Monday, December 31, 2012

5 Numbers To Watch


There are numbers and there are numbers. In social media marketing and email marketing only a few really matter. If watched correctly, these numbers will help you get better results and give you a targeted direction to push towards.

1. Time of day. Are you east coast, west coast? What industry are you in and your clients in? When do they check out their sites online? These are all important things you need to be watching. We slight adjustment you could be making huge increases in results. Or maybe you need an East Coast, Midwest and West Coast site for better timing penetration.

2. Open rate. If we are talking email this is paramount because it shows the interest and acceptance of your offering. There are three main factors that affect your open rates: subject line, the “from” line, and the pre-header. If you can any variations should be tested. Or try dividing your list up, no matter how small into test blasts and test some possible variables on a small scale.

3. Click rate. This might be the “Holies of Holies in the online marketing world. The single most important statistic in social and email marketing. The click of action. The single action of validation that says if your campaign is a success or not. This “Call to Action” will be the single grade that says if your online marketing effort is good or bad. You’ll get the most effective CTA when you follow the IOU principle. The “IOU” is a catchy way of remembering the basics: Your email must generate Interest, deliver a strong Offer, and provide a sense of Urgency. Without these 3 parts your chance of success can drop like a rock.

4. Click-to-open ratio. This number can be deceptive because it is sometimes used interchangeably with the click rate. When your click-to-open rate is low, that means the people who open your mail aren't actually clicking anything in it. They may look, but they don't buy. A weak CTA can also produce a low click-to-open rate. Watch this number close. It will give you a great sense of direction as to of what needs change.

5. Conversion rate. The conversion is the happy ending to the story. Your conversion rate is directly linked to the effectiveness of your CTA. Customers who aren't sure what they're clicking on will lead to low conversions, whereas a clear call-to-action will produce results. Sky high results! If you have gotten them this far you should be seeing double-digit conversion rates. If your rates are lower, go back to the beginning and start over or look at each element you are using in the campaign and make the necessary changes.


Larson Notes & Satire:  If you watch your numbers, not mine, not your friends, maybe your competitions, you want to see numbers san d rations going up, because hopefully you are getting better, if not, call us, we can help

“We don’t sell lists, we find customers.”

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-1294
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

We’ll Get You To The 20


Sorry, I don’t care how much you push, how much you need that sale. Sometimes it is just not going to happen. Not just that but they don’t even want to talk to you.

Sorry Charlie. Prospects don’t want to talk to a salesperson until they are somewhere 80% down the sales process. By then solutions and specifications on any projects and needs are already set. If you can attain the status as a member of their "team" in making buying decisions you have attained the Nirvana of Sales. To do this you have to become a trusted advisor looking out for THEIR interests and not yours even when the right choice is not your product of service. This is seldom achieved in the search for new accounts.

So you as a marketer need to think. Oh ya, you really need to put on the old thinking cap on for this one.

1st you need to take an active role in the early stages of the buying process.

2nd you need to get access to all members in the purchasing process so you can understand their roles in the process but also the need and concerns.

3rd you need to have the skills to (I hate this word but) close the deal.


Larson Notes & Satire:  Now we are called cold call experts. We fancy ourselves as new account acquisition specialists. We are the ones who can start the process be it at the 1 yard line or a short field at the 43 to get you down to the 20 yard line. Yes we will take you to the RED ZONE. Sometimes we can do it with a 40 yard pass, other times on the ground 3.8 yards at a time. But that is what we do.

Each part of the process needs a special kind of person for the particular kind of selling needed. You don’t use a full back when a half back is better, or a wide end with a tight end over the middle is the right call. While you might have a Walter Payton or an Adrian Peterson to run it 95% of the time and get great results most sales people are just not that good.  BUT if we got you to the 20 yard line do you have a red zone offence to push it the other 20?

“We don’t sell lists, we find customers.”

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-1294
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Price Of A New Customer


Price Of A New Customer

Do you know yours?

If not why?  If I asked you how much a new account is worth to you. More so, what would you be willing to pay for a new account?

You might come to me and ask, what do you charge? Fair question. But I might come back and ask what is it worth. If it doesn’t work for both of us, it doesn’t work.

There is no right answer; there is only your answer.


Larson Notes & Satire:  If I walked up to you with a stack of 25 contact sheets, everyone with a 100% guaranteed new customer that I could sell to you or your competitor, how much would you give me for them? $50? $100? $500? Do you know?

Give me your number and I’ll tell you if we can make it happen. I dare you!

“We don’t sell lists, we find customers.”

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-1294
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.





Thursday, December 13, 2012

Directed Landing Page Content


Say what you got to say and get out!

If you use or have ever thought about using a Landing Page for or part of a marketing campaign using less content is usually a better idea than packing it in. Yes less is more, if you want to keep them focused on an action you want them to take.

This keeps your prospects focused directly in the key message. This means you elimination all the extra details and needless content. If it does not pertain to the campaign don’t put it in. Not extra links to other pages, NO fancy graphics and design. Facts just the facts.


Larson Notes & Satire:  You want action. Then call for action. Keep it in plain sight, visible and understandable.

Call us we can find you new customers.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-1294
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Email: Triggers To Up Your ROI


Whether you're a small business or an international company with lots of branches "People do business with the people they know, like and trust." And your success is based on building relationships.

The larger your list of the 3 F’s (friends family and friends), the more daunting the task of sustaining one-on-one communication. Fortunately, today's online relationship marketing technologies give marketers the ability to join together the things they know about their 3F’s with the capability to automate specific types of messages that are based on a customer action.

With behavior-based marketing you can actually shorten the time and effort, while at the same time build trust, increase engagement and creating new possibilities. But, to do this, you must have some major elements in place to have success.

Common Reference points
According to the Direct Marketing Association's Email Experience Council, directed email campaigns have 96 percent higher open rates and 125 percent higher click through rates than other kinds of emails, yet sadly they only comprised 2.8 percent of the total email sent. The most common types are the "Welcome" emails you get that are sent right after your sign-up has been completed, and the "Thank you" email, sent when someone has just made a purchase. If you've at least got these kinds of customer communications automated, you’re at least on the right road!

But there are so many more functions you can automate. Things like like birthdays, anniversaries and abandoned shopping carts and the like. But what are some lesser-recognized opportunities that organizations can take advantage of?

Product Lifecycle Emails
Using a campaign that involves the lifecycle of a product or service is a very powerful way to cross-sell and build a customer relationship.

"What is a lifecycle email campaign?" simply put, it is one that is based on predictable future as to the needs or desires of the prospect or customer, as shown by a previous action. This then activates a series of emails designed to be sent out at prescheduled intervals. These kinds of campaigns can also be based on certain behaviors or changes of status as well

For your prospects that are not easily targeted, you can look at their data to better understand the way they wish to be communicated with. Ask yourself how do they want to hear from you and what do they want to hear? In looking at their unique preferences, share offers, competitions, events, product information and other details that will effectively elicit a response.

Status Change Events
Another often overlooked chance to touch your customer base revolves around changes they make. This could be one that indicates they have become even more attached to your brand, for example, if they started following you on Twitter.

A change based on these types of actions taken is a great way for a relationship to build and follower retention. It shows your customer that you are listening to them and that you care respect them and what they like and, don’t like.

In today's challenging economic climate, every customer matters. According to Adobe's 2012 report, "The ROI from Marketing to Existing Online Customers," 40 percent of revenue comes from returning or repeat purchasers, who represent only 8 percent of all visitors.

Keep consistency and frequency in mind: When done right a targeted campaign should seem perfectly natural. Make sure all of your data is integrated and up to date: When you make the choice to build a relationship with your customer this way, you need to keep your data up to date. If a customer suddenly receives something that makes no sense, it can totally take away any trust you've worked to build.

Larson Notes & Satire:  If you work at it it will happen. As in all things it’s about being consistent. This kind of an email attack can only help you in that consistency. Keep it constant, keep it focused, keep it directed and you will get results.

If you need help we could make you an email star!

“We don’t sell lists, we find customers.”

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-1294
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.