New blog, new address, upcoming podcast

The tools of online marketing can be so powerful, allowing you to get your message to a large but targeted audience. For this reason, they can be dangerous and damaging for your brand if you stuff them up. Like many things, they are value neutral, neither good nor bad, just tools to be used.

For this reason I'm starting a new podcast, with real life examples of good, bad and really ugly online marketing tactics - For Your Own Safety.

I have just finished moving the blog over to the new address which can be found at www.4yourownsafety.com

So watch out for new podcast episodes coming soon...

"The thing about free"

Seth Godin did an interesting post (nothing unusual about that) called "the thing about free". It discusses the value of using 'free' in marketing. A summary could be that giving something away for free will win you the attention of your audience briefly, but that we value those things that we pay for, even though the fee may be nominal.

This is extremely relevant to the field of online marketing as almost every decent website you see is offering something for free, whether its information on a blog (such as this one), or free newsletters, free evaluations, reports, the list goes on. This is a standard tactic, one which I use myself and encourage clients to utilise.

I've often heard people from various walks of life discuss the value of free things. The conclusion usually ends up placing the same value on that which is not paid for, as advice unasked for. It is about respect, if something costs you nothing, then you most probably won't value it, "easy come, easy go" style.

The difficulty that I find in the current marketplace is that everyone else is giving something away for free, and clients and customers expect it.

This is certainly not some kind of absolute truth, but marketers and sales people always need to take care in their generosity. I like to be generous, and give of myself and my time, but I know that I need to keep in mind that if there isn't some kind of cost to my time, advice or services, then they are probably going to be wasted on the recipient anyway through inaction.

Brand ownership, domain ownership

How much is Melbourne worth? Someone in America thinks its worth about $200,000, melbourne.com that is, reports the smh.com.au technology section recently, in an article about the loosening of rules surrounding the ownership and trading of .au domain names.

Domain name ownership is a basic insurance level of retaining control of your brand online. Why bother buy mybusiness.net.au when you already have mybusiness.com.au? Although extension like .net are less used by searchers and consumers, registering these domains is a great way to protect your corporate identity online.

Emarketing Mistakes

Emarketing can be such a powerful tool but so easily abused. The gains you receive may quickly be reverse by its overuse or misuse.

Last week my wife receive a message from her tertiary institution informing her (and every single other student) about how they were going to pass on her email address to a third party company so that they could send marketing information.

The email introduced the company and highlighted some products and benefits, which were in themselves valid. However, people had to opt out rather than opt in to receive this communication.

Personally, I think that on an ethical level, this is dubious. The school obviously stands to profit by selling their list to the third party. But the point is that people had to opt out, and it gave them 2 days to do so, some people would not have even got the message by the time their details had been sold onwards.

When people give you their contact information, they are placing trust into your hands. Don't abuse it by handing it on to someone else for a quick buck.

The problem is, that the list becomes one of such a lower quality. People who receive this message that has been passed on without consent will have a lower propensity to purchase the products of that company than they otherwise would have. They may infact even be annoyed to receive these messages.

What they could have done was to write a message saying "this organisation supports the school, they have some great products and a special offer for people who respond to this message, you can opt in to receive useful updates on ... topics and frequent special offers." The people who were already predisposed to purchase those products would have loved it. The other would have ignored it, but not been annoyed when they encountered this brand in the future.

So, engage in emarketing with caution, and what ever you do, make sure you send useful information that the people you are communicating to are interested in.

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Brand New Site for TMC

This week our brand new company site went live. We are offering great website design, flexible content management and ecommerce options, graphic design and marketing services. We operate out of Chifley Tower, right in the centre of the Sydney cbd.

Focussed online communications is what we provide to clients, assisting them to navigate the myriad of possibilities in internet marketing to produce real and effective results.

We have free articles providing useful information on improving your the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts, available only to our members. Plus, by joining our site you will receive our monthly newsletter and access to discounts on marketing services. So check it out at http://www.thompsonmarketing.com.au/

A new record - our changing world

A new record was set in Australia with an artist single topping the charts just on digital 
downloads. Rihanna has taken the number one spot with Don't stop the music before a single
physical disc has been sold. News.com.au reports that some music stores have stopped stocking physical singles altogether.

This is the trend, you can download movies and tv programs straight to your media player, chooses the content you want, no ad breaks to sit through.

What does this mean for your business? Consumers are searching for products and services online, and more and more they are purchasing there. The current era has been called the information age, but consumers are no longer just using the internet to find information about products, services or companies, but to purchase. They expect choice, they expect to be able to get it now.

Is your business placed to take advantage of this trend. I hope so!

Simple website management

I love using the content management system (CMS) of my website. If you are creating your web pages, page by page, then you are still living in a technological dark age. Within hours I have created more than 10 categories, 30 pages, uploaded pictures and articles. Its simple, its awesome. Go to www.websitegurus.com.au/ to find out more or check out our offers at http://www.thompsonmarketing.com.au/