When I was in college back in the 90’s earning my marketing degree, the focus was on marketing tangible products rather than on marketing services. As a result, my understanding of unique selling proposition (USP) was based on marketing a product. In this post, we will focus on your USP for marketing services as a service professional.
The description for USP in one of my old advertising textbook is: The unique selling proposition, or the differentiating features, of every product advertised; a concept developed by Rosser Reaves of the Ted Bates advertising agency.
However, according to a recent article I read by Peter Vogopoulos, co-founder of Firepole Marketing, if you are a service provider, your USP is you. Peter says, “You are the only variable that cannot be replicated. Your competitors can have the same hours, offer the same products, get certified from the same place, offer the same result, same, same, all the same as you, but they can never be you.” Click here to read the entire article.
For nine years I have been scratching my head trying to figure out what is unique about our Internet marketing services. Why should someone retain our services rather than work with Billy Bob and Associates. I was working from the premise of what I learned at Arizona State University; marketing a tangible product.
According to Peter, we have to connect to our potential clients on a personal level. When we bring our true values and attributes to the table, someone will like us and be inspired to do business with us.
According to Bob Bly, who is the author of “World’s Best Copywriting Secrets,” that in addition to your intangible USP, your personality, service professionals also have a tangible USP. Bob says, “The tangible USP is the visible, quantifiable differentiator between you and your competitors. Because it can be seen, felt, described, and grasped, the tangible USP is the one you feature in your marketing copy.” You can read Bob’s article by going here.
So, based on the concept developed by Rosser Reaves if you are advertising/marketing a product, you have to come up with differentiating features as your USP. Peter Vogopoulos says be you, and Bob Bly suggests be you, as well as create a tangible USP for your marketing copy, which differentiates you from your competitors.
What are your thoughts on unique selling proposition? We would love to hear what you think. Leave us your comments below. Come back next week for more Internet marketing tips.
Last week we begin discussing Internet marketing tools and strategies that start-ups can use to promote their products and/or services online. This week, we will wrap up the Internet marketing strategies. We left off on discussing LinkedIn groups, which are similar to forums.
Yahoo Groups
Speaking of forums, Yahoo groups are business-related forums where you can swap pertinent information and gain valuable business tips as well. As we discussed last week, you will be seen as the expert in your area.
You also want to join the forums where your target audience hangs out. By following their conversations, you can learn what keeps them up at night and come up with solutions to their business issues.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of some of the Internet marketing strategies and tools you can use to promote your business online and get clients as a result. There are several more online marketing tools available.
Internet Users
According to the UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU), there are over 2 billion Internet users. With the world population at 6.8 billion and rising, almost one person in three is online. If you target your message correctly, you will reach your market within these global users. Everyone in the global market is not your potential clients. So, be sure to create your Internet marketing messages for your target audience.
Outsourcing
Unless your product or service offering is Internet marketing, it’s advisable to outsource your Internet marketing to experts in this area. Internet marketing is strategic and time-consuming. It will take your focus away from your core products or services.
When starting up your business, you will have enough items on your “to do” plate. There are virtual assistants that are experts in Internet marketing who are available for you to outsource your Internet marketing needs to on an ongoing basis. Internet marketing is continuous even after you are established.
As a start-up, have you used any of the online marketing strategies and tools mentioned in last week’s and this week’s posts to market your products and/or services and have you gained any clients through their use? We would love to hear. Leave us a comment below. You just might help some other start-up entrepreneur avoid the bumps in the road of Internet marketing.
Last week we discussed the different components of Internet marketing, while at the same time explaining why Internet marketing and social media marketing are not interchangeable terms.
Website Development
We are continuing our topic on the various elements of Internet marketing or online marketing, and this week we are discussing website development. Your website is your online business card. It establishes your identity, and gives your company credibility. Besides, your competition has a website.
Online Shoppers
Would you do business or consider doing business with a company who doesn’t have a website? If you are an offline or online business, having a website is a necessary element of your marketing plan. The U.S. Commerce Department says online shoppers spent $165.4 billion in 2010. Without a website, you cannot capture any of this market.
Benefits of Having a Website
A website is used for informing your potential clients that you exist, as well as tell them about your company’s product and services, including the benefits of using them.
Using Website to Generate a List
You can also use your website to generate a list of leads to keep in touch with using e-mail marketing. Your goal is to convert these contacts into clients. We covered e-mail marketing a few weeks ago, Email Marketing – Part I and Email Marketing – Part II.
Which Internet marketing component have you had success with? We would love to hear from you. Come back next week to see which Internet marketing element we will cover. We will also share more Internet marketing tips. See you next week.
People tend to use these two terms interchangeably; however, they are not the same. If you are not an Online marketing degree alum or have some type of Internet marketing background you might not know that they are not the same. Social media marketing is a component of Internet Marketing.
Components of Internet Marketing
The other areas of Internet marketing, also known as online marketing, include website development, blog marketing, email marketing, and article marketing. Banner ads are also a component, which originally was what Internet marketing was.
Internet marketing is increasingly becoming a part of entrepreneurs, small business owners, and corporations marketing mix.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is marketing through social networks; for example, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. The key to social media marketing is interacting with other members of these social networks fostering business relationships.
Social Bookmarking
Social media marketing also includes adding bookmarking services bookmark and share widgets to your articles, blog posts, and web pages. (See our bookmark and share widget below) If your site visitors “Digg it,” “Tweet it,” or “Stumble it,” etc., your articles, posts, and web pages will be submitted into social news sites such as Digg or Internet search engine searching the best websites site like StumbleUpon or search engine searching for the best blogs site; for example, Technorati.
Once submitted, your writings are shared with other members of the bookmarking networks, and they are able to vote for them also.
Video Marketing
YouTube is popular for video marketing, which is also considered as part of social media marketing since it is becoming a social networking site. YouTube is an excellent tool to market your products and services to your target audience.
So, as you can see there is a difference between Internet marketing and social media marketing and can’t really be used interchangeably.
Is Internet marketing part of your marketing mix? If so, which components do you use? We would love to hear from you. Stop by next week for more Internet marketing tips.
Last week we began discussing the basics of email marketing and how it can drive traffic to your website. This week we continue our discussion focusing on autoresponders, as well as some of the more popular email marketing software companies.
Autoresponder:
Autoresponders can be designed to send out information to your list at specific intervals. For example, if you are sending out a series on a specific subject; for example, How to Use Facebook Part I, How to Use Facebook Part II, How to Use Facebook Part III, etc., you can schedule each part of the series to go out consecutively on a weekly basis.
Another function of autoresponders is, it will send out the series based on when your site visitor opt-in to your list. For example, Sally submits her email information on Monday adding her name to your list. You can configure the autoresponder to send her Part 1 as soon as she opts in to your list. Part II will be emailed to Sally seven days later, Part III 14 days after that until she receives all parts of your series.
It doesn’t matter when someone signs up to receive information from you, the autoresponder will keep track based on when your visitors opt-in. It is all automated!
You can also offer your site visitors a free gift for opting in to your list. You can configure the autoresponder to automatically send them the gift as soon as they opt-in.
Contact Management Companies:
Some well known contact management/email marketing software companies are AWeber, iContact, VerticalResponse,Constant Contact, IShoppingCart and MailChimp. They provide the software you will need to execute your campaigns, as well as implement autoresponders. The contact management companies also provide you with the codes you need to add the signup form or box to your website and/or blog.
Email marketing can convert your mailing list to clients. Which email marketing software are you using or would recommend? Come back next week for more Internet marketing tips!
A mailing list is the engine that drives email marketing. Without a mailing list, you can’t implement email marketing campaigns.
Mailing List:
A mailing list is generated when website or blog visitors opt-in to your mailing list giving you permission to send them information. How this is done is to add a signup form or box to your website or blog inviting visitors to fill in their names and/or email addresses. Email marketing campaigns are possible without a visitor’s name, but an email address is required. Without email addresses, you cannot send out email campaigns.
Purpose:
The purpose of email campaigns is to keep your name and business name in front of your potential clients attempting to convert them from potential clients to paying clients. When they opt-in to receive your information, they have gone from a “cold call” to a “warm call.”
Campaigns:
The type of information you electronically send to your mailing list can be an e-newsletter, a major announcement about your business or services, a series on specific topics (more on this in the autoresponder section), or to inform them of company news.
Frequency:
Your email broadcast can be sent out weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. It depends on what type of information you are sending to your list. E-newsletters are generally emailed monthly and a series on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
Email marketing is another Internet marketing strategy you can use to drive traffic to your website. Are you currently using email marketing to promote your services? Come back next week as we continue discussing email marketing, including autoresponders.
As you will noticed, we have updated the name of our blog. The original name was RJ’s Word of Mouth Weblog and is now RJ’s Internet Marketing Blog.
Our new name reflects more accurately the content of our blog, which focuses on Internet marketing topics, including social media marketing. Although the name has changed, we will continue to provide you with Internet marketing information to help you with your Internet marketing goals.
Help us spread the word of our new name by submitting this post to your favorite bookmarking sites. Also, stop by later this week as we begin our discussion on video marketing.
When you have a business website and are trying new ways to increase your Internet website traffic, blogging is a great way to get noticed.
Blogging is a good way to express your personal thoughts about various subjects that pertain to your business. You can write about how to market your business or how to increase the number of customers. You can also blog about why you started your business. Your readers’ comments are a good tactic to get ideas about what to change and/or what to write next. Show your readers that you are listening to what they have to say by responding to their comments.
It is vitally important to have a well-written blog. Always use proper grammar, and spell check your blog post before you post it. Using the proper SEO (search engine optimization) keywords will increase your ranking on the search engines and that will increase the amount of readers to your blog site. SEO keywords pop out at your readers in your blog, and it is always helpful to have hyperlinks, links and/or pictures to drive your readers to your website. These are good steps to take to boost website traffic.
When you promote your blogs with catchy titles on various social media networks, it will attract readers to your blog site. If your blog site is part of your website, your readers will be more inclined to visit the rest of your site.
Another way to boost website traffic is providing Internet marketing services offering to write blog posts for other businesses. It’s a terrific marketing tool for businesses that want to have blogs on their site but do not have the time to write. With blogging there are endless ways to boost your website traffic one blog post at a time.
This is a video that I included in my newsletter for my subscribers. I give an overview of the content in the November edition, which focuses on social media marketing. Following is a transcript that I included with the video on YouTube.
Introduction
Hi Rita Cartwright here, with another month edition of our newsletter.
Social Media Marketing Facts
We begin this newsletter with some interesting facts on social media marketing.
Critical to Your Internet Marketing Strategy is Keyword Research
And following that is a video on the importance of keyword research to search engine optimization and to your internet marketing strategy.
Women Empowering Women – Is Networking Alive And Well In Internet Marketing For Women?
Following that is an article on women empowering women in the internet world. And this is done through joint ventures with each other and also through networking.
Social Media Marketing in 3 minutes
Next is a video on how critical social media is to your business. And also in this same video, you will learn the secret formula of how to become success online.
Using Social Media Boosts Website Promotion
Next is an article on how you can add your website links to social media sites in order to promote your website. These links are also known as backlinks or inbound links. They are simply links from somewhere else back to your website.
RJ’s Internet Marketing Services Video Trailer
Last but not least is a video trailer on our services and how our services can help you with your internet marketing. More information can be found at http://rjsinternetmarketing.com.
Instructions for Non-Subscribers on how to Subscribe to Newsletter
By the way, if you happen to be watching this video, and you are not a subscriber of our newsletters, scoot on over today to our website and sign up today. The sign up box is on the right-hand side of the screen. When you do sign up, you will receive a free copy of our e-book, “Online Marketing Tools for Today’s Small Business.” You will also receive a 5-part report on working with a virtual assistant.
Conclusion
As usual, thank you for your continued subscription. I hope that this information will be beneficial and useful for you in your social media marketing. Thank you.
This is a video trailer showcasing the benefits for entrepreneurs and small business owners of outsourcing their Internet marketing to virtual assistants who provide Internet marketing services.
In a recent survey I conducted, the respondents cited that lack of time and procrastination were two main reasons why they were not doing Internet marketing or completing the tasks. In my last blog post, I mentioned that 54% of entrepreneurs and SMBs (small and midsize businesses) are using Internet marketing to market their products and services. Therefore, if you are an entrepreneur, you can’t afford to put off your Internet marketing if you want to compete. If you don’t have time or you are procrastinating, outsource your Internet marketing to a Virtual Assistant who specializes in Internet marketing.
A Virtual Assistant can post your micro-ads to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. S/he can submit your articles to article banks. S/he can create your blog and post your blog posts, as well as keep up with the maintenance. A Virtual Assistant can create your website and maintain it. S/he can take care of your e-mail marketing campaigns. Imagine how much time you will have to focus on your business if you outsource these type of Internet marketing tasks.
Whatever the problem or situation may be, don’t put off your Internet marketing one more day. You can’t afford to.
Click here to schedule a fr^ee Social Media Marketing Solutions session.
This start-up guide will teach you how to start and operate a work at home online business. Upon completion, you will be ready to start up an Internet business. Click here to learn more!
A must-have e-book for entrepreneurs with a shoestring marketing budget. Click here to learn more about it. Pick up your copy today for only $3.98.
When I was in college back in the 90’s earning my marketing degree, the focus was on marketing tangible products rather than on marketing services. As a result, my understanding of unique selling proposition (USP) was based on marketing a product. In this post, we will focus on your USP for marketing services as a service professional.
RJ’s Internet Marketing Services
Recent Comments