Online Marketing

Archive for the ‘Online Marketing’ Category

What Marketing Efforts are Wasting Your Money?

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

With the plethora of choices in today’s marketing arena, our clients often ask us, “what works?” We have a straightforward answer. It depends. Return on Investment (ROI) in the various marketing venues depends on your business and more specifically, on your customer.

You’ll find when you work with us that one of the first things we’ll do is gather data. We want to know what’s working now, and what’s proving to be a waste of money. We will use this data to find the path ahead and to provide the most relevant and accurate suggestions for your hard earned dollar.

We also pinpoint your potential customer. You’ll hear us talking again and again about who your customer is. We’ll be marketing directly to those customers, both current and potential. Your customers determine the venues we choose to market your company. Your customer, in fact, is king and queen of almost all of the decisions we make – even down to the color of your logo.

The most important thing for you to know about marketing your product in the many available venues is that the whole is greater than the parts. The aggregate solution for you is almost guaranteed to be a highly custom mix of marketing venues.

When we build your brand, we build it like no other.

You’ll find that when we build your brand, it is uniquely yours in look, feel, voice and in choice of venues.

So if you are looking for a cookie-cutter type website, we may not be the choice for you – but if you want to stand out above your competitors, and get the customers you know you can impress – then we are looking to help you build your brand. Call us today at 775.322.3663, or fill out our request form for more information. We look forward to hearing about your brand and your customers.

Tags: brand building, Branding, internet marketing, logo design, Marketing, Reno, reno marketing, Reno Social Media, search engine optimization, Social Media, web design
Posted in In-Bound Links, Online Advertising In Reno, Online Marketing, Social Media, web design | No Comments »

Company Website Boring Visitors to Death?

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

Tired of your company website?

Is your company website boring even to you? People are more and more obsessed with flashy, bright, shiny objects and websites are no different. Yes, you will need to have killer content on your website that is easy to understand and explains your product or services in a way that will make anyone want to buy it, but first – you have to get their attention – and in a positive way.

A Website is an Experience

As you browse through a site, you experience layout, colors, fonts, photographs, and content until you begin to feel a certain way. Of course, when it comes to your customers, you want that ‘certain way’ to be a positive one, one that converts to sales. Creating those positive experiences through design is what our team does best.

Remodelling: Ideas and Considerations

If you were to think about your website as the large billboard that everyone will see as they sit in a movie theatre and wait for their film to start – what would you want them to see? I use the theatre example because, in this instance, you have a somewhat captive audience and the time frame is relatively lengthy. Your website IS a marketing piece and it should fit with your branding as well as your vision and mission for the company.

However, you want more than a brochure or a static, unchanging picture as your website – you want to engage the audience and make them feel that you are right there with them. This can be done with a custom layout that makes finding information for your users simple and almost automatic, it can be done with content that makes them feel instantly at home and trusting, it can be done with colors that evoke the emotional response you ultimately want your customers to have, and it can be done with images, videos, and sharing options where they can find out what their friends think of your product or service, and inform the rest of their friends of their opinions about you as well.

Your Website is the First Touch

Your website is the first touch you have on your customer; it is extremely important for it to be a positive experience and that it entices your target audience to take that next step and contact you. Ultimately we have websites to initiate a customer relationship and to sell something, whether it is advice or kitchen spoons, we are all in a business to make some kind of money – whether sales or donations for a non-profit to support a meaningful cause, the desired result is the same. As you have probably heard in business, it takes money to make money. Designing your website is not free – but if it is done correctly, it IS worth it.

Think about it – if you wouldn’t stay on your company website for more than 2 minutes, then why would anyone else? You have a lot of competition in the online world, so make yourself stand out. If you need ideas or a quote, check out our web portfolio or call us at 775.322.3663 or 800.233.0239

Tags: blog, Design, graphic design, internet marketing, Marketing, reno marketing, search engine optimization, search engine ranking, SEO optimization
Posted in Blog Design, Design Meanderings, Online Advertising In Reno, Online Marketing, Reno Marketing Meanderings, Typography, web design, Website Copywriting, Website Design, WordPress | No Comments »

SEO Can Make or Break You

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

SEO (search engine optimization) has become a necessity for being found on the internet. There are estimated to be over 153,000,000 websites on the internet. So how do you optimize your website to be found by search engines? What separates your website from the other millions of sites out there?

One of the main things, here, is to understand how users reach your site. Meaning, what terms they type in to find your website. Reviewing this information for your site and then comparing the keywords that are found on your site by search engines, like Google, can help you see if you are on the right track with getting found. It is important to see how the content you are writing on your website matches up with the words that people are searching on the internet in order to find your site. If these two areas are not matching up then you need to adjust your keywords on your site and in your content to match the words or phrases that people are using to search for you or your product in order to be found.

Do you know your keywords?

Often people and businesses have self-proclaimed SEO experts set up their search engine optimization, which is fine, as long as it is being done correctly. It is important to understand what the keywords are on your website and why these words were chosen. Don’t be afraid to ask for the reasoning behind the keywords and the list of keywords that are being used for each page of your website. This is information that belongs to your website – not the website designer or developer. You have a right to know what is on your site and how it is being accessed. If you aren’t sure what is on your current site, and would like to know how your SEO is ranking, feel free to call Integris Marketing today at 775.322.3663 or, for a Free Website Assessment, click here.

Tags: internet marketing, Reno SEO Expert, Reno Social Media, search engine optimization, SEO, SEO optimization, Social Media
Posted in In-Bound Links, Local SEO, Online Advertising In Reno, Online Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Website Copywriting | No Comments »

Update Your Website Frequently the Easy Way

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Relevance in Search Results

When you use a search engine, like Google, you are looking for the match to the keywords you type in that are most relevant. This means they may have a local aspect if you are searching for restaraunts or movie theatres, as well as a date. Most of the time when we search for something, we want the most up to date results. If we are asking about information on movie times, we want them in a chronological order – with the most recent events first.

The Google Algorithm

Google is not only aware of this need, but they have worked out several updates to their algorithm that will impact the results returned based on the data stored about the pages – including dates. So what does this mean and why do you care?

A Common Problem

Here at Integris Marketing, we have several inquiries each week about how to show up at the top of the search engine results page. There are several things that can help, but we found this blog from Entrepreneur.com that covers an online strategy which we often promote ourselves as a continuing solution for keeping your website up to date and in the recent search engine results – a blog.

The Solution

Having a blog ensures that your website will be considered ‘updated’ each time you create and publish a post. This won’t solve all your problems, because it is important to have highly searched and relevant keywords set up in the meta fields for each of your website pages, but that is simple SEO and is fairly static. The solution with blogs is that Google will notice that you are updating and posting new information on your site, and as the blog describes, those that are not posting new content on their website will be left off the search engine results pages more and more in the future.

Additional Benefits of Blogging

This will not only give you the benefits of updating your website each time you post something, but it can also increase the engagement of your audience. You want to gain more customers, but with a good blog you can also build brand loyal customers, who trust you for pertinent information. Blogging can be easy and is often free, depending on the platform you use, so don’t delay – start your blog today!

If you would like customized help with setting up a blog and even finding content for your blog, please contact us today at 775.322.3663 or toll free at 1.800.233.0239!

LINK: http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/220662 blog post about increased need for blogs on websites in order to be found by search engines

Tags: blog, internet marketing, Local SEO, reno marketing, Reno SEO, Reno SEO Expert, Reno Social Media, search engine optimization, search engines, SEO, SEO optimization, WordPress
Posted in In-Bound Links, Online Marketing, Social Media, Website Copywriting, WordPress | No Comments »

The ONLY Social Media Law to Obey

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

We all feel the need to bend the rules sometimes. In social media, it’s no different, there are many ‘rules’ that can be bent or even broken – it’s new and most suspend judgement – except on this one area.

Social media has one LAW that should NEVER be broken.

You may think you know what it is – and maybe you are right. Social media is about CONVERSATIONS – if you are shutting down conversations, you are breaking the LAW!

The point is not to push your opinion on others, but to provide a place where everyone can express their opinions. It is our job to promote a discussion where all sides are safe to express themselves. Catherine Lockey from Cyclone Marketing brings up this same idea in regard to Linkedin. Her blog post, “Are you the King of Linkedin?” talks about 6 surefire ways to alienate your connections by trying to be in charge of the discussion; I have listed them below.

The Know It All
Arrogance
Yes Man / Woman
Group Control Freak (Bully)
Spammer
Innovative Entrepreneurial Expert

We believe these types of behaviors all lead to the same place – controlling and quashing the conversation – and they should be avoided on all social media platforms in order to be truly successful in online communities.

Remember, the online community has a long memory and although they can be very forgiving of honest mistakes, they are NOT going to forget a mistake of this caliber. You have chosen to be online and social in order to share your opinions and thoughts – allow others the freedom and respect to do the same – whether they agree with you, or not, doesn’t matter. Instead, try to facilitate the conversation in a safe place (like your Facebook fan page or in your Linkedin group), and the online community will remember and respect you because of your willingness to listen.

Have you had an experience (good or bad) where someone was trying to control the conversation or push their agenda? Share it with us on Facebook!

Tags: internet marketing, Reno Social Media, Social Media
Posted in Online Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

Social Media Marketing for the B2B Crowd

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

In the new world of social media marketing, there are several challenges for business-to-business marketers. Bryan Brown, on VentureBeat.com, in his guest blog post, “What ‘marketing automation’ means for the well-rounded B2B marketer,” talks about how to use marketing automation to your advantage.

Bryan discusses ways to use social media for Data Collection and building your database with more information than was ever available to marketers prior to social media platforms – the ease of users or fans or followers to ‘sign-in’ to your site with their platform credentials allows for more information to be had by you on their behaviors, demographics, and interests than ever before.

Lead management is more efficient and better aligned between sales and marketing departments in this new world of social technology. Apps are available (often for free) to compile data and use it to make decisions about buyer interest. Marketing efforts toward specific demographics are also easily analyzed, which leads to faster decision making abilities within your company.

Engagement covers two of the sections Bryan writes about, “Cross-Channel Campaign Management” and Social Marketing. Engagement is definitely a new field for business-to-business marketing, many top B2B companies are still not on board with the idea of using social media for marketing and staunchly express that it only makes sense for B2C businesses.

Hopefully, these businesses will realize they’re mistaken before the early adopters in their industries run away with their share of the market. The truth of the matter is that all businesses can benefit from social media marketing because all businesses are run by PEOPLE and all products and services are bought by PEOPLE – whether for a company purpose or a personal one, people are always the deciding factor.

If you are a B2B company that wants to take the lead in your industry and begin utilizing the amazing social tools of our time for marketing purposes, please let us know!

We love talking about how social media can help you be more successful and how we can help you get there. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Tags: blog, Marketing, Reno Social Media, Social Media
Posted in Online Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

Relationship Marketing vs Social Media Marketing: Oxymoron or Redundant?

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Clarifications, first.

We all know a typical oxymoron, right? Words and phrases that seem to cancel each other out: military intelligence, jumbo shrimp, old news, practical joke, peace force.

We also know about redundancy, or saying the same thing twice, as in: basic fundamentals, actual experience, advance planning, free gift, frozen ice, general public.

These two odd word pairing categories are opposite sides of the same coin, so I will flip the coin, and you can call it in the air….

Are Relationship Marketing and Social Media Marketing the same or opposites?

You might be surprised at the answers I found!

Redundant (Heads)

Mari Smith, speaker, author, and social media guru, has recently written a (not yet released) book titled, “The New Relationship Marketing”. Considering the source’s area of expertise, it would appear that the book will be about nurturing relationships to social (online) connections and turning that into a profitable business, at which Mari has been extremely successful. Mari shares some of her life story in this video, and talks a bit about her new book which has the subtitle: “How to Build a Large, Loyal and Profitable Network Using the Social Web”. It is clear as she describes her approach to relationship marketing (in a beautiful Scottish / Canadian accent) that she would be of the camp that this is a redundant relationship. She talks about how she believes that social media marketing is about building those relationships with all people online and leveraging (my words) that relationship to be ethically profitable.

Oxymoron (Tails)

On the other side of the coin, would be Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz, who is decidedly less glamorous and more punk than Mari Smith. However, Naomi is very passionate and (apparently) knowledgeable as she has become an expert at being overtly honest and downright open on how marketing for small businesses works. Naomi’s guest blog on Copyblogger.com about Relationship Marketing, “7 Ways You’re Screwing Up Relationship Marketing”, is in line with the oxymoron stance on our topic.

The 7 ways, are easily the complete opposite of the (widely accepted)point of social media (to engage, connect, build relationships), in that she feels (strongly) that relationship marketing is solely about what makes the customer make a purchase of your product and how can you get them to do it again. It has nothing to do with relationships, communication, being social, authenticity, transparency, equality, or having a connection. It is about THE relationship of a customer to your product and their purchase of same. Period. That’s it.

What do YOU think?

What is your take on this question? Is all marketing becoming social? Should it? Or are we too caught up in this ‘relationship’ business with online media that we are incapable of talking about marketing without describing some inner bond between brands and consumers?

We’d love to hear your side, so leave us a comment!

Tags: Marketing, reno marketing, Reno Social Media, Social Media
Posted in Online Marketing, Reno Marketing Meanderings | No Comments »

Social Media Pays it Forward

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

Social media has opened new doors for people and businesses alike.

Whether you are a large corporation, like Skittles, or a startup looking to expand your audience; whether you are a motivated individual looking for a way to stand out from the crowd during our currently challenging economic times, or one of the many computer savvy people looking to be your own boss, social media can help.

In Brad McCarty’s blog post, 6 stories of life-changing social media connections, 6 stories are shared about how social platforms positively affected someone’s life or career. As marketers we understand the importance social platforms can play in business.

Social platforms have the ability to change everything.

It has already changed the way businesses interact with their customers, the way families stay in touch, the ability to get honest and unfiltered feedback on a host of topics, a transparency for human and business interaction and the idea that all businesses have people behind them. Social media goes beyond the idea that a business has a ‘culture’ – it reinforces the idea that even large corporations are made up of people and that all business decisions and interactions with consumers are done on a human level.

More now than ever, social platforms use the power of communication to create honest interactions between businesses and consumers. As a business owner – why wouldn’t you utilize these new tools to get the most from your life and your work? It reduces the gap between ‘professional’ and ‘personal’ but in a good way. Social media promotes the underlying belief that not only are we all ‘in this together’ but that we are all the same – human – and we should connect on that level. The implications are endless.

So enjoy the stories that Brad McCarty wrote about – and then, we invite you to go make your own success story – isn’t that still the American Dream?

Tags: internet marketing, Marketing, reno marketing, Reno Social Media, Social Media
Posted in Do Good in the World, Inspiration, Online Advertising In Reno, Online Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

Archive for the ‘Online Marketing’ Category

Company Website Boring Visitors to Death?

Tired of your company website?

A Website is an Experience

Remodelling: Ideas and Considerations

Your Website is the First Touch

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Graphic Design Services

Strategic Marketing Services

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