Blog
by admin on March 18, 2009
by admin on December 1, 2010
The countdown to Christmas has begun. It’s that time of year where everyone is looking for a gift for that special someone. With holiday shopping upon us, billions of dollars are up for grabs. It’s time for you to focus your marketing strategy towards Christmas shoppers!
Here are a few tips to answer the call during the holidays:
- Maximize the use of free shipping and gift certificates on your site: Consumers are always looking for that extra incentive to purchase your product. During the holidays, the interest and search hits for free shipping and gift certificates significantly increase.
- Offer Coupons: Place coupons and promo-code discounts prominently on your site. One way to make your promos stand out is by adding Christmas keywords like “gifts” or “Christmas”.
- Create Christmas campaigns: Use Facebook, Twitter, and discussion forums to promote your holiday specials. Create titles like “great last minute Christmas gifts” or “special Christmas discounts”. These campaigns are a great way to reach your audience and their interests.
- Respond to hot sellers: Every industry and target audience has its own hot seller. If you see a spike in sales for a product you had not expected, go with it. Consumer trends are hard to predict, but with your website they should be easy to respond to.
- Consider consumer habits: Consumer spending and site visiting habits change during the holidays, so consider how these changes should impact your marketing. Maybe the holidays dictate for you to expand the time your ads are visible.
by admin on November 1, 2010
When posting content online, should you aim for attraction or conversion? Attraction brings more eyeballs and traffic to your pages, while conversion brings in more sales. Look no further than your local newsstands to find the best strategy. According to Sean D’Souza of
copyblogger.com, “The best attraction and conversion techniques are hidden between the pages of two very different magazines: Cosmopolitan and The New Yorker.” Here’s a short overview of the two styles:
Cosmopolitan:
- Content is in list form. Examples: 10 Cheap Fun Date Ideas and 117 Style Ideas Already in Your Wardrobe
- Content is an easy, light read.
- More likely to be retweeted or shared on Facebook
- Expectation of a lot of information without the reader giving effort
The New Yorker:
- Content is in-depth and well-written
- Shows reader you are knowledgeable about the topic.
- Compels reader to investigate further
- Focuses on depth, detail, and analysis
Now that you know the differences, how do you decide which strategy is best? It’s easy, both! A brilliant mix of both styles will mean large number of visitors and readers, as well as a good conversion rate. So start with the light, Cosmo-styled content to attract visitors, but provide plenty of deep, engaging, New Yorker-style content to hold their attention and win their business.
Read more on this topic:
http://www.copyblogger.com/traffic-or-conversion/
by admin on October 1, 2010
When trying to reach your target market online, do you feel like you are talking to a wall? One of the most common concerns with content on different social media outlets is, “how do I make my content really capture the attention of my audience?”
Here are six tips from
toprankblog.com that will help your content stand out:
- Purpose: Your purpose can be as simple or as complex as you want. Just make sure you can identify your objectives.
- Message: Be customer oriented. The message should be connected to your purpose. It should be also crystal clear what you want your reader to take away from your content.
- Packaging: Nowadays business content needs to be as professional as possible. It should easy to digest or understand and easy to share/save/post to anywhere.
- Distribution and Promotion: Building social networks is important to get the pop you need on the web. Develop relationships where conversations are relevant to the audience you are trying to reach.
- Call to Action: Give the reader something to do next, whether it’s share, subscribe, join or even buy. If you don’t tell them what to do, you probably won’t get them to do what you want.
- Monitor, Measure, Analyze & Act: Goals are important. Make sure you have them in place for both the short and long term. This will help you analyze where you’re getting traction and what you need to work on.
by admin on September 1, 2010
It’s that time of year again, school time. Here at Northcutt Media we’d like to offer a quick study guide on how to respond to negative comments about your business online. Whether on your Facebook page, a discussion forum, or your Twitter account, you as a business owner need to be ready to receive these comments and respond to them appropriately. Social Media is here to stay and we want to help you embrace it and use it to your business’ advantage. Here is an
article that talks about companies who are embracing social media and reaping rewards from their efforts. If you find that article and our quick guide below helpful, send it to other business owners who might find it useful as well.
Here are a few guidelines to follow when responding to negative comments:
- Respect their opinion: In the age of social media, self expression is at an all time high. Your response to negative comments should respect the author’s freedom of speech, because disrespect tends to be reciprocated.
- Focus on the issue: It’s easy to make things personal. Don’t. A slightly negative comment here, a misunderstanding there, and all of a sudden your one negative comment has multiplied into dozens. Remember, one negative comment will outshine ten positive comments.
- Do not use a standard response: Remember that scripted response you got from the last email you sent to company xyz? That’s a great example of what not to do. Read the issue carefully and tune the body of your response to match the situation.
- Don’t be afraid to post a question if their concern is unclear: Interaction is important to online success. Ask questions so that you are clear about the issue in its entirety before responding. Addressing only part of the concern can seem like you’re avoiding the whole issue.
- Don’t try and market/sell your product in your response: There is a time and a place for product/service promotion. However, this isn’t it. An insightful response will do more to drive site traffic than an untimely sales pitch will.
by admin on August 2, 2010
Creating customer buy-in for your business is the most effective way to earn your patrons’ loyalty and referrals. The trick is, of course, actually creating the buy-in. Here’s 4 lessons learned from the World Cup that you can apply to your business:
- Create a sense of team: In the months that preceded the World Cup, the South Africans gathered every Friday to watch and celebrate soccer. What are you doing with your customers and employees to bring about a sense of team, belonging, and purpose? Your employees and customers both need to know they’re a part of something unique and special by being a part of your organization.
- Share an identity: The South African flag is a patriotic symbol for the country. So the marketing council decided to fly the flag everywhere to boast the country’s shared identity and common bond. How could your customers share an identity and feel a strong affiliation with your business? In essence, how can your customers feel like they’re part of a club, maybe even an exclusive club because they are your customer?
- Deepen your relationships: The South African marketing council created a series of YouTube videos that showed and promoted a unique dance that they asked all South Africans to learn and do throughout the World Cup. Through the marketing campaign they gave the South Africans a way to bond through a unique cultural dance that furthered a sense of patriotism and cultural identity. Is there anything you do for your customers that is only for them? Offering something unique and exclusive that has inherent value for your customers will result in repeat business, referrals, and buy-in to your organization.
- Encourage people to declare their loyalty: The national anthem for most countries is a symbol of loyalty. Learning and singing it creates a cultural identity within that country. It’s likely that you don’t have an anthem for your employees and customers, but you can create unique cultural elements. Business specific jargon, like Starbucks has created, makes customers feel like insiders every time they order a “grande” latte instead of a “medium.” Through our discussion forum based sponsorships you have the opportunity to speak directly and build relationships with both current and potential customers. A consumer is far more likely to patronize a business with whom they feel they have a personal connection, like having conversations with the you (via our forums), the business owner, on an ongoing basis.
How can you, the business owner, implement some of these basic components to build customer buy-in in your business?
Read the full article, Marketing Lessons from South Africa’s World Cup Playbook here:
http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/marketing-lessons-from-south-africas-world-cup-playbook-john-jantsch
The world of online privacy could be changing. Congress has released a draft of a privacy bill aimed at defining broad new regulations for the data collection practices of online advertising. This would require sites to offer easier methods of letting users prevent their behavior from being tracked online, warn users about data collection.
So what does this mean for the average consumer and business owner? Here are a few issues that may affect consumer privacy and online advertising:
- “opt-out” vs. “opt-in”: This issue deals with allowing users to agree to have their online behavior data collected, or should sites legally be allowed to track their behavior by default, with an option to stop that collection upon request.
- Personal Info: Companies that collect personally identifiable data will be required to disclose their practices, including details on how consumer data are collected, used and shared. They’ll also need to gain consumer consent before capturing more sensitive information, such as data from medical records, Social Security numbers, financial accounts and sexual orientation.
- New rules: Websites that use third-party services, such as advertising networks and data collectors, that track consumer behavior and IP addresses in order to help publishers deliver more targeted advertising. Sites using these services will need to give consumers clear directions on how to opt out of tracking and targeting.
Some say change is for the better. We will just have to wait and see when it comes to online privacy. The good news for our sponsors is that we’re not just throwing your ads up on a series of websites and hope something sticks in the minds of web users. With our discussion forum integration we help your develop relationships with specific users in specific markets and have one-on-one conversations with your target market. So, the new privacy legislation will not have any effect on your sponsorship with us, period. We go far beyond the banner ad to help you specific target and track your campaigns. Here’s a few articles on the subject if you’re interested in reading further:
Madison Avenue pushing for privacy online
New “Eye” on its way to show web users how they were targeted for ads
Advertising agencies sound off against new privacy policy
The following article is a bit off topic for this month’s newsletter, but it’s a worthy read for any current sponsor or if you’re considering a sponsorship with us. Tweeting for your business is very similar to posting on a discussion forum, so read away:
Consumers say: “In tweets we trust”
It’s enough to make the average business owner run in fear: the thought anonymous people on discussion forums criticizing their business. While many business owners are afraid of conversations on discussion forums that cast them in a negative light, such occurrences are in fact a tremendous opportunity
Pete Blackshaw of Ad Age believes businesses need to have a strategy when responding to negative conversations online, and not just start answering without a coherent plan.
“You have to have the right message, you need to be perceived as sincere and credible, and you have to be prepared for backlash”.
He goes on to talk about a three step plan for responding to negative threads.
- Shore up the home front: Don’t get caught off guard by the person who posted the negative comment. Make sure you have all the information necessary in front of you before you respond.
- You’re talking apples, let me sell you oranges: Be respectful. Try to empathize with the poster and understand where he/she is coming from. But never sell.
- Solve the problem: Don’t advertise. Make sure you get all the pieces of the problem solved first. Onced solved, this is a great opportunity for your business to learn from the problem and fix it for the future.
As a sponsor within the Northcutt Media network, you have the opportunity to address negative posts (comments) head on. This allows you to connect with the customer and solve the problem directly. Responding to negative comments and posts can be a great advantage when building your online reputation.
The team at Northcutt Media is here to coach you through this process every step of the way. We know this is foreign territory for a lot of companies because it is such a new way of advertising, but you can feel confident and rely on our expertise to help you along the way.
In other news, we’d like to share a story with you about a young man named Kyle Abbate, Texas A&M Class of 2011. Kyle is an intern with Northcutt Media, and we’re proud to have him on board. The Division of Student Affairs recently published a story about Kyle:
http://studentaffairs.tamu.edu/node/173
by admin on April 1, 2010
How do you generate more business? Do you focus on reaching out to new customers? Continue to build on the relationship you have with existing customers? Both? Ann Handley blogged on
Duct Tape Marketing about these two fundamental ways to generate more business.
She writes:
“There are two fundamental approaches to generate more business: The first is to focus on making your existing customers insanely happy, so that they want to tell others about how much they love you; the second is to simply be a resource, or be helpful, to those who aren’t customers yet.”
She goes on to list 17 tactics to focus on when inspiring “customer love.” Here are Northcutt Media’s top five favorite tactics:
-
Monitor the web and primary social channels for people talking about you or your company: Be engaging, talkative, and approachable. But do not sell. Always say thank you (if they are saying nice things). Apologize for mistakes and leave no problems unsolved.
-
When someone comments on your thread, respond: Talk back. Show them you really care about them and the conversation.
-
Create a mechanism to keep in touch with existing customers or clients: Call or email them every now and then, just to say hi. Saying hello goes a long way in building a relationship.
-
Add a small gift and a word of mouth tool to every package you sell: People love free stuff, especially when it is unexpected.
-
Be nice: Sounds obvious, right? It’s not. People refer others when they have a good experience and are treated well. Strive for that.
As a sponsor, we want you to establish direct relationships with your prospective and current customers throughout our network of discussion forums. Ann Handley hits the nail on the head with points 1 and 2 listed above. It’s likely that conversation has, is, or will go on about your business online. You should have a strategy for being an active participant in that conversation. Passivity is your enemy in the social media world.
by admin on March 4, 2010
Anyone who has people working under them knows that everyone is different. Different people have different strengths and different weaknesses. Most (if not all) times, it’s far more efficient to position employees to take advantage of their strengths and avoid their weaknesses than it is to try to change them. Obviously, some things can be learned, but when dealing with higher level job responsibilities, putting someone in a situation that doesn’t take advantage of their strengths is like trying to put a square peg in a round hole – it’s just going to result in frustration.
- Do you know what the strengths and weaknesses of each of your employees are?
- Do you know what kind of strengths each position within your company requires?
- Do you know which weaknesses should be avoided for each position?
- Consider how much happier and more productive your employees could be if their responsibilities played to their natural strengths.