–So you have an amazing website-what do you want your visitors to do once they get there?

Are you funneling your website traffic into valuable sales leads?

Should your visitors know exactly what to do when they get to your site? In a perfect world yes, but they will be depending on your clues and navigation to guide them there.

Driving general traffic to your company website is great for brand awareness and conveying information. In his ebook, Seth Godin’s Incomplete Guide to Building a Web Site that Works, marketing guru Seth Godin states that the goal of a website goes further than brand awareness and its main purpose is to “turn a stranger into a friend, and a friend into a customer.” The trick is to figure out how to convert those visitors into sales leads. Not everyone will purchase your product online or pick up the phone and solicit your service, so you need to find an effective way to capture information from visitors for future marketing efforts.

Capturing information usually starts with obtaining the visitor’s email address to add to your email marketing campaign. Email addresses are typically the easiest information to get because it results in the least intrusive marketing efforts. However, in some instances it might be necessary for you to obtain a mailing address or phone number-but you might have to work a little harder to get it.

To get your visitors to turn over their valuable contact information you need to optimize your website to capture this information.

Use a call to action

Tell the visitor what you want them to do. Prompt their participation by letting them know what types of interaction you offer. Subscribe to us, share this, get our e-newsletter, etc.

Be sure the call to action is easy to find

Most sites feature their subscribe buttons and share buttons at the top right corner of the website. Internet surfers are accustom to finding this type of content here so make it easy for them to find by featuring your call to action in this area.

Screen shot from PIPtampa.com

I would also suggest that you duplicate this on every page so that if the viewer navigates away from the home page, and we hope they do, they can still find the call to action no matter what page they are on. We utilize this technique on our own corporate site to encourage visitors to subscribe, follow us, request a quote, and more. Check it out at www.piptampa.com.

Encourage sharing

Make your website visitors your extended marketing arm by making it easy for them to share, like, or tweet you webpage. Rather than going through the hassle of copying and pasting the link into their newsfeed, they can participate with a few simple clicks. Making these sharing tools readily available also encourages visitors to share when they might not have considered it on their own without your suggestion. This technique may not provide you with an email address but you can track these social media interactions in order to locate leads for social media marketing. See how Business Networking Life utilizes a social media sharing contest to incentivize sharing and capture leads.

Social media share buttons.

Add value

Be creative with your offer. Everyone these days seems to be offering an e-newsletter, so think outside the box. Offer a creative or valuable incentive for people to surrender their precious contact information. Notice that Busniss Networking Life offers a weekly email update for networking events rather than asking viewers to join an email list.

Subscribe box from BusinessNetworkingLife.com

Consider required vs. optional fields

The attention span of a website visitor is short to say the least. The best way to capture the necessary information you need with an opportunity to gather more information is to utilize opt-ins that offer required and optional fields. This way you get the information that you need such as email address and name, but give the options for visitors to provide more. Make sure you only require a limited amount of information to satisfy visitors who don’t want to offer as much.

Example of an opt-in box with optional and required fields.

Utilizing required and optional opt-ins also gives you the ability to use check boxes to request even more detailed information that the visitor might be interested in. In this case, what region the visitor is from. This gives you the ability to segment your data and get even more specific lists.

These are just a few general practice tips that will hopefully encourage your visitors to opt-in and share their contact information. I would suggest that you test one or more of these options on your own website and compare your opt-in conversions to your website’s analytics to measure your conversion rates.

You are certainly not limited to these suggestions as many sites utilize creative tactics to capture visitor information. Does your website have a different conversion tool that I haven’t listed here? Or have you visited a website recently that did a good job of encouraging you to supply your contact information? Please let us know!

Amanda Moore

www.piptampa.com

Add marketing mantras to your daily business routine.

Every business has a set of strategies that they follow in order to be successful. There are standards in place in order to be sure that you meet all of your quotas, goals, standards, expectations, etc.

Do you apply these same strategies to your marketing efforts? If not, you definitely should.

Marketing is a key part of your business’s success. You need to market your business in order to create brand awareness, cross-sell/upsell, retain customers, reactivate dormant customers, generate new leads, and measure business performance. It is important that you address your marketing needs when addressing your business objectives. To help you get started I have provided a few of my own personal marketing mantras:

• I will create and update a calendar to specifically manage my marketing objectives.

• I will be in constant (meaningful) contact with my customers (more on this subject can be found here).

• I will utilize integrated marketing systems to market my business (more on this subject can be found here).

• I will update my website regularly with fresh content.

• I will use opt-ins and subscriptions to build my list online.

• I will have a gratitude strategy in place for customers who purchase.

• I will actively seek out new sales leads.

• I will keep my mailing list up to date and reach out to them regularly.

• I will participate in at least one networking event each month.

• I will analyze my marketing performance and measure my response rates (more on this subject can be found here).

• I will follow up on sales leads.

• I will utilize social media marketing.

• I will post to social media sites at least once a day with meaningful content.

• I will utilize free local search engine marketing.

• I will ask for customer testimonials.

• I will ask for referrals or run a referral campaign.

• I will utilize incentives to increase participation from my audience on offers that I make (more on this subject can be found here).

• I will respond to all interactions from my audience (social media, voice mails, emails, etc).

• I will be open minded to new marketing techniques.

Many of these mantras are very involved processes requiring different mediums, applications, and strategies. All of these mantras can be satisfied with aggressive marketing via print, internet, and social media-and all of them can be integrated to create a super marketing force to help you grow your business.

These are a few of my personal favorites that I try to abide by regularly, but you don’t need to limit yourself to these. Any action that you take to create brand awareness, cross-sell/upsell, retain customers, reactivate dormant customers, generate new leads, or measure business performance is considered marketing your business. If you are already fulfilling some of these mantras then bravo! If you are not, I would consider trying a new marketing avenue that you haven’t explored before.

What are your marketing mantras? Do you have any that I haven’t listed above? Please share.

Amanda Moore

www.piptampa.com

Differentiate Your Company and Yourself

Every company has something to sell. In order to sell or market that product or service we often describe its features, benefits, add-on’s, etc. The fact is that many products and companies are very similar to each other and offer comparable benefits. So how can you make your product, service, or company stand out and above the competition? Buyers purchase from companies and people that they know, like, and trust. Many times in order to land a sale, you may have to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Differentiating Your Company

What distinguishes your company from your competition? You probably sell very similar products that offer very similar benefits for very similar prices-so why should the buyer purchase from your company? Why is your business unique?

Some things to consider sharing with your buyer:

• Perhaps your company is actively involved in the community.
• Your company has been serving your customers for X number of years.
• Your business is family owned and operated.
• Maybe your business is a minority or woman owned establishment.

Differentiating Yourself

Everybody is selling something, so why would someone want to buy from you? Many salespeople are commission based and they earn a stigma that they are “fast-talking salespeople”. Plus, there is always someone else following right behind you trying to get the buyer to purchase something else. The buyer’s time is precious and their dollar is valuable, so convincing them to hear you out can be easier if you can convince them of what differentiates you from the pack. What makes you unique as a person? What do you have to offer outside of your company’s credentials and reputation?

Some things to consider:

• You may share similar interests or hobbies with your buyer (look around their office for clues).
• Perhaps you attended the same Alma mater or fraternity/sorority.
• You may be actively involved in your community.
• You may be an avid networker with a Rolodex full of contacts to refer.
• You may have personality traits that the buyer may find attractive or necessary to close a business deal.  Are you assertive? Anal? Patient? Organized? Hands on? Would any of these characteristics make you more attractive to a buyer? Share them!

So go ahead, share a little about yourself or your company. Differentiating yourself and your company could help you land a sale and it will make you more relatable to your buyer.

Amanda Moore

www.piptampa.com

Proper email etiquette can work wonders...

Email marketing is a fast growing trend. It is quick, easy, and generates a substantial response rate when utilized properly. According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing produced the absolute highest response rate for users seeking to generate leads.

While many marketers are jumping on the email blast band wagon, some still opt for a plain old fashioned email written personally. The latter can be just as effective as a professionally written and flashy email blast, if you mind your email etiquette.

I received two emails this week that caught my attention for two drastically different reasons. The first was from a job applicant who was submitting a resume. Although my company has no job openings right now, I opened the attachment because his email was so well written. The applicant had perfect grammar, spelling, addressed me personally, and took the time to do some research on my company. As I read the email, I felt as if this job seeker knew me, my business, and what I was looking for in an employee. Unfortunately, I do not have a position to offer him but you can bet I am keeping his resume.

The second email was forwarded to me by a friend and actually was a marketing email from a competitor of mine. I have never seen a more unprofessional email. The email had purple font, grammar mistakes, spelling issues, illegal use of ellipsis, capitalization mistakes, random poetry-like indentations all over the place, and exclamation point abuse. My first impression was that I would never do business with this person.

Good email etiquette can be very handy in trying to get your message across. I’m not suggesting that you need to write like Mark Twain but a few tips can help:

• Use a subject line that is interesting and pertinent. You reader should be enticed to open it.
• Use a professional font, color, and signature. Anything too cute will be seen as unprofessional.
• Personalize the email, especially if you want to get the reader’s attention. If you can’t afford expensive email blast services then send the same email to all of your contacts but perhaps personalize the opening sentence.
• Use proper grammar. You don’t need to sound like and English professor, just utilize simple rules you learned in grammar school. Mistakes are fine (no one is perfect) but avoid obvious mistakes such as punctuation or capitalization.
• When in doubt-Google your question. A useful grammar sight can be found at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
• Spell check is your friend, but do not rely on it to catch misused words or grammatical errors. For example, if you are trying to say “whether or not” and you spell it “weather” the spell check will over look it and your receiver will think you want to discuss the recent cold front.
• Reread your email for mistakes. I can’t stress this enough!
• Do your homework. Find out about the company and include some of that information in your email. Looking at your target’s website is a great way to learn their mission statement or business objectives and incorporate some of those key words into your email. The receiver will unwittingly get a sense that you mesh with their company.

Remember, this email could be your first and last communication with a prospect. Emails are easy to ignore and easier to delete, so make your email worthwhile and professional.

Amanda Moore

www.piptampa.com

Get your customer's attention and give them an incentive to act now!

Your marketing piece should have a clear call-to-action that expresses to the customer exactly how you want them to respond. To implement a call-to-action, simply ask yourself how you want the recipient to react to the piece and include it in the creative and messaging.
A call-to-action can take on many forms. It could be to respond to a personalized URL or generic URL, go to a website, call a phone number, contact a representative, attend a trade show, or go to a retail location. Ask the recipient to act now! Include this call-to-action in an obvious and noticeable location in your creative. Perhaps bold letters, in the headline, or in a star burst.

The call-to-action seems to go hand in hand with an incentive. Infomercials utilize this tactic regularly to get buyers to have a sense of purchasing urgency. Call in the next twenty minutes and receive an additional ______ free! Incentives give the receiver reason to act on your call-to-action. It can be in the form of a giveaway, a discount, a contest, or a free gift with purchase.

Again, you must think like your consumer. Is a free $5.00 Starbucks gift card enticing enough or would they prefer to be entered in a drawing to win a new iPod Touch? Some offers can be pertinent to your business or others can be fun items that you think your customers will appreciate.

In any case, a call-to-action linked to an attractive incentive will give receivers all the more reason to react to your marketing piece.

Amanda Moore

www.piptampa.com

Your marketing persistence will pay off!

A surprise phone call today from a prospect got me thinking that consistent marketing is the most effective marketing. After several months and many attempts to contact this particular prospect, they finally called me to set an appointment. Sure it was a very long sales cycle, but the fact is that they finally had a need for my service and they knew exactly who to call.

This is because I partake in consistent marketing efforts. My customers receive marketing collateral from me in the form of packages, emails, direct mail, personalized letters, phone calls, and I pop in regularly with sales materials. I continue to keep my brand at the forefront of their minds with a consistent marketing message.

The fact is that your customers and prospects are being bombarded by thousands of marketing messages every day. The questions you must ask yourself are this: Do your prospects know who you are? Do they know what you sell? Do they know how to find you when they have a need for your product or service? Why should they choose you over your competition?

• Effective marketing will generate leads for you.
• Consistent messaging can get your point across.
• Branding will ensure corporate identity and build awareness about your brand.
• Consistent messaging will get your point across.
• Repetition of these key items will ensure that this message is heard!

Keep marketing, stay persistent, have a clear message, brand yourself consistently, and it will eventually pay off.

Amanda Moore

www.piptampa.com

Cut through the clutter and get your customer's attention!

Keeping in touch with your customers regularly is a vital part of growing your business. How meaningful is the contact you typically have with them?

Regularly blasting your customer or prospect with spam emails promoting yourself, your business, or your special this month is not meaningful-in fact, it can be downright annoying. In an over populated marketing environment we must try to cut through the clutter and stand out with constant meaningful contact.
What do I mean by meaningful contact? Content that is meaningful to your customer not just bombarding them with self promotion…but it is possible to do both.

After you put together what you feel is a brilliant marketing campaign there is still the possibility that the phone won’t ring. It is said that it takes anywhere from 7-10 touch points to reel a prospect in, so it is important that you keep your brand in front of your prospect without overloading them with spam and junk mail-this is where constant meaningful contact comes into play.

Hand written notes or letters are a personalized touch that your customers will appreciate. Hand written notes are a lost art that will set you apart from your competition. They can be utilized as a short thank you note or a card to check in on them from time to time.

Hand written notes and letters take up some time, especially if you are trying to reach a large number of customers at a time. This is when variable print is most effective. Imbedding customer variables in the content of your direct mailer, letter, or email will feel less like a mass marketing piece and can give a more meaningful appeal. Variables can include the customer’s name, company name, images, or even a product or service that you think they might be specifically interested in.

If you are looking to really make a long lasting impression, take the time to get to know your customers and send them things they may be interested in. Send them newspaper clippings or email them a link to an online publication that is highlighting their specific industry or hobby. Include a personalized note or email message just to tell them you saw this and thought of them.

I myself send out monthly newsletters to my customers. This newsletter is not filled with self promoting information but rather useful business and marketing tips that could benefit every business or industry. It is another way for us to get face time with our customer but it is also filled with valuable content that they can enjoy and utilize.

Think of ways to promote your business in a way that will appeal to your customers. Your marketing should be useful to your customer and not seem like blind advertising. Think outside the box and personalize the message to suit the needs of your target market. When in doubt think to yourself: “If someone sent this to me, would I care enough to read it?”

Amanda Moore

www.piptampa.com

Step right up...

How do you define sales? Is it cold calling, networking, following up, leaving voice mails, writing letters, sending materials, creatively plotting how to attract your next victim/buyer, and then praying that they seal the deal and actually buy something? Many sales people participate in a multitude of activities in order to make a sale that range from promotion to marketing…but can you tell the difference between these activities?

I want to share a cute circus example that I have heard several times in my network to help distinguish the difference:

• If the Circus is coming to town and you create a billboard that reads “Circus Coming to the Fairgrounds this Saturday,” that’s advertising.

• If you hang a sign on the side of an elephant and walk him through town, that’s promotion.

• If the elephant tramples the mayor’s garden, that’s publicity.

• If you get the mayer to laugh about it, that’s public relations.

• What if the town citizens go to the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they will have spending money at these booths, answer all of their questions, and convince them to spend a lot of money at the circus? THAT’S SALES!

As salespeople we must wear many different hats. We do whatever it takes to please the customer and seal the deal. Customers depend on us to make the impossible possible and that means we must become a jack of all trades. But salespeople are the rainmakers…and we can make it happen! Hope that gave you a chuckle, happy selling!

Amanda Moore

www.piptampa.com

Watch your marketing grow your business!

I thought to get this blog rolling I would share our marketing strategies for 2009. These ideas have been compiled from our corporate headquarters, other colleagues, and trial and error from 18 years in the business that we have customized to fit our specific marketing objectives.

PIP Printing and Marketing Services is part of a large franchise that boasts hundreds of locations throughout the United States and we are lucky to have many extended resources. Corporately we have repositioned our brand, marketing strategies, and advertising efforts. With an updated new look, tagline, and message we are rolling out many new marketing and branding tools such as new brochures, business cards, stationary, and branded materials.

We are participating in a monthly direct mail campaign. Direct mail is important to our business as it allows us to reach out to current customers and prospects. Direct mail keeps our brand in front of our customers and regularly keeps them aware of our products and services. Our direct mail efforts are successful due to our cultivated mail list and consistent follow up efforts.

Our customer service representative is always trying to cross sell or up sell our current customers to inform them about our extended products and services that they may not be aware of. At the point of sale she will mention a complimentary product or perhaps a service they may not know we offer. We make sure to plant the seed with every customer, send them back to the office with a brochure, and follow up to offer more information.

For the first time ever, our particular location has created an integrated direct marketing campaign. This campaign combines several of our products and services into a unique marketing strategy specifically aimed at acquiring new customers. The campaign incorporates promotional items, graphic design, digital services, variable print, database management, mailing services, website, and fresh baked cookies! The program targeted specific prospects and required aggressive follow up efforts and has brought in a 30% response rate so far.

PIP Printing will unveil our long anticipated new website in the second quarter. The new site will have an updated look, interactive feel, and personalized touches. The new site will have a reverse approach to the typical marketing efforts and will tie all of our new and improved branded materials together.

An aggressive and outside sales force pounds the pavement the old fashioned way. New prospects are targeted with cold calls, phone calls, and knocking on doors.

We spent the first few weeks of the New Year combing through our current mail list to verify and update our contacts. This guarantees that our marketing efforts are reaching the right people and we are not wasting precious marketing dollars.

Networking and participating in community activities allows our company to spread brand recognition, meet new colleagues, and give back to our community. We actively support and participate in groups such as the Kiwanis Club of Tampa, Tampa Bay and Company, and The Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

Most importantly, we try to analyze the success of our marketing efforts. This can be as simple as asking every new customer how they heard about us. Or as elaborate as creating a personalized URL or special landing page to measure response to integrated direct marketing campaigns. It all comes down to ROI and no matter how simple or elaborate, it is important to know which of your marketing efforts are successful and which are not worth the money spent.

None of these efforts are guaranteed to be successful but with the combined approach, proactive marketing, and consistent follow up efforts we are seeing results.

Amanda Moore

www.piptampa.com