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“The professional networking site, home to some 23 million affluent users who sign up to find jobs, hire talent, and connect on projects, is about to become one of the select few social-media companies to attain a valuation of more than $1 billion.” Read the rest of the article it is very interesting.

So if you want to reach consumers with a high net worth LinkedIn is the place to do it.

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“they need to rely on creative marketing ideas online as much as they always have in other mediums, McGrath said. “It’s the same method, new medium.”

He said he’s not sure advertising firms are doing all they can to bring clients into this brave new world, especially with pure-play companies that are experts in honing in on local ad dollars.

“In general, I think agencies are floundering. They’re still thinking of the Internet as a brochure, and they’re not thinking ‘How can we take advantage of this medium,’” McGrath added. “Instead, they’re blasting the client’s message, whether it’s appropriate or not.” “

The two key points are that companies need assistance in being effective online and most agencies have not come up to speed yet.

While most agencies are “floundering” ManoByte is not. We have a process that is designed to help businesses take advantage of the Web 2.0 age. We are not a company dabbling in Online Marketing. We specialize in it! We are Grand Rapids Social Media Marketing company with over 15 years of in-house experience in using the Web and technology to help businesses be successful.

So contact us and we can help your business thrive!

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The innovative part involves the distribution plan. Google will syndicate the program using its AdSense advertising system to thousands of Web sites that are predetermined to be gathering spots for Mr. MacFarlane’s target audience, typically young men. Instead of placing a static ad on a Web page, Google will place a “Cavalcade” video clip.

What does this mean? It means that Google knows how to get in front of people and reach them with the media they want. As business owners we would do well to analyze our web presence and the use of Google Adsense. Especially in the light of Google other big announcement regarding creating its own Media Ad Network.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0qMe7Z3EYg]

Byte or get bitten!

Radio Advertising Monthly Budget $13,000 per month for 3 Months Total Spent $39,000 plus cost to create the ad.

Adwords Monthly Budget $400 – 750 per month for 3 month Maximum Spent $1900

SEO Monthly Budget $2,000 per month Maximum Spent $6,000

Radio Adwords SEO

$39,000 $1,900 $6,000

What were the results? Number of Leads

Radio Results
Month 1: 62
Month 2: 46
Month 3: 0 (stopped ads)
Average CPL: $240.74

Adwords Results
Month 1: 37
Month 2: 47
Month 3: 62
Average CPL: $17.98

SEO Results
Month 1: 29
Month 2: 44
Month 3: 60
Average CPL: $22.55

The evidence is pretty clear. We need to be advertising online. It is cheaper and you get better results. For folks in West Michigan that should be a no brainer. Save money grow your business.

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I have a loan officer who does not live in Grand Rapids, who sends me direct mail once a month. For awhile I opened the letters thinking that there was something of value in the mailings, but now I don’t even open the letters.

OK, here is the good thing about her Marketing efforts; she is always top of mind. She has helped me purchase two homes and I would definitely use her again. Not because of the mailings but because I trust her. The bad thing is that I throw away her mailings as soon as I get them without opening them. The truth is I throw away a lot of “Junk Mail” all the time.

On the other hand, I get a ton email from all sorts of people I do not know or trust. But every now and then I get caught by an email that compels me to open it.

So, one hand someone I trust sends me something I don’t read and someone I do not know sends me an email I read. Why the difference?

First, like everyone in this technology age I, like all of you, have been conditioned to tune out a lot of information that screams, “BUY ME” unless it is relevant to your current needs and interests. “Snail Mail” comes in a sealed envelope and makes it easy just to discard it.  Whereas email gives you the option to quickly preview before making a discard decision.

Here is an example of an email that caught my attention. It was from a company that I did not know but they had a compelling subject that enticed me to look and within the first 3 seconds the email grabbed my attention and I kept reading.

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Not only did I read the email but I actually called them, sat through a demo and will definitely start using and recommending their services.

Now please keep in mind that I am not bashing, at all, direct mail campaigns. They have their place but here are a few tips. If you are going to send out a direct mailing make sure it is infrequent and that it has something a value to me related to your products or services. You should use your customer database to ensure the mailings are personalized to each customer’s interest. Even mom and pop shops can do this inexpensively using mail merge. And please do not send letters to someone who does not know you.

On the other hand email marketing campaigns are different, but only slightly. Here are a few tips
1. You can send me (the consumer) an email if I do not know you, but don’t act like you know me. That is a trust breaker. If our relationship starts on a lie how can I ever trust you again?

2. The subject should be an arousing “pick up line”. Why do I want to interact with you?

3. If you have not figured this out yet let me state it again. Don’t try to sell me something. Inform me and educate me.

4. Make your message engaging and create brand awareness. That is why I like OnMarketer, they give you the ability to brand your email without fat attachments and providing links back to your website. And guess what? It makes it trackable.

5. Don’t spam me!!!!! As a consumer I am ok with regular emails from you, especially if they are informative and engaging. But don’t spam me, stalk me, make me Wanna Put Your Number On The Call Block Have AOL  Make My emails Stop. (oops sorry to break into Destiny’s Child.)

Anyway there are other things that you can do to create compelling email messages that will get consumers to read them and I would be glad to help you out with more advices, but I must be getting punchy if I am breaking into song. So this should do get you by for now.

Byte or get bitten

Take for instance BI (Business Intelligence) great name and it has a lot of potential to live up to its name but the problem is that too often the term is used describe the tools and technology and not the value it brings to organizations.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) create term and when done properly it can add tremendous value to an organization. However, once again the term now applies to a piece of technology and not the art of managing the relationships that businesses have with their customers. So what happens is that business owner look to a piece of software to try to resolve their customer issues and when it doesn’t work as they perceived it would because of the name they want to throw out the CRM application and Nix the budget for all future IT projects.

Then there is the term Internet Marketing. Great term! But it has now become synonymous with SEO/ SEM which is only a very small piece of what a term like Internet Marketing should really do. Then add to that the never ending websites and spam-o-grams that promise you that “for just $29.99 you can have millions of visitors to your website in minutes.” I think the term Internet Marketing and the vultures around have taken a term that could have meant a lot and put it in the same light as “Network Marketers” or the “Carpet Baggers”.

So I have had a problem coming up with a name for what I do then it came to me, if it was a snake it would have bit me. MANO (Marketing, Advertising, Networking, Online) that’s what I do.

True marketing centers on a strategy and Marketing 2.0 involves the 6Vs as outline in Denise Shiffman book Age of Engage. Advertising is a form of communication whose purpose is to inform potential customers about products and services and how to obtain and use them. Networking is about connecting people who share interests and activities or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. All of this is done Online that means do just on the internet but the variety of ways that people are and will interact with the web, be that through phone, GPS units, Cameras, you name it.

Adam over at Audetta Media also wrote and interesting blog on terminology. That inspired me to vent my frustration here. I am on a mission to rally the industry around MANO (marketing, advertising, networking online)

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJHvPcvEKEE&eurl]

1) Just think of all the people who will watch hundreds of Post-It Notes commercials.

2) This is a very inexpensive campaign compared to what they would have had to do to gain half the exposure the are going to gain compared to using traditional marketing techniques.

3) This is not just about creating buzz, which it will do plenty of that, this is about sales lets say 500,000 people go out and buy 2 packs of Post-It Notes at $5 a pack. Thats 5 million dollars in Sales. I think these numbers are conservative.

4) 3M is on a mission to understand their consumers. They will find out just how people use Post-It notes and then they will be better equipped to introduce new product that resonate perfectly with their customers.

5) Increased Brand Recognition. Can’t you all the grandmother talk about “Did you see my Grand-baby’s Post-It Notes commerical wasn’t it good!”

6) They will be drive tons of traffic to there website which means they have even more opportunity to convert visitors into sales.

MANO really works. Put MANO to work for you.

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So how do you find a doctor? The two biggest factors are location and reputation. Hmmm…Sounds like the 2 biggest things I talk about. So you guessed it, this makes Health care providers the biggest group who should be taking advantage on the Web 2.0 evolution. WebMD has become an incredible force with unique visitors jumping from 853,000 in 2004 to 40.3 million unique users per month in 2007. Mayo Clinic has created an online community that has blogs, forums, podcast, videos, and slide shows.

What do you call a doctor who passes medical school with a D average? “Doctor”

But who do you want operating on you? Of course you want to entrust your life into the hands of the most competent individual. Care Providers can showcase their knowledge through blogs and podcast. At the same time keeping their patients informed. Believe me there are a lot of crackpots out there blogging about health care who probably should be blogging at all.  Then there are those like Dr. Oz. Who is not aware of Dr. OZ “Americas” doctor? Google his name on the internet and you will get 645,000 hits. If you are a health care provider, how many hits do you get when you Google your name and is your website or blog one of the top 10 pages? Instead of WebMD I am sure most would prefer to read helpful medical information from their own local care providers.

Word of mouth can grow or kill a business or practice. I am not sure if most health care providers know what people are saying about them the other day while on yahoo local my chiropractors name came up (I was not searching for a chiropractor). Chris Miller is great by the way and that is exactly what someone had said. Who would you choice someone not rated or someone with 5 stars? If you are a health care provider do you know what people are saying about you online?

From 1996 – 1998 I spent a great deal of time at the University of Michigan Hospital help doctors and nurses take advantage of the latest technology back then. The last two years I have been helping out launch one of the best clinical inventory management systems in the world. Maybe now I will spend some time helping care providers in Grand Rapids fully adopt Web 2.0 technologies. But first I have to help my wife find a local doctor.

Byte or Get Bitten!