Internet Marketing Blog by Winnipeg's leading web agency

A recent marketing study by ServiceXRG found that most online shoppers (74.5 percent) use a company Web site to find needed information about products and services. However, less than half (44 percent) said the information provided met their needs and expectations.

Other studies, including by the Nielsen Norman Group show, that only 50 percent of Web visitors scroll down the screen to see what lies below the visible part on their PC monitor. That info highlights the importance of catching and holding the attention of your online consumer with that crucial first impression.

The Two Major Elements of Web Site Success

A Web site has to accomplish only two basic things to deliver success for your business—and, also basic, those two things are mission-critical. A successful Web site must be built from the ground up to attract and capture:

1. The attention of your target audience
2. The attention of the major search engines

If you can accomplish these two great things, your Web site business will have excellent prospects for success. If you design a great-looking, user-friendly site with well-written market copy, but your site is not constructed on search-engine-friendly design principles, no one will get the chance to experience your work of art.

If your site is well-built and well optimized, yet the design is boring and amateurish, then your well-placed Web site will drive customers away and just might as well not exist. Every potential customer who either bounces out of your site or can’t even find it is another sale for your competitors.

Practical Information for Building a Powerful Presence

Web site success boils down to being easily found in the first pages of the search engine listings and, once found, grabbing and holding the fickle focus of internet shoppers. The Web site design elements and principles that make these two major goals happen are many and are based on industry best-practices and practical marketing principles.

Following are a few key points to keep in mind as you embark on your journey to Web site dominance:
Research your market and build with your customer in mind

Get a very clear picture before starting your Web site project of who your ideal customer really is. Web site preferences of look and feel vary according to gender, age, culture, and interests and this information will be incredibly valuable when you design your site.

A Few Tips on Color to Get You Started…

* Women prefer red and yellow, whereas men like blue and orange. Women also can sense a much greater range of shade variations.
* Older people tend to like sites that are more conservative, with blue, brown, and gray tones. Young adults and teens are often excited by vibrant colors, contrast, and movement.
* Colors evoke different feelings in different people. When targeting a market audience in other countries, be sure to research the cultural color beliefs of that group. In the US and Western Europe, the color white signifies purity and blessing. However, in China and Japan, white is bad luck and red is the traditional color of brides.
* Make sure to use a good contrast between background color and text color. The best choice is a white background with black text. Gray with black text or black with bright text color are also good choices.

These are just a few Web site fundamentals to consider closely when planning your Web site. Keep the customer always at the forefront of your thoughts when designing your site, with the search engines firmly in mind. Find a well-respected Web design agency to build a custom Web site created with your unique goals and market in mind from the very beginning. Remember that you do get what you pay for and that value and quality, not the lowest bid, should be your focus when planning for long-term Web site success.

Hardly a week goes by when you don’t read or hear about social marketing or social media. Those terms are frequently used, so it’s probably a good idea to first define them.

Social marketing was “born” as a discipline in the 1970s. Philip Kotler & Gerald Zaltman of Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, in 1971 used the term to describe the application of commercial marketing principles to health, social, and quality-of-life issues. Read the rest of this entry »

The Chinese curse, “may you live in interesting times,” must have been coined in a business climate similar today’s. The credit crunch and its reverberations are being widely felt, nowhere more so than in smaller organizations that have fewer marketing resources than the big boys.

Marketers need help to navigate these tricky economic waters while staying focused on profitable expansion rather than contraction. If you can grow, even in these times, you will emerge on the other side of the economic crisis ahead of the competition. Read the rest of this entry »

In this day and age, one could say “Green is the new Black.” More than ever, consumers are engaged in environmentally sound practices. And companies can easily leverage this “Green” trend to not only show their customers their concern with the global environment but also reduce the continually increasing cost of the direct mail process.

There will always be a place for direct mail. However, if you look closely at the type and frequency of your printed pieces that you are sending, organizations can easily identify those items that would be a good fit in the email realm.

Many large travel, banking, and other service providers were the first to jump on the email bandwagon for regularly scheduled statements, newsletters, and other already-existing direct mail advertisements.

Properly executed, consumers find many advantages in receiving these types of communications via email.

Advantages for Consumers

* Review, retrieve, and save electronic pieces for easy reference and reduced clutter.
* Immediately respond to offers or call-to-actions with clicks, not postage.
* Share information electronically by forwarding to a friend.

Advantages for Advertisers

* Reduce cost associated with direct mail pieces.
* Shorten the amount of time and reduce the resources needed from “concept to distribution.”
* Customize electronic pieces with more personalized content to increase relevancy for each recipient.
* Decrease the amount of time to provide customers with information that they have requested by using “triggered” or “recurring” messages to send electronic collateral or links.
* Track success of email campaigns through electronic reporting within minutes/hours, not days/weeks.
* Collect other customer information that can be used to tailor unique and customized campaigns based on subscription-collection pages as well as by tracking user activity via visited links.

Identifying the Opportunities and Making the Move

But moving direct mail pieces to an electronic format doesn’t happen overnight. Also, not all direct mail pieces are a perfect fit for the email world.

Email-design constraints, along with best practices, need to be fully fleshed out to ensure that you are providing a message that is visually pleasing and relevant, and renders properly in the email inbox.

Steps and Considerations for Print-to-Email Shift

One of the biggest obstacles when moving from a printed direct mail piece to email is not having an email address, or having an email address that is not opted-in to receive your messages.

Direct mail itself has an integral role in converting direct mail customers to email customers:

* Include a subscription link/address for individuals who are receiving printed pieces via your direct mail campaigns.
* Provide a review of the benefits of “Going Green” as it relates to the environment, direct costs back to the consumer, as well as other perceived advantages for your customer.
* If you plan to phase out a particular printed piece, be sure to clearly call out any dates that the customer will need to “enroll by” to ensure that they don’t miss future communications.
* Offer incentive for the customer to start receiving your message electronically: a discount on a future purchase, points or miles in a loyalty program, enhanced area for VIP access within your Web site, early announcement of discounts, or special or unique offers tailored exclusively for you email-recipient customers.
* If enrollment incentives are non-transferable (unique to those whom you are specifically collecting email addresses for), create your registration page to require your customer to provide his/her “Customer ID” or “Membership ID.” Additional database work on your end is needed to ensure that those you have intended to receive the offer are the ones who qualify.
* Collect email information the correct way: Use two email fields that require the customer to enter his/her email address, and verify that both fields entered match. Use a double-opt-in email communication plan that will generate a message confirming the email subscription selections to further ensure a correct email address.
* Ensure that your Web site has an “Sign Up Today” link on every page to capture new customers
* If you require a “Customer ID” or other type of “Membership ID” to access your Web site, create reminders that ask for their email and subscription authorization.
* Promote your “Green Initiative” on your Web site as well as your current printed direct mail materials.

Taking the steps today to create a road map to a “greener” marketing program can result in significant cost savings in the direct mail channel; doing so will also show your customers that you are a responsible marketer, playing in an ever-growing field with businesses that are trying to make the world just a little better.

The ability to track ROI and campaign success with email can also help drive sales and provide for a more unique and customized user experience that will help strengthen your brand.

The Internet played a disruptive role in the 2008 election in the same way television played a disruptive role in the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy to president. Neither medium was new in the respective elections, but both “came of age” and swung the election towards the winning candidate. Kennedy, in particular, used television ads extensively in his campaign to reach the American voters directly, and embraced simple things like makeup. Read the rest of this entry »