According to the Association for Psychological Science, first impressions occur in the blink of an eye. This means that your business may be judged by its appearance in a matter of milliseconds – especially when viewed online.

Here are 5 tips that should shape your online marketing:

1. Quickly define what your company does.

Unless you’re Coke or Apple, your logo will not define your company. This means you need to develop a clear and concise message defining who you are and what you provide.

2. People love visuals.

People surfing the web have a short attention span so you have to visually captivate them. Consulting with a web expert about layouts, color schemes, shapes, and other design elements are a must.

3.  Personalize it.

Use your name, face, and personal messages. In the online world where trust is hard to gain – having a personality behind the company makes a huge difference.

4. Expertise.

For your website to have value, it must contain your expert knowledge in an easy-to-read format – bullet points and lists are highly recommended.

5. Drive people to your website.

Unless you are driving visitors to your website, tips 1-4 will be useless – successful online marketing starts offline. Are you attending Chamber events and driving people to your site? Are you sending out email newsletters, as well as participating in forums, chat rooms or social media to share your expertise with people who need it? These are a must.

The Internet can be a gold mine but only with patience, persistence participation, and the right marketing strategy.

Imagine you are at a networking event, a chamber of commerce function, or an industry conference and you just stand in the corner the whole time…nothing gets accomplished, right? Well if you are not contributing your knowledge in the online world, then you my friend are standing in the corner and missing out on your opportunity to retain your next customer.

Tomorrow or the day after, you are going to meet a potential prospect that knows they need your service but has no clue about the intricacies or the complexities of what you do. They want to learn more and when you meet them, you might have a minute to initiate a dialogue – but typically that’s not enough time to truly establish the value that you can add to their business.

Here’s a great example:

There are two tax services companies at your local chamber of commerce and as a striving business owner you know you need to hire one.

Tax service company rep A and B are both nice people, both seem trustworthy, and both are referred by other members. At the end of your conversation they leave you their business card with a web address.

Company A’s website has a whitepaper, a “how-to” guide, an updated blog, links to helpful websites, and more information than can you probably handle.

Company B has a nice looking website but no extensive information other than their company address, a few stock photos, and the typical tag line about how they are reliable and that they provide solutions.

Now, which company will you call first? Exactly. It’s officially time for you to join the party.

Before the popularity of Internet, testimonials were typically found on your company’s print brochures, press kits, and even print ads. Now that the Internet is extremely popular (to say the least!), there is an ever-growing platform to help prospects further their consideration of purchasing a product or service from you.

In order to leverage your testimonials successfully in today’s web-hungry world you must make sure to they are seen by more than just visitors to your website. But before you learn where to place your testimonials online, it’s vital to know how to craft an effective testimonial.

1. What Does A Great Testimonial Look Like?

All testimonials are not created equal. Some are full of fluff and a waste of space. A good testimonial provides the individual with a quick route to the great, dependable, safe buying decision they really want to make.

Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – This is where your company offers a differentiation that sets you apart from your competitors. People like to buy stability and consistency. And when your USP is emphasized over and over again with testimonials, it shows there is consistency and longevity associated with your brand and its promise.

Hard Value – Is measurable, you can express it in numbers or percentages. For example, has the individual generated greater revenues by “X” as a result of your business relationship?

Soft Value – These are a little bit more difficult to measure, because you aren’t expressing the values as numbers or percentages. Utilize descriptive words and phrases like “Greater piece of mind,” “Enhanced brand recognition,” “More security and stability” …etc.

Time Element - People want to hear how long it takes to the results of your product or service. It is one deciding factor for them.

Loyalty & Future Business – You want your customers to say they are continuing to work with you now and in the future. Your company is the one they trust and theres no reason to go with any other competitor. This will leave a powerful impression for people and they will be eager to become your next customer.

2. Where Should You Place Your Testimonials Online?

Capturing  a great testimonial won’t mean much unless it is effectively communicated to the right person at the right time. In the ever-growing online world, people will very likely come in contact with your brand in more places than just your website. Here is quick list of places you should considering putting your online testimonials.

Website Homepage – Potential customers will most likely see your company homepage before any other online material. You have just 2-3 seconds to convince them they should not leave. By placing a brief, powerful testimonial  in an easy-to-read area you are multiplying the likelihood of the visitor’s consideration to contact your company or purchase what you are offering.

Blog – Sidebars and columns can be a great place to add company testimonials. They can also be placed effectively under blog posts as comments (if your blog allows other to leave comments).

LinkedIn – In this business-heavy social media platform, testimonials can go a long way in promoting your individual brand or company’s credibility. You simply ask for recommendations from others within your network. You can even choose which testimonials you choose to publish for others to see, so don’t be afraid to solicit recommendations from your network!

Facebook – From research and other people’s reviews – case in point! – there doesn’t seem to be any spectacular Facebook apps for soliciting and retrieving testimonials yet. However, if you have a Company Facebook Fanpage, there is tab labeled “Testimonials” you can easily add in your profile settings.

Video/YouTube – Internet video is growing at a rapid rate. The power of an individual explaining your benefits and products in a story format is huge! By using the right tags and keywords to optimize your posts, you can even use these video testimonials as a way to increase traffic to your site.

Local Business Directories – If your business is dependent on customers from a close proximity (ie, dentist, dry-cleaner, restaurant, gym..etc.) than you should know more people are searching on local directories like Google local and Yelp! than ever before. Encourage your happy customers to leave positive testimonials and high reviews on company pages you set up on such directories.

Speakers Tout Social Media

ONLINE: Material should be relevant and fresh.

By Mark Madler
San Fernando Valley Business Journal Staff
For the 20 minutes Nance Rosen spent writing up a press release about the advantages familiarity with social networking can be to job seekers she received in return exposure from national print and electronic media outlets. Rosen, however, didn’t stop there with her release titled “Job Market Sweet if You Can Tweet.” Using the online social networking mentioned in the article, the cross-promotion provided a bigger reach. Such cross-promotion was just one piece of advice Rosen gave to an audience of about 30 small business owners at the “How 2 Social Media” event on Oct. 27 sponsored by the United Chambers of Commerce.

“It’s a matter of knitting every possible platform together where you can appear,” said Rosen, a nationally known speaker on branding and marketing. “The Internet gives millions of people coming to see you and thousands of media outlets desperately needing good content.”

As the ubiquity of social networking websites and applications like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter expands from the personal world into the business world, owners and entrepreneurs can use these sites as another way to reach potential customers and a low-cost way to promote their product or service.

Kayvan Mott (VP Marketing, Infinite Communications) explaining the need for company blogs

To get any advantages, social networking must be done right. Business must set clear objectives of who they are trying to reach, what content they will publish and what their outcomes are, said Kayvan Mott, a co-owner of Infinite Communications, an Internet marketing and design firm.

Whether one is using a blog, microblogging application Twitter, or Linkedin the important thing is that the material be relevant and fresh.

At Infinite, Mott and business partner Parham Nabatian update their Facebook fan page once or twice day. “Anything you can do to engage your audience, your fans, is really the point,” Mott said. Engaging customers can also be done the low-tech way: through email.

According to a study from the Direct Marketing Association, for every $1 spent on email marketing a business can realize a return on investment of $45.06. Email newsletters allow businesses to listen to their customers and to keep them close, said Kelly Flint, a regional director with email marketing firm Constant Contact. To grow an email list of customers who want to receive communications businesses should mention the list in phone calls, at events, and through in-store guest books, Flint said.

New Media can simply be summarized as digital technologies – this includes the Internet, mobile phones, mp3 players, & television (digital satellites & cable boxes).

Today’s world wide web has entered a stage called 2.0 – Web 2.0 allows the user to interact, add and subtract to spaces on the web mostly at no cost; thus, creating a virtual community! Just as important are search tools and directories that are becoming more target-oriented and specific; allowing Internet users to find the exact product/service they need.

Social Networking Sites, free video platforms like YouTube.com, and Blogs are the perfect example about how an Internet user can make his or her own imprint on the net for virtually no cost other than time.

How does marketing fit in Web 2.0?

New Media Marketers utilize digital platforms, create new ones, or enhance current ones to sell, promote, and communicate products or services.

Why New Media?

• Target marketing has never become so simple…web users search for a product/service and marketers can optimize their website to meet the need of consumer. Marketing will always be about the consumer; find what they want and deliver it to them.

• Simply people spend more time on the web… Also, we like to be a part of communities and this new Web 2.0 world gives us the freedom to join the type of community that most interests us. These thriving online communities are the perfect place for marketers to build a two-way relationship with their target audience, allowing the audience to ask questions and make suggestions – neither of which are possible in traditional marketing . For example, people join the Facebook page of their favorite TV show = a mutual beneficial relationship. More relationships mean more business.

• Adjustments, Maintenance, & Tracking – Do you ever wonder how Amazon or itunes sends you emails suggesting books or songs that you might like – that’s tracking – a bit scary, no? The Web makes it easier for marketers to track which ads work best, and which ads need enhancements.

• New Media marketing dollars bring greater returns with lower costs on the Web! Isn’t that the name of the game?