Marketing to Millennials: Part 2 - Effective Marketing

In my last post about marketing to Millennials, I received a great deal of feedback asking about approach. "What's different about marketing to Millennials vs. our existing segments?" many browsers asked. In an effort to allay some fears and get your marketing on track, let me cover some basics that never change.

Whether you are marketing to Millennials, generation X or Y, marketing basics remain the same. The only difference is essentially the technique used to communicate your message.

Keep It Simple

A great formula for marketing success is M.O.A.T. The moat approach as I like to frame it stands for "message", "offer", "audience", and "timing". As I've mentioned in previous posts, to be success in print, online, or in this Web 2.0 world, your marketing needs to be based on a deep understanding of your audience, the messages you disseminate, the timing of your messages and the offers you provide.

Be in tune with your Audience

In order to communicate effectively to the market you wish to reach, you need to know them - what are their likes and dislikes? What matters most to them? How can you reach them? What media do they use to get their information? and so on.

By knowing your audience, you can effectively craft messages that are meaningful and personalized. Instead of sending a traditional form letter, you can craft a message they gets your prospect to stand up and take notice, generate an emotional reaction, or simply create a response. Start with an understanding of your marketing and your messaging will take shape.

Also, knowing more about your audience can help you determine when they need to receive their messages from you. Is there an event that would be a great catalyst for a purchase decision? How about a certain time of year when they need your products or services above all else? Let the market be your guide and work with their timing, not yours.

And lastly, what about the offer? If your market resonates more to social causes, then offer to make a donation to their favorite charity instead of providing a meaningless coupon. Again, focus on offers that have meaning to the individuals you are trying to reach, not something you deem cute or eye catching.

Keep In Mind These Marketing Basics

Your marketing can be most effective, regardless of who you are targeting if your remember to follow these marketing basics:

Message. Speak the same language as your audience. Determine what matters most to them and communicate using the right language and media.

Offer. Generate offers that have meaning to the audience you are attempting to reach vs. a generic offer or contest that they may care very little about.

Audience. Walk in the shoes of your prospective customer. The more you understand them and their behaviors, the more success you will have in developing effective marketing campaigns.

Timing. Executing on your marketing campaign is only as effective as your timing. Make sure you communicate the right message to the right audience with an effective offer at the right time and results are sure to follow.

Once you develop a campaign, test, test, and continue to test. Similar messages may seem equal but consumers may respond differently. Let your audience be your guide and don't forget to keep it simple.

Marketing to Millennials: What You Need To Know

The Millennial Generation was born between 1977 and 1998 and is just beginning to enter the workforce. Members of this 75 million person group are being raised at the most child-centric time in our history and the impact to marketers is undeniable.

In general, it is said that this group displays a great deal of confidence. This could be the result of focus they receive from parents and high expectations placed upon them – not to mention their new found independence with the advent of cell phones, the internet, and other electronic forms of communication. This is truly the first generation to grow up completely online and as a result, the marketing mix used to target them needs to evolve. As you might expect, this group is technically literate like none other.

Socially, Millennials are different as well. They are typically team-oriented, banding together to date and socialize rather than pairing off. They work well in groups, preferring this to individual endeavors. They are also good at multi-tasking and were the ones studying while listening to the radio or watching television - all the more reason to ensure that you utilize cross-media marketing and ensure consistency among your communications.

From an academic perspective, they are the group that was able to play a sport, attend school, and engage in social endeavors. Millennials believe in going green and supporting endeavors that are good for the environment.

When it comes to work, Millennials seem to expect structure. They acknowledge and respect positions and titles, and want a relationship with their boss. Millennials are in need of mentoring and they'll respond well to the personal attention. When considering the management of Millenials, be mindful that they appreciate structure and stability. Mentoring Millennials should be more formal, with set meetings and a more authoritative attitude on the mentor's part.

How to Market

Now that you understand a little more about the target you are seeking to attract, consider the places they go for information and the way they behave. Millennials are logging into their MySpace and Facebook accounts 3 – 4 times each day, sending instant messages to friends, and uploading their videos to YouTube. Are you there?

1. Listen to the conversation. Where many businesses are failing today is that they are not listening to the conversations that the Millennials are having about their products or their company. Sign up for Google Alerts, visit Technorati and see what individuals are blogging about.
2. Create accounts in FaceBook and MySpace and other Social Media. Put you name out there. Make sure that you company has a space among social media outlets. One thing to keep in mind though is to not be overly commercial. Millennials can see right through it. Rather, be genuine and let your prospective market understand what you’re really about and what you stand for.
3. Communicate on a personal level. Create a two way dialogue with your audience. Give them an opportunity to speak to you. Whether you let them rate your products, share comments, or share their experience with friends, providing a forum to socialize is essential.
4. Focus on consistent messaging. Regardless of which media type you use (email marketing, direct mail, adwords, etc.), keep your messaging consistent. If you say one think and do another, or change your messaging frequently, you will not be building the trust necessary to ensure lifetime customer value.
5. Be creative. When your marketing is creative, it can very quickly gain momentum. With the advent of YouTube, Flickr, and Delicious, messages are quickly shared and distributed. Don’t force the issue. Rather, create something meaningful, fun, and worth sharing. Before you know it, the Millennials will be sharing and distributing information about your and your brand.

Improving the effectiveness of your marketing to Millennials is no small undertaking. To be truly successful, you need to understand the social dependence these individuals have when communicating and the value they place on the opinion of others. Although much of Millennial marketing needs to happen online, don’t lose track of some tradition media like direct mail. As much as marketing has changed, traditional media can still be effective – just make sure it has a social component.

©2008. Michael Fleischner of The Marketing Blog

How to Prepare Your Sales Team for the Next Trade Show

Creating a trade show presence that is fun, enticing, and effective takes a great deal of work. Not only must you have a trade show display that creates an impact, you also need a staff that is friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient.

People skills are something not everyone has. The ability to quickly establish rapport, build confidence, and gain trust requires a skilled speaker. Your staff should also be knowledgeable of your offerings, and be able to answer any questions that your sales prospects may have.

When selecting staff for your trade show event, make sure you select staff have the following qualities:

- A warm, personable smile. The basis for any business relationship is the ability to make someone feel welcome and appreciated. An inviting smile can go a long way as an ice breaker.

-Comfort and confidence while maintaining priorities around strangers in a fast paced setting. Let's face it, no matter how friendly your sales staff are, they won't get the maximum value from attendees if they spend too much time focusing on a friendly prospect, or not enough time to make each attendee feel they have been personally welcomed. Your sales staff should be able to transition from one prospect to the next without rushing or prolonging the stay of each attendee; they should not spend too much or too little time on each potential lead.

- A command of product or service knowledge. Never let someone work a show who doesn't know the product well enough to sell it effectively. Spend time training your staff until you feel they can answer the vast majority of questions that could be introduced by prospects. Let your sales staff practice on each other before the show starts, ensuring that everyone is in gear for a successful show, and on top of their game.

Through effective teamwork and individual effectiveness, your next trade show should be a big hit!

About
Smash Hit Displays is a creator of custom trade show displays, and exhibit accessories. They can be found on the web at www.smashhitdisplays.com/.

Increase Response Rates By Getting Personal

In an increasingly crowded market space, getting personal with your customers goes a long way. I wanted to share this recent article with all of my readers from Crystal Uppercue, a marketing manager of EU Services. Whether you have technical marketing expertise or are simply looking to improve your marketing results, you'll benefit from learning more about "modeling" and personalization.

As marketers implement more sophisticated customer relationship management sys­tems, databases gather richer content. Integrate what you have with predictive modeling techniques and you're set to hit the market with wonderfully personalized communications. Custom­ized messages, in turn, open awesome opportunities for jacking up response and improving ROI.

Here's what you may not have realized: The direct market­ing manager who knows how to plan and automate the responses to a cross-channel campaign will shine in 2008.

The integration of database wealth and precise campaign planning promises amazing results, but it's not easy. It's not necessarily cost-prohibi­tive, either, but it does demand forethought. The best cam­paigns anticipate, embrace, and predict possibilities, then seamlessly direct the results into appropriate channels. The process can unfold automatically because the technology is in place to make this happen, but only when direct marketers prepare carefully, before day one.

For example, suppose you're planning your spring 2008 cam­paign. For starters, seriously consider running the numbers on a possible variable data personalization (VDP) investment.

Whatever your initial approach, when the returns flow in, stra­tegic planning will incorporate a series of automated responses. Did the prospect request more information? Those are ready to go out the door. Did an order come in? You send a “thank-you,” of course, but you also are prepared with a cross-sell or upsell. Your Web site is primed to persuade. Is the response from a particular market segment (geographic, cultural, income, gender, age)? You have an in-kind response waiting to go. If you've prepared, your responses are impressively customer-centric. And it all happens automatically.

In our experience, direct marketers who do this well follow clearly defined goals in their cross-media campaigns. From first-touch, they have a plan that focuses on the goal, the audience, and the workflow. Optimizing this process takes knowledge and experience. A sophisticated direct marketing production compa­ny should be able to deal with every aspect of your campaign, as well as suggest great ideas about how to personalize and auto­mate direct mail, e-mail, and Web site information.

The bottom line is that personalization improves results. Think about personalizing your next message to customers as well as implementing an ongoing campaign of personalization.

Search Engine Optimization For New Websites

Are you launching a new website? There's no better time to think about search engine optimization than prior to launching a new site. By giving consideration to your on-page optimization factors, you can increase your chances of achieving top organic search results.

To prepare your site for easy indexing, be sure to follow these basis guidelines:

1. Design your site in html or similar format that minimizes the use of java script and flash. The more complex you make your code, the more difficult it becomes for the search engine spiders to read your content and prescribe the appropriate Google PR to your web page.

2. Make sure that your meta tags are coded properly and include the Robots.txt tag. Many individuals downplay the importance of meta tags. Although meta tags themselves won't drastically change the organic ranking of your site, they do create the display text users will see when your site appears in search results. If your meta tags are search engine optimized and compelling, you increase the changes of improving click-throughs.

3. Apply the proper tags to your page. H1, H2, and H3 tags are a great wall to call attention to your content and promote your keywords and keyword phrases. Try to use each tag at least once, but don't force the issues. You want your text to flow and appear normal.

In addition to ensuring that you've made your page easy to access and presented text that is optimized, you also want to consider other factors that can help long-term with your SEO efforts. So often, web designers get caught up with on page factors, that they overlook the requirements for establishing a foundation that supports long-term initiatives.

In particular, consider adding pages that you can add to over time that support link building and accessibility for search engine spiders. Be sure to include:

1. An html sitemap and an xml sitemap. Including a sitemap on you site makes it easy for search engines to access all of your website pages and index your site accordingly. Your sitemap should be in both html as well as xml. Although users would not access the xml sitemap, search engine spiders use this version to crawl websites. Additionally, key search engine submission resources like Google's Webmasters Tools require xml site map versions.

2. Include a partners page. Previously referred to as a links page, the partners page is essential for reciprocal linking. This strategy isn't as powerful as developing one-way links, but until your site has been assigned a Google PR, one-way links can be difficult to acquire. So begin your link exchange program with a partners page that allows you add or remove link quickly and easily.

3. Submission pages that encourage new content. One of the most powerful seo techniques is the addition of new content. Make it easy for your users to add or submit content to your website. When search engines see new content, they rejoice. Don't underestimate how important it is to make it simple for your browsers to add or submit content.

When focusing on search engine optimization, especially with a new website, follow the basic ideas outlined above. There are a number of other factors to consider as well. However, you should always start with a strong foundation - a site design that meets basic SEO standards but one that also supports your long range search engine optimization goals.

Link Building 101: Acquiring Links From New Websites

I've never been a big believer in spending time acquiring links from new sites. With so many changes in link building over the last twelve months, my thinking is beginning to change. Here is a great post on the subject from Justilien Gaspard of Search Engine Watch.

We've all heard it -- people don't want links from new Web sites. Why? It's assumed that new sites don't have enough quality backlinks, and haven't earned "trust" in Google to pass real value. However, if you flatly skip over links from new sites, you're losing out on immense opportunities. It's time to rethink the matter.

I admit to having encouraged this line of thinking by telling people to go after links from old, trusted sites. Going after high-value targets is just one strategy. Even with that strategy, you cannot skip over new sites without any analysis.

That would be like a stockbroker refusing to consider a stock that hasn't been around for at least 20 years, or an employer refusing to look at resumes from people who haven't been in the workforce at least 15 years.

Today's new site could be tomorrow's rock star. Most successful companies start small. Cisco Systems was started in a garage by a married couple. GE was started in a barn. Starbucks started as a single coffee store in a public market. The same holds true of Web sites. Most sites, just as traditional businesses, start small unless a large corporation develops it.

If a large corporation is developing the new site, go after the link because the site has a greater likelihood of success. Usually such sites will have a superb promotional budget -- not to mention links from the corporation's site(s) to jumpstart it.

What to look for?

Usually, you can easily sift through sites by learning how they're handling promotions. Look for those sites with marketing budgets, as those will be the safest bet. Be careful of sites that think they're the "best" and expect the world to magically discover them. We all know the type and have heard the pitch.

Advertising Campaigns

Find out what type of advertising the site is doing. It might just surprise you to find out they have a targeted advertising program going after specific demographics. Most will gladly share with you what magazines, journals, newspapers, television and other media outlets they're advertising with. Also, find out if they're running a PPC campaign.

The Real PR (Public Relations)

Find out what type of PR campaigns they're running. This might be in-house, or through an agency. Discover where they're trying to get publicity. They may already have several mentions in mainstream media.

Quality of Backlinks

Examining the site's backlinks can tell you a great deal about the quality of the promotions. If it looks like they're gaining links from quality sites, then they're on the right track and worth your time. Are there links from the media or industry sites? Go for it! If all their links are from blog comments, template links in blog themes, or low-value link trades, move on.

Serial Entrepreneur?

Is the site being developed by a company that has a record of successful Web sites? There are many large and small publishers who have a solid history of developing and promoting Internet properties. They've learned from their previous successes and failures. These types of sites generally will provide much more value over time than the new Webmasters that still operate under the fallacy, "build it and they will come."

The point is not to skip over link opportunities just because a site is new. Instead, find out if they're doing a notable job of promotions. The more they promote their site, the more valuable links from it will become over time. Think of it as investing in the stock market. Look for undervalued, or unnoticed, sites that have a high likelihood of rising in popularity.

So there you have it. Link building that includes "new" sites may pay dividends - opportunity or risk? You decide.

Affiliate Marketing Basics

Affiliate marketing is a great way to generate income online. However, there are many steps to take when trying to make money online through affiliate programs. The most tedious and most important step will always be the marketing aspect. Beginners affiliate marketing should begin with knowledge. Read everything that you can to find out the different paths that are available.

As an affiliate, there will be millions of products and services to choose from. You should always choose a product that is in a similar niche to that of your websites.

A website that is based on technology should not have ads and affiliate programs about curtains and bedding. You can choose to display shoe ads if your website is about shoes, or you can select products that will go well with that topic such as clothing and accessories.

Whatever you choose as an affiliate program, always try to start with a product that you have used. As an affiliate marketer, you are recommending these products to your visitors, and they will not be pleased to find out that the product is subpar after they have purchased it.

You want to suggest a product that you know and love. By telling your website visitors about the honest experience that you have had with a product, the more they will grow to trust your word. Always be honest with your customers. As large as the internet is, it is still small enough and a few bad reviews about you and your website, can travel quickly and destroy your reputation before it has even begun.

A great way to receive and keep new visitors is with a free offer. When free products are available, other websites will at times link to that web page so that they can tell their own visitors about the great deal. This helps you to get back links as well as new visitors who may decide to check out your website. This can help you to gain new visitors as well as repeat customers.

A well made site can become self sustaining in a short amount of time. This means that you will be able to simply add new content, done by yourself or through a freelancer, while you do other tasks, such as setting up more affiliate websites. You should always keep an eye on all of your web pages, to update and to make sure that there are no problems with your site or server.

While you are still learning, it is best to start with one affiliate program before moving to others. Trying to do, too much too soon can be a recipe for disaster. Put all of your efforts and concentration into making your first affiliate program a success.

Once you have learned how to put your skills into effect, your beginners affiliate marketing techniques can move on to new websites, blogs and affiliate programs.

With the knowledge that you have gained through your first website, you can begin to apply the same techniques to duplicate your previous success. However, you should always remember to check back with websites, ebooks and blogs, so that you are kept up to date on the new affiliate marketing techniques that are available.

About the Author:
Jude Wright has been the owner of http://aboutaffiliatemarketing.com since 2002. Stop by and pick up her free report, Newbie's Affiliate Guide.

Be sure to check out the top selling Internet marketing affiliate products on the right-hand side of our blog now featuring The Webmasters Book of Secrets - the top selling ebook of all-time!

Your Media Mix Is Essential

Integrated marketing is your key to success. By combining multiple media formats, your message is more powerful and your marketing more effective. In this post Michael Hubbard, CEO of Media Two Interact give us great insight into the power of a diversified media mix.

A well-rounded media mix is essential to any marketing campaign, because no channel alone will have the same results as several channels working together and supporting each other. That is something that most marketers can agree on. But many marketers and advertisers are steadfast in their belief that search is strictly a direct response vehicle, and display is only a branding tool — black and white, case closed. But that can be extremely limiting. In fact, there is a gray area where display and search blend together and where display actually becomes a driver of search performance with a direct impact on conversions.

Determining the right mix of search and display buys must be determined on a client-by-client basis. Often, as a media buyer or agency, you are faced with a client who wants to raise the search budget because he or she thinks spending more money on search will lead to better search results. The reality is that spending a larger chunk of your budget by buying up all the related keywords may increase clicks, but it is unlikely to have a significant effect on conversions because that big mix of keywords is no more targeted than before.

For instance, if you're Apple, you're catering to a very specific segment of online electronics shoppers. Basic keywords like “mp3 player,” “computer,” “processor” or “laptop” may technically apply to the products you carry, but the audience searching for those terms could be looking for something entirely different. If you're looking for Mac users, not just anyone in the market for a computer, why waste the search dollars?

A better technique is to spend a portion of your marketing budget on the most targeted search keywords and then dedicate a good portion of your budget to display advertising to support the search programs, sending more qualified buyers to the search engines. You do this with demographic/geographic and behaviorally targeted ad buys and more brand-based placements to really ensure you're reaching the shoppers with the most potential to buy your specific product or service.

After seeing display ads while browsing, users will often go to their favorite engine and search for the brand they saw in the ad. The reason for this may be because people don't like to click on banner ads as a rule, but once they've seen enough ads to establish brand recall, they will go to a channel they're comfortable with to find it. The point is, there's nothing to brand on search engines alone; something else is always driving you there, and display is one of those big drivers of traffic.

The great part of multiple media is that the strategy is two-pronged because in addition to supporting search, display has its own ROI objectives, which means double the benefit for you. Search is a powerhouse to be sure, but display can be the wind beneath its wings.

Post by Michael Hubbard, CEO, Media Two Interact

Optimizing Your Site Using Social Media

Social media is in full swing. Using social media to build traffic to your website is referred to as social media optimization. Content sharing, social bookmarking, and collaborative websites form the basis of this initiative and it is these types of website that you need to use in order to leverage the power of the social web.

Social Media Optimization As Guerrilla Marketing

The nature of Social Media Optimization is such that it could be considered form of guerrilla marketing. Website owners and blog owners have the choice of either investing money or their own skills and time in order to generate traffic from social sites. As long as your efforts are directed appropriately, the more work you put in the more reward you will reap.

Using Social Media Optimization For Link Building

Social optimization also has a happy side effect - it helps to build your link profile so you will usually gain search engine traffic in the long term. Becoming a part of an online community is essential to your social optimization and this, in turn, will naturally provide links to your website. The links will usually be from relevant pages based on a similar topic to that of your own page. The more popular social sites are also given a lot of weight by certain search engines.

Optimize Your Existing Site Using Social Media

Create genuinely interesting, intriguing, or informative pages. Includes images, links, video, and collaborative tools so that visitors really get involved when they do visit your site. Social media optimization is basically digital word-of-mouth and if your website doesn't offer some kind of appealing experience to your visitors, then it simply won't attract the positive word-of-mouth that you want.

Add new pages, if necessary, so that you can include more information. However, don't just add pages for the sake of it - ensure that each page really does have something unique to offer. A website still needs to be well structured.

Develop A Blog

Add a blog. Every website has potential blog posts in it so find yours and start blogging regularly. Blog posts tend to attract links from other blog posts and those in turn will spread the word of your website. The more popular your blog becomes, the more value it is perceived to offer and the more visitors you will continue to get.

Be active in those blogs that are within your industry and use your link where permitted and relevant. Don't spam because that will lose you more friends than it will make but if you offer relevant information and a forum or blog allows you to link to it, then offer an insightful comment and provide a link.

Some Social Sites To Join

You really do reap what you sow in terms of social media optimization. Determine the sites that are most suitable to your website, join them, and become an active member. Choose some broad topic sites as well as some that are specific to those interested in the industry in which you operate or topic that you cover. Look at social news submission sites, content sharing sites, bookmarking, and networking sites and try to get a broad coverage of all of them. Here are just a few of the sites you should seriously consider using:

Social News/Media Sharing Websites

* Reddit - Reddit is a very popular social news website that boasts a lot of subscribers and covers a wide range of topics.
* Digg - Initially, Digg was reserved to technology and related topics but is now a broad topic news site that again has a lot of subscribers and regular readers.
* Newsvine - Not as popular as the two above but offering a slightly more formal tone to its content. Again, a good range of topics are covered.

Social Networking Sites

* MySpace - It may be largely riddled with spam but there are still too many genuine users for you to ignore MySpace. You don't have to be an unsigned band to take advantage either.
* Facebook - Has caused quite a stir and offers users the chance to create and distribute their own applications as well as content. Another very popular site. * LinkedIn - LinkedIn is a social networking site dedicated to professionals and businesses. It can really help to build a huge network of partners, customers, and other useful contacts in a business network.

Social Bookmarking Websites

* del.icio.us - Register, store bookmarks that you find useful, and include a bookmark to your own website and use a public profile.
* Stumble Upon - Same again. Alternatively you can add a Stumble icon to each of your pages, blog posts, and other media and let your readers do the walking for you.

Buttons For Your Pages

Many social websites offer a button that your readers or visitors can use to automatically add a page. Bookmarking and content sharing sites, in particular, have these buttons and if you've ever read a website or an article site then you will have seen the Digg This and Stumble buttons at the bottom of each entry. Users registered with these sites can click the button and quickly add your page. The most popular websites are usually displayed on the high traffic home pages delivering yet more visitors to your site.

About the Author: WebWiseWords is a web content writer offering appealing and professional web content. Whether you are looking to implement an SEO or social media optimization campaign, or you want to improve your visitor's experience while on your website WebWiseWords can create the content you need.

How To Convert One-Time Buyers Into Long-Term Customers

When acquiring customers, you want to find people who will buy from you and stay for a long time. In many cases, it is hard to make a profit from consumers who buy once and never again. In fact, many marketers don't consider a one-time buyer to be a customer at all — customers are those who have purchased from you two or more times.

So what should you offer to consumers to convert them into long-term loyal customers? It seems to me that there are five basic ideas that you should convey to them:

First, that you have a superior product or service. Consumers want to know why your product is the best for them. What special features can they take pride in owning? How was it made or how do you use it to produce great results? Product differentiation has always been a goal of successful advertising. This is why there are a dozen brands of laundry detergent still on the market today with loyal followings.

Second, that your company stands for something. Brand is still popular with consumers. People like to identify with a brand — my BMW, my Crest toothpaste, my Kraft Crystal Light. Brand building is worth it, if you use it to acquire long-term loyal customers.

Third, that you have excellent customer service. Today companies have not just toll-free numbers but Web sites that accept comments and e-mails. Who would want to buy insurance, or deal with a bank or phone company that did not have really good and accessible service?

Fourth, that millions of others are buying your product. People like to think that they have made the right decision in buying from you. There is always the herd instinct. If you can get across to consumers that they are not alone in choosing your product, you have won half the battle.

Lastly, express that you are constantly improving to keep up with the times. Do you have an R&D program? Tell consumers about it. Tell them the new features that you have added recently. People like to feel that they are modern and up to date. They buy the latest products with the latest features — from a long-established, reputable company.

So how can you get these messages across? Mass marketing messages work, if you are big enough to afford it. If you are not, we now have the Internet. One of the most powerful communication methods today is the personalized promotional e-mail. Companies today are building customer marketing databases to which they append scores of fields of relevant data. Using those data, you can create segments and design marketing strategies for each segment.

When customers become one-time buyers, you get them to provide their e-mail, with permission to contact them about your products and services. At this point, you can put them into segments, and send to consumers in each segment communications that speak to their lifestyle and interests. Now is the time to explain your five basic ideas. Your messages to seniors will be different from those sent to college students, or to families with young children.

You can run tests to see which messages are opened, clicked and result in conversions or downloads. You can learn within a day or two which messages work best. You can build a relationship with these consumers that will convert them into long-term, loyal customers.

This post provided by Arthur Middleton Hughes, Vice President of KnowledgeBase Marketing

Make Your Website Sticky With 7 Helpful Optimization Techniques

Attracting visitors to your website is only the first step. Once there, you need to help your browsers find what they're looking for and have an experience that will keep them coming back for more. Keeping website visitors engaged is more important than ever.

Engagement doesn’t end with an individual browser reading content or clicking on an ad. Rather, engagement is an ongoing process that results in loyal customers who come back again and again, becoming more vested in your web site. So, how can you make sure you’re engaging and keeping customers?

In order to create a loyal following, there are some basic principles you need to consider. From first impressions to life-long membership, put yourself in the shoes of your browsers and make their experience a valuable one.

1. Reduce Clutter. How many times have you visited a website only to be overwhelmed and confused? What is this site about you may have asked yourself. Or perhaps you found yourself asking, ‘Where is the information I’m looking for?’ Don’t ask your browsers or potential customers to figure this out. Make your site clutter free and create a visual priority that emphasizes the information, resources, or actions your browsers want. By reducing obstacles you build trust among new web site visitors and allow for simple decision making – which benefits everyone.


2. Make Navigation Intuitive. There are many ways to navigate a web page but intuition rules the day. Don’t try to get fancy with your navigation or overuse java script. Basic navigation that follows current convention is the best way to lead individuals through your web site to the information they’re looking for.

3. Make The Initial Site Interaction Relevant. When a browser reaches your web site, you have less than seven seconds to get them engaged. Making your initial site interaction relevant to what individuals are looking for is essential for keeping them interacting long term. If you are promoting your web site with Google Adwords, or any pay per click advertising for that matter, be sure to create customer landing pages that are truly relevant to the individual who clicks-through your ad. Once you’ve established relevancy, you can move them deeper into your content, tools, and resources.

4. Ensure That Your Content Is Up-to-date. Web site content that isn’t up to date does not serve your audience and browsers are likely to move on. One way to ensure that information is timely is by providing a feed of relevant news or information. If including static text on your web pages, try not to include specific dates. However, if you must publish dates, be sure to update this information on a regular basis.

5. Start An Interaction With Your Users. Each time a browser views your web page, you have an opportunity to interact with them. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. One great way to interact is to offer something of value at no cost. This can be a white paper, access to an exclusive list, or simply a 30 day free trial. Be sure to capture an individual’s valid email address and include them on your mailing list. An auto-responder is best if you wish to engage these individuals on an ongoing basis.

6. Provide Plenty Of Support. Don’t hesitate to offer support right from your home page. Prominently display your 800 number, support email address, and additional information for your prospects and customers such as mailing address. This information is viewed favorably by search engines and also creates a sense of legitimacy. Contact information builds trust among prospects and elicits interest in your company.


7. Make Sharing Easy. Once you’ve made your web site easy to use, don’t hesitate to offer browsers the ability to share your web site with others. This can be in the form of a simple widget that allows users to bookmark your page, subscribe to an Rss feed, or submit your content to popular news sites like Digg.com. Individuals are much more likely to visit a web site based on a friend’s recommendation versus some other type of marketing initiative. Leverage the power of viral marketing with easy sharing tools.


Your web site can be your greatest asset. Unfortunately, many marketers and website owners are so focused on increasing traffic that they lose site of the audience that’s already visiting their web pages but are simply not converting.

Don’t make the same mistake. Improve the quality of you site through relevant content that is up-to-date and easy to find. Once you’ve engaged users, encourage them to share. Doing so will make your site perform better, increase conversions, and deliver value for all involved.

Visit MarketingScoop.com for more helpful web site development tips and helpful marketing articles.

Making the Leap To Home Business Success

From time to time, I hear from a number of individuals seeking marketing advice for their home based business. I recently had an opportunity to ask Work from home expert Stone Evans for his tips on creating a successful home business. Here's what he had to say...

"If you are going to have a successful home business, you need 3 "intangibles." These are things that must come from WITHIN you."

Intangible 1

First, you must have a strong WHY.

Why MUST you have a successful home business? What is driving you? What is it that you CAN'T have in your life anymore and/or what is it that you absolutely MUST HAVE now?

For me, I couldn't stand working 12+ hours a day anymore and missing the experience of my children growing up. I also absolutely HAD TO HAVE the freedom of being able to control my life and finances through a little box (laptop computer) that I could carry with me anywhere in the world and not be tied to anyone's time pressures or demands but my own. That was my carrot and my stick. I felt a great pain deep in my gut of missing out on my children's lives and the incredible freedom that succeeding in a home business would provide for me. I found my why. You MUST find yours.

Intangible 2

You must BELIEVE that it is possible. If you don't believe that it's POSSIBLE for you to have a successful home business or make your living from home, you won't. It's that simple. For me, figuring out that it was possible was just a matter of realizing that many other people were ALREADY making great money working from home.

If they could do it, I could too. It would just be a matter of figuring out what those people were doing and then adapting it to my situation. There is no shortage of undeniable PROOF that people (millions of them) are making money working from home. Just get online and do some research and you'll find countless testimonials and stories of REAL PEOPLE making real money on the Internet. Or head to your local bookstore and you'll find the same documented evidence of this fact.

Truth is, it's getting easier and easier to make money with your own home business. I've always said that "affiliate marketing" (a simple way to make money from home) is the job of the future. In the "old" days, you had to go to a potential employer, apply for the position and hope for the best. Now you can simply go to any company you want, fill out their affiliate application and start work immediately. Affiliates are the new working class. In fact, making money with affiliate programs or making your living on the Internet is WAY MORE than possible. It is pretty much (or will be soon enough) unavoidable now. Affiliate marketing is the "job" of the future that's already here TODAY.

Intangible 3

You must be willing to MAKE THE LEAP. Ready, FIRE, then aim... This is the operating philosophy you MUST adopt to succeed with a home business. That's backwards for most people who like to aim before they fire. The fact is that home business success is a moving target... The only thing constant about it is change. You need to stop analyzing the game and simply jump into it. You can't learn from the outside... You have to be IN THE RING to truly understand it. The lesson here is that you will never really be READY to start a home business. You simply have to start one. It's like having children... You're never really ready, but when it happens you adapt and grow.

This is what I call "Making the Leap." The good news is that the cost of failure with having your own home business is very small. In the "brick and mortar" world you need to evaluate things very carefully before you decide to open up a business. It's almost always necessary to invest thousands of dollars to get an offline business off the ground. However, on the Internet you can often start a successful business for less than $100.

The Plug-In Profit Site is a great example of this: http://www.HomeBusiness.us You simply need get IN THE GAME... Each moment that you stay "out there," you're wasting valuable time that you could be learning and skills necessary to build a successful home business. In fact, if you're not in the game yet, you're ALREADY behind the times. Make the leap to creating a successful home business today! Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy has helped thousands of people in over 200 countries around the world start and run a successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start your own home business and subscribe to The Home Biz Guy's Free Home Business Secrets Mini-Course at: Home Business

Increase Your Sales By Getting Personal

By analyzing web site data and making personal recommendations, you can increase sales to your existing customers. According to a recent article on VentureBeat, Amazon.com attributes 35% of its product sales to recommendations.

While that may seem exclusive to one of the world's largest online retailers, even small businesses can take advantage of the resources used by Amazon. It's not as difficult or expensive as you might think. Data-driven marketing applications are now affordable, easy to use, and something your must consider as part of your marketing mix.

What does your customer data say? In order to create personalized recommendations and maximize the value of your current customers, you must perform a thorough analysis of your existing database. To do so, organize and review your current customer list. Perform additional analysis to predict customer tendencies in terms of clusters, and other data modeled groupings.

Doing this will help to determine the type of message or offer to send to each group based on past behavior. Then you're ready to leverage your data and analysis in order to move your best customers to higher purchase levels. This might take the form of making a specific set of cross-sell or up-sell recommendations to individual sets or cluster of customers.

If your current customer files are not in the condition necessary to take advantage of some of these types of analyses, make it a priority to clean up your data so you can maximize your ability to harvest your own greatest asset.

What about recommendation systems? The idea is that customers are not all the same so why would you treat them that way? Amazon was the first to really utilize the, “Customers who purchased this also were interested in the following items”, technique. But you can use the same approach (and even improve on it, as Amazon clearly does not always get it right) for your own Web site.

In the movie rental arena, Netflix, Blockbuster and FamilyVideo.com have used recommendation systems successfully, and Netflix is even running a $1 million contest offering programmers the chance to beat the current Netflix system by more than 10% and win the big prize. They are doing this because a better system will drive incremental sales well above $1 million over the life of its implementation.

Personalized recommendation systems can cost well over $100,000 for companies with a large number of product offerings. But for companies with a smaller amount of products costs can be less than $50,000 for set-up, and monthly maintenance charges can be tied to performance.

An added benefit is that creating a truly personal shopping experience for your customers engenders increased customer loyalty. Even though its suggestions may not always be on the mark, we return to Amazon again and again when looking for items for ourselves and gifts for friends and relatives.

The friendly service seems to know us — it certainly recognizes us — and it appears to have been waiting patiently for our return. Why not create a “My-store,” “wish-list,” e-mail alert, or an intelligent search function on your site and make your customers' shopping experience truly unique? Today's shoppers want to feel that they are in control of their shopping “experience” and affording them choices to make (but not too many) is a key to success.

Whether it is in print, on your Web site, or both, data-driven applications offer your precious customers new products, destinations and experiences — and provide you with stronger income opportunities.

As the saying goes, "In God we trust, all others bring data."