Far too often in business we either clamor for the old, familiar marketing methods that are well past their viability, or we waste time and money trying every new marketing trick that comes along. Without analyzing, tracking, or at the very least asking customers, what marketing piece moved them to action, we are left to attribute it to where we believe it came from without regard to truth or evidence.  Lacking stats, you allow the new marketing wiz kid to talk you into dropping everything for social media. Lacking stats, you may believe the agency of record when they tell you to keep doing more of the same. Does this sound like an optimal way to operate your business? Do you leave expenses, consumables, and wages up to such flippant record keeping?

My challenge to you is to start thinking of your marketing like the other critical components of your business. When you open the business each Monday morning, make sure marketing is on the checklist.

Let us help you review your marketing strategy checklist.

Online marketing is a fast-moving, fast-paced field that is constantly changing and evolving. That may be a big reason why it’s hard for me to believe I’ve been working exclusively in this field for just over a year. I thought this would be a good opportunity to collect some thoughts I’ve gathered over the last 12 months.

The first lesson I’d like to focus on is the value proposition. Prior to joining Cirrus ABS I worked in the public sector. Unfortunately there is a highly visible example of how irresponsible government employees behave in the news right now, but responsible public sector works are always trying to figure out how to stretch their resources to provide the most value. When business increases in the private sector, it’s usually accompanied by more income and you can use that influx of cash to address resource shortfalls – this doesn’t happen in the public sector.

Just because you have additional resources to throw at a challenge, it doesn’t mean that’s going to be the most productive use of that money. From a marketing standpoint in the public sector we focused on how we could make the most use out of any activity because our greatest commodity was time. The more efficient we could be with time, the more flexibility we had to address resource allocation issues. This is a valid lesson that can be applied to online marketing in the private sector as well.

Many times when I discuss online marketing with others in the community the focus is on using a particular tool (i.e. “Is Facebook important?”, “Do my customers really use Twitter?”, “Do I need a Google+ page?”), rather than on what they’re trying to accomplish, like increasing sales from their current customers, bringing more new customers to their establishment, or introducing new products and services.

Once you focus on a goal, you can start developing a strategy to achieve the goal. It may include some or all of the channels mentioned above. It may use completely different channels you’ve never heard of. It’s very easy to spend lots of money on social media and see no results from your effort.

Anyone can accomplish anything when it comes to online marketing, it’s really just a matter of how much time do you want to spend maintaining the solution  and how much money are you willing to spend supporting it. At first there may be some guesswork involved at where those lines intersect, but over time proper data analysis will reveal the value and how much effort and money is necessary to achieve your goal.

Over the last year working with Cirrus ABS partners and potential partners, it’s clear to me these lessons from the public sector are even more critical in the private sector, especially given the current economy. Working through how to develop a strategy to achieve business goals is far more critical than embracing the latest fad. Learn more about how we approach online marketing consulting and let me know if we can help you out!

Ways to tell you’re on a secure page:

• Check the URL: If you see that the URL (or website address) starts with “https://” instead of “http://” then you are on a secured page.

• Know your browser: Most browsers have ways of showing that a page is secure. Here are some examples:

FIREFOX: Click on the button with the favicon and name of the site. There you will see the verification information and the Lock icon. The color of the button may change with the certificate type.

INTERNET EXPLORER: For more details on the certificate, look at the Lock icon.

For more details on the page’s certificate, click the Lock icon in the navigation bar.

• Check the Certificate Vendor: Secure Socket Layer or SSL ensure that data is encrypted to keep the transmission of your data safe. Different vendors such as Verisign or SSL.com issue certifications verifying that a site has this SSL encryption. Sites pay for these safety measures and usually make the seals from these companies very visible.

The site you are visiting will not have these elements throughout the site. Just make sure that you look for these items when entering your sensitive personal information.

If you’re looking to start your own eCommerce site or need additional guidance, Cirrus ABS has the solution for you.

The Flesch Reading Ease test. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test. The Gunning Fog Index. The Coleman Liau Index. The SMOG Index. The Automated Readability Index. All are designed to show the level of education necessary for readers to understand a passage of written English.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? I mean, after all: getting your message across to the widest possible audience is what marketing is all about. If you could know in advance with greater certainty that your message posed no serious obstacles to reader comprehension, you’d be in clover, right? Well, hold on there a minute.

In this Age of Unbelief, even believers want the assurance of scientific validation. Tests like these are part of a trend to quantify anything and everything – even that which was once understood to be unquantifiable. We take comfort in numbers. Yardsticks. Testable phenomena. Repeatable results.

The tests I’ve listed above all use mathematical formulas to assess readability. For the most part, they count the number of characters in a passage, the number of words, the number of sentences, the average number of characters per word, the average number of syllables per word, the average number of words per sentence, and so on. The lower the numbers, generally speaking, the higher the readability for the greatest number of people.

I know from my professional associations that most writers feel as I do about these tests: we distrust them. Advertising and marketing firms tend to look on them warily as well. Why? Because, in spite of what their creators and advocates maintain, the tests aren’t accurate. Nor could they be.

Nothing so complex as “readability,” or “reader comprehension,” can be reduced to a set of numerical constructs. No mathematical equation, no arbitrary assignment of numerical values, can tell you unequivocally what readers are, or are not, taking away from something you’ve written.

Readability, simply put, is governed by too many variables. And many of those variables can never be known with confidence, precisely because they are unquantifiable.

Aside from basic intelligence, education surely plays the most significant role in readability. But all kinds of social/psychological factors also come into play. The length of words and sentences? Yes, that too has an effect. But many of the most familiar words, words that even less-educated readers recognize, have three, four – sometimes more! – syllables. A one-syllable word might score better on a Flesch test, but it wouldn’t be as apt for the audience. Beyond that, there are times when only a long sentence, well-constructed, can accurately and coherently convey an idea. To split that long sentence up would be to muddy or destroy the relationship between various components of the thought being expressed. Result? Reader confusion.

Now, I don’t say readability tests are completely without value. They can alert a writer to wordiness. And writers are always best advised to keep copy brief. Especially when writing for mass audiences.

A handful of paragraphs looks friendly. Short sentences read well. Monosyllabic words pack a punch. They’re just not always the most expressive way to communicate. Attempts at the kind of brevity these tests promote – especially by beginning or unskilled writers – often leave copy wanting. The text may be short. But it shortchanges readers because it lacks the detail that brings color and clarity; that inspires and motivates.

In the end, it’s experience that serves as a far better guide to readability than any numerically based readability test. Experienced writers and marketers know how to address different audiences; they know what engages and motivates people of different ages, in different professions, at different social levels, with different interests and inclinations. They know because countless times over their copy’s been tested in the fires of the marketplace. They’ve seen what doesn’t work. And they’ve seen what does – as evidenced in growing customer bases and greater sales, among other signs.

If numbers have anything to do with the readability of marketing copy, these are the numbers that count.

Having worked a good portion of my life in the radio industry (from the age of 16), I understand the problem with statistics in the world of traditional marketing.

There are very few hard and true numbers that are indisputable.

Ratings from Arbitron (radio) or Nielsen (TV) are done through a survey or sample process that is filled with too many assumptions and is full of pitfalls. Anytime you ask someone what they are listening to or watching, you can’t be sure that is what they are really doing.

Even if the answers are 100% honest, you then have to assume that the sample being surveyed is an accurate representation of the population as a whole. In this day and age, that is a stretch!

These methods of audience measurement and pulling qualitative data from surveys have, however, been standard practice for decades and are used as a measuring stick to gauge the worth of a paid commercial – which is backwards!

There are similar problems with measuring other advertising/marketing media, such as print. A newspaper publisher knows how many papers it publishes but can’t accurately tell you how many people saw your ad. Billboards are sold by the average traffic counts on a road, and then some convoluted mathematical formula is applied that is still just a guess.

Enter the world of truth in numbers. Not guesses, not surveys, but actual stats based on consumer/customer behavior and action.

Enter the digital, online, NetCentered marketing world.

Our computers are tracking us.

The email from Company X is tracked, and they know if you opened an email or ignored it.  They know if you clicked on a link from that email and went to their website. They know if you bought something, what you bought, and how many other times you have bought. No guesses here, but instead, trackable, traceable numbers which Company X will then use to send you more offers based on your behavior. Not my behavior, your behavior.

Now to be perfectly honest, all of the value in your online marketing via websites and emails is not 100% trackable. We can’t peer into your brain and register what effect an email or website visit or banner ad had on you in terms of making brand impressions. Which means there is actually more value than we can measure in the digital world.

What we can do, though, is prove an ROI (a Return on Investment) by what we can measure, and there are things we can measure accurately that the traditional media folks cannot.

I’m trying not to throw my former profession under the bus, but as shown above, the difference in ROI proof is monumental.

To highlight this point, the folks at Brafton have produced a fantastic infographic on the matter. The stats should open even the reluctant marketers’ eyes to the value of generating quality content. Businesses pay attention – “content is king!”

Still not creating content on your website? Can’t create content on your website? Not sure how, please investigate our Web Development, Search Engine Optimization, or Writing Services or  call us at 1-877-817-4443 or email us today.

You finally talked the marketing powers that be into letting you try out these newfangled QR Codes, though they are not really new at all, on some type of printed marketing material, but hold up partner, have you tested it? Failure to test QR Codes is unfortunately very common and to be honest, I made the mistake on a set of business cards once too. If the code fails to scan after being printed, well…let’s just avoid that issue shall we?

Here are some tips for testing QR codes for scan-ability before releasing them into the wild.

Quick QR code scan-ability checklist:

1. Check scanning of the QR code in poor lighting conditions.
2. Make sure the QR code can be scanned with older phones.
3. Scan the QR code with multiple scanner applications.
4. Check scanning on an old phone, with the worst QR code app, in poor lighting conditions.
5. Request a final proof, if possible, from the printer to ensure color and contrast accuracy.
6. Scan recognition should not require significant wait or distance adjustment.
7. The QR Code should successfully scan at the distance people will normally be from it. (i.e. billboard effect)

Above we see an example of a QR Code, at a major retailer, that has insufficient contrast to scan from the distance the display was set at. I am pretty certain they had very little success from this implementation.

Android applications to test against: i-nigma, Barcode Scanner, QR Droid, Scanlife, At&t Code, Google Goggles, BeeTagg, and others.

iPhone applications to test: Redlaser, Scan by QR Code City, and others.

In a future post we will discuss optimal ways to create and track QR codes. Find out how we create winning NetCentered marketing solutions.

Social media ROI was the topic of a recent Twitter chat I participated in, and to say it was entertaining would be an understatement. The subject of measuring social media always seems to stir up controversy as part of the group proclaims social media ROI doesn’t exist, can’t be measured, and is as mystical as a unicorn, while the other camp retorts with, does so and can too. In the heat of the debate few ever stop to consider the value of social media, which is different from ROI.

While the ROI of social media is at least as trackable as other traditional forms of marketing, a higher standard seems to be set for it due to a general lack of awareness and the current stressed economic climate. And while I don’t want to get into tracking listeners to leads, viewers to visitations, and reading to reward, we need to accept that most businesses really are not tracking traditional marketing to any real depth, either. In fact, all too many businesses were until recently happy to continue to place value in a book where the main selling point was based on distribution, which was tantamount to tossing it out of the back of a truck. Distribution does not equal usage. Those same people now demand social media be measured down to every follower, like, connection, tweet, post, and QR Code scan.

Now I could go into a bevy of methods, tools, metrics, and KPI (key performance indicators) for doing just that, but rather than starting with the ideal, how about we start with something practical? I want to empower you with a simple three-step process so you can START measuring social media now and leave the door open for a lengthier post another day.

Three Steps to Start Social Media ROI & Value Measurement:

1. Have visitations to and leads from your website (online properties) increased?
2. Is customer satisfaction, client/customer engagement, and issue resolution better or worse?
3. Have you seen an overall lift in revenue, project acquisition, shortened sales cycle, or reduced cost to acquisition?

If the answer to any of those is, I don’t know, then the issue isn’t likely with social media or the tools to measure it. The evidence isn’t always buried as far as we would like to believe and may not require expensive analytic packages.  Sometimes we just need to step back and look at the books.

Contact us for help with your social media strategy or consider attending our NetCentered Marketing Webinar Series.

Picture by Rob Boudon

As you can see, the data for “Yellow Pages” and “Print Directories” is conglomerate.  Looking specifically at print YP usage, search has a 2% advantage over the course of the year and almost 20% in the past month alone.  When the data is broken down by age things get more interesting:

All demographic groups seemingly ignore internet yellow pages, search engines are the preferred channel for ages 18-54 and even the 55-64 group is at a statistical parity between search and print yellow pages (+1% YP).  At 15% penetration in the 65+ group it should be noted that even seniors can no longer be ignored on the Web. 

Small businesses, listen up – you can’t say that your customers aren’t online any more.  With 78% of Americans on the Web (Internet World Stats), and the majority using the search engines to research and contact local businesses you can’t afford to:

 a) Not have a company website
 b) Have one that doesn’t show up in local search

Remember, even if you have a diehard core customer base and even if business is currently healthy you are being shopped, you are being researched, you are being evaluated locally and your potential customers are looking for what you do not just your name. 

Go ahead and Google your products and/or services for your city, then check 5-10 of your surrounding cities and towns (assuming you aren’t marketing nationally).  Now let’s do a quick ROI calculation for this exercise – How many yellow pages ads would you need to cover 11 markets (your primary location and 10 secondary/supporting markets)?  At what cost?  $400/mo, $500/mo… each?  Perhaps more?

Based on our own customer’s research, they’re seeing website-generated local leads exceeding YP leads by 80% (case study coming soon).  Every market is different but the evidence is clear, what used to work in the yellow pages is less effective than what works online. Move that spend (or a proportionate percentage of that spend) into local search engine optimization – It’s clear your customers are looking, can they find you?

Lead sponsor of the law from the city Board of Supervisors, David Chiu, states: “We carefully crafted our legislation to withstand a legal challenge from the industry whose mass over-distribution of Yellow Pages has degraded our environment and blighted our neighborhoods.”

The Local Search Association (formerly the “Yellow Pages Association”), the trade group that represents the commercial phone book industry, has already threatened a legal challenge stating “we cannot stand idly by as our members’ constitutional rights are trampled by a city once known for its tolerance and protection of civil rights.”  (Read Rachel Gordon’s article from the San Francisco Chronicle here)

Violating the phone book industry’s civil rights?  Really?  It sounds more like shady business practices to me.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a landline phone, haven’t for years, yet I still get a new phone book every year.  Where does it end up?  Yep, the recycling bin.  That phone book was counted in the distribution numbers, yet I never opened it.  Not once.  Heck, my 7 year old son knows how to Google what he wants but has never looked anything up in a phone book.

So what is a business owner to do?  The phone book bases its rates on distribution (about 250k in my market) yet only a minute fraction of that distribution is actually “delivered”.  Heck, in my neighborhood they drive around in a pickup truck throwing phone books off the back, regardless of my customer status with the phone company or my desire to ever have a phone book!

To be fair, the yellow pages were the one-to-one directory that connected prospects (with high intent) to your business.  Today, that one-to-one marketing is done online in real time.  Your website is infinitely updatable and allows you to communicate your entire “value proposition” to your prospective customers.  Where your website is dynamic, the Yellow Pages are static; once your ad is posted it cannot change until the next printing. Not ideal for actively marketing anything!  Also unique to the Web is the lack of limitation on search criteria.  The Yellow Pages restricts you to set categories, I hope you’re not in a unique niche or offer multiple services across multiple categories – it can get quite pricey!  With the Web, you can optimize your website for anything you offer based on your customers’ criteria.  Offer door knobs to your local market? No longer are you relegated to “hardware stores” only, you can be found for “[city] door knobs”, “[city] door handles”, “[city] door opening devices”, or any other slew of terms that may be relevant to your bottom line!

Not sure how to make the transition from the Yellow Pages to the Web?  Already out there with no measurable results?  Contact our SEO department today for a free analysis!