What makes their business model head and shoulders above those of similar companies.?

Why can they continue to grow and succeed while other companies are reducing forces and cutting losses?

What let’s Google continue to develop new technologies and fund countless projects while your company is cutting benefits and taking away overtime?

With companies like Google, MSN and Yahoo, PPC is the name of the game. The Price Per Click model has taken over the search engine industry and made Google 23 billion alone in 2009. A true ROI model, companies are only charged if their sponsored links are clicked, the innovation comes from the way the results are created. This where Google AdWords come into play. With Google AdWords, you can create and run ads for your business, quickly and easily. Run your ads on Google and their advertising network — no matter what your budget, you’ll only pay when people click the ads. If a customer sees your ad engages it, it’s recorded in your account as a click. Monitor your clicks to see how many people choose to enter your website from your ad. With cost-per-click (CPC) pricing, you pay only when someone clicks on your ad, making the model very efficient and cost effective for businesses of all sizes.

It’s no wonder Google can afford an on-site masseuse…

-Anonymous

Most business cards whisper. They attempt to impress with colors and designs, but they never truly say anything to the prospect. In the 10 seconds that your prospect takes to look at your card, all it’s doing is reinforcing your initial greeting, but providing no additional value, and because of that, a potential customer never learns about your award-winning service department, or your extended hours, or your playroom area for the kids. Instead, your card is tossed out while a competitor’s card is carefully tucked into a Rolodex because it provides something of value.

Business cards should do more than convey the information that’s printed on the card. A card that’s ugly, full of corrections or flimsy tells the consumer that you’re an amateur. No matter how many wonderful services you offer, if your card brands you as unprofessional, you lose business. A clean, creative, professionally printed and visually attractive card, on the other hand, conveys a positive first impression that lingers long after your initial meeting. Still, a savvy businessperson knows that adding valueable marketing-oriented information to a business card in addition to contact information can pay dividends.

One strategy is to add text that gives specific customer benefits. Better yet, turn your business card into a marketing tool that actually asks for your prospect’s business. Asking people via your business card to visit your store or log onto your website is a great idea. But in order for this strategy to be effective, you need to be specific, and you need to give people a reason to do what you request.

The key is to evaluate what is being said by the card. You should be able to use the card as not just a contact tool, but a little billboard. Whats the point in leaving the back empty, add some text to your services, your perks, your unique selling points. Make it a vehicle from which to create new business.

Your business cards can be the most portable, affordable and versatile marketing method you use, but only if used intelligently.

The Dos Equis campaign has remained successful for about two years now. Its peak search volume of 270,000 per month is still impressive, but pales in comparison to Old Spice’s “Smell like a Man” commercials which launched in February. Its related searches have already peaked at more than 1.8 million searches per month. Old Spice’s success lies in their search engine optimization techniques. Old Spice had two primary differentiators from Dos Equis: a robust search engine optimization (SEO)/paid search strategy on traditional search engines, as well as a dedicated channel combined with paid search inside of YouTube.

YouTube, the second largest search engine in the U.S. after Google, allows consumers to re-experience the campaign over and over again. TV commercial campaigns that go viral are truly worthless without a strong YouTube presence. Old Spice clearly took this into consideration, creating an Old Spice specific YouTube channel and does paid search marketing within YouTube to further promote their videos. This coordinated effort has helped drive more than 950,000 old spice based searches on YouTube per month and over 18 million video views.

Dos Equis, on the other hand, doesn’t have a dedicated Dos Equis YouTube channel, and relies on fans to upload versions of their videos on YouTube. Without a dedicated channel, Dos Equis is also unable to promote the brand via the “promoted videos” feature on YouTube, thereby limiting its ability to control its brand message and positioning, and ultimately resulting in a just 65,000 YouTube searches a month. With Old Spices’ paid searches, their videos come up along side Dos Equis’ on youtube searches, increasing their market base even though they aren’t competing brands.

The impact of a brand advertiser’s campaign can be maximized using a coordinated search strategy. While both Old Spice and Dos Equis have seen fantastic viral growth due to their  TV campaigns, Old Spice has done a better job utilizing all available digital media channels in conjunction with its TV campaigns to optimize its impact. These efforts are generating staggering results, with reports indicating that Old Spice sales have more than doubled (107%) since the campaign launched while Dos Equis sales were outperforming the category average, but at nowhere near the same rate. This snapshot into today’s branding strategies truly shows how to effectively manage a social viral campaign and build off its success.

-Anchorman

For many, statistical justification are just useless quips that one hears almost everyday. 4 out of 5 dentists, 8 out of 10 mothers, 66.7% of voters. A quick statistic gives a little bit of a punch to any point that is being made, but for most it’s just an empty statement. In that sense, many disregard the famous (infamous?) 80/20 rule [Pareto's Principle for those fans of Italian economists] as a coincidence or an old wives tale, but as far as statistics go, the 80/20 is a good way to determine where to focus the majority of a company’s efforts. Take a look at your company, you can see many situations where the 80/20 rule comes into effect. For marketing, the golden rule is that 80% of your money comes from 20% of your clients, so you should be spending 80% of your time with your most profitable 20%. It’s a good way to re-prioritize, and reorganize efforts to make sure you are working effectively to increase the profitability of your company. Remember, in marketing, it’s about who works the smartest and most efficiently, not the hardest. If you’re getting beat in sales and running your resources thin; re-prioritize and focus on what is getting you the results, the 20%.

A strategically designed website, developed utilizing a combination of search engine optimization and content building techniques, could not only improve your sales, it could begin generating sales for you in your sleep! Businesses must realize that internet marketing is the future of traditional marketing. Within the next decade, as millennial’s enter the workforce, lead generation will fully integrate into the digital arena.

If you need a recent reminder of this trend, look no further than your own business. Four years ago, “green” business was restricted to paperless credit card statements and cell phone bills. However, today, I guarantee your business has taken some steps to become more environmentally friendly. Website development has assisted this movement with huge steps, integrating websites with operating systems and moving data from print to PDF just to name a few examples. Green marketing is now the future of marketing. In order to stay competitive in business, companies must be ready to utilize eco-friendly marketing techniques to stay on par with competitors.

In much the same way, lead generation through a properly optimized website is the future of sales. With a dynamic website that ranks your business for relevant keyword searches, your sales area will expand from regional to global. Another advantage is that your website, unlike your company’s salespeople, does not have a salary, health benefits, vacation, sick days, sales metric bonuses, or suffer from bouts of procrastination. It will work for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Additionally, website development and optimization services can be performed to a level that fits within your business’s operating budget. Your return on investment from the proper development of a website can often be measured in multiples of spend. Using products like Google Analytics, marketing consultants can track this data for you and present it in a concise and clear manner.

We recently had the opportunity to work with Rhino Group Media,  a Philadelphia website development client. Rhino Group launched a site with an interactive flash sample portfolio that creates an unique experience for their site visitors, while simultaneously providing compelling sales messaging.

Instead of restricting yourself to your traditionally customers, think outside the box ahead of the curve. Using your website to generate sales leads today can lead to significant business growth tomorrow.

A prospective client has most likely heard many elevator pitches, and will not be receptive to yours unless it breaks the mold of monotony. Danny Wood, a Sales Expert based out of Northern New Jersey, recently discussed some interesting tactics to differentiate your sales approach from your competitors. He  recommends two useful strategies:

-    “Don’t tell prospects about your company and product services. Instead, share the stories of frustration your previous prospects asked you to solve before they became customers.”
-    “Stop telling them what you can do for them. Show them you understand their problems. People what to know how much you care before they care how much you know.”

Another important aspect of your elevator pitch is a hook question. A hook question offers prospects the chance to “bite” on your sales effort. A good example utilizes the strategies above. After discussing past client frustrations, ask “Have you ever had any difficulties similar to these?” A positive response will successfully bridge the customer’s needs to your business’ services and extend the relationship from sales pitch to follow up meeting.

Thirty seconds could mean sale or sorry. A focus on the prospects needs and problems can turn a pitch into a profit.

As the recession continues to loom like a dark cloud that continuously ruins your family vacations, what can you do to improve your business forecast? Most companies, like my former, decided to cut costs. Cutting costs unfortunately almost always means cutting people, and cutting very good people. While this solution may help a short term goal of reduced expenses (or to the terminated employee, their income/mortgage payments), in the long term this will only bury the organization under more work for a diminished workforce to handle. It is like quicksand, the harder you try to fight tough economic times, the farther you get pulled into them. In my mind, the best approach is to take action. Face the bull head on. Instead of cutting costs because of reduced business, go out there and find more business. The key to new business is marketing.

Ken Fisher, a Forbes columnist for over 25 years, is famously quoted saying, “It’s not the hot gadget that puts small companies over the top but hot marketing…if a troubled company is strong on marketing it is a good bet to solve its problems…So I like companies run by a top-notch marketing person or companies with one close to the boss’ elbow and ear.”
A creative and innovative marketing strategy can not only break your economic downtime, it can help you to leap ahead of your competitors. While the masses add lick their wounds and pull back, an aggressive marketing approach can actually lead to significant business growth. Stop reacting like the rest of your industry and start acting!
The benefits of this approach are numerous, but three truly stick out:
1)    Cost effective: Most basic marketing strategies cost less than the coffee you offer in your business’ break room each month. In fact, some marketing strategies (like Search Engine Optimization) can be purchased on a bounty system meaning you only pay if they hit agreed upon targets (a specific page rank on Google for example).
2)    Long Term Success: Winning new clients during a tough time puts your organization on a path towards long term success. Any customer you can win today, during the recession, can translate into a long term customer who will increase spend as the economy rebounds. With an established relationship during tough times, these customers will be more loyal and less likely to seek out your competitors.
3)    Morale: A strong marketing plan will boost morale around your office. It will present a united and public front from management that says “we are confident in the success of our business.” Employees will be motivated by this approach and work hard to be a part of it. Instead of layoff fears employees will be talking about the businesses next strategic initiative around the water-cooler.
Regardless of your businesses current financial state, a strong marketing plan is still a feasible strategy. If you are concerned, start small, but remember that this economy will eventually turn around. When that happens, you want to be the bull.