The Ins & Outs - Listserv / Newsgroup Posting

This type of promotion is an indirect means of keeping your company's name in the public eye. It lends creditability to you and your company as you speak on the subject matter at hand. In some but, very few instances, you can promote your product or service. The key here is to find conversation threads that relate to your company's offerings and you simply contribute as an expert.

In some instances, by being a consistent & valuable contributer, you can become the moderator of the listserv and/or newsgroup which will even further increase your creditability.

The Ins & Outs - Blogs

A blog (short for weblog) is a journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the Web site that hosts the blog. Topics can be on any and every topic and sometimes links to other sites the author favors. The essential characteristics of the blog are its journal form, typically a new entry each day, and its informal style.

The thinking here is that by publishing a blog either in lieu of or in tandem with a regularly released ezine, is ideal for having new fresh content that your visitors will repeatedly return to view. Blogs help branding, branding help traffic, traffic helps sales!

The Ins & Outs - Web Design From A Marketing Standpoint

The idea of design websites from a marketing standpoint is a concept that we have embraced here. The basic notion behind it is people want a return from a website that generally fall into one of two categories: traffic or sales

The thinking here is that designing a website that is conducive to building traffic and/or building sales will go a long way in accomplishing those goals. Issues like layout of links in importance (most important links should be at the left or top of the row), call to action items ("click here", "subscribe now", etc.), easy of navigation (important pages/info are prominently displayed on the homepage or able to be reached in minimal clicks) all must be taken into account when deciding on a look of your website.

New Direction

With The Unorthodoks Approach, we want to be sure that we have a healthy balance of bringing light to the online African-American community, as well as, simply talking about the ins and outs of Internet marketing as a whole.

We are an Internet marketing and Web design company first and foremost. We simply have decided to cater to those who want to reach the online African-American community.

While there are different nuances and methods for reaching this demographic, there are some basic traits of Internet marketing that will hold true for any target market and we will start a new bi-weekly posting that will highlight those techniques.

We will continue to periodically post our longer write-ups regarding marketing to the online African-American community.

The Unorthodoks Approach In Action - Our Own Website Redesign Case Study

As of late I've been posting case studies because I think it's integral that stimulate conversation and promote insight into how marketing and web design is actually done. Below is a case study outlining the steps that we went through when redesign our own website:

Sometimes enough is enough! Know when to say when! Sorry, might’ve had one too many clichés (or maybe two too many) but, I needed to get my point across. As business owners we have to recognize that we need to analyze ourselves and our companies and bring ourselves to the same high standards that we push our clients to. The turn of 2005 marked when Unorthodoks Marketing began the long needed website redesign of www.unorthodoks.com.

We had been using the same website look and feel initially designed back in 98’ for the past 7 years…and what might have been acceptable then definitely was no longer. We have multiple goals for visitors when at our site. Primarily, to sign up for our newsletter, The Unorthodoks Approach. It’s our main method of having consistent communication with past, current and potential clients. Secondly, to get a good idea of what we’ve done in the past and what we can do for those who come to us from both a marketing and web design standpoint.

Unorthodoks Marketing was started in the summer of 1998 as an Internet marketing firm that helps organizations reach the online African-American community. The need for web design services kept arising as many clients’ main impediment to increased sales and/or traffic was poorly designed websites. The Unorthodoks Marketing – Design Division was launched to develop websites from a marketing point of view. We firmly believe that the design, layout, look and feel, information, visuals and interactivity/content are all integral pieces to accomplishing the goals of a website which are almost always more than “looking pretty.”

Taking the name of the company into account, Unorthodoks (which is a play on the spelling of “unorthodox”) we did not want a standard layout. Coupled with the need to emphasize the newsletter sign-up, several important design and layout decisions were made. Most websites will have links straight down along the left side or horizontally across the top. As a result, we purposely choose to have them vertically aligned in two columns on the right side of the page.

We also wanted to choose a look and feel not commonly seen so, we developed the connected bubble-like shape with the bubble on the right highlighting the newsletter signup and the larger bubble on the left showcasing images of the demographic we serve. This allows for a dual effect of showing who our focus is on while also, adding a visually pleasing element to break up the text on the site.

In showing past, current and potential clients what we can do and have done, we paid particular attention to adding a portfolio that would be effective. We choose to use Flash (a style of coding that allows for more creativity and movement) because we wanted to show our proficiency in it. We wanted visitors to see the sites we designed but, didn’t want them to leave unorthodoks.com so, we created mini slideshows of clients’ sites. This allows us to show various pages of respective websites while keeping the visitor at our website.

We recognized that to continually attract the high quality clients we’ve come accustomed to working with we needed to package Unorthodoks Marketing as the high quality firm that we are. They say change is good. We knew change was necessary.

Before
www.unorthodoks.com B.C. (before the change) - visit: http://www.unorthodoks.com/oldsite/index.html

After
www.unorthodoks.com A.D. (after the design) - visit:
http://www.unorthodoks.com

The Unorthodoks Approach In Action - Chistell.com Case Study

What do you do when you’ve done everything? A question that many marketers are faced with when it comes to taking their company to that proverbial “next level”. Unorthodoks Marketing provides Internet marketing & Web design services to organizations that want to reach the online African-American community. Chistell Publishing, a small African-American book publishing company, retained Unorthodoks Marketing as its’ Internet marketing agency of record in May of 2001.

Chistell Publishing came to Unorthodoks Marketing with an interesting situation in that their website, www.Chistell.com, was already getting substantial traffic. There was a need for a better traffic to sales ratio, as although people were coming, they seemed more interested in the compelling content for book lovers the site offers than making purchases. The “Education before Execution” process that Unorthodoks Marketing deems necessary for all clients was employed to decide on the best plan of action.

Chistell Publishing had already conducted many successful online marketing tactics including, publishing an email newsletter, running online contests that engaged their target market and managing a fairly populated discussion board. It seemed that they were doing everything they could do yet, the sales numbers weren’t where they should be. It became obvious that something else needed to be done beyond regular online promotional techniques.

It was determined that a “two-pronged attack” was in order, in which, Unorthodoks Marketing would provide value added services in two distinct capacities. Initially, Unorthodoks Marketing operated in a consultancy role to develop the look and feel of the Chistell.com website. The “Education before Execution” process showed that a more streamlined approach and better-positioned tools would prove more effective in reaching the educated, affluent, religious woman that frequented the site.

The Unorthodoks Marketing - Design Division was called upon due their approach of web design from a marketing standpoint. This is seen in several ways on Chistell.com as better communication of the buyer influencing factors such as the 90-day money back guarantee, free priority shipping, different payment options, percentage of proceeds to charity, etc. are incorporated into the design. The layout of the links to the rest of the content of the site is such that priority is given to the sample chapters & order pages. These primary links are laid out along the top of the page while the secondary links can be found on the left side of the site. Those primarily links can also be found along the left side, as well.

Once the site was re-designed, Unorthodoks Marketing began the second phase of the campaign, which was to make use of online promotional techniques. Attention needed to be paid to fact that the new website could affect the traffic the site was already getting so, practices like search engine submissions were done. One of the biggest methods used was the development of a “Call to Action”. Since the goal was increased sales, an attractive “Order Now” button was designed and incorporated into the design. In fact, on the homepage alone, it’s found in 3 different places.

So, what is it you do when you’ve done everything? It’s simple: You do some more!

Black Website Uprising!!! If You Don’t Know, Now You Know!

“Don’t call it a comeback, we’ve been here for years!” For those of you who are older hip-hop aficionados, that line might sound familiar but, it’s also applicable to the websites that cater to the online African-American community. Granted, the online Hispanic-American community has moved ahead of us and are now the fastest growing online demographic but, the number of top websites that are created to serve blacks online has grown exponentially.

This is a call-to-arms for all of us to get involved and push attention towards this community. There are various industries out there from technology to financial services that could greatly benefit from the substantial purchasing power of the African-American community and the online segment of this community is more affluent and therefore even more attractive. The problem here is that no marketing campaign should begin without research and the fact that there is no ample research to pull from could speak volumes as to why these industries are not targeting the online African-American community.

Qualitatively, there is some stuff out there. For example, we know that blacks are more likely to register on websites and give out contact and demographic information. We know that this group is more interested in career advancement, professional development, education, family & relationships, entertainment, health care, news and travel information than the general population. What we don’t know is the intriguing quantitative data that drives marketing campaigns such as, the % of black users who visit black websites over mainstream sites and how many black sites are visited on a regular basis. The point is that we’re lacking the strong numbers that necessitates organizations take action.

By having the hard data to back up what seems to be obvious to many of us, it would force major corporations to take notice. If not from the standpoint that the online African-American community should be marketed to, then from the stance that they must be marketed to.

We’re ready to get off the soapbox and get into the trenches. Throughout this year, Unorthodoks Marketing will partner with organizations and take the lead on various projects, all aimed at gaining more and more insight into the online African-American community. We will then take this newly found info and disseminate it with the goal of bringing attention and focus to the community. Contact us, join us and let’s get our collective hands dirty…together!

The Unorthodoks Approach In Action - MyFineArt.com Case Study

Innovative yet, effective! Those three words describe the Unorthodoks Marketing approach to online promotion. Unorthodoks Marketing provides Internet marketing services to companies that want to reach the online African-American community. MyFineArt.com, an online African-American art dealer, was the first company to benefit from Unorthodoks Marketing's innovative yet, effective Internet marketing services.

MyFineArt.com had a two-step goal of increasing traffic to the website, which in turn, will boost sales. Via usage of The Comprehensive List of Internet Branding/Advertising/Marketing Options, a white paper authored by Unorthodoks Marketing's executives and found at www.unorthodoks.com, a marketing plan was devised to introduce MyFineArt.com to the urban community.

The "Education before Execution" process which enlightens Unorthodoks Marketing about the ins and outs of each client and its' industry showed that the stereotypical visitor/customer of MyFineArt.com is an African-American woman aged 18 - 34 with some disposable income. Understanding "who" your customer is important because it allows you make informed decisions about the techniques chosen to market your goods and/or services. A "cookie cutter" approach cannot be taken to marketing due to the fact that people of varying ethnicities, ages, education levels, income levels, etc. react in different ways to the same message. There will always be promotional techniques that are appealing to some and not to others.

This "picture" proved instrumental in two very important decisions. Firstly, since the target market is now known to be the fast growing African-American demographic, Unorthodoks Marketing understands that "fast growing" means that a significant portion of the demographic will have limited Internet experience. Research shows that users with less Internet experience will have more of a tendency to use search engines to find their online destination. Due to this, an emphasis was put on attaining high search engine placement. The thinking here was simply one with limited Internet experience probably has not yet developed brand loyalty hence, will be likely to visit a website such as MyFineArt.com if it places relatively high on the major search engines for several key terms and phrases.

Secondly, with the "picture" of the stereotypical MyFineArt.com visitor, the fact that it is an African-American woman comes into play again. Unorthodoks Marketing sought to align MyFineArt.com with websites that cater to the online African-American woman. Joint ventures were designed with a win-win objective in mind. The complementary websites would benefit from having the ability to offer African-American art to their respective communities which helps to round out their products &/or services offered and build on the "We have everything you may need", community feel that each of the sites want to convey. MyFineArt.com gains from having additional websites that can carry some of its' inventory and can leverage the creditability that these sites already have with their visitors.

Signs of success were evident from this nearly yearlong relationship as traffic had increased ten-fold and continues to set new highs for unique visitors to the site with each ensuing month. MyFineArt.com's most prominent relationship established via the joint venture strategy presents itself as art prints are provided to CushCity.com, the most highly trafficked African-American e-commerce site in cyberspace.

It should also be noted that while only two facets of the marketing campaign implemented are discussed here, the overall efforts of Unorthodoks Marketing had resulted in MyFineArt.com ranking as high as the 8th most visited black ecommerce website as listed by TopBlackSites.com at the end of the working relationship.