strategy Archives - Page 4 of 16 - Branding and Marketing

Selecting Specific Words for Marketing and Branding Your Website to Increase Traffic

Are you working on your website marketing and having second thoughts about your search engine keyword choices? Sometimes it may seem that hardly anyone is searching for the terms you have on your website. don’t despair, sometimes that exact phrase is what the people who are ready to buy are using to search.

But how do you know? Sometimes you don’t.

The words you use on your website matter- a great deal! They are so important not only to communicate your company’s brand but also in terms of bringing your marketing website up to the top of the search engine results. This contributes to building traffic to your brand’s website. Tips to generate leads may be something worth doing some research into, especially if this is the part of running a website that you may be struggling with. There’s no harm in asking for a helping hand.

Today Orbit Media Studio’s president, Andy Crestodina, has shared 131 words that will help you build a stronger traffic flow to your website. And more than just the list, he tells why some of them are searched at certain times during the buying cycle.

Take a minute to check it out and see how many of the words or phrases you use in developing your marketing copy for your website.

Want to improve your website so that it reaches a wider audience? If so, you might also want to consider reaching out to Web Site Development Professionals such as Rock Ford Web Development for some expert insights and advice.

Time To Increase The Marketing Budget? CEO Small Business Confidence is High for 2014

A little over a year ago I quoted Vistage’s CEO Confidence Index.

Now, CEO’s optimism is at a 2 year high. If your company is a Business to Business Manufacturer, now may a good time to up your marketing budget.

Focus on both active and passive marketing to attract new customers. Reach out to existing customers and cross sell services.

Active marketing keeps you top of mind. It’s interruptive advertising. Sending an email campaign. Setting up a face to face meeting at trade show. Reaching out to talk to a new prospect. It’s persuading and presenting.

Passive marketing helps potential customers find you when they are ready - through the website, search, pay per click, social media. Referrals and memberships in directories. The ways that they find you when they need you. It’s attracting and involving. It’s being there when they’re ready.

So, is your marketing program poised to capture the increased revenue with new customer acquisition?

Shifting Demographics May Mean More Intense Marketing to a Shifting Group of Key Individuals

Marketers know that a change in a household can signal a great marketing opportunity. The beginning of school. Moving to college. Buying a home. Getting married. Having that first child.

Shifting demographics can make make you need to re-evaluate your marketing positioning:

For instance:

Marriage not only occurs later in life than it used to… In 50% of the first marriages, a baby precedes the wedding. Since 1988, when the “Great Crossover” happened, it is more common in the USA for the first baby to be born to an unwed mother. And the trend is definitely rising. Baby then marriage: In 2011, the average age for the first baby is 25.5 and for the first marriage is 26.5
Since 1970, there has been a huge change in the number of drivers in the USA. The number of drivers has doubled since 1970 from around 100,000 drivers to over 200,000 drivers on the road.
And many people don’t realize there is a giant gender gap in new car purchases with women buying 63% of the new cars, and influencing an estimate 85% of all car buying decisions.

Surprised by any of these?

As a marketer, it’s important to know your market. A bit of research can make all the difference. Who is your target market? What do they read, listen to and think about? What are their values?

If you can more narrowly focus your efforts onto a key demographic… and you actually understand how they think, feel and act… you’re way ahead of the game.

Are You Getting the Best Bang for Your Buck with Your Marketing Dollar?

What’s the best way to spend the marketing dollar to get more customers?

Isn’t that the fundamental question in marketing?

Supporting sales is what marketing is all about. “Follow the money” is a good strategy for figuring out where to place your marketing. I was particularly struck by the way this was illustrated in the video below. This quick and informative video from NPR, about the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, illustrates that example. Because it’s about politics, it’s sure to be controversial, but please look beyond the politics, to analyze the strategy and the marketing concept behind the decisions for spending.

Have you clearly defined your target market? So who is the best group for you for you to invest your marketing dollars in? And, maybe more importantly, who/where should you ignore?

If you were going to create a visual like this, does your balloon look lopsided or are you trying to reach everyone?

Editor’s note: As a marketing professional, this makes sense to me. But as a voter I remember how the Fall of 2012 felt when my home phone message machine had on average 5 or 6 recorded messages every evening - from both sides! There does come a point when too much marketing can make everyone mad!

Photo credit:

Can Marketing Help to Generate Leads Even in an Uncertain Economy?

Source: Vistage CEO Confidence Index — Q2 2012

This index of first quarter 2012 from Vistage tracks the confidence level of CEOS and small business owners against the GDP YOY (Gross Domestic Product Year over Year.)

If you’re finding it more difficult to generate leads and close proposals, looking at the CEO Confidence level survey (from March 2012) you probably aren’t alone.

It’s summer and people are on vacation. It’s an election year. There are always excuses, right?

Some people believe that the advantage for business owners who market when the economy is uncertain: their business stays top of mind among the customers who are searching for their products and services — and when the economy does stabilize, more customers are ready to buy the goods and services over that of your competition.

What do you think? Is it time to grab market share? Or is it time to pull back? Leave a comment below.