Posted by:
Drayton Bird
June 5, 2008
Issue #433
(Plus a prediction about the future
of online marketing)
Almost exactly 21 years ago, I was invited to go to India to help train O & M’s newly hatched direct marketing agency.
The idea was suggested by David Ogilvy, who loved India, and who told me before I went to get to know Mani Ayer, the head of the agency.
“He is the most able man in our network,” said David.
And so I did meet Mani, and we’ve been friends ever since.
At that time, O & M in India had a different structure and name than the rest of the group around the world. A substantial percentage was owned by the employees, and the firm was called Ogilvy, Benson and Mather – OBM – which Mani told me stood for “Other Buggers’ Money.”
(Mani is, like most of the people I like, very funny.)
A couple of years later, I went to conduct a direct marketing seminar in Goa, where Mani was also speaking, so I watched him in action.
He opened his talk by saying, “Gentlemen” - it was an all-male gathering – “Kindly remember that the obvious is always overlooked.”
I have never forgotten that, and it occurred to me when preparing some talks in Australia recently. I hope you find some of what I said interesting – but then again, you may not, so you can stop reading at any time.
It seems to me that some obvious things traditional direct marketers and even marketers generally have known about for well over a century are largely, if not entirely, ignored by people selling online.
This is a shame, because online selling is just accelerated direct marketing – a phrase I coined, by coincidence, during a TV interview in New Delhi.
(more…)
Posted by:
Troy White
April 15, 2008
Issue #396
In this issue:
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10 off-the-wall ideas to improve your customer service and keep them coming back to buy more …
-
The simple comparison that may help you double or triple your web sales …
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Getting them involved, having fun, and buying again and again …
-
And Much More!
Fellow Business Builder,
Have you ever wondered if there might just be a better way to leverage your website?
I’m not talking about the long copy sales letter sites, but a company site that is designed to showcase your company and your multiple products and services.
Many of these types of sites are an absolute mess – and are experiencing a tough time to make consistent sales and customer loyalty. Others with hundreds of products to sell run multi-million dollar empires online.
What’s the difference?
Their web strategy. Some people look at the website as a one-hit-wonder … others see it as an entry place for an exciting adventure.
Both work, but one is more sustainable over time.
I contend that many business owners should be looking at these types of websites as if they were a high-end retail store that caters to a more discerning clientele.
Imagine if you were to look at most websites, maybe your own, as if they were an actual retail store, and you were paying tens of thousands of dollars a month for rent.
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Posted by:
Wendy Montes de Oca
April 11, 2008
Issue #394
"We can believe that we know where the world should go. But unless we’re in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality. There’s no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either."
– Steve Ballmer
You’ve probably heard about Web 2.0. It’s all the rage these days. But do you really know what it is? More important, do you know how to use it to your advantage?
Today, I’m going to reveal one Web 2.0 technique you can use to help attract targeted, qualified prospective customers to your website. But first, here’s the 411.
Web 2.0 isn’t a newfangled Internet technology or software. And it’s not a marketing tactic, per se. It’s simply the evolution of the Internet into an environment of interactivity, reader participation, and usability. This, in effect, changes users’ Web behavior. As Tim O’Reilly – founder of O’Reilly Media and the guy who coined the term "Web 2.0" – puts it … it’s "harnessing collective intelligence" through user-generated content.
Web 2.0 opens up the dialog between user and website or blog. This connection can help generate traffic and a viral buzz. Patrick Coffey pointed out in a recent ETR article – How to Get a Bunch of Useless Traffic to Your Website – that not all Web 2.0 traffic is a good thing. But from a search engine marketing (SEM) standpoint, the benefits are clear and measurable: More traffic and frequent interactivity (or posts) equal better organic (free) rankings in search engine results.
Getting good organic rankings is a powerful way to find qualified prospective customers. A recent eye-tracking survey of people doing an Internet search showed that 70 percent of the time their eyes go to the upper-left side of the search results (the organic listings). Their eyes go to the right side of the search results (the paid listings) only 30 percent of the time.
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Posted by:
Daniel Levis
April 9, 2008
Issue #392
In this issue:
- How to hook people on hungrily consuming your sales message …
- High shopping cart abandonment rate? Maybe you’re not doing this …
- Interactive technology gives an old idea new legs (bigger, brawnier ones) …
- And much more!
Dear Web Business Builder,
”Getting your foot in the door” has become a metaphorical expression for gaining an audience with a potential buyer …
As an online seller, if you could just get your foot in the door with more prospects, you could make more sales, right?
In the old days, it was commonplace for sellers to canvass neighborhoods, bang on doors, and hustle their way in to sell pots and pans, vacuum cleaners, piano lessons, and so forth.
The lady of the house would come to the door, and the salesman, armed with free samples, would engage her in a very deliberate, scripted, yet friendly and natural sounding conversation. At his earliest opportunity, the salesman would place one foot in the foyer.
Salesmen were actually trained to do this.
Some trainers believed a head in the door was even better. That way, if the lady of the house slammed the door, the salesman could keep talking.
But what’s the significance of “foot in the door,” and why is it such an enduring metaphor?
“Foot in the door,” is an example of a sales tactic that leverages the universal human trait known as “commitment and consistency.” Commitment and consistency says that we are powerfully compelled to act in ways that are consistent with our past actions.
So if the lady of the house allows the salesman to put his foot in the door — without slamming it on his leg — chances are really good she will not object a few moments later when he walks right in. He might even be invited to do so.
This is not the first time the salesman will use commitment and consistency to advance the sale. Once inside, his sales talk is deliberately designed to get Mom and Pop to agree with him.
If the salesman can get them to agree to even the smallest little thing, commitment and consistency kicks in and they become inclined to agree to the next, slightly larger thing, and so it goes.
When the salesman sees that dreamy, transfixed look on their faces (that magical moment when they mentally take ownership of the product), he moves in for the close.
And using C&C, he closes the sale so painlessly they hardly notice. He asks them how they spell their surname, and he writes it down on his order pad.
“It was the desert brown model that you preferred wasn’t it?” he asks, nodding his head. They nod back, and he checks that off.
“Shall we install this on Monday morning, or is Tuesday afternoon better for you?” And gradually he eases Mom and Pop into a new alarm system for their home.
It’s 2008, and door-to-door selling is all but dead. Commitment and consistency however is alive and well, and always will be.
If you want to get your digital foot in the door, it often makes sense to ask for a small commitment before you ask for the big one. If you can get a prospect to take a small action — opting-in to your e-zine for example — then that person becomes much more likely to buy.
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Posted by:
David Dittman
December 1, 2007
Issue #296
I want to share with you a special “Black Friday” story …
Two years ago, right before “Cyber Monday” was invented, I decided to brave the lines and go out at the crack of dawn on Friday.
I had a clear plan.
On Thanksgiving night, I was going to fill up on equal parts wine and turkey, thus ensuring that I was sound asleep by about 6:00pm. I figured this would give me the best chance for waking up early the following morning.
Next, I would wake up at 3:00am and drive an hour to the closest Circuit City that was essentially giving away a computer.
Circuit City was opening their doors at 4:00am and I was sure that only a handful of people would be stupid enough to wake up that early.
So with my plan in place, I started my drinking and eating around 3:00pm on Thanksgiving.
The plan was going off without a hitch, I was soundly asleep by 6:00pm and my alarm woke me up at 2:30am.
Now, I was in a great mood for 2:30 in the morning … Everything was transpiring just as planned, now all I needed to do was drive in and collect my prize that Circuit City was foolishly giving away.
Of course my dreams came crashing down as I approached Circuit City and the parking lot was packed to the gills with a line around the block.
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