Having served in the Marine Corps for ten years as well as co-founding and operating a web strategy company, I offer a unique perspective on our military and its’ Web Strategy. The United States has the world’s second largest military, after the People’s Liberation Army of China, and has troops deployed around the globe. With an “All Volunteer” military force of 1,454,515 people serving on active duty and an additional 848,000 people in the seven reserve components, I think most people would agree that the military’s recruiting mission is of an epic scale compared to other organizations.

Having one of the most challenging recruiting tasks of any organization in America requires nothing less than an exceptional marketing plan. The five branches of the military each have a distinct military mission and therefore recruit a little differently. More specifically, I would like to discuss why I feel the U.S. military is using the internet to market more effectively than almost any civilian corporation in the world.

Just like any other organization, it is first necessary to have a thorough understanding of the military’s mission or business plan, in order to develop an effective web strategy. Let’s take a brief look at each branch of our military to gain a better understanding of their role in providing our overall national security.

I will be discussing the Military Branches in order from largest to smallest.

Data Sources: Wikipedia entries for Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard

*Special note – Although I served in the Marines and am somewhat biased, I think it’s pretty amazing how the Coast Guard, as small as they are, have such a big challenge in terms of their mission. Due to the fact that they are the smallest branch in size, their recruiting efforts don’t have to be nearly as aggressive as the other military branches. Therefore, I won’t be discussing their recruiting website. Also, their target demographic is typically a few years older than that of its’ DOD counterparts. Their message is very much like that of a civilian corporation rather than a military organization, “We’re Hiring”, literally.

What is the Military’s Product (what are they selling?)

They are selling what would be considered by any expert in sales, the most difficult product of all to sell, intangible benefits. Intangible benefits such as self-discipline, motivation, honor, and pride of belonging to name just a few. They are also selling the opportunity for higher education, career training, leadership development, worldly experience and travel.

Websites and Product Message

After carefully analyzing each branch’s recruiting website I was able to identify differences in messaging that address each unique demographic or target audience. The common demographic across all the military branches, though, are eligible males and females between the ages of 18 to 26 (approximately).

Over the past 200 years the military has been perfecting their recruiting efforts and understand their customer audiences better than most public corporations. But what I find particularly interesting is how quickly the military has fully embraced the use of the internet as an effective marketing vehicle and they have clearly put the pedal to the metal! Most corporations, however, have been slow to adopt or reluctant all together. More specifically, in regards to the use of social media platforms to reach their target audience.

Strategy

On each branch’s website, you’ll notice how they have integrated their T.V. commercial into the site providing maximum brand awareness and increasing the effectiveness of its’ broadcast reach. The following is an excellent example:

One of the biggest sales objections that a recruiter faces are the physical challenges that Boot Camp presents to a potential recruit. Most young people are intimidated by the horrific stories they hear about how Drill Instructors are constantly in your face screaming and yelling. Most prospective recruits are also apprehensive when it comes to facing the extreme physical challenges like combat water survival, repelling from a 50 foot wall, and the confidence course (an extremely challenging obstacle course each Marine Recruit must successfully negotiate in order to earn the title, Marine).

The second biggest challenge for all the branches is parental consent. Many parents are apprehensive about the thought of their children serving in the military. Each service has addressed this sales objection with a special website geared just for the parents of potential recruits. These sites are extremely easy to navigate and answer all of the most common questions and concerns that most parents have. All recruiting sites are also translated in Spanish as a significant portion of the military’s prospective recruits are Spanish speaking.

Breakdown of each Branch’s Recruiting Website

U.S. Army

Designed to appeal to high school students both female and males. Their message is geared toward the young adult that wants to develop the qualities that are in demand by civilian employers. They are clearly advocating that the Army will make you a stronger person. I would like to note that they have cleverly left that interpretation up to the individual. In any case it can only be construed as a positive benefit that will result from becoming a U.S. Soldier.

The Army’s site has one of the most advanced features I have ever seen on a website, the "Ask SGT STAR" feature. It is a database driven application that allows the visitor to ask a virtual Soldier any question that would typically be asked by a prospective recruit. What a powerful database! It answered every question I asked ranging from pay to duty station preferences. It even addresses questions on family housing and includes a sample floor plan. Most impressive!

U.S. Air Force

They don’t make an obvious attempt to reach out to either gender. Approximately 20% of the Air Force population is female compared to the Marine Corps’ 5%. This should not be surprising as the majority of duties in the Air Force are combat-support and do not involve direct combat. What is obvious from a customer demographics perspective is that the website clearly represents diversity in terms of race. The primary benefit to the prospective recruit that I noticed is self improvement through higher education. The Air Force’s marketing message is clear in its appeal to those who value continuing education.

When one thinks of the Air Force, the first thing that comes to mind is cutting-edge technology. The Air Force’s recruiting site truly lives up to that branding image. It is probably one of the most interactive sites on the internet. This site has countless activities that engage and stimulate the interests of a young high tech enthusiast. From video games that simulate piloting and destroying enemy targets with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to simulations that allow you to learn more about training military working dogs, the Air Force recruiting website delivers a user experience that is unparalleled in online marketing.

U.S. Navy – Accelerate Your Life ™

Many young people in high school are in a rush to grow up and be viewed by friends and family as adults. I can’t think of a life decision that requires more careful consideration than making a 4-6 year commitment to serve your country in the military other than getting married and having children. The Navy’s recruiting website is every bit as impressive as the other branches.

The major feature that differed from the other sites and caught my immediate attention, was an interactive area that connects directly with the female demographic. It showcases women in the Navy and allows the user to learn about the role(s) they have in the Navy. It’s a very engaging experience that most likely dispels any apprehension or concerns that a prospective female may have when it comes to meeting the challenges associated with serving in a male dominated military. This is an awesome feature and clearly illustrates the importance the Navy has placed on internet marketing.

U.S. Marine Corps

Designed to appeal to the male, high school student, who is looking for the ultimate challenge of self-discipline. Their message in itself is a challenge and is aimed directly to a small target audience. The Marine Corps needs candidates that are highly motivated and willing to take the challenge of becoming a member of the World’s Most Elite Fighting Force. It’s no surprise that only one in every one million Americans claims the title, “United States Marine”. Can you tell I served in the Marines?

The Marine Corps faces its’ biggest sales objection straight on by providing one of the most incredible user experiences I’ve seen on a website. They include excerpts of video taken from the recruits’ perspective while engaging in the most challenging activities during training. They have the entire 12 weeks of Boot Camp broken down on one, navigation friendly page. This user experience allows for the visitor to see first- hand the challenges Marine Corps Boot Camp Offers.

Summary

Each branch of service is augmenting their online presence with YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. They are benefiting from the power that social media offers in spreading their message virally. As a member of Facebook and a former Marine myself, I decided to become a fan of the Marine Corps’ Fanpage. Within minutes, I was bombarded by other fans asking me about my experience in the Marine Corps. Most of them are young people that haven’t reached the qualifying age yet, but had already decided they are joining the Marine Corps.  I was surprised at the amount of questions they were asking in regards to the Marine Corps.  I think they were intimidated to talk to the recruiter.  This was a way for them to get their questions answered without feeling pressured by a potential sales pitch.  It just goes to show that your customers are going to talk about your product with other people outside of your organization.  Companies can benefit by monitoring the conversation and learning about what concerns their customers have in terms of their product.

Once they have a better understanding of those concerns, they will be better able to address them via the social platforms they utilize. There is no other marketing tool more powerful than word of mouth. Conversations about your products by your prospective customers is your most powerful marketing tool. The military is one organization that “Gets It” and definitely participates in the conversation.

Are you ready to get busy and build a nice stream of blog traffic? Just remember that in social media, meaningful content is king. The following is a list of actions of what you’ll need to do to see the first 100,000 blog visitors in 30 days and hopefully many more thereafter!

1. Make profiles on each social bookmarking site listed at SocialMarker – The initial setup of these profiles will be time consuming, but it will save you hours of manually bookmarking your blog posts on all the bookmarking sites.

2. Complete at least two (2) high quality, relevant blog posts that are meaningful to your audience a day.
   Helpful Hint: Write several blogs in advance and schedule them to be time released with your blog administrator software.

3. Make profiles on all the video sharing sites listed on TubeMogul -The initial setup of these profiles will be time consuming, but it will save you hours of manually uploading your videos on all the bookmarking sites.

4. Produce one (1) video a day using either a camera or video editing software such as Microsoft Movie Maker. You can even make a Powerpoint presentation and upload the slides into Movie Maker. Write a script and record your voice or use music for a nice touch. Embed the finished product to your blog.

5. Distribute each blog post using SocialMarker on a daily basis.

6. Distribute each video file produced using TubeMogul on a daily basis.

7. Create profiles on social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  Both Facebook and LinkedIn have a feature that will allow you to setup a news feed from your blog. Each time your blog is updated, the friends in your network across these sites will receive your post.

8. Use SEO strategies and tactics that are explained in detail on SEOmoz and make sure to apply these techniques to your blog site.

9. Ensure to install some sort of sharing widget on your blog. There are many available depending on your blog technology. One of my favorites can be obtained at Share This and is feature rich. This will allow your viewers to distribute your blog posts virally.

10. Rinse and Repeat!

Helpful Hint: Good, high quality, content is essential to other people finding it useful and wanting to share it! If you have any questions regarding web design, web strategy or internet marketing, don’t hesitate to contact Proteus Design Studio.

You finally made a profile on Facebook and have reconnected with friends and family. But how do you utilize this technology for your business or company? Simple, you create a Fan Page! A Fan Page really is the best way to network and promote yourself, your business/company, or organization on Facebook. This tutorial assumes that you are already familiar with setting up a Facebook profile. If not, please feel free to contact us.

Setting Up Your Page

Once you’re logged in to Facebook, there’s a couple of ways to reach the Pages area.

Method 1 is by scrolling all the way to the bottom of the page and clicking on Advertising.

Method 2 is by using the Ads and Pages icon on the Facebook bar.

Click on Pages then the Create Page button.

You should now be at the Create New Facebook Page. Select the type of business you want your Fan Page to represent and start filling in as much information as you can. The more the better, but if you’re pressed for time you do have the option of not making the Page public until a later time.

Now it’s a matter of uploading a logo or photo and finish editing your company’s pertinent information. Depending on what Category you chose, you’ll have a few fields available on the Info tab.

Congratulations! You have a brand spankin’ new Facebook Fan Page! We would love to hear from you and for you to share your experience in creating your Fan Page(s).

Also, stay tuned for our next installment… Now that you have a Fan Page, what do you do with it?! We’ll cover different strategies and technologies you can use to market your Fan Page successfully.

A main goal of any franchise corporation is to sell franchises. I think it’s easier than ever for a franchise to build their brand’s reputation over the internet. For example, if you owned a fast food franchise, you could search on Goolge for blogs that are industry related. Get in on the conversations and contribute. Provide valuable feedback on the topics being discussed. Ensure to insert a backlink to your website or blog whenever possible.

Another suggestion I have for franchisors selling franchises is to contribute to community sites sucha as LinkedIn and facebook. Join and start your own groups within communities. You’ll soon find that it’s not too difficult to connect with people that are interested in similar Franchising topic(s).

I have started a Squidoo lense that is designed to provide information to Franchises on how they can grow rapidly using social media and web 2.0 technologies. For more information, you can visit the lens here: Franchise Marketing Ideas

Please bookmark the site as I will try to update with more information on a regular basis.

Here are just a few social media sites I like to use to market other websites with:

You Tube – I think everyone has seen or heard of YouTube by now. In order to succeed on YouTube and have your video shared, you may want to upload video content that is funny or has some other type of value to your potential audience. A sales pitch about your stuff probably won’t get a large response. The best example I can think of at the moment is a series of videos by a company called, “BlendTec”. The videos are titled, “Will It Blend”. The videos have seen over 20 million views. Now that’s market reach!

Facebook – Facebook is one of the most Web 2.0 social networking tools. You can join a group of people that all have a similar interest. You could provide that group with valuable information that relates to your services and or products and draw them to your website.

MySpace – At MySpace, you’ll have more flexibility when it comes to the way you display information. You can create a very professional design with your brand. You will be able to create a profile for your business, not just a personal profile like you would at Facebook. The objective here once again, is to develop a social group of people by offering them something of value.

Flickr – Flickr is a website that you can upload and share photographs and images with countless other users. You could upload photos of your website redesign, your store location remodel pictures or maybe some pictures of your product in action.

Squidoo – On Squidoo, you can build a reputation as an expert in your field. Rather than sell your products and services, just share your knowledge on your topic and become the “go to guy or gal”.

Digg – Digg will help drive a tremendous amount of traffic to your blog site. The strategy here is to create a network of friends. Find friends that have articles with a large amount of Diggs. When you post your article, have them look it over in hopes they will Digg it and share with others.

This is just a very brief list of some social media sites you can use immediately to drive more visitors to your website or blog. Just remember to post content that people will find valuable rather than pitch your business or products. Keep it social.

If you are interested in learning more about using social media to build your business, then give us a call at (858) 779-9170!  We love helping companies succeed on the internet.