As we all know, they sky is the limit when designing your company's website. Browsing the web will show you that each website has a personality of its own. But the winning websites -- those that are most effective at catching the attention of your target audience, explaining your serve, and motivating visitors to pick up the phone or order online -- will most likely have the following characteristics.
1. A Show-stopping Headline. For this you need to think like you are writing an advertisement for a magazine. How can you hook the reader and encourage them to read further? Use each headline to pull them in and then each copy block to keep them there. This is an opportunity to tell them right away what makes your website, and company, different, and why they should choose you.
2. A Clean and Organized Layout. As tempting as it is to throw lots of information on your home page, don't! Websites that are busy and overwhelming tend to confuse visitors. They make a first impression and give your visitors an idea about your company. Resist the urge to post lots of graphics and images and stick to a few, powerful and coordinated ones.
3. A Navigation System that Works. Have you ever visited a website and gotten completely lost? You want to get back to the home page, but can't figure out how. And where did that "service" section go? You were trying to read the rest of it but you can't find it. At that point, most people close the website and decide to search elsewhere. Perhaps the website was attractive and the copy was informative, but the navigation frustrated them, so they left. And odds are they won't be back. Don't let this happen to you.
4. Interesting and Web-friendly Copy. Capture the visitor's attention with not just appealing colors and a great layout, but also with wordage fit for the web. Use bullets rather than long sentences. Use bold words or phrases you want them to remember. Make sure the language style of the site matches that of your audience. Do you want to sound casual and friendly, or formal and rigid? If you want to expand on a point, link through to another webpage where you can offer more detail.
5. Current and Fresh Information. It's great to offer monthly specials or promote seasonal events, but make sure to keep those current. Outdated information is not just inaccurate, but it shows that you aren't paying close attention and potential customers will notice that.
6. A Consistent Template. Design the colors and layout for the home page and then keep it fairly consistent throughout your site. It's fine to change the location of images, but don't move your navigation bar. As many usability studies show, people quickly adapt to the design of a consistent website. As they move through your site they will instinctually expect your site to have continuity.
7. A Unique Sales Pitch. When visitors check out a new website, they will immediately scan your site to see why you are different. Telling them that you are an "Insured, bonded, and high quality" business is not different. What is your company's unique sales pitch? What makes you stand apart from the competition? Whatever it is, make sure it is the first thing people see when they find your site.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Friday, December 7, 2007
10 Tips to Making Every Click Pay Off
SEO, PPC, RSS - is it just me or do we all need a translator these days to promote our websites? Have no fear. This newsletter offers Pay per Click tips that will address some of your burning online marketing questions.
1. Know the big players. Ever wondered which search engines get the most traffic? Well according to a Media Matrix survey conducted in July of 2006, the traffic percentages were broken down as follows:Google 74%Yahoo 14%MSN 9%Ask 2%All other search engines 1%There are basically 3 major Pay per Click campaign locations: Google, MSN and Yahoo! Each has a network of engines that your ads will appear on if you choose. To get an idea of each go to their homepages and look for the words "Advertising Programs", "Search Ads", or "Advertise."
2. Do some research and look at a keyword estimator. Two websites I recommend for this are http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com or http://www.wordtracker.com The first link is a free keyword suggestion tool. If you type in a word it will give you the top-ranking related keywords. The second offers a subscription service for those who are interested in making a more serious investment.
3. Watch those restrictions. Google restrictions will keep you from using superlative words like "best" and "#1". Review the guidelines on any search engine you use to avoid having your ad paused.
4. Understand how your money is spent. You can set a budget for the day, for a certain campaign, or for an ad group. One of your keywords may cost $4.00 per click and another $.50, you can get a lot more $.50 customers than $4.00 ones.
5. Aim for 3rd or 4th Place. You don't necessarily want to be in position #1 because that may break the bank. Try position 3 or 4 for more bang for your buck. Your ad will still be visible, but cost you much less.
6. Track your campaigns. The competition changes frequently so you need to check your campaigns often and adjust them as your competition does.
7. Test, test, test. Use the ad variations feature to test different copy on different ads. You will find that your potential customers will click through on some ad headlines more than others. The only way to figure out which ones work best is to test them out and track the progress.
8. Don't stress over the minutia. Yes some of your clicks will be wasted on your competitors clicking on your ads, or people who didn't mean to click or people who are looking to start their own business. But, that happens in any form of advertising, its just that in this type you are able to view things on such a small level that you needlessly worry about it. Just write it off in your mind as "the cost of doing business" and work on growing your business.
9. Plan with a results-oriented budget. Online advertising is replacing yellow page advertising, and yeah because you have more choices and control over your spending. So when considering your budget, be sure to think in terms of how much profit on an annual basis does one new customer bring me. I use the number of $625 for an efficient cleaning service. That means for a $625/month ad campaign you need to only get one good recurring customer from that month to pay for the ad.
10. Skip the learning curve and outsource. Don't speak much "online ad" lingo and can't imagine the headache of navigating yet one more program? Hire someone like us to do it for you for a very minimal cost. We know the tricks (and the treats).
1. Know the big players. Ever wondered which search engines get the most traffic? Well according to a Media Matrix survey conducted in July of 2006, the traffic percentages were broken down as follows:Google 74%Yahoo 14%MSN 9%Ask 2%All other search engines 1%There are basically 3 major Pay per Click campaign locations: Google, MSN and Yahoo! Each has a network of engines that your ads will appear on if you choose. To get an idea of each go to their homepages and look for the words "Advertising Programs", "Search Ads", or "Advertise."
2. Do some research and look at a keyword estimator. Two websites I recommend for this are http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com or http://www.wordtracker.com The first link is a free keyword suggestion tool. If you type in a word it will give you the top-ranking related keywords. The second offers a subscription service for those who are interested in making a more serious investment.
3. Watch those restrictions. Google restrictions will keep you from using superlative words like "best" and "#1". Review the guidelines on any search engine you use to avoid having your ad paused.
4. Understand how your money is spent. You can set a budget for the day, for a certain campaign, or for an ad group. One of your keywords may cost $4.00 per click and another $.50, you can get a lot more $.50 customers than $4.00 ones.
5. Aim for 3rd or 4th Place. You don't necessarily want to be in position #1 because that may break the bank. Try position 3 or 4 for more bang for your buck. Your ad will still be visible, but cost you much less.
6. Track your campaigns. The competition changes frequently so you need to check your campaigns often and adjust them as your competition does.
7. Test, test, test. Use the ad variations feature to test different copy on different ads. You will find that your potential customers will click through on some ad headlines more than others. The only way to figure out which ones work best is to test them out and track the progress.
8. Don't stress over the minutia. Yes some of your clicks will be wasted on your competitors clicking on your ads, or people who didn't mean to click or people who are looking to start their own business. But, that happens in any form of advertising, its just that in this type you are able to view things on such a small level that you needlessly worry about it. Just write it off in your mind as "the cost of doing business" and work on growing your business.
9. Plan with a results-oriented budget. Online advertising is replacing yellow page advertising, and yeah because you have more choices and control over your spending. So when considering your budget, be sure to think in terms of how much profit on an annual basis does one new customer bring me. I use the number of $625 for an efficient cleaning service. That means for a $625/month ad campaign you need to only get one good recurring customer from that month to pay for the ad.
10. Skip the learning curve and outsource. Don't speak much "online ad" lingo and can't imagine the headache of navigating yet one more program? Hire someone like us to do it for you for a very minimal cost. We know the tricks (and the treats).
Friday, November 30, 2007
5 Important SEO Tips to Get Your Website Noticed
Sure, having an online presence is important, but how important? Well, during the holidays people will be flocking to the internet and those who are looking for a service of your kind will either find you, or they won't. But that's up to you.
The much-watched "Cyber Monday" is an e-commerce statistic similar to the first day after Thanksgiving, but lands on Monday when people are back in the office and really feeling serious about the impending holidays. According to comScore, Inc. a research firm that tracks digital activity, Cyber Monday online retail spending hit a new record this year at $733 million. That's a 21 percent increase over last year and the busiest online shopping day on record. Not only that, but they anticipate that the next couple of weeks' total will surpass $800 million. That's quite a few folks online.
So the big question is, how will they find YOU? Here are 5 quick tips on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to help you get your website visible and accessible so that those online spenders find you fast.
1) Submit your site to online directories. Sounds obvious, doesn't it? But it's amazing how many businesses just have that "if you post it, they will come" attitude about the search engines finding their sites. Be sure to hit the biggies: Yahoo!, Google, and MSN, but don't forget those smaller directories as well.
2) Get Linked. Once upon a time it was all about just having the right keywords, but that has changed. Now search engines implement complex algorithms based on a variety of factors, and one of those is the quantity and quality of sites that link to yours. Not sure who is linking to you? Here's an insider secret. Go to Yahoo! and enter the words "linkdomain:" and your website's domain name. For example, "linkdomain:yourcleaningbusiness.com You'll find who links to you.
3) Keep Content Fresh. The more often you refresh your content and add new material, the more often the search engine spiders will find you. This is much easier that most businesses think. Update company news, add reviews on your products and services, change your testimonials. Put your online newsletter on your site. They are tons of possibilities.
4) Write an article. Odds are that you have enough experience in your trade to come up with a pretty useful article for your industry. Whether it is geared toward your potential customers or your colleagues in the businesses, you can distribute it with a link back to your website and increase the probability of visitors to your site. There are plenty of online services that will distribute the article for you or you can promote it to an association or professional group within your specialty.
5) Use Your Words. Do some research to find out what the hottest keywords are for your industry. Make sure you use them appropriately in your site, but don't overuse them. Relevant and applicable keywords that are carefully chosen throughout the text (and the code) of a website are important to make sure the spiders index your site correctly.
So remember to take advantage of this holiday season and make sure you come up in the searches. Stay tuned for even more useful tips on getting the most out of PPC (pay per click) campaigns.
The much-watched "Cyber Monday" is an e-commerce statistic similar to the first day after Thanksgiving, but lands on Monday when people are back in the office and really feeling serious about the impending holidays. According to comScore, Inc. a research firm that tracks digital activity, Cyber Monday online retail spending hit a new record this year at $733 million. That's a 21 percent increase over last year and the busiest online shopping day on record. Not only that, but they anticipate that the next couple of weeks' total will surpass $800 million. That's quite a few folks online.
So the big question is, how will they find YOU? Here are 5 quick tips on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to help you get your website visible and accessible so that those online spenders find you fast.
1) Submit your site to online directories. Sounds obvious, doesn't it? But it's amazing how many businesses just have that "if you post it, they will come" attitude about the search engines finding their sites. Be sure to hit the biggies: Yahoo!, Google, and MSN, but don't forget those smaller directories as well.
2) Get Linked. Once upon a time it was all about just having the right keywords, but that has changed. Now search engines implement complex algorithms based on a variety of factors, and one of those is the quantity and quality of sites that link to yours. Not sure who is linking to you? Here's an insider secret. Go to Yahoo! and enter the words "linkdomain:" and your website's domain name. For example, "linkdomain:yourcleaningbusiness.com You'll find who links to you.
3) Keep Content Fresh. The more often you refresh your content and add new material, the more often the search engine spiders will find you. This is much easier that most businesses think. Update company news, add reviews on your products and services, change your testimonials. Put your online newsletter on your site. They are tons of possibilities.
4) Write an article. Odds are that you have enough experience in your trade to come up with a pretty useful article for your industry. Whether it is geared toward your potential customers or your colleagues in the businesses, you can distribute it with a link back to your website and increase the probability of visitors to your site. There are plenty of online services that will distribute the article for you or you can promote it to an association or professional group within your specialty.
5) Use Your Words. Do some research to find out what the hottest keywords are for your industry. Make sure you use them appropriately in your site, but don't overuse them. Relevant and applicable keywords that are carefully chosen throughout the text (and the code) of a website are important to make sure the spiders index your site correctly.
So remember to take advantage of this holiday season and make sure you come up in the searches. Stay tuned for even more useful tips on getting the most out of PPC (pay per click) campaigns.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
The Truth About Government's Small Business FREE Money Programs
Q. I went to a "get rich quick" seminar and was told that there is tons of "free money" available for small business owners, and if I sign up for their big bucks seminar they will tell me how to get it. Can you help me get some of the big pie of free money?
A. Every so often this question comes around and I don't want to burst your bubble but the government, as far as I know, is not really in the habit of giving out free money to start your business. There are a few programs that give extra tax advantages to businesses building in lower economic areas, high technology fields or hiring relocated, disabled or rehabilitated workers, that can be utilized to save you some bucks. For these types of credits check out federal, state, county, city and local governments for "tax credit", "employment credit" or "empowerment zone". To get you started you can check out the Welfare to Work credits (found at http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=1685 64,00.html) and the Empowerment Zone and Employment Credit (found at http://www.irs.gov/govt/tribes/article/0,,id=108424,00.ht ml). These programs change frequently and have very stringent requirements about exactly when you must file paperwork or the credits are a "no go". When I owned my cleaning business I got some really nice tax credits ($5000 back at taxes, if memory serves) for hiring a couple of great workers that had disabilities and were referred to me through a local government vocational rehab. And if you are going into a targeted field you may be able to get a grant for specific research or business development. You can check out http://www.grants.gov/ to see if something is appropriate for your business idea. However, most businesses "startup" using one of the 6 ways of financing below.
6 Ways of Getting Startup Dough to Launch or Re-Launch Your Business
Whether you are launching or thinking of re-launching your business, and you need some funds to get off of the ground here are some ideas about how others get the job done.
Buy an existing business on an owner contract. One way to start fast and furious is to buy an existing business on an owner contract. Owners looking for a quick sale may offer to sell on an owner contract where you make payments to them. Do your homework first, though. Just because the financing is right does not make it a good deal. Check out "The Complete Guide to Buying a Business" by Richard W. Snowden to see how to evaluate a business and be sure that you are getting a good deal.
Get a private business loan. Some banks will issue private business loans for startup, although you are going to want to pick the right bank, and be ready to be asked for some collateral, credit, money down, experience in the industry and some of the other things that banks always want. Picking a bank that wants small business owners as customers may be the key. With my cleaning business I had years of solid track record before applying for business line of credit and I first went to the wrong bank. After several weeks of chasing down papers and meeting with representatives they told me that they did not do loans for businesses like mine. Frustrated, I went to another bank that was looking for entrepreneur businesses, and with a signature on one form and 24 hours I got my loan. http://www.entrepreneur.com/has a very nice feature for finding small business-friendly banks.
Get a government business loan. The SBA (http://www.sba.gov/) is always a good source for looking for small business funding. What they offer changes frequently, but they can direct you to all kinds of funding sources, and their advice is free.
Find friends and family to be investors. Most businesses finance themselves with friends and family investors. Is this a good idea? It can be if you do it right. Make a formal pitch with a business plan to your potential investors. Tell them how much you are looking for in investment, your expected payoff schedule, how much stock they would own, and what level of involvement you expect in the business. Frequent reports and meetings on the status of the company, may ease their minds and their wallets.
Seek private investors. Don't you just love the name "Angel investor"? It sounds like someone is coming down from the heavens to save you. And for some businesses that is what they do. At a private financing club presentation that I attended, I asked what is the difference between Venture Capitol and an Angel Investor. One of the key differences is the amount of money that we are talking about. VC's are generally looking for emerging technologies needing funds of over $3 million, and often in the tens of millions. An Angel investor will invest anywhere from $10,000 to $1 million. The one resounding theme, however was that you need to be flexible and coachable on your business plan if you want this kind of private investment. VC's and Angels are often intimately involved in the business attending meetings, receiving frequent status reports, owning stock and even making business decisions. A few places to look for investors is http://www.garage.com/, http://www.commonangels.com/, http://www.gobignetwork.com/, or local funding associations or networks.
Start from the dollars in your wallet. Starting from the few bucks in your own wallet is how most small service business owners that I know started their business. When I started my cleaning business I had $50 and a vacuum. It can work - with one catch. Startups need money to grow, and if you don't have enough dough growth can be extremely slow. Also, the risk that you take starting with no capitol is that if there is an emergency of some kind (poor weather spell, bad luck with a dishonest employee, unfortunate results with a marketing attempt) instead of it being a small setback, and can mean life or death for the company since you don't have the capitol to ride it out. So, my advice is that if you do start on a shoestring plan to take some of your first profits and put some away to reinvest in your business. That way it won't take you 20 years to get out of the starting gate, and you can sleep at night knowing that you have a safety net. The amount that I liked to keep around was a minimum of a month of payroll and overhead.
Whatever source you choose, decide ahead of time how much money you will need, and have a solid plan about how you will best utilize your precious capitol. Success is often directly attributable to planning.
A. Every so often this question comes around and I don't want to burst your bubble but the government, as far as I know, is not really in the habit of giving out free money to start your business. There are a few programs that give extra tax advantages to businesses building in lower economic areas, high technology fields or hiring relocated, disabled or rehabilitated workers, that can be utilized to save you some bucks. For these types of credits check out federal, state, county, city and local governments for "tax credit", "employment credit" or "empowerment zone". To get you started you can check out the Welfare to Work credits (found at http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=1685 64,00.html) and the Empowerment Zone and Employment Credit (found at http://www.irs.gov/govt/tribes/article/0,,id=108424,00.ht ml). These programs change frequently and have very stringent requirements about exactly when you must file paperwork or the credits are a "no go". When I owned my cleaning business I got some really nice tax credits ($5000 back at taxes, if memory serves) for hiring a couple of great workers that had disabilities and were referred to me through a local government vocational rehab. And if you are going into a targeted field you may be able to get a grant for specific research or business development. You can check out http://www.grants.gov/ to see if something is appropriate for your business idea. However, most businesses "startup" using one of the 6 ways of financing below.
6 Ways of Getting Startup Dough to Launch or Re-Launch Your Business
Whether you are launching or thinking of re-launching your business, and you need some funds to get off of the ground here are some ideas about how others get the job done.
Buy an existing business on an owner contract. One way to start fast and furious is to buy an existing business on an owner contract. Owners looking for a quick sale may offer to sell on an owner contract where you make payments to them. Do your homework first, though. Just because the financing is right does not make it a good deal. Check out "The Complete Guide to Buying a Business" by Richard W. Snowden to see how to evaluate a business and be sure that you are getting a good deal.
Get a private business loan. Some banks will issue private business loans for startup, although you are going to want to pick the right bank, and be ready to be asked for some collateral, credit, money down, experience in the industry and some of the other things that banks always want. Picking a bank that wants small business owners as customers may be the key. With my cleaning business I had years of solid track record before applying for business line of credit and I first went to the wrong bank. After several weeks of chasing down papers and meeting with representatives they told me that they did not do loans for businesses like mine. Frustrated, I went to another bank that was looking for entrepreneur businesses, and with a signature on one form and 24 hours I got my loan. http://www.entrepreneur.com/has a very nice feature for finding small business-friendly banks.
Get a government business loan. The SBA (http://www.sba.gov/) is always a good source for looking for small business funding. What they offer changes frequently, but they can direct you to all kinds of funding sources, and their advice is free.
Find friends and family to be investors. Most businesses finance themselves with friends and family investors. Is this a good idea? It can be if you do it right. Make a formal pitch with a business plan to your potential investors. Tell them how much you are looking for in investment, your expected payoff schedule, how much stock they would own, and what level of involvement you expect in the business. Frequent reports and meetings on the status of the company, may ease their minds and their wallets.
Seek private investors. Don't you just love the name "Angel investor"? It sounds like someone is coming down from the heavens to save you. And for some businesses that is what they do. At a private financing club presentation that I attended, I asked what is the difference between Venture Capitol and an Angel Investor. One of the key differences is the amount of money that we are talking about. VC's are generally looking for emerging technologies needing funds of over $3 million, and often in the tens of millions. An Angel investor will invest anywhere from $10,000 to $1 million. The one resounding theme, however was that you need to be flexible and coachable on your business plan if you want this kind of private investment. VC's and Angels are often intimately involved in the business attending meetings, receiving frequent status reports, owning stock and even making business decisions. A few places to look for investors is http://www.garage.com/, http://www.commonangels.com/, http://www.gobignetwork.com/, or local funding associations or networks.
Start from the dollars in your wallet. Starting from the few bucks in your own wallet is how most small service business owners that I know started their business. When I started my cleaning business I had $50 and a vacuum. It can work - with one catch. Startups need money to grow, and if you don't have enough dough growth can be extremely slow. Also, the risk that you take starting with no capitol is that if there is an emergency of some kind (poor weather spell, bad luck with a dishonest employee, unfortunate results with a marketing attempt) instead of it being a small setback, and can mean life or death for the company since you don't have the capitol to ride it out. So, my advice is that if you do start on a shoestring plan to take some of your first profits and put some away to reinvest in your business. That way it won't take you 20 years to get out of the starting gate, and you can sleep at night knowing that you have a safety net. The amount that I liked to keep around was a minimum of a month of payroll and overhead.
Whatever source you choose, decide ahead of time how much money you will need, and have a solid plan about how you will best utilize your precious capitol. Success is often directly attributable to planning.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Make Your Business Magical
Take a long, close look at Disney World and you will realize that this place is not just fun, it is smart. After all, there are plenty of theme parks to choose from these days. Disney World is not just adding rides and simple attractions like all the others. Its adding productions: plays, musicals, circus acts, and more. But why expand into performing arts? Surely it must be much more expensive to hire hundreds of talented professionals to run the productions than to hire operators to run the rides. The answer lies in not just the magic of Disney, but the magic of a brilliant company vision.
As an outsider looking in, I uncovered 5 key reasons for Disney World's success.
1) They capitalize on their competitive edge. Consider the ever-popular Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, and many other Disney characters. Only Disney has the unique ability to play off its successful stories and characters. By making a musical from a successful movie, visitors are eager to see their favorite characters come to life.
2) They emphasize growth and opportunities to their employees. How does Disney manage to hire thousands of cheery people? Many businesses can't find anyone to fill their spots, let alone those who walk around with customer service as their first priority. It's simple, they offer their employees the opportunity to be Cast Members, not just employees. They encourage them to grow with the company and to expand their skills. Those who start out as actresses and musicians playing the role of a princess may launch their career to be the next Jessica Simpson or Britney Spears (well, maybe we don't want to be Britney this week). In short, they give their employees opportunities.
3) Disney World offers a truly unique customer experience. The Disney experience is one that can't be replicated anywhere else. The "rides" are not just rides, they are experiences. With live people, leading you along, you feel like you are in the middle of a musical, an adventure, a show. Sure, you could pay less and go to another theme park, but the magic would not be the same.
4) Their merchandising strategy grows with the company. Disney already has expanded its amount of successful movies. They know the formula of what works, and manage to pull it off again and again. With a slightly different script based on movie, they can extend their merchandising to sell more DVDs, toys, shirts, etc.
5) The company is positioned to launch into more entertainment deals. Let's face it, we all have favorable memories of Disney stories, whether they be from books, movies, or songs. With a lifetime of warm, fuzzy feelings about Disney, we are open to find out what more they have for us, whether that be additional stories for our kids or movies and music for an older crowd. As they make additional entertainment deals and products, their loyal customers look forward to the results.
So it seems the magic of Disney is not just in the characters, it is in the company vision. A strong corporate vision is behind all of these successes, from recruiting to marketing, to merchandising.
As an outsider looking in, I uncovered 5 key reasons for Disney World's success.
1) They capitalize on their competitive edge. Consider the ever-popular Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, and many other Disney characters. Only Disney has the unique ability to play off its successful stories and characters. By making a musical from a successful movie, visitors are eager to see their favorite characters come to life.
2) They emphasize growth and opportunities to their employees. How does Disney manage to hire thousands of cheery people? Many businesses can't find anyone to fill their spots, let alone those who walk around with customer service as their first priority. It's simple, they offer their employees the opportunity to be Cast Members, not just employees. They encourage them to grow with the company and to expand their skills. Those who start out as actresses and musicians playing the role of a princess may launch their career to be the next Jessica Simpson or Britney Spears (well, maybe we don't want to be Britney this week). In short, they give their employees opportunities.
3) Disney World offers a truly unique customer experience. The Disney experience is one that can't be replicated anywhere else. The "rides" are not just rides, they are experiences. With live people, leading you along, you feel like you are in the middle of a musical, an adventure, a show. Sure, you could pay less and go to another theme park, but the magic would not be the same.
4) Their merchandising strategy grows with the company. Disney already has expanded its amount of successful movies. They know the formula of what works, and manage to pull it off again and again. With a slightly different script based on movie, they can extend their merchandising to sell more DVDs, toys, shirts, etc.
5) The company is positioned to launch into more entertainment deals. Let's face it, we all have favorable memories of Disney stories, whether they be from books, movies, or songs. With a lifetime of warm, fuzzy feelings about Disney, we are open to find out what more they have for us, whether that be additional stories for our kids or movies and music for an older crowd. As they make additional entertainment deals and products, their loyal customers look forward to the results.
So it seems the magic of Disney is not just in the characters, it is in the company vision. A strong corporate vision is behind all of these successes, from recruiting to marketing, to merchandising.
Friday, October 5, 2007
How to Create Your Own Big Promotional PayDay
Forget "Do you want fries with that?" The newest phrase from McDonald should be "Did you want a high speed internet connection with that order?" As many of you have probably heard, McDonald's has just unleashed its Monopoly 2007 Game, where you can win prizes by darting between your favorite McDonalds restaurant and your computer to play along a virtual game board. All after giving them your email address, birthdate, first and last name, and full address, of course. Are there lots of prizes to be won? Sure. Will they attract and collect information on new prospects who are drawn to all the hype? No doubt. Could your business do something like this on a smaller scale? Yep.
The truth is, that there really is no notable event between October 2 and November 13 for McDonald's to highlight, so they are making up their own. And they aren't the first. Remember the Pespi Challenge? That was another. And this type of promotional event can be done on a much smaller scale. Here in the Northwest, there is a brewery down the street that welcomes the rainy season with the "Moisture Festival" and brings which brings in a big local crowd. Your business can do the same. Here are some tips on how you can make a big splash with a planned event.
1. Decide on the event date well in advance, so you have time to promote it. Start planning at least 3 months ahead, and even earlier if the promotion will be complicated. Draw up a timeline for planning purposes and consult it regularly so you don't miss any advertising deadlines, etc.
2. Decide on what type of event it will be. Contest, referral promotion, special midnight sale, "make your dreams come true" for a charity, one thousandth customer prize, 10 year anniversary event, be the finder of the magic toilet golden ticket, etc. Be creative, and remember that nearly every company in the country offers a "30% off your introductory cleaning" so to stand out you are going to have to be clever. Be sure to check with your state regulations on games on contests so your big score does not turn into a flop.
3. Be sure the program is achievable. If your plans include an elaborate citywide scavenger hunt resulting in a big prize, there are many elements of that concept that could go wrong and backfire. The result would be a negative one, making your company look like it has no following. Keep it simple and successful.
4. If you can, get your customer's involved. Like the McDonald's game, you will need to promote it less and less as time goes by since your clients will know about the event.
5. Include a charity, if possible, in your event so that you can share in their brand recognition. Open yourself up to a larger group of potential participants, and get lots of free press. A small annual event that our cleaning company used to do every year was a food drive. We were already in the home, and although we didn't have a ton of participants, our clients liked being part of that community contribution.
6. Get partners to participate in the event with you. When I owned my cleaning company a radio station offered a "luxury for a year" sort of prize and we donated "free house cleaning for a year" along with many other participants donating items/services for one year. Choose your partners carefully and lay out all of the rules in writing ahead of time. When your name appears with someone else's you share a reputation.
7. Be aware that you may not make a lot of money on the event itself, but the "fortune is in the follow-up." Following the event you can do a press release about the winner (if it was a contest sort of thing) and put notices in your newsletter a couple of times about the results. If you partnered with anyone, organize follow-up promotions with them, have signs made with any news articles or pictures of happy participants, and use collected contact information during the event to do follow-up marketing.
8. Consider making the event an annual event. At the end of your promotional campaign, begin to promote the next year's event. Tell them to "stay tuned" or "come back for more." You can even involve them further by letting them make suggestions for rules or prizes for the following year.
No matter what the concept and theme of the promotion, don't forget to make it fun. Yes, it may take some serious work to pull off, but the result should be something you enjoy doing, and can get excited about sharing with your customers.
The truth is, that there really is no notable event between October 2 and November 13 for McDonald's to highlight, so they are making up their own. And they aren't the first. Remember the Pespi Challenge? That was another. And this type of promotional event can be done on a much smaller scale. Here in the Northwest, there is a brewery down the street that welcomes the rainy season with the "Moisture Festival" and brings which brings in a big local crowd. Your business can do the same. Here are some tips on how you can make a big splash with a planned event.
1. Decide on the event date well in advance, so you have time to promote it. Start planning at least 3 months ahead, and even earlier if the promotion will be complicated. Draw up a timeline for planning purposes and consult it regularly so you don't miss any advertising deadlines, etc.
2. Decide on what type of event it will be. Contest, referral promotion, special midnight sale, "make your dreams come true" for a charity, one thousandth customer prize, 10 year anniversary event, be the finder of the magic toilet golden ticket, etc. Be creative, and remember that nearly every company in the country offers a "30% off your introductory cleaning" so to stand out you are going to have to be clever. Be sure to check with your state regulations on games on contests so your big score does not turn into a flop.
3. Be sure the program is achievable. If your plans include an elaborate citywide scavenger hunt resulting in a big prize, there are many elements of that concept that could go wrong and backfire. The result would be a negative one, making your company look like it has no following. Keep it simple and successful.
4. If you can, get your customer's involved. Like the McDonald's game, you will need to promote it less and less as time goes by since your clients will know about the event.
5. Include a charity, if possible, in your event so that you can share in their brand recognition. Open yourself up to a larger group of potential participants, and get lots of free press. A small annual event that our cleaning company used to do every year was a food drive. We were already in the home, and although we didn't have a ton of participants, our clients liked being part of that community contribution.
6. Get partners to participate in the event with you. When I owned my cleaning company a radio station offered a "luxury for a year" sort of prize and we donated "free house cleaning for a year" along with many other participants donating items/services for one year. Choose your partners carefully and lay out all of the rules in writing ahead of time. When your name appears with someone else's you share a reputation.
7. Be aware that you may not make a lot of money on the event itself, but the "fortune is in the follow-up." Following the event you can do a press release about the winner (if it was a contest sort of thing) and put notices in your newsletter a couple of times about the results. If you partnered with anyone, organize follow-up promotions with them, have signs made with any news articles or pictures of happy participants, and use collected contact information during the event to do follow-up marketing.
8. Consider making the event an annual event. At the end of your promotional campaign, begin to promote the next year's event. Tell them to "stay tuned" or "come back for more." You can even involve them further by letting them make suggestions for rules or prizes for the following year.
No matter what the concept and theme of the promotion, don't forget to make it fun. Yes, it may take some serious work to pull off, but the result should be something you enjoy doing, and can get excited about sharing with your customers.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Frustrated Customer and Violent Outburst
Man takes pry bar to self-check till: Machine whacked after speaking to him in Spanish
"Well, let's look at it this way: At least, this guy wasn't buying a blowtorch," is the way reporter, Brad Wong, in the Seattle Times article starts this "stranger than fiction" story of a Home Depot customer using the self- check out to buy a pry bar and a hack saw, and becoming so frustrated when the machine began speaking to him in Spanish, that he used the pry bar to smash the computer to bits! Fleeing from the accident, he caused over $10,000 in damages.
Now, this guy's actions were definitely wrong and I'm in no way condoning it, but you have to admit sometimes bad customer service, or machines replacing people may give you fantasies about at least taking vengeance with a good tongue-lashing on the uncaring company who ruins your day with bad service. Who knows, maybe this guy was already having the worst day of his life, and then the challenge of having to navigate a new computer system was just the tipping point he needed to fall over the edge into crazy town.
I'll fess up that the concept of self-check-outs at the grocery store drives me bananas. I guess I am an old fashioned gal, and I want a little t.l.c. when I'm parting with my money in a business establishment. My life is full of complications (as is everyone's), and the store is just a last oasis where I can go and be taken care of. No thinking involved...in fact keep me unthinking and you'll get more of my money. OK, Self-check out at the gas station is fantastic since it saves me time and is so simple; just put your card in, pull it out and pump. But self-checkout at the grocery store does not save me time or money. I can see how it makes things easier for the store - but if I were the owner you'd never see me putting the customer to work like that.
So can we put any of my rant to good use? Only to know that there are all kinds of people that will react differently to the level of service that you provide for your customers. Some thought should be taken to how the customer is treated throughout their entire experience at your company - especially if you want to build customers for life. I doubt Home Depot executives are kept up at night with regrets about losing this nutty customer, but I have to wonder how many other people have similar frustrations but never voice their opinion?
Since you are in the service business you don't have self-check out lines, but you do have plenty of opportunities to provide great service, here are three tidbits on improving customer service in your business that I pulled from my popular special report written last year "50 Ways to Boost Your Revenues: A Small Business' Service Guide to Building and Army of Repeat Loyal Customers in a Competitive Market Place".
Don't Give the Appearance of Focusing on Speed
It's tricky. The customer's time needs to be valued, yet, when surveyed customers report that they do not want to feel rushed. The trick is to put on a good show. You can be as fast and as busy as you want behind the velvet curtains, but in front of the customer you need to focus on what they need, and not your time constraints. Maybe for your company this means teaching your staff how to work "efficiently" without appearing hurried.
Never, I mean never, tell the customer to hang up the phone and go to your web site
Yes, this is my personal opinion, but very valid. I heard recently of a customer having a computer problem and contacting the repair facility by phone, only to be told to go online and make an appointment for computer repair. Are they nuts? The computer is broken...and that's why they are calling!
It's perfectly o.k. to mention the web site if the client would like to research further, but never give the customer the impression that their only option is to hang up and go to the web site. Your customers are smart people. They already know that if they want web site information they can go there. They probably chose to call because, either they were having trouble accessing your web site, they had a question that was not answered on the web site, or they prefer to talk with a live person.
Give Your Staff "Listening Lessons"
Once you have implemented this, you'll want to try it on your spouse. It's human nature. People feel more valued when they are listened to. You want your customers to feel valued, smart, and accepted, so they feel satisfied. Think of hair stylists. People often report feeling a connection with their hair stylist that they do not feel with any other personal service provider. And, one of the things that they are good at is listening, and making the customer feel good about themselves. So, teach your staff how to actively listen, understand their customers, and build good professional caring relationships.
"Well, let's look at it this way: At least, this guy wasn't buying a blowtorch," is the way reporter, Brad Wong, in the Seattle Times article starts this "stranger than fiction" story of a Home Depot customer using the self- check out to buy a pry bar and a hack saw, and becoming so frustrated when the machine began speaking to him in Spanish, that he used the pry bar to smash the computer to bits! Fleeing from the accident, he caused over $10,000 in damages.
Now, this guy's actions were definitely wrong and I'm in no way condoning it, but you have to admit sometimes bad customer service, or machines replacing people may give you fantasies about at least taking vengeance with a good tongue-lashing on the uncaring company who ruins your day with bad service. Who knows, maybe this guy was already having the worst day of his life, and then the challenge of having to navigate a new computer system was just the tipping point he needed to fall over the edge into crazy town.
I'll fess up that the concept of self-check-outs at the grocery store drives me bananas. I guess I am an old fashioned gal, and I want a little t.l.c. when I'm parting with my money in a business establishment. My life is full of complications (as is everyone's), and the store is just a last oasis where I can go and be taken care of. No thinking involved...in fact keep me unthinking and you'll get more of my money. OK, Self-check out at the gas station is fantastic since it saves me time and is so simple; just put your card in, pull it out and pump. But self-checkout at the grocery store does not save me time or money. I can see how it makes things easier for the store - but if I were the owner you'd never see me putting the customer to work like that.
So can we put any of my rant to good use? Only to know that there are all kinds of people that will react differently to the level of service that you provide for your customers. Some thought should be taken to how the customer is treated throughout their entire experience at your company - especially if you want to build customers for life. I doubt Home Depot executives are kept up at night with regrets about losing this nutty customer, but I have to wonder how many other people have similar frustrations but never voice their opinion?
Since you are in the service business you don't have self-check out lines, but you do have plenty of opportunities to provide great service, here are three tidbits on improving customer service in your business that I pulled from my popular special report written last year "50 Ways to Boost Your Revenues: A Small Business' Service Guide to Building and Army of Repeat Loyal Customers in a Competitive Market Place".
Don't Give the Appearance of Focusing on Speed
It's tricky. The customer's time needs to be valued, yet, when surveyed customers report that they do not want to feel rushed. The trick is to put on a good show. You can be as fast and as busy as you want behind the velvet curtains, but in front of the customer you need to focus on what they need, and not your time constraints. Maybe for your company this means teaching your staff how to work "efficiently" without appearing hurried.
Never, I mean never, tell the customer to hang up the phone and go to your web site
Yes, this is my personal opinion, but very valid. I heard recently of a customer having a computer problem and contacting the repair facility by phone, only to be told to go online and make an appointment for computer repair. Are they nuts? The computer is broken...and that's why they are calling!
It's perfectly o.k. to mention the web site if the client would like to research further, but never give the customer the impression that their only option is to hang up and go to the web site. Your customers are smart people. They already know that if they want web site information they can go there. They probably chose to call because, either they were having trouble accessing your web site, they had a question that was not answered on the web site, or they prefer to talk with a live person.
Give Your Staff "Listening Lessons"
Once you have implemented this, you'll want to try it on your spouse. It's human nature. People feel more valued when they are listened to. You want your customers to feel valued, smart, and accepted, so they feel satisfied. Think of hair stylists. People often report feeling a connection with their hair stylist that they do not feel with any other personal service provider. And, one of the things that they are good at is listening, and making the customer feel good about themselves. So, teach your staff how to actively listen, understand their customers, and build good professional caring relationships.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
