Using Google Analytics for more than the obvious

A tool that is so powerful and free is always going to be an essential in the zero budget marketing tool kit. I'm talking about Google Analytics.

Yet Google Analytics provides you with so much information about your business that you often only take in the basics - how many visitors, how long are they spending, what page are they leaving from, what is the bounce rate (where they only visit one page and leave) and maybe how many goal conversions or what key words are bringing people to your site.

It is worth digging deeper occasionally, as it may reveal some business issues that need your attention. This can be less about analysis and more about recognising a trend.

Here's one example...

Browsers - with many of the clients I help manage, I've been watching an interesting trend emerge over the past couple of years. By far the most popular browser was Internet Explorer...but no longer. Gradually Firefox gained traction and interestingly, Safari is also now extremely popular.

Why the Safari dominance? The proliferation of iphones and ipads.

Why does browser matter? If your website was built more than 3 years ago, it may not have been tested well (or at all) on a browser like Safari. So does it work as it should on Firefox, Safari or Chrome? And if not, how much of your hard won traffic is getting a sub-standard experience?

Email marketing - an "oldie but goodie"

I was recently asked to speak on email marketing. It's a marketing tool close to my heart, because it has allowed so many of my zero budget marketing campaigns come to life. Who can argue with reaching 5,000 people for around $60?!

Lately, however, email marketing has been a little left in the cold by social media. In fact, you'd be forgiven for thinking the ONLY way to go is to the land of twitter, facebook, youtube, tumblr & the rest.

But I'm here to remind you that you should not neglect your old friend, the email marketing list. Why? The number one reason is that unlike with social media tools, it's YOU that own the list with email marketing. You don't really own those hard won facebook likes. If facebook disappeared tomorrow (god forbid!), so would your "list".

It's so hard to get visitors to your website. Thus, it's often unrealistic that they'll buy from you immediately. But it's less unrealistic that they'll engage in another way. Getting their email address is what I recommend you aim for, rather than ONLY ask them to like you on facebook or follow you on twitter.

If you're interested, you can download a PDF of the presentation here>

How to get more people to your business events

Marketing via events is a great relationship building and prospecting tool. As I'm heading off to one such event tonight - and have run literally hundreds over my career - I thought I'd share some tips for more successful event marketing...

You need to sell it! Promoting an event is NOT about brevity. You'll often need to provide a LOT of information, and likely some enticement, to help them make a decision to attend. In other words, you need to SELL them ... even if the event is free.

Events are a hard way to make money. Yes, some people make a lot of money running events. But a lot more don't. If you're trying to make a buck, ticket sales almost always won't be enough. You'll need a sponsor - or lots of them.

Copywriting is king. Yes, with most marketing, you need great copy to convince people to attend your event. You should include:

- A descriptive and enticing subject line to your email invitation (as almost all event invites these days are sent via email). Including the date there doesn't hurt either.

- Throw out generic/bland titles - go a little crazy if you must. A clever and catchy title AND then a more "straight" subtitle that summarises the content of the event, is a good way to go.

- Just because it's a business event, doesn't mean it needs to be dull. Make the event sound INTERESTING, engaging and like they might learn something they wont find elsewhere.

- Establish “the issue” – that is, why should people CARE about the content of the event. Asking questions in copy or providing trusted research result is a useful technique.

- Provide an overview of what will be covered, preferably in bullet points, to make scanning easy. You can then expand and provide long copy.

- Provide a bio of the speaker and a summary of their credentials. A couple of audience testimonials from previous speaking events never hurts either.

- Add a sense of urgency in the call to action if possible (ie. Only 17 places remaining)

And keep asking. More than one invitation is a must. 3-4 invitations is ideal. No, it's not really badgering because most people take a long time to take action!

Make & follow a checklist. After you've done all the clever stuff, make sure you've also done the "boring but necessary" stuff, such as CHECKING that you've included the right date and time and the venue .... sounds simple, but so easy to miss! A proof reader for this is your best asset.

Final golden rule: Even if an event is free, people’s time is NOT. They won't forgive you for wasting it, so make sure the event is worthwhile.

How to generate media coverage

Getting OTHER people to talk about you is often more successful because it is seen as more trustworthy. Of COURSE you will say you are great - but if someone ELSE says it, it's instantly more believable; particularly if they trust the source. (This is why referral is the main source of business for almost any business I've ever worked with).

The next best thing to referrals is media coverage - it's not as long lasting and consistent, but the right media mention can get you an instant spike in traffic or sales. Getting media coverage isn't easy - but it isn't impossible either, as journalists' and bloggers' jobs are creating news constantly (In fact, as the "news of the world" debacle has shown, some of the media will do pretty much anything to get a story!)

I just read a great post from Ben Angel covering 33 ways to appeal to the media which is not only worth a read, but it worth printing out and sticking up on the wall in front of you the next time you're thinking of doing your own PR.

To add to Ben's list, a few additional zero budget marketing tips are:

• Don't forget local media - it can be easier to get featured IF you have a local angle (and often more than once)
• Good blogs are increasingly viewed as media - so don't forget bloggers, or partner/friend companies who might write about you / your offering. (A recent article in the Australian on food bloggers might have been derisive about them BUT noted that PRs targeting them had more consistently POSITIVE coverage from them than their print counterparts).
• Do have someone else proof read! It's so easy to make a spelling/grammar error - but that's no excuse. Don't rely on spell check, as a person to proof read before you send out.

Facebook pages - are Likes worth anything?

If you are in marketing, or running a business, you can't escape the buzz around social media.

Facebook is one of the behemoths of the space, with 700 million users. As someone that runs several Facebook "pages" for clients, I can attest getting Likes takes time and effort, and can be slow going.

There are some good cheap tools appearing to help go beyond the basic interaction (such as Wildfire), but I guess the question on many people's lips is...is it worth it?

I thought this quote was telling, in an article published yesterday on Smart Company, about the sale of KidSpot.com.au for a reported $45 million.

News Limited chief John Hartigan said in a statement Kidspot was attractive partly due to its 31,000 fans on Facebook, representing one of the largest, "most active" fan bases of any Australian media group.

So I think that's a rather resounding yes, it probably is worth it, for even more reasons that you thought! And as a Facebook page is a great zero budget marketing tool, it is well worth your consideration for inclusion in your box of marketing tactics.

How to make a sales call more successful

Sales meetings, with targeted prospects, are hard to achieve. It can take months of research and work to get in front of someone. So when you get there...try not to waste the opportunity!

Having recently been on the receiving end of a bad sales call (as in, someone trying to sell something TO me) it reminded me that the most fatal mistake you can make is this: Forgetting that there needs to be a benefit for BOTH parties.

You often need to "sell" more than your product or service. You may need to sell:
- your point of view,
- you might need to sell a partnership opportunity,
- you might need to convince someone to speak at an event,
- you might need to get someone to cross-promote with you.
All of these are "sales" opportunities.

So consider this perspective of your "prospect".....Just because you want to sell to me, doesn't mean that I should buy from you. It has to be a smart choice for BOTH of us. That means, you might need to LISTEN TO ME about what I need - and work out if you can deliver that. You absolutely will no be able to magically convince me to buy something (or buy into an idea) if you're the only one that will "win" from the deal. Know that even if you're dressing it up well, if you're a slick sales person, I'll still be able to spot a bad deal. So don't waste my time.

Sales is such a critical part of marketing - give it the respect and effort it deserves.

Take the time to BE your customer

Every now and then you're reminded of something so critical to your customers' experience that you can't believe you ever forgot about it.

In my case, I was doing some work for my carsharing client, Flexicar. I was checking out some new potential parks in a parking garage and reviewing the signage of a competitor. So, never having been to this car park, I had to use the tools our customers have available to them - in this case, our website & the map of parks...and I discovered that the publicly available information was NOT ENOUGH to find the park. The floor and bay number were NOT available. We did send more detailed information in a booking confirmation email, but what if they didn't have that with them...customers rarely doing exactly what you ask!

So by putting myself in the customer's shoes I inadvertently identified a pretty big issue - by updating the information on the site, it will ensure a smoother experience for new customers visiting that site, will cut customer service phone calls and will generally create a more positive experience for the customer. And it's the ultimate zero budget marketing fix - it will cost NOTHING to do and take only a few minutes of my time.

I have been preaching "put yourself in your customers shoes" forever - but this proves it something you need to do in ALL facets of your business, over and over again. I find that with many online businesses I visit, it's IMMEDIATELY apparent there are obvious - and quick - improvements that could be made to improve a customer experience, and improve sales.

So if it's been a while since you took a step back and tried to BE your customer, then I can only recommend giving it a go today. OR even better, sit behind someone who hasn't used your site and watch their experience with your online business (or physical space). I guarantee you'll identify several things you didn't even think were issues.