If you want to create stacks of leads, fill your client base or sell more widgets, you need to do the total opposite of what the vast majority of small businesses do online. You need to be original.
That’s because there’s a serious problem with the generic, copycat approach to Internet marketing:
It doesn’t work!
It’s easy to see why so many people just copy the marketing they see on other sites. After all, the ability to develop an effective Internet marketing strategy and write copy that compels people to take action, is very rare. Knowing how to motivate someone to click your links, send you an email, subscribe to your newsletter, call you, visit you or buy from you is perhaps the rarest, most valuable skill in marketing today.
For example, I was called earlier this year by one of my readers, who is a marketing consultant. He wanted to know if I would quickly review his blog, (quickly meant do it for free, apparently!) I don’t work for free, but I did take a quick look at his blog out of curiosity. I was unable to figure out what his service was, let alone why anyone might need it. His blog was packed with buzz-words, marketing bullshit and stacks of rambling, pedestrian copy that went nowhere. In the time it took me to finish my coffee, I was able to spot well over a dozen, serious, marketing-related problems. It was easy to see why he needed free advice!
Why your business needs its own Internet marketing strategy
So, this is the part of a blog post were an Internet marketing guru would give you a list of; “killer Internet marketing tactics that are guaranteed to work” – And that’s part of the problem. Business owners are being told all the time that there’s a generic, one size fits all way to maximise the potential of their sites or blogs, when the reality is the complete opposite!
An effective Internet marketing strategy differs massively, from; industry to industry, country to country and business to business. It needs to take many factors into account, like; the size of the business being marketed, what they want to achieve, where their prices or fees are pitched, who their target customer is and if they are selling business to business or business to consumer etc, etc.
It’s really important that you don’t make the same mistakes. If YOU want YOUR blog or website to be a business generating machine, use an Internet marketing strategy that’s been developed for YOU and YOUR business, based on YOUR unique situation and YOUR unique goals.
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It’s so easy to turn a simple service page into War & Peace, as I often do with my own company website. So in fairness to the marketing consultant, I know how he must have felt.
As you say, it’s so hard to get the whole thing right because there’s so many things to get right. But that’s what trial and error are all about, which is (dare I say it) the backbone of marketing.
Whilst testing and measuring is the foundation of effective marketing Wayne, very few small business sites are doing either. That was my point. They are electing to simply copy what others are doing, instead. Obviously, I’m not going to link to the marketing guy’s blog – but it’s shockingly poor, impossible to navigate and littered with really basic errors. It’s not what you would expect from someone with any marketing background – not even a keen amateur.
Of course, the kind of people who read this blog are more advanced than that. My readers often have amazingly good sites and blogs.
Hi Jim,
Here is what I observed. Many times I tend to overlook some of the things I should do, even though I know that I have to do it. Some times I don’t try hard enough to write the best title that I can, or create the most keyword targeted content that I could, or include a call to action, or develop the article with a goal in mind … And I think that the answer/solution, for me at least, is planning. To plan what you want to do with your website includes everything from keyword planning to content planning, to setting up the goals, to social networks where you’ll market your content, how do you plan to get clients, etc.
Thanks
You make some great points there Toma.
Planning is important, as is knowing how to plan and what to include in that plan; so it compliments a deliberate strategy to achieve your business objectives.
Marketing is a tough nut to crack. Many people think “imitation” is the way to go, but selling is not “flattery”. The way to stand out is not to blend in, but you would think this is the blueprint for success based on the same techniques being duplicated time and time again.
It takes some bravery to stand out from the pack, be different, but it often pays large dividends. In the B2B world, this does not mean being “gimmicky” or “confrontational”. It can be as simple as a different pricing model, or addressing a problem in a unique way.
Rob – LexiConn
Some great points there Rob, as usual.
I particularly like that you mentioned the need to avoid gimmicks or being deliberately confrontational. It’s really easy for those to go VERY wrong.
Great comment – thanks.
Hi Jim,
As I have studied you and other marketing professionals for over a year, I find what I like best is the building of community. When I feel like someone values me and has a product that fits my budget and business, then I am more likely to buy their product. I’ve always been turned off by people yelling in the marketplace, so to speak.
Learning how to build that sense of community makes a big difference and prioritizing time to think through marketing takes time.
Thanks for the comment Julie.
You’re totally right. We all like to feel a sense of belonging and it’s far more likely that we will do business with people that we ‘feel’ good about.
That sense of community is one of the foundation blocks of Apple’s massive success. Yes, they have some great products, but their ability to build communities around those products is stunning.
Hi Jim,
This is a fantastic Blog Post. I believe that you hit the nail on the head when you said that there is no “One size fits all”. It has also been my experience that each Internet Marketing Business is unique and therefore must be treated differently to get the best results.
If this wasn’t the case, then we could all get rich just by following the same blue print. And in my opinion, such a blue print really doesn’t exist.
To Your Success!
Karl
Glad you liked the post Karl.
The challenge is that many business owners are looking for a generic, silver-bullet. All the time people are looking for it, there will be people claiming to offer it.
Great post Jim. Always enjoy your time, generosity, and insight on marketing. I’m heavily in that space now with part of a project I’ve been working on that maps social search for users, with relevant ads to site hosts. When it’s ready for marketing, we will need some expert advice, but we’re far off from that at the moment (our service was down due to a database problem last I checked).
Will keep you posted.
Thanks Mark. Keep me posted!
Here’s a better quick internet marketing tip…….. READ THIS BLOG!!!!!!
You are the best out there Jim!
Mr. Connolly, Excellent blog post with Great marketing tips! My favorite tip was the question asking “What is YOUR <– (key word) marketing strategy and not EVERYBODY <– (another key word) else's copycat strategy? Thats why (if you haven't already noticed) I carefully chose the words (teaching myself effective marketing strategis) for my twitter bio. I was hoping that people would get why I said that:) My mama didn't raise no damn fool & I have Certified Bullshit Detectors that I keep finely tuned LOL! On a more serious note, your tip stated there is no secret formula to marketing stategies, and I couldn't agree with you more! Like you said, those repeated copycat strategies might have worked for someone else but, that doesn't mean it's 100% going to work for you. The copycat will lack the confidence that comes with ones Authentic DNA and people will see through that lickedy split! Lack of authenticity makes for a very poor marketer!
Nice comment Toni – thanks for sharing!
Hi Jim!
I understand what your point is, but there was nothing else for me to add on that matter. Instead, I tried to draw some focus on how easy it is to do things wrong rather than get them right.
Thanks for the feedback Wayne!
The copycats often don’t see or find the whole picture. Paint by numbers strategies don’t work if you don’t have all of the pain colors and all of the numbers, you know. Nice post.
You make a good point Oscar.
Sadly, all the time there’s people looking for a generic ‘paint by numbers’ approach as you call it, there will be experts selling it.
Thanks.
Hmmm. I think that you should have also mentioned that in order to be original, you need to research to see what’s already out there. I mean, sure, you might think that you have a novel idea, but as Shakespeare said, nothing is new under the sun. So, better just find more unique ways of presenting something old as new, right?
Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for the feedback.