60-Second Impact

August 2013

Estimated Reading Time: 60 Seconds

60-Second Articles:

1. Strategic Re-Thinking: How Will The Future Affect Your Business?

2. Twelve Reasons Google Penalizes Your Website And Drops Your Rankings

3. The 60-Second Close: Your Five-Year Plan On A Microchip

1. Strategic Re-Thinking: How Will The Future Affect Your Business?

• Where will your business be five or ten years from now? As customers get smarter and technology moves forward at laser speeds, every facet of your business will change.

• Don’t believe it? Remember the Yellow Pages, typewriters or record stores – just to name a few? Change is everywhere.

• It’s imperative that business owners and executive management set aside regular strategic re-thinking time to project and model the future of the business, while simultaneously dealing with the present. A good time to start is now, before the future becomes the past.

2. Twelve Reasons Google Penalizes Your Website And Drops Your Rankings

• With Google’s frequent algorithm changes, it pays to constantly fine-tune your website’s SEO. More than 300 elements determine where Google will rank your site; here are twelve factors that may send your website to the penalty box with a fatal drop in ranking:

• If you’ve experienced a drop in your Google rankings for your most relevant keywords; if you’ve seen your website traffic drop dramatically, affecting your leads, let us know – we can help.

3. The 60-Second Close: Your Five-Year Plan On A Micro Chip

• If you’ve written a five-year plan for your business, it’s already out of date. Five years from now – 2018, the plan will most likely to be written on a microchip and either you – or a robot – will have been programmed to implement it. Too far-fetched to imagine? Imagining brings new growth and development; if you can imagine it, you can do it.

• If you wonder what your business will look like five years from now – or even next year – then call us for a strategic re-thinking session. With 2013 starting to wind down, now is the time to plan for 2014 – and imagine ahead to 2018. For the present and the future – one year or five years forward – we can get you there … faster than ever.

July 2013

Estimated Reading Time: 60 Seconds

60-Second Articles:

1. A Guaranteed Way To Keep Customers And Clients For Life

2. Content Marketing: Increasing Credibility, Internet Presence And Sales

3. The 60-Second Close: Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

1. A Guaranteed Way To Keep Customers And Clients For Life

• There’s a reason Starbucks can increase its coffee prices and face little resistance because of it: simply, the concept is designed to make its customers feel good. From the product to the ambience, everything at Starbucks just feels right. Nordstrom is similar – it’s not about the price; it’s about the experience.

• The ultimate goal of marketing your product or service, from the inside to the outside should be to make your customers feel good. It’s called the “wow customer experience.”

• Companies need to take the time to see what the experience of doing business with you – from the customers’ point of view – is really like. From the start to the end; from the phone call to driving into the parking lot; from the elevator to the office lobby, every customer touch-point should be a comfortable experience because when the experience is great, the price of your product or service makes very little difference.

• Does your company’s marketing at every touch-point make your customers feel good? Does it go beyond their expectations? If it does, then you’ve got them for life.

2. Content Marketing: Increasing Credibility, Internet Presence And Sales

• “Content marketing” is one of those buzz words that probably makes you believe there’s something new out there – another bandwagon to jump on – when in fact, it’s most likely something you’ve been doing for quite a long time.

• Content marketing is simply creating and sharing valuable information over various Internet platforms.

• We know that Google loves relevant and valuable content on websites and uses it as a ranking factor. We also know that Google is quick to index new content – thus the popularity of blogs and writing frequent blog posts.

• But why should content marketing now be an integral part of your sales-building plan? The more valuable content you have, the higher the potential to be found and rewarded with additional website traffic, credibility, lead generation and revenue.

• While writing a blog is just one aspect of content marketing, there are additional content platforms to consider: e-books, white papers, videos, newsletters, Facebook and Twitter.

• The ultimate strategy of a successful content marketing program is to view your company as a media communications center – providing valuable and shareable information on various platforms that your customers can easily find.

3. The 60-Second Close: Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

• The Internet levels the playing field for every business category. While size does not matter, your visibility and presence does because if you’re not found, in the consumer’s mind, you don’t exist.

• If you need help with your content marketing program, or ways to ensure a great customer purchasing experience at your place of business, then call us. We can get you there … faster than ever.

June 2013

Estimated Reading Time: 60 Seconds

60-Second Articles:
1. Does Allocating More Dollars Into Digital Marketing Make Sense?

2. Mind Games: Winning A Position In Your Customers’ Minds

3. The 60-Second Close: Be The Leader In Your Category

1. Does Allocating More Dollars Into Digital Marketing Make Sense?

• Lately, companies have been shifting more of their advertising budgets – at least 25 percent – from traditional marketing toward digital/online efforts. While it may seem smart to shift dollars online to where people are spending more time, it raises questions that can dramatically affect your profit structure.

• Being online where people are doesn’t mean they’re in the active purchasing mode; the response to most online advertising is extremely minimal. When it comes to your digital marketing efforts, how realistic should you be about the return on your investment?

• Questions to consider: Which platform best reaches your potential customers? Will you use the platforms as a medium for customer service and retention, sales, or special events and news? Can your messaging influence a purchase?

• The digital landscape covers a lot of platforms that may or may not suit your needs; how do you find out what’s best for your business? Ask your customers how many brands they follow on Facebook and Twitter and what their expectations are of being a fan/follower. Understanding the social media habits of your customers could reveal the key to effective allocation of your digital dollars.

2. Mind Games: Winning A Position In Your Customers’ Minds

• Positioning a message in the consumer’s mind – one that will stand out in an already overcrowded memory bank – is one of the most critical strategies for your company’s long-term success.

• If your positioning is based on having the lowest price, you’ll find yourself in cluttered territory – easily forgettable and lacking customer loyalty.

• Consumers only remember certain things about products, services or companies and what they most easily remember is based on categories and owning certain qualities within a category. Who was first to do it? Who is the leader? Who offers what no one else provides?

• Develop the exclusive claim or position you would like to own in the memory banks of your customers. Once you’ve chosen that position, your sales-building marketing plan becomes much easier to implement at every level of your business.

3. The 60-Second Close: Be The Leader In Your Category

• The most important decision you have is how to allocate your marketing budget to get the biggest return. For some, the mix may include traditional and digital advertising. For others, the dollars will be put toward customer service and providing a memorable purchasing experience.

• The biggest mistake you can make is doing what others do. Just because they’re doing it doesn’t mean it’s right for your business. We critically analyze what’s going to work and be profitable for you.

• We ask questions, we test and we plan. We allocate dollars based on what’s best for reaching your target market and developing customer loyalty. If you like this manner of thinking and want to become the leader in your category, give us a call. Even if it’s just for a second opinion! We can get you there … faster than ever.

May 2013

Estimated Reading Time: 60 Seconds

60-Second Articles:

1. Staying Ahead Of Google: What You Need To Know

2. Marketing Out Of Whack? Apply Pareto’s Principle To Your Business

3. The 60-Second Close: Simplify Your Marketing Efforts For Better Results

1. Staying Ahead Of Google: What You Need To Knows

• From the introduction of ultra-high speed Google Fiber in several markets to the exploratory launch of Google Glasses, the search engine giant continues to make technological advances. Still, nothing it’s done has been more newsworthy than its radical “search” changes.

• Google continues to confuse the local search landscape with Google+ Local and Google+ Business Pages. It has promised the confusion will end shortly by merging the two features, giving businesses a powerful, free advertising platform.

• On the organic search front and following its massive Panda and Penguin shakeups last year, Google continues to make widespread algorithm changes, clamping down on sites that are not keyword-relevant, including those with low-quality content, cross-domain linking schemes, keyword stuffing and overused anchor text. Previously, the algorithm changes were “anticipated events” implemented over three-day periods. Now the changes are so frequent, they occur unannounced.

• Though many articles are available on overcoming Google penalties, we suggest going right to the source: Google’s 32-page SEO Guide – recommendations for improving site structure, optimizing content and more. Get the pdf by clicking on: http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

2. Marketing Out Of Whack? Apply Pareto’s Principle To Your Business

• The first quarter of the year now completed, we encourage you to examine your company’s efficiencies. What’s working and what isn’t? Where is the most time and dollars being spent and is it resulting in proportionate sales?

• Applying Pareto’s Principle as a management effectiveness tool can be a stunning awakening or a good confirmation of how every facet and profit center of your business operates.

• Is 80 percent of your budget and activities bringing in only 20 percent of sales? If so, your marketing-to-sales ratio is out of whack and needs realignment.

• Thinking about this now will save you from having to ask at the year-end, “Why did we spend all that money and get so few results?” The Pareto Principle is a reminder to focus your time and dollars on only what matters and what brings maximum profits.

3. The 60-Second Close: Simplify Your Marketing Efforts For Better Results?

• With the increase of advertising platforms – especially online – it’s normal to want to do everything and have a presence everywhere. Effective marketing doesn’t work that way – you can’t be everything to everybody.

• There’s a way to simplify and better target your marketing – both online and offline – so that time and dollars are spent more effectively and results are more imminent.

• If you feel your advertising is everywhere but nowhere, we can give you a second opinion on how well you’re targeting your budget and the degree of effectiveness that your advertising is working. For more leads, sales and profits, we can help you get there faster … and better than ever.

April 2013

Estimated Reading Time: 60 Seconds

60-Second Articles:

1. Ignoring The Most Powerful Marketing Activity That Increases Sales

2. The New Facebook Update: Now A True Lead-Sales Generator

3. The 60-Second Close: Is Your Business Stuck In Neutral?

1. Ignoring The Most Powerful Marketing Activity That Increases Sales

• Word–of-mouth is the number one way to increase sales, yet many companies settle for hoping that customers will automatically spread the good word about them. Unfortunately, most businesses neglect giving customers anything special to talk about, consequently losing out sales opportunities, and that all-important customer-loyalty factor.

• Word–of-mouth is successful only when companies make a conscientious decision to do something unexpected that makes your customers say, “Wow, that’s interesting; the competition certainly doesn’t do that!”

• Of all of your current marketing efforts – online and offline – nothing is more important than what you’re doing to encourage word–of-mouth. To be successful, you have to be remembered; to be remembered, you have to give your customers something to talk about – or they’ll easily forget about you.

• With thousands of similar companies competing for a small wedge of attention, what are you doing to stand out? Another ho-hum TV spot, a creatively tired direct mail piece, a supposedly new digital offering?

2. The New Facebook Update: Now A True Lead-Sales Generator

• Facebook has always discouraged companies from using their business pages as sales tools – its guidelines prohibiting the use of text or images that conveyed a call-to-action within the cover profile. Prohibited practices included sales-oriented messages like percentage-off discounts and words such as “on sale” or “final days” on the cover page.

• Possibly because it’s gone public and is responsible to shareholders for revenue growth, Facebook has changed its policy, now giving companies a better opportunity to capture leads and sales.

• This is great news if you’ve been using Facebook as a generic information platform and have been trying to figure out how to bypass the game and convert your fans to leads and sales.

• Take advantage of this new policy and re-design your Facebook page to include call-to-action links to specific offers like e-books, coupons, webinars and sales events.

3. The 60-Second Close: Is Your Business Stuck In Neutral?

• Welcome to “business neutral” – the stage in every company’s life that’s mired in measurements, constantly jumping on the next bandwagon that promotes instant sales, neglecting the human connection – the real basics of what business is about.

• Every business goes through a stage when it’s just stuck – when you feel that you’re doing everything you can, but nothing great is happening. Something’s missing: you haven’t become the leader in your category and time is running out.

• If you feel your business is stuck in neutral and you can’t shift the gear to power-drive, then give call us now! We can help you increase your customer base, convert leads, drive sales and ring registers – and we can help you get there faster … and better than ever.

March 2013

Estimated Reading Time: 60 Seconds

60-Second Articles:

1. Once Upon A Time: If Your Company Could Tell A Story

2. The Importance Of Evaluating Your Advertising Campaigns

3. The 60-Second Close: What To Do If It’s Not Working

1. Once Upon A Time: If Your Company Could Tell A Story

• W Everyone knows those famous words, “Once upon a time.” Being told stories as kids is one of the first major events in our early lives that leave an ever-lasting impression. Businesses are finally realizing that stories are an important part of a marketing plan because they’re remembered. A well-communicated, interesting story about your company lasts longer than a typical ad or a brochure.

• If your company could tell a story, what would it be? Would it take a history-of-the-company angle or a differentiation-of-product approach? Would you connect with potential customers by telling them interesting things about your employees or your special culture?

• Developing a company story is one of those easier-said-than-done exercises – but the reward is great, simply because your customers will remember you. A sound marketing plan isn’t enough. Being successful takes a great story that defines and differentiates your business and is incorporated into your plan.

2. The Importance Of Evaluating Your Advertising Campaigns

• Prior to the Internet age, it was difficult to know whether your advertising was working – you’d have to stop and then you’d really find out.

• Today is much different. Companies are in a race to obtain and nurture the best sales leads possible. To achieve that, advertising is focused on multi-platform usage, leading the potential customer (B2B or B2C) on an online path that encourages various actions and responses.

• Now, a variety of measurement tools (Google Analytics, Eloqua and Marketo) can analyze the interaction of every element of your marketing campaign and determine if the budget allocation was effective and met ROI objectives.

• The advent of true “interaction” advertising – sending consumers to the Internet to engage in a series of online events on various platforms – is all measureable and designed to determine the quality of the lead and follow-up efforts.
  Today, there’s no excuse for not knowing how well your advertising is performing and if your dollars are being spent effectively.

3. The 60-Second Close: What To Do If It’s Not Working

• Companies can’t afford to run marketing programs that don’t ultimately ring the register and meet your return-on-investment objectives. Fortunately, the expertise and programs are available to determine what elements of your marketing mix are stronger than others.

• Every campaign you run should be questioned and critically analyzed. What worked, what didn’t? How can it be better?

• If you’d like a second opinion on your current strategy, how it “measures” up and if it can be done better, then give us a call. We can help you increase your customer base, convert leads, drive sales and ring registers – and we can help you get there faster … and better than ever.