Online Marketing for Local Business
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The Continued Value of Email
14 years
by admin
in Uncategorized
Social networks are no doubt the “sexy” topic of the day for most marketing and promotional people, or just citizens in general. The rush to social media marketing has left some to question the continued value of email communication. What is the current value of sending an email newsletter, for example?
A few facts to consider before declaring the end of email:
First, email is still ubiquitous; almost 100% of Internet users have an email address and check it with some regularity. As mentioned in previous blog posts, this may change at some point in the future, as younger folks switch to other methods of communication, but for the foreseeable future email remains king, especially with business users.
Second, not only is email here to stay, but it’s still the preferred way to distribute information. When sharing a link with a colleague, friend or family member, most people (78%) still report that email is the primary way they would do so.
Social networks are gaining in importance for sure, and may one day overtake email – just as email has largely replaced “snail mail”, or even phone conversations. (The pros and cons of these facts are certainly up for debate, however!)
And finally, email is cheap. Depending on the size of your list, distributing an e-newsletter can cost pennies per recipient. And you control the message and formatting of the communication 100%.
Why Companies Fail With Social Media
14 years
by admin
in Uncategorized
Social media marketing is difficult for most organizations, and it’s not all that hard to figure out why. They start strong, but after some time lose interest or get frustrated with their results. In general, they view social networking as an event – not a process.
The Super Bowl is an event. Setting up a trade show booth or attending a sales conference is an event, or having sales promotion. These have a distinct beginning and end.
On the other hand, dating is a process; losing weight is a process (if done correctly!); building a brand is definitely a process. And once success has been achieved, it must be maintained.
Events are a lot easier to manage, to budget and pay for, and get excited about. (Think of the excitement generated by the Super Bowl, for example) They can be placed on a calendar.
But this isn’t what creating an online community or following is all about. Often social media doesn’t have an immediate, or easily identified, ROI number that you can assign to it, as you can with most events.
A process builds results for the long haul. Go into your social marketing and communications with this in mind, and you are far more likely to be successful.
Every Web Page Should Be A Marketing Page
14 years
by admin
in Uncategorized
Your website’s content will get noticed (read) if you use your headline and first paragraph to let readers know precisely “what’s in it” for them. Here are some techniques to make that happen.
First, you can’t know which page web visitors will see first, since there are many different ways to enter a site. Some will land on the homepage for sure, but blog posts and other content will show up in search engines (that’s the hope, at least!)…so don’t assume that any one page is more important than the rest, although the homepage does deserve the most attention.
Second, only a tiny percentatge of visitors will be responding to even the highest quality ads. You’ll have to work a bit harder for the rest of your readers. To get conversions, you’ll have to use the content on all your web pages.
Who Is Your Site For, What Do They Want?
When you’re busy creating content, it’s easy to focus on SEO and forget that your website exists to sell your products and services! Even if you don’t forget such a thing, can the same be said of everybody who writes for you? It’s sometimes hard for experts in a field to put themselves in the shoes of a visitor, who will spare just a few seconds to find a reason to read the content.
When constructing an argument or presenting a product, it seems logical to first present the building blocks of your case before giving the end result. The end results should be something that will make your readers’ lives better.
People Purchase Benefits Not Features
You should always spell out the benefits before describing features. A feature is a description of what you’re selling or offering. Benefits are more important, they are the things that those features do for your customers.
For instance, people don’t purchase light bulbs for features like being long lasting, bright, and cheap! People purchase light bulbs because they don’t want to live in the dark, and for benefits like “saving money” or maybe “saving the planet”.
Your Headline Is The Most Important Part Of Your Content
If your headline does not promise something of interest, then your article won’t get read and you’ll struggle to sell. This is because most visitors arrive at a page, read a headline and then make a decision to stay or go.
*Also, please note that these guidelines are just as appropriate for blog posts, e-newsletters and other online communications!
A few good guidelines for headlines:
Promise benefits – tell readers exactly what your content will do for them
Don’t make readers think too much, don’t be overly clever, obscure or ironic
Don’t make visitors read the story to then understand the headline
Do ask a question about a problem and then entice with a solution
Do provide things Top 10 lists or 3 Best Ways To…
Do make sure your first paragraph is as clear as possible, elaborating on the most important idea you’re trying to get across