Chet Richards took the military strategy of John Boyd and applied in to business. In the book Certain to Win Chet Richards describes OODA loops. The concept is all about agility. OODA loops are fundamental for a successful Internet Marketing Strategy. Some may look at OODA loops as a strategy but that is where I disagree and have chosen to draw the OODA loops around the Strategy.

Your strategy is your target and based on your target your will observe things differently, you will orient yourself differently, you will make different decisions based on your strategy and you will act differently. You do all of this to hit your target. So OODA loops are not about chasing every opportunity, options, or technology to see if it will work for you and your organization. OODA loops are about operating in a manner that ensures you are pursuing the correct target.

How can you observe what is happening to your target market? There are lots of ways, but perhaps the best way is to get it straight from the horse??™s mouth. By creating social networks for your customers to participate in you can create an environment were your customer can talk about their interaction with your products and services. How much does it cost? Denise Shiffman, the author of Age of Engage wrote How much does it cost not to do so

Implementing OODA loops are part of your Marketing and Advertising strategy is a must. If you advertise in the yellow pages you are deciding once for the entire year what your message to the community will be. Where as Advertising and Marketing online you have the ability to place and ad with a coupon in Google??™s local search and monitor the results. Then after a couple of weeks observations your orient yourself to work is working or not working then you decide what steps are needed next and then Act.

Bite or get Bitten

So you have a product catalog of 10 to 100 or more products or you offer a variety of different services. Your website has everything you want anyone to know about your company. But you have a promotion coming up or you want to highlight a specific product or you want to reach a targeted market segment or your just really want to get some buzz going. In comes your Microsites.

A Microsites is like mini-me to you website with a twist. It is your company’™s website but it is more focused on specific aspect of your company??™s products or services. They have their own URL and but they do not have all that corporate ???yada yada yada??? generally the best Microsites are much more fun and engaging. They are entertaining they don??™t put you to sleep. Best of all they keep your customers coming back for more. Of course that means that you have got to keep your Microsites up to date and fresh or you lose your customers interest and they are on to the next thing.

You know your microsite is successful when you start getting word of mouth referrals and other types of viral marketing connect with your site. Here is a an awesome example of a Microsites. You have got to check it out

http://www.willitblend.com/suggestions.aspx

Check it out and tell me what you think

Byte or get bitten!

Social Media Marketing Lessons from Ace of Cakes

 Jodi and I have a few TV shows that we like to watch.?  One that we have become hooked on is “Ace of Cakes” on the Food Network. The show is about Charm City Cakes in Baltimore. It is pretty amazing to see some of the cakes that these guys? make. Show we are watching the episode below when I realized that Charmed City Cakes uses a similar marketing plan that we prescribe at ManoByte. So here are my thoughts on what we can learn from social media marketing

? 

So ask we are watching this episode Geof says We do not do a lot of cakes for baby showers. The reason is that they are book so far in advance you would have to plan your pregnancy around their availability. So Geof says I hope they don’t plan their pregnancy around their availability. OK amazing. How would you like to be booked solid for the next 9 months while demanding a premium for your products and services. Let me tell you what I noticed they do and what you can learn from them.

The Social Media Lessons

1. They have a unique personalized offering. Not only are no 2 cakes alike but each Cake is specific to your desires.
2. They have cameras following them around all the time and the share it with the world. So maybe the Food Network of HGTV won’™t follow you around. But you can post on YouTube for free.
3. They website is up to date and relevant
4. They use Press Releases
5. They have an active Blog
6. They post pictures on Filckr,
7. They have a bio in Wikipedia
8. They use several social networks?

No doubt that Internet Marketing is a key to thier success just Google them and you will find out a lot.?  Warning do not attempt this on an empty stomach.

Byte or get bitten

The customer buying cycle is made up of 6 key phases. Research > Selection> Purchase> Use>  Evaluation> Recommendation

It does not matter what a customer is buying, the always g through this cycle. Understanding the customer buying cycle is critical to you success when it comes to Inbound Marketing.

It is important to understand your customer buying cycle so I created this graph to help you understand it. Regardless of the business you are in this buying pattern holds true. Your understanding this model will help you in managing the relationship that you have with your customers. Each of these phases can be performed online. Today most consumers perform at least one of these phase activities online and are increasingly moving to performing the majority of these activities online.

The cycle begins with the research phase. During the Research phase consumers endeavor to find as much information as necessary to make them feel comfortable regarding the products of interest. This phase includes understanding features, comparisons, and cost. Many times consumers search the internet by keywords looking for product explanations, reviews, and ratings to assist them in become informed.

The next phase is Selection. This is the phase in which based on the information gathered in the research phase the consumer makes a value based decision regarding which product to purchase and from what vendor. Many businesses make the mistake of assuming that the selection in cost based. However, this is completely false. Consumers make their selection based on perceived value. Customers will select a higher cost product over a less expensive product, if the perceive the value of what they are purchasing as being high. Also, factored into the selection is who they are buying it from.

The third phase is Purchase. This step can and many times is done online however; certain products consumers still and perhaps will always fell more comfortable purchasing from a brick and mortar location.

The next two steps are Use followed by Evaluation. Based on the consumers??™ experience of using the product they make an evaluation. Usage involves not only the function of the product (what it does) but also experience (how it got done). Online support tools help to increase the user experience. Based on the consumer??™s experience they make an evaluation of the products. A product that may not function as high as expected might still receive a high evaluation if the experience is high.

The final step is Recommendation. This is the most important phase of the lifecycle for business owners. Your products and services live and die based on recommendations. It cost more to regain a customer then it does to keep a customer. A consumer may only a few people about a positive experience but they will tell many more about the bad experiences. Now on the internet disgruntled consumers can blog your business to death.

Understanding each of  phase of the customer buying cycle  and putting together a strategic plan to address each of them will have a tremendous affect on your business.

Byte or get bitten!

Manobyte

OK there are a ton of ugly websites out there. Some of the website that I have seen are hideous and whoever developed them should be forever banned from every developing a website again. Your website is a picture of you. When someone comes to your website what do they think? How do they picture you?

Let me explain how some of these comes about and explain the cure.?  Some business owners know that they need a website and they want a professional websites so they go looking for a web developer and see a 4-8K price tag and get sticker shock. Because they understand this is just the upfront cost and know that they have to keep the websites update. So they try to do it themselves or worse they pay some high school student to put something together.

So if you want an incredible professional looking interactive functional website get it for free with DotNet Nuke (DNN)

DNN is a free Web 2.0 Framework. ? It is open source with a huge support community. There are tons of free modules for this platform such as Maps, Blogs, Forums, Calendars, File Managers, and even an incredible Online Store. If you want more then what is included for free with DNN you can go to the snowcovered website and get some very professional looking skins for less than 100 bucks. ? DNN is incredible and it??™s designed for the Search Engine Optimization. It gives you the flexibility to tag every module.

Nuke your ugly website

Byte or get Bitten

I have read some great books over the past 2 months. This weekend I just read one of the best that I have read. The Age of Engage When it comes to MANO (Marketing, Advertising, Networking Online) I have to agree with the CEO of Google that “Every marketer must read this book!”. Author Denise Shiffman replace the traditional 4P’s of  marketing (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) with the 6 V’s (Venture, Value, Voice, Verifiable, Vicinity, Vehicle). In the near future Marketing classes will be taught using her methodology.

The book “The Age of Engage”  validates a lot of the things that I have been saying and talking about.?  It is a marketing paradigm shift that if Marketer do not byte into the will get bitten. Byte or get bitten means that you need to strategically use technology? ? in a collaborative way to compete and thrive in the marketplace today.

Byte or get bitten