Web Site Strategies – topical website tend to gain higher click-through rates

To help companies meet its program objective of targeting a certain segment of the population, I have outlined a website insights and strategies to help to optimize conversion across the buying continuum process (engagement, educate, convert, enable enrollment, and retain). Its important to understand that generic or topical website names that feature descriptive words of products and services deliver significantly higher click-through rates.

In the website strategy, we have identified the following core components:

• Websites – (2 different websites “branded” branded and a “non-branded” – topical oriented site).
• Search Engine Marketing – Including search engine optimization and supporting landing pages to drive conversion.
• Online media – to promote program visibility, leverage behavior targeting.
• Web Analytics – tools to measure effectiveness and drive optimization of the program.
• Monitor blogs – provide research and ongoing program optimization.

The strategy behind the website is to design a channel to support customers and prospects throughout the entire buying continuum process. The site will be visited multiple times by the prospects and customers and each visit will allow us to capture more information about their needs, the steps in the process they happen to be at and their communication preference. The objective of the website(s) will be to:

•  Quickly identify the visitor (visitor, segment a, segment b, segment c, etc.)
• Segment and target the visitor based on where they are along the engagement process.
• Leverage habitual patterns, past behavior, and site navigation
• Present information to move them along the continuum process
• Position the website as an active vehicle for the multichannel program

 Based on where they are in the buying continuum process, the site should:

•  Enable the ability to request information
• Provide online tools to help them be educated & build relationships
• Distribute information relative to their needs
• Allow them to self select the product offering which best fits
• Streamline the online enrollment
• Manage the communication preference

The website(s) should provide a vehicle to build credibility & brand awareness specific to the core message, streamline the decision cycle and compliment the multichannel program.

 The website should position the product offering thru topical sections. This will enable the visitors to view the issues from their perspective and not product centric view. To illustrate this I am proposing that topical conversation and thought provoking questions are used throughout the site to help them make the most informed decision. Also utilize online community area which can distribute local information and resources such as a list of local seminars/events for them to attend and an online dialog area to ask questions to other members and prospects.  The website(s) should have multiple methods of communications including: telephone, chat, e-mail, post questions, etc.

 Additionally, we should understand that in an market, different segments of the of target population will become an integral part of the decision process. I would envision that website(s) need to be focused on the segment b; giving them information, and help them to make the right decisions.

 Website Content Present by the Specific Brand:

Given that the specific products are targeted for a specific consumers; via the online experience, we need to help to narrow down their options; we would create “Brand A” and Brand B, product specific websites and have the ability to target based on their current status of the web site member or prospect.  The main objective in the qualification process on the website could be to identify the prospect residency as an example.

 Potential Prospect Targeting:

• Target by gender: Learn about the XYZ program
• Target by lifestyle: “Age, Activity, Major event” – which product is right for you
• Target the family member – helpful tools to help others make the right  decision

 Members Targeting:

• Members – provide a method for login/create profile and drive the messaging based on their member profile and customize with name, state, product, repeat visitor, topic of interest, etc.
• Provide a link – to login to a private are for making changes to their information, access collateral available, and tools to help them to promote product offering.

Understand the 8-4-2-1 rule and you will not have to wonder where sales are being lost.

As the marketing organization continues to evolve, the success of the organization’s sales initiatives has become directly linked to the marketing department’s willingness to step up and take ownership as the information provider, sales opportunity generator and customer relationship management. In order for marketing to gain respect at a strategic level it has to step and be willing to be accountable for its programs and have sponsorship at a senior level in the organization. In fact, in most organizations today marketing now owns the communications function. The corporate web site, for instance, has matured into a strategic communications channel. As a result, the marketing team is rapidly gaining more respect and additional resources.

 

Market research is an ongoing process in which the organization evaluates the business proposition it delivers to the customer. This includes defining distinct competency, market research, technology assessment, customer surveys, prospect evaluation, and competitive review.

 

How well do you really know your distinctive competency?

To find out, ask your customers these questions:

 

1. What do you think of our product?

2. What do you think of our company?

3. Have you seen any “good” products lately?

 

The answers will tell you what your marketplace believes is your distinctive competency. Then make sure it matches your corporate message.

 

Lead generation is a simple process once you understand your marketplace and how your product adds value or solves a problem for your customers. Your company’s web site, for example, can be a tremendous vehicle to generating leads quickly. Anyone can create a form to post on the web site to collect all the information you could want from your prospects: names, titles, phone numbers, budgets, buying habits, and customer needs. In fact, if you place a direct self-gratifying “reward” to the prospect for providing the information (like $100 for everyone who fills out the form), you will get more names that you know what to do with. If $100 seems like too much, analyze what a new lead is currently costing you to capture! Organizations must find unique approaches to managing the customer enterprise and utilize the Internet to share and manage leads and corporate information with their marketplace.

 

Lead qualification is critical to managing resources and meeting business objectives. Too many organizations do too little qualifying of leads and consequently pollute the sales funnel. Understand the 8-4-2-1 rule: 8 qualified leads turn into 4 sales presentations, which turn into 2 sales quotes that result in 1 sale. Take the time to evaluate your last quarter’s leads to sold reports to determine exactly if sales are getting lost.

 

If you understand the 8-4-2-1 rule, you won’t have to wonder where sales are being lost.

 

Quantitative analysis is the ability to evaluate sales wins and sales losses to determine to whom you are selling and to whom you are not selling. Build questionnaires for your salespeople to fill out after each sales presentation. Interview your customers and all prospective customers who did not buy from you. Look at product profitability, trend analysis, and market analysis.

 

Interview prospects who did not buy — you will be surprised why you lost the sale.

It is not about the product or service, it is strictly a business decision

Managing your business is no easy task, because at the end of the day it’s not about marketing, customer support, or a terrific product. It’s about making money. Never lose sight of the fact that money is why you are in business. Your ability to identify your organization’s issues and evaluate your strategies relative to the bottom line is what will make you successful.

“It’s not about the product nor the technology. It’s strictly a business decision.”

Return on Investment (ROI)
Evaluate your risks by asking yourself these questions:

1. What is my true cost of bringing a new product to market?

2. How many units of the product do I need to sell to off-set the cost of
marketing communications?

3. How much money does each salesperson need to bring in for me to justify his or her salary?

4. What is the total cost of the “whole product” solution?

5. Is it feasible to have direct sales force or will an indirect channel suffice?

6. What part of my business is more cost effective to farm out to a third-party vendor?

7. How much time and money will be required to bring the product to market?

You may have the perfect product and the perfect marketing campaign, but if it costs 2 times what your potential revenue is projected to be, then it’s not the right business decision. Break the solution into pieces and determine which part will make the most revenue with the least cost. And farm the rest of it out.

“When the volume increases, clear business processes are what maintain net profitability.”

Operations
What is the infrastructure within your organization? And what infrastructure is required to achieve your revenue goals? These are very basic questions that you need to answer before any financial resources are allocated. What is your cost of transaction? If you are selling a $100,000 product but it costs you $150,000 to process and your gross revenue shows that you are growing at 100% per year, there is no way that your net bottom-line numbers are not going to show that you are in the red. Painstakingly define your operational issues. Develop processes and automate those processes. And build infrastructure to support your revenue expectations, otherwise your business will suffer.

Buy, Build, or Partner
When an organization begins to evolve and the market shows product acceptance, most organizations decide to take their current product line and expand it. The key question from a financial perspective now becomes whether you should purchase the products, develop the products internally, or partner with another company for them. Ask yourself these questions:

1. What internal develop resources do I have?
2. What development resources will I need?
3. What is the time-to-market analysis?
4. What is the cost to support the product?
5. Is it more cost effective to support the product with external resources?
6. What is currently available in the market?
7. What percentage of the market share can I capture?
8. What will it cost me to capture this market?
9. Are there products in the market that I can purchase?

The key point is that the decision to develop products is a business decision, not a technology or market decision. You need to deliver the “whole product” in a cost-effective way that supports your business model and runs in parallel with your financial revenue model. 

When the sales volume increase, clear business processes are key

When the sales volume increase, clear business processes are key.

Managing your business is no easy task, because at the end of the day it’s not about marketing, customer support, or a terrific product. It’s about making money. Never lose sight of the fact that money is why you are in business. Your ability to identify your organization’s issues and evaluate your strategies relative to the bottom line is what will make you successful.

What is the operational infrastructure within your organization? And what infrastructure is required to achieve your revenue goals? These are very basic questions that you need to answer before any financial resources are allocated. What is your cost of transaction? If you are selling a $100,000 product but it costs you $150,000 to process and your gross revenue shows that you are growing at 100% per year, there is no way that your net bottom-line numbers are not going to show that you are in the red. Painstakingly define your operational issues. Develop processes and automate those processes. And build infrastructure to support your revenue expectations, otherwise your business will suffer.

What to do, Buy, Build, or Partner?
When an organization begins to evolve and the market shows product acceptance, most organizations decide to take their current product line and expand it. The key question from a financial perspective now becomes whether you should purchase the products, develop the products internally, or partner with another company for them. Ask yourself these questions:

1. What internal develop resources do I have?
2. What development resources will I need?
3. What is the time-to-market analysis?
4. What is the cost to support the product?
5. Is it more cost effective to support the product with external resources?
6. What is currently available in the market?
7. What percentage of the market share can I capture?
8. What will it cost me to capture this market?
9. Are there products in the market that I can purchase?

The key point is that the decision to develop products is a business decision, not a technology or market decision. You need to deliver the “whole product” in a cost-effective way that supports your business model and runs in parallel with your financial revenue model.

Leverage support to get loyal customers

Service is the part of your organization that helps your customers utilize products effectively. This means training, support, customizations, and implementation. Service should be a critical part of your business proposition because customers don’t just buy a product. What they buy is a “whole product,” a purchase that includes services.

Develop customer satisfaction
Since customers need fast, accurate, and relevant solutions to their needs, the organization must continuously improve the response to customer solution requirements. Service has to move progressively closer to the customer and drive factors of product improvement.

Share the knowledge
Knowledge created and used by the support organization needs to be used to drive support strategies: sharing information, providing customer self-help, leveraging resources, performing value-added services, and directing future products.

Support the current infrastructure
You have to build your response mechanism and support structure around your customer’s business model. Take your current systems and re-focus them toward effective knowledge capture and delivery that makes the most sense to your marketplace. It only stands to reason that the better you service your customer, the more satisfied the customer. Thus, repeat business is fostered.

Assurance
The organization must strive, however, for a loyal customer, not merely a satisfied customer. A satisfied customer is happy, but a loyal customer buys again. This is accomplished by exceeding the customer’s expectation, a practice that should be at the very core of how you run your business. It can be as simple as guaranteeing the shipping of the product in 5 days or providing a 2-day delivery option.

Feedback
The feedback mechanism must be installed in every part of the organization, from a follow-up phone call from the salesperson to see how things are going to a thank-you letter from the product manager to a personal thank-you gift from the president for exceptional orders. You need to establish period surveys, evaluate the purchasers’ usage of the products, and their satisfaction.

Utilize Web Site Analytics And Track Affiliates

In order to be able to track affiliate generated traffic to any web site, you have to establish an URL with tracking code specific to each affiliate.  After login in to the web analytic dash board (depending on which analytic tool you choose: Google, CoreMetrics, or Webtrends) you will see from the main reports that there is a category which is aggregating the web site “traffic source”. The recommendation is to utilize the tracking code generator and establish an URL structure for tacking affiliates. Additionally, implement a cookie tracking session and possibly expand the code expiration date to a 21 – 30 day window. To be able to track and provide credit to affiliates who drive traffic to the web site but the visitor may return at a later date to actually purchase.

Below is an example on a typical URL structure for tracking affiliates:

http://www.yoursite.com/productx.html?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=1234

• The utm_source would indicate that it is an affiliate program.
• The utm_medium would be how the link was generated (such as a banner ad).
• The utm_campaign would be the affiliate ID, which is 1234 in this example.

Next, you will create a custom report template in the web site analytics to look at conversions based on these parameters.

A typical Scenario:

If someone comes to the site from an affiliate link, looks at the site, then leaves, and comes back later via a direct link to the URL, the affiliate information would be lost.

You can retain the affiliate information by attaching the affiliate ID to the URL, capture it via the asp/jsp/php code, store it as a cookie for as long as you have agreed to in the affiliate contract (ie: 21 or 30 days), then pass it to the database with any order within the 21 – 30 day sessions.

The URL structure link above can be embedded on affiliate web sites as text links, banner ads, keywords or any physical click-thru from their web site. You can also embed this inside of emails campaigns or any other marketing vehicle.

The objective is to establish the above URL structure and publish this to all your affiliates and to setup the web site analytics tool.

If you use CoreMetrics you need to go in the Core Metrics dashboard and use the “tracking code generator” to set this up for each affiliate. The other web site analytics tools have similar functionality.

How To Grow Your Existing Business

Most people assume that an existing organization is in the right business, has positioned the right products, and has the correct resources in place to make it happen. What has worked in the past is no reason why it should work now. In fact the past is what got you here and its not going to get you there. I recommend that you start at ground zero and ask these obvious questions.

1.How do we sell this?
2.Is this Viable anymore?
3.Is this what the market wants?
4.Have we added new functionality to expand our marketplace?
5.Should we narrow our scope and leverage our core competence?

Keep on doing what you are doing, keep on getting the results that you are getting. You want to change your results, change what you are doing.

It’s not about the product nor the technology. It’s strictly a business decision.”

It’s neither about the product nor the technology. It’s strictly a business decision.”

 Managing your business is no easy task, because at the end of the day it’s not about marketing, customer support, or a terrific product. It’s about making money. Never lose sight of the fact that money is why you are in business. Your ability to identify your organization’s issues and evaluate your strategies relative to the bottom line is what will make you successful.

Evaluate your risks by asking yourself these questions:

 1. What is my true cost of bringing a new product to market?

 2. How many units of the product do I need to sell to off-set the cost of marketing communications?

 3. How much money does each salesperson need to bring in for me to justify his or her salary?

 4. What is the total cost of the “whole product” solution?

 5. Is it feasible to have direct sales force or will an indirect channel suffice?

 6. What part of my business is more cost effective to farm out to a third-party vendor?

 7. How much time and money will be required to bring the product to market?

 You may have the perfect product and the perfect marketing campaign, but if it costs 2 times what your potential revenue is projected to be, then it’s not the right business decision. Break the solution into pieces and determine which part will make the most revenue with the least cost. And farm the rest of it out.

Remember that when the volume increases, clear business processes are what maintain net profitability.

You don’t want happy customers … You want loyal customers.

Service your customers

Service is the part of your organization that helps your customers utilize the products effectively. This means training, support, customizations, and implementation. Service should be a critical part of your business proposition because customers don’t just buy a product. What they buy is a “whole product,” a purchase that includes services.

 Develop customer satisfaction

Since customers need fast, accurate, and relevant solutions to their needs, the organization must continuously improve the response to customer solution requirements. Service has to move progressively closer to the customer and drive factors of product improvement.

 

Share the knowledge

Knowledge created and used by the support organization needs to be used to drive support strategies: sharing information, providing customer self-help, leveraging resources, performing value-added services, and directing future products.

 

Support the current infrastructure

You have to build your response mechanism and support structure around your customer’s business model. Take your current systems and re-focus them toward effective knowledge capture and delivery that makes the most sense to your marketplace. It only stands to reason that the better you service your customer, the more satisfied the customer. Thus, repeat business is fostered.

 Assurance

The organization must strive, however, for a loyal customer, not merely a satisfied customer. A satisfied customer is happy, but a loyal customer buys again. This is accomplished by exceeding the customer’s expectation, a practice that should be at the very core of how you run your business. It can be as simple as guaranteeing the shipping of the product in 5 days or providing a 2-day delivery option.

 Feedback

The feedback mechanism must be installed in every part of the organization, from a follow-up phone call from the salesperson to see how things are going to a thank-you letter from the product manager to a personal thank-you gift from the president for exceptional orders. You need to establish period surveys, evaluate the purchasers’ usage of the products, and their satisfaction.

What Will Drive Your Business Growth Forward, Strategies or Tactics?

What Will Drive Your Business Forward, Strategies or Tactics?

Technology is developing at such a fast pace that in order to be successful, you need to quickly outline a plan, introduce it to the market, get feedback, modify your Approach based on the feedback, and delivers it to the market again. How long should you do this? The answer is, until you get it right! Tactics shape processes on a continuous basis. Ideas are fine, but what gets results and revenue into your business day-to-day is the execution of your plan. Don’t spend a huge amount of time planning; the key is to just do something, every single day. Most people assume that an existing organization is in the right business, has positioned the right products, and has the correct resources in place to make it happen. What has worked in the past is no reason why it should work now. In fact, the past is what got you here and it’s not going to get you there. I recommend that you start at ground zero and ask the obvious questions.

This session will teach you how to define strategies and create tactics that support your strategies. We will discuss how to plan, develop and execute strategies efficiently, effectively and at an Internet pace!

How To Build A Brand Image That Is Right For You:

Everybody wants brand recognition, but how do you get it. Learn the different between a corporate brand and a product brand and determine what works best and why.

Make Marketing Accountable for the Bottom Line:

Determine the ROI from Every Part of Your Marketing Programs. Operational efficiencies and bottom line management is what will make you profitable. Marketing is no different. Remember that marketing is depended on product life cycles and market life cycles and the marketing campaign need to be selected based on the stages of the life cycles and determine the most cost effective way to achieve our goals.