Art of Marketing

Getting Your Boss to Invest in Content Marketing | The Marketing Blog

2014-04-03T15:18:00.001-06:00

Content marketing is still effective and Michael Fleischner has some good things to say about it-

Getting Your Boss to Invest in Content Marketing | The Marketing Blog

Tell Me How You Really Survey in 2 Simple Questions

2012-10-15T07:58:00.001-06:00

Ah, customer surveys... I remember when they were the coolest new thing, and I was happy to fill out 50 question surveys because I was happy they were asking me. Nowadays I'm sure most will agree we've got better things to do with our time, and we may expect companies to know.

Unless you are giving away something of value the best idea is to ask your customers 2 simple questions- "How likely are you to refer us?" and "Why?" That's it! That will show your respect for you clients' time and give you access to what's really on their mind.

What not to do when creating customer surveys:

Ask dumb questions
Ask too many questions
Ask long winded questions
Ask too many open ended questions
Lead surveyor to preferred answers
Require tons of personal information
Send then to a general home page on your website
Not have a purpose for surveying
Survey to old clients

...

I thought this would be a good place to include a simple workflow provided to our customers in order to give them a better view of how we approach simple surveys.

It's simple but it works. Lastly, it is never a good idea to badger clients for their opinions so if you don't catch 'em on the first few attempts, move on. Local listings are always a great place to start.

Where might you find good survey software? Google apps can do the trick for free. Send me a note for more information at dcavazos@calomarketing.com

Businesses Beware of the "Groupon Effect"?

2012-05-24T08:01:00.000-06:00

I ran across an interesting study from MIT’s Technology Review that revealed a correlation between Groupon and Yelp ratings. Apparently, if you decide to employ Groupon to boost your sales, you may also see a noticeable slump in your overall Yelp.com rating.

For those unfamiliar with Yelp it’s one of the hottest places to search for and write a review on local businesses. This is the place you can tell others how awesome your food was or how your waiter was rude and didn’t deserve your tip. As of Q1 2012 Yelp had over 71 million monthly unique visitors and over 27 million local reviews and ratings. Those kinds of numbers mean a lot of clout.

So why is there this negative effect to Yelp.com ratings? The study consisted of just raw data and left the conclusions to its readers. I went through a few theories of my own until I landed on the final theory that I believe is the ultimate driver for this correlation:

Theory 1 – Service is Saved for Non-Savers

Groupon states in fine print that one should appreciate the great savings but not forget to tip as if paying regular price. I suspect there is a large portion of Groupon users that do not want to tip on the regular price in attempts to cash-in on the best deal possible; or they do not read the fine print and just don’t realize. If this is the tendency, most service professionals are smart enough to spend their energy with a regular paying customer.

In my experience it’s much smarter to show the Groupon ahead of time to circumvent any issues when paying. This theory was quickly debunked however because Groupon’s are not required at the beginning of the deal. So I decided that this could not be the ultimate factor.

Theory 2 – Penny Pinchers are Snitchers

Next I came up with the theory that the same people that loved coupons loved to tell people about their experience and expected more service. To prove this I needed more data.

Stats per quantcast.com show a higher income demographic gravitates towards Yelp.com and LuxuryInstitute’s WealthSurvey stats show that over 50% search local listings to help guide their purchases. Furthermore, Nielsen released a study (2010) showing the most affluent households also made up the majority of coupon users. And finally, Groupon’s own demographics paint the same picture.

So these stats can help support this theory to an extent, but I could not find any specific data on how affluent actually participate in the reviews that are so much loved. Nor could I find data that suggested they expect more in service than those with average incomes. I even took readability index averages to try and form a conclusion based on the broadly-accepted correlation between communication skills, education and income, however it did not support this theory. If you find stats to support this please send them my way but until then this will stay a mystery and is labeled debunked for now.

Theory 3 – Groupon Takes the Wheel to Make the Deal

According to Groupon’s own website, their job is to find a “sweet spot” where they sell the most deals. However, focusing primarily on this sweet spot can lead to overlooking business limitations, that when exceeded, lower the quality of the product or service.

For example, say you buy a dinner for two at 57% off. You debate whether to call the local police on yourself after completing the purchase because it is surely a steal. Then your experience takes a sharp turn beyond redemption because your products were limited by the deal, it took forever to get seated, your steak was cold, and your waiter was overworked and rude. Before you even leave the restaurant you form choice words for a dirty Yelp.com review when you get home.

I needed to dig a little deeper into my hunch. I’m won’t pretend to be a scientist but I decided to search for “groupon” in Texas, California, Minnesota, and New York. I sorted for the Most Reviewed and then read the first 10 bad reviews noting Groupon from each state to determine why they were so ticked. This is what I found.

What are you Yelping about?!?

What I can deduce from this is that while 8% of the negative reviews can be readily linked to the Groupon deal directly, more of it lies on the business not having physical room for the number of deals they offered, having consistently bad service and product, or it is a result of not being able to handle the influx of customers with the same quality that would be given to their usual customers.

Solution

Groupon is not in business to tell anyone how to run their business, only to help bring people through the door. Businesses should take the wheel by losing the deal limits like offering only item 1 during noon and 1:12…; setting a reasonable number of deals offered as to not overbook; prepping their staff, and trying their best to avoid employee burnout. Make sure your big investment in Groupon gives you fruitful return customers and not dirty Yelp.com reviews.

Do you have a theory? Leave a comment below.

Daniel Cavazos

Mother's Day Marketing

2012-05-02T06:30:00.000-06:00

Mother’s day is right around the corner and small businesses everywhere are gearing up for the big influx of money! Well if you are a restaurant, flower shop, jewelry store or macaroni manufacturer. You know kindergarten teachers everywhere are stocking up on their macaroni for all of the Mother’s day macaroni art. I don’t have kids yet but they still do that right? Anyway that is beside the point. What I would like to say is that there are endless opportunities to garner attention and purchases, regardless of what it is you are selling. If you believe your consumer-serving small business can’t ride the wave of the next mass societal trend, think again.

For example, let’s say you sell pizza. This is traditionally not something that you think of as a nice loving gift for your Mother, but when you think about it this way thing about how quickly it starts to sound appealing to a large demographic: “Treat your Mom to dinner and a movie this Mother's Day. Bring this ad and receive a free movie rental and a single rose with any large pizza purchase!” Voila, you’ve reached out to a large group of kids that will be willing to buy themselves or those asking their Father to do it for them. With a little lead time, a pizza parlor can easily integrate this into their current advertising strategy.

Now let’s up the ante a bit more and suggest that your small business sells something to the effect of doors. “This Mother’s day weekend receive 20% off any select item in stock. Bring a picture and we’ll show you what your home will look like before you buy.” This approach gets the attention of the masses whom already have Mother’s day on their minds, including Mother’s that might be looking to spruce up their home, and then builds interest through an existing offer.

The ways to spin off are endless. To be very clear, I do not suggest this as a method to “trick” anyone; it is only tuning into the “station” that the masses are “tuned into”, and then offering legitimate value. (Did you read this and pay attention to this blog post because of the title?)

I could do this all day so if you have a challenge, send it over and we’ll see if there is anything (B2C) out there that wouldn’t work with this strategy. ...Nice! Lol, I just received an email from Lowe's that really drives home this point. The Lowe's email reads "Skip the Spa. Make Mom happy with these Mother's Day gift Ideas." The email then goes on to offer door knobs, outdoor lighting and furniture. Again, here is a large company strategy that any small business can harness.

Oh and if you haven’t bought a gift yet you better hurry up!

Daniel Cavazos

p.s. Hi Mom if you're reading this =]

Marketing Marathon: Why You Should Sign Up

2012-02-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

The 6^th annual Michelob Ultra El Paso Marathon is happening tomorrow and I considered putting my legs and mind through that ringer in order to say I did it and feel that sense of accomplishment. But I started questioning if a marathon was right for me since the longest distance I’ve run so far has been a slow 10 miles- and it was not even a fully-conscious decision. A college roommate woke me up one morning and in my half-asleep stupor, convinced me that running ten miles that morning after our party the night before was the best idea in the world; he being in the Army was very attuned to this type of craziness. Additionally, I’ve only been doing sprints and short distances at the gym and not very regularly at that. So, I decided this morning that I was NOT going to participate in the event; however I would hit the gym for a bit. While on the treadmill and on my third mile (I do my best thinking/mediation there) I began to liken my situation to small business marketing. Marketing should really be a marathon and those that liken it more to a sprint may face revenue pangs over time.

There are huge fortune 500 companies that spend a gazillion dollars every year in this huge “marketing marathon”. They do not do it for kicks, or to subsidize the marketing industry. They do this because they know how much those marketing dollars are returning into their already huge coffers. They have the means and money to analyze the effectiveness of their marketing spending and have done just that. Similarly, start-ups understand that marketing is a do-or-die situation because they need to get the word out. Unfortunately, there is a middle ground where a number of small businesses reach their comfortable zone after their marketing sprint and decide they do not need marketing any longer. If your goal is to stay busy for the time being and fizzle out in a few years, this is a perfect formula for you. However, if you plan to stay relevant, profitable and you have plans for growth, you will want to consider a marketing marathon over a marketing sprint.

Peter Drucker, one of the leading experts on management theory wrote:

Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two—and only two—basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.

Most successful businesses have internalized this point of view and consistently portion a percentage of revenue to ensure virility.

Here are three main reasons you want to sign up for the marketing marathon to regularly market your business:

Avoid a Stale Brand
Marketing your business will help your prospects make a determination of whom and what you stand for. Unfortunately, as humans, our minds tend to stay fixed based on the last information that was received. If you stopped marketing 3 years ago, and if you’re lucky enough that people remember you, the likelihood is that they see you as the old company that brings horse carriages in this age of flying cars.

Awareness
Before you are considered and preferred over your competitors, you must pass the awareness stage. If you are not marketing, then no one is aware of you.

Consistent Business
If you are marathon marketing then you will always be in the process of helping develop new customers when they are ready to buy. This is very different than reacting to a lull in your business by sending out discounts to draw enough customers to cover overhead costs.

Talking about a marathon creates this analogy where all things are constant over a long period of time, which is perfect in this situation when specifically talking about the act of marketing your business. However I’d like to make one other very important point- marketing changes. Consider a recent story where P&G laid off 1,600 employees including a number of marketers as they realized social media is much more effective. They shifted their marketing spend to social media as their analysis showed more return in these new areas of marketing. Stay your steady course over the marketing marathon but be ready for gear changes when challenged by the late comers and those that shove.

Be a marketing marathoner and stay plugged in to shifting tides and effectiveness so that you can act in a way that will keep your company profitable for years to come. Oh yeah, and I went ahead and bought a runners training journal so I'll be ready for the next one ;)

Daniel Cavazos

How to: Event Marketing

2011-12-26T20:16:00.001-07:00

We would all agree that there is by no means any shortage of events for your businesses to attend. From comic books to rocket science, there is a demand for functions that facilitate the coming together of the like-minded, as well as those that service and provide to them. That demand exists on the service provider side because events are still one of the most formidable tools in lead generation for any size business. People flock to conferences to discuss the matter at hand and agree on problems, priorities and solutions. Service providers benefit by engaging their prospects while fully engulfed in this mindset and away from their offices and usual daily tasks and demands.

Anyone in business knows that throwing money at something is not the way to approach problem solving; especially when you are running a small business with limited resources. When choosing events for your business to relay its message, generate leads as well as showcase its products and services, be sure to set your goals and vet the events thoroughly so as to not end up throwing your money into the abyss. This task can be daunting if approached incorrectly and without goals. Here are a few tips to ensure the next event you attend produces acceptable results for your firm.

Vetting Before Betting

Event representatives will somehow find a way for their function to fit “just perfectly” into your overall marketing strategy and goals as a company. Event demographics will be the first indicator to determine if this is actually the case. Be wary of any representative unable to show you demographics or one that can only provide this information in email form, instead ask for their official demographic study results. Make sure this event is chock-full of the target you are looking for. Rarely bet on an event where you see only a few potential prospects, regardless of how attractive. Betting on this type of event is usually accompanied with the “well you never know…we might get lucky” mentality. Furthermore, agree to let go of those events which have no real value. Sometimes it’s easy to continue to attend a yearly event with only the rationalization of “we’ve always done it.” If there is no return or fruitful interactions, it’s not hard to determine your money would be more useful elsewhere. The most successful sales representatives on your team can usually help you pick some of the top events to consider. A bonus in developing your event schedule along-side your sales team is that they will become more enthusiastic about attending and following up on these events.

Align Before You Sign

Be aware of the message that is being delivered in every expression of your brand- whether it is at your event booth, website, brochures, email campaigns, etc. Be sure your message is consistent; otherwise it is equivalent to dividing a limited budget into two, every time the message varies. Even if you believe you are running a tight marketing ship, take a second look at what your sales team is delivering on a regular basis- you may see variations based on what they see resonating with prospects. Event registrants must walk away from a conversation with you with a similar booth message in their heads, brochure message in their hands, online message at your website and sales rep message when ready to buy. Update your materials regularly and in unison, especially before you begin an event tour.

Let ‘em Know Before You Go

Event organizers are usually very good at keeping interest in their events by sending updates and intriguing information on the materials to be discussed or presented. There is a window of opportunity here that allows for vendors to send out additional information about their products and services. Event organizers will usually make registrant lists available to sponsors and exhibitors but oddly not every company will take advantage of this. Use this opportunity to let everyone know what you have to show them and why they should look you up or stop by your booth. You can use a prize giveaway or intriguing copy about a new product or free consultations, the more creative and exciting the better. If registrants find it interesting enough they will remember you and give you some time for a face-to-face meeting.

Staff to Gaff

Events are great for first meetings and face-to-face interactions as you sift through high-traffic prospects on an exhibit floor. Often times event organizers will herd registrants into a vendor exhibit hall all at the same time; if your booth is not staffed accordingly then you may very well be missing out on prime opportunities. You want to be able to pass out brochures to those shallowly probing for interesting information, as well as pull-in and begin a dialogue with bigger fish that are further along in the sales cycle. In my experience I’ve seen 1 person to every 150 people work sufficiently well. Additionally, I’ve consistently seen roughly 30% of the total attendance reached. For example, plan to at least reach approximately 90 people, both in shallow and in-depth interactions, out of a total event attendance of 300.

Follow-Up to Close-Up

If your past post-event experience has involved either waiting by the phone for it to ring or forwarding a spreadsheet to the sales team, my guess is you’ve lost faith in the return on investment when it comes to events. There is a better way.

At your next event, use creative tactics to obtain booth visitor information to compliment that information provided by the event organizers on the attendance as a whole. After analyzing this information, you should be able to segment and pre-determine who you will be following up with immediately and who will be added to a periodic nurturing campaign. Be sure you are using customer relationship management software that allows marketing and sales to be aware of what each is doing.

Conclusion

Events, just like any other marketing effort, can be a valuable tool or a money pit. Events will continue to prosper because people will always have a need to congregate and solve problems. Help your own company prosper by using the above advice to help develop your own smart approach to event marketing.

There are a number of marketing firms out there that are open to offering free advice to help you get started.

For more advice on event marketing and small business marketing subscribe here- Daniel’sArt of Marketing Blog.

Local Search Engine Strategy- Local Citations

2011-09-20T07:17:00.000-06:00

If your business caters to a local area and not national, I hope you are already aware of the importance of employing a Local Search Engine Strategy. Optimizing local directories are the most effective and least expensive. Unless you decide to hire a marketing firm to specially optimize your listings, this task is basically free. Of course there are upgrades for visibility, none of which I am convinced are necessary at this time.

Start with Google, the most noticeable, and then move on to claiming and optimizing the following local listing directories:

Yahoo - local.yahoo.com
Bing - www.bing.com/local
Yelp - www.yelp.com
Foursquare - www.foursquare.com
Local - www.local.com
Merchant Circle - www.merchantcirlce.com
Dex Knows - www.dexknows.com
Info USA - www.infousa.com
City Search - www.citysearch.com
Kudzu - www.kudzu.com
Magic Yellow Pages - www.magicyellow.com
Insider Pages - www.insiderpages.com

Lastly, do a search for your industry + your city, and you may stumble into more directories that are targeted to your specific areas. Remember, the more quality backlinks the better; and if someone happens to leave a comment on any of these, Google will notice and increase your Google listing rank for it.

If you want to read a bit more about Google Places listing check out this blog on the Top Tips for Google Places.

Daniel Cavazos

Nielsen 2011 Q3- Top 4 Most Interesting Stats

2011-09-17T11:19:00.000-06:00

Nielsen has just released a recent report on what has been on everyone’s mind (and computer screens) in the recent months- Social Media. It shows recent social media stats as of Q3 2011, and since we can all infer things like social networks and blogs being the dominate destination, I’ve summarized the report to the 4 statistics I found most interesting.

40% OF SOCIAL MEDIA USERS ARE MOBILE

This is interesting because there are many business owners that have done plenty to bolster their social media presence but still do nothing to utilize or optimize their websites for mobile phones.

Ask yourself- How many prospects do you lose after they find you on social media and then cannot navigate easily or at all through your website? Some may argue that it depends on your target market; if you are one that believes your older client does not use mobile phones to visit social media and other online destinations read the next point.

55+ AGE GROUP IS DRIVING MOBILE SOCIAL MEDIA GROWTH

Up 47% since last year! I myself anticipated this early on because of the social media adoption rates for that age group and the advanced smart phone technology that the older generation was adopting. The older generation I’ve seen pulled in by their kids and relatives only to realize the handiness of it in keeping in touch with long lost friends and family. This is important because there are a lot of business owners that cater to older customers that feel their marketing dollar is not effective in this area.

70% OF ACTIVE SOCIAL NETWORKERS SHOP ONLINE- 12% MORE LIKELY THAN AVERAGE INTERNET USER

Retailers, this one is for you. If you know where you’ll get the most attention, by all means focus your efforts there. Social media sites are full of advertising opportunities both locally focused and national. Even the smallest local retailer can integrate this into their overall marketing strategy.

TIME SPENT ON TOP 5 SOCIAL MEDIA SITES (000s), DESCENDING ORDER

· Facebook- 53,457,258 minutes

· Blogger- 723,793 minutes

· Tumblr- 623,525 minutes

· Twitter- 565,156 minutes

· Linkedin- 325,679 minutes

Divvy your budget accordingly.

Well there you have it; the most interesting stats of this report, however there are still many useful stats- check out the full report HERE and feel free to share your thoughts on the 2011 social media statistics here in the comments below.

Also, if you like stats and you live in El Paso check out this great blog post on El Paso Demographics.

Daniel Cavazos

Biggest Sales Mistakes Ever in the History of Mankind

2011-09-13T05:28:00.000-06:00

If you are an entrepreneur or business manager you have spent your share of time selling things. And most of you are really good at or you wouldn’t still be doing what you are doing. But there are 3 big mistakes that some of us still make from time to time and sometimes all the time.

#1- Listing Your Services

List your services online or on a brochure but the last thing you want to do when you’ve got your prospects attention is go down the long list of services you provide. This just tells them that you are more interested in your business and less interested in what they do or what issues they may be experiencing in their industry or specific business. Instead, describe the prospects pain points to let them know that you understand them and their business. Then move into what your company does to alleviate those pain points. If they quickly dismiss your comments move on to the next perceived problem, or better yet, let this turn into a discussion where they tell you exactly what their problem is. If this is the case, Take notes, your prospect has challenged you to fix his problems!

#2- Forgetting your Value Proposition

This is your promise to the customer and the perfect time to let your prospect know why they should buy from you over all of the other options out there for them. Forgetting to do so lumps you in with the oversized, the-taste-is-a-little-off-and-funny-tasting bagged breakfast cereals, instead of with the consistently high-quality boxed cereals, where most companies strive to be. This is the perfect time to name-drop and tell a story about how you helped someone else with similar pains, to a viable and quality solution.

#3- No Next Step

If there is no next step, no follow up and no call to action, you might as well have been talking to your mouse pad for the last twenty minutes. Suggest a follow up call, or a facility tour, or a demo of your product; anything to continue the relationship. If not, you make it too easy to be forgotten. I met a manager and sales representative that said to me “…they have my information…they’ll call if they’re interested.” This was of course of the first issues I addressed for them, and she immediately started seeing an increase in her sales funnel as she incorporated next steps and marketing initiatives to help spur those next steps along.

Avoid making one of the three biggest sales mistakes ever and enjoy more productive sales interactions. This information translates very well into the marketing arena when it comes to advertising. Any marketing firm can tell you that your messages are targeted to a particular segment in order to deliver the most relevant message. By avoiding the mistakes above you should be able to sale almost anything and write up the ad copy to boot.

Daniel Cavazos

Google Ad Perfect Quality Score Fleeting?

2011-09-08T05:55:00.000-06:00

When it comes to Google Ad Quality, things can sometimes get tricky. Advertisers of all shapes and sizes can find perfect ads a fleeting destination. Google has taken everything it’s been hearing around the nation from its advertisers and put together 10 things they believe you should know about Adword account. Use these 10 tips to get you closer to a perfect quality score.

There may not be ads on all search results, even for queries that advertisers are bidding on.

Google is more likely to show no ad at all than a low quality advertisement that does not fulfill the users need. This is line with their philosophy of showing the right ad, at the right time, to the right user.

Just because there is low competition for a keyword doesn't mean it comes at a low cost.

This is because keyword competition is only one factor in determining your Ad score. If there are other competitors with better quality scores, be prepared to pay a higher rate, even if there is low competition.

Your ad position does not play a role in your Quality Score.

Google takes into account where your ad is when calculating its CTR, and adjusts your ad quality score to level out based on your position knowing that top ads get more clicks. The bright side of this is that you can achieve a high quality score without being in the top ad position.

Your bid primarily impacts your rank, not your Quality Score.

Your Google Quality Score is based on your position-adjusted CTR, URL and Keyword relevancy, and user experience. Your bid and relating rank do not impact this. Discovery the Mysteries of Google Quality Score

Quality plays an important role in determining which ads appear on top.

Only the ads that pass a certain threshold of Quality and CPC bid are eligible to be shown at the top; however Google calculates the CPC threshold in this case by using the keyword quality, ad quality and the lower CPC bid threshold. Thus ensuring Quality plays an extra important role in ad placement.

Ad conversion rate does not affect your Quality Score.

Conversion tracking is just an added tool for you to track your effectiveness and ROI but it does not play a role in determining your Quality Scores.

A few bad days of performance will not ruin your Quality Scores.

Google encourages testing and tweaking your bids, creative and keywords. The short-term results to your Quality Score will soon be outweighed by future performance for each instance.

Quality Score doesn't suffer when your ads are shown infrequently or not at all due to pausing or budgeting.

Your Google Quality Score is calculated every time your ad comes up for consideration. If your ads are paused for maintenance or budgeting they are not considered, thus no affect.

Restructuring your account doesn't rid you of your historical Quality Score information.

All of your data is there, even deleted items, in the case you feel it necessary to revert to your old ways or review past mistake made. Refine your views to show everything including your deleted ads and keywords, or only the current and active ads.

Google does not keep track of your landing page quality history.

Only the latest crawl of your landing page is calculated. This is a benefit to those that may have started off with a horror landing page.

The Five Mysteries of Google Adwords Quality Score

2011-09-06T04:45:00.000-06:00

Just as some of the most famous mysteries of the world, Google Adwords has been perceived to have its very own, especially when it comes to Quality Score. Intentional or not, If you’ve ever spent time developing your Google Adwords account, you may have had the great mysterious feeling that there are many unknowns all around you. The Quality Score is the system by which Google ranks all of your Adword activity, and determines the cost of each ad, and at which rank each will be positioned at. This is usually both one of the most important factors of your account and sometimes the most daunting. In reality, it doesn’t have to be; Google actually spells out most of the factors it looks for when determining your score. Here are five Google Adwords Quality Score mysteries revealed:

Mystery One- Historical Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Your account’s overall CTR which is calculated by taking the number of ad clicks divided by the total number of times it is seen (impressions), is the most significant component of your Quality Score. It helps Google determine when your ads are proving to be interesting and relevant to their search. The human factor here is taken into account; however it is just the beginning. Google used to base much more on the CTR but has since refined it to account for the overall experience of ads to sustain an attractive business model in which searchers discontinue clicking on any ads altogether.

The historical CTR is based on your entire Google Adwords account from its initiation. Make sure to correct or delete any of the lowest ranking keywords and campaigns as quickly as possible as it will significantly affect your account as a whole moving forward.

Mystery Two- Keyword Relevance

The keywords you select for each ad group must be relevant to each respective ad. Or more simply, the selected keywords within any particular ad group should be used within the ad text contained in that ad group. Make sure to segregate your overall selected keyword list in the beginning, and then segregate again, refining your ad groups to contain only the most similar keywords each. This will help you avoid running into any keyword relevance issues.

Mystery Three- Relevance of URL

Think of this in two parts: the URL that is the display URL and the URL in which the user will be directed to. Each carries importance in Google determining your Quality Score.

Google gives you the option to change the display URL to be anything you want- make sure it includes a keyword within it as well. Take this into account when refining your ad groups so that you can very intuitively include the chosen keywords into the ad and have it relate very closely.

Your landing page is rated on relevancy, originality and transparency. Relevancy promises that your visitor will find what it is that he or she was intending to find by clicking on your ad in the first place. Originality says that the page the user is landing on is not just a copy and paste of some other website out there. It takes time to build quality content that is not copied but it returns quality traffic and worth the investment. Lastly, transparency refers to the landing page including contact information and privacy policies to ensure the safety and trust of the visiting user.

Mystery Four- User Experience

The architecture of your webpage matters. The ease of use, navigation and loading time all contribute to your Quality Score. Be sure to have your website user reviewed to catch errors and issues that may be hindering your users’ experience. In addition, try using a website optimizer to check for html errors and loading times as well. Also try reducing image dpi to 72, and setting image size properties.

Mystery Five- Unknown

This is one mystery that will stay a mystery based on the fact that Google calls it “Other relevance factors.” Google tries very hard to educate their users while keeping a few secrets in order to delay the inevitable black hat SEOer.

Utilize these Quality Score mysteries uncovered, and you can start to take advantage of all the good things that come along with a properly structured and refined Google Adwords account as it relates to your overal marketing strategy. And remember, Google said it best when they said “A few bad days of performance will not ruin your Quality Score.”

If you have not yet created an account Google is promoting free ads worth $75 for new users here.

The Successful Optimist - Entrepreneur.com

2011-08-31T21:23:00.000-06:00

The Successful Optimist - Entrepreneur.com

Believe it or Not- You Need Crooked Trees in Business

2011-08-31T07:54:00.001-06:00

I want to take a quick time out and discuss a recent non-business conversation that I was involved in. A friend of mine invited himself to go running with me, as he was determined to get in shape. I told him sure and promised to keep pace with him so that we can finish the run together. We stretched and grunted as we prepared for what you would think was the Olympic Games. We started. Everything was off to a smooth start too as we kept a steady slow pace. He looked like he had done this before and had a very decisive and determined face on as he plowed away at the asphalt beneath him and tugged away at the air with his fists.

Then we hit about a quarter mile. “ugh… awwww man! I just can do this!” I was in shock how quick his battle face had turned into sheer anguish in under 3 minutes. There was just nothing to be done… He would not go any further, or even accidentally stumble into another jog or trot for that matter. I thought to myself, here is a guy who looks like he is in decent shape already, he has all 4 limbs, and from what I knew, nothing to hinder him medically.

I walked a few more yards with him in silence and then said well let’s just turn back. He said no. I thought to myself “well why the heck not??” A few more yards passed when I decided to pose a question- Why are you running? He looked a little bewildered as I asked him a second time. “Why did you decide to run today?” “To get in shape,” he said. I then asked him to visualize what that would look and feel like for a minute. He humored me as I asked him to think about how good he would feel inside and out, and the energy he would feel. As he visualized with me, his disgruntled face eluded him slowly undetected as he seemed to forget his pain.

After he gained his composure I asked him to pick out the crooked tree at the end of the road. We didn’t jog anymore, we ran the next mile.

Now to bring it back around, this is something that most of us already use in our daily business lives- visualization and goal setting. When the going gets rough, don’t forget to revisit your goals (or create them) and visualize your achievement to help you push through the next mile.

Cold Calling Doesn't Have to Suck

2011-08-31T07:19:00.002-06:00

Top 5 Tips for Google Places Optimization

2011-08-26T19:33:00.001-06:00

All businesses can benefit by verifying their Google listing as it increases your search ranking with local search. This means that when a buyer searches for something she wants to buy, she will see your listing at the top of all national competition. Claiming your listing while your competitors do not, ensures you will rank higher than they. No matter your industry, Google Places is an easy and free way to immediately increase your local search rankings.

After claiming your Google Places page, start with these 5 optimization tips:

1. Keywords- Do a bit of research via Google keywords to determine which keywords are most relevant to your industry and specific business. When writing your content, one of the best tips is to be sure to build it keyword-rich by dropping a keyword into Google Places anyway you can.

2. Page per Location- Each location of your business should have its very own Google Places page. This tip is important because the criterion for owning a page is an address (although you don’t always have to show it). The more Google Places pages the better your local search ranking per geographical location.

3. Vigorously Encourage Reviews- each review adds points to your listing so encourage as many people to leave Google Places reviews as much as possible. A bonus tip here is that Google Places recognizes other local review sites like Yelp and Yellowpages, and although you no longer see them listed in your Google Places page, Google calculates them into your total rank. Note that Google users must be logged in to make any comments or changes.

4. List with Directories- listing your company with other business directories lifts your ranking with Google Places.

5. Analyze- keep track of your visits and keywords etc to determine where changes are appropriate, thus ensuring a #1 Google Places ranking for your business.

Keep in mind that the rules are forever changing and enlisting the help of marketing firms specializing in such work can lessen your stress in reviewing the rules and implementing the changes. Use these tips as a starter to your Google Places and watch your ranking rise.

It’s Not Creepy to Hang Out in Your Customers’ Living Rooms

2011-08-02T19:34:00.000-06:00

Wouldn’t it be great to have the time to sit with each customer and just talk about your company and have them tell you exactly how they feel about what they like, don’t like, and what they would spend endless amounts of money on if only it was offered? Well… believe it or not, through social media you can virtually hang out in their living rooms, home offices; or with the explosion of mobile devices, wherever they are the moment they decide to talk about you, without being creepy in the slightest.

Social Media’s virility is alive and kicking- really hard. The latest social media statistics continue to rise at the pace of our national debt and even the most resistant-to-change humans are being forced into adopting online tools to help stay connected with the rest of the world.

What does this mean for you and your small business? Your company brand is an ever-changing location in the consumer’s mind that is affected by every touch. A touch can be any means of interaction such as a billboard, a magazine ad, a phone call from one of your account executives, a nurturing email from your marketing department, comments made by your CEO in a press release, a Twitter post or a blog, etc. (the list goes on!).

One of the most important and influential “touch” and branding opportunity is when one consumer talks to another. There is free software out there to help gain perspective on what people are saying to each other on a candid stage. Others may tote the top 5 or 10, however I have yet to see anyone do it better than SocialMention.com.

SocialMention.com allows you to peruse brand mentions throughout the entire web universe or by select media, such as just blogs, or just twitter mentions. SocialMention.com even estimates the Strength, Sentiment, Passion and Reach of each keyword. Let’s look at how each of these metrics is determined.

Strength
Strength is the likelihood that your brand is being discussed in social media. A very simple calculation is used: phrase mentions within the last 24 hours divided by the total possible mentions.
Sentiment
Sentiment is the ratio of mentions that are positive to those that are negative.
Passion
Passion is measure of the likelihood that individuals talking about your brand will do so repeatedly. For example, if you have a small group of very passionate advocates who talk about your products or brand all the time, you will have a higher Passion score. Conversely if every mention is written by a different author, you will have a lower score.
Reach
Reach is a measure of the range of influence. It is the number of unique authors referencing your brand divided by the total number of mentions.

For you PPC pros, Socialmention.com returns a list of top keywords within the mentions. This is a potential treasure chest of which keywords you might be missing when selecting unbranded keywords. For example, a search in Socialmention.com for Home Depot, returns “furniture” as one of your top keywords based on a comprehensive search. This means Home Depot is either running an active campaign for furniture, and if not, maybe they should.

In addition, Socialmention.com is now equipped with a real-time buzz widget for your site or blog and an alert function. Similar to Google Alerts, socialmention.com alerts delivers a summary email to you on a set, periodic basis.

As I tested different methods and tools for searching brand mentions I did find a few blogposts and news sources that were not mentioned in socialmedia.com, but all-in-all the relevance and insight, for me, was much better. Even if you survey your clients (highly recommended), there are some things they may not be willing to share with you. Folding the use of Socialmedia.com into your business will help you keep track of what people are really saying about you and sustain your brand by acting on this insight and information. Now go get some couch time with your customers and let me know what happens.

Marketing Strategies Blog by Peter Geisheker: the power of simplicity in marketing

2011-01-17T09:54:00.000-07:00

Marketing Strategies Blog by Peter Geisheker: the power of simplicity in marketing

Create Your Own Groupon and Keep 44% More of Your Money

2011-01-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

Groupon is one of the fasted growing companies in the US; so big it just recently turned down a $6 billion dollar acquisition deal from Google. It has done more than well for itself by helping small businesses build their customer base through email marketing.

If you wanted to try Groupon, you would agree to discount your product or service 50% and allow them to write up copy and distribute locally targeted emails using their massive database (40 million plus). You have the ability to specify when the deal will go into effect based on how many buys you want before you will honor it. In addition you can cap the buys to ensure you don’t end up with more business that you can handle at once.

After the Groupon is complete you benefit from the exposure and new buying customers, but when all is said and done, you earn only 25% of your original sale price. To illustrate, say you own a massage clinic and you normally sell 20 massages for $1,500 ($75 each); you spend $1125 in discounts and Groupon services, and you will end up with $375 in your pocket. One can make a case to defend this discount and revenue shortage but is there an even better way?

How can you do it better?

How can you keep more of your money, reach the same amount of people, and not seem desperate? Hire a marketing company that can write the copy for you and supply you with a database of prospects that have opted-in for email deals.

In addition you will receive ALL of the sign-ups versus just those that bought before the cap was met. Possibly the most valuable benefit of creating your own Groupon is that you can then use the resources of the same marketing company to help keep those new and existing customers coming back.

Take the same scenario as above using a marketing firm and you will spend around $649 in discounts, copy writing, and distribution, and you get to put $851 in your pocket. That’s 44% more profit than with Groupon!

Email is still leading according to this...

2010-12-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

Hubspot recently published a report using troves of data on ~8,000 clients they currently serve. Results indicated that email is still a formidable contender in the best way to create leads and sell your product.

Small companies with under 10 employees still use email as the driving force in their marketing. This may be due to a still developing shift to social media, however the email click through and open rates continue to maintain high numbers.

In the Business Services industry for example, the Best in Class, or those companies that are adhering to best practices, can enjoy 38.2% click through rate with a 64% open rate. Best practices encompass copywriting, structure, aesthetics, mobility, etc.

Calo Marketing and Design felt it appropriate to give a few tips on email copy so feel free to check them out.

Email Copy Tips

See the full Eloqua report here.

How Many Years Is That in Customer Years?

2010-12-06T07:15:00.002-07:00

Calculate Your Customers’ Lifetime Value

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) equals the estimated, finite amount of money a customer will spend with your company. Putting it to use can help you decide how much you should spend on a marketing campaign.

To illustrate, let’s say you own a cleaners company and you have data showing your customers spend $100 a month over a 3 year period of time. This means your CLV is $3,600 ($100 x 12 months x 3 years).

Depending on your allowable profit margins, you can now confidently set your marketing budget to not exceed the limits of an attractive ROI. Say you determine that you would like to stay at 7%; this means your allowable cost for acquiring a new customer should not exceed $252.

Using Customer Lifetime Value

Let’s say you have the following information for your new email campaign:

· You are paying your marketing company $102 to design and manage your email campaign.

· You are sending to 230 subscribers

· Email response rate is 0.9%

This means your estimated return will be 2 new customers (230 x .9% = 2.07). These two new customers will bring in a total of $7,200 over the course of the next three years while still using less than your total allowable expense. Now you can take this same formula and consider using it to expand your marketing efforts with the unused allowance.

Here are some more book resources on customer lifetime value.

Customer Lifetime Value (Foundations and Trends(R) in Marketing)

Customer Lifetime Value: Reshaping the Way We Manage to Maximize Profits

Managing Customers as Investments: The Strategic Value of Customers in the Long Run

Social Media Measuring Stick

2010-11-29T09:23:00.002-07:00

According to Econsultancy.com 47% of businesses today are unable to measure their social media campaign ROI.  How much would you say you make for every dollar you spend on your social media campaign? According to the Direct Marketing Association, the only interactive marketing channel that drove more sales than social media’s $14.3 billion was email marketing.  If the Direct Marketing Association can do it with a team of mathematicians and troves of raw data from years of research, why is it that it is so hard to measure for the average business owner?  It is simply the lack of raw data, time set aside to evaluate and familiarity.  Business owners are at a loss of which measuring stick to use.

There are ways to try and funnel your social media efforts into a hard summed total.  However, there are far too many variables to add up.  For example, you may find someone first hears about you on a social site, clicks through to your shopping website to research only to return in person to buy.  In this instance there is no way of tying your social campaign to a hard sales number.  Instead, let’s consider 3 separate areas, that when consistently analyzed together, can give you a more capable measuring stick.

1.        Quantitative – track how many followers, friends, or likes to you receive each month as well as how many unique visits you receive and the bounce rate of those visits from your social media sites. Bounce rate is the percentage of visits that were the person left from the same page, signifying low interest or relevance.

2.       Qualitative – read what is being said about your company and tally how many “likes” your campaign receives.  Also consider using services like Rapleaf or Adobe Online Marketing Suite to gain valuable insight on what your customers are saying about you.  You can also do a simple Google search to see what pops up on blogs and/or comments.

3.       ROI Metrics – track what you can back to your campaigns by tagging customers’ receipt of or delivery of a social campaign.  Use a software like salesforce, zoho, or a spreadsheet if nothing else.

Mesh these together and you’ll end up with a pretty good idea of how your efforts are going.  Track in a spreadsheet at each quarter and take time to make changes and/or tend to this aspect of your marketing efforts as you do your all other important aspects of your business.  You cash register will be glad you did.

Excuse me... do you have any grey Groupon?

2010-11-02T18:52:00.000-06:00

No not Poupon. That's right, Groupon. Its the next marketing craze, the next small business tool. Yeah, but aren't businesses losing money? I mean, they only get half of the asking price... how is that good?

Business owners, consider this:

-Don't ever pay out of pocket (Groupon takes a portion of sales)
-Reach hundreds/thousands of targeted new prospects
-97% of those businesses listed ask to be listed again
-You only honor groupon if enough people sign up
-New customers in your store OVERNIGHT

While most of us have learned to ignore traditional media, those receiving groupons are usually looking forward to it. I know I do. I just purchased my latest Groupon though "Seize the Deal" and I'm looking forward to my half off dinner at Nothing but Noodles. =]

For El Paso Small Business Owners and Those Extra Curious People

2010-10-30T08:31:00.000-06:00

When you have something to sell and you know who is most likely to buy it, it doesn't hurt to know where those people are. El Paso, Inc. ran a very interesting story based on ESRI demographic data that can help you find your customers. The full story was run in El Paso Inc. back in October; unfortunately it is no longer available but you can see an overview below: (If anyone has a copy please let me know while I dig into my files and try to find the hard copy)

SEGMENTS

Suburban Splendor – Upper Valley
• Families in growing suburban neighborhoods
• Epitome of upward mobility
• Hot tubs, espresso machines, granite countertops
• Home improvements done by contractors
• Hire lawn services, have latest electronic gadgets
• Own or lease minivan or full-size SUV, luxury car
• Free time spent on family, travel, self-improvement
• Members of business clubs and active investors
• Shop at upscale retailers, home stores, wholesalers

Exurbanites – Upper Valley
• Affluent lifestyle in open spaces beyond urban fringe
• Focus on financial security
• Work on their homes, lawns, gardens
• Very physically active, jog, lift weights, yoga
• Top market for watching college basketball and pro football
• Members of civic and charitable groups

Boomburbs – Westside
• New suburbs with busy, affluent young families
• Top segment for buying home furnishings, toys and games, men’s business and casual clothes, big-screen TVs, cars and trees
• Own laptop computers, software
• Highest segment for computer use under 18
• Tend to use professional cleaning services
• Family vacations top priority

Industrious Urban Fringe – Eastside, Northeast, Far East
• Family is central, balance budgets carefully
• Mortgage payments take priority
• Shop at Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target
• Dine out less often
• No investments or retirement savings other than home
• Many have a second phone line
• Watch movies at home and in theatres
• Subscribe to cable less often

Up and Coming Families – Northeast
• Second highest household growth rate, 5.2 percent
• Mix of Generation Xers and Baby Boomers
• Many starting/expanding families, first-time homebuyers
• Buy baby equipment, children’s clothing, toys, furniture and lawn care products
• Eat at family restaurants, fast food drive-throughs
• Play softball, take the kids to zoo, theme parks
• Rent comedy, family and action/adventure DVDs

Rustbelt Retirees – East Central
• Married couples, no kids, or singles
• Hardworking, settled, lived in same house for years
• Tend to be politically conservative
• Participate in public activities and fundraising
• Belong to fraternal groups, unions, veterans’ clubs
• Practical, take pride in their homes and gardens
• Watch their pennies, use coupons, look for bargains
• Eat out at family restaurants, bowl, play cards and bingo

Military Proximity – Fort Bliss
• Second youngest segments, focus on family
• Shops at military commissary
• Shops for baby and children’s products
• Subscribes to cable TV, likes Nickelodeon, MTV
• Internet use higher than general population
• Has renters insurance
• Despite youth, proportion of households investing for retirement is similar to U.S. average
• More likely to have disability income insurance
• Family portrait includes pets, particularly dogs

Southwestern Families – across the county
• Young families, foundation of Hispanic life in Southwest
• Homeownership important, median home value second lowest
• Settled suburbanites buy baby and children’s products
• Fill prescriptions at Walgreens, Wal-Mart
• Buy used cars, fix and replace old car parts
• Cable subscriptions low, like large-screen TVs
• Listen to Hispanic, contemporary hits

Art of Marketing: Making the Most Out of Your Next Event

2010-10-27T21:49:00.000-06:00

Art of Marketing: Making the Most Out of Your Next Event

Making the Most Out of Your Next Event

2010-10-27T21:42:00.001-06:00

As a small business owner, you are busy running your business. Events pose an amazing opportunity but are not always easy to find time to plan for or attend. Here are a few tips to help guide you to a maximized return on your investment:

1. Create an event gameplan - ensure you maximize your lead generation and sale conversions - This is a strategy document that forces you to think about what you are going to do and how you are going to do it. Time and time again you can find yourself circumventing time consuming or costly errors by thinking things out ahead of time.

2. Plan to stand out - your goal should be to become memorable to prospective customers. Whether it be by booth design, giveaways or personalities, invest some time in to finding your uniqueness among a slew of vendors vying for attention.

3. Reach out before and after - In your strategy make sure to include pre- and post-event steps. With permission from event organizers, deliver a message via email before the event to introduce your company and a carefully crafted message to follow up and set appointments.

4. Don't forget traditional sales efforts - As a business owner, get used to receiving only marginal responses from email campaigns alone. These efforts work best when coupled with other efforts such as telephone marketing where appropriate.

5. Seek consultation - There are many experienced marketing professionals out there that would be more than willing to provide advice. If not, hire a marketing consultation firm like Calo Maketing and Design (plug!)

These firms can also help generate leads on-site and in your booth. Whether you can’t make the event or would like an extra person to help nurture leads during the event, there are marketing firms that provide professionals to help fill your needs.

Keep it energetic, unless you're selling coffins or the like, and stand out! Good luck