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Info Center
Getting Customers on Your WebSite
Looking for Search Marketing (Pay per click)
Basics?
Here's a plain
fact: Marketing exists to support sales. Sure,
it's also used to create awareness and build a
brand image. But ultimately if your marketing
doesn't motivate customers to take action,
it's probably not doing its job.
If you're
experiencing less than stellar results when it
comes to getting customers to respond to your
marketing messages, it may be time to take a
hard look at your campaign. Here are six
factors that may stand in the way of customer
response, plus tips on what to do to improve
your response rates.
1. Ads are out of
context.
Due to the proliferation of specialized media,
it's easier than ever to reach prospects in
the right place at the right time. For
marketing success, your customers must be
exposed to your message when they're in a
receptive frame of mind. Suppose you owned a
landscape nursery. You wouldn't place your
newspaper ads in the Business section? you'd
run them in Home and Garden, because readers
there are more likely to be interested in
landscaping their properties and would find
your ad relevant. You'd follow the same
principle if you used local cable TV
advertising by running your ads during
gardening shows, not general programming, in
order to present your message in the right
context.
2. Benefits are
weak or missing.
Sometimes marketing campaigns that reach
prospects in the right context fail
nonetheless because their message is all
wrong. No matter whether you're running
advertising, sending direct mail or even
placing PR, it's vital to create a
benefit-oriented message that will capture the
attention of your target audience and motivate
them to take action. What specific benefits
will your prospects derive by responding to
your marketing? Benefits may be tangible (such
as saving money) or intangible (such as peace
of mind) and they should help to differentiate
your company or its products and services from
competitors.
3. The offer is
off-target.
When a campaign fails, the real problem may
lie with the principal offer, such as when the
product or service that's being marketed lacks
the right appeal. This can often be overcome
by bundling in additional features that meet
the special demands of the target audience.
And if a special offer is used to motivate
responses, it's not unusual to test several
different versions to find the one that pulls
best.
4. The execution
is poor.
Many forms of marketing are not do-it-yourself
projects. Creation of advertising is something
that should be left to experts. And even then,
it's important to enlist the right people.
Some designers and copywriters specialize in
direct mail and collateral materials, while
others create ads for magazines. Marketing
failure is often the result of poor copy or
design execution. At other times, the
advertising or materials may look great, but
they just don't work because tried and true
rules have been ignored. It takes experience
to create marketing that produces results.
5. Your marketing
is invisible.
Your prospects can't respond to your ads or
place orders on your website if they never see
them. When it comes to advertising success,
business owners tend to underestimate the
amount of frequency required for their ad
placements to be remembered by prospects, or
to achieve "penetration." The exact ad
frequency required for each unique campaign
will vary, but the bottom line is that
multiple placements in a single publication or
within specific broadcast programming are
absolutely essential. And if you want to make
sales on an e-commerce website, you'll need an
effective online advertising campaign to send
prospects there. It's unrealistic to expect
high traffic volume without one.
6. It's too hard
to buy.
No matter how compelling you make your
marketing campaign, if you ask prospects to
take too many steps, or if there are other
sales barriers (such as uninformed salespeople
or out-of-stock products), you'll lose them.
For example, suppose you send out a
direct-mail package for a service business.
Interested prospects respond by calling your
toll-free number, but get voice mail and most
hang up. Only a few, highly motivated
prospects leave messages on your voice mail.
Then you call them back, miss them and leave
messages of your own. At this point it's
unlikely your prospects will return your call.
Get the picture? For best results, walk
through your sales process to eliminate any
unnecessary actions and to make sure the
prospects that respond can quickly take
advantage of your offer.
Security:
If you plan to take online orders or transmit
personal information (such as credit card
numbers), you’ll need a secure server (often
called an SSL server). There may be an
additional fee for secure service, but it will
pay off in the long run because many customers
won’t make a purchase or submit their
information from an unsecured site.
Activity Reports:
Activity or access reports provide you with
information about the people who visit your
site. These reports can include information
about which pages were viewed the most, how
long users viewed each page, and how users
found your site. Find out exactly what
information will be provided and how often
you’ll receive updated reports.
Passwords:
If you need password protected pages (account
logins, for example) be sure the host offers
this service.
Support:
Find out
how service and support will be provided. Ask
if calls are toll-free, and see how long you
can expect to wait for a response to any calls
or emails. Ask if customer service is free,
and because your web site will function 24
hours a day, make sure you have access to
support at any hour.
Finding the right
host for your site is like finding a new place
to live. You want to have all of the basic
amenities, plus a few extra perks to make it a
little nicer. Choose an experienced provider
you feel comfortable working with, one that
address all of your site’s needs, and you’ll
have the right home for your site in no time.
Signup
Online to OneSolution, today!
Questions?
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