Traffic Triggers – Focus the Information on Your Website!

Did you read the previous two Traffic Trigger articles? These are step-by-step lessons to help you successfully market your business on the Internet.  The first talked about using the right words that people want to see in order to find your website. The second talked about the consequences of not following the rules when you publish information about your business.

Let’s visit your website again. Look carefully at each page – is there a main focal message for each page of your website? Or, have you crammed it with as much information as possible, hoping to tell everything you can about your business? The best websites have a tight focus about their message, and that focus matches what the user wants to experience when they visit the website.

When businesses hire me to write information for their website, I need to have a thorough understanding about their products and/or services. I also need to know what their prospective visitor wants to see about that product or service, and what their competitor has already done to beat them in the race when marketing that product or service.

Each page of your website should focus on a specific thing – one service type, one product type, or one category. If you try to cram too many keywords in one page, you confuse the only two audiences that matter – the search engines, and the people wanting to take action on your website.

If the search engines get confused when they see your site, they won’t rank it well against your competitor. If you’ve included too much of a variety on your main pages, the search engine won’t know what your focal point is, and won’t provide relevant search results to the person looking for you. You may not even show up in the search results, if you can’t focus your marketing efforts well enough!

If the visitor actually ends up at your website, and you haven’t kept a tight focal point, they may not know how to navigate or what you want them to do on your website. A confused mind doesn’t buy; a confused mind doesn’t take action; and a confused mind turns and runs away.

Take some time to look over each page of your website, and ask yourself, “What is the main focal point of this particular page?” Determine if you are confusing both of your visitors – the search engines and the human reader. If you are, then you may need help determining your marketing message better for your website.

Traffic Triggers – Give Good Information and Don’t Copy

We all know about copyright issues – it was something you learned in your Basic English class. Don’t plagiarize and don’t take information from another place without citing your source – I can still remember my English teacher slapping her desk every time she brought this up!

The same is true on the Internet – did you know that there are ways of tracking information and content on the Internet to find out if it has been illegally used? Of course, there are legitimate ways of sharing information online, but even then, there are rules to follow.

This was an issue that Google looked at just over a month ago. They changed the rules, which was a good thing for most of us marketers, because it made things tougher. And, anytime something gets tougher, I know that it’s better for those who adapt to follow the new rules.

In a nutshell, there are valuable places to publish information about your business, your products, and your services online. They key traffic tips here are to make sure it is unique information, that it is relevant to your business, and that it is valuable to the viewer.

I’ve published articles about my services online at specific directories. Others may re-publish that information on their website, or in their marketing – as long as they cite the source and give me credit for the original publication. That’s the viral part of spreading the word about your business, and it works very well! That is how some of my keywords for marketing show up repeatedly in the first six pages of a Google search.

Unfortunately, many places online were dropping the ball at establishing and enforcing standards. Their English teacher would have probably given them an F for what they were publishing!

Google saw a lot of irrelevant, poorly written information spreading across the Internet, without the value that searchers were looking for. As a result, they adjusted their algorithm that decides where the traffic goes when people are searching online. The end result was that some businesses and other areas of the Internet lost more than 70% of their traffic within a week!

They were publishing short, copied information; that was lacking in value and authority. Now they have to adjust their marketing efforts to make up for that loss in business.

It’s best to start your traffic strategies already knowing the rules, and following those rules to the letter! If you want to understand how, visit me at one of the Chamber Marketing Lunch and Learn workshops to find out!

Traffic Triggers – How Do You Get Traffic To Your Website?

There is a key ingredient in making online marketing work for your business, and this ingredient is so critical that it shouldn’t be overlooked.

When you have a business website, you need to do more than just speak to people and ask them to visit your site. You need traffic to your site, driving there 24/7, without you physically telling them to go there.

You need traffic, but not just any traffic will do. Your website should be jammed with targeted traffic that is genuinely interested in your offers. This traffic should already be pre-qualified, and ready to become part of your customer base.  The best traffic to your website is relevant, targeted, and active traffic that will power your business and fuel your marketing campaigns.

So, the question is; how do you get your share?

There are over 40 different ways to generate traffic to your website. From search engine optimization, to feeder site resources, to pay per click marketing and sponsorship opportunities, there is no shortage of opportunities available to you.

This Traffic Trigger series will give you a quick guide to evaluating a number of options, so that you can develop a marketing campaign geared for success. Of course, if you’d like further information about how to effectively implement any of these traffic techniques, we can brainstorm ideas together sometime!

 

Traffic Starts at Home

Setting up your traffic strategy for success all begins at home, and before you work to develop off-site marketing campaigns, you need to first focus on optimizing every square inch of your website. This prepares it to start generating organic traffic from the major search engines.

Organic traffic is the crème de la crème of traffic, as it’s natural, targeted and organic – coming directly to your site after a user types relevant keyword phrases that the search engine has identified as being associated with your site.

Of course, you can’t set up your website successfully until you understand what those users are searching for in order to find your business! Most often, they don’t search for your business name, unless they already know that you exist.

Think through the key questions that people have when they visit your business. What are the key products or services they are looking for? Those are some of the same words they, or just about anyone else, will use to look for you on the Internet.

Many businesses ignore this first step in a traffic campaign. They spend countless hours, an wasted dollars, implementing online marketing, only to find out that they should have focused on entirely different words to bring traffic to their website.

How are you doing with your traffic triggers? The next article will explain why Google recently shut down traffic to some websites – and how you can avoid that happening to yours!

Three Marketing Necessities to Get Google to Love Your Business

There is only one way to get Google to love your local business and that is to give Google what it wants. That makes sense, doesn’t it?

So what does Google want from you?

Relevant Keywords:  Google wants you to use keywords that match what people are typing into its search engine. Google’s role is to connect customer queries to your website, using keywords as the traffic source. You need to use the same words that potential customers use when they want to find your business. If they are searching for green shirts and you are using purple shoes as your keyword, Google won’t match you to their search.

High Quality Content: Google wants you to use high quality content. It has an image and reputation to maintain and is getting stricter with determining whether the content published is relevant to the search being conducted. The content you publish needs to be well written, provide value to the reader, and be relevant to your industry. In fact, Google recently adjusted its algorithms to tighten up the standards for high quality content. Those businesses that published less-than ideal content noticed a drastic drop in traffic to their website.

Google Wants to See Relevant Backlinks: Backlinks are similar to road signs on the Internet, directing traffic to your website. You get backlinks a number of different ways, and Google is constantly judging whether your backlinks match what your industry represents. Connect to quality forums, social networks and websites that relate to your industry and to your business. Choose your backlink practices carefully, because your business success on the Internet really does depend upon it.

Follow these three guidelines in your online marketing efforts, and your business website will get noticed by Google in a good way, resulting in more traffic and more sales for your business.

Building Your Business to Benefit Others

I spent a rather intense 13 months studying under Jay Abraham, who is undoubtedly one of the best business mentors and strategists around today. He's called "America's Number One Marketing Wizard," and has significantly increased business growth for thousands of clients across hundreds of industries.

Mr. Abraham set high expectations for our accomplishments between each of the live strategy sessions, and called us on the carpet when we fell short - because he sincerely believed we could do better. His homework assignments were tough, and I think it was because he saw potential in us that we hadn't realized yet, and wanted to give us hope to reach our goals.

There were many lessons that I learned from those mastermind training sessions, and many that I need to revisit as my business evolves and grows. And, I believe, that's a critical point for businesses today - take some time to revisit what you've done in the past, find where you need to grow, and find the help you need to make it happen.

Probably the biggest lesson I learned from Mr. Abraham has given me the desire to strive for a high level of service in my business. Granted, I am human and fall short of my goal, but the important factor is to bounce back, learn from it, and do better next time.

Mr. Abraham calls it the "Strategy of Preeminence." Here is how I recall his definition of that term, which is the underlying foundation of success for many businesses when they take their vision to this level.

As a successful business leader, you exhibit the Strategy of Preeminence when you are emphatically authoritative as a trusted advisor in your market. You have empathy for your clients, and work to develop their trust in you. You commit to enriching your client's lives, and to give them hope.

Operating in this Strategy of Preeminence, you are NOT trying to sell your products or services or your best interest, but instead you are focusing all your attention on helping and protecting your client.

Mr. Abraham also helped me visualize my marketing terms, specifically between the words of "customer" vs. "client". A customer is defined as "someone who buys a commodity or service" while a client is "someone who's under the care and protection of another."

Can your business take the Strategy of Preeminence challenge?

• It is your responsibility to resolve problems for your client.
• You need to make a personal connection.
• You must make individuals feel special.
• Surprise and delight your clients from time to time.
• Always seek feedback and make improvements.
• Pay attention to details.

Take time to revisit how you have been serving your clients, how you have been marketing to them, and how you need to grow to make it better for them.

Your Sales Funnel - Are You Keeping Your Funnel Full?

Your business thrives and grows as you add more customers and satisfied clients. Sometimes, it is helpful to take a step back and examine how you obtained your current clients in order to plan future strategies. Take a few minutes to examine your existing strategies for getting more prospects and customers.

• How are you drawing prospects to you who are ready to buy your products or services?
• Are you using opt-in boxes on your website or sales pages?
• Are you handing out business cards or working trade shows?
• Do you have direct response mechanisms in newspapers, magazines, or the radio?
• How are you meeting new people and drawing them to you?
• Are you doing cold calling or direct mailing?

In order to keep your sales funnel full, you need to have a method or mechanism for drawing new people to you. Write down what methods you are currently using.

If you weren't able to come up with a method or mechanism that you are purposely using right now to get more prospects, you have a fundamental problem in your business. Take some time to plan out a few of these strategies, and get comfortable using them.

Hopefully, you wrote down at least 1-2 methods for getting new prospects. Now, what is the sales process that you use once you meet that new prospect? Typically, you are helping them to solve a problem, so how will you go about doing that?

Your next step is to plan out what happens after that new prospect makes an initial purchase with you. How are you moving them on to more sales with you, or for additional services that you provide? If you've planned out this sales funnel in advance, you are more likely to move prospects through to loyal customers who are ready and willing to give raving referrals to your business!

Plan ahead and implement methods to keep your sales funnel full. Remember to review these periodically, and make adjustments when necessary. Examine your sales funnel, and see what needs to be changed or improved upon. Change is a good thing, especially when you can integrate new ideas to better serve your customers!

Marketing Legalities - What Does Your Signature Say About You?

When you send out emails for your business, do you sign your messages as...

Your First Name
OR
Your First Name and Your Last Name?

It's unfortunate to write this, but it is necessary to market yourself correctly in order to avoid unnecessary legal risks. Don’t present yourself as an individual, if, in fact, you are an established business entity.

If someone reads your email, they may assume that you, as an individual, have sent that email. If there is ever a reason for liability, as an individual you probably don't have a business entity protecting you.

You want to be clear that you're sending the email for your business instead, and also your position within the company.

Here are two good examples...

Example 1:

Susan Smith, Managing Member
Smith Widgets LLC

Example 2:

Joe Franks, President
Frankly Widgets Inc.

In these examples, both writers identify themselves by name, because that personal touch that is necessary in emails (and in many forms of marketing). However, they also list their company titles and the full names of their businesses.

So, how are you signing your emails? Sometimes the little things in life (and in business) make all the difference for success!

Relationship Marketing Tips - Everyone is Important

Motivational speaker, Jay Block, recently recanted a lesson he learned early in his career, and I personally think it applies to anybody in business today, especially when considering the variety of people who are in your market audience.

Here's what Jay said....

During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions until I read the last one:

"What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50's, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

"Absolutely, " said the professor. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say "hello".

I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

So my challenge to you today is, "Who are the Dorothy's in your life who you haven't met yet?" Every Dorothy can be just as influential for your business as the President of a company. Every person has an opinion about your company, whether it is good or bad.

Take time to get to know the Dorothy-people in your market audience, in addition to the decision-makers whom you normally deal with. Dorothy's positive or negative comments and opinions can be just as strong for the future of your business as your regular contacts.

Short Marketing Tips - April Fool's Day Marketing Trends

I recently wrote an Online Press Release for a client who wanted publicity for his sweepstakes drawing that was scheduled for April Fools' Day. Curiosity got the better of me, and I spent a little time researching how other successful marketers used that day, and other special days, in their marketing plan.

Now, April Fools' Day isn't really a day of celebration, but a lot of people get into the action with some type of practical joke or prank. And, when you think back to some April Fools' Day events in your past, don't you remember those pranks or jokes? Admit it, you can probably recall some of the expressions or comments of previous April Fool pranks, even though they are from years ago!

Use this as a marketing idea to "think outside the box" for a moment. If a company promoted a tasteful, non-threatening April Fools' joke in their marketing campaign, don't you think it would increase their brand awareness?

Here are a couple of examples I found through Wikipedia:

In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell". When asked about the sale, White House press secretary Mike McCurry replied tongue-in-cheek that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and would henceforth be known as the Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying that people could get a Whopper for left-handed people whose condiments were designed to drip out of the right side. Not only did customers order the new burgers, but some specifically requested the "old" right-handed burger.

April Fools' jokes online, however, should probably be used with caution if they involve product purchases or downloads. I was searching my sources to purchase rights to use a photo in marketing, and the site changed the purchase page to say "Free - or is it?" with a link to click. I clicked the link, thinking there was a coupon or a package special to buy, and found an April Fools' graphic laughing at me. Needless to say, I decided not to download from that site until the joke disappeared. I was leery of downloading more than I wanted.

So, take some time in your marketing plan to "think outside the box", but think through the end result carefully. How can your business use marketing trends to increase your brand awareness?

Still More Marketing Tips You Can Implement Today

These tips are published here with the consent of Debra Power of Get Power Marketing.  Her recent presentation through the LEDC regarding creating a marketing plan was very helpful and highly informative.  If you would like to contact Debra, her website is http://www.getmarketingpower.com/ and her phone number is 734-741-1134.

Encourage repeat business right from the start.  This can be done by in-store, email or Facebook only offers.  In services businesses, it's important to get to know your customers and help them to be familiar with all the ways you may be of service to them.

Train your staff to answer the phone with a friendly, marketing-specific message.  Be sure all of the people in the business who may answer the phone are informed and on board.

Remember: your best customers are your existing customers.  It takes six times the marketing dollars to convert a prospect to a customer compared with an exisitng customers.  If some one is already doing business with you, then it's probably safe to say that they like you and would probably buy from you again.  Make sure you do whatever you can to keep it that way.  Keep them happy.

Present demonstrations, workshops and consultations whenever possible.  People like to do business with people they view as knowledgible and experts at what they do.  Workshops can be an interactive way for your customers to become involved with your products or services.

Choose a charity and become an advocate.  This is good for the charity, good for your community, good for your personal well being and can be a PR asset.  The PR is in last place though, because the other benefits are so much more important.

Review you hours of operation and see if new hours might be more appealing to your prospects/customers.  Ask your customers for input.  Post the question on your Facebook page.  Depending on the type of business, after hours appointments may be appropriate.

In addition to today's marketing tips, I also wanted to mention the wealth of marketing information shared at today's Adrian in the AM.  The presenters from various marketing related businesses offered professional marketing insight.  The program concluded with a marketing tips lighting round among the morning's speakers.  Thanks for all the information and thanks Ann for the great Adrian in the AM topic. 

Among the upcoming announcements in the Adrian Area Chamber email newsletter you will find information on the next Marketing SIG Lunch and Learn.  It will be held on Friday April 22nd and promises to be another great marketing session.  Another thanks is due to Ann for giving me the opportunity to share some marketing thoughts and ideas with the Chamber Conversations blog readers.  Stay tuned to this blog for more useful and interesting marketing information.

Strategies for Email Marketing

People are so inundated with information everyday, it's hard to get their attention.  Consider how many emails you receive that you don't read.  These strategies will help prevent your email marketing from falling victim to the delete key.

At the top of the list is having permission to send email marketing to a recipient.  There are a variety of ways to build an email list.  In the email marketing we do for our business, the email service offers tips on growing your email list.  One idea is at your store, or when you meet people you would like to add to your list, simply ask them if it's okay to send them your email marketing.

Be familiar with the people on your list.  This gives you the opportunity to segment your list by interest or provide information that you know will be of interest to everyone on your list.  Requesting replies to your email also helps gauge what gets the attention of your recipients.  Monitor your in box for feed back and reply to comments and questions. 

Keep your email marketing personal by using the recipients' names.  It makes bulk email seem more personal.  The email marketing service we use does this for us.

Email marketing may not be as effective during holiday seasons.  People are distracted with other activities.  If you have a retail business and your recipients have opted to receive your emails, then shopping seasons are prime emailing marketing times for you.  Business to business service organizations may want to think about sending their email marketing early in the week for at work consumption.  Business to consumer business may want to email market closer to the weekend when more people have free time to take advantage of email offers.

Email subject lines should state an immediate benefit to the recipient.  Mention a discount or ask an interesting question.  It's a good idea to avoid $ and ! and "free" as these may trigger spam filters.  Our email subject line is the title of our newsletter, which includes our business name.

If you include a call to action, make it clear and easy to follow through.  If you want recipients to print a coupon, test it to make sure it works.  If you want them to click through to your website, make sure the link works.  If you want them to do something specific when they land on your website, make it easy to find and complete.

The email service we use provides us with a variety of statistics regarding our email newsletter.  We can learn who opened the newsletter and how many times.  Who opted in or out, who clicked through and more.  This is usefull information for the purpose of personal follow up and other business purposes.

Email marketing is inexpensive but has significant impact.  Our average open rate has been around 30%.  If you compare that with direct mail, which is ususally around 2% to 5% and much more expensive, you can see why we find email marketing appealing.  The Chamber has a very nice email newsletter and is a good example of how email marketing can be done well.  If you would like to see our Boulevard Financial newsletter, please send me an email at boulevardfinancial@comcast.net.

Presentable Presentations

While not all businesses employ presentations as part of their marketing.  For those that do, presentations may be very important to the business - prospect relationship.  Presentations, in that context are intended to inform in an interesting way and move the audience from prospect to client. 

To have an effective presentation it's important to be well informed about the audience.  What do they already know about the topic?  Why would the topic be of interest or of value?  What do you want them to do as a result of the presentation?  Why would they not want to do that?  The audience, for the presentation to be effective,  needs to know why they should think you are credible and qualified.  To augment the connection, building a rapport through common interests is a real asset.

The job of the presentation is to take the audience through the process of seeing the current situation and then understanding what could be.  Even if the audience has the information they need to make a decision and it's presented in an interesting, credible and persuasive way, without a call to action, the audience may not understand what the next step should be.  Some call to action tools, may be spelling out a time line for the next step.  Having appropriate paper work on hand and asking for the desired action is another way to go.  People with a sales background reading this will recognize this step.

Some nuts and bolts things to keep in mind include making sure that there isn't too much detail on one page.  The audience won't be able to take it in.  If possible, use photos or images to illustrate your message.  If you use a template or a logo on each page, observe that this takes up a large part of area that could be used for clean simple lettering and images.  The audience will comprehend the message better with less information per page and one clean sharp font used in a limited number of sizes. 

Before your presentation, go through it with someone you trust to give you an honest opinion.  Walk through it in your mind until you are comfortable with the flow and how it relates to the audience.  Hopefully these tips will help you create and deliver more effective presentations.

More Marketing Tips You Can Implement Today

These Marketing Tips You Can Implement Today are published here with the permission of Debra Power of Get Marketing Power.  Her recent presentation at LEDC was highly informative and very helpful.  You can learn more about Debra by going to her website GetMarketingPower.com or call 734-741-1134.  These are some of Debra's useful and clever tips.

Host a contest for something related to your business.  Keep in mind the expense of the prize and any collateral expenses versus the benefit.

Make your telephone on-hold message a marketing tool.  Keeping this fresh is a great idea.

Start a blog.  If you have email addresses for your customers, contact them and invite them to follow you.  Be sure to put your blog address in other promotional materials, including your business cards.

Review your pricing strategy and see if there are opportunities to improve.  It's not a bad idea to know what your competition is charging for the same or similar items.  Is it possible for you to afford a loss leader for a period of time to bring new people into the store?  If you offer a loss leader, it's important to advertise.  Your pricing may also need revising if there is something you offer that just isn't selling.  Remember that your customers may also have some insight for you on this topic. 

Keep quality a priority.  Customers are disappointed with shoddy merchandise.  If you have a service business, make sure that your entire team is on the quality band wagon.  Customers remember and share a good experiences with a business.  Customers remember and share not so good ones too.  For which would you prefer to be remembered?

All About Women

If your business could benefit from meeting your customers face to face, then "All About Women" could be just the event for you.  "All About Women" Women's Health Fair and EXPO is being held Saturday, April 16th at The Centre.  This event allows businesses to sell, show & demonstrate their products and services to a mostly female audience attending the event.  The cost to be a vendor is reasonable and an 8 foot skirted table is provided in each of the 10' X 7' display spaces. 

For most businesses, women are a highly desirable audience.  They tend to lead the way or have a lot of input on many decisions in their home.  Women also make up a large share of business owners.  Some vendors at the show may find women an attractive audience because their products are appealing to women. 

Women attend the EXPO because the price of admission includes health screenings, pampering services, workshops and more.  The featured speaker this year is America's Nutritionist, Zonya Foco.  If participating as a vendor isn't in your plans for one reason or another, coming out to attend promises to be loads of fun.  For more information on being a vendor or attending, contact the Chamber 265-2320.

Marketing Tips You Can Implement Today

The tips in this post are shared with the permission of Debra Power of Get Power Marketing.  Recently I attended a workshop at LEDC presented by Debra.  She is an exceptional speaker and her presentation was both informative and useful.  If you have an opportunity to hear her speak in the future, I would recommend it.  Just for reference, her web address is http://www.getmarketingpower.com/ and her phone number is 734-741-1134.  The title of her presentation was Your Path to Marketing Success and the core topic was developing a marketing plan.  Since wiser minds than I have recently addressed that topic, I'm simply going to pull out a few key tips for simple marketing steps you can take today.  These are drawn from the workshop booklet I received at the meeting.

Survey your customers.  They are a treasure trove of valuable information.

Create a customer database and use it.  It requires 6 times the marketing expenditure to gain a new customer compared with getting an existing customer to do business with you again.

Follow up with your customers after the sale.  They will be impressed that you care.

Use coupons, offer free samples or a free hour of consultation.  Consider the impact on your bottom line before implementing this tip.

Hand out free promotional gifts.  See above.

Re-examine your signage.  Look at your business inside and out, like you have never seen it before.  This can be a real eye opener.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!  Spring is just around the corner.

Your Telephone Is A Marketing Tool

There is a marketing tool in every business that can be put to better use today.  It's your telephone.  How you answer your phone may be a new undiscovered asset to your marketing. 

To begin with basics, all your staff should answer the phone the same way.  Think about first impressions.  How do you want your staff to sound and what do you want the caller to think about your business as a result of the phone being answered?  There is one business I have called a couple of times recently where the person who usually answers the phone sounds like they dislike talking to customers.  Not a good first impression.  Consider that on the other end of the phone line is a potential or existing customer and you have the opportunity to communicate something about your business.  What will it be?

If you are having a sale or a special event,  a very brief description of the promotion may be a good way to start.  If you are unique in the market place and have a slogan that reflects that, saying your slogan as a part of phone answering protocol may be a good choice.  Using the fast food drive thru approach may be something to consider.  If you have a new product, ask the caller if they would like information about it.  Even if they aren't interested at that moment, they know about something else you have to offer.  This can also be used for product lines that you already have, but would like to emphasize.  If you have a recorded message on hold, update it to include new information you would like to communicate about your business. 

Remember to get everyone in your business who may be answering the phone on board with the kind of first impression you would like to give callers.  The caller has already sought you out, you have the opportunity to give them another reason to do business with you.
   

Adrian Area Chamber Shared Interest Groups

The Adrian Area Chamber of Commerce offers members a valuable resource through Shared Interest Groups (SIG).  Currently, there are two, Technology and Marketing. 

Tomorrow the Technology group will meet at the Chamber office for a Lunch 'n' Learn regarding smart phones, Blackberries and Android phones.  Mike McLemore is facilitating this conversation so those attending can make better use of their phones for practical and business purposes.  There are some really smart people involved with the Chamber.

On March 25, the Marketing SIG will have a Lunch 'n' Learn covering location based apps.  Details to be announced.  The Marketing SIG has been especially helpful to me personally.  I represent my organization's products and I am also responsible for the marketing.  I have a marketing background, but I certainly don't know all of the answers. 

Recently, I signed up to participate in the "All About Women" expo.  While I've attended and represented a business at an expo before, I've never planned a booth, materials etc.  I mentioned this at a Marketing SIG meeting and within a few minutes had lots of new ideas offered by members of the group.  Like I said, there are some really smart people involved with the Chamber.

The Marketing Lunch 'n' Learn meeting in February covered creating and executing a marketing plan.  It was presented by Gaynor Meilke who is Director of Corporate Relations at Siena Heights University.  There was a lot a very good feed back.  And no wonder, many businesses can benefit from information on planning marketing.

Each week the Adrian Chamber sends an email with information on upcoming events as well as some additional reminders during the week.  If you haven't had time to look these over, take a moment to check out the emails.  You may be pleasantly surprised at the learning opportunities that are available through the Chamber.

Adrian Area Chamber Marketing Benefits

The Adrian Area Chamber of Commerce offers its members a wide variety of marketing opportunities.  Some are networking, others are forms of advertising. 

Networking offers the opportunity to mingle with and get to know other local business people.  From the business point of view, the more people you know and the more relationships you form, the better chance you have of doing business.  Customers like to do business with people they know.  Potential business, of course, isn’t the only benefit of networking.  I’ve found that AACC members are a really nice group of people, very enjoyable to be around and really worth getting to know.  As Ann says “The Adrian Area Chamber of Commerce is a living, breathing social network”.

 With AACC, the potential for member networking occurs almost weekly.  There are shared interest groups in technology and marketing.  Chamber Ambassadors actively promote the Chamber and get to know members through a variety of activities.  Monthly breakfast meetings are a great way to get acquainted with other Chamber members.  The Chamber offers learning opportunities, expos, golf outings, Business After Hours and more.

AACC also has a variety of advertising opportunities available for Chamber members.  On the Chamber website, members receive their own business page and a link to their business website.  The Chamber will do email blast and offers Chamber email newsletter advertising.  The Chamber membership mailing list is available to members on request.  Members are also listed by name and category in the Chamber directory.  Members may also sponsor various Chamber events and offer literature at the Chamber Information Center.  There are also some group advertising opportunities through the year.  This is only a partial list. 

For more details on any of these networking, marketing and advertising opportunities, contact the Chamber office at 517-265-2320.

Audience, Message and "Pure Michigan"

The audience and message for the "Pure Michigan" campaign is as broad and vast as the state itself.  The tourism campaign is a "come one come all" invitation for visitors to enjoy the state and spend money.  But the campaign is anything but random.  With over ten television commercials and nearly 60 different radio ads, the campaign is highly segmented.  Some commercials address cultural attractions, other showcase beaches, family vacations, fishing and autumn colors.  Each message is designed to tell a receptive audience why a Michigan vacation is right for them.  When considering the complexity of the Michigan campaign it makes marketing one's businesses almost seem simple.

Let's start with a definition.  A target audience for a business, in essence means current and potential customers.  Your target audience is the focus of your marketing in order to sell your products or services.  Generally they already have an interest in what you have to offer.  A target audience can be subdivided by interests, income or demographics. 

Your current customers are tremendous information resource.  By talking with and surveying them a business owner can learn what need is being filled, what solution is being provided by your business.  Why do they do business with you?  What do they like and not like?  Based on your business there may be other key questions your current customers can answer.  When you are trying to attract birds of a feather, it's good to know why the birds you have are showing up in the first place.  Using that information in marketing means you are addressing the needs of potential as well as current customers.  Tell the audience you are the answer or solution to their need.  When you have a campaign in place, be sure to inform your employees so they can reinforce the message.

When one observes the "Pure Michigan" television or radio ads, it stands out that the pacing is gentle, but the message is informative.  This model is helpful in understanding that less is truly more in marketing.  If a message is crammed with information, the audience misses a great deal.  It seems that people today function with their minds running in several directions at the same time.  A simple marketing message is easier to understand and remember.  And of course, one of the purposes of marketing is to be remembered.

The next post will cover some of the marketing tools available exclusively to Adrian Area Chamber members.

Media and "Pure Michigan"

The "Pure Michigan" advertising campaign is carried out on television, radio, on-line and in print.  Having a combination of media helps to reach a broader cross section of the desired audience.  For most businesses, consistently using a limited number of paid media options is best.  Most advertising budgets only allow for doing one or two things well.  Knowing your audience and your message will help you determine which media is right for your business.

Radio is a good choice for business events and image marketing.  It's important for the advertiser to have a large enough budget to create the desired impact or consistency with radio.  Television also requires consistent repetition to have the desired effect.  Television and radio both are good at demographic targeting.  Television offers the advertiser the opportunity to show what they have to offer in an eye catching format.  The "Pure Michigan" marketing uses both television and radio for the ability to evoke emotion and build image.

The on-line portion of the "Pure Michigan" marketing includes a website, Facebook and YouTube.  A website can be done well and inexpensively but needs to be updated regularly.  To have an appropriate website designed it's best to know what the purpose of the site will be.  Facebook is free but requires a time commitment to to keep it fresh.  Facebook is great for customer interaction and Facebook only offers.  YouTube may not be right for all businesses.  Perhaps having a customer contest to create a YouTube video for your business could be fun and attract attention.

The print portion of the "Pure Michigan" campaign is the annual Michigan travel guide.  It provides details about attractions and events all over Michigan.  Most local businesses aren't likely to require a publication that large or detailed.  Print media is a good choice if you have a lot of information or images to share and the distribution area and audience meet your needs.  A good use for newspaper in particular is event marketing, as it allows the reader to keep a copy of the important ad.

Other marketing options to consider are direct mail and email marketing.  Both are great tools for customer loyalty marketing.  Email marketing also offers you the opportunity to provide information to your customers to potentially position your business as expert in your category.

The next post will cover audience.

Strategy, Planning and "Pure Michigan" Part 2

There is one important step that comes before anything else.  In order to plan a campaign and set any goal, a business owner needs to understand what makes their store or company unique and why their customers choose to do business with them.  Those pieces of information will determine your goal, your theme and your media choice.  Knowing who you are and what you are doing right will help you decide what you want your next step to be.  Your theme is based on your identity and your goal.  Your media choice is, in large measure, determined by who you are trying to reach and what has worked for you in the past.

It’s evident from the quality and results of the “Pure Michigan” campaign that the agency behind it put a lot of time and effort into planning before writing a single script or buying any media time.  The energy spent on a marketing plan, know matter what size the business, is well worth it.

The next post will look at media.

Strategy, Planning and "Pure Michigan"

When the strategy behind the "Pure Michigan" campaign is analyzed, it is easy to see that there are many things that were done right.  A well done marketing campaign rarely happens by accident or chance.  It is well thought out from beginning to end.  The state of Michigan hired a top tier advertising agency to plan and execute their tourism campaign.

Although most small business people don’t have access to a high end advertising agency, there are high quality media people who have the knowledge and experience to be an asset when it comes to developing a marketing plan.  It would be helpful to identify creative and successful media people that you trust to help you with ideas and direction.

The common characteristics of a well designed marketing plan include a stated goal, a consistent theme and the commitment to carry out the plan on an on going basis.  If the goal of the marketing is defined, then the advertiser will know if it has been successful.  It’s important to plan the manner in which the campaign will be carried out, including budget and media, to be certain that consistency is attainable.

The next post will deal with the first step in a marketing plan.

What We Can Learn From "Pure Michigan"

The Pure Michigan tourism advertising campaign recently had its funding renewed by the Michigan state legislature.  State Representative Brad Jacobsen was quoted as saying "Pure Michigan is essential in promoting Michigan tourism to both residents and out-of-state visitors.  The program has been a tremendous boost to our struggling economy and investing in the campaign will bring additional recognition and business to Michigan tourist attractions."  The Pure Michigan campaign is being funded largely from the 21st Century Jobs Fund. 

The campaign was launched in 2006.  In its first three years the advertising is said to have brought 5 million new visitors to Michigan and they spent approximately $1.3 billion dollars.  The Pure Michigan campaign has been recognized with both state and national honors.  This high quality marketing effort has yielded measurable results.  So why has it been so successful and what can the average business owner learn from the strategy and the message?  We'll look at the answers to those questions and more in the next few days.  For today, use the link below to view some of the ads in the Pure Michigan tourism campaign.  www.michigan.org

60 Minute Marketing Plan Presentation

I had a great time at today's lunch and learn presenting 'The 60 Minute Marketing Plan'. Thank you to everyone who came and shared ideas. If you weren't able to attend, you can download the presentation here.

Happy Marketing!

See You Tomorrow!

Looking forward to seeing some of our local businesses out for the Lunch and Learn at Adrian Public Library tomorrow (Friday at noon). The program is entitled 'The 60 Minute Marketing Plan' and will cover six simple steps to developing and evaluating a comprehensive marketing plan.

Social Media Ground Rule # 5: Integration

Here we are at the last 'rule' of social media...of course, these are really guidelines meant to help you shape your own social media presence. Of all of the rules, integration is the one that many organizations overlook, but it's key in maximizing your brand's meaning in the marketplace and leveraging the ROI from all of your other communications efforts.

Make sure that you create a 'closed loop' of connections between the content and calls to action that you use on social media sites and the rest of your marketing, whether it is a web site, a brochure, or a presentation. Consistency of message, content, and values is as key for social platforms as it is for anything else you add to your marketing mix.

Social Media Ground Rule # 4: Make Real Connections

Of all of the 'rules' of social media, #4 may be the toughest to implement. What makes social media so wonderfully different from traditional media is its ability to help organizations have real-time, candid connections with customers, prospects, and the world-at-large. This means that the typical marketing one-way communication mind-set won't work in the social sphere. You can post content all day long on a social media site, but it won't do any good for your communications ROI if you don't respond in a timely and true manner to the content your followers/friends/fans create on your social assets.

Social Media Ground Rule #3: Content Considerations

Now that you've got a clear objective and a resource or two committed to keeping your social media assets up-to-date, the time has come to decide what content is going to be shared through these channels.

What you share should be relevant to your target audience and drive them to specific action--similar to any other media you might use. Some examples of action-inspiring content might include a Tweet with a link back to your website or a special 'Facebook' only promotion. Image posts tend to garner more feedback and views than text-only posts--and even though videos can go viral, they take longer to download and view than simple photo content, which can decrease the number of actual complete impressions.

Also related to content considerations is the quantity of material put out into the social sphere. More is not necessarily better. Focus on quality messaging that is of value to your audiences rather than many superficial interactions, many of which may garner no response at all.

Social Media Ground Rule #2: Commitment

Now that you've identified your business objectives for entering the social media sphere, the next step is to determine the resources you are going to commit to establishing and keeping your presence positive there. This most likely means that you will need to delegate the keeping of your social spaces to someone on your team or a third-party content provider. Be sure that whomever is responsible for updating your social media presence is fully aware of your objectives and well-informed about your company.

How often should you update your FB page? Emerging research shows that unless you have a real-time event occurring, once a day is plenty (btw, Wednesdays before noon are one of the peak traffic times on FB...the weekends are the least trafficked times). Twitter followers tend to accept more frequent updates, but use your discretion--too many tweets may turn off your audience.

Social Media Ground Rule #1

The business world is abuzz with the power and potential of social media, but the true success stories are few and far between when it comes to the average organization utilizing Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms. Why is this? Perhaps it is because there are a few 'ground' rules that are ignored by many corporate users of social media.

The next few posts will focus on five key 'rules' that can really impact a company's success with social media. So let's start with #1:

Start With a Clear Objective

Social media is no different than any other activity that a business engages in: there needs to be a reason for devoting the time to it. There needs to be a payback, ROI, a measurable result.

Here are a few social media objectives to consider:
- to connect with customers
- to obtain specific feedback from customers
- to provide a special place for promotions, premium content, and other things that may be offerred only to engaged customers
- to bring customers, prospects, and employees together in a genuine forum.
- to provide 'real-time' updates/news/feedback

What are your objectives for utilizing social media?

In Case You Were One of the 5 People Who Missed It...

Check out all of the Super Bowl commercials here: http://superbowlads.fanhouse.com/
Then let us know which one was your favorite and why!

The Age-Old Debate Rages On: Marketing vs. Sales

Many businesses struggle with striking the right balance between their marketing and sales efforts. Hopefully, most of us are enlightened enough to know that without marketing finding prospects or leads to follow up with would be much more difficult and without a good sales strategy closing the transactions that bring in revenue would be darn near impossible.

The 'traditional' definition of marketing is 'everything that you do to reach and persuade prospects.' Sales are everything that you do to close the sale and get a signed agreement or contract. A business won't survive without both of these functions, however, an organization will thrive if the right balance is struck between them.

Think about marketing as setting the stage for sales to occur. If your prospects have never heard of your company or its products and a salesperson contacts them, the sales process is going to be that much harder and longer. Good marketing reaches the right prospects with the right message to create demand, preparing the prospect to buy. Marketing can include advertising, public relations, brand marketing, viral marketing, direct mail, social media, and online activites--just to name a few tactics.

Traditionl sales usually involves some sort of interpersonal interaction. E-commerce has added a different kind of dynamic where the interaction happens through an online transaction (note: it is usually marketing efforts that get prospects to the site to purchase.)

Research has shown that it takes eight contacts to move a prospect or potential client to the close of the sale. Marketing can move a prospect along in the process and 'warm' them up for a sales professional to close the deal. For most organizations, success in marketing and in sales depends on balance!

Culture: The Game Changer

What happens inside your organization from a 'people' perspective--often called culture--has such a profound impact on overall business success, that it is wise to take some time to evaluate whether the way you walk and talk internally is in line with your external brand, marketing strategy, and sales activities.

For example...if you are going to build your brand around a 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' promise, your company culture must make it possible to deliver on that promise by empowering employees to produce a great product that is less likely to create customer dissatisfaction, to take care of any issues customers encounter along the way, and to celebrate a sense of pride about your company and its products or services. Otherwise, the promise becomes just another unfulfilled marketing gimmick that today's savvy consumer will never embrace.

The Power of Simplicity

Clear the clutter...reduce the amount of copy, chop the number of daily FB posts, be careful about the amount of talking you do on a sales call. Use the extra space and time to solicit and analyze your audience's feedback. Make it easy for your target audience to understand your point of view and then provide their own perspective.

Incorporating this practice into your everyday communications is simple and the results can be invaluable.

2011 Marketing Trends in a Nutshell

Do you have a small business? Are you interested in the marketing trends for 2011? This article by Susan Gunelius at Entrepreneur.com
via Reuters.com sums up what you need to know perfectly.

As the global economy struggles to correct itself, and social-media marketing becomes a strategic imperative, small businesses will have exciting opportunities to expand in new directions this year.

The need for trust, value and brand transparency, among other trends from last year, are just as important today. But the current shift to geotargeting, mobile marketing and online reputation management require that small businesses modify their plans to surpass competitors.

Here are 10 marketing trends that small businesses should incorporate now to be positioned for success from the start.

1.Building reliable brand advocates. The idea that you need tens of thousands of Twitter followers, blog subscribers, LinkedIn connections and Facebook friends to build your business via social media is dead. Quality connections with those who are loyal to the business and the brand are far more helpful to spread your message than large groups of connections who disappear after the first interaction.

2.Excelling in one area rather than being all things to all people. This will be a year for small businesses to focus on their unique niches and position themselves as the definitive source for information, products and services related to the specific places in the markets where they operate.

3.Creating quality content as a viable marketing tool. Social media marketing and content marketing go hand-in-hand, and this is the year businesses will create useful content that adds value to the online conversation and to people's lives. The Web is a cluttered place. Amazing content is essential to break through the noise.

4.Moving more marketing dollars to social media. Statistics show that large and small companies are shifting budget dollars to social media and other digital marketing initiatives and away from print and radio advertising. Consumers spend more time online than ever and to reach them and stay competitive, small businesses need to have a presence on the social Web.

5.Tracking brand reputations on the social Web in greater detail. Social media has given consumers a large platform to voice their opinions, and small-business owners are realizing the importance of actively monitoring their reputation on the Web. With dashboards and social media aggregators like Hootsuite and Spredfast, it's easier than ever for small businesses to develop, nurture and track their stature online.

6.Increase in branded online experiences to meet diverse consumer needs. Simply having a Twitter account or Facebook page isn't enough this year. Small businesses must surround consumers with branded online destinations such as a blog, LinkedIn profile, YouTube channel, Flickr profile and so on. Consumers can then pick and choose how they want to interact with your brand. Of course, quality trumps quantity, so extending a brand across the social Web must be done strategically to maximize opportunities without compromising content and communications.

7.Pursuing mobile marketing. There is absolutely no doubt this is the year of mobile marketing. While still in its infancy, it is the marketing imperative of the future. With mobile advertising, branded mobile apps and mobile marketing apps like Foursquare, consumers will expect businesses to have a mobile presence in 2011.

8.Geotargeting and localized marketing will become a top priority. Local discount websites like Groupon and local review sites like Yelp make it easy for consumers to find deals and reviews about businesses in their neighborhoods and beyond. Creating targeted, local marketing campaigns using these popular tools will become the norm this year.

9.Accepting that silo marketing is ineffective. Offline, online and mobile marketing initiatives create an opportunity to lead consumers from one message to another by integrating those strategies. You can drive a significantly higher return on investment by cross-promoting branded online destinations, discounts, contests and events.

10.Co-marketing to boost returns and lower marketing costs. The economy is still struggling, which means small businesses can benefit from economies of scale by partnering with complementary businesses to develop co-marketing programs in 2011. Promotional partnerships not only lead to reduced costs but also can lead to increased exposure to new audiences.

This year, all businesses will be experimenting with a variety of online, localized and mobile marketing initiatives. Remember, even if you're not leveraging marketing trends and opportunities, your competitors are.

Are You "We-ezing"? Try "You-sing" Instead

It's a simple yet difficult mindset to attain, but it's a critical element of successful and relevant marketing strategies: think and act from the customer's point of view.

As tough as it might be to accept, the truth is, the buyer of your product or service and/or the supporter of your organization is only going to be moved into the desired action (i.e. buy something, give money or time) if there is something in it for them. What is that 'something'? It should be the crux of your marketing message.

Take a look at your marketing collateral, your organization's language and policies, your website--if you're referring to 'we', 'our' or 'our company name' more than you are framing your information from a customer's point of view, you're 'we-ezing'. Try 'you-sing' by talking about the benefits an individual receives by being involved in your organization--the ones that matter to them...not you.