Strategic Marketing Ideas

ASM Benefits: Leaning Towards Interaction

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:44:26 PDT

As the Association of Strategic Marketing (ASM) continues to grow and we add on additional benefits, it is imperative to our continued success that we add on benefits that our current members find valuable and that will continue to draw in new members.

We will be doing surveys and focus groups to help us determine what to work on next, but I would love to hear from any of you directly with your insight as well. You can contact me at jkiefer@associationofmarketing.org. Here is a link to our survey if you would like to fill that out as well:

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22DG6C5AF4R/Preview

As we open up conversations with our members we are brainstorming ideas for new benefits on our end as well. Looking from an insider’s perspective is typically not the best approach, however, as adding benefits that we find interesting or cool does not necessarily translate to what members are looking for from their membership.

Brainstorming benefits did give me a chance to reflect on the benefits I have found the most useful in the past. When I become a member of any group, especially in a business setting, I typically have a pretty specific goal in mind. For most of my memberships I have been interested in gaining access to information, typically in the form of training, but sometimes in the form of newsletters or blogs. I have also found that interaction with the other group members can be extremely beneficial. I have been on the same list serv for 5 years and still get useful information from it on a consistent basis.

So, for me, the primary purpose is definitely is the information exchange and knowledge transfer that can happen in a content oriented and interactive group. ASM is very strong in regards to the knowledge transfer. Trying not to be biased, our audio conferences and webinars are some of the best in the industry. We do have a ways to go on the interactivity at this point and that will be an area of focus in 2012. We have a great group of marketers and expert speakers, so we just need to provide an environment to foster interaction and engaging conversation. For a starting point, we do have a great LinkedIn group discussion board if you want to join in the conversation there.

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2341528

We will continue to strive to provide benefits that are relevant to our members. I look forward to interacting with you!

To Blog or Not To Blog: That is the Question

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:30:00 PDT

This particular blog has been active for a couple of years now. "Active" is probably a pretty loose term to be using since my last post was about 2 months ago and there have been much longer stretches with no posts as well. I did not commit myself to making sure I was adding new and relevant content and so I never really gained traction. If you are thinking about starting a blog or already have... you can learn from my mistakes.

Mistake 1 - Don't commit the necessary resources
- I started this blog thinking I would just write a post every couple of weeks or so and eventually build up fresh content that is relevant to my audience (you). This may have worked if I had actually been adding posts every couple of weeks instead of every couple months... or longer.

In order to make a blog work you have to have consistent content being added. This keeps your audience engaged and gives the search engines a reason to serve up your posts in their results. Search engines look for credibility, which can only be built through time and relevance.

Mistake 2 - Don't create your own content
- I quickly realized that I wasn't adding content consistently enough and I probably wasn't going to have enough time to start. I decided to start using other content that is readily available on the internet. Better to have content than not... right?

As it turns out, not necessarily. Content is not king, if it is old content, not well written content, content that everyone has or content that isn't relevant. Content is king if it is fresh, relevant and consistently updated! Readers don't like canned content that can be found anywhere and search engines really don't like content that is found on multiple pages.

The key here is, once again, that you need to dedicate the resources to provide fresh content. There is no shortcut to fresh and relevant content!

Mistake 3 - Expect instant gratification
- I know we live in a country that thrives on instant gratification, but that is not the way a blog works. If you write it, they will not necessarily come. Blogs are built over time with good content and consistent posts. It will be a little disappointing when you write your first great post and you read it five times... only to realize it has only been read five times!

Don't be discouraged! You are in this for the long haul. Keep with your game plan and you will continue to watch your blog grow. Don't be afraid to get out there and tell everyone about your great content. Social Media is a great place to start growing your readers!

Some of you will point out my hypocrisy in this article, as I have not followed my own advice. I agree with your assessment and I will need to reevaluate my purpose and goals for this blog. Perhaps I just enjoy writing?

Is It Possible to Save Your Way to Bankruptcy?

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 08:39:54 PDT

I realized a couple of months ago that I have a discounting problem. I don't think I had ever used a coupon up until a year ago and now I can't go out to eat without looking for a buy one get one free offer. I sort through my Valpaks, I clip coupons on Sundays and I am signed up for three different daily deal sites. I am not cheap, I am fiscally conservative... and apparently I am not the only one, based on the recent valuation of Groupon!

This is all well and good, but there are some hidden traps for both the consumers and the businesses engaging in these deals. For the consumer, don't save your way to bankruptcy. For the business, don't deal away all of your profit.

Okay, so what does "don't save your way to bankruptcy" mean? It means that getting a good deal is not saving you money unless you are getting a good deal on an item you were going to purchase already. For example: You are not planning on buying a coat. You find a $200 coat for $50. You may think you saved yourself $150, but in fact, you just spent an extra $50 out of your budget. How many $150 savings can you afford before your weekly or monthly budget is shot? An easy way to spend much more than you planned is in the grocery store; buying items because you have a coupon that you otherwise never would have purchased.

I started buying Groupon's like they were going to stop offering them when I first created my account. Then I started buying them from Eversave and Living Social as well. Next thing you know I have saved myself $1,000 and spent $750. Not only did I spend too much, but how was I going to golf 10 times, go out to eat 20 times, watch 5 movies, go on a kayak tour, go bowling, take a gun training course... all before my great deals start to expire?

I have fortunately figured out that they are going to send me another deal tomorrow so I have started pacing myself a little better. I only buy restaurant deals when I have used the previous one, only 3 rounds of golf at a time (unless the deal is just too good to be passed up), and only 5 deals total at any given time. I'm sure everyone will have different rules, but everyone should have some rules.

With all of the sales these sites are bringing, how can this be bad for business? Sales are good, but profit margin is also important. The businesses that are offering these deals are typically receiving 25% of their normal sales price or less. Depending on the type of business and their profit margins this may be a very bad idea financially.

Let's look at a restaurant since that is very popular offering. I believe a normal restaurant food cost runs about 1/3 of sales so I will use that ratio for this example. That means that for a $30 bill the restaurant spent $10 on food and the other $20 goes towards other restaurant costs and hopefully profit. When offering a daily deal, a restaurant will be required to offer a 50% discount and then 50% of the revenue will be taken by the daily deal site. That means that the $30 meal will now be $15 for the consumer (great deal) and the daily deal site will take $7.50 of the remaining $15. That leaves the restaurant with $7.50, which does not even cover the $10 in food costs, much less any other costs.

Now, my example is simplified and the restaurant can add rules that allow the financials to tip at least a little more in their favor. That being said, any business running these deals should be very aware of the financial impact a large amount of these sales can have on their business. Either positive or negative.

There are also certain businesses that have a great fit for this type of daily deal. A golf course is an easy example. If tee times are empty that is wasted revenue and there is not a "product" cost associated with those tee times like there is for a restaurant. In this case, a golf course is better off bringing in 25% of the normal tee time revenue in order to fill those slots up. In most cases you will be bringing in extra revenue in terms of food, beverages, supplies... as well. For this type of company it always makes sense to bring in more traffic if you are not filling up. You can also tailor the deals so they are only good at certain times or day of the week to target time slots that are the weakest.

All in all, I think there are some great uses from the both the consumer and business perspective when utilized appropriately with a well thought out plan. Now get out there and start saving... or making money!

The Rise and Fall of QR Codes

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:06:55 PDT

Those cutting edge mobile codes called QR Codes are making their mark on US mail pieces with a helping hand from the USPS. That is correct; the USPS is offering a 3% discount for mail pieces that have a QR Code on them.

As a direct mailer it is hard not to want to take advantage of that discount. It is not often that the USPS offers any type of relevant discount. For our part, we did plan on testing QR Codes at some point, but the discount definitely pushed up our timelines.

In my opinion, the USPS has made an error in judgment with this discount. I get that they are trying to tie their dying product to the mobile revolution that is going on, but I am not sold that QR Codes are the way to do it.

The USPS is hemorrhaging money at this point and in the short term this will surely make that situation worse. They will get 3% less revenue from us since our mail plans didn't change; we just added a QR Code to the pieces so they qualified for the discount. With the short timelines they provided relative to how far out direct mailers plan out campaigns it is doubtful that many companies will increase their volumes even if they wanted to.

Assuming they are only looking for long term gains I don't think their chances are much better. This does not pass the normal technology test of making things faster and easier. Scanners are unreliable at best and can work or not work depending on the code, the phone, the app, the person using the app... Have you tried them out yet?

There are at least three different types of codes at this point, which means the end user needs at least three different apps and has to know which app to use on which code. I would love to see the Vegas odds on that happening.

QR Codes seem like they could have a great response and use in certain situations, but mail pieces don't seem like the best use. Most individuals, when checking their mail at home or the office, are within shouting distance of a computer. If that is the case, it seems much more likely that they would want to visit any site using a computer rather than going through the hassle of scanning a QR Code so they can view the offer on their phone.

And as a final strike against the offer I don't think QR Codes have hit the tipping point yet as far as individual knowledge and usage. If this is truly the case the USPS is pushing a lot of mailers into tests that are at a disadvantage and more than likely will have lackluster results. If marketers were to wait until the learning curve was a little further along, the tests would have a much better chance of success and continued usage.

To end on a positive note, let me reiterate that I believe QR Codes will find a place in most marketers’ toolboxes, but I don't believe the direct mail piece will be that place. I would love to hear more opinions on this topic.

Five Tips for Creating Headlines That Get Attention

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 11:58:18 PST

By Joe Garcia, Give to Get Marketing

In order to get your prospects' and customers' attention, you have to offer them something that they want.

The tool that you use to do that is -- the headline.

1. THE PURPOSE OF YOUR HEADLINES

The purpose of your headlines on your marketing vehicles is to grab the attention of the people who have an interest in what you are offering.

It should be the most prominent words on your marketing vehicle, or the opening line of your verbal presentation. Yes, verbal in-person presentations, as well as telephone presentations should all have headlines too.

If you don't grab and hold your prospects' or customers' attention immediately with your headline, you've lost your opportunity to make a sale.

Look through any newspaper or magazine, and take particular note of the headlines of the articles. Why do you stop and read a particular article? More than likely, it's because the headline grabbed your attention and interest.

It's no different with the headlines of your ads, flyers, brochures, sales letters, Web sites, and openings to your verbal presentations.

Grab attention with your headlines immediately, or all your marketing time and effort will be wasted.

2. EVERY MARKETING VEHICLE SHOULD HAVE A HEADLINE

People skim over a marketing piece quickly to determine if there is anything in it for them.

They look to the headline to tell them if they should stop and read more or to toss the piece aside and continue searching elsewhere.

If you don't put a headline on your marketing piece, how will they know if you have anything of interest for them?

They won't -- and they'll be gone.

Never create a marketing piece without a headline. We call marketing pieces without headlines, 'headless wonders.'

A marketing piece without a headline is like walking up to a someone and just staring at him . . . without saying a word.

3. NEVER USE THE NAME OF YOUR BUSINESS AS THE HEADLINE

We see hundreds, even thousands of small business ads, flyers, brochures, post cards, etc. with the name of the business as the headline, and we just shake our heads. So much time and money wasted.

Marketing is about 'helping people get what they want.'

If you don't let your prospects know what you have for them up front -- they're gone.

Telling them the name of your business, is not what they want.

Flip through a few of your local newspapers, especially those weekly shoppers, and look at the small business ads throughout the paper. You'll discover that 'many' of them use their business name as their headline.

Why? Because they're not aware of the purpose of a headline, or how to create one. It's just easier for them to put the name of their business at the top of their ads, rather than learning how to write a compelling, attention grabbing headline.

It may be easy, but it is a complete waste of money. No one's attention is grabbed by the name of your company.

4. NEVER USE A PUN OR A JOKE AS YOUR HEADLINE

If you begin to look more closely at the marketing pieces around you, you'll begin to discover that many advertisers are fond of using puns as the headlines for their ads.

'Go Ahead, MAC my Day!' (For a MacIntosh computer store)

or

'We've Got You Covered! (For a carpet store)

There is an entire school of thought in marketing that says that your marketing should be clever and creative -- even funny.

All you have to do is watch an evening of TV commercials and you'll see what we mean. Some commercials are very clever, and some are extremely funny, but that doesn't mean that they are effective.

The advertising agencies that produce these kinds of marketing pieces, often win awards for cleverness. But they then lose the accounts because few people bought the products.

Marketing is about 'helping people get what they want,' not about being clever or funny. People don't buy from clowns -- they laugh at them.

5. HAVE A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PURPOSE OF YOUR MARKETING PIECE BEFORE YOU WRITE YOUR HEADLINE

In general, there are three different purposes for marketing pieces.

a. The purpose of many marketing pieces is to attract prospects to a business.

b. The purpose of other marketing pieces is to convert those prospects into First-Time Customers.

c. And the purpose of other marketing pieces is to sell more products and services to your current customers.

What you offer in your headline is going to be 100% dependent on which purpose you choose for your marketing piece.

If you choose to attract prospects to your business, then you may offer your prospects free information, or a free tips report, etc. to get them to respond.

If the purpose of your marketing piece is to convert your prospects into First-Time Customers, you may offer them an exceptionally good deal on their first purchase, or a free trial.

If the purpose of your marketing piece is to sell more products or services to your current list of customers, you may offer them a special, preferred customer discount, on their next order, or a special package deal.

The point we're making here is that not all marketing pieces have the same purpose. And your headline is dependent on the purpose of your marketing piece.

Your headline is one of your most powerful tools in attracting prospects, converting them into First-Time Customers and selling more products and services to your current customers. Learn how to use this tool correctly and your sales will soar.
Copyright � 2000-2009 by Joe Gracia - All Rights Reserved.
Visit Joe's Give to Get Marketing web site for hundreds of marketing tips, articles, case studies and a free newsletter. http://www.givetogetmarketing.com

Understanding the Basics of Link Exchange

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 09:55:17 PST

by Michael Fleischner, author of SEO Made Simple

Link Exchanging is the process of exchanging text links between websites. Webmasters exchange links to improve traffic through numerous inbound links or link popularity. Exchanging links is normally a free process (unless you choose to a fee-based link exchange program), making link exchanges cost effective. Another benefit of using a link exchange program is that it helps improve search engine result placements.

There are various ways to initiate a link exchange with other websites. The most popular method of initiating a link exchange is to email the webmaster of a targeted site and ask to exchange links. You can also find websites looking to exchange links by visiting discussion boards hosted by webmasters. These websites might have link exchange forums or link exchange directories where you can request link exchanges from a specific category or select potential link partners based on other factors such as Google PR or content relevance.

Recently some webmasters have stated that search engines like Google are no longer placing significance importance on reciprocal links. The consensus is that popularity of a website is now measured by the number and value of incoming one way links. Relevance is also a key factor. Webmasters do not have to link directly with competitors, but should link with websites that have industry relevance. Having a link from a website with no relevance could potentially negatively affect Search Engine Result Pages.

Types of Link Exchanges

There are essentially 3 types of link exchange; reciprocal, one-way, and 3-way links. Each has its merits, but one-way links are ideal.

1. Reciprocal Links: When you place a link on your website to another's website, and they provide a link back, it is referred to as reciprocal linking. This is a basic link exchange and a great way to get started with your link building efforts. Just make sure that you are linking with an industry-relevant website.

2. One Way Links: Receiving a link to your website from a third party site is referred to as a one-way link. This is the most beneficial link you can receive, especially if its from a site that has an adequate Google PR and is relevant to your website.

3. 3-Way Links: Providing a link exchange between multiple sites, but not directly to the two primary sites is referred to as a 3-way link exchange. To illustrate, imagine sites A, B, and C. In a three-way link exchange, site A would place a link to site C, and site C would place a link to B. Sites A and B are owned by the same webmaster.

Regardless of which method you use, reciprocal linking provides value to your website. Websites that have completed many link exchanges will usually experience increased traffic through direct clicks and improved search engine rankings. There are various ways for webmasters to find linking websites through direct contact with Webmasters or link exchange directories. The use of link exchanges by webmasters will continue to be an important and useful means of marketing websites and improving search engine placement for many years to come.

Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert with more than 12 years of marketing experience. To discover how to improve search engine rankings on Google and other major search engines vist http://www.webmastersbookofsecrets.com.

Internet Marketing and Social Networking Traffic Building

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 09:24:24 PST

By Dhruv Patel

For most internet marketing gurus, the use of internet marketing and social networking sites has been their secret weapons. If you are a business owner, you would quite agree with me that, it is always necessary to enhance your business. You can achieve this by using some major and very popular social networking platform. While most people resort to the internet, in a bid to get the information they seek; millions have joined social networks; and are still doing so. It is therefore beyond reasonable doubt, that the majority of people will become members of social networks at one point in time; for the purpose of processing information. Can you use social networking as a tool to improve the success of your internet marketing?

Internet marketing and social networking sites has really help most successful marketers. Like I said earlier, most marketers are following this new trend. Social marketing is now employed by virtually every marketer who wishes expand his/her business and profit too. Having a good brand (name) is very important. You would want to your customers to know not only what they are buying. And it is only important they know who they are buying from too.

I have compiled 4 essential tips to help you succeed at internet marketing; using the method of social networking.

Communications: This is a very important key to success to what ever internet marketing strategy you opt to use. Your real-time customers can only get to know better when there is an open flow of communication between both parties. The same goes for potential customers. Be bold and step out into the open. Do your best to join more popular networks; start contacting people who would be interested in your business. This signifies business mutualism: They help your business grow; and return the favor.

Quality Content: content is very necessary in internet marketing. Always make sure that whatever you are “selling” contains quality content that will be savored by your clients. Thanks to new technological innovations and development; you can now attract people to your business with such magnetic force. Unsurprisingly, you can achieve this goal with just a little effort. Yes, while I do not encourage laziness, you want to couple your efforts with smartness and intelligence.

Help People: You also want to be the Good Samaritan of old if you are to succeed internet marketing. What do I mean by this? If you are really making money online; or you have an offline business that does as much good, passing on the information to people won’t do any harm. So when you help them, they get to trust you. It increases your online credibility and customers would be willing to work with you. They also see you as a nice person and will not hesitate to believe whatever information you pass unto them.

Spread The Right Links: This is where most people go wrong in internet marketing. Don’t even think of distributing the links to your social network. This is jet-age; and most people are already members of one social network or another. Talking about links, I mean, you must always include the links to your blog or website on your profile. Do not impose it upon them to click on your links. They will clearly see it in your profile and the decision to click on the links is solely theirs.

Published At: Isnare.com Free Articles Directory - http://www.isnare.com/
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=493029&ca=Internet

5 Effective Calls to Action

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 08:03:56 PDT

by Peter Engelhardt, Creative Brew

For any website to convert potential customers into a sale or enquiry, it needs to have a distinct "call to action". This enticement should be aimed at engaging with your audience and encouraging them to leave their details, buy a product or spend more time discovering your website, hence, helping your business grow. This can be a call for debate or discussion, signing up to receive newsletters, taking part in a survey, or adding a widget from your site on their computer.

A "call to action" should be unique, simple, clear and compelling enough to persuade a potential customer to take some action. Structured properly it will help attract new clients and retain current ones. It plays on the simplest of marketing rules - "give the customer something for nothing". Although it is essentially an information-collecting tool it should leave the customer feeling good and feeling like they have began a real relationship with your company.

Bear in mind that a mere "Contact us" form on your website is not considered a "call to action". Today's audience is smart, and is unlikely to share contact information on a plain vanilla text form. This is not only unappealing, it also sets off an alarm in the audience's mind that all you want is contact information and nothing else. A "call to action" is about building trust and relationships - and ultimately a stronger web conversion ratio on you site.

At Creative Brew we have studied the netizen's mindset and will customize a call to action for your website based on the kind of business you're in, what you sell, what your strong points are and what kind of audience you'd want to attract. In short, here are the 5 principles we follow to arrive at the best call to action for individual website:

1) The KISS formula

Keep It Simple - we can't say it loud enough! Do not over-embellish your call to action - statistics (and common sense) dictate that for a call to action to work, it has to be easy to act on and delivered immediately. Do not place your call to action as a final point after navigating your website, do not promise an elaborate reward upon completing it and for heaven's sake, do not get cute. If you sell cute stuff, it's a different story, but do not give off an impression of flippancy - it turns people off. Make your call to action a clear offer.

2) Highlight it

Make it the star of the site, position it on your Home Page. By placing it at the top or by highlighting it in a banner or in a different colour than that of your website's background, you're telling your audience that this is where they can connect with you. Let them know.

3) Throw in something extra

Don't forget this golden rule - everybody and their grandma loves a good bargain. Offer up one with your call to action. It doesn't have to be exorbitant; it just needs to be there. Study your competition and what they're offering. Understand what kind of a giveaway will complement your website - and hence, your product/service/business. Get inside the head of your target audience - they never lie.

4) Use the right words

Active language is the key. A single word that calls out to your audience to click on your call to action and get going is what your site requires. "Call", "Subscribe", "Register", Free" - these are some of the tried and tested active words. Use them.

5) Make it work

Give your audience what they think they should get from your site. For example, if you're a consulting group that provides expertise in manpower management, put together a document that includes a PDF of the services your company provides, a couple of case studies and a form for the HR manager to complete. Also include handy tips to reduce attrition, snippets from articles you have written and mistakes to avoid during hiring. Which HR team would not want a ready reckoner on employee retention? Since these "whitepapers" are downloadable, the visitor gets instant gratification and you would have high recall value in his mind the next time he needs help in this area. And with this positive experience, you're sure to get some positive word-of-mouth as well.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/5-effective-calls-to-action-3254829.html

About the AuthorPeter J Engelhardt is the founder of the highly respected marketing & design company Creative Brew. With over 20 years of branding experience Peter is now motivated by the exciting potential that new and social media has brought to the world of communications. His passion is embracing this technology to find new and better ways to help clients with their marketing challenges. He companies focus is based on merging traditional marketing practices with the emerging new media tools.

The Confusion Surrounding the Word "Campaign"

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 09:23:00 PDT

By Mike Gospe

I often ask marketers to tell me about the integrated marketing campaigns they are running. Here are a few common responses:

We’ve been running a Google Adwords campaign for the past 2 years.
We’ve got a new PR campaign kicking off next week.
Our print advertising campaign has been reduced to 3 insertions due to budge cuts.

These answers highlight a common misunderstanding of the word “campaign.” Is the “campaign” a singular tactic? Or, is it something more? Are there lots of campaigns, or only a few? When it comes to integrated marketing, there are strategic as well as tactical connotations concerning this key word. When the context of the word “campaign” is misunderstood, it can lead to some heartburn.

The strategic “Campaign”

If I were to use a military analogy, the general would direct his troops in a Campaign (with a big “C”). ”Troops!” he’d say, “I want you to take that hill. Figure out how we can do it.” In this context, the strategic implication is regarding a central objective — a major initiative; a big deal with a lot at stake. To achieve the objective a variety of tools and actions need to be coordinated and executed. All of the activities and actions ultimately add up to accomplishing this central objective. Overlaying our marketing framework to this analogy, our integrated marketing “Campaigns” are driven by key sales and marketing objectives, such as capturing market share, squashing a competitor, establishing a foothold in a new market. The marketing activities and offers are then coordinated and timed so they reflect a common/consistent set of messaging that engages prospects in the desired dialog as they move through our sales process.

The tactical “campaign”

Unfortunately, to complicate matters, marketing automation tools like Eloqua and Marketo use a more tactical definition for the word “campaign” (small “c”). So does Salesforce.com. In fact, Google Adwords can be mapped as a “campaign” into these, and other tools. This is unfortunate because it may suggest to some that isolated, random tactics can be effective without understanding their role in the larger marcom mix (i.e. the strategic “Campaign”). When marketers fall into the trap of silo’d thinking, we lose sight of the larger Campaign. Tools like Eloqua and Salesforce.com are incredibly important to our marketing efforts — but they are tools to help us execute the tactics, not for driving strategy.

To avoid unnecessary confusion, here are a few tips:

Create a marketing glossary, defining key words like Campaigns, Programs, Activities, and Offers.
In practical terms, the use of the word “campaign” (small “c”) will continue to be used in Eloqua, Salesforce.com, etc. We can’t change that. So, when speaking with executive management regarding the big picture, use the word “Campaign” in the strategic sense. Don’t confuse it by including the word “campaign” as a tactical element. (In other words, if you tell your CEO you’re running a Google Adwords “campaign”, you’ll likely confuse her. She thought the “Campaign” as about squashing competitor X.)
The reverse is true when communicating to the rank and file. In the context of Eloqua or Salesforce.com, it is appropriate to use the “campaign” (small “c”) word in a tactical sense. However, make sure to acknowledge how each “campaign” adds up to reach the “Campaign” (big “C”) objective.

It can be a bit tricky, but it’s nothing marketers can’t handle. After all, we’re messaging experts.
Mike Gospe <http://www.kickstartall.com/about.html#mike> leads KickStart Alliance's marketing operations practice where he conducts team-based "practical application working sessions" to improve the effectiveness of lead generation campaigns and product launches.

Press Release SEO: Writing Press Releases Effectively for Search Engines

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 09:21:44 PDT

By Sarah Skerik

Understand how search engine optimization works & take advantage of Press Release Optimization by structuring your press release correctly

Search engine optimization practices have evolved alongside the improvements and refinements search engines have made to their algorithms. In order to take full advantage of the Press Release Optimization PR Newswire builds into the distribution of each press release, it’s important that you understand SEO practices and factors - and stay up to speed with shifting trends and tactics.

General best practices:

Release Length
The length of the press release is a make or break factor in the overall strength of its optimization. You can craft the perfect headline and use the best keywords, but if your message is too long it can become diluted, which means that search engines can’t index it as specifically. The result? The release drops out of the top search results and is less likely to be found by internet searchers.

The optimum length is generally 400 to 600 words – between about a page and a half and two pages. This length is easy for readers to digest and comprehend, but it’s long enough to include the rich detail readers appreciate – which is also informative to search engines. And it’s not so long that key contextual points are drowned in a sea of less relevant detail.

Anchor Text
The links you see on web sites connecting a word or phrase to a related page are called “anchor text,” and these are a boon to press release writers. In addition to providing a great way to channel readers to additional information (eliminating the need to write an excessively long press release), anchor text – when used properly – can also deliver significant SEO benefit back to the web site you’re promoting. Best practices for using anchor text in your press release include:

Link operative keywords or short phrases (two words is ideal) to relevant web pages. Do not use anchor text to link phrases like “for more information” or “click here.” Likewise, don’t link from descriptive language (e.g. colors, flavors.) Link from keywords only.
Headline, Lead & Link. Use your most important keyword in your headline and your lead sentence. Link from the occurrence of the keyword in the lead.
Less is more. Two links per 500-600 words is recommended, in order to focus search engines on your most important keywords.

Context & Focus
A clear, concise message resonates with readers and is appreciated by journalists. It’s also a key component of a well optimized press release. Too many keywords and concepts can dilute your message, causing it to drop in the rankings for the keywords you consider most important. A tightly focused message that is truly relevant for your target keywords is more likely to be ranked, read and written about than a press release that tries to be all things to all people.

Language
Journalists have long complained about jargon and hyperbolic language in press releases. In addition to doing yourself no favors in the newsroom, jargon-laden headlines and press releases don’t resonate with searchers, either. Use the plain, accurate and descriptive language people use when discussing the product/service/initiative you’re promoting. You’ll be more likely to connect with your audiences – via search engines, and on-page.

How Press Release Optimization Works:
How your press release is structured directly affects its optimization. With today’s emphasis on the actual on-page content, the decisions you make about what language to use, placement of keywords and use of anchor text will affect the overall quality of the optimization of the press release, and its overall effectiveness. In this section, you’ll learn how the different parts of your press release are utilized in the overall optimization process.

The Headline & Subhead
The headline of a press release has always been important, but is doubly so for press releases that are optimized for search. PR Newswire’s Press Release Optimization system utilizes your headline to populate several extremely important HTML fields that are part of the underlying optimization of your press release, including:

The Title Tag – At the very top of each web page is the title tag. One of the most important SEO factors, the Title Tag carries real weight in search engines. The title tag (and, specifically, the language contained therein) strongly influences how search engines interpret and index a web page.
The Search Engine Results Page description (“SERP”) – The SERP description is what people see initially when your press release shows up in their search results. PR Newswire uses your headline and subhead (up to 300 characters total) to populate your SERP description. Because headlines and subheads are crafted to grab a reader’s attention, they are perfectly suited for this important role.
H1 tag – Part of the underlying HTML of the release, the H1 tag reinforces other optimization factors and can help focus the search engine’s attention on a key aspect of the overall message. By using the headline, we repeat a powerful, clear, richly descriptive phrase and amplify your release’s key message.

Tips:

Start your headline with the most important keyword in your press release.

Keep your headline fairly short – 60 to 80 characters are optimal. Your subhead can be a little longer – but try to keep it to two lines or less.

Use descriptive language that you’ll repeat in the body of the press release when writing both the headline and subhead.

The Subhead
The subhead has traditionally added extra descriptive information to the top of a page, fleshing out the headline and telling a reader a bit more about a story. In terms of press release optimization, the subhead plays a similar role. The subhead is utilized in the optimization of a press release in a variety of ways:

The Search Engine Results Page description (“SERP”) – The SERP description, as described above, is key real estate – for both search engines and your readers. Your subhead will be used to populate the SERP if your headline is short – a total of 300 characters can go into that field.

H2 tag – part of the underlying HTML of the release, and just behind the H1 tag in authority, the H2 tag is populated with your subhead, where it amplifies your message and helps focus the search engine’s attention on your overall message.

Meta keywords tag
Five years ago, Google didn’t read your press release; it read the underlying HTML code. Today, Google – and other engines - can effectively read your press release. The Meta keywords tag is largely ignored. As a result, SEO best practices today are focused more on the on-page content, and less on the keywords placed in the Meta keywords field in the release HTML.   For that reason, PR Newswire’s system makes minimal use of this field, populating it with informative but limited information drawn automatically from the press release. The information that does go into this field includes the name of the issuing organization, geographic information, and industry and subject details.

We still field questions from PR pros wondering whether it’s possible to optimize a press release for a list of keywords they supply (i.e. keyword stuffing).   Because this practice offers little benefit at the most and, at the worst, can be detrimental, it’s not supported by our system. Keywords are important, and they belong the text of the press release. Use them there!

Paying attention to how you write your press releases, what language you use, and how you structure the release itself can pay big dividends.   By staying current on SEO tactics and adhering to the best practices enumerated above, you’ll soon see new and gratifying results for your press release campaigns.

Members: Don't forget that PR Newswire offers a free 12-month membership for ASM Members - this gets you over $2,000 in free and discounted services that will help you promote your business!
Get more information about PR Newswire and the services and discounts they offer to ASM Members on the PR Newswire page on the ASM website.

Social Media Marketing Tips

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:14:48 PDT

By Lea Carlton

How can you accomplish your online branding goals as efficiently as possible?
Social Media Marketing (SMM) has become a popular alternative for online business branding. Companies don't think of social sites (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin) as "websites for kids". They are valuable Internet marketing and networking resources for business. On the other hand, there are 4 major issues involved with diving into SMM without the proper knowledge and strategies. These can "make" or "break" your success in social media marketing:

GETTING STARTED IN SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Make wise choices from the beginning and move forward with a "plan of action"!

Prior to getting started in social media marketing, you need to nip the urge to join every single social site on Google. It does not hurt to have a presence everywhere on the Internet, though there is no advantage in wasting time setting up a social account that is not used. The site owner may delete it - OR - it will get outdated and look unprofessional. Plus, there is no way that you can "work" them all unless you have a team to help you. You will still want to be discerning and make a "plan of action". You need this to properly brand your business through social media marketing. You also need this "plan of action" in order to "position" your company correctly from the beginning. This concept holds true in Internet marketing in general.
PROPER SET UP
Meet your social market where they work and play on the Internet!
You need to learn how to "set up" and "position" your company with the "best" social networks and websites. Some initial positioning details to consider: (a) determining which are the "best social sites" for your niche and interests, (d) choosing the right user name for your individual profile links, (c) choosing the most attractive profile information and media to share, (d) developing a knack for filtering activity according to what is appropriate at a particular social site, (e) establishing a time schedule that permits working as many networks as possible, (f) choosing the best initial connections ... and so on.

Keep in mind that "Account Settings", network protocol, niche and viral marketing all go hand in hand throughout time.

Additionally, some social sites have a more playful environment than others; even those with a professional focus. You need to select websites that not only fit your company's focus, but also the personal interests of the individual(s) that will "work" the social media marketing process for you. Note: Don't let the "playful" networks defer you. One of the goals of social media marketing is to reach your target markets where they work and "play" on the Internet.

IMPLEMENTATION: WHAT TO DO & WHAT NOT TO DO

Don't just "wing it"; move prepared to market effectively for your business.

Your activity should include a predefined social media optimization (SMO) strategy. This SMO is a combination of search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing (SMM). It expedites the professional results that you require for your business. It is easy to assume that SMM is simply setting up social networks and marketing. Although this is part of the process, social networking is not all that is involved in social media marketing. It is suggested that you have a website and a blog. You need to search engine optimize any personal resources prior to SMM. You need a second set of keywords that do not conflict with your personal virtual properties, though compliment your efforts. Content is key to this offsite marketing process, therefore blogs, articles, comments, discussions, images, videos, link ... everything SMM needs to correspond with the SEO.

There is a fine line to what is considered advertising and marketing; spam or valid content. Some social sites are flexible and others are not. You need to move into a virtual realm with a professional plan of action and work the network according to the infrastructure provided, though with intent to produce rapid conversions.

TESTING, TRACKING & REFINING

You will need to test, tread, track and refine before you can run with a strategy.

As with an offline business plan, your online branding strategy will need "tweaked" and updated for the following reasons:
(a) The Internet is constantly changing, you will need to update accordingly.
(b) Search engine rankings, blog / website traffic and subscribers mean absolutely nothing if you are not able to convert this activity into sales.
You cannot move forward if your plan of action is not working for you.

PRIORITIZING TASKS: MONEY & TIME MANAGEMENT

As the old saying goes, "time is money" ...

If you get one major point from this article, prioritizing "time" and "money" is what you should remember. Internet marketing is not easy for most; especially when you are merging into unfamiliar arenas. Time and money are the "double edge sword". Handling your own online branding is only time and cost effective if it is making you money. The reality is that you will not drive conversions nor make money at first because it takes time to learn Internet Marketing. This is time that busy professionals do not have, therefore you either have to put in the extra hours or hire an expert to do the work for you. If you choose to do your own search engine optimization and social media marketing, then you need to prioritize whether the bulk of your activity is on the Learning, Researching or the Implementation (Content, SEO, SMM) at any given time. The advantage is that you can adjust this as needed.

Regardless, a proper online branding strategy will include both the technical and social, therefore they are all one in the same, time consuming, process.

Online business branding and social networking appear to be easy, on the surface, though not a simple process. There are defined strategies that should include both search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing (SMM) in order to create a process called social media optimization (SMO). This SMO is actually the online marketing that you want to do for your business. When done correctly, the SMO will produce immediate responses that are easy to track, increase sales and creates a popularity that contributes to fast branding success. You can change the sales / marketing conversions for your business within a few days or gradually "divide and conquer" your competitive online business arena. In other words, your business can market as aggressively or conservatively as needed. This is based on how your company is equipped to handle growth.

In this generation of Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Optimization, it is to your benefit to learn how to properly brand your business online or find someone that knows how to do this for you.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/social-media-marketing-tips-3046506.html

About the Author:
Lea Charlton has been a leader in the Organic SEO arena since 2004. She specializes in Social SEO Marketing and Consultative Training Services for busy professionals needing fast branding success and social strategy solutions.

7 Ways to Improve the Stickiness of Your Website

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 08:52:01 PDT

By Michael Fleischner, Marketing Scoop

Today more than ever, consumers are overwhelmed with choices, and distractions. The cost of attracting users to your website continues to increase and keeping them engaged is more important than ever.

Engagement doesn't end with an individual browser reading content or clicking on an ad. Rather, engagement is an ongoing process that results in loyal customers who come back again and again, becoming more vested in your web site.

How can you make sure you're engaging and keeping customers?

In order to create a loyal following, there are some basic principles you need to consider. From first impressions to life-long membership, put yourself in the shoes of your browsers and make their experience a valuable one.

   1. Reduce Clutter. How many times have you visited a website only to be overwhelmed and confused? What is this site about you may have asked yourself. Or perhaps you found yourself asking, ‘Where is the information I'm looking for?'

      Don't ask your browsers or potential customers to figure this out. Make your site clutter free and create a visual priority that emphasizes the information, resources, or actions your browsers want. By reducing obstacles you build trust among new web site visitors and allow for simple decision making - which benefits everyone.

   2. Make Navigation Intuitive. There are many ways to navigate a web page but intuition rules the day. Don't try to get fancy with your navigation or overuse java script. Basic navigation that follows current convention is the best way to lead individuals through your web site to the information they're looking for.

   1. Make The Initial Site Interaction Relevant. When a browser reaches your web site, you have less than seven seconds to get them engaged. Making your initial site interaction relevant to what individuals are looking for is essential for keeping them interacting long term.

      If you are promoting your web site with Google Adwords, or any pay per click advertising for that matter, be sure to create customer landing pages that are truly relevant to the individual who clicks-through your ad. Once you've established relevancy, you can move them deeper into your content, tools, and resources.

   2. Ensure That Your Content Is Up-to-date. Web site content that isn't up to date does not serve your audience and browsers are likely to move on. One way to ensure that information is timely is by providing a feed of relevant news or information. If including static text on your web pages, try not to include specific dates. However, if you must publish dates, be sure to update this information on a regular basis.

   3. Start An Interaction With Your Users. Each time a browser views your web page, you have an opportunity to interact with them. Don't let this opportunity pass you by. One great way to interact is to offer something of value at no cost. This can be a white paper, access to an exclusive list, or simply a 30 day free trial. Be sure to capture an individual's valid email address and include them on your mailing list. An auto-responder is best if you wish to engage these individuals on an ongoing basis.

   4. Provide Plenty Of Support. Don't hesitate to offer support right from your home page. Prominently display your 800 number, support email address, and additional information for your prospects and customers such as mailing address. This information is viewed favorably by search engines and also creates a sense of legitimacy. Contact information builds trust among prospects and elicits interest in your company.

   5. Make Sharing Easy. Once you've made your web site easy to use, don't hesitate to offer browsers the ability to share your web site with others. This can be in the form of a simple widget that allows users to bookmark your page, subscribe to an Rss feed, or submit your content to popular news sites like Digg.com.

      Individuals are much more likely to visit a web site based on a friend's recommendation versus some other type of marketing initiative. Leverage the power of viral marketing with easy sharing tools.

Your web site can be your greatest asset. Unfortunately, many marketers and website owners are so focused on increasing traffic that they lose site of the audience that's already visiting their web pages but are simply not converting.

Don't make the same mistake. Improve the quality of you site through relevant content that is up-to-date and easy to find. Once you've engaged users, encourage them to share. Doing so will make your site perform better, increase conversions, and deliver value for all involved.

Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert and the President of MarketingScoop.com. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and had appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit MarketingScoop.com for further details and more marketing articles including tips on how to improve search engine rankings for your web site.

There's a Right Way and Wrong Way to Write a Customer Follow-up Letter

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 08:00:02 PDT

By Joe Gracia, Give to Get Marketing

Note: The names of the people and businesses in our case studies have been changed to ensure the privacy of the people involved, but the details, recommendations and results are based on actual events from our files.

A few years ago a client asked us to review a follow-up letter he was mailing to his customers a few weeks after they had purchased one of his products.

He wasn't achieving any of the goals he had set for this follow-up letter.

After reading it, it was apparent why.

He was expecting way too much of his customers. Here's the advice we provided:

Dear Bob,

I've reviewed your follow-up letter and have a few suggestions.

1. WE, ME, versus YOU, YOUR:

People get bored and distracted 'very' easily. If you talk about your product, your company and your services in the beginning of your letter, your customers will stop reading immediately.

Your ratio of the words YOU and YOUR -- as in, YOU get, YOU will receive, YOUR problem, YOUR benefits, YOUR solution, YOUR savings, YOUR gift, etc. -- versus the words WE, ME (or variations, like OUR staff, OUR customers, OUR company, etc.) -- as in, WE installed, WE'RE #1, WE'VE been in business since 1937, etc. -- should be ten to one in favor of YOU, YOUR.

Your prospects and customers don't care about your company, and your successes, they only care about themselves. They want to know 'What's in It For Me?' and they want to know that immediately -- or they will stop reading.

This is a hard lesson for business people to learn, because they are so enamored with their products and services, that they erroneously believe that their prospects/customers will be too. Not true.

You start talking about what your customer will get in the middle of page two -- 'Enclosed is Your Free Gift . . . ' That's where you should begin your letter. Eliminate the copy about YOUR product and how many uses people have found for your product. You've already sold these people. This letter has a different purpose.

2. FOCUS ON ONLY ONE OFFER AT A TIME:

People can only hold ONE thought in their heads at any one moment. It's tough enough to get a prospect or customer's attention to begin with, but to expect them to grasp and hold more than one thought or offer at a time is impossible. Once they have gotten to your second thought, they have erased the first one from their minds.

You have presented a total of FOUR different thoughts for your customers to retain in your letter, and three of them require action on their part:

ONE - OUR PRODUCT IS VERSATILE: This isn't an offer, it's a selling point meant to get your customer thinking about the many uses of your product. They have already purchased your product, this is irrelevant to them now.

TWO - $25 DISCOUNT CERTIFICATE: This is your first offer.

THREE - $25 REFERRAL GIFT: This is your second offer.

FOUR - TESTIMONIAL: This is a request, and your fourth thought they have to remember and consider.

Focus each of your marketing vehicles on only one thought each.

If you want your customers to consider purchasing more of your products with the $25 off certificate, then that is all that should be in the marketing vehicle.

If you want a testimonial, then focus 100% on getting the testimonial, etc.

Most business owners want to kill 6 birds with one stone. It can't be done. One bird -- one stone.

3. DON'T PUT THE BURDEN OF EFFORT ON YOUR PROSPECTS/CUSTOMERS:

Any time you ask your prospects or customers to take some action, you are going to be met with resistance. People are busy. They are easily distracted, forgetful, and they love to procrastinate -- and that's with activities that they are interested in. They will take even less effort for someone else, especially a business.

-- $25 DISCOUNT CERTIFICATE: You are asking your customers to consider purchasing additional products in the future and to file and remember this discount certificate and use it then. They won't do that.

If you want them to apply a $25 Discount Certificate to a future purchase, then you must send them the certificate later, at the time when you believe they may be ready for another purchase, and follow-up with a personal call to make sure they've received the certificate and to answer any questions.

Your customers are not going to take the time and effort to file your Discount Certificate away for future use. Any Discount Certificates you provide for 'future' purchases will most likely end up in the trash, or lost.

-- $25 REFERRAL GIFT: You are asking your customers to think of someone who might have an interest in your products, and then have them speak with those people about your product. They also have to tell their friends how to get in touch with you if they are interested. That's a lot to expect--most won't do it.

If you want to get referrals, create a referral card -- offering a free info-kit -- that your customers can just hand to their friends or neighbors. Put a referral code on the cards so you can tell who referred the new customer.

You can also ask your customers for referrals right after the sale while you are standing with them.

-- TESTIMONIAL: You are asking your customers to think of some positive things to say about your product and service and take the time to sit down and write them out and then mail it to you. Very few will remember or take the time to do it.

If you want testimonials, you must do the work for them. Listen to their positive comments while you are with them, then ask them right then and there if you can use their comments. Then type them up and have them give you their permission to use them.

You can also call them and ask them for their comments about your products and your services a week or so after the sale. Again, YOU must do the actual work of typing up their comments and getting their permission to use their comments.

If you wait for your customers to do your marketing work for you, you will get very few testimonials.

4. USE A BENEFIT HEADLINE:

Headlines aren't only for newspaper ads, they are for all of your marketing efforts, including sales letters, and follow-up letters.

Tell your prospects and customers why they should read your letter. Tell them 'What's in It For Them' in your headline. 'YOU CAN RECEIVE A SPECIAL $25 GIFT. HERE'S HOW.' (Notice the word YOU). Then tell them about the $25 gift and what they have to do to get it, in your copy -- one thought only per marketing piece.

Pay-Per-Click Meet Search Engine Optimization

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:00:05 PDT

By: Michael Fleischner, Marketing Scoop

As I continue to work with companies seeking to improve the return of their Internet marketing dollars, I’ve gained a new appreciation for the marriage of search engine marketing and search engine optimization.

Just a like a company’s house list, the information they gather from their own PPC campaigns can provide a significant boost to the effectiveness of their search engine optimization efforts. The key is to know what information you’re looking for and how to use it to generate qualified visitors to your website.

Qualified visitors are those that have a higher degree of interest in your products or services and a greater likelihood of purchasing your products. I’ve often seen websites that have reduced their traffic while significantly improving conversion rates. The result is lower costs related to traffic acquisition and higher revenue. With more revenue and less expense, margins reach a new level of success.

The concept that I teach in SEO training is the most effective way to combine pay-per-click advertising with search engine optimization is to focus on conversions. What keywords have you promoted through pay per click advertising that led to conversions? If you’ve been running PPC for a while and you are still unsure, then consider expanding your analytics to include Google conversion tracking.

Once you have the answer and know which terms produce the greatest conversions, regardless of ad variation, then you SEO keywords have been determined. You want to generate organic traffic to the same keywords you’re promoting through PPC as long as they are generating your highest conversions.

An example of this might be someone promoting an ebook on how to fix a car. If the highest converting keyword is, “car repair”, then you should consider car repair as a keyword phrase you must optimize for. Organic traffic to this term will produce targeted web site visitors and conversions for little or no money as you improve your rankings.

The last piece is to take your highest converting landing pages and build in some or all of the elements into your website. Once you’ve tracking and optimized landing pages via PPC, you can duplicate what you’ve learned from a conversion perspective organically. Consider applying the landing page elements that have generated the highest return for you on your pay-per-click advertising.

Whether you’re new to SEO or consider yourself a search engine optimization expert, leveraging your pay-per-click advertising is the best investment you can make. Determine which keywords generate the type of traffic that is most valuable to you and optimize around these terms. They will generate more traffic and revenue at a lower cost.

About the Author

Are looking for SEO training? Learn SEO with the help of leading search engine optimization experts. Check out the leading SEO software with MarketingScoop's SEO Elite Software Review and turbo charge your search engine optimization.

©2009 MarketingScoop.

Just the FAQ's: Why a FAQ is One of Your Hardest Working Marketing Tools

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:00:05 PDT

By: Jay Lipe, EmergeMarketing.com

FAQ pages are quickly becoming a standard convention for service firm websites. But in this article I’d like to broaden your appreciation of a FAQ page to what I believe it really is: a high-return, low-cost marketing tool that can address a broad range of marketing, sales and service tasks.

Reasons every service firm should have a FAQ page
1. A FAQ helps potential buyers educate and prequalify themselves – As visitors land on your site, some of them naturally wish to learn how your capabilities can help them. Enter the FAQ. With an eye towards creating FAQs that anticipate and answer a prospects most pressing questions, you can actually move the sales dialogue along—without committing any labor to the selling process. For example, if your FAQ page features questions like "What is the profile of a best fit client for your firm?", “What kinds of projects does your firm specialize in?” and “What do you typically charge for a project?” you can both educate and prequalify prospects with your FAQ.
2. A content-rich FAQ page reduces demands on your support staff- FAQ pages evolved from a product manufacturer’s need to free up their customer service staffs from routine customer questions. By surfing a FAQ page for questions and answers, a potentially confused (thus potentially dissatisfied) customer could find the answer to their question and not burden your service staff. The same principle applies to any service firm. The easier you make it for prospects and buyers to serve themselves, the more satisfied they become working with your firm.
3. A FAQ acts as a great internal training device - Imagine the HR director for your firm who is training a roomful of new hires. Imagine that as part of her standard orientation, she calls up your firm’s FAQ page online and walks the new recruits through each FAQ. In a matter of 20 minutes, she can educate recruits on the most fundamental marketing and service issues of your firm such as “What makes our firm different from all others in the market?” and “Who do I go to if I have a service problem?”, and as a result train a new group of marketing ambassadors.
4. A FAQ page can help optimize your website’s internal links – If you look at Amazon’s Investor Relations page (http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p=irol-faq ), you’ll see that not only does it provide answers to the most relevant questions, but it also provides relevant internal links back to sections of the Amazon site—in other words, Google Juice.

The most common questions to include in your FAQ, and how to group them

Kick off your FAQ page by saying: Below is a list of questions we are frequently asked. Click on each question in order to get the answer. Feel free to contact us with any additional questions at (800) 555-1212 or tbd@tbd.com.
Follow this with FAQs that are lumped together into logical groupings. The first of these is…

FAQs that answer prospect questions

Prospective clients have very different questions about your firm versus clients. Most prospect questions revolve around why they should do business with your firm. Here are some standard FAQs in this area:
• Why would my organization need to hire an architectural firm (or marketing agency, or engineering firm, or consulting firm)?
• What does an architectural firm (or marketing agency, or engineering firm, or consulting firm) do
• How is (Your firm) different from all other firms in your industry?
• What's the profile of an ideal client for (Your firm)?
• What reasonable outcomes can I expect from working with (Your firm)?
• Why would I choose (Your firm) over one of the larger firms?
• What do you charge? How do you bill? What are your terms?
• Do you guarantee your work?
• What steps are necessary before we can start working together?

FAQs that answer course-of-business questions

FAQs can also be used to manage relationships with clients well after the ink has dried on the contract. Another set of FAQs should deal with the common questions clients have during the course of working on a project with your firm.

These course-of-business FAQs include:

• Who is assigned to our account?
• How often do we meet? Where do we meet?
• What are our responsibilities during the project?
• What are your responsibilities during the project?
• Where do I go to get my service issues addressed?
• How often will our company meet with yours during the project?
• What recourse do we have to terminate a relationship once our work begins?
• What options do we have to continue working with you after the project is complete?
How to find the answers to FAQs that stump you

If you don’t have all the answers to FAQs at your fingertips, you might try these avenues to find more information:
• Sales and customer service field reps
• Sales reports
• Customer service feedback forms
• Customer service phone recordings
• Company chat room responses
• Company blog comments.
If your firm produces a consumer product, you may even uncover some unique consumer questions residing on consumer feedback sites like E-pinions.com (www.epinions.com ). For one of my clients – a national lawn and garden manufacturer – I unearthed some terrific testimonial quotes for one of their products when I searched the brand name at Epinions.com.

If you can’t find enough FAQ information using these, why not take this opportunity to reach out to your clients? You could email a smattering of your best clients with an email that goes something like this:

Hi,

We at (Your firm) are developing a FAQ page for our website and are wondering if we could get your input. Would you have time to answer two brief questions?:

1. What were the most common questions you had about our firm before becoming a client?

2. What kinds of questions do you routinely ask about our firm after becoming a client?

Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Firm, Inc.

You’d be surprised how many people will actually help you when you reach out to them for help like this.

Some tips on formatting your FAQ page

In my view, FAQ’s work best when each FAQ leads off with a question. It’s now a standard convention to write FAQs this way. However, Google Reader’s FAQ page (http://www.google.com/help/reader/publishers.html) doesn’t follow this format and I find the page a bit more difficult to navigate.

If your page has just a few FAQs on it, five or less, just list the questions with the responding answer in random order on the page and let visitors scroll to find the FAQ they’re looking for. But if your firm has more than five FAQ’s, start off with a “table of contents” that lists all the questions in a hyperlink format. Then, after the visitor clicks on the question they want answered, they dynamically jump to the answer further down on the page.

For those pages with multiple FAQs, consider sequencing your FAQs. Chronologically sequencing your FAQs means that the first FAQs would deal with prospect questions they want answered before doing business with you. The next section of FAQ’s would cover the stage of signing a contract with your firm. And the last section might deal with common post-sale FAQs.

When writing the FAQs themselves, I’ve found that formatting the questions differently from the answers (e.g. italicizing the question and using a standard font for the answer) is a handy way for the reader to distinguish between the two parts of every FAQ.

Categorizing a whole bunch of FAQs

When you arrive at the IRS’s FAQ page (http://www.irs.gov/faqs/index.html), you’re confronted with hundreds of frequently asked questions (I have about a hundred myself). How do they organize and categorize all these FAQs? Quite well, I think. They group their hundreds of FAQs by category, subcategory and even by keyword.

Another service organization, the U.S. Copyright Office, sorts all its FAQs by major subheading http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/ . So, if you have a question about registering your work, you scroll down to the heading marked “Registering a Work”. Then under that heading you’ll find over 15 specific FAQs including “How do I register my copyright?”, “Where can I get application forms?” and “Can I file online?”

One thing I’d like to see more on FAQ pages is a question at the very end of the FAQ page that says “Didn’t find the FAQ you were looking for? Email us and we’ll consider adding it”. In this age of Web 2.0 why not reach out to your market and seeks its opinion?

Henry Kissinger once said “Any fact that needs to be disclosed should be put out now because otherwise the bleeding will not end.” I’d like to alter that slightly to read “Any FAQ should be put out now so the buying can begin”. If you’re like most service firms I work with, you struggle every day to generate marketing tools that are low cost, high ROI: ones that move a buyer to a sale, and keep current clients by strengthening the relationship. Consider adding a FAQ page to your marketing toolkit because it can do all this and more.

Author bio
Jay Lipe, president of EmergeMarketing.com, has helped hundreds of small businesses and Fortune 500 clients grow through strategic marketing plans and programs. He’s also the author of a new e-book How to Write a Marketing Plan That Wins New Clients and Grows Your Business which can be found at http://www.emergemarketing.com/marketing-plan-ebook/. Sign up for his free e-newsletter “Marketing Tips & Tools” at www.emergemarketing.com, or contact him at lipe@emergemarketing.com.

Cultivating Fans Online

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:08:46 PDT

By: Marcia Yudkin, Creative Marketing Solutions

According to a Recording Industry of America survey, about 7 in 10 music fans do not become aware of the news that their favorite performer has released a new record. Substitute "new product" or "new service" in that statistic and you have the plight of most businesses. Whether you sell diet counseling or electric drills, collecting and nurturing enthusiasts requires little or no money online and pays off handsomely.

It's important to note that fans need not be paying customers. Admirers who will never directly pay you a dime may recommend you repeatedly to buyers, to the media, to industry heavyweights or to investors.

Here's the strategy in broadest terms. In every situation where you have the opportunity to make an impression on people interested in your area of expertise, you offer them the option of joining your email list. Then you stay in touch with them regularly, reinforcing their impression of your competence and becoming trusted and familiar to them. At that point they'll practically mobilize themselves to act like fans, either buying from you themselves or telling others to do so.

And now here are some techniques that help channel casual, one-time contact into an enduring fan relationship.

• Your email signature. Exchanging email just once about business can turn someone into a subscriber when you append a few lines tempting someone to add themselves to your list. For instance: "For a free weekly dose of motivation to stay on your diet, subscribe to Slim Thinking at www.easydieting.com." Enable the automatic signature feature in your email software so that this gets tacked on the end without you having to remember it.
• Your business cards. If you can squeeze it on - there's almost always room on the back - add a suggestion on your business card similar to the one in your email signature. That way, people who meet you at a networking event will see your prompt to subscribe when they get home and look through their stack of cards.
• Your voice-mail message. Image consultant Mary Lou Andre of Organization by Design does this especially well. If you call her office after hours you hear this recording, in part: "While on our site, we hope you'll sign up to receive our Dressing Well Tip of the Week, which is delivered free of charge each Monday to your electronic mailbox. If you leave your email address on our voice-mail system, we'll be happy to sign you up directly."
• Your brochures or flyers. If you speak, as I do, or man a booth at trade shows, hand out something giving attendees a reason for them to get onto your list. "For free solutions to common drilling problems five days a week, sign up for The Daily Drill at http://www.thedailydrill.com." My brochure includes the contents of two sample Marketing Minute texts along with instructions for subscribing.
• An invitation at your web site. Too many sites ask people to type in their email address without a description of the contents of the subscription and its benefits, not to mention privacy reassurances. Those extra elements make a big difference in turning first-time visitors to your web site into quality registrants.
• Your signature in online forums or discussion lists. For instance, a web designer includes an invitation for you to enter her sphere of influence when she posts to discussion lists:
Martha Retallick
Web Design That Works - Lrpdesigns
Unbiased Internet book reviews- delivered to you!
FREE subscriptions at:
http://www.Lrpdesigns.com/subscribe.html

Once you collect a solid core of followers, maintain their favor by providing them regularly with useful information. In 2000, I tapped the power of my fan club by telling subscribers to my weekly newsletter, The Marketing Minute, that my new book, Internet Marketing for Less than $500/Year, had just been posted on Amazon.com, with the rock-bottom rank of 1,559,153. About 30 hours after I pressed the "send" button to my fans, I checked the same book page and my new book had shot up to 6,000-something.

Imagine hundreds of people marching off to their local hardware stores to ask for your drills - because you had laid the groundwork for that effect among your email brood!

Copyright 2001 Marcia Yudkin. All rights reserved.

2010 Postal Rate Increase - Fuzzy Math?

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:50:55 PDT

The USPS service recently recommended an average postal increase of 5.6%. In their view this will help close the gap on the red ink trail they have been leaving behind them. I am not sure what reality they are operating in, but it is not the same one the rest of the businesses are in.

A postal rate increase will do nothing more than extend their losses into upcoming quarters and put one more nail in the coffin of the direct mail industry. Have they even attempted to speak to their customers? As a one time heavy direct mailer I can let them know that the way to get our business back is not to raise the postal rates further.

The math they are using is A x B = Profit with A being amount of mail sent and B being the price to send that mail. In any scenario if you decide to choose B that has a direct affect on A, but in their math the new equation looks like this: A x (B x 5.6%) = Profit. The price has risen 5.6% and and the amount of mail stays the same, which in turn results in more profit... or less of a loss as the case may be.

Unfortunately, that completely ignores the effect that the amount of mail will decrease as the postal rate increases. The Law of Demand is a common economic principle telling us that the higher a price goes the less demand for that product there will be.

Taking the law of demand into account the USPS can bank on losing another batch of customers this year based on their price increase. Unfortunately that will continue the spiral affect that they have been seeing for years now.

Instead of trying to squeeze more money out of the customers that they still have, it may be time to investigate how they can sign on new customers or win previous customers back. Again, opening up a dialogue with previous customers or prospects would be a great start and probably eye opening.

The USPS is not the only industry facing threats from technology, but they do seem to be one of the most stubborn in their responses to the threat. Direct Mailers, keep letting your USPS representatives know what this will do to your volumes this year. Maybe the point will get across.

Technology - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:43:26 PDT

By: Joseph Kiefer, ASM

Technology has swept into our lives so quickly that we have hardly had time to think about the ensuing changes or the affect they would have on us. As a marketer and as a consumer I am very much a proponent of technology, however, I don't think there is a replacement for the human interaction that has always been an integral part of the business - consumer relationship and we continue to tread dangerously close to this line.

The efficiency of businesses today far exceeds the productivity at any other point in history. The speed in which we innovate, create and communicate is astounding. Products can now go from concept to market in timelines once considered to be impossible. There is no arguing the profound impact technology has had in our daily lives.

"The future is now! Soon every American home will integrate their television, phone and computer. You'll be able to visit the Louvre on one channel, or watch female wrestling on another. You can do your shopping at home, or play Mortal Kombat with a friend from Vietnam. There's no end to the possibilities!" - Chip Douglas, The Cable Guy (1996)

If your company embraces technology you are much more likely to be a leader in your industry. If you are a technology late adopter you are probably always playing catch up and lagging behind the competition.

The being said, innovation comes with a price tag. What percent of your company budget is dedicated to Research & Development? What percent of your competitors budget is dedicated to Research and Development? To make matters more complicated, a large research and development budget is not a guarantee of success and could mean the opposite in some cases.

Like any other type of new idea, there are more losers than there are winners. Keep innovating and testing and you will find winners, but the process can definitely be frustrating. One lesson I have learned is that my initial thoughts on a new product launch are not as accurate as I would have thought or liked. Products I thought would be received with a standing ovation were not of interest to our customers and products I found unappealing became best sellers. Go figure!

Most importantly, dont' let technology replace the human element that got you to where you are today. Technology is a supplement to your business processes in most cases and not an outright replacement.

I read a Facebook status update yesterday from a relative detailing an experience he had at a restaraunt where two people at a table were both playing with their mobile devices. He then got a return post to his commentary on our culture from another Facebook user. There was now a conversation through Facebook complaining about people having a conversation through texting. Huh?

My only point to that story is that technology has become an intrusive part of our lives and every person seems to see it a little differently. Some people may hate texting, but love instant messaging, or hate LinkedIn, but love Facebook... Try to keep an open mind and remember that not everyone else has the same preferences you do. Can we get rid of Twitter yet?

Adding live chat to your site does not mean you don't need a person to answer phone calls. Having an automated checkout does not mean you don't want someone there to answer questions. Providing online account access does not mean a customer won't want face to face interaction...

Good luck in your technology endeavors. I hope you are able to stay at the front of the curve while maintaining the identity that made your business successful.

Social Media Patience

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 06:57:40 PDT

By: Joseph Kiefer, ASM

The benefits of social media have been expounded upon by the media so many times that I will not even bother going through them. Rather, I will assume that we are all in agreeance that there are inherent benefits to be found through the social media channel. Now, what you perceive those benefits to be and how to best use those to the benefit of your organization is a completely different story.

As a BtoB direct marketer I am instinctively looking for the ROI in any marekting campaign. Going into social media testing was no different, outside of the fact that the timelines were stretched out a bit compared to most direct marketing tests. I am instinctively impatient when it comes to ROI so social media pushed my boundaries for acceptable return on investment. It was definitely a leap of faith in regards to thinking that much further down the road we will reap the rewards of the current social media efforts.

We did our homework on social media prior to testing and much of the benefit was coming from the communication channels it was providing, but not necessarily sales channels. Many of the social media sites make it much easier to reach out to customers quickly and effectively. It was hard to find much in the way of successful ROI driven case studies in the BtoB environment. This was part of the reason for the stretched timelines. I didn't want to give up too early before taking the time to test, measure, tweak... rinse and repeat.

Even with our stretched timelines the social media testing has gone beyond the budget on timing, but we have seen just enough in the lines of traffic and sales to keep us interested and pushing forward. I have recently read that other BtoB firms are starting to see some similar results as well.

I don't think any of the social media sites will be calling me to use us as a case study anytime soon. That being said, I am becoming more confident each day that the time and effort we have put in will pay off with a long term ROI. Stay patient and diligent with your social media efforts and I am confident you will come to the same conclusion.

Marketers may offer the remedy: Healthcare moves toward online marketing

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:14:36 PDT

By Brafton Custom News Marketing

Most doctors have bulletin boards in their offices and health brochures in their waiting rooms, but now a number of doctors also post information about their practices on social sites. USA Today reports that the American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs recently resolved to "study the issue of physicians' use of social networking," which indicates social media marketing could become more mainstream for the healthcare profession - and marketers may be just what the doctored ordered.

The success of one social campaign started by Texas-based MacArthur OB/GYN suggests that the medical community is well-suited for online campaigns. The practice's @macobygn Twitter account includes posts on health industry news as well as medical questions and answers. It currently has more than 1,600 followers, and affiliated doctors told USA Today they have won patients through this effort.

It seems other private practices and hospitals are also looking to establish themselves as thought leaders and win clients through social media. Recently, there was a conference for medical professionals at the South Carolina Hospital Association entitled Social Media Revolution. One attendee blogged that "social media is no longer an afterthought when it comes to hospitals' marketing strategies."

Now that physicians and hospitals seem to be geared to move forward with social campaigns, they may be looking to hire marketers who demonstrate strength in social platforms. In fact, social network savvy will be an important asset for marketers in various sectors this year - B2B firms across industries will be increasing their social media ad spend by 43 percent in 2010.

Article Source: http://www.brafton.com/industry-news/marketers-may-offer-remedy-healthcare-moves-toward-online-marketing-$19883952.htm

Effective Online Planning Drives Business Growth

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 08:00:04 PDT

By: Jasmine Sandler, Agent-cy

Online planning is, first and foremost, essential to reaching your online goals, whether they are to drive gains in market share, brand awareness, lead acquisition or to develop a community of advocates around your mission. Planning requires not only a thorough analysis of your direct competitors online and where your industry is winning in using the web as a marketing tool; but also real time mining of the behaviors of your online audience.

There are several online tools, both free and paid that can help you glean important planning information. Examples include:

www.Quantcast.com – Site demographics and hits information
www.Alexa.com - Internet Ranking information
www.Compete.com – Competitive links and sites information
www.websitegrader.com - Grades sites from an SEO perspective
http://www.quarkbase.com – Overview information of popularity of a site
http://www.keywordspy.com/ - Targeted keyword competitive information

If your current clients are willing to take a survey, you should certainly use their feedback to help shape your future online marketing direction. Asking your clients questions about what they want from your site, how easy is it to get around on your site, what they think you should improve on, what features they would like added and so on will give you effective marketing insight with which to craft your targeted messages.. You should learn information that you can act on from every question. Make sure surveys are quick and easy to take. Remember, you are asking for their time, so don’t take advantage of it. For example. multiple choice questions are generally better than long answer. If you do not have a direct relationship with your customers a great way to ensure you will get people to participate is to offer a raffle or sweepstakes where they will receive something for participating. After your initial planning and research, you will need to assess your online marketing channels (Search, Social Media, Online Advertising General, Affiliate Marketing, E-Mail, and Online PR) for which types and budgets are the most effective for your specific business. Through your research, you will get an initial understanding of channel effectiveness. However nothing is as important as trial testing. In general, if you are new to web marketing, you will need to test Paid Search for at least 90 days and run an SEO program for 6 months. Any paid media must be carefully assessed for effectiveness. In general, paid media works best for near term or immediate buys (products/events/tickets).

A major key to success in online marketing is to continually develop and distribute engaging content. This content includes and is not limited to:

1. Web Copy
2. Online articles
3. Web Casts/ Webinar Content
4. Online multi-media press releases
5. Tips and Tricks content
6. Editorial Opinions
7. Blogging/Commenting
8. Company updates
9. Creative – Banners, widgets, etc
10.Video content – humorous, promotional and educational

After assessing your competition, looking at the reviews of your site (from websites and your customer surveys) and knowing which channels work best for you, you can now start to introduce real change to your website and to your marketing campaign. After seeing what your competition does well, define your market position. You can implement the changes requested by your consumers/users and dictated by websites. And by knowing the channels that work best for you, you can tailor some of your content to fit the demographics of the users of those channels.

While this article may make it seem like this change is easy, it isn’t. Which is why many managers face the dilemma of deciding to outsource or do marketing internally. Making any online tactic such as Search Engine Optimization, Paid Search, Affiliate Marketing, etc work takes both expertise and constant effective management. If you have both the resources in terms of people, money and time to educate internal staff on how to develop, execute and manage campaigns and programs, then it is worthwhile to invest in areas such as Individual Google Certification, Web Design personnel, etc. If you do not and
cannot afford to outsource these functions to a big consultant or online agency, then it is appropriate to spend carefully by hiring people to fix only your biggest holes or to do jobs you know you can not do. Remember, marketing is a tough job, but one that when done well, can pay huge dividends.

Let’s look at 2 examples of some small businesses that have followed this methodology:

First, let’s look at VFitness, a personal training and boxing service in New York City with a website at www.vfitnessonline.com. They are most likely the smallest of any in-home personal training service as well as any boxing studio/gym in NYC. Their competition is heavy. They first required a review of the competition online in terms of value, market share and marketing activities. They then surveyed their current clients to understand what was important to them. What was found is that their clients wanted low cost, frequent, fun boxing and conditioning classes. They also wanted all their gear to come at a discount from VFitness. They also found that they had a clear opportunity to offer a low-cost high value intro to boxing service and boot camp. This then quickly became their position.

With that position, they re-designed a poorly designed site to a more compelling user experience to support their lead in the group boxing and boot camp fitness market.

They then chose Paid Search and Search Engine Optimization as their primary vehicles for driving awareness and customer acquisition. They had a limited budget for Paid Search and had run some keyword estimates on their industry to know how to budget and what keywords to bid on and for how long to run their campaigns. They hired an agency consultant to develop effective ads and a plan. In SEO, they brought on some people to help them reach out and drive content distribution with relevant and qualified links (to boxing and personal training). In only one week’s time in Paid Search, they were raking #1 for intro boxing classes NYC, group boxing classes NYC, boot camp conditioning classes NYC and received over 22 calls for business. In natural search, they received in 90 days time, top ranking for searching on similar terms.

They are also now launching an e-commerce store of discount boxing products from new partners Modell’s and Title Boxing. With a small, targeted approach and budget they now know what works. Because of new clients, they now have some funding to re-invest in online marketing and are moving on to the creation of content and PR work. An example of the beginnings of this work is a recent article posted by an industry insider, http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-29543-NY-Fitness-Trends-Examiner~y2010m6d8-Trainlike-a-Million-Dollar-Baby-Boxing-Boot-Camp-with-VFitness.

Next, Get Your House In Order, a personal home organization business in NYC, with a website at http://www.organizemyhouse.com/. They knew that online marketing could serve their lead generation needs, but had a limited budget and resources. A client survey of GHYIO clients showed that most clients called the service company for help before/during moves, before/during baby room planning. The survey also showed that they wanted to speak with Maeve Richmond, owner of the company, on a more frequent basis, when they were in “clutter crisis.” The online marketplace showed a real proliferation of home organizers in the NYC marketplace being visible on advice sites, such as http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/. Further, it revealed specialization in this area on specific occasions (move, kids growth, etc.) The current web site was expanded to include specific landing pages by occasion – Kids rooms, move, baby, home office, etc. Copy was created to engage those specific targets by page. A blog was created to brand Miss Maeve Richmond “Clutter Girl” as “Inside The Organized Brain”. The blog was developed so that clients could get more frequent tips and help from her. The company provided advice to http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/. Further, the company utilized Paid Search to develop, with an expert, and run effective ads by occasion and interest. The ROI for Paid Search over a month’s time was over 300%, resulting in 4 new clients, who continue to work with the company today.

Currently, Maeve Richmond, is busy completing her own e-book and book in print on Clutter Therapy. Online PR will follow.

To conclude, you can use the web effectively to drive business. To do so takes careful planning and at least partial help from experts in content creation and in the management of online campaigns. Testing
channels over a recommended time period is an excellent way to assess what will/won’t work in online marketing.

13 Ways to Create a Catchy Marketing Concept

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 08:00:02 PDT

By: Marcia Yudkin, Creative Marketing Solutions

"IRS Statistics confirm Batmen and Robins Outpacing Lone Rangers."

That's the headline of an article in Home Business Magazine that caught my eye some time back. I'll bet it arouses your curiosity, too. The phrase "Batmen and Robins" denotes business partnerships, while "Lone Rangers" means solo practitioners. According to the Internal Revenue Service, from 1994 to 1995 the number of partnerships grew by 5.8 percent, while solo proprietorships increased only 2 percent in the same time frame.

Compare the more factual headline, "Business Partnerships Growing Faster than Sole Proprietorships, Says IRS." That has much less power to pull you into the article.

Magazines and newspapers treasure talented headline writers, but the skill of creating a catchy concept is valuable and accessible to business folks as well. Captivating expressions can help you win attention in ads, media releases, brochures, billboards, your company newsletter or verbal self-introductions. Here are a few brainstorming aids to help you think them up:

•Do any classic Hollywood story lines, such as The Comeback, The Big Break, Hero Risks All, match events at your company?

•How about stories from the Bible or Greek mythology? (David vs. Goliath, Noah's Ark, Hercules' trials, Pandora's box)

•Try exaggerating what some take to be a negative characteristic, as in Rent-a-Wreck or Call-a-Nerd.

•Make a surprising promise: "Our new invoicing procedures will lower your blood pressure, or your money back."

•Can you call something your customers generally don't know a secret? ("Mysteries of marmalade making revealed.")

•Try a twist on a familiar saying or cliché, such as "Faster than a speeding bike messenger," for a company that has worked out an innovative way to exchange information electronically.

•Concoct a group your clients might want to belong to: "How to join the Zillionaires Club."

•Link key words associated with your business with a rhyme, such as in "We help Web debs," or "Books worth another look."

•Take even further a metaphor already in use: "Here are the latest hatchlings on our incubator floor of offices."

•Does your own name suggest an amusing pun? Publishing guru Dan Poynter calls his customer newsletter "Publishing Poynters."

•What is it that your clients are trying to avoid when they hire you? Turnaround specialists might be portrayed as "Bankruptcy Busters."

•Put a twist on the image of a government program - "Our Zero Tolerance program for software bugs."

•What's the secret fantasy of your customers? "Done Yesterday" matches perfectly the wish of those hiring an errand service.

Test any concept you think is smashingly clever. If people of normal intelligence don't get it, toss it out or modify it.

A friend had me scratching my head when her nicely designed newsletter invited me to contribute a "B.F.O." I reread, pondered, wondered whether that might be a takeoff on "U.F.O." and finally noticed a headline running vertically along the left margin of the paper: "Brilliant Flashes of the Obvious." Most readers won't spend more than a second trying to decipher something like that!

Copyright 2000 Marcia Yudkin. All rights reserved.

Social Media Creativity

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:41:54 PDT

By: Joseph Kiefer, ASM

As social media continues to evolve it is shaping itself into a consumer friendly platform that is also finding very real business models. Some of those new social media tools, apps and sites were on display at the Internet Retailer Conference last week. This was my first trip to the Internet Retailer Conference and it was well worth the 6 hour drive to the McCormick Place in Chicago.

I will be the first to admit that I have been a skeptic at times of the role that social media will and potentially should play in each of our lives. As the Marketing Director of a business to business marketing company I have also struggled to find the right fit for social media within our marketing mix... if it belongs in the marketing mix at all?

Don't get me wrong, I have found some definite uses for social media, but as a direct response business to business marketer it has been a journey of faith to hope we will find ROI. At the Internet Retailer Conference there were some very creative social media ideas on display in the exhibit hall. I didn't see any that were tailored for the business to business audiences, but you can take the ideas and fit them as well as you can into your own business. My hopes for finding ROI driven social media strategies have been lifted greatly. The show has expanded the box in which I was thinking about social media and hopefully that will help me come up with some great social media uses for our business.

Social media shopping was probably my favorite. Grab a couple of friends on Facebook, hit the online stores and share the group shopping experience from the comfort of your couch. Personally, I'm not much more interested in online shopping than I am in going to the mall, but I definitely see the appeal for individuals who happen to like shopping. As a marketer, I do like people who like shopping so it all works out in the end.

I am not here to pitch any products or even necessarily state that social media is 100% going to be a marketing medium you should be adopting today, but I do feel like social media continues to transform itself into a model in which marketers and consumers can co-exist. I think a key component to this will continue to be the ability of marketers to find ways to improve the experience of the users within the social media sites, while selling their product at the same time. Social Media consumers are not very accepting of intrusive messages. We have all kicked someone off of our friend list for the repeated product pitches showing up on our wall.

Are You Becoming Anti-Social?

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:00:01 PDT

By: Joseph Kiefer

Social media continues to dominate the discussion in almost all forms of media, from old school newspapers to blogs. It is everywhere! There is no doubt about it, social media is here to stay. With that being said, I don't think we have a great grasp on how large of a role we are going to let social media play in our lives.

I would consider myself to be somewhere around the middle of the social media adoption curve. I have had a Facebook page for over 4 years, same with Linked In and more recently I have added multiple Twitter accounts and joined other social networking communities. About 6 months ago I started getting a little burnt out by social media overload. I noticed that I would be on social networking sites for work reasons during the day and then I would routinely check Facebook during my down time at night.

Without even thinking about it I had started spending a couple of hours a day on social network sites. I don't believe I fell out of the norm on this. I also noticed that I had added Facebook as a daily routine that I almost felt compelled to check. Why did I feel compelled to check it? I believe it gives people what feels like social interaction on a daily basis without actually socially interacting.

I made a conscious decision at that point to no longer frequent Facebook on a regular basis. I did not close my account because I still did want to be able to go out there to view photo albums or catch up with old classmates, but I didn't want to spend my nights focusing on the mundane details of other peoples lives. Since I have made this decision I have noticed a growing number of other individuals who have shared related stories. Many found they were far lesss productive at home because they were spending so much time on their favorite social media site. For those wondering, playing Farmville on Facebook does not count as productive no matter how big your farm gets. Planting an actual garden on the other hand qualifiies as productive and is hopefully more rewarding as well.

The point of the story is that I, like many others, are starting to make decisions on how much of a role we want social media to play in our lives. Some people have cut it out all together or never joined the trend in the first place. Some people are content with using social media on a limited basis, but not letting it control their daily activities. Are you ever at the beach and feel like you have to post that on Facebook? And there is and probably always will be the group that thrives on these sites and find that there isn't enough time in a day to spend on them.

It is a slightly scary thought that there are more and more people joining the last group. I believe there are a lot of great uses for social media, but it should not be a replacement for real world interactions. Instead of checking out what other people are doing tonight you can go out and do something yourself... and you don't need to tell the world about it.

So where do you fit? Are you willing to go anti-social? I haven't gone all the way, but I think I will drop one of my Twitter accounts today!

The Mousetrap the World Has Been Waiting For?

jkiefer23@gmail.com — Thu, 27 May 2010 08:00:04 PDT

By: Mike Gospe, KickStart Alliance

Conceptually, the theories of persona-building, positioning, and messaging are easy to understand. However, sometimes it’s helpful for a marketing team to critique a real example and then discuss the parallels to their own business. An example that everyone can easily relate to, and that is separate from the business you represent, is also an effective way to diffuse any emotion that may hinder folks from seeing the lessons associated with trying to execute a poor go-to-market strategy.

The following is a true story: the case of a better mousetrap. In 1955, an eager entrepreneur introduced a revolutionary new product that was destined to change the world of “rodent control”. In addition to producing leaflets, promoting through friends and family, this ad (click on the link below) ran in a variety of publications at the time.

Ad for a better mousetrap, circa 1955

Issues and Opportunities

You can infer a lot regarding the marketing strategy by looking at an example of the execution. While the product design clearly is creative (and not for the squeamish), the entrepreneur fell into several traps that are common today, especially in hi-tech marketing:

1) Failure to focus on a clear target segment/persona

Who is the target audience/user/buyer? It looks like pretty much “everyone.” For fear of leaving a sales opportunity on the table, the entrepreneur attempted to be all-inclusive. In a single swoop, he went after farmers, restaurant owners, food processors, meet packers, ships, homes, and orchards. Although the confusion of trying to address multiple audiences at once maybe obvious to us gentle bystanders, one wonders if anyone asked the entrepreneur the following questions:

• Who is most likely to buy your product? Who is the persona?
• Do all these audiences look alike? behave the same way? have the same concerns?
• What problem(s) are you trying to solve?
• How well do you really understand the target buyer?

2) Failure to properly position the product

Every product needs to have positioning statement.

What’s in a name? Clearly, not all “mousetraps” are alike. In 1955 (and even today!), the top-selling mousetrap is the Victor snap-trap. In 1955 the snap-trap sold for 5 cents. Our entrepreneur’s mousetrap sells for $29.95. Branding the product against a generic “mousetrap” nomenclature will not serve his marketing interests. (Although, a branding effort would introduce its own set of challenges.)

A new category? He’s attempted to establish a new category of mousetraps, namely, the “sanitary, self-setting, portable” mousetrap. This is good, and goes a long way to justifying such a massive price increase over the competitive alternative. However, what you can’t quite make out in the photos is the following:

• The mousetrap’s dimensions are 3 ft long, 8 inches wide, and 18 inches high.
• It holds 3 gallons of water, and is quite heavy (especially if loaded with 102 mice!).

NOTE: Years ago, when I developed my first Positioning Workshop, I had the opportunity to view and touch this actual, very real mousetrap. Unfortunately, it is actually neither, sanitary, self-setting, nor portable. We have a category mis-match.

Benefit? Which benefit? There are many benefits floating around in the ad. Which one is most important? Some seem hard to believe. Again, it’s the “everything for everyone” approach.
For a benefit to be meaningful, it must be relevant to the target audience. It must also be single-minded, clear, substantiable (e.g. you can prove any claim with data), and differentiable.

Differentiation? We come back to the 5 cent snap-trap alternative. If anything, this ad makes the competitor’s product look better.

3) Failure to have a crisp, clear “elevator pitch”

Because there was no positioning statement to guide the marketing strategy, the messaging is a confused mess. The entrepreneur would have greatly benefited from the Message Box template where he could underscore 4 key messages:

1. An “engagement message” designed to establish relevance with the target audience and their primary “rodent control” pain points they are trying to address.
2. A “solution message” that illustrates why not all mousetraps are the same, and certain applications require something much more than the standard snap-trap.
3. A “reinforcement message” that shows how his invention is superior to alternatives.
4. A “value message” that describes how the target’s life will be better than before after using his new, revolutionary product.

Critique your own work

How well does your ads/direct mail/website stack up? Use the mousetrap example as a teachable exercise. Never be afraid to critique your marketing strategies with regards to your persona, positioning statement, and messaging. It’s not about placing blame; it’s about reaching the “next level” of marketing effectiveness. Otherwise, your success may be limited to selling 4 units to your brother-in-law.

Good luck!