The World Business

Posts Tagged ‘Ball’

What does online marketing have to do with a ghost? Plenty. Read this and you will see why. The memory still unsettles me whenever I think back to that night.

The experience taught me that to write about a product, you have to see it at work. You will see how this can help you, also. But first, here is what happened that night.

It was November – almost 3 years ago. My friend and client, Guido, asked me to write a sales letter and a couple of ads for him. He ran a ghost busting business.

It struck me as hard to make money chasing ghosts out of people’s houses but he made a good living. Guido convinced me that I had to get a feel for his business. So, he asked me to accompany him on a job.

I agreed and found myself the following Thursday night with him and his girlfriend, Erin, in the home of an art gallery owner. The owner and his family were away and the place smelled of stale smoke and chrysanthemums. We were alone – or almost alone.

The ghost, Guido explained, was a child who had died in the house 60 years before. He would come back looking for toys. Guido led us to the dining room where he set up his equipment. The only toy I saw was a blue ball under the sideboard that belonged to the owner’s young son.

Guido half opened the door leading to the cellar and turned out the lights. We sat on the floor in the dark wearing night-vision goggles and waited.

It happened a little after 1 a.m. The blue ball hurtled from under the sideboard, hit the table leg and bounced back. I heard a click from Guido’s equipment and the ball stopped short. After a few minutes of stillness, the ball darted forth again. This time, it zigzagged along the wall.

Erin and I exchanged a quick glance and I strained to see what was causing the ball to move. I could only imagine some unseen little feet kicking it and scurrying after it. Again, Guido’s equipment clicked and kept on clicking. The ball rolled out the cellar door and bounced down the steps.

It was over.

Guido didn’t explain how he did it, but assured us the little ghost would not be back – ever. I ran my hand over the bare floor where the ball had been. I was feeling for wires or string, suspecting that Guido had rigged the whole thing. But I found nothing.

I didn’t go to bed when I got home. Instead, I wrote an account of the ghost. I also wrote the sales letter and ads for Guido. The words rolled off my fingertips like raindrops. I set the scene of what it was like to be in the same room with a ghost.

In writing about Guido’s service, I tried to make the readers feel the same things I had. I brought all my senses into it – touch, smell, hearing, sight and taste.

I learned another lesson from that experience that may help you. The lesson is this: write the sales letter for your online marketing right after you see the product at work. That makes your words fresh and urgent.

Oh, and about the little ghost: Guido told me he didn’t stay in the cellar. He disappeared and Guido knows in his heart that some loving arms welcomed him back into that “in-between world” that ghosts call home.

Businesses are moving at a furious pace to the Internet. Being online is becoming a commodity! Where it used to be “cool” and often expensive to be online has now become “normal”. And if you are a savvy shopper, also pretty affordable. Very soon it will be just unheard of for anyone not to have a www piece of online real state as a business owner.

So what is the result? It is just unbelievably crowded out there. There are more than 7 billion Google searches performed online, 6 billion YouTube videos (as of the date of my research), 156+ billion websites, 110 million Myspace profiles with Facebook right behind at 60 million! And you know what is the kicker? With so much stuff out there most people report they do not even trust content anymore!

It is survival of the fittest at its best out there! You have to think on your feet and have to seize the opportunity to reach your target audience like lightening, and before it strikes! But how?

A solid online marketing strategy that is focused on identifying your target audience and at least 95% content driven. You see, in online marketing your goal with your message is to generate traffic to your site. No traffic, no leads, no sales, no business! And that traffic must be targeted high quality leads looking for what you have to offer and ready to rock and roll on your site with wallet on hand. At least that is what your online marketing strategy should be focused on when those leads are costing you money!

To generate traffic, you must generate interest. And to generate interest you must be a savvy marketer trying to capture your customers attention with irresistible messages that aim directly at their emotional being. The messages must be spread amongst different avenues of delivery and they must be carefully crafted to attract only those prospects that would most likely be interested in what you have to offer.

You cannot focus on just one delivery method only and you cannot just throw an ad online and leave it at that. And well, hopefully you know that you cannot design a message that will sell to everyone! Focused marketing equals higher return. Divide and conquer. If what you sell is available to different audiences, then your marketing strategy should be divided amongst each of those audiences independently and what makes them look. More work, yes, more sales, YES!

Slap and ad online with a picture of your product and loose easily against a wittier competitor that put up an article with valuable information that people can digest, use and apply. Why?

Content online is usually just more attractive than ads mainly because of the sheer number of them popping out at you! And typically online surfers are looking for information and not to be sold on something. Besides, most people don not even look at ads anymore, let alone click on them! Do you?

You must develop a master marketing plan to find your target market, focus on that niche and market away. Here are the top marketing mediums utilized today by savvy online marketing strategists:

- Web 2.0 (social sites like MySpace, Facebook and Youtube)

- Pay Per Click Advertising (Google Adwords, Yahoo)

- Article/Ezines

- Email Marketing

- Press Releases

- Banner Advertising (as long as part of a complete strategy with other forms or marketing)

Focus on 1 or 2 at a time until you become proficient at generating at least 200-300 leads a week to your site. Then move to the next one or two until you master those.

A word to the wise, it is not easy to market online and there will be a learning curve, so buckle down and stick to it. Once you can master 2-3 of these techniques, your traffic will flow steadily. Focus on content, focus on diversity and focus on identifying who your target audience is and market with their needs in mind. Be the ball Danny! Be the ball!

As a marketer, your job is to get people to your site by crafting the ultimate marketing plan. Then it is up to the sales person to convert those customers once they get there. Best-case scenario, you will not have to wear both hats!

Good luck designing your mastermind online marketing strategy!