How To Link It To Your Industry

The marketing world is full of catch phrases. You are not your Consumer. Link to Your Consumer. Behavioral Marketing.  The list is endless. These mission statements mean nothing without a point of reference. Marketers use these phrases to try and explain to business owners. Instead of talking down to business owners with catchy phrases, marketers need to learn how to listen to business owners.

Many small business owners enter the entrepreneur world with a solid understanding of their industry. They worked in the industry, networked with clients, and were consumers of the product. Successful business owners have their hands on the pulse of the industry. They subscribe to the trade magazines. They attend conferences. They are members of the national associations. So, why do marketers fail to listen?

Many small business owners have the experience and knowledge needed to market to their own consumer base. They just need the tools to do it. There are several ways to market a product. The easiest include email marketing campaigns and internet advertising.

A successful campaign is a Joint Venture between the business owner and an email marketing service, or an ad agency. The business owner possesses knowledge that the marketer may not have. The best way to build a marketing campaign, and to establish a company’s credibility, is to tap into this information.

Blog

Most blog owners ‘miss the mark’ by publishing evergreen content. On the internet, evergreen content is something that everyone publishes, and is so ambiguous that anyone can write about it.  What small business owners educate their clients, and offer 100% transparency to their clients. Talking about the industry secrets and telling stories about working with clients, even if they are fictitious but based on real events, will help sell a product.

Forums and Social Networking

If your only objective is to get onto the networking sites and sell a product – then do not get started. Social networking is not about what you can get from a network, but what you give. Offering socialization and networking will eventually result in sales. The trick is to be patient. Find the right networks, and discard those that have no true networking involved.

Article Writing

One of the most powerful methods of building page rank, inbound links, and establishing credibility is through article writing. Keep in mind that the web is already full of evergreen content. Write something interesting and publishers will consider using it. If the signature line does not ‘invite’ guests to leave the host’s website, then the article will end up spread across the Internet.

Bad Sig Link: “learn more about article writing at www.mywebsite.com where you can download a free ebook.”

Good Sig Link: “Mr Guru is a published author who speaks locally on small business topics. His credentials and accomplishments can be viewed at www.mywebsite.com”

Newsletters

Many small business owners overlook email marketing and sending out newsletters. They associate these advertising venues with spam and ‘throw the baby out with the bathwater.’ Sending out a newsletter is a good way to advertise, letting your ‘recipients’ publish articles in their blogs and websites is a great way to build inbound links.

Credibility Sells

All small business owners have one sales tool that can level the playing field – credibility. Use this to build your client base. Use the information that you know, your experiences, your skills, and your ‘insider’ information. In the end, the most powerful tool you own, is your personal knowledge.

 

6 Critical Steps to a Successful Email Campaign

This outline lists several elements of a typical email marketing campaign. Each step is designed to improve the ‘conversion to buyer’ ratio of the email, and help you understand the why some email campaigns work, and others do not.

Most marketing gurus agree that an email has 3 seconds to catch the reader’s interest. However, most of us do not have the benefit of a good email marketing service, so we are left on our own wondering exactly what ‘will’ catch the reader’s attention.

There are six steps to create a successful email campaign:

• Design
• List Maintenance
• Segmentation Strategies
• Compliance to the Law
• Metrics
• Test, Review & Expand Read more

Do You Follow the Trends in Email Marketing?

One of the most overlooked Internet marketing campaign tool is the email marketing campaign. Many of us assume that because we have no patience for spam emails in our inbox, that everyone shares the same sentiment. This is a common mistake made by many small business owners. We design our marketing campaigns around our wants, needs, and goals.

Take a look at the following information before embarking on a Do-It-Yourself list building campaign, or try using an Open Source tool for your campaign. A good email marketing service may have fees attached, but that money can be recouped in increased ‘open’ rates, and  increased Conversion Rates.

Email Marketing Trends

The Pew Internet and American Life Project reported some amazing statistics concerning spam and email:

18%: Spam is a big problem (25% in 2003)
51%: Spam is annoying (57% in 2003)
26%: Spam is not a problem (16% in 2003)
68%: Almost never unintentionally open spam (63% in 2003)
27%: Sometimes open spam email by accident (34% in 2003)
69%: Base decision to use the Report Spam Button, or dump in Junk file based on the subject line

Several elements of an email marketing campaign can have an effect on the campaign’s ‘open’ and ‘click through rate’ (CTR).

Study the Metrics (Statistics)

Email marketing works. Amazingly, email marketing is a numbers game. Statistically, most people open emails between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. while the emails sent through traditional business hours have less than a 50% chance of being opened. Equally, There is more response from Yahoo and ‘other’ email domains, than from AOL, Earthlink, or Hotmail. 

Statistically, Wednesday is the day most people open emails, while Thursday and Friday are the biggest ‘delivery’ days. Part of this is because these email companies block emails before they reach the recipients.

These statistics are not meant to be used as guidelines. The purpose is to encourage email marketers to keep a close eye on their statistics. A successfully designed email marketing campaign may fail due to the day, and time, the emails were delivered.

However, marketers should pay attention to a couple statistics:

• 21% of email messages show up as ‘blank’ when the recipient turns of their images feature.
• 28% of email messages are sent with nonfunctioning links.

Source: “The 2007 Rendering Report,” published January 2007, the Email Experience Council.

There are many marketing tools that fail when one or two elements are ‘off.’ Email marketing is no exception. The secret to success is simple. Know the market. Know the audience’s behavior. And, then know how to use it in your favor. For example, look at the following independent report on users.

How targeting affects campaign performance:

Untargeted broadcast emails
Open rate: 20%
Avg. CTR: 9.5%
Avg. conversion rate: 1.1%

User-triggered campaigns
Open rate: 27%
Avg. CTR: 9.3%
Avg. conversion rate: 2.3%

Lifecycle messaging campaigns
Open rate: 26%
Avg. CTR: 9.3%
Avg. conversion rate: 2.3%

Clickstream-based campaignsOpen rate: 33%
Avg. CTR: 14%
Avg. conversion rate: 3.9%

Source: David Daniels, Jupiter Research.

(A clickstream-based email is a message takes into account a user’s clickstream data. Whereas a personalized email might include up-selling data (because you bought X, we recommend Y), an email that includes clickstream data can be more specific.

Creating a Success Formula

There are several basic elements of a successful online business. Each of these can help a business owner learn how to promote their business on the web. Hundreds of thousands of businesses get started each year. More than 90% of web businesses disappear into cyberspace within a few months.

The reasons for failure go far beyond website and logo design. Many of them are the result of just throwing together a platfrom and hope people will buy. The following is an ‘internet based’ formula for building the foundation of a good internet business.

Calculating Your Success Formula

The success formula is fairly simple. Create - three elements for your web business, and limit the minus elements to two, if possible.

Plus:
• Testified/verifiable service
• Safe/reputable service
• Professionalism/certification
• Additional bonuses
• Recognized by industry experts.

Minus:
• High Prices
• Unfamiliar products/techniques
• Low quality marketing
• Forcing customers to change

Competitor Strength and Weakness

Next, do a competitor strength and weakness test. A good report must be done by an SEO specialist. However, the average webmaster can do a simple report.

Do not look for the flashiest websites, or the most promoted. Make a list of 10 websites that sell and fill in the following questionnaire:

• What keywords do they use?
• What titles do they use?
• Write out their descriptions
• How many pages on the website?
• How many pages of content?
• How many inbound links do they have? (link: www.domainname.com)
• Where do their links come from?
• Do they run an Internet Marketing Campaign?
• Did they hire professionals to create their platform, branding, advertising?

Now, find 10 websites that you believe are your competitors, and answer the same question. This is incredibly simple. An SEO’s software will run for 2 or 3 hours, to check just a few websites. DIY marketers try to do this all themselves. But, a pattern should start forming.

One thing an SEO’s software can avoid is being caught in the hype. It can be difficult to separate the real data, from the ad-copy. A success formula is based on your unique offerings and services. Every company online has a success formula (or a failure formula). These may be different between industries. The success formula for Ebay is not the same as it is for an online Magazine.

The first question is determined by your budget, the more you offer, the more money you need to promote it. Use those patterns to develop a web platform that will help your company thrive on the internet.