Drew's Note:  As I try to do on many a Friday, I'm pleased to bring you a guest post.  Meet a thought leader who shares her insights every day. So without further ado…Denise Cautela.

Again, enjoy!

Father Knows Best: Online Marketing Best Practices from a Small Business Owner

An entrepreneur, my father owned and managed two local retail chains in the 1980s and 1990s.  I grew up in the family business and credit my father with teaching me important customer service, business ethic and product quality values that extend into my current role helping companies manage their online marketing programs.

Even then, my father’s business practices were considered “old school.” He demanded we count change back directly to customers instead of relying on the cash register; he would not close the store until the very last customer was ready to leave (even if it was well past closing time); and he insisted that we manually count inventory monthly because computers were not foolproof and the numbers in the dot matrix printed reports could be wrong.

While these business practices may seem a little “dated,” the underlying philosophy was an important life lesson and provided the foundation for my own best practices for online marketing today:

Be loyal to your customers and they will be loyal to you

• My father always made a point of building a strong connection with the local customer base.  In today’s market, we have a variety of inexpensive and easy-to-use Web 2.0 tools at our fingertips to spark and maintain a dialogue—and strengthen bonds with customers.  Tap Social media vehicles like Facebook Fan Pages to build connections and stay ahead of new trends by listening to what your customers have to say and what they want.
• Be honest on your website, landing pages and email campaigns.  Clearly explain your business, what you offer and the value your product or service provides customers. Same goes for information you provide for any blogs or RSS feeds. Full transparency and honesty builds a level of trust with existing and prospective customers that can result in up sell opportunities and referrals, and of course, keep your customers coming back.

Make it easy for your customers to find you

• Smart Pay-per-Click (PPC) campaigns put your product or service directly in front of those looking for you. It is the most direct, cost effective way to advertise on the Internet today.
• List your business in as many online directories as possible. These directories are like signs pointing to your website in front of people driving by.
• Search engine optimization (SEO) done right can indirectly pull people into your website and help improve where your business appears on search engine result pages.

You have one chance to make a good first impression

• Each one of my Dad’s stores had a distinct look and feel, and products strategically placed for easy access. How your website or landing page look, and the ease of use/navigation is critical. You may only have one chance to make that good first impression—make sure it counts.

Denise Cautela, VP of Marketing at ClickFuel, has nearly 15 years of experience in a wide range of strategic marketing and communication roles. A multiple award winning marketer, Denise is responsible for building out the ClickFuel brand, generating new business and strategically supporting the channel and direct sales efforts. Before joining ClickFuel, Denise was with Monster Worldwide for more than five years in a variety of leadership roles, most recently Sr. Director of Marketing, Emerging Markets.

Cover via Amazon

Word of mouth is bigger than tools like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. It's more than viral videos, expensive campaigns, and big PR stunts. Real word of mouth is a philosophy, not a tactic.

True word of mouth marketers know it's about earning the respect and recommendation of your customers — it's something you build into everything you do. The next time somebody tries to sell you on a high-dollar digital campaign, remember that real love is earned, not bought.

5 big questions that will lead you to true word of mouth:

1.) Who will talk about us?

Every successful word of mouth program begins with a focus on who will talk about you. It's not always your customers. Don't forget industry influencers, your strategic partners, your neighbors — they're all potential talkers and they're where it all starts.

2.) How do I take this beyond the marketing department?

The mission of earning the respect and recommendation of your customers shouldn't be confined to the marketing team. When it's a company-wide philosophy — when everyone from the CEO to the front-line customer service reps are working together to astonish customers with amazing products and services — that's when you're on your way to building real word of mouth.

3.) What's next?

This helps you determine the difference between a one-off stunt and a program that's got long-term potential to build relationships. Word of mouth works best when it's designed to build momentum with each new loyal fan you earn.

4.) Would this trick my mother?

Scam-ball, sleaze-filled trickery is not the way to earn love from customers. Hiding relationships between you and your talkers, paying for reviews that aren't true, setting up fake accounts to hide your identity — it's not only unethical, it's illegal. If your mom were to read something and not understand that it's a paid ad, you're lying to your mother.

5.) Would anyone tell a friend about this?

This is a question that changes companies. Put it on a sticky note on your monitor, a poster in your conference room — anywhere it will remind you to ask that if it's not worth telling a friend about, why are you doing it?

Andy Sernovitz is the author of Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking and is CEO of GasPedal , a company that teaches word of mouth to brands of all sizes.

PS Want to learn more about earning the respect and recommendation of your customers? Join Andy and 30 other brilliant word of mouth marketers for Word of Mouth Supergenius <http://gaspedal.com/supergenius>  on December 16 in Chicago. Marketing Minute fans can take $128 off registration with the code: THISGUYDREWRULES