Banyan Creative Blog :: random thoughts on marketing success ::
6 Awesome Mailchimp Automation tips
For the last couple of years, I have been running marketing automation campaigns for companies of all shapes and sizes that want to take their marketing strategy to the next level. The work involves segmentation, new acquistion strategies, A/B testing, automated email flows, social media integration, lead management, and other push and pull mechanisms for personalizing the brand’s marketing to individuals through several touch points. At this point if you don't know what I'm talking about it also involves drinking a lot of coffee.
Does it sound sophisticated and complex? Well, it is, actually, but when done properly works like a charm. However, it costs a lot of money and time, which makes it too difficult for many companies, especially startups, to adopt such a system and methodology.
I have also worked for a couple startups and B2C companies, and I realize that anyone can leverage many advanced marketing automation features by using MailChimp, sometimes in combination with other tools and services. Yep. Thats right. MailChimp.
If you are interested in trying out some new email tactics, put aside your traditional newsletter processes and regular welcome emails for now, and try out my favorite 6 MailChimp automation tactics.
1. Personalize Emails Based On Lead Scoring
In marketing automation, you always try to segment your leads/users based on how close they are to selecting a product, making a purchase, or upgrading to your premium offering. So, how do you do this?
Use lead scoring as a ranking mechanism that qualifies your leads/users based on predefined criteria. In order to be flexible, you can use whatever type of scoring you like. For example, you can use A, B, C, D, etc., or, better yet, you can apply descriptive terms like “Prospect,” “Warm,” or “Customer.” The second type is easier for communication and far more descriptive of the status of your leads.
The point here is for your leads, subscribers, or users to get the appropriate scoring automatically. Of course, there are cases where manual intervention may be required. For instance, a salesman could mark an entry as, say, “Paused,” because he might not want to get in touch for a while. But, in this article, I want to emphasize automation and help you be more efficient and effective, so I will not dwell on special cases.
Now that you understand what lead scoring is, the next step is to map each of these scores with specific actions in your website, application, or marketing campaign. This mapping will help you prepare your lead scoring model from Pardot / Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Your model should be based on individual and company demographics (personal interests, gender, age, social networks, etc.) and behavior (registered, visited pricing page, completed order, purchased recently). In order to have such a powerful scoring system, you need a marketing automation platform like Eloqua (now Oracle Marketing Cloud) or Marketo.
2. Pre-fill Personal Data in Form Fields
How many times have you received an email from someone that led to a landing page asking you to download their awesome PDF, and then you had to type in your email again before downloading? Many times, I know. Most Marketing Automation Product Managers know that pre-populating people’s data can increase conversions, and it is something they take advantage of by using microsites and personalization engines or other techniques. This is what I got when I clicked on a KISSmetrics webinar email recently.
Magic! All fields were pre-filled. No friction for me, one more conversion for Lars Lofgren. KISSmetrics did that by using Pardot.
Can you do that through MailChimp? Yes, with a bit of tool integration. First, go to LeadPages. LeadPages is a lead generation platform that gives you the ability to create landing pages. They have a cool feature called automatic pre-populationthat does exactly what we want: a lead completes a form once, and then all additional forms in the future are pre-filled with their data.
LeadPages claims that this can increase conversions by 30%! All you need to do is integrate LeadPages with MailChimp and start using them together. You can see how to do it in MailChimp Integrations Directory.
If you don’t want to use LeadPages and just want to send an email from MailChimp that leads to a landing page with a form, use this small hack.
3. Nurture Leads with Drip Campaigns
The well-known drip campaigns, which some claim took their name from the infamous Automatic Drip Coffee Maker, are great for nurturing leads. In case you are not familiar with this kind of campaign, you can read a nice introduction at this handy guide from Zapier.
Most people use drip campaigns based on a time series, say, for onboarding new users. Another common type of drip campaign is the educational email course, like Justin’s Programming for Marketers. However, what many people miss is that they can take drip campaigns to the next level and engage their leads even more. In order to do so, you need to add some behavioral, demographic, and lead scoring triggers in your campaign. Don’t just send the same email to all your “Prospect” leads just because two days passed after the first email of the series or since the prospect joined your list.
4. Use Plain Text-like Emails
Why do simple, plain text emails get better click-through rates? Because they feel more personal. Being friendly is crucial in email marketing. How many emails do you get every day in which the “From” field is something like “Jane at Cool Company”?
No fancy HTML, just plain text. Well, actually, it looks like plain text, but it is full HTML-enabled content. I did exactly the same for an automated email I use and got a 20% increase in click-through rates.
5. Integrate MailChimp with Almost Any Tool Using Zapier
Now, let me show you how you can use MailChimp with almost any other tool, even if they are not integrated directly, without writing a line of code. Save more time and be more flexible. Don’t reinvent the wheel!
There is a really cool service called Zapier that lets you connect the tools and services you use and also automate many of your tasks. Zapier gives you a ton of MailChimp integrations, from Google Docs and Gmail to EventBrite and Typeform.
You can take a look at the complete list of integrations at Zapier’s MailChimp Zapbook.
6. Build Viral Loops and Referrals
Do you know what’s strange about email marketing?
A whopping 80% of people find it annoying. And, yet, almost no one can resist an email with a catchy subject and a great offer. Virality engineers are well aware of this. So, they use the email channel as a way to expand their user base by planting viral loops directly into emails. I’ll give you an example of what I’m talking about.
Let’s examine a common scenario: User “X” signs up for your product. At the moment of registration, his personal information gets stored in a MailChimp list. The next moment, he receives an automated “welcome” email; another typical welcome email, but yet, a different one. In this email, you may include a special offer (e.g., a really cool PDF) that your fresh user can obtain by inviting a friend or colleague.
Here’s how:
Step 1: Create a new MailChimp list for your referred users.
You already know how to do this. You’re a MailChimp automation hero now!
Step 2: Create a landing page for the referral campaign and integrate it with the new list you created.
A plain page with just one field (for an email address) and a description of the “prize” will do the job for now. You can use a tool like LeadPages or Unbounce, or you can hard-code it if it makes you feel better.
Step 3: Include a link that directs User “X” to your referral landing page.
After User “X” submits the form, you may redirect him to a private page that you have linking to the URL for the special offer / prize.
At the same time, the invited users receive an invitation email. Make sure the email’s subject is appealing and not just another “John Doe invited you to join our awesome blah blah blah.” I’m deadly serious about the “blah blah blah” part, as that’s what people are going to read before they throw your email in the trash. Try something personal and creative.
Conclusion
It’s obvious that MailChimp can give you a lot of power by automating and personalizing your marketing. I hope these 6 automation tips will be a nice introduction to experimenting with integrating more tools & creating new automations.
About the Author: Sam Casey is the Managing Partner at Banyan Creative, a marketing agency that offers consulting services and to businesses who are looking to grow. Banyan Creative focuses on helping startups and well-established companies achieve sustainable results. Casey's experience is in automating user acquisition via email, developing custom content, and optimizing digital campaigns. He also is trying to learn how to be a better dad, road biker and currently trying to find the perfect summer craft brew. Follow him on Twitter.
Does it sound sophisticated and complex? Well, it is, actually, but when done properly works like a charm. However, it costs a lot of money and time, which makes it too difficult for many companies, especially startups, to adopt such a system and methodology.
I have also worked for a couple startups and B2C companies, and I realize that anyone can leverage many advanced marketing automation features by using MailChimp, sometimes in combination with other tools and services. Yep. Thats right. MailChimp.
If you are interested in trying out some new email tactics, put aside your traditional newsletter processes and regular welcome emails for now, and try out my favorite 6 MailChimp automation tactics.
1. Personalize Emails Based On Lead Scoring
In marketing automation, you always try to segment your leads/users based on how close they are to selecting a product, making a purchase, or upgrading to your premium offering. So, how do you do this?
Use lead scoring as a ranking mechanism that qualifies your leads/users based on predefined criteria. In order to be flexible, you can use whatever type of scoring you like. For example, you can use A, B, C, D, etc., or, better yet, you can apply descriptive terms like “Prospect,” “Warm,” or “Customer.” The second type is easier for communication and far more descriptive of the status of your leads.
The point here is for your leads, subscribers, or users to get the appropriate scoring automatically. Of course, there are cases where manual intervention may be required. For instance, a salesman could mark an entry as, say, “Paused,” because he might not want to get in touch for a while. But, in this article, I want to emphasize automation and help you be more efficient and effective, so I will not dwell on special cases.
Now that you understand what lead scoring is, the next step is to map each of these scores with specific actions in your website, application, or marketing campaign. This mapping will help you prepare your lead scoring model from Pardot / Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Your model should be based on individual and company demographics (personal interests, gender, age, social networks, etc.) and behavior (registered, visited pricing page, completed order, purchased recently). In order to have such a powerful scoring system, you need a marketing automation platform like Eloqua (now Oracle Marketing Cloud) or Marketo.
2. Pre-fill Personal Data in Form Fields
How many times have you received an email from someone that led to a landing page asking you to download their awesome PDF, and then you had to type in your email again before downloading? Many times, I know. Most Marketing Automation Product Managers know that pre-populating people’s data can increase conversions, and it is something they take advantage of by using microsites and personalization engines or other techniques. This is what I got when I clicked on a KISSmetrics webinar email recently.
Magic! All fields were pre-filled. No friction for me, one more conversion for Lars Lofgren. KISSmetrics did that by using Pardot.
Can you do that through MailChimp? Yes, with a bit of tool integration. First, go to LeadPages. LeadPages is a lead generation platform that gives you the ability to create landing pages. They have a cool feature called automatic pre-populationthat does exactly what we want: a lead completes a form once, and then all additional forms in the future are pre-filled with their data.
LeadPages claims that this can increase conversions by 30%! All you need to do is integrate LeadPages with MailChimp and start using them together. You can see how to do it in MailChimp Integrations Directory.
If you don’t want to use LeadPages and just want to send an email from MailChimp that leads to a landing page with a form, use this small hack.
3. Nurture Leads with Drip Campaigns
The well-known drip campaigns, which some claim took their name from the infamous Automatic Drip Coffee Maker, are great for nurturing leads. In case you are not familiar with this kind of campaign, you can read a nice introduction at this handy guide from Zapier.
Most people use drip campaigns based on a time series, say, for onboarding new users. Another common type of drip campaign is the educational email course, like Justin’s Programming for Marketers. However, what many people miss is that they can take drip campaigns to the next level and engage their leads even more. In order to do so, you need to add some behavioral, demographic, and lead scoring triggers in your campaign. Don’t just send the same email to all your “Prospect” leads just because two days passed after the first email of the series or since the prospect joined your list.
4. Use Plain Text-like Emails
Why do simple, plain text emails get better click-through rates? Because they feel more personal. Being friendly is crucial in email marketing. How many emails do you get every day in which the “From” field is something like “Jane at Cool Company”?
No fancy HTML, just plain text. Well, actually, it looks like plain text, but it is full HTML-enabled content. I did exactly the same for an automated email I use and got a 20% increase in click-through rates.
5. Integrate MailChimp with Almost Any Tool Using Zapier
Now, let me show you how you can use MailChimp with almost any other tool, even if they are not integrated directly, without writing a line of code. Save more time and be more flexible. Don’t reinvent the wheel!
There is a really cool service called Zapier that lets you connect the tools and services you use and also automate many of your tasks. Zapier gives you a ton of MailChimp integrations, from Google Docs and Gmail to EventBrite and Typeform.
You can take a look at the complete list of integrations at Zapier’s MailChimp Zapbook.
6. Build Viral Loops and Referrals
Do you know what’s strange about email marketing?
A whopping 80% of people find it annoying. And, yet, almost no one can resist an email with a catchy subject and a great offer. Virality engineers are well aware of this. So, they use the email channel as a way to expand their user base by planting viral loops directly into emails. I’ll give you an example of what I’m talking about.
Let’s examine a common scenario: User “X” signs up for your product. At the moment of registration, his personal information gets stored in a MailChimp list. The next moment, he receives an automated “welcome” email; another typical welcome email, but yet, a different one. In this email, you may include a special offer (e.g., a really cool PDF) that your fresh user can obtain by inviting a friend or colleague.
Here’s how:
Step 1: Create a new MailChimp list for your referred users.
You already know how to do this. You’re a MailChimp automation hero now!
Step 2: Create a landing page for the referral campaign and integrate it with the new list you created.
A plain page with just one field (for an email address) and a description of the “prize” will do the job for now. You can use a tool like LeadPages or Unbounce, or you can hard-code it if it makes you feel better.
Step 3: Include a link that directs User “X” to your referral landing page.
After User “X” submits the form, you may redirect him to a private page that you have linking to the URL for the special offer / prize.
At the same time, the invited users receive an invitation email. Make sure the email’s subject is appealing and not just another “John Doe invited you to join our awesome blah blah blah.” I’m deadly serious about the “blah blah blah” part, as that’s what people are going to read before they throw your email in the trash. Try something personal and creative.
Conclusion
It’s obvious that MailChimp can give you a lot of power by automating and personalizing your marketing. I hope these 6 automation tips will be a nice introduction to experimenting with integrating more tools & creating new automations.
About the Author: Sam Casey is the Managing Partner at Banyan Creative, a marketing agency that offers consulting services and to businesses who are looking to grow. Banyan Creative focuses on helping startups and well-established companies achieve sustainable results. Casey's experience is in automating user acquisition via email, developing custom content, and optimizing digital campaigns. He also is trying to learn how to be a better dad, road biker and currently trying to find the perfect summer craft brew. Follow him on Twitter.
First Year of Email Marketing: Lessons Learned
It’s your first week as an email marketer.
Then you blink and a whole year has flown by. It happened to me, and it’s probably going to happen to you. After a year of email marketing, you certainly haven’t learned everything there is to know, but you do discover some pretty eye-opening lessons.
Many of the ah-ha moments come from the areas you have to tackle your first week on the job. After 12 months doing email marketing, you’ll have a whole new perspective about those areas, plus additional epiphanies changing the way you do things. Here’s what to expect when year two rolls around (hint: you’re still breathing into a paper bag when you hit the send button).
Read consistently, but be choosy.
Whereas reading everything and anything you can about email marketing is essential for the noob, it’s not practical or helpful for the more experienced marketer.
After your first year of email marketing, you most likely have more responsibility than you did when you started and simply don’t have the time to read every new article about email marketing. Also, marketing blogs and online publications are repeating themselves; there’s hardly anything new or revealing being written about email marketing today.
Case in point, a recent Ad Age article promised to tell me just how presidential candidates could up their games with email marketing. How disappointing when all it told me were the best practices you and I already know.
When you choose your sources carefully and read them consistently, reading encourages curiosity, keeps you updated with the latest thought leadership, and makes you a better writer.
People are your biggest assets.
Your first week on the job - heck, make that several months - should be spent hose-gulping information from your co-workers and peers in the industry. These people will always be an indelible resource for providing a different perspective and sharing knowledge. Don’t take them for granted.
Rounding the base into your second year on the job, you should also be helping people grow in their expertise. For a whole 12 months, you’ve been down in the trenches - strategizing, studying, coding HTML, testing, and reporting. Wide-eyed first-years are walking through your company’s door just as you did and they’re looking for help. Pass on the knowledge!
Email marketing is hard.
It’s damn hard!
Why do the people who write marketing blogs try to convince you email marketing is easy as 1, 2,3, or A,B,C or cake? They’re lying. Sending each person on an (at least) 10,000-person list an open-worthy, pithy subject line and a hyper-personalized, well-balanced message is not easy. It’s not simple. And it doesn’t happen in a snap, like magic.
Whatever fairy-tale, utopian world those authors are living in doesn’t portrait the reality of what an email marketer does.
More often than not, you’ve stayed up half the night to ensure your segmentation rules are in place AND the personalization elements work appropriately AND your design is mobile friendly AND the million other details that make a great email what it is.
Being an email marketer isn’t fun. But boy, is it worth it. When you see all your hard work pay off in increased open rate, or clickthrough rate, it puts a bounce in your step. And when the boss-man sees extra revenue coming in from your channel? Well, it’s a good feeling that keeps you on the email train.
Keep your coffee cup full.
Last but not least, by year two you’ll know to always have a fresh pot of coffee brewing. How else are you going to read, talk to people, and do that hard email marketing stuff?
Then you blink and a whole year has flown by. It happened to me, and it’s probably going to happen to you. After a year of email marketing, you certainly haven’t learned everything there is to know, but you do discover some pretty eye-opening lessons.
Many of the ah-ha moments come from the areas you have to tackle your first week on the job. After 12 months doing email marketing, you’ll have a whole new perspective about those areas, plus additional epiphanies changing the way you do things. Here’s what to expect when year two rolls around (hint: you’re still breathing into a paper bag when you hit the send button).
Read consistently, but be choosy.
Whereas reading everything and anything you can about email marketing is essential for the noob, it’s not practical or helpful for the more experienced marketer.
After your first year of email marketing, you most likely have more responsibility than you did when you started and simply don’t have the time to read every new article about email marketing. Also, marketing blogs and online publications are repeating themselves; there’s hardly anything new or revealing being written about email marketing today.
Case in point, a recent Ad Age article promised to tell me just how presidential candidates could up their games with email marketing. How disappointing when all it told me were the best practices you and I already know.
When you choose your sources carefully and read them consistently, reading encourages curiosity, keeps you updated with the latest thought leadership, and makes you a better writer.
People are your biggest assets.
Your first week on the job - heck, make that several months - should be spent hose-gulping information from your co-workers and peers in the industry. These people will always be an indelible resource for providing a different perspective and sharing knowledge. Don’t take them for granted.
Rounding the base into your second year on the job, you should also be helping people grow in their expertise. For a whole 12 months, you’ve been down in the trenches - strategizing, studying, coding HTML, testing, and reporting. Wide-eyed first-years are walking through your company’s door just as you did and they’re looking for help. Pass on the knowledge!
Email marketing is hard.
It’s damn hard!
Why do the people who write marketing blogs try to convince you email marketing is easy as 1, 2,3, or A,B,C or cake? They’re lying. Sending each person on an (at least) 10,000-person list an open-worthy, pithy subject line and a hyper-personalized, well-balanced message is not easy. It’s not simple. And it doesn’t happen in a snap, like magic.
Whatever fairy-tale, utopian world those authors are living in doesn’t portrait the reality of what an email marketer does.
More often than not, you’ve stayed up half the night to ensure your segmentation rules are in place AND the personalization elements work appropriately AND your design is mobile friendly AND the million other details that make a great email what it is.
Being an email marketer isn’t fun. But boy, is it worth it. When you see all your hard work pay off in increased open rate, or clickthrough rate, it puts a bounce in your step. And when the boss-man sees extra revenue coming in from your channel? Well, it’s a good feeling that keeps you on the email train.
Keep your coffee cup full.
Last but not least, by year two you’ll know to always have a fresh pot of coffee brewing. How else are you going to read, talk to people, and do that hard email marketing stuff?
HOW MUCH SHOULD A WEBSITE COST?
"Do I really want people's first impression of our company is that we look like we invested as little money as possible into our website?"
How much should I pay for website?: As a digital marketer this is probably one of the most common questions we come across so I figured its about time we gave an answer. Of course the obvious answer is that “it depends,” but that’s certainly not a helpful answer. So I went ahead and compiled some thoughts from our web designers as well as some top web designers that we really respect around the country to see what you can expect to get with your website budget. Before we begin, I think it’s important to note that your company’s website is not a good place for you to pinch pennies. Look yourself in the mirror and say "Do I really want people's first impression on my company online is that we look like we skimped on our website?"
For many of our clients, their website is their leading source of new business revenue. For clients that don't think their website matters, its already too late. Many of our clients are small-to-medium-sized businesses who generate around 5 figures worth of revenue from their website alone every month. So when you’re considering how much of your budget you should commit to your new website, you need to keep in mind the amount of revenue that it’s likely to generate for you down the road.
After a long discussion with the web design team here are several main components of website design and development that will vary according to your budget. These components include:
If you have a budget of less than $1,000, it’s likely that your new website design and development will be through a freelancer, overseas company, or company that mass produces websites (like Yodle, Hibu, Reach Local etc).
You don’t usually deal with a full team of specialists with a less than $1,000 budget and its often paired with some other contract subscription services. When working with a company or freelancer at this level, keep in mind that you’re relying on them to do all design, coding, and QA of the site. For very simple websites (like a three page content-only website), this could be fine. This project size won’t include a lot of special features that bigger sites might, and copywriting typically won’t be included.
Don’t expect much design customization and know you’ll probably be working from a template. The good news is, this can shorten the timeline of the project but quality can suffer it will look at bit more generic.
One important note at this budget level: You may or may not own the rights to site, so always double check. This means that if you part ways with the vendor you’re using, you get to take the website with you when you leave which can impact your organic rankings if you have two websites out there without control of one that will lay stagnant.
If Your Website Budget Is $1,000 – $4000
This is a good option if you’ve never had a site before or want to re-do it in a basic way. Your team will likely include a designer, developer, AND copywriter.
Expect a higher level of quality at this budget level, and more will be included from a content and functionality perspective. You’ll also have more wiggle room for design customization, though you still might be working from a template. Don’t take this to be a bad thing! Many companies use templates for their first website—they allow you a professional-looking online presence without putting in too much time and budget. Certain marketing strategies and tracking might be integrated, but won’t be as involved as higher price points.
If Your Website Budget Is $4,000 – $10,000
With this kind of budget, you see custom website designs that allow you to influence the direction of the styling. Here you’ll also get mobile considerations and some advanced functionality. Expect to be working with a team and a more advanced designer at this level, which should greatly increase the quality of the project. Your vendor or company will likely involve you in kickoff meetings, design meetings, development feedback meetings—so it can be a longer process. However, you get more customization and input for functionality and design.
Copywriting is typically included, as well as a higher level of marketing strategy and tracking, depending on who you work with. Some companies will also offer your team training on how to update the site once the project is complete.
If Your Website Budget Is >$10,000
What kind of website designs can you expect to see at this price point? Typically this is the budget you’ll need for:
With multiple rounds of revisions, you can expect this website design to take longer given the size and complexity of your project. The process will be very hands-on, and you’ll be invited to multiple meetings to offer feedback and make sure things are customized to your liking. Training on how to use and update your site will also likely be included.
How Much Traffic Does a New Website Get?
Two very important things you should know:
1. A new website alone does not guarantee you’ll get more traffic.
2. If you don’t redirect your domain or pages, the SEO value of those pages will be lost (read: you will LOSE traffic and rankings!). Learn more about how to change domains and keep your rankings.
Will a New Website Increase My Conversion Rate? Again, a new website alone does not necessarily increase conversion rate. Ideally, you should always be testing to improve your website’s conversion rate (even after your new site launches). There is a benefit, however, in working with a team experienced in designing lead-generation websites. Take a look:
In a year and half of launching the new website, the client is now enjoying a 75% growth in traffic month over month, 47% increase in goal completions (goals being transactions completed on their website).
For many of our clients, their website is their leading source of new business revenue. For clients that don't think their website matters, its already too late. Many of our clients are small-to-medium-sized businesses who generate around 5 figures worth of revenue from their website alone every month. So when you’re considering how much of your budget you should commit to your new website, you need to keep in mind the amount of revenue that it’s likely to generate for you down the road.
After a long discussion with the web design team here are several main components of website design and development that will vary according to your budget. These components include:
- Your website team – Is there just one person, an overseas company, one or two people, or a full team working on your website?
- Customization – Are you going to be working with a template or have more input and revision power?
- Website copywriters – Are you going to have time to write all of your website’s new content yourself or will your website team be responsible for all of that. More often then not the website team ends up writing way more content than anticipated nearly every project we take on.
- Timelines – How long will the project take?
- Level of customer service – How responsive will the team (or person) you’re working with be? Typically freelancers can work very quickly but are also the least responsive but often since they are doing all the work and working with the client at the same time communication can become cumbersome and frustrating. On the reverse side if you are dealing with the Account Manager at a web agency that does not understand the nuances of a web design and project management that poses a whole new level of problems. (Going to write a rant on this topic in another blog).
If you have a budget of less than $1,000, it’s likely that your new website design and development will be through a freelancer, overseas company, or company that mass produces websites (like Yodle, Hibu, Reach Local etc).
You don’t usually deal with a full team of specialists with a less than $1,000 budget and its often paired with some other contract subscription services. When working with a company or freelancer at this level, keep in mind that you’re relying on them to do all design, coding, and QA of the site. For very simple websites (like a three page content-only website), this could be fine. This project size won’t include a lot of special features that bigger sites might, and copywriting typically won’t be included.
Don’t expect much design customization and know you’ll probably be working from a template. The good news is, this can shorten the timeline of the project but quality can suffer it will look at bit more generic.
One important note at this budget level: You may or may not own the rights to site, so always double check. This means that if you part ways with the vendor you’re using, you get to take the website with you when you leave which can impact your organic rankings if you have two websites out there without control of one that will lay stagnant.
If Your Website Budget Is $1,000 – $4000
This is a good option if you’ve never had a site before or want to re-do it in a basic way. Your team will likely include a designer, developer, AND copywriter.
Expect a higher level of quality at this budget level, and more will be included from a content and functionality perspective. You’ll also have more wiggle room for design customization, though you still might be working from a template. Don’t take this to be a bad thing! Many companies use templates for their first website—they allow you a professional-looking online presence without putting in too much time and budget. Certain marketing strategies and tracking might be integrated, but won’t be as involved as higher price points.
If Your Website Budget Is $4,000 – $10,000
With this kind of budget, you see custom website designs that allow you to influence the direction of the styling. Here you’ll also get mobile considerations and some advanced functionality. Expect to be working with a team and a more advanced designer at this level, which should greatly increase the quality of the project. Your vendor or company will likely involve you in kickoff meetings, design meetings, development feedback meetings—so it can be a longer process. However, you get more customization and input for functionality and design.
Copywriting is typically included, as well as a higher level of marketing strategy and tracking, depending on who you work with. Some companies will also offer your team training on how to update the site once the project is complete.
If Your Website Budget Is >$10,000
What kind of website designs can you expect to see at this price point? Typically this is the budget you’ll need for:
- Highly custom or unique designs
- Enterprise level designs
- Complex ecommerce websites
- Websites with unique functionality or custom user experiences that can’t be replicated through templates or plugins
- Sites that require integration with outside data pulling or multi-platform integration
- Sites with involved, multi-step forms (such as government websites)
- Sites that display products and large qualities of inventory (with details and sorting features)
With multiple rounds of revisions, you can expect this website design to take longer given the size and complexity of your project. The process will be very hands-on, and you’ll be invited to multiple meetings to offer feedback and make sure things are customized to your liking. Training on how to use and update your site will also likely be included.
How Much Traffic Does a New Website Get?
Two very important things you should know:
1. A new website alone does not guarantee you’ll get more traffic.
2. If you don’t redirect your domain or pages, the SEO value of those pages will be lost (read: you will LOSE traffic and rankings!). Learn more about how to change domains and keep your rankings.
Will a New Website Increase My Conversion Rate? Again, a new website alone does not necessarily increase conversion rate. Ideally, you should always be testing to improve your website’s conversion rate (even after your new site launches). There is a benefit, however, in working with a team experienced in designing lead-generation websites. Take a look:
In a year and half of launching the new website, the client is now enjoying a 75% growth in traffic month over month, 47% increase in goal completions (goals being transactions completed on their website).
Need a New Website? If you’re in the market for a new website, make us your first call. Banyan Creative can help you take the next step in building a high performance website that drives revenue growth and helps you achieve your business goals.
From design to content, let our team will handle it all. Give us a call or fill out a contact form today.
For more marketing musings, follow me: @scase4 on Twitter
________________________
Listen to what a few recent customers are saying about us:
"The Banyan team are great to work with. Sam and his team are constantly creating innovative ways to help my company establish a better web presence. Banyan has helped us achieve extremely aggressive growth goals in a competitive environment."
~John Parnigoni - President, Lead Construction
"Banyan Creative did a great job redesigning Trinity's outdated website. The Banyan team listened to our objectives and executed the Trinity vision. They were able to translate our brand to an online presence that hadn’t been a focus in the past. I would highly recommend their work, and we would definitely use them in the future"
~David Bell, Producer, Trinity Consulting
How the SAAS SOFTWARE BUYING EXPERIENCE HAS CHANGED
Companies that provide great buying experiences grow 2X as fast as their peers."
Lets be honest. Nothing is changing more than how people are purchasing things online. And software is no exception. As little as five years ago, large sales organizations and low quality products dominated the business software space. In fact, many of the world’s largest software companies were notorious for their aggressive, in-person sales tactics and hard-to-use products.
Given the importance of the buying experience, the research suggests that companies that provide great buying experiences grow 2X as fast as their peers. No matter how fast the software buying experience is changing, it’s critical that marketing and sales professionals understand how buyers are purchasing software today vs 2 years ago.
WHY THE SOFTWARE BUYING EXPERIENCE HAS CHANGED
In recent years, the software buying experience is much improved thanks to three factors.
1. The emergence of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model has had a profound impact on businesses. While SaaS started out as a movement to deliver better products, many of its core principles have crept into the world of marketing and sales and impacted the experience that a buyer has with the company. For example, free trials are now common in the software industry.
2. There's been a major shift in power from software vendor to software buyer thanks to the web. Buyers have access to significant amount of information online, are able to more easily connect with their peers, and can identify and evaluate different options much faster that ever before. For example, pricing information is now readily available on websites for most software products – again, something that was uncommon a few years ago.
3. The consumer culture of the internet has conditioned business software buyers to expect a good experience when buying software. The fastest growing software companies borrow heavily from the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and other large social media consumer sites when designing their buying experiences, because those are the experiences that buyers want, even in a professional context.
With this much change taking place in the industry, it’s critical that marketing and sales understand exactly how buyers are making purchasing decisions.
KEY DYNAMICS IN THE SAAS BUYING EXPERIENCE
A lot happens in the SaaS buying experience. There are 5 dynamics that marketing and sales professionals should pay particular attention to.
1. The buyer is completing the vast majority of their purchase without engaging vendors. Forrester Research is saying that 60% the buying process before engaging a vendor. Sound a little scary? It is, particularly when you understand the next dynamic.
2. Vendors that have good brand recognition and easy-to-use trials have a huge advantage over the competition. That’s because many SaaS buyers won’t engage in more than one trial. Research shows that its one and done in free trials. Our data shows that this is particularly true in the small and medium size business market where buyers tend to comparison shop less and have less time or due process to evaluate the right fit. You need to make sure that buyers find your trial first. You also need to make sure that you don’t squander that opportunity when you get it.
3. A lot of buyers are frustrated by SaaS trials. To be certain, the free trial is a major innovation in the software industry. It’s just that many vendors most trials are not user friendly and the pain of change becomes very apparent. While there is great improvements in making them easy to sign up for, but there’s still a lot of work to be done on actual usage. Setup and configuration issues continue to stymie buyers, and often frustration sets in before actually using the software product to the best of its ability.
4. In many cases, the real decision-maker is only tangentially involved in the buying experience. Because there’s so much information available to buyers and SaaS, many decision-makers are delegating the buying process to other people further down the totem pole. While, the decision-maker may kickoff the buying process and make the final decision at the end, someone else is doing the vast majority of the work. It often surprises marketing and sales that a new decision-maker enters the fray in the last 5-10% of the buying experience. Often times, this person needs to be engaged, educated, and sold from beginning to end.
5. The improvement in the software buying experience has changed the prevailing dynamic in many sales organizations. Some of our clients don’t have sales teams – they have order taking teams. This is a major shift in sales approach. A variety of factors are contributing to this issue. The buyer does a lot of the legwork which limit the needs for sales involvement at the top of the funnel. Content Marketing & Email Marketing to nurture leads becomes a major player here. Order taking isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, but it does suggest that these businesses could be growing faster if they were actually selling.
In conclusion if you have a great new software platform, be aware that it is only the beginning to success is SaaS sales with the change of customer behavior.
Want to learn more about how Banyan Creative is helping other businesses solve this problem? Contact us now.
Given the importance of the buying experience, the research suggests that companies that provide great buying experiences grow 2X as fast as their peers. No matter how fast the software buying experience is changing, it’s critical that marketing and sales professionals understand how buyers are purchasing software today vs 2 years ago.
WHY THE SOFTWARE BUYING EXPERIENCE HAS CHANGED
In recent years, the software buying experience is much improved thanks to three factors.
1. The emergence of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model has had a profound impact on businesses. While SaaS started out as a movement to deliver better products, many of its core principles have crept into the world of marketing and sales and impacted the experience that a buyer has with the company. For example, free trials are now common in the software industry.
2. There's been a major shift in power from software vendor to software buyer thanks to the web. Buyers have access to significant amount of information online, are able to more easily connect with their peers, and can identify and evaluate different options much faster that ever before. For example, pricing information is now readily available on websites for most software products – again, something that was uncommon a few years ago.
3. The consumer culture of the internet has conditioned business software buyers to expect a good experience when buying software. The fastest growing software companies borrow heavily from the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and other large social media consumer sites when designing their buying experiences, because those are the experiences that buyers want, even in a professional context.
With this much change taking place in the industry, it’s critical that marketing and sales understand exactly how buyers are making purchasing decisions.
KEY DYNAMICS IN THE SAAS BUYING EXPERIENCE
A lot happens in the SaaS buying experience. There are 5 dynamics that marketing and sales professionals should pay particular attention to.
1. The buyer is completing the vast majority of their purchase without engaging vendors. Forrester Research is saying that 60% the buying process before engaging a vendor. Sound a little scary? It is, particularly when you understand the next dynamic.
2. Vendors that have good brand recognition and easy-to-use trials have a huge advantage over the competition. That’s because many SaaS buyers won’t engage in more than one trial. Research shows that its one and done in free trials. Our data shows that this is particularly true in the small and medium size business market where buyers tend to comparison shop less and have less time or due process to evaluate the right fit. You need to make sure that buyers find your trial first. You also need to make sure that you don’t squander that opportunity when you get it.
3. A lot of buyers are frustrated by SaaS trials. To be certain, the free trial is a major innovation in the software industry. It’s just that many vendors most trials are not user friendly and the pain of change becomes very apparent. While there is great improvements in making them easy to sign up for, but there’s still a lot of work to be done on actual usage. Setup and configuration issues continue to stymie buyers, and often frustration sets in before actually using the software product to the best of its ability.
4. In many cases, the real decision-maker is only tangentially involved in the buying experience. Because there’s so much information available to buyers and SaaS, many decision-makers are delegating the buying process to other people further down the totem pole. While, the decision-maker may kickoff the buying process and make the final decision at the end, someone else is doing the vast majority of the work. It often surprises marketing and sales that a new decision-maker enters the fray in the last 5-10% of the buying experience. Often times, this person needs to be engaged, educated, and sold from beginning to end.
5. The improvement in the software buying experience has changed the prevailing dynamic in many sales organizations. Some of our clients don’t have sales teams – they have order taking teams. This is a major shift in sales approach. A variety of factors are contributing to this issue. The buyer does a lot of the legwork which limit the needs for sales involvement at the top of the funnel. Content Marketing & Email Marketing to nurture leads becomes a major player here. Order taking isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, but it does suggest that these businesses could be growing faster if they were actually selling.
In conclusion if you have a great new software platform, be aware that it is only the beginning to success is SaaS sales with the change of customer behavior.
Want to learn more about how Banyan Creative is helping other businesses solve this problem? Contact us now.
WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS A MARKETING GENERAL CONTRACTOR
Marketing your business is a process similar to a home renovation: you need a general contractor to call the shots and make everything fit together.
Here at Banyan we come in contact with many business owners that hire different companies that “specialize” in one particular online marketing task. Often its a way to keep costs down and all contractors in their own swimming lanes working on tasks rather than goal. The result: no consistency and ineffective activities that counteract the effectiveness of one another. In fact, a couple companies we had talked to in the past ended up with two websites (with two different designs) because each of these online marketing companies had to create their own website to guarantee first page placement on Google!
Having a marketing general contractor (or marketing consultant, coach, advisor or quarterback as we are commonly known) to help you develop a plan, choose the right activities and work with the various niche specialists ensures that your web presence is consistently projected to your target market. Some activities you most likely will need help with include:
- Search engine optimization
- Web/blog design & development
- Social media
- Local search
- Pay-per-click
- Email marketing
Without a Marketing General Contractor that is well versed in online marketing, you run the risk of too many brand identities, inconsistent messages and different target markets, not to mention your lack of control and potentially higher costs. And with multiple web properties unmanaged long after your contractors are gone it can really harm your business long term on the search engines.
Develop your game plan to engage with an expert to help you create a marketing game plan that takes into account your needs and resources and can help you select the right mix of online activities. Without this game plan, the band of “experts” you hire to help you become visible can run in many different directions, confuse your target audience and potentially make promises on which they can’t deliver. While many people are wary of outside influences on their marketing, the reality is that a true marketing expert is going to say the things that need to be said to help the business move forward to achieve bottomline results. And sometimes that means saying "No, thats a bad idea that will lose you a lot of time & money."
The benefits of having someone fill this role for your business will help you:
- Align your Marketing with your Business Goals ensuring you are doing what you need to be successful and not wander aimlessly without direction.
- Develop a Marketing Plan for your business that will help you identify your target audience and niche market so you know exactly where to target your efforts.
- Create a Social Media system to help you remain consistent and eliminate the feeling of being overwhelmed.
- Stay in control of your online properties & website. Remember your web presence is a major component of your brand identity and your brand identity is an important asset of your business.
Why 16 out of 20 Companies Are Blogging Wrong
March 23, 2015
By Sam Casey
Over the past week, I’ve had the opportunity to look at 20 business blogs that are doing their best to embrace this thing we call Content Marketing.
Yet out of these 20, I’d say 16 are making the same mistake again and again and again. In fact, because I keep writing the same diagnosis to business owners I figured I should start using my brain and simply write a post on the subject….Hence, an unexpected blog article on a Saturday afternoon.
Keyword Phrase Goals: You have to have them!
But let me just cut to the chase by making this critical statement, one I earnestly hope you will take to heart for your business’ blog from today forward:
If you don’t have a keyword phrase goal for every blog post you ever write, you’re missing the boat - In other words, if I looked at your company’s last 5 blog posts, from the title of the post alone could I clearly tell what your target keyword goal was for that post?? Yep, that’s the magical question, the one that 16 out of 20 business blogs this past week clearly cannot answer. People constantly send me emails wondering why they are getting little traffic with their blog posts. Usually, within seconds of looking at their writings, the problems jump off the page and it often begins with the title: Terrible Post Titles.
The Problem with Terrible Post Titles - Although there are some foundational SEO problems that most folks suffer from, terrible post titles takes the cake! There is a little debate as to whether or not blog titles should be more ‘witty’ (written to attract readers) or more ‘SEO oriented’ (written to attract the search engines).
I submit that it’s usually possible to achieve both, but for over 99% of all blogs in this world that have very few subsribers, SEO in the title should be the first priority. The reason for this is simple--SEO is the gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving. When you rank on the first page of Google for a particular keyword phrase, the new business and customers that can come from that one post can literally last for years to come. A few of my blog posts drive most of the new visitor traffic on my site. I repeat my blog posts, not my service offerings are what draw people to my site. Sorry Mr. Business Owner. Just the truth....
This is why most folks need to quit with the clever titles that make no SEO sense and start enriching said titles with a keyword phrase, preferably one of the long tail. While click bait might get an intitial view the SEO value is what will help you and your website. over the long haul.
For example, here is a a poorly written blog title:
“The Big Secret Your Auto Mechanic is Not Telling You”
(As you might imagine, no one is typing in Google the keyword phrase “big secrets from auto mechanics”.
Now take the same blog post, and change the title to:
“The Most Egregious Car Warranty I’ve Ever Seen”
The second title is not only keyword rich (bumper to bumper warranty), but it’s very attractive to readers as well. (It also ranks on the first page of Google for the phrase, as it’s an article on my car warranty site.)
State Your Keyword Goals and Watch the Results Follow
Hopefully, as you looked at different blog titles, the keyword goal(s) of each became immediately obvious. This is exactly how it should be for your company blog. Remember, the key is that you always have a clear goal. Once you establish this one little habit, you’ll notice your organic search visit traffic will start to go up and you’ll rank for more and more keywords with each post.
Your Turn - How do you decide on your blog post titles? Is SEO something you think about and do you have a keyword goal(s) for each article? And if you’re not getting much traction with your blog and its SEO, just write down the url in the comments below and I’ll be happy to respond with a few suggestions in my reply.
For more information about advice on how to blog more effectively Contact Us at Banyan Creative.
By Sam Casey
Over the past week, I’ve had the opportunity to look at 20 business blogs that are doing their best to embrace this thing we call Content Marketing.
Yet out of these 20, I’d say 16 are making the same mistake again and again and again. In fact, because I keep writing the same diagnosis to business owners I figured I should start using my brain and simply write a post on the subject….Hence, an unexpected blog article on a Saturday afternoon.
Keyword Phrase Goals: You have to have them!
But let me just cut to the chase by making this critical statement, one I earnestly hope you will take to heart for your business’ blog from today forward:
If you don’t have a keyword phrase goal for every blog post you ever write, you’re missing the boat - In other words, if I looked at your company’s last 5 blog posts, from the title of the post alone could I clearly tell what your target keyword goal was for that post?? Yep, that’s the magical question, the one that 16 out of 20 business blogs this past week clearly cannot answer. People constantly send me emails wondering why they are getting little traffic with their blog posts. Usually, within seconds of looking at their writings, the problems jump off the page and it often begins with the title: Terrible Post Titles.
The Problem with Terrible Post Titles - Although there are some foundational SEO problems that most folks suffer from, terrible post titles takes the cake! There is a little debate as to whether or not blog titles should be more ‘witty’ (written to attract readers) or more ‘SEO oriented’ (written to attract the search engines).
I submit that it’s usually possible to achieve both, but for over 99% of all blogs in this world that have very few subsribers, SEO in the title should be the first priority. The reason for this is simple--SEO is the gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving. When you rank on the first page of Google for a particular keyword phrase, the new business and customers that can come from that one post can literally last for years to come. A few of my blog posts drive most of the new visitor traffic on my site. I repeat my blog posts, not my service offerings are what draw people to my site. Sorry Mr. Business Owner. Just the truth....
This is why most folks need to quit with the clever titles that make no SEO sense and start enriching said titles with a keyword phrase, preferably one of the long tail. While click bait might get an intitial view the SEO value is what will help you and your website. over the long haul.
For example, here is a a poorly written blog title:
“The Big Secret Your Auto Mechanic is Not Telling You”
(As you might imagine, no one is typing in Google the keyword phrase “big secrets from auto mechanics”.
Now take the same blog post, and change the title to:
“The Most Egregious Car Warranty I’ve Ever Seen”
The second title is not only keyword rich (bumper to bumper warranty), but it’s very attractive to readers as well. (It also ranks on the first page of Google for the phrase, as it’s an article on my car warranty site.)
State Your Keyword Goals and Watch the Results Follow
Hopefully, as you looked at different blog titles, the keyword goal(s) of each became immediately obvious. This is exactly how it should be for your company blog. Remember, the key is that you always have a clear goal. Once you establish this one little habit, you’ll notice your organic search visit traffic will start to go up and you’ll rank for more and more keywords with each post.
Your Turn - How do you decide on your blog post titles? Is SEO something you think about and do you have a keyword goal(s) for each article? And if you’re not getting much traction with your blog and its SEO, just write down the url in the comments below and I’ll be happy to respond with a few suggestions in my reply.
For more information about advice on how to blog more effectively Contact Us at Banyan Creative.
May 27, 2014
Panda 4.0 is in the House - What it Means For you
Google released an update to its search engine algorithm yesterday with Panda 4.0. While this wasn't completely unexpected, it was a bit strange for it to be released just a few days after the Payday Loans algorithm update was. Industry professionals are speculating that Google did this to make it less clear what the effects of either were.
Panda 4.0 confirmed by Matt Cutts, It turns out- we have confirmation from Google, specifically from Matt Cutts, via a tweet, that it began rolling out a Panda update, people are calling this 4.0. We also, know that the Payday Loan 2.0 update started over 2 weeks ago.
We know Google is always working on their algorithm. They're trying to improve the user experience, and they have code named their algorithm updates with these different - Fuzzy Bears, to both be cute, and keep things straight, as is often done in software releases. Panda is a big part of their strategy going back - way back to 2011 when they started looking at low quality content.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU MR. SMALL BUSINESS OWNER...
- If you are working with an agency giving you a low price but dealing out low quality links and content farms you will be a target and you will be impacted negatively by Panda 4.0
- Panda was created to target and weed out low quality sites trying to game the system. These tactics won't work long term according to Matt Cutts.
- Many small business suffered collateral damage because they were taking short cuts and using low brow services.
- If you cut corner corners, Cutts says it will cost you.
Contact us today if you rankings have been impacted by the Panda 4.0 update. Here at Banyan Creative we understand SEO is a moving target and can be a challenging thing to keep up with if you aren't working with the right agency partner.
Panda 4.0 confirmed by Matt Cutts, It turns out- we have confirmation from Google, specifically from Matt Cutts, via a tweet, that it began rolling out a Panda update, people are calling this 4.0. We also, know that the Payday Loan 2.0 update started over 2 weeks ago.
We know Google is always working on their algorithm. They're trying to improve the user experience, and they have code named their algorithm updates with these different - Fuzzy Bears, to both be cute, and keep things straight, as is often done in software releases. Panda is a big part of their strategy going back - way back to 2011 when they started looking at low quality content.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU MR. SMALL BUSINESS OWNER...
- If you are working with an agency giving you a low price but dealing out low quality links and content farms you will be a target and you will be impacted negatively by Panda 4.0
- Panda was created to target and weed out low quality sites trying to game the system. These tactics won't work long term according to Matt Cutts.
- Many small business suffered collateral damage because they were taking short cuts and using low brow services.
- If you cut corner corners, Cutts says it will cost you.
Contact us today if you rankings have been impacted by the Panda 4.0 update. Here at Banyan Creative we understand SEO is a moving target and can be a challenging thing to keep up with if you aren't working with the right agency partner.
 HubShout |
Chad Hill & Adam Stetzer of Hubshot, was recently quoted by the Rochester Business Journal, along with a couple other CEOs of digital marketing firms across the country, that social media is like the yeast in the bread. It’s a critical ingredient, yet you don’t taste it directly. Now, I think there’s all sorts of stats that support the idea that small businesses really should be using social media. Here’s a couple. Bright Edge’s 2013 Search Marketing Survey said that 80% of search marketers think that content social sharing will become more important in achieving rankings, and I think we’d agree with that.
...Why are businesses are so reluctant to jump into social media?
It’s an excellent question, and it’s one that even we in the online marketing industry sometimes look at. We look at our marketing strategy and think, “How does social media fit in? How should we be using it?” I think that really leads immediately to the difficulty in being able to directly connect that social media effort to leads or return on investment. Actually, there was a survey where Adobe, of 750 marketing professionals, said that 88% felt like they couldn’t accurately measure their social media campaigns. Another group said that over 50% of them felt that calculating social media ROI is one of their biggest frustrations. So, there’s a direct correlation there. It’s hard to measure, and hard to explain to your executives. Obviously, Adam, we’re going to have people who are slow to adopt.
The second one, though, is that it takes a lot of resources, so while everyone thinks that social media is free -- I love that, right? SEO is the “free search” or “unpaid search” -- it’s the same with social media. You don’t pay directly to Facebook, Twitter, or the other platforms, but it takes a lot of actual manpower and effort to make it happen. So, you put those two together, a lot of effort and hard to measure, and you’ve got a recipe there for probably under-investment or under-resourcing on it.
The third thing is that you really have to have a clear set of goals. What are your objectives? This gets back to measuring ROI, but if you’re not going to have a direct correlation between social media and leads or revenue, than you need to have other metrics that are sometimes a little bit more squishy and hard for people to get their heads around. That, of course, leads into the fact that there isn’t a “one recipe for all businesses” type of approach. A local retailer or a restaurant may have a very different strategy than a B2B marketing company, or even a local service company.
So, you have to really look at your audience, where your audience is, and what information they’re interested in, which again makes it difficult, because it varies so much from business to business. Of course, the final point here is that like SEO, social media is hard, because like SEO, you need to integrate it with all aspects of your business. You’re going to have a great social media strategy and results not just when the marketing department is doing social media, but when all of your team and all of your customers are involved in promoting the message, because, at the end of the day, you’re going to have that multiplier effect of not just the company’s resources, but all of your individual employees and customers, when they’re talking about the company, it expands the reach of your program. So, it’s just kind of hard, Adam, and we know that hard things often get pushed aside on the desk, right?
Social Media is Critical for SEO
The small to mid size business owner is looking for the quick way. We know they’re stretched thin, and their budgets are tight. They don’t have a lot of room for missteps. But you can’t turn around without hearing another story about social media success, on the one hand, and these stats certainly support that everyone is driving in a more social direction, even when it comes to SEO and using social as the assist to promote your content marketing. Yet, on the flip side, there’s frustrations about showing your return on investment.
...Why are businesses are so reluctant to jump into social media?
It’s an excellent question, and it’s one that even we in the online marketing industry sometimes look at. We look at our marketing strategy and think, “How does social media fit in? How should we be using it?” I think that really leads immediately to the difficulty in being able to directly connect that social media effort to leads or return on investment. Actually, there was a survey where Adobe, of 750 marketing professionals, said that 88% felt like they couldn’t accurately measure their social media campaigns. Another group said that over 50% of them felt that calculating social media ROI is one of their biggest frustrations. So, there’s a direct correlation there. It’s hard to measure, and hard to explain to your executives. Obviously, Adam, we’re going to have people who are slow to adopt.
The second one, though, is that it takes a lot of resources, so while everyone thinks that social media is free -- I love that, right? SEO is the “free search” or “unpaid search” -- it’s the same with social media. You don’t pay directly to Facebook, Twitter, or the other platforms, but it takes a lot of actual manpower and effort to make it happen. So, you put those two together, a lot of effort and hard to measure, and you’ve got a recipe there for probably under-investment or under-resourcing on it.
The third thing is that you really have to have a clear set of goals. What are your objectives? This gets back to measuring ROI, but if you’re not going to have a direct correlation between social media and leads or revenue, than you need to have other metrics that are sometimes a little bit more squishy and hard for people to get their heads around. That, of course, leads into the fact that there isn’t a “one recipe for all businesses” type of approach. A local retailer or a restaurant may have a very different strategy than a B2B marketing company, or even a local service company.
So, you have to really look at your audience, where your audience is, and what information they’re interested in, which again makes it difficult, because it varies so much from business to business. Of course, the final point here is that like SEO, social media is hard, because like SEO, you need to integrate it with all aspects of your business. You’re going to have a great social media strategy and results not just when the marketing department is doing social media, but when all of your team and all of your customers are involved in promoting the message, because, at the end of the day, you’re going to have that multiplier effect of not just the company’s resources, but all of your individual employees and customers, when they’re talking about the company, it expands the reach of your program. So, it’s just kind of hard, Adam, and we know that hard things often get pushed aside on the desk, right?
Social Media is Critical for SEO
The small to mid size business owner is looking for the quick way. We know they’re stretched thin, and their budgets are tight. They don’t have a lot of room for missteps. But you can’t turn around without hearing another story about social media success, on the one hand, and these stats certainly support that everyone is driving in a more social direction, even when it comes to SEO and using social as the assist to promote your content marketing. Yet, on the flip side, there’s frustrations about showing your return on investment.
February 19, 2014
WHO ARE YOU? :: in 3 Seconds or Less
WHO ARE YOU? As a marketer the question should be who are you in 3 seconds or less. 3 SECONDS OR LESS…. Seriously. You might even have stopped reading this in 3 seconds or less. According to my Google analytics though you are going to read this for 3 seconds or less before looking at the rest of my website and my services I offer or buzzwords like Content Marketing you will look at the page for 3 seconds or less and if there isn't a video I probably won't engage you for super long and you'll start checking Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter to see where you are going to each lunch. Not kidding. Thats what my data is telling me about you even as you read this. So keep reading :) Just do it. Just give me 3 more seconds to explain myself. While your topic or what you do will change and evolve as you continue in business and the needs of the marketplace shift, who you are at your core stays constant.
Many people make the mistake of building their company brand without taking the time to define themselves and build rich personal relationships with their audience. WHO ARE YOU? The problem is, if your reputation is dependent on a particular business and you decide to change your industry, topic or area of expertise later, it becomes more difficult to take your audience with you and you may find yourself pigeonholed or stuck in a niche. You probably already clicked off this page because 3 seconds has past nearly 30 seconds ago.
But if you take the time now to build deep relationships based on your personal values, story and personality, your audience will follow you wherever you want to go – giving you the freedom to consciously craft your career – as long as you maintain a consistent personal brand if you can let people know what they should keep listening to you for 3 more seconds or less.
Like it or not the world judges you within 3 seconds of meeting you, coming to your website, or watching those first few frames of video.
In just 3 seconds they decide whether they’re going to stick around and engage with you OR take off and never come back.
If you don’t capture someone’s attention in that tiny window of time, you’ve lost a critical opportunity. That person could have become your most lucrative customer, your best success story, a high-profile media appearance, a joint venture partnership that gives you exposure to 20,000 new prospects, or – you name it. WHO ARE YOU? In 3 seconds or less.
Your personal brand is the first impression you make when you walk into a room, write an email, or show up on camera. It’s also the second impression, and the third, and the fourth, and the fifth, and every single impression you make every day. The key to branding is making a consistent impression, because you never know who is going to find you and where they’ll first encounter you. I can tell a lot about someone just by how they dress and what they value in life. Is this person a college student unemployed in a hoody? Or are they in a nice suit serious about their personal brand? Or maybe somewhere in between like a jeans and a blazer? I make that call in 3 seconds or less. We all do it.
Back to your personal brand: And the way you do that right is by being incredibly clear about who you are and what you’re doing in the marketplace, then maintaining that clarity across everything you do – both in the physical content and collateral you produce and in the way you show up and interact in the world.
The first step is getting clear about who you are and what you’re doing in the marketplace. While this sounds simple, many people get stuck or simply bypass this foundation completely.
I often see experts and entrepreneurs fall into two opposite traps here:
1. Either they don’t get started because they don’t feel clear about their niche, programs, and services
OR
2. They take fast action without putting any thought whatsoever into creating or maintaining a consistent brand image
Take time now to ask yourself the most important question in personal branding:
What makes me different? Unique? Special? The clear and obvious choice to work with?
Your answer could lie in your background, story and experience. Or how you make people feel. Or the results you get for them. Or it could relate to your relationships and connections.
…or endless other possibilities that make you uniquely you and allow you to claim an irreplaceable place in your ideal client’s mind.
On the surface, there are many other people who do what you do. But no one does it exactly the way you do it.
Things you can do in 3 seconds or less:
1. https://vine.co. Do it now!
2. https://twitter.com. Tweet in 160 characters or less in 3 seconds or less #3 seconds
3. Hand someone your business card. Do you have one? Here's why you need one. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226721
3 Seconds is up now. I look forward to hearing from you but don't take too long to get to the point...
Many people make the mistake of building their company brand without taking the time to define themselves and build rich personal relationships with their audience. WHO ARE YOU? The problem is, if your reputation is dependent on a particular business and you decide to change your industry, topic or area of expertise later, it becomes more difficult to take your audience with you and you may find yourself pigeonholed or stuck in a niche. You probably already clicked off this page because 3 seconds has past nearly 30 seconds ago.
But if you take the time now to build deep relationships based on your personal values, story and personality, your audience will follow you wherever you want to go – giving you the freedom to consciously craft your career – as long as you maintain a consistent personal brand if you can let people know what they should keep listening to you for 3 more seconds or less.
Like it or not the world judges you within 3 seconds of meeting you, coming to your website, or watching those first few frames of video.
In just 3 seconds they decide whether they’re going to stick around and engage with you OR take off and never come back.
If you don’t capture someone’s attention in that tiny window of time, you’ve lost a critical opportunity. That person could have become your most lucrative customer, your best success story, a high-profile media appearance, a joint venture partnership that gives you exposure to 20,000 new prospects, or – you name it. WHO ARE YOU? In 3 seconds or less.
Your personal brand is the first impression you make when you walk into a room, write an email, or show up on camera. It’s also the second impression, and the third, and the fourth, and the fifth, and every single impression you make every day. The key to branding is making a consistent impression, because you never know who is going to find you and where they’ll first encounter you. I can tell a lot about someone just by how they dress and what they value in life. Is this person a college student unemployed in a hoody? Or are they in a nice suit serious about their personal brand? Or maybe somewhere in between like a jeans and a blazer? I make that call in 3 seconds or less. We all do it.
Back to your personal brand: And the way you do that right is by being incredibly clear about who you are and what you’re doing in the marketplace, then maintaining that clarity across everything you do – both in the physical content and collateral you produce and in the way you show up and interact in the world.
The first step is getting clear about who you are and what you’re doing in the marketplace. While this sounds simple, many people get stuck or simply bypass this foundation completely.
I often see experts and entrepreneurs fall into two opposite traps here:
1. Either they don’t get started because they don’t feel clear about their niche, programs, and services
OR
2. They take fast action without putting any thought whatsoever into creating or maintaining a consistent brand image
Take time now to ask yourself the most important question in personal branding:
What makes me different? Unique? Special? The clear and obvious choice to work with?
Your answer could lie in your background, story and experience. Or how you make people feel. Or the results you get for them. Or it could relate to your relationships and connections.
…or endless other possibilities that make you uniquely you and allow you to claim an irreplaceable place in your ideal client’s mind.
On the surface, there are many other people who do what you do. But no one does it exactly the way you do it.
Things you can do in 3 seconds or less:
1. https://vine.co. Do it now!
2. https://twitter.com. Tweet in 160 characters or less in 3 seconds or less #3 seconds
3. Hand someone your business card. Do you have one? Here's why you need one. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226721
3 Seconds is up now. I look forward to hearing from you but don't take too long to get to the point...
February 5, 2014
WHy OUTSOURCE SEO in 2014
We've been discussing outsourcing SEO for a while, but the topic itself is just as dynamic as SEO is. The heart of SEO is the same, but some roads close or get congested, and others are opened. To keep up with the changes of search engine algorithms and stay up to date on the latest technologies to always be ahead of the competition are some of the many reasons that outsourcing SEO is the most cost effective solution, especially in 2014.
We’re talking about outsourcing SEO, and we’ve been talking about this for five years, but I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same, yet some things haven’t really changed. So, there will probably be some themes in here that are similar to the ones we saw in 2009 around the decision to outsource SEO, and there are some things that are just brand spanking new.
So, here are a few of the headlines and some stats to get us into this discussion. SEO is definitely different than it was in 2009--we all know that. What used to be focused very heavily on link building has evolved. SEO is much more multi-faceted now. You see it bleeding into social media, you see successful SEO campaigns relying heavily on email marketing to bring people back after they’ve acquired an email address, and of course with the algorithmic updates from Google -- things like Hummingbird, Panda, and Penguin -- the game is different. How you have to earn your backlinks, semantic search, how you even do onsite SEO -- all this has changed in 2014, and I think we would say now that this relentless focus on individual keyword rankings is no longer the case.
Google took that data away from analytics last year, in 2013, and furthermore, we’ve seen through a lot of different strategies like overemphasis on a single keyword, certainly overanchoring it, in places you’re earning backlinks is very bad now, and the anti-spam filters are looking for those things as signals of manipulation. So, if you’re smart and you’re interested in SEO, you’ve moved much more toward content marketing and further away from link-building, and you’ve certainly relaxed all these ideas or all this focus you had on anchor text. Does that mean that SEO is less popular? No. Not at all. Here's some very interesting statistics:
What are some of the reasons small businesses should think about? Maybe they’re not seeing the full picture when it comes to that decision on whether to outsource SEO or keep it in-house.
I do think that in 2014, a lot has changed, but a lot is still very much the same in terms of making that decision, and the three factors we’ve always talked about -- and maybe we should list the factors and talk about each of them -- maybe have shifted a little bit as we go into 2014. The three factors are:
When you flip over, and you look at something like technology, it’s the same idea. A couple years ago, it was all about ranking trackers and which keywords were referring you the most traffic. Now, we’re much more into engagement metrics and trying to understand the value of the content, because the value of the content isn’t always as immediately understandable as it was a couple years ago in terms of it getting you a ranking and that ranking bringing you traffic on a certain keyword. There’s much more of a long-tail and a nurturing that’s involved, and that content marketing can help influence or nurture people who come to your website through social or maybe through SEO, and even when they do come, they might not immediately convert. So, the picture’s gotten harder, and the technology to put all that together in one place is harder than it was in 2009, but you still need that technology to really understand things. So, those are the three reasons that we’ve often talked about in terms of why you should outsource SEO.
Outsourcing a process does not mean outsourcing control. I know this from back in my previous life, when I used to outsource to companies like GE, AT&T, and Verizon. I was the outsourced organization, and don’t think for a minute that they lost control. They had their scorecards, and their KPIs, and their performance measures, and their SLAs, and they held us to very high standards. But we had better results through outsourcing, without losing control, and we saw that as a point of pride.
The last point I think I’d make on this discussion: The the future is people or companies who can dominate content marketing and content creation will have figured out how to turn high quality content generation into an assembly line operation in their organization, leveraging their resources to be able to really outpace their competitors. I think that when people hear that term, they recoil a little bit, because they think assembly line and volume is equated with lower quality. The point is that’s its false dichotomy. What you need to figure out how to do is be very efficient at making very high-quality content, and that does require a lot of specification and an assembly line mentality, just like it does to be very efficient and make a high quality automobile. The same business principles apply here. As you think about how to pull that off in-house, versus outside in a firm that does this all day long, the logic is fairly clear. But, we’re in this industry, so perhaps we’re jaded. We’d certainly like to hear opposing opinions. Share your comments, let us know if you don’t agree with us we love a good debate for mutual learning. and we hope you’ll continue to follow us on the website & blog at www.BanyanCreativeNC.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
The Banyan Team
We’re talking about outsourcing SEO, and we’ve been talking about this for five years, but I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same, yet some things haven’t really changed. So, there will probably be some themes in here that are similar to the ones we saw in 2009 around the decision to outsource SEO, and there are some things that are just brand spanking new.
So, here are a few of the headlines and some stats to get us into this discussion. SEO is definitely different than it was in 2009--we all know that. What used to be focused very heavily on link building has evolved. SEO is much more multi-faceted now. You see it bleeding into social media, you see successful SEO campaigns relying heavily on email marketing to bring people back after they’ve acquired an email address, and of course with the algorithmic updates from Google -- things like Hummingbird, Panda, and Penguin -- the game is different. How you have to earn your backlinks, semantic search, how you even do onsite SEO -- all this has changed in 2014, and I think we would say now that this relentless focus on individual keyword rankings is no longer the case.
Google took that data away from analytics last year, in 2013, and furthermore, we’ve seen through a lot of different strategies like overemphasis on a single keyword, certainly overanchoring it, in places you’re earning backlinks is very bad now, and the anti-spam filters are looking for those things as signals of manipulation. So, if you’re smart and you’re interested in SEO, you’ve moved much more toward content marketing and further away from link-building, and you’ve certainly relaxed all these ideas or all this focus you had on anchor text. Does that mean that SEO is less popular? No. Not at all. Here's some very interesting statistics:
- The content marketing institute says 93% of marketers plan to use content marketing in 2014. I think that’s fascinating, because you read a lot of blog posts saying, “Hey, SEO always was content marketing. This is nothing new.” Well, it is kind of something new, because the focus is shifting, and these stats show that everybody is now engaged in it.
- According to Brafton, 92% of marketers believe that content creation is either very or somewhat effective for SEO. That is a very high statistic. There’s almost universal agreement that if you’re in SEO, one of the effective strategies you want to use here is content marketing.
- Now, turning to how you get that done, and outsourcing, and our discussion on whether you should outsource SEO, Constant Contact did a survey recently that indicated that 35% of small businesses do outsource their SEO -- so, about one in three. But, in that same survey, 50% said they would prefer to outsource it over the 35% that do. The main reason they cite for not outsourcing it is that they believe the cost is too high, and they can’t afford it.
What are some of the reasons small businesses should think about? Maybe they’re not seeing the full picture when it comes to that decision on whether to outsource SEO or keep it in-house.
I do think that in 2014, a lot has changed, but a lot is still very much the same in terms of making that decision, and the three factors we’ve always talked about -- and maybe we should list the factors and talk about each of them -- maybe have shifted a little bit as we go into 2014. The three factors are:
- You outsource when there’s economies of scale.
- You outsource when there are special technologies that are needed.
- You outsource when there is specialized knowledge that is hard for you to maintain or build inside your team.
When you flip over, and you look at something like technology, it’s the same idea. A couple years ago, it was all about ranking trackers and which keywords were referring you the most traffic. Now, we’re much more into engagement metrics and trying to understand the value of the content, because the value of the content isn’t always as immediately understandable as it was a couple years ago in terms of it getting you a ranking and that ranking bringing you traffic on a certain keyword. There’s much more of a long-tail and a nurturing that’s involved, and that content marketing can help influence or nurture people who come to your website through social or maybe through SEO, and even when they do come, they might not immediately convert. So, the picture’s gotten harder, and the technology to put all that together in one place is harder than it was in 2009, but you still need that technology to really understand things. So, those are the three reasons that we’ve often talked about in terms of why you should outsource SEO.
Outsourcing a process does not mean outsourcing control. I know this from back in my previous life, when I used to outsource to companies like GE, AT&T, and Verizon. I was the outsourced organization, and don’t think for a minute that they lost control. They had their scorecards, and their KPIs, and their performance measures, and their SLAs, and they held us to very high standards. But we had better results through outsourcing, without losing control, and we saw that as a point of pride.
The last point I think I’d make on this discussion: The the future is people or companies who can dominate content marketing and content creation will have figured out how to turn high quality content generation into an assembly line operation in their organization, leveraging their resources to be able to really outpace their competitors. I think that when people hear that term, they recoil a little bit, because they think assembly line and volume is equated with lower quality. The point is that’s its false dichotomy. What you need to figure out how to do is be very efficient at making very high-quality content, and that does require a lot of specification and an assembly line mentality, just like it does to be very efficient and make a high quality automobile. The same business principles apply here. As you think about how to pull that off in-house, versus outside in a firm that does this all day long, the logic is fairly clear. But, we’re in this industry, so perhaps we’re jaded. We’d certainly like to hear opposing opinions. Share your comments, let us know if you don’t agree with us we love a good debate for mutual learning. and we hope you’ll continue to follow us on the website & blog at www.BanyanCreativeNC.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
The Banyan Team
January 20, 2014
another tough day at the office
Every so often we come across an amazing ski video that we all send around to our team. Despite being located in Charlotte, NC our team shares a common love of the outdoors and jump at the chance to cover deep days out west or dawn patrol at Loveland Pass. This video comes from one of our favorites in the industry Salomon Freeski TV. Salomon teamed up with BlueBird Guides for an R&D bootpack adventure to test out their new Guardian Touring Binding. This is great video marketing simply because you are welcomed into the journey right away from the opening seconds. Combined with the backdrop of some of the most majestic scenery in the Selkirks of interior British Columbiar they have a real winner here. Someday we hope to click in and get out there as well but in the meantime thanks to Salomon for a great lesson in effective product marketing and inspiring us once again to get out there and explore.
Lesson learned: The best marketing isn't just about what you sell. Its about inviting your customers into a story with you.
Lesson learned: The best marketing isn't just about what you sell. Its about inviting your customers into a story with you.
January 17, 2013
Hunting Creativity
Here at Banyan Creative we draw on inspiration and creativity from all kinds of sources. An amazing new business model, a new analytics platform, learning to code in html, riding our mountain bikes, reading a book or even a walk in the park. Inspiration is all around us. Barry Saunders from Joe Smith, recently video blogged on the TheHighCalling.org website about what matters to him in everyday work. Barry visually reminds us in that to flourish in our work that we are to "Hunt Creativity" more often than not. We are to bring all of who we are into our work. It won't always find us. So maybe take a different road home from work today. Try a new restaurant. Take up that hobby you've been afraid to try. Ride your bike down a dirt trail. One of the earliest commands in history is to go forth and create. And to create well we need inspiration.
You may find creativity is much closer than you think. Don't be afraid to try something new without worrying about the end game. At Banyan we call this the creative process.
Dream about it.
Sketch it on a napkin.
Take a hike and dream about the possibilities.
Talk about it with your friends.
Hunt Creativity.
You may find creativity is much closer than you think. Don't be afraid to try something new without worrying about the end game. At Banyan we call this the creative process.
Dream about it.
Sketch it on a napkin.
Take a hike and dream about the possibilities.
Talk about it with your friends.
Hunt Creativity.
"We are to bring all of who we are into our work."
Jan 13, 2013
Predictions for 2014 - Content Content Content
The new year will also be a year of debate. We've seen unprecedented creativity in advertising and marketing, but is this amounting to real ROI for brands? Are these site visits turning into actual conversions for new sales. Can brands continue to capture the attention of information-savvy consumers who demand instant gratification? Can marketers and investors navigate the confusing sea of content marketing startups, agencies and vendors?
Here's a look at what else is in store for 2014, and all signs are pointing to content marketing.
1. Content will be its own role or department. I talk to CMOs and agency heads all the time, and they're all looking to hire content creators (writers, videographers, infographic artists) — it's a gaping hole in many org charts. We've seen many journalists already go into various companies and agencies to run editorial point, but in the year ahead, Content Marketing Manager, Director of Content or even Chief Content Officer will start popping up more than ever before.
2. Marketers will be more accountable for ROI than ever before. 2014 is the make-it-or-break-it year for proving the value of content and social marketing. We’ll start seeing content marketing platforms offer full integration with customer databases and CRMs.
his will allow marketers to target prospects in different stages of the funnel, with customized content in each channel. With marketing and sales goals more closely aligned, marketers will finally crack the ROI of content marketing.
3. Brands will streamline vendors and move to a single platform. With relatively low costs and little IT knowledge required, a lot of marketers blindly signed up for many vendors and startups they believed could help them capitalize on the trend of content marketing.
In 2014, brands will seek out a clearer, more cost-effective strategy that requires fewer logins and enables them to see the whole picture of their content marketing efforts in one tool. Say goodbye to spreadsheets and manual processes — 2014 will see the emergence of a class of cloud-based, end-to-end content marketing platforms.
4. We will continue to see a seismic shift from link building to content creation. Today's web marketers face a difficult decision: Do they stick with the classic link-building and keyword-marketing techniques they know have worked in the past, or do they opt to spend time on the broader realm of content marketing? What we are seeing through 2013 into 2014 will be an increase in new content creation from an authentic voice of the company.
Here at Banyan Creative our goal is to ensure our clients are equipped with the right tools to leverage the power of content marketing.
Check out this great video from SEOMoz CEO & founder Rand Fishkin on the rise of content marketing.
Here's a look at what else is in store for 2014, and all signs are pointing to content marketing.
1. Content will be its own role or department. I talk to CMOs and agency heads all the time, and they're all looking to hire content creators (writers, videographers, infographic artists) — it's a gaping hole in many org charts. We've seen many journalists already go into various companies and agencies to run editorial point, but in the year ahead, Content Marketing Manager, Director of Content or even Chief Content Officer will start popping up more than ever before.
2. Marketers will be more accountable for ROI than ever before. 2014 is the make-it-or-break-it year for proving the value of content and social marketing. We’ll start seeing content marketing platforms offer full integration with customer databases and CRMs.
his will allow marketers to target prospects in different stages of the funnel, with customized content in each channel. With marketing and sales goals more closely aligned, marketers will finally crack the ROI of content marketing.
3. Brands will streamline vendors and move to a single platform. With relatively low costs and little IT knowledge required, a lot of marketers blindly signed up for many vendors and startups they believed could help them capitalize on the trend of content marketing.
In 2014, brands will seek out a clearer, more cost-effective strategy that requires fewer logins and enables them to see the whole picture of their content marketing efforts in one tool. Say goodbye to spreadsheets and manual processes — 2014 will see the emergence of a class of cloud-based, end-to-end content marketing platforms.
4. We will continue to see a seismic shift from link building to content creation. Today's web marketers face a difficult decision: Do they stick with the classic link-building and keyword-marketing techniques they know have worked in the past, or do they opt to spend time on the broader realm of content marketing? What we are seeing through 2013 into 2014 will be an increase in new content creation from an authentic voice of the company.
Here at Banyan Creative our goal is to ensure our clients are equipped with the right tools to leverage the power of content marketing.
Check out this great video from SEOMoz CEO & founder Rand Fishkin on the rise of content marketing.
Jan 3, 2013
What Users want on a small screen
Customers are using mobile devices such as Smart phones and tablet computers at growing rates. The sales of mobile devices are surpassing computer sales. Mobile devices are connecting customers and prospects to your business and sales people are using these devices help them sell.
Consider these stats about mobile search:
These stats show an important trend. People are making decisions while using mobile devices to look for products, services, and your business information. Here are 5 key tips to consider what your customers want on the small screen.
To summarize, focus on your website. I believe this to be the center of your business operations. It doesn’t matter what business your in. Serve up a website experience that is mobile friendly and allows customers to find you and contact you. The smart phone is quickly becoming the computer of choice. Companies that understand this will be poised to attract new business and strengthen their brand awareness.
To learn more more about how Banyan Creative can help your business become mobile friendly contact us today.
Consider these stats about mobile search:
- 70% of all mobile searches result in action within 1 hour.
- 9 out of 10 mobile searches lead to action, over half leading to purchase.
-
61% of customers who visit an unfriendly mobile site are likely to go to a competitor.
These stats show an important trend. People are making decisions while using mobile devices to look for products, services, and your business information. Here are 5 key tips to consider what your customers want on the small screen.
- Make you website mobile friendly.
- Make sure your email is easy to read on mobile devices.
- Customers want to find you.
- Content is king.
- Mobile devices and Sales.
To summarize, focus on your website. I believe this to be the center of your business operations. It doesn’t matter what business your in. Serve up a website experience that is mobile friendly and allows customers to find you and contact you. The smart phone is quickly becoming the computer of choice. Companies that understand this will be poised to attract new business and strengthen their brand awareness.
To learn more more about how Banyan Creative can help your business become mobile friendly contact us today.
December 26, 2013
COIN: A lesson in powerful user experience (UX) using the power of simplicity.
If you are regularly on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn you have probably seen ads for a new product called Coin popping up in your newsfeed. It's a very cool, techy gadget that allows you to have one card that contains information of all your credit cards onto one Coin. While this may frighten some people to have all their financials on one card they have provided adequate levels of security, and even a GPS connection with your phone so if you forget your card in a restaurant and you walk outside the proximity of the restaurant it will send you a reminder text asking if you have left your card behind on accident. A great feature for people like myself who are easily disgraced.
The real winner here is the design team for the Coin website. I get asked a lot what makes for a good website. My response is, "It depends on what you are selling." But there are a few things that Coin does well here that make for a top notch user experience and worth learning more about why this website hits the mark.
1). Keep the main thing the main thing
When you arrived onto the Coin website the main thing is the video. They entice you to learn more right away. Frankly, after watching the Coin video I nearly bought one myself as their pitch was simple, clear and solved a problem we all have with multiple credit cards out there. You will also notice in the top right corner a bright blue Call To Action button. Its even gift wrapped for the holidays: subtle but nice touch, giving major bonus points to the designer. The main thing is the main thing here.
COIN: A lesson in powerful user experience (UX) using the power of simplicity.
If you are regularly on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn you have probably seen ads for a new product called Coin popping up in your newsfeed. It's a very cool, techy gadget that allows you to have one card that contains information of all your credit cards onto one Coin. While this may frighten some people to have all their financials on one card they have provided adequate levels of security, and even a GPS connection with your phone so if you forget your card in a restaurant and you walk outside the proximity of the restaurant it will send you a reminder text asking if you have left your card behind on accident. A great feature for people like myself who are easily disgraced.
The real winner here is the design team for the Coin website. I get asked a lot what makes for a good website. My response is, "It depends on what you are selling." But there are a few things that Coin does well here that make for a top notch user experience and worth learning more about why this website hits the mark.
1). Keep the main thing the main thing
When you arrived onto the Coin website the main thing is the video. They entice you to learn more right away. Frankly, after watching the Coin video I nearly bought one myself as their pitch was simple, clear and solved a problem we all have with multiple credit cards out there. You will also notice in the top right corner a bright blue Call To Action button. Its even gift wrapped for the holidays: subtle but nice touch, giving major bonus points to the designer. The main thing is the main thing here.
2.) Less is more
In years past websites would be chalked full of as much content & information as possible. More recently designers are becoming more savvy to only show what you absolutely need to see and get you into the right conversion path as quickly as possible depending on the stage of the buying cycle. Coin hits the mark as the navigation is simple and I know what to do right away. When you visit their homepage your have 3 options: Pre-order, watch the video, or scroll down to learn more. I like this strategy because it puts people into 3 simple conversion funnels and leads the consumer to the place they want to go. It also helps to know what path they are on to re-market to them via opt in email marketing channels with the appropriate messaging. And since its 2014 and we are all obsessed with our smartphones, this site is built with responsive design and is mobile friendly: a must have these days on the web.
3) Don't tell me. Show me.
People don't want to read all about your products. They want you to show you how it solves a problem they have. Video is a great way to share a lot of content in a 2 minute visual. According to Hubspot's Magdalena Georgieva shared that, "33% of viewers click away from a video after the first 30 seconds, and 44% will leave after the first 60 seconds." So you'd better keep your videos short and sweet right? Not necessarily true. Lately, we've started to notice a trend of some very high-quality online videos that seem to be successfully maintaining the attention of viewers for well over a minute, Coin is another great example of this. In fact, for more than three, five, and some times ten minutes. This dynamic is primarily due to engaging video content, which isn't promotional and boring, but informative, entertaining and solves a real problem.
4) Close the deal
A lot of businesses out there miss the mark in web design with a strong call to action. You've done all this work to market your product, get a real live visitor to your site , the last thing you want is for them to bounce off the page because they didn't find what they were looking. Or even worse, they are ready to buy and get annoyed with how many hoops you make them jump through just to purchase. Coin really helps close the deal on this. Once you scroll to the bottom of the home page you have simple call to action assuming the close. Its not pushy or spammy but compels the user to get started. As a marketing play, what's even more interesting is the fact that they have a call to action on a product that won't even be available until Summer of 2014, which appeals to the Apple-ite, Silicon Valley techies who like to be early adopters.
Well done Coin and lesson learned.
In years past websites would be chalked full of as much content & information as possible. More recently designers are becoming more savvy to only show what you absolutely need to see and get you into the right conversion path as quickly as possible depending on the stage of the buying cycle. Coin hits the mark as the navigation is simple and I know what to do right away. When you visit their homepage your have 3 options: Pre-order, watch the video, or scroll down to learn more. I like this strategy because it puts people into 3 simple conversion funnels and leads the consumer to the place they want to go. It also helps to know what path they are on to re-market to them via opt in email marketing channels with the appropriate messaging. And since its 2014 and we are all obsessed with our smartphones, this site is built with responsive design and is mobile friendly: a must have these days on the web.
3) Don't tell me. Show me.
People don't want to read all about your products. They want you to show you how it solves a problem they have. Video is a great way to share a lot of content in a 2 minute visual. According to Hubspot's Magdalena Georgieva shared that, "33% of viewers click away from a video after the first 30 seconds, and 44% will leave after the first 60 seconds." So you'd better keep your videos short and sweet right? Not necessarily true. Lately, we've started to notice a trend of some very high-quality online videos that seem to be successfully maintaining the attention of viewers for well over a minute, Coin is another great example of this. In fact, for more than three, five, and some times ten minutes. This dynamic is primarily due to engaging video content, which isn't promotional and boring, but informative, entertaining and solves a real problem.
4) Close the deal
A lot of businesses out there miss the mark in web design with a strong call to action. You've done all this work to market your product, get a real live visitor to your site , the last thing you want is for them to bounce off the page because they didn't find what they were looking. Or even worse, they are ready to buy and get annoyed with how many hoops you make them jump through just to purchase. Coin really helps close the deal on this. Once you scroll to the bottom of the home page you have simple call to action assuming the close. Its not pushy or spammy but compels the user to get started. As a marketing play, what's even more interesting is the fact that they have a call to action on a product that won't even be available until Summer of 2014, which appeals to the Apple-ite, Silicon Valley techies who like to be early adopters.
Well done Coin and lesson learned.
This great call to action working well for Coin.
December 12, 2013
The Only Way
I'd like to give a shout out to Steven Kasay Productions. Every once in awhile you meet some extraordinary young people who are doing some great work and putting their talents to work to create something that didn't exist before. This is a compilation video he put together of a few weeks of skiing Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs and Solitude, UT. After a mediocre snow season us flatlanders from Charlotte were able to catch a few days of late season Rocky Mtn sun and bluebird powder laps. He built out the storyline, wrote the script, promoted it through grassroots social media channels and most important really captured what we all share in our souls: Skiing brings us all together for fun, adventure & building memories with those we care about most. On his video debut, Outside Online picked up his video and are asking for more. I look forward to the sequel. Well done Steven Kasay and the SK Productions team. Click here to see the video and feel the cold mountain air. http://www.stevenkasay.com/the-only-way.html
Follow him on Twitter: @stevenkasay
The Only Way
I'd like to give a shout out to Steven Kasay Productions. Every once in awhile you meet some extraordinary young people who are doing some great work and putting their talents to work to create something that didn't exist before. This is a compilation video he put together of a few weeks of skiing Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs and Solitude, UT. After a mediocre snow season us flatlanders from Charlotte were able to catch a few days of late season Rocky Mtn sun and bluebird powder laps. He built out the storyline, wrote the script, promoted it through grassroots social media channels and most important really captured what we all share in our souls: Skiing brings us all together for fun, adventure & building memories with those we care about most. On his video debut, Outside Online picked up his video and are asking for more. I look forward to the sequel. Well done Steven Kasay and the SK Productions team. Click here to see the video and feel the cold mountain air. http://www.stevenkasay.com/the-only-way.html
Follow him on Twitter: @stevenkasay
October 4, 2013
The Joy of Air
Sometimes we all need a little inspiration in our lives. Check out this awesome video by produced for Arcteryx from the creative mind of BC based filmmaker Brian Smith at Reel Water Productions. Its a great example of powerful imagery and poetic words by to capture the heart of action sports lover and take them back to a place of being a child. The Joy of Air is just as much about being a kid as it is about catching air. Video marketing at is finest!
The Joy of Air
Sometimes we all need a little inspiration in our lives. Check out this awesome video by produced for Arcteryx from the creative mind of BC based filmmaker Brian Smith at Reel Water Productions. Its a great example of powerful imagery and poetic words by to capture the heart of action sports lover and take them back to a place of being a child. The Joy of Air is just as much about being a kid as it is about catching air. Video marketing at is finest!
September 12, 2013
Ride the Buffalo!
Need ideas on what good online & offline branding looks like? Check out Buffalo Jackson Trading Posting Downtown Matthews, NC. Amazing storefront built by hand (the best way), from scratch by the owner himself. You walk right in, greeted by friendly staff, whiskey leather, and even a giant Buffalo! You can't help but onder when Teddy Roosevelt himself will come out from the back with a rifle over his shoulder. Check out out www.buffalojackson.com for high quality men's quality and to learn how this company takes website visitors and turns them into satisfied customers. Or even better stop on by the store to talk Roosevelt and rifles. In the retail industry filled with 800 lbs. gorilla's and bottom lines, its good to see companies doing it the right way, and honoring what men are meant to be. Its unique to the Matthews area and as momentum grows for the brand even the Charlotte Biz Journal is taking notice.
Well done Xan Hood and the Buffalo Jackson team. If you want to know how to integrate online and offline marketing tactics to increase sales & build brand awareness across multiple channel, check out these guys out www.buffalojackson.com
Need ideas on what good online & offline branding looks like? Check out Buffalo Jackson Trading Posting Downtown Matthews, NC. Amazing storefront built by hand (the best way), from scratch by the owner himself. You walk right in, greeted by friendly staff, whiskey leather, and even a giant Buffalo! You can't help but onder when Teddy Roosevelt himself will come out from the back with a rifle over his shoulder. Check out out www.buffalojackson.com for high quality men's quality and to learn how this company takes website visitors and turns them into satisfied customers. Or even better stop on by the store to talk Roosevelt and rifles. In the retail industry filled with 800 lbs. gorilla's and bottom lines, its good to see companies doing it the right way, and honoring what men are meant to be. Its unique to the Matthews area and as momentum grows for the brand even the Charlotte Biz Journal is taking notice.
Well done Xan Hood and the Buffalo Jackson team. If you want to know how to integrate online and offline marketing tactics to increase sales & build brand awareness across multiple channel, check out these guys out www.buffalojackson.com
September 1, 2013
Failure in Marketing
Marketing is a high risk, high reward game. Its a battle for mind space and new ideas. In a lot of ways marketers are paid to take calculated risks on behalf of the companies they represent. While there can be a lot of creative excitement there, its also a pretty cut throat and there is not much loyalty in this space. As marketers in business in our job is to present the best aspects of a business or product while minimizing the negatives, and compelling a consumer to take action. But amidst the song and dance of it all, failure is a reality that all marketers face from time to time.
Sometimes the best campaigns flop. Other times ones that receive minimal investment end of performing much better than expected. In this fickle business you often see marketing execs hired and fired on the corporate side at an alarming rate. In the agency world talent is always in short supply and people are willing to move to the highest bidder at the drop of a hat. It can be a transient occupation if one allows it to be. Last year we worked on a campaign where there were 3 different project managers and 3 different Marketing VP's in the span of 9 months. Talk about turnover. Needless to say it brought on a unique set of internal challenges to be overcome, beyond the actual campaign. While years of experience have taught me that this is just apart of the job, it can often be a perilous dance for an agency engaged to accomplish the goal for a business in constant flux.
Failure is a reality of the game. Fear of failure is an even bigger reality for a lot of marketers out there working on razor thin margins and tasked with doing more with less by their CEO. But to those who can stomach the risk and are up for that next creative idea that just might work, marketing can be one of the most enjoyable fields to be in today. Final words of wisdom: I'm always a bit wary of a marketing company that guarantees results. Lets face it. No one can really guarantee that. If they do, especially in online marketing, you need to run the other way. But if you find an agency that has a consistent track record of success, great customer service, hands on approach, and not afraid to take risks with your company, it might be worth you taking a calculated risk working with them.
“Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Failure in Marketing
Marketing is a high risk, high reward game. Its a battle for mind space and new ideas. In a lot of ways marketers are paid to take calculated risks on behalf of the companies they represent. While there can be a lot of creative excitement there, its also a pretty cut throat and there is not much loyalty in this space. As marketers in business in our job is to present the best aspects of a business or product while minimizing the negatives, and compelling a consumer to take action. But amidst the song and dance of it all, failure is a reality that all marketers face from time to time.
Sometimes the best campaigns flop. Other times ones that receive minimal investment end of performing much better than expected. In this fickle business you often see marketing execs hired and fired on the corporate side at an alarming rate. In the agency world talent is always in short supply and people are willing to move to the highest bidder at the drop of a hat. It can be a transient occupation if one allows it to be. Last year we worked on a campaign where there were 3 different project managers and 3 different Marketing VP's in the span of 9 months. Talk about turnover. Needless to say it brought on a unique set of internal challenges to be overcome, beyond the actual campaign. While years of experience have taught me that this is just apart of the job, it can often be a perilous dance for an agency engaged to accomplish the goal for a business in constant flux.
Failure is a reality of the game. Fear of failure is an even bigger reality for a lot of marketers out there working on razor thin margins and tasked with doing more with less by their CEO. But to those who can stomach the risk and are up for that next creative idea that just might work, marketing can be one of the most enjoyable fields to be in today. Final words of wisdom: I'm always a bit wary of a marketing company that guarantees results. Lets face it. No one can really guarantee that. If they do, especially in online marketing, you need to run the other way. But if you find an agency that has a consistent track record of success, great customer service, hands on approach, and not afraid to take risks with your company, it might be worth you taking a calculated risk working with them.
“Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson