Letters From Dan

A well executed banner retargeting marketing strategy is a tremendous way to capitalize on all your other marketing efforts. Banner retargeting is a way to make sure that visitors to your website continue to see ads for your products/services on the web AFTER they leave your site.  Basically – automated outbound follow-up.

Executing it is easy. It is the practice of putting a cookie on the computer of someone who’s been to your website (specific pages that is). Then buying banner ad space that will serve your ads when someone with that cookie on their computer visits that page. That’s the entire program in a nutshell.

If you’ve ever wondered about doing an outbound telemarketing campaign to call past users of your product or perhaps a postcard campaign to your pile of business cards – you’ll like this.

Before I go further most people who don’t understand banner retargeting have the following two concerns. (And because they have these concerns they typically fail to hear the astounding benefits of a banner retargeting marketing strategy.) So let’s address those two questions:

I’m always looking for unbelievable viral marketing examples, and recently came upon what ThePianoGuys are doing with their CelloWars video. You’re going to love it.

There is an enormous differences between viral video examples and viral marketing examples. Tons of videos go viral. Most of them that have done so weren’t because they were planned that way.  And 99% of them are just a flash in the pan with no way to turn that audience into future fans.

In this viral marketing example you’re going to see how ThePianoGuys are using their videos to create fans, generate revenue, grow their list and become pop icons. You don’t see this kind of thing everyday.

They start with YouTube, but these guys aren’t using a Flip Camera in their car on the way to work. Their videos are stunning, done with impeccable editing and amazing musicians. They are so well done, you want to share them. But again – that’s not viral marketing. Great editing, amazing music and stunning video is a hallmark of great movies like Shindler’s List, K2 and Empire of the Sun but that doesn’t make them a viral marketing example.

I was recently working with a client on their site when they asked about the kinds of things we could do to website revenue generation ideas I had and what kind of return we could get from those activities. Revenue is so very tied to the kind of traffic you get to your site. You could use adfly.com to drive thousands and thousands of people to your site, without ever making a sale.  How and why the traffic gets to your site is crucial to its monetization. So I made this short pencast and thought you’d enjoy hearing those as well:

Matt Cutts finally decided to produce another post about using hyphens and underscores in domain names. It’s not often that he does – so I’m always grateful to see him update Google’s position. As you’ll see in this video, it’s still very clear that hyphenated domain names are not penalized over those without hyphens.

I also found it interesting how Google sees underscores. I can only assume that Google treats underscores the same way whether in a domain name or in copy. It seems to all stem from the days when search engines weren’t that savvy.

I’ve got a friend whose about to get his website underway. He asked me what his first steps should be. Mind you his website name is his name, and he knows his niche. Also we set up WordPress on his domain, so we’re past that as well. Basically he wanted to know what the 1st steps in setting up a website were – in terms of content.

Determining what to write

The first thing I did was make a keyword research video for him to watch  (which I posted at our free forum http://freeweeklymastermind.com/webinars  So I asked him to watch the video and use the information to put together a map of keywords he’s going to go after with his website. Starting with the big picture. . . you really want to figure out what you’re about.  If you’re at this stage, start by asking yourself what you want your “tabs” to be on the website.

Since this is a branding site, in which he’s trying to prove his expert status and get hired, he’s going to have some pretty common tabs. To start he’s going to need something like an “about me” page, a “contact me” page and perhaps a testimonials or past projects page. You don’t have to have these things – but people look for these things. Sometimes it’s good to give them what they’re looking for.

Ever heard of Matt Cutts? I’m guessing that if you’re not in the internet search community, you probably haven’t. (Unless you know his mother or something like that). Well, Matt works at Google. He’s the guy that Google puts in front of the cameras when there’s something to be said about their Search Engine.

He’s a face, an information source and a  personality to whom we can learn from, listen to and interact with. Google, one of the biggest companies on the planet, chose to give their Search Engine a face.

Did you notice how Tom Hessey of Sprint stars in the Sprint commercials? How about the Papa John’s guy being front and center in their marketing?  Even radio disc jockeys in the last 10 years have become more than just a voice.

Why Does a Face Matter?

Because that face matters. There is so much sincerity, honesty and trust that can be built with a smile than can ever be created with a tag line. Think about this. . . when was the last time you really felt like the people at your local telephone company, the DMV or that vending machine downstairs really understood you? How about Wal*Mart?

Now, turn around and think about your business.  Now that you’re looking at doing social media – have you considered the value of the human voice for your company? Have you considered how much more personal a picture is on Twitter than your company logo?

Narrow that even further. Think about that one person who buys your product and for some reason returns it.  Did you give that person enough reason to come back? Not every product fits every customer. . . that’s just part of the deal. But with a human voice, a smiling face and some sincerity – you can limit that person’s negative or blase feelings to the product itself.

Getting to know the people behind the company can do more for conversions than a perfectly sized, red opt-in box may ever do. Isn’t it cool when you know someone who works for the company? Don’t you feel more connected? I sure do wish I knew Matt Cutts better. . . and the only reason I say that is because I’ve seen him in action on video. He seems pretty cool.

That “connected” feeling truly turns into profits in the long run. How many times have you heard someone say

• “I know a guy that works at X. . . they’ve got a great operation over there”?
• “I met the weather guy from Channel 4 – he’s pretty cool. . . “
• “Hey, when you get there ask for Trudy, she really helped me the last time”

Conversely, when there’s no face involved, you rarely hear someone say “Come by my office some day, our vending machine rocks”, or “You should use my hosting company, they never answer the phone but they have good prices.”

How Do You Introduce a Company Face?

First, determine strategically who should be this new face. There’s no sense in picking a lame duck, a summer intern or a mean-spirited person. That seems obvious I suppose – but you’d be surprised who don’t take time to think about it.

Will that person represent your brand well, inside and outside the job? Will you choose multiple people depending on their area of expertise?

Then just do it! Have them create their own Twitter Account that you tweet about from the company account. Introduce them on Facebook, BlogTalkradio, Cinchcast, YouTube and LinkedIn. In fact, look up Matt Cutts on YouTube to see what he does.

Have that person track questions they get asked and start making relevant response videos for YouTube. Use them by name and even write a press release for your local media.

Upload some photos throughout the web using the company name as the photo’s file name. That way internet searchers can find the face associated with the company name.

Consider buying Ask(Thatperson’s name).com and use it as the teleseminar or webinar registration page. Have that person answer WikiAnswers questions with the personal profile built and branded to the company.

Don’t limit yourself. People love a face.

Oooh. . . this is pretty exciting actually, especially for small business owners who would like to have a Twitter account, but really don’t have the time to keep it up-to-the-minute fresh. Here’s a free, great method to supply your Twitter account with great information about your niche.

Wait. . . does that even make sense? Isn’t Twitter a social media  property that really requires personal networking?  Despite every social media expert in the country saying the opposite, you definitely don’t need to be present all the time and you don’t need to be creating relationships.

To say that is mandatory is to ignore the usefulness of NPR, PBS, Wikipedia and the Weather Channel. All of those mediums are watched and subscribed to by people just looking for information. So be that source for those looking for information. This is one way to do that – send an RSS feed directly to your Twitter account.

In a short 5 minute watch you can see me lay the whole thing out in this short video clip:

Watch the RSS Feed to Twitter video

But the steps in prose are this:

• Figure out what it is you want to send to Twitter. Are you wanting your audience to get information, information and offers, advertisements, or entertainment.
• Find the information you’re looking for by searching Google and then clicking the “more” button for Blogs. Basically you want Google to find you information on your topic specifically having and RSS feed.
• In the URL bar, at the far right is an orange RSS symbol (see graphic in this post), click it and pick the one that says “Subscribe to RSS feed”.
• Copy that RSS feed URL bar address, and then open a new tab and go to TwitterFeed.com
• Create an account, including adding in your Twitter account log-in information. When it asks you to add RSS feed, paste the URL spot and give it a nickname.
• As long as you have a Twitter account, you’re done. If not, you’ll have to get a Twitter account first.Now go watch the movie before you ask questions. I think made it much clearer there.

Go watch this movie!