A Learning Experience From An Old Friend

(Please note that I am away from July 28th to August 2nd.)

Don’t you just love having those insightful conversations with old friends when after the conversation is over you are very clear about what your next steps are?

I’m talking about a conversation that I had yesterday with Ken Farrish of BCBuilding.info.

Ken and I go away back to 1975 when we met when he hired me at National Aluminum Products Ltd. National Aluminum Products Ltd. manufactured aluminum windows for both residential wood framed and high rise concrete buildings.

Ken continues to serve the BC home building industry with BCBuilding.info providing “Leading Edge Information for the BC Building Industry”. Click here to go to BCBuilding.info.

I was sharing my observation and some frustration that I am sure most people go through about their web sites.

Here’s the clarity that I walked away with from our conversation.

– After the best part of a year of building the web site, it is “no silver bullet”.
– The web site will not market itself.
– I invested a considerable amount of time, money, resources and most of all, all the time that I would have been marketing in a normal situation.
– Reserves were low after the completion of the site and are quickly being replenished after a very concentrated conventional marketing effort after June 8th of this year.
– Conventional marketing means; 1.) identifying associations and companies to offer speaking presentations to 2.) contact them through e-mail, telephone, snail mail to demonstrate how the speaking presentations will add value to their teams 3.) request an appointment 4.) complete the appointment 5.) present the speaking presentation, add 10 times more value than they expect, do not sell 6.) invite the audience to subscribe to our e-newsletter 7.) clients will buy from you when they know you, like you, trust you, respect you, when they get value and when they are ready
– Continue to invest more time and energy back into conventional marketing using the web site as a marketing enhancement tool – not expecting it to be a silver bullet
– E-marketing the web site is as big a project, and just as complex if not more complex than the web site was in the first place.
– I don’t have a clear e-marketing plan at the moment.
– I choose not to split my energies just now between conventional marketing and building an e-marketing plan and feel that conventional marketing will be the best focus to build back reserves.
– Set specific conventional marketing goals and when completed, block out time to create an e-marketing plan
– Realize that when the e-marketing plan is finished, it will require a budget and someone with the expertise to complete it.
– The University of British Columbia has an E-Marketing Program and a student may be interested in my project.
– I can then focus on clients and conventional marketing with someone looking after the project without feeling fragmented.

Here is what Ken shared with me.

Yo Bud,

Here are a few resources to suck up some of your spare time on this, your newest “learning opportunity”.

Internet marketing terms http://www.msdbm.com/Glossary.cfm?PageID=226

IIMA – International Internet Marketing Association http://www.iimaonline.org

BC companies about whom I have heard good things http://www.6smarketing.com http://www.fourthcompany.com http://www.ideographic.net http://www.invokemedia.com

The UBC Internet Marketing Course http://www.tech.ubc.ca/netmark

Web sites with good Internet marketing resources http://www.wilsonweb.com http://www.marketingsherpa.com http://www.sitepoint.com/cat/site-marketing

Hope some of these help.

Have a Top Drawer day.
Ken
:o)

Ken Farrish
BCBuilding.info
E-mail: ken@bcbuilding.info
Phone: 604-943-9299
Web site: www.bcbuilding.info
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