Developing an effective online marketing strategy requires careful thought and reflection about your company and your goals.

For example, does your company aspire to join the Fortune 500? Or would you prefer to remain a small to medium sized business that maintains close contact with your customers and clients? Some Chicago Businesses do not consider their goals before jumping into a social campaign. Online marketing is best not left to the assistant who spends her whole day on Facebook. Once you head down the wrong path it‘s difficult to right the ship.

Beyond Big Marketing reached out to Jonathan E Cowperthwait, head of product marketing at awe.sm to share his thoughts about DIY online marketing.

Old saw: At a cocktail party, an accomplished writer met a surgeon. “Oh, a writer!” the surgeon said. “You know, when I retire, I want do some writing.” Without missing a beat, the writer replied, “Yes, and when I retire, I’m looking forward to carving up some patients.”

Look. Everyone expects consultants & specialists to justify their existence with a defense of expertise — you wouldn’t pull your own teeth, or perform your own open-heart surgery, or design your own space shuttle, would you?… — and everyone knows it’s not always true. Sometimes it’s true (lawyers, structural engineers…); often it’s not; and sometimes it used to be true, but it’s not anymore. (Fifteen years ago, if you’d told travel agents that mere mortals would someday search for their own fares and book reservations on the airlines’ computer systems, they’d have laughed at you….)

But when it comes to online marketing, expertise absolutely matters. To use that surgery example: it’s not even whether you can operate; it’s that you’re probably looking at the wrong vital signs.

If you’re a savvy personal user of Twitter and Facebook, you might be familiar with the joy of having your posts liked and retweeted, and feel gratification at amassing friends and followers. But unfortunately, too many self-marketers — and the products that offer to help do-it-yourself marketers… — then think that these same metrics are all that it takes to be successful in online marketing, too. There’s the assumption that simply being popular and liked is all it takes to succeed.

What Are People Saying About Your Brand?
One of the shortcomings of DIY marketing is the failure to monitor what is being said about your company. Whether you like it or not, what your customers say about your brand has a tremendous influence on your reputation and sales. In some businesses that depend on referrals, such as professional services, reputation management is even more important. Before you can enter the conversation, you need to understand what is said about your brand.

Ask yourself: Do my ads, tweets, and Facebook posts drive conversions on my website? By how much? And which specific ads & posts are most effective? While we’re at it, take a step back: what are my conversion goals anyway? Wait a minute, what’s a “conversion goal”? …

If you don’t know how to answer those questions, that’s fine. You’re not supposed to; you’ve got a company to run. (Your surgeon probably doesn’t do his own taxes, either, and your SCUBA instructor doesn’t re-roof her own house…). But a marketing expert does know how to answer them, and they matter. If you’re not measuring what matters, your online marketing efforts are wasting your time and money, and in a fiercely competitive industry your small business can end up — sorry for the metaphor, everybody… — dead on the table.

Look for a marketing firm that can recommend the best practices to influence public perception of your brand. For example, if there is currently no comment about your brand on social media, then you have the opportunity to start the conversation yourself.
If you make the most of this opportunity, your brand will attract new customers. It’s easy to get carried away with social media, so remember your overall brand strategy and goals when you engage on these platforms. If you are looking for “Beyond Big” Marketing results and awe.sm tools to measure your results, look no further.

Developing your own marketing strategy and approach can be exciting and fun.

Companies have access to a wealth of inexpensive technologies and techniques to experiment with. In some ways, the appeal of DIY marketing seems simple.

Before you invest a lot of your time and energy into a DIY marketing effort, consider some of the benefits your competitors receive from working with marketing agency experts and consider what issues you might be facing.

DIY Websites ~ Russ Clark – Director of Development

Software and web applications promising easy “build it yourself” website solutions for non-technical people have been around for a while. Yahoo Sitebuilder was common in this category several years ago. Sitebuilder used a number of methods which are counterproductive to SEO and general best practices for building a website. At one time this was not necessarily the case, but the web changes very quickly. The standards that Sitebuilder was originally designed to meet are now largely outdated, and the software falls severely short of meeting current standards. For any business still using Sitebuilder to manage their current website, its deprecated methods can be detrimental to SEO and scalability of the site.

I’ve encountered many business owners who still use Sitebuilder, despite the issues mentioned above. The reason is generally that they started their site off with it, and have invested so much time learning how to manage the site with it that they feel uncomfortable moving on. Once they’ve reached the point where their site needs to adapt to meet new challenges or web standards, they have to make a choice between moving away from the “build it yourself” tool or sacrificing valuable features by sticking with it. Those who choose to stick with it are deciding that their site will become progressively outdated and incapable of incorporating modern features.

Each year, there’s always a crop of new “build it yourself” web tools, some which have the advertising dollars to rope in many curious new business owners. These tools are fine for someone who does not have the confidence that their business will survive the first year. They can provide a quick, low cost start with the bare minimum necessary for a web presence. It’s a low risk investment, unless the business begins to grow and their website needs become more complex. This is when the “build it yourself” tool becomes more of a hindrance than an aid for simplification, similar to the case of Yahoo Sitebuilder.
Build it yourself websites

What price success?

Is DIY Website Software right for your business application?
This type of software is designed in sort of a “one-size-fits-all” fashion, attempting to stretch its constraints to meet the general web needs of any business. Where this fails is at the point where the business’ web needs become too specific and too complex for the tool to accommodate. Once custom website features, or even semi-custom, are necessary for the business to continue to succeed, the major roadblock becomes the compatibility of the “build it yourself” tool with the more advanced custom features.

This is never the case with a custom website. Any feature that a business needs can be incorporated at any time. This type of fluidity is invaluable for any new or established business which would like its website to effectively serve the specific needs of both its customer base and employees. This is exactly what Beyond Big Marketing focuses on with each individual web project. We strive to create sites which meet the specific needs of each business, as well as the unique challenges of the industry they work within. It’s our pleasure to assist you in developing a site that goes far beyond a “one-size-fits-all” solution, and stands head and shoulders above the website of any competitor who chooses such a solution.

When you hire Beyond Big Marketing, you benefit from our experience and perspective from working with a marketing agency on a variety of campaigns, in a variety of different industries and a variety of different tactics. Choose this Chicago marketing company and leave DIY marketing to your competition.

Our next blog … What happens when you think your DIY Photography is “good enough?”

Digital cameras have come a long way, but the person behind the lens can make a big difference.

We all agree the days of $10,000 a day photo shoots are in the rear view mirror for most businesses in Chicago but I can remember when there was a sea of talented shooters in the photography district of Chicago doing just that. Most of them are gone and their studios in River North have been converted to restaurants and boutiques.

Before you invest a lot of your time and energy into an Apple 1to1 class in iPhone photography, consider some of the benefits your competitors receive from working with professional photographers and consider what issues you might be facing.

DIY Photography ~ Doug Brooks – Photography Representative

People who take their own photos to use in advertising or promoting their products or businesses fail to recognize that the inherent lessor quality of their images, as compared to those done by a trained and seasoned professional, often make a negative impression on their potential clients that loses the sale. If the images are sub-par will the product being sold be sub par? If you don’t put the effort into presenting your product in a quality fashion could it be as a result of them not knowing what quality is? How does that impact the sale? Honestly, people may not consciously know why …. but they do respond negatively when something is perceived as being less then stellar.

“Do people know that big marketers often spend a day or more having a single image created for their advertising campaign?

Recently VanKirk photography competed for a job for a boutique company.
No store, all web, and they didn’t understand that their food item had to look fabulous to make the sale.
They asked us how long and how much to shoot just over 30 of their confection items.
We suggested we’d max out at 4-8 per day dependent upon the product itself and how many people were there to art direct.
They wanted all 30+ shot in one day and they needed that day to be the following week.
When I pointed out that would mean taking a picture every 20 minutes in a 10 hour day… no potty breaks allowed, they didn’t get it.
We stated that when it comes to high-end food photography time = quality, that lighting, composition and propping rarely happen that quickly, they simply didn’t get it and didn’t appreciate our attempt to educate them on the subject.

Apparently, someone said they would do it. Someone always does.
So 3 weeks later we found out that the shots weren’t looking that great, the person who accepted the job took nearly 2 weeks to get it done, everyone was unhappy.
It was a lose / lose situation!

When it comes to photography for your business, think twice about DIY photography or the cheapest source and stock photography that makes your site look alike.

When you hire Beyond Big Marketing, you benefit from our experience and perspective from working with a marketing company that understands the value of Professionals like Debra VanKirk and how she can make a difference in your business. Choose this Chicago marketing company and leave DIY marketing to your competition.

Our next blog … What happens when you think your DIY Social Media is “good enough?”

Cutting corners with DIY marketing may seem like a good idea but it can be the most expensive decision you could ever make. Especially in a major market like Chicago. Developing your own marketing strategy and approach can be exciting and fun. Companies have access to a wealth of inexpensive technologies and techniques to experiment with. In some ways, the appeal of DIY marketing seems simple. All you need to do is create a few messages about your company, publish those messages in the media or Internet and wait for the customers to show up. But do you have the time and resources to run a marketing campaign effectively? Before you invest a lot of your time and energy into a DIY marketing effort, consider some of the benefits your competitors receive from working with marketing agency experts.

Strategic Advice

When you hire a marketing company, you benefit from their experience and perspective from working on a variety of campaigns. For example, the agency will be able to recommend the right mix of marketing methods to make the most of your marketing budget. Rather than simply experimenting with various DIY marketing techniques, your competitors may benefit from having a cohesive marketing strategy. They will be able to set goals to bring in qualified prospects that sales can easily convert into customers. While you can hit on a winning strategy with DIY marketing, your competitors will already be miles ahead of you by that time by taking advantage of strategic advice from a marketing firm.

Does Your Marketing Work?

There’s an old saying in advertising – “half the money spent on advertising is wasted, I just don’t know what half.” That’s especially do with DIY marketing efforts which combine trying a wide variety of techniques without any systematic effort to determine what works. With the right guidance and analysis, companies can run a few marketing tests to determine the best way to reach their customers. Following an analysis of this data, a Chicago marketing firm can advise you on the best way to further expand your campaign.

Keeping Up With New Marketing Methods

Staying informed on all the important developments in your industry is challenging. What about the latest marketing efforts? Do you understand how Google operates and makes it presence felt on the Internet? Do you have a strategy to make use of Groupon to win new customers (or are you going to lose money with Groupon like this British bakery)? When your business has a trusted marketing advisor on hand, staying informed on the latest marketing trends becomes much easier. It’s too easy to be carried away with DIY marketing excitement and lose valuable money and time. That’s why so many businesses hire marketing advisors to find marketing strategies that make sense for them.
If you’re tired of seeing your competitors gain more and more customers, contact Beyond Big Marketing to see how we can help you address your marketing needs. To grow your business, hire us to develop a marketing campaign that meets your needs. The longer you wait, the longer your competitors will continue to grow and obtain market share.

Expert Opinions

Next week’s blog posts will be posts from smart people who know a lot about professional photography, professional SEO strategies, professional web development, professional marketing strategies, and professional content development. They share stories on the drawbacks of DIY Marketing.

Did you know that almost half of Americans own a smartphone? According to Nielsen, 44% of Americans had a smartphone as of December 2011, a significant increase from 2009 when less than 20% had a smartphone. In certain demographics, smartphone usage is even higher -  64% of those aged 24 to 34 own a smart phone (the percentage rises to 53% for people 18-24). As a mobile device with Internet connectivity, smartphones represent a major mobile marketing opportunity. But how can your business make the most of this technology to connect with customers and bring in more business? There are a variety of strategies and tactics available to make the most of mobile marketing, Chicago companies are increasing in need of Beyond Big Marketing’s services. Depending on the your marketing objectives, SMS marketing, mobile website optimization and app development can all play a role in building up your business.

SMS Marketing

SMS messages, also known as text messages, remain one of the most popular ways to use smartphones. Most mobile phone users are familiar with using text messages to communicate with friends and families, but did you know that you can use this technology to connect with customers? How? First, add mobile phone numbers to your customer database and ask for permission to send text messages. Then with the right technology, you can send out brief messages for an upcoming sale or new product release. If you anticipate demand exceeding supply, you can also request your customers reply to place a reservation. By encouraging customer replies (e.g. “text FRIDAY_COUPON to reserve your reservation”), it is easy to track the results of this strategy. Since almost all cellular phones have SMS or text message capability, SMS marketing has great potential. It is a great way to expand into mobile marketing; Chicago companies have much to gain by implementing this strategy.

Mobile Website Optimization

In contrast to SMS marketing, optimizing your website for smartphones is a long term strategy. Why invest in optimizing your website for smartphones? Websites that do not offer smartphone optimization are difficult to read and use for smartphones. If your customer cannot easily find your address, contact information, hours and other information on their smartphone after finding you through a search, they may simply give up on you. Should you use this type of mobile marketing? Chicago businesses can contact Beyond Big Marketing for an assessment of their mobile marketing strategy. Without a marketing agency, Chicago companies can end up spending money on marketing strategies without a clear plan in place to increase sales.

 

 

 

 

Beyond Big Marketing launched www.theartofeyes.com today. If you are considering cosmetic surgery, or surgery specific to your eyes, Dr. Cohen is one of the best eye surgeons you can find.

Dr. Cohen is also a surgeon with vision. Beyond Big Marketing met with Adam in August to discuss marketing and branding strategies. After creating a strategic brand and marketing plan and reviewing their website checklist, we created the logo, brochures, letterhead, business cards, a website and a mobile website.

 

This is an example of  a wonderful client with great focus and trust. This is also an example of an innovative business  partnership that drives a fully integrated marketing and social media strategy to its fruition.

The added value to the customer was the entire cost of this marketing campaign was less than what you might expect for a simple logo design from one of those big marketing agencies.

Please visit the site. We’d love to get your feedback.

 

The Beyond Big Marketing website has been up since Thanksgiving. As many of you know the old company name was Big Black Pencil and the SEO rankings were pretty strong for the bigblackpencil.com. website.  One of our big concerns has been to retain and improve our search rankings for non-branded search terms on Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Oliver, one of our development leads helped with a plan that included establishing the blog first with the same content as the old site for the new site, only changing the name of the company and the URL. Then we set up 301 redirects from the old URL to the new one. Once these pages were indexed, we used the same strategy on the website itself. It’s always tricky when you take a website that has 5 years of age and replace it with a brand new URL.

So far the results have been very encouraging. If you have important questions regarding your website marketing, Contact Mark at Beyond Big Marketing.com.

For 6 years Big Black Pencil has been creating innovative marketing strategies for Chicago-based small and medium-sized businesses.

Our clients have grown beyond Chicago to include: Wisconsin, California, South Carolina, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Mexico and the UK.

As our client list grew, their need for more innovative marketing strategies has also evolved and grown.

To meet these challenges, we’ve grown beyond creating web sites, printed materials, marketing, traditional design, and search engine optimization to include: naming, branding, mobile websites, mobile applications, social media campaigns, customer personas and one-to-one marketing plans.

As our thinking has expanded, our targets have become more focused.

We embrace the new challenges that the growing global village inspires, we hold fast to the commitment of quality, service, measurable results, and inspiration that helped Big Black Pencil grow to what it is today.

Beyond Big Marketing will lift customer expectations beyond existing marketing concepts to a world where we can quickly grow their brand and business ahead of their competition, one customer at a time.

As a marketing agency in Chicago, we work for all sorts of clients. The main goal is to make them profitable. But it’s OK to have some fun along the way.Bouse House is in the portable toilet business. There I said it. If you live in the Cape, Islands and Southern Massachusetts you already know of them. They are smart clients and are in a competitive area.

The products are not complicated to understand. You see, you go, you move on. What’s interesting about these are that they are usually at some of the most fun places you can imagine; Weddings, Concerts, Marathons,  anywhere you want to go. So Beyond Big Marketing decided to brand “Portable Toilets in Massachusetts” As Bouse Houses. Kind of like the Klennex of Facial tissue.

Will there be Bus signage and billboards for Bouse Houses? Who Knows? But if you are in the cape and the urge strikes you. You might want to say. “Keep your eyes open for a Bouse House.”

If you are looking for a creative marketing agency in Chicago, You might want to say. “Keep your eyes open for Beyond Big Marketing.”

… unless you are your customer, or Google.

Too many websites are written for the search engines and not for the reader. Google Panda, a new versioning of the world’s largest content aggregator is taking that into consideration when it is delivering it’s results.

The good news is that a well written website or blog stands out from the crowd and elevates your reputation in the eyes of your prospect.

Don’t worry so much about if you have a Facebook page or a Twitter account or how to reap the benefits of a social media until you develop a strategy of what you are going to say.

Here are some simple questions to consider when writing online content:

1. Is this a good, useful article that people would want to share?
2. Should I give give credit where credit is due? (link out to thought leaders)
3. Is your communication concise?
4. Is it entertaining?

Google also is taking a closer look at quality of content. Fresh and interesting content is what your customers are looking for. It’s all about relevancy and good intent.

Google has implemented a new tool called the document-level classifier that makes it harder for spammy pages to rank high.

So write original content, make it interesting and if you don’t have the time or the skill to write things well, find somebody who does. 

Unlike AOL, the rest of the Internet doesn’t have an unsend button.