Since we are all about proactive communication at the agency, I wanted to take this opportunity to clarify the “WHY” of our name.

The true nature of our name Web Marketing Therapy stems from our deeply rooted belief in the power of helping professionals and organizations help themselves.  Our name was a result of years of listening to client feedback.  We were told things like:
We feel like you just did therapy on our marketing! You just took all the overwhelm out of my marketing management.  I want to get on your marketing therapy couch.  You (Lorrie Thomas Ross, WMT’s founder) are like my marketing therapist!

So in 2009, we changed our name to Web Marketing Therapy to embrace our mission to be advisors, supportive marketing managers and help take the stress and overwhelm out of marketing!  The definition of therapy, as provided by dictionary.com is as follows:

For us, it’s all about providing a therapeutic approach to marketing for our clients. Let’s break it down:

1. The treatment of disease or disorders, as by some remedial, rehabilitating, or curative process: speech therapy.

We aren’t treating diseases of the body or mind, we are treating dis-ease of marketing. Dis, meaning apart or out and ease meaning a freedom from pain, discomfort, labor or difficulty. Our three pronged approach is based on the concepts of diagnosing the marketing problems, prescribing the appropriate cure or treatment and guiding our clients to a healthy marketing way of life.

2. A curative power or quality.

Web Marketing Therapy isn’t about duct taping your shoddy marketing plan to take you into next week. Real marketing breakthroughs happen when you start curing deep seeded marketing problems to establish a healthy marketing foundation. We wouldn’t go to a real therapist with the hopes of getting well in a day, and the same applies to our approach to web marketing. We think about marketing from a holistic perspective to provide an all-encompassing healing approach for our clients.

3. Psychotherapy; It’s about communicating issues and finding insight into problems with the goal of personal growth and behavior modification.

We want our clients to learn to assess marketing problems on their own and to understand why their old approach to marketing isn’t working for them. With training and advisory we want our clients to learn how to tackle the issues before they arise and learn to modify their marketing behavior!

4. Any act, hobby, task, program, etc., that relieves tension.

We know lots about this and encourage our clients to do what they do best, and what makes them happy, and letting us handle the parts that bog them down! If you thrive at writing blog posts, but want to cry when faced with a Tweet, don’t fret! We want to support you in the things that make you happy and relive tension, not create it!

The Wild Web Women also know that having a passion or hobby is so very important to a healthy marketing way of life. That is why we use our blog to encourage our team members and readers to take a break and have a great time. The About page on your website is the most looked at page there is and clients want to know the fun, exciting things that people in an organization do that make them unique. So take the time to go for a run, paint, play your guitar, dance your heart out… it’s good for your health, your marketing and your business!

So, as you can see, Web Marketing Therapy isn’t just for therapists. On the whole our approach can easily be applied to any type of business. To learn more about what we do and how we do it I encourage our readers to subscribe to our Healthy Marketing Advice blog and to check out our book by CEO Lorrie Thomas Ross (aka The Marketing Therapist); The 36-Hour Guide to Online Marketing and her course on lynda.com called Online Marketing Fundamentals!

Jump the shark is now a term that is used for anything that is past its prime!  Which brings me to my question-has your website  ”jumped the shark?”  Your website or blog has to serve your clients/readers/visitors.  You need to keep content current, relevant, trustworthy and interesting and if you do need to make changes, they need to make sense!

Lorrie Thomas Ross, our fearless leader, started off with her own consulting business in 2005, under the name of Lorrie Thomas Web Marketing.  As our agency grew and we morphed into what is now Web Marketing Therapy, Lorrie realized that her old site was in need of change!  She did what we have advised many clients to do – updated her old site to be on brand and on purpose!  We optimized her site with a complete overhaul!  Check out the results.

Is it time for you to rethink how you are presenting yourself online?  Has your site or content turned stale or mediocre?  Perhaps it’s time to take a close look to ensure that you are avoiding following in The Fonz footsteps (or shall we say water ski’s) and remain current and interesting and ensure you are serving your target market!

BTW:  I disagree with my friend – I’m still enjoying Glee  and don’t think they have jumped the shark…YET!

I’ve been in the wild web marketing world since 1999 (think dot-com hey-day), through the dot-bomb bust (think networking events turned into beg-for-job-fests) and now, in tougher economic times (but an older and much wiser web marketing world) where web marketing is:

1. less expensive (often free)
2. more accessible (to all companies, skill levels)
3. more fun
I still see marketing professionals and business leaders making web marketing work way too damn difficult when IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE!

Case in point: A business owner spends hours per month making an email newsletter.  The experience is not enjoyable.  He stares at the computer screen for hours about what to write.  He dreads the work.  He does the newsletter because he heard once he “should”.  His wife is upset that his “free time” becomes marketing time.  The return on the excessive time investment is not clear – personally or professionally.

When I hear scenarios like this, the immediate thing to do is STOP and ask:  Are your marketing efforts working for you??

Marriage therapy is not my skill set, but if marketing efforts do interfere with personal time (partners, kids, pets, LIFE) then I will gladly stage an intervention.  I am not impressed when professionals cut out the things that really matter in life for marketing.  Marketing will not be at your funeral.  Your family and friends will!  Cases like this (the email hour-suck) are a clear “this professional’s marketing is making them a danger to himself and others” and had to stop.

Therapy Intervention: A “old wild wild west” marketing remedy had to be used but in modern form = a slap in the face (but virtually over phone and email!) to remind the patient that MARKETING MEANS MAXIMIZING RELATIONSHIPS and that GREAT IDEAS ARE ONLY GREAT IF THEY ARE EXECUTED BRILLIANTLY to get him off his unhealthy pattern of mindless marketing execution.

For the sake of example, let’s say this patient had a service-based business (we’ll say it’s business law for example).  He makes money adding new clients that he sells his professional services to.  His opt-in (aka people choose to be on the list) newsletter is for existing clients to educate them on other law services they need, but he also wants to reach NEW clients.

#1 We look at the ROI (Return on Investment) of the email.  How many people open it?  How many people are sold from it??  If the data says no result, drop it.  Turns out in his case, there was no measurement plan in place so he had no idea what was working.
#2 An opt-in email that existing clients use will NOT reach prospective clients, so this major effort (that wasn’t even measured) was not fully serving the goal.
#3 Time that the lawyer could be BILLING HOURS (and not working on a stinking email newsletter) are lost, time with family is lost and time and love are valuables too!!

Marketing Therapist Summary = The lawyer is a thought-leader.  He offers tons of services that he can upsell and resell and he was correct in email as a form to educate (my favorite form of marketing communications) and that email is a great way to remind people that you are out there, but the execution was made more difficult than it had to be.  He also wasn’t reaching new people with is email work.

WIN-WIN Prescription: We first focused on the heart of web marketing = maximizing relationships (new clients, keeping love alive with old clients, and boosting new service sales).  I made him chant this three times (kidding).  Then asking how we could use his unique ability (his thought leadership and ability to educate current and prospective clients) in a way that took less time (hours in front of the computer on an email that only half his target market saw and wasn’t sure if it worked) we agreed on FIRST the WHY and the WHATs before we got to the HOW:

WHY: Marketing Means Maximizing Relationships – and the law professional wanted to help educate people about how he could help them (note the word help, we got to the core of why he does what he does…he CARES!!!)  Our theme became: serve and support via educational content to sell!

WHAT: He sells business law services.  Any content produced would be “on purpose” to help serve current and prospective customers to help educate/empower them on what they needed.  We made a list of the services he wants to sell (and in what order) and decided content would be focused around that.

HOW: The email effort was too damn difficult, wasting precious time AND emails are not always opened so all that great content is invisible to people who do not see it.  We re-purposed a lot of the old email content into a blog so the searches engines could read the content.  We agreed that in the future, thought leadership would be shared in EASY, SMALL DOSES on the blog based on the theme above….then a monthly email would be produced that shared links to several of the month’s blog posts to omit the “what should I write about?” instead into an easy “here are some great blog posts I will link to in my email that people can scan and read that educate on the value of what I can help them with.”  A monthly measurement plan was set up looking at measuring website traffic, search visibility, “how did you hear about us” phone call questions and overall monthly sales.  The business law professional also agreed to hire help to put an email template together so he got to do his unique ability (law) and hired web marketing pros to help make his effort top-notch for only a few hours a month.

The best part – the professional learned the most valuable lesson:  “Do what he does best and hire others to do the rest.” Marketing does not have to be so damn difficult, hire experts who can help you understand how to spend your time more meaningfully and get more for your money.

…and his family was happier

Marketing means making relationships – it is not the web tools but HOW you use the tools strategically that makes marketing matter.  If you aren’t fully ready to come forward and admit that you need help, you can buy my book that is a bible on the art and science of web marketing and start there.  I put my heart and soul into taking my decade plus of expertise and breaking it down in easy-to-understand book chapters – save yourself and get it to make your marketing meaningful, matter and money-making!

Web marketing is the BEST form of marketing – when you invest (not spend time aimlessly) on it with passion and purpose, it works wonders.  It does NOT HAVE TO BE SO DAMN DIFFICULT.  And if you find yourself struggling, ASK FOR HELP.  Invest in yourself by hiring expert advisory.

…I happen to know a damn good web marketing agency too

Small business marketing has changed forever. Marketing tools like the Yellow Pages that were critical 10 or 15 years ago are becoming obsolete fast because when people are ready to buy they go online. It’s not just easier and faster – thanks to web marketing you can learn virtually anything about a product or company in less than 5 minutes.

The Yellow Page industry knows this, and as a result we’ve seen 1) Phone books reborn as paid listing sites like YellowPages.com, 2) Sales techniques that are more aggressive and based in generating fear that customers won’t find you if you’re not “in the book”, and 3) Phone companies have quit printing residential white pages in many states.

I had the opportunity to hear the HubSpot presentation Why Yellow Page Ads Are a Waste of Money. My takeaway message: Unless you’re a plumber, you’re probably over-investing in the Yellow Pages.

If a third to half of consumers primarily consider an online search before making a purchase decision these days, my bet is this will double in a few years. Consumers in under-50 age demographics are more likely to use the internet, but even this is changing. The trend varies by region, and by micro-regions. HubSpot presenters shared from an article on searchengineland.com that Joe Walsh, CEO of Yellow Book, predicts the Coastal markets migrating away from the printed directory entirely in five years.

Ten years ago, a small business might have paid $1,800 a month for Yellow Page ads to reach a metropolitan area with a dozen different phone books. Today, that same business could spend a few hundred dollars and get a generous monthly PPC budget – or spend NOTHING and take advantage of fantastic free Google Local Business applications and organic SEO web marketing strategies.

 
Small business owners still paying for Yellow Page ads have some decisions to make.

$1,800 every month for a small paper ad whose strategy is to sit and wait for someone to see it.

Or…

Free or cheap search engine marketing that gets your website seen by thousands of consumers, communicates your brand’s value, plus offers a handy map and directions to your location.

 
When determining what you should spend on Yellow Page ads, ask these critical questions:

• Where does my industry lie within this online trend? You may want to eliminate or downsize your Yellow Page ads considerably.
• What will the same budget get me in web marketing? Chances are: A LOT, and with a much greater return on investment in leads and customer relationships.

Do you have a phone book? Mine has been invaluable as a platform for my computer monitor, the others have been recycled to save trees. Crack one open and look at the large, colorful ads for plumbers. Then, try to find a wedding planner.

Specific Tips for Woman on The Go from Dani Spies

Eat before you go
Eat a filling and nutritious meal before you leave the house.  Best way to set your self up for success is not to run out the door hungry!  Fill up with a satisfying meal before you go and you are at least good for a few hours.

Think ahead
Where are you going? What are your options?  Are there healthy choices available?
Ask friends, colleagues, etc if they know any good places for a healthy meal in the area.  The key is to think these things out before you find yourself with a growling tummy @ lunchtime ready to eat the first thing that comes your way!

Pack Snacks
It’s always good to have a back up plan and having s handful of nutritious snacks will at the very least buy you a little extra time.  Nut butter sandwiches, trail mix, fruit, Greek yogurt, & almonds are all super easy, super nutritious go-to snacks for women on the go.

Don’t forget the grocery store
Lots of people look for restaurants and to-go joints when it’s mealtime on the go but tend to over look a good old fashion grocery store. Many grocery stores make sandwiches and have salad and soup bars and all grocery stores have tons of fresh fruit, veggies, yogurt, cereals, and deli departments.   You’re chances of finding fresh food at a grocery store is a lot better than it would be at a fast food joint.

Dani’s go-to fave’s are:
•    Oatmeal with walnuts, cinnamon, & bananas (2 minutes in the microwave and it’s done!)
•    Whole grain toast with nut butter
•    Apple or pear and a handful of almonds
•    Hummus on whole grain crackers or with fresh cut veggies
•    Turkey sandwich
•    Greek yogurt with fresh fruit
•    Cereal with low fat milk, fruit and nuts
•    Canned salmon mixed with some celery Greek yogurt on crackers
•    Dark chocolate covered almonds (to satisfy that sweet tooth)
•    Low fat latte (almost always available on the go!)

Healthy Food Myth Busters from Dani Spies

- Processed Soy products are not as nutritious as you may think they are!  Here is the link to the post if you want a little review: http://www.danispies.com/foodforthought/food_facts/soy_-_the_whole_story.php

- Dietary cholesterol does not affect cholesterol in the body! If you want to keep your cholesterol in a healthy range eat more healthy fats (i.e. olive oil, nuts, avocados, fish) and avoid processed grains, sugars, and oils.  It is the processed grains, sugars, and oils that will raise unhealthy cholesterol oils.

- So what does this mean?  Enjoy your shrimp, egg yolks, and calamari and healthy fats while avoid foods like white rice, hydrogenated oils, and white sugar and bread in order

You can listen to a recording of the show on the WMT Podcasts page or on BTR.