Here we can see how an Online Marketing Plan fits into a business’ marketing strategy, and 6 tips to create a successful marketing strategy:

1. Create an action-based Marketing Plan

2. Build the Marketing Strategies based on solid ground (mission, vision, values)

3. Monitor Your Competitor

4. Start with what you have: analyze your product/service

5. Develop your product with a Unique Selling Point: that’s the advantage Internet has, even if the product has many competitors it can be made unique with the web page!

6. Online Marketing Campaign

Another approach is to look at the long term marketing plan and at the short term plan. Here are some techniques for both types of strategies:

Short term marketing strategies are those that bring you a temporary boost in traffic. Although these techniques are very important to your over-all plan, they are only a temporary traffic source and must not be solely relied upon. Examples are:

• Purchasing Advertising

• Participating in Forums

• Search Engine Optimisation

• Giving Away Freebies

Long term marketing strategies are those that bring you a steady stream of targeted traffic over time. These strategies will continue to produce results even years down the road, and include:

• Opt-in Lists

• Blogging

• Social Networking Sites

• Social Bookmarking Sites

• Article Marketing

It is important to craft the Marketing and Online Marketing Plans carefully and accordingly to achieve a successful business!

Being an e-marketing expert, Google has launched a page to promote its Google AdWords success stories. This page includes videos from the owners of usually small businesses, and the growth that Google AdWords helped them achieve. I recommend looking at these videos because many small entrepreneurs face similar problems, and an AdWords campaign could really boost their sales, as had happened in these businesses. I particularly love the Happy Hound success story, here’s a link to it’s YouTube video!

Happy Hound

And here is the link to the Google AdWords Success Stories page!!

https://www.google.com/intl/en/adwords/select/success/archive-top.html

The page eBizMBA has created a rank based on each website’s average Alexa Global Traffic Rank and U.S Traffic Rank (Compete and Quantcast). This has ranked all social media pages in popularity order:

1) Facebook

2) Twitter

3) LinkedIn

4) MySpace

5) Google Plus+

6) DeviantArt

7) LiveJournal

8) Tagged

9) Orkut

10) CafeMom

11) Ning

12) Meetup

13) myLife

14) myYearbook

15) Badoo

Although the results are somewhat predictable, I think it is important to consider each and every one of these sites. Most businesses focus their social media marketing in the first 2 or three sites. However I consider the other sites have also got potential, as although used by less people there are still many who use them regularly. Considering the cost and how many social sites pages and profiles can be the same, it is a lost opportunity for business not to publicise their business in these sites. Moreover, this can lead to increased link popularity and so a better search engine optimisation.

When looking at tools to improve Search Engine Optimization, I have found that many of the ranks and tools aside from complementing each other sometimes differ in their conclusions. I personally have encountered much trouble when determining the exact use of each tool or rank and how they work differently than others. Researching this I came across an article by Jill Whalen, CEO of High Rankings, a Boston SEO Consulting Agency. Here there is an extract that clarifies the different approach of Google Page Rank and Link Popularity to measure the quantity, quality and popularity of links for a particular page:

“It’s important to note that Google PageRank is not the same thing as link popularity. PR is actually a subset of link popularity. Whereas PR focuses strictly on the quantity and popularity of links, link popularity adds a “quality factor” into the equation. Unfortunately, many people mistakenly use the terms “link popularity” and “PageRank ” interchangeably, which has served to confuse the issue further.

All major search engines place some emphasis on link popularity in their ranking algorithms. There appear to be 2 main types of links that work best to increase your link popularity: links from other sites that focus on the same keyword phrases your site focuses on, and links from relevant categories in major directories and industry-specific portals. Links from sites that focus on topics that have nothing to do with your site probably won’t help you win any link popularity contests, either (although they may temporarily boost your PR).”

Although the concept of link popularity was clear to me, this explanation of the difference between these two tools was really helpful to grasp the insights of each tool when analysing the link popularity of a website.

Achieving search engine optimisation can be summarised in 9 steps:

1. Brainstorming: discuss the keywords with your client
2. Search Popularity of keywords
3. Research the competition (are they SEO’d?)
4. Decide the keywords
5. Make sure the site architecture reflects the keyword decision
6. Show the keywords in the Domains/URL of each page
7. Display the keywords in headings tags, atl tags, and meta description
8. Maximise keyword density: mention the phrase in the text’s headings, subheadings, copy and internal links
9. Improve the link popularity of the site

I find it easier to look at good SEO examples, rather than read though the SEO handbook rules. For me, the best SEO example we can find is Wikipedia. Wikipedia somehow always manages to appear at the top of search engine’s results, even when it is not the most authoritative or comprehensive source of information on the subject on the net.

The reason for this is that Wikipedia follows the 9 steps to a T.

Here we can see how when writing Internet Marketing, the Wikipedia result is the first on the page (behind the AdWords ads). The meta description and heading tags show clearly the keywords.

For this entry of Internet marketing in Wikipedia we find how the steps 5, 6, 7 and 8 are being implemented, by stating the keyword as much as possible both in the actual page (title, copy), as in the Title Alt and in the URL.

This post by Kelly Robertson is really interesting, as it shows an estimate of the marketing trends for this year. Here we can find information about where business will locate their digital marketing budget, as well as information about consumers, and their online trends for 2012. I was surprised to find that 87% of the US citizens use Internet to research products, and 66% to buy. This highlights the importance of digital marketing this year and how every business should attempt to be as present as possible. The fact that 20% of Google monthly searches are for local business, illustrates how even the smaller business should have an online marketing plan, as the benefits could be great.

We can even find a prediction for the most popular tactics, where SEO is where most budget will be allocated, followed by website creation and/or optimisation.

Finally the mobile marketing trend is one of the newest, most important trends. The increased use of smartphones to be on the Internet make them important channels to reach the client, and the newest opportunity to gain advantage in digital marketing.

http://www.6smarketing.com/infographic-digital-marketing-budget-trends-for-2012/

To prove the magic of YouTube, and why TED’s Ads Worth Spreading Challenge does well to use it as channel for the ads I have chosen a few of my favourite YouTube viral marketing successes. These videos have launched sales for relatively unknown brands, and made them worldwide icons, iconic sports stars, and even national jokes.

First the most iconic of all viral marketing YouTube videos:

Will it Blend?: Blendtec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI

Proving that Internet, social media and viral marketing can sell anything, to all kinds of audience. Who would have thought that one of the greatest Internet campaigns would be of blenders!

Another great (unintended or not) viral success is that of Canadian folk Band Sons of Maxwell, who after posting in YouTube a video of a song complaining about how United Airlines broke the lead’s guitar and didn’t compensate him, have booked many gigs.

United breaks guitars: Sons of Maxwell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

This is also an example of negative viral marketing, as United Airlines lost about $180 million in stock value in 4 days.

Another impacting ad that brought high sales to the company is Dermablend’s demonstration of how its make-up can cover everything. By targeting the prejudices many tattooed people face, with the emotional tint of “do not judge a book by its cover”, this video has achieved huge success.

Go beyond the cover: Dermablend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mIBKifOOQQ

It also targeted a new audience for Dermablend that now has many videos in its web showing how to cover tattoos with the make-up, and is purchased for this purpose.

Leading to the national joke… this ad designed by legendary “commercial kings” Rhett & Link, has given a local taxidermy shop worldwide coverage.

Ojai Valley Taxidermy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJP1DphOWPs

Nope! It’s Chuck Testa!

My personal favourite is this incredible video; where Danny MacAskill shows some stunts in his bicycle though the streets of Edinburgh. Now the first ever professional street trails rider (a profession he coined) sponsored by Red Bull, MacAskill has become an iconic star, making this whole video into a company (Inspired Bicycles Ltd.) and himself into a brand.

Inspired Bicycles: Danny MacAskill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o

http://www.ted.com/pages/initiatives_ads_worth_spreading_about

TED’s mission is ideas worth spreading. An ad worth spreading is a short way of communicating an idea. Revealing the way a company thinks shows consumers what that company is and what it stands for.

This is the idea behind TED’s Ads worth spreading. This initiative aims to challenge company’s to send ads, offering prices to the most outstanding ideas and ways of portraying them. I find the way TED uses viral marketing, with YouTube as a channel to push different companies around the globe to create new ads, very interesting. Pushing the envelope is always close to the heart of TED’s mission. This initiative shows how important the growth of viral marketing has become, and how successful it can be for a company.

Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media

http://www.ted.com/talks/alexis_ohanian_how_to_make_a_splash_in_social_media.html

This video shows, with a fun example, how the web 2.0 works. It is evident that every time the advertising company has less and less control.

First they lost control over their audience. As Ohanian says, Internet provides a level playing field, where most consumers have an equal access to all the different websites. All companies can set up a Facebook page, design e-marketing campaigns, create ads and post them in YouTube… and all at a very low cost.

Therefore, the success of a campaign doesn’t depend any more on the money invested. The key for success isn’t any more in the product, idea or way of communicating. Success lies in the hands of the consumer.

Later, they lost control over the message. As this video shows, the consumers can interpret the message a business sends with a campaign. Furthermore, the message chosen by the consumer will spread faster and to more people than the message the business is trying to deliver.

So what can a business do to have a successful social media campaign? The answer is to deliver what the audience wants. People want fun, so businesses should make it fun for the consumer to interact with the web and motivate them to spread the message around.

But most importantly, today it is necessary to pay attention to the audience, and know how to take advantages of the opportunities they provide. This is what Greenpeace did with the Mr. Splashy Pants campaign. Let the audience choose the message they want, and use it to engage them in your brand!