Reynolds Group Blog

So your core business is down and sales are flat…what can you do now to get more business?  Look to the internet!

Internet Ideas:

• If you are not collecting emails from your customers, START NOW. Email communication with customers is the most effective and least costly way to get business.
• Focus focus focus: Connect your exact product to the right customer using keyword themes (SEO), landing pages, Pay-Per-Click and internet PR.  If they ask the right buying question, don’t distract them with other messages or links.

Non-Internet Ideas:

• Design a simple telemarketing program to get new names and phone numbers.
• Mail five - call five: Send a note to 5 new prospects on Monday and call them on Thursday every week.

“NO” just means you have not sold them yet!

Every company needs an internet strategy. Website marketing is not just for consumer products or retail sales. Furthermore, it involves more than just a virtual brochure. It is the living, real-time representation of your entire marketing, sales, public relations and branding programs.

There two types of people who visit your website.

1. People who know your product and/or services and want answers right away, or
2. Strangers who search for your site and will linger and be “sold” in the best sense of the word.

The website has less than four seconds to do either.

Advanced web architecture and good planning can meet both visitors’ needs. Whether you are a Retailer or Wholesaler, B to B or B to C, Non-Profit or For-Profit, your website must mean business. It is worth having a plan!

Something to think about:

• The number one reason people visit a website is to find a phone number.

• The average purchasing agent spends an average of 5 hours a day on the internet.

Prospecting for business yesterday, one client said, “Stay in touch, we are all in this together.” It struck a chord!  In these strange economic times we need to hang together because the world is not ending–it’s just changing. The lesson is, don’t act alone, build a team.

Here are some ideas: Send me more if you have them!

• Join or be more active in your trade assocation.
• Call your good vendors and see how you can work together better.
• Call your good customers and see how you can work together better.
• When you see an opportunity for another business, let them know, and they will return the favor.
• Find time to help people in your own “backyard”who are less fortunate than you are.

Good deeds are rewarded, and it takes more than one person to “move a mountain.”

Here is a lesson from Alice and Wonderland by Lewis Carol  

The scene starts when Alice first meets the Cheshire Cat:

“The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice.  It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.

“Cheshire-Puss,” she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider.  “Come, its pleased so far,” thought Alice, and she went on. “Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where—-“said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“———so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. “What sort of people live about here?”

“In that direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw round, “lives a Hatter: and in that direction, “waving the other paw, “lives a March Hare.  “Visit either you like: they’re both mad.”

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.

“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here.  I’m mad. You’re mad.”

“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.

“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

My Thoughts

To build a successful website you need a plan.  All plans begin with a clear starting point and destination. If you have a clear mission you will have a clear website. A clear website will result in the right people finding and acting on your internet marketing strategy. Your mission states in as few words as possible what you do. It is ground zero for your planning process which includes building a website.

All Plans need a vision too. A vision is your ideal destination or goal. A clear vision on a website helps visitors see the future opportunities in doing business with your company or organization and makes them feel secure because there is a future. A vision states in as few words as possible where you are going. It is why you are planning in the first place and identifies the the place you will celebrate geting to. A clear vision allows your organization to pull together in the same direction, and will help your people make right decisions along the way.

If you do not want to end up a “Mad Hatter” you may also want to work on your purpose which Lewis Carol touches on in the last few lines of this quote. Purpose is the “why we do it” or “why are we here” part of a plan.  Mining “purpose” will bring you and your organization even more riches

Recently my partner Eric Lin and I  built a highend website for Manufacturers Bank (MB) that included a “Business Intelligence System.” It is much more than a static website. It can give real time information to customers, capture and analyze marketing data about visitors, promote banking products, turn prospects into customers, and create detailed reports.  Here is a  partial outline of its advanced features.

Inform

• My MB Business Intelligence Center
• Provide current/ hard-to-find industry intelligence/ articles (PDF/ 3rd-party data feed)
• Provide current industry news (RSS/ 3rd-party data feed)
• Provide industry resources (seminars/ events/ links)
• Recommend relevant/ industry specific MB products
• Empower MB staff to add/ edit/ delete My MB content (Graphic/ RSS/ PDF/ resources)
• Data Source: MB Content Management System (CMS) & 3rd-party data feed

Capture/ Analyze

• My MB Registration Form & MB Business Intelligence System
• Capture user industry category, email and user behavior data
• Cross reference industry, user behavior & customer profile data with product/ customer parameters setup in CMS
• Cross reference MB internal data with product/ customer parameters setup in CMS
• Empower MB staff to add/ edit/ delete product, customer & recommendation parameters VIA CMS
• Data Source: MB Content Management System (CMS), User cookie/ log files & MB internal customer data
• Promote Banking Products
• Dynamic Product Promotion
• Dynamically “Push” relevant product promotions to prospects
• Provide relevant product recommendation based on industry category
• Provide relevant product recommendation based on user behavior
• Provide relevant product recommendation based on customer profile
• Deploy third-party newsletter delivery system to “Pull” prospect into MB website
• Empower MB staff to add/ edit/ delete product promotions VIA CMS

Turn Prospects into Customers

• Multi-Channels User Conversion
• Enable prospects to convert VIA product/ service registration form
• Enable prospects to convert VIA third-party “Call Me” feature
• Resolve prospect questions VIA third-party customer service chat feature

Manage/ Report

• MB Content Management System (CMS)
• Empower MB staff to add/ edit/ delete My MB content (Graphic/ RSS/ PDF/ resources)
• Empower MB staff to add/ edit/ delete product promotions (Graphic/ Ajax/ links)
• Empower MB staff to add/ edit/ delete product parameters
• Empower MB staff to add/ edit/ delete customer parameters
• Empower MB staff to fine-tune product recommendation parameter
• Empower MB staff to track campaigns VIA industry/ visitor/ behavior reports
• Allow reports to export VIA .CSV format

It is commonly said that a dog’s body ages seven years for every twelve months of accrual time.  The same can be said for Internet marketing.  The Internet is moving so fast your current strategy needs revisiting almost as soon as you execute it.  Here is an example using written communication: I graduated from college 30 years ago. The only written communication was using snail mail (the post office). I have three children, ages 21, 24, and 27, who all left the state for college. In 2000, all written communication with my son was by email.  In 2004, all written communication with my middle daughter was IM (Instant Messaging) and email.  Today all written communication with my youngest is texting and on Facebook. She never checks her email…that is old school.  What is your Social Media Strategy for communicating with your clients? Facebook, linkedin and other socal sites are growing…are you part of the scene?

Too often websites and traditional marketing are judged and driven by ego, habit, tradition or fear…not by measured results. It is a huge misappropriation of time and money!

Print media can take time to analyze. However, on the Internet you can know in 24 hours if a SEM (Search Engine Marketing) program is working. With a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) program you can know in just a few weeks if your efforts are making a difference.  It starts as simply as setting up your site with free analytics from Goggle. http://www.google.com/analytics/ .

Important: Take the time to look at web analytics…it is worth the time!

Next: Remind your staff to ask either of these simple questions every time a customer calls…”Where did you hear about us?” or “What promoted your call?”

Important:  Write down each answer and review them at least once a month! 

Finally, every time you communicate with customers, re-read your words and ask the question, “So What?”…or think what’s in it for them

Important: Advertising is about the customer…not you.

My friend Eric describes good search engine optimization as putting “Google Juice” on a website. More Google Juice powers your website to the top of the search results list. Less Google Juice holds your website down or causes it to drop off the Google map.

What is Google Juice? It’s feeding Google all the things that it likes to eat so its bots or spiders visit your website often, believes you are a real business, understands what you do and sees some outside source confirming your authority. Everything from how many years you have pre-paid your URL (web address) to website reviews and links to your site from web articles will give your site various amounts of Google Juice.

Here are 5 free ways that create efffective Google Juice

1. Title Metatags
2. Additional Content
3. Key Themes on Home Page
4. Deep Links on Home Page
5. Google Site Map

Here are 5 paid ways to get effective Google Juice

1. Internet Press Releases
2. Associative SEO - Leveraging Authority Sites
3. Social Marketing (Blogs, Facebook, MySpace)
4. Pay-Per-Click Advertising
5. Pay-Per-View Marketing Campaigns

Starting a sales call by talking about your product is easy…particularly if you believe in what you do. Having a rehearsed opening, and listing all the benefits, is a standard approach for many salespeople. The problem is… only if you are lucky, will one of those benefits actually be of interest to the client. You may find that a fair percentage of your calls languish or fail if this is how you start.

Try starting a sales call with a question. Do your homework first so you know some answers before you ask the question. For example: look at their website, read a brochure, do a Google search, walk their store, quiz the receptionist…and more… Knowing the answer before you ask it will prevent you from asking the wrong question that ends a conversation. The best questions will hook your prospective client into a relevant discussion.  Get them talking about the problem you can solve and what life will be like for them when that issue is checked off their “to-do” list.

Master salesmen never ask a question they don’t already know the answer to…and they have also already thought of the follow-up question(s) they will ask next. For example, a simple opening question might be about how business is going.  Ask — what do they see are the opportunities and problems today? You will learn a lot and it will help you frame the rest of your whole sales presentation. 

The next question is critical…it must be specifically about an area where you can help them and establishes why you are taking their time. You need them to tell you why they want you there and how to proceed. Good questions will tell you what benefits to emphasize later. 

I always like asking the question, “What do you like about the current solution you want to replace?”…then head towards the “don’t likes.” It creates a more positive feel to the discussion.

The baseball season opens in a few short weeks…and for me and many baseball fans, life begins on opening day.  It seemed appropriate that I saw a message today that read:

“Progress always involves risk. You will never make it to second base with your foot firmly planted on first”

 Go for it!