I was recently asked to speak to a business women networking group about the services I offer – social media, search engine optimization, website stuff, etc. Not currently being a part of this group, it was hard to ascertain the needs of the group and which way to go on my spotlight. Further, I wasn’t quite given a firm time for the spotlight but knew it was part of a networking meeting so I thought I had an idea (I was wrong, I was the WHOLE meeting.. btw, KILLED IT). I know what I do so I could talk all day about it, but wanted to be more purpose driven. So, here I was, in the shower, and it came to me… talk about the Trifecta of Online Marketing! I began to scribble notes of the order and what to say and well, it was awesome. My friend, who invited me, she said, it went well, we normally don’t get this many questions or comments. I won’t mention, ok, I will… that I also got 2 clients from it too! SOLID!
A second about online marketing
Many folks just don’t get the value or understand what is meant by online marketing. Consider what you do in person – cold calls, door knocking, passing out flyers, speaking engagements, 1on1s with other networkers, networking meetings and events….then take all that and put in online. Everything that you do in person is essentially duplicated online. You are building relationship, directing traffic to certain places, sharing offers and value and building your business while you help your target market solve their pains.
However, all that stuff online… it works 24/7, even when you aren’t working…. when you are sleeping, on vacation, meeting with clients and etc… it is always working for you. It’s like the best employee you could ever have but MORE!
What is a Trifecta anyways?
If you look it up in the online dictionary, because well, nobody has a hard copy dictionary these days anyways, it says that it is a run of 3 which wins or of a grand event…. and also a bet in which the person that is placing the bet is forecasting the first 3 finishers of said race, in the order they finish. Further, quite interestingly enough… the origin comes from tri- meaning 3 (duh I know) and perfecta to equal trifecta. Well… how ironic is that origin… the perfect 3?! Now, MY trifecta isn’t necessarily in a specific order as there are two ways it could work well.. but the point is… all 3 are required for a perfect online marketing experience
The Perfect 3 – the Trifecta of Online Marketing
If you speak to any business owner you will see that these perfect 3 are well, perfect and must haves. You have to have your website, your social media and your email marketing. BOOM! Now, let me explain the 3 pieces for you in better detail… with why you must have it!
Website
This seems quite obvious but there are many that still don’t have this piece down. Consider your website as your online business card. This is the place where everyone goes to research you, to find out more about your products and services and well, when you can’t tell them personally, it speaks for itself! This is where you continue to publish value – can you say regular blogs! This is where you want to show yourself as the Wikipedia to your business industry! Further, this is a means to capture or get them to give you their email address whether it is a form on your side bar or a pop up on a page with a valuable opt-in piece!
Social Media
In walks social media… it’s online and it’s a great place to build those relationships. This is a great place for you to be pushing out your super value from your website – remember those blog things? This is another great way to get folks to opt into your email list, but usually not where they will opt in, however, quite possible. Because you are sharing your blog, you are driving them back to your website… where they can read about your products or services they didn’t know about before, they can read your valuable blogs AND they can opt into your email list. Here, you can get stuff to go viral… which is like sharing on steroids… could you imagine if one of your blogs went viral. Think about this… your blog was shared by 10 people which puts you in front of their friends, say 500 each… and of those 5000 people, 10 more shared… hello… huge. So, what does this mean.. this means, you want to create content (on your website) that you share (on your social media) that your target market WANTS and NEEDS!
Yep, this is the place where you continue to share your own content, where you build new relationships and continue to engage with your already present relationships. You don’t have to push out only your content, but this is where you can share industry relative content, motivation, fun, trending topics and so much more! I still don’t get why more don’t see this value. If you are lacking in this area and need some help. I have created a video series to WALK you through the steps – from creation to killing it, on Facebook!
Email Marketing
Let me start here… when I first got into business, I heard so many say, build your list, build your list. My response.. what do I say, who wants to listen to me, wait until I have more followers. Guess what… SO WRONG. If you learn ANYTHING from this post… it is… START NOW! Building your email list takes a butt ton of time and you can’t make it grow, if you don’t….. START. Yea, well… it took me like a year.. .and do you know, of my last 2 years, the one thing I regret, starting my list sooner! So, are you getting it.. it is HUGE… it’s GOLD, quite honestly.
Your email list is GOLD.. it’s money! Imagine this…. Which would you rather:
- Hoping to show up in someone’s social media feed, when they are online and if/when you have posted
- Hoping that when someone wants to remember or research more about your business, they know what your website address is or even how to find your website to do so
- Have your email IN your target market’s inbox
That’s kind of like a no brainer to me. I want to be in my target market’s email. Sure, they may not read it, but they SUBSCRIBED to it. They can leave whenever they want, but I have made it easy for them to find me.. as I have brought the info TO THEM!
You have to be top of mind to your consumer and your target market and you can NOT do that if they don’t know you are there, they have to search to find you, they have to work to find your profiles or website or they have to run you down. Our job is to make our information readily available to our consumers.
One last parting tip – SEO
Now, I understand that the trifecta is 3 and I didn’t mention SEO as part of the trifecta… but I am going to say that search engine optimization (SEO) is a sub-category of the website category. You can’t show up in search organically (naturally, versus paid) if you don’t put forth the work and extra work on your website. SEO is the work. I won’t get into that here but here go to the SEO category in the blogs (over there on the right) and all of my SEO related blogs will come up…. Go for it…. Good luck and expect more tasks added to your to-do list – I am good for that… ask anyone! Lol
So, should you have any questions about my trifecta, how to create your website, work on your SEO, start your email list or bump your social media into overdrive, contact me… I am your girl that can help. Let me know what you thought about the Perfect 3, in the comments below.
~Kristen
I’m good about the first three, but I really fall down with the email marketing side of things. And I do know it. But man, does that take time! You kicked my butt in gear again though, so thank you.
And I bet you rocked the speech! You go, Kristen!
There were technically only 3 Susan. LOL Everything takes time.. so spend it where it makes the most CENTS! Glad to get you kicked into gear. TY, I rocked it. lol
Kristen,
I like the name and conceot of this article Trifecta. I learned a lot about how to use the list . I alos was able to get information about using the best content that your fanbase wants and desires to get more people following. This was helpful and I clicked on the Seo article as well. The tips were great and to the point.
Lori English
Well thank you Lori… glad you found a lot of value and even clicked through to SEO.
Great post. I love the trifecta online marketing topic. Each part of the trifecta is really important. Some of my clients have one area but have nothing in the other areas. I keep reminding them that it is important to have all these areas updating often. They either feel they have no time to do it or they just don’t know what they want on these other areas.
Yea, you aren’t alone… or rather our clients Sabrina.. because I have some of those too.. that aren’t killing it all over.
Love calling it the trifecta. I remember when I was first learning it was hard to put it all together. You do that in such an understandable way. So glad you got 2 clients out of it. Do more network groups & you will keep growing. Hope you had the entire group sign up for your email list.
PS we have all 3 covered but our list grows very slowly.
I have hit my time limit for marketing groups.. so working on finding some new blood and ones that will benefit me in learning and referrals and the other way around. Thanks Roz. Glad you have all 3 covered. Glad your list is growing.. always too slow! lol
Excellent tips once again Kristen. I understand the importance of all three parts of the trifecta but must admit the last one is difficult and very slow.
You are right Tami and THAT is why you must start it right away.. and provide value that they will WANT to opt into.
I agree that email is Gold. Continually working on growing my email list. You put the 3 factors of online marketing in such a succinct manner, it helps to keep it in perspective as I am mapping out my time to spend on online marketing.
Awesome Karen.. glad you have the list going and growing and so true.. it all takes time!
Very helpful post, Kristen. Even though I am doing all 3, this made me conceptualize it in a slightly different way, Thank you!
Wow.. well I am glad that you are doing it Reba, thank you!
It’s like a three legged stool…..it doesn’t work if you don’t have all three legs. If you want your marketing plan to be effective, you have to have all the pieces. You wouldn’t go out and make sales calls without doing prep work or having business cards. You can’t expect your marketing to work without a plan and without all of these pieces. Great job my friend.
You have a way of explaining things too Christy.. love the 3 legged stool.. perfect!
Really great tips – and you write in a very engaging manner. I bet your in person delivery is even better. I will check out the info on SEO – because yes – that is the work! Thanks
Thanks Audrey.. my in person might be a little faster than most want.. and I try to slow down, but it is soooo hard. lol Awesome on the SEO, yep, that is the work.
I’m working on the email list. The list is growing. I’m actually pleased that it’s growing so well. I started gathering the list prior to the launch of my site, and that’s been a tremendous benefit. Build buzz in advance.
Ohhh, that is super Jennifer, so glad to hear. YAY!
Love the name the trifecta of online marketing. All three are so important. So happy you killed the presentation and got new clients out of it! Way to go!
Why thank you Carol… I appreciate it.
As always, you provide valuable information.
I have been in avoidance of email – and today, right now I acknowledge what needs to be accomplished here.
You are greatly appreciated. Many blessings for all that you do. Thank you.
Why thank you Celea. Get out of that mentality.. that rut, you NEED it. Glad you are getting there tho.
Of course you nailed it, you rock and well done on the new clients.
I’ve not heard of this method, but once broken down I know them all. Well done you.
Not really a method Sonya.. but just the value of the three.. need/must have and thank you!
Yes, the trifecta is clearly understood. I have all 3 in place and always enhancing the process. Currently trying to decide what wordpress theme to change to that is seo and mobile responsive since I just discovered my current thesis theme is not mobile friendly Working on this leg of the trifecta now ..and again. I used to run my own networking group here in Phoenix and whenever I invited in a speaker along the same as what you do – it was a popular meeting. That says a lot, right? Kudos on your presentation too !
Why thank you on the meeting. Teresa, if you are finding a new theme and the theme is current, chances are it is mobile responsive.. they HAVE to be these days, so unless it is a year or 3 old, it will likely be. As far as SEO.. that’s a plugin.. the site will be ready and you just have to do the work.
First, congrats on your new clients. Next, love the trifecta here. I’ve been focused on all of it. Building my email list from by blog as well as building my social media presence is all something I work on consistently.
That is great Tandy… I am sure you have plenty to offer as far as a freebie opt in… and blending them all together.
Trifecta does explain things clearly. I find it difficult to build a list for a one-time-buyer type of product. . .
Well… I bet you could figure something out.. just think… do they have friends? 😉
Great way to organize social media – especially when it can be so overwhelming and remembering Trifecta is easy, especially when you add a fourth – SEO. Your blogs are always so helpful!
Yes, you caught that 4th too Candess, yes.. and thank you so much.
Congrats on your success at the network meeting, Kristen! Awesome for you! I agree with your trifecta for online marketing. They all support and work together. Of the three, growing my list is very slow. I see others saying the same thing. One of my friends is an email marketing pro and we talk about this all the time. Each part of these three really does make up the whole! Thanks for a great article…as always.
Thanks Bev.. and you are right, just like others noted, it IS slow… building our list, that is why it is so important to continue to put out good offers for opt in and to start it as early as possible. Thank you!
Great article. These are really the basic that many don’t have the patient to get in place and remain consistent with them.
Nope, you are exactly right Webly, no patience to get them going and keep them.
After reading the first 3 before getting to the end of the blog, I asked myself ” Did she mention these 3 without SEO?” Then I laughed when I saw SEO at the end of the blog. It’s true that these 4 go together as a great package for a successful online marketing.
Yea, SEO is my “jam” Apolline and couldn’t NOT include it.. but then it was like it wasn’t a TRIfecta… but still hid it in there…. thanks for noticing! lol
This is a great way to present all the parts so that they make sense. Is it any wonder that some marketers think that one part of a stool leg is going to make them successful? True, it can be daunting to undertake all three. However, this is business and you need to run your business like a business.
You’ve got that right Joyce… can’t have a seat without all 3 legs of the stool! 😉
The perfect threesome to grow our businesses. It is easy to focus on social media and let the website and SEO slide. Thanks for the reminder
Yes ma’am.. and don’t forget the email marketing which is the gold Alene.
Trifecta is such a perfect way of looking at it. I find it hard to do all at one time; feel like I need to learn the parts in stages, and would have loved to have a road map of the stages as I sputtered along the road. About to get to building my list, so about to complete my trifecta.
Well, it is easier to have the website and/or social media first because we USE those two for the email list… and kind of need them too. Great job on getting going Robin.
It really is the perfect trifecta. When you master all 3 your clients really feel connected to your business.
Yes ma’am.. thanks Indira.
Working hard on all three PLUS SEO. Great list Kristen, and I am not surprised you knocked it out of the park at your speaking engagement. Way to go!
YES Brenda, so glad to hear that! Why thank you!
I am doing great with having a website and utilizing social media and seo, but when it comes to email marketing, it is always a big time learning curve for me lol I have a list but need to really learn how to monetize it and grow it 🙂
Thanks for sharing your Trifecta of online marketing Kristen 🙂 So important to have these in place if you want success online 🙂
Awesome post!
Thanks so much Joan.. and glad that you are moving on a few of them. Your website could definitely use some SEO though..and I have some great tips for your website visual appeal. If you need any help with those or your email marketing, let me know.
Agree on all of it…my email list is still a bit off as I never have much time for it…but I try to send out a newsletter at least once a month.:-)
Yes.. I remember Kata, but your email list is set up finally and I have seen a few go out… so you are there. 😉
Yes, yes, yes, I know! Email marketing is gold! Will you please get off my case? 😉 Actually, I appreciate the reminder that I’m not doing enough to take advantage of my mailing list. Will give it a lot more thought this week. Thanks for the kick in the pants.
Nope Jackie, NOT getting off your case. You need to do it… at least once a month? Happy to kick you in the pants, any time. 🙂
Trifecta is the perfect word! Nailed it with this, Kristen. No ONE thing is going to work for online marketing – all three of these components together do a great job!
Thank you Mindy! Yep.. it’s our footprint indeed.. of everything we do online. Thanks!