Yes, I admit it. I HAD a problem. A problem that many small business owners that I encounter every single day still have—being scared to death of the new online methods of getting business messages out to the masses. What is it about blogging, podcasting, social media, etc. that makes those of us in the 35+ age range want to run and hide?
I can say for myself that it was just the good ol' basic fear of the unknown that had me shaking in my shoes every time someone inquired about blogging or one of the other newer online marketing strategies. I came up in the world of offline marketing and knew how to play in that world quite well. That was my comfort zone. When I decided, very reluctantly, to start venturing into web site creation for our clients it was scary at first but we figured out how to play the game and created some very nice web site designs for our clients.
In those days (what was it? a whole 3 years ago?) we took an offline approach to building and messaging web sites (many still do, the web is filled with "brochure sites"). They were, for all intensive purposes, online brochures. They push(ed) information at the visitor and require(d) or requeste(d) very little (or no) interaction with the viewer. Today, our web sites need to be content rich (for SEO and to add optimum value to the visitor/potential buyer) and they need to show our buyers how we can solve their problems or meet their needs in ways that work best for them. To do this effectively we have to speak directly to each of our "buyer personas" (see David Meerman Scott's book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR or the Buyer Persona Blog authored by Adele Revella for information on buyer personas). We called these "target audiences" in offline marketing and couldn't stress enough how important it was to know your target market. This is just as critical now for marketing your small business effectively online, and still often undervalued.
Web sites, blogging, social media, etc. make it easier for us to understand our buyers, their needs and how to solve their problems. I confess that I was slow to adopt these new marketing tools but, after months of exhaustive research, reading, and surfing, I get this now . . . and we're running full steam ahead with online marketing programs for ourselves and our clients. It's an exciting time to be a marketer and a small business owner. These tools allow us to play in a much larger marketplace than we could just several years ago.
In the weeks to come we'll be launching our new, content rich web site, launching this blog, and launching a podcast series (Ucast) dedicated to offering free marketing advice (both online and offline strategies) and workshops. Subscribe to our blog or our email tips and we'll let you know when all is up and running. There will be numerous free ebooks and resources to help you get over your fears of both online and offline marketing!
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