Friday, 26 September 2014
How to Use Video as Part of Your Online Marketing Strategy
Are you making use of video as a marketing tool for your business? When used correctly video can be a great way to keep your website visitors engaged and generate more interest in what you have to offer.
For some tips on how to add video to your online marketing strategy take a look at this infographic from Superfast Business.
http://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2014/09/26/how-to-use-video-as-part-of-your-online-marketing-strategy/
For some tips on how to add video to your online marketing strategy take a look at this infographic from Superfast Business.
http://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2014/09/26/how-to-use-video-as-part-of-your-online-marketing-strategy/
16 Twitter Engagement Stats That Will Make You Change Your Social Strategy
If you’re using Twitter as a marketing platform there will be a few ways you measure your success. Whilst followers is usually the main one what’s more important is engagement and interaction which can be measured by your number of retweets, replies and link clicks.
This infographic from Linchpin SEO offers some insightful stats about engagement and interaction and how it can be improved.
Thursday, 25 September 2014
How People Buy: The Evolution of Consumer Purchasing [Infographic]
Posted on 16 September 2014.
“Retail therapy” – We have all heard the term and most likely put it into practice more than we would care to admit. It’s the very thing that, like it or not, most of our holidays are geared towards….
Shopping. Buying. Spending our hard earned dollars on stuff we either need or just plain want.
But how is our buying different today than it was last year, over the last 10 years, or even over the last 20 something years?
As you can imagine the practice of buying has evolved along with the media that feeds our buying desires.
To help shed some light on how purchase decision-making has changed over the past century, Hubspot teamed up with Column Five to create the infographic below.
Shopping. Buying. Spending our hard earned dollars on stuff we either need or just plain want.
But how is our buying different today than it was last year, over the last 10 years, or even over the last 20 something years?
As you can imagine the practice of buying has evolved along with the media that feeds our buying desires.
To help shed some light on how purchase decision-making has changed over the past century, Hubspot teamed up with Column Five to create the infographic below.
5 Secrets to Writing Winning Headlines
Posted on 22 September 2014.
You’ve just written killer sales copy you know is going to blow away the competition and get readers to ‘click now.’ Good for you! But unless you get someone to read it, you’re dead in the water. Statistics prove that 80% of your readers don’t bother going past your headline. It has to be just as killer, or better than, your copy.
Below are five sure-bet ways to get your headlines read and improve your call to action, make more conversions, and win more business.
First, let’s summarize what good persuasive copy does for you. Consider it a refresher, you should already know how to write this before thinking about creating headlines that work.
- Makes you feel special and unique, part of an exclusive group
- Tears at your guts, makes you emotional in more than one way
- Gives you something of value for your time or taking action
- Is time sensitive-act now before they’re all gone
Persuasive copy doesn’t rely on fear as in days long gone. That may still work for certain demographics, or for some products, but use it sparingly. People today respond much more to positive spin than doom and gloom. They all want to know what’s in it for them.
Like your copy, your headline needs to incorporate some or all of the above-you need to get attention within 8 seconds, or forget it-you’ve already lost them.
Now, let’s dig into getting those headlines read every time.
1) Hit Them Where It Hurts.
You have to make your prospect feel something immediately upon reading your headline. Something that speaks to them directly. If you’ve set up your copy to speak to a defined, targeted audience, pulling a headline that does the same is pretty easy.
Use emotions you’ve identified your prospect will respond to. If you’re selling a financial subscription, it’s all about how much money they can make-say so. If you’re selling ball bearings business to business, tell how your product save the buyer time or money and makes him look good to his boss. Some examples:
a. “Don’t Bleed More Money-Use These Secrets Now”
b. “Did you earn 300% More Last Year?”
c. “XYZ Drive Shafts Last 30% Longer, Saves Money”
2) Solve a problem.
No one cares about ‘you’ the writer. Everyone cares about ‘me’ the reader. Use a headline to solve a problem for the reader. Another way you have to target your defined market for best results.
Your prospect might not recognize they have a problem. Help them see they do. Your headline has to hit them in the gut immediately. Make them realize you’re talking directly to them.
Say you’re selling a service for virtual assistants (VA), the folks who do all those menial tasks you don’t want to. And your target is busy writers. All of that time spent doing non-writing tasks adds no value to the writer’s life, and all of us prefer to spend our time writing-it’s what we get paid for.
If they have no idea a VA exists, use a headline to educate on expected benefits. You need to get attention immediately and show how your product can solve a problem. Some examples:
a. “Make Money Writing, We’ll Do the Rest”
b. “Let Us Do the Dirty Work. You, Write”
c. “Hate Paperwork? We’ll Do It For You”
Headlines don’t have to be short, either. If you’re sending e-mail, adhere to the 50 character rule for subject lines. For print, use what you need. David Ogilvy frequently used nine to ten word headlines that got great results.
3) Ask a question.
Using who, what, when, where, why or how as a lead is a sure fire way to make the prospect think immediately about the answer. Questions demand answers, use them to pull the reader into copy to find them. Think about the following questions, all related to a weight loss product:
a. “Who Will You Look Like Two Months From Now?
b. “What Will You Do With Clothes Too Big to Wear?
c. “How Will You Look at Your Next Class Reunion?
You get the idea. Avoid asking questions that have a yes or no answer. They’re too easy to dismiss as gimmicky, or worse, you might get a ‘yes’ when you want a ‘no’. Ask thought provoking questions with answers related to solving a problem they have now.
4) Use Action Words.
Buy, look, save, earn, give, leave. There are millions of words that move. Use them to move your prospect to take action. If you’re trying to sell a new piece of gym equipment that’s not well known, make a comparison. For example, “Better than Thigh-Master at Reducing Bulge”.
A headline with action words makes the prospect feel movement. That will move them into the copy you want them to read, to get them to a ‘yes’ at the end. Some other examples of action words related to travel services:
a. “Limited Time Offer-See the World Now for Less”
b. ”Leave the Details to Us, Relax and Release Stress Today”
c. “Paradise Just Outside Your Door-We Make it Easy”
5) Use the product name and primary benefit.
If your product saves money, say how much in dollars or percent over a competitor. If your product saves time, tell them how much they can save in hours or greater efficiency. If you’re service leaves more time or gains more money, say so.
If you’re selling a luxury air charter service, you’ve got a very small target market and you have to make it count. Think about who that market is, what will hit them in the gut.
These are busy, wealthy people, time is extremely valuable. Hiring a charter has many benefits, but they may not have thought about it before. For example, it saves time. No lines, literal pick up at departure, drop off at destination. No hassles dealing with screaming children. Ability to work while on board on company specific projects, and hold meetings without interruption. Your headline has to state a benefit that gets attention.
What you’re selling costs thousands of dollars an hour. You need to make sure the reader ‘gets it’ immediately, and digs into the rest of your copy. Some possibilities:
a. “Fly Time to Buy Time-Air Charter Gets You There”
b. “Meet Before the Meeting With Air Charter”
c. “Door to Door, You Own the Air With Air Charter”
Spend most of your time crafting the best possible headline, using one or more of these strategies and you’re sure to win more business. If you have time to test multiple headlines, do it. You’ll gain insight to continuously improve your responses. Try writing dozens of headlines on the fly and you’re sure to find some nuggets that will eventually work themselves into killer headlines.
Have you changed the way you write your headlines? If so, have you noticed any differences with your results?
- See more at: http://www.offervault.com/scoop/2014/09/22/5-secrets-to-writing-winning-headlines/#sthash.mJDQpVLe.dpuf
8 Ways to Develop a Successful Online Brand for Your Small Business
An impressive brand will help strengthen your relationship with customers and keep your products or services in the forefront of their mind, successfully capturing their loyalty and boosting your sales. Here are eight steps to develop a successful online brand for your company:
1. Understand branding: Branding is the definition of your company's core values and your promise to your customers, and it's an expression of the characteristics of your business. It positions your company as the one target customers think about first when they need your product or service. Ideally, they will be loyal to your company and will feel good about recommending you to other people. To help build a strong brand, you need to create a mission statement to share your vision and values. You can begin by brainstorming words and phrases that convey the purpose of your business and how this impacts your customers.
2. Find out how customers see your brand: To begin, you need to find out if the way you see your brand is in line with the way customers see your business. Looking at your brand through the eyes of a customer will give you better insights into what really matters to them, and which brand elements to emphasize. Listen carefully to informal feedback you may receive on social media channels, looking for that one word which customers may use to describe your business; make a list of the words that customers use most often.
3. Emphasize benefits rather than features: Remember that the features of your business are only characteristics. Benefits explain how a product or service will help your customers. Customers only care about how the features will benefit them. Focus on benefits to make a lasting impression on customers. Make sure that you list all of the features of your products or services and translate them into customer benefits. One way to do this is by asking yourself, "How does this help the customer?" You may also consider featuring customer case studies or testimonials on your website - where the customers describe the benefits of your products or services.
4. Build relationships, not just transactions: The purpose of relationship marketing is to promote and strengthen your brand image. Again, the goal is to make your company the first one a customer thinks of when they need your products or services. You should consider using social media to build relationships by engaging in conversations with your customers. Loyalty programs are also a good way to build relationships because such programs reward customers for giving you their business. Additionally, you can use email newsletters that include interesting and valuable information to remind customers of your brand.
5. Be authentic: Customers today value authenticity and transparency in their daily transactions. You can position yourself and your team, front and center, as part of your business' brand. Customers, especially in the Millennial generation, feel strongly about buying from and supporting small businesses with relatable people behind them. Share pictures and videos of yourself, your team and your offices on social media. Give your pages a personal touch by sharing tidbits about your hobbies, family and interests. However, it is important to make sure you are using social media platforms that are relevant to your brand and your customers. Find out which platforms your customers use most often and focus your energy there.
6. Standardize your brand: Synchronize your online presence with your offline presence; your brand should be portrayed consistently every time customers have the chance to interact with you. This includes your website, online and print ads, social media accounts, business cards, employee uniforms, product packaging, and store or office signage. Make sure to review and update all the elements of your brand, such as content, website, logo, graphics, images and colors, on (at least) an annual basis. To help give your brand a personality, decide what tone you'll take on social media. Figure out if your customers will respond better to touching, cute or serious posts.
7. Train your employees on how to protect your brand: Make sure everyone on your team understands what your brand represents - inside and out. Develop systems and procedures for how employees interact with customers to protect and promote your brand. Regular training will ensure that all employees understand how to convey your brand most effectively. You might also consider creating protocol for interacting with customers on social media. Monitor online interactions with customers, and reward employees who effectively represent your brand.
8. Continue to evolve your brand: Create a marketing calendar that details the steps you will take each month, week and day to market and advertise your brand. An effective calendar may include online advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, email marketing, updating your website and traditional advertising. Study the results of your online advertising, social media outreach and SEO for effectiveness, and if necessary adjust your approach. Enlist third-party companies, whenever possible, to simplify and streamline your marketing and advertising. Specialists can help you create the illusion of a big brand.
Successful branding requires patience, though it does pay off! But don't expect to see immediate results. You need to regularly engage with your customers in ways that promote the brand in order to best yield long-lasting results.
6 Tried-and-True Email Marketing Tactics
For too many entrepreneurs, the rise of social media has been the decline in email marketing. That is a mistake. Email marketing is still a highly effective way to increase sales for your business.
In 2013, 3.6 billion people had email accounts according to Jeff Bullas. It’s estimated that by 2016, that number will increase to 4.3 billion people. Social media is a great way to generate leads, but email converts leads into customers.
Over the years, email marketing has gotten a bad rap because of spam. Realize that spam is everywhere, even on social media. People still respond to the right kind of emails. Smart entrepreneurs use email marketing to create new business and turn customers into repeat customers.
Email marketing done right is the best tool in your marketing arsenal. The frustration with email results when entrepreneurs use dated techniques or have relied too heavily on social media. Here are six tweaks that will greatly help your email marketing efforts.
1. Offer an incentive to get people to sign up. Entrepreneurs know the value of offering a free digital download/video as an incentive to get people to sign up for their email list. The problems is most of these “gifts” are terrible.
Legendary entrepreneur, Ramit Sethi, says your free content should be better than most people’s paid content. With more than 500,000 monthly readers, he definitely practices what he preaches. When you can master this philosophy, you create life-long customers.
It’s worth your time to create a free gift that makes signing up for your email list a no brainer. When someone gets good value from your free content, they are more likely to buy your premium content. You will see a dramatic increase in conversion rates.
2. Use automation. One of the great things about email marketing is that you can have automated campaigns running 24/7. You can set up auto responders with services Mailchimp, Aweber or Infusionsoft.
These campaigns are designed to introduce new customers to your company and, eventually, what your company offers. Automating these emails frees up your time to work on your other marketing efforts.
3. Focus on the little things. Many emails from entrepreneurs are not opened because they’re missing some of the basics:
- Strong headlines.
- Research guiding the best time to send emails.
- Being straight to the point.
- Presentation.
- Clear takeaways.
Making tweaks here and there can dramatically increase your open rates. When you have a captive audience, you create an opportunity to close the sale.
4. Send out exclusive content. Your email list should feel like a VIP club. At least once a month, send content exclusively for your email list. They will realize the value and stayed subscribed.
If the exclusive content is good, they’ll recommend your email list to other people and make it a point to open every email they receive from you.
5. Don’t oversell or be afraid to sell. Entrepreneurs create a ton of free content to build an email list. Whether it’s your blog, podcast or videos, this free content establishes your authority.
The problem comes when you only offer free content, and don’t sell regularly. When you do get around to selling, people opt out like crazy because you’ve confused them. They don’t want to be sold to because you’ve trained them to only expect free content.
You also should also avoid the other end of the spectrum. You risk coming off as the sleazy marketer if you're always selling. A smart entrepreneur will figure out the right balance.
6. Never stop growing your list. Whether you have an email list of 50 people or 500,000, always work on growing your list. People will come and go, so adding new names is vital to keeping your email list healthy.
We live in an unprecedented time where the Internet and social media have created tremendous opportunities to grow an email list of engaged fans and future customers. Take full advantage of social media, webinars, video, guest posting and joint ventures to grow your email list. Grow that list, and nurture it.
If you can use these techniques to make your email marketing efforts better, your influence and income will increase. Use social media, but don’t neglect email. It’s still working and not going away.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)