Winking Lizard Pottery, a home-based pottery business, has built a reputable clientele and has found success via word-of-mouth and a variety of online avenues.  

 

Profile

Winking Lizard Pottery began as hobby several decades ago for owner and designer Lisa Salvia.  After 30 years in sales and marketing, Lisa decided it was time to turn her hobby into a business.  Lisa creates functional stoneware products in a studio inside her home.  Most pieces she creates are for everyday use such as casserole dishes, cups and mugs.  Winking Lizard Pottery can be found online at http://www.winkinglizardpottery.com.

Winking Lizard Pottery has recently developed a logo to help with brand recognition.  The new logo, a green and yellow lizard, is now starting to be recognized by customers.  Lisa has her work displayed in six art galleries in the Erie area and also frequently participates in art shows.   Lisa tailors her pieces to fit the setting and clientele of each gallery.  For example, a gallery near the water typically receives pieces that are inspired by the beach and sand. 
Lisa is often faced with the fortunate problem of not being able to get the work to the galleries fast enough, proving a successful following for her business.  The company’s clientele are often looking for custom work, with many repeat customers looking for other pieces of a set to match previously purchased items.

 

Role of Ecommerce

Lisa launched a website for Winking Lizard in February of 2010.  The site was set up locally and is hosted externally.  Since Winking Lizard Pottery is owned and operated by Lisa, not only does she design and create all of her pieces, but she handles all marketing and website updates herself.   Accordingly, she makes weekly changes to the site, adding new photos and product descriptions.

In addition to the company’s website, nearly a year ago, Lisa signed up for an online store on Etsy.com, a national site designed for artists of handmade items to connect with buyers.  Winking Lizard’s Etsy store has been very successful, providing a national reach to customers, rather than the local demographic that typically responds to the Winking Lizard website and the reach of galleries and art shows.

Etsy is inexpensive, costing only 20-30 cents per post and, most of all, user friendly.  Purchases are managed through PayPal and shipping is previously figured in by the seller before a purchase is made by a buyer.  All of these aspects make Etsy a more economical and time saving solution for Lisa, rather than running her own e-store through her own website.

Etsy, similar to any search engine, uses keywords to lead customers to relevant searches.  Lisa has determined her keywords selectively in order to generate the most possible leads for her business.  She has found through Etsy that customers contact her directly to make requests for specialty work rather than ordering right from her Etsy store.

Winking Lizard actively participates in email marketing.  With a current subscriber list of over 100 customers, they are emailed quarterly to become aware of a new product line, a new show or any updates to the website.  Lisa tracks all emails sent and notices a distinct peak in website traffic after an email blast is sent.  Each quarter she promotes a drawing for a giveaway to build the email list and draw people back to the website by notifying winners online rather than via phone or email.  This also encourages visitors to re-register for the next month’s prize so that they are continually being drawn to the site.  

Social Networking

Winking Lizard has acknowledged the presence of social media in marketing and has integrated her Facebook profile. She integrates the giveaway and announcements on her Facebook profile page.  She is considering creating a page for Winking Lizard Pottery.  Direct mail is also used, as Lisa feels that some of her clientele may not actively engage with the Internet and doesn’t want to ignore this demographic that is a large part of her business.

Old fashioned word of mouth has been one of the highest contributors to Winking Lizard’s success.  Customers who have a positive experience have relayed this to their friends and is building Winking Lizard’s customer base.  With the help of community groups, such as the Arts Council of Erie, Lisa has been able to tell people about her company.  It also helps her e-marketing efforts that organizations such as these often have a direct link on their webpage to hers.

Challenges and Lessons

• As an artist working from home, creating pottery and running my business there are many balls to juggle.
• The online tools are free or very affordable and allow me opportunities to do more with less. 

Relish, a manufacturing and retailing business, has found great success in a niche market.  A marketing plan consisting mostly of events and trunk shows across the country help to drive customers into their e-marketing channel.  Their e-based solutions have helped the company survive through an economic downturn.  

Profile

Relish was started in Erie, Pa in 1996 by sisters Jennifer Reed and Terri Reed-Boyer.  They manufacture and sell custom jewelry and gifts made of glass found along the waters of Lake Erie. What started as a home based business has transformed into a successful studio and gallery – brick and mortar and e-store, www.relishinc.com, over the last 15 years.  Relish has several part-time employees, but the majority of day-to-day operations are conducted by Jennifer and Terri.  Relish’s target demographic ranges from women ages 25 to 100, offering something for everyone.  Due to a changing economy, Relish once primarily targeted only the Erie area, but has expanded nationally.  Relish now attends art shows, trunk shows and events (primarily near the water) other viable options to boost sales and build their brand.  

Role of E-commerce

This family business conducts all marketing and sales efforts internally.  Partners Jennifer and Terri work collaboratively to initiate and execute all marketing plans and share all responsibilities accordingly.  In the past one specific employee was primarily responsible for the technical end of the website, managing all site updates and e-store functionality, while Jennifer and Terri monitor incoming online orders and manage all aspects of the business together.   Recently, Relish has engaged a third party e-commerce partner who does their e-commerce strategy.

Relish utilizes e-marketing methods primarily in their marketing approach.  They have found that with the overhead of operating a business and the soaring costs of other, more traditional forms of marketing, email marketing and other online avenues gives them the most bang for their buck.

The owners pay close attention to changes involving web trends and SEO and try to stay on top of these changes with courses offered through eMarketing Learning Center.  They have found great value in the information that has been learned, but do not always have the time or the resources to implement everything that could provide benefit to the company.  Nevertheless, Relish’s marketing has shown positive results over the years.  For example, Relish offers a monthly drawing for a $15.00 gift certificate that anyone can register for once they sign up for their email list, which has been an excellent method of building their list.

Relish’s website has become a great source of product information for customers while also giving the option to make online purchases through their e-store.  Their e-store offers pictures and product information, giving customers a virtual in-store experience.  The images of their jewelry on the etail store are very important.  When posting in the e-store each image is detailed so that you can get the look and feel of each piece.   Along with more traditional information such as store hours, and frequently asked questions about beach glass jewelry, Relish also sells gift cards through their site and offers product suggestions by price point and occasion.

    
Relish’s homepage changes monthly, highlighting the seasonal and featured products.  They also keep customers up to date of in-store events and shows they will be attending.  The site also offers promotions, such as free shipping on online orders over a certain price point.

Relish has optimized their website and consistently rank high for keywords that pertain to their business, keeping them in the front position over their competitors.  Relish is pleased with their organic search engine ranking results.  They also have invested in some pay per click campaigns. They do use Google Analytics and find that is a viable tool to track visitor trends. They often see a spike in visits after attending an art show or similar event, proving that their attendance as well as their marketing is building their brand recognition. They are able to use this information and look for trends among data and compare it to other time periods and events.

Email marketing is a key component of Relish’s online marketing plan.  They have found it to be a valuable and efficient method for reaching past, current and potential customers notifying them of offers and events.  Email campaigns are sent to a list of over 7,200 recipients approximately one to two times per month.  They have compiled their list from previous online purchasers, and visitors that sign up at shows or in store. Immediately after an email campaign is sent, traffic increases significantly on their website.  They have a low opt out rate for their campaigns, proving a valid interest from their customers.  Consequently, they have found that their email marketing efforts increase web traffic and increase brand recognition, which leads to online sales.

Relish has a fan page on Facebook but does not actively engage with fans.  They currently have over 393 fans and have the ability to make this a successful way to reach their audience.  They have considered implementing multimedia but have not done so at this time.

 
While email marketing plays a primary role in their marketing efforts, direct mail still has its role in the marketing plan. One direct mail flyer is sent to customers each year to notify customers of their annual “Beach Party.”  They find this to be a successful  way to reach all of their clientele that have not subscribed to email.

As a result of a combination of marketing efforts, sales have continued to stay strong for Relish, in light of a downturn in the economy.  Relish has built a company that has incredible power with brand recognition – everyone in the Erie and surrounding area knows what Relish is and what they do.  This has contributed to the success of their SEO efforts.  Relish tries hard to stay on top of emerging e-marketing trends and stay in tune with what is going on around them.

Challenges and Lessons

• A downward economy has forced Relish to re-evaluate and adjust their forces and improve their online marketing efforts. 
• Relish has found other methods for success including shows outside of their area which gives them national reach and exposure, pushing additional sales to the e-store. 

Most of the time we write copy focused on the company and product and not on the customer.  Providing information they need to know to make a decision isn’t hard, it requires one to think.  A great way to approach this is instead of trying to sell to the customer help them make a decision to buy.  Holly Buchanan, a sought after copywriter and marketing consultant, shared information and tips on how to avoid clichés and write for different customer personas along with how to effectively write for the web.

Holly mentioned that your company needs to have a Unique Value Proposition (UVP).  Get specific with your UVP, answer questions like: who are you?, what do you do?, who is your target market?, what’s the problem you solve?, and why should someone do business with you and not a competitor?  When writing your UVP use what Holly calls the “Which Means” test.  It’s a way to help drill down to specific values. 

Example: “Great customer service” is a clich everyone uses.  How does your company exhibit great customer service?  Is it the training method and years of experience?  Dig down deep and pull forward the value of your company so that you stand out.

Holly also talked about writing for different person types that visit your website and the appropriate vocabulary that should be used for each one.  The four person types are competitive, spontaneous, methodical and humanistic.  When writing for each of these persona’s here are some words to think about using.

Competitive: direct, achieve, imagine, knowledgeable, innovative

Spontaneous: explore, fast, now, choose, easy

Methodical: organize, how to, efficient, plan, prepared

Humanistic: caring, share, concern, connect, believe

Get together with your sales team and find out who your customers are.  The sales team are the ones who are having the conversations with customers and know what the frequently asked questions are.  Use that information to write copy that addresses their FAQ’s and problems that your customers are having.

Holly did an excellent job presenting her information, she included the audience in exercises and helped them drill down to specifics.  She even took the time to review some of the company websites and give them tips on how to improve it. Based off the feedback from the seminar creating a UVP and using the “Which Means” test were the two tips that people were going to use.

Other tips that the attendees found helpful were:

• Remove cliché’s.
• Address the four persona types.
• Collect testimonials from customers.

“Wonderful! Very informative. Like the suggestions and how to take action now.  Examples were very helpful. Thank you!”
-Megan Fellows

“The entire presentation was very “how to” oriented.  The content was explained in a manner that not only talked about the why, but showed you what and how to do it in as a specific manner as possible.”
-Erica DeWolf

“I wanted to say how much I enjoyed your program today.  Holly was excellent and it's clear you work well together.  I've taken many Continuing Ed  and other short courses over the years, but none better.  I'm looking forward to taking the SEO course.”
-Dan Hill

Check out our Facebook page to see photos and comments from the Writing for the Web Workshop. 

Have you ever thought about acquiring a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system?  Or maybe you already have one but it’s not working for you.  Deane Patterson, principal at Patterson Consulting talked about CRM on Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at the Knowledge Center in Knowledge Park. The presentation was more about understanding CRM and what it can do for your company.  Deane presented the fundamentals and characteristics on how CRM can bring your marketing and sales together.

Deane shared his experiences and knowledge on how CRM can help your business.  He pointed out that companies who do not have a CRM system may have a harder time keeping tracking of everything. By Implementing a CRM system all your customer activity is tracked in one spot. 

Deane talked about having a sales process and mapping it so that everyone in your company is on the same page when it comes to customer intelligence, service and sealing the deal.

Example Sales Stages:

The number one rule to having a good sales team is to follow up.  Deane stressed the idea of following up with your potential and existing customers to keep everything moving forward.

One of the parts I liked the best about Deane’s presentation is that he had exercises for the participants.  The first exercise was to write down if you have a sales process.  It got you thinking about your process and what you needed to change to improve it.  Another exercise was to write down your CRM goals so when you go to implement CRM at your business you will have an idea of what you want to get out of it. 

Based off the feedback from the attendees, mapping your sales process was the number one piece of information they took away from the session.  When asked what three things are you likely to change or implement as a result of the workshop, mapping the sales process was the most mentioned. 

The overall presentation was excellent, Deane did a wonderful job explaining how CRM can help your business and the steps that are involved to achieving your CRM goals. It's all about customer service, right?  Implementing a CRM system will help build relationships with your customers and keep moving sale activity foward. 

"Organized process of CRM decision making and implementation."

-John Mosco

"New prospective on stages & marketing processes that wasn’t I.T. centric and not specific to our company. Integrating content with our operations."

-Dave Clutter

Voyten Electric is an excellent example of a company that saw an e-store as an opportunity in their market, of which competitors were not taking advantage.  The development of an e-store has put Voyten ahead of the competition while attracting new markets to an already successful business model.  Voyten’s e-store website is www.voytenelectric.com.

Profile

Located in Franklin PA, Voyten Electric is an industry leader in the refurbishment and reselling of electrical equipment. Primarily targeting manufacturers, clients include Eaton Corporation and Siemens who contract them to deconstruct electrical components like circuit breakers and devices.  They are a global business with customers located in several countries across the globe. Even Voyten’s competition sources them for the hard-to-find and obsolete electrical components.  Voyten’s e-store, however, targets more end users who are looking for custom builds from reconditioned, obsolete industrial equipment.

Voyten has been in business for over 50 years with 20-25 employees and approximately $3 million sales.   Mike Nightengale leads this family owned business.  His vision of a new online venture has aided in the company’s success and  improved growth potential. Voyten is also a founder of PEARL an organization for responsible recycling of electronic products.  Voyten’s website is www.voyten.com.

In 2008 Voyten Electric identified e-commerce as a significant step in its corporate growth strategy and began putting plans into action.  Voyten first purchased a warehouse to establish the fulfillment center inventory of the surplus electrical components.  Eli, whose background includes starting as an e-marketing apprentice, now handles more of the marketing and website operation, while Logan handles warehouse management, quoting and direct sales.  Logan converses more with customer’s to better understand their needs.  Accordingly, he has become quite fluent with the components for sale and the installations they go in, and can implement cross selling strategies.  

Eli and Logan have spent significant time refining the warehouse-to-site processes.  These processes have continually evolved to best align the processes of the warehouse to the processes of adding and adjusting product on the site, enabling them to cross-train their positions to manage their work more effectively.

Voyten has an in-house sales team for the bricks and mortar component of the business and a separate team, consisting of Eli and Logan, to manage the e-store operations.  There is not an official marketing department.     Though these groups have different functions, they are not separate entities, just different divisions.  The sales team and the e-store team work collaboratively on the overall marketing plan of the company, sharing available resources.  

Voyten has implemented a mixed media marketing approach.  E-marketing has become its primary marketing approach, but Voyten also advertises in industry periodicals occasionally.  They do not send direct mail or engage in social media. Voyten has not incorporated multimedia into their mix, but plans to do so in the near future.  They find an even distribution of orders originating from the Internet, fax and telephone. Sales are derived primarily through direct sales, referrals and relationships.

Voyten’s website is hosted by a third party provider, while the platform is managed and updated internally.  The e-store has been in operation since September 2009.  Initially sales started out slow but over time and with more experience in driving business online, the e-store has proven to be a success with monthly sales growth averaging 15-30%, with continued strong growth trends on the horizon for 2012.  

Voyten’s website receives substantial traffic and they are seeing a noticeable shift from their traditional customers who are now visiting the e-store.  The e-store has helped Voyten attract new customers and new markets.  The global reach of the e-Store has enabled Voyten to sell “long tail” items more economically.  Additionally, Voyten’s e-store has facilitated the movement of their vast inventory and better customer service.  Voyten tries new techniques with their e-store, such as letting customers “make an offer.”  This approach attracts new customers by letting them suggest a price for the product they want to purchase.

Voyten recognizes the importance of effectively optimizing their website for search.  They actively engage in SEO strategies, making website changes as frequently as possible.  They find that most of their keywords rank organically in the top five spots.  If their keywords consistently remain high, they do not include these keywords in their pay per click account.

Voyten uses Google Adwords but only for products that need to be competitive.  PPC accounts are monitored constantly, averaging about three to four during the week.  They manage over five thousand PPC keywords, including part numbers.  Voyten uses Google Analytics and find that it is an extremely useful tool to compare web trends and customer data.

Voyten started building their email subscriber list which grew 300% in the first year.  Currently, the primary goal of their email marketing is relationship building and to maintain top of mind awareness so when one of their customers has need and is sourcing electrical components, they will be the preferred source. Their email marketing list is consists mostly of previous customers and vendors. 

As a result of a combination of marketing efforts, sales continue to climb for this company.    

Challenges and Lessons

• Because of the flexibility of an e-store,
 trial and error is a continuing process for Voyten. 
 
• Offering products that competitors are
unable to, has helped Voyten become 
the recognized name in the industry for
electrical components.


• Tracking customer activity is a key activity 
and Voyten is considering a CRM strategy 
to improve monitoring the flow of business.

Did You Know:
26% of online users say they are more likely to click on a search result if it included video
~ Search Engine Usage Study, Performics
65% of business executives have visited a vendor's website after watching a video
~ Forbes Insights
64% of retail visitors say they are more likely to purchase after viewing a product video
~ comScore

Online video has so many business uses, just think operative!

Video has become a significant marketing and business communication tool. The business video lends itself to be an engaging and informative format for imparting business information in many applications.

Business communication applications for video include:

Product video - product demonstration, repair, three dimensional views
 
Training video - sales channel training can include distributor, dealer, direct and customer service
 
Service video - operations, repair or maintenance
 
Testimonial - the voice of the customer is far more persuasive than a commercial from the marketer
 
Application - visualizing how a product applies using a variety of scenarios or case study

Tell A Story - demonstrate or tell a story, demonstrate a service, event or program
 
Instructional video - how-to content
 
Thought leader - provide business insights and expert advice

YouTube is a great way to upload and share your videos with existing and potential customers. It allows you to embed and share your video on other social networking sites.


Gone Batty Bats of Troy, Pennsylvania uses video to demonstrate the entire process on how each bat is made.

Why use YouTube?
Not so long ago the only way to make videos was to hire a professional service. The cost of creative, technology and editing made video production less affordable to small businesses.  Now let me say, using a professional service to produce your videos is preferred and highly recommended especially for branding.  However, with the use of digital cameras and online channels like YouTube, businesses are able to produce videos without spending a lot of time and money. The popularity and simplicity of YouTube have lowered the standards on video production and quality, making it easier for any business to produce and promote through video.

By: Doug Anderson
E-mail: doug@webpagefx.com

Website: www.webpagefx.com

 

You may ask: “What is SEO and why does my business need it?” If you’re unfamiliar with SEO—or search engine optimization—here’s a brief overview:

 

It isn’t magic  
 

 SEO isn’t some hocus-pocus method that magically increases traffic and places your website at the top of Google search engine results pages (SERPs) instantly. Quite the opposite, actually: SEO is challenging work and it takes time, but the benefits are outstanding.

SEO is about enhancing your online presence by making your website rank better in the SERPs for certain keywords and phrases with both on-page and off-page optimization tactics. This includes creating unique keyword-rich copy and Meta data as well as making your website “crawler” friendly. SEO also includes building links that point to your site from other sites (off-page optimization). Google loves (most) links! Optimizing your own website (on-page optimization) is not enough—these links are vital to the entire process. Think of these links as a ‘vote’ for your site; if another site trusts you enough to link to you, why wouldn’t Google trust you too?

When you have an effective SEO strategy in place, users searching for your selected keywords are much more likely to find you; your site will appear much higher up on the page results compared to if no optimization had occurred at all.

It’s About Getting Quality, Relevant Traffic.

In other words, SEO is all about driving the exact type of traffic you need to your website: your target market. It’s all about helping businesses become more visible to their customers and helping their target customers find exactly what they’re searching for. You’re meeting customers looking for your products and services exactly where they’re at; it’s a win-win situation for everyone.

Think about how you search. Just like you, your customers tend to click on the first few results or at least in the first few pages of the search results; beyond the first three pages the traffic is significantly low. So, you can imagine that if your website is sitting in the top 10 or 20 search results, you’ll be getting a lot more traffic to your website—I think it goes without mentioning that’s a great thing in generating sales leads.

Why You Need It.

If your business is mostly supported by its web presence, you need SEO, especially if you’re a new business. Without SEO, your business is basically invisible to the millions of users using search engines for information, resulting in little to no leads or sales for you.

Just think how SEO works—and then think about your competitors. There’s a good chance that they too are optimizing their own site for search engines. The hard (and literal) truth is: if your competitors are optimizing and you are not, your site will be “buried alive” by the competition. In essence then, SEO is necessary to remain visible to your customer base and remain competitive.

Every web-based business owner needs to do at least some SEO work—but going above and beyond and remaining on top of SEO trends is vital to becoming a truly powerful website.

WebpageFX, Inc. is an Internet marketing and web development company specializing in SEO Pricing and Internet marketing services.

 

 

By: Samantha Sherwin

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Relevancy, Relevancy, Relevancy.

Is what was stuck in my head after leaving the SEM III: “Findability” Search Marketing Seminar on April 13, 2011. Neal Rabogliatti, senior e-strategist Consultant at Catalyst Connection in Pittsburgh talked about various strategies companies could use to make themselves more “findable” in search engines.
Whether your company is a B2B or a B2C, the information can all be used the same. The main thing you want to keep in mind when you are writing content and optimizing for your website, uploading a video or updating your social networks is to make sure that everything is relevant! There’s that word, relevant. You want to be targeting the right people so focus on target keyword phrases.

Neal talked a lot about keyword phrases and how important they are. There are certain guidelines that should be followed as close as possible for when writing your content marketing. Just to name a few: the keyword phrase should be the densest phrase, bold your keyword at least once and check to see if your keyword has multiple meanings. It is important to check your keywords for multiple meanings. Why? Because you may be sending potential consumers to somebody else’s page who could be in a different business but still use the same keywords as you. You may also be getting unwanted traffic to your webpage from people who are looking for that other business.

To help with optimizing your webpage visit the eMarketing Learning Center’s website and take a look at the different tools that Neal has suggested. There are tools to help you analyze your SEO and find the right keywords for you. Remember to always keep optimizing!

If you have not attended any of the eMarketing Learning Center classes/seminars or have never listened to Neal speak about Search Engine Optimization, I highly encourage you to do so. Whether you are just beginning in the world of Digital Marketing and SEO or are already experienced, there is something for everyone.

Don’t just take my word for it, read some comments below about what people had to say about the SEM III: “Findability” Search Marketing Seminar.

“Informative, helpful hints, anyone can use for marketing online effectively.”

“Speaker was very knowledgeable and clear. Good mix of technical/non-technical concepts.”

“I can’t wait to get back to work to apply what I have learned today.”

“Got me up to speed on the newer developments with SEO.  Put it into easily understandable format and showed how I can make it work for my organization.”

Being a recent college graduate, I really enjoyed the seminar and took away a lot of information that will help me in my future endeavors within Digital Marketing. Neal was an excellent speaker, when he talks about SEO and Digital Marketing you can see his passion for it and that’s what makes a speaker great. 

McInnes Rolled Rings is an excellent example of a manufacturer using an integrated media marketing approach.  Their primary goal is to get the product in the hands of the customer as quickly as possible.  The combination of an optimized website and other e-marketing techniques has enabled their reach into global markets.  Improved timely delivery of their product and has pushed this company way above its competitors.

Profile

McInnes Rolled Rings located in Erie, PA, supplies seamless rolled rings in carbon, alloy and stainless steel ranging from 4” to 72” to industrial Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers in North America, Europe and the Middle East.  Markets served are power generation (steam, gas and wind turbines), mining, gas and oil, off road transmissions, marine, aerospace and general fabrications.  McInnes has been in business since 1992.  Their web address is www.mcinnessrolledrings.com.

 

Role of Digital Marketing

Ten years ago before e-marketing, McInnes relied mostly on sales brochures accompanied by sell sheets they gave to outside sales representatives to spread the word about their business.  It was a one dimensional marketing approach that depended solely on representatives to generate leads and inquiries.  Today, McInnes attracts 90% of new customers via the Internet.  They use targeted mailings, search engine marketing (SEM) and primarily focusing on search engine optimization (SEO), in addition to the sales representatives to drive potential customers to their website.  Their goal is to generate opportunities to quote new items.  They believe in trying new approaches to see what works.

The Web and Speed

McInnes’ message often comes back to the same key point - speed.  How fast can the product be in the hand of the customer?  While McInnes uses an external hosting company to maintain their website, all content is produced and updated by an in-house marketing team.  Graphical changes are designed in house, but made by the hosting company.  The marketing team is responsible for all company marketing materials, including website graphics, mailings and any marketing materials, which they have found to be a quicker, more efficient and cost effective method than outsourcing the work to an external company.  McInnes’ website is updated daily with current delivery times being offered.  It features a graphical flash calculator, telling what current delivery times are.  This is just one more way McInnes emphasizes their company value of a timely delivery.

The website is considered to be dynamic to show the flexibility and responsiveness McInnes has in their industry.  News articles are added monthly to demonstrate what is going on at their company and in the industry as a whole.  They see their website as a reflection of their sales team. 
The online inquiry transition to a sale comes back to speed.  The goal at McInnes is to respond to each and every inquiry the same day, within 4-8 hours.  They believe every customer wants a fast and accurate answer and strive to meet those demands. The McInnes website helps support that their position on speed and the customer.
SEO is a major component of McInnes’ marketing strategy.  They feel that this is one area that needs constant monitoring and adjustments.  They use Google Analytics is used to track their website in search resultls, keyword usage, visitors and the pages they visted to help them make changes, and feel that it is only valuable if managed correctly.  SEM efforts are tracked weekly, if not daily.
McInnes has a short video on their website, but does not utilize any other multimedia technologies at this time.   While e-marketing plays a vital role in the success of the overall marketing campaign, past marketing techniques can’t be ignored.  Many inquiries still come via phone and fax, so it is important not to completely shut out old technologies.  Sales and a strong customer base prove that all marketing efforts are paying off.  Without a combination of marketing techniques, McInnes feels they would not be nearly as successful as they are.

Challenges and Lessons

• SEM and web analytics need to be monitored constantly and adjusted accordingly.  
• While it is important to incorporate new technologies and e-marketing trends into their marketing, it is important not to forget basic marketing tools. 
• E-marketing is about trial in error – new ideas have to be implemented to see what works and what doesn’t.
• There is less risk when trying new things online.  Adjustments can easily be made with very little cost.

By: Erica Scaife

Dana VanDen Heuvel, founder of MarketingSavant and a nationally recognized digital marketing expert, guided attendees through the process of mapping out their social media marketing strategy on October 20, 2009, at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, PA.

  

One of the most beneficial aspects of these workshops, entitled Mapping Out Your Social Media Marketing Strategy, is that they were divided into two half-day sessions – a morning session for business marketers and an afternoon session for nonprofit marketers.  Numerous workshop attendees expressed their appreciation that the eMarketing Learning Center and the Nonprofit Partnership worked together to bring VanDen Heuvel in for two industry-specific sessions.  This was important because businesses and nonprofits have substantially different marketing goals and face unique marketing challenges.  For instance, while businesses and nonprofits may have a common goal of building interest and awareness, businesses may focus more on generating leads and driving sales, whereas nonprofits may focus more on recruiting and mobilizing volunteers, promoting advocacy and building donor relationships.  Since the workshops were divided, attendees were able to focus on the needs of their industry and learn from the challenges and successes their peers have faced throughout their social media marketing efforts. 

Social media is an emerging channel that is still surrounded by some mystery, leaving many marketers hesitant to jump into the social media landscape.  However, with a combined 150 attendees at either the business or nonprofit session, it is apparent that marketers are realizing the bottom line about social media – your customers and constituents are there, whether you are or not, and they’re talking about you!  Don’t you want to join the conversation?

But first things first.  As the presenter, Dana VanDen Heuvel, has put it, “What the ‘tweet’ is social media?”

What the ‘tweet’ is social media?

Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media).  Or as VanDen Heuvel more simply explains, “Social media is people having conversations online.” 

Early on in the workshop, Dana reminded the attendees that social media isn’t just about the tools and technologies you use; it’s really about a change in people’s expectations.  The traditional purchase funnel focuses on the marketer-generated stages of consumer and constituent awareness, consideration and purchase.  In today’s socially savvy world, however, that purchase funnel has evolved into a feedback cycle.  While this feedback cycle still begins with the marketer-generated stages above, it also recognizes consumer-generated stages – use, form opinion and talk.  Social media has transformed this process, and therefore, the way in which businesses and organizations market themselves.

A survey of frequent online social network users revealed that 30% trust the opinions of their peers when making a major purchase decision, while only 10% trust advertising (eMarketer).  These people are finding their peers opinions online, which means you should be hanging out in the same places as your customers and constituents, a point stressed by VanDen Heuvel.  And social media marketing is producing results in companies that are engaged.  According to a study by Altimiter ENGAGEMENTdb, socially engaged companies are, in fact, more financially successful.  You should realize, however, that these companies do not merely have a presence on social media, they are deeply engaged. 

Social Thinking

Throughout the workshop, VanDen Heuvel encouraged attendees to re-think their marketing strategy from a social media standpoint with a number of exercises and activities.  First, what are your company’s or organization’s touchpoints?  Touchpoints, as Dana explained, can be viewed in several ways:

1)      Functional – What does your company or organization do that is going to generate positive conversation?

2)      Customer – What is of value to your customer?

3)      Channel – How can you replicate your constituent’s good experience over multiple social media channels?

Next, how can you tell if your social media marketing is producing results?

In his presentation, Dana referenced a quote from Lord Leverhuime, founder of Unilever:  “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted.  The problem is I do not know which half.”

This is not the case in social media, according to VanDen Heuvel.  In social media everything can be tracked; it may take some work, but it can be done.  He went on to explain that there are three measurement points in social media:

 1) Social media listening – tracking and monitoring your customers’ and constituent’s online conversations

2) Web analytics – help you determine the relevance of your social media content

3) Pipeline metrics – help you determine the impact of your social media efforts

VanDen Heuvel warns, however, that not all metrics are meaningful; some are meaningless UNTIL you do something with them.  For example, having 300 Facebook fans is a meaningless metric unless those fans are contributing something to your social media efforts, like posting content or starting conversations.  “Social media,” VanDen Heuvel states, “is not just about bringing in people as fans.  It’s also about building deep connections and relationships with those people.” 

Finally, Dana concluded the first part of his presentation with a breakdown of social media channels.  Social media is broken down into three main channels:

1)      Social content – includes blogs, microblogs, photos, audio and videos

2)      Social platforms – include white-label social networks, wikis and branded social networks

3)      Social interactions – include event calendars, email, status updates, SMS and text messages

Without getting into specific tools, these are the channels by which you actively listen to your customers and constituents.  What does it mean to actively listen?  In the words of Rohit Bhargava, author of Personality Not Included, “[Active listening is] more than just listening or monitoring, it’s actually engaging in a dialogue with your customers.”

Through this process of re-thinking their marketing strategy from a social media standpoint, attendees had the opportunity to share their social media experiences with the rest of the group.  For example, in the business session, Triple Nickel, a local manufacturer, shared that they are known for their fast response times and easy exchanges.  They frequently receive emails about this touchpoint, but they have not yet been able to bring it into the social media landscape.  Deborah Vanhanian, the owner of Glass Growers Gallery, a local art gallery, prides herself that knowledge of art is one of their strongest touchpoints.  This however, is not translating well in person and she is hoping to further her position as an expert through social media.  In the nonprofit session, the Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation discussed how they are already leveraging social media and how they could use social media to better and more effectively pass along their message that “cancer touches everyone.” 

This process and the interactive format of these sessions was very helpful in facilitating participants ability to learn from the successes, struggles, ideas and thoughts of their peers regarding social media marketing. 

Mapping Out Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

In the second half of the workshop, Dana took attendees through the process of building their social media marketing plan.  When mapping out your plan, VanDen Heuvel identified eight elements that you need to address:

1)      Objectives

2)      Target audience

3)      Integration

4)      Culture change

5)      Capacity

6)      Tools and tactics

7)      Measurement

8)      Experiment

Start by focusing on just two or three objectives for your social media marketing efforts.  Try to make these objectives “SMART” (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-based) and ask yourself how they can be supported through social media.

A few things to consider when analyzing your target audience include:  What do they know about you?  What do you want them to know about you?  Where are they – what social media tools and channels are they already using?

When considering how to integrate your social media efforts with your overall marketing strategy, think about all the online and offline channels and components you can integrate into your overall marketing strategy.  For instance, the Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation, mentioned above, was recently featured on 60 Minutes.  They used their Facebook page as one venue to spread the word and generate buzz about their nationally broadcast story.

The last several considerations are important, but not quite as critical as the first three points, said VanDen Heuvel.  Take some time to think about the capacity of your organization and who is going to implement the organization’s social media strategy.  This becomes especially important in small-medium sized organizations where time, resources and personnel may be scarce. 

When deciding on which social media tools and tactics will best reach your target audience and help you accomplish your objectives, VanDen Heuvel stressed that success lies in starting with ONE tool.  Companies that try to start by using a number of social media tools at once are the companies and organizations that often fail in their social media endeavors.    

Finally, experiment with social media!  As mentioned, it is still a new field.  “There are no ‘experts’ in this space,” VanDen Heuvel concluded, “we’re ALL still learning right now.”

The Takeaways

As an attendee at both the business and nonprofit sessions, it was interesting to see the differences in reactions between the two groups.  Overall, both business marketers and nonprofit marketers are eager to learn about this emerging field.  They’re seeing social media constantly and are being told it’s the way to go for marketing their business in today’s socially savvy world.  In addition to their obvious interest in social media marketing, both groups expressed concerns about the topic as well.  In the business session, a new tool, Google Sidewiki, was brought up by an attendee.  This tool, once downloaded, allows you to view comments about any Web site on the actual Web site itself, not some distant page.  This raised a great deal of concern among the attendees in this session because of the lack of control you have over the comments posted using this tool.

Dana VanDen Heuvel shares his thoughts on Google Sidewiki and the social media marketing workshops

The concerns in the nonprofit session focused more on how to effectively utilize social media marketing when working with little time and few resources and personnel.  It can be done, however, and it’s important that it be done – especially for nonprofits because of their specific marketing challenges and needs.  Social media marketing offers a cost-effective strategy which can return substantial results.

 

Robert Wooler, director of the Nonprofit Partnership, discusses why social media marketing is important to nonprofits

Overall, it was an enlightening and interesting day.  Everyone at the workshops walked away with something of value – whether it was new knowledge, ideas or tools for social media, an inspiring story about one of their peers using social media or a plan for implementing social media in their business or organization.  Remember, social media is new and it’s changing every day.  So explore new ways to use it in your business or organization, experiment with different social media tools and technologies and engage in social media yourself.

What Do You Think?

Share your thoughts on the workshop or on social media in general by leaving us a comment.