I was just doing some research for a client and ran across this Google Adwords ad for www.PipingTech.com.  I am sure they are a great company but their PPC ads might need a revamp. It’s an honest mistake but it is an example of why an experienced professional is worth hiring for your PPC campaign.

This is real.  The search phrase was “pipe supports transport” on 7-17-08.

I am sure the company is great.  Their website is otherwise easy to navigate and informative.

This mistake doesn’t hurt much but they are missing opportunities.

Hire a professional.

I just found this gem of a blog called Yellow Pages Power by Steve Yankee.  Almost all of his posts have a great little nugget of information about designing or writing ad copy for yellow pages.

In “Extras” Help Your Ad Outperform Others, I just learned this…

And here’s a little known fact for you: yellow pages aren’t really printed on yellow paper. It’s far more economical to print phone directories on white paper stock, and then use yellow ink to print the background color, and black ink to print the ads themselves. For years, having a yellow ad background was your only available choice but lately, most phone books have offered “white reverse” ad backgrounds, where your ad can feature a non-yellow background. This is another inexpensive trick to improving your ad readership.

I had actually wondered about that a few times.
Look Steve’s blog over.  It’s definitely worth the read.

I first saw Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab on Grokdotcom’s “Stanford’s 10 Guidelines for Increased Web Credibillity” by Jeff Sexton where they have a 65 slide show, which is definitely worth watching but it is kind of long so I included the short list here:

Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility

1. Make it easy to verify the accuracy of your information.
2. Show that there’s a real organization behind your site.
3. Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.
4. Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.
5. Make it easy to contact you.
6. Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).
7. Make your site easy to use — and useful.
8. Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently).
9. Use restraint with any promotional content e.g, ads, offers).
10. Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.

These guidelines are based on three years of research involving more than 4,500 people. Want to read the additional comments and supporting research on each guideline?

I have been using postcard marketing campaigns extensively - for my own businesses as well as managing postcard campaigns for my clients’ businesses. I have even made postcards for individuals (professional outside salespeople).
Postcards are an inexpensive and highly effective way to launch new products, generate targeted traffic for a website, and stimulate interest in a new product, website, or company; not to mention generate immediate sales.  I have even successfully used them to spread the work to companies with complimentary - but not competing - products that we will happily reciprocate if they send leads our way.

You might be amazed at the range of positive responses you can get out of highly targeted postcard marketing campaigns. Recipients are often thrilled to learn about a product or service they did not know about. I keep postcards on my desk and personally handwrite and send between 40 and 75 per week. I believe handwritten notes are most effective and certainly the most targeted.

This post from startup nation about the benefits of postcard marketing lists five traits of effective post cards as told by the experts at the post office. The five traits are:

1. They’re eye-catching: Your postcard doesn’t have to be art, but it helps if it’s attractive. Adding a high quality photo or other image will help
2. They’re simple: It’s a postcard, not a novel. Pretend every word is costing you $500. A jumble of information won’t do it. Simple, bold headlines like “Fall Fashions Are In!” or “50% Off Cookware” work best - then explain where, when and a few other details
3. They’re timely: Messages such as “Your Service Contract Expires June 1” work great - if you have a timely message of some kind for your customers, use it
4. They’re two-sided: Be sure to use both sides of your postcard, but not every inch. Use one side like a poster and the other for a few details. Or put an ad on one side and a personal message on the other
5. They’re multifaceted: A postcard can double as a coupon, gift certificate or event ticket. Ask people to present the card to claim an offer. It’s an easy way to measure effectiveness.

I couldn’t agree more. I might add a few others but these will certainly get you started on the right foot.

Pay special attention to #2 (They’re simple).  Probably the easiest trap to fall into is what I call information-creep.  When designing a card it is very easy to want to add one more bullet or one more detail or one more line or one more image, etc. Keep it simple with an effective headline and a great offer and you will get your chance to tell them everything you want about your products when they call.

I have to add this one:  If you are going to send one, send three. The effectiveness of your postcard marketing campaign increases exponentially by sending multiple postcards.

If you want help with your postcard marketing campaigns, call me at (832) 628-0987 or contact me online.

The Internet is abuzz with chatter. Many times the comments flying around forums, blogs, and social networks are unsolicited feedback about businesses, products and services. Positive word-of-mouth (sometimes classified as viral marketing) provides marketing results that money cannot buy, and negative feedback can have the opposite effect if not handled properly.

How to Get the Right People to Talk about Your Company

To identify the people that will give you the best results when talking about your products or services, look for groups online that are most like your customers. There will always be more people talking about you than customers – just picture how many people talk about sports cars but do not actually own them.

Finding people that use your product or service, who are also the types who will vocalize your product in a good way takes some research and time but you wil find them with a little diligence. Create a list of qualified target “talkers” from sources such as:

1. Bloggers who run blogs that relate to your product or service.
2. People who request free promotional items and samples by phone or online.
3. Trade show visitors who complete contest or “more information” entry forms.
4. Website visitors that complete your reply form online.
5. Find a few good online forums to hang around in like Google Groups or Yahoo Answers.
   

After you have identified your target commenters, think about what you could do to motivate them to write about you. Talkers are usually motivated by some combination of the same three elements; perks, recognition, and feeling important.

How to Identify the Topics Related to Your Business that will Keep them Talking

Create something in your business that is worth talking about. If nothing new, interesting, or out-of-the-norm is going on, then any discussion about it will probably feel contrived and boring.

For example, when cereal-maker General Mills released Fiber One bars last year, fitness and diet forums were blasted with discussion about the snack bars. The bar was hailed as one of the best quality and most nutritional granola-like products on the market, and sales of the product skyrocketed.

How to Chime Into the Conversation

Provide a forum and easy ways for people to talk about you. Some common online techniques will provide a place for your admirers to talk, and you to join in where appropriate.

NOTE! Be respectful. Remember that people are in those forums to chat and learn - not to hear your marketing pitch. They hate that and can smell it a mile away no matter how cleverly you insert comments about “this new product you found.” Add valuable and helpful comments to the discussions.

Try these techniques:

• Post positive testimonials from satisfied users on your blog or website as a conversation starter.
• Send an e-newsletter.
• Create a forum.
• Start an active blog with fresh new posts regularly.

How to Know if the Word-of-Mouth Campaign is Going Well

Believe it or not, there is actually a Word of Mouth Marketing Association. Within this association, there is a segment called the Research and Metrics Council that deals specifically with gaging the effectiveness of word of mouth campaigns.

They break down online word of mouth marketing into four categories of social networking sites; online communities, blogs, forums, and ratings/reviews.

You know you are successful with word of mouth marketing when people are saying good things about you. If your most influential customers are satisfied, and are talking about it, your marketing is working.

A tool you can use to gauge if your word of mouth campaign is working well is called the Net Promoter Score. This number can help you gauge the level of customer loyalty. This information comes from the answer to one commonly-heard question – something along the lines of “How likely are you to recommend XYZ Company to your friends.” The answer to this question divides respondents into three categories; Promoters, Passives, and Detractors. Promoters are the most value resource since they are the most loyal, and will give profitable referrals. Passives are neutral, and Detractors are seen as a liability, actually working against business development efforts. A business can calculate its own score by using this formula:

% Promoters - % Detractors = Net Promoter Score

When compared to competitors, this score is said to correlate to business growth, profit, and development.

The Flip Side of Word of Mouth: What to Watch Out For

Jack Trout has wrote “Is Word of Mouth All It’s Cracked Up to Be” for Forbes Magazine to help put word-of-mouth marketing into perspective, and explain some unavoidable consequences to people talking about your product. Most notably on his list is the inability to control what people are saying about you. He points out that word-of-mouth is finicky and unreliable, and should be used as one of many marketing tools in your promotional efforts.

The best marketing strategy is to use multiple methods that integrated with one another to clearly state your main message about your company. When people are talking positively about you, you have definitely done something right.

How do you get someone to think your website is so important they bookmark it? Better yet, try becoming a saved TAB in their browser, automatically opening each time Firefox or IE is opened. That is an accomplishment.

1. Offer Free Samples and Giveaways

An excellent example of this technique is Wal-Mart’s site. They have developed a free sample page on their site where manufacturers offer free samples of their products. The four or five samples offered change regularly and cover a wide range of products from coffee to skin cream. People bookmark their site and check it like clockwork. Deal forums buzz about the latest additions to the page, and people talk about it on the Wal-Mart blog.

2. Take a Poll

Ask an interesting but simple question. People that are interested in the topic will come back later to view what the consensus is by other like-minded site readers. A good example of this is USA Today. After you select your vote an updated tally of all votes appears. People become fascinated by what others are thinking, and the anonymity gives the belief of honest answers.

3. Provide Fresh, Original Stuff to Read

By offering new content to readers, they will come back to read more about the topic of interest. Make sure it is well-written, and you may become a resource in the business.

4. Give a Chance to Win a Prize

Of course, the prize needs to be something that readers will value. Daytime television shows are excellent at promoting their website through contests and prizes. For example, Rachael Ray’s daytime show regularly gives the studio audience substantial prizes worth several hundred dollars, like digital cameras, for example. Her active website is cross-promoted after the TV giveaway is announced, and at-home viewers are encouraged to go online to complete an online contest entry form for the same prize.

5. Become a Directory Resource

Within your page, you can provide links to other related resource pages where visitors can go for additional, related information about the topic. Lists of links, called directories, are a great way to do this. Be sure to check the links regularly to make sure they are still functional, and continue to add new ones as you find sites that might be of interest to your readers.

6. Report the News First

In your specific business, you are probably one of the first to know about breaking news stories. Report them on your site, and you will become the industry news leader, where people interested in your field check back regularly. Sports sites typically do a good job of including a news section where readers can go to see the latest information on games, players, and stats.

Use All Available Resources and Try all of the Above

Social bookmarking is another new way to get people coming back for more. Darren Rowse has written an article entitled, “Social Bookmarking: Getting Your Blog Noticed”, where he details the major social bookmarking sites, and how to use them to your advantage. Something you can learn from Darren is that creating a valuable website or blog involves more than just writing. He is very honest about his efforts in the areas of getting out there and networking, learning, meeting, greeting, and doing. It takes a lot of hard work to create real value and value is what keeps people coming back.

Do all of the above to help you get there. Just one or two are a great start but you should experiment with each of them from time to time and use most of them on a regular basis.

The beginning of a new year is a time when people reflect on their personal and professional lives.  It is a time of goal setting and reflection. This makes the flip of a new year a wonderful opportunity for leveraging the high level of motivation to make notable change in your small business. 

Get SMART about Your Goals

As with any change, it is essential to first carefully plan your goals and objectives. Goals need to be S.M.A.R.T., which stands for:

• Specific. The goal must answer the six W’s: Who, What, Why, Where, When and Which.
• Measurable. The goal must answer: How much? How many? When is the goal reached?
• Attainable. Have a reasonable timeframe, detail a goal achievement plan.
• Realistic. Is your business willing and able to work toward the goal?
• Timely. Without the urgency of a deadline, the goal will probably not be achieved.

5 New Year’s Resolutions to Consider

This year, resolve to make changes in the way you do business that will improve the quality of your work, increase your profit, and make your company the best that it can be. While there are thousands of possible goals your can work on, these five can have the biggest impact on your small business. 

#1: Fix Profit Leaks

Nurture a mentality of finding ways to save the business money. Reward cost-savings and profit leak identifications. When you spend your time getting it right first, you avoid costly “do-overs.”

An example of a concrete plan used in the building industry, including a worksheet for calculating the cost of quality, can be found in this article by Ed Caldiera called “How to Fix the Profit Leaks in your Business.” 

#2: Create a Marketing Plan, and Stick To It

Make a plan to be more involved in learning about marketing for your business. Network with others in your business online and in person to find what is working for similar businesses in different markets.

#3: Pay Attention to Your Marketing Database

Many small businesses do not have one - gasp! Perhaps you do but it is so full of clutter, inaccuracies, duplicates, and incomplete profiles that it is useless. Clean it, start one, or do whatever you need to do to accurately capture your customers’ and prospects’ information. This invaluable tool is essential for small businesses today. 

#4: Make it Easier to Work

Make it a goal to look at the internal work processes of your business. Are you working the smartest way possible? Do a work-flow analysis of your small business and look for ways to trim processing times, and cut out unnecessary tasks. There are plenty of workplace activities that happen “because we’ve always done it that way.”

#5: Make it Easier for Prospects to Work with You

Track your customer and prospect comments, especially the negative ones, and make changes when feasible. Are people telling you that your phone system is a pain in the neck? Fix it! An hour or two spent correcting the phone system can save you hundreds of abandoned calls.  The same holds true for your company website. Do people say they cannot figure out where something is? Make changes to help customers buy from you!

New Year , New Opportunity

Small businesses need to constantly evaluate what is working and what is not. Begin the New Year with a plan that plots out a year of goals. Break down the goals using a simple system like the SMART method and design a plan you can stick with until your resolutions are achieved.

Want to brand yourself? Focus. Pick one thing great thing about yourself and focus on communicating it clearly.

Getting yourself branded into the minds of your market could be as simple as 1-2-3. It isn’t but it could be:

1. Determine the most valuable and differentiating benefit your company offers your target market.
2. Create one simple message that communicates your company’s value and difference to your customers.
3. Focus on communicating that message to your market constantly and with everything you do. After you communicated it, remind them again. Focus.

There! All done. Now you’re branded. Of course it is not as easy as 1-2-3 but those are very important steps and if you were only to pick one way, that might be the way to go. Focus on repeatedly clearly communicating your most valuable differentiating feature to your market.

The Importance of Branding

Two of the biggest intangible benefits branding creates are confidence and value. Branding helps potential customers feel confident that by purchasing your brand they are working with someone they can trust. They know your product will taste a certain way, drive a certain way, or even make people envy you in a certain way.

The value perception is also improved in successfully branded products. In an almost illogical way, customers perceive more value in products that have been effectively branded. Energizer brand batteries last longer, right? I really don’t know but there’s a little bunny that has been swinging a drumstick since forever and I think about him as my eyes switch from Energizer to the other pack, to and from, little bunny, to and from, every time I buy, er, Energizers.

The biggest tangible benefit of branding is bigger margins. Energizer batteries cost more. So do Diesel jeans, Cross pens, and branded cereals.

There a thousand ways to communicate your brand to your market. Use freebies, testimonials, postcards, celebrity message telemarketing, banner ads, or bumper stickers. Whatever you do make your message clear and focus on communicating it in everything you do.

Using Software to Generate Traffic

First, be clear that none of the links in this article are sponsored links and I do not recommend the products. In fact, I prefer that you do NOT buy them. I am linking to them only for your reference and for the sake of helpful content in this article. Please also notice that I did not give the links valuable anchor text…

It seems like every time a new traffic generation technique comes to light, software is quickly developed to automate the manual process. The software makes it super fast and easy to do what used to be tedious and take valuable time.

Using software to make tasks more efficient is not a questionable task - it is actually preferred. If you disagree, stop using Word Press, Type Pad, Blogger, Front Page, or even Outlook for that matter. The issue is not whether or not using software is ok. Rather, the problem with using software to generate online content is that the resulting product is usually almost unreadable and certainly does not add value for the reader. In effect, using software to generate online content is SPAM.

4 Controversial Methods to Generate Traffic

With the popularity of blogs and forums, it is easy to see why businesses want to be involved in them. And search engine algorithm criteria have been identified that allows for web owners to proactively manage their sites ratings.

1. Blog Automation Software
2. Article Spinning Software
3. Reciprocal Links
4. Traffic Exchange Programs

Blog Automation Software

People are more likely to find you online if you are active. That means you have to post frequently and regularly on your blog, comments on others blogs, and in forum discussions to be successful. This can take hours each day. Blog automation software works in various ways but, basically, it mixes your content, keywords, some ads, and maybe even some videos and posts them to your blog at predetermined intervals.

The advantages of blog automation software (here’s one) are that it is time effective and potentially increases your traffic. The software makes the posts for you, and save hours of valuable time. You can post a generic message and your company contact information on thousands of blog posts with the click of a mouse. The hope is that web surfers will stumble across your blog and then become subscribers.

The main disadvantage to blogging software is that widespread blog posting will probably be considered spam, and you will be ignored. Using blog posting software puts your credibility in question by potential customers because most automated posts are immediately recognizable as unreadable refuge.

Article Spinning Software

Article spinning software takes pre-purchased Private Label Rights (PLR) material and “spins” it into an unrecognizable copy. The program substitutes words with synonyms, so that it does not sound like the same article. Sites that use recycled articles are most often looking for traffic coming from random search hits over regular subscribers. Here’s an example.

Content is king on the internet and article spinning software helps you generate quantity without quality. Successful websites need to have new content on a consistent basis to be attractive to viewers and search engines and some web owners believe focusing on quantity over quality will get the desired results. If you are truly going for numbers and keyword-laden content generation then article spinning software might be for you.

The main benefits of using software to generate articles are that it saves you time and money. Software can generate hundreds of versions of the same article in seconds. This prevents you from having to do it manually, which will cost you hours of your time. If you do not do your own writing, hiring someone else to write original articles will cost you money.

There are huge drawbacks to article spinning. Search engines look negatively upon duplicate content. Spinning technology touts that it can avoid the search engine spiders that are looking for content that is the same as what is already on the web. No one knows for certain what the components are in the search engine algorithms, but most experts agree that duplicate content is a big no-no. Another drawback is that they readability of spun articles is usually not very good. Often the original PLR article was not well-written, so re-writing it further makes it even worse.

Basically, if you want repeat visitors do not use article spinning software.

Reciprocated Links

Reciprocal links are links exchanged between sites that do not usually add value to the readers. These are usually added to the “links” page. I do not have a huge problem with these as there is usually nothing dishonest about them. Reciprocal links are typically clearly labeled as such. I prefer to only links to sites that are related to the originating site. Reciprocal links carry less weight with search engines than they used to but still seem to offer some benefit to a site’s link popularity.

There is a lot of software made to generate and manage reciprocal links. Text linking software (like these) available online will generate reciprocal links and allow you to manage them. I am not opposed to organic reciprocal links but would never recommend reciprocal link software.

Traffic Exchange Programs

Traffic exchanges (here’s one) occur when people view each others’ web pages to get higher traffic counts. There are traffic exchange programs – fee-based and free – that provide a place to connect with other web owners looking for traffic.

Traffic exchange programs coordinate web owners seeking additional traffic (more traffic looks better to search engines). Participants visit others’ sites and receive visits in return based on a pre-determined program plan.

One of the drawbacks to traffic exchanges is that they diminish the meaning of your traffic stats. The page view numbers are not real searchers looking for information or products but are simply visitors whose sole intent is to rack up page views, thus increasing the popularity of the site. People (including me) question if there is a true benefit to traffic exchange programs.

Crossing the Line with Online Marketing Techniques

In a world over-filled with products and services that must be viewed as unique to get attention and sales it is, well, mediocre, to follow standard marketing formulas. Being different and daring is encouraged in the business world and often hugely rewarded but where do you draw the line. 

There is a fine line between ethical and unethical practices in online marketing. Here are a few examples of tactics that might be considered unethical. What do you think?

Questionable Marketing Tactics

Realize that your marketing strategy might be negatively questioned – and your business could suffer the repercussions - if you misuse one of these tactics. Of course, there may be value in shocking your customers, so this in not necessarily a “Do Not Use” list, but more of a “Think Twice” list:

• Fluffing up the truth to be more than what it really is
• Being misleading, or involved in something that could be perceived as a bait-and-switch or trick
• Fake testimonials
• Marketing to children with any type of hard sell or unhealthy products
• Encourage credit purchases to those that cannot afford to pay, then making a profit on interest
• Selling with sex
• Using health scare tactics

Attracting Customers on False Pretenses Equals Unethical Marketing

The first stage of your marketing plan may be to drive more traffic to your site. Potential customers will feel burned if they think they are coming to your site for one thing (e.g., free plans) only to find a big sales pitch. Here are just a few examples of questionable techniques used to draw website traffic:

1. Using article-spinning software to change the words of existing articles enough to pass them as unique content and avoid web spiders that look for duplicate content for search engines.
2. Frivolously posting on other people’s blogs with meaningless content just to drive people back to your site. Using poorly engineered software that will post on other blogs and forums.
3. Including irrelevant reciprocal or affiliate links in your content or asking other irrelevant pages to list your link(s).
4. Creating trick banners that say that you have won a prize, or look identical to your operating system alerts.

Create a Clear Hook to Set Yourself Apart

Set yourself apart with out-of-the-box techniques that are not blatantly unethical. One good way is with a few great buzz words and a hook. Buzz words do not always have a clearly defined meaning, but by using what is hot in the moment and tying that to your industry, you can pull in people looking for something that is new, unique, and related to what’s going on.

Using a hook will help establish yourself as an industry leader. People will remember you based on your hook, and they will repeat it. Here are a few tips for creating a killer hook for your business:

1. Keep it short and focused.
2. Be positive. Enthusiasm is contagious.
3. Consider humor. People like to know that a business has a good sense of humor.
4. Rhyme it, if you can do it tactfully.

Stand Out Amongst the Clutter

Controversial marketing techniques will never end and I am not even recommending that you use them. This is simply a discussion. What I can recommend is that you do your best to stand out amongst the clutter like the guys who set up the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Marketing Stunt in January of ‘07, which, for some ridiculous reason sent the Boston police into a frenzy. I believe the network had to pay a hefty fine but there are a million other ads and marketing efforts I don’t remember at all. 

Here’s more academic view (pdf) of ethical and regulatory responsibility in advertising.