Almost 2 years ago I wrote an article called “Should You Sell Space On Your NZ Website For Banner Advertising?“ in which I suggested you shouldn’t.

2 years later I haven’t change my mind. If it’s your core business then your website should focused on attracting new customers, and making sales, not earning a few dollars a month in advertising revenue at the cost of distracting your customers.

Blogs are a different story however.

7 Steps to Earning Income From A Passion

1. Find a topic you are deeply passionate about (this will give you the energy to keep going)
2. Be determined to write at least one short blog article per month
3. Your articles should contain useful information for other people interested in your niche. Eg lists, your findings on micro research projects, reviews and comparisons, interviews etc
4. Build up your audience by sticking to your niche and becoming a valuable resource
5. Find similar blogs/articles and write useful comments on them that contain a link back to your blog
6. Grow your audience to about 300 visits per day
7. Monetise

I create 2 or 3 new blogs like this every year. I’ve had some real duds (like ChickenCoops.co.nz) but I’ve had some big winners (like www.LoveOneDaySales.co.nz and www.NZHotPools.co.nz).

Today I want to tell you the story about NZHotPools.co.nz (which simply lists all the thermal hot pools around New Zealand) and tell you exactly how much advertising revenue I generate from it every year/month/day, so you can figure out if you could do the same with your idea for a blog.

NZHotPools.co.nz Monthly Webstats:

In this game, it is mainly about PageViews. Visits are important too but “Absolute Unique Visitors” are not.

There is a lot of confusion out there around these terms, so if you need a refresher on the definitions read: Difference Between Unique Visitors, Visitors, Visits, Page Views, Hits. And Why You Should Care

The hard part is getting an audience. Once you have an audience, monetising that audience is easy.

The 4 Ways to Sell Advertising Space On Your Website/Blog:

1. Direct Sales

• Direct Sales to businesses in your niche is the most lucrative but takes the most time
• It involves writing a list of prospects and making lots of phone calls to find out who the decision maker is to establish a relationship and to get permission to email them with your advertising rates from time to time
• Be creative with what you are selling: Eg banner ads, access to your email newsletter, sponsored blog articles, special mentions, featured businesses
• You can charge $5/$10/$20 CPM (Cost-Per-1000-Impressions) so for NZHotPools this is about $300/month
• If you use WordPress for your blog there are plugins that let you schedule the ads, or you can use http://www.google.com/doubleclick/

2. Google Adsense

• This is the easiest to manage. Decide where you will setup your advertising panels, and just generate the Adsense code and copy/paste it in. You’re done.
• Google Adsense calculate the best text-based ads to show your audience depending on the content of the webpage, the advertisers bids, and more recently, the visitors online behaviour and profile. Every bit of data they can use to generate more clicks which earns more revenue for you and for them
• On average you can expect to earn $1 per 300 visits, so for NZHotPools this is about about $50/month

3. TPN “The Performance Network” www.tpn.co.nz

• They require you to have 20,000 unique visitors per month though, so they might not want to work with you until you’ve grown your blog to that level (they bent the rules for me a little bit because I already had an account with them)
• They do display ads for big NZ brands like Kiwibank, NZPost, ASB etc
• They don’t have sophisticated technology to calculate the optimum ads to show, it’s just mass advertising rather than targeted advertising
• You can expect $1 per 300 visits so for NZHotPools this is about about $50/month

4. Affiliate Income

• An affiliate programme is where you earn a commission on every sale you make for the advertiser. Eg you could install an Amazon book widget for your topic and you’ll earn a dollar or two everytime someone purchases that book from Amazon thanks to your link
• Unfortunately, it is vary rare to find New Zealand businesses with Affiliate Programmes and your New Zealand audience is uncomfortable when they click on a link and find themselves on a USA based website so they are unlikely to whip out their credit card
• NZHotPools.co.nz doesn’t generate any affiliate income, but www.LoveOneDaySales.co.nz does generate a little

How Much Advertising Should You Switch On As Your Website/Blog Grows?

As your website/blog grows, you gradually switch on more advertising. For example, my rules are:

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I just completed my major research project for my MBA through Waikato Uni (I graduate in October 2011).

The full title is: “How New Zealand’s Cafe’s, Restaurant’s & Bar’s can best use the internet to attract new customers and encourage existing customers to return”

I poured 160 hours of my life into this project over a 4 week period and produced a report that is 115 pages long with 24,441 words.

Read The First Three Sections

You can download and read the first three sections including:

1. Table of Contents
2. Executive Summary
3. Introduction

Download the first three sections of “How New Zealand’s Cafe’s, Restaurant’s & Bar’s can best use the internet to attract new customers and encourage existing customers to return” (70Kb .pdf)

The Executive Summary for the report “How New Zealand’s Cafe’s, Restaurant’s & Bar’s can best use the internet”:

Café’s, Restaurant’s and Bar’s that learn how to use the internet to attract new customers and to remind existing customers to return, will have an advantage over owners who don’t.

7 Cafe/Restaurant/Bar owners in Tauranga were interviewed about their use/non-use of 11 different methods of online marketing which were: Business Websites, Business Facebook Pages, Email Newsletters, Online Review Websites, Online “Daily Deal” Coupon/Voucher Websites, Online Business Directories, Applications for Smart Phones, Pay-Per-Click Internet Advertising, Twitter, LinkedIn and Business Blogging.

Each method was described, the pros and cons were discussed, owners shared their perceptions and techniques, and a “how to get started” guide was provided.

One major benefit of online marketing is that you can use just about any method for free (or for next to nothing), and that, if it is set up properly, it can keep generating results infinitum with little or no maintenance. Compare that to an advertisement in yesterday’s newspaper or in last week’s Television commercial break.

However, business owners need to be convinced that each method will generate measurable results before they are willing to allocate time/resources/money to those methods.

To determine what those results may be, 105 consumers were surveyed about their use of the internet in relation to Cafe’s, Restaurant’s and Bar’s.

Firstly, they were asked about how they used the internet to find new places to visit. The 3 most common methods consumers used were Google search, “Daily Deal” websites, and Facebook.

Many respondents wanted to make it clear they did not use the internet at all to find new places to visit. However, many others are active users and several voiced frustration over not being able to find the information online, that they needed to make an informed choice.

If a growing number of consumers are using the internet looking for a new place to consider going to, are owners ensuring that their brand appears in the search results for a chance to be considered?  Owners that invest time/effort/money into this area will undoubtedly have an advantage over those that do not.

Secondly, the consumers were surveyed about the kind of information they expect to find online about a Cafe/Restaurant/Bar they are considering visiting. The importance of 18 factors was measured.

61% of respondents indicated that they were more likely to visit a place if they can find the answers to their questions online.

It is proposed that these questions and answers could form the basis of a Frequently-Asked-Questions page on a business website, and/or on a tab on a Facebook business page.

Finally, consumers were asked about how they interact with their favourite brands online.

Many respondents indicated that they would become fans of the Facebook business pages of their favourites if they could find them, and that they do subscribe to Email Newsletters.

We are living in a time when the effectiveness of traditional types of media is decreasing, the fragmentation of the media channels is increasing, and consumers are paying less and less attention. In times like this, business owners who get permission from customers to speak directly to them will have an advantage.

One third of respondents said they talk about their experiences online via social networking sites (such as Facebook) and a similar proportion take the time to write good/bad reviews online.

A growing proportion of consumers are engaging in discussions about their experiences, both positive and negative, on online platforms.

Owners that make efforts to monitor this feedback may be able to prevent damage to their brand that can result from negative criticism posted online.

Overall, it is clear that Café’s, Restaurant’s and Bar’s that make efforts to put some or all of these tools and techniques to use for their own businesses, will gain significant advantage over owners who don’t in terms of attracting new customers and maintaining relationships with existing customers.

What Should I Do With The Research Now?

My next challenge is to determine how to monetise this research. Options I’m considering:

• Could I turn it into an e-book or “how-to” guide for restaurant/cafe/bar owners and sell it to owners throughout New Zealand?
• Might the Restaurant Association of New Zealand be interested in the results? Might they hire me to present a seminar series?
• Could I start a mini-website dedicated to online marketing for restaurant’s/cafe’s/bar’s?

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My notes on “Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation” by Sally Hogshead

Fascination Scale

• Avoidance
  • You’ll take steps to avoid TV commercials
• Disinterest
  • You might leave the room during a commercial break to grab a bite
• Neutrality
  • You don’t really care if you watch the commercial or not. You’re not going to take steps to avoid it, or to watch it
• Mild Affinity
  • If a commercial happens to pique your curiosity, you’ll watch. Otherwise, eh, whatever
• Interest
  • Commercials entertain, at least the good ones
• Engagement
  • You actively enjoy commercials. During Super Bowl, you pay more attention to the commercials than the game
• Immersion
  • You go out of your way to watch commercials, even going online to search them out
• Preoccupation
• Obsession
• Compulsion

Trends Driving the Need for Fascination

• An overload of distracting choices
• The rise of the ADD world
• Earning attention, not paying attention
• The ability to shut out messages
• Shift from the information age to the fascination age
• The Fascination Economy

Golden Hallmarks of a Fascinating Message:

• Provokes strong and immediate emotional reactions
  • Polarising – love or hate
  • Eg Botox
• Creates advocates
  • Passionate, dedicated fans
  • Eg Religions, Nascar, The Da Vinci Code
• Becomes “cultural shorthand” for a specific set of actions or values
  • A reference point for how people define themselves and their world
  • Eg tattoo’s, Louis Vuitton, Virgin
• Incites conversation
  • Top of mind. Earns more attention than it pays for
  • Eg Twilight series, Grey’s anatomy, Richard Simmons
• Forces competitors to realign around it
  • Establishes new standards and criteria. Irreplaceable for audience. Cannot be exactly replaces or duplicated by inspires look-alikes, me-too’s, imitators.
  • Eg Microsoft, then Apple, then Microsoft. Wal-Mart
• Triggers social revolutions
  • Disrupts the status quo of accepted beliefs. Forces us to think differently about ourselves and our world
  • Eg Bono, Mini Cooper, Yoga, Prozac, YouTube

The Seven Triggers

Lust

If you trigger lust, you will draw others closer. They will crave your message, wanting more and more until satiated.

• Lust creates craving for sensory pleasure
• Stop thinking, start feeling
• Make the ordinary more emotional
• Use all five senses
• Tease and flirt
  • As a motivator, desire is more powerful than fulfillment (eg Monkeys like the sight of a luscious grape, enjoy the moment just before eating, but are a bit bored when eating it). Eg2 burlesque shows are rarely performed in the harsh morning light
  • Journal of Consumer Research says sex sells: A woman in a bikini increases man’s sexual stimulation and increase the likelihood of indulgent decision making. As the brain opens to possibilities, the wallet opens as well

Mystique

Trigger mystique, and you’ll encourage others to learn more about your message. They’ll be intrigued, and seek information

• Mystique lures with unanswered questions
  • Eg celebrity deaths
• Spark curiosity
• Withhold information
  • Information is the opposite of mystique
• Build mythology
  • Tell stories, don’t recite facts
  • Eg Coca Cola secret recipe
• Limit access

Alarm

With alarm, you compel others to behave more urgently. They’ll take action in order to avoid negative consequences.

• Alarm threatens with negative consequences
• Define consequences
• Create deadlines
• Increase perceived danger
• Focus not on the crisis most likely, but on the one most feared
• Use distress to steer positive action
  • Eg “The Tap project” charges for glasses of water, that money goes to Unicef to provide a child clean drinking water for 40 days

Prestige

A message with prestige will elevate you about others, inspiring covetousness or envy.

• Prestige earns respect through symbols of achievement
• Develop emblems
• Set a new standard
• Limit availability
• Earn it

Power

If you effectively trigger power, you will control others. They will defer to you and your message.

• Power commands and controls
• Dominate
• Control the environment
• Reward and punish

Vice

By triggering vice, your message will tempt others to deviate from their usual code of conduct. They’ll act outside of standard habits or norms.

• Vice tempts with “forbidden fruit” causing us to rebel against norms
• Create taboos
  • Eg reality stars fight for the notorious villain role – Simon Cowell
• Lead others astray
• Define absolutes
  • Eg “don’t look in the box”, “don’t do drugs”
• Give a wink
• How to encourage someone to want do break your rules:
  • Enforce rigid black and white rules. Exaggerate consequences (eg “if you kiss a boy, you’ll get pregnant)
  • Give a firm “no” without reasonable reasn why
  • Fail to establish trust (no familiar people or context)
  • Trigger mystique by telling them what not to do, without telling them why
• How boring brands can trigger vice
  • Electronic company: Include a secret “road to deafness” setting on your headphones
  • Car company: buy a private autobahn for people who buy a new car

Trust

With trust, your message will comfort others, relax them, and bind them more closely to you.

• Trust comforts us with certainty and reliability
  • Are your favourite brands the highest quality or just the most familiar?
• Become familiar
• Repeat and retell
  • You can dabble in other triggers, but you must establish trust with consistency
  • Hitler: “The greater the lie, the greater the chance that it will be believed” if it is simple and you keep saying it
• Be authentic
• Accelerate trust
  • By tapping into values
  • Bring back old marketing devices

Your Potential Fascination Badges

• Purpose: Your reason for being; your function as a brand
• Core beliefs: The code of values and principles that guides you; what you stand for.
• Heritage: Your reputation and history; the “backstory” of how you came to be.
• Products: The goods, services or information you produce.
• Benefits: The promises of reward for purchasing the product, both tangible and abstract, overt and implied.
• Actions: How you conduct yourself.
• Culture: All characteristics of your identity, including personality, executional style, and mind-set.

Steps to Find the Edge of Your Bell Curve

1. List your badges (both existing and potential)
2. Evaluate against the hallmarks of a fascinating brand
3. Plot on a bell curve
4. Push badges outward on the curve by infusing them with more of your primary trigger
5. Push badges outward on the curve by infusing them with a new trigger
6. Build your message around these badges

More Notes

Fascinating Faces

We are all find faces fascinating and we all consciously/subconsciously attempt to interpret facial expressions. Cutting edge software analysed Mona Lisa’s smile. The results: 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% fearful, 2% angry

The Fascination Economy

• Goods-based economy >> Service-based economy >> Information economy >> Knowledge economy >> Experience economy >> Fascination economy
• Fascinating company’s/brands:
  • Charge a premium
  • Command more influence in the marketplace
  • Build more loyal relationships over time

People Want to Connect with…

• Not brands. With each other.
• Fascinating companies create more opportunities for people to connect with each other through the brand (eg Harley-Davidson)
• For marketers, it’s not about marketing a message – it’s about getting the market to create messages about you.

An idea is worth…

• An idea is only as valuable as its ability to solve a problem
• Ideas don’t live in a vacuum. They only become precious only once they successfully answer a specific need; otherwise they’re just scribbles

Red-tape will kill your fascinating plan

• Avoid committee mentality. The most fascinating ideas are often fragile because they can easily be “dumbed down”
• What policies and protocol block fascination by forcing a “red tape” mentality, or an over-thought, over-controlled approval process?
• Are you so concerned with neutrality that your communication is diluted down to gray mush?
• Are you so focused on keeping a low profile, playing it safe, that you’re kill fascination opportunities before they’ve had a chance to hatch?
• Fascination requires putting yourself out there for remarkable ideas, accomplishments and innovations

Brand Example

• Cirque de Soleil: Mystique (tightly held secrets) + Prestige (high-end execution) + Power (extraordinary training and skill) + Lust (playful style, elaborate costumes, makeup, artistry) leaves the audience craving more at the end of the show

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You may have heard that money-back guarantees are a good idea but you are not sure if they are right for your business?

Perhaps you are holding back because you are worried it’s going to cost you money handing out dozens of refunds, right?

Offering any kind of money back guarantee is better than offering none at all because the main two things that customers care about is:

1. Price
2. Risk

And a money back guarantee helps with both.

A money back guarantee reduces risk for the customer because:

• It signals that you are confident about the quality of your product
• It reduces their nervousness about making a bad purchasing decision
• It goes beyond the normal offer of replacing the item if something goes wrong, because they can get their money back

A money back guarantee reduces the price for the customer because:

• There is a cost for returning something for a refund: time. Knowing that you are able to get cash back for your trouble is better compensation than a replacement
• Customers perception is: Price + money-back-guarantee = Free Trial. Free is a customers favourite price

These are all “up-front” factors that persuade a customer to buy in the first place. Which is great.

In fact, let’s just slap a number on it and say that offering a money back guarantee will generate 20% more sales for you.

But the real magic happens in the “tail-end”, a long time after the sale.

Let’s say you purchased the Ginsu 2000 never-needs-sharpening-can-cut-through-a-can knife with a 30 year money back guarantee.

And it’s year number 29 and you decide it’s crap. Do you ask for your money back? Hell no. For 4 reasons:

1. You forgot about the 30 year money back guarantee anyway
2. You can’t be bothered
3. You feel you got your moneys worth any way
4. You don’t want to impose or be a nuisance
5. You’ve had it so long it feels like yours, you feel like the owner. This reduces the obligation of the people you bought it from

Yes, it’s an extreme example but you get the idea. Let’s look at another:

Let’s say you purchased an ebook about Search Engine Optimisation for $19 with a 3 month money back guarantee.

It’s the 2nd month, and you only just got around to reading it and you decide it’s crap. Do you ask for your money back? Hell no. For 3 reasons:

1. You forgot about the 3 month money back guarantee anyway
2. You can’t be bothered
3. You don’t want to impose or be a nuisance
4. It’s in your possession and so you feel like the owner. This reduces the obligation of the author

Let’s just slap a number on it and say that you get 5% of customers that actually do go ahead and ask for their money back.

So to summarise, you are getting 20% more sales to get out 5% refunds… Ummm, that’s really good isn’t it?

Yes. Yes it is.

4 Ways to Make A Great Money Back Guarantee:

1. Make the expiry really really long. The longer it is the more chance of the customer forgetting about it, or feeling like they are imposing by asking for their money back
2. If a customer asks for their money back, provide it the same day. Don’t drag your feet and make them wait. You will impress them with your customer service, and this experience may trigger Word-of-Mouth so you might get new sales from people they talk too!
3. Tell them up-front how to get one eg “To get your money back, just call us on 0800 xyz xyz and you’ll have your money back within 24 hours”. You could just provide an email form for them to request their money-back, but in this case, I advise putting up a small barrier for them and getting them to talk directly to you
4. Arrange their refund over the phone, and when it’s finished and approved, at the last minute ask them why they asked for one. Their feedback might be valuable. Don’t ask this question upfront because it will make them feel more uncomfortable than they already are

What about services?

Money back guarantees can also work for services but you’ll have to go overboard with your offer Eg “If you are not happy with our car washing service we’ll redo it for free + give your money back”

What do you think about money back guarantees now?

What do you have to add to this? Will you give it a try for your business? What’s the most outrageous money-back guarantee you’ve ever seen?

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Over the last few years I have tried several ways of making money online.

I wanted to get rich quick. Don’t we all?

I fell for the hype and got out my credit card, but I’m not ashamed. I’m human, and the sales copy was brilliantly written and tapped into my psyche and convinced me.

I gave it a shot, and I failed many times, but I’m not afraid because that’s when I learnt my biggest lessons.

I have had a few successes and many failures.

3 Ways I’ve Tried (and failed) To Make Money Online:

1. Make Money Online Simply By Purchasing A Domain Name?

• If you are holding on to your domain names hoping for the day you get a big offer for it, don’t hold your breath.
• Ever been shocked that a particular domain name is still for sale? Ever been amazed that it hadn’t been purchased already by someone else? Don’t be. There are thousands of domain names like that
• No matter how exclusive a domain name you think you have, there are a million ways someone with real content will beat you in the search engines and sidestep you by merely adding a dash or another word to the domain name they buy for $25 to avoid purchasing yours for thousands of dollars

2. Make Money Online With Affiliate Marketing?

• There are lots of variations on this, one common example is that you are promised $1 every time you sell a digital product. Your task is to get your hyperlink in front of a large audience so you buy advertising space on big websites such as TradeMe, NZHerald, YouTube, Facebook etc using an ad network such as Google Adsense, AdBrite etc.
• Unfortunately the click-through rates are never as good as you thought they would be (the mega affiliates have already saturated the market and made all their money before you got your affiliate code) so if you ever make a sale, it’ll cost you $1.10 to make it (oops, you only made $1 on that sale so you just made a loss of 10c…)
• Another variation is starting a small blog and featuring your affiliate links in the sidebar (or in the articles themselves). Sorry, your web traffic levels probably won’t reach critical mass, and the poorer quality your content, the worse the future looks for you if you rely on free traffic from Google

3. Make Money Online By Blogging?

• Could you quit your day job and start writing full time and earn an income by selling advertising on your amazing articles? Probably not.
• It seems that the only people making money by blogging are those that teach others how to make money from blogging…
• I’ve written some pretty awesome articles over the years (if I do say so myself) and I actually have been able to turn one popular article into a small business, but I’m not going to give up my day job to write full time, are you?

My Slow-Cook Recipe For Making Money Online

I have had a small number of success at earning money online, so here is my recipe if you want to do the same:

1. Find a niche that lots of people are interested in (and ideally only a few people are servicing)
2. Do a better job than your competition at writing interesting, engaging content (eg articles, reviews, start discussions)
3. Attract the people that are interested in this niche (eg with organic search engine traffic, direct marketing, advertising, Facebook, Twitter)
4. Monetise the web traffic (with Adsense, or direct ad selling, or hold out for a buy-out of your business)
   • Sidenote: On average you need 300 visits to earn $1 with Adsense. Getting 40 visits per day? Hooray, you’ll earn $1/week!

There is no magic bullet.

And if you see a magic bullet for sale then that get-rich-quick gun fired a long time ago and you are too late to rake in a huge pile of cash.

What about you?

If you have tried and failed, or tried and succeeded at making money online, add your comments below.

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Have you noticed how much publicity the growth of online advertising has been getting lately?

If you are wondering:

• “Am I missing out because I haven’t tried online advertising yet?” and
• “How can I dip my toe in the water to see if online advertising is right for my business?”, then this crash course on online advertising is what you need

“What are the major formats of online advertising?”

There are 2 main formats:

1. Text based ads
   • Very easy to setup
   • Very easy to change
2. Display ads
   • Traditionally just “Banner Ads” but now includes rich media/interactive ads and video ads
   • Usually expensive to get graphic design and difficult and expensive to change
   • But, your best performing text-based ads can be converted to display ads very cheaply! (They look absolutely hideous, but they work really well)

“Where can we place our ads?”

In New Zealand there are 4 main places where it would be appropriate to put your ads:

1. Beside Google NZ Search results (“Google Adwords”)

• Format: Text-based ads
• In the right hand column, and sometime above search results
• Very easy to set up
• $1 per click would be average (highly competitive industry’s like finance or tourism will cost more)
• Good targeting: You can specify a geographic target and your ads are displayed when people in those cities are searching for something related to your offer
• Provides excellent data so you can just copy/paste your best performing ads to the next 3 ad networks

2. Websites that use Google Adsense

• Format: Text-based ads and display ads
• That have dedicated space on their website to earn revenue (like mine: LoveOneDaySales.co.nz)
• Very easy to set up
• Display Ads:
  • Very cheap CPM (Cost-Per-Thousand Impressions) because most people don’t bother creating display ads because it’s too hard = less competition for ad space = cheaper cost of advertising
  • Good reach – your ads would be popping up on random NZ websites all over the place – good for cheap brand recognition

3. Facebook

• Format: Text-based ads with a single small image
• Excellent targeting: you can specify exactly who your demographic is Eg Female 25-35 who live in the Tauranga area
• But Facebook users are not there to click on ads, they are there to have fun and share their lives. Therefore effectiveness can be very poor
• Cost-Per-Click varies greatly eg $1-$3

4. Huge NZ Websites that have their own advertising systems

• Format: display ads (interactive costs extra & video is not usually available)
• Eg TradeMe, NZHerald etc
• The CPM (Cost-Per-Thousand Impressions) is usually very high and uncompetitive to a discerning advertiser (because they put a very high value on their own audience and there is large overhead to pay for)
• No targeting at all

“Great! How do we get started?”

1. Be very clear what your objective is
   • If it’s new customers: What are you offering them? Why should they join? What’s in it for them? What should your landing page say?
2. Set a value on that new customer
   • Eg if you can expect every new customer to stick with you for 5 years and you will earn $100 from that relationship, then the value of a new customer is $100. If 50% of them will stick with you, the value is $50
   • This is your maximum allowable “Cost of Acquisition”
3. Set a target
   • Eg “1000 new customers”
   • And decide upfront how you will measure the results (eg install tracking code on the website)
4. Set a budget
   • Multiple your target by your Cost of Acquisition
   • If the number is unacceptable, re-adjust any of the numbers accordingly
5. Hand over the project to someone who knows what they are doing

“Great! Sheldon, can you help us with this?”

I’m booked up until March 2011. If you’d like to join the queue, email me your details and I’ll make a note in my diary to contact you then.

Cheers,
- Sheldon

Phone: (07) 575 8799, Email: sheldon@marketingfirst.co.nz

P.S. What I’ve left out:

• Mobile advertising
  • Google Adwords offers you the ability to show your ads on mobile devices. There is huge growth in this area and definitely worth keeping an eye on and considering later
• Google Search Partners
  • This is a network of search engines that use Google to serve ads, but these alternatives are not popular in New Zealand so ignore them for now
• Other Search Engines like Bing
  • Perhaps there are bargains to be had with Bing’s text-based ads but their market share is very small in NZ

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For about a week I have noticed an extremely squeaky rear electric window in my car. It is like 5 teenagers scratching on a chalk board – a really horrendous sound.

I hadn’t thought too deeply about what I should do about it when I heard a radio ad this afternoon “Free electric window lube at Anything Auto Electrical, 32 Waihi Road”.

Just what I wanted! To get the squeak fixed and it’s for free!

I pulled over, and whipped out my new iPhone and found their contact details on yellowpages.co.nz. I called the number and Greg the manager answered. I said “I just heard your radio ad for a free lube, I’ll be there in 10 mins, ok?” “Sure!” said Greg.

I love to talk to small business owners about their marketing, and that’s exactly what I did with Greg as he worked on my windows.

What Greg Reminded Me About The Yellow Pages

And even though I don’t think much of the Yellow Pages, Greg made me remember that for some industries it is essential and can be effective.

For his Yellow Pages online listing, the “Bronze” level was enough to get him ahead of all the auto-electricians in the area for an extra $20/month.  (I guess Yellow Pages hope that to get ahead of him, a competitor will go for the Silver level?).

Greg liked the Yellow Pages statistics he is provided with every month of the people who “click-to-reveal” his phone number. He monitors his phone call stats and tells me a very high percentage of those that click, go ahead and make the phone call.

How Greg Can Get Maximum Mileage Out of His Free Lube Offer

Greg tells me that the idea behind the “free lube for electric windows” offer was to get people in so they find out a bit about the kind of services they offer, where they are, and take a business card away with them so the next time they have an auto-electrical problem, they know who to call.

Finally I had a useful piece of advice for Greg (have you noticed that so far in this article, he has been teaching me?)

I suggested that Greg starts taking an email address and that the admin/receptionist sends out a short “thank you” email later today or tomorrow which has the following components:

• Thanks: eg “Thanks for coming in for a free electric window lube today, we think it is important to help you to prolong the life of your window motor and switches”
• Provide a list of 5 most common symptoms that would indicate an electrical problem “if you notice any of those changes/noises, bring your car in and we’ll do a no-obligation diagnostic for you”

Greg explained to me that he hasn’t bothered creating an emailing list in the past because auto-electrical work happens when something breaks, and whereas mechanics can send out 6 monthly reminders for oil changes and WOF’s, there is very little you can do in terms of preventative maintenance when it comes to auto-electrics.

I suggested, that now that he has the customers permission to email then, that he schedule an email for 3 or 4 or 6 months from now anyway.  The content of that email could simply repeat the list of “5 most common symptoms” or provide a new list, or helpful article, or free advice.

It’s an opportunity to get his brand name in-front of that customer again, and is sure to increase the chances of that customer choosing Greg if something happens to their car around that time that they receive that email.

How Greg Depends Heavily On Online Directory Websites

Even though I am a Marketing generalist and profess to be a “Marketing Consultant” or “Marketing Advisor” I must confess that I don’t do much of that kind of work for clients. Most of the time a client doesn’t even know they need help with their marketing, they just know they need a website. So that’s what I build for them – a website. Luckily for them all my marketing knowledge goes into that process for free!

Anyway, Greg told me his website lists products but doesn’t have ecommerce.

That is perfectly fine in my opinion.

Sometimes it is right to show samples of your product range, indications of pricing, and then drive people to the phone so you can help them in greater depth, provide them with a more accurate diagnosis of their problem, and propose the appropriate solution.

You don’t get that with an ecommerce website – most ecommerce websites are just about the lowest price. It’s no fun discounting all the time just to give yourself the chance of making a sale.

Since getting back to the office, I have tried to find Greg’s website, but I have failed.

I searched for “Anything Auto Electrical Tauranga” but the search engine results pages are dominated by directory listings of his business (Yellow, iLook, UBD, Finda etc), so there is no problem finding his contact details, location and phone number, but it concerns me that his “official” website is nowhere to be seen.

To me, this is a reminder that every business should have a website even if it is a single page with only your contact details and a summary of how you can help customers.

Did you know it is very very easy to rank at the top of search engine results for your brand name?

Why send everyone who searches for you to those directory websites? Do you see there is more risk of them finding one of your competitors while they are there?

If your official website is the first, that risk is removed and you have control over what they read (whereas online directories control how your info is presented).

Can I Help You?

I’d love to chat with you to find out about your business and I might have an idea or two for you to improve. But to be honest, mostly I’ll be listening to what I can learn from you

If you’d like some free advice about your marketing and advertising, give me a call (07) 575 8799.

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale

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If you run an icecream shop, you MUST copy this idea.

Will it work for any other business? Probably not.

You should have at least some sort of business connection otherwise all you’re doing is slapping scantily clad women on your ad for no good reason.

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Would you change the way you serve your customers?

Would you change the way you trained your staff?

Would you change the products and services you offer?

Would you quit your job and work for a different company?

What else? Add to the comments below.

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The next time you are writing an advertisement, or an article, or updating your website, choose your audience along the following grid of “usage” vs “loyalty”.

Choose just one and ask yourself “how can I modify my message to speak just to them?”.

Usage vs Loyalty: Where Are The Opportunities For Your Business?

Let’s look at each sector in more detail:

1. High/Med/Low User + High Loyalty To You = Your Best Customers

• This is where you are making all your profit.
• What else can you do today to keep them fiercely loyal? 2 ideas:
  • Keep adding value, keep improving
  • and keep putting your prices up (the best way to maintain or grow your profitability and signal to them that you are working hard to improve the value of your products and services)
• Don’t waste your money communicating to this bunch with mass-media. Surely you have their email addresses or phone numbers? But more important than a cheesy Christmas card every year is to keep delivering the top quality products and services they have come to expect. Keep up the good work. Nice job.
• High Volume:
  • If we all had lots of high volume / high loyalty customers we’d all be rich! But unfortunately they are hard to get, hard to keep and there are few of them.  So don’t retire yet
  • It’s a double edged sword: Does having just a few major contracts make your business secure and stable, or does it make you weak and vulnerable?
• Med/Low Volume:
  • Don’t neglect the little guy. They might never turn into high volume, but they are your bread and butter today. But you already knew that I’m sure.

2. High User + Low Loyalty To You = Your Competitors Best Customers

• Do you think you can win the most loyal customers of your competitors? You’re dreaming! They’re out of your reach
• Can you turn a Holden fan into a Ford fan? No, you can’t. So give up and pick a fight you can win
• But, be ready – wait for the competition to make a huge screw-up and be there with a smile on your face welcoming them home
• This group is completely blind to your advertisements. They have made their choice of supplier for this category/industry/niche. Life is easy and peaceful for them. Let them be at peace.

3. High User + No Loyalty = Attractive But Deadly

• This group is super attractive, because there are so many of them
• Your boss will put enormous pressure on you to do whatever it takes to make this group buy from you this week. Most of the time the only tactic that will work is a super special price (maybe at break-even point!)
• Sure, you might make the sale this week, but next week you’re playing the same game again and next time they’ll choose a different supplier
• These guys suck up your advertising budget and contribute little to your profitability
• They don’t care about the brand you’ve worked so hard to build. They don’t see distinction or differentiation between your brand and your competitors. “Who is cheaper this week? That’s the one for me!”

4. Non-Users + No Loyalty = Untapped Markets

• This group has never made a purchase
• They have the same problems and issues that all the other customers are facing, but not know that a solution exists!
• For example, one of the most popular websites in NZ is called 1-day.co.nz with half a million visits a day, but it seems that 80% of the people I tell about it, have never heard of it! Could the same be true for your business? What are they reading/watching/listening to that you don’t normally advertise in?
• The only bummer with speaking to the members of this new market is that you are breaking the ice for your whole industry and they may not choose you!

5. Med/Low Users + Low Loyalty To You = Your Competitors Bread and Butter

• This is where your growth can come from
• It’s about maintaining your high quality, providing remarkable service (even if only occasionally) and trying to activate Word-of-Mouth
• What can you do to turn your customers into ambassadors for your brand?

Need Help?

Need help analysing the opportunities for your business?

I’d loooove to help!  Call (07) 575 8799 or email sheldon@marketingfirst.co.nz.

Cheers,
Sheldon.

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