Absolute Marketing Tips

Times are changing, customers have more power today.

How is your business adapting to this change of power?

Customers are being very selective with their time and with advancements in technology, they are able to seek out and find all the things that are important to them.  Plus they can find reviews and feedback on everything from CD’s to holidays.

One of the best ways to get involved is to join the online conversation using social media.

I am asked daily, what does social media involve.  All it really is any way that you can have a two way conversation with your customers, friends and family using technology.  Think about Facebook, My Space, review sites like Amazon, Forums, Blogs, Twitter, MSN and your own Website.

Here are my five top tips to getting involved:  Find out where your customers and potential customers hang out.  Listen to their conversations and then join in.

1. Observe - listen to the conversations.  Find out what their problems are.  Identify ways you can solve them.
2. Don’t Jump In - Think about how you can take part in the conversation.  You don’t want to come across as saleys, this will give the wrong impression and potential will lock you out of the conversation.  If the talk is negative, look at how you can put it right.  Be honest and supportive.
3. Be Social - Don’t talk about you, all the time! Engage your customers, take an interest.
4. Give - Always offer something of value.  Most importantly do it for free>
5. Do it - Don’t wait, perfect as you go.  Ask yourself what the cost would be if you don’t get involved.

Yesterday, I had lots of fun recording a five minute audio on How to Grow your Business Online at the fabulous Space Studios in Cardiff.  We are going to use it on our website, make it available to download via an MP3 and also put it on a CD for people to listen to in the car.

From one product, I can use this to market my business in three different ways.

Let me know how you use social media in your business.

A client called me today to say they had received a phone call from an SEO company selling their services and my client didn’t really understand what the company was talking about.  He declined their offer and then called me to pick my brains about Keywords.

There are at the start of the development of their website and the owner admitted that he didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about Keywords.

So what is all the fuss?  Well, keywords are the really words that people type into a search engine box like Google that brings them to your site.  An example would be, solicitors in south wales.

There has never been a better time to understand what your target market are searching for.

There are a number of keyword tools available that will give you a clear picture of the type of words (keywords) that people type into the search engines everyday and I can absolutely say, that when you check them out you will be very surprised to see what people are actually searching for.

Check out Google’s Keyword tool.  https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Identify the words that people are searching for and then use them in your website copy.  This will led to more traffic to your site, but there are rules and here are a few to start you off:

1. Don’t spam your website copy - keywords density must be between 3-5% of the total web copy on any page.
2. Don’t get to specific i.e. if you run a training company that delivers sales training, don’t just use sales training, people may be searching for sales training in Cardiff, one day sales training, sales training online.  But use the keyword tools to find out.
3. Ideas can come from anywhere, conversations with customers, reading newspapers, surfing the web, forum and blog entries.
4. Look at the keywords that are bring you traffic.  Can you expand them i.e holidays in Florida to all inclusive holidays in Florida.
5. Also check out synonyms - use a thesaurus

Let me know how you get on.

I can’t seem to understand why RBS are still allowed to sponsor the Six Nations?

Having worked for Coca Cola for two years, I know how long it takes to put a sponsorship deal together.

However, with the current economic climate, why is a bank that is struggling (being polite) allowed to continue to market themselves at the countries biggest rugby tournament!

Has anyone thought about the customers? What effect will this have on the brand

I am glad that I don’t bank at RBS.

What do you think?

I came across an article by Susan Gunelius (author of Harry Potter, the story of a global business phenomenon) which really made me think about the “buzz” words that marketing companies use in their adverts, direct mail, website etc and their impact in 2009.

A couple of them I agree with, but not all of them.

Here are the ones that intrigued me the most and I would welcome your thoughts.

Free
Ads that include messages about a free product or service promotions can work well during an economic downturn, but consumers need to see the products perform well. E-mail spam filters are tough on messages that include “free” in the subject line. While it might be tempting to use a subject line that says, “Open now to get your free widget,” that’s an e-mail spam filter red flag that will send your message to most recipients’ spam boxes. When the economy is tough, you can’t risk having your e-mails not make it to the intended recipients. Replace “free” with “complimentary” or “gratis” to sneak by spam filters without compromising the effectiveness of your message.

Guarantee
Few people believe in guarantees these days. Unless you can prove your guarantee is real, use the valuable real estate space in your ad for a more effective message that consumers are likely to believe and act on.

Really

If you want to waste space in your ads, include “really” in your copy. This word does nothing to help your messages. Instead, it slows consumers down, and they are not likely to wait around for the complete message. Don’t risk losing them by loading your copy with useless filler words. Make sure every word in your copy is there for a reason

Very

Does a message sound more compelling with “very” in it? Is “When you need very fresh flowers, call ABC Florist,” more effective than “When you need fresh flowers, call ABC Florist”? If you answered, yes, reread the last paragraph.

A Lot
Don’t use vague copy with words like “a lot” that do nothing to differentiate your business from your competitors. Instead, quantify your messages. If you offer 20 varieties of roses in your flower shop, say so. If you respond to customer service calls within five minutes, tell people. Which is more compelling: “You can choose from a lot of shoe styles at Sally’s Shoe Boutique” or “You can choose from more than 100 shoe styles at Sally’s Shoe Boutique”? No doubt, “100 shoe styles” is more intriguing than “a lot of shoe styles.” A lot can mean different things to  different people. Don’t leave room for guesswork in your copy. Make your messages extremely clear with no room for confusion

To see the other words and get Susan’s thoughts on them http://www.entrepreneur.com/advertising/article199152.html

I have recently filled a training course by offering free stuff and a 100% risk guarantee.

Before you go, let me know what you think?  Should we stop offering free stuff or guarantees?

Do you know how your customers are treated when they call your business?

This week I have been undertaking a large research project for a client.

This has involved me make a lot of telephone calls to a number of businesses.  I am not a fan of cooled  calling, but this didn’t seem too bad because all I had to do was call up and ask for general information, I wasn’t selling anything.

The majority of companies were really helpful and provide me with more information then I requested, but there was a number of companies who were just rude.  The people answering the phones had no interesting in talking to me or find out why I was calling.  One production company in London, actually put the phone down on me three times.  This I saw as a challenge, so I kept calling back.  On the final call I asked the person who answered the phone, why she felt the need to put the phone down.  She told me it was because I was trying to sell them something they didn’t want.  Interesting, as I wasn’t selling anything.

So, what did I learn this week.  My experience made me think about the companies and how they interact with people.  Sometimes the phone is the first port of call and it is generally the first point of contact that someone has with your business.  Do you really know how your staff answer the phone.  More importantly do the people who answer the phone realise the importance of their job.  Due to my experiences this week, it has affected how I think about some of the companies I have spoken too. Especially the production company in London!

Your phone is a very powerful marketing tool.  It can create and break your brand.  It should be used to generate a positive picture of your business and reflect your brand values.

Tip: Find out how your staff really answer the phone, get your friends to call up and ask a difficult question or ask if they can be put through to you.  Get some feedback on how your brand is dealt with over the phone.

Let me know how you get on.

This week is National Chip Week.  Celebrating the nations favourite stable food - Chips!

Top Tip:  Go for the chucky ones, they absorb less fat then skinny ones.

I came across this interesting article today on the 10 Words to Avoid in 2009 - Copywriting  by Susan Gunelius

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/printthis/199152.html

I don’t agree with all of them.  But what I would say is that if you are going to use these words in your marketing copy this year, make sure that you can back them up 101%.

We use “Guarantee” in our business.  We offer 100% Guarantee on all our work and training courses.  This has seen our business increase by 200% over the last six months.  Why?  Because we mean it, if you don’t like the work, you get the your money back.

Let me know what you think.

Just a quick one….

The Godfather Trilogy is one of my favourite films. 

I came across this article http://www.dailyblogtips.com/the-godfather-approach-to-internet-marketing/ which makes interesting reading.

It relates to internet marketing, but it can also be applied in our offline marketing.

Let me know what you think.