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Combine Online and Off-line Marketing for Better ROI

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A quality business website can improve your return on investment of your off-line marketing efforts in three ways.

  1. Provide more detail with unlimited time, space, text and multimedia than any other marketing method.
  2. Provide better tracking of off-line marketing.
  3. Impulse buying becomes a possibility where it didn’t previously exist.

How You Can Combine Online and Off-line Marketing

Radio and television commercials used to rely on the audience’s ability to write down a telephone number for instant sales. Websites are much easier to remember. Additionally, smart televisions can even feature embedded links in your commercials.

Outdoor advertisements, such as billboards or sports venue signage, relied on the consumer returning home or coming to your place of business. Today customers can place an order on their smart phone from inside the stadium, opening up entire new possibilities for use of the medium.

Direct mail can be combined with geo-fencing online, making both more effective. Send your direct mail pieces to a neighborhood and have your online advertising delivered to those same addresses simultaneously. Advertising works best when one customer sees your marketing materials on multiple platforms in quick succession.

Automatic responding text messages (bots) can provide more information and instant links, and work with just about any advertising medium.

Hashtag campaigns can use off-line marketing to generate social media buzz.

Keys to Capitalizing On Your Off-line Marketing

Continuity, planning and timing are critical. Make sure that your style, photography, and branding are working in tandem. Having a strong brand identity guide is critical to producing great marketing assets that work well together.

Make sure your web team is responsive and understands your goals. Your website needs to be much more than a static brochure to maximize off-line marketing value.

All marketing should be a series of well orchestrated campaigns, rather than standalone advertisements. Planning is essential.

 

At Mediastead our focus is on creating direct measurable results in every advertising, marketing, sales or public relations effort. We do this by tying your online presence, essentially using your website as a hub, to all of your other marketing activities.

Schedule a free 30 minute telephone strategy session, and see how Mediastead can help take your marketing to the next level.

Success is one good idea away!

Improve Customer Service and Solidify Customer Loyalty

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One of the principal rules of marketing is: “It is always easier to sell to a customer than to a prospect.”

Today’s online marketers are obsessed with finding new followers, attracting users, and “filling the top of the funnel”. A tried and true concept, which is sometimes lost on this new breed of marketing experts, is focusing on customer service and loyalty.

The most successful companies, however, are focused intently on increasing the lifetime revenue dollars generated by each customer.

Here are some of the best techniques for improving customer service and solidifying customer loyalty.

 

Online Ordering

Yes, we believe that every business should be an e-commerce business today, but the reasoning behind that push may surprise you.

Online sales certainly have the potential to increase your revenue, but more importantly, it gives your current customers a friendly and effective way to purchase more product and/or service from you.

Even if your company never sells to a new customer through your website, enabling your current customers to buy in a new way makes the investment required to create online ordering well worth the expense.

Additionally, once online ordering is available, it’s easy to leverage that into new streams of revenue or new platforms to attract first-time customers.

 

Technical Support or Customer Service

Some businesses require lots of service after the sale. Years ago, Gateway Computers became one of the largest computer companies in the world. They mastered this technique not by offering the best PCs or the lowest prices. They were the first company that made it easy to buy a computer. Their combination of website and telephone customer support created a massive customer base that was extremely loyal.

Unfortunately, for Gateway Computers, this also became their downfall. When other companies came into the market and were able to match or beat their customer service, the company quickly faltered.

In an era when all products and services require a much greater level of customer support, which often includes technical support, (we have Internet enabled refrigerators, and soon will have self-driving vehicles) the companies that provide the best 24/7/365 support are going to be winners in the marketplace.

Managing the flow of support inquiries is going to be critical for companies large and small. Your website can be a great way to provide support and filter more complex cases.

 

Capturing Peer-to-Peer Knowledge

One of our favorite companies is NewEgg.com. Their principal business was built to offer computer components to computer professionals. They adopted Amazon style reviews, and actually encouraged people to post critical reviews of their products. In fact, many of their products highlight the most useful favorable review as well is the most useful critical review.

By doing this, Newegg developed a high level of trust among its users. Furthermore, users began helping other users to become more informed customers. In this way peer-to-peer knowledge created an environment intense customer loyalty.

Peer-to-peer knowledge can be developed on a grand scale, but it can be implemented on a much smaller scale as well. Creating an ongoing list of frequently asked questions for your most prominent products or services is a great way to begin. Creating a wiki (user generated content) where the customers can communicate and offer ideas about the best use of your products is another technique with strong potential. Off-line user groups or conferences can also be a great way of uniting your customers.

 

Local Businesses Must Focus on Mobile Business

Most small local businesses today have a website. Businesses that rely on foot traffic have to make sure their websites are intensely mobile focused.

If the customer is at home or the office looking at in depth websites, they also have the ability to evaluate businesses from across the globe. Even with great information on your website, the competition for your business is going to be ever increasing.

However, local businesses have the advantage in a few ways, but only if they can reach customers instantly wherever they are.

First, create a “mobile first” website. Your core website should be well optimized for the user on a smart phone. If is easy to use by phone, larger screen interfaces will take care of themselves.

Second, make sure your website is “local search optimized”, so search engines as well as specialty directories are tied together making your webpage extremely easy to find.

Third, once you have captured mobile customers, keep them coming back. Offer coupons that are delivered by email or text message. Create online communities that mirror the communities where your customers live. Participate extensively in social media, and encourage interaction among your customers.

Developing strong customer service strategies takes your website from a simple online brochure into a true tool for developing customer loyalty and attracting new customers.

RGB Custom Builders

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RGB Custom Builders is one of the premiere home builders in the Poconos. A year prior to founding Mediastead, Michael Rapino designed RGB Homes original website.

Now as Creative Director at Mediastead, the Browns (the B in RGB) wanted to keep working with Michael.

It isn’t often that a web designer gets to see their work while driving down the Interstate, but if you are east-bound on I-80 through the Pocono Mountains you’ll see the RGB billboard. You also might see one of the RGB branded work trucks on their way to put the finishing touches on a beautiful custom home.

Mediastead has also created print ads and marketing materials. Most notably, an ad was included in the New York Mets official stadium magazine.

 

The Speed of Marketing

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“You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.” ― David Foster Wallace

This quote from American novelist, David Foster Wallace, inspired me.

Every day I work with clients who want to craft a message to their customers. They focus on creating a lasting impression. The focus on creating a personality for their company. They want to craft the image in customers’ minds when their brand is mentioned. They spend countless hours and millions of dollars in this endeavor.

But does it work? Does any of it really matter?

Think about the best brands in the world. Coca-Cola, Nike, Ben & Jerry’s, Ford, Gatorade, McDonald’s, and Apple are some of the most well marketed brands.

Yet, how much of your day is spent dwelling on any one of them? You can walk in your Nike sneakers while listening to your iPod to grab a Big Mac and a Coke without ever stopping to consider, “What message does the marketing department want me to hear?

You are probably thinking about your job, your school, your kids, your parents, conflict in the Middle East, racism in America, how to make more money, should you ask her to get married, is he “Mr. Right”, did hobbits really exist, or if you had $1 billion would it be possible to build an actual gingerbread house.

Our brains bounce from solving the world’s problems to the mundane trivia of our daily lives in nanoseconds.

If we can’t even control our own brains, how do we expect influence others? Does marketing even matter?

Yes, marketing is critical, and here’s why.

We spend very very little time contemplating the products we buy, the services we use, or the companies that create them. However, when we do take the time to choose, the company that has stimulated our brain most recently and/or most often is the likely winner.

When buying athletic shoes, your likely only to try three or four pair. Most likely one of them will be made by Nike. We admire sports stars like Michael Jordan. We associate Nike with athleticism. Nike has teamed with another favorite brand, Apple.

Now we are hungry. Are we in the mood for McDonald’s or one of the other restaurants? The food is decent, and the price is right. Plus you could go for a Coke.

In the decision-making process you have nanoseconds to associate your brand with positive imagery. The more connected to other parts of the brain you can be, the more likely you will be among the finalists in the world the vast choices.

Which pizza is best? Papa John’s, Pizza Hut, Dominoes or the local pizza joint? This question is certainly debatable… but the losers aren’t the ones that make worst pizza. The losers are the ones that never make the final decision. When deciding which pizza is best, the company that hasn’t made the cut with their marketing will never even be tasted.

It’s about nanoseconds.

Your marketing message must be logged in the brain based on likability, proximity and repetition. Your job as a marketer is to occupy the minds of your customers, and build connections, so in those nanoseconds of electrical activity in the brain your brand will be among the finalists.

Let Mediastead help craft messages that will stick, at least for nanoseconds.

Hudson Valley Weather

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For three years, Alex Marra, the man behind HudsonValleyWeather.com, painstakingly delivered clear and accurate weather forecasts to his Facebook page.  Over the course of those three years, Hudson Valley Weather (HVW) went from 0 to over 40,000 Facebook Fans.  Alex knew that it was time to leverage the momentum of his rapidly growing fan base, but didn’t know where to start.

Migrating Facebook fans to website visitors can be tricky. After three years of loyalty, the Weather Guy wanted to generate income without alienating his base.

Balance is an important element in any Web-Centric Marketing strategy, and was an integral part of the initial planning of HudsonValleyWeather.com

How to Monetize Your Facebook Fan Base

Mediastead knew the key to turning fans into dollars was “added value”. Deliver the same quality content for free as always, but create additional content with enough value to motivate readers to visit the website.

Since Husdon Valley Weather’s inception, Alex and his ability to accurately forecast the weather had been the driving force behind its phenomenal growth.  The first order of business was to translate what Alex did on Facebook to HVW’s new website, giving Alex a more robust platform to do what he was good at … delivering solid information to an audience that wanted it.  The second part to this process, was to reduce the depth of information made available on Facebook, giving HVW’s audience a teaser of the information they would find on the website.  This balance allowed HVW’s fan-base to use Facebook as a way to be notified of the newest information available, and then link to the website to continue delving deeper.

For people who wanted to know ‘will it snow?’ everything they needed was delivered by Facebook. For those that wanted to know ‘where, why, and how much?’ had easy access to depth of information.

How much is your Facebook fan base worth?

It’s all about the numbers.  Our goal was to exceed 1 million page views in the first 12 months. HudsonValleyWeather.com hit 1 million views in only 59 days!

That traffic and loyalty turned heads of advertisers. We monetized with Google AdSense initially, but as advertisers recognized the value of an avid repeat audience with a distinct local demographic, banks, radio stations and retail outlets began competing for ad space.

These advertisers paid monthly rather than pay-per-view or pay-per-click. This meant that HVW could stabilize revenue and invest in more functionality.

Real time results turns into real revenue

Mediastead helped HVW build National Weather Service feeds to automatically alert readers of dangerous weather.

Live Weather Radar added another powerful feature that would be impossible to deliver via Facebook, and opened more sponsorship opportunities.

Going mobile!

From the beginning HVW knew that their audience was extremely mobile. Facebook, already a solid mobile platform, comprised the majority of the website visitors. Additionally, by the nature of the information, it was even more valuable to people on the go. The weather doesn’t matter sitting in front of your home PC. Weather information is critical to people traveling to work, to socialize, or to recreation venues. The Hudson Valley community in particular has a great love of the outdoors.

Building a dynamic website usable on a mobile platform means that HVW not only has a loyal, local audience, but is one of the few that can deliver advertising messages virtually anywhere.

 

Grind. Brew. Love.

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Brothers, Anthony and Michael Rapino, have teamed up again with Grind. Brew. Love.

Anthony, a coffee lover, and Michael, always well caffeinated, created a lifestyle blog for coffee aficionados.

in this case, Java is more than a hobby. Their goal was to turn their love of coffee into a revenue positive website .

Their business model includes:

  1. Drive readers with original quality content and SEO, supported by advertising.
  2. Membership program with free and premium subscriptions.
  3. Coffee and coffee accessories online store.

It’s still early but with Anthony creating content and Michael’s design skills, this gorgeous website is beginning to draw attention.

 

 

 

 

Three Ways to Make Money with Your Website

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Every business wants their website to increase their revenue, but for many businesses, your website can actually become a new source of revenue.

There are three ways to monetize your website, whether it’s a simple blog, a business promotion website, or a robust social platform.

Advertising and Sponsorship

The easiest money online is advertising. Placing automated ads on your website generates revenue proportional to your traffic. It’s ideal for blogs or for businesses that have regular visitors to their website.

Some business websites prefer not to advertise other products for fear it will cannibalize existing shoppers. Actually, however, eBay and Amazon have both studied the practice and found it can be very lucrative. In fact, affiliate revenue can sometimes have better margins than stocking products and selling them yourself.

Two types of websites can generate significant revenue.

  • High-traffic websites and/or those with an intensely loyal user base
  • Highly specialized demographics such as a geographic location or a niche industry

Online Store

If your business sells product, you should sell your products online as well. This is ideal for local businesses who want to sell nationally or even internationally. It’s also a great way to subsidize a service company’s revenue. Hair salons for example often carry inventories of hair care products. Having a convenient way to reorder online can create additional revenue streams.

Two types of stores generate solid revenue.

  • Extremely unique products (that can be shipped easily)
  • Products that are purchased repeatedly. Supplies you use or food you eat can be a source of recurring income.

Information Products and Software As a Service.

Service businesses can monetize using their proprietary knowledge. Whatever service you provide can be translated into products. A divorce attorney writes an e-book about winning custody of your dog. A landlord can teach others how to purchase property. A college professor can sell videos of their lectures on pay-per-view. A Photoshop expert can sell their custom filters and textures.

Two types of websites can benefit from e-products.

  • Experts in virtually any field can package their knowledge. The more niche the field the better.
  • Any task that can be done using a computer can be turned into online software, and those that can solve a recurring problem will thrive.

Mediastead has built websites that create extra revenue for many types of business and professions.

Call us for a free evaluation to learn how to turn your products, services, or knowledge into a moneymaking website.