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As snow has already begun to fly in the middle of this lovely October, it is inevitable that one’s mind drifts towards the holiday season. Now you may not be ready to start thinking about the holidays, but it’s never to early to start planning your seasonal marketing strategy.

Developing a seasonal marketing strategy for this time of year can be extremely effective. Even though we are currently in an economic downturn, we all know that people will still increase their spending around the holidays. You should make sure to grab some of that market, so here are some helpful tips on what can be effective.

Since people are already determined to buy products, you may have an easier time convincing them that they should be buying your products. One way to appeal to your customer is through their emotions. Seasons are linked heavily with memories of holidays past and loved ones, so don’t be afraid to use these in your advertisements.

During this time, people want to buy because they are in a festive mood, and often, they don’t even think of it as making a purchase at all but more as an act of making others happy. So another idea might be to donate a portion of their purchase’s profits to charity.

With most consumers shopping on a budget this year, be prepared for more comparison shopping as they try to scope out the best deals before making a purchase. And an increased focus on practical gifts is also likely.

Lastly, keep in mind that seasonal marketing is applicable for more than just the holiday season. Halloween is actually another big purchasing time, although it might be a little late to scrape together a seasonal marketing strategy for it now!

Using advertisements that fit in with the time of year can be very effective no matter what it is. For example, a car repair shop could advertise a “Back to School Special” in August by emphasizing the importance of being able to pick up your kids from school. This could inspire parents to get their car in for a tune up before the hectic fall season starts.

Although snow is unexpected this early in the season, it offers a perfect opportunity to reflect on how seasonal marketing can help you! There is an urgency to buy up through New Year’s, so don’t hesitate to make a marketing plan that appeals to your customer, making it your product that they are buying!

Setting up a website isn’t nearly as difficult or expensive as it was just a few years ago.  According to a 2008 study by Barlow Research, it’s estimated that roughly 49% of small businesses already have a website, with another 13% planning to launch a site within the next 12 months.  With so many businesses having websites and more on the way, you might want to raise the question of how yours will stand out from your competitors’ and meet your business objectives.

The mere act of “having a website,” doesn’t guarantee success.  But make no mistake about it; the Internet is here to stay; which means that you need to plan your website’s future.

What is Search Engine Fuel?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or search engine fuel is the continual practice of making your website easily found by the search engines and your target audience.

As an online marketing consultant, I’m often asked, “What would I do?”

It’s important to note that your website should never follow what someone else does.  Your personal brand, reach, customer demographic, etc. is unique and therefore your marketing strategy should never be cookie cut.

Marketing your company on the Internet should be viewed no differently than how you have marketed using traditional media.  The only component that has changed is the medium.  For that reason, I’ve found that success with your website can be attributed to two things:

• Sending The Right Message- Clearly communicate, with words and design, how your company will meet your target audience’s needs.  Overall, your site should be equal to or better than your competitors’.
• Receiving The Right Traffic- Use your website to attract qualified sales leads so that your marketing objectives can be met.

Crafting the Message

Features and benefits mean nothing, unless they address the greatest “pain point” of your target audience.  The important thing is to address your target market’s emotional buying motive.  Customers will judge your brand and your company’s strengths and weaknesses from the way it is presented on your website. Here are just a few questions to help focus your efforts:
• How does your company compete?  Better services or products, best price, etc.
• How do you define your target market?  Are they young, middle aged, or senior citizens?
• Do they exhibit similar behavioral traits?
• What should your brand look like to potential buyers?

Driving in the Right Traffic

How do you to get potential customers to visit your website and help you meet your business objectives?  The answer:  A strategic search engine optimized campaign.

There are two components to the campaign:
• A properly search engine optimized website and
• Link popularity (getting related websites to link to your site).

In my next post I’ll discuss these two components in more detail.

When I was working in retail many years ago, I had the displeasure of having to close a high-end electronics outlet.  Customers came from far and wide, but many of them had no empathy for the years of hard work and memories.  Prices were already slashed by as much as 30 - 50% which didn’t stop the average Joe asking to get a better deal.  However, I will never forget the day my co-worker responded to a guy that asked what his best price was in which he replied “Excuse me.  Am I wearing a Jacket with question marks all over it?”

If you don’t get the above reference, he was referring to “Matthew Lesko” who airs on Infomercials about how to get free money from the government.  I nearly hit the floor laughing because if you have never seen this guy, he is one of the most obnoxious characters you’ll see on TV. Just check out the clip below:

In any respect, I get a kick out of infomercials like these because although you may think that no one would ever buy something from them, consumers love the idea of how something could make their life easier. Additionally, they wouldn’t be around if they didn’t work.

Anyone that has stayed up late at night or has gotten up early on the Weekend can speak from experience. TV infomercials draw us in and we have all fallen victim of one in some shape or another. But have you ever stopped to think what makes these so compelling? Is there something that can be learned from infomercials that can be applied to the online marketing realm?

Sure we can.  When you look at Infomercials such as these, they share a great deal of basic fundamental components of a successful online marketing campaign:

1. They are short- the Internet is all about speed and if you want your message to be heard, you have to keep it short and simple.
2. They sell benefits- in the example above, he talks about what you can do with the money and not how it works.  When constructing online web pages, keep in mind that your audience will want to know how it will make their life better and care less about how you have chosen to label features.
3. They are engaging- in simple terms, this means that they are able to generate a significant amount of interest in a relatively short period of time.  In the example above, the execution was humor (…i think).  The web is no different.  Advertising creatives need to be compelling and draw a web users attention to click on them.  From there, the website needs to provide an “experience” that was in keeping with the advertisement.

No matter how you slice it, Infomercials do work and have been around much longer than the web.  And I’m sure you probably don’t have to think too hard to recall some that you have likely have seen.  If you stop and think about it, you may realize an opportunity that you haven’t thought of…even if he’s waring question marks on his jacket!

When in social or networking events, I’m usually asked what I do for a living, which is kind of a tricky question to answer. If I reply that I work for an “Internet Marketing company”, I usually get a glazed-back look of mixed understanding. So naturally I proceed to tell them that I’m the guy that invented the annoying pop-up or spam e-mail, which typically leads me to dodge a punch in the nose. (That’s a Joke…but not too far from the truth.)

But in all seriousness, Internet marketing is loosely defined for most people in that they aren’t sure what it is or what it does. This becomes evidently clear in front of new prospects that want to know more about getting their business online and promoting their business into cyberspace. Even responses such as “We help your company get listed in search engines” or “we help customers find you online” is typically not descriptive enough for the guy that has been purchasing radio and yellowpage advertising for the last couple of decades.

This is unfortunate because the above phenomenon typically leads to general misunderstanding as to what one can expect when diving into online marketing…the so-called hottest advancements since television. So to benefit all, I thought I would take a stab at offering a more descriptive definition to marketing online for those who are unsure of what the web has to offer.

First, i would like to lay out the elementary components of the marketing mix (also known as the 4 P’s):

1. Product
2. Price
3. Place
4. Promotion

The main reason why I choose to spell out marketing in this fashion, is that many businesses that I have had the pleasure to meet with are only most concerned with the last variable “promotion” as the cornerstone of their strategy, when unarguably this is really only 1/4 of the marketing equation. I believe that this is significant point because most marketing problems rarely occur from this variable alone. I touched on this subject just a few of posts ago when i was discussing if search engine marketing was really marketing. In any regard, the message is simple. How you communicate, price, and place your products are equally as important as how you promote them.

With that said, here is what i believe to be the 4 key fundamental results of online marketing:

1. Increase or position branding & exposure
2. Generate Sales & Leads
3. Maintain or develop customer intimacy
4. Reduce operating costs

All of which utilize the 4 P’s of marketing in some capacity. (If you believe I have left something out, please don’t be shy.) Although you would beleive that generating sales or increasing leads would be the most important for any company, you can’t deny the importance of the other 3 as significant marketing outcomes that businesses also want to achieve.

Therefore, getting back to brass tacks, I would like to reply to those interested in what I do: “I help companies use the web to increase their exposure online, generate business, and stay in touch with their customers while reducing their overall costs.” All of which may not sound perfect, but I believe its the beginning of a solution to an age old marketing problem.