Archive for the ‘Business Advice’ Category

Older Entries
Newer Entries

2013 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Internet Marketing Strategy

December 26th, 2012 posted by Kristin Miller 12:08PM | View Full Story

We make resolutions to get thinner, be healthier, spend more time with friends and finish that 2,000 page book – why not make one internet marketing resolution for 2013?

I asked our charming, talented internet marketing team to give me their top resolutions for 2013, and here is what they came up with:

Brian: I want to become more technically savvy, especially with coding!

Amanda: The goal in any Internet Marketing campaign is to have it achieve its highest potential. This requires a little creativity and out of the box thinking. I will ask myself questions like this: What am I doing right? What am I doing wrong? What am I missing out on? What are my client’s competitors doing that we are not doing? What are my client’s competitors not doing that we are doing? Having out of the box thinking will give campaigns that little extra boost they may need.

Karie: Develop more quality content and leverage existing photo opportunities, video opportunities, etc. so we have more to share!

Adrienne: I want to make it a point to read at least two internet marketing industry articles every evening, in an effort to learn all I can and stay up to date! As a personal goal, I want to help my boyfriend market his music and grow his audience!

Trevin: My resolution is to find ways to better utilize big data. There’s so much data available in all avenues of online marketing: visitor data, shopping cart data, freely available data. Nearly all of the websites we work with have large datasets of some sort and I’m hoping to create some scalable ways to put this to work for my clients in their inbound marketing efforts.

Xander: To learn foreign language SEO. It’s the new long tail, and there’s a barrier to entry that most SEO’s won’t cross – the language barrier—but if you can do it, you can reach a ton more people cheaply.

Benn: Leverage social more for SEO, not just a branding tool. Google is becoming more “real” in that it is trying to use human action as a factor in ranking what is important. Links were the first sign of this effort and we saw a crackdown on quality this year. I feel we will start to see offline variables affect our SERPS even more in 2013. Social is the closest tool at this point which gives Google signals of importance rather than just link from an article. When I say leverage social, this is more than just having a Facebook Business page. It means creating great content and setting up your site to help visitors share and promote on your behalf. Motivating searchers to become advocates socially both on and offline will be just as important for continued growth organically as getting them to your site in the first place. My resolution is becoming a stronger social advocate for my clients.

Krystal: One of my biggest resolutions is to begin experimenting with more advanced reporting techniques in Google Analytics for my clients. I’d like to give them a wide variety of data that hopefully they will consider of value to their business throughout the year.

Not sure which resolution should be top priority for you or your business? Here are the top areas to pay attention to:

Mobile Boom

Though it’s been repeated for a few years now, the PC may finally die in 2013. PC shipments declined for the first time ever in 2012, so I foresee mobile advertising – and with it, responsive web design – becoming the new norm as everyone switches to tablets, laptops or just mobile phones.

Local Focus

The only place to start online to acquire new business as a local business is to be present in maps and have reviews readily available to prospective customers. Companies without reviews will be burned simply by the lack of reviews, whether they are positive or negative. This trend can only continue as the importance of customer feedback grows.

Social Media Impacts

Social media’s impact will also spread wider within business infrastructures as brand advocates gain importance and influence over their friends, turning fans into marketers themselves.

Expanded Digital Wallet

– Adobe Systems called Cyber Monday 2012 a record day, estimating $1.98 billion in web sales. More and more people spend their time and money online each year, and I don’t foresee this trend slipping.

Social Search

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter will inevitably become closely aligned with online search and take it to the next level. Of course, Google+ has begun to tap into the social graph and return results based on connections. In 2013, be sure your company can be found on these platforms.

Semantic Search

What if Google knew you couldn’t eat gluten while you were searching for restaurants? Semantic mark-up allows Google to understand these secondary requirements without you typing them in. They do, after all, want to be the ‘answer engine’. It is only a matter of time before the other engines follow.

Test, Measure, Report

Whatever you choose to include in your internet marketing strategy for 2013, stick with it! If you’re making a small change, be sure to measure it. Trying new things inevitably creates hurdles, but do your best to see it through. In most cases, you will be generously rewarded for being one of the first adopters.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Business Advice, Marketing 3 Comments »

3 Comments

Beginners Guide to Holiday Email Marketing – Think Post-Holiday!

December 5th, 2012 posted by Benn Trasatt 12:08PM | View Full Story

Using Email to create returning customers for the days and months after Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday is as important as driving the new traffic to your business during this competitive season! As a result, I am declaring a new shopping “Festivus” for the rest of us. To top it all off, it’s a holiday that lasts all year.

Everyone is so focused on driving the most sales out of new one-time buyers over a long weekend that they forget about the aftermath. As marketers, we focus a lot of extra effort on breaking through the clutter to pick up market share, and a lot of our friends in the retail world pick the most competitive time of year to do so. Not hard at all! In other news, I hate sarcasm.

The effort is often focused on pulling in new customers with BOGO 150% off bargains for the first three customers who get in line, visit your website or knock over other shoppers in a mad rush for the deals of the season. Yes, I understand that it is more about the upsell/crossell opportunities. Let’s get traffic in the door/to our site for the big deals and then increase that average order value per black Friday/Cyber Monday/whateverday shopper. Well, the upsell and crossell opportunity is more than just four days long.
christmas vacation email marketing

Post-Holiday Email Marketing – Turning First Time Gift Purchasers and Receivers into Loyal Customers

Let’s think about what we do with all these newly acquired customers. Many of those shoppers are once and done. So maybe you are thinking “They are low value Benn! Get off your soapbox!”

In your mind, the purchaser may be low value, but what about the recipient of that gift? How do we turn that indirect consumer into a returning customer or brand advocate? On the flip side, are we trying to foster a relationship with the purchaser? How do we get more from those individuals to purchase again? They are only low value if your treat them that way. Give them a free door-buster and kick them to the curb? If it doesn’t make a good dating tactic, it probably makes a poor marketing tactic. It is a lot harder to find a new gal, then to foster an existing relationship.

At this point you may think it is a little late to implement a strategy. Maybe it is to a point, but I am sure you have been collecting data on the customers who purchased your items. And I am sure you are collecting data for the remainder of the holiday shopping season. What data could I possibly use for last minute post- holiday marketing tactics? Well, the list is massive – and a bit much to cover in one article – so I will focus on one of the best relationship tools in marketing: email!

Categorizing Holiday Customers – Online and Offline

Obviously, you can segment your holiday shoppers in a very granular fashion if you planned to do so before the holiday season and set up the necessary framework and fancy database. For example, you may have one segment that includes email subscribers who are two time buyers of non-sale holiday sweaters and another group of email subscribers who only buy on-sale products during major holiday promotions. An advanced system would allow you to develop two unique outreach strategies to those customers.

In reality, many do not have this type of data. This post is for those looking for some last minute ideas to take advantage of new holiday customers and possible revenue potential. The more data the better in most cases, but you don’t always need that to make in impact!

For the purpose of this article I am going to break customers down into the following groups:

  1. Holiday Gift Purchasers and Givers
  2. Receivers, Returners, Exchangers

Holiday Gift Purchasers and Givers

We probably have the most data on this group of individuals.

Brick and Mortar: Have you ever bought something in a store? Wild guess on my part, but I am guessing 100% of those reading this article have.

jakie chan holiday shoppers

All joking aside, we have all experienced standing at the checkout when they ask “Would you like to provide a phone number?” or “would you like to give us your email for promotions?” It’s time to take advantage of that info!

E-commerce:  E-commerce interactions are similar to human interaction in that we are often asked to set up accounts, provide emails and give phone numbers during the checkout process.

So how do we use this information? For the purpose of this article I am going to assume that you have some type of email marketing program. If you have an ecommerce presence and you don’t use email marketing, then you are possibly missing an opportunity and should check out this email marketing page. It doesn’t take much to get started.

What is cool about email is that you have several opportunities to touch customers after they purchase without being “spammy.” A lot of my examples below are probably already sent automatically by your email marketing system, but you may not be using those messages to its full potential. For new emails that you collected online and offline (if they agreed legally to allow you to email them) here is an example of a life cycle for a gift purchaser that I would implement to keep the relationship going:

order confirmation email marketing process

Thanks for Registering: Dude! They just gave you an email and they just checked the box for “yes, you can send me promotional emails and confirmations.” Send a quick note saying thanks, and link to an article that talks about your business and everything else you offer. Videos about the company are always a great idea. You may also want to offer a small promotion such as free shipping or a discount. Set an expiration date and give them a reason to come back.
Order Confirmation Email: This can easily change your life as an email marketer if you utilize it effectively. For one, customers expect and welcome this type of communication. It is timely, relevant and personalized. Last time I checked, those three items were kind of a big deal in marketing. Take your confirmation emails a step further! A simple add-on could be a “customers also bought” section. Give them the option to add to a current order. You would be surprised how many people jump back in and buy again. Measure the open rate of these emails compared to standard promotions. Don’t miss the opportunity.
Order Shipment Email: It is another opportunity to promote your business and can be treated similarly to the order confirmation. However, I would make this a bit different. Try a callout to follow your brand on Twitter or an invite to share with friends on Facebook. Get them engaged and add some personality. Don’t always try to push products. Think about building a relationship. Relationships make more money.
Request A Review Email:This takes us into post-holiday, and it starts to lead us into the gift receiver section. Two parts to keep in mind for this:

  1. Email Timing: Wait to send this email until after the holidays for obvious reasons. You want to make sure you give customers a break, and you also want to give them a chance to use or give your product to someone else. Some systems enable you to trigger an email at a specific time after your company receives notification of arrival. That is a good starting point to gauge the timing of your email. Regardless, make sure it is sent after the holidays this time of year.
  2. The Pitch: Ask what they thought of your product and perhaps offer a promotion like 20% off your next purchase. Even better, offer something that is related to the product. So if they bought an iPhone, offer a free case. Also give them the option to send the review request and offer to the gift recipient, which takes me the second group of post-holiday Customers.

Holiday Gift Receivers

This is a bit tricky as far as collecting information, but we do have some opportunities to get these individuals more engaged. It is worth the effort because they are obviously a better fit for your products.

  1. Request a review email: To expand on my last point from the purchaser segment, giving them the option to forward the review request to the recipient will give you an opportunity to collect that email. The offer of a discount for a review, or better yet the offer that is tailored to the product purchased, will ring more true to the gift receiver and can get your relationship off on the right track.
  2. Returners and exchangers: Get a better understanding of how these prospective customers are interacting with your brand when they return or exchange items they received as gifts. This could be a return online or at a physical location. Ask for an email or send them to an online survey and promote a discount if they complete it. Just because they return an item, doesn’t mean they won’t buy something else.

 

In closing, here are three more pointers for Post-holiday Email Marketing.

Make an effort: It is not too late to try to engage the new customers you acquired during the Thanksgiving holiday and days leading up to the new year. Like I said, many of you already send standard shopping processing emails, you just need to take advantage of the increase open rate and add more value. It is a best practice year round, but can be extra effective this time of year.

Think about last year: If you have a database of purchasers from last year who may have not been active all year, it may be worth segmenting and crafting an email just for those individuals. They may be customers that you segment out all year because it is not worth the email cost, but we are creatures of habit. I don’t wear silly red hats all year, but I do every Christmas.

Remember the season: We often get caught up in revenue generation and forget that customers are more than just bank accounts. It is your first impression with the new emails you are acquiring, and scheduling a simple “Happy Holidays” email can do wonders long term. It can make your new customers feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It is also just a nice, human thing to do. Just don’t forget to link it to your website just in case they want to purchase something  :)

 

 

 

Tags: ,
Posted in Business Advice, General, Internet Sales, Marketing 1 Comment »

1 Comment

What Most Clients Don’t Know But Won’t Ask

November 29th, 2012 posted by Michele 12:08PM | View Full Story

Help Your Clients Lolz CatJust like those times in class when everyone has the same question on their mind but no one raises their hand to ask, your clients likely have questions that they are embarrassed or uncertain about asking. If you can think like your clients so they don’t have to raise their hand to ask, you’ll build a relationship of trust that will certainly last!

“What do you mean by ‘organic’ search?”

As internet marketers, there are many terms that seem obvious to us. However, think back to before you entered the industry – did you call search results ‘organic’? It’s a simple concept once explained, but it’s not a concept that is even considered by those not in the internet marketing industry. Most clients won’t ask this question for fear of sounding dumb.

“Why do we need Google Analytics?”

GA is the bread and butter of all internet marketing analysis and, frankly, I don’t know what I’d do without it. Many clients have not heard of this tool before and even if they have, they don’t know the information and potential it holds for their website. If you’re comfortable with it, start up a join.me session and walk your clients through a few simple metrics in their analytics. They’ll be extremely impressed and excited to learn about what’s happening on their website!

Internet Jargon Lolz Cat“Where’s the title and meta description?”

Creating optimized titles and metas is always one of the first steps of on-page optimization. Once you use the term “on-page” clients will expect to see these optimized items actually on their pages. Not many realize that they have a way to control the text that shows up in the tab of their browsers or the info that search engines pull into search results. Highlighted screenshots are a great way to show clients exactly where these titles and metas show up.

“Why do I need link building?”

Concepts like domain power and authority, and back links are almost always brand new to clients. Because of this, they often do not know why they would want more links pointing toward their site, particularly if these links come from other sites that are not within the same topic or industry as their own site. Using the voting analogy where a link to a site is like a vote for that site breaks down the nebulous concept into a very tangible theory.

“What does this report tell me?”

Like Google Analytics, we see our own reporting tools every day and know all their ins and outs. Just because you pull a report that looks great and send it with an excited message doesn’t mean your client understands it. They may not even realize the positive aspects of the report. The first time you ever create a report for a client, hop on the phone to walk them through it. Point out what each section means, what you’re aiming to achieve in each section and what indicates improvement for areas of their campaign.

teaching lolz cat

“You do more than SEO???”

As you gain your clients’ trust and take on more of a consulting role, your clients will look to you for advice to further improve their bottom line. Not all clients will ask for this advice, but if you see something about their website or online presence that could improve, trust me, they want you to tell them! When you do make suggestions to increase their social media presence or redesign pages of their site for better conversions, they won’t always know that you and your company can help them with these services too! Let them know all that you do and can do for them before they take your advice as suggestions to go find another company who does those items.

No matter what industry you’re in, you always know more about your own industry than your clients do. You’ll find clients who want “internet marketing” because they’ve heard they should have it or simply because it’s the latest buzzword. Never assume that they did all their research before determining they want your service and always try to remember to consider what they’re thinking!

Posted in Business Advice, General No Comments »

Comment!

The Dos and Don’ts to Keep Your Customers Coming Back Every Time

October 3rd, 2012 posted by Quincy 12:08PM | View Full Story

Did you know that it costs 10x more to replace a customer than to keep them? Yet most companies spend 80-90% of their advertising budget on gaining new customers. That just seems counter-intuitive.

Customer Service is all about habits: determining the bad ones and practicing the good ones until they become second nature. In honor of National Customer Service Week, here are some Dos and Don’ts when it comes to your customers so you can keep them coming back, every time.

DO be present.

Your customers should be the focus of your day, not an interruption. We all have hectic work days, but if a client takes the time to call or e-mail you, it’s because THEY perceive it to be of vital importance and the client is YOUR top priority. Remember, every e-mail and phone call is a way to either cultivate or corrode a client relationship. Which would you rather it be?

DON’T say I’m sorry

If you messed up, you should apologize, but use a different phrase. “I’m sorry” is what we were forced to say as kids when we were caught doing something we weren’t supposed to do. Sorry is negative, problem-oriented, and is typically followed by excuses. Instead, try “Thanks for bringing that to my attention” or “I apologize.” Other key phrases to avoid include: “I don’t know,” “That’s not my job,” and “I can’t.” Instead, try using these customer-focused phrases: “Let me find out for you,” “I will personally take care of that,” and “Here’s what I CAN do.”

DO focus on the individual, not the company.

You may be trying to land a deal with a big company, but you’re doing it through a person. That person is the company’s spokesperson, so sell to them and the company will likely follow.

DON’T bypass an annoying client.

If you go behind a client’s back, you will create an enemy for life. Trust me, you don’t want that. As hard as it may be, work with your client to resolve any issues and build a relationship moving forward, rather than working against them.

DO put connection first.

Clients want you to genuinely care about them. Take the time to build a personal connection and you’ll see your business relationship grow as well. Did your client mention they are going on vacation? Ask them how it was when they get back. Does your client have a kid looking at colleges? Ask them how the process is going. Oftentimes they’ll just be impressed that you took the time to remember something they mentioned. (Hint: Write it down if you’re likely to forget.)

DON’T mistake apathy for loyalty.

Haven’t heard from your client in a while? Don’t assume they’re so blissfully happy that they don’t need to talk to you. You can’t fix what you don’t know, so check in and see how things are going. They’re more likely to let you know something you need to fix if you are proactive about your relationship with them.

DO let your client talk.

Your goal is to ensure that you provide your client with what they need and the only way you can do that is to listen to what they have to say. Your client doesn’t know what they need? Be prepared with questions to ask your client about their company and industry so you can better understand what they’re looking for.

DON’T badmouth your competition.

You want your client to see you as a professional and only insecure people try to build themselves up by putting others down. Explain to your client why you are the best fit for them, but don’t do it at the expense of your competitors.

DO be consistent.

It’s more important to be consistently good than to be stellar on one or two occasions. Errors in your work will erode client trust in you and your company so be on top of your work. Always proofread your e-mails and reports so that you convey professionalism every time. No client likes to read a report full of typos and run-on sentences.

What do you think of these simple rules to build great client relationships? Have you found something that works well for you? Let me know in the comments!

Tags: ,
Posted in Business Advice 3 Comments »

3 Comments

4 Easy Steps to Know Your Client

August 1st, 2012 posted by Breann 12:08PM | View Full Story

Shaking hands with your client

Knowing your client may be the most important aspect of being a successful Internet Marketer. Every client is different and you must be able to adapt your work to your client’s preferences. Internet Marketers see all types of clients from clothing to online gaming and there is a big difference in how you are going to market each client. In order to market your clients effectively and retain their business, follow these 4 easy steps to know your client.

Gather Your Client’s Specs

Once you’ve gained a new client it’s time to start getting to know them more. To get the ball rolling send a questionnaire to your new client with some questions about their business. You’ll want to gather basic information such as their contact information, and passwords and some more important information, including their goals and expectations of the campaign.

Get Ready for the Kick-Off

After receiving the completed questionnaire, it’s time to schedule a kick-off call. A huge part of customer service is showing your client that you care. Scheduling a phone call instead of just emailing back and forth adds a personal touch to your client relationship. Remember: don’t just talk business the whole time, it is important to connect on a personal level. Whether you both love basketball or you have traveled to where they live – make a connection! I suggest connecting with your client on LinkedIn to see where they went to school and their interests; this will give you some simple talking points, plus you can put a face to a name.

Be Nosy: Ask Questions

Now on to the business side of your phone call. Be sure to ask a lot of questions! It is extremely important to know the goals and expectations of your client. What is important to them? Is it sales, engaged visitors, or signing up for a free trial? You will also want to be on the same page for the time frame of the project. Issues can arise with unrealistic expectations on the delivery of a project, so set a realistic timeframe at the beginning of the project and stick to it. Next, ask your client about their presence on the internet. Did they sign up for SEO but run PPC on their own? Finally, it is important to be aware of who their ideal customer is. Who are you marketing to? That one detail can change everything in your campaign. After they have answered all of your questions, you must be prepared to answer any questions that they might have for you!

Do Research to Become an Expert

Don’t stop there! You should have already completed some basic research on your new client, but now that you’ve discussed their goals and expectations it’s time to complete some in depth research. Spend time on your client’s website and determine what needs to be improved. This involves using your marketing as well as technical and design knowledge. Are their title tags non-descriptive? Do they have a form that is too long? Are there a ton of broken links? Are the pictures on the site stretched? Make a list of all the changes you would like to make and start tackling them! Also, find and follow them on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to learn more about their target audience. Another great way to know what is going on in their company is by setting Google alerts for when their company name is mentioned on the internet.

Now that you’ve completed the 4 easy steps to know your client including a questionnaire, a phone call, asking questions, and research, you should know your client inside and out! Knowing your client should give you the confidence to market their site with ease. Continue communication with your client based on their expectations and give them some unsolicited “great news” updates to keep them engaged. It is easier to keep an existing customer than to get a new one so be sure to know your client! Leave us a comment and let us know what has worked well for you.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Business Advice, General, Internet Sales 3 Comments »

3 Comments

What Getting Engaged Taught Me About Online Advertising Opportunities

June 20th, 2012 posted by Benn Trasatt 12:08PM | View Full Story

It’s not always the “what,” sometimes it’s the “when.”

We are all familiar with the marketing mantra of “Who, What, When and Where,” but sometimes we get so focused on the “Who” and the “What” that we miss the opportunity in the “Where” and “When.” No, this is not turning into a Dr. Seuss blog post, but as he always says “Think and wonder, wonder and think.” I ask you do to the same as you look for new market opportunities for your business.

After getting engaged last April, I experienced a change in how I am targeted based on lifetime events and new behaviors at this time in my life. This has made me think about the new opportunity service providers and retailers have when things change in a consumer’s life, and how to take advantage of that change.

Today, I want to share some thoughts that, in theory, can be applied to any market. They might make you think a little differently about your targeting. For the purposes of this article I will use the wedding example. Below are just a couple of ideas that are based on possible life scenarios and customer behavior that start with asking the questions “When” and “Who” after she says “Yes.”

Getting Married…When Guys Become Consumers of Feminine Products

Now, I am not trying to say that weddings are specifically a girl thing, but the consumer market is heavily swayed towards women for this industry. I am just speaking for myself, but I honestly had no urge to ever purchase or own Fine Bone China before last April.

So what am I getting at here? Wedding Registry Time — the only time I would bring Fine Bone China into my life. Though marketing to women may be your knee-jerk response to “wedding registry time,” this is a great time to market to men as well. Make sure to sometimes think about the “When” first as opposed to the “Who,” because sometimes that “Who” could change and open the door to more money.

Wedding Registry Time is a huge opportunity for marketers to target men as well as women. Strategically casting a larger net can help you generate more revenue. What’s especially cool about this whole thing is that I am not even the purchaser; I am just one of the decision makers.  If I am going to register to have someone else buy me china for the first and last time in my life, I am probably going to do a little bit of research.

I got the When and Who. So what about Where?

So let’s say you are a retailer of Fine China and you provide wedding registry services. Your marketing team brainstorms about your target market and possible new opportunities and comes up with the brilliant idea of carefully adding recently engaged men to the mix. Your team thought outside the box and realized that this could be a big opportunity. So where and how do we implement this? These are just some ideas:

Social Media Advertising to an Engaged Man

One of the first things I did after I got engaged was update my Facebook status for the world (and marketers alike) so that they were aware that I was happily engaged and ready for a new line of products and services in my life. Facebook ads are a great opportunity to reach your target market. Within one day, I was seeing ads for tuxedo rentals, cake designers and all the wedding love one guy could handle.  I was fine with that because it was relevant and I knew I would need these things eventually.

One ad that I really liked was a wedding flower advertisement. Flowers are expensive and being in business, I am always thinking about cost. Perhaps even the fact that I am a male caused them to create a new campaign with language specific to price rather than flower options. That language caught my attention because it rings true to my concerns.

Facebook Ad Idea for Wedding Flowers

Overall, Facebook is a great starting point for creating your first impression of brands and products that men would not have been exposed to in the past. The targeting capabilities allow you to segment by job types, location, sex, marital status and even interests gathered from information in user profiles. This is all valuable data that will help you create compelling and relevant ads that speak to each segment. I would suggest separating males and females into two different groups and testing different ad copy in this example. Overall, it will help you to understand the differences between men and women and then craft ads that relate to each. During this testing, you can learn a lot about not only the differences between men and women, but also what kind of guy you should be targeting.

Remarketing In the Wedding Industry

If you happen to be a retailer that offers wedding registry services online, remarketing may be a fantastic solution to look into. It’s important to remember that remarketing is very powerful, but can also be extremely annoying to visitors and at times wasteful if not done the right way. The complaints from searchers on the web generally relate to marketers who forget about frequency capping and thoughtful targeting.  You need to put thought into creating custom combination lists with multiple variables and crafting targeted ads for all your segments. This is especially important for online retailers.  Put some thought into it and make remarketing an asset rather than an annoyance. Here are two remarketing ideas:

  1. Keep the Newbies – This could just be a simple list of new visitors to your site, but let’s take it a step further to make it more valuable. I would create several remarketing lists to understand what is happening on my site. One list should designate the people that visit the wedding registry introduction page, and another list should designate the visitors that completed setting up a registry.  Next, create a custom combination list targeting new visitors who visited the wedding registry introduction page but did not sign up. Below is an example of setting this up in Adwords:

This will help you target those first time visitors looking for a registry who are still in the information search phase of the decision making process. In your remarketing campaign, you could offer a promotion such as a 20% off coupon for something in your store if they register with you. I am a firm believer that you should not just send remarketing and say “Wait! Come back please!”  Marketers need to give browsers a reason to come back. In our example of the wedding registry, a small promotional offer could be reason enough. It creates the potential for many sales and thus is worth offering.

  1. Take it one step further: Let’s use the Bone China example from earlier in the article. Let’s also say you are driving and tracking a lot of traffic to your wedding registry section and you want to track and target visitors who are viewing Bone China Products outside of the registry section. These visitors are coming to the site to look at your Bone China Products and — in the same session – view wedding registry information.  That is a valuable visitor that you need to stay in touch with. Again, you could create another custom combination, but add another remarketing list that collects visitors to the Bone China Section. That will allow you to craft ads that are relevant to that product line and more likely bring visitors back.

Integrating Facebook and Remarketing – Targeting More Effectively

My final idea ties together the concept of going after a different segment of consumers (males) based on a life change (marriage) that makes them eligible to be targeted. This could enable you to market to them right away and create a more custom experience for those male visitors.

  1. As we discussed earlier, start by creating your Facebook ads and target males in a separate campaign. This campaign should have its own landing page that is only accessible through the Facebook ads. This will allow to you create custom content for men and also track activity on that page more effectively.
  2. Create a new remarketing list that tracks users that view that page. This is an easy way to track male visitors who are recently married and thus creates a segment of users that you can remarket to or include in custom combinations.
  3. These are much more relevant visitors who have an interest in your product or service. Create a custom combination including your male Facebook visitors and exclude those who complete your end goal, such as creating a registry.
  4. You are now tracking your list of males who are interested in your services and have not converted. This opens the door to show your ads on different areas in the display network such as sports websites that you might normally shy away from when marketing Bone China. This also allows you to be more creative with your ads. You could go with language like “make her happy…” or “China Styles men will love, and so will she…”

Now that you are able to segment and track males and females separately you can increase your chances of keeping those males and getting them to convert…which probably would not have happened by only keeping females in mind or lumping them all together into one campaign.

The ideas I provided can be applied to many different situations, industries and life events. It might not always be a male vs. female thing. Any business can utilize the concept of “When” not only to refine segments but also to expand those segments further.  If you learn anything from this post, it is that the opportunity isn’t always about changing how you are marketing to your current target audience. Sometimes it’s about adding a new “Who” when the time is right. So as Dr. Seuss would say…

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!”

Give it a shot and share your industry specific ideas in the comment section.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Business Advice, Marketing 1 Comment »

1 Comment
Older Entries
Newer Entries