Every organization needs to communicate with their audience whether it's customers, potential customers, members, suppliers or others. You know you have great products and services that would be of great use to your audience if only they knew about it... But where's the best place to deliver your message in order to make sure your audience hears it?

The answer, of course, is to find your audience where they are. Some people are enthusiastic Facebook users, some live on Twitter, some like LinkedIn, Google +, Instagram or other social media venues. Some people don't use social media at all, but appreciate an email as long as it's not unsolicited. Some people actually still appreciate snail mail, though that's becoming a smaller audience every year. Lastly, traditional TV or radio advertising can be effective for certain marketing efforts. Regardless of where they are, though, people aren't going to change their ways just because you think one of these methods is better than another. If you want to reach people effectively, you must make it easy for them, not for you. Fortunately, social media marketing and email marketing are not expensive or difficult if you take some time to learn about them or hire someone who already knows what to do.

Do it Yourself

A great way to start an online marketing campaign is to read everything you can about social media and email marketing. We have published several articles that can get you started and we list a few of them here. And others have created great content about the subject, so look around and see what else is out there.

• Get Noticed by Search Engines
• Get found with unique relevant content
• Promote Your Website With Social Media
• Web Campaigns and Promotions

Once you have learned enough and you know what to do, you must be disciplined about actually doing it. There is nothing that says you don't really care about your audience louder than a news page with two year old news or a blog that has not had an article written in a year. If you discover the demands of the job don't allow you to keep up with the effort, then shut it down completely and abandon online marketing or hire someone to help you.

Getting Outside Help

If your work is such that you can't afford the time to learn or execute your online communications strategy, but you know it's necessary for success, there are plenty of organizations out there that can help. Online marketing is an ever-changing, complex subject that can be daunting for some. Worse, it actually requires some dedicated time to implement a successful online marketing strategy. One of the advantages of some online marketing plans is that you don't have to remember to do anything. The vendor will remind you whenever it's time to think about it again. In our lowest cost plans, we start with a low pressure, monthly contact where we gather enough information from you to last for the month. The content is all yours, but the effort to produce it is off your back. More expensive plans are more involved and get even better results, but no matter which one you choose, your search engine listings will improve and your traffic will grow.

If you would like to know more about getting help with your online marketing efforts or about the SEO tools built into Build111 and Church111 including the built-in eBlast111 email marketing tool, give us a call at (877) 397-7605 or contact us online.