Mr. Gary Lee

What are they thinking?

With the Super Bowl just passing, there wasn’t just a new NFL champion crowned, there was the best of the best in advertising out on full display. With ad rates as high as $3M per 30 seconds, advertisers made sure they were using their most effective ads. What I learned is that every time I watched a new commercial, I was given a chance to get a free marketing lesson from some of the top marketing firms in the world.

Key Points to look out for:

• Type of Message - i.e. Prey on Fear or Urgency (think Viagra Commercials)
• Choice of Words - Too many vs. Too Little.
• Images - Question why they chose that image vs. another.
• Transitions - Are there any? Do they funnel you into any direction?
• Choice of Music - Fast vs. Slow? Excitement? Commercials are mini-movies with their own soundtrack to evoke feelings as well!
• Choice of Actors - Did they affect you with their presence? (i.e. I still don’t understand why Kenny Mayne does insurance commercials)

The bottom line is that you should try your best to figure out what emotions the commercial just evoked from you. Determine what the advertiser succeeded and failed in doing. I would suggest keeping a pad and pencil on your coffee table or in your car for you to jot down your thoughts, so you can take advantage of all the free lessons of the day!

Check out all the super bowl ads at hulu.com and let me know what you thought were the best or the worst and why.

News

So you have your website set up and you’re ready to go. Before giving the greenlight to your webmaster to launch the site, make sure that you go over these Top 10 Things to Remember in Web Marketing:

Ability to Adapt - No matter how great you think your website is, it’s what your customers think about your site that matter the most. So if that great idea you had just doesn’t pan out the way you think it should be or if there’s some new technology that your site can take advantage of, don’t be too stubborn to adapt.

Make Sure your Overall Business Works - For most businesses, the website is another source of traffic to direct to your business. So make sure that your business is running like clockwork when delivering your service or products to your customers.

Establish Team Roles - Make sure your team knows their roles, so that if any part of the site is not working, you know exactly who to turn to in order to get things running smoothly as soon as possible.

Properly SEO the Site - As soon as your site goes live, it will beging to be indexed by all the search engines. You want to make sure that you provide the right title, description and keywords for each page of your site so that when people find your links in the search results, you have made sure to provide the most informative listing possible.

Be able to Update your Site Quickly - If you’re sold out of something, you better be sure to indicate that on your site or you’re going to be left with a lot of customers leaving with a bad taste in their mouth. The same point applies to any part of your site whether it be the correct email address or the right pricing points.

Think through your Customers Eyes - Everyone has been a customer at some point and we all know what we like and what we don’t when we arrive at someone’s business or website. Take time to look at your site as a customer and try your best to address what you don’t like!

Get Ready To Hustle - Traffics not going to come to your door with a box of chocolates and some flowers. You’re going to have to get out there and promote your site like no other. Get your checklist of forums, blogs, web sites and other hot spots ready to start getting traffic on a daily basis.

Important Metrics are being Measured - There’s no more emptier feeling in marketing than getting all the traffic in the world, but not knowing where it’s coming from and how it’s converting. Spending Wisely is the most overlooked aspect of online marketing!

Remember your Mission Statement - Use your Mission Statement as your Guiding Light just in case you lose your way.

Remember to Plan Ahead - Let’s say you’ve followed all my advice and you’re getting loads of traffic to your site, do you have a plan to handle the extra traffic? Are you ready to streamline your product line? Do you know who to contact to upgrade your hosting package bandwidth? Do you have enough products to provide your customers?

Marketing

The recession is hitting everyone hard, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any opportunities to take advantage of. Case in point, Suze Orman scored a feature on Oprah’s Website to showcase her new e-book called 2009 Action Plan. It’s a free download until January 15, but the reason I said Suze missed her chance is because of the fact that she forgot to put any kind of links in her e-book. Those links could have:

• sent traffic back to her site
• help her sell some of her other books
• give her an opportunity to track how many people are reading her book

Suze might be great at keeping money and sound, but she’s obviously lacking in knowing how to make money online.

Editorial

What should we do?

One of the lessons I learned from 2008 was to focus more on projects that will make the most money from my time invested - my ROI. Especially in these turbulent times where money is scarce, families, companies and entrepreneurs alike will have to reassess where their money is going and what brings in the biggest return from their investment. The biggest problem I see is that most people don’t know where to start or what to consider when they try and prioritize their efforts. I know that everyone’s cases are different, but here are some marketing intitatives that you should invest your time into that can bring you a high ROI this 2009:

PPC Optimization - Hands down, there’s nothing on the internet that has as much control over ROI as Pay Per Click Advertising. If you’re new to this, then check out one of my past articles about Finding your Max CPC so you can make sure you get a positive ROI all the time.

Smart Banner Purchases - People say that banner ads are dead. I disagree. If tested and measured correctly, banner ads can be a great source of traffic, especially if you do the right research on the type of demographic who sees that banner.

Social Media Participation - I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. If you want traffic for your blog, one of the best things you can do is get out there and comment, vote,  submit and make your voice heard on the internet. I would recommend focusing on a niche that’s related to your blog or your industry to make sure you get a higher return. If you need help with anything, leave a comment and I’ll come by and help out with a vote or submit.

Setting Goals - Branding is the one thing that is almost impossible to measure from your marketing initiatives. Metrics that can be measured are page views, uniques, registrations and subscriptions. So, do yourself a favor and figure out what your goal is. If you haven’t done this yet, then you’re ROI is going nowhere else, but up!

Marketing

Remember when everyone was looking forward to 2008 because of they myth behind the lucky number 8?All the resolutions, hopes, promises and expectations?

I started off the year living in a new west side culture of Santa Monica ready to start a new sem consulting business. We had a plan to build our client list and give ourselves a solid foundation for us to work on our own projects such as PinkDeals.net. A combination of active and passive income was the plan that would make us rich! We’d live the entrepreneurial life of late mornings and and even later nights chatting away with other bloggers we’ve met over the years. Working when we want and how we want with no one to tell us what to do. 08 was gonna be great!

Next thing I know, I’m back in corporate america working for a company that I just couldn’t pass up. Being young and single, I had a real problem leaving “money on the table.” If there was a project that could be done, a job that I could take and a new client that could be signed, then I was all over it. One of the best pieces of advice that was given to me when I was in my early 20’s was not to waste my time lounging on a couch, watch tv and becoming a zombie. So, along with my 40 hour a week job, I was doing consulting on the side along with building and running my own businesses. I thought I could do it, but I was wrong.

As the year went on, the economy was just getting worse. Rising gas prices and then the market crash just sent signals that major decisions needed to be made in my life if I was going to survive this turbulent future. Bearing down and understanding what gave me the best return on my time invested was what I needed to concentrate on.

The 9-5 job was going great, so that’s checked. I learned that I do like a 9-5 job with the hustle and bustle of fire drills and working with a team. One thing aspiring entrepreneurials don’t really talk about is the lack of social interaction during the day. Some people need it and some people don’t. I think you should really look at yourself in the mirror and think about what work environment you work best in.

Consulting - The biggest lesson I learned was to do a better job interviewing the client and seeing if they’re going to be the type to demand more than what they’re paying for. No matter how much you get paid, once one of the parties feels that they’re getting taken advantage of, it’s the beginning of the end. At the end of the day, I realized that I needed to optimize my client list so that everyone at the table was happy.

Projects - Forget about bartering services. Just pay for what you want. It gets done faster and you don’t have to worry about hurting anyone’s feelings. I promise you that you’re going to save yourself a lot of heartache at the end of the day.

Blogging - well, I’m writing, aren’t I? 2008 saw a big time decline in the amount of posts that I came out with. One of my 2009 resolutions is to make up for that lost time and to try and pump out focuses content, which can clearly be seen by the significant reduction in categories. I’ve also spent the last couple of days redesigning my blog with a large of the inspiration coming from one of my favorite blogs out there - DoshDosh.com

Working with Others - Everyone has a role and you need to build a team where you fill each role. The great teams are the ones where people not only know their roles, but when there is something missing, they’re able to adapt and help fill in that hole. If it’s not working on for you and someone else, then it’s best that you end amicably and wish each other the best of luck.

Education - I can honestly say that I didn’t learn as much in 2008 as I did in the previous years. With everything that was going on, I was using my existing knowledge to get by. Talking with my peers from around the world, I know in my gut that I was missing out on what was going on in the industry. I’m going to do my best to catch up and get back out there on the cutting edge of internet marketing. Also, one thing that this economic situation has taught me is to not put all my eggs in this internet marketing basket. With that being said, I’m going to explore other facets of marketing, both online and offline so if things were to get worse, I am better armed to face the challenges.

Words to live by - “Reach for the stars, but keep your feet on the ground!” - Theodore Roosevelt

What were your expectations for 2008?

What lessons did you learn in 2008?

How are you preparing for the upcoming economic conditions?

How do you like the new design and look of the site?

Editorial