Websites, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Youtube are just a few of different social networking and internet based presences you can have on the web these days.  The age old saying “perception is reality” and “you only have one time to make a first impression,” is still in play everyday, when dealing with your image on the internet.    What most business owners do not realize is people still associate a terrible ad, website, message on facebook with lack of quality in one’s business.  If you are out there on the web, you will be putting yourself and your business in jeopardy by putting out material that doesn’t fit your image or portray you and your business in the a positive light.

I can’t count the number of websites, facebook posts or youtube video’s I see that are going to turn off potential clients.  For example: Recently I saw a video that was rather fun of two children grappling, one grabbed the other and they wrestled a bit until one threw the other onto the floor.  I didn’t take it as a negative; I just didn’t see the point.  It didn’t show me a school owner anything that made me say “hey that is a great video,” in my opinion it didn’t show the prospect or parent of a potential student what they would be learning.  The video was simply pointless and seemed to me like nothing more then a waste of a post.  As posting live video to the web becomes more and more popular and easier, it doesn’t take any effort to put a video up on line.  But remember that would be equivalent to a major soda or hamburger joint, showing video of people just sitting at a table and devouring their product. 

A great deal of time goes into advertising.  Million dollar companies have shot themselves in the foot by putting out an advertising campaign that simply just didn’t work.  Most of the companies test market and spend millions of dollars making sure the marketing they are releasing is conducive to what they are trying to accomplish. 

With the ease of internet based marketing and social media, it is very easy to put something out there that may turn your clients off rather then turn them on.

Here are 5 tips to advertising on the internet:

1)      Always make sure you have the end in mind. 

2)      Set a plan in action ahead of time – do not advertise on emotion or put things on the internet that is not necessarily positive to your business.

3)      Do not allow your short sighted or whimsical thoughts surface on the internet without a plan of action.

4)      Be very careful of what you place on your site, the web or social circles. 

5)      Test market when ever possible.

Allow me to describe each category a bit further. 

1)      Always make sure you have the end in mind – with any marketing campaign the plan is most important.  Knowing ahead of time what you are trying to accomplish is always going to be best.  If you release a video on youtube, but realize later that the video was nothing more then a waste of time because people did not come to your school, your website or become a client, then why bother.  There are a few types of marketing, what I am talking about here is either 1) Trickle marketing – putting our information that may create an interest in your product or 2)  A direct response marketing campaign in which you advertise your product and have a call to action at the end of the ad. 

2)      Set a plan of action ahead of time – when designing a facebook campaign for example: you must plan out the campaign step by step, what is the demographics of your intended client.  Are they adult, female, child etc?  What is your consistency of advertising.  What is your call to action – Will you give them a free offer at the end of the day?  Do you want to get them into your business to try your product?  Taking time to plan out your campaign will be the difference to a good end result or not.

3)      Do not allow your short sighted or whimsical thoughts surface on the net.  For example: do not post on your facebook page that you went out drinking at a party and go a little tipsy if your image is that of a person of responsibility, or tell others that you hate a particular political party – because this may get the person who doesn’t agree with you to not do business with you.  Always remember people are watching and everyone has a different opinion. 

4)      Be very careful of what you place on your site, the web or social circles.  People are far too free with posting personal pictures.  For example:  One of my students who is a police officer, posts many racial comments or comments about how stupid he thinks certain people are.  These posts could easily come back to hurt him in court or for a harassment case.  Laws are changing and companies are researching peoples’ behaviors on the internet to see if they are a good fit for their company.  Companies have fired others for racy pictures on the internet.  I know I am less likely to deal with people based on what I see on their facebook pages.  I once had to fire an employee due to him showing up on the internet smoking a cigar and having a gun in his hand, followed by a host of pictures of him smoking illegal substances.  Not quite the image I wanted to see on my employee’s profile pages.

5)      Test market when every possible – always get a few opinions.  Whenever I shoot a video or send something out over the web, I get others opinions.  I want to make sure that the message I intend to release is resonating properly.  If I think it is supposed to give one thought, but due to wording, or timing it doesn’t I want to be careful not to release that particular video or article.  Be very careful.

There is only one time to make a first impression, but doing damage control after the fact is much harder then not.  So remember think your campaign through and make sure you are putting out the information in the right format so the client ends up seeing your intended vision or advertising goal.  For more information on this you can easily email me and I will share with you more tips on become a social media marketing genius.   Kyoshi@lininja.com or you can become a member of  www.takingitothenextlevel.com. Also, don't forget to pick up a copy of my book - Martial Art Business 101 - Hooyah Living the Dream - www.atouchofzen.com
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