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Tag: marketing

  • Secret of Successful E-Mail Newsletters

    Many clients ask what the point of an e-mail newsletter is and how it can help them grow their business.  Will people read it?  Will it clog up potential customer inboxes? How much is it?

    There are several reasons I recommend e-mail newsletters. Not only do they provide free information, they are also one of the least expensive and most effective tools to draw attention to a site.  Below are some additional advantages to implementing a company e-mail newsletter.

    Stay in Touch
    Stay in Touch

    Stay in contact – Keep your business top of mind to your customers so that when they need a service you provide, they will contact you.  Newsletters serve as a reminder to customers to come back to your site.

    Develop relationships and trust – You become familiar to your subscribers. Familiarity encourages return visits and establishes customer loyalty.

    Promotional tool – A great way to communicate new products and announce new services.  Specials or discounts are a way to attract customers back to your site.  Offers entice subscribers who may not necessarily need the service but will be prompted to act during a special.

    Increase site traffic – Again, good to send out when launching a new product or service.  Gives subscriber a reason to visit the site, helping drive additional traffic .
    Set specific delivery time – Complete control of when information is disseminated.

    Trackable – Use the newsletter as a research tool to see what people read about most and what they are most interested in hearing about.  Research will allow you to write a newletter for a specific target audience.

    Provides immediate results – Real time statistics and data provide you with the information needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the newsletter.  Tweak future newsletters from that information.

    When developing your newsletter consider the following:

    • Content has to engage readers.  Articles should be more informative and less like an advertisement.
    • Keep articles brief.
    • Use images to attract reader’s attention.
    • Use links and provide URL’s as additional resources.
    • Frequency is key. Stick to a regular schedule. Try to send out same time every month or week.

    So if you are looking for a cost efficient way to target and reach a large group of customers or potential customers, consider an e-mail newsletter.

  • Simple Landing Page Strategy

    Lately I have been doing a lot of research on landing page strategy and as I read about what not to do and what you must do, I think someone needs to break it all down into a simpler form.  Where are we going wrong, maybe it’s all just too much?  Make it simple.  All you need are these 5 things arranged properly and it is most likely going to perform better than what you are using now:

    Coming in for a smooth landing
    Coming in for a smooth landing

    1.)    Your Company Logo clearly marked in the top left corner of your landing page.

    Your company logo is your brand and it is what is going to clearly connect your landing page to your website.  You do not need or want the exact navigation that exists on all of your web pages, it offers too many distractions and takes up too much room, most likely forcing the more important information (the Form) below the fold.

    2.)    The only content needed is a few credible and useful facts that must satisfy the users search inquiry.

    Display this text concisely using bullet points.  The messaging should match the ad copy and try to use relevant keywords. Only add relevant images that will enhance the users intent to take action.  Do not use stock photos for design because it will likely distract the user from the intended action.

    3.)    Make the point of your page loud and clear with clear and obvious calls to action.

    To be golden be loud and clear
    To be golden be loud and clear

    If you want the user to fill out the form or call a number don’t make it difficult for them. Add the phone number clearly in the top right of the page.   Add a visible contact form that is above the fold, and does not ask irrelevant questions like “how did you hear about us?”  Since, we can track all of our leads in analytics, we do not need to ask this question, so don’t ask it!

    4.)    Add your credibility symbols above the fold.

    This is very important, because the users need to immediately see a reason to trust your brand, if they do not see it right away, they will not scroll to the bottom of the page, but they will hit the back button to find it somewhere else.

    Visible trust symbols are also very important for the ad copy.  For example many of our client’s are plastic surgeons, and we cannot say, “board certified” in the ads unless it is proven on the landing page.

    5.)    Offer links to more information or to other pages on your website.
    Link to the website at the top and the bottom of the landing page and from your logo.  Add “read more” links to your bullets points, which will allow the uses to find more information.   Remember you do not want to use too many links out because this will distract them from the purpose of the page, but not using any, the user will use the back button and navigate off the page, which is the last thing you want to have happen.

    Everything else will distract you from your purpose.  Yes your pages should look good and be visually appealing, but they should be simple.  Make sure all content is fact and not marketing jargon, also provide links to read more.  Read more about this in Technique: How to build the best PPC landing page , 7 deadly sins of landing page design and 8 Dimensions Of Excellent Landing Pages.

    Airplane image courtesy of Flickr user: Rennett Stowe

    Bullhorn image courtesy of Flickr user: LuMaxArt

  • Facebook Marketing – Sneaky, Subversive, Effective!

    The tactics of Local Facebook Marketing just got a whole lot easier to understand. Sarah Smith gave up the goods in her presentation at the Local Search Summit. It turns out there are some very subversive ways to use current Facebook technologies. Marketing on Facebook just got a lot easier. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="265" caption="Local Search Summit 09"]Local Search Summit 09[/caption] Don Campbell gives a great overview of the ideas presented in our "Using Facebook and Twitter to Drive Local Leads" session. And, I'm looking forward to Aaron Irizarry posting the rest of the video... ... But in the mean time, I'm going to share some ideas based on the Facebook marketing presented by Sarah Smith. I'm so excited by these ideas that we're going to be implementing some of them THIS WEEK with clients. But look, I'm even more excited by what YOU are going to do with them. Please comment and let us know what you think the opportunities are. Ok, ok - so the list:
    • Kinda mundane but still very helpful: Sarah indicates there is now radius based targeting for ads (e.g.: 15 miles around city X)
    • Real-time Search with greater search granularity.
    • Target just your fans or people coming to an event with Facebook Ads (this is definitely cool, and I can see some good applications but not mind-blowing).
    • Birthday Targeting! Holy cow! This is huge. I have a whole program already laid out for this one.
    • 1 to 1 communication with Event attendees/maybes. The pain point here is less obvious - you'll get it when I 'splain it.

    Killer Facebook Marketing Opportunities:

    Birthday Targeting:

    [caption id="" align="alignright" width="199" caption="Happy Birthday to You!"]Facebook Marketing - Happy Birthday to You! Cake Picture[/caption] So, Birthday Targeting - my goodness, how subversive can you get?! Imagine yourself cruising along in Facebook and Blammo
    "happy birthday Bob, click here to register for your birthday gift - good all month".
    Notice, we plan to message "good all month" (or "all week", or "for the next 10 days"). There is still a serious call to action but clearly it's an obtainable goal. The challenge of the Birthday message in Facebook marketing is that if you make it a "today only" deal you may miss those who sign in after work hours or who are otherwise unable to commit today. Maybe they've got a party to go to :D. You can see how this would be a killer tactic for a local business. Let's say you have a non-impulse product. You could make an offer of a $25.00 commodity gift card (Wal-mart, The Gap) or $100.00 gift certificate for your service. Even if you're not perfectly targeted you have the opportunity to start a dialog with a local buyer who knows someone who is.

    Event Focused Permission Marketing:

    Facebook event invitations are becoming much more prevalent. And, it turns out given this new feature, they're a sneaky marketing opportunity. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Ant Party"]Ant Party[/caption] One of the problems we've had with "Fan Pages" vs. Facebook Groups is that there is no way to push communication to your fans. You can post something which will show up in their feed but  you can't get into their inbox without a more personal connection. So, Sarah says that all you've got to do is get someone to respond "Yes" to your invitation (or "Maybe", I think - hopefully Sarah will clarify) and you can then message them up until the event. But wait, there's more: You, the group owner don't necessarily have to initiate the "Event" invitation. Meaning that you can easily convert the Fan to a Friend with much less restriction on continued messaging. I'm not going to tell you how we're going to put this one into use 😉 but I'll tell you once we're done. --- As you can see, these two opportunities, "Birthday Ads" and "Event Focused Permission Marketing", enable much greater attention getting behavior on Facebook. Marketing through these channels can get you past the banner blindness of the usual ads and may even get you into the Inbox. With the rate of adoption of Facebook and Twitter we'll take any opportunity, the more sneaky and subversive the better, to build community and then hopefully move that community offline to buy something. We'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on how to best leverage these new Facebook marketing opportunities and any of the others Sarah detailed at Local Search Summit. --- Related Posts: Image Credits:

  • Is Your Competition Winning in The Customer Engagement Cycle?

    Holy cow it’s taken me a long time to write this! But that’s good news because I’ve been adding to my own understanding in the meantime.

    I have been intending to post on this since before my friend Chris Schultz wrote his “10 Tips for Launching Your Startup” in which he brushed on the core concept, the Customer Engagement Cycle: A C I P R (Awareness, Consideration, Inquiry, Purchase and Retention (Referral)).

    Take for instance the “Referral” above, I’ve come to realize that this is as valuable as “Retention” in the model. And sometimes is more effectively leveraged toward referral than repurchase.

    Chris Schultz and I were both reminded of this at a recent Net2NO meeting (New Orleans Net Squared Group) by Chris Skinner, a New Orleans local and a big-brand search pioneer.

    Being an entrepreneur trying to lead our business, with a little tunnel vision, I tried to apply it to my own recent experience, and below I’ll share that with you.

    At the time, “awareness” seemed a heady concept but I’ve since come to recognize how it applies to what we do. Often as not, our customers’ “Customer” is already Aware. They know the product exists. There are clearly times, however, when it behooves us to drive awareness as well, and I’ll close with that story. As you think about these, their meaning is pretty obvious but I’ll editorialize in case it’s not all the way there for you.

    Customer Engagement Cycle Defined

    • Awareness
      “Hey, check that out. I didn’t know that was an option. Wow, that’s kinda cool. Glad I saw that”
    • Consideration
      “You know, that thing I saw might fill this need / desire. Hmmm”
    • Old Telephone PictureInquiry
      “Hi, I heard about that thing, and I have a need. Do you guys have that thing? Do you think that thing fits my need? Could I come down and talk about that?”
    • Purchase
      If anybody is unclear on “Purchase” raise your hand please.
    • Retention
      “Hi Bob, this is Suzie down at widget-town. I wanted to check in and see how you’re enjoying that thing. Oh really, that’s great! Glad to hear it. Keep an eye on your inbox because we’ve signed you up for our newsletter with some great tips on maintaining that thing. Thanks again Bob, we appreciate you.”

    So, Skinner gives his talk and I say “yeah, yeah, Awareness — big brand heady stuff”.

    Consideration, I get that. That’s what keyword research is for, right? You’re thinking about it, you’re typing it into Google and I’m taking you where my client wants you to go.

    Inquiry – that’s when conversion matters. You’re asking questions, I’ve got answers and I need you to know how to get those questions answered. Once you arrive, I need to get you in our funnel so we can make sure you make it to the next step.

    Old Cash Register PicturePurchase…

    … cha-ching!

    Retention: or as my step-father always said it’s much easier to sell to someone who’s already bought from you.

    But what about referral? Your customers can be your fans if you let them. My friend Mack Collier talked about social media as “Making Yourself a Rock Star” and I think it was taken in the wrong connotation. His intent was not that you should put yourself on a pedestal, engage in substance abuse and fly around in private jets, it was that if you made a point to make fans from your customers you would have all the free promotion that fanaticism brings.

    I often reference my BNI membership and it proves the value of a good referral.

    For instance, one of my BNI fellows recommended us to a friend who is having a reputation management issue. I met the guy for lunch on Friday, we talked for an hour and he signed for a nice sized one-time fee. I was pre-sold by the referral and it got us past the point of proving the value to discussing the issues.

    Light Bulb
    Finally, back to Awareness and a couple recent stories which led me to my to rethink my perspective.

    One of our clients is among a very few plastic surgeons in the US who have had special training in a combination procedure called Lipoabdominoplasty. This is, essentially a tummy tuck with upper abdominal liposuction. There are a number of benefits, which I’m not near qualified to talk about, but suffice it to say it’s a less invasive tummy tuck with shorter recovery time and, many would say, better looking outcomes.Week before last, they had an appointment scheduled by a patient from California. They’re in New Jersey! Do you think there aren’t any qualified surgeons in California, clearly there are, but by virtue of promoting this specialized procedure our guy was able to garner interest from the plastic surgery capital of the world.

    This lady was ready to fly cross-country for a revolutionary procedure — that’s Awareness!

    And really finally on Awareness, I had an epiphany about Twitter. How many of you have heard of Twitter ? Twitter is a micro-blogging platform used for quick messaging encompassing both broadcast and dialog. For those of you not using it, it’s like instant-messaging to hundreds at a time, with the occasional conversation breaking out. It’s definitely a bit of work to find out with whom you’d like to connect, but once you get going you’ll find it easy to grow those connections.

    Twitter IconIn thinking of Twitter and some of the things we’ve got going on with a couple clients I came to the realization that Awareness isn’t necessarily a big-brand issue. Awareness often applies to making a prospective customer Aware you exist.

    So, we’ve got a couple customers who are building Twitter followings. In one case, the Twit (he he) is a young lady who is already enmeshed in social media and for whom it’s a natural form of communication. She is engaged in the community and sharing information and her follower base is growing quite nicely.Oh, and they’re also running the occasional giveaway — on Twitter.

    The impact in links and mentions in blogs and real media is nothing short of amazing! People who never heard of these guys are getting exposed, becoming Aware and spreading the word.

    Will it work for everyone? No, probably not as well. These guys have a consumer product which is ripe for giveaways and, given the demographics of Twitter, inherently viral.

    These two instances the plastic surgeon and the retailer have completely changed my thinking about the Awareness component of the customer Engagement Cycle.

    There is a place for us there, but it is more a function of PR then traditional website promotion in the search engines. Sure, these two cases have a search ranking perspective, but the bulk of the traffic, Awareness and interest is outside of the search engine results pages.

    I find that as I look at the work we do for our customers it is helpful to think in terms of the Customer Engagement Cycle. Are we messaging appropriately? Do we have the tools we need to measure? And are we on a path to Purchase?

    That last is the hardest question to answer when you’re thinking about Awareness, but our experience thus far indicates that the right kind of Awareness will definitely lead to Purchase.

    How can/do you apply ACIPR to your actions with your customers (or prospects) today?

    Please comment with examples.