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Russell Mickler, Principal Consultant, has over 17 years of professional experience leading and managing IT organizations.
Take Control: Manage Your Viral Marketing Strategy
Written on February 13, 2009
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Like most small business owners, you might have a few questions about marketing your company in the digital age. The choices can be confusing: to blog or not to; to Twitter or to Flickr; to setup a profile on Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn; to Plurk, StumbleUpon, Digg, or Friend; to use email marketing effectively without annoying others; or even just how to build an effective website. And, like most entrepreneurs, you’ve probably already tapped into a few of these channels to build your brand. Indeed, viral marketing is an inexpensive way to promote your business but you might be completely clueless about how it’s working for you.
What you lack (and desperately desire) is a viral marketing strategy. A blueprint for combining social media, web content, and direct sales via email into a single demonstratively effective marketing campaign. Yeah, you may be blogging one day, “tweeting” the next, and scheduled to update your Facebook profile next week – hey, it’s really hip to do these things! – yet you’re really not clear about where your viral marketing campaign is going, or, even how to measure its effectiveness.
Well, sometimes some great advice can sometimes be found for free. Here are three free eBooks from Microsoft that you can download now to help clarify your goals and build an effective online marketing strategy:
Startup Nation, LLC. Five Steps to Successful Email Marketing.
http://officeliveoffers.com/email/ebook.htm
Entrepreneur Media, Inc. Build a Website That Sells.
http://officeliveoffers.com/ebook/MS2eBook.pdf
Jantsch, John. Let’s Talk: Social Media for Small Business.
http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/socialmedia/
Generally, the books contain some very practical pieces of information and advice for the technical layperson. They’re an easy read, under 50 pages each, and provide an action-list style of narrative that could easily translate into some constructive “next steps” for the reader. Although it’s true that all are written from a slant that promotes Microsoft’s Small Business and Office Live spaces on the Internet, familiarizing yourself with Microsoft’s offerings or at least understanding what your viral marketing campaign should/could be doing would be well worth your time.
So, get a leg up on your competition. Instead of using the web and hoping for the best, take control: manage a meaningful viral marketing strategy that produces measurable results for your small business.
R