Question

Topic: Strategy

Need Guidance On Best Internet Marketing Strategy

Posted by Anonymous on 1/19/2009 at 4:10 PM ET 500 Points
I have a client that provides residential and commercial security/fire safety products/services as well as home automation. They just launched a much improved website and are wondering what some of the most appropriate Internet marketing strategies would be for their market? They have access to plenty of educational information that could sustain a blog, but aren't sure people would find them or even keep coming back to read about fire safety, alarm systems, home automation, etc. Other than a profile on CitySearch, they don't have established profiles or networks with Yelp, LinkedIn, etc. Any suggestions for an Internet marketing strategy would be most appreciated.

They are also wondering if it is appropriate to post something on their home page to the effect that they will beat ADT and Brinks prices for installations and monitoring. Would this be perceived as a positive or a negative?
Thank you
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 1/19/2009 at 4:28 PM Member
    I feel that blogs would be appropriate. There is in fact enough people comming into this market to make it worth while.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 1/19/2009 at 8:20 PM Member
    Given that your clients serve a specific region, local search makes sense (i.e., Google Maps: https://www.google.com/local/add).

    Also, people don't often think about security/fire safety until after a problem happens in their area. Therefore, if you can provide recent statistics, articles (for local papers) that highlight how your solution would've avoided recent problems, etc. you'd highlight the client in the best light.

    And beating ADT/Brinks may be a good thing, or not. It depends on what else you client offers that ADT/Brinks doesn't. Simply being cheaper isn't always the best (long-term) strategy.
  • Posted by tjh on 1/19/2009 at 9:43 PM Accepted
    The blog has additional uses that don't get a lot of mention.

    Among them:

    All blog posts are indexed by search engines. If you manage the posts for keywords to the relevant topic of that post, next year someone may search for that keyword group, and find the company.

    Plus, having a web site that grows and changes keeps the search engines happy.

    Also, well written articles (posts) can get linked to from other 3rd party sites which helps with the search engine rankings - as well as keeping the site relevant to the topics and audiences. (One difficulty in many business sites is they are designed, or become, too vanilla - trying to attract everyone, which is unrealistic.)

    A deep and well done blog provides many relevant site entry points for their prospects.

    Fire it up!
  • Posted on 1/21/2009 at 10:40 AM Accepted
    Several years ago we created a list of online marketing tactics arranged in order of return on marketing investment with customer referral being at the top (basically free) and banner advertising typically bringing the least return. You can see the chart and explanation at https://www.roi-web.com/internet_marketing.shtml.

    Better than a statement that they can beat ADT prices would be one or more customer testimonials. Think of other ways that their customers might be willing to refer people to their site.

    As for a blog, its primary benefit will be to add content to your site and as tjh pointed out this is beneficial to search engine optimization.

    After search engine optimization, comes building links into your site from reputable and related directories and referring sites. This helps in two ways: brings in traffic from additional sources and boosts the reputation of your pages with Google and other SEs.

    As you go down the list, consider good old email. Your blog will have a better following if people sign up to receive email when a new article is posted on the blog.

    Jay makes a good point about having your site correctly listed in Google Maps. Also pay attention to Yahoo Local.

    Good luck!

    Miki
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