Ideas for Business

I’m not exactly sure of the timing, but it seems not to long ago that Google started placing more emphasis on its map listings when you type in local searches. If you are a SEO company, you probably know what I am talking about because it was as if Google was putting more emphasis on local vs. their pay-per-click advertising. Not to mention, it didn’t take to long for local vendors to take notice and were asking “How do I get higher in the listings?”  Just check out this search below for “garage door repair minneapolis.”

If you are like myself, local search is no easy egg to crack and is not as straightforward as regular search engine optimization (SEO) is. In the sea of duplicate listings, salted reviews, and nasty competition lies a wealth of ROI to be had. But the question that keeps popping up is how do you climb to the top?

Well, one thing that most local businesses don’t know is that one major factor in how you rank is the sheer number of listings you have among all the local channels. But it doesn’t stop there, your listings need to be accurate and consistent. This among other factors, tells Google Maps that you have been around for a while and in their eyes is more trustworthy. But with so many local search sites, which ones are the most important and how do you get in as many places as you would like?

A good starting in my opinion is getlisted.org. Right from the homepage you can enter your business name and zip code to see how many of the top local engines you are found in. (BTW- this list has been growing) So as you can see from my personal entry, I scored a whopping 62% and am in all the channels except two.   Now I could just as easily just go to those two and manually submit, but there are drawbacks. First, it takes a lot of time. Second, waiting for verification can be a pain. Lastly, just because you are in these channels doesn’t mean that they all have the same data not to mention there are literally hundreds more. That’s where Yext comes in.

For a monthly or annual fee, you can grab a PowerListing which gets you into over 30 search destination sites. By creating one listing, Yext aggregates it to all the major local search destinations including your photos, products, and specials. In addition, these changes take effect much quicker than the manual method not to mention the time it would take you to do so. Yext also gives you the ability to track your performance with a dashboard filled with statistics. So to recap, you get better rankings, get into more places, and save a hell of a lot of time. Does it work? Yep, just one day after summiting a new listing, here is a screenshot of a status update on the dashboard:

Search engine marketing agencies will be glad to hear that they have a solid reseller program. However, I would jump on the bandwagon early because I think their entry prices will likely skyrocket as more people take advantage of their offer. Search engine marketing agencies and alike can sign up through their PowerListing Reseller Program.  Below is a scree shot I took of the easy to use Reseller Interface:

Again, the price for agencies is very attractive right now.  If you are not an agency, feel free to contact us at www.tmaemarketing.com or www.delmonteagency.com for immediate support. Happy local searching!

Is your company adaptable? Is your marketing optimized?

I think most online marketers get the fact that marketing and communications on the web is a fast changing place and that most companies are structured to move at a slower pace than the digital world is evolving.

Take for example, the notion of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It’s been around for about 15 years or so and in just the past few months Google has made the most significant changes ever. Despite the crystal clear focus towards search integration with social, many companies and digital pundits are still skeptical about the role of organic search let alone how to optimize Google+ to attract and engage customers.

Yesterday I saw a video on the Inc. Magazine website titled, “Increase Your Search Engine Page Rank”.  Is that really what a business needs to succeed online? An inflated PageRank score? What about understanding how to attract more customers? What about engaging customers who are inspired to refer your brand to even more customers?

I think there’s something seriously lost in translation between real consumer behaviors and marketing efforts that succeed on the web. Companies see an article like the one above and start asking consultants for help with increasing their PageRank score which is a distraction from what’s important.

To make sense for companies in the midst of all this change and differing online marketing advice, there are two essential ideas worth considering for anyone in a position to create online content:

A different way of thinking about optimization

Rather than tactics like web page SEO, blogging or video driving an online marketing approach, what if companies instead made more of an effort to focus on customer behaviors and preferences for information discovery, user experience and engagement?  In other words, what if they researched what types of media, topics and channels both customers and those who influence customers prefer? With that knowledge, develop a content mix and corresponding optimization effort.

This is content marketing 101, but so many marketers are caught up in specific tactics, they lose sight of the target audience they’re after in favor of the crack-like effect of pumping out “a viral video”, another infographic or contest to attract more fans, friends and followers.

The Discovery, User Experience and Engagement optimization approach that I talk about at length in Optimize transcends those tactics and emphasizes that a web marketing effort should be focused on the role of content and human experience as it relates to meeting both the objectives of the consumer and the brand. Once those key triggers are understood, then the editorial, keyword optimization and social networking tactics are defined.

How people find information, what formats and topics resonate, how to inspire interaction, sharing and commerce are all part of this three part optimization approach. The platforms, apps and social technology might change, but a more holistic view of optimization can guide content marketing efforts regardless of what social media, networking or search engine platform rules the day.

In this scenario, optimization is more in alignment with the actual definition of  the word optimize: ” to make as perfect, effective, or functional as possible”. Then applying that approach to connecting customers with brand content and experiences in a way that motivates consumers to act: buy, refer, share.  Each touchpoint in the brand and consumer experience across the customer lifecycle can be optimized for better performance, for more desirable outcomes.

Develop adaptive models for online marketing technologies

By that I mean create processes and plans for rapid detection, testing and evaluation of shiny new social or online technologies to determine their potential role in the content marketing mix.  Many companies feel overwhelmed and don’t know what or when “the next Twitter” will pop. Or even if they should care. Others withdraw from testing and stick only with the few social platforms they know.

Creating an adaptive approach to incorporating new social and web applications, tools and platforms can filter down the most relevant shiny new objects and allow for more rapid incorporation with content marketing efforts. This approach means coordinating people that can fulfill these roles. For that, there will be some social business and internal collaboration tools involved. Leveraging your collective organization to monitor and filter for emerging social technologies relevant to engaging with your customer base can result in more rapid identification, best practices formulation and successful implementation.

Most companies don’t have staff or resources dedicated to testing out new social technologies, so why not tap into the collective knowledge, wisdom and reach of your employees, partners and even your customers? Without the ability to adapt, the momentum of many online marketing efforts will certainly die or at least lose out to the competition that’s paying attention.

As it is for the surfer in the image above, an adaptable approach to content and optimized online marketing is about the journey. It’s about trying to perfect your craft and continuously refine what you have to work with every day. Use the tools of the day knowing they will change. Focus more on whatever it takes to stay connected with your customers and community using the search and social channels that are most relevant.

How are you defining optimization in your organization? Do you see the value of taking a step back and viewing optimization more holistically? Does your organization have a process for monitoring, testing and adopting new technologies for marketing?

I’ll be talking about many of these key #Optimize principles at OMS and SES Accelerator coming up next week in San Diego. I hope to see you there. 

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | Essential Shifts in Online Marketing: Are You On Board? Are You Optimized? | http://www.toprankblog.com

Are online coupons good for small businesses? Like every marketing strategy, coupons have good points and bad points. It all comes back to management and control – lose control and you can cause serious damage to your business. That was the case with one (of many according to social gossip) business who decided to run a campaign through Groupon. While much has been said about Groupon’s role in the demise of this business, the business owner has to take some responsibility. In this case, they failed to put a cap on the number of coupons sold, and when Groupon sold 450, the cost was enough to break the business.

Group deals do need careful attention. The particular deal in question was a $15 coupon for $30 of product. Groupon charged $7.50 leaving the retailer with $7.50 for $30 worth of goods – a loss of $22.50 for every transaction. With 450 deals sold, that was a loss of over $10,000 to the business. Coupons can be an ideal marketing tool, however, if you’re a small business, you need to limit your costs. In this case, it may have been wise to cap the coupons at 50 or 100 – better yet, to rethink the whole process. The Groupon deal was clearly not going to favor a small business such as this.

Twitter has been an ideal channel for the promotion of coupon type deals. Through Twitter (and Facebook) you can announce short deals; for example, you can offer a decent discount for all lunchtime (11:30 am – 1:30 pm) transactions. You can also announce similar deals – one day, five days, the first 100 customers are good examples. The important consideration here is that you, the small business owner, have a lot of control of the costs – the downside, you are generally promoting to existing customers.

You can use independent coupon sites, however, you do need to be in a position to control the number of coupons that are in the marketplace, and you do need to set firm expiration dates. Don’t fool customers by hiding dates in small print in obscure places – be up front. If the coupon expires, they’ll need to wait for the next coupon issue.

Online coupons are great promotion tools for new products, new shopfronts or websites, or for increasing traffic flow during quiet times. As a business owner, you need to maintain as much control as possible over the issuing of coupons; otherwise, you’ll have cost blow-outs that could cripple your business. On a side note, this business was lucky, the local community worked together to revitalize the business, but that’s a story for another day.

We’re never one to shy away from darker color palettes and Human Resources MBA was the perfect opportunity to apply that. The design concept here was all about using textures—namely wood, leather, and paper—to come up with a look that meant business.

On the homepage, we gave visitors four main navigation choices, and recycled the look for those boxes in the sidebar widgets on the rest of the site. We also used a red wax seal for the article badges to provide a pop of contrast that still fits the elegant, traditional look. As for typography, we went for the dependable Georgia for paragraph text and Arvo by Anton Koovit for headlines.

Did we use the Genesis Framework once again? You bet.

Is Your Blogger Relations Using Push & Pull PR Tactics?

Yesterday digital PR maven Adam Vincenzini pinged me about a post he was researching on how brands could make it easier for bloggers to talk about them. It’s a great question because mentions and links from influential content sources are priceless for credibility, awareness and in particular, social SEO.

This is a topic close to home because after 8 years of blogging here at Online Marketing Blog attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors, nearly 50k RSS subscribers, 13k blog Facebook Fans and 16k blog Twitter followers, I’ve had the opportunity to be pitched, schmoozed and numerous other tactics to get me to talk about companies that want exposure. After all that, I can say I think I’ve found the magic formula that will almost guarantee bloggers will talk about a particular brand.

Are you ready?

I know, the suspense is killing me too.

OK, here it is.

It’s not about you. It’s about them.

Yeah, that’s it.

Bloggers don’t really care about your brand’s agenda.

What DO bloggers care about? That’s exactly the question PR and Media Relations professionals should be asking themselves. The problem is, most media relations people still think of bloggers as if they operate like journalists.

A great example is sending an email pitch (with no previous correspondence or social web interaction) with a press release attached as a MS Word document offering a chance to set up a meeting with some corporate executive to talk about the thing being pitched.

Really?

For comparison, imagine someone coming up to you at a party and introducing themselves, suggesting a great new drink and that you’ll need to arrange a time to talk to the bartender for more information about the drink and maybe you’ll like it and maybe you’ll talk about it to others.  I don’t think so.

What about introducing yourself, asking about favorite drinks and then getting one of those favorite drinks to try – right then and there?  If it’s great, that drink will get talked about, right then and there.

The problem with many blogger relations efforts is that PR pros tend to pitch based purely on serving the brand’s need for exposure instead of thinking about what would make the blogger interested and even excited to use a brand’s information in a blog post. That’s the challenge for PR professionals – reconcile brand needs with those of the media or bloggers.

How to be useful to bloggers as an information source is the key to getting more brand mentions. Dig into what hooks or triggers motivate a particular group or segment of bloggers and then package useful content in compelling and interesting ways that PR can use to engage them. Think about how those bloggers discover new content. Do they search? What do they search for? Where do they search? Do they ping their social networks for sources and information? Which social networks?

Besides optimizing brand stories for easy discovery on search engines and social networks, think about how to get on the blogger’s radar by appealing to their ego – in a relevant way.  Create content that is special, that is unique, relevant and timely. Bloggers love to be first. They love to share.

Once you’ve created compelling and useful content, make it easy for bloggers to share on the social networks where they spend their time. Beyond generic social sharing widgets, it might mean the ability to Tweet an individual data point, image or video. easy + useful + relevant = win.

Don’t stop with an infographic, monster list of industry statistics or entertaining video – keep producing interesting content and you’ll not only get on the radar of influential bloggers, you’ll stay there.

Push tactics like media relations pitches to bloggers need to empathize with bloggers’ needs and then package brand content in an interesting and useful way. Pull PR tactics to get on bloggers’ radar means optimizing content for search and social media discovery as well as making it easy to share the the content that has been found.

That’s how you make it compelling for bloggers to talk about brands online.

If you’re a media relations and PR pro, what have you done to become more successful at increasing blogger mentions of your company or your brand clients?

For even more great insights, check out Adam’s article on Ragan. You can also get Blogger Relations 101 here and some useful SEO tips for PR in Optimize.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | Blogger Relations: Push or Pull? How to Get Bloggers to Mention Your Brand | http://www.toprankblog.com