In our last post, we discussed having a Google or Yahoo! Representative help you market your business online. Here we are going to discuss your other options:
- A marketing firm/graphic designer
- A website developer.
- An SEO firm.
- An Internet marketing firm
- A full service marketing firm
A Marketing Firm/Graphic Designer
My experience with these types of firms is that they can be great for one-stop-shopping. They can manage your business's complete marketing needs so that you can have a comprehensive program that works with a lot of synergy.
In many cases they are your outsourced "Creative Marketing Project Managers."
This is very important, because when your whole marketing program is designed to work together it can be much more affective than the sum of the parts.
The only downside to utilizing this kind of service is that they will probably outsource anything to do with the Internet, and you will be relying on their discretion when it comes to picking a web designer or an Internet marketing firm.
They are often provided with referral commissions from the advertising they sell, and may be biased towards using media providers that pay higher commissions. I have seen some Marketing firms cut out their clients profitable advertising programs because they could not get paid commissions from that media provider.
A Website Developer
MOST good web designers and web developers build great websites. Few of them are SEO experts and fewer still are Pay-Per-Click marketing experts. If they try to steer you away from Search Engine Marketing, you probably should steer away from them, or hiring an Internet Marketing company to work with them.
An SEO Firm
There are some superb SEO firms out there-and there are also some scam artists. Next week I will be publishing an article on what to watch out for when it comes to SEO firms. If you need help before then, please feel free to call me and I will help you avoid getting ripped off (720-985-7945).
An Internet Marketing Firm
A high quality and trustworthy Internet Marketing firm will help you build a website that meets your specific needs and budget, and recommend a marketing plan that will help you grow your business. They will show you how to get the most for your marketing dollar utilizing the Internet, and also help you integrate it with your other marketing efforts. They will also help you avoid Internet scams.
The most important thing is to shop around and ask for at least 3 references that you can talk to.
If you are going to trust anyone with your money-more specifically the potential success of your business, you need to check their references.
I was shocked when a friend of mine from church asked me for references before she would sign up for my services. I provided her with 3; she called them and is now a very happy customer.
Most people simply trust me, but I often think they are lucky that I am actually a trustworthy Internet Marketing consultant. So many people are so confused or naive about the Internet they want and need to trust someone, and often times it's simply the first convincing person that comes along.
A Full Service Marketing Firm
When you find one of these that does everything in-house, including Internet Marketing, please let me know.
I would like to know who and where they are.
