Marketing Joy

SCREAM Your Online Marketing

Normally I'm not into cheesy or gimmicky training, but recently I had the opportunity to speak to a group of people who were fairly inexperienced with the web and particularly with web marketing. I poured over my other writings and training to see what I could translate to provide them with valuable, useful information. No luck. Thankfully, some key words started to come to mind that I would want anyone to know about his online marketing. And there, SCREAM was born.

In the coming series of entries, I'll explain in detail what each letter of my nifty acronym represents. But for now, here's the short version:

S - Segment your market. You can do this in a number of ways, but for most effective marketing and strongest ROI, segmenting is the first thing to do.

C - Create specific messages.... for each segment. You gotta do step 1 (segment) before you can go to this step.

R - Represent your brand. Your overarching branding is static, but the interpretation of the brand among your different segments can be personalized.

E - Executing a well-planned strategy. Once you understand what audiences are your most profitable and the messaging most effective for them, you need a plan to reach them - then you need to find vendors/personnel to do the legwork!

A - Analyze all the data you can get your hands on - including but not limited to web and online advertising ANALYTICS. (Closely related to the next step, M)

M - Measure EVERYTHING you do to the fullest technological and practical extent. When you pay close attention to the information, you can make calculated decisions and minimize wasted advertising and marketing expenditures. You know what that means.... smokin' hot ROI!!!

Obviously, there is a lot of meat that goes with each letter of my brilliant acronym! But hopefully this will at least get you started on the road to more effective online marketing (and overall marketing) as you think about how to apply these principles in your business.

Navigation Dilemma, Part III

Okay... one more posting about this navigation issue, and I'll get off my soapbox.

Whether you decide to tackle your web project in-house or use an outsource web provider, there are some things you can do to make the project run more smoothly and see more success upon completion. Here are some suggestions:

1. You wouldn't dare build a house without without a blueprint - so don't start your website design project without a site map to help you figure out what pages go where and how to get people to where you want them to go. This single step can save you (and your customers) a world of frustration on your site.
2. If you have multiple target audiences or capabilities, it helps to think about how to use funnels to get people to go where you want them to go. The way you sell to Prospect A may be totally different than the way you sell to Prospect B. Instead of trying to muddle the message to both, why not try to get each distinct audience going down a path that will communicate specifically to them in language and imagery? Yes, it means more strategizing, more pages of content and time creating that content, but it could mean a measurable increase in your conversions if you do it that way.
3. The wireframe - so we have a fancy lingo in the web world, so what? A wireframe is a tool that designers use to show you, in a very rough format, how the design, navigation and messaging is going to layout without having to fill in any detail. (It's like a skeleton.) Once you approve the structure of the wireframe, then they can go in and build out all the pretty stuff. Once again, this is an extra step - but one that will serve you well in the long run.
4. Think about landing pages as you plan your design. These are the pages where you will land customers to give them the exact info they're looking for without having to hunt around for it. You will use landing pages extensively in your search marketing - if you do it right!! Moreover, as more and more companies are using the web as a first-tier communication and sales tool (versus calling an 800#) landing pages become vital in all of your marketing efforts. Just look at all the advertisers showing ads during the FIFA World Cup. Many of them are showing URL's in addition to or in lieu of toll free numbers!
5. Carefully decide what your calls to action are on each page. Do you have a variety throughout the site? Are some prominent on the page and others passive so you can reach a wider number of visitors? This is a critical step - people need guidance to do what you want them to do!
6. Research. Look around at as many sites as you can, both competitive sites and those that simply catch your eye. What do you like about them, and what would you change? Figure out what elements can you bring to your own design and navigation.
7. Messaging. Determing what your differentiators are and how you can describe them with words, graphics and images. See the "funnels" item above and decide if your messaging can cross audiences or if you need to adjust or tweak messaging based on differing segments.
8. Cautiously consider the use of ANY multi-media wizardry such as flash, streaming audio or video or those new little site guides that pop up. It can sometimes be way more trouble (and expense) than it's worth. If you don't have a good reason for doing it, chances are you shouldn't.

Now, as a provider myself, I would LOVE it if every one of my clients came to me having thought about all these items. This would make the project go so much more quickly and smoothly - and it also saves the client MONEY to consider these steps. However, if you just don't feel like you have the time or expertise - THAT IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO SKIP THE STEPS!!!! It just means that you will need to engage a professional to do the extra work for you to get it right.

As, I believe, Henry Ford put it: take the penny out of your eye to see the dollar.

Navigation Dilemma, Part II

So I wrote last time about how you may be losing a CRAZY amount of traffic (up to 33%) because of difficulty navigating your site. That number startled me enough to want to write even more about how you can address navigation issues on your own website.

Let me start by saying that I know of many a talented web designer - some that even work for huge, very well-respected firms - who do not get the idea of how to make a well-organized website. They fully get how to make the website, down to its finest shadow and detail, the most brilliant piece of design work created. However, they are not so expert in making the thing viable from a marketing and sales standpoint.

Think about it. Surely you have been on a website whether local or a hugely popular, nationally or internationally targeted website where you got exasperated by certain parts of the information-gathering or purchase process. It just happened to me the other day. I was looking on a website of a very well-known brand, when I experienced a purchase process error. This company probably spent tens of thousands of dollars or more to get this website built - only to have what I would consider a ridiculous glitch in the purchase process. I did not have the patience at that moment to continue after the contents of my cart were lost. I simply left their site, and they lost a sale.

Could this be happening to your website? What did the process of designing your website look like? Did you let a web designer give you his or her opinion of how it should look and navigate, or did you direct him during the process without taking outside input on how to build the site?

When you are setting out to design or redesign your website, this is where collaboration MUST happen. Designers should be creative; marketers should be scientific. The magic happens when they work together, bringing their respective abilities and expertise to the web project to create an aesthetically pleasing, easily navigable site that will convert visitors into customers.

Getting personnel in the right seats on your web design bus is only one element of creating web success, but it's a critical one. Start there by finding the right professionals with experience in building winning websites. And here's a newsflash - they may NOT be part of your current team. Johnny in IT may NOT be the ideal candidate to build your website just because he has IT knowledge. Or worse, you may be considering your neighbor's daughter's friend's boyfriend, who can do it for $250. You may laugh, but you wouldn't believe how often that happens! You often get what you pay for in web design.

Your best bet may be to outsource the entire project, allowing you to find the right provider to produce a great website the first time (which, honest to goodness, will save you valuable time, money and customers in the long run). Or, if you have the design and marketing expertise in-house, it is a good idea to get outside input from an objective, knowledgeable provider who may spot things that could be improved in the functionality or design. Spending a some consulting dollars up front may save you exponentially more over the life of your website. It's the whole idea of finding someone standing outside the forest while you and your team are staring at the trees!

Get to Know Web Marketing

I was at a conference today filled with bright-eyed business hopefuls - all with business plan in hand. This was their big chance to shine in front of angel investors and VC's. Naturally, I took the opportunity to talk with many of them about their marketing strategy, particularly as it related to the web. How were they going to take the world by storm?, I asked. Their bright eyes turned dim - many had not considered web marketing as part of their strategy, and some barely even knew what I was asking at all!

Whether you're green as the grass or a seasoned veteran, it makes sense to understand how such a powerful medium can affect your business. Some that I talked with could benefit from structuring affiliate marketing programs, others clearly needed managed search engine marketing and still others needing to understand how the blogosphere could be a powerful tool for getting the message out about their product and generating that precious (and FREE) viral marketing momentum. (And by the way, my esteemed colleague, Dave Taylor, has done a fabulous series on Business Blogging.)

You can't afford to NOT know how you can use the web to get traction, increase sales, measure ROI, generate leads, create massive PR and so much more. I love the saying "the only dumb question is the one you don't ask", and it applies here as much as anywhere. Find a resource you trust and ASK how you can use these cool new things you hear about. Or for some of you, the question may be "what are the cool new things???"

Either way, don't let your business wait another day for this information.

Marketers Must Choose Wisely

Marketing budgets aren't getting any bigger - but the outlets competing for their dollars grow constantly. With marketing spends growing only a few percentage points year over year, marketers face tough decisions when allocating their precious dollars. 

Those of us promoting that "new-fangled Internet marketing stuff" encounter a variety of reactions from marketers. Some we'll call the "early adopters" are already using search marketing as part of their strategy, tracking conversions and even ROI through online channels. Others are definitely hip to the idea and know that the search marketing model makes sense - they just need some help to figure it all out and get started. Still others are just starting to see the light - (and feel the heat) of not being found when a prospect performs searches for their product or service online. They'll probably come around by the next budget cycle, but they'll do it somewhat grudgingly and be chintzy with their budgets.

And then, there are dinosaurs. There are really people out there who are so entrenched in their ways and/or fearful of change that they refuse to consider the Internet as a way to market. And bless their hearts, I do understand. But times, they are a changin', and with more and more people turning to search engines to do research, compare prices, choose providers and make buying decisions, the dinosaurs are either going to be left behind or have to work that much harder to compete.

Whichever category you fall into, you've got a difficult decision to make choosing whether and how much to divert from one area and begin spending on search marketing. That's the hard part. I mean, come on - we're marketers for crying out loud! We don't want to do more with the same. We want to do more with MORE.

I say all the time when companies ask how much they should spend, "I'm a marketer. I can spend as much as you can give me!" And because, to date, no one has given me the blank check that I ask for, we work together to figure out what's right for the client and what strategy produces the necessary ROI.

Next time we'll talk about how to make that leap to search and why it's so worth it...

Waxing Technical On SEO

There are numerous ways a person, prospect or partner might search to try to find your business - like searching a name of someone at your company or using your business address (read the example below) - that you may not immediately think of when deciding which key phrases matter to your marketing effort. That's why having as much text on your site as possible is valuable to your SEO effort. I look at websites all the time that have decent content that doesn't get indexed by the search engines because it appears within a cool graphic.

Google guru Matt Cutts shared this wisdom on his blog www.mattcutts.com

This tip is simple: don’t bury words in an image, especially if those words don’t appear in normal, index-able text.

A comment was posted shortly after Matt's entry that I'd like to point out:

I recently tried finding the website of a company by typing in part of their postal address into Google. I only found business directory listings for the company, none of which linked to the business website.

When I eventually found the website for said company, I also found the reason why they did not rank for their postal address: all of that information was in an image - it never appeared in their website text (and neither did their company name for that matter).

That must be somewhere high up in the “”#101 of webdesign mistakes”" list, no?"

Not sure if your site's content is able to be indexed? You know something is readable if you can click on the text within a graphic and highlight only the content. Conversely, if you try clicking on the text and the whole image lights up - not just the text - then chances are your content will not be read by the search engines.

If you're trying to be too "flash"y with your web design, you may be sacrificing findability for aesthetics. And what does it matter that you have the coolest looking website around if no one can find it?? That's like women sacrificing foot comfort for fashion by wearing stilettos - not only is it silly, but it can be dangerous and painful too when prospects can't find you!

Make sure to consult with a web development firm that operates with SEO Best Practices. Ask questions of your web provider: "How can I be found on search engines?" "Do you use SEO Best Practices?" "Where did you get those shoes?" :-)

Get Linked with Great Online Tool

If you're looking to increase your influence and performance, you might want to improve your connections. You can network until you're blue in the face. Then, if you're like most of us, you stare blankly at the business cards you collected from a number of events (that are randomly stacked on your desk) desperately trying to remember who the person on the card is and why you got his or her card in the first place!

What's worse is that a business card doesn't tell you the whole story - like who that contact knows, where he or she used to work and to which professional or personal associations he or she belongs. You might be throwing away a card from a valuable resource that seems like a non-prospect for you today.

That's where LinkedIn comes in. You can make TRUE connections with people you meet and network with to see if there's value in the relationship - instead of throwing away the card of your golden opportunity! LinkedIn can be a great source of prospects, vendors, clients, partners, consultants, new business associates or other resources.

I've heard many stories from people who have used LinkedIn to find contacts at companies where they couldn't get the time of day. Other use it to ask for referrals to contacts in a certain area of the country where they are trying to make new opportunities. There are so many valuable uses for LinkedIn that anyone and everyone who is a professional ought to take the time to research it and use it.

Go to www.LinkedIn.com and see for yourself!