Achieving Online Marketing Success

Jennifer Risdall

CEO of Online Marketing

Risdall Marketing Group

jennifer@risdall.com

www.risdall.com

Topic: Marketing/ Communications

What is success? In today’s world success can be easily measured, especially online. But it means different things to companies. It may mean selling one multimillion dollar deal every six months or it may mean selling 10,000 widgets in one month. The key is to know what your goals are from a business and marketing standpoint and then work to achieve or exceed these goals.

Keys to success: 

• Set marketing and business goals. Set measureable goals for online marketing that will help achieve your business goals. Online marketing is supremely measurable so set very clear, quantifiable goals for your team to reach -- or even better -- exceed.

• Utilize in-depth audience knowledge. In online marketing a plan can live or die depending on where you place your dollars. It is vitally important to know where your audiences congregate, talk and look for information so that you can be there.

• Develop a strong integrated marketing plan. Online marketing is not an island. Many of your offline endeavors will mimic and feed into your online marketing. A strong plan helps you take advantage of tactics so that these build and strengthen each other. Integration is key, and with a well-thought-out plan and team members who work well with each other, you can come out on top.  

• Focus on relationship building. Just like other forms of marketing, online marketing is really about building a relationship with your audiences. This may start by being found in the search results for an industry term or speaking at an industry event, but in this world of nanosecond conversations, it may quickly evolve into being followed on Twitter or having a potential client join your LinkedIn group.  Online marketing strategies and plans should focus on engaging users through your expertise and giving your brand a voice, tone and style that your audiences can relate to and want to interact with. 

• Acquire expertise in tools. You know where your audiences are talking and meeting, but how do you target them? Tools change and new opportunities come online every day. Keeping on top of what is out there, what the strengths and weaknesses of each online marketing tool are, what is working, and what doesn’t work is vital.  

• Know that measurement is key to success. Whether ROI, number of leads or number of conversions, measuring actions online is easier, more accurate, and more qualitative than ever before. This is a great advantage to businesses because you have actual numbers to determine not only if you are meeting your goals but how you are achieving them. You can refine your online marketing to meet very specific goals like ROI by keyword phrase. The key is to set a good baseline, consistently measure and compare, make changes based on your results, consistently measure and compare, make changes, and so on.

Be consistent with your brand and measurement and dedicated to refining your online marketing, and you will be successful at meeting or exceeding your goals.