Business | Letters From Dan

Local Business Marketing: It’s not all me

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: Business, Business and Economy, Clients, Google, local business marketing, Mail, marketing, Time, up to date, website
Posted in Local Small Business Marketing

Some important folks visited my blog this week. I say important because they’re important to me, but it’s not like the guy who invented Oreo’s stopped by to read this stuff. :) They’re stopping by occurred the same time I was working with a new client. And unfortunately the lesson I was trying to teach the client, I hadn’t adopted myself.

In our first meeting together, I was explaining what my role would be. I was explaining how my job was to bring new clients in the door using the internet, how I was going to go about capturing the information about the new clients and then how we were going to keep marketing to them via e-mail or mail or whatever.

Well, it occurred to me while I was there that the local business had a job too. While it’s my job to get new clients there, it’s the local businesses job to keep them there and leave the door of possibility open that the person would come back. What I mean by that is their job is to be friendly, clean, current and fair. Even if you have what the client wants, if the place is not inviting – they’ll unsubscribe from our e-mails.

That lesson came back on me. It’s hard to have a dirty blog, but it’s not hard to have outdated information. After getting back from my meeting with them, I took a look at this blog and realized the About Me section is from the first week I started. Lettersfromdan has morphed over time and that part is just not relevant.

What my important visitors thought when they visited, I’m not sure. But I can tell you right now the About Me section doesn’t reflect what I told them I was writing about. So this weekend, it’s time to take my own medicine. You can read the old “About Me” section right here, otherwise, I’m committing to you that all parts of this blog will be up to date.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Mistakes in internet marketing: conversion rate

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: Business, conversion rate, Google, Indiana, Internet Marketing: My Ph.D., Michigan, online conversion, Pay per click, PPC conversion, Promotion, Web Design and Development
Posted in Common Marketing Mistakes

One of the biggest mistakes in internet marketing is failing to understand the true nature of your conversion rate.

Conversion rate is such a lousy term, but for many business owners it has come to mean profit.

Unfortunately, businesses that want to provide you with internet marketing services will use the term conversion rate to get your attention and sell you services. But that’s precisely what you don’t want to hear.

more Mistakes in internet marketing: (…)

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Celebrity Apprentice: Right Guard proves the buying process

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: advertising, Brand, Business, Consumer Buying Process, Deodorant, marketing, Right Guard, steps of the buying process, Target market, The Apprentice
Posted in Consumer 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:

How does my customer first hear of my existence?
What is my customer doing moments before they buy my product?
What is my customer buying? (In the case of Right Guard, the name of the scent? the look? the brand?”
What stops a similar person from becoming a customer?
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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What Can Dog the Bounty Hunter Teach Local Businesses?

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: become the expert, Bounty Hunter, Business, Dog the bounty hunter, Film, Local Small Business Marketing, Reality television, Television, YouTube
Posted in Local Small Business Marketing

Ever seen Dog the Bounty Hunter? He’s a Harley-looking dude in Hawaii who goes around rounding up the bad guys. But he doesn’t just round them up, he takes them down with style. Duane “Dog” Chapman and his family have turned their little bounty hunter enterprise into a full blown reality TV sensation. Since 2005 Dog has also turned up as a guest star on other popular shows as well.

Alright, enough with the show prep. What has that got to do with your local business? Well let me answer that with a question. If you live in Hawaii and need a bounty hunter who are you going to call? I’ll answer that for you, you’re going to call Dog the Bounty Hunter because he is the expert.How did he become the expert? He did it by allowing you to see what he does for a living – but more importantly he shows you how he does it.

There’s a roofer in Maryland who has achieved the same “expert” status in his community. He didn’t have a TV show though. He, like you, has YouTube. He films himself everytime he gets on a roof to make his initial inspection. He films the roof while talking about the problems he sees and the solutions required.

He’s created so many films that he’s featured prominently when you search for his local keywords. That ability to prove yourself by allowing others to see your expert knowledge creates a level of trust, appreciation and credibility. Not only that, but he uses the video when he talks to the client and proves to them he understands their problems and necessary solutions.

Become the Dog of your community. Plan your work and turn it into a marketing and teaching moment. You’ll revel in the appreciation your local community shows and accomplish your marketing activities while you’re getting your work done.

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The Money is Not in The List

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: Business, list building, money, money is not in the list, niche marketing, opt-in
Posted in Niche Internet Marketing

The money is not in the list. How many times have you heard that? I suppose there’s someone out there using that headline just to attract traffic. But the truth is the list itself is not that important.

If the list were all that mattered, then the richest people would be those with the biggest lists – the spammers. But when was the last time you saw a “spammer” interviewed on Oprah? No, the list may not mean anything at all. The money is in the manner you grew your list, if that is supported by the value you provide afterwards.

Dave Ramsey, the financial guy, thinks everyone should have to experience “killing your food and dragging it home”. Basically, the entrepreneurial life. Until you’ve worked on commission = which every entrepreneur does, it’s hard to equate work with money.

Internet marketers are in the business of dragging home their dinner. In fact, the income of the internet marketer is directly proportional to the amount of value he creates. (or she. . .sorry. There should be a word that means he/she) That’s the key right there.

The money is not in the list. It’s in the value you provide to the list. If you keep your customers’ goals in mind – and help them achieve their goals. . . you’re providing value, creating trust and opening the door to sales.

The hard part is knowing what your customers’ goals are. Suppose you have a hobby site – like bird watching or knitting. What are your customers’ goals then? That’s what you have to explore. . .and foster and ultimately find the solutions to. If all they want to do is look at photos of pretty barn quilts – then that’s what you should be giving them.

When you become the solution to their goals, you can give them the do-it-yourself information and offer the expedited version. The money. . . is in their pockets.

How do you use your list? Is it successful? Leave a comment.

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Your Blog Must Have A Theme

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: advertising, blog, blog must have a theme, Business, business model, Camera, Consistency, consistent theme, Digital, digital camera, Distinct, Internet, Internet Marketing: My Ph.D., marketing, merchants, monetize, neighbor, persistence, Wordpress
Posted in An Internet Marketing Journal

To have a successful blog, and by that I mean one that not only attracts traffic but is easy to monetize, you need to have a consistent theme. The “blog about my life” isn’t nearly as marketable or as “follow-able” as the Digital Camera Blog or Internet Marketing Blog. In fact you can’t even get some of the bigger companies to advertise on your blog unless it is theme based. Here’s what Netflix requires before they’ll agree to advertise on your blog:

* Related content

* Consistency with their brand, products or business model

Netflix

* Related advertising or merchants

* Distinct method of promotion

That doesn’t mean that your blog won’t necessarily make it to the top with extra effort, persistence and hard work. It just means that you may be disappointed when you show your neighbor how to load WordPress and you find out 3 months later he gets more traffic and better advertisers.

So don’t know the idea – and don’t jump on it. Just keep forward with that in mind.

(P.S. Netflix is as cool as it gets – so in my book they can be as scrupulous as they want to be.)

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The Structure of Social Media for Small Business

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: audience, avenues, Business, cagora, community platform, desire, fan club members, hub, hub and spoke, line presence, marketing, media outlets, media platform, meerkat, membership form, nashville zoo, self addressed stamped envelope, small business strategy, social media, sole proprietorship, spokes, team fan, team poster, traffic, website
Posted in What is Social Media

Structuring your social media platform as a business gives you an opportunity not available to a consultant or sole proprietorship. While I spend a good deal of the time branding my own image, a company has the option of allowing it’s “employee faces” to brand themselves as employees or to make the “employee faces” anonymous giving all the credit to the company.

more The Structure of Social (…)

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Last updated by DanRMorris at February 20, 2010.

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