An overview of marketing to local customers in your area
My objective is to discuss some of the methods that all successful companies use to acquire new customers I want you to be able to leave here today with knowledge and insights that you can apply to help your business develop Take what you feel you can use and test which ideas work for you Talk is about 45 mins plus 45 mins Q & A afterwards
Google Places/Google plus Social Marketing Google Adwords (Pay per click) Landing pages Email marketing Mobile devices & tablets Your website Inbound marketing Offline to online advertising – A case study QR codes
Any successful marketing material must address the key question in your prospective customer’s mind. That question is:- “what’s in it for me?” Break your marketing material down to address this issue by answering the following questions. Why should I read this or listen to you? Why should I believe what you say? Why should I respond to it now? Express the benefits of your services to the customer because benefits sell.
A – Attention Often the headline or opening text I – Interest Explain what’s on offer (head) D – desire Set up the reasons why it’s a “must have” (heart) A – Action Explain/encourage what action to take NOW!
Google have a couple of “local” services that you should be exploiting. They are free and can be great for good search result listings. First up is Google Places
It puts your business on the map – Literally! It verifies you as the business owner and allows you to enter correct information If you don’t verify, Google will take a best estimate of who, what & where you are from other sources Google want you to use your places listing
Most people think of Facebook as the main social network available, followed by Twitter. While these are important networks without doubt, Google have their own social network called Google plus. Content on Google plus is becoming more important as a ranking factor so it makes sense to use Google’s own social tool to rank better
Google search is now less reliant on poor quality links & more reliant on social share Google wants you to use/update your Google plus account Google would “prefer” you to use Plus than Facebook! Get involved with Google plus if you can
The concept of a social network is not limited to just Facebook or Google plus. Social networks can include business groups like Linked In, forums, chat rooms, local interest groups, town websites, mums net, community blogs, local interest groups (e.g. Gardening) etc. Next we look at ways to promote socially.
Define your goals Test competitions or offers and see what works Social alone is not enough Social is ALL about 2-way Produce good shareable traffic. Invite conversation content and sharing in peer groups Have a clear call to action It’s NOT for everyone so in social media don’t feel you MUST! Add value where you are Next – Google Ad Words able
Years ago the only way to get the public’s attention was to buy advertising space. Space was sold in newspapers & magazines, on radio & TV at prices controlled by the media. Now there’s a hugely powerful and (potentially) cheap way of reaching customers Google Adwords
You can place your adverts in front of your audience in minutes You can rigidly control your costs You can define the areas where your ads are shown (so it can be truly local) You can schedule ads to turn on & off You can test, monitor and change campaigns very quickly
Sadly, no they won’t! Adwords is a system that needs setting up properly, testing and optimising. Adwords campaigns will mature and flourish with some careful strategic planning and properly targeted messages. This is where landing pages are so important as they work in tandem with your ads to encourage visitors to take ACTION.
These are where the links from PPC ads or HTML emails take you after clicking on them. Are they relevant to the ad the person just saw? More relevancy = More response More response = More customers Are the landing pages mobile friendly? You can check with your own phone Test functionality so you know it works e.g. forms
One simple action you can try for is to have a form that gathers email addresses. Once you have an email list, you can then send them emails with useful information. People don’t mind receiving useful, relevant and entertaining emails from you. It’s not spam and they can always unsubscribe from your mailing list.
You are best using a system like Mailchimp They offer great templates and resources You can segment your list(s) You will comply with the can-spam protocols Your list is automatically managed for you You can integrate forms from websites/blogs You can personalise e-mails for a better response You get good stats & can A/B test
Cheap and easy to use Schedule deliveries – Times and dates You can segment your list(s) for more relevancy Use Auto responder emails Generate important metrics to target people better Automate your whole sales & communication processes via email
Digital marketing now needs to consider screen size – i.e. Mobile phones & tablet devices. It’s always a shame when a well written and designed email that looks good on a phone screen then takes you to a webpage that looks awful. Use responsive design layouts that resize to the screen resolution.
Google stated in June 2012 that over 900,000 new Android devices being activated every day! That excludes Apple products & Blackberry devices Mobile use is only going to increase from now on – especially when 4G is fully available Mobile is here to stay – like the internet Google’s preferred web display system for multi device browsing is “responsive design”
Is your website mobile/tablet display screen friendly? This is important because of the rise of mobile devices used to access the internet daily Half of all Internet users have accessed the Internet via a mobile phone or device Does your website offer valuable, interesting, relevant information? Do you express the benefits of your service on your website? Do you set yourself apart from your competitor? If you’re paying for website traffic – you should be answering YES to all of the above.
Offer the best content that you can on your subject The best rated (SEO ranked) website content is also the most shared on social networks. This is not causal, so it’s NOT the sharing that makes it rank better, it’s just because it’s good, valuable content that makes people want to share it. Good content will start to get shared more than once. More shared content means better social signals. These give you better rankings in search results. It’s that principle that underpins the principle of inbound marketing.
Supply free, highly informative information on your site This positions you as an expert Highly sharable (social, local, verbal) Search engines index content Use as lead generation tool in conjuction with email packages such as Mailchimp Link to Google analytics & use intelligence gathered to produce further content
All media space you buy should be use for response driven marketing By directing people online you get the chance to automate the sales process People commonly have multiple points of interaction before buying including: Adverts, website, forum discussion, third party verification etc. This highlights the value of “socially shareable” and relevant content in all your marketing material You are THE “go to guy” for help
Local campaign linking street advertising (cut out cows) to leaflets & online form on temporary website. Methods employed to promote a response • Use of limited time • Win a substantial reward • Play on local nature of the campaign • Novelty value (cut outs) • Sharable on social media • Backed up with flyer distribution
Use good Test a new Once a new series of marketing Marketing idea reliable and profitable material that methods are promotes the established, keep benefits doing them while Once your system is established, they are profitable. you can automate much of the DO NOT STOP! marketing and have guaranteed income Add new marketing ideas and do the same. Roll out the ones that Try social media, Monitor results work on a larger scale Ad Words and email marketing
I will evaluate your existing Ad Words account and advise of ways on how to improve the performance of your poorest performing campaign. If you haven’t started your first Adwords campaign but would like to, I will set up your first campaign and apply a Google voucher code (S.T.A.) for £75.00. 1 available One-off cost of £50 Offer is valid until 30/7/2013
How useful did you find this talk? Are there any specific areas that you’d like to know more about? If so, please email me on info@perryconsultancy.co.uk Thanks for listening.
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