What is Owned marketing?
What do you really control?

The first item that you manage completely is your web site. You can determine its look, which should be in line with your in-store positioning, and it’s content. Your site should reflect your business dynamics and provide weekly and even daily updates. It should not be considered as a flyer that is updated every season… Choosing what content is relevant for your site and managing to post these updates while balancing your daily activities is a challenge…that can easily be overcome with a few simple tips.

It’s good to understand that any content that you add to your site will improve its search engine ranking, or SEO (Search Engine Optimization). For optimal online visibility, seek help from a SEO specialist – both when creating your website and later on as an ongoing consultation. This regular updating is especially important since search engines rely on algorithms that constantly evolve. The same rules apply for a mobile version of your web site.

Product Catalogue
Your catalogue is content that is very important to have on your website. So once you have established an SEO strategy for your site, you should then consider adding your product catalogue, if you have one. It should showcase your full product line and change periodically; a catalogue with just the best sellers isn’t enough. This will make it easier for your potential customers to search your product content online while helping your SEO ranking.

News
In addition, any news that you publicly issue on behalf of your company should be found on your site. This may include communication on a product launch or a new product line.  A visitor will notice if your site is regularly updated or not – giving him a reason to come back on a regular basis.

Blog
A blog is another way to optimize your web site. It may not be necessary to issue an opinion on everything; however your company’s values and potential stance on industry issues can be effectively communicated via this channel. More importantly, a blog will help you get closer to your customers with the proper approach.

Email Newsletter or Bulletin
Your e-mail newsletter or bulletin is additional web site content that you control. If you do not have one, you should seriously consider creating one since it‘s a great way to reach out to your audience.

Social Media
Finally, your social media presence is also 100% within your control. You should take advantage of your social presence to promote new content and sales on your site. To kick start your social media impact; consider hiring a social media specialist. With the proper training, your SM specialist can provide best practices, establish a strategy, create meaningful content and manage comments. It’s best to handle social media in-house since nobody will speak better of your products and services than a member of your team. More importantly you’re typically in a better position to quickly and clearly answer questions. For addition tips on the topic, click here.

Now that you have a few examples of content that you control, you should have a better idea on what you can add to your site to make it current, interesting for your customers and effective in search engine ranking.

The first concept to understand is that online marketing offers options and possibilities as broad, extensive and varied as offline marketing.

When I hear “I want to be on the Web” or “We have to get into mobile,” the hairs on my arms stand on end (I’m bald, so nothing moves on my head). It’s akin to someone telling me “I want to communicate with people,” without specifying what type, tactic or platform will be used to do so.

I will therefore describe in simple terms what is involved in the world of interactive marketing. There are three types of marketing, three types of communication and three types of advertising. Let’s start with the different types of marketing.

Owned marketing

What do you really control? The first aspect over which you have full control is your website. You control its content, how often it is updated and the search engine optimization (SEO) efforts put forth to improve the chances of it being found by search engines. You also have full control of your newsletter. Lastly, you have 100% control over your social media presence. It’s up to you, and only you, to choose what messages you convey, share and comment on, as well the frequency of your posts.

Earned marketing

Earned marketing is everything you do not control. People talk about your products and services both online and offline. The discussions and comments exchanged online remain permanently on several sites, including user review sites (such as Yelp), blogs and social media sites. The “noise” generated about your brand can sometimes be significant enough to help boost your campaign (when positive).

Although you can’t control the tone or content of discussions, you can lead people to talk about you by helping them share and comment on information, which will, by extension, help increase your visibility among people who don’t necessarily know you.

Paid marketing

Paid marketing refers to all kinds of paid advertising that appears on the Internet and other interactive platforms. This includes display advertising (banners) on the Internet (content, service and social media sites), on video game consoles, mobile devices (sites and applications) and digital displays; video advertising; email advertising (advertisement integrated into a publisher’s newsletter); directories and classified ads; and marketing on search engines (purchase of text advertisements by words/key phrases).

Some of these tools are more “glamorous” than others. Some have instant results, whereas others offer more long-term advantages. Each tool has its place in the consumer purchase cycle (reach, awareness, appreciation, consideration, intent to buy, acquisition/purchase and relationship optimization/management).

To be continued…

Upcoming blog posts will discuss paid marketing in more detail, since this type of marketing drives the other two. These informative articles will help you learn everything there is to know about best practices, helpful tips and common pitfalls to avoid.

Questions? Feel free to join the discussion!