Promotional Products International AssociationE-Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business
Jeanne L. Allert, M.Ed.Ellipsis Partners
Baltimore-Washington
First, a few questions
1. What aspect of your business are you trying to grow?2. Does “growing your business” mean “generating more business” or
does it mean “doing business better”?
MORE– Expand customer base (by geography? number? Industry diversity? )– Expand inventory offering (and make market aware of it)?– Increase transactions (frequency, repeats, upsell, dollar amount)?
BETTER– Expand brand awareness– Improve customer service/responsiveness– Offer contemporary services
3. Do you have the infrastructure to support the growth you desire?
Agenda
Email Marketing - “PUSH”• Building & Managing Your Lists• Refining Your Emails
Website Marketing - “PULL”• Improving your Site’s Visibility• Enhancing the Visitor’s Experience• Learning from your Website
Gathering Customer Intelligence – “ASK”
And a few new tactics on the horizon…
Prentice Hall eMarketing report indicates that marketers have found online promotions achieve three to five times higher response rates than direct mail.
Email Marketing Strategies
Blind Email Campaign Ask for visitor’s email address on your website Offer incentives for online customers to give
you their email addresses. Ask your recipients to forward your email onto
their network of contacts Provide your call center (receptionist) with
script to ask for email addresses and get opt-in permission
Always ask for email addresses on your printed and Web order forms
Have a sign-up form on each page of your website
Encourage sign-up on signature lines Sign-up requests on receipts, invoices,
confirmations Footer on Press Releases
Build Your Email Lists
Manage Your Lists
Ask for preferred email address and state what you will use it for
Practice Opt-in or Double Opt-in Attend to Opt-outs immediately Offer a gracious “you’re welcome to come
back” Let members manage their own Opt-in and
email address changes via your website Use Subject Line to remind recipients to reply
for Double Opt-In
Use Your Email Signature Line
Message Presentation
• Use of branding/imagery
• Use of stationery and colors
• Do you expect the email to be printed?
• What is the likelihood your audience can support the presentation you’ve created?
• How important to have your brand associated with the content?
• Does the graphical treatment lend value to the message or detract from it?
Wasted Effort?
Timing Your Campaigns
• Consider:– When do you want them to receive the
email?– How long does it take for your emails to be
received? – What offline media might coincide with the
email? (news broadcast, magazine?)– What are the psychographics (behaviors)
of your readers? • 62% of emails opened between Tuesday –
Thursday • 80% of emails opened between 5am and 5pm
PST. • News-oriented emails are best (expected)
early in the morning• A high % of SPAM sent during middle of the
night and on weekends; don’t compete with them
SPAM Management
DEFINITIONUnwanted email, sent in bulk, to unfamiliar audiences for the purposes of solicitation
INCOMING• Teach staff how to set up their own filters• Inform staff what filters are operating at the server level• Know the difference between “blacklists” and “whitelists” and how to manage those• Preview pane display = Read• Outlook 2003 – does not automatically display images in HTML; also offers personal
whitelists and blacklists • Do you list staff emails on your website ?
ONE IDEA: jallertATellipsispartner.comANOTHER IDEA: “type first initial last name @ xyz.com”
• Set up departmental email boxes and manage them
SPAM Management
OUTGOING
• Avoid SPAM-prone words like “free,” “give-away,” or questionable adjectives
• Use a consistent email address for sending
• Use an external email service for large mailings
• Send email in small, irregular batches
• Post your privacy policy on your website
• Train your market to look for your email (and whitelist it)
• Have instructions on your website for whitelisting your emails
• Forward "unwanted or deceptive spam" to [email protected] maintained by the FTC. The data collected is used to prosecute perpetrators of scam or deceptive advertising
• Cut and paste email header and full text and submit to www.spamcop.com
• Look up the source of some SPAM mail by true domain at www.abuse.com
• SPAM’em back
Fighting Back !
A Good Example for Marketing
Identifying logo
Call to action
Peer testimonial
Opt-out instructions
Personal tone
Engagingphotos
SMS (short messaging service) Marketing
Advantages of SMS marketing• Personal nature of cellphones make SMS marketing a powerful tool.• Most people take their mobile phones everywhere - effective for time
sensitive messages.• People tend to read virtually every text they getPotential disadvantages of SMS marketing• A maximum 160 characters.• Get their permission and ensure that your SMS marketing complies with
privacy and data protection rules.• Required to make it clear who the message is from and commercial
communications must be clearly recognizable as such. • You need to use a mobile phone company to send out the texts for you.
the amount of money spent on advertising on mobile phones has been small but it has been growing rapidly. In 2005, advertisers spent $45 million on such messages, and should spend around $150 million in 2006 , according to Ovum Research, which projects that such spending will reach $1.3 billion by 2010."
Text messaging enables information to be sent to groups of people quickly. The development of 3G (third generation) and smartphones, which have larger screens and can play music and video clips, has made multimedia messaging service (MMS) possible.
Web Marketing Strategies
Bring them inServe them well
Learn about themBring them back
Your Name and its Visibility
• Secure a domain name that is recognizable, relevant, and memorable
• If feasible, secure domains that are “too similar” and create a redirect to your site
• Use branded email for staff. Most consumers don’t interpret free ISPs as a serious business email address
• Optimize your website for Search Engines
• List your site with Web Directories
• Promote website on offline channels, publications, correspondence and merchandise
Search Engine Optimization
• Set up Tags and Design for Search Engines
• Update Metatags based on site stats, organizational changes and seasonality
• Pay special attention to the TITLE tag !
Register Your Site
Register with Directories: Yahoo, Google, AOL. Switchboard, CitySearch, Local Directories, Shopping portals, Chamber of Commerce, etc.
Register your Products
Linking Strategy
• Local teams, organizations, companies, schools, colleges
• (client) Conference or event archives• Suppliers, Distributors, Partners• Product brands• Your clients• Complimentary businesses• Related products or services• Local web calendars
Create reciprocal linking relationships with:
Paid Placements
Google Adwords• no minimum budget• choose terms• pay only for CPC/click-thru
Navigation Options
• Audience Segmentation
• Searching
• Indexes
• Context-Grouping
• Site Map
• “Ask Jeeves” model
• Anchor your brand on each page
Use THEIR language
• Communicate so as to be understood
• Create website sections for markets where the language shifts dramatically
• Watch search terms to review “user lexicon”
• Have someone outside your industry “proofread” your site
• Don’t “dub-dub-dub”
Test Your Own Transactions
• Be very cognizant of what steps you are asking the customer to take
• Provide options• Anticipate errors• Communicate the PROCESS• Provide help at all junctures• Provide immediate confirmation of
transaction• Be clear on how the customer can
follow up
Personalization
• Products, services and communications targeting the individual• Based on robust database rules
Interactivity
• Message Boards
• Discussion Forums
• Surveys/Polls
• Member Networking
• Images
• Virtual/Interactive tours
What can the visitor DO on your site?
Offer options for Communicating with you
• Provide a range of options for communicating with you
• Communicate service levels and turnaround times for those options
• Anticipate their questions
Online Tutorials
Instant Messenger/Chat
• Real-time response to customer questions• Requires staffing during “off” hours• Requires minimal technical skills• Aids customer use of the website• Transactions can be recorded/ tracked for
business intelligence
Dedicated Customer Support Page
Site Concierge
• Uses video animation to simulate a personal assistant
• Limited interaction• Impacted by user’s
desktop• Impact on 508
compliance
Bulletin/Message Boards
• Encourage your customers to talk about your products online• Regularly mine public boards for postings about your offerings• Periodically search the archives• Monitor boards for opportunities to provide information, resources and links
back to your programs• Volunteer to moderate a public board• Seed the conversation with (legitimate) topics that promote your value
Blogs
• Have a purpose and stick to it• Offer real and unique value• Push customers to use it• Blog SPAM danger
eCoupons
• frequent shoppers are rewarded when they reach a certain level of value or purchases
• shoppers are encouraged to return with an e-coupon towards future purchases
• incentives to encourage customers to purchase immediately rather than waiting for a better deal or shopping elsewhere
• first time customers are offered special deals in order to help turn them from browsers into purchasers
• Coupons usually include a code that the customer is required to enter before they finalize their order to receive the discount.
• used to encourage customers to sign up for e-newsletters, with the newsletter helping to increase sales and build your customer database
Rebate Coupons
• For growing repeat business
• Make the rebate meaningful to the customer
• Be VERY clear about your offer and what you will do with their information
• Test and adjust
What’s Important to Learn about your Online Customer
Classic Market Segments
• Age
• Gender
• Income
• Education
• Geography
• Industry
Web-Relevant Characteristics
→Technology Access/Reception
→Technology Reliance
→Motivation
→Time
→Past Web performance
Market Intelligence Gained By Asking
• Interval Surveys / Polls• Constant Survey• Focus Groups
• Customer profile forms• Interest Inventory• Preferences
Market Intelligence Gained By Profiles
Market Intelligence Gained By Tracking
• Forums• Discussion
Boards• Email Response• Chats• IM usage• Web Stats
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Remember those questions
1. What aspect of your business are you trying to grow?– Be clear about your business goals
2. Does “growing your business” mean “generating more business” or does it mean “doing business better”?– Consider technology investments in both areas
3. Do you have the infrastructure to support the growth you desire?– Better to do less and do it well than try to do more and fail
SUMMARY
EMAIL MARKETING
– Requires ongoing diligence to build and maintain your lists
– May have to train your market to be on the lookout for your emails
– Doesn’t have to be sizzle; should be mostly steak
– Track performance and adjust
WEB MARKETING
– Be active about bringing them to your site (“out of sight, out of mind”)
– Design from the users’ perspective
– Create opportunities for interaction/engagement
– Anticipate their needs and provide for them
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
– Ask them!
– Mine your data
– Learn and adjust