Small Business Can

Hi all

This is my first post so a little background...I am setting up an ecommerce website selling pet supplies to the Irish and UK market. I have engaged a web design company to build the site and that is progressing well. We hope to launch in the next couple of months.

I am hoping to take on the online marketing and social media marketing aspects of the site myself and I am looking for courses in this area (preferably part-time evenings or bootcamp)

Google brings up a number of results in this area and it is hard to tell which courses are good/bad/indifferent. Can anyone recommend any specific courses, or are there any courses out there that are backed by industry (Google/Facebook etc)

I have a background in software development (although not web development) so I am quite techie and would not struggle with technical jargon etc.

Really I just want something that will teach me effective strategies and techniques for online advertising (Adwords etc) and using social media (Facebook, Twitter, G+, blogs, etc)

Our online marketing spend will be 5% of our projected turnover so I really want to be sure I get the best bang for my buck

Or perhaps I am taking on too much and should employ a company to do this for us???

Any advice appreciated!

Alex

Hi Alex ,
Not sure where you're based in Ireland but we are running a one day online marketing conference in Dublin on November 16th. Its aimed at people in business who want to get a handle on online marketing and social media. The day will be a mixture of talks and practical workshops covering Facebook, Twitter, PPC etc. The link is www.how20.ie/

If you want something a bit more in depth Digital Marketing Institute do boot camps of either 5 consecutive days or one night a week over 12 weeks. I'm doing their Post Grad diploma myself so can recommend them. Most of their lecturers are industry professionals so you get a very practical approach. Their website address is digitalmarketinginstitute.ie/. Hope that is of some help.
Good luck
Robbie

Social media is not rocket science..

Learn to do it yourself! Get stuck in there and try things out. When you have a better idea of what's going on in the world of social media you will discover what 's best for your business.

There is no magic formula for getting desirable traffic to your website.. i.e. traffic that will actually make a purchase. Don't believe anyone who tells you there is. There are legions of BS merchants out there who will promise the earth while hoovering up your valuable start-up resources. Nowadays, it seems many who spend too much time on Twitter or Facebook are calling themselves a social media "expert". The more you know about a subject, the easier it will be to spot the real experts when you really need them.

If you have a business name, logo, and other elements of your visual branding, you can set up Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, G+, blogs, etc., right now. You don't need to wait for your website launch - link these to your website when it is up and running. Start now, try things out, see what works, and iterate as you go..

Over the next few months, use social media to research, learn, experiment, and create a buzz about your upcoming business launch. Remember, you are looking to attract real people who will become your customers, not just clicks on a graph!

Good luck!

I did the SEO course on Lynda.com and found it very good. I also regularly read www.seomoz.org/ and searchengineland.com/ and find them both very good.

With regards to SEM you should consider doing the google run adwords courses www.google.com/adwords/professionals/.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I think maybe I should just take the plunge to start with as Anthony suggested, so I'll be updating the Facebook / Twitter thread very soon

If I need help I think I might take a look at some of the online courses to start with, such as those on Lynda.com, which seems a good value alternative to traditional classroom courses, and I've also joined the programme to do the google adwords certification.

We'll see how I get on with those, and if I still feel I need more I'll certainly look into those offered by digitalmarketinginstitute.ie (which was one of the options google had thrown up at me - so good to hear someone recommend them)

Thanks again!

If in doubt.. Just ask!

There are lots of resources on this website... just ask Fionan or Ron for advice.. and I'm sure they will sort you out..

Before you part with your hard earned dosh, use this site...

There are far more resources here for free, than you will find on any digital marketing "Institute" ... I would think...

Hi Alex

If you do get started on Twitter you might like to check out #SMEcommunity. Just do a search with that hashtag to find us all - we are all very friendly and only sometimes a bit rowdy We're a group of mostly Irish business all supporting each other in spirit and also sometimes in non virtual ways as well.

There will usually be someone on hand to ask questions of especially if you are trying to get the hang of Twitter

Come and find me on there at @mindfulproduct and say hi

Be

You can do all these marketing if you have time other wise hire some one to do for some time. Once it has enough publicity then no need of any marketing.

Hi Alex,

I provide Social Media training fro small businesses like yours. As you have a working knowledge of the internet, you should pick up anything you should need very quickly.
I would suggest that in order to get your campaign off the ground, you out source the first couple of weeks of your SM presence. It can be very time consuming if you are trying to feel your way around, and you may find it eating into time you could be doing more important things in.
If you do decide to do it yourself, let me know if you need any help or advice, as I'd be more than happy to help!

Equigeek.

Hi Alex

Congratulations on starting your own business, and good luck with it.

I've been providing social media training for nearly a year (to a clients franchisees in Ireland, the UK, Spain and Russia) so here is my advice based on what has worked for them:

Start with a blog - on your own domain (on your own website) - your web design people will be able to install a blog for a minimal fee if it is not already included. Blog regularly, and post the title of your blog as a Tweet (this will make you think about
the title in the right way), and post to Facebook and appropriate LinkedIn groups that might be interested in your blog post topic.

Your blog is the hub of your social media - your own property, where you make the rules, where you own the content. It is very important to be aware that however useful Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube are as sources of new customers, they are not owned by you, and can (and do) change their rules. Use them to attract visitors back to your own blog and website.

Think of it like this - you go out and meet people in pubs and clubs, and make friends with them there. You do this by finding people with a similar interest (search the social media sites for groups that like cats, dogs, animals, bunnies...). Then you listen to their conversation, and join in with appropriate comments that are helpful. If you are helpful, and be yourself, people will like you (I don't mean the Facebook "Like" - I mean really like you, though sometimes they mean the same thing), because you are already likable. So - no need to try and pretend to be anyone else.

Then you invite selected friends back to your place, and once they have come to know, like and trust you, and find out that apart from being really caring and knowledgeable about their pets, you also sell pet supplies, they will want to buy from you, rather than some big anonymous website (hopefully).

So social media websites are a place to mingle, join in conversations, and meet people. Once you find the right people (try to find people who are already influential in your market - people who have lots of friends, people who are actively involved in the conversations about pets), invite them back to your blog to discuss the things that interest them - their pets and the welfare of their pets, etc. Remember that your customers don't care about you at all (at first anyway - they may learn to love you but you need to build a good relationship for that - they can be very unforgiving by clicking the back button before you ever find out what you did wrong), so don't expect them to respond to a sales pitch on Facebook.

Write blog posts to answer questions people with pets have posted on Facebook, tweeted on Twitter, or asked in LinkedIn answers (Yahoo answers is another good place to be helpful, and for ideas of what to write about). Write blog posts to respond to the blog posts of popular bloggers in your niche - and write guest posts for their blog. Post a synopsis of your answer as a response to their question on the social media website, with a link back to your full blog post. End you blog post with a single "call to action" - ask them to "Like" your blog post, tweet it, share it, or leave a comment (use the Facebook comment system - your web designer should be able to implement this for you). Answer every comment, even if it just to say "Thanks for your comment" - this shows you read the comments, doubles the number of comments, and is good manners.

If this all sounds like a lot of work, it is. Starting a business is a lot of work, and only you can decide where to prioritise your time and resources. But blogging - creating new content regualrly - will pay you back, little by little at first, but growing exponentially. Because owning a website means you are in the information publishing business, and blog posts are content on your website. Google loves new, regularly updated, unique, relevant content, so you will be rewarded with search engine rankings (this is the most important piece of Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, you can do, and you really do need to do it yourself).

People love talking about their pets, and mingling with like minded people. By being a like minded person, who is providing yet another place to talk about their pet, they will reward you with comments, and click on your "Like" and "Tweet" buttons, and recommend and share your content with their friends (building incoming links for you - which Google loves, and which provide more ways for people to find your website).

So it will take a little time - perhaps a month, maybe six (this depends on how good or bad your competitors are), but if you provide good content consistently, you will be found again and again, by more and more people, using more and more keyword phrases, and via more and more social media conversations. Your visitors will respond to you on and off your blog, add to your content, and if you are lucky, will start to talk to each other, on your blog - creating yet more content. (This is the "Holy Grail" of social media marketing - starting a conversation that others continue long after you have shut up)

Here are my *Golden Rules*

* Be yourself
* If you wouldn't text a message to your best friend, don't tweet it.
* If you wouldn't say something to your friends in the pub, don't post it on Facebook.
* If you wouldn't say something to a real person you meet at a business networking event, don't post it on a LinkedIn group.
* Measure the effectiveness of everything you do, and stop doing what doesn't work. (Get your web people to set up Google Analytics goals, and watch which social media website sends visitors who buy your products)
* Be consistent (just like going to the gym, you cannot get fit, then stop. You have to keep going, regularly, forever)
* Be persistent (it takes time to make friends, build relationships, build a reputation, build a business.) So don't give up.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Sal

Thanks so much Sal for that detailed post. This is exactly the kind of advice I was looking for as my biggest fear is that I would do my brand more harm than good by going ahead without knowing what I should and shouldn't do.

I've bought a few books and along with the advice on here I am sure I have enough info now to have a go, without risk of alienating or offending my potential customers and fellow pet lovers

Pets has always been a huge passion of mine, and I have been waiting a long long time to get the opportunity to make pets part of my work life too. It's all very exciting It does sound like a lot of work, but to me, nothing could be more fun than writing about pets, answering questions about pets, and selling products for pets all day long

Hi Alex,

Glad to be of help. As Anthony has already said - don't overthink this, go on courses or read too many books before you get started, just get stuck in. Don't wait for your website to be ready, you can start writing blog posts now and publish them later.

Get onto Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube (start with these four and get familiar with them first - and extend to other social media sites once you master these - keep testing!) and start joining groups, conversations and answering questions. If you get something wrong, just say sorry, and explain that you are a beginner. Tweets disappear in a matter fo hours, buried in the noise, Facebook posts disappear in a matter of days or weeks usually, so your mistakes will be forgotten if not forgiven.

Don't be afraid of negative feedback or complaints - use them to improve your service, your messages, to help you set realistic expectations for future customers, to build your reputation as a person who takes responsibility for mistakes and then fixes them. You will make mistakes - and you will get complaints. Nobody is perfect, and nobody's online marketing strategy is going to be a perfect fit for you. Make your mistakes quickly to find what works best.

Try something that nobody here is suggesting - if you think it is a good idea, give it a go, and then share the knowledge you gain here - for the next small business owner starting up with less experience than you have - because in a few months you will be an expert.

Regards,
Sal

Great post Sal!!!!

A lot of the women's networks and Chambers organise reasonably priced, quick workshops on social media, so keep an eye out.

Kev8, those SEO resources sound great. I'm going to check them out, because I'd like to ramp up my knowledge.

Best of luck with your new business if you reply back to me i will give you a few guidlines on where to find your customers.Also I will guide you on a few plugin's for your blog that will help with your traffis as well

regards

Pat Brosnan

Hi,

SEO is the process of figuring out “key words”, potential customers might use to find what the website is offering. The biggest benefit of SEO is that it helps you to gain an online presence for your business. One of the major benefits of SEO is that certainly you do not pay for every click, unlike PPC advertising where your online presence disappears the moment you stop paying for the ads. Other benefits of SEO include increasing your business benefits, sales and investment returns. SEO service is that it helps to make your websites favourable to both site visitors (increased usability), and the search engines. A good SEO service provider offers a client-focused and cost-effective search engine optimization service together with a number of Internet marketing solutions including viral marketing, blog marketing, web development and many more. Other factors include cross-browser compatibility, enhanced usability and better accessibility. A good SEO agency understands that despite there being thousands of websites on the internet, each one is personal and unique.

t1295 multipack

Excellent Post Sal. I did a very short course on Social Media for Business with North Tipp County Enterprise Board. I'm sure other counties do the same. €20 for half day excellent value and enough to start

Hi Alex - my first post back after an absence of several months - which is another story altogether! But I've been working deeply on this sort of thing while away, so perhaps I may be able to help.

a lot of well-meaning posts here on social media. Let's just ask a question here though: "who can show the exact return on marketing cash invested through social media?"

and another, more important question to ponder:

"who can show the return on your time invested?" Because your time is more valuable than your money, as any entrepreneur finds out very quickly.

99% of marketing, particularly what you see on TV, newspapers, magazines, online etc. cannot show a direct return on investment (ROI) and is therefore a waste of money and time, particularly when starting out, so don't copy it.

Think of online marketing as what Drayton Bird calls "accelerated direct marketing". And direct marketing is what you get through your letterbox - what some call junk mail, but which wouldn't keep coming if there wasn't a measurable return. And this is what you are looking for: if you invest 4 weeks of your time, and €1000 of your cash, wouldn't you like to know what you are getting back in terms of customers, income, etc?

This is possible to do both on- and off-line, and the same concepts are true today as they were a hundred years ago.

Ignore the advice not to read books - because there are a lot of books that will teach you how to do this. If you were a lawyer, you would have to study; if you were a doctor, you would have to study; why people think that marketers (which you will need to become) do not have to study is beyond me, frankly.

Social media is good for connecting with your customers, provided you have that sort of business.

Do I want to have a "social relationship" with my pet-food supplier?

Answer: not really - be serious.

Do I want them to offer me nutrition tips and diet variation, and trial packs for my extremely spoiled and much-loved bichon frise?

...keep talking....

You need to start thinking about what your customers really want, not just dive into social media "because everyone else is doing it". You need to become what Brian Tracy calls "a doctor of selling"

let me explain:

If you went to your doctor, and he began to diagnose you just by looking at you, (or worse wanted to start a relationship with you), before you even opened your mouth, what would you think? - here's a funny video to show you what I mean

But no, he sits you down, asks you questions about what's wrong, where does it hurt - he professionally diagnoses what problem you have and he solves it. You need to do the same with pet owners. For example, one of my problems is that my dog prefers our food to her own. Another is that I don't think she has enough variety. Yet another is that I have to go to shop to buy it. Solve those problems and you might get my business. And I will pay you. And no I don't want you 'friending' me either. Just solve my problems, do it quickly, be polite, and go away.

And you can advertise to me in a way that you can measure - to the cent - how much it cost to market to me, and how much revenue it brought in. This is direct marketing, and it doesn't matter if it is online or offline - the principles are exactly the same.

I recommend that you flow-chart the different stages of your selling process. Then ask yourself what you need to do at each stage. I guarantee you that social media will be a 'nice to have' and not a 'must have'. You'll also save yourself a lot of time.

Here is a great resource from a marketing legend who trained me, Drayton Bird.

If you go to that link you'll get 51 tips, and each of them are gold. I am not an affiliate, by the way, but he knows what he's talking about. His book on direct marketing is the bible you should read.

As for your brand, there is a great book by Jack Trout called "Differentiate, or Die". You don't even need to read it to know what you need to do.

Bottom line is that you can waste a lot of time and/or money, which I suspect you don't want to do, or you can learn from others' mistakes. You'll still make plenty yourself of course (god knows I have), but by learning you can keep the carnage to a minimum.

And beware of what I like to call "activity masquerading as progress" - social media tells your brain you're working on your business, but you really aren't achieving much.

Invest your time elsewhere in the beginning, using tried and tested methods of getting customers, and experiment with social media, who few have got to work, later on.

best of success,
Denis

Denis, great food for thought!

"who can show the exact return on marketing cash invested through social media?"
"who can show the return on your time invested?"

I think you are spot on.

Large companies hire people dedicated to the task, but this is expected because they are big brands. They will sell anyway, and it is looks good to have a social media presence, just publicity.

Small brand: How many here have started measuring how many actual click-through they get from tweets? And can they measure the visit to the site to an actual order. They might have a shock if they had the tools to do this. Take a look at this link

As per anything else, before embarking on anything, it would be worth thinking of how any action will be measured. It is unlikely that facebook and twitter will make a huge impact at the start.

"Do I want to have a "social relationship" with my pet-food supplier? Do I want them to offer me nutrition tips and diet variation, and trial packs for my extremely spoiled and much-loved bichon frise?"

After seeing a pet-food supplier abroad selling bottled mineral water specially formulated for Cats and Dogs, I might think about your comments twice. But a blog or advice section on the website would probably be enough at the start.

Some smart CMS have ways of posting your webpage pages to the various social networks in seconds, so in that case, the benefits are that it does not take much effort.

Claude
http://ws2.me/202

thanks Claude, and just to clarify my comment (I sound like a presidential candidate) - "Do I want to have a "social relationship" with my pet-food supplier? ANSWER - NO!

on the other hand...

"Do I want them to offer me nutrition tips and diet variation, and trial packs for my extremely spoiled and much-loved bichon frise?"

ANSWER: YES I DO!

So, I want them to help me, but I don't want to chat to them over a pint in the pub.

Here's the way I look at social media:

Facebook - in the pub with your friends
Linkedin - around the water cooler at work
You-tube - entertainment, and/or information (think TV where you can have The Simpsons, or a Documentary)
Twitter - best for short, sharp, time-sensitive, need action now, news alerts ("Euro plummets against sterling")

So they are useful; but are they useful for turning marketing effort into measurable money? Hmmm.

best,
Denis

Welcome back Denis...this sort of stuff has been sorely missed!!!!

>LIKE<



it's good to be back Fionan! I'll be posting the morality tale of money, marketing, and executive burn-out soon....!

best,
Denis

Hi Dennis

Interesting points, but I have to disagree with your blanket dismissal of social media (my opinion is based on observed results, not cynicism) There are businesses making money using social media as a marketing channel, measuring, and improving their return on investment - using analytics, not wishy washy marketing speak like "brand awareness" that cannot be measured (like the TV, radio and other traditional media as oversold by old world marketing agencies, as you accurately observed). Well known brands (like Nike, Coca Cola, and several large tech companies I cannot think of right now) are now advertising their Facebook pages in their TV and other advertising, including on their own website home pages. Maybe they are just daft and haven't read the same books as you or I. Visit a website like whichtestwon.com and look at many different split test results to find some publicly shareable examples of measured social media roi.

All business is relationships, and your funny video actually reinforces this well. We have to have personal relationships with our suppliers, competitors, customers and employees. How we are in those relationships determines whether people will do business with us in the first place, and whether or not they will do business with us again, or recommend us to others.

Yes, the vast majority of businesses have yet to figure out that social media has changed the way business works online, back to something much more like how it used to work in the real world, in the days of small village communities. Yes, many have not yet figured out that a relationship online is the same as a relationship offline, just using a different communication medium. Yes, they are not sure how to measure it. Maybe these businesses are even the vast majority. But that doesn't make the world flat.

Social media can and does work for business, and can (and should) be measured and optimised. Relationships, questions, answers and recommendations from conversations in the pub, water cooler and online all can, and often do lead to usable business intelligence and measurable profits.

I hope this doesn't sound to dogmatic - I'm not looking for an argument, but I'd love a friendly discussion. I think we can all learn from each other here, and a nice balanced, varied diet is good for all of us

By the way, Dennis, I visited your very well designed website (from a conversion rate optimisation viewpoint - I am not qualified to critique the graphic design) and see that you are using all the usual social media buttons there in your pop down top bar widget. I've signed up to your mailing list (and recommend everyone else here does too), and I must complement you on your concise copywriting skills.

Thanks and regards,

Sal

Hi Sal

"here are businesses making money using social media as a marketing channel, measuring, and improving their return on investment - using analytics, not wishy washy marketing speak like "brand awareness" that cannot be measured (like the TV, radio and other traditional media as oversold by old world marketing agencies, as you accurately observed). Well known brands (like Nike, Coca Cola, and several large tech companies are now advertising their Facebook pages in their TV and other advertising, including on their own website home pages"

That was my point, a big brand may benefit (even if I think some just use the cool factor of being on facebook), a small start-up is less likely too, and a start-up should look at where time is best spent to get new customers, or else find a way to automate.

Claude
http://ws2.me/202

Thanks Sal - the copywriting is mine, but the design is thanks to Alan Boyd's team at Boom Interactive. You probably know Alan from SBC. The out-of datedness is my fault too!

I agree with you - there is no 'right' way to do things. There's what's right for your customers in the context of what's right for your business at the stage it's at. For example, I use social media buttons because they have to be tested, like everything else: test, adjust, re-test, measure.

What's right for Coke - and I appreciate you just pulled that out as an example, not as the example, may not be right for the small business - and often isn't. They can - and do - afford to lose vast amounts of money.

Also, large companies' marketing is not always logical, and often doesn't show the clear ROI that the small business must have. I think the key is, "does it work?" - if it does, I'm all for it.

One guy who actually has got it to work very well - I was in a seminar with him last week - is Michael Leander. He's spent quite a time experimenting with all the Social Media channels and has some great results.

I believe that social media should be in the armoury, but I don't think it is the best way to kick off a new business marketing plan. My personal view is that this will change over time, but right now there are more effective ways to reach out and touch your customer.

To go back on-thread, how can we help Alex? What are the ways she should reach out to her chosen market of pet owners? Here are my suggestions to ponder (and to test):

• Pet owners tend to be older because they can afford pets. Arguably they are less likely to use social media.
• Identify petshops that don't sell pet food (are there any?) see if they have a customer list you can write to
• The most popular pets are here. What does this tell you about who you should be targeting and how? Could you niche it?
• How can you find these people? - one suggestion, a small classified ad steering to a request for more information, or free information (which you send a sales message alongside)

Just some suggestions for thought - there will be more. The key is to acquire your customers at breakeven, and sell to them repeatedly over time. If you can afford to, go into the red acquiring customers - faster, or acquire them at a small front-end profit - slower. Scary stuff!

best,
Denis

Thanks for that breath of fresh air, Denis

Social media has its place but there's no substitute for direct marketing. Perhaps amid all the focus on social media, there should be an emphasis on teaching direct marketing skills, so people can do it with confidence and in a way that atrtracts rather than harrasses future customers.

Agreed!

So lets use a fantastic social media tool - Facebook ads - to do some quick and easy market research for the size (and geographic distribution if needed) of the pet supplies market in Ireland.

Rather than try to explain in long wordy text, just watch this short (less than 5min) video made this very hour just for you

screencast.com/t/FuuzTsSc9SOj

This demonstrates very briefly how to do simple market research using the ad setup tool (this is not about actually placing an advert on Facebook - no money has to change hands) to find out how many Irish Facebook account holders have indicated that they are interested in pets, or cats, dogs, hamsters, etc. You can of course use this to place an ad to target these people, or just use the information to decide where to start with your content creation.

For example, there are 4000 people with a particular breed of hamster in Ireland, and I'm willing to bet that they probably use the name of their pet breed when doing a google search for anything related to their hamster.

This is where you can use a micro niche that is too small for the big competitors to invest their time and effort into, and build up a solid reputation, which you can leverage for testimonials and referrals for other pets (many of these people also own a dog or a cat - again, drill down to breed if you can, so that you are able to speak directly to that persons specific interests in their own pet).

Regards,

Sal

that's a great demo Sal, and I love FB ads - but if you are saying FB ads are social media, then it's clear we've all got our terminology a bit conflated!

Facebook = social media (channel), Facebook ads = direct response marketing, which is what we're all about!

glad we got that sorted out

Never mind all that though, I love the demo of market research using the ad setup tool.

I was being a little tongue in cheek with that - but I did say social media "tool" (although of coure it would not exist without the social media that provides the data). I agree 100% that Facebook ads are laser focused direct marketing. We are on the same page about what social media is

Hi Alex,

I'm also developing a new website which we plan to have live in the next month or so.

I took the Digital Mareking course run by the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Enterprise Board. It was an excellent start to digital marketing and well worth doing. Worth checking in with them when the next ones are due to start.

www.dlrceb.ie

Good luck
Paula