How to Harness the Power of the Internet - Blaze Marketing

eBook
How to Harness the Power of the Internet
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Hello and welcome to 21 Easy Ways to Market Your
Business Online.
Welcome
With more and more customers using the Internet to find products and services, a
strong online presence has become an essential tool for any small business.
This eBook,В sponsored by Optus Business, gives you practical and easy tips to make the
most of the Internet for your business.
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The posts in this eBook were contributed by some very talented Australian
Businesswomen’s Network members who work in the areas of marketing and doing
business online. I encourage you to read their profiles and visit their websites for more
great tips and strategies.
Enjoy, and I look forward to hearing your feedback.
Sincerely,
Suzi Dafnis
Community Director
Australian Businesswomen’s Network
P.S. Visit our website to download more great eBooks.
P.P.S. Membership offers great rewards and opportunities to promote your business. You
can learn more about membership (and a special offer for readers of this eBook) here.
Table of Contents
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Table of Contents
Maximise the chances of being found online................................................................4
Establishing thought leadership via online forums....................................................5
Three reasons why blog comments boost your brand..............................................6
Video is not just for Hollywood, darling! .........................................................................8
Getting started with Facebook ads....................................................................................9
E-Newsletters that engage your audience......................................................................11
Which social media platform should you use?..............................................................12
Three ways to achieve more with Google Analytics...................................................14
Checking-in: Taking word of mouth to new heights...................................................16
AdWords: An easy way to drive traffic to your website..............................................17
Establishing brand credibility through LinkedIn..........................................................19
Affiliate marketing: Make money when you have nothing to sell.........................21
Five steps to creating an engaging online brand presence.....................................22
Twitter: Networking on steroids.........................................................................................24
Powerful blogging for brand growth................................................................................25
Get the most out of your Facebook page........................................................................26
Foursquare: Not just a game................................................................................................27
Create an online campaign with sustainable results..................................................28
Getting results with email marketing...............................................................................29
Inbound marketing..................................................................................................................30
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Maximise
the chances of
being found online
Johanna Baker-Dowdell, Strawberry Communications
Gone are the days when customers use the paper Yellow Pages to find
your business. Research is now done online, so make sure your business
can be found there.
List your business on Google Maps/Places, business directories like hotfrog, Yellow Pages
or TrueLocal and industry websites.
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Your listing should contain all the key words and phrases potential customers are
likely to type into search engines.
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For instance, if you are a florist, you need to include “floral bouquets”, “flowers”, “wedding
flowers” and “floral displays” in your listing; if you are a virtual assistant, consider words like
“VA”, “virtual assistant” and “administration”.
Your full business contact details are the next important inclusion. Potential customers
need to be able to contact you in the way that suits them. Think beyond the business
phone to your mobile, email, website and social media.
When writing your business description, mention your company name and keywords
several times within the text to help optimise the listing for search engines, increasing
the chance of potential customers finding your business. Try to write between 50 and 200
words, including options for payment and opening hours to give customers a good idea
about your business and why they should choose you.
Online directories market your business 24 hours a day, which means your business can
be found at any time.
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Establishing
thought leadership
via online forums
Gemma Manning, Manning and Co.
Forums can be a great way for a business to establish thought leadership
in their area of expertise. You can use forums in two different ways to
support your marketing and thought leadership strategy.
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One way is to initially select 2 - 3 forums that are relevant to your business and actively
participate in these forums, sharing your thoughts, insights and expertise on a number of
areas. This is a great way to build new relationships online, while establishing yourself as
a thought leader in particular areas. This automatically builds credibility, trust and rapport
for you and your company.
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It is important to make sure that the forums you choose are high traffic with lots of new
comments, topics and threads daily. Once you join a forum, ensure that you complete your
profile, include a professional photo of yourself and an effective signature that links back
to your website. Then, participate regularly! By commenting and participating in online
discussions, you not only generate extra traffic to your site, but you can boost your search
engine ranking and enhance your personal brand. Commenting on articles and discussion
boards also boosts your search engine ranking, especially if it is a site/discussion board
that already rates highly with a search engine like Google.
The second way to leverage a forum in your marketing strategy is to create your own
online forum and use it as a way to further increase brand awareness and to develop
brand credibility and differentiation. This requires thought and planning and must dovetail into your broader marketing strategy. There are lots of different types of forums online
today and the key to launching a forum is to do your research: what is out there and what
is missing? Where is there a gap, and can you sponsor a forum to fill that gap?
Your forum must champion a cause and have a dedicated purpose. For this kind of strategy
to work, you need to ensure that the forum is not just another advertising platform for
your business. You will get the business benefits from being the founder of the forum and
you will establish a thought leadership position when your forum becomes a success. Your
brand will always be associated with the forum and this can do wonders for your personal
and company brand reputation.
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Three reasons
why blog comments
boost your brand
Cheryl Hayman, Hayman Strategy
Unless you are a total stranger to blogging, you may already know the importance of
comments. If you want to get more engaged and responsive visitors to your blog, blog
comment marketing is something you should consider doing.
At the end of the day, comments are the thing that validates a blog’s existence. Comments
allow us to see what other people think about our posts, inspire new ideas and validate
that a connection is being achieved.
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What is blog comment marketing?
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It’s basically just that: leaving comments on other people’s blogs. You may already do this,
but if not, it is certainly worth doing as part of marketing yourself, your business or your
brand differently.
Comments represent the level of activity in a blog and it is a major factor differentiating
static websites and blogs.
If you already leave comments, have you given any thought to your comments? Have you
considered the impact they have and how comments reflects on you, as the writer?
Here are some reasons to consider commenting more often:
1. Comments are the first step in forming a relationship with another blogger. Good
comments improve the quality of a blog, so you notice the people who are enabling your
blog to be better. You’ll start to be recognised over time if you continue to leave comments.
Consider this real world example – Have you ever gone to a shopping centre and noticed
that some stores have many customers while others are empty? When a new customer
enters the centre, will they be attracted to the store with customers or those with none?
The same goes for restaurants. How often have you avoided a restaurant that is empty,
and gone nearby where there are more customers eating? It is a reflection of the quality
and offerings of those stores. Real or perceived, it doesn’t matter.
This is applicable in blogging too. Readers have a tendency to stick with the blogs that
have comments, while they always avoid the blogs where no discussion is taking place. If
you actively participate in discussions at other blogs, you too will receive lots of comments
on your blog. This is simple blogging etiquette; it will become a reciprocal arrangement. A
busy blog is an attractive blog.
2. You’ll get “pre-qualified” visitors. Be smart about where you comment and leave
thoughtful comments; you’ll begin to attract the attention of the blogger, as well as the
other readers. If you clearly know what you’re talking about and they’re interested in the
topic, many readers will click through to your own website or blog since you’ll have been
deemed an authority figure that has something pertinent and interesting to say.
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3. You’ll learn something in the process. If you read other blogs on your industry, topic,
market and competing brands, or blogs that are directed to your ideal audience, then you
may even pick up some useful knowledge.
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The main reason that blog commenting is so useful is because it can potentially lead to
more traffic for your website or blog. It can build awareness, loyalty, sales and advocacy
for your own brand. At the end of the day, the key ingredient to successful outcomes for
your brand will result from applying your blog commentary to those blogs that target the
same audience you are trying to reach.
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4
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Video is not just
for Hollywood, darling!
Janet Beckers, Wonderful Web Women
YouTube is by far one of the most powerful search engines on the Internet.
Most people don’t see it as a search engine, but that is exactly what it is. Search on Google
for any keyword and without fail, it will return listings of videos on YouTube. This is the
reason why YouTube is so important for your business. A search on YouTube will show
many businesses that are creating strong connections with their fans and potential clients.
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YouTube is also a social networking site. Most people forget this, but by forming friends
and subscribers to your YouTube Channel (where all your videos are), your videos are
automatically displayed to them whenever they log in.
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Another advantage? You can embed your YouTube videos into the pages of your website.
This shares the search engine love around even more!
So what do you say in your videos?
Unlike Facebook, you can have more than one YouTube account. This means you can create
a personal account, a business account and even product and topic specific accounts.
Keep your videos short (just a few minutes), friendly and give great value content. Always,
always ask people to leave comments, both in the video and the description you put of
the video. Your intention is to get people to interact with you.
Ideas for video topics:
• A to Z on your topic. For example, I could do one video on A for autoresponders, B
for branding, C for Clarity... Get the idea?
• Frequently asked questions
• Book review of the week
• Interviews
How to get your videos to rank high on search engines
This is not as hard as it looks. Simply because so many people do it poorly.
My friend, Gideon Shalwick has made a great video (on his YouTube Channel) on this topic
which is short, sweet and easy to follow. You can view it here (tell him I sent you).
Handy tips:
• Use popular keywords in your heading, description and tags
• Start your description with your website url, including the http://
• Make your video worthwhile to watch so that people will refer it to others
There’s heaps of other tricks, but if you stick with these for every video you create, you’ll
be way ahead of everyone else.
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Getting started
with Facebook ads
Victoria Gibson, Social Inc.
If you haven’t tried Facebook ads yet, what are you waiting for? Facebook
ads are a fast, cheap and completely measurable way to reach your ideal
target audience.
The basics of Facebook Ads are easy to grasp with many DIY advertisers getting great
results. In order to get among the ranks of successful Facebook advertisers, try following
these five easy steps:
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1. Have a clear call to action
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You must have an offer, message or directive that is engaging and compelling if you want
to attract Facebook users to click on your ads.
Think along the lines of:
• “Sign up now for these Exclusive Offers”
• “Get in the Know with the Best Insider Events”
• “Get 50% off this Weekend only”
2. Carefully craft your click destination
Facebook ads work on a pay-per-click basis. This means, if you select the cost-per-click
bidding method, you only pay when a user actually clicks on your ad. This is great because
it means there is no wastage and you can track exactly how many people have engaged
with your ad. The next step is getting your target audience to take action and either sign
up or buy your offer.
Conversions are closely aligned to the content and layout of the website, landing page
or Facebook page that you send your ad traffic to. You must make sure that the page you
select follows on from the call to action in your ad. It must be easy for the user to know
what you want them to do and compelling enough to make them want to do it.
Make your sign-up form king of the page. Try a “Reveal Tab” on Facebook that asks
users to Like your page, or have a clearly visible �buy now’ button. Make sure your visitors
do not have to look too far for the essential information and make sure they do not leave
without you being able to contact them again!
Think carefully about the advantages of choosing to send your ad traffic to your Facebook
page instead of your website. Facebook pages can easily replicate key elements of your
website using custom tabs and you get the added benefit of the “sharing” effect of
Facebook. You may also find a higher level of trust from your prospects when you keep
talking to them on Facebook.
3. Study other ads
If you’re new to copywriting and creating great headlines that draw attention, then
become a student of effective copywriting. Look at ads online and offline to see what
captures your attention and see if you can find some successful examples within your
own market to be inspired by.
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Correct spelling and grammar is a must, but punchy and clear copywriting is always the
most effective in Facebook ads. If you can say it in less words, then do. Simple.
4. Curate your image gallery
High quality, relevant images are everything in Facebook advertising. They are the main
reason why your ad will get clicks.
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You only have a small piece of the screen to work with, so make it really count by sourcing
great images that work in a small size. Your images should be sized to 110 pixels wide by
80 pixels high and they must be clear and relevant to your message and brand.
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Use elements from your existing campaigns or get free or cheap stock images from a raft
of websites, such as iStockPhoto.com.
Bright images of friendly, engaging faces always work if you get stuck.
5. Bid and test to find the sweet spot
Facebook ads require that you bid on the space to get your ad displayed. In order to get
the best value out of this process and keep your costs down, you should test several
versions of your ad amongst different demographics and likes and interests. You should
also test different headlines and images.
Facebook display your ad more if it gets a high rate of clicks from users and in turn, you
get the cost of each click at a cheaper rate.
When you launch your ads, make sure you watch them closely to ensure they are
performing well. If they do not receive many clicks, even after they have been displayed
over 1,000 times across Facebook, then it is probably time to pause those ads and give life
to one of your other ads.
Remember: you are in charge of your overall daily or campaign budget, so ensure
you set these first so you don’t overspend.
Familiarise yourself with the Facebook Ad Manager, which is where you conduct all the
production, placement, bidding and optimisation of yourads. Press the green �create an
ad’ button to get started.
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E-Newsletters
that engage your audience
Nicki Walsh, Blaze Marketing
I love e-newsletters. They are a cost-effective, measurable way to engage your customers,
prospects, business contacts or employees, without being too intrusive.
So how do you undertake a successful e-newsletter?
Here are a few practical tips to get started:
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2.Recipients. Build a solid list of recipients, including customers, prospects, business
contacts, and so on. Take the opportunity after you meet people to add them to
your list. Add a subscription form to your website and don’t forget to include an
�unsubscribe’ or �opt out’ function in the e-newsletter.
3.Content. In the case of the e-newsletter, �Content is King’. People are busy, so your
content has to be relevant, personalised and add value to get attention. Make sure
you keep it short, punchy and in bite-sized chunks.
4.Design and Layout. Develop a strategic template for your e-newsletter that is visually appealing, easy to read, consistent with your brand style and gives your business
a professional image. Connect articles through to landing pages for more information. Make sure landing pages open in new windows and include a quick links
content box in your banner design so recipients don’t forget to look at other articles
they were interested in.
5.Measure and Review. Set up a process to measure and report on the analytics
of your email-out. Review the information to make improvements for your future
emails.
Remember, your e-newsletter is an opportunity to keep your business front of mind,
provide real value to your customers or prospects through interesting useful content and
position your business as a credible thought leader or subject matter expert.
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1.Plan. Determine a realistic 12-month plan, including the designated editor, due
dates for editorial, due dates for design and development, publish/broadcast dates
and topics to be covered in each edition.
Email liaisons webinar
For more tips on how to build an online community of loyal customers, including
how to build a responsive email list from scratch, how often to email your list,
develop trust and a list of raving fans, download the Email Liaisons webinar from
the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website.
Download Email Liaisons from our webinar library. Free for Growth and
StartUp members, $35 for CommunityPlus members and $39 for Community
and Non-members.
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Which social
media platform
should you use?
Michelle Gamble, Marketing Angels
Most businesses now know that without a presence on social media, you
are missing an important platform for communicating with customers and
prospects.
The main options that are available to businesses include:
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Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Google+
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Usage of these platforms (statistics not available for Google+) are shown below:
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The number of people on social media shouldn’t be what dictates which platform is right
for your business. The main factor is to understand what platforms your target market is
using and how and why they use it.
Regardless of which platform you use, you will be more effective if you follow these tips:
Tips for choosing the right social media platform
Facebook
Facebook is ideal for the following types of businesses:
• Business to consumer businesses. Businesses who target individual consumers
are more suited to facebook than those who target other businesses.
• Retail businesses. You can use facebook to run, sweepstakes, competitions, post
engaging and useful information and entice your users with images and videos.
• Business that targets locally. Use Facebook ads to target specific populations.
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Twitter
Twitter is an excellent platform for targeting a much broader audience. It allows you
to create dialogue and discussion with people who could be great influencers for your
business, but are individuals you may never have the chance to meet in person. Twitter
has become a key platform for journalists to source breaking news and allows them to
develop relationships directly with possible news or story sources. Twitter is more “fast
and furious” then Facebook. Generally, it requires more time to maintain – it’s important
to engage with your followers several times a day.
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LinkedIn
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LinkedIn is ideal for businesses that target other businesses (B to B). LinkedIn can help you
build trust, have regular dialogue with your business networks and position yourself as
an expert. It is a great network to distribute expert articles you may write, provide expert
opinion and advice by LinkedIn questions and directly target key prospects (through
introductions and the upgraded pro version) using Inmail.
Google+
Google+ is Google’s new social media platform. Initially, it’s only been set up for individuals
(not businesses) and has only just been opened up for anyone to create a user account.
Previously, you needed to be invited by someone who already had an account. It’s a good
idea to create a Google+ account and start familiarising yourself with the platform. How
useful it is as a marketing tool is yet to be known; however, getting in early and getting
familiar with it will increase your chances of using it effectively for your business should
it take off.
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Three ways
to achieve more
with Google Analytics
Maria Anderson, Sustainable Marketing
Google Analytics is a free, simple-to-use web analytics tool that gives you insights about
the visitors to your website.
At Sustainable Marketing, we use Google Analytics to measure the performance of both
online and offline marketing. This tool allows us to progressively improve the performance
of clients’ marketing, optimise marketing budgets and achieve more with less!
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1. Analyse your visitors’ keywords.
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Keywords are words that people use in
online searches to find your website.
Google Analytics will show you the most
popular keywords for your website.
The more popular words may be more
meaningful to your target market than the
words you use to describe your products.
By including more relevant keywords in
your online and offline marketing, you
can attract more potential clients without
increasing your budget.
In the Keywords table shown, “steam cleaner” is an
important keyword to be included in marketing.
2. Assess your in-page
analytics.
In-page analytics allow you to analyse banners, buttons or links that visitors click on.
Assessing this information will help you understand what content your visitors find
more appealing. Testing different content and messages can help you identify better
In this image from a front webpage, we would recommend testing different content for some of the lower
performing icons such as �fuse blocks’.
performing content. This can help you to progressively use more relevant content and
increase the overall conversion rate for your website.
3. Measure offline results
Google Analytics can also measure the effectiveness of your offline marketing. Give
readers of your advertisements and editorials a special offer to encourage them to visit a
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special campaign webpage on your website. (e.g., visit www.sustainablemarketing.com.
au/risingenergy to read an article on what SMEs can do to avoid rising electricity costs.)
The traffic to the special campaign webpage can be measured through Google’s �Top
Content’ analysis tool, which allows you to compare your advertisements and editorials to
assess which magazines or editorials your target market prefers.
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So how do you get started? Visit google.com/analytics, set up a Google Analytics account
and arrange for your web designer to install the Google Analytics code into your website.
Free online marketing optimisation webinar
For more information and tips about Internet trends and effective web solutions
for your business, download the Online Marketing Optimisation webinar from
the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website. This webinar examines how
Google works, search engine optimisation tips, online advertising solutions for
small businesses, and much more.
Download Online Marketing Optimisation from our webinar library. Free for
all Growth, StartUp, CommunityPlus, Community and Non-members.
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Checking-in:
Taking word of
mouth to new heights
Cat Matson, Alito
If you run a retail or hospitality business, you know the value of happy customers singing
your praises to their friends.
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The old adage suggested a happy customer would tell three of their friends. But in the age
of social media and location-based check-ins, your happy customers can sing your praises
to dozens, if not hundreds, at a time.
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The most commonly-known location-based check-in platforms in Australia are Facebook
Places and FourSquare. Facebook, with 10 million Aussie users, is certainly the most
popular; however, FourSquare has some very cool built-in game mechanics (like points
for check-ins, a leader board amongst your friends and of course, badges and titles like
Mayor). Both platforms are worth utilising to maximise your business results.
Why allow customers to check-in to your business?
When someone checks-in to your venue, they are broadcasting to their social networks
exactly where they are. And most often, they are adding a comment about �why’ they’re
there. When I check-in to my local take-away venue on a Friday night, I always mention
how good the pizzas are. I know at least three people who have bought pizzas there as a
result of my endorsements.
How can you encourage people to check-in?
Remind them. Poppy Cakes in Brisbane has signs on their counter that read, “Have you
checked-in on Facebook?” While waiting for their order, customers can happily let their
friends know the delight they’re about to experience.
Offer rewards for the Foursquare Mayor of the day. This encourages people to check-in
to earn the points towards a Mayorship and it encourages them to keep coming back in
order to secure the Mayorship and reap the rewards.
So, set up your business on Facebook Places and Foursquare, encourage your customers
to check-in and begin harnessing good-old fashioned word-of-mouth referrals in the
social media age.
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AdWords: An
easy way to drive
traffic to your website
Michelle Gamble, Marketing Angels
AdWords is Google’s paid advertising offering on their search engine.
AdWords, unlike search engine optimisation (SEO), is a very flexible tool to use and is a
great way to drive traffic to a website, regardless of its SEO ranking.
• It basically works like a big auction for certain keywords. You set a budget of what
you are willing to pay-per-click to your website from your ad when someone types
in a specific keyword in Google. In simple terms, the higher the budget set, the
higher the ad appears on the search results page.
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Pros and cons of AdWords
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Pros:
• You can turn it on and off like a tap.
• It is working for you 24/7.
• It is highly measurable.
• It gets traffic to your site, regardless of its SEO ranking.
• An excellent way of testing targeting prospects via search. Since it’s simple to adjust
your campaigns, you can easily test what works and what doesn’t work.
• You can use the learnings from your AdWords Campaign to improve your website’s
SEO.
Cons:
• It can be very expensive, particularly in competitive/mature markets
• Costs are very driven by market forces
• Not as trusted as organic search results
• You can become a slave to it. If your competitors start spending more for particular
keywords, you will be forced to increase your budget to maintain your ranking.
How AdWords works
You decide how much you are willing to pay-per-click for each user who clicks on your ad
when it appears in the search results for a certain keyword search. Where your ad appears
on the page is dictated by the amount you are willing to pay-per-click and the quality of
your ad.
So: Rank = Max cost-per-click (CPC) x Quality score
Quality score is a measure of user experience. Google wants to make sure that they are
only serving ads that are highly relevant to what the user is searching for.
Quality score is based on a number of things:
• Click-through-rate (CTR): How many searchers are clicking on your ad?
• Ad text relevance: How relevant is your ad is to the actual search keyword?
• Historical performance: How has the keyword performed in the past?
The content of your ad is just as important as the amount you’re willing to pay-per-click
and will determine where your ad is ranked on the page.
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Like search engine optimisation, search engine marketing is complex; for it to be effective,
you need to be regularly monitoring and modifying your campaigns.
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• Take time to structure your account. Ideally, you should run more than one
campaign with different ad groups that sit underneath each campaign.
• For example, your campaign name might be “Travel Agent Malvern” and your
different ad groups might be “Cruising Holidays”, “Family Holidays”, “Specialty Tours”.
You then might run another campaign called “Sporting Tours Malvern” with the ad
groups, “Rugby World Cup Tours”, “Winter Olympics Tours”, etc.
• Under each Ad Group, you can have several keywords and one or two different
types of ads.
• Keyword research is really important for choosing the right keywords. Also, take
the time to understand keyword matching as this can really impact the cost of your
campaign.
• Take the time to write your ads effectively.
• If you have a registered Trademark, make sure that you let Google know. You can
protect your trademark as a search term and stop any competitors from buying it as
a keyword.
• Take the time to setup your AdWords reports. Track them regularly to optimise your
campaigns.
• Use Google Analytics to measure the ROI from your AdWords activity vs. other
activity.
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Tips for successful search engine marketing
Online resources to help with search engine
marketing
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Google AdWords Learning Centres
Google’s Australian AdWords YouTube Channel
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Establishing
brand credibility
through LinkedIn
Gemma Manning, Manning and Co.
LinkedIn is the largest professional social network online. Every professional and business
owner, regardless of industry or type of business should have a professional and company
LinkedIn profile. When you understand how to use it and benefits to your brand, LinkedIn
is a highly powerful tool.
LinkedIn provides an opportunity to build relationships with potential customers, clients,
partners and peers. It allows you to tap into a powerful audience that you can engage
and interact with, and ultimately influence. It can be used as part of your sales, marketing
and recruitment strategy.
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Follow these tips to establish personal and company brand credibility on LinkedIn.
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Enhance your connectability through a complete LinkedIn profile.
A complete profile enhances both your personal and company brand credibility.
• You should fill out your profile like it’s your CV or executive bio; include past
positions and companies, education, affiliates, skills, activities, and so on.
• Also, reach out to your network, ask for recommendations and join groups relevant
to your business, in addition to groups where you might find potential customers.
If you are a business owner and your individual profile stands out, it will encourage people
to check out your website or to look at your company LinkedIn page – so your individual
profile page is highly important to get right.
Incorporate LinkedIn with other online marketing strategies.
• For example, promote your blog through LinkedIn using an application called
BlogLink. Visitors to your profile are able to read your blog posts directly in your
LinkedIn updates feed, and this, in turn, encourages traffic to be driven back to your
website.
• Include a link to your profile as part of an email signature. The added benefit here is
people can see your credentials directly.
• Mention your LinkedIn profile on your website and also provide the option for
visitors to share information via LinkedIn directly.
Commit to regular and relevant status updates.
• Use the status bar frequently to share useful information and engage with your
network.
• Strive to be visible and valuable during business hours when many people are
actually on LinkedIn.
• Your status updates should add value to your target markets and be updated two
to three times daily.
• You might want to attach articles via LinkedIn, announce an interesting conference,
recommend a book or website that you find interesting, etc.
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Use applications and other tools to get the most out of
LinkedIn.
My favourite applications are BlogLink, Company Buzz, Wordpress and the LinkedIn Today
function. A combination of these tools works brilliantly, for not only profiling, but also
keeping on top of the latest news and industry trends.
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LinkedIn allows you to make your profile information available for search engines to
index. Since LinkedIn profiles receive a high page rank in Google, this is a good way to
influence what people see when they search for you or your company.
To do this, when you create a public profile, select “Full View.” Also, instead of using the
default URL, customise your public profile’s URL to be your actual name. In addition to
your name, you can also promote your blog or website to search engines like Google.
LinkedIn can significantly raise your personal and brand
credibility,
thereby resulting in new business.
LinkedIn is becoming a key reference tool to check the credentials of individuals and
companies and therefore, it must be high on your marketing agenda, along with your
website and other online initiatives.
Like any initiative, you need to invest time and effort into it in order to see the benefits.
Once you do this, you will see significant business results. Manning and Co. is testimony to
this; we have won new business through our own participation on LinkedIn!
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Improve your Google ranking and enhance your search
engine results.
Smart ways to use LinkedIn for business
For more tips on how to harness the world’s most powerful business network,
download an exclusive webinar from the Australian Businesswomen’s Network
website. This webinar looks at tips for creating a winning profile, who to connect
to and who to avoid, ways to use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your own site, and
much more.
Download Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn for Business from our webinar library.
Free for Growth and StartUp members, $35 for CommunityPlus members
and $39 for Community and Non-members.
#
12
Affiliate marketing:
Make money when you
have nothing to sell
Janet Beckers, Wonderful Web Women
One of the biggest traps we all fall into in small business is thinking that we have to do
everything ourselves.
Yes, you do need to find the solution to your potential customers’ problems if you want to
make money, but you don’t have to create the product yourself. Selling your own product
will make you great money, but if there is already a great product out there, then why
reinvent the wheel? If someone else is better qualified to create that product, you will
serve your customer better by referring them to an expert.
sponsored by:
21
You make money by becoming a referring partner with the person whose product you
recommend. For every sale you recommend, they send you a percentage of the sale.
Oh great, I hear you say. How do I actually talk people into doing that?
Easy. It’s called an affiliate program and there are thousands of them on the Internet. In
fact, my business is built on affiliate programs and is the easiest and quickest way to make
money on the Internet.
The four golden rules of affiliate marketing
Follow these rules and your customers will love you (and you make great money):
1. It is your job to look for solutions to people’s problems.
2. Only ever recommend a product that you think is great.
3. If you think a product is good, but has one or two flaws, tell your customers the truth
and let them decide for themselves.
4. Always tell the truth!
That’s it. If you are honest and have high integrity when recommending products, your
customers will love you and continue to buy on your recommendation. I don’t know
about you, but these are principles I strive for in my business and in my personal life. It is
satisfying to know that being good is actually the best way to make money!
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So how do you make money then?
Free affiliate handbook
The Wonderful Web Women Affiliate Handbook: Download this easy to
understand guide from my website. This handbook not only tells you how to
become an affiliate for Wonderful Web Women, but will help you with other
programs as well.
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13
Five steps to
creating an engaging
online brand presence
Maria Anderson, Sustainable Marketing
Your online brand presence starts with your brand story, which is the single most
important marketing activity to get right.
A strong brand story will draw upon your natural competitive advantage, genuinely
appeal to your customers and differentiate you from your competitors.
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2.Write content in a compelling sales style. A different style of content is required
than the content used in printed brochures. It needs to be more engaging to compensate for the loss of �human contact’.
3.Raise awareness of your brand on Google. Conduct search engine optimisation of
your website. Place interesting and topical articles on your website each month to
continue to build your Google ranking. Drive traffic from your print advertisements,
editorials and social media to your website.
4.Build a relationship with visitors. Each webpage needs to move visitors one step
closer to your goal page where you want visitors to buy, book a meeting or contact
you. As visitors move through your website, they will require different offers. On the
front page, they may need an informational incentive, e.g., a report to create confidence. On your product or services page, they will need an offer to encourage them
to act, e.g., book a meeting or buy now. This approach will increase the conversion
rate for your website.
5.Speak a consistent brand voice. Make sure all of your online content gives the
same consistent message. If the content on your website, directory listings, social
media and offline marketing speaks the same brand story, you can grow your brand
faster.
To get started, have a look at the following websites to gain a deeper understanding of
the above five steps:
• www.garwoods.com.au
• www.biosteam.com.au
• www.velocityenergy.com.au
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1.Create an engaging website design. A powerful and visually appealing design is
required to engage your visitors. The design needs to bring your brand story to life
and be consistent with your brand’s visual identity.
Build a Strong Brand “How to” Tool Kit eBook
Sustainable Marketing has developed an eBook that is full of practical and
easy-to-implement strategies and tactics designed to help you build a brand
that will generate long term profits. Visit the Sustainable Marketing website
to purchase.
#
14
Post your news
online
Johanna Baker-Dowdell, Strawberry Communications
With so much news breaking on the Internet and in social media, it makes sense to take
press releases online too.
Ensure your press release grabs your viewer’s attention by making it newsworthy. Do this
by sharing your opinion as an expert on a trend, announcing an award win or launching
a new product or service.
21EasyWays
Tips for a great press release:
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• Include your “hook” in first stating who, what, where, when, why and how.
• Keep the most important points at the top and end with the least important. Your
release can then be edited from the bottom to fit, without losing the integrity of
your message.
• Write short, snappy sentences and keep paragraphs to one or two sentences.
• Quote someone – yourself or another relevant person – to give the story a voice.
• Do a spelling and grammar check and get someone else to read the release before
you send it out to ensure it reads well and makes sense.
• Keep the body of the media release to one page, if possible.
• Add a memorable headline.
• Include contact details at the bottom with at least a name, title, phone number,
email and website address.
• A “boiler plate” at the end includes information about your business not included in
the release.
Send your press release to your target online media and
upload it to PR websites like:
•
•
•
•
Newsmaker
PR Wire
I-Newswire
Wide PR
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15
Twitter:
Networking on steroids
Cat Matson, Alito
Networking is one of the oldest and most effective marketing tools for small business
owners. The advent of Twitter has taken networking to a whole new level.
sponsored by:
24
Here are my top tips for networking on Twitter to market
your business:
1.Use lists in Twitter to organise the people that you follow. I have a list of clients
and friends, a list of Brisbane Folk and a list called Overseas Dynamos (amongst
others). This makes it much easier to engage and follow the conversations that are
important to me.
2.Be generous with sharing information and referrals. I recently saw a tweet asking
for recommendations for a travel agent. I responded immediately with the details of
my travel agent; both people are now very happy with the connection.
3.Tweet about what you’re up to in your businesses. It’s those day-to-day stories
about what you do that builds credibility and helps potential clients to understand
what you do.
4.Tweet back to other content. Link to blog posts, articles, new service packages and
so on, that you already use in your marketing funnel.
5.Be authentic. Use your real voice, preferably a photo of you and feel free to join
those �water-cooler’ conversations that happen regularly on Twitter. Remember: it’s
the mundane conversations that often build a relationship.
Twitter keeps me front-of mind for a lot of my network. They see my name and face pop
up regularly and they therefore know how to find me when they need my services.
So get tweeting!
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When used as a networking tool, Twitter can exponentially expand your networking
reach, as you go about your normal day. Instead of taking the time to attend a function,
meet a handful of people, follow-up with those people by then making a phone call or
email and catching up over coffee, smart use of Twitter will allow you to network in just
10-20 minutes at a time, with hundreds of potential customers, clients and influencers.
Twitter for business webinar
For more tips on how to use Twitter to grow your business, position yourself as
an expert, what you should Tweet about, how to incorporate Twitter into your
marketing strategy, and much more, download the Twitter for Business webinar
from the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website.
Download Twitter for Business from our webinar library. Free for Growth and
StartUp members, $35 for CommunityPlus members and $39 for Community
and Non-members.
#
16
Powerful blogging
for brand growth
Cheryl Hayman, Hayman Strategy
Have you ever stopped to consider how the really powerful brands
influence consumers, trends and thinking?
If you reflect on the concept of �building brands of influence’ and consider whether
they share characteristics from which we can learn, it appears that there are several
characteristics to aspire to.
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Happily for us, today, there is a wonderful means for directly influencing those you are
trying to attract. Utilising blogging to demonstrate your capabilities and characteristics is
a key mechanism for building brands that resonate and engage their audiences.
sponsored by:
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You must ensure that you have a well-considered blogging strategy.
There are three ways to approach a blogging strategy for
your business or brand.
1. Personal: Businesses or individuals often prefer to take a personal approach on their
blog. This usually works well after you have built up a following for either yourself or your
business. If your name is a brand people look for, viewers will come to your blog regardless
of what you write, assuming your credentials and reputation precede you in your industry.
2. Do It Yourself: If your business offers a service, don’t just write each blog posts talking
about your services. People are not going to really respond well to that.
It is preferable to write blog posts about how people can do it themselves, or attempt
to. This is a great way to bring in heaping amounts of traffic. Is there a risk attached to
this? Well, yes and no. Some people might take the information and run with it, but many
won’t. What you have done is seeded yourself as the expert, with the strong likelihood
that viewers will now seek you out directly and even tell other people about you.
3. Industry: It is also legitimate to develop a blog that caters towards the whole industry.
Reporting on various things occurring in that industry, everything from competitor news
to industry events to hot topics that might be occurring again, sets you up as a source
and often as an authority. An advantage to this style of blog is that it probably gives you
the greatest amount of material to work with and enables more regular blogging efforts.
Finally, ensure that a blog is actually the right tool for your
business.
Don’t just start one because it’s the “in” thing to do. If it is considered an appropriate
strategic option, then make sure you have a content strategy, the right person penning
the blog and a means for monitoring and responding to the comments in a timely fashion.
There is an expectation of some immediacy and timeliness to the interaction triggered
when a business launches into the blogosphere. Done well, blogging is a powerful and
influential tool for building strong brands that are very well-targeted to their audiences.
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17
Get the most out of
your Facebook page
Nicki Walsh, Blaze Marketing
If you don’t focus your actions and spend, Facebook can be a lot of effort for very little return.
Social media is definitely an emerging trend that businesses need to incorporate into
their overall marketing strategy; but keeping up-to-date with social media marketing is
an effort and can be costly.
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1.Work out why you are doing it. What are you trying to achieve with your Facebook
page? Are you trying to increase brand awareness, drive leads, push for additional
sales from existing clients, client retention or (hopefully) build some brand advocates?
2.Develop a plan of action and set goals. Assign members of your team to be responsible for the various components in the plan and regularly check it.
3.Keep it fresh. Complete regular updates to keep your page current and relevant.
Post �breaking news’; your fans will love to be the first to know. Make sure all your
company details are up to date, particularly your web address and location.
4.Get Fans. Encourage people to become fans of your Facebook page. Add a �Follow
Us’ link to your website promotional materials, online directories, press releases,
other partner pages, consider holding a competition and so on.
5.Additional tabs. Add additional tabs and applications to your page to create a �Welcome’ landing page, products and services page, photos page, events page, polls,
discussion board, reviews or a special offer for Facebook fans. Make sure to encourage clients who are real brand advocates to write a review on your page.
6.Measure and review. For continued improvement, review your Facebook Insights
and tracking reports regularly. Make changes to your plan accordingly.
The biggest tip I would give about Facebook is make sure it is relevant, engaging and up
to date. Give people a reason to become a fan and keep coming back.
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Here are six simple tips to get the most out of your business
Facebook page:
Learn how to drive your business with Facebook
For more tips on how to harness the power of Facebook Pages to drive your
business success online, download an exclusive Facebook webinar from the
Australian Businesswomen’s Network website. This webinar explains the
importance of planning posts, posting ideas, how to attract more likers and
much more.
Download the Facebook Pages webinar from our library. Free for Growth and
StartUp members, $35 for CommunityPlus members and $39 for Community
and Non-members.
#
18
Foursquare:
Not just a game
Johanna Baker-Dowdell, Strawberry Communications
Yes foursquare is a game, but savvy business owners can also use it as an online marketing
tool.
How foursquare works
People from all over the world log their locations, tips and impressions of businesses on
foursquare every day.
21EasyWays
There are game elements where you can become the mayor if you visit a location more
than others, unlock badges based on where you visit and earn points, but there is much
more to foursquare than these fun elements.
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Foursquare for businesses
Bricks and mortar businesses can get the most from this social media platform by
registering their business location, offering specials for foursquare users who check-in
or are near your venue (and maybe an extra special for the mayor, thereby encouraging
more visits to see if the current mayor can be toppled) and by following customer traffic
via your foursquare dashboard.
If you run an online business or work from a location you don’t want to make public (like
your home), you can still use foursquare to connect with your customers via Custom
Badges and Pages where you add tips and information bites about your brand.
Use these tips to maximise foursquare for business:
•
•
•
•
Register your brand so you have a foursquare presence.
Offer customers a special deal to encourage them to visit yours over other venues.
Have some fun with the platform!
Use people’s comments as market research to see what you do well and where you
need to improve.
Remember, if you haven’t registered your business, a customer may have already done it
for you. Make sure to log in to see what they might have said.
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19
Create an online
campaign with
sustainable results
Maria Anderson, Sustainable Marketing
An online marketing campaign can create a sustainable pipeline of leads and sales for
your business.
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Step 1: Create a campaign webpage - Focus on one product range or a newsworthy
topic. Write around 250-300 words of compelling content and include one keyword.
Develop a visually appealing webpage with large photos, embed a relevant YouTube
video and include links to other sources of information to engage and add value to
readers. The webpage should include a special offer to encourage them to buy, contact
you by phone or complete an online form.
Step 2: Promote the campaign online - Create an AdWords campaign and link it to
the campaign page. AdWords can progressively raise awareness of your brand and can be
turned on and off (as required). Send an email to your database promoting the campaign
and driving traffic to the campaign page. Promote the campaign using a banner tile on
your website and through other online mediums, including social media.
Step 3: Integrate with offline marketing - Convert the content of the campaign
page into a hard copy sales flyer for use in regular networking, including special offers
and the campaign webpage URL in print advertisements and editorials. To increase your
actual conversion rates, embed simple sales tools into your everyday business, e.g., an
auto-response email and phone scripts to respond to leads. Ongoing measurement of
the marketing campaign through Google Analytics will give you insights to improve and
optimise all of your marketing activities.
To get started, focus on the first products that clients purchase from you.
Bio Steam Case study
In late 2010, Bio Steam wanted to get to market faster with a campaign to take advantage
of a bedbug infestation. Sustainable Marketing delivered an online marketing campaign,
including a Google Adwords campaign linked to a targeted campaign page and an email
to their database.
Bio Steam got to market faster and generated sales for their products and hire services.
The campaign has also helped Bio Steam own the keyword “bedbug” online.
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It is a simple, �fast-to-build’ and cost-effective marketing tool. With more traffic to your
website, visitors will get to know your brand better and your Google ranking will be
enhanced. More prospects can be added to your mailing list through a special offer and
online form.
Create Your Own Profitable Marketing Campaign “How
to” Tool Kit
Sustainable Marketing has developed an eBook that is full of practical and
easy-to-implement strategies and tactics designed to help your business
generate more sales. Visit the Sustainable Marketing website to purchase.
#
20
Getting results
with email marketing
Nicki Walsh, Blaze Marketing
How do you get the most from your email marketing? Here’s a few practical
tips to help.
Plan, plan, plan
Many people do marketing activities on the fly and then wonder why they did not get
good results. Start with a plan, including objectives, target market, key messages, a call to
action and reporting process.
21EasyWays
Recipients
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Determine who your target market is and where you will obtain a quality list. If possible,
segment your list into groups so your content and call to action can be targeted.
Email design and content
• Subject line is key. Make it short, punchy and tantalising, so that your emails get
opened.
• Brand and design. Make it visually appealing, easy to read and representative of
your professional brand image.
• Personalise it. Include your client’s name and, where possible, make it FROM a
person rather than a generic company email address.
• Make It Relevant. Put yourself in the target market’s shoes; think WIIFM (What’s In
It for Me?). What will they get out of reading your email?
• Short. Keep it short and punchy with weblinks to landing pages for more
information.
• Call to action. Include a call to action, i.e., a special offer, e-guide, etc.
• Additional functions. Include an unsubscribe function, �forward to a friend’ and
links to your social media sites.
Sending, testing and measuring your email marketing
• Sending it. Use an email broadcasting system for storing your database, sending
targeted emails, personalising, handling unsubscribes and tracking results.
• Test it. Send out test emails to ensure they work. Ensure to check both the text only
version and the HTML version.
• Measure and review. Track the results of your email, i.e., open rate, click-throughs
and so on. Review this information for your email marketing program and continue
to improve it for next time.
Lastly, review the things you like about other company’s email campaigns and see if you
can adopt or adapt any ideas to fit your business.
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21
Inbound marketing
Cat Matson, Alito
Stop fishing and start catching the customers you want. The online platform has given
marketers and business owners tremendous opportunities to drive qualified prospects to
our doors. Instead of baiting a hook, throwing it and seeing what it catches (like we did
with traditional marketing), we can now entice our target audience to seek us out.
With a clear understanding of your marketing funnel, you can leverage online channels to
have customers knocking on your virtual door.
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Here is how you can use simple online techniques online at each stage of a marketing
funnel to drive qualified prospects to your business.
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Attention: Get the attention of your target market.
• Optimise your website with good SEO and web copy that directly connects with
your target market.
• Include articles, comments, tweets and conversations that demonstrate your
expertise, with a link back to your site or primary social media platform.
Familiarity: Once a prospect has heard of you, how do you build
familiarity and trust?
• A quality, regular e-zine gives more insight into who you are.
• Likewise, a good Twitter stream and Facebook business page establish your
presence
Information: Provide information to your now warming prospects about
how you can solve their problems.
• Add regular links to your service page or special offers in your social media posts
Credibility: Demonstrate your credibility and trustworthiness.
• When a client gives you a testimonial, tweet it and post it on your Facebook page.
Ask them to leave that same testimonial for you on LinkedIn.
Experience: People are more likely to buy from you if they’ve enjoyed
their experience.
• This is where social media comes into it’s own; people can experience you or your
business virtually before actually engaging with you.
Sales Conversation
• When someone is ready to buy, make it easy for them. If you sell services, have a
detailed web-form on your site, capturing as much information as possible. If you
sell products, make the sales process an easy and enjoyable one.
Online marketing techniques work when they are strategically placed together, where all
pieces fit with those around them. By utilising platforms that facilitate your prospects through
their research, relationship-building and buying stages, you’ll reap significant results.
Maria Anderson
Founding Director, Sustainable Marketing
Maria Anderson is the founding director of Sustainable Marketing, a
professional services marketing company, that delivers sustainable marketing
services to growing technical, professional services and sustainability-focused
businesses in Australia. Maria has grown Sustainable Marketing with a vision
to create an innovative business based on sustainable business practices.
Contributors
Growing up in Brisbane, Maria’s immersion in a family business inspired
a lifelong passion to learn and implement good business practices. After
completing her Business degree, Maria’s experience working for larger
companies cultivated a desire to see more sustainable practices in businesses.
Maria is studying a Diploma in Sustainability.
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Website:
Email: Twitter: Facebook: LinkedIn: www.sustainablemarketing.com.au
maria@sustainablemarketing.com.au
@marialanderson
The Sustainable Marketing Page
View Maria’s Public Profile
Johanna Baker-Dowdell
Owner and Founder, Strawberry Communications
Strawberry Communications is a writing and public relations agency that
builds relationships with the media and key stakeholders on behalf of its
SME clients. This service is provided through careful research and strategic
communication, then maintained by telling the business’s story through
amazing publicity and expertly crafted words.
Website:
Email: Twitter:
Facebook:
LinkedIn:
Blog:
www.strawberrycommunications.com.au
johanna@strawberrycommunications.com.au
@JohannaBD
The Strawberry Communications Page
View Johanna’s Public Profile
The Strawberry Communications Blog
Janet Beckers
Founder, Wonderful Web Women
Janet Beckers is the founder and host of Wonderful Web Women, an award
winning online community recognised for generous and honest marketing
advice for women on the Internet.
Contributors
A sought-after international speaker and international best-selling author,
Janet has inspired thousands of people worldwide to create passionate and
profitable online businesses. She is a multi-award winning entrepreneur, most
recently Australian Marketer of The Year.
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Website: www.wonderfulwebwomen.com
Email: theteam@wonderfulwebwomen.com
Twitter: @janetbeckers
Facebook: The Wonderful Web Women Page
LinkedIn: View Janet’s Public Profile
Blog: The Wonderful Web Community Hub
Michelle Gamble
Founder and Chief Angel, Marketing Angels
Michelle is the Founder and Chief Angel of Marketing Angels, Australia’s
leading Marketing Consultancy providing education, advice and outsourced
marketing management. Michelle is an entrepreneur who has built Marketing
Angels from the ground up and worked with hundreds of small to medium
businesses in the past 8 years from almost every industry.
She has 16 years experience in the marketing services, technology and
telecommunications industries. Michelle studied Education at Canberra
University and has a Post-Graduate Certificate in Management from Macquarie
Graduate School of Management and a certificate in Direct Marketing from
the Australian Direct Marketing Association.
Website:
Email:
Twitter:
Facebook:
LinkedIn:
www.marketingangels.com.au
michellegamble@marketingangels.com.au
@marketingangels
The Marketing Angels Page
View Michelle’s Public Profile
Victoria Gibson
FB Ad Queen, Social Inc.
Victoria Gibson has morphed a successful career in corporate marketing into
her dream career as a Facebook Advertising Expert. She will teach you how to
drive more sales, leads and traffic using Facebook Ads.
Contributors
Victoria provides expert tips and advice on using Facebook Ads for business.
Victoria also offers Done For You Campaigns that take away all the worry and
hassle.
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Website:
Email:
Twitter:
Facebook:
LinkedIn:
Blog:
www.socialinc.com.au
victoria@victoria-gibson.com
@VictoriaGibson1
The Ad Queen Page
View Victoria’s Public Profile
The FB Ad Queen Blog Feed
Cheryl Hayman
Director, Hayman Strategy
Cheryl Hayman is founder and principal of Hayman Strategy, a consultancy
which provides a broad range of Business and Marketing Solutions to
corporations. Cheryl also runs Embark Career Readiness Centre, which
provides career guidance to young people in the early stages of their career
journey. Prior to establishing her business, Cheryl’s lengthy corporate career
encompassed big brands in major multi-national organisations. Much of her
experience has been with FMCG brands.
In her most recent corporate life, Cheryl was Marketing Director for the Baking
Division of George Weston Foods (Australia/NZ) overseeing the strategy,
management, development and innovation of renowned brands such as Tip
Top and Burgen.
Website: Email:
Twitter:
Facebook:
LinkedIn:
www.haymanstrategy.com
clhayman@bigpond.net.au
@cherylhayman
The Hayman Strategy Page
View Cheryl’s Public Profile
Gemma Manning
Marketing Professional, Founder and Owner, Manning
& Co.
Gemma is a marketing professional with more than 10 years marketing
and business management experience across multiple industries including
professional services (operational and financial management consulting),
pharmaceutical and healthcare, telecommunications and retail tourism.
Contributors
Manning & Co. is a full service marketing, PR and design consultancy with
offices in Sydney and Hong Kong. With a tagline of �Measurable Marketing
Management’, our aim at Manning & Co is to provide practical, effective and
measurable marketing and PR solutions that will help you meet your business
goals.
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At Manning & Co., we bring you significant marketing and PR experience
through a highly flexible and personalised service, without charging over the
top agency fees. We help you stand out. We help you get noticed. We help
your business grow.
Website: www.manningandco.com.au
Email: gemma@manningandco.com.au
Twitter: @manningco
Facebook: The Manning and Co. Page
LinkedIn: View Gemma’s Public Profile
Blog: The Manning & Co. Blog
Cat Matson
Business CATalyst, Alito Pty Ltd
With a keen interest in strategy, marketing, social media and personal
effectiveness, I work with clients to have their business firing on all cylinders.
I am appalled by the notion of �silver-bullet’, �one-size-fits-all’ approaches to
business success and I work with savvy business owners to connect the RIGHT
resources with the RIGHT strategy to produce the desired business outcomes.
Website: Email: Twitter: Facebook: LinkedIn:
Blog: www.alito.com.au
cat@alito.com.au
@catmatson
The Alito Fusion Page
View Cat’s Public Profile
The Alito Business Ignition Blog
Nicki Walsh
Creator, Blaze Marketing
Previously the Marketing Director for a large multinational, Nicki has over 14
years experience in all facets of marketing and communications. She is a multiaward winner, including both the NSW and National Award for Marketing
Excellence from the AMI.
Nicki is passionate about marketing and coming up with fresh, innovative
and practical marketing solutions that really fit the business and get results.
Contributors
From this, Blaze Marketing was born to provide all the benefits of a big business
marketing agency (communications and creative team), with the personal
servicing and pricing of a small agency.
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Website: Email: Twitter: Facebook: LinkedIn: Blog: www.blazemarketing.com.au
nicki@blazemarketing.com.au
@BlazeMarketing
The Blaze Marketing Page
View Nicki’s Public Profile
The Blaze Marketing Blog
About Optus
OptusВ is right
behind the
Australian
Businesswomen’s
Network.
36
Communications are the life line of any successful business. The new digital economy has
opened up many opportunities - and it isn’t just something that benefits large business.
For small businesses the advancement in technology, communications and digital
solutions opens up opportunities to reach new customers – whether it be through email,
the office telephone, your Smartphone or the internet connection for your office; having
the right technology provider behind you is essential to the success of your business.
In this new digital economy, never has this been so important for small business.
Buzz words such as the �Cloud’ and �Cloud computing’ have also become ubiquitous with
this new economy but…what is the Cloud? How can it benefit my business? And is it
right for me?
Optus will be working closely with the Australian Businesswomen’s Network to help you
harness the power of these new technologies and how they benefit your business.
In June 2011, Optus launched Optus OfficeApps, a new portfolio of cloud services for
Small & Medium Businesses.
Optus OfficeApps is designed for growing businesses, frustrated with how time consuming
it is to manage and maintain their IT systems. It provides online email, collaboration, back
up and security solutions that take the hard work out of operating a business, so you
can focus more on growth rather than support.В And unlike other cloud-based solutions,
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37
Copyright
sponsored by:
38
Copyright @2011 by The Australian Businesswomen’s Network
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced - mechanically,
electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying - without written
permission from the publisher.
Individual posts by guest contributors remain the copyright of those contributors.
Australian Businesswomen’s Network
PO Box 122
Rosebery В NSW В 1445
Australia
Phone: 1300 720 120
Fax: 1300 720 121
Web: www.abn.org.au
Facebook: www.abn.org.au/facebook
First published in October 2011.