Your marketing software does a lot. I don’t just mean Infusionsoft, but any marketing software you use in your business to follow up with prospects and customers. Are you leveraging the previous purchase history, their original reason they opted in to your marketing or even their interests?

Most will probably say they already target their prospects and customers–  but I disagree.

When you send your marketing message, do you tailor it towards your audience’s needs … or your own? Are you trying to please people who don’t exactly fit well into your product or service? These questions should be asked by the person who constructs your marketing campaigns. For many entrepreneurs, it’s them; for larger businesses it’s a team of people. Either way, the difference between a strong marketing campaign and a weak one is the relevance to people’s needs. All it takes is one person to drive relevance (and one to blow it entirely).

Targeting everyone is targeting no one. Remember that. It’s much better to send a specific marketing message to 100 people than 1000 people. The more you are an asset in their lives, the more valuable you become.

When you use your marketing software … whether that’s Infusionsoft or anything else … maximize its features. Segmentation is powerful. It drives results and helps keep the noise down and the junk out of the inbox. Your audience will thank you for it.

[Image credit: seantoyer]

1. Google Analytics Intelligence

Google Analytics is a given. Awesome free measurement tool. They recently launched Intelligence as a new feature of Analytics similar to Google Alerts, Intelligence will notify you of any anomalies in your traffic.  Things that you often don’t notice when you’re looking at a macro level. Things that, if you catch them as they’re happening, you might be able to take advantage of and leverage to get lots of free traffic.

2. Google Insights for Search

A big part of marketing and advertising online is figuring out how to find your target market.  Obviously you’ll get a much better ROI on your ad spend if you can get your message in front of people who want what you sell.  Google Insights for Search allows you to dig in and find those people. By entering in keywords that your target market may be interested in, you can see what other keywords they use, geographic and volume trends.

3. Google Trends

Google Trends is an interesting tool.  Like Insights for Search, it will give you volume trends over time.  But, when you enter in a website, Google Trends will let you know what keywords people who visit that site search on and what other sites they’re likely to visit.   So, if you know that your target market is likely to visit infusionsoft.com, you’ll find 10 other sites they’re likely to visit (including customerhub.net) and 10 keywords that they’re likely to search on.

4. Website Grader

If you’re serious about growing a business online, you need to get serious about your website.  HubSpot created a grader that grades your website on multiple factors and gives you suggestions for improvement.  You’ll get a score out of 100.  If you’re not in the “A” range, you need to get busy improving your site.  Website Grader will give you directions for on and off page SEO, how well you’re doing in the blogosphere and in social media.

5. SEOmoz Linkscape

Incoming links to your site play a significant factor in your search engine rankings.  Getting details on those links is now easy with SEOmoz’s Linkscape tool. Linkscape displays the performance in a variety of scoring methods that empower you to make the necessary changes for your website. At the same time, you’ll learn the ropes of SEO when using the tool as SEOmoz is a trusted authority for advice.

6. Google Keyword Tool

Google collects and tracks TONS of data through is web search.  You can capitalize on that data by using the Google Keyword Tool.  This will help you find out what people are searching on, how many people are search, an how much competition there is.  Be sure to change the match type to “Exact” to find the exact phrases that people type in.  Otherwise, you’ll get various combinations of commonly searched words.

7. ClickBank

ClickBank is an affiliate network.  People post products that they’d like others to sell for them.  They pay affiliates a commission if they put up links for their products and sell them. You can use this data to find out what people are buying.  If you’re in startup phase or you’re looking to expand your current product offering, log into ClickBank and look at some reports to find out what’s selling and what isn’t.  This can help you avoid some very costly mistakes.

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New marketing tools are being created all the time!  Keep a look out for new ways to find the info you need to improve your marketing. The data is already out there, which will help you get the right message to the right people at the right time. There happens to be one other really powerful tool that I absolutely love.  I’ll write about it later.  If you want to know what it is right now, request it in the comments.

Anyone who has followed us for long knows that we create a ton of original marketing material.  We have no intentions of plagiarizing anyone, especially Firehost.  We actually have a great relationship with Chris Drake, CEO of Firehost. He’s been to our office multiple times and we value our friendship with him.

When researching designs for our new website, our design team did look at Firehost, as well as dozens of other great designs. After noting cool design elements from many different sites, our designers went to work creating their own website design. They have been literally “heads down” for weeks working on our site design.  Until our Twitter followers pointed it out, we hadn’t realized how similar our site had ended up being to Firehost. We definitely don’t want people to have the impression that we’re plagiarizing — that’s absolutely not what we’re about.

Here are a few recent examples of how our website has evolved just in the past, keeping our branding consistent between them:

Clate and I have already communicated with Chris Drake and apologized.  He was gracious enough to understand (our site is hosted with Firehost – he could have easily taken our site down if he had wanted). We look forward to continuing a great relationship with Firehost.

I bring this up to point out the fact that it’s easy to inadvertently create marketing materials that are similar to what other people have created. It’s important to have the integrity to never copy and to make the necessary changes when things don’t feel right.

Thanks to our followers and friends that pointed out the similarities. We’re focused and dedicated to providing email marketing software to help small business grow.

–Tyler

When it comes to acquiring new customers, most business owners go hunting instead of harvesting. And that’s a shame, because when you switch to “harvesting” mode, you’re working smart and scooping up sales left and right. You’re like the fisherman with the irresistible bait, drawing your prospects to you. You can spend your time closing deals on the phone with hot leads or go out on the golf course because you know your prospects will call you when they’re ready to move forward.

I wrote on this topic before, and can’t stress the importance of making the distinction between these two methods — it could be the thing that helps your business get to the next level.

Today, I published an article for Small Business Trends to help get the word out about this important topic. Small Business Trends is a great resource for entrepreneurs and small business owners — we are thrilled to work with their editor in the coming months, Anita Campbell, as she gears up to speak at this year’s InfusionCon!

I encourage you to read and share the article Hunting vs. Harvesting: Which Method Describes Your Customer Acquisition Strategy? If you have thoughts or comments, please share below!

–Clate

[Photo credit: Small Business Trends]

Don’t forget, if you want to share a marketing moment in 2009, please do so in the comments!

1. Presidential Race Won Through Social Media (And Email Marketing)

   Regardless of which candidate you supported, the presidential race and the current administration’s approach to communication changed marketing. This was the first presidential race where candidates utilized YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter as much as they did traditional political advertising, and this shined a light on the way any campaign – political or otherwise – communicates with community. Social media leader Brent Leary documents Obama’s particular approach in full detail in Barack 2.0,  and shares lessons for businesses who want to apply the concepts from the campaign’s marketing success. Once in office, the White House expanded their communication to leverage social media and email marketing capabilities, continuing the arc of social engagement well after inauguration.

2. Facebook Vanity URLs Became Available to People and Businesses

   While this seems minor, it casts the importance on branding consistency and easy access so people can find the Facebook page they want. As companies, businesses and people realize they have a ‘Google resume,’ the race is on to own it across the board. URL consistency is key. Another important ramification of Facebook’s development is the idea of tapping into the largest online community and planting your flag where people are already engaged. With a Facebook vanity URL, one has solidified their Facebook identity once and for all.
   Side story: When Facebook opened up the ability for others to claim a vanity URL to their profile, there was a rush for others to get their name before someone else got it. Someone even took our Infusionsoft vanity URL due to the popularity. Facebook opened up that ability for Fan Pages and we were able to get it back, along with thousands of other businesses.

3. The Year Twitter Blew Up

   Twitter created the first-ever real-time forum of quick engagement the marketing world has ever seen. Some have paved the way by embracing everything about it (i.e. Comcast’s Frank Eliason), while others are still catching up and figuring it out. While so much is being said of the burgeoning site, we’ll keep it short and simple: It’s a beautiful thing, and we’re excited to see how it continues to push the boundaries of marketing, branding, community and engagement. You can always Tweet with us by sending messages to @Infusionsoft.

4. FTC Dropped the Banhammer on Shenanigans

   This year the Federal Trade Commission made substantial changes to help regulate marketing and advertising to consumers including voice broadcasts, blogging and testimonials. These changes shocked and awed the blogosphere, marketers and businesses built on less-than-savory practices. This year, compared to the past, the regulatory beast woke up and advocated for consumers in a way yet seen across the landscape of online content. Everyone will be digesting the new regulations as they piece together 2010’s strategies.

5. Email Marketing NOT Replaced by Social Media

   The relevance of email marketing has been a hot topic this year in our industry, and that’s a good thing. As online engagement becomes more social, email marketing has to keep up. Social media has pushed the meaning of communication, and it’s exciting to see the evolution of email, as well many more businesses using email marketing in their campaigns. Next year email marketing spend is expected to increase, and it must be integrated with a solid social media plan.

6. Engagement, Not Number of Followers, Matter

   We learned engagement matters, not the number of followers or size of your email list. While it was an effective stunt, Ashton Kutcher’s competition against CNN in a race for followers spoke to us marketers about the meaning of a “million followers” and helped us examine and improve our interactions with our audience. The same holds true for email marketing: new tools and measurement make it possible for a marketer of any size measure engagement and flush dead weight off their email list. Quality over quantity.

7. Social CRM Gets Real

   Analysts and industry insiders have discussed the advent of “Social CRM” for a year or two now. This year it grew from concept to a feature in demand for many businesses. With the unpredictable economy, businesses desired to make sure they were making smart decisions with their customers and their marketing, and wanted to deliver results from a CRM; not just point to it as a static database. Destination CRM did a feature this year on where exactly “Social CRM” fits into the organization, and companies are forging ahead to make CRM social and “alive.” Here at Infusionsoft, we benefit and leverage Helpstream for “social support” and have seen remarkable results from it.

8. Motivate to Automate

   This year, many companies have shifted efforts toward automating customer service, marketing and operations more than before. This is likely due to everything from lower costs to lower headcounts (doing more with less), and it has introduced new efficiencies in the marketplace. But with automation does not come less meaning. Remarkably, these automation technologies have also become smarter, and given the user greater control and insight into their processes and results.

9. Measuring Up and Providing Value

   If 2008 was the year of ideas, 2009 began the implementation and measurement of them – based on the economic need to show quantifiable value, numbers and correlate marketing efforts to hard sales numbers. Marketing software and services now offer powerful reporting suites to give insights into the performance and value of their work. This has transcended marketing from “fluff” to “stuff” for businesses, and the ability to associate marketing activity to revenue for the company.

10. The Lines Between B2C and B2B Were Blurred

    A legitimate and large discussion amongst marketers and sales reps across many industries this year has all but concluded that B2B buyers aren’t totally unreachable. Through the power of email, networking, and social media, buyers are accessible more than ever before. The idea is that B2B buyers are consumers: they use search and they depend on their connections to get trusted recommendations on products and services. Throughout 2010, I expect B2B to no longer become a barrier to sales and make it easier for people to transact among each other.

11. Accounts Receivable Collects With Marketing

    More than previous years, marketing plays an active role in working with accounts receivable (internal collections) in minimizing unwarranted chargebacks, past-due accounts and overall expectations perceived from customers. Essentially, during the treacherous economy, marketing has worked more closely with finance in ensuring people are happy and, thus, is able to collect the cash. Likewise, these departments have been using collection opportunities to work with customers from a marketing function, and to give them individualized payment plans and success steps so they can be retained as happy and repeat customers.

We are excited to see marketing’s gears shift so tremendously – from annoying to timely, lame to interesting, boring to fun, wasteful to useful and scripted to sincerely engaged. Whether taught through mistakes or successes, we as consumers, buyers, advertisers and marketers have taken these lessons in and will bring them with us close to heart in 2010.

What marketing moments do your remember from 2009?

[Photo Credits: takomabibelot, yorkjason, adria.richards, mich.peru, Robyn Gallagher, cambodia4kidsorg, stevendepolo, gauravonomics, tallkev, vrypan, rmburnes, caseywest on Flickr; Creative Commons licensed.]