Archive for the 'Marketing' Category
Last week, I was given an opportunity to present at a West Virginia Department of Agriculture “short-course”. The presentation focused on how everyone, including small agriculture-based companies, can benefit from having a website.
It was a special opportunity for me to give back a tiny bit to a community that played an important part in my family heritage.
My goal in making these types of presentations is to help other businesses succeed. This particular presentation had additional meaning, as I meant it to be a small tribute to my late Grandfather who was very important to me. If you could humor me for just a moment, I would like to share a story about him.
My Grandfather grew up in lumberjack camps across the state of West Virginia and his high school years working on a family farm in Doddridge County. In that era, education was a secondary priority and in order to continue in school my Grandfather was required to first complete his daily farm chores.
He worked his way through high school in that way, and then with the help of others he worked his way through college and earned a degree in Agriculture from West Virginia University.
He spent time in the Pacific Rim during World War II and then taught Vocational Agriculture at Cairo High School until 1975. Each summer my Grandfather would give his students a summer project, in many cases it was to grow a particular crop.
Some years ago, a former student of my Grandfather’s approached me and shared a story:
I cannot recall what the crop was that this student was growing that year. However, he told me that he was working one day in the field and looked across the field to see my Grandfather walking towards him.
He told me, “I thought, ‘Oh, no, here comes Mr. Strader to grade my project’ and I wasn’t ready to be graded.”
My grandfather walked across the field, and approached the student. The man told me that when he came up to him, he simply greeted him and said, “I was just stopping in to see if I could help.”
He had went out of his way to try and help. He was wanting to impart a small bit of his knowledge in order to help his student learn something that may benefit him in the future.
That is the basis for my desire to help people. To share something I know, that could help a business succeed.
It may seem corny and trivial, but to me my presentation was a small tribute to my Grandfather. A man I respected and loved and learned a great deal from. I miss him everyday.
Ironically, the day of the presentation….was his birthday.
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Like an old basketball coach would say….”Follow-Through!”.
You spend time and money to drive traffic to your website. Many of us in the travel and tourism industry rely on visitors to submit forms, requesting additional information or to check availability. Sadly, the follow-up on these requests is often lacking attention which can and does cost businesses in the end.
Here are some simple rules to follow to help convert more of those that contact you via email.
To begin with, respond in a timely manner. The Internet makes information available on-demand. Right or wrong, your visitors are not only wanting, but expecting a timely reply to their emails. If you are only checking and responding to email “every so often”, you aren’t serious about leveraging the Internet to help your business.
Check email often and respond in a timely manner. The caveat with timely response is that a high-quality, yet slightly slower response, is more valuable than a “quick and dirty” response. Auto-responders should be used with great care and you should not pat yourself on the back if you consider your auto-responder as a timely response.
Keep the subject line in-tact from the initial message. This will help “remind” the visitor’s that your email is relevant and not spam. Also keep the message thread in tact so both you and visitor can track the ‘conversation’.
This may sound like a given, but personalize the response! Use their name in the salutation and use your own name in the closing. Nothing can come across as more impersonal than an email signed, “Customer Service Rep 22341″.
If you want people to buy from you, you must establish trust, and forging a relationship is the fastest way to make that happen. Something as simple as personalizing an email can help.
Answer their questions. If they ask for specific information or have specific needs, address them! When you personalize a response and address their specific questions it proves that a real, live human being is responding to them.
DO NOT direct them to visit your website for more information! The majority of them will have just come from there and could not find the information they needed.
Be polite and positive. Another, “no kiddin’” tip, but it is surprising how few companies I see doing this well. Which do you think would be more warmly received
“To make a reservation please call 111-111-111-1111 between 8 and 6.”
OR
“To make a reservation please call us at your earliest convenience. We look forward to speaking with you and will be happy to help you reserve your trip.”
Don’t go overboard with the flowery prose and blatant ass-kissing, however, be genuine and let people know you appreciate them and want to offer them the best possible service.
Be clear and simple with your writing. Sadly, the average American reads at the 7th/8th grade level. Skip the big words and keep the sentences and paragraphs short.
Also be sure to proofread for common mistakes and misspellings. Have a list of words you have trouble spelling? Most of us non-Mensa types do. Keep the list handy.
Lastly, make it easy for people to contact you. Create a simple “signature” in your email client that includes the contact information most important to your visitors.
Tags: email follow ups .
Make it easy for people to buy from you.
Simple enough isn’t it? We are all in the business of selling things whether it be products or services.
The more we sell, the more profitable we become, the more we can invest in our companies and subsequently the level of success trends upward.
However, before anyone will buy from us, they have to traipse down the buying cycle…and develop trust. As business owners we MUST make it easy for people to buy from us or we are wasting our efforts and marketing dollars.
Below you will find an example of why some businesses fail. While this is an offline example, hopefully you will be able to draw parallels and learn from another companies mistakes.
I am in the market to buy a new vehicle. Why not? It is a buyers market, the incentives to buy are great and a shiny new truck would look great in my driveway.
Despite no vehicle sales experience, it would seem logical that “micro-conversions” in the vehicle buying process would include submitting a credit application (online), visiting the lot and asking to take a test drive. Each would indicate “buying signals” and should serve as notice to the dealer that a prospect is very interested.
My experience with a local hometown-dealer is baffling, to say the least.
To begin the process I submitted a credit application online, to have pre-approval before making any trip to the lot. You never know when impulse might strike!
In the process, I indicated that I would like a particular dealership to contact me with vehicles that might meet my self-described needs.
I am no genius, but if I were a car salesman, amidst tough market conditions and was provided with the name of a pre-approved prospect whom had requested prices on specific vehicle types….I would be VERY quick to move.
Nearly two weeks without contact from the dealership, and the contact made entailed the proverbial, “What would it take to put you in a vehicle today?”. Over the phone!
A trial-close given without providing any information about vehicles that might solve my “problems”.
In the past month I have ventured to the dealership 5 times to browse their selection. On each visit, no salesperson ventured out to see if I had any questions. Some may argue that as a tactic, as we all hate being swarmed upon walking on to some high-pressure lots. However, a simple “hello” (to initiate contact) and a, “Can I answer any questions?”, would have went a long way.
Yesterday I decided I would stop again, and take one for a test drive. Despite the dealers lack of effort, I was determined to buy!
I perused the selection, spending 20 minutes or more determining which I would like to take for a spin, without any contact from the sales staff.
Finally I ventured in, found someone and asked for a test drive. Initially, they couldn’t find the keys. So I went back outside to patiently wait.
Five minutes later, the salesman came out and said, “I found the keys…problem with this vehicle is, it has been promised to another dealer”.
My patience, and trust, had met it’s end. They were showcasing (and had a “Dealer Special”) on a vehicle they couldn’t sell to me. My determination to buy was rivaled only by the ineptness of this dealer and his staff.
I was prepared to buy. They were not prepared to sell.
Each buying signal I provided was greeted with another obstacle.
Take a look at your own buying cycle and ask yourself, “Am I making it easy for people to buy from me?”. If your are not, re-evaluate what you are doing and make changes or find something else to do.
If you are interested, I know a dealership that is for sale.
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This is Part II in a series of posts giving a top-level overview of the components of Internet Marketing.
Pay Per Click (PPC) listings augment (in some cases are the sole results) organic listings in a number of search engines. These listings appear alongside, or adjacent to the organic listings. Additionally PPC listings appear on other relevant (somewhat) websites via paid publisher partnerships and other behind the scenes ad deals.
PPC Search Engines
- Primary Engines
- Secondary Engines
- Microsoft AdCenter
- 7Search
- Many Others
Google and Yahoo! currently offer certifications to show familiarity and competency in using their products; Google Qualified AdWords Individual/Company and Yahoo! Search Marketing Ambassador. Expect Microsoft AdCenter to be included in this group in the very near future.
These credentials are awarded based upon a number of criteria including passing a competency exam (each are paid exams). Spend levels and duration of client management are also factored in, among other criteria.
Keys to a Successful Pay Per Click Campaign
- Well Crafted, Relevant Ad Text
- Effective Landing Pages with a Clear Call to Action
- Careful Keyword Selection
- Effective Use of Broad/Exact Match and Negative Keywords
- Can Piggyback Keyword Research from SEO Campaign
- Target Most Specific Phrases and Keywords for Maximum ROI
- Segment Keyword Groups with Unique Ads for Each
- Make Use of Available Testing Methods (Ads and Landing Pages)
- A/B, A/B/B and Taguchi or Multivariate
- Utilize Available Analytics and Ad Conversion Tools
Some Common Misconceptions of PPC Campaigns
- Myth: Must Have the Highest Bid for the Highest Ranking
- Quality Scores Are Used by a Number of PPC Engines to Help Determine Rank
- Myth: PPC Campaigns Are Difficult to Track
- PPC is One of the Easier Components to Track
- Use of Analytics Programs and Provided Snippets of Code
- Goal Identification - Micro-Conversions Measured
Pros of a PPC Campaign
- When Done Correctly, Incomparable ROI
- Cost Effective
- Highly Targeted Traffic - Ability to Reach Multiple Levels of the Buying Cycle
- Can Track to Keyword Level
Cons of a PPC Campaign
- Multi-Faceted: Requires time investment and/or investment in agency to perform tasks involved
- Too Many Focus on Top-Level Keywords and Phrases
- Many Fall Victim to “Set it and Forget it”
- Poor Keyword Selection
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Part one in a series giving top-level overviews and information on the components of Internet Marketing.
Search Engine Optimization - SEO
Search Engine Optimization is a process with the intent to improve the volume and quality of traffic driven to your website via natural, or “organic”, search. Pay Per Click, or PPC, driven traffic is not a component of SEO.
There are a number of factors which influence the success of any SEO campaign. The following is a sampling of the more important factors.
On Page Factors
- Search Engine Friendly Design
- Sound Information Architecture and Navigation
- CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) Based Layouts Recommended
- No Frames or Use of Flash Introductions
- Avoid JavaScript or Image Maps in Navigation Schemes
- Good Internal Linking Structure
- Text Links Within the Page Body Copy
- Keywords Within Anchor Text
- Correct Usage of Coded Page Elements
- Page Titles and Descriptions
- H1, H2, H3 Tags
- Technical Components
- Correct Use of 301 Redirects and Robots.txt
- Site Maps
- HTML SiteMaps for Humans - Like a Table of Contents
- XML SiteMaps for Bots - SiteMaps Protocol http://www.sitemaps.org
Off Page Factors
- In Bound Links
- Not All Links Are Created Equal!
- Look For Topical Hubs, Authority Sites
- One Way Links
- Algorithms Can Detect Link Exchanges - While reciprocal links will not harm your rankings, they are no longer as valuable as before. Instead of spending hours sending and responding to emails about “I saw your site. I like your site. Let’s link!”, look for potential one way, higher authority links.
- Anchor Text is VERY Important
- Link Sources
- Large Directory Sites (Yahoo! DMOZ, Business.com)
- Niche Directory Sites (cabins.com, raftinfo.com)
- Resources and Sites that Contain Information to Which Your Site is Relevant.
If you are considering investing in an SEO campaign for your company, there are some pros and cons to consider.
Pros
- Profound Impact When Correctly Implemented
- High ROI
- Residual Effects from Laying the Groundwork
Cons
- Anyone Can Say the Are An SEO
- No Guarantees - Be Wary of Any SEO That Guarantees Rankings
- With New Sites, Lag Time in Seeing Overall Impact
- Design Elements Must Be in Place to Maximize
When choosing an SEO ask for references, ask about the tactics they intend to utilize and insist on thorough keyword research. Basing an SEO campaign on assumed ‘best’ keywords is a recipe for disappointment.
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This is part of a recent presentation regarding Internet Marketing and the Travel and Tourism Industry. To download the complete presentation, please use the links below
Power Point Slide Show Format - Download
Microsoft Word Format - Download
Tags: internet marketing overview, search engine optimization, seo basics .