A while back, we discussed various free online tools that allow you to monitor your brand’s reputation online. These tools enable you to search blogs and websites that have mentioned you and your company. But how often do you Google your business?

There are several reasons you should keep up with your brand’s ranking on Google. First of all, if you run a business online, it’s likely that you put effort into search engine optimization. So, a common reason to use Google here would be to check out your keywords. Say your site sells parts for cars and you want to check your rankings for certain keywords you focus on, such as “ford explorer shocks” or “cold air intake.” To get an effective idea as to how your site and pages are ranking for these keywords, you should be using Google at least twice a week to check up.

In addition to the monitoring tools mentioned in the link above, you should also randomly check Google throughout the week to see what’s being said about your brand online. There are several third party sites that house reviews and coupon codes for websites that show up in Google searches. While some of these sites offer positive effects to your company, some of them can be so negative that they result in damage to your business.

Sites like epinions.com and measuredup.com allow consumers to create a profile about your company and review their experience. Back to the car part store – let’s call it “shopcarparts.com.” If you Google “shopcarparts.com” and you find a negative review about your company, what do you do? Keep in mind that if you see it on Google, customers (and potential customers) are seeing it, too.

Over at the Personal Branding Blog, they suggest sending out a press release as a way to control your Google results. Although they discuss sending out a personal press release, which may or may not be relevant to your business, it’s still a great idea to build off of. Not only is a press release a good way to gain results in Google, it also provides links and anchor text that boost SEO value.

These are just a few reasons it is important to use a site as simple as Google to keep up on your customer service and marketing endeavors. Are there any other suggestions your business has used? We’d love to hear them in the comments!

There’s no doubt that the Internet has changed the ways of marketing. But have the ways of marketing changed for the Internet? Not the basics, that’s for sure. One of the first things you learn about marketing is the marketing mix, or the 4 P’s.

1^st P – Product

2^nd P – Price

3^rd P – Placement

4^th P – Promotion

We can implement all of these when marketing on the Internet – but at this point our plates aren’t full and going back for seconds won’t suffice. In basic marketing classes, students are taught the 4 P’s of basic marketing.  But what happens when they hit the real world – are these 4 P’s all they need to understand and execute? It appears the marketing mix needs a makeover.

photo by stamina

5^th P – Purpose

The Internet has given us the ability to create value for our customers by tweeting, blogging, interacting, etc. The goal is defining this purpose and how to continue providing quality to customers.  Let’s say you own a flower shop. The purpose of your marketing strategy could be to teach customers how to arrange them or how to plant them. As mentioned above, you can then deliver these instructional value pieces through your blog, your Twitter account and/or direct mail pieces.

Giving customers a purpose in your product or service makes them want to come back to you. There are going to be other florists in your area. But if you’re shop is providing memorable value to the customer, they’ll inevitably come back to you.

6^th P – People

Without people, your product won’t have a purpose or be priced, placed or promoted on the Internet. More importantly, to get there you need good people that understand the importance of utilizing various channels to achieve success.

People affect multiple aspects of your Internet marketing strategy. If you don’t have good sales people, your product won’t sell. Your product won’t be placed or promoted efficiently if you don’t have the right marketing team or a well-trained customer service staff.  A purpose won’t even be considered if your people don’t understand the importance. Ultimately, if your company isn’t made of good people, great people won’t come back as customers!

‘People’ can also refer to those in your network. Having a large group of people in your network, both online and off, allows you to reach a vast audience. But, you also need to carefully select those in your network to ensure quality.  Slowly but surely, it will build itself. Networking also establishes connections with people who may provide useful services that you’ll possibly need down the road – or connections that will come to you when they’re in need.

How do you find good people to hire and good people to reach out to? Try the next P:

7^th P – Participation

Participation is especially important when integrating marketing strategies and the Internet simply because there are so many ways to participate. This medium has created so many options for us, involving all aspects of marketing. We can sell, we can promote, we can find people/customers, etc.

For one, online participation enables you to interact with new, existing and potential customers while simultaneously creating value and purpose for them. It also creates interaction with those that are talking about your company and the surrounding industry. You can also meet new people and expand your network. Essentially, by combining your P’s together – such as product, price, people, promotion – you can find new ways to utilize participation.

What do you think?

Are these P’s appropriate? What other P’s would you add to the mix?