getting a plan on paper, contact Inspired 2 Design at 770-781-3452.

Available through the Apple iTunes App Store or on the Hang-a-Pic support site.

Here are 6 Ways to B-E Productive with your Business Marketing:

1. BE Yourself:
Natural is more profitable than synthetic. Regardless of the economy of organic products, all natural, low fat, 100% etc., additives that aren’t inherent are not good for you and aren’t good for your business in the long run. Watering down your product or service, adding fillers to your customer service, cheapening your employee relations, may look good in the short run, but long term these shortcuts will cost your business. Natural flows and is easy to maintain. When developing your branding, don’t try to be something that you’re not, and don’t bite off more than you can chew.

2. BE Involved:
Be the company that’s buzzed about by getting involved around town: at your local Chamber of Commerce, Business Association, Volunteer and Civic Groups, Churches, Schools… etc. By being active in your community, you make it easy for people to recognize you, talk about you, and become interested in your business, products and services – then when a need arises, you’re the first person on their minds.

3. BE Heard:
Get social and get to sharing the expertise you have gained over the years as an student, employee, entrepreneur, volunteer, etc. By sharing your stories, your experiences and your knowledge on your own website by use of a blog, and on social media websites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. you not only build inbound links to your website, you actively participate in the online community. Ask and answer questions, comment on other blog posts, share insight with readers through your own blog. And lastly, but very important, write and share articles on article websites keeping a short, descriptive, keyword rich bio with a link back to your website intact. Re-purpose content and cross-link your content for the most effective use of your info.

4. BE Prepared:
Create your unique selling proposition (position, or point), your “head & shoulders” above the rest benefit. Think through, write down, edit, rethink, rework, and refine your point of difference, your competitive advantage and put it to words in both a 30 and 60 second introduction so when people ask you what you do, you can be prepared to get their attention. Of course, it’s not all about you, so always be prepared and ready to ask questions of people that you meet. Getting others in business to talk about themselves helps you to realize their pains and provide them with solutions. Be prepared to answer questions about your business in short, cognitive ways that make for good conversation.

5. BE Presentable:
Always be professional. Always check your humor at the door of a business meeting. Always yield the floor when asked. Always use your manners (and if you don’t have any, BORROW SOME). Make your appearances appear in line with your brand.

6. BE Price Aware:
Perception is key – yours about your product or service/your prospects about the value you provide.  Do some market research, compare brands, prices, availability between your brand and others in the same market. Ask questions of your current customers and clients to determine what makes your brand stand out in their minds, and hope their answer is not PRICE alone. Competing solely on price is for commodities only! Make your product and service stand out and you’ll be able to compete on perceived value, not bottom line.

Wondering what that teenager did all summer  now that school is back in session?  After hearing all the ways to B.E. Productive in the real world, what would you have done all summer?

Our most recent website design releases include . . .

A newly redesigned web page for a local company located north of Atlanta in White, Georgia. Their new design is a single page that packs a lot of punch and really delivers value. Gunnin Land Surveying now has a single page website that’s professional and polished, but more importantly presents the critical information a visitor needs to make a decision and convert to a prospect:

1. Contact Information – phone number and email link are front and center
2. Short, concise info block. Easy to read too
3. List of services – bullets are the best
4. Flash slideshow – a great way to showcase services or products, tell a story and grab attention

What’s next for this website? We’ll recommend that as the company grows, the owner will want to add more testimonials, and photos of actual jobs, a client or project list, staff and fleet photos to legitimize the company, and Search Engine Optimization to help this business compete in a highly competitive market (especially in today’s economy).

Our second release is a website designed for Power & Purpose Productions in Santa Clarita, California. P&P came to I2D via a Google images search. After viewing our online portfolio, they called for more information. This non-profit group works with inner city kids in Los Angeles to help them express feelings and emotions and to learn interactions through the use of films. The group needed a functional website that represented what they did in an organized fashion. They were already working with Wordpress, and expressed a desire to stay with that form of Content Management Systems (CMS). I2D designed a custom 3D graphic using their stock photos to capture the essence of the group’s mission and make it interesting and exciting. Now P&P can add their events, share their successes and gain support for their cause with a professional website design.

Our third and final release this week is a newly redesigned and re-purposed website for a longtime client, Just Driver Training, a driving school with locations across metro Atlanta. Just Driver Training’s website was redesigned by I2D back in 2008, but the company and programs have grown, so the website eventually became disorganized. The new design leads visitors to where they need to be quickly and efficiently – cutting down on bounce rates. The new home page “packages” the driving programs, offers quick links to registering or returning students and even includes video for the company’s leap into Social Media via YouTube. The new site has also been optimized for search engines as required by the new site map and content.

Different strokes for different folks you might say! Inspired 2 Design brings 25 plus years of marketing experience to your next website design project. For a free evaluation of the effectiveness of your current website, call 770-781-3452 or contact us.

Grab a glimpse of the new App here on our support site, Action-Packed Marketing or preview our new App here – then click the BUY button to purchase the App for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad through iTunes.

While we’ve helped A Quiver Full get their websites updated, their vendor pricing sheets streamlined, their tradeshow info set to go, and their collateral produced, we’ve recently added 3-D modeling to the list. The image here shows the original retail in-store packaging and merchandising concept that we created (along with the backboard graphics), and a photograph of the final endcap/standalone display that is now in Gate Petroleum convenience stores (over 225 stores in six southeast states including Georgia and Florida).

From concept to reality, having a lifelike depiction of a product, invention, or retail packaging and shelf display can make the difference in positioning your new product in an actual selling environment. Contact Inspired 2 Design for more details on bringing your product, invention or idea to market.

1. We only charge $9.99…per month
Basically, when you stop paying, you stop ranking. Beware of any contract-yielding salesmen. Even if you decide to pay for Adwords, DO IT YOURSELF, or make sure you double, triple check references, and get referrals from other trusted business owners BEFORE hiring anyone to handle your Pay-Per-Click advertising budget.

2. We’ll optimize your page at yourpage.oursite.com
Don’t let anything come between you and your .com! Subdomains are the name, getting traffic to THEIR page is the game. Don’t fall for it! Only pay for optimization that actually optimizes YOUR website, your domain, your URL. The usefulness or effectiveness of using subdomains onsite for SEO is still arguable. We recommend a solid directory structure instead, but when you’re paying monthly for optimization, don’t put the money on their site. Put it on your own.

3. We set up a completely trackable 800 number for your customers
Generally speaking, these service companies set up a duplicate site to your original that is stuffed with black hat SEO practices like keyword stuffing, duplicate content, gateway pages, and the like. Sure, the use of the 800 number will tell you exactly how many people came through the mirror site, but be sure that you’re aware of the phone number. One company (and we won’t say their name) used this service, but ignored each call from the 800 number not realizing the callers were potential clients, they thought they were salesmen!

4. We submit your site to thousands of search engines
There are only 3 top search engines: Google, Yahoo and Bing. Everything and everyone else work off of these three. So if a company tries to tell you that you’ll rank on all 100, or some other crazy number that’s > 3, hang up! Secondly, you don’t really need to Submit your site anymore. The spiders crawl and will find the site.

5. We GUARANTEE page one
Yeah right! There are two things no one can guarantee: timing and ranking. It is impossible to say how much traffic will be generated in any given time period. You should RUN if a search engine optimization company promises otherwise because some changes may take less than a week, some a month, or some may not happen for 3-6 months or even more after proper, white hat optimization of a website. As for promise of ranking, what keyword are they promising page one for? Is it even a keyword that’s competitive or valid for your business? Google itself has a section on their website that states: “Beware of SEO’s that claim to guarantee rankings, or that claim a “special relationship” with Google, or that claim to have a “priority submit” to Google. There is no priority submit for Google.”

Summary
Remember there are no magic formulas, no miracles, nothing that’s overnight, or guaranteed with organic search engine rankings. What are there? Many victims of bad SEO, expensive schemes, and simple rip-off artists. Unfortunately, you can’t save everyone. What we can do, is responsibly inform businesses that there are options. Good SEO results come from good content, relevant use of keywords, and an honest website that delivers what is promised. Keep in mind as well that a poorly designed, ineffective site can attract visitors, but your goal is not to make big numbers of visitors, it’s to convert visitors to leads and sales. Work with the pros who know how to accomplish those goals. Your website is another marketing tool, not a bunch of programming language. Treat it as such and work only with marketing professionals who are straightforward and don’t make it sound too good to be true. Good luck!!!

Inspired 2 Design offers website design and consultation for marketing your website via search engines, directories and more. Contact us for an appointment.