Archives for May 2010 | Red Planet Design Blog

Optimising Your Adwords and Google Places account

May 312010

Dear Readers, it’s becoming clear that Google Adwords adores changes, making it ever more difficult to run your own account. One new feature is “extensions” to ads, which allows you to put your street address (location), phone numbers, or product details in the last line of the ad – and it comes up if the viewer mouses over your listing on Google Maps. All about Extensions explained.

If you are wondering why these do not show any results – well, it’s up to you to customise these. Here’s what Google Help says:

“Ad extensions must be triggered for any data to appear on the Ad Extensions tab. If you see no statistics on the Ad Extensions tab, this means that your ad extensions have not yet appeared with your ads.

Since ad extensions need to meet special requirements to appear with your ad, it’s normal to see lower numbers on the Ad Extensions tab compared to your Ads tab. Only impressions where both your ad and your extensions have appeared together are reported on the Ad Extensions tab.”

I also recommend you implement the Adwords Conversion Tracking tool, to monitor which of your clicks turn into a desired action on your website, such as a sale or request.

Learn More about Adwords with their short videos :

Google Places

Also check that your Google Places listing is still showing for your main keyword. For some reason (still a mystery to some) they do not show some active business listings, especially if they have recently been naughty by putting suburbs in the descriptions or product details sections.

Ensure your categories reflect your two or three main business services (similar to Yellow Pages categories). And remember to activate your My Places account changes as quickly as possible by allowing SMS or phone activation.

Got a problem with these products? Call Jennifer on (07) 3103 0238.

Everything is Branding…

Small Business, marketing strategies No Responses »

May 272010

So you think your logo is your brand. And your signage. OK, and maybe your uniform. Think broader.

You see, everything you do as a business owner publicly affects your Personal Brand. (With Politicians, some things they do privately as well;-)

How about: What you drive… what you wear… what charities you support… how clean and fresh your building is… what you read… how you shake hands…

Authors of “The Brand Called You” (Peter Montoya & Tim Vandehey) believe that a personal brand makes a promise. Once branding is established, “everything you do will either confirm that promise or contradict it“. Failures are not delivering on those promises, say of great customer service, keeping to deadline, whatever it may be.

Are you living the reality that your Brand commits you to? People can feel authenticity and they can see fakeness.

So when you assess your logo, marketing look and feel, office, attire, car/van, and personal philosophy all together does it give a cohesive message – as Peter says, “does your look suit your brand?”

Things To Do:
1. Talk to your copywriter and graphic designer to create branding tools – slogans, themes, and logo/design look.
2. Attend networking events to get important contacts/referrals.
3. Redesign your “look” (office/clothes/car) to suit your brand.
4. Create a one-year branding budget.
5. Decide on the personal characteristics that will define your personal brand.

(Summarised from P.14, “The Brand Called You”, 2009).

What’s the Number 2 Thing Businesses Neglect in their Copy?

copywriting tips, marketing strategies No Responses »

May 252010

Following on from the Number 1 thing missing in business promotional material (empathy with the reader), the number 2 thing which will MAKE or BREAK your advertising and online results is the CALL to ACTION.

Look at the way you ask and what you ask them to do. Even though we Australians tend to abhor hype, you cannot bore customers into action. But you can motivate them.

You yourself may not be motivated to sign up, or pick up the phone to call a business, unless the business offers a freebie, a deadline, and/or a motive. For example, “If you want instant results with your marketing, go to Power of Words now, and receive FREE monthly tips on marketing a small business”. (Hey that’s a real offer!)

A specific offer should always have a deadline and/or a supply shortage (e.g. you only have 23 remaining stock). Research studies have shown much more compliance (and greater results) when you give a good REASON to discount or make an offer. e.g. We have over-ordered 400 widget Xs, so we are offering a FREE widget X with every order. Order by 5 pm Friday 23rd to receive your free widget X.

Recently I received a promotion for a free Laser Printer (worth $500 they say) with a yearly print cartridge order, and I thought WOW that offer really is good. Try to make your customers think WOW. Don’t offer a 10% off discount for no reason!

Create a compelling call to action and your phone will ring off the hook.

What’s the Number 1 Thing Businesses Often Neglect in their Copy?

Small Business, copywriting tips No Responses »

May 142010

To the detriment of their sales, I believe the primary thing missing from most website home pages, advertising copy, and brochures is… empathy (often called the emotional connection).

Sure you have to also be specific, credible, and visually appealing to gain attention, but to keep that attention and gain respect from a prospect – you need to sound like you are helping them.

Some Real Life Website Examples

Some engineers are doing it right on their website, and some engineers are doing it all wrong:
“As an innovative and cost effective structural design team, Mills Engineers Pty Ltd have established an excellent reputation for resourceful structural solutions.”

As a first paragraph I give this a 2 out of 10. There is no mention of the client, it’s all about them: “we” talk. Everyone likes to use buzzwords like innovative and cost-effective, but it’s more important to show people how you are innovative… perhaps a bit later on in the copy. So even though the copy may be 100% grammatically correct, it lacks imagination and “you” focus.

Beach Wagner has a ‘you’ focus and two benefits weaved into the first paragraph – 9 out of 10.

“If professional engineering service is what you are looking for, Beach Wagner can provide a one stop service where you deal directly with a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland (RPEQ) experienced in your area of need.”

Reader benefits are like gold because everyone loves reading about their own interests. Their focus may differ widely from yours, so every time you look at your marketing materials, remember this.

“A copywriter should have ‘an understanding of people, an insight into them, a sympathy toward them.”

– George Gribbin

Do you agree?

Using Facebook for Business – Choices

marketing strategies 1 Response »

May 102010

First of all, you will want to weigh up whether you are committed to using social media in a planned and consistent way.

Do you have 2-3 hours to set up your page properly and invite some friends?
Do you plan to update either directly or from your blog on a regular basis? (You can use Twitter Feed to post automatic updates – one of the handiest little tools around)
Is Facebook applicable to your business – i.e. does it have a novelty, fun, retail, or other outstanding quality so that the Page will attract some natural interest?

Here are some interesting stats:

“There are over 65 million users who access Facebook from mobile phones each month.
The fastest growing demographic on Facebook are people 35 and older.”
(Source: Facebook Marketing Review, 2009)

Tips to Advance Your Facebook Page

You might be confused whether to start a Facebook Group or a Page for business promotional use. Since Facebook changed its system, most businesses will choose a Facebook page:

You know it is possible to “design” an attractive Facebook page. It’s just not intuitive nor easy.
To learn more about making a great Facebook page for your business, such as how to overcome the limitations of a 50 x 50 icon, see:
http://www.facebookmarketingreview.com/tutorials/elements-of-a-good-facebook-page

News from Facebook

New Facebook “social plugins” will allow sites outside Facebook to incorporate more than just the company’s omnipresent “Share” buttons. The company will now offer outside sites the ability to use its “Like” feature, a button that, when clicked, adds a link to that page or site to your Facebook profile and announces your interest to your Facebook friends.

See full article from DailyFinance

Don’t put eNewsletters in the Too Hard basket

marketing strategies 4 Responses »

May 072010

Why e-Newsletters?

Do you have time to ring every past client, every prospect, or business partner? Make a point to communicate your new products/services? Give them value by educating them in small, helpful ways? Yes, e-newsletters can do all this for very little cost.

While most know it’s good for business, some businesses seem to go about sending a newsletter in a haphazard way, or only make it all about them. First of all, you need to ask a few clients what they want to know about (pertaining to your industry). You’re in your world, but they are in their world. Hop over to their world and see what the weather’s like, see what the problems are there.

Which Style?

Look at the e-newsletters you like reading; they are probably clear, concise and have a simply designed layout. While you can send out newsletters in just plain text, some folks find it less professional or harder to read. Plus, you want your brand to be prominent, and this is usually put in a small header. The whole template can be custom designed for you by a graphic designer, and it must stay consistent.

It’s really important to keep the content as simple as possible, remembering your audience is more likely to be a wide cross-section of people who happen to use your services rather than all industry experts.

The number of articles should range from three to around eight. Some of these could be: about an upcoming event’s speaker (to generate interest before an invitation), talk about a new employee (reveal their reason for joining and their unique talent), or a review of an industry-related book that you’ve read, and of course news/topical articles or “how-to” tips.

Writing to Entice

By keeping this interesting variety in a regular newsletter, and by getting a copywriter to write it, you ensure that readers will take an interest. A company insider is more likely to fill it with news of the company and insider jargon, thus killing off any early interest. Your reader might have no knowledge of your products or systems at all, so the writer must ensure the meaning of the content is unambiguous.

While headlines in the newsletter are important, don’t forget the subject line has to be enticing so that receivers want to open it straightaway. The “from” should be recognisably from your company.

If your newsletter is going to be long, the usual strategy is to put the first one or two paragraphs only, with a nice clear link to the website to “read more” (I advise a text hyperlink since graphic hyperlinks are firstly not loaded by many email readers). This will drive traffic to your website, and the article should stay on the website for a good while and be surrounded by the usual navigation, encouraging customers to read on.

Analysing Reader’s Responses

If you use a content management system or email marketing system, then it will be easy to analyse your opening rates and click-through rates and work out which features are the most popular. Email marketing systems with autoresponders and segregated lists start from $18 per month on up.

Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha

Optimising Your Adwords and Google Places account

Everything is Branding…

What’s the Number 2 Thing Businesses Neglect in their Copy?

What’s the Number 1 Thing Businesses Often Neglect in their Copy?

Don’t put eNewsletters in the Too Hard basket

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