Here’s a talk I did at ING, downtown Vancouver a few months back for my friend Bosco Anthony’s event. I cover Keyword research, SEO, PPC and other fun stuff. I had a lot of fun and the audience was awesome.
Check it out!
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29
Jun
2012
My Key-note on Keyword Research
Make yourself more visible to your target market by taking advantage customer acquisition opportunities online and within your own network It’s not as hard or costly as you may believe.
The “Marketing Results Triangle” applies to every type of business and market. A term coined by the most sought after Direct Marketer on the planet, and someone who’s marketing skills I admire more than anyone elses Dan Kennedy.
The three components to marketing is your Market, Message and Media, all 3 components MUST be planned to a tee. You MUST be able to identify these three things with accuracy. Even getting one of these components wrong can disrupt the whole cycle. Your marketing efforts will be built upon a strong foundation that works like a well oiled machine if you do these three things…
1. Find out exactly who your market is, reveal as many layers as you can about them
2. Have powerful messages that build relationships and force people to take action
3. Make sure you are choosing the best vehicle (media) to send a particular message
When all 3 components are tuned correctly, your customer activity will increase substantially.
EVERY business requires effective marketing for it to reach its full potential. It is known by many business experts that around 30% of a company’s budget/resources should be spent on marketing. However, if your marketing efforts are NOT finely tuned, your bottom line will take a big hit. It’s a gut wrenching pain business owners have to deal with, but there’s a simple way to overcome this common problem.
Marketing shouldn’t only be intended to acquire new customers but it should also be done to communicate with your existing ones.
Special attention must be given to your existing customers. Build strong relationships with them and they will be a friend for life ($$$). Not only that, they will consistently spread the word of your great service.
The life time value (LTV) of your customer should be calculated. Based on this data you should act accordingly. In almost every type of business whether you are selling hamburgers or physiotherapy sessions you can bank on the 80/20 rule. This rule states that in most successful businesses 80% of the revenue comes from only 20% of that company’s customers. Working with dozens of different businesses in many different markets I’m still surprised to see this recurring statistic. Pay attention to this rule, and pay even closer attention to your customers, the customers you worked hard to get.
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28
Dec
2011
Email Marketing Q and A
I had a sit down with my good friend and fellow marketing junkie Bosco Pereira. He asked me a few questions about Email Marketing. Here are the answers. There are 3 sets of questions broken down in 3 parts; basic, intermediate and advanced. I hope you all find these useful, enjoy!
Basic Questions
1- What is email marketing?
The correct marketers definition: Email marketing is a strategy businesses use to build relationships and sell to new and existing customers through a series of emails consisting of content and offers.
The incorrect marketers definition: A strategy used to bombard everyone with emails, hoping to get a sale out of a blast.
2- How can email marketing benefit a business in today’s economy?
It benefits a business more than ever in today’s economy. It enables businesses to save money on aquiring new customers by effectively communicating with existing and potential customers through scheduled and strategic emails. The lifetime value of a customer is very important and even more important during tough economic times (mostly in US)
3- What are the basic necessities before you send an email out to your list?
You will need a list of customers and potential customers. A list of people who have been in previous contact with you. NEVER BUY LISTS! Don not become a spammer. Only email people who have asked to be emailed or people who’ve been in contact with you in some way You need series of pre written emails. Basically a game plan when it comes to your mailing. What are your goals with your list? short term and long term?
you will also need a good email marketing service. there are web based services as well as software. Online services are easy to use and set up. I recommend, Nailchimp or constant contact
4- What is an Opt in, why do we need one and where do you place an opt in?
Opt-in is a lead generated on your site, by someone giving their email and name, usually in return for a free product or subscription. You get this by putting a web form on your site. Getting an opt-in is important as it gives you the opportunity to start building a relationship with a customer (potential paying customer)
5- What should drive your email marketing? Content or Sales Offers?
Usually you want to only give content away. You want to build a relationship, and build trust with your list. Give them free,, relevant and helpful information. Once you have effectively done this then and only then can you think about giving them an offer.
PART 2
Intermediate Questions
1- What are the email marketing trends in 2011?
As for trends, I think in general more companies are doing a better job of giving value to their list. The continual growth of social media such as twitter and facebook have made companies more aware. The huge spike in mobile internet usage with, smart phones have changed formatting for emails.
2- How will email marketing evolve in 2012?
I’ve noticed some companies improving their email marketing. Some larger companies have been getting better at being more “human”
In general the hot new trends everyone always talks about will never overtake the traditional marketing strategies that have worked for 50 years. It’s human psychology, understanding this is most important.
3- What type of metrics do you need to have when doing email marketing?
There are many different metrics to consider when you’re talking about email marketing. The most important statistic is “open rate”. This is basically the percentage of people from your email campaign or “blast” who opened and read your email. This is critical information as you want to make sure all of your hard work doesn’t go down the drain. This usually can be directly related to how effective your subject line is.
4- What email marketing tools do you recommend for small businesses today?
Email templates, email marketing system, opt in web form, tracking
5- What are the common mistakes made by businesses today when it comes to email marketing?
Wow where to start. The most common mistake I have seen is companies in general who don’t have a human touch with their emai lmarketing campaigns. Companies who don’t personalize emails and give their subscribers value in their email. FIRST IMPRESSION AND THE EARLY EMAILS ARE VITAL. Another big mistake is trying to sell to soon and too often. This is not only ineffective but it can hurt your company. People will unsubscribe and never return. Also companies can be labeled as spammers if not careful.
PART 3
Advanced Questions
1- Why have email marketing when you have social media platforms out there?
Email will never die. People view emails as a somewhat personal way to keep intouch. Emails are synonymous with security. For example, important information such as pay-pal info is connected to email. People are less likely to feel secure connecting important information to social networks.
2- Where is the future of email marketing going in 2012? How will evolve in the future
Basically the evolution of mobile internet and social networks will force new trends in the future. But as a whole I don’t think email marketing will change much. Email marketing is more of a people thing not a technology thing.
3- What are the current challenges faced by businesses today when it comes to email marketing?
There are many challenges for companies when it comes to email marketing. One of the most common ones is people viewing the companies emails as useless. Companies can lose customers and good relationships by poor email marketing. Basically how it works is a series of emails with little value will make people ignore (not open) emails or even worse unsubscribe. All companies should try to give as much value as possible. Clever tactics to get people to open emails would help.
4- What is mobile email strategy and why has it become the next phase of email marketing?
Mobile email strategy is pretty simple. It’s basically keeping in mind that many of the people on your list most likely have a smartphone. This is important to keep in mind as it means people have quicker access to emails, it also means people might delete or disregard unimportant emails quicker than usual. Whenever you send an email to someone on your list, put yourself in their shoes. ” Would I open this if I saw it on my phone ?”
5- What is an email marketing plan and does a business need to have one? Does one need to have an email marketing strategy?
Every company should have an email marketing plan, simply because you are basically losing a huge opportunity to generate revenue. Your customer are the most important people to you. And email is such an effective way to take care of them. Every email marketing plan should be thought out. You should have at lease 10 pre written letters to send out to your list on a schedule. You must ask yourself what your short term and long term goals are. You must schedule your mailings that co-relate with upcoming news promotions or new product launches. You must make sure that your emails are interesting and valuable. Everyone should have an email marketing plan, because if you lose your list with improper emails, you are missing out on potential revenue from your most important customer (your current and warm customers)
Internet marketing for a local business is far more simple than most people believe. In general getting search engine exposure for a local business is much easier than getting ranked in search engines with the correct keywords for an online business that is targeting the world. The reason why it is easier is because your only competition is mostly just local competition in your city. Not only that, there is a very good chance that your competition isn’t marketing their business online properly. Google’s search results are always tailored to geographic location for the searcher, this means you already have an advantage if you are targeting customers in a close geographical location. I have had personal experience with getting my websites ranked in global high volume markets with competitive keywords, this takes being search engine savvy and a lot of work. The local market is much easier!
I have looked at hundreds of clients and potential clients websites to discover that about 80% of these websites for local businesses are all making one fatal error! Here is a valuable tip for any local business’s website that is so important and simple that they are literally missing out on swarms of potential traffic. It is a simple website update that can take only 30 minutes to update.
And the golden tip is…UPDATE YOUR TITLE TAGS WITH YOUR MARKETS KEYWORDS, this is a form of “on-site” SEO. I cannot believe how many websites don’t do this. For example; If you are trying to rank in Google for “vancouver physiotherapist” and you’re a physio-therapist in Vancouver you better make sure that your PAGE TITLE has those keywords in it! For those who don’t know what a PAGE TITLE is, it is the first bolded line of text you see on Google results. I see so many local business websites that only have the default “Company name” as their PAGE TITLE. This is a fatal error and any website developer who builds your site and doesn’t update this should not build websites for a living, period!!
So the first thing you need to do is find out what keywords you want to rank for by using the free google keyword tool. Once you do that plug those keywords in your PAGE TITLE, META TAGS and PAGE DESCRIPTION. Then you have completed your first step to SEO and optimizing your website. You will have a much better chance getting ranked in Google’s organic results as well as Google’s Maps placements.
Do do everything correct from the beginning I cannot stress enough the importance of keyword research. It is the first and most important step to a website. Keywords are the lifeblood of any business website, treat this step with care.
There ya have it now you know more than 80% of the population! 
28
Oct
2011
Google Panda Review, Scare Tactic or Real Deal?
Well It’s been about 8 months since Google released their new Panda update. Whatever your thoughts are on this update, one thing is for certain, some people’s website rankings have been affected.
Google is almost always making changes to their algorithm. They are constantly trying to improve their search engine ranking system so the most quality website are ranked. Google wants it’s users to to experience the best possible results with their searches. Apparently this is one of the biggest updates Google has made.
I’m going to give my summary on this whole Panda update. Google is on a quest to ensure that their results are the most relevant and helpful to users, well at least this is what they say. In a sense they are doing just that. They are imposing these changes to make website operators more aware of how they manage they’re sites. Essentially Google is sending a message to urge people to follow the rules. Not only do they want to see quality content but they want to improve the user experience of visitors.
Google has always been on a quest to make sure the “best” sites get ranked in their search engine. They constantly make changes to their algorithm so I don’t think this update is a whole lot different than what they have been dong for years. How SEO has always worked and how Google ranks websites is based on; lots of unique quality content and lots of backlinks from other quality websites. According to Google this new Panda update has added some more factors such as; the actual site design, social network friendliness and overall user experience.
I believe the “old school” factors such as building backlinks and quality content will never die. Google is built on this system and there is no changing it. However, these new factors do hold some weight, just not as much as people are making it out to be.
If you are up to date with all the new strategies, making sure your site is providing quality and relevant information and your website is designed correctly, this new update should not affect you. What I do like about the update is it forces SEO companies to improve their skills and hopefully the real search engine optimization companies can rise to the top of this cluttered industry.
Below is a video from SEO Moz that goes into more detail regarding the Panda update. There is some good info there so check it out.
Cheers,
I know this is a controversial question, and for this reason I think it’s a helpful one, because it forces the truth to come out. Read this and you will know exactly how to find a trustworthy seo company.
Before I got into the service side of this business I was one of the most sceptical people when it came to SEO companies. Back in the day when I was strictly internet marketing, I was in need of some help as I had multiple sites in completely different niche markets. The reason why I was sceptical was most companies could not answer detailed questions about strategies and techniques they would use to get one of my sites ranked. Some of them didn’t even give me a game-plan at all! I had to rely on myself and close internet marketing acquaintances that I trusted to do the work.
Here is my beef with most internet marketing and SEO companies here in Vancouver, Canada. There are about a hundred of them and I have spoken to many of them. I do see a very consistent trend, two main points come to mind. When I ask them about the most influential internet marketing minds in the world such as, Corey Rudl, Derek Gehl, Rich Schefren, Dan Kennedy, Ken Evoy, John Reese, Marlon Sanders etc. Most of them have no idea what I’m talking about. This shows me that they aren’t really passionate about internet marketing and SEO, they didn’t go the extra mile to try to connect with these people and better their own knowledge by learning the roots of internet marketing. Another thing that came up a lot was the fact that almost none of these so called SEO experts have ever run their own profitable website in a niche market. The only business they have ever ran is their own SEO company. This shows me that they haven’t put their strategies to use. The only sites they put up are their client’s websites, with their client’s money and outsourced work.
Here is a secret these SEO companies don’t want you to know; They charge their clients, then they use your money to find a real SEO expert to do their work for them. Sure they can get clients results, but at a cost that is inflated. I guess the only way to really find out who is for real is by asking the right questions. Before going with a search engine optimization company keep the following things in mind;
- If they guarantee results, this can be a big red flag. They are usually covering their own behind by aiming to get you ranked for keywords that get no traffic or low quality keywords that aren’t targeted. Basically they are making sure they live up to their guarantee by providing mediocrity or less. They don’t have your companies best interest in mind
- Make sure they use search engine friendly strategies. If they don’t, your website might get banned! I have no problem with some “black hat SEO strategies” some of them are creative and follow all the rules. But there are also some that go against Google’s rules and if you do this your site might get in Google’s bad books. This is not good, and Google is not very forgiving, once they make a decision it’s pretty much final
- Ask them exactly what they type of SEO will they be doing. Will they be submitting articles? and to the right directories? Will they do the correct on-site as well as off-site SEO based on keywords? Will their blog posting strategies be ethical? Will they do extensive keyword research and send you a report of which keywords they will be targeting and why? Will they give you detailed info on how they will obtain backlinks? Will they incorporate other aspects of marketing as oppose to just internet marketing?
- Try to set up a face to face meeting with them? Personally, I will not do business with someone unless I get to look them in the eyes. It’s a good idea to have a common understanding between company and client. Make sure that both party’s goals are realistic and reasonable, especially when it comes to any type of consulting service.
So in a nutshell there are many flighty SEO companies out there. So when someone asks me, if there is such a thing as a trustworthy SEO company I tell them of course there is you just have to make sure you do your part in making the right choice. Sure it can be tough to find a good one but if you follow these guidelines you will find a company that offers a good service at a reasonable price. I guess the key is to think of it as a partnership, in the eyes of both company and client.
One last thing, try to do your best to discover if the company is marketing savvy as a whole. Make sure they exhibit knowledge in many aspects of marketing not just internet marketing. In almost every case you need to look at your own company’s marketing strategy as a whole. Make sure you work with people who know about traditional marketing strategies such as; sales copy-writing , understanding the importance of a USP, customer relationship management just to name a few. Understanding every aspect of internet marketing and traditional marketing will always force you to make decisions that keep the long-term goals of your business in check, and you will find that they are both very similar.
Good luck!
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The Lifetime Value of your customer is one of the most important things for a business owner to keep in mind. In my opinion it is THE most important thing to remember, since it directly relates to customer satisfaction. Any company with a high LTV rate means that they are efficient. They spend less money obtaining customers and they make more money from each customer. It costs money to get new customers, why not really go the extra mile to satisfy the one you already have!
Let’s look at the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule basically suggests that 80% of your profits comes from only 20% of your customers. This might seem like a shocker to you, but no matter what business you’re in this ratio seems to pop up everywhere. So you might be asking yourself how do I improve the Live Time Value of my customer. Im going to simplify this seemingly difficult problem. BE NICE TO YOUR CUSTOMERS AND POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS!!
Yes, it is that simple. Before someone makes the decision to give you money for a product or service you want to be helpful, friendly and genuine. This is the winning combination. DO NOT get annoyed with customers, not even tire kickers. Smile (it even works over the phone) and try to help as much as you can in the shortest amount of time. There is a good chance that customer will come back if you can build a relationship with them.
In every facet of your business (marketing, sales and advertising) it’s important that you don’t come across as pushy. The hard sell doesn’t work much any more, people are far more weary of this than they used to be. All customers want to feel special and anything you do to exhibit this will help you in the long run.
The wonderful thing about internet marketing and email marketing is; you can build good relationships with your customers very easily. For example: Let’s say someone visits your website or shop, don’t get upset if they leave and walk away. Be pleasant and helpful and try to get an email address from them. Once you do this congratulations, you have just legally obtained a warm lead who has just had a close interaction with you or your company. This means you can send them information with them knowing who you are. The only correct way to build and market to a list.
Email marketing is not spamming and if you think of it as spamming than you will look like a spammer, simple as that.
Email Marketing Rule #1 - Do not try to sell your customer right away. It only takes one mis-timed offer by email to completely shut off your customer for good
Email Marketing Rule #2 – Make sure you remind them how they gave their email address to you in the very first email you send them. The first few emails you send are the most important
Email Marketing Rule #3 – Send your list free stuff. Give them free information, discounts, tips anything you think they will appreciate. They don’t have to be about your product or direct market. For example: If you are selling health cookies, give them information on some exercise tips. Understand who your customers are and provide them with information they would be interested in.
Email Marketing Rule #4 – Don’t be afraid to use some personality. Let’s face it, in order to sell to most customers they must like you or your company. Thought provoking and funny can really go a long way, even if you make them smile you have won them over a little. I’m not saying be fake to them, cause people can see right through that. Humans are more intelligent and perceptive than you think Love your customers! Treat them like a friend. I consider all my customers my friend, I can honestly say that. Anyone who shows at least some sort of interest in your product immediately shows you that you have something in common with them. That’s a friend if I’ve ever heard one.
So there you have it. This simple concept really does work, sure the hard sell and sub-par customer service might show immediate results right away but it’s all about the LTV (Life Time Value) of your customer. In the long run you will be making more money.
Here’s a little tool to help you calculate your customer’s LTV http://hbsp.harvard.edu/multimedia/flashtools/cltv/index.html
So to sum it all up. Become friends and touch every one of your customers and potential customers. It’s just good Karma regardless
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03
Oct
2011
The Importance of Market Research
How does any business succeed?
Most people might say, “develop a product, then market and sell it”.
Unfortunately this is a very backwards way to think, and 80% of small businesses think like this. That’s why it doesn’t surprise me that 90% of small businesses fail within 5 years.
It is important to shift this paradigm of thought. However, it is tougher said than done.
The easiest way to change this way of thinking is to forget about the product completely, and focus on your market. Here are some pointers on how to do this in order:
1. Discover a way to solve your potential customers problem by finding out what they are looking for.
2. Think of solutions and benefits to provide your market.
3. Determine who your market is with demographics, statistics and human tenancies.
4. Then and only then can you even think about developing a product.
5. Develop the product by factoring every element of the data you collect. Develop this product, while trying as best as you can to put yourself in the shoes of your customer.
These may seem like very basic strategies but the importance of understanding this way of thinking can literally make or break your business. Mistakes made in the initial steps of building a business can be exponentiallly costly later on.
Good luck! (even though luck is always created by you)
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19
Jun
2011
Daily Deal Sites vs. SEO
With the explosive growth of daily deal sites like Groupon, Living Social, SwarmJam, etc., many business owners are starting to believe the hype, and think they have to conform to the masses and offer their services at a huge discount, just to keep up with the competition. This could not be further from the truth.
Now is the time to go against the grain, and promote your business through ways that keep your profit margin intact, while your competitors lick their daily deal inflicted wounds.
Now, some businesses can use the daily deal strategy and still manage a profit, but why would a business devalue their product that much in the first place? In the restaurant industry their is a saying, “Sell dollar beers, get dollar customers.” Do you really want your clientele to be made up of people who are only interested in your product or service due to it being 50% off?
Like most people, I am subscribed to a number of these daily deal sites. I like a deal just as much as the next guy. Of the businesses I have visited, with the exception of the businesses I regularly frequent such as my local movie theater, I haven’t returned to a single one as a repeat customer. In fact, I usually went in expecting sub par service or food or whatever, and I’ve rarely been disappointed. I sub consciously think of each of these businesses as reeking of desperation, and thus often leave with a bad taste in my mouth regardless of my experience.
Being an online marketer, I usually have a look at the websites of the companies who use these daily deal services, to see if I can spot anything that might drive them to give up 75% of their revenue and possibly alienate their existing customer base. The results are usually predictable. Their sites are often un-optimized. I can usually tell that the site is professionally made, but not enough attention has been paid to things like keyword density, title tag optimization, etc. Almost never has a professional link building campaign been done, so the site is rarely ranking on the first page of google. The sites almost never advertise on adwords or any other paid advertising networks.The biggest one thought was that I rarely saw any form of email opt in on their websites. No way to keep contact with their customers, or to drum up new leads. Basically, most of these businesses were not willing to invest $1000-$2000 in their own websites, to increase their businesses exposure, but were willing to give away their products at virtually no benefit to them to up to 1000 people in the hope that they will come back sometime and buy the same thing for double the price, when their competitor down the street is offering the same thing through a daily deal site the next day.
Does that make sense to you, either?
For a good 80% of these businesses, meeting with a marketing consultant beforehand could potentially save them $1000s of dollars. Instead of branding themselves as the place to go to get a product or service at a discount, why not optimize their websites, target their advertising better, improve their position in the search engines (where 85% of offline buying decisions are made) and portray themselves as the premier destination in their market? Sure, the flood of bargain hunting customers won’t be kicking down their doors. Instead, they can build a steady flow of high lifetime value customers, who will appreciate the price they pay. If they are proud of their product or service, let that shine through instead of paying customers to walk through the front door.
If you are thinking about signing up for a daily deal offer to increase your business, please contact us first for a free consultation on your online presence. We will honestly walk through your current advertising and website with you, pointing out any areas we feel could use improvement, and give you an honest assessment of whether a daily deal site would benefit your business.
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