Give More on Your Website

Here's a fact: every one of your customers and prospects — big or small — are going to check out your Web site. And they will equate their experience on your Web site with what it's like to do business with your company. A good experience on your Web site helps create a favorable impression of your company, and a bad experience will definitely turn them off.

How do you foster a positive experience? By giving your all. What that means is offering more valuable content than your competitors are offering. According to recent surveys of engineers and industrial and technical professionals conducted by GlobalSpec, up-to-date content and technical specifications are the most valuable information to have on your Web site. But what comes after that? Here are some ideas that will help you give your all to Web site visitors.

Content
· White Papers and Technical Articles — Customers and prospects love downloadable white papers or technical articles they can read online or print to read later. Choose topics that are educational, such as how to perform a process or evaluate certain types of components, or how to solve a problem. Consider taking a position on an issue facing your industry and establishing your company as an expert. Another bonus of white papers and technical articles is that search engines will find and index them — so be sure to use your keywords. And remember, don't be "salesy" or your readers will be dissatisfied, as it is educational content, not a sales pitch, they are expecting.

· Product Specifications and Application Notes — Engineering, technical, and industrial professionals regularly seek out product specs and application notes online. Providing this information allows you to be the "go-to" company for your prospects.

· Case Studies — Whether you focus on products in use in certain industries or happy customers, case studies offer added value to your Web site. They give third-party validation to your company, its products, and services.

· "On Demand" Webinars — Get a license for Web conferencing software and record online seminars — again on educational topics — that visitors can view on your Web site at any time that's convenient for them. It's reasonable to request visitors to register with you before viewing a Webinar, which gives a lead to your sales team.

· e-Newsletter Subscriptions — If you publish a regular e-newsletter, provide a sign-up box on key pages on your Web site. Also link to sample issues so subscribers can see what they're signing up for. It might be enough to collect just names and e-mail addresses from subscribers. Ask for more than that and you'll lose potential subscribers. If your content is good, they'll stick with you and be likely to contact you in the future.
Ease-Of-Use

· Registration Forms — Yes, forms are an important part of your Web site. Have a few people test your forms. Are they easy to fill out? Do you ask for too much information? It's best to require just enough information to begin a dialogue with a prospect. You can collect the rest of the information later. Also, if you have the technical capabilities, allow people to register once on your Web site and create a password allowing them to access Webinars, white papers, or other content without having to register each time.

· Contact Us — Of course you have the general phone number, e-mail, and postal address for visitors on your Web site to contact you. Why not take it one step further and allow customers to easily contact their sales rep, reach support or customer service, or locate a distributor of your products? Posting this information online gives your audience one more reason to visit your Web site — maybe they'll stay for awhile and browse other valuable content.
Interactivity

· Ask Questions — Allow site visitors to share their thoughts and opinions — ask a question on your Web site. Include an e-mail address where responses can be sent, and review comments daily. In addition to responding to all comments, you can choose the best answers to share on your site. Just remember to update questions regularly.

· Add Discussion Boards — Moderate an online discussion board that addresses issues relevant to your audience. This gives customers a chance to be heard and help others. It also allows you to collect valuable information about what's on customers' minds regarding your products and company. Offer t-shirts or hats with your company logo to customers who come up with good ideas or answers to technical questions.

· Conduct Polls — Set up a weekly poll question asking customers and prospects their opinion on relevant topics. Again, a great way to find out what your audience is thinking, as well as add interactivity to your Web site. Provide links to the results as well as to previous poll results. There are a number of complimentary or low-cost polling add-ins and services available.
Social Media

· Blogs and Podcasts — According to the 2007 GlobalSpec Industrial Marketing Trends Survey, fewer than 10% of respondents expected to increase spending on blogs and podcasts in the year ahead. While social media has yet to make an impact on the industrial sector, you should keep your eye on trends and either be a pioneer or ready to jump in when adoption increases. Blogs allow you to provide thought leadership and hear what customers and prospects have to say in return. Podcasts are convenient for users who wish to download content and listen to it later.

The Welcome Email -- Make a Positive First Impression

You never have a second chance to make a first impression. From the time someone walks into a store, visits a Web site or talks to a customer service representative, their experience molds their opinion of us. Creating positive experiences is key to driving positive opinions -- and positive opinions lead to both valuable and loyal customers.

So how does this idea of making a good first impression and molding and managing customer experiences and opinions translate into the email space? Two words -- welcome email. A welcome email should come immediately after sign-up. It's important to capitalize on a user's attention and no better time to do that than the present .

The welcome email should thank users for opting in, explain what they can expect from your email program and get them excited to receive the next one. Some advertisers find that asking additional profile questions during this time too is helpful. This is something you should test to determine its viability in your program.

Successful components of a welcome email:

• Personalization -- Starting off your relationship with a personal tone is key to driving great experiences and a good first impression. Utilize as much known information as possible. It may be as simple as "Dear Whitney," but that can create a conversation that's much more engaging than not.


• Benefits of Sign-Up -- Highlighting the benefits of your email program and creating a sense of exclusivity can make your customers feel part of a privileged group. Highlight t hese benefits and exclusive offers via bullets or call-out boxes with in your creative to make sure they are noticed.


• Welcome Offer/Prominent Calls to Action -- Providing a special welcome offer can immediately make users feel special. Additionally, it's important to get the user to make that first purchase -- so anything you can do to get them over that first hurdle will pay off in the long run. Include clear and prominent calls to action throughout your email. Don't go overboard but make sure it's clear to people who want to make a purchase exactly how to do so.


• Easy Navigation/Site Introduction -- The welcome email can introduce users to your site navigation (via header navigation that is consistent with your site) and also encourage them to click through and explore your site on their own.


• Utilization of HTML -- Many marketers are still using plain text to deploy their welcome message. In my opinion, text feels impersonal and doesn&# 39;t create a good first impression. Try HTML, and use this message to introduce people to your brand's look, feel and voice.


• Tapping Into the Subject Line -- If possible, include your welcome message and offer into the subject line.


• Account Confirmation -- For some, it makes sense to confirm certain aspects of a user's account. A welcome email can be a good vehicle for this. You should encourage users to save the email in order to access this account information in the future.

The Best Graphic to Add to Your Company Emails

The #1 design change businesses should make is adding their sales rep's face and contact info to them.

You'll want to use your CRM and marketing automaton system to segment your list by territory, so each prospect and client gets their own individual rep's smiling face on their email. Best spot -- in top left side of the email.

Why does it work? You're turning a virtual mass communication into an individualized touch from a real human being. Plus you're appealing to your sales reps' egos which can't be a bad thing.

Using Video in an email campaign

More than three-quarters of the US online population over the age of 15 initiated a video stream in April, according to a June 2007 comScore report. Some recent reports claim that YouTube alone accounts for more than 10 percent of all Internet traffic.

The emergence of online video offers an unprecedented opportunity for e-mail marketers to connect more strongly with their audience. But using video in an e-mail campaign has to be done correctly. The wrong kind of video will frustrate consumers, whereas the right one will create a powerful brand experience.

So where do marketers go wrong? Before they take the time and incur the expense of generating a video e-mail campaign, it’s important for them to be realistic. Most e-mail clients, including Outlook 2007 and the majority of Web-based providers, disable the scripting mechanisms that enable video to be played. This means few consumers will be able to view a video directly from within an e-mail.

Marketers are increasingly using a click-to-view link in the e-mail that directs the viewer to an external landing page that plays the video. That way, the customer can decide whether he wants to open it or not. (If a customer is at work in a cubicle or on the road checking e-mail via a Blackberry, he or she is unlikely to view a video, but may do so at home later).

The best video content also includes tangible calls to action, such as “learn more” or “get 10 percent off now.” And since video is viral in nature, smart marketers are also adding a “send to a friend” button because, at the end of the day, it’s always “cooler” to have a friend forward you a video than a company.

With any experimental marketing technique like video, there is always the risk of a negative user experience. If viewers cannot decide whether or not to view the video, pause it or control the volume, they’ll likely be annoyed. Overall, in today’s consumer-centered world, the customer controls the marketing relationship — so make sure they have control of the videos you send.

Nurture Consumer Relationships on Social Networks

Some marketing execs are suggesting that Social Networks like Facebook and MySpace should be used less like a paid media vehicle and more like a customer-relationship-management tool. Champion is an example of a company that connects with customers via a sponsored Facebook group.

Debra Aho Williamson, analyst at eMarketer, calls the display advertising "low-hanging fruit" and suggests that the real potential of social networks has yet to be tapped. "What's been a challenge is figuring out a model that expands the beauty of social networking," she said. That's partly because it's easier to buy display ads and sponsorships than to create completely new programs; it's also not exactly clear how to monetize a role as a long-term, relationship-building tool.

Some marketers have adopted this approach within their proprietary social networks: Carnival Cruises' CruiseConnections.com lets people talk about and review cruises, allows novice users connect with experienced cruisers and creates a network where booked passengers can connect prior to sailing.

Facebook and MySpace may evolve into more conversation-monitoring and relationship-nurturing as marketers can use a sponsored group to communicate with consumers via discussion threads and "wall" posts.

Email marketing automaton is important

97 percent of U.S. consumers use email according to Forrester Research and it is the most popular activity online. In fact, sending and reading email is more popular than watching television, according to a study released by Media Screen and Netop.

In a recent survey by Internet Retailer, marketers shared their confidence in email:
64.7 percent of online merchants are conducting more email campaigns than in 2006;
94.5 percent of online retailers are building bigger opt-in email lists;

Almost half of online retailers said email performs better or much better than other programs.
And it's not only marketers understanding the value of email. According to Forrester Research 's report "Email Marketing Comes of Age," consumers are finding the email channel to be an exceptional method for learning about new products and services:
Consumers who buy products advertised in emails spend 138 percent more online than peers who don't buy through email; 29 percent of all online consumers buy impulsively immediately following an email offer, rather than waiting.

And according to the American Marketing Association, Mplanet:
Consumers ranked email ahead of traditional media like newspapers, magazines and radio as a good way to learn about new products. Email was ranked third only behind the internet and television

Adding email to the mix helps build on that relationship while managing your customers through the lifetime sales cycle. Email can be used to accomplish multiple objectives:

• Deliver transactional auto-responders
• Send free-trial conversion follow-up emails
• Engage consumers with email newsletters
• Increase revenue with paid sponsorships or third-party advertisements
• Reactivate customers with retention and win-back emails

Why Marketing Automation?

Marketing Automation Software enables companies to better connect with prospects and build relationships through meaningful informational exchange that leads to successful sales activities.

The strategic reasons for this are to increase revenues, improve customer acquisition and build longer-term loyalty through actionable relationships.

The tactics involved are the methods and tools leveraged to deliver on that strategic goal through emails, newsletters, articles, webinars, blogs, white papers, etc.

So, if a company has the ability to send email and newsletters, host weinars and post articles and white papers to their website, then why would they need marketing automation softwar

• KNOW who's actively interested in what.
• FOCUS your attention on prospects who exhibit a greater probability of buying. (indicated by behavior)
• PERSONALIZE information for relevancy. (given interests displayed by content viewed)
• SAVE time and maximize resources. (not to mention, eliminate guessing)
• GET FEEDBACK on communication impact. (whether they click and what they read)
• INCREASE COLLABORATION with sales (by providing actionable intelligence)
• SUPPORT SALES activities (because marketing knows what resonates)

You can do something, but what you can learn from what you do, so you can improve the way you do it and get to the "why" faster and better than anyone else trying to get there.

Marketing Automation Helps Online Lenders

Jamie Oakes, VP of Sales at SoftVu, was interviewed by Owen Raun of OnLine Mortgage. The interview highlights how SoftVu is helping online lenders with their marketing automation solution.

Click here to listen to the Podcast.

Lead Generation Best Practices

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and its Lead Generation Committee today announced the release of "Lead Generation Data Transfer Best Practices," the latest component of a longer term initiative designed to educate both advertisers and publishers on security and operational best practices. The goal of this most recent document is to help standardize the transfer and receipt of data between advertisers and lead generation service providers.

The document has two main considerations:
Security – All lead generation data should be transferred and received in an encrypted format
Common Format and Setup – All lead generation data should be transferred in a common format via common, secure internet technologies.

Click here to download the document.

Top 10 Areas of Spend in Marketing Automation for 2007

1) Marketing performance measurement dashboard
2) Email campaign management
3) Lead generation qualification or reactivation
4) Customer relationship management
5) Customer intelligence and analytics
6) Sales and marketing integration tools
7) Viral word of mouth
8) Marketing resource/process management
9) Customer networking and affinity building
10) Loyalty and rewards

Source: CMO Council Marketing Outlook 2007

Seth Godin Speaks

"Ideas that spread, win," says Seth Godin, best-selling author of Permission Marketing. He holds an MBA from Stanford, and was called "the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age" by Business Week. This is a great speech on marketing given by Godin at the the 2007 Ted confernece and talks about why being 'remarkable' is the key to every business.

The Early Bird Catches the Worm

According to Direct Marketing Association's E-mail Experience Council, nearly one-third of major online retailers that participated in the Retail Email Subscription Benchmark Study didn't deliver their first regular email within two weeks of the subscription date. One-fifth took more than a month to deliver their first regular email or failed to deliver at all. That stands in sharp contrast to the 18% that delivered their first regular email within three days.

There are several opportunity costs associated with the delay of sending that first email promptly:

1. The more time that passes between sign-up and that first regular delivery, the greater the chance that subscribers will forget that they subscribed and will flag the email as spam.

2. Those customers who actively sought out your newsletter and subscribed may become annoyed at not receiving email within a week or two, and may feel like they have to take the time to resubscribe. The delayed or failed delivery will hurt the customer's impression of your brand and cast doubt on the reliability of your Web site and IT systems.

3. Perhaps most important, you're missing out on possible sales. I haven't seen any research on this, but I'd also bet that subscribers who start receiving emails earlier are more likely to make a purchase earlier, because they were already in the mode of shopping or interacting with the retailer.

This shows the importance of having an automated marketing solution to ensure rapid response.