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When Did Online Marketing Become So Complex?
Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends | March 31st, 2008 - 10:22 AM
(56) found this useful. Do you? 
The online marketing landscape has become so complex that cutting through the “noise” is now one of the biggest problems small businesses face. Sorting out WHERE and HOW to spend our limited time and resources is increasingly the challenge.
So Many New Choices
Part of the problem is that we are bombarded right and left with new choices.
Search engine optimization (SEO) has taken on a much higher profile as the number of indexed Web pages balloons and it gets harder to be found in search engines like Google. The search marketing industry is now in the multi-billion dollar range. Not only is search growing, but it is increasingly being broken down into distinct specialties, such as local search, paid search and mobile search marketing.
Affiliate marketing has become big business, too … a more-than $6 Billion a year industry.
Blogs, YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and every manner of social media site are discussed ad nauseum. Yet, many businesspeople do not have the time it takes to investigate these social media sites. Most people have only the vaguest idea what these sites do or how to use them — perhaps just a nagging sense that the sites are somehow “hot.” ‘Better not be left behind,’ you think.
OK, It’s Complex. So What Do We Do?
Recently I’ve been experimenting with a chart to visually demonstrate where we small businesses can best spend our limited time and dollars on online marketing. The chart can be a useful tool to quickly cut through all the noise — and focus.
The chart uses concentric circles to outline an online marketing strategy. Here is the chart I’ve come up with (click image for larger version):
The most important elements of an online marketing strategy appear in the center two circles. Those are the activities you will get the greatest return from, for the time and money you spend on them.
As you move farther toward the outside circle, most business will spend more time and/or money for smaller overall return. In other words, the return on investment will be smaller, the farther out from the center circle you get.
Center circle – At the center of the chart is your website, which should be the core of your online marketing plan. Hopefully if you are reading this article, you already have a website and it’s not a question of IF you should have a website, but how you can improve it. First impressions count and today’s prospects and customers will form impressions of the quality of your products and services from your website. Plus, by investing in smarter technology you can make your website work harder to generate leads and sales. Consequently, spending time to improve your website can bring the biggest payoff. (If you don’t have a business website, get thee to a Web designer now!)
Second circle – The second circle outlines activities that most businesses will see a meaningful return from. Investing in search engine optimization, setting up a blog, growing and leveraging your house email list, issuing press releases through an online distribution service such as PRNewswire or PRWeb, and doing PPC ad campaigns are key strategies most small businesses in America can get value from commensurate with the time and money invested.
Outer circle – The light yellow circle on the outside contains activities that generate a lot of the “noise” that confuses most small businesspeople. Not that I’m against those activities — not at all. In fact, some of them bring excellent results for the right kinds of businesses. It’s just that the return from such activities tends to be lower compared with the time or money you put into them.
Marketing always involves prioritizing. There’s never enough time, staff or budget to do everything.
What you don’t do is as important as what you do. You could end up wasting a lot of time by focusing too much on the outer circle, and neglecting the inner two circles. For instance, you could be driving visitors to your website but failing to convert them once they get there, because your website looks unprofessional or needs a message overhaul or needs logical navigation.
Some businesses simply decide that activities in the outer circle are not worth doing, no matter how ga-ga others seem to be about them.
Thoughts?
What would you change, eliminate or add to this chart?
And how would you fit e-commerce and freelance businesses into this type of chart? For instance, where do eBay, Amazon Marketplace, Etsy, Elance and other online marketplaces fit in to a small business’s online marketing strategy?
The other thought about this chart is that it can be a living/breathing part of your marketing plan. You could customize the chart specifically for your business, in order to get everyone on your team on the same page.
I’d like to hear what you think.
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Ivana Taylor | April 2nd, 2008 at 2:52 pm
You know, I get this question from clients all the time “So many marketing channels, so little money, so little time…which one do I choose?”
It shouldn’t have to be that hard. If you are clear about what the purpose of your business is, who your ideal customer is and where and how they hang and make buying decisions, online marketing can not only become easier but much more fun.
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Prioritize Your Online Marketing with This One-Page Chart | Small Business Trends | April 2nd, 2008 at 11:57 pm
[...] Read: When Did Online Marketing Become So Complex? [...]
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Mono Machines | April 3rd, 2008 at 5:52 am
I’m fairly new to this space, but I have a feeling that Video may soon push its way into the 2nd circle. Seems like Google et al are starting value video and get those results on the front page. As the web gets more and more saturated with text-based content, video and audio may be the only way (out-side of pay-per click) for anybody else to make it to first page results.
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Hugh Simpson | April 3rd, 2008 at 7:57 am
Anita, VERY KISS! Kudos! Very similar to what Rich Schefren taught in the Internet Manifesto that made him a cool $1,000,000 in like 9 minutes!
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Nancy Marmolejo | April 3rd, 2008 at 8:40 am
This is a great chart! The concentric circles are really effective… I will be sharing this page with my clients!
http://www.VivaVisibility.com
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Amanda | April 3rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
This is a very good chart Anita. It is nice and simple especially for someone just starting out. A lot of people have no idea where to begin. This is easy for someone to start in the middle and have a real direction of where they need to focus and move forward.
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Oliver Fritsch | April 3rd, 2008 at 9:47 am
Good chart Anita.
I think the answer to how eBay, Amazon Marketplace, Etsy, Elance will fit is simple: because these sites have so many customers they will create higher “findability” for your business, because a well placed comment with your real name and business name in a customer review you write will get a higher SEO rank than your own website most of the times. So its all about findability in the end, AND conversion.
BTW I cover a lot of the same subjects on my blog and my new eBook at oliverfritschblog.cendesic.com
Cheers,
Oliver Fritsch, Cendesic.com
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Ann Rusnak-The Time Diva | April 3rd, 2008 at 10:01 am
Excellent article… you are so right about time. There is only so much you can do. Don’t know why us human feel the need to complicate everything. Often wish I was the exception to the rule.
That outer circle and really drain your time if you don’t guard it carefully. I often recommend to my clients to start with no more then 3 and work them over the next 90 days. Drop the ones that don’t produce results and replace another social networking activity and work it another 90 days.
This way you can take a gradually and measured approach to the outer circle without getting overwhelmed.
Ann Rusnak
“The Time Diva”
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Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends | April 3rd, 2008 at 10:46 am
Ivana, I agree. It’s all about prioritizing. That’s what this chart is meant to help with: setting your priorities according to what will bring you the best ROI.
Mono Machines, your point about Google and video is well taken. As video becomes more important in the search results, it will take on a more central role in marketing. We are seeing that play out in real time. (PS, it’s boom times for camera manufacturers and local videographers, too.)
Anita
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Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends | April 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
Hugh, I love the way you put it. Yes, it’s Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS).
Why do we have to make online marketing so complex? I think half of the complexity is self-inflicted, in the sense that we let ourselves get bogged down in the details far too frequently and miss the big picture.
Anita
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Great article about how to use online marketing « Advice for small salons | April 3rd, 2008 at 3:14 pm
[...] When Did Online Marketing Become So Complex? [...]
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Susan Cartier Liebel | April 3rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Anita, I love your blog and your wisdom. I have a few points:
A website is any presence on the web. Most people’s blogs are their website (the structure and activity will determine if it swings more towards static of active as some use a blog in a static fashion). So I would put blog in with static website in the center circle. Also, 50% of blogging activity is commenting on others’ blogs to draw traffic and readership to your site. So, I might move this into the second circle versus the third as an important function of blogging.
Social media networking definitely is where it belongs.
Just my $.02
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Jayme | April 5th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I am fairly new to this idea of social internet marketing. I am trying to improve my blog with helpful content and easy navigation. I haven’t spent much time with Google analytics but try to add articles regularly, use keywords in my titles and first sentence of my posts. I am currently spending time on social bookmarking sites to drive traffic to my blog. Very time consuming but it helps. I also spend a lot of time on other people’s blogs to turn guests into return visitors.
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Bryan | April 10th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Really appreciate that chart. It confirms what I’ve been assuming.
Regards,
http://www.bankpig.com
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Ed | April 15th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Great chart! It really maps things out in a easy way to implement.
Thanks!
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Ananda Leeke | April 22nd, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Great article. I have had a lot of success with my debut novel through my web site, writing blogs, author interviews posted on blogs that reach my core audiences, Gcast podcaasts, email distribution listserv, Yahoo groups targeting my core audiences, free press release services, Myspace, YouTube videos, and several other social networking sites sponsored by NING. The NING sites represent my core audiences. I started doing Interned radio interviews in February and March. They have really helped expose my book. I will be launching my own monthly radio show in June to promote my next book and business web site. I try to use as many free resources as possible.
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Sekhar Ravinutala | May 31st, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Nice chart Anita, pulls things together well. Might be good to add viral explicitly on the inner circle.
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Chris | August 6th, 2008 at 7:37 am
That is a very nice chart and it nicely explains and simplifies everything in an easy to understand format. Excellent!
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Michael | August 20th, 2008 at 11:44 am
The only thing i don’t understand really… why you put Affiliate Marketing in the last circle and Pay Per Click Ad in the second. Does Affiliate Marketing not include Pay Per Click?!?
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Anita Campbell | August 20th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Hi Michael,
In one sense, I agree with your point. PPC ads and affiliate traffic can have overlap.
However, this chart is presented from the perspective of a small business trying to promote its business.
It’s easier to get started and see a quick return from PPC ads than it is to start and manage an affiliate program.
You have to do a lot more care and feeding of your affiliates than PPC ads — and for most small businesses there’s a lot more to learn about how to offer an affiliate program than how to initiate a PPC campaign.
One small business I know has been evaluating affiliate program software for 3 months now — they haven’t made it past that stage. But PPC ads — it took no more than a couple days to assemble a keyword list, create a landing page, and get going on those.
– Anita
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Michael | August 20th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Hey Anita,
thanks a lot for your answer!
Cheers
Michael
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