The Food Pyramid of Internet Marketing

by Dorothy Mowbray

Have you ever noticed, when you walk into some restaurants, the first thing you see is a huge display of the most delectable, mouth-watering, and visually appealing desserts they have on their menu?
Do you think this is by accident?

Lavish, over the top cheesecake, triple-layered red velvet cake, pie, chocolate, chocolate, and even more chocolate as well as other mouth-watering delicacies calling out to you, saying, “Your mouth will thank you!” or “C’mon… it’s a special night. Forget about that diet! I’ll make it all better!”

Even worse, after they take your name and number of guests, they give you a buzzer thing and tell you to have a seat—directly in front of the desserts. Internally, Instant Gratification You argues, “Why don’t I just have dessert? What could it hurt? They all look so good! And besides, it’s cheaper than a full entrée!”
But then Responsible You pipes up, “Seriously? Don’t even think about it. Dessert won’t get you through the day.” Because Responsible You knows that the healthy thing to do is to eat your foundational meal before you dig into dessert.

In the world of internet marketing, Social Media is like that enticing dessert. Everyone is talking about it, enticing you to try it, but do you have your marketing meal in the right order? The first level ‘meat and potatoes’** of any solid internet marketing strategy is a successful website converting visitors into leads and sales. If that staple is missing, your marketing meal is missing its main course!

Once you have a solid website base, you can then drive more visitors to your website through the second level of the internet marketing pyramid--organic search, PPC campaigns and other traditional marketing efforts. After you are consistently driving visitors to your site, the next level of the pyramid is comprised of a solid email marketing campaign to your existing customer base to entice them to either do more business with you, or remind them to do it more often. Once all these elements are developed and functioning well, then you’re ready to top it off with some social media!

Yes, all of these services are offered on our menu, but why is this proper marketing order? Because, all your marketing efforts lead your prospect to your website. And if your website isn’t converting visitors into leads and sales, then you are wasting your marketing money. Website visitors don’t pay the bills, only customers do!

If your marketing plan is anemic, maybe it’s time to evaluate your website – the meat and potatoes! Are you happy with its conversion rate? Are you ‘getting found’ and ‘getting leads’? If not, contact me for a FREE website analysis. ROAR! Internet Marketing’s specialty is serving customers who want to have their business website “get found” and “get leads”.

**Yes, we understand that vegetables are also part of a balanced diet, but we’re talking colloquialisms here…