My favorite resource Website Magazine has posted a timely article in their August publication: The New Content Experience - Driving awareness, providing entertainment and generating profit.  

Strategic Web Content Kicks Brochureware Content to the Curb
This timely article indicates that ... "there is more content available on the Web than ever before, and it’s being delivered to consumers at blinding speeds. To make content stand out in a saturated market (and ensure that it ultimately influences sales and conversions), you will need to rethink content as an asset — then retool for the new content experience." 

Great Example: White Papers and Thought Leadership
“Those seeking information on solutions, trends and technologies are the ideal audience for a content marketing strategy. Our question throughout is not just what kind of content to create but what format will resonate best. The answer, particularly for those in business-to-business industries, is white papers…” 

The article goes on to discuss video and other rich media has part of the content mix. 

Check out the article. 

Subscribe to Website Magazine.  

More on content strategy by MacDonald Consulting:

Web Content: Relevant, Persuasive and to the Point 

Get it right: Web Copy 

Best

Denice MacDonald

With social media on the rise, many marketing professionals are in the midst of explaining, emulating and selling social media to management and/or clients. Why not consider infographics - visual representations of social information, social data or social knowledge?

Specifically, infographics provide statistical relevance, digital integration not to mention future payback that words cannot convey.

The following are great links with various infographics:

35 Great Social Media Infographics by Pat Dyer of Pamorama – 35 great infographics that have been cropped down for viewing – linking to the original graphic.

10 Beautiful Social Media Infographics by Grace Smith of Mashable – Similarly to Pamorama’s collection, this grouping concentrates on both social networking sites and twitter – also linking back to the original graphic.

Social Media Infographics from Slideshare – Tons of infographics – 50 in total.

These social media graphics will help convey your message – quickly.

[Infographic courtesy of Elliance]

Enjoy!

Best

Denice MacDonald

Here it is – the future of a website redesign strategy – the marriage of three critical components: cloud services, social media and web content management (WCM). Take a look at Newsweek.com who recently launched a total site redesign incorporating these significant platforms to stay ahead of the pack while enticing visitors to come back for more. 

Perfect Case Study 

Newsweek.com proves an important and timely case study for any organization that is in the process of a site redesign or redeployment. Reason simply, websites will now require strong metrics reporting, easy maintenance and extensibility as well as monetization and social integration in order to flourish. Such is the case for Newsweek – a publication and media outlet that has been floundering in recent times.

“The technology allows the business to grow in ways that had been holding it back,” says Geoff Reiss, vice president and general manager of Newsweek Digital. He explains that Newsweek created amazing content over time, but because of the way it was published and organized, “less than 15 percent of that content was discoverable through organic search.” The relaunch of Newsweek.com meant the reintroduction of about 70,000 items of content that had effectively been lost to site visitors. 

The most popular articles at any given time aren’t from the vault, though-they’re stories, video and images linked to on social networks like Digg, Facebook and Twitter and on MSN. Reiss calls Newsweek.com a “peak-driven site. When we produce a piece of content that hits in the marketplace,” he says, “it really hits. We need to be able to serve hundreds of thousands of consumers an hour.” Moreover, traffic isn’t predictable or necessarily tied to events. 

Lastly, Newsweek Digital is using Amazon cloud services to accommodate surges in traffic caused by increased use of social technologies – a marriage made in heaven. 

Take a test drive of Newsweek.com ‘stories’ section and see how some of their strategy can help your organization. 

Source Excerpt:

Newsweek.com redesign fuelled by social media, Amazon cloud and WCM by ZDNet 

Best,

Denice MacDonald

Technology experts and stakeholders say they expect they will ‘live mostly in the cloud’ in 2020 and not on the desktop, working mostly through cyberspace-based applications accessed through networked devices.

Pew said, "the number of cloud users has grown; there are 500 million people sharing friendships 'in the cloud' on Facebook, and many millions are using the cloud every time they access a Hotmail or Gmail account for e-mail, store browser bookmarks online, maintain a blog on WordPress, or store, link to and view videos and photos on YouTube, Hulu and Flickr."¹ 

Cloud Computing Comparison Guide from Focus Research 

Now you can easily choose the best cloud computing solutions for your company with this comparison guide from Focus Research.

Learn the specific differences between eight of the leading cloud-computing vendors and see which will fit your specific business needs.

Download the Cloud Computing Comparison Guide to get side-by-side comparisons of multiple topics including:

• Support Options
• Security Features
• Bandwidth and storage solutions
• Scalability 

Note: You will need to complete a simple form to get this guide – but well worth it.² 

Related Post: Cloud Computing: The Here and Now 

Resources and Excerpts taken directly from:

1.  The Future of Cloud Computing from Pew Internet

2.  Cloud Computing Comparison Guide from Focus Research

Best,

Denice MacDonald

Video on the web is exploding and becoming one of the most clicked-on features. It has proven to increase conversions by double digits, reduce returns by as much as 10%, build brand loyalty and enhance customer experience.

Don't miss this opportunity to hear from Priscilla Lawrence, Principal Product Manager of Adobe Scene7, at an exclusive free webinar on making the most with online video slated for Thursday, June 17, 2010.

Sign up now. 

(Note: If you are reading this post after June 17th, Adobe Scene7 has weekly Webinars each Thursday at https://www1.scene7.com/registration/weekly_webinar.asp).  

About Adobe Scene7

Adobe Scene7 is the leading on-demand cross-media platform that enables companies to grow revenues, enhance customer experience and cut production costs.

More Resources:

The 10 Golden Principles of Successful Web Apps by Vimeo

16 Tips for Successful Online Video Marketing by Social Media Examiner

Web Multimedia Strategies by Web Style Guidelines (Includes production tips, formats and right-sizing for the Web) 

Best,

Denice MacDonald 

Many organizations are obsessed with volume – measuring their web metrics strategy by how many web pages that were viewed or by how many people that have visited. In many cases, this type of information is meaningless as it is not directly linked to a web plan or strategy.

Whether its website traffic analysis, search engine optimization or tracking business success metrics, you need to develop a web strategy ‘up front’ to support measurement objectives. This thought process seems so fundamental but rarely exercised.  Take these simple rules:

A strategic plan for evaluating your website will help you:

1. Collect only the data you need to make informed, strategic decisions
2. Identify priority “action areas” for improvement, measure the impact of those actions -- and keep your customers coming back
3. Determine benchmarks and performance goals you should aspire to, and the extent to which you’re achieving them
4. Determine whether you’re getting a return on the investment you’ve made to build, operate and maintain your website(s)
5. Evaluate how well your website is performing relative to competitors, your company's brand, mission statement or hiring criteria

Develop a plan – a strategy – and review and adjust it regularly by asking these questions:

• What do you need to measure
• What are your requirements
• How will you measure it
• What tools will you use
• What methodologies are needed to gather the data you need
• What will you do with the results
• How will the results help meet the goals for your website and your company's mission
• How does the plan fit with your company's overall strategic and performance plan

Once armed with this process and validation, you will find that your ROI exceeds expectations. 

Great Resources:

Coremetrics Web Metrics
Get powerful website metrics with the leading provider.

Web Measurement Data Fast
ClickTracks web measurement shows behavior, conversion, groups, SEO.

WebTrends Analytics
Marketing Intelligence Solutions, leading analytic & metrics software.

Web Analytics
Compare web analytics products and get a free report sample from CMS Watch.

Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics
If you have an interest in measuring the success of your website, then this book is definitely for you!

Best,

Denice MacDonald

You cannot simply build a website and wait for visitors to come. You need to market your website online – meaning you need to take action to make your site highly visible to search engines so it gets found by potential customers.

Here are some quick ideas on maximizing your web site through simple optimization.

Keyword research – where to begin? – There are a number of inexpensive keyword research tools that will help you find the keywords and keyword strings for a specific product or service.  My favorite tool has always been Google Keyword Tool - but, Wordtracker is also very popular and very effective. 

Aligning with competitors – Determine how many other sites will be vying for similar keywords or keyword strings. To validate findings, simply type the words into Google and review the number of results. That’s your competition. The higher the position within the result page, the more difficult it will be to rank on that keyword. If you are still having difficulty determining keywords, you can open your competitor’s web site and view their keywords by selecting “View” and then “Source” from the menu. The third line in the source code typically says “Keyword Content” and then lists the keywords used for that page.

Start small – If you are new to the game, it is always advisable to start with 1-2 keywords per page on your website. Reason simply, you want to find the right balance in search volume, review how you’re faring against the competition and grow your program based on sound statistics. Likewise, insure that the content that is written for the site contains an appropriate usage of the keywords.

Site structure – In order for any search engine optimization program to work and track, you’ll need to insure that the site structure is conducive for optimization. To rank higher in search results for your target audience, you must identify the most effective keywords and then place them in the right areas of your site’s content and HTML code including page titles, headers, meta-tags, links and page content.

Site updates – ‘Content is king’ philosophy still rings true for optimization success. Keep your site updated regularly. What is the rule of thumb?  Minimally, weekly!

Linking – I still believe that linking can effectively, and quickly, increase page rankings. If you have a lot of other web sites linking to your site, the search engine spiders will visit your site more frequently and find new content quickly. You can find out who links to you already by typing “Link: yourdomainname.com” in any major search engine.

Measure – It’s all about effectiveness and ongoing metrics. Let your initial search engine optimization initiative run for about 2-3 months. Track how your rankings change week-over-week or month-over-month, and then decide whether more words need to be added or eliminated. Use tools like Google Analytics for web site metrics and SeoDigger for wordtracking performance.

Best,

Denice MacDonald 

Everyone wants to create useful rich content. But it's not as easy as it sounds. Content needs to reflect user needs and requirements, contain an adequate amount of words to support search engine optimization while reflecting the organizations' unique brand proposition. 

Know Your Industry - Know Your Customer.

In order to create relevant content for your web site, gather information about all aspects of your industry – including competitors. Then, determine exactly who your customers are.  Are they busy professionals or non-techie information gatherers?    

The More Relevant Content You Provide on Your Site, the Better.

Relevant content is not only helpful in gaining the interest of search engines, it also piques the interest of diverse web site visitors. Let visitors know quickly that they are on a site that has information related to what they are interested in. Doing so will help lessen friction in the users experience and lead to conversion (act or buy). 

Summarize, and then Expand.

Most content developers start with bloated brochure copy. Instead, begin with a well thought summary picture paragraph (100 words) and then provide additional content within your site’s category subpages to provide more information regarding expanded learning. Well-written, persuasive copy should be moderate and to the point.

Place Top Keywords within Your Text.

Search engines have always loved content paragraphs and keywords. In order to further optimize your site, combine the two by placing relevant keywords within each content paragraph

Check out these great resources: 

How to Create Web Content that Works by Leanne Bergey

Web Content, Writing for Web Sites by WebsiteTips.com

Best

Denice MacDonald

Writing copy for the Web that grabs attention and gets the results you want takes special skill and attention.

Oftentimes, companies will forgo writing web copy and repurpose brochure copy. Writing copy for the web is remarkably different than writing copy for print. Here are a few tips to make sure your web content is spectacular and resonates with site visitors.

Before any web copy is written, the following information should be available to the web copywriter(s).

1. SEO/SEM Report or Findings – the web copywriter will use the report as a guide to segue words or phrases that will help ‘optimize’ the content web page.
2. Persona or Voice of Customer - understanding the attributes of customers that you want to engage at your content web page will help dictate the impact statements or ‘headings and sub heads’ for the section (different and distinct from navigation or menu).
3. Functional Web Page Elements – understanding what other functionality will appear on the page will help the web copywriter(s) craft content that will work collaboratively with feature boxes, call to action scenarios or other promotional items.  Having a layout or ‘wireframe’ of what will appear on the page will work well here.

Now that the web copywriter has a clear vision of the type of customer, how the customer gets to the page and what the customer will likely experience, they are ready to begin writing.

1. Headings and Sub Heads - On the web, you can ‘make or break’ interaction to your web pages with headings. A good one makes it easier for readers to understand the significance of the content and will likely get them to read more. Headings and sub heads should be short, clear and concise ranging from 7 – 10 words.
2. Amount of Content – Begin by envisioning a ‘picture paragraph’ – that is, content that is solid and clear enough to get the point across and fall ‘above the fold’ (fits within the visitor window). Remember that shorter is better – paragraph length should be no more than 50-60 words.
3. Editing – It is always advisable from both a quality assurance perspective and from a visitor’s view to have someone review and edit web copy.  Reason simply, diverse users to the web content may not interpret or understand what has been written and may need some ‘dumbing down’ for the content to resonate. 

Whether you're trying to sell products or services at a business or commercial site or if you just want to let people know the latest at your personal site, content is just as important as any of the other elements that constitute the overall brand strategy for your web site – chose wisely.

Resources:

Net Words: Creating High-Impact Online Copy by Nick Usborne

Content is King! Evaluating Content Management Systems

Best,

Denice MacDonald

Cloud computing—in simple terms— is virtualized resources served over the Internet. Cloud computing is often provided "as a service" in the form of 'infrastructure as a service’ (IaaS), or more commonly as ‘software as a service’ (SaaS).  

Why the buzz? Cloud computing customers can minimize out of pocket or long-term budgetary needs when they incur new demand or fluctuation requirements for their infrastructure or massive web properties. Instead of having to invest time and money to keep websites and infrastructures operational, cloud computing customers simply pay for the
resources they use, as they use them.  

The direct benefit of cloud computing
is agility and flexibility — meaning that customers no longer need to forecast drastic upbeat in traffic – they can simply promote their websites aggressively and on-demand.  

Learn More:

What Cloud Computing Really Means by InfoWorld – discusses the various solution offerings including SaaS.

Cloud versus cloud: A guided tour of Amazon, Google, AppNexus, and GoGrid by InfoWorld – provides insight into various vendors – including pricing and relationship differences.

What is Cloud Computing by Salesforce via YouTube - Salesforce currently is ahead of the pack and does a great job of explaining the semantics and benefits of The Cloud.

Best

Denice MacDonald

Compete has recently released Audience Profiles on Compete.com. This free offering allows website owners to gain never before seen insights about their online audiences.  

Audience Profiles allow site owners to look beyond standard demographics and discover the lifestyle preferences, hobbies, and interests of their online audiences. These insights can then be used to create highly targeted marketing campaigns and attract more customers. 

All you need do is go to audience profiles at compete.com and sign up for a myCompete account and copy some simple XL code onto your home page.   

Within a month, you should be able to see some quantifiable data on your web audience – information that will help you create defined messaging and targeted marketing campaigns. 

Compete.com is a ‘must-have’ resource for web analytics, competitor analysis and now, audience profiles.  

To learn more about Compete.com – go here. 

To learn more about the significance of Audience Analysis – go here. 

Best

Denice MacDonald  

As web sites become more sophisticated, so does the need to concentrate on targeted audiences. I’m amazed that most organizations cannot clearly state who their target audience is. In fact, they typically reply with a long list of diverse people. When probed about which are the most important or relevant, they typically say that they all are.

The reality is that if you build a web site for everyone, you will attract no one. It is critical that you concentrate on your target audience and design and create content that will resonate with them. Does this mean that you ignore everyone else? Absolutely not. If built correctly, the web site will cater to a clearly defined audience while appealing to the masses.

A good way to get a handle on your target audience is to create two or three personas that describe the main user segments to your web site. A persona is a brief fictional biography that captures the essence of the individual you are targeting.

When creating personas, it’s always best to talk to actual customers or prospects. If you can’t do that, try talking with secondary sources — people who know the actual customers well.  

Developing personas usually starts with collecting some demographic data, such as age, education, and job title. But the goal is to collect the qualities of the intended user such as information on their web habits, behaviors and needs.

The result of this analysis will be the information you will need to attract, engage and convert visitors. 

Sources

User Personas & Wireframes: The First Ten Seconds — by Charles B. Kreitzberg, Ph.D. of Website Magazine

Making Your Web Site More Appealing: Start With Audience Analysis — by Bob Savar of World Wide Web Communications

Importance of Web Site Audience Analysis  — by Gene DeFazzio of Buzzle.com

Vendor Recommendations

Need a good Information Architect?  Check out these exceptional User Experience and IA providers:

Deb Reiser

Brian Molstad - Molstad Consulting

Best

Denice MacDonald

Many of my clients these days are wondering how they are going to scale their businesses in 2010 in order to stay competitive. With the emergence of Software as a service (or SaaS), they can now reap the benefits of applications that were once far too difficult to develop, host or purchase. 

SaaS Defined: 

Software as a service (or SaaS) is a way of delivering applications over the Internet—as a service. Instead of installing and maintaining software, you simply access it via the Internet, freeing yourself from complex software and hardware management. 

SaaS applications are sometimes called Web-based software, on-demand software, or hosted software [see YouTube video below for more learning].

Whatever the case, SaaS applications run on a SaaS provider’s servers. The provider manages access to the application, including security, availability, and performance. Moreover, the application can be used across your organization via multiple licenses or subscriptions. 

Common Uses: 

The most common use of SaaS is with CRM applications like Salesforce, social networks such as Ning or even e-mail applications such as Constant Contact. In any event, you'd be crazy not to check out an SaaS model as an option within your technology mix. 

Learn More: 

To learn more about SaaS - check out this great YouTube Video.

Best,

Denice MacDonald

According to AMR Research -- web content management isn’t just about building and managing a web site anymore. It’s about engaging customers and collaborating more efficiently with partners.

To prove this point, AMR Research recently released a white paper: “Evolved Web Strategies, Part 1: The Web as a Vital Artery for Strategy and Growth”.

The piece, written by Jim Murphy of AMR, states that organizations will need to examine four streams of change when devising a web strategy and choosing technology providers: strategic, pervasive, engaging, and responsive. 

1. Fatwire
2. Oracle
3. Interwoven
4. Vignette
5. Sitecore
6. SDL Tridion
7. Ektron
8. EMC
9. IBM
10. Microsoft 

Upcoming

AMR intends to provide a follow-up white paper wherein they will look at the pervasive web and the providers that will help companies meet impending challenges. 

About AMR Research

AMR Research provides subscription advisory services and peer networking opportunities to supply chain, sustainability, and IT executives in the consumer products, life sciences, manufacturing, and retail sectors. They are the world’s leading independent research firm focused on the global supply chain and its supporting technologies. 

Best

Denice MacDonald

Let's face it, successful SEO is hard.  Reason simply, SEO is not a want, it is a necessity.  According to Jill Whalen, CEO and founder of High Rankings, "...a sick web site leaves money on the table".

Without proper web page optimization, an organization is losing out on search engine visibility and possible customer conversion.  One of the first diagnostic tests in your SEO checklist is to see how Google views your home page (or any page of your site) by taking a look at how it looks in Google's "text cache."

Additional warning signs (symptoms) include:

• Missing page content
• Missing navigational links
• List of unlinked words
• Keyword stuffed paragraphs that aren't normally visible

Although a good exercise, it is only the first step in elevating an organization's web page rankings.  

For more information and Search Engine Guidelines visit:

• http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/
• http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/index.html
• http://search.msn.com/docs/siteowner.aspx

Lastly, stay connected on latest SEO trends, reviews and content sharing at:

• http://www.SEOMoz.org

Best

Denice MacDonald

[Credit: Jill Whalen, CEO and founder of High Rankings]

MacDonald Consulting is gearing up for a fairly large e-commerce project. During the due diligence process (discovery), one of the questions I asked is: what would your customers prefer: Click to Call or Live Chat? 

Solemn reply: I don’t know – do customers need it, do we have the staff to support it and is it costly? My come back: you can’t afford not to use it! Internet Retailer points out that 10 to 15 percent of e-commerce browsers will buy, if they engage in online chat, versus 2 percent who do not use chat.

Where to start -- catering to your audience:

Click to Call, for example, is suited for a younger, more advanced user who routinely uses ‘self help’ technology.  

Live Chat, on the other hand, would be more advisable for non-technical users (luddites), baby boomers or an older market that prefer immediate ‘voice help’. 

When to use both:

There may be an instance when using both technologies will work for your online e-commerce strategy – especially if you are seasonal, have peaks or limited staff. 

Now is the time to get with the program:

Whether it’s to browse, shop or buy or simply completing an online form – customers may require some help along the way. Why not build in safety nets so that conversion can be enhanced and abandonment diminished?   

To learn more about Click to Call and Live Chat – check out these great resources: 

Liveperson.com (Small, Medium Businesses)

eStara by ATG (Enterprise)

Live Help – Power of Click to Call and Click to Chat (White Paper by ATG)

Best

Denice MacDonald

If you are looking for the technology to put your video on the web, the variety of choices can be staggering. That’s because as web video has flourished, so have the number of companies providing the tools to deliver video across the Internet.

Large media companies and individual video bloggers can now choose from among multiple firms when looking for a web video product. Many of the technology providers are quite similar and anyone in the market for a web video platform should 'test the waters' and try out the ones that seem like the best fit.  

Web video technology services can be divided into the following categories:

CONTENT MANAGEMENT: The process of ingesting content, moving it around, converting to different files and organizing video properly before it goes online.

PROGRAMMING AND PUBLISHING: The presentation of the video on the web site, including the player and the playlists.

DISTRIBUTION: Delivering the video across the web, to either the main site or to distribution channels and portals.

MONETIZATION: Making money off the video, by integrating advertising or offering video on a download or pay-per-view basis.

REPORTING: Providing analysis and reports on number of views, length of views and other similar data. 

Check out these vendors and resources: 

Dragonfly (world-class multi-media content delivery network)

Kickapps (great for online communities or any type of 'sharing' portal)

Maven (online video advertising)

Magnify (good for both b2c and b2b)

UPDATED: Video for Mobile, Twitter and YouTube: 

Check out the recent craze for using video in social media campaigns posted October 1st by Adveristing Age: How to Mobilize Your Social Media.

Best

Denice MacDonald

One of the most important sections of a web site is the web form page. Whether the goal of your site is to get visitors to sign up for your e-mail newsletter, fill out a form for more information, get a quote or purchase a product online, every aspect of your form can potentially impact conversions, and therefore should be carefully examined.

When first thinking about creating web forms, you must think beyond the input fields. When your visitors look at a web form, it’s not just a one-time decision that is being made, but more likely a series of mini-decisions. Does this graphic grab my interest? Does this headline make me want to learn more? Do I want to provide my e-mail address? Do I want to give out my phone number? Should I hit the Submit button? Do I want to refer to a friend?

Anything that is created on the form page, from top to bottom, creates or motivates a decision to act.

Here are some aspects of a web form page you should consider:

1. Headline - create a sense of urgency in an impact statement that appeals to YOUR customer - cliche one-liners won't work here.
2. Form layout - less is more here, keep it simple and easy to understand.
3. Pricing - make it clear what the price is AND include value (free shipping, discounts etc.).
4. Fields - include only fields that are necessary - too many fields will cause a visitor to opt-out.
5. Opt-in copy - should be enticing and include privacy/spam language.
6. Links - ahhh....links will not only entice but also steer customers to learn more about you or your affiliates.
7. Submit buttons - believe it or not, the size, shape and placement of your submit button can make or break the final step (conversion) of your web form.

How do you know if the web form is meeting a visitors criteria? 

Similar to a web content page, layout the form in a wireframe - outlining exactly where fields, graphics and other interactive features will reside.  Compare against customer expectations, demographics and psychographic needs.  

In some instances, the web form is the first impression of your organization if it is used in conjunction with trade show lead generation, custom landing page supporting an adword campaign or simply a direct custom URL to a product.  Remember, your goal is to get the customer to act.

Additional Resources:

Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks by Luke Wroblewski

Creating Wireframes

Optimizing Web Forms

Do you need a quick down and dirty way to get transparent usability on your web initiative? Do you need a way to get feedback from clients on early designs? 

Consider using Usabilla – an online web application that offers a fast and simple way to collect visual feedback on any web page, mockup, sketch, or image. 

Ask your users about their opinion or first impression in just a few minutes. You can invite your users to participate and share their opinion. 

Your users answer your questions by simply adding datapoints and notes on top of your web page, mock up, or any other image. 

To get started, check out Usabilla features here or sign up now for a free account.

I would highly recommend this tool!

Best

Denice MacDonald

You were just notified from your department head or the CFO that you budget for fourth quarter 2009 has been reduced – or worse yet, eliminated. What do you do now?

Like most organizations I consult with, marketing budgets are defined by reactionary initiatives. What can you do to safeguard your marketing initiatives and still get results?

The Power of Three

It is always advisable to do any type of marketing initiative that will yield three defined uses (create it once, pay for it once, use many ways). That is, if you do a direct marketing piece, you may consider an on-line version and an e-mail version to select recipients. If you’re doing a trade show (money already appropriated), consider some type of interaction at the show that will draw visitors to your online presence and a creative way in which to follow-up with trade show leads. 

Maximize Alternatives and Options

In the case of advertising dollars, some media outlets will allow you to ‘refine’ your budget so that you can reallocate resources to other initiatives – in lieu of one costly ad space, consider spreading your advertising dollars to smaller focused banner ads or thru the media outlet's e-mail/direct mail efforts. Staying connected over time and with more frequency will yield a higher return on investment against budget dollars. (Hint: reconsider costly yellow page ads that can't be tracked and are overpriced!)

Get Others to Pay for It

Lastly, collaborate with all departments and determine what channel partners, associations, or vendors you may have that may garner visibility for your organization. Online reciprocal links, shared webinars, speakerships, collaborative user groups and even shared web pages will multiply your efforts and the bottom-line without incurring any additional budget dollars.

You would be surprised how many organizations within your network are in the same situation and would welcome a joint campaign to elevate marketing efforts.

Best,

Denice MacDonald