Sticking to the basics
I had a potential new client come and visit, wanting a new website. They came with all kinds of functionality requests clearly listing all the “bells and whistles”. It was funny to listen to this person list a large number of technology tools, many of which contradicted what they wanted their online business to achieve. I thought about this conversation and realised it’s not their fault!
Time and Place
Successful marketing is about choosing the right time and place. A funeral director would not advertise in a maternity ward of a hospital as it is not relevant so why do companies continually choose to invest in promoting their websites in printed catalogues that are delivered to hundreds of thousands of letterboxes? Continue Reading…
Methods in building credibility
My last article discussed how people get caught up in fancy technology and never even consider the online business fundamentals in meeting visitor needs and ultimately building credibility. This article breaks down what you need to do to achieve this.
Whether you are a new or existing online business, when you have a first time visitor to your site, the product offering is important, but it is the methods in building credibility with the visitor that will determine whether they buy from you now, or come back to purchase later.
Online Customer Service
To acquire new customers typically costs money, whether it is online or off, so there needs to be methods in retaining and building their long term value. True online customer service is defined as all the activities conducted once the customer completes a purchase. This is referring specifically to the conduct of the customer service team towards their customers.
Choose Your Colours Carefully
Our brains respond to colour. It’s no accident that Coke and Ferrari use red, IBM blue and black, and the UPS courier service use brown. People tend to relax in green rooms, weightlifters have been found to perform better in blue gyms, babies cry more in yellow rooms. Prisons and hospitals now use specific colours to influence the behaviour of inmates and patients.
If you’re thinking of redesigning your website, or re-branding, it pays to research your colour choices carefully before you commit.
SEO or Google Adwords?
Our consultants talk with hundreds of businesses each year who ask our advice about buying Google Adwords versus optimising their sites for free organic listings. Lets face it, Google dominates the search landscape both here in New Zealand and Australia.
What Advertising Budget?
Here’s a question for you, “If one of our greedy little banks offered a deal on one dollar coins for fifty cents, how many would you buy?”
Most normal people would say, “I’ll take the lot”, right?
Why then do companies have an advertising budget?
How to Set-up Shipping Online
This approach is so simple, yet so powerful, that most clients mentally kick themselves that they had been wasting time struggling with how to do shipping online. It may take a little time to get your head around, however it has succeeded for every one of Exceed’s eCommerce clients to date.
Building “Connectedness” – Keeping in Touch With Your Customers
The process of connecting to a market has always been arduous for many. For those who truly feel an online presence is key to growth (that should be all of you), the ability to implement a strategy around feedback loops is critical. If you are a pure play, this is compulsory.
Quick Tips – 5 Email Marketing No No’s
You may have noticed an increase in articles from me about Email Marketing lately. Other than it being one of my online areas of specialty, it’s also one of the lowest-cost / highest-return forms of marketing (online or offline); and with my background in wholesale and retail, show me something with such impressive returns from such a small outlay, and I can’t help but get excited!
