Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
What's the Audrey 2 in Your Business?
As a little girl, I loved to watch Little Shop of Horror. I don't know if it was because of the melodic tones, the humor of Steve Martin or my fascination with a man eating soul singing plant. Little Shop of Horror was certainly on my list of favorite movies.
While on vacation in NY, a great friend invited me to a live show. At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to go. I just got into town, and wanted to see some family members. But, luckily it worked out and I got to see the show and family too.
Anyway, even though the live version was slightly different from the original, the story line was basically the same. Mr. Mushnik was a struggling flower shop owner who had yet to make a sale. He was frustrated and didn't know what to do. Until one day, Seymour, introduced Mr. Mushnik to a rare and exotic plant. Seymour named the plant Audrey 2 after the flower shop clerk he had a crush on. At first, Mr. Mushnik was hesitant, he didn't think people would be attracted to this strange and interesting plant. But as soon as Seymour put it in the window, a patron walked by and asked about the "strange and interesting" plant in the window. The patron was so intrigued, he didn't buy the plant, but he purchased $ 100 worth of the finest roses the flower shop had to offer. Then from there the rest was history! Fame and success shortly followed. Of course there was some consequences to pay, however, I am not talking about that right now, I am talking about the business aspect of the movie. ( However, if you haven't seen the movie/musical, it's absolutely wonderful).
As service based practitioners and consultants, you may not have a brick and mortar store where you can put an attractive nuisance on display. So my question to you ; " What's the Audrey 2 in your business? Maybe it's a Free Report, an Audio CD, A free session. Or something else that is very attractive. If you don't have the Audrey 2 in your business, maybe you should start brainstorming now.
While on vacation in NY, a great friend invited me to a live show. At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to go. I just got into town, and wanted to see some family members. But, luckily it worked out and I got to see the show and family too.
Anyway, even though the live version was slightly different from the original, the story line was basically the same. Mr. Mushnik was a struggling flower shop owner who had yet to make a sale. He was frustrated and didn't know what to do. Until one day, Seymour, introduced Mr. Mushnik to a rare and exotic plant. Seymour named the plant Audrey 2 after the flower shop clerk he had a crush on. At first, Mr. Mushnik was hesitant, he didn't think people would be attracted to this strange and interesting plant. But as soon as Seymour put it in the window, a patron walked by and asked about the "strange and interesting" plant in the window. The patron was so intrigued, he didn't buy the plant, but he purchased $ 100 worth of the finest roses the flower shop had to offer. Then from there the rest was history! Fame and success shortly followed. Of course there was some consequences to pay, however, I am not talking about that right now, I am talking about the business aspect of the movie. ( However, if you haven't seen the movie/musical, it's absolutely wonderful).
As service based practitioners and consultants, you may not have a brick and mortar store where you can put an attractive nuisance on display. So my question to you ; " What's the Audrey 2 in your business? Maybe it's a Free Report, an Audio CD, A free session. Or something else that is very attractive. If you don't have the Audrey 2 in your business, maybe you should start brainstorming now.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Stop Trying to Get on Page 1 of Google.
I have been doing a lot of consultations lately, and it's no suprise that many business owners objective is to get to Page 1 of Google. Of course, who wouldn't want to be on the 1st page of one of the most popular Search Engines.
However, there is 1 secret that people don't understand; Being on Page 1 of Google means absolutely nothing if you don't have relevant content. It pissed me off to talk to a prospect that was focused on getting traffic to her site, but not worrying about the conversion process once she got the traffic there. For security sake let's just say this person specific keyword was "lose belly fat." She wanted to optimize for that keyphrase, however, her site had nothing to do with belly fat or weight loss. She just knew that" lose belly fat" would get a lot of traffic to her site. But her site was about- let's just say "Gum Balls".
Of course if I was a black hat seo, I would have said yes lets optimize for an irrelevant keyword just to get traffic. But what people don't understand is if you don't have relevant content on your site, your visitors are going to click the back browser to find EXACTLY what they are looking for.
So many people get caught up on driving traffic to their site, but when I ask: What do you want the traffic to do when they go to your site? They get stumped and look at me as if I just asked them a trick question. That's where A.I.D.A comes into play. I write Website Content and when I write the homepage for a site, I usually use the copywriter formula A.I.D.A which I will explain:
A= Attention- Grab their attention with a compelling headline.
I= Interest- Show them that you understand their problem/issue
D= Desire- Show them how investing your products/services will improve their lives. Tap into their needs and wants.
A= Action. Show that you are the solution and let thenm know how to get in contact with you.
It's that simple. Of course, there is a lot more elements going into creating a great homepage that converts visitors into buyers. However, I wanted to get this 1st Page of Google Rant off of my chest. Focus on providing good and valuable content that pleases your readers and you will see that you can get to the first page of Google by being an authority site. And remember SEO takes time. In very rare cases, you see instant results. SEO is an on-going process that must be tweaked and tested all the time. What do you think is more important being on the 1st page of Google or actually converting website visitors in to clinets?
However, there is 1 secret that people don't understand; Being on Page 1 of Google means absolutely nothing if you don't have relevant content. It pissed me off to talk to a prospect that was focused on getting traffic to her site, but not worrying about the conversion process once she got the traffic there. For security sake let's just say this person specific keyword was "lose belly fat." She wanted to optimize for that keyphrase, however, her site had nothing to do with belly fat or weight loss. She just knew that" lose belly fat" would get a lot of traffic to her site. But her site was about- let's just say "Gum Balls".
Of course if I was a black hat seo, I would have said yes lets optimize for an irrelevant keyword just to get traffic. But what people don't understand is if you don't have relevant content on your site, your visitors are going to click the back browser to find EXACTLY what they are looking for.
So many people get caught up on driving traffic to their site, but when I ask: What do you want the traffic to do when they go to your site? They get stumped and look at me as if I just asked them a trick question. That's where A.I.D.A comes into play. I write Website Content and when I write the homepage for a site, I usually use the copywriter formula A.I.D.A which I will explain:
A= Attention- Grab their attention with a compelling headline.
I= Interest- Show them that you understand their problem/issue
D= Desire- Show them how investing your products/services will improve their lives. Tap into their needs and wants.
A= Action. Show that you are the solution and let thenm know how to get in contact with you.
It's that simple. Of course, there is a lot more elements going into creating a great homepage that converts visitors into buyers. However, I wanted to get this 1st Page of Google Rant off of my chest. Focus on providing good and valuable content that pleases your readers and you will see that you can get to the first page of Google by being an authority site. And remember SEO takes time. In very rare cases, you see instant results. SEO is an on-going process that must be tweaked and tested all the time. What do you think is more important being on the 1st page of Google or actually converting website visitors in to clinets?
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
5 Elements of an Effective Interent Marketing Strategy
I recently finished a book entitled: Big Ticket E-Commerce by Bob Regnerus. Mr. Regnerus is an Internet Marketing Strategist who caters to the Medical Spa Community that has revenue of 1 million dollars or more. Luckily, I teach everything he knows for less than a fraction of the cost. However, I wanted to highlight some main points in his book that you must follow if you want to be successful online. Regnerus, couldn't have said it any better than I can. So, I want to share with you some important elements to make sure you are getting the most out of your online marketing methods. So here are a 5 elements to an effective online strategy. I recently got finished a book entitled Big Ticket E-Commerce by Bob Regnerus. Mr. Regnerus is a Internet Marketing Strategist who caters to the medical spa community with budgets of 1 million dollars or more. Luckily, I teach everything he knows for more than a fraction of the cost. However, I wanted to highlight some main points in his book that you must follow if you want to be successful online. He couldn’t have said it any better than I can. So, here it goes 5 elements of an effective Internet Marketing Strategy as Regnerus discusses in his book.
1. Have a Crystal Clear Objective -
What are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to build brand awareness? Are you trying to increase sales? Most of the time, the answer will be increasing sales. So, if your goal is to increase sales, how will you attract the lead? Simply put, what goal are you trying to accomplish and how are you going to achieve that goal?
2. Reaching Prospects Online-
This is important part of the process. Yes, Online Marketing is all the rage, but is your target market online? Of course there are many people online but some people use the internet differently. Let's just say if you were a dental patient, you most likely will use a Search Engine like Google, Yahoo or MSN to find out about dental procedures in your area. However, if you are a dentist, you will be online. Most likely, you will be visiting industry websites to find out more about your industry. So, the way you reach a dental patient and a dentist is totally different. You have to understand where your target market is and then figure out a way to reach them.
3. Understand the Psychology of the Prospect-
Regnerus is talking about tapping into the pscyhe of your prospects. This has a lot to do with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Simply put, what language does your target market speak to identify their problem? A perfect example, I deal with a lot of holistic practitioners who say they want to work with people who are open to support and healing. And my question is always support and healing of what? Anxiety and Depression are conditions that a lot of people are suffering from. However, some people may not know that they are suffering from anxiety and depression. Some of the words they may use to identify their problem may include ; stop feeling sad; stop panic attacks, unhappy all the time, etc. You get the idea, what you think people are searching for is actually different than what they are typing into Google. Once you get an understanding of how your prospect identifies their problems it is your job to use the same words they use in all of your advertisements.
4. Identify the Right Free Research-
Free Sample, Free Taste, call it what you want to call it, there is something about the word FREE that has a powerful advantage. Free has always and will always be a great lead generation tool to intrigue the prospect to find out more about your products and services. When people are buying items that are over $ 2,000 or more they want as much research as they can get to make sure they are making the right choice. And with the Internet being so competitive that it is, you have to make sure that you are offering a Free taste of your services that people would actually pay for. You want your prospect to say wow, I can't believe he is giving all of this away for FREE, I can imagine what kind of service I will get when I pay for his services. When it comes to offering a " Free Taste" it can come in the forms of a free cd, e-book, audio, video, and even marketing consultation. Again, you have to really know who your target market is and how they want to receive information.
5. Deciding how to hand off the lead-
I like what Regnerus said here, and I never really thought about this until I read the book. He mentions on deciding how to hand off the lead. You see, so many business owners are caught up in " shiny object syndrome" that they actually toss what is working so they can get caught up in the "sexy tactic" of the week. Why reinvent the wheel when you don't have to? Remember, the Internet is just another medium to reach your prospects. Think about the strengths of your company. If you have a strong phone presence, why not get your prospect to call your call center? Or perhaps, you are a master in email marketing, then get your prospect to sign up for you list and continue to market through them via email. Just think about the strengths of your company and then use your online marketing efforts to direct your prospect to your most powerful proven sales process. Simple enough right?
Once you are crystal clear on your website objectives it will be easy to start implementing some tactics that will help you increase your sales and profits. Stay tuned for next issue, where I will discuss the top 3 Free to Low-Cost Internet Marketing Trends of 2010.
1. Have a Crystal Clear Objective -
What are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to build brand awareness? Are you trying to increase sales? Most of the time, the answer will be increasing sales. So, if your goal is to increase sales, how will you attract the lead? Simply put, what goal are you trying to accomplish and how are you going to achieve that goal?
2. Reaching Prospects Online-
This is important part of the process. Yes, Online Marketing is all the rage, but is your target market online? Of course there are many people online but some people use the internet differently. Let's just say if you were a dental patient, you most likely will use a Search Engine like Google, Yahoo or MSN to find out about dental procedures in your area. However, if you are a dentist, you will be online. Most likely, you will be visiting industry websites to find out more about your industry. So, the way you reach a dental patient and a dentist is totally different. You have to understand where your target market is and then figure out a way to reach them.
3. Understand the Psychology of the Prospect-
Regnerus is talking about tapping into the pscyhe of your prospects. This has a lot to do with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Simply put, what language does your target market speak to identify their problem? A perfect example, I deal with a lot of holistic practitioners who say they want to work with people who are open to support and healing. And my question is always support and healing of what? Anxiety and Depression are conditions that a lot of people are suffering from. However, some people may not know that they are suffering from anxiety and depression. Some of the words they may use to identify their problem may include ; stop feeling sad; stop panic attacks, unhappy all the time, etc. You get the idea, what you think people are searching for is actually different than what they are typing into Google. Once you get an understanding of how your prospect identifies their problems it is your job to use the same words they use in all of your advertisements.
4. Identify the Right Free Research-
Free Sample, Free Taste, call it what you want to call it, there is something about the word FREE that has a powerful advantage. Free has always and will always be a great lead generation tool to intrigue the prospect to find out more about your products and services. When people are buying items that are over $ 2,000 or more they want as much research as they can get to make sure they are making the right choice. And with the Internet being so competitive that it is, you have to make sure that you are offering a Free taste of your services that people would actually pay for. You want your prospect to say wow, I can't believe he is giving all of this away for FREE, I can imagine what kind of service I will get when I pay for his services. When it comes to offering a " Free Taste" it can come in the forms of a free cd, e-book, audio, video, and even marketing consultation. Again, you have to really know who your target market is and how they want to receive information.
5. Deciding how to hand off the lead-
I like what Regnerus said here, and I never really thought about this until I read the book. He mentions on deciding how to hand off the lead. You see, so many business owners are caught up in " shiny object syndrome" that they actually toss what is working so they can get caught up in the "sexy tactic" of the week. Why reinvent the wheel when you don't have to? Remember, the Internet is just another medium to reach your prospects. Think about the strengths of your company. If you have a strong phone presence, why not get your prospect to call your call center? Or perhaps, you are a master in email marketing, then get your prospect to sign up for you list and continue to market through them via email. Just think about the strengths of your company and then use your online marketing efforts to direct your prospect to your most powerful proven sales process. Simple enough right?
Once you are crystal clear on your website objectives it will be easy to start implementing some tactics that will help you increase your sales and profits. Stay tuned for next issue, where I will discuss the top 3 Free to Low-Cost Internet Marketing Trends of 2010.
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