I have been posting a series of articles describing what I first referred to as an Internet Message Delivery System (IMDS). Recall that from my perspective, anyone trying to deliver a message via the Internet is really marketing and therefore my IMDS could also be thought of as the broad view of an Internet marketing system.  They are effectively, one and the same to me.

IMDS - aka Internet Marketing System

My previous post described the Attraction Zone portion of the IMDS flowchart, today’s post focuses on what I refer to as the Capture Zone.  Members of the Target Audience are ready to enter the Capture Zone after multiple constructive contacts with valuable content.  When they reach a certain level of comfort and enough interest has been generated, the nature of the interaction can shift and become more focused and personalized.  When that point is reached there is a transition from attraction building by repeated exposure to valuable content to more direct and focused contact as they shift into the Relationship Building Zone after passing through the Capture Zone.

Let’s stop and evaluate a few examples describing what happens as people encounter and pass through the Capture Zone from different avenues of attraction marketing:

• One group of people arrives after multiple exposures to valuable content (articles, webinars, videos, etc.) in the Attraction Zone. When first encountering the Capture Zone, they are usually offered an incentive (free e-book, video series, consultation, newsletter, etc.) via a simple squeeze page (lead capture page) in exchange for providing their basic contact information (name, email as a minimum).  Once they provide their contact information they leave the Capture Zone and enter the Relationship Building Zone.

• Another group may arrive via social networking activity (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.). The transition through the Capture Zone to the Relationship Building Zone may occur as it did with the first group (squeeze page offer) or might come from direct interaction and an offer/request for more information during social dialogue.

• Some people use Pay-Per-Click advertising (more for marketing than message delivery) to connect with the Target Audience using select keyword phrases and focused ad copy. Once clicking on the link, the person may either be directed to a squeeze page or an information-oriented page with a link to some lead capture feature (widget on page, pop-up window or squeeze page).  After providing the contact information, they also enter the Relationship Building Zone.

The main purpose of the Capture Zone is to help those members of your Target Audience with heightened interest to commit to the next level and enter the relationship building phase by providing their contact information.  Once the commitment is made, more focused interaction begins leading to a stronger relationship, which is the topic of the next and final blog post associated with this series.

This post is the fourth in a six-part series defining the IMDS (basically how to get your message out on the “Web”) and sets the basis for any attraction and relationship marketing campaign.

Once you have decided on your message, flushed out the broad view of your plan and identified a fairly specific target audience, the next hurdle rises in front of you – getting and keeping the attention of the interested few amongst the masses of the “Web”.

IMDS - aka Internet Marketing System

This key element happens in the “Attraction Zone” section of the delivery system flow chart.  Two things to always keep in mind as we examine this part of the system, 1) the information you provide at this stage in the process needs to be valuable content and somewhat related to your overall message and 2) this all takes time therefore requiring patience, persistence, and action to get things happening then keep the momentum going.

Two questions immediately come to mind.

First, what tools are available in the “Attraction Zone” to help get and keep your target audience’s attention?

Next, how are those tools best used to reach out and continually build enough attraction so the interaction between continues to grow and move forward?

Attraction Zone Tools:

There are two basic sets of tools available to “reach out and touch someone” in such a way as to grab and hold their attention on the Internet. They either consists of tools you have to pay for with both your time and money or those requiring just your time (remember however, time really is money).

Since this system overview is focused on getting messages delivered to like-minded people on the Internet rather than specifically Internet marketing, I will only touch on the double pay (time and money) tools since most of us want to minimize the direct cost if sharing information.  The three most prominent methods in this group include traditional websites, “Pay Per Click (PPC)”, and paid banner graphic advertising.  Though these methods can be effective tools for those who know the ins and outs of optimizing them, they do take time to how to avoid excessive costs and get decent results.

There are a fair number of venues where the main cost is in the time to create the content and maintain site postings available on the Web today. As a matter of fact, these are probably the most utilized sites for most people trying to get their message out on the Internet. These include virtually all of the Web 2.0 socially oriented sites such as:

• Blogs (Blogger, WordPress.com, etc.);
• Ezines (Ezine Articles, etc.);
• Video sites (YouTube, Viddler, etc.);
• Hub Pages;
• Squidoo;
• Social networks (Facebook, MySpace, etc.);
• Twitter, and
• Social bookmarking sites (Digg, StumbleUpon, etc.).

Each one of these different portals can be used to place valuable content of alluring information out on the “Web” but here are a few pointers you should always keep in mind.

• 1. The valuable content must provide key information that helps educate or solve a real or perceived problem of your target audience;
  2. The content should relate to the overall message either generally or specifically but should not be the whole message;
  3. Be social on each of the different portals you are using.  Social activity includes interacting on sites like Facebook and Twitter or commenting on blogs, Hub Pages, Squidoo Lenses or articles where permitted.
  4. Take advantage of social bookmarking sites like Digg and StumbleUpon where you help promote sites that are already posted and bookmark great content you come across while surfing.  Though some “self-promotion” is ok when bookmarking your own content, keep it to a minimum. Let your friends know when you release content and “nudge” them to bookmark and share it if they find it useful.
  5. If your ultimate message relates to a marketing campaign, avoid pitching the product/service/opportunity directly.  Only mention it in passing (usually towards the end of the piece) when preparing content that is building up to your ultimate message.

Thinking back to my earlier example of connecting with other freshwater bass anglers to share information and build interest in the “Retro-Bass” concept, here’s an example of some of the efforts to get attention and stay attractive.

• Create a blog specific to bass fishing posting topical articles that focus on useful information to other competitively mined bass anglers with an interest in fishing from smaller boats on local waters.  Find other bass fishing blogs and leave comments with links back to your blog.
• Create additional articles to post on Hub Pages, Squidoo, article sites. Search each site’s database for other articles of interest. Read and comment on interesting articles referring back to points you’ve made in your articles to help build increase your followers.
• Search for bass fishing groups on Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites and become active in those groups by posting comments for suggestions, add short notes with valuable tips on walls, etc.  Make friend requests to build your network from the group members then announce new article postings so interested friends can go check it out.
• Use similar approaches to the social bookmarking sites (via bookmarking other people’s valuable content; making friend’s and announcing your new postings).
• Visit video sites, again adding valuable comments (not just “Good video dude”) by being specific about the things you liked and again, cite points you’ve made on your work only where appropriate.

Always remember, don’t get carried away with self-promotion and get labeled as a spammer!

Though it will take time to build your web of content, providing useful information across several Internet sites will get and keep the attention of like-minded people in your target audience. Beyond the attraction phase, it also sets the stage for your new group of followers to react positively when exposed to the capture zone to keep the whole process moving forward.