Is Your Business Website Mobile-Friendly? (It had better be!)

If the key to real estate sales truly is location, location, location, then the key to online marketing is access, access, access. So, our online marketing tip for today is – your business website must be accessible to everyone – including the increasingly large numbers of those who use mobile devices to research and shop. In other words, make sure your business website is mobile friendly.

In addition to this critical factor, Google began using “mobile friendliness” as a ranking factor for all websites in 2015. Known as Mobilegeddon in the world of SEO, the search engine giant made it clear to us that being mobile-friendly was now very important for future website rankings in the search results (SERPs).

Since then, Google has increased the importance of mobile-friendliness with an “update to mobile search results that increases the effect of the ranking signal to help our users find even more pages that are relevant and mobile-friendly.”

While this is obviously important for business-to-consumer marketing, it begs the question of value for B2B businesses. The simple answer is that you should be mobile-friendly to all potential clients and customers.

Mobile Search Exceeds Desktop Search

So, beyond the importance Google places on this characteristic, why should you care?

Again, the answer is simple because, as of October 2016, mobile traffic officially surpassed desktop traffic on the internet. (AugustAsh.com)

While this may not be the case for you, or others you know, that is irrelevant to ensuring your business website is mobile-friendly.

According to the business data website Statista.com, mobile commerce and shopping have grown by almost staggering numbers, just three of which are compelling for your online marketing strategy:

• 82% of online users in the US used a mobile device for online shopping

• 35% of online users in the US are mobile-only online shoppers

• 57% of online shoppers in the US say they will not recommend a business that offers a poor mobile experience

For B2C businesses, being mobile-friendly can be even more important, because:

• 88% of US consumers research products online to buy in-store

• 63% of US shoppers perform online product research and price comparisons while in-store

While many of you may think the need to be available through mobile devices applies exclusively to retailers, this is definitely not the case.

Just think about your own experience with using your smartphone or tablet to research a business online. Sure, much of that time is spent “shopping” for consumer goods but you’ve also spent time checking out the websites of competitors, suppliers, your own social media, and engaging with visitors to your website.

If you're using your own mobile devices more than ever before, so are your clients and prospects.

There is a very easy way to find out if your website is mobile-friendly, just click here: Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

Ted remains available for business consulting to the trade, including online marketing tips and the mobile friendliness of your website. Simply… Contact TD Fall today.

Client Retention Tips #2: Use Video to Re-engage Past Clients Emotionally

Give ‘em the feels!!!

Video will Re-engage Past Clients on an Emotional Level

Video engages your audience on a visceral and emotional level that most text and imagery simply can’t achieve. With video, you can make multiple impressions in a minimal amount of time. You can literally communicate in seconds what it might take minutes to read – minutes that your audience may not be otherwise willing to invest in your content.

Here are 5 ideas for easy-to-produce keep-in-touch videos that you can use to re-engage with past clients or clients who’ve gone dormant:

1.      Educational tips and techniques videos – Everyone loves to get free stuff. Sharing high-value information about important subjects in your niche will always be popular. Doing so will enhance your credibility as an expert; a thought leader and a go-to source they can rely on.

This will also place you back at the top of mind for your past clients, folks who may have forgotten just how valuable your products or services were to them in the past.

And think about this for a minute: “How To” videos are one of the most searched phrases on YouTube. So, if you are creating videos and publishing them on YouTube, your new video has a very high chance of getting a ton of views and shares. You cannot go wrong when creating educational “How To” videos. #Bonus!

2.      Inspirational and positive topic videos – Most people like to start their day reading or listening to positive messages in one form or another. More than likely you have at least a few things you like to tell your clients to regularly inspire them, give them hope and direction, provide courage to take the big leap, and generally put a smile on their face.

When done properly, video can provide the motivation, inspiration, and stimulation for your clients to act on their own behalf; by investing in a product or service that will resolve an issue that is causing them pain. The beauty of this approach is that it is rarely “salesy”, and the audience won’t feel like they’re being pushed in a particular direction.

By providing them with options for resolving a problem, you also present them with the opportunity to choose your solution. Wrap all this up in an inspirational and positive tone, delivered regularly, and you’ll be handing out an abundance of warm fuzzies.

3.      Videos that challenge, empower, and encourage reaching their goals – We love the idea of an ongoing series of challenges. And when you deliver them in a video, your passion and enthusiasm come through loud and clear. Whether you’re encouraging your clients to reach new heights each and every month, or you’re empowering them to work through a difficult process and guiding them to the light at the end of the tunnel, offering a series of challenge videos could be just the type of encouragement they need to see it through to the end.

The first quarter of every year is a great time to focus your audience on setting and reaching goals. After all, many if not most of them have set some sort of resolution for change in the new year yet, research tells us that 80% of these resolutions fail within the first 60 days each year.

If you can use a video appeal to help them achieve their goals this year, you’ll likely have a friend for life – a friend who just may buy from you again and again!

4.      Holiday, seasonal, and special occasion greeting videos – When was the last time you resented receiving a special message to commemorate a holiday or special occasion? Like, never? The thought that you took the time to show you continue to appreciate them will go a long way to helping past clients remember why they appreciated you in the past.

Being kind is never a bad idea, in any situation, and it can have long-term benefits for both of you.

5.      Client appreciation message videos – No one likes to feel forgotten, especially if they’ve made an effort to reach out or made a purchase from you. For existing or recent “Quiet” clients, letting them know that you appreciate their business and are willing to continue helping them is a huge positive. In this case, even client testimonials about that new product or service can be used.

Even the simplest message, like a sincere “Thank you”, when communicated emotionally in a video message, can have a huge impact on folks who may have felt otherwise ignored.

Video Marketing Engages Clients Emotionally

Cultivating repeat customers is a critical element in the long-term success of any business. Due to the inherently impersonal nature of the internet, those who do business online often struggle with client retention. A keep-in-touch video campaign that is designed to nurture and re-engage past clients might just be the perfect tool for doing so – keeping your business growing and thriving long into the future.

Remember, Ted remains available for marketing and business consulting to the trade. Simply… Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Client Retention Tips #1: Use Video to Re-engage Past Clients for Repeat Business

One thing that online marketing can do far better than traditional marketing methods is re-engaging old prospects to make them new again. And, instead of another text-filled email barrage – video marketing can help you retain and re-engage with old clients more effectively than other methods.

• As a strategy for nurture campaigns, keep-in-touch campaigns, and re-engagement campaigns, video marketing has no equal.

If you are like most online business owners, your focus is on client acquisition; the process of attracting and persuading potential customers to buy your products or services. Utilizing social media, blogging, list building, building your thought leadership on relevant guest sites, and video marketing – there are abundant opportunities for generating new traffic, converting new leads, and finding new prospects.

• And, of course, this makes a great deal of sense because, if you don’t grow your business you’ll surely fail.

Based on the latest research, it’s 6-7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep a current customer. In fact, 80% of your future profits will most likely come from 20% of your existing customers. These are just a couple of the reasons that implementing a customer loyalty program is vital to your business.

Considering those stats, doesn’t it make sense for you to make an effort to keep the loyalty fires stoked? And, by incorporating videos into your messaging, it’s not as hard as you might think.

• Growing your business should include nurturing existing clients, as well as securing new clients.

And what about old prospects? What happened to the people who have engaged with your site in the past, contacted you previously, or maybe even purchased over the past few years? When’s the last time you worked to convert these folks into leads who will engage with your business right now?

After all, these are people who’ve told you that, at a minimum, they’re interested in what you have to offer, whether they bought in the past or not. Just because they’ve gone quiet doesn’t mean you can’t pull them back in by creating a video packed with timely information that will positively impact them.

Refocus Past Clients’ Interests with the Power of Video

If you think of past or inactive clients as dormant assets to your business, you’ll see their potential value more clearly. Why should you think of them this way? Because they’ve already proven their value:

• They already know you and (hopefully) like you.

• They understand your products and services, along with the value you provide.

• They have paid you money in the past – and they may be willing to do it again!

These are all very good reasons to begin re-engaging with past clients. Here are a few more:

• More than 90% of marketers use video content in their marketing campaigns.

• The word “video” in an email subject line increases the open rates by 19%.

• The word "video" in an email increases click-through rates by 65% and reduces the number of email unsubscribers by 26%.

These are not insignificant numbers, and all of them combined should be more than enough to compel you to begin using video messaging as part of your client retention strategy.

Use A Keep-in-Touch Video Campaign to Nurture Past Clients

Few businesses remain stagnant over time, just as few clients have only one pain point that needs resolution. While your mix of products or services will likely shift and grow, so too will their needs change with time. For all you know, they need your newest service now more than ever, yet they have no idea you offer it!

There can be a variety of reasons clients leave or go dormant:

• Their needs or interests have changed

• Their immediate problem has been solved

• Your product list or service menu has changed

• Your content has become too “Salesy”, with no new high-value information available to capture their interest

• Lack of engagement has made them feel unappreciated or invisible

By re-engaging these former clients, you greatly improve your chances of converting them again, or even for the first time.

Remember, Ted remains available for marketing and business consulting to the trade. Simply… Get in touch with TD Fall today.

A Product Launch or New Service Launch Is All About You?

If you perform a Google search for “product launch checklist”, it will take less than one second for the search engine giant to deliver more than 30 million search results… 30 million! Plus, some of those results will be from companies selling “product launch software”, while others offer some sort of product launch template as a guide. A limited number will actually present recommendations for a checklist.

Yeah, sounds like typical Google search results, right?

Of course, even if you discover a reliable site with a decent checklist for your product launch, you still have to act on it. You still have to shoehorn that list into a process that works for you and your product.

• You have to set priorities.

• You have to figure out the timing.

• You have to set deadlines for content creation.

• You have to assign tasks to yourself and your team.

• You have to… have to… have to…

• You have to do all the detail work and, if there are any problems, and

• You have to take all the responsibility for not being prepared! YIKES!

Don’t you just love being the boss?!?

What to do, what to do?

Now, as you sit there contemplating all the things you must do to launch your product or service, you're likely wishing you already had a process in place with tasks, responsibilities, and timing ready to rock and roll.

While your product launch to-do list may seem endless right now, we’d like to offer some guidance on what needs to be done and how to set up your launch schedule.

How to Make Your Launches Easy (Well, easier!)

First, the good news: You can either create a launch template for yourself or you can choose from a variety of them available online. (And, when we say variety, we mean choosing from about 128 million Google search results!)

Below is an example of just one of the possible product launch templates you can choose from. As you’ll see, you can pick from the simplest to the most complex and detailed, as you please.

What really matters is how you format your own or fill out the cells in the template you choose. (Did we mention that a ton of these templates are FREE!)

Images courtesy of Smartsheet.com

And, oh yeah, there is no bad news!

All of a sudden, you have a comprehensive to-do list that includes who, what, and when: i.e., person responsible, type of task, timing, and deadline! This includes critical launch tasks like:

• Content creation – lists of promotional materials, types of videos, blog posts, social media posts, etc., + Due Date for each.

• Subscriber list promotion – email creation, email nurture campaign, newsletter announcement + Due Date for each.

• Affiliate marketing – SWIPE file content needed for your affiliates, promotional content, affiliate agreement, etc., + Due Date for each. (FYI... SWIPE files are a collection of tested and proven advertising and sales letters.)

• Graphic design for Sales Page – headers, images, upsell and down-sell pages, + Due Date for each.

• Shopping cart setup – when to pick one, when to set it up, when to launch + Due Date for each.

Why do we keep adding “+ Due Date for each” to all of these tasks? Because this is where the template helps you out so much – by arranging and scheduling Due Dates for every launch task you and your team need to perform.

More than a simplistic checklist; more even than an overly simple template; these are a blueprint for a successful product launch. AND… So many of them are FREE!

Do you still think you might need help with your product launch or new service launch?

Remember, our hero Ted Fall remains available for business consulting to the luxury furnishings and design trades. Maybe he could help you brainstorm ideas to generate new revenue streams. Couldn’t hurt, right? So, go ahead and…   Contact TD Fall today.

Grow Your Email Subscriber List - How Many Opt-ins Do You Need?

While it’s not literally true that you will need 100 opt-ins to get 100 subscribers, all things being equal, you will need more than one giveaway to substantially grow your email subscriber list – or to get one started. (Of course, with something like 1.7 billion websites competing for attention worldwide, all things being equal in online marketing is a bit of an oxymoron, so… )

The critical thing to remember when you are working on list building is this: there are no one-size-fits-all solutions to the pain points of your clients.

Yes, we know you tell your clients this, and we know that you offer customized, real-world solutions to their interior design and furnishing challenges. And yet, we also know that you are hoping we will tell you that there IS a single solution to YOUR email marketing and list-building questions. (Yeah, we’ve been doing this a while now. LOL)

What does this mean for your list-building strategy? First, ask yourself how many times you’ve visited a website that promised you a great gift for opting into their subscriber list, only to discover the so-called freebie they’re promoting does not resonate with you? Then think about how many categories of questions your clients or prospects ask you during an initial interview. Those are the types of things your opt-in gifts must address!

Does this help you understand you will need a variety of opt-in gifts to generate interest, based on the varied needs of your target audience? (Yes? Yay us!)

What Your Opt-in Offer Should Accomplish

Let’s define some terms here, OK?

• An opt-in offer is the presentation of a gift (usually digital) in exchange for the email address of a visitor to your website; perhaps the most valuable thing they have to offer to you in the age of online relationships.

• Typically, the opt-in offer is a bit of high-value information that is designed to resolve a particular issue that is important to a member of your target audience.

• The most common form of opt-in gift is an article or whitepaper that can be downloaded in document form, though a mini-eBook (a 3-5 page PDF) is a very popular choice, as well. The link to a free video of you speaking directly to a typical client’s pain points would offer huge value.

• Critical to the success of such an offer is that the information you share must be targeted to a particular portion of your audience and that your solution is laser-focused on a specific issue.

• Do NOT try to be all things to all people. Instead, provide a REAL solution to ONE problem at a time. Then, create a new gift to address other challenges you’ve run into.

• Finally, the most successful opt-ins offer huge value in exchange for something of equal value – your visitor’s email address. In other words, the solution you share in your opt-in MUST be something that a client might otherwise be willing to pay you for.

Now that you have their email address, you have an interested audience with whom you can engage through the use of newsletters, nurture email campaigns, “check-in” emails, event notices, and promotional materials. This is how you begin building relationships in our digital world; relationships that show your expertise, grow trust and have the potential to generate conversions. (That means Make a Sale in the language of online marketese!)

We’re pretty sure you’ve already figured out we’ll have more to say on the subject of how you can grow your email subscriber list using opt-in offers and, you’ll see that here soon. Until then, if you have questions that we’ve not answered here, just… Get in touch with TD Fall today for answers.