There’s no Local Marketing Template for strategy

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Local Search Marketing, The Buying Process

I actually searched for local marketing template information early on. In fact, I really wanted something I could put together and sell to all our clients. Who doesn’t really? How easy would that be to fill out some template information and then charge companies “big dollars” to get it done. Lucrative, for sure.

But we quickly found out that while a template sounds good – it won’t make the phone ring for the client. In fact, we’ve found the needs of our clients to be so incredibly different that only small parts fit into an overall formula. Basically our local marketing templates are no more than systematized paths.

We know what we need to get done first, second and third – but by no means are those steps the same from one client to the next. Take for example our RE/MAX Lake of the Ozarks client. the way clients interact with them is much different than our Nashville Electric Scooter friends.

Giving “home buyers” access to the office address of the real estate company is 3rd, 4th or even 10th on the list of things a home buyer looks for when searching on the internet. Whereas, someone looking to buy a scooter, after doing internet research, is very much interested in where they can check these scooters out in person. For one Google Local is crucial, and the other it is only important from a visibility standpoint.

What’s similar between the two clients is the purchase frequency and buying process. So for both companies, product education, product comparison, testimonials, the “test drive” and finally the purchase are the same. In fact, both sets of clients repurchase at similar intervals. But from an internet search and deliver standpoint, the information presented is entirely different.

If you’re a local company looking to improve your results in the on-line frontier, the acquisition of a template is going to ease your mind, but won’t necessarily improve the bottom line. Go back to understanding the buying process of your customer and do whatever it takes to tell them what they need to know – when they need to know it.

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Celebrity Apprentice: Right Guard proves the buying process

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in The Buying Process

Last week on the Celebrity Apprentice, the folks at Right Guard got asked a pointed question.  They first  instructed the celebrities that the Right Guard target market was young, sporty males and thus their advertisement needed to reflect that. One of the Celebrity Apprentice team members asked, “Should we market to the mom’s and wives who may actually be the ones who buy the deodorant?”  And like they should, Right Guard knew the answer.

That’s one of the things we drill in our local marketing workshops – the buying process. If you don’t understand how your customer comes to buy your product, how do you market to that customer?

So their answer was, “Mom’s and wives may buy our product but we’ve found the males in the house influence the decision”.

That goes directly to the effectiveness of your e-mails, your headlines, your blog posts and your in-store advertising. If you don’t know who your real customer is, what are building upon?

Imagine an entire campaign laid out in Woman’s Day Magazine, in Oprah Magazine and in People attempting to educate mom’s on the benefits of Right Guard for their sons. Do you then marry the message with the look? Do you take away the sporty, edgy feel and give it a more wholesome “good for you” quality? And are your contests then loaded up with “mom” prizes?

. . . Only then to find out that your repeat buys are next to nothing because the boys want the edgier, more heavily celebrity-weighted “Arm & Hammer” – the next time? Because in the end, the mom’s and wives want their men to actually wear the deodorant. “Good for you” or not, if they don’t wear it – they won’t rebuy it.

Don’t begin the process until you look deeply at your own customer. Ask yourself these questions:

  1. How does my customer first hear of my existence?
  2. What is my customer doing moments before they buy my product?
  3. What is my customer buying? (In the case of Right Guard, the name of the scent? the look? the brand?”
  4. What stops a similar person from becoming a customer?
  5. Finally, what does my customer overcome to become my customer?

Have you figured out the buying process of your customer? How did you come to that conclusion?

And; if you’re interested in learning more about the buying process, check out our other buying process posts.

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The Buying Process – Writing Ads for your Audience

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: , , ,
Posted in The Buying Process

So, I’ve written quite a bit about the buying process lately. I think that’s mainly because marketers don’t always understand. For instance if you’re an affiliate marketer and you write an ad that says:

    Nikon 30D Camera
    Lowest Price on the Nikon 30D
    No registration required

Now, suppose you write that ad because you’ve become an affiliate of a camera website and the Nikon is a popular camera. Does it make any sense to send that person to a landing page with a title like:

    Nikon 30D vs the new Canon SLR

NO! It doesn’t. Do you know why? It doesn’t make sense because the person who clicks on your ad (based on what you wrote) is beyond comparing features in their buying process. They want to be taken to the page that shows the price and the “BUY NOW” button. Anything less than that and you’re wasting your money on ads.

And speaking of how you write your ads, make sure you spend some time testing what’s written. A poorly written ad won’t get you anywhere (well, maybe you’ll get a spot in this blog) :)

Here’s an example of a poorly written (from a non-native English speaker, most likely), and highly humorous ad – just for fun. I got it in my spam e-mail folder today:

Christmas, Happy!
Hey, what are you doing lately? I’d like to present to you a very good company that I knew.
Its home page company: www.Ele-sky.com
If you have any needs, please contact the company Email.
They can offer all kinds of electronic products that you need, such as motorcycles, laptops, mobile phones, digial cameras, , x box, ps3, GPS, MP3 / 4, etc. Please take time to look at that there must be something you’d like to purchase.
Hope you have a good state of mind in buying your company!
Regards

Please check out these posts on the Buying Process as well:

enjoy!

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Your Web Page and The Buying Process

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in The Buying Process

This is the third time I’ve written about The Buying Process in the last few months.  This morning I met with some folks who hadn’t really spent a lot of time thinking about the buying process of their consumer. So after talking about it a bit, I wanted to add a little bit more.

Please check out these two posts on the Buying Process as well:

Your First Time Web Visitors First Glance

From a “buying process” perspective, what process must someone go through internally to sign up and become a member?

Here’s my thoughts on that:

  • They must find the site
  • They must find it interesting enough to read something or browse and not press the back button
  • What they’re reading or browsing must be interesting enough to signal their brain that this is a good site
  • After they’ve decided it is a good site, they must also have the feeling that this site will be good for them tomorrow or next year
  • (We need them to take an action at this point). They must be able to see how to bookmark the site, send a link to a friend, sign up for the newsletter, or join.
    the human brain
    Image by missjdub via Flickr
  • (Ultimately, we MUST be able to contact them somehow. There is no option here. We must be able to entice them back to the site.) To fork over their e-mail for example, they must be a reason to do so (newsletter, gift or free report), they need to see NO SPAM language and be absolutely clear of what they’re getting.
  • Then when they get the “confirm you want this newsletter” e-mail, they must still be confident and happy that they signed up.

So when you look at your website landing pages (where visitors first come in contact with you), I wonder do they know they are the target market? Do they know they are welcome and part of the group? Do they know that your site isn’t directed at someone else? Do they know that this site pertains to them? Do they know this is a place they can feel comfortable and read – not a place to have their guard up and be ready to be “sold” at any minute? Can they smile and feel like they’re home? Do they know we welcome them and they can come back?

After that long diatribe (and if you agree with the above), what do we need to do to satisfy those steps in the buying process? Look at the website Pre-boomermusings. It’s a relatively new site, but the front page respects the buying process.

It says “for people born between 1936 and 1945”. That’s very clear. He could have said “A blog for us pre-boomers”, but chose to help the user understand they’re included. The photo of Don reinforces who it is for. The word “boomer” in there reinforces who it is for. There being no ads helps make you comfortable and not put up your “hide the wallet” guard.

Can you tell that a person born in 1938 might be interested right away? It’s no “mecca of web design”, but it does have a clear message.

Does your site?

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Internet and DR Marketing: Do You Know Your Audience’s Level of Sophistication?

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: , , ,
Posted in The Buying Process

Eugene Schwartz, the guy who revolutionized direct response marketing – the guy who didn’t get paid enough for his copywriting skills – the genius of marketing, broke down this very important lesson.

As I reference in my previous post about understanding the buying process of your audience, it is also important to understand their level of sophistication.

This “level” is determined by understanding your market and your target market’s historical interaction with the product, your competitors and their overall advertising efforts.

What products are currently advertising in this market? What claims are they making? What is their offer? What has your audience heard over and over again?

Study that and you’ll start to understand Eugene Schwartz’s concept of “level of sophistication”.

Let’s take one of Eugene Schwartz’s products – memory supplements. If memory supplements were new, you might be able to say “take this pill and improve your memory”. But they’re not. People are hip to that – and thus you’d have to move on to the next level.

Perhaps you need to swell the promise, like: Take this pill and Improve Your Memory in 7 Days. That’d be taking it to the next level – making the promise bigger.

The problem in many markets is these kinds of claims have not only been made, but have failed. Bigger isn’t always better. So your marketing has to evolve to include something your audience can sink their teeth into. You need to give them a reason to believe: Take this pill – with 7 memory enhancing antioxidants – and improve your memory in 7 days.”

However, when this unique proposition (the 7 memory enhancing antioxidants) becomes ordinary, common and no longer unique – marketing once again must evolve. Mr. Shwartz calls this the final level of sophistication – and that is:

Now your marketing needs to resonate with the audience. This is where testimonials come in, where users tell their story. This is where the message is no longer objective – it’s personal. If you still use the phrase: Take this pill – with 7 memory enhancing antioxidants- and improve your memory in 7 days. , it will be restated from the customer’s point of view AND said by the customer himself.

This final “level of sophistication” is where Twitter, Blogs and Facebook got their start. If marketing still worked at the first level – these tools would not likely exist yet.

Now go back and read my post about the buying process. Then take what you learn about your service/product from that, and combine that with what you learn about your audience here.

When your marketing can mesh these two important principles – that’s when you’ll hit the home run.

Perhaps a

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Internet Marketing: Do You Know the Steps of the Buying Process?

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in The Buying Process

I recently read Todd Brown’s Article on “the Greatest Marketing Lesson”, which I thought useful, and it made me think about reiterating this important lesson to go along with it.

Todd actually wrote about a concept he learned from Eugene Schwartz regarding the “level of sophistication” your audience has achieved and how to tailor your marketing to that. When you’re finished reading this post, go read Todd’s.

What Eugene Schwartz doesn’t talk about in that lesson is knowing what stage of the buying process your audience is in. Without fully understanding these, you may still be sending the wrong message using Eugene’s marketing advice.

There are three basic steps in the buying process.

The First Step of the Buying Process
The first step is the education phase. That is the phase my Benefits-of-Resveratrol.com site speaks to. Anytime you’re learning the benefits or features of something – you’re in the first phase. Calling the site Benefits of Resveratrol speaks directly to that first phase desire: This is where you can learn about resveratrol. If you just googled “Buy Resveratrol Supplement” and one of the pages of my site came up in the results, your first inclination would be to click the GNC.com / HealthSupplements.com or other e-commerce sounding link before going to the benefits/wikipedia style site. If you do have an informational benefits/features site – you should recognize you’re marketing to Phase I consumers and should read Todd’s post about understanding the maturity of that audience.

The Second Step of the Buying Process
The second step is what Consumer Reports caters too. You already know the benefits of the digital camera you want, you’re ready to compare cameras to see which offer those benefits. Perhaps you could call this the comparison phase. Whether you’re comparing features, benefits, price, delivery speed, or website return information – you’re in the second phase. If you have a comparison site (where you feature 4 stars for your top rated product for example) then you are definitely catering to the Phase 2 crowd – but are probably seeing some of the “buying stage” customers as well. It’s important to recognize that much of your customer base isn’t at your site to buy. They may buy – but they are there to compare. Grasp That. Market to that need so well that they fell compelled to buy from you as well.

The Final Step of the Buying Process
The third and final step is the “buying phase”. You may still be comparing price a bit – but if you are, you’re likely comparing the price of a specific microwave oven on one site to that of another site. The final phase customers know what they want – they need a place to buy it. This is the phase that a 1800Flowers.com or GNC.com caters to directly. They pay for ads for specific products directing you to that product’s Order Now page. This is the phase that Todd’s post speaks to directly in terms of understanding the experience level of your customer base. If your customer is there to buy – they don’t need to be ‘sold’ again on how much dirt your vacuum picks up.

Without combining Eugene Schwartz’s marketing message and your knowledge of your customer’s current buying process ‘mindset’, you may still be sending a mixed message. Know where your site fits into the buying process – and take that knowledge with you in determining the “sophistication level” of your market.

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The Primacy of a Web Product

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in The Buying Process

The SAMBA Blog’s April 8th post was on the importance of a quality product in terms of the product/marketing mix. I think that analogy can be used to describe the importance of a website’s content and function in terms of the marketing that went into planning it.

One of the points the post made was that good product developers aren’t often good marketers – but when the two get together you have something special. I totally agree with that and have written about it many times. Developing your website with marketing ideas in mind while you develop it is crucial.

But as the article says, if you have great marketing and your website is trash – no one will ever go back and your bounce rate will break your marketing budget. But the opposite is true as well, if your marketing isn’t good then your great website will be un-founded and your profits will be nill.

The foresight of marketing and quality content is what not only gets you in front of people, but attracts links, comments, subscribers, followers, bookmarks and potentially profit. Plan your website with both marketing and developers in the room. Don’t let the marketing guys go – until you’ve explored every way people will find your product.

Then release the developers to create outstanding content and find yourself basking in the glory of good planning, not out standing in the rain.

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