We’ve been so busy helping clients update their websites, that the time had come to update our own. StartUpSelling has multiple divisions, and we’re pleased to announce that all of our websites are now updated, and invite you to visit them:
StartUpSelling – Insurance Agency Marketing
StartMarketingTech – Web Marketing for Technology Companies
Juris Marketing – Law Firm Marketing, Web Marketing for Lawyers
From time to time, clients ask me about marketing agencies or web development firms that offer extremely low rates for website development. For example, their claim might be: Unlimited pages, not a template site, only $99 a year!
Two things come to mind when I hear this. First, assuming the client doesn’t have to do all the work themselves, how much time can be allocated to help them with their website? If there is a phone call to review goals, target market and basic website needs that lasts about an hour, then a few modest hours for selecting images, colors, esthetics, adding and laying out content and integrating a logo, let’s say that adds up to 10 hours of time (that doesn’t include testing, billing, collection and hosting). Does that mean this company is paying their people $10 per hour, or less, since the company needs to make at least a modest profit.
The second thing that comes to mind, is that ten hours is, or at least should be, insufficient for the creation of a professional business website. Call to actions, integrated blogs and blog feeds, industry news feeds, search engine optimization, keyword density, pull quotes, font selection, header tag selection, sharing “chiclets”, social media marketing integration, custom images and branding should be both utilized and optimized for a professional website, whether your business is an insurance agency, broker, law firm, consulting organization of high tech firm. And lastly there is coding, preferably using PHP/WordPress to ensure optimum compatibility and flexibility. So how can you do all this for $99 (or even $1,000)? It would seem that answer is clear, either very little time is invested – or really low wages are paid (or some combination of both). You don’t need to be a math major to figure out that equation.
For Web Marketing best practices go to StartUpSelling for Insurance Agency Marketing or JurisMarketing for Law Firm Web Marketing.
Web marketing effectiveness can be measured in many ways, from pipeline building, to new business, to leads or general website activity. In some cases, the latter can greatly impact the former, or conversely it can be the byproduct of an effective web marketing plan. In a recent SEO and Social Media Marketing report for one of our insurance agency clients, we noticed a substantial insurance website traffic increase of 62% year over year for the most recent quarter.
This is not to say that the primary goal was to generate more unique visitors, rather that increased traffic was correlated to a well orchestrated digital marketing strategy. Effective web marketing for insurance agencies (or law firms or any professional services firm) begins with a clear and comprehensive strategic web marketing plan. This web marketing plan often includes digital marketing such as eMarketing, Web Seminar Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing, blogging, vlogging, video and ePublishing. The end result of these activities translate into improved website visibility, website traffic and more inbound leads.
Another interesting note from this recent Insurance Agency SEO and Social Media Marketing Report showed LinkedIn rising to the top of this agency’s Google Analytics report as a leading referral traffic source. Correctly utilizing LinkedIn for B2B Social Media Marketing can yield significant dividends. How does this East Coast Agency handle the demands for Insurance Agency SEO, Insurance Agency Blogging, ePublishing, Newsletter Distribution, eMarketing, Webinars, Website Video, LinkedIn Profile Optimization and Google Analytics Reporting? Simple – they outsource it to the StartUpSelling Web Marketing Team.
Real-World Scenario (Excerpt from Sell More & Work Less)
About ten years ago, I helped a company develop their virtual sales and marketing strategy. Its solution, let’s describe it as a client behavioral research solution, was new to the market and required an evangelical sale. The businesses targeted for this new solution had to be convinced to take a leap of faith and try a new method to analyze their customer behavior. In addition, this method was a completely Web-based, SaaS solution. Evangelical sales are common with technology companies seeking to sell a breakthrough product (e.g., eMarketing solutions, MP3 downloads, cloud computing, electronic reading devices, and even DVRs). The first step in the process was to identify the target market and build a suspect list, just as I mentioned above. The CEO had an insurance background and landed a few insurance company clients. We decided this would be the first niche market to target. How did we build a comprehensive virtual suspect list? We utilized several top 100 industry lists and imported them into a simple Microsoft database. We searched for on-line insurance company listings and added them to our virtual suspect list. Then, we called every one of these insurance organizations (there were about 300 initially targeted). These targeted cold calls resulted in up-to-date contact information, key executives, titles, direct phone numbers, and emails. These were often gathered by offering the suspects an opportunity to attend an informational Web seminar. Within a few short months, the database was quite comprehensive, and the suspect list began to yield a compelling prospect list. Utilizing my Prospect Scorecard system and qualifying acronym, we were able to identify possible buyers, convince these buyers to review the solution in a Web seminar or one-to-one web meeting, and then move them to the qualification phase. Out of the 300 initial suspects targeted, we were able to convince over 150 to review the solution in our first year of sales efforts, and about 20 percent of them purchased within that same year. An impressive result for a self-funded, emerging operation selling 99 percent virtually, without travel or face-to-face meetings and the costs and inefficiencies associated with that model. Today, many years after we helped this client create a target suspect list, they continue to dominate their niche.
For more information on web marketing go to StartMarketingTech, StartUpSelling or JurisMarketing.
Web Selling & Web Marketing Tips and Techniques
Another tip from Sell More & Work Less: Web Selling Techniques Everyone Should Use
During the closing phase, you may encounter challenges with your prospect’s lawyer or legal department. In some cases, if you have your own legal department, the challenge might actually be your own legal requirements. But for now, let’s focus on a few important qualifying questions for the legal department. Do they have a lawyer or legal department that must review your contract? Do they insist on using their own contract? How long does it take to review a typical purchase? Can you work with them directly or does your sponsor act as the liaison? Do they insist on certain standard clauses, which must be included in every contract, and if so, can your sponsor provide those for you to review? Is your solution considered a work for hire, do they require ownership of IP, are there onerous damages clauses? Will they consider a mandatory arbitration clause which might be helpful to your boutique operation? We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves in the sales process, but it’s helpful to identify potential issues early and to have a game plan to solve them in the present and close phases. Though many of these questions pertain to B2B sales, some are also relevant for B2C sales. If you can simplify your own contract, it can help reduce the legal hurdles immensely. Consider creating an order form with the key legal clauses you require on the back of the form or on page two and include an arbitration clause. Simpler is usually better. If you wind up in a legal battle before or after the sale, it’s usually a losing proposition for everyone.
www.sellmoreandworkless.com for more information on our new web selling tips book
www.startmarketingtech.com for more information on B2B web marketing
www.jurismarketing.com for more information on law firm web marketing
Everyone wants to sell more and work less. Intrinsically this statement infers greater profits, less labor and a more efficient operation. The Internet has changed the way businesses sell and market, or at least it has for some businesses. The days are coming to a close that organizations are more concerned with the facade of their building than they are with their website, or at least those days should be coming to a close.
Today, businesses large and small, should embrace web marketing plans and inexpensive cloud based solutions to optimize their efficiency and improve profitability. These tools range from Sales Force Automation and Contact Management to eMail Marketing and Social Media Marketing tools. Web meeting tools from the likes of Microsoft, Adobe and Citrix are powerful and inexpensive, and video calling from innovative products such as Skype allow real time face to face communication with employees, contractors, clients and prospects. Of course all of the above presupposes a business has an up to date website. Let’s review ten important tips business owners need to accomplish to create a more profitable and virtual operation.
1. Website – It all starts here with a professional, current, Web 2.0 (as of this writing) website. Your website should have an easy to understand value proposition, prominent above the fold call to action, large social media sharing buttons, on page HTML, SEO, blog and video. Today these are the basics and every owner, principal, partner or sales executive should assume that every prospect, partner, client and prospective employee will visit their website. If your offices look great but your website doesn’t, your priorities are inversely proportional in this regard.
2. Web Meetings – If your business has yet to embrace web meetings over traditional meetings, particularly for initial prospect meetings, you’re missing a great opportunity to leverage an inexpensive web selling and marketing tool. Qualify your prospects before driving 60 miles round trip for an initial meeting.
3. Webinars – If you’re thinking about eMarketing, leverage webinars to offer an educational call to action. Succinct, content rich, educational webinars provide a superior platform to showcase your knowledge, or your partners’ knowledge. Remember, you should educate as opposed to “sell” on your webinars.
4. eMarketing – Leverage eMarketing to reach out to highly targeted prospects with a very specific and measureable message. Your marketing message should be clear, concise and compelling, with a call to action which benefits the registrant, as opposed to yourself. Offering white papers, case studies and webinars which educate your prospective client (or client) should be your mantra.
5. Video Conference Calls – Borrowing the circa 1965 Bell Telephone slogan, “It’s the next best thing to being there”, Skype Video (or similar VOIP) offers a much closer approximation to this classic advertisement. I use Skype calls frequently for face to face communication with contractors, clients and prospects. Basic Skype PC to PC calls are free, or for a few dollars a month you can get multiparty video conferencing and screen sharing. Or, if you have GoToMeeting (or similar web meeting solution), you can offer video conferencing with greater screen sharing capabilities.
6. Virtual Employees and Contractors – When you think about profit margins, think in terms of virtual employees and contractors. The more virtual your operation, the greater the benefit to your bottom line. And virtual employees or contractors can often be more productive, unburdened by commutes or other distractions, they can optimize productivity by delivering services in a more flexible working environment. Management of these types of employees and contractors needs to focus on measureable results.
7. Outsource – Where and when possible, outsource non critical operations. For example, if you are a smaller business, it’s easier and more cost effective to host with a well recognized hosting provider (like 1and1 or GoDaddy) than to operate your own in house server. It may be less expensive to outsource marketing activities than to staff internally. Before hiring an admin, consider outsourcing with a virtual assistant.
8. Web Marketing – If you’re thinking of attending a trade show or offering an on-site seminar, reassess your priorities and extend your budget by leveraging web marketing activities. Utilize eMarketing, Social Media Marketing, Web Seminars, Case Studies, Blogs, SEO and other digital marketing efforts as opposed to traditional marketing methods.
9. eCollateral -Use eCollateral not traditional print collateral. Printed collateral is expensive, difficult to distribute, challenging to measure (who actually received it, read it, and did something with it).
10. Video – Video is digital and virtual and ties in nicely to your virtual goals. Offering a message about your value proposition, a recorded webinar, Skype recorded interview or even voice over PowerPoint vlog will help extend your web marketing and virtual reach.
Businesses leveraging these ten tips can become more virtual, more efficient and more profitable. Focusing on web centric, reusable solutions helps improve economies of scale and invest in a web centric foundation to improve the operational efficiency of any organization, regardless of size. If a business lacks the skills or resources to accomplish all of the items above, consider selective outsourcing as an option. Outsourcing doesn’t connote offshore outsourcing, rather an alternative to permanent internal staffing of the activity.
www.startmarketingtech.com for more information on B2B web marketing
www.jurismarketing.com for more information on law firm web marketing
www.startupselling.com for more information on insurance agency web marketing
Kindle Fire Product Review
I recently purchased a Kindle Fire, replacing my original Kindle, which had seen increasing use over the last few years. Ironically, the Kindle Fire was purchased at a traditional brick and mortar establishment, as I wanted to check out the size and weight of the device prior to purchase. I use the term ironic, as these types of devices may represent another building block in the future demise of the brick and mortar operations selling them. My decision would be Kindle versus Apple iPad, with size, weight and interface key factors.
My immediate take on the Kindle Fire was very positive. It was larger than my original Kindle, but small enough to be considered a book substitute. I found the screen much easier to read than my original Kindle, and it offered all the advantages of a color display. Two major enhancements included the ability to browse the web and to download apps, including very important and useful apps, such as Angry Birds. The web browser works wherever one can find Wi-Fi access, including HotSpots. The Apple iPad was also very impressive, offering greater functionality albeit at a larger size and weight, at about 21 ounces compared to the 14 ounces of the Kindle.
I purchased the Kindle Fire, selling for $199 as of that time, and was on my way. The Kindle Fire is like having your own personal public library in the palm of your hand. Many classics are free, or very inexpensive eliminating the need to drive to a bookstore or local library. The Kindle Fire, allows users to specifically (or randomly) choose almost any new book sample or classics to read. Striving to mix in some classics with my recent business selections (Blink, Steve Jobs, Moneyball) I also downloaded: Mountain Interval (Robert Frost), Prufrock and Other Observations (T.S. Eliot), Walking (Thoreau), The Wreck of the Hesperus (Longfellow) and Notebooks of Leonardo daVinci. These are not entirely random as the appearance of T.S. Elliot’s character in Woody Allen’s movie, Midnight in Paris, provided the catalyst to review at least one of these works. And that’s one of the great advantages of the Kindle, within seconds of hearing about, or thinking about a book or an author, you can be reading a sample or the actual book. Amazon also offers a Kindle Owners’ Lending Library program ($79 per year) which provides a free library of books (currently about 5,000) and access to a free video streaming service with over 10,000 movies and television episodes. It also provides free shipping on Amazon purchases and is essentially a “no brainer” if you purchase a book or more per month, as the estimated costs would be over $100 per year to do so.
Also notable as the Kindle Fire supports web surfing and downloading and streaming of video. I use the former often, but have not yet used the latter. The Kindle Fire, eReaders and other tablet type solutions are clearly going to change future consumption of content. I’ve seen friends who I would consider “technology laggards” now migrating to eReaders and tablets. The convenience of being able to transport a dozen or more books on any vacation or business trip, sample any book before purchasing, changing font size and brightness to accommodate personal preferences and access to a growing online library are just a few of the catalysts driving behavioral changes. Though not all books are yet available on the Kindle, I’ve seen estimates of 650,000+ and I’m sure this will grow rapidly to accommodate consumer purchasing habits as more people move to eReaders. Bottom line, as of this writing, I think the Kindle Fire is a great solution for almost anyone who enjoys to read.
Sell More & Work Less (on Kindle) Your Virtual Success (on Kindle) Marketing for Technology Companies Law Firm Marketing Insurance Agency Marketing
I’ve now published over 100 articles on Ezine and track metrics on a weekly basis. My overall goal is to create relevant content germane to our target markets including, B2B Marketing, marketing for technology firms, Law firm marketing and Insurance Agency Marketing. The key marketing metrics provided by Ezine include views, clicks and click through rate. These can vary dramatically, as a popular and well viewed article doesn’t necessarily generate the best Click Through Rate (CTR). In the example below, the #1 article received the most clicks (that makes sense) but the #3 article, though viewed significantly less had a much higher CTR and as a result, almost as many clicks.
Narrow or niche articles can often generate the best results. for example, my article entitled “Create A Virtual Buyer Persona – Spend Time With Prospects Who Can and Will Buy” had a very high CTR (16%) but ranked much lower on total views. In general, one can assume that a mix of topics, both broad and narrow, balance readership with CTR. Ongoing monitoring and measurement is always helpful with Social Media Marketing initiatives.
It was recently reported that online ad spending will eclipse print ad spending for the first time in U.S. history. This year, industry experts are projecting that marketers will spend more on online advertising than on advertising in print magazines and newspapers. According to some analysts, online ad revenue will increase to approximately $39 billion in sales this year, while print ads will fall to about $34 billion.
This news is not unexpected, it’s been a tough decade for newspapers and magazines, and a stellar one for Google and the likes thereof. Proctor and Gamble (P&G), an ad spending behemoth, recently announced that they were continuing their shift toward online campaigns and away from print media. Their CEO stated, “In the digital space, with things like Facebook and Google and others, we find that the return on investment of the advertising, when properly designed, when the big idea is there, can be much more efficient.”
What does all of this mean to small and medium size businesses? When thinking of your overall marketing strategy, think in terms of your online opportunities including your website, on page SEO, off page SEO, PPC and social media marketing. Online marketing opportunities should be preeminent in your overall marketing strategy, while old school print media and brick and mortar event marketing should be carefully scrutinized for declining ROI.
Sell More & Work Less is now available on Kindle. This web selling tips book focuses on a 4-Phase Sales Process which helps business professionals quickly learn and apply many new web sales tips and techniques to improve their sales effectiveness. Simply said, allowing them to sell more and work less. The 4-Phase Virtual Sales Process facilitates the transition to a web centric sales model offering greater profit potential, improved methods of selling and the more flexible business and personal lifestyle this affords. Readers can replicate the 4-Phase Virtual Sales Process to create their own tailored sales process using the techniques explained in this web selling tips and techniques book. I was fortunate to be assisted by three “in the trenches” coauthors, Mike Lauducci, John Scranton and Andrew Blume in the writing of this web selling tips book.
Sell More & Work Less is now available on Amazon, both in paperback and the Kindle version http://www.amazon.com/Sell-More-Work-Less-ebook/dp/B0072O3KUO/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1328183749&sr=1-1-spell.
For B2B Web Marketing go to www.StartMarketingTech. For Insurance Agency Marketing go to www.StartUpSelling.com.
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