Internet Marketing and Digital Media Strategy Sydney Australia

This is a Digital Media Strategy Beginners Article.

Local Search Results

One of the biggest failures of the web to date has been the generally poor results you get from a local search - particularly here in Australia where only around 30% of small businesses have a website.  The poor performance is understandable when it's only logical that if your business doesn't have a website, then it's hard for Google to know you exist and for people to link to your site.  

There have been many attempts over the years to address this gap, from the old, once dominant, Yellow Pages type paper advertising directories (which have finally migrated to online directories); Government and commercial initiatives like Google and MYOB (leading Australian Small Business accounting software); consumer comparison and ranking website portals; through to customer generated content - forums, bloggers; Facebook Places; Fourquare; Twitter; new Google+ and my new favourite service www.quora.com (founded last year by the ex CTO of Facebook).

From a business owners perspective it's a Catch 22 situation - if your immediate sales are not generated from the web then why as business do you need to invest the time, energy and money to develop new skills; keep information up to date; maintain the website; and also communicate through these online channels - "I sell coffee I'm not some computer nerd!" they cry.   

The answer to that question is very simple - depending on what report you're reading then 50-90% of new customers will search online before purchasing - Online Retailing's SOBO "Search Online Buy Offline". 

If you're not actively marketing and communicating online then there's a very high probability your competitors are or will be.

Opportunity and Competition Drives Innovation  

Ten months ago, I wrote about a new coffee shop which opened in the local neighbourhood "Foodies Deli Cafe" which brought a refreshing new competitor to the local coffee drinking marketplace - back then as a test I asked how long would it be before they commented on my blog post.

Today, that moment arrived, Matt - one of the owners told me they'd launched a website a couple of months ago; that it wasn't ranking in Google and if I could take a quick look (contra coffee).

Sensing a potential mutual win relationship (and also content for my blog) once back in the office the first thing I did was a test search in Google - 

As Matt said the website http://www.foodiesdelicafe.com.au/ doesn't rank at all, so we take a look at source code.  If you right-click on your website from your browser there is usually a "source code" option - it's gobbly gook stuff Google sees.  Without going into finer details the website is not search engine optimised (SEO) and in its current form I doubt it will never rank in the top three search results.  Yes, the web developers didn't mention that!

As mentioned there are many elements which influence search engine ranking but the most important is the "Search Engine Term" your potential customers will use.

Search Engine Term and Inbound Links

The key point to note is that most people will NOT search for the name of the coffee shop, they will search for "coffee shop Dolls Point" or "coffee shop Sans Souci" or maybe "best coffee shop in St George area".  The most important element to SEO is the title of any external websites inbound link to your site.  

The higher the Pagerank of the external website "referring" the more influence that will have on your page ranking and your subsequent search results listing. For example, A Sydney Morning Herald food guide review will have a greater link importance than my website blog (except when it is published in my Istrategy blog post).

Example - The top three results "Best Coffee Shop Sydney City" includes one of my favourites Vivo Cafe - Vivo has a SEO website plus Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare accounts - all roads lead to a destination. 

Social Media is the New Search 

We are increasingly using social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Youtube etc and applications like Trip Advisor to ask friends or other web users for their feedback.  On top of the social media layer, services like Google+; Linkedin Q&A (think corporate Facebook) and the previously mentioned http://www.quora.com/ are facilitating question and answer and developing expert status.

Google is already indexing this high quality content (except where it has very recently been precluded - ie Twitter real time results and public Facebook Status) and you are beginning to see this data influence rankings. 

Social Media Pureplay

Another local coffee shop I must mention is social media marketing pure play Montgomery St Cafe, headed up by the highly talented Internet Chef and Electrolux brand ambassador Bridget Davis and Twitterati Iconic88.  They did an exceptional job at building awareness prior to opening through Facebook status updates, #mostreet and regular Youtube videos.  

Increasing Competition

Last week another new local coffee shop opened - "Kiss the Barista" at Georges River 16ft Sailing Club; and another around the corner couple of weeks. 

There are now three new coffee shops that have opened within a short (less than 500m) distance within the last 10 months making a total six.

As you can see even at the local coffee shop level it's a highly competitive online marketing but you know the most important thing?  The customer experience they then share.

How do you rank on Google and what are your customers saying about you on social media?

This blog is the ongoing chronicle of our own application to our business of the theories; ideas and lessons we are sharing and recommending with our clients.  

Taking Risks

If you're not taking risks then you're playing it safe.  It's one or the other.

Yes, it's hard for some people/ companies/ brands to take risks - there's the natural fear of failure, but today, the paradox is it is more risky to maintain the status quo - you risk become commoditised and irrelevant - easily replaced.

"If you or your brand does not have relevance and create passion from your customers and fans then long term you're in trouble - you're no different than washing powder."  Franklyn Un

Much of the current marketing talk today is about online social media, building and connecting with fans but social media is more than just about setting up a Facebook fan page or Twitter account.  It's about creating social objects says Gaping Void's Hugh MacLeod.

Facing Problems

I faced a problem with the CLIVE stuff we were creating - namely potential customers where comparing us with inferior produced competitors.  Our key messages were not being heard.

The reason - our website - (which is where most of our customers find out more about us)  did not clearly communicate our unique selling points - we looked like our competitors - ie just selling the technical video production ability instead of where we wanted to play - our creativity, our online marketing understanding, our script writing, our production quality, presenter coaching, technology platform and analytics. 

We had to change the way we sold and move from a volume production view of the world towards a very customer centric, creative, niche approach.  Less how many video jobs but more about developing the whole of customer experience - right through to their customers experience.

Seeds take a while to germinate

It took a very long time (in web years) for my team to actually understand what I was saying (and I suppose my deeper understanding of the space and ability to communicate).

Lonely Girl 15 (2006)

We'd all seen the Lonely Girl thing way back in 2006 but what was the end result today? Did it eventually ever sell anything beyond building the Directors profile? Was/ where's the long tail benefit to fans?  What's the point if those no end in sight?

Beached As

I'd seen the clips years ago but the guys appeared on one of the national morning TV shows - I sent the interview to my guys - it's when they saw the commercial return from the books "they got it".  In many ways many businesses are like this - they need to see someone else successful before they have a go - it reduces their perceived risk - they need to be sold and convinced.

For every huge success there will tens of thousands of failures - today there's 37 hours of video uploaded to Youtube every minute.

"It ain't viral till it's viral" but there are some common elements to viral video success - low budget; humour; topicality; provocation; surprises and strategies - piggybacking on trends or celebrities; kids and cute animals.

If you focus purely on the $$$ then customers will soon see through your work.

2010 - Doing Incredibly Boring Work and the Creative Stuff that inspired.

My video guys were stuck on a very boring government job - we done a hundred simple presenter to camera CLIVE clips, it was the creative ones like Wendell's Dancing Reebok that got the most Click Thrus and results - social media was focused on how many fans or Twitter followers - the next metric is engagement. 

2011 - Focus on Creative Inspiration 

Less now on volume and more focused on customer experience.  The development of characters to deliver key communications messages to targeted audiences; a platform for companies and brands to engage online; a framework for new talent to be involved.

Introducing The Characters

Each character went through a behavioural profiling approach (60 questions) used by Human Resource consultants around the world - developed to hopefully resonate with each customer segment.

The Hard Arsed CEO	The Punchy Salesman	Online Presenting Diva	Viral Video Expert	The Nerd
Facebook	Facebook	Facebook	Facebook	Facebook

Each character a Facebook fan page; Twitter account created and behind the scenes video element created. 

The rest to unfold - I'll keep you posted.  

It was February 9th so says the Google Apps shared document but my thoughts and discussions go back many months earlier.

This series of blog posts aims to chronicle the development of how a dissatisfaction of the status quo manifested into challenging our approach to what we do.

We were sick of the "hard sell", we were bored with our own brand approach, we wanted to focus on showcasing what we do best, less production focus and more strategic creative.  

I reminded of a quote  "The riskiest thing we can do is just maintain the status quo"  from Bob Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company.

I suppose there are many factors that instigate a need for change - either internal or external motivations - some we force upon the world and others are forced upon us.

Whatever the motivation, the one guarantee is there will be change.

When interviewing Ted Johnson, CMO, Minnesotta Timberwolves last year I was reminded that "attitude" is the one that makes the most difference.  "Attitude is Everything"

My dear dad (RIP) also said that it is not money, size, education, or privilege but the focused team that gets the greatest results. 

So my CEO challenge is to create a highly focused, innovative team with great attitude that resonates with our customers.

From a business perspective I suppose "attitude" is about culture - your people, your products, your customers experience,

It prompts the question what's the attitude and personality of your business?  Is it Friendly? Risky?  Innovative?  Conservative?  Arrogant and so on.

I'm suddenly back to snoozy Marketing and Psychology 101 lectures of Pavlov's dog, Maslow and Jung (Freud was just a sex fiend ).

In my current world of online advertising and media there's much discussion around online behavior and contextual advertising.

But I think it's less about sophisticated targeting algorithms and more about connecting with people, of dealing with customers who appreciate, like and advocate your work. 

How does your brand personality resonate with your customers?  Do they like you?  Do they share their experience with the friends?  

Be unique - mass marketing is for mass producers and audiences.

Following are a few quick thoughts on brand engagement.

1. Understand the audience - the who/ what, when, where, how much and why?
2. Insure clients understand that in this digital media and communications age, online social media customers are now firmly at the power centre of the buying Universe - empower your audience with knowledge and tools - be open. For example, who are your "influencers (experts, role models etc), sneezers (people who advocate) and flamers (people who critic) and how do you connect? What channels are they in?
3. That Brands/ Services need to provide a unique sales proposition and create a compelling story/ experience that engage and resonates with their audience(s) - both in short term attraction and longer term relationships. This can be online, offline or a combination of the two "inline". 
4. Create desire and value viewer attention - develop and create short, high quality, very creative advertising and marketing collateral that viewers trust to share, interact (comments, likes, blogs) etc, purchase and recommend.
5. In summary much of the advertising and marketing principles we've all learnt are still the same  - the only difference now is scalability (niche), the technology, the heavily fragmented, flattened non value layers of middlemen and the integration and importance of customer service and experience into our brand engagement programs.