Online marketing that works

People get confused about Online Marketing, "Is that social media?" I get asked.  The answer is that social media plays a part in online marketing, but there's more to it than that.  The key to success is to have a strategy to share your knowledge and raise your profile in a number of online locations.

So what should be included in your online marketing portfolio?

• Social media - but don't just put information everywhere you can find, choose the networks where your target audience hang out and then post information that those people want.

• Blogs - your own, where you can share your knowledge, give advice, provide tips and 'how to' items, and other people's blogs either by intelligent comments in related subjects or by guest blogging.  Don't overlook inviting people with a similar target market to yours to guest blog for you.  They'll promote it to their followers who will learn about your expertise at the same time.

• Articles - placing appropriate articles on sites such as ezine Articles is a great way to raise your profile, but remember they need to be unique for each post.  It's worth submitting articles to the online journals that your target market reads too.

• Newsletters - it's rare that people will voluntarily sign up for a newsletter on your website, but if you offer them a tempting report or 'How to ...' download they are usually willing to part with their contact details.  A well-written, lively, focused - and short - newsletter is a great way to keep those people warm, until they're ready to buy what you're offering.

• Reports and White Papers - a report or white paper is simply a collection of information on a specific subject that explores the current thinking, research, state-of-play and can position you as a thought leader.  However, remember to keep a check on the reports or white papers you offer to ensure they continue to be up-to-date.

• Ebooks - Creating an ebook around your area of expertise is a great way to gain a reputation as an expert.  If you get it published on Amazon for Kindle too you'll be opening it up to a huge marketplace. 

• Elearning material - If you know how to put together courses that can be shared using either video clips, pdf files or webinars then you've got a valuable tool to engage people.  You can offer free tasters to tempt people to sign up for a paid programme.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but certainly it reaches far beyond Facebook, Twitter and Linked In!

It doesn't have to be 1st January ...

It's that time of year when people plan ahead and take the first steps that will change their lives for the better.  However, whilst a few will achieve their goals, many will get to the end of January and find that they have 'fallen off the wagon'.  Never mind - there's next year.

There are two things wrong with this:

1.  They haven't found the key to long term change - even though it was right there in front of them.

2.  Failure has provided them with an excuse to procrastinate for another 11 months!

A zillion diets fail because people give in to human desires - and then are abandoned because of one little slip.  Any goal that you are working towards is likely to have one or two setbacks, but why is that a good reason to give up?  All it offers is an opportunity to rectify the situation and come back stronger and more successful.

Why do so many of us use a small error as a reason to stop trying to achieve?

The key to long change is something really mundane - habit.  To succeed in anything you need to develop the habits that help you to succeed.

A habit is simply something you do automatically without thinking about it and it takes a while to develop a habit.  You have to concentrate on it daily for three or four weeks, taking conscious action until you start doing it automatically.

You clean your teeth automatically, you drive the car automatically, you even put the kettle on automatically (if you're a keen tea or coffee drinker).  These habits are formed by constant repetition - and your new actions need the same kind of repetition to form helpful habits.  This means that you won't need to look into the future of trying to remember to do new things forever, just take it a week at a time.

If you use a diary regularly put it into your diary with a reminder daily to give your memory a nudge.  If you have a mobile phone with an alarm, set a reminder alarm daily.  Build the new habits into your daily routine and before long you'll find they are just 'how you do things'.

Remember, it doesn't have to be the first of January to set a goal - you can do this any time of the year, on any day of the week (doesn't have to be a Monday), or at any time of day.

The key to success is to see it as a journey to a destination.  There will be the occasional wrong turns, slipping back when you feel like you should be going forward, but as long as you keep going you will get there.  Set the new habits in place and the journey will get easier and easier.

Promoting your products and services on social media

Nobody likes being sold at, it's that fastest way to turn people off on social media.  It doesn't mean that you can't promote your products or services, but you do need to be smart about how you do this.

If the only messages you post are sales pitches, it's hardly surprising if people stop following you and lose interest in you.  Social media is SOCIAL and people expect you to chat and be human.  That doesn't mean that you can't promote what you do, it's all in the way you do it.

Let's say you've got a fantastic new book out that helps people with their online marketing; what would you post on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Google+, Pinterest?

It's not going to be 'Get your guide to online marketing now (with the link to your sales page)', but any of these might work:

• Twitter and Facebook:  'I'm really excited that my ebook is now ready to go. I've put a smart purple cover on it; tell me what you think' (link to your sales page where there is a picture of the smart purple cover, of course).
• Linked In:  If you've taken the time to get involved in groups where your target audience 'hang out', then you could ask them if they would review a couple of chapters.
• Google+:  Pick an appropriate circle and ask them to choose a chapter to review.
• Pinterest:  Upload the picture of the cover from your sales page and write a few words about why you chose purple for the cover - this gives you an automatic link to that page.

You can also use 'teaser' posts like these:

'Did you know that you can upload 100 tweets in seconds? Find out how on page 35' (link to sales page)
'Discover how to write killer headlines for your blogs and much more on page 72' (link to sales page)
'Does your email marketing get a good response? For the secrets of compelling email read page 43' (link to sales page).

You get the idea!  This works for products too - just use the benefits to tempt people.