Using Analytics to Fuel Your Marketing Calendar

Hopefully you’re using an analytics suite like Google Analytics to track your efforts. The information you get from these statistics enable you to make decisions, change your methods and better target your revenue sources. What most people don’t do however, is use their analytics to improve their marketing calendar strategy.

Let’s take Halloween for example. You’ve used Google Trends (among other ways) to figure out when your marketing should begin, you’ve used your keyword research tool to figure out what to write about, and you’ve used the AdWords Contextual Targeting Tool to help figure out how to structure your internal linking.AMPLIFY75

And then you’ve got Google Analytics (and to some degree WebmasterTools) to help you assess your progress. Well if you stop there, you’re only using half your resources. What you learn in your analytics package is how you begin putting together your marketing calendar in the first place. (it’s like a vicious circle) Continue reading “Using Analytics to Fuel Your Marketing Calendar”

Lynn Terry’s Pinterest and Image Marketing

Before you dive into our Pinterest and Image Marketing talk, know there is some additional information below the video that came up during the discussion. Please check that out as well.

 

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I hope that call was useful to you. You can see there were a couple questions that didn’t get fully answered. I’ve added that information here.

1. How do you make a “pinnable image”?

I thought it would be best if I made a quick tutorial for you. It’s less than 5 minutes (since I used the free screen capture service Jing to make it). I show you exactly which buttons to press and how to take an ordinary image and make it something special.  Click this link Gimp.org Image Editing Tutorial to go directly to the video.

I also include several different examples of “pinnable images” including infographics, photo instructions and this kind here.

2. Via email I got this follow-up question: 

I heard you say that you should only use your own pics that you have taken yourself, or ones you have purchased.  What about if you are an affiliate of someone and they say you can use their images?  Or in a dropship arrangement, where you are given a datafeed of images.  Are those ok legally to use?”

So this is a legal / insurance / liability question. It’s a great question and shows that the person asking it is truly thinking like a professional.  In the case of the affiliate, if you’re afforded the images to be used as marketing material you have a pretty good case that you were given rights and authority to use them.  If the image is of the product itself, you’ve got no issues. If the image is a woman smiling at an amusement park and looks like a stock photo – maybe you should ask. Always move forward while protecting your rear.

3. List of sites we spoke about:

Pinerly – Great place to collect stats and data regarding your Pinterest account. According to Pinerly, I have 20 invitations to hand out. In theory that means this link can only be used 20 times. Good Luck!

Pinterest.com – If you need an invite still, email me. I can send you one. They don’t give out links like Pinerly, there’s a form I have to fill out with your email addy.

IFTTT – Amazing site for automating a great deal of your world. You’ll love it if you use Gmail, Evernote, Pinterest, Twitter, or Youtube. So many options.

Followgram.me This is an online place to connect with other Instagram users. My account is here: http://followgram.me/danrmorris/ and the example we showed with the photographer is http://followgrame.me/yaron007

Flickr.com – The largest photo sharing site on the net, and at the moment the shining jewell of the Yahoo! empire. Great place to connect with others in your niche via photos.

Marketing Calendar Blueprint.com This discussion about Pinterest and Image Marketing is a module in our Marketing Calendar Blueprint.  The calendar should be your friend and should help you become not only more efficient, but more in tune with your audience. We teach you how to map out your customer’s ladder of value and determine when they need the next piece of information in their journey with you. We teach you how the show The Bachelor markets to their audience and how you can apply that to your efforts. And there’s a great interview with Carrie Wilkerson about her motive matrix. Fascinating stuff.

Pinterest 101 We created a Pinterest 101 video showing you exactly how to sign up, how to pin, how to use affiliate links in your pins, getting the SEO right on Pinterest and a few other things. A bunch of that we covered in this video, but if you need a 101 course to get the basics right, this one is great.

 

 

 

 

Business Continuity Planning Should Start at Customer Aquisition

The most important part of putting together your business continuity plan is the original offer. Why is that the case? Because the original offer brings the customers into the “funnel”. And the original offer is what sets the tone for the continuity program and the price.

For instance, our antioxidant nutritional supplement has a front end offer of “Buy 2 Get 1 Free”, which comes out to a 90 day supply. With a 90 day supply on the front end, the continuity plan doesn’t begin until the 91st day, and in theory the customer will have been taking the supplement daily and will need new product.

I say “in theory” because this continuity program doesn’t work unless the customer is truly interested in improving their health. We learned the importance of that the hard way several years ago. Continue reading “Business Continuity Planning Should Start at Customer Aquisition”