Hey, What's up Guys and welcome to the first episode of Inside the Mind 

...where we talk about in Online Marketing Strategy what it is, why it's important and Why you should care. 

With this being the first episode and all that, let's talk about what makes an online marketing strategy and more importantly what does not. 

Now if you run a business, or if you're the marketing person in your company, at some point you may have had a conversation that sounds something like this "We need to get a Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, blog, email newsletter" 

"Ok"

Then you go out and you create a profile on said platform, and start talking about the stuff you sell. 

And this is what ends up happening. 

(crickets chirping)




Ok Ok, I'll cut you some slack, maybe, that's not the case. Maybe you have all of these things and people are talking to you On a regular basis. 

(Yay!)

But when you ask for a sale...

(crickets chirping) 

Now a lot of businesses are just throwing stuff out there and seeing what sticks. And what many more is create one thing, and only distribute that through multiple channels. Sometimes it sticks, sometimes it doesn't, but either way this isn't social media strategy, this is social media vomit. 

(bleh...)

I mean, when it comes down to it all, the main reason anyone looks at huge a time suck like Facebook, (clicking through facebook photos) or as hyperactive as Twitter (tweetdeck sped up) and says..."Let's represent our business there"

Is because they want to make more money. It's the only way you could possibly justify paying an ADD riddled redbull addict to "participate in the conversation" on Twitter Because eventually You hope there'll be a big payout in the end. 

But Here's the thing: Make more money by itself is not a goal, it's a by-product of a successful online marketing strategy. 


So. The first step in developing an online marketing strategy is to 

define your goals 

(::scrolling action:: Some examples of goals include: acquire new customers, augment customer service, build word of mouth buzz, snipe customers from a competitor, get feedback on a product, crowdsource ideas for improving customer experience, create loyalty programs)


Next: Do research to discover who your customers are, what they talk about, where they're talking about it, and how they interact the platforms they're using. 

In other words, once you know what you want to achieve, find your ideal customers "in the wild" and learn everything you can about them. 

Then, develop content that resonates with them, and moves them towards your goal. 

Ok so here's the thing about content. When thinking about content development, a lot of people's minds jump directly to the written word. But content comes in all shapes and sizes. 

Content is a blog post. 
Or an email 
or an advertisement
or a podcast
or a tweet
or someone else's link that you tweet.
or a status update
or a picture
or a forum signature
or an app
or a landing page
or a webinar
or a website
or a video

Or you know, anything else that show's up on a computer screen. Everything you publish online is content and, all of your content has to be designed to bring someone from point A, to your goal. 

(show scrolling list again) 

And Most importantly about content, IT HAS TO BE GOOD!

Ok Next, go back and look at all of the different platforms where your ideal customers are, determine the strengths and weaknesses of those platforms, then play to the strengths of each platform to reinforce your message. 

Youtube Artist Destorm Power does an excellent job of this. His "Homebase" Platform is Youtube, where he releases videos at least once a week and frequently collaborates with and covers other artists. 

If you want to follow someone who's "Doing it right" go to Youtube.com/destorm and see what he has to say. 

Phew! OK and lastly when it comes to Online Marketing Strategy, You have to, have to, have to set up performance indicators and benchmarks to measure your success. 

Without a way to determine what success is, you will always be stuck in a vacuum unable to determine what parts of your strategy you can improve and what parts to trim. 

Alright, that's all I've got for today's episode of Inside the mind, thanks so much watching.

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