I consider myself lucky to have such an amazing group of passionate business owners make up my client base. So every once in a while, I like to show you just how much I appreciate you. The way I do that…

…is through our semi-annual Take Your Business to the Next Level events. These two-day events are packed with marketing, sales, and business seminars on a variety of topics, and balanced out with fun, relaxing activities like dinner cruises and cocktail parties.

These events are paid for entirely by PostcardMania, and are basically free for clients. (There is a “we want to make sure you’re really coming” fee of $97 for customers. Non-customer tickets are $995.)

My goal with this newsletter is to convince you to do two things (if you aren’t doing them already):

Treat your customers like the vital part of your business they truly are! In the long run, it will benefit you more than any short-term reward you get from business practices that shaft your patrons.
Come to Clearwater and hang out with me at the next Take Your Business to the Next Level event July 17-19!

First, let’s discuss your relationship with your customers. It’s amazing to me how much money business owners are leaving on the table, so to speak. Your customers are your greatest source of revenue and it’s important to not only appreciate them with an appropriate ‘reward’ that improves your overall relationship, but to also make sure you stay in communication with them via email or direct mail or with a phone call – on a regular basis. Often times what you used to do to appreciate your customers and stay in touch no longer works due to an increasing number of competitors price-cutting you out of the game. I’m sorry, but consumers are looking for the lowest price. (I’ve surveyed and not one small business owner WANTS to be the cheapest, yet they feel ‘forced’ by competitors to continually lower their prices. This alone could be the subject of several newsletters, or you can come to my event and I’ll give you several ways to keep your prices where they are and maintain your customer base and grow it!) So you have to work at this and here are a few ways:

Show your customers that their business truly matters to you by putting in place measures that reward their patronage, such as:
Loyalty programs that qualify them for discounts
Special events that offer exclusive content (i.e. seminars, sales, etc.)
Customer service practices that go the extra mile (e.g. Chick-fil-A is the only fast food restaurant that pays an employee just to go around and refill drinks for diners)

These may seem like unnecessary expenses, but what if your customers suddenly decided you were an unnecessary expense? Bye-bye business! This is a two way street, so let’s act like it.

Now for my second point: Let’s hang out! I’d love to see you at our upcoming event. To reserve your spot at the event, simply register here! Space is limited, unfortunately, so act fast.

Learn more about our Take Your Business to the Next Level event, and sign yourself up today!

Best,
Joy

See the site in action: www.fixasphalt.com

Design:

The site uses black and yellow as the main color scheme, which is great for an asphalt company. I really like how they included a high-resolution picture of a newly paved road as the background image. It gives the site a nice texture in the background and makes it very engaging. The yellow really pops off the screen, when contrasting with the black. They also include a nice banner image of a freshly paved parking lot to showcase their work, which is excellent.

Marketing:

There are a lot of really great marketing strategies being implemented into this website. Here are 3 of my favorites:

1.) The Contact Info is in several locations- This is a simple, yet crucial part of your website marketing performance. Your prospects can’t get in touch if you don’t give them the opportunity. You need to make sure you at least have a phone number present on every page for prospects to call.

2.) The “What We Offer & The Competition Can’t” page- This company put together a page that outlines their Unique Selling Proposition (USP), so their website visitors can see why they are different from their competitors and how prospects are better off using them.

3.) Prominently featured video on the Homepage- Pictures are a great marketing asset on a website, and a video is even better. This site has a short video right on the homepage that walks visitors through important information like who they can serve and the benefits of choosing their company.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization):

SEO is the practice of optimizing the copy on your website so that search engines can understand what your website is about and how they should rank it for particular keywords. This website is optimized for asphalt, paving, and concrete service. That means facility owners and property managers can find this website by searching in Google’s search engine for any of those commonly used terms.

Copywriting:

The copy on this site is professional and down to business. They use clear and concise language to communicate why they are the best option for their prospects’ paving needs. The site is well organized so each page has a clear message, and the copy communicates that message very effectively.

Programming:

Programming is a tough one to critique. If it is working properly you won’t notice it. I didn’t notice any glitches or problems with the programming of this site. I navigated through the site seamlessly, which means prospects that visit will be able to focus on the marketing message not the operation of the site.

How does your website stack up? Download our Small Business Web Design Checklist to find out.

Best,
Shannon

Why should I offer a discount on my direct mail piece when I could do that for free through a service like Groupon?

The short answer is that it is all about who you are getting to respond to that offer. But the short answer doesn’t really provide the full weight of the difference between the two platforms. For that…

…we need a hypothetical. Think through this with me…

The Situation:
You are a fine dining restaurant and the majority of your patrons are within 10 miles of your restaurant and earn over $100k per year. You charge $100 for dinner for two.

Marketing Option 1:
You do a Groupon offering 50% off dinner for two. The Groupon is sold for $50 and you keep $25 of it, while Groupon keeps the other $25.

You sell 100 Groupons, 40 of which are people located within 10 miles of your restaurant. 15 of those make over 100k per year. 5 of those were already regular patrons. So only 10 of the 100 you sold a discounted meal to are actually in your ideal target market.

Your initial revenue from the promotion is $25 per Groupon. For 100 Groupons, this comes to $2500. If 7 of those 10 new qualified patrons become regular customers and come back 3 more times per year, you will make an additional $2100 per year in revenue.

Total revenue from the campaign is $4600 for 121 dinners for two. This equals $38 per dinner for two.

Marketing Option 2:
You send a direct mail piece offering 50% off dinner for two. You target only those within 10 miles of your restaurant who earn over $100k per year. You exclude from the list any current patrons.

100 people come in and redeem the coupon. They are all qualified to become regular returning patrons and none are existing patrons.

Your initial revenue is $50 per redemption, and 100 people redeem the coupon. This is $5000. There is no commission to Groupon, so you keep all revenue.

70 of them (the same percentage as in the Groupon option) become regular repeat customers and come back 3X per year spending $300 per year. This equals another $21,000 per year in revenue. Total revenue from campaign is $26,000 for 320 dinners, which equals $81.25 per dinner for two.

So, yes, the direct mail campaign had an up front cost. But does that cost justify choosing a $4,600 ROI (return on investment) over a $26,000 ROI?

In year one alone you can see the stark difference. Once you start looking at how that plays out in future years in terms of those new patrons coming back time and time again, the revenue difference continues to grow exponentially.

To schedule your next direct mailing, call your marketing consultant at 1-800-628-1804.

Want to find out the right marketing method to get the best results for your business? Download our Best Advertising Techniques report to find out.

Best,
Joy

See the site in action: http://www.acutabove.cc

Design:
This website uses a color scheme based in green. A popular choice among landscapers, as you can imagine. It blends from dark green at the top to a lighter green at the bottom, which gives it an interesting visual appeal. It also uses a background graphic that portrays sun rays and some leaves behind the copy of the website. All these visual elements support what the company offers its prospects and customers, a lush green landscape.

Marketing:
This site has 3 big marketing wins:

1. Enticing Navigation — The navigation on this site is great, because it features pictures for each page. Showing online prospects what awaits them on each page encourages them to explore your site. That gives you more opportunities to prove that you offer them a must-have product or service.

2. Rotating Customer Reviews — This site rotates customer reviews in a prominent location on every page. Reading how great your product or service is in your customers own words goes a long way to convincing online prospects.

3. LOTS of Pictures — Pictures really are worth 1000 words in marketing. This company uses a lot of pictures of their work, which is an amazing way to show your credibility and build trust.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization):
SEO is the practice of optimizing the copy on your website so that search engines can understand what your website is about and how they should rank it for particular keywords. This website is optimized for the keywords landscape management services. For those searching for landscaping management or landscaping services, Google will know that this site can help them, and will make it easier for them to find.

Copywriting:
This site doesn’t use a lot of copy, because they use pictures of their work to do their talking for them. For each page, they use a few quick sentences to clearly and succinctly tell the prospect what benefits each service offers them. They also use a lot of bullet points, which are great for efficiently presenting your services to your prospects.

Programming:
Programming is a difficult thing to judge, because you normally can’t see it unless it’s malfunctioning. This site worked perfectly. It had rotating reviews and pictures. Everything ran like clockwork, so this site’s programming is excellent in my books.

Make sure your website is reaching its marketing potential by downloading our Ultimate Business Web Design Checklist!

Best,
Shannon

Conversion. That’s what it’s all about. The experience the visitor has, the perception he gains about your company, how easy it is to navigate to what he’s interested in, how badly he needs/wants what you have and so many other nuances play a role in the visitors decision.

So let’s talk about conversion…

Since its launch in November of last year, we’ve been selling a whole lot of DirectMail2.0. (Just to remind you: that’s a postcard campaign with a call tracking phone number, so you can see exactly how many calls came in off that particular piece. It also records calls so you can listen to them to make sure your sales people or receptionists are handling them properly and not wasting leads. There is also a mail tracking code so you can see exactly when the postcards will hit mailboxes, and a follow me feature that automatically follows up with online leads via banner ads.) From the initial reports that are coming back from the early adopters of 2.0, it is apparent that businesses are reaping the benefits of this integrated online system. Take a look at some of the numbers:

Dr. Randy Nolf, DDS:

• 185 return online visitors
• 168,025 ad impressions (times the follow-up ad was shown)

InnoVest Financial Services:

• 250 return online visitors
• 457,490 ad impressions

Annapolis Christian Academy:

• 46 return online visitors
• 20,444 ad impressions

BUT quantity isn’t everything, and I see a pattern with the businesses that are really getting the very most out of DirectMail2.0. They are the ones that put the most attention on the visitor experience and truly understand what it takes to get a person to convert from “interested prospect” to “paying customer.” Don’t get me wrong. Having more people see your ad directly affects your revenue. But the better you can control that experience, and understand what will repel a visitor and what will warm them and increase trust, the more conversions you will have and your revenue will go up exponentially.

I believe fully that quantity of message is what’s lacking for most small business owners and that increasing the quantity alone will also exponentially increase revenues. But once you’ve gotten to the point where you’ve maxed out your response, visits, and conversion from a particular quantity there are 2 things you can do.

1. Increase quantity (which I’ve done many times)
2. Improve quality (which we’ve also done)

I fully believe that doing both simultaneously is the way to go.

PostcardMania has evolved. When I started, it was about direct mail postcards only. But today it’s about the whole story. Creating a desire for your products in the public via whatever channel works best, and then capturing prospects’ identity so you can warm them up until they close. That’s the game we’re playing for ourselves and for you.

Where have you seen the biggest marketing improvement in your company: quantity or quality? Have you had success blending both?

If you want help, you can always call my marketing consultants. The advice is forever FREE. 1-800-628-1804.

Best,
Joy

See the site in action: www.worldliteracy.org

Design:
The design elements of the site aren’t ornate or elaborate. It has a very simple layout, but it uses a color scheme of soft blues and beige, which give it a very light and welcoming appearance. It also features pictures of adorable kids reading, which connect the visitor to the mission of the site on a personal level. World Literacy also has a great logo, which is a picture of a book behind a knight’s hand holding a sword. This is meant to communicate that literacy and learning are the best weapon against poverty and social deterioration.

Marketing:

Here are some things I thought they did really well from a marketing standpoint:

Videos and Pictures ― The site has several pages that feature videos of the children that World Literacy is helping. This connects visitors with their mission and will move them to get involved or even donate.

Success Stories ― They also have a page where visitors can read the success stories of some of those who World Literacy has served. These are stories of broken lives that have been restored through literacy, improved communication, and a better understanding of themselves.

Contact information is multiple locations ― A practical aspect of the design is the placing of contact information in multiple locations. They have their Contact Us page, but they also display their phone number on several other pages, sometimes more than once. This is critical to encourage interaction with visitors.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization):
SEO is the practice of optimizing the copy on your website so that search engines can understand what your website is about and how they should rank it for particular keywords. This site is optimized for the word “Literacy”. Anyone who is looking for literacy programs will find World Literacy in their search results.

Copywriting:

The copy for this site is focused on the results of their mission. They present the problem that diminished literacy presents, then they focus on showing what increased literacy does for those they serve and how that benefits society in general. This allows visitors to see what their donation, or whatever their contribution may be, is accomplishing in the individual and the society at large.

Programming:

Programming is difficult to critique, because you can’t really see it unless it is malfunctioning. On this site, the programming was working correctly. I ran into no issues while navigating the site or playing the videos. Good programming goes unnoticed, but it is integral to presenting your message effectively and free of distractions.

What did you think of the site? Comment below and let’s discuss it…

Best,
Shannon

With advertising, these companies were on equal footing. They all achieved a call-in from us. But here’s the thing: only one of these companies capitalized on the lead. The rest wasted the marketing dollars spent getting us as a lead.

Here’s the difference…

Out of all the companies we called, only one had good follow-up. The rest didn’t handle us quickly or efficiently, even though we were a red-hot lead. After our initial conversations, only one company bothered to call us back and follow up on our previous conversation.

In the end, the company we chose wasn’t the cheapest. But we chose them because we felt if the others didn’t even have their act together enough to call us (the lead they spent a bunch of money to get) back, what kind of service could we expect?

Here’s the bottom line: PostcardMania (or any marketing company or strategy) can produce a ton of leads for you, BUT it is ultimately up to you to handle that lead and close it.

Now, there are systems that can help you with follow-up. For example, online follow-up ads are excellent, but unless you are a fully online retailer, they are likely not sufficient. If you are a company that prospects call into talk to, you need to have a system in place that allows you to follow up with that lead quickly over the phone.

Additionally, it is almost always beneficial to have an email follow-up system for your business. It is an easy and super-cheap way to follow up with leads.

If you think there is more you can be doing to follow up with and close your leads, call my marketing experts at 1-800-628-1804 to discuss your situation!

Was this a helpful wake-up call? Let me know in the comments…

Best,
Joy

See the site in action: www.titanz.net

Design:

The Titanz website uses an industry appropriate design. They use a background which appears to be perforated black sheet metal. Their logo is a metallic square with what appears to be blue electricity behind the name “Titanz Nutrition and Fitness”. They use this color scheme of black and electric blue throughout the site, which gives a sense of energy to the site. At the top of the page, a banner image rotates pictures of happy customers using various sections of the Titanz training facility. It looks great and is very engaging.

Marketing:

This site is a great example of effective marketing strategies. Allow me to highlight a few of them:

Facility slideshow ― Titanz headlines their facility page with a slideshow of their fitness facility. This shows the visitors exactly what to expect at the gym, and makes them more comfortable about checking it out in person.

Video featured on homepage ― Pictures are great for building trust with prospects, and videos are even better. Having an introductory video on the homepage is a great move.

Social Media section ― It is always a great idea to promote your social media pages on your website. Titanz created a section on their homepage where all of their social media links are lined up. This is great for fostering connection with your company.

Meet the trainers ― A critical part of the health and fitness world is the trainers you employ. For those who are looking for someone to help guide them in their fitness goals, they want to choose someone who is knowledgeable and competent. Titanz dedicated a page to introducing their training staff and explaining their credentials. This is a great way to build trust in your company.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization):

SEO is the practice of optimizing the copy on your website so that search engines can understand what your website is about and how they should rank it for particular keywords. This website is optimized for the keywords “fitness and nutrition”. These are the words that most accurately describe what Titanz offers, so those who type those keywords into a search engine are going to be glad they found Titanz website.

Copywriting:

When designing a website for a training facility, or fitness and nutrition center, you want to make sure the copy reflects the tone of your facilities mission. Titanz gym wants to help their customers be active and inspire them to live healthy lives. The copy of their site mirrors this well. The tone is energetic and motivating. They also promote the theme of serving customers with a variety of goals. Projecting their mission to help anyone who comes into their facility reach their fitness goals builds trust between the prospect and the company. The visitors of the site can tell that Titanz staff will place the customers success first.

Programming:

Programming can be difficult to critique, because it is hard to see unless it isn’t working. However, when browsing the site’s pages, I didn’t encounter any issues. That tells me that this site is programmed very well. The designs all look great, the navigation is seamless, and all the linked contents (videos, social media buttons, etc.) worked without issue. When the programming is great, the visitors are able to focus on the company’s message, free of distractions.

What do you think about the website? Let’s get the conversation going in the comments…

Best,
Shannon

There are two things you have to do to generate the best phone response…

1.) Add Large Phone Number to your Image Ads
In marketing, you want to give your prospects every opportunity to get in touch with you. Despite the trend of increasing online consumer research, there are still many prospects who want to call and talk to a real person to get the information they need to make a decision. You need to accommodate these prospects by having your phone number featured in your image ads. The great thing is phone responses are FREE leads, because you only pay for PPC ads when a prospect clicks on them. The calls are free.

2.) Set Display Hours to Match Office Hours
With PPC advertising, you can taylor the settings to only show your ads during a certain window of time, or only on certain days of the week. So, if you need your ads to generate phone responses, you want to schedule your ads during your business hours. That way your receptionist is on the other end of the phone ready and waiting to turn that prospect into a customer. This feature helps you make the most of the phone responses your ads generate.

Call-in leads are generally more valuable than online form leads, so going after these phone responses is a great marketing strategy.

If you want to learn more about Google ads best practices, follow the link and download our brand new Pay Per Click Advertising: 5 Steps to More Effective Ads marketing report.

What do you do with your Google ads to get more phone responses? Let’s discuss our experiences in the comments…

Best,
Joy

Today, I want to talk about how holidays can serve as your blog content inspiration. Holidays are a time of excitement. Every major holiday is surrounded by a buzz that brings people together. When Valentine’s Day comes along, everyone is talking about love and relationships. When Thanksgiving arrives, everyone discusses the importance of gratitude.

That is exactly why holidays are a great opportunity for creating blog content. Holidays give you the opportunity to write about something people are already talking about and interested in. Sharing the holiday excitement helps your prospects connect with your company, which gives your company an edge over your competition when they are making a purchasing decision in your industry.

For example, a Day Spa can write a post called “Unique and Thoughtful Valentine’s Gift Ideas”, which tells prospects about a special Valentine’s Day service they offer. It presents it as a more thoughtful option than the traditional flowers and chocolate. This post uses the excitement and buzz of the holiday to promote their business.

To find out more about holiday blog content and other content ideas, download our new marketing report created specifically to educate small business owners on creating effective blog content.

What are some examples of great holiday blog post ideas? Let’s talk about them in the comments…

Best,
Joy