Dear CEO:

I want to thank you for the opportunity to reach out to you today, I know that you are busy…..so I will try and keep this brief.

Your web presence is poor, non-existent, incognito, losing you money and quite honestly….sucks! It lacks the true meaning behind having a website and that is to increase your profits, yes that is correct….increase your profits! Now you are asking how do I know this?? Well, it is quite simple…..your potential buyers (prospects) cannot find you, which means you do not exist in their eyes, which means they will never have the opportunity to buy from you, which means you are losing money.  Feel free to continue to spend your hundreds of thousands of dollars on trade shows, trade journals, print advertising, TV commercials, Radio Spots, direct mail and the many other traditional forms of marketing available. Meanwhile, realize that 90% of all buying research and decisions takes place through the internet.

I know what you are saying, we are doing SEO, SEM, Social Media and some other forms of Internet Marketing Services and I have to stand right up and tell you…..you are not! You might be dabbling in it, playing around with it, testing things, increasing traffic and perhaps feel that your outsource firm or internal efforts are maximizing your potential, when the truth is due to their uneducated, lack of knowledge….you are losing money. Your Internet Marketing campaign must be conversion and profit focused and most external and internal teams do not have the experience or knowledge to make that happen……so you keep losing money.

You see I have been through this with your marketing department, sales manager, IT department and various other executives within your company and they seem to have this fear that you will deny this need even though it is a MUST HAVE. I have strongly demanded that I cannot believe you would take this approach since this is such a missing link to your overall marketing strategy and one that cannot be ignored any longer. Perhaps, you should re-engage your marketing department and various other execs showing them your support of such an initiative.

See my job is to take your online presence to a whole new level that you cannot even comprehend and I know that sometimes there is not even a budget established. Not having a budget is truly not a good enough reason to lose an enormous amount of potential income especially for a strategy that is so precisely trackable. Go find out how many people viewed that TV Commercial you ran or saw the full page magazine ad you placed in that trade journal…..not gonna happen, is it?

Well I have taken up enough of your time today and I will follow this letter up with repeated phone calls and contact points until you see the error of your ways and want to start making a difference and increase your companies profits. After all, you would not want me to start reaching out to the owner and/or board of directors…now would you?

Make it a great day!

Sincerely,

Your Best Shot At Internet Immortality

Note: Jeff Plucker is the newest addition to the ProspectMX team of internet marketing consultants. If your company is in need of SEO or internet marketing in the Atlanta-area and you’re interested in learning more about how ProspectMX can boost your business in 2010, please contact him.

Question: How much do you know about your website and internet business?

What percentage of your revenue is generated online? How many people search for your business? How many people search for what services your business offers? If you increased your online presence by (fill in the blank) percentage what would that do to your bottom line?

Roughly 2 billion searches are done everyday on Google! Is your piece of the internet pie what you want or know you can have?

You can write me a check, I’ll take a picture of it with my cell phone and immediately have it deposited into my account. Takes all of about 2 minutes…

As for traditional advertising… TV, radio, magazines, billboard, etc… while there is a decline in their quantity and effectiveness, I will admit they are not going away. However, newspapers are widely shutting down, going online, or drastically reducing their staff to cope with the change. And how many of you now record shows so you can skip the commercials? With the iPod, CDs and satellite radio who really listens to their radio anymore?

More and more people are “living” on their computer. My brother, for example, shut off his cable and uses the internet’s many options to watch TV, movies, gather news and communicate.

What does all this mean? It means that 2010 is the Year of Internet Marketing!

Get The Most Out Of The Year Of Internet Marketing

“As of 2009, an estimated quarter of Earth’s population uses the services of the Internet.” - Wikipedia.

2010 is the year that successful companies will realize they must have a proactive approach to the internet in order to maximize their overall marketing and sales goals. They must capitalize on the internet’s power and mobility:

• increasing traffic to their website
• converting the traffic into a lead or the lead into a sale

Companies will be capturing the interest of roughly 1.5 billion people that are online everyday. Trust me…this is a piece of pie you want to have!

But what does internet marketing really entail? Is it as simple as just having a website? Or doing a PPC campaign? Or using Social Media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter? Am I restricted to just my website? Or is it one of the dozens of other services out there?

To give a short answer… a true internet marketing campaign entails everything that the internet offers. And everything the internet offers is extensive. Since no one wants to read a blog longer than War and Peace, I will break it down as simple as possible.

The Building Blocks Of Great Internet Marketing

It all starts with the website. People want pretty, but a website needs certain things that sometimes makes pretty - well, pretty difficult. Once you have the design then you must make sure it’s optimized. Pretty doesn’t sell blue widgets. Starting to get a little discomfort in your head?

You must optimize for the search engines. What does that mean? How about your conversion ability? It’s great that you have 1000 people coming to your website a week.  But if they aren’t converting - what have you really accomplished?

What keywords do you rank for? How ARE people coming and how MANY people are coming to your site? What is your competition doing?

Oh… and does anyone have some Tylenol? I have a full blown headache.

The Marketing Piece Of Internet Marketing

Now that we have the website ready - what’s next? Now you have to get it seen. Since you don’t just want your friends and current customers being the only ones on your website - do you do organic? Pay per click? Now more questions come up…

How do I do that? Where do I do that? Is it more important to go from 5th to 2nd, or 12th to 8th? How long does it take? What are the benefits of one versus the other? Are these the only two options?

What happens if I just want to skip this step and use social media marketing? But Facebook will not help my business you say? Twitter is for celebrities like Ashton Kutcher… not my multi-million dollar business! Think again. You have customers that love you… now let’s use them to spread the love!

What about using other people’s websites? What happens when someone uses the internet to harm your business? What can you do? And can it be done wrong? Will Google punish you if it’s done incorrectly? How about blogs, articles, press releases, forums, etc?

Ahhhh… please get me the Extra Strength Tylenol… it’s a full migraine now!

Hire The Right Internet Marketing Firm

How do I know which internet marketing firm is correct for me? How do I know it’s not someone that just wants my money? Or a kid sitting in his basement that I never see? Can you really know “what I want” by just a 15 minute conversation on the phone? Or more importantly can you really know “what I need?”

Because I might want the fries… but an apple is better.

So… 2010 is the year of Internet Marketing. It’s the year more and more companies will maximize their online presence. But it’s important to do it correctly. And it’s important to hire the right firm.

But mostly - it’s important to start early! This is one area you don’t want to wait while your competitor is doing it.

Yes… keep up with the Joneses on this one!

Whether or not everyone understands how it works, internet marketing produces results for its adopters. Its hard to argue against fully utilizing a medium when 80% of your target market uses it for initial research, right?

To help share our knowledge with everyone interested in doing Lancaster internet marketing, Dave Conklin of ProspectMX is taking his wealth of internet marketing know-how on the road and passing along “secrets of success” to local business owners.

In a combined effort with the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry, ProspectMX will be hosting a two-day web marketing workshop October 28 and 29 from 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

The two part workshop is divided into five categories, all of which ProspectMX utilizes to develop its custom internet marketing campaigns:

• Custom Lead Generation
• Search Engine Optimization
• Web Systems Tracking
• Lead Generation Follow Up
• Customer Loyalty Building

Get tips on how to write internet copy that sells, analyze competitors websites, and how to use FREE web tracking systems.

Unsure if the two-day internet marketing workshop is for you? Meet Dave and learn how the internet can help you create an innovative marketing strategy with a preview of the two-day workshop Thursday, October 16 from 1:30 - 2:45 p.m.

Early bird registration for the preview is $60 for non-chamber members, but attendees of the preview receive a $30 credit towards workshop registration. Day of registration for non-chamber members is $65.

Non-member pricing for the two-day workshop is $995. Discounts apply for the preview and workshop for Lancaster County Chamber members.So get out of the office, learn something new, and become a MASTER of internet marketing.

To register or for more information on the workshop and the preview session, contact Angi Fritz at by phone at 717.397.3531 ext. 172 or e-mail [email protected]

Our home city - Lancaster, PA - has seen visits from both major party presidential candidates in the last week. Since the 2008 election is fast approaching, and the candidates have been playing the politics game in our backyard so frequently, I wanted to take a second and analyze each president’s internet marketing campaigns.

For starters, each candidate is using the essential social media and networking sites - Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Digg. Obama has the appearance of being more “tech savvy,” thanks to his Twitter profile with over 78,000 followers.

Obama’s use of the web as a driver for donations has been well executed. In a random selection of ways to get to Obama’s online home - Google organic search results, Google PPC links, direct website visits, and mobile searches by Blackberry - our team found four custom lead generation forms to fill out before hitting the main page. Two were e-mail capture forms, two were for donations.

Only one pay-per-click ad led to a donation form on the McCain site, but the Arizona Senator isn’t neglecting the internet. The Wall Street Journal noticed McCain’s camp is using an ambush pay-per-click campaign. Search “Joe Biden” and check out the top sponsored listings - “Joe Biden on Obama” links to McCain’s site. Very sneaky, sir.

McCain’s campaign is placing a heavy focus on this year’s election issues with its PPC. Search “housing crisis” and “U.S. economy” in Google… McCain will have a PPC ad there - Obama won’t.

The internet is definitely playing a huge role in this year’s election. Its cool to see how each candidate has found a completely different way to use the power of the mighty internet and search engines to their advantage.

Any other cool internet marketing tools the candidates are using that we missed? Drop us a line below.

Sales departments wish that marketing would stop thinking they are the rulers of the earth, marketing departments wish sales departments would take their cocky arrogant attitudes to another planet for… well… ever, and the tech crew wishes that sales and marketings’ peanut-sized brains would grow at least to a size where they could identify what caused a problem rather than stating what the problem is.

Today (and this was confirmed through some meetings we’ve had in recent weeks), companies large and small have these three vital departments wasting TONS of time, energy and resources due to a lack of understanding in modern business principals.

Marketing departments need to understand that the days of throwing a hundred grand at a TV or billboard campaign and watching the sales teams phones light up are a thing of the past. People are able to educate themselves about you now with the click of a mouse. They are doing the research light years ahead of when they used to… and they’re doing it without your help. It’s just them and their Dell laptop. That’s right sales guys… there’s no cheese ball with a big ‘ol smile “helping” them in making their “best choice”. They are all alone and there’s nothing you can do about it.

So, here’s what needs to happen… and quickly… or your fortune 500 company or dream of a Fortune Small Business cover story may just go bust in the next few years.

Tech

Guys and gals… listen up… Your job isn’t to sit in a room and code any more. That’s part of it, but put your marshmallow shooter away because you need to put in a little more time now. Marketing is now in your job description whether you like it or not. It’s your job to create lead generating web sites, content management systems, and automated follow up systems for the marketing department. Don’t like it? OK… go work for Microsoft or Google in a department that has no influence on sales or marketing. When you’re part of a company that has active sales representatives and spends money on marketing… it’s your job now to get involved and think ‘tech’ with sales and marketing in mind.

When it comes to technology, today’s marketing department members tend to be dopes. Don’t be offended marketers… it’s not all of you, just the majority. They were taught the ins and outs of marketing and it had NOTHING TO DO WITH TECHNOLOGY. The “idiocity” that you sense really isn’t “idiocity”… it’s ignorance, and they are uncomfortable stating that they don’t understand something. Work with them, teach them, and show them the creative side that 80% of you possess. Prove that you can make their lives better and easier… it’s finally time for you to shine, my friend… so do it brightly.

Marketing

Listen closely… you DO NOT know everything. I know! That education of yours was “way expensive” and you did learn a lot about psychology and how people react to the color blue… but tech has something to offer you. And guess what… It’s now your job to do the sales reps job! What???!?!?! I know, it hurts to hear that and your ears and cheeks are getting redder and redder. Listen though.

Product and service buyers (whether consumers or businesses) used to have to call a sales rep to get information. Well, now it’s right online. All “Bonnie Buyer” has to do is give Google a shout and Google tells all right then and there. So first off, if Google doesn’t feel you’re the most important when Bonnie types “” into the search engine, give “Timmy Techguy” a call and have them get you to the top of the engines. If they don’t know how, hire someone to.

Once they find you… your job isn’t done. You need to convert them into a lead by getting their information. Here’s where A LOT of SEO’s screw up royally. So many search engine optimizers are so consumed with getting to the coveted number one spot that they don’t even think about what’s going to happen with the traffic once it gets there. Type just about anything into google and click on the number one result. You’ll find that about 90 percent of them don’t even have a call to action on the page. WHAT A WASTE!!!

OK, so you’re getting traffic and getting leads now, right? So now you’re going to give them to sales, right? NO! STOP! DON’T. If you do the water cooler talk in the sales department will sound something like this:

“Man, Harry… how about these horrible leads that marketing’s been sending over… they really suck!”

Now, am I saying that sales is “right”? No, I’m not… but if you want growth in your organization… you need to “cultivate the leads” so that they actually turn into prospects. So, call “Timmy Techguy” again.

Have Timmy build you a customized CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. Or, of course, he could use ours if he calls us. 8 )

The CRM will automatically follow up with the leads via email and schedule things like letters, phone calls, thank you cards, gift sending and more to your clients based on the product or service that they’re interested in. Marketing… you’re now the “assistant” to the sales team. Does that tick you off? Well it shouldn’t… just deal with it.

Sales People

I’m going to make this simple. Ditch the BS. Toss out the superficial attitude. It smells like the trash can in my garage (I have 4 kids… two in diapers) and EVERYONE can smell it a mile away. But here’s the thing, you don’t need it anymore. When you get leads from marketing, it’s because they have been followed up on and they’re now ready to buy. Your job becomes explaining to them why they should buy from you and not one of your competitors. Be respectful and understand that any attempts to snowball them can be stopped with the click of the mouse. A huge issue I see every day with sales people is their lack of technical ability… especially those over the age of 35… it like an epidemic. Go take a class for goodness sake.

So look, all of you get in the same room together, and it will be uncomfortable. Tech… you’re the kingpin bringing it all together, so if you don’t like to talk in groups, get some help. The bottom line is: get traffic - get leads - cultivate leads (through automation and personal touch) - close leads.

This is your show. Now have at it.