I am doing a presentation at a conference to entrepreneurs and small businesses owners next week and I need your help!
The topic title is entitled:
Using Email and Pay Per Click to Grow Your Small Business
The description is:
“Be nimble! One of the greatest advantages a small business has against much larger competitors is a rapid feedback & decision loop. In this session we’ll learn strategic processes and optimization techniques to maximize performance and ROI in email and pay per click programs.”
Seriously…if you were attending this presentation what would you like to see, what pitfalls have you/your business experienced in using either email and/or pay per click?
As a token of my appreciation, anyone who provides a quick comment below will be provided a link to the presentation after it’s delivered next week.
Thanks in advance for your help!
The ever-present quest to acquire lists or augment/refurbish one you have built yourself—built over time and projects and clients and customers and customer base migrations—is much in the mind of marketers dealing in small biz stuff.
And there is the issue of metrics—‘How much is enough?’ is always a question that small biz folks ask suppliers (translated that often means “how much is THIS going to cost me?”)
And then there is the idea of messaging…what do I say to these people/companies that we are targeting?
And finally…how do I select a supplier/vendor who can help my nephew/daughter or assistant continue the program; because I wasn’t to get back to what’s important? (A vendor/supplier that is not going to cost me a lot…)
The inherent challenges of ppc:
1. Inciting someone to click, and
2. Convincing someone that they really need to complete a transaction (whether it is reading, signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase).
What is the incentive to click the first time? And then the next?
A visually or emotionally appealing initial consumer experience drives call to action #1. Once landing on the desired page, what do consumers see/hear/feel (emotions) first? Make it clear to the target consumer that they really need/want what you’re “selling” – soft or durable.
On smaller scales, think of the old-time focus groups. Get immediate feedback. Run a test marketing plan that allows users to interact with “the first click”, then the second, and then both. You can change and flip small-scale campaigns in 10 different directions if you wish.
Remember, K.I.S.S.
Are email and/or PPC right for your business? Are they the tools that will deliver the best ROI for your time and marketing dollars?
It’s entirely possible that a surprisingly high percentage of the folks at you’re presenting to will neither know the answer to that question or, what their other options are. If I was in the audience I’d appreciate hearing that neither option may be imperative for my business to grow, that there are other options that may provide a better ROI for my industry.
So true Eric.
Would you be interested in an ROI Benchmark report we did last year?
I would be delighted to offer it to you free of charge.
Also…if ROI is important take a peek at this ROI Worksheet – it is also available as a free download.
https://dock29.com/roi-advertising-calculator/
If I was attending I would be interested in seeing average conversion examples of both email and pay per click. The pitfalls that many of my clients are seeing is not enough replies to their email efforts. Either because of easy for people to ignore/send to junk or just doesn’t open.
With the pay per click program, if I was attending, I would like to also see which platforms this would encompass, usage rates based on each platform. (Platforms meaning wither Adwords or Banner…) And again the average conversion examples. Without Examples of minimum results in which to make this decision easy enough to either WANT to go forward with this or is it going to be COST EFFECTIVE.
There are alot more questions that arise from this….but these would be at least the ones to try to answer in your presentation.
Everything comes back to conversion.
-Email conversion rates at our agency 63:1
-PPC 8:1
Email quick tips:
1) test test test
2) test subject lines
3) categorize people (aka put in lists) based on their click and buying behavior
4) be creative (seasonal and trends)
5) test test test
PPC quick tips.
Please see this link:
https://dock29.com/small-business-keyword-research-process/
AND THIS ONE for the keyword buildout worksheet
https://dock29.com/accurate-keyword-research-keyword-generator-tool/
Lastly…and ROI calculation worksheet
https://dock29.com/roi-advertising-calculator/
I will like to see criteria for business best suited for email marketing and ppc. How you craft the best message for email. What are the best method of generating the right lead for your email marketing.I believe these are the questins i will like answered.
Great questions Segun Adesina.
The short answer is any business that has customers or prospects is well suited for email marketing.
Data shows it is 17X more cost effective to convert on current customers then bring in a new one.
Best message craft – complicated answer but I would look at your sales and category data then cross reference that with trends (trends.google.com) as well as season themes etc. BE CREATIVE and test test test.
Does that help?
ROI is always my biggest question.
2nd is how to get the emails to be opened.
Thanks Dr. Fiorini for the question. Yes…I will be addressing these at the conference and sure to send the link to you!
The comments above are great ones. Mine is more from experience of attending a lot of these kinds of presentations. They want something that on Monday they can look to implement.
Give out links to online resources for email and ppc best practices. Also email marketing solutions and maybe a rundown of high-level feature sets from some of the regulars. Also let them know about what kind of consultant they might look for if they want to go that route.
I always walk away from a presentation and feel I got my times worth IF I learned one thing I can apply on Monday. Also do them a favor and set expectations on what success looks like. If someone is just getting into this and is expecting open rates of 50% and click rates of 25% they need to understand how that’s not going to happen.
I would like to see your best performing Call to Action phrases.
For example at http://www.txtMovies.com we use:
-> Start Sending Movies in less than 4 minutes!
-> Only $1.99 per movie Create an Account Now!
-> Try it for Free!
-> Get Started in less than 3 minutes!
Any creative ways to get people to click we’re interested in testing it.
So many good comments on here. We don’t use email marketing currently, but we use a lot of PPC and it is effective, but we spent years fine tuning our campaigns and that work is never done. Always budget time to keep an eye on how everything is working. Study the keys words that are bringing traffic to you and make sure you use your negative keyword tools. Analyze what your competition is doing and replicate their successes. Always be learning new skills and your business will benefit!