March
30
2009
Sometimes your best ideas never get built. You know it’s good and for whatever reason be it message, tone, too risky, too safe, it never makes it to the web. We’re happy to announce that we built something that is good and stayed true to the original concept.
Welcome to Crescent Bluffs.
See for yourself.
We invited folks to the hotel by sending them hotel key cards. We even have bar napkins with two-color spot and the Crescent Bluffs mark already printed. There’s a catch. There is no Crescent Bluffs. The corporate site is real, but the hotel is totally fake.
So why is Crescent Bluffs getting so much acclaim from our invited guests. Our marketing is clever–almost too clever. It’s super sticky. It feels good. It just feels good and we put something out there that works and works well.
Curious? If you’d like a personal invitation to Crescent Bluffs, just send us your address and watch your mailbox.
March
23
2009
For every outbound dollar (or Euro to be fair) you spend how much do you spend on inbound? Should every outbound program have a measured impact on inbound traffic?
Maybe these are rhetorical questions, but even as marketing budgets are cut we still see examples of communicators preaching to their target audience about the virtues of product X or Y. They drown prospects in buzz words, but don’t leverage their marketing spend to spur inbound traffic.
Spend money on a trade show. What’s the residual impact after the show is over?
Spend money on printed collateral. What’s the residual impact when it hits the recycling bin?
Build an interactive microsite that can be seen online 24/7. What’s the residual impact of electronic dissemination?
If you had only $50,000 in your marketing budget, which of these do you think would have the greatest impact on revenue generation? What gives you the best ROI on your spend?
March
20
2009
Give the folks at FLYP a hand for taking a bold stab at topics ranging from art to politics to poverty to music. That’s no easy task today, but they already know that. What does a progressive eZine this have to do with Dialog Marketing?
Dialog Marketing implies communication between two or more parties. Let’s face it, having a conversation with yourself will draw attention on a crowded street. On the Internet one of the only things that keeps us from a singular conversation is a website’s user interface. It’s the way users ask you a question (What do you do?) and how you deliver the answer (About Us). I was understandable confused by FLYPs user interface at first, but apparently I’m not alone.
The number one question on your FAQ page should probably not be “how do I navigate your site?” Props for tackling some tough issues. Hey, you did help me understand the basics of site navigation, but this is one question you probably shouldn’t have to answer.
March
19
2009
Time to get agressive? Is your goal to rack up as many contacts as possible? If so, consider this LinkedIn tip. Add your email address to your last name in your profile. For example, Michael Simmons(mosimmons@yahoo.com) allows anyone to send you a direct connect invitation. LinkedIn figures that if they have your email address they know you well enough to make the request. You can always put the smack down on any requests you get, but consider the implications of denial after denial after denial. You might get a reputation.
FYI: People with fewer than five connections are 34 times less likely to get job offers than those with 20 or more. I’m just going to trust Guy on that factoid.
March
18
2009
LinkedIn rolled out a soft launch of its application append feature. If you weren’t looking for it, there’s a chance you missed it. The success of embedded widgets/applications within LinkedIn is still up in the air. Your reader will need to scroll all the way to the bottom of my profile to see a feed from your blog–not exactly front and center.
It’s unlikely adding the WordPress app is going to give your blog a bump in traffic. LinkedIn apps aren’t quite there yet, so our LinkedIn tip number seven is take a pass on this one with no regrets.
March
17
2009
Here’s an easy way to enhance your LinkedIn profile. If you haven’t already, consider adding outbound links to your profile. It gives you a chance to cast yourself in a whole new light. Don’t stop there. LinkedIn defaults to some basic headers when you add links, but you don’t have to settle for generics. Choose “other” when adding links to define your links.
Give your reader a reason to click with a custom title. Use tr.im, or similar tools and you’ll be able to track aggregate clicks within your profile. If you’re titles aren’t getting it done, switch up your titles or outbound links to improve click-through and get more out of your LinkedIn profile.
March
16
2009
Thank you, thank you. We couldn’t be happier about the energy and optimism we helped generate during Make a Referral Week. Though the campaign officially ended on Friday, you still have an opportunity to document your referrals. In other words, if you were so busy making referrals last week that you didn’t get a chance to brag about those you helped sync up you still have a chance. Skip on over to the Make a Referral Week website and help document 1,000 hook ups!
March
12
2009
We talk to lots and lots of people that like personalized direct marketing. They get a boost in response, contact rates, revenue, etc. that they correlate directly to a shift toward personalized websites. What does that site look like? The dilemma marketing managers face is do I build a landing page, or send my target audience to a splash page. There is a difference.
Landing pages are quick way to turn a mail piece or HTML email into an online experience. As the name suggests, a landing page is where you end up. It’s the finale. Here’s a pretty standard landing page. You get a little personalization. “John, we have an offer for you.” You deliver a little content. You ask John to submit a form for more information, or to win a prize, or both. That’s where you and John go separate ways.
Splash pages offer something different. A splash page is the begining of the online experience. It’s the hook that engages the target audience and entices them to learn more, read more, and engage more with your brand. You get the same level of personalization as landing pages, but the dynamic and rich media content allows you to go one step further.
If you spend all that money on branding, position, list development, demographics, and market intelligence, the payoff shouldn’t be a static, boring HTML landing page. It should start with an engaging splash page.
March
11
2009
Like lots of people, my browser homepage is set to Google.com. It’s simple. The world at my finger tips just a couple clicks away. Lately that world has become less relevant. I seem to be going to page two and three more often and it’s starting to get old.
Thanks to Lolly Borel (a.k.a @blogtillyoudrop) I may have found my browser’s new homepage. Her recent tweet about Addict-o-Matic just might be the solution to my Google woes. [By the way, did a quick addict-o-matic search for Lolly and found out she took a new gig at ShinyRed. Congrats!] The site has a pretty slick UI and cranks out some interesting results. We took a look at a couple VLG keywords like wefightboredom (our Twitter user name), Via Luna Group, and VLG.
Some results were surprising, others predictable. It was like taking an SEO screen grab of our company. We were able to see where we are doing good and where we lag. We do lag. There are undoubtedly alternatives to this site that just haven’t popped up on our radar. Do you have one?
We’ve never allowed comments on our blog. It just seems to impersonal, so please send me an email. You’ll get a proper response and a mention here on the blog.
March
7
2009
How do you tell people you’re on LinkedIn? When you sign up the folks at LinkedIn encourage you to send invitations to everyone in your YahooGoogleHotmail address book to build a network quickly. Next you might run through all your colleagues at your current job, then move on to your previous job, to college and on and on. That’s when you hit a wall.
Instead of building your network five to ten contacts at a time you end up with one or two here or there. Your network grows organically. Happy hours, trade shows, club meetings, group meetings, conferences and weddings help you meet people you can add to your network. There is one way to build your network you might overlook: LinkedIn branded paraphernalia. That’s right! Everything from shirts to hats to mugs and even, I kid you not, a LinkedIn lapel pin.
Now you can wear your network with pride. Strangers will approach you to join your LinkedIn network. “Are you in LinkedIn?” There’s no need to ask; I see that you are. Ready to team up with a little LinkedIn gear? The store is located here. Happy networking!