John D. Leavy

The internet is a vast expanse. Millions of marketing dollars are being wasted each month because companies refuse to take the time to identify their ideal prospects. Once known, companies need to develop visibility strategy to be seen in all the right venues where their prospects gather. Assume, after some investigation, the locations where the ideal prospects were found are:

• reading industry blogs
• gathering on forums
• subscribing to monthly newsletters
• using paid search
• attending webinars

Let’s say, during the same investigation no evidence was found that our prospects or the competition were found at social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook. Nor were they found at download sites such as iTunes or YouTube. For this reason, we’ll set these venues aside.

Some venues undoubtedly are more fruitful than others, but resources need to be spent wisely. For instance, working with a pay-per-lead company just takes...

A website may be the first impression a business leaves with a prospect. With millions of websites competing for a visitor’s attention, the chances a company will be given a second look are slim.
First impressions are everything. Make sure your company web design is not committing these all too familiar mistakes:

The website design only has eight seconds to grab the visitor’s attention – as faster computers serve websites quicker, the visitor’s attention span shrinks. This means that companies have less and less time to attract the eye of their visitor. Most popular studies say you have less than 10 seconds to land your visitor. You message will have to be succinct, relevant, and catchy.

Does the web design create an atmosphere of trust and confidence – commerce websites that resemble dark alleys do very little business. Potential buyers are not going to share their personal, financial information with a business they do not trust. Companies are not going to...

Wikipedia says “a podcast is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.” How about we say a podcast is a video or audio file; period. It’s a presentation produced for the consumption of an audience, perhaps prospects or clients. Why might this audio/video file be created? Let’s say to to be used as a training tool, to raise the level of customer support, announce a product launch, or to reach a new audience. Work to avoid these top five mistakes that some podcasters fall victim to:

Unexpected Interruptions - The unexpected always needs to be planned for ahead of time. What if someone knocks at the office door? What if the UPS dude shows up with a package and needs a signature? What if the phone rings? What if the incoming email beeps an announcing signal of its arrival? These not too untypical interruptions have to be planned for and avoided. Hang a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the office...

Marketing is time consuming and expensive. Every business needs to spend their marketing dollars wisely, so make sure to avoid these marketing mistakes when launching your next digital campaign:

Having No Plan Does Get You Somewhere

But, does it get you to where you want to be? Marketing plans do not have to be complex. Here’s a simple marketing plan: Define your goals, Outline the benefits to the consumer, Determine your audience, Choose your marketing weapons wisely, Know your company’s niche, Define your company’s personality and Allocate a realistic budget.

Know Your Ideal Prospect

The web is a vast expanse. Your ideal prospects could be anywhere. You need to know what characteristics identify them best and where they gather on the web before you can develop strategies to have visibility in those venues. First come up with a half dozen specific characteristics of your prospect. Then scout out where they gather on the...