New Years Resolution #7: Get your online “presence” fixed
Okay, I DON’T like the word “presence” because it sounds like a meaningless fifty-cent word, but I don’t have a better one (yet) to describe all the elements that fall under your online marketing strategy. Even though I’ve said over and over again how important it is to have a web site that sells, far too many members are still struggling with this and have web sites that look like a 12 year old designed them—not to mention the broken links and graphics. I’m not going to launch into a lesson here on web marketing because I’ve more than covered the basics in the Toolkit session on the subject, but I will say this: it used to be “okay” for a company to have a good web site…now it’s becoming critical. I’m hearing from more members on how their web site is not only generating a significant portion of their new customers, but for those who DON’T have it figured out, how their LACK of a good web site, blog, Facebook page, etc. is actually hurting sales. Why? Because (like it or not) clients think that because you are a “technology” company, you should have a great web site, even though I know the two are entirely different specializations.
New Years Resolution #8: Get off your duff and implement MORE
I don’t know that this one needs a lot of explanation, other than to just do it. Just make sure you know what you’re doing before you start hiring people and/or companies to help you. Offloading the responsibility of marketing to someone else when you don’t know the difference between good marketing and bad is a surefire path wasting a lot of money.
