Maxys Max Media and Entertainment

Online Customer Engagement - building your online brand

This article began with a check for a Technorati ping for my new blog and grew into a checklist to help others build their online brand.

1. What is the customer need?

   Business all begins and ends with the customer or consumer - whether consumption is reading information, subscribing to a feed, creating a contanct, watching a video or purchasing a product or service

   Whether customers know they need your product or service yet is simply matter of time and three things - price, product or service.  From there it is the relationship you have with your customers that counts.
   Your goal, understand what your customer want or will need and reduce their barriers to purchasing.

2. Online Business and marketing plan
   

   1. Is building a business any different than building a house? Any business needs a direction, strong foundations and a blueprint to easily communicate your design objectives to investors, clients, staff, contractors and suppliers.
   2. Your business plan should be focused around servicing a customer need. Understand everybody has different needs and wants and you can't please everyone all the time but there are common characteristics.
      
      1. Segment your products and services into customer needs. Research - search the web, speak to competitors and ask questions of potential customers
      2. Identify the most rewarding target markets. Rewards come in many different shapes and sizes. What is important to you?
      3. Develop your marketing message - don't under or over sell. Create strong value propositions.

3. Web site design implemented incorporating SEO (Search Engine Optiminisation)

   1. Ask these questions of every page - does it Inform, Inspire, Involve, Influence?
   2. Inverted pyramid approach to web design -
      
      1. Broad to specific
      2. Maximum (attempt) three menu layers - use keywords as menu titles
      3. Keep It Simple - people are time poor
      4. Quality - first impression is very important

4. Content creation incorporating SEO

   1. Writing Copy (inverted pyramid approach). Keep it simple at the top layers. Make it easy for your reader.

   2. Images (consistent style look and feel) - a picture tells a thousand words

   3. Video (short and to the point) - if a picture tells a thousand words what is a video worth?

5. Internet marketing - blogging , online social networks and other forms of distribution etc

   1. Blogging - your voice - integrated into your customer needs and marketing plan. Strategies.

   2. Strategies - you are now a magazine producer - how are you going to get readers? (more on this later)
      

      1. Some technologies to begin with...

         1. Feedburner

         2. Technorati (Technorati Profile)

         3. Facebook
         4. Youtube

         5. Digg

         6. Flickr

         7. Delicious

         8. Stumble Upon

         9. Twitter
         10. Linkedin
   3. Email marketing and your CRM
   4. Internet advertising

To be contuinued.....