Up to now, we have talked solely about online marketing, however it is important to include some traditional offline marketing in your campaign to drive traffic to your website and improve presence in the market place. Research shows that the majority of people visit a website after reading it in a newspaper or magazine or hearing it from a friend, someone at a meeting or on TV, hence why offline marketing is important for your online business.

 Advertise

There are so many adverts on the internet that people have learnt to tune them out and so placing ads on TV, print and radio can be extremely effective despite the claim that print media is declining. Also, offline advertising usually has something physical attached to it meaning people are more likely to remember it.

If you can afford it, advertising in national media will obviously have the largest reach however if you are running a small business, start with local media whilst building your brand and then move on to the national media once you are more established and making more money. There are plenty of local media stations that need advertising slots filled and won’t charge the earth.

Placing adverts in local or national print media can be highly targeted as there are now so many different publications out there. Choosing particular magazines which you expect your target demographic to read will almost guarantee traffic to your site providing your web address is clear. Often writing only the URL of your business in an advert is effective as it gains curiosity. This doesn’t require much space and the cost will be reduced.

Event programmes are an effective way to directly reach you target market. Search for relevant industry events for your field and advertise in their programmes.

The Yellow Pages and other directories can bring traffic to your site as more often than not people will check out your website before, or instead of, phoning.

Network

Talk about your business at any opportunity you get.  You will meet potential customers wherever you go  so anyone who asks you anything related to your business tell them your web address and always carry your business cards with the URL and email address on it. Attend Industry events and join networking associations and societies.  Choose carefully which events to attend – those where you expect your target demographic will be and announce your website address to all those you speak with.

Also, donating one of your products for a raffle at an industry event will act as extra publicity for your brand. The price of the product will be little in comparison to the exposure it will bring you.

Get articles published

If you can get an article published in a newspaper or magazine, you will get noticed by thousands and it likely won’t cost u much. Whatever your area of expertise, there will be an appropriate publication whose readers are in your target demographic. Make sure you include your web address with your name in the byline – not only will your article raise interest in you and your brand, but will also advertise your URL to every reader. The same applies for press releases, always include your web address.

Also, most local chapters of business associations have printed newsletters that are sent to all members. If you can commit to contributing an article regularly, it is a good way to get your web address circulating around your target demographic. Search all the associations in your area and choose the most relevant to your industry.

Put your URL on everything

Finally, put your URL on everything! Having your web address on things such as your vehicle and your uniform means everywhere you go people will see it. Also, it’s surprising how few companies have their web address on their company signs. Every person who walks or drives past your sign is a potential customer.

Last week I had the opportunity to sit through a seminar titled “Building a brand with Social Media”.

This seminar intended to educate those unfamiliar with social media websites and in particular how they can be used as a marketing tool to build a brand for your business or product. The internet has allowed everyone their own voice and this seminar explained the platforms available such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn and blogging to get this voice heard.

The keys to success are simple; talk, engage and communicate, be human and be honest. Do something different and be remembered for the right reasons. Even if you are remembered for something other than your product at first, people will associate this with your company and improve brand awareness.  Also, don’t think about the competition, you cannot control what they’re doing so concentrate on what you are doing.

A point that was echoed throughout the seminar was how this cannot be done overnight. Developing relationships and building a community around your brand takes time but if done properly will show results. You must treat this community you have built with respect and if you make an error resolve it and make people love you by doing something positive and different.

The Internet is the only tool that allows you to see what many others are thinking about you and your brand instantly without any extensive market research. You can identify people who love what you do and those who hate it and gather feedback about what you can do differently.

During the seminar, the speaker explained how Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and blogs can be used effectively in business;

Using the tool search.twitter.net on Twitter you can find those searching for your, or similar, products or services and utilize this by engaging with those people. The speaker gave personal examples from his own experiences, for example , after tweeting about his hay fever he received  a message and link from Lloyds pharmacy leading him to hay fever tablets. This can be done with any business, all you need to do is search for those tweeting about your product or service and engage with these people. This is also a great tool to find instant information from your customers about your brand and the products/services you sell and if necessary, turn your haters into fans.

Once you have a community of followers you can tell them about new products and tweet out offers.  If you engage with those with influence in your field you will become even more respected especially if they retweet your tweets to their followers.

Facebook offers paid advertising that is highly targeted meaning you can advertise to those who have mentioned they like or need a product or service that you’re offering. Not only this, you can create groups and fan pages for your business and build a community similar to twitter updating those interested in you with products and offers.

Flickr is a photo sharing application where you can upload photos and join different groups. This is another opportunity to add links to your website.

If you can write a blog with good content, you will gain interest and raise the profile of your business. Again, this is something that takes time and you have to gain respect in your field with interesting content that will bring regular readers.

Also, SEO should always be part of your online marketing campaign and you should hire a consultant to do this for you but use the right company.

The seminar looked at online marketing versus print marketing stating that although dependent on the industry, online marketing was much more efficient. This is because word of mouth is the best type of marketing and due to the instantaneous reaction of the internet, it cannot be beaten by offline print marketing. Online you can reach a global audience in little time, social media is massively viral and with the millions of users, it is easier for something to spread, for example, the T-mobile dance in the train station and Samsungs LED sheep.

The seminar was interactive showing live examples of the ways in which social media can be used. The speaker posted a prepped post to his own personal blog and demonstrated how, using bit.ly, you can shorten the URL for your post then use the twitter feed service to send the RSS feed of your blog to twitter. The link to your post will then be seen by your followers and if any of them decide to retweet your link it will also be seen by their followers.

The speaker suggested it was a good idea to employ a social strategist who will market your business online using social media for those who feel they are unable to do it effectively.

Research suggests consumers prefer to start their online shopping experience with search engines and social media sites rather than going directly to the site of an established retailer. Businesses that analyse the trends associated and utilize this knowledge in their marketing campaigns will have a huge advantage over those who don’t.

Google…

Services such as ‘Google trends’ and Google’s ‘Insights for search’ are designed to help advertisers and marketers gain a better understanding for consumer search behaviour, ultimately to identify new growth markets and modify their campaigns accordingly, for example, their Google ad words. By viewing the past months search trends, it is easier to predict what is likely sell in the following months. It is most likely that the most popular searches will correlate with the level of economic activity in the particular industries. This means you can launch promotions and personalize advertisements when you know certain products are selling well.

Google Trends provides daily and weekly reports on the volume of searches related to various industries providing details of geographic location and category. Google’s ‘Insights for search’ is similar to Google trends but with some added features; users can specify what category their search term falls under, generate a heat map displaying where search queries are coming from and compare trends by specific time ranges.

http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=handmade%20jewellery&cmpt=q

Twitter…

Twitter is another method of tapping into what the world is thinking as consumers are now revealing more and more information about themselves online. Whilst individual tweets can seem insignificant, taking them as a whole can provide insight into consumer behaviour and public sentiment. Knowing your customers, allows businesses to adapt their marketing and even shape public opinion to benefit themselves.

Businesses are realising that building relationships and brand loyalty is much more efficient than pushing products on customers through advertising. Speaking authoritatively about your field will influence potential consumers; content is now more effective than blatant advertising. Consumers are now relying on social media websites as much as company websites for product information so businesses that utilize this and interact with their customers have the opportunity to promote their products.

Also, twitter search provides an up to date, real time insight into what consumers are saying about any particular product around the world. This has already become a research tool for any business involved in consumer trends.

Facebook…

Facebook employs behavioural advertising whereby adverts placed on individuals profile pages are highly targeted. Users have no problem sharing information such as date of birth, relationship status, political and religious beliefs and hobbies and advertisers use this to their advantage. They can effectively advertise only to their target demographic.

Facebook even offers real time reporting for advertisers on the effectiveness of their ad giving feedback on the amount of impressions and clicks.

Whilst some consumers feel uncomfortable with the thought of being tracked online, others admit they prefer relevant advertising as they are no longer bombarded with many different adverts. Advertisers have now realized that it is much more efficient to have their ads seen by a small amount of people who are likely to make a purchase rather than to thousands of people who will not give it a second glance.

Following usability guidelines for your eCommerce site are obviously important. Design aspects of your website such as quick downloading, easy navigation and interaction with no ambiguity trigger sales, however selling to foreign markets requires extra consideration. An eCommerce site that only focuses on their target audience in one country cannot exploit the internet’s global reach and many eCommerce sites are losing much overseas business due to the usability of their site to international customers. Foreign consumers may have heard about your site and are able to find it easily but any marketing employed by your business will be wasted if they cannot connect with the content on your site, preferring instead to use a local site. Research has suggested that internet users are four times more likely to purchase from a website that communicates in their own language and over 50% of web users speak a native language other than English so connecting to these non English speaking countries will potentially double your audience and hopefully double your sales!

Localisation refers to designing your website in a way that can be adapted for and is appropriate to international customers. Taking into account language and cultural differences will allow you to communicate with more customers worldwide and increase sales. Applications can be localised to different levels depending on the user group or culture you expect to use your site. You may wish to keep the content of your site the same but translate local measures such as currency or time or you may decide to translate the product text and terminology to suit the appropriate country. Some eCommerce sites even go as far to change colours, images and symbols to suit the target culture as customers perceptions of service quality differ from country to country. For example, The colour red means error, stop or warning in western culture however this isn’t the case for Asian countries. In pursuing a global market, businesses should be sensitive to elements such as this. If you understand their local cultures, how they use technology and their expectations you will most likely be successful in selling to them.

Even simple differences between variants of English can make or break a sale. For example, British English and American English obviously differ with British using shopping basket and Americans preferring shopping cart and spelling variations such as colour and color. Customers who recognize that the site is based abroad will become less trusting of it, hence less likely to purchase from it. This isn’t a case of automatic translation but researching your target markets expectations and customs.

When did you last check your eCommerce site for these issues? Can you get more sales from applying simple changes?

For most eCommerce sites, the biggest loss of revenue is at the checkout due to shopping cart abandonment. Around 60% of shopping baskets are abandoned before customers have completed their purchase meaning businesses are losing thousands of potential sales. Reasons for basket abandonment can be; high delivery costs, checkout problems, lengthy registrations, fear about the security of their personal information or that the shopper is merely browsing or comparison shopping.

Here are 10 tips to reduce shopping basket abandonment rates and INCREASE SALES on your eCommerce site…

1.       Keep the checkout process short and simple and don’t ask for any information that isn’t necessary. It may seem like the perfect opportunity to gather information about your customers, however lengthy registrations can put customers off and cause them to abandon their baskets.

2.       Make all additional costs i.e. delivery charges clear from the beginning of the checkout process so there are no shocks about seeing the total of the basket suddenly increase due to shipping costs right before the customer is about to make their payment.

3.       Give full contact information during the checkout process to reassure customers you are a real company and reduce their anxieties about purchasing online.

4.       Inform customers about the policies you have in place either on the checkout page itself or via a link available on it. These may include security, privacy, delivery, return and customer service policies. It is often a good idea to place links to these policies in relevant places, for example, delivery and return policies next to the shipping costs and your security policy next to the checkout button.

5.       Include a progress indicator showing steps of checkout so the customer knows steps they have already completed and those left to complete. Also give the customer the option to go back a step if they need to review or amend what they have done. It is a good idea to limit the checkout process to two or three steps.

6.       Provide links back to items selected in the shopping basket so customers can double check they have selected the items they wanted.

7.       Using pictures of products inside the shopping basket has been known to reduce abandonment rates by 10%. Again this is to ensure the customer knows they have selected the item they planned to purchase.

8.       Make editing the shopping cart easy. It should be simple to change products, change quantities, add and delete items. If customers become confused or frustrated about doing this they will abandon their shopping cart without making a purchase.

9.       Show stock availability for each item on product page so that customers don’t have to reach the checkout before realising the product that they wanted is out of stock or backordered.

10.       Offer the option of saving the shopping basket. Comparison shoppers often add items to their shopping baskets without any intention to make a purchase at that time. Give them an option to save their basket for later purchase. Also, this is another reason to show stock availability on the product page; if there is limited stock left for the item they are looking at, it may encourage them to make a purchase there and then.

Twitter

We’re a pretty social group, we’ve all got Twitter accounts and we usually send out most of our info out via @ecomexperiment, however we have our own @eliot_turner account now and plan become more socially active.

We want to communicate and relate with people about the service we’re providing, telling them about our new stock and quite possibly throw the odd offer around from time to time. We would like people to know we’re there to talk to.

As well as being openly social, we will create dialogue with two types of twitter users; the average user who is our potential customer and those who are influential in our field who can promote our business interests. An authority in our field such as a fashion influence endorsing a link will have much more response than unknown quantity tweeting out links. An influencer’s voice will be respected by our target market. Networking with bloggers, publishers, journalists and other business owners will also create traffic.

When tweeting, we will take in to consideration the quality of tweets and not overwhelm you with links making you switch off.

Also, we will use search.twitter.com to our advantage, identifying users who have searched for anything jewellery related. We will not only be able to gain consumer insight but also establish a relationship with these people and offer them discounts or information about our products.

Email Marketing

As you may already know we have built up a database of around 3000 potential customers via an online prize draw at www.eliotturner.com. Those who have entered were given the option to sign up to our mailing list meaning we have a list of people who we know want to hear about our products. We will send these people emails at our launch promoting our products and any special offers we may have. We will then record those who’ve been responsive to emails and those customers who have bought products and send out questionnaires to these people to learn more about who our target demographic actually is. We can then target specific customers with emails, for example, send only male customers an email with Valentine’s Day offers.

Voucher code websites

We will be placing a voucher offering around 10% off products at Eliot Turner which will bring traffic to the site and hopefully create sales.

Prize draw websites

We will register a prize draw on various prize draw websites which will have an option to subscribe to our email newsletters. This will not only expand our email database but increase awareness of the Eliot Turner brand.

Paid Advertising

Fashion blogs

We plan to place adverts onto fashion blogs such as www.fashionista.com, www.myfashionlife.com and http://fashionblog.dailymail.co.uk. These blogs are influential and receive significant traffic numbers and are likely to be viewed by our target demographic.

Google ad words

Once the site is launched we will place an advert on Google ad words as there is often at least a two month wait for SEO to take effect. Once Eliot Turner appears higher in the search rankings we will amend and reduce spend on our advert.

Affiliate marketing involves allowing a third party to market your product for you leaving you to concentrate on other aspects of your business and only having to pay them for referrals that create a click, registration or, most commonly, a sale. Referrals to your site are usually made through a link on the affiliates site and when this link is clicked by a visitor, it is recorded by your system as being from the affiliate and so any sales that are subsequently made can be documented. As this way of marketing functions around a ‘pay for performance’ model, your return on investment is predictable.

Choosing a system

When choosing an affiliate system you can either build your own, buy one or use a service provider. Building your own obviously takes time and expertise but enables you complete control over the process. Buying a programme offers the same control but with the added cost. Building and buying systems both need ongoing upkeep and so it is often a good idea to use a service provider who do all this for you. Not only do they have all the systems needed in place but they will already have a database of affiliates to promote your products on. A service provider will take a cut of commission and most require a set up cost ranging from £500-£2000, however they will eliminate costs such as ongoing administration that you would have incurred had you bought or built a system yourself. One of the largest service providers is Commission Junkie who offer a ‘global network of publishers, educational resources, and sophisticated reporting tools’.

One of the most important aspects of the affiliate system is the payment model. The most common type of commission is a percentage of the total sale amount the affiliate generates. Also, adding bonuses and incentives, such as offering a larger commission percentage for reaching a certain amount of monthly sales, can attract larger affiliates partners.

Recruiting your affiliates

Once your affiliate program is in place you must promote it to attract affiliates. This can be done like a launch of any new product – create a press release, advertise on your own website, spread the word on social media sites. If you are with a service provider, they will also be promoting your programme.

You also need to decide which affiliates you wish to target. Their audience needs to fit with your own, otherwise the amount of referrals you receive will be limited. When considering Eliot Turner we must choose affiliates that are likely to have visitors with the same interests as we expect our customers to have rather than just building a database of random affiliates, e.g. websites associated with similar or related products.  It is not a good idea to target a website that sells competitive products but instead look for potential affiliates that are more interested in communication than eCommerce, for example, fashion blogs would be ideal for Eliot Turner.

Once you have recruited your affiliates it is important to work together with them to generate more leads. You need to update them on new offers or products which can be done with a monthly newsletter. Otherwise, your affiliates won’t have an awful lot to work with and won’t generate the sales you want.

Risks

Affiliate marketing may seem a perfect solution however there are obviously some risks associated. You are no longer in control of your own marketing and are allowing a third party to decide how your company is being represented. Affiliates may use marketing methods you are not comfortable with, for example, being too intrusive. Also, there is always the risk of fraud which can affect the merchant, customer and affiliate. Customers can be diverted to a duplicate site preventing the merchant from receiving potential customers and often when the affiliates commission is on a cost per click basis, both affiliates and competitors have been known to commit click fraud whereby repeatedly clicking on a link that pays out can drain the merchant of money. Keeping careful track your system and making sure it has fraud detection will help you discover any unusual behaviour.

That aside, an affiliate programme can really boost sales if done correctly, and if it doesn’t, you won’t have to pay! This is one online programme that must be part of your marketing plan.

The Affiliate Marketing List

• www.advertising.com
• www.affiliatewindow.com
• www.affiliatefuture.com
• www.zanox.com
• www.webgains.com
• www.tradedoubler.com
• www.silvertap.com
• www.ro-eye.co.uk
• www.paidonresults.com
• www.onlinemediagroup.co.uk
• www.offersquest.com
• www.netklix.com
• www.cj.com
• www.buy.at
• www.afform.co.uk
• www.affili.net

Social media is expanding at an alarming rate and it would be foolish for businesses not to embrace this.

Advertising online on social media sites not only allows you to target your product directly to the people who will be interested in it but also measure your success through tracking clicks and sales. We are particularly interested in advertising on fashion blogs, where we expect our target demographic would congregate. This is the main advantage of social media marketing as adverts can be targeted to a very specific audience. Also, online advertising is interactive, it is not a one-way medium as potential customers can click on your add and be directed straight to your website where, if they wish, can find out more information about you.

Advertising space is mostly sold on a CMP (cost per mille) basis which means you pay so much for every thousand impressions. Unlike affiliate marketing, which usually functions on CPC (Cost per click) model, you are paying for an advert regardless of whether it produces any conversions. However, for the amount of visitors social media websites receive, it would be a missed opportunity not to advertise here.

There are many successful fashion blogs with significant traffic numbers reaching hundreds of thousands of people worldwide so to reach this kind of audience can only be beneficial to us.

Buysellads.com is an advertising marketplace making it easier for advertisers to work with website publishers and vice versa. There is no need to deal with several different publishers and your ads can go live the same day. They have a database of over 1000 websites available to advertise on and I have identified a few fashion blogs which would be suitable for Eliot turner. One of them is http://www.myfashionlife.com/ which is updated daily with fashion news, shopping and product reviews. My Fashion Life generates over 250,000 page views per month and has a traffic rank of 64,145. We will consider using an advertising marketplace such as this rather than going directly to individual websites as it may save time.

When it comes to the advert itself, it is important that it connects with the audience and is specific to that particular audience, if the message is generic you will not have the same impact. Also, the advert needs to be catchy and entertaining without talking at them. The headline should ignite the reader’s interest convincing them you have what they need whilst being short and simple. The design should correspond with your branding and it is a good idea to include company logos and product images.

Here are the potential influential fashion blogs we would consider for advertising from all over the world:

• http://fashionblog.dailymail.co.uk/
• www.cosmofashion.co.uk
• www.fashionista.com
• www.shoppingblog.com
• www.makingitlovely.com
• http://galadarling.com/
• www.karencheng.com.au
• www.outblush.com
• http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com
• www.trenddelacreme.com
• http://womantribune.com
• www.myfashionlife.com
• www.busybeelifestyle.com

There has been a huge increase in companies opting to use voucher codes on affiliate’s websites in the hope that these will be turned into sales. Consumers are always looking for savings on the internet and so offering voucher codes has become an effective marketing strategy for merchants.  A voucher can often turn a consumer from window shopper to an actual customer. In return, the affiliate receives some sort of commission, usually in the form of a percentage of the total product sale amount or a fixed amount per product sold. We plan to use voucher code websites as part of our marketing plan for Eliot Turner.

I have identified the top 10 UK voucher websites:

• www.myvouchercodes.co.uk
• www.vouchercodes.com
• www.freeinuk.co.uk
• www.latestdiscountvouchers.co.uk
• http://www.vouchers.co.uk/
• www.hotukdeals.com
• www.everydaysale.co.uk
• www.promotionalcodes.org.uk
• www.discount-voucher.co.uk
• www.spendlessonline.co.uk/voucher

And a few international sites:

• www.couponcodes4u.com USA
• www.vouchermate.co.nz NZ
• www.buckscoop.com.au AUS

All sites are essentially the same, offering similar discounts. www.myvouchercodes.co.uk claim to be the UK’s  No.1 discount code website offering deals from 1000’s of stores, hence likely to have the most hits and obviously the international sites are seen by a wider audience. We will take this into consideration when choosing which voucher code sites to use as affiliates.

Often businesses are reluctant to run email marketing campaigns due to fear of being seen as spammers however it is one of the easiest, cheapest and most effective forms of marketing providing timely results…if done correctly. It is important to get the most out of your email marketing campaign as an email that isn’t well planned, interesting and relevant will have little effect.

Email marketing is especially important for eCommerce sites as a link to their site is available at the click of a button and particularly effective if your email marketing is permission based. This way, those receiving your emails are expecting them and most likely to hear your message; hence a higher conversion rate. Although emails seem impersonal they can often be the best method to gain customer loyalty with their less intrusive nature.
All emails have three important elements; the sender’s details, the subject line and the message body and getting the most out of these are key.

The Introduction…

The name or address of the sender more often than not determines whether a recipient will open the email and so the conversion rate can rely on this. The most important rule is to keep it simple in the least amount of characters. Many businesses have found a personal touch of a real person’s name rather than a company name can be effective. However, as spammers have also adopted this strategy, it can backfire unless the recipient recognises the sender’s name. Also, in terms of the email address, people are more likely to trust one ending in your company name rather than from a mail service.

The message subject, again, should be short and simple with the message you want to send out in as few words as possible. The most important information should be included in the first 20 characters, for example ‘Special offer’ and the whole subject should not exceed 50 characters. If there’s any ambiguity with your message it is less likely to be opened.

On opening…

Once the email has been opened, the message body needs to be concise and to the point encouraging people that they need what you’re offering. The opening body text should grab the reader’s attention as soon as possible. A personal touch with words such as ‘you’ and ‘your’ can be useful. The end body text should include a strong call to action with reminders of aspects such as money back guarantees to remove any worries the potential customer may have.
You are legally required to have an ‘unsubscribe’ option within the email that gives the recipient the opportunity to opt out of your newsletter.

Cowell’s Garden Centre have an effective email marketing campaign and this is due to the fact that their emails are short, simple and to the point.

In the ‘From’ field they have their company name ‘Cowell’s Garden Centre’ stated clearly and their email address ending in their company name. The Subject field simply states the purpose of the email in 28 characters; ‘Special Offers from Cowell’s’ leaving no room for ambiguity which is all that is needed at this point.

The message body contains very few words with the email predominantly made up of images. For a company such as a garden centre, images are key as the strength of the image will determine whether the product is purchased. The text they do have states exactly what the offer is without any unnecessary words. The email refers to the recipient as ‘valued customer’ and states ‘We thought you might like to know about the latest offers at Cowell’s’. This makes the customer feel special and that they are receiving special offers for being a subscriber. The ‘you’ also adds a personal touch. They have two links to online vouchers on their website and their company information; email address, telephone number and URL are displayed clearly at the bottom of the email hence plenty of opportunity to visit their website.

It is useful to run email campaigns directed to specific people, for example a certain gender or those situated in a particular geographical position. At Eliot Turner we are currently building an email database and plan to collect information about our customers enabling us to tailor an email towards a specific demographic if we wish.

You need to decide how often you will be sending out emails as running multi-email campaigns can double your conversion rate however sending too many can annoy customers and have an adverse effect. There are no particular rules about how many emails to send are appropriate and the amount will depend on the type of business you run. You will gain more of an idea through trial and error and the tendencies you discover about your customers.

It is useful to keep a record of the number of responses you receive and the type of customer they are from, essentially finding the customers which are most responsive to your email campaign. If your response rates are low, then it is a good idea to rethink your email marketing campaign.