Small Business Online Advanced Workshop

Editor's Notes

• #6: Now throughout the course of the day, we’ll be looking at different tools that you can use to develop your marketing. But what we’re going to start with are some concepts that are critical to business success, and these I call the business basics:Know your customerIdentify your goalsMeasure and refineEven if you think you’ve got these things in order, I’d encourage you to refresh them in your mind as we run through these concepts today, and use the opportunity to ask any questions about how to gain clarity on what your business is about. Here’s the basic structure of what we’ll be talking about this morning.
• #7: This is what’s known as a decision tree, and it’s a process that encourages you to start with the purpose of why you are doing something, then link it to your goal and identify how you will measure your success.This decision tree is useful as a one-page alignment tool for management or board members and can be used to keep all of your brand activity on track.It is effective for fostering discussion on what is truly important.Forces you to consider the why, the what, the who and the how as part of all your decision making.Now assuming that you’re comfortable with your “big idea”, our focus today is on the other 3 aspects of this framework: branding, customer segments and measuring goals. So we’ll kick things off now with branding.
• #8: Great customer experiences don’t happen by accident. They are crafted, they are deliberate, and they are part of the company’s DNA.When we talk about integrating your marketing, the word integration refers to the types of tools that you decide to use such as your website, your retail displays, your signage, your advertising, your social media – the list goes on. But how many of you take the time to understand the core drivers of your brand. What makes the brand tick? What makes the brand unique? What makes the brand appealing? What gives the brand its character? These can all be linked back to the underlying values of the business.
• #9: So what are these magical values that tie your marketing together, and how do you communicate these to your customers? Let’s start be teasing-out a couple of examples.
• #10: What we have here is a selection of logo’s that represent brands in the aviation sector. All of these businesses offer basically the same product (seats on a plane) but they differentiate through marketing (product, place, price, promotion, people, processes, physical evidence), that is drawn on their values.Virgin stands for value for money, quality, innovation, fun and a sense of competitive challenge. We deliver a quality service by empowering our employees and we facilitate and monitor customer feedback to continually improve the customer's experience through innovation. http://www.virgin.com/about-us Singapore Airlines have built their brand on innovation, best technology, genuine quality and excellent customer service. http://www.venturerepublic.com/resources/singapore_airlines_-_an_excellent_asian_brand.asp Had they not differentiated their brands in this way, airlines would be seen as a commodity (volume products without personalities, values and distinct faces) with no strong preference for carrier and even greater situation of price sensitivity.
• #11: How you are perceived is controlled by how you craft your brand positioning. The humble flip-flop has been transformed by this Brazilian-based company who embraced the values of fun and positivity as part of the brand.Introduced into Australia around 10 years ago, Havaianas have become the must-have summer accessory and the brand is said to have single-handedly made flip-flops socially acceptable footwear.The company manufactures 5 pairs of flip-flops per second (150 million pairs per year), and it is the only brand in the world that is proudly worn by both rich and poor.The results? Havaianas are retailing for $20 to $40 a pair.
• #12: Another brand that has embraced the value of fun is Sunny Queen Eggs. Before the re-brand, over 60% of sales were made up of house brand and private label brand eggs. There was no perceived difference between brands, and no-one was being creative in how the products were sold. To achieved cut through in this environment, Sunny Queen identified key emotional motivators for people to purchase their products: hen welfare, natural, value for money.In markets where perceived product variation is low, emotion becomes the greatest connector to your customers, and emotion is guided by visual cues on packaging, signage etc at the point of sale.Taking a bland, supermarket product into a market leading brand, Sunny Queen Eggs changed the game in it’s industry by giving its product a personality. The Smiley eggs were created to connect with kids (“I want the smiley eggs mum”) and to represent doing the right thing for your health, the hen’s health, and the Australian farming community.Sunny the Egg now has several variations: Fresh Farm Caged Eggs, Natural Grain Eggs, Barn Laid Eggs, Free Range Eggs, Organic Free Range Eggs. Results:Sunny the Egg has nearly 70,000 facebook fans.34.5% increase in sales valueNumber one selling egg SKU in Australia in 2010
• #15: Some values that may help get you started:DeterminedAuthenticInnovativeCreativeResourcefulFunHonestGivingHappyUnderstandingWise
• #16: Take a few minutes to jot some things down…
• #19: Is your audience male or femaleAre you talking to an older or a younger audienceAre your customer home-bound or mobileAre your customers in rural or regional areas, or are they in capital citiesDo you need to consider language barriers or cultural implications of mis-interpretation
• #28: As business owners, we have so many options to choose from when it comes to Marketing ourselves or our products.In order to create maximum impact, we must first have an over-arching strategic vision or goal to start from. The simplest way to look at this is to look at the marketing objectives for your brand. Do you want to…
• #29: The vision for your business will help you to decide which specific activities you should implement.The rest of today’s workshop will assist you to understand the different tools that you have available to achieve your goals. For example your website, email marketing, SEO/SEM, social media, and offline communication channels.
• #30: Think about how you would approach a large jigsaw puzzle. Even after you’ve tipped it out of the box, you would spend time looking at the big picture of what you’re trying to achieve. Then as you slowly start to put the pieces back together, the box becomes a point of reference that helps to keep you on track. The goal is to reconstruct the jigsaw, the picture on the box is the plan that helps to keep you on track. It’s the same with your marketing. “You’ve gotta get a good picture in your head of what then end looks like before you start”.So what does this have to do with branding and marketing strategy…
• #34: Whatever you set out to achieve you need to be able to measure the results or the goal is ineffective. Once you know what you’re trying to achieve, tracking and measurement becomes quite easyNot just about online analytics.Behavioural engagement.
• #36: Your website is just one tool of marketing. Everything you do to communicate your business must use the same styleof language, the same type of “characters”, the same imagery, and have the same underpinning values. If you consistently strive to achieve this, you will develop a strong and powerful brand.
• #54: Overwhelming businesses show that word of mouth advertising is their strongest advertising money spinner. Think of social media as a way of generating word of mouth advertising.Success across social media is getting others to talk about you, interact with you and share their positive thoughts about their purchasing experiences.
• #55: If businesses thought about social media as a networking opportunity, it’d be much more palatable.Think about how you gain credibility, trust and new business when networking. It’s a slow, but rewarding way to gain business.How great is it when a raving fan tells others in the networking posse to use your services. Well, amplify this. They’re telling 300 people on social media.Consider a dodgy person at networking event pushing their services onto you. It’s really awkward. You want to back away. That’s how people feel online too.
• #56: There are many social spaces online.While Facebook & Twitter have the highest user numbers, lots
• #57: If you can pinpoint a precise age range of your customer base, it’s much easier to market to them online.
• #58: Facebook: 600 millionTwitter: 200 million
• #59: Can you guess which side represents the dinosaurs and the babies?We often think only young people are using social media, but it’s just not true.
• #64: There are lot of factors to consider about your potential customers.If you can nail this, it’s much easier.Can you tell us more about your customer? [Exercise 3 mins writing; 5 mins discussing]
• #65: Once you’ve got your target market nailed, then the fun really starts.This is the general strategy process.ListenPreliminary research, and ongoing awareness for trends and information.Prepare
• #66: Since social media is a term we use to discuss the tools that facilitate conversations, before your business can be a part of those conversations, you need to know what people are already talking about so you can determine how you can best contribute.Setting up some tools to monitor conversations is easy. The difficult part is choosing the keywords that will return the most usable results.Get to know what sort of things your customer does onlineWhat questions do they ask?Do they talk about you, your product or your industry already?Social Media Firehose: Social Media Firehose is a big, fat, wide-reaching net of social media searches to alert you every time your brand or product is mentioned by anybody on a slew of social media sites, including flickr, twitter, friendfeed, and digg.Creates one RSS feed that aggregates results. Latest Blog Mentions Pipe: Yahoo Pipe that will aggregate brand references across several major blog search engines, including Technorati, Icerocket and Google Blog Search.Alltop: This website aggregates the top posts from the top blogs around the world. Because it divides the blogs into categories by topic, it’s also a great place to begin building your list of relevant blogs to read.Be as specific as possible so that your searches return fewer results more relevant to you. This will take some time, but once you’ve discovered which keywords yield the results you’re looking for, you will discover a host of blogs, twitter profiles and videos relevant to your industry. We’ll use those results in step two below as we develop an internal social media strategy.
• #67: Social media platforms help facilitate conversations between individuals, not so much with businesses. Once you have a sense of what people are talking about, it’s time to identify the appropriate people inside your organization to participate.Who’s Going to ChatPeople want experts in their area, who are passionate about their work and who are empowered to act on the feedback they receive from the community. Part of this process should be to provide the proper training for these employees on social media participation.Set Rules of EngagementMake sure your company has a social media policy in place that offers guidelines to your employees on the appropriate way to engage in online conversations. Microsoft’s Channel 9 Doctrine is a good place to start.Define Your StrategySocial media is comprised of many different platforms. Rather than trying to participate in all of them, begin with one or two that seem to make the most sense. Having an engagement strategy will help to determine how much time employees will devote to social media communications, what will be the focus areas for engagement and of course, it will help to measure success.Downloadable strategy guide.Secure Your UsernamesUsernames are often unique, try to be consistent across all sites.
• #68: This is the fun part! Start leaving comments on blogs, uploading images to Flickr, building a community on Twitter or FriendFeed or whatever else that strategy entails that helps further the discussion and illustrates your company’s commitment to developing these online relationships. What we are seeing now in online communities is a shift toward humanness. It’s no longer acceptable to the Internet savvy individuals to interface with a faceless corporation. Social tools like blogs, messaging services and community sites have broken down barriers between individuals and also between brands and consumers.It might also be useful for employees to create a social media editorial calendar so that it’s easier to structure time to participate. You never know what might happen.
• #70: Social media is simply a group of tools that help facilitate conversations, but there’s really no replacement for face-to-face interaction. Use trade shows and other events as opportunities to build even stronger relationships with the members of your online community. This could be in the form of an exclusive session, an informal breakfast or even a group picture on the event floor.
• #71: Unlike other campaigns, measuring social media success begins by asking more questions:– Did we learn something about our customers that we didn’t know before?– Did our customers learn something about us?– Were we able to engage our customers in new conversations?– Do our employees have an effective new tool for external feedback and reputation management?
• #72: *hrmph*
• #74: KEVIN---Q:  Have you ever researched a product online and then purchased it (actually paid for it) in an offline store?Today's customers demand complete purchasing flexibility and the highest levels of service, no matter if they are online or offline. They research and buy along multiple paths or channels that are most convenient to them, often blending paths for a single purchase.
• #75: KEVIN---[insert image of pie chart:  70% of online consumers exhibit multichannel behaviour]  "This survey by Forrester Research shows that 70% of consumers that research online and purchase offline, 85% are multichannel buyers. Many organisations estimate that as much as 50% of their customers - typically those of highest value - purchase across multiple channels."This means it has become critical to integrate your shopfront or office, the catalogue or brochure, the web, tablet device, smartphone and even your elevator script.In this session, we will cover a couple of the offline channels that can lead your customer offline to that online path. From Networking to mobile marketingJosh will even cover one of the emerging trends in Australia - QR Code.And how these can be used to leverage and integrate your multiple channels.
• #76: So we’ve coveredBrandingSocial MediaContent WritingMobile MarketingWhat happens in the real world? How do we get them to connect with us?
• #77: Checkboxes - "Print advertising – magazines, newsletters, flyer"TVRadioSMS/MMSNetworking functionsBNIMembership with AssociationsChamber membershipOther
• #79: Technology is playing an increasingly important role in delivering that exceptional brand experience that Wendy demonstrated for us earlier.Technology that can improve how you can engage prospects and customers at one or more points in the customer life cycle.Technology that enterprise-scale companies have started to use ButTechnology that is easy and affordable for you to put in place. That means you don't have to print the minimum 1,000 brochures and not know what to do with half of it, or where the other half went? Multichannel Marketing enables you to dynamically deliver relevant, targeted messages to your customer at the right time.This makes it even more important to get to know who your customer is. Remember the Online Profiles that Nicky showed us earlier?
• #80: Nicky impressed the point earlier: Social media is simply a group of tools that help facilitate conversations, but there’s really no replacement for face-to-face interaction. It’s not Social Media – It’s Social Networking
• #82: Your 3 stages to NetworkingPRESENT – PRE-EMPT – PREFER
• #83: Lifecycle MarketingEach one of your target is at a different stage in their relationship with your brand. -
• #84: The Clarity Commandment: When you choose words and phrases for force-communication, clarity is paramount. Don’t let any other component of the communications mix interfere with clarity.
• #85: Based on your branding exercise, develop a message that is consistent throughout all your collateral, be it web, business card, email signature, flyer, hashtag, or your elevator pitch.“Repetition Breeds Familiarity,” they say. Make it easy for people to remember who you are.Give them a script. “Turns your research into insights and strategies you can action.”
• #86: TRIGGERSTriggers are customer-specific informational events that can be utilised to initiate a promotion or advertisement. Eg. Location, Transactions, Thresholds, Recurring Data
• #87: The purpose of your web strategy is to drive commercial outcomes. Four key actions people can take when using your site. Download some (free) information, Connect with you on social media, Enquire about you; and Purchase from you. -T
• #88: TRIGGERSTriggers are customer-specific informational events that can be utilised to initiate a promotion or advertisement. Eg. Location, Transactions, Thresholds, Recurring Data
• #89: Download (eg. free e-book, whitepaper, podcast, free app) Connect (eg. follow on Twitter, subscribe to blog or email, like on Facebook, follow on LinkedIn) Enquire (e.g. contact us form, questionnaire, apply or call) Purchase (e.g. buy, donate or renew)
• #91: The overall goal in MCM is relevancy.Is it enough to message “executives” or would it speak more loudly if your creative was geared towards executives in specific industry? In specific job functions?Retarget multiple display ads based on the behaviours of your web visitors.-Simply appending social sharing buttons to emails helps connect the dots between customer touchpoints and gives your email campaign extended reach, but ultimately it’s gaining measurements and insight from social media that helps drive more effective and relevant email campaigns.
• #92: JMc
• #93: There is a few different definitions throwing a round in regards to Mobile Marketing and as you can see they are…
• #94: From m-commerce to the app stores, through to mobile advertising – mobile is no longer a fringe opportunity but an important component of your marketing mix.There is no doubt that we are moving into an era where we are connected with the cloud 24 hrs (internet has become a utility service), courtesy of mobile devices.Smart device apps and mobile-optimized websites are changing the way people travel, from trip planning to boarding an airplane to how they experience destinations. This means great opportunities for marketers/business to connect with consumers before, during and after their trips.To give a perspective - 1 million tablets will be sold this year - researcher Telsyte.
• #95: Mobile web marketingAdvertising on web pages specifically meant for access by mobile devices MMSSMSBluetoothhas higher transfer speeds and is also a radio-based technology and can therefore not be billed (i.e. is free of charge)Location-based servicesa way to send custom advertising and other information to mobile phone subscribers based on their current location.QR Codes – Quick Response These are becoming the norm in Europe Asia and USA as q quick way to send information on your business, and is what I am going to expand on today.
• #98: QR codes are fast and reliable on passing on information about your business, a sale you have one, o r even just a nice imageThey must be user friendlyMust be able to scan be a wide variety of scanners as there are lots out there, but just need to see which are being used the most, and this is easy to see through the itunes store most popular apps to download.Must be mobile friendly Do not link to normal PC site, link to mobile contentoptimized for mobile devicesGood Mobile Content to continue the experienceMust have a strategyGoals of the above stratagy – is it an awareness campaign, are you directly sellingWhats the user incentive to scan your code, is the ad funky, is there a prize…Simple but make it creativeMake sure the size and location of your code is placed well with in the ad or promotion
• #100: Simple and easy code, easy to see/find/ easy to scan by a number of different scanner
• #101: Now this billboard is very visable which is great in one aspect to show how up to date with technology Time Magazine is, butLooks great but be careful that it can be scanned by a number of different scannersCan design logo into code
• #102: Labeling wine labels where to find more info and buy onlineUniform re-ordering – this takes you to the order page off the tag on your shirtt-shirt, hat, coffee mug, funky wayCode that sends tweet or status update to the persons friends etc with your product update or offer or that they are at your store or eventStorefront window displays Send people to your online store when your shop is closed, and don’t lose a saleSMS/MSMMagazine ad, warranty informationBusiness cardscontact info or promotional info, video of productsBrochures booking pagesMore imagesT&C’sPosters buy tickets to event concertStickers Competitions pagesAdvertising – magazine or newspaperspecial deal, video experience of productBillboards – Time MagazineDownload latest edition of magazine
• #103: Wedding photographer – video testimoinals
• #104: Brochures – great idea here with Chinese but make sure linked to the right translated page
• #108: Where to lead/link QR Codes TooWhat ever you have coded, make sure it is linked to an extension of that campaign so it enhance the experience.Now you can linkWebsitesContact information pageBooking pageCompetition entry pagepdfsend people to your newsletter signup pageYoutube videoinstructions for installation items – hardware stores ‘how to videos’Google Maps Locator – see where your store or event will be held. For racing events you might want to show where the start and finshline is.Paypal Buy Now link – store frontDirect SMS / MMS message – some walking past your coffee shop or pubMake a phone call to your sales line -Facebook Like button/page Twitter page
• #109: MEASURING OFFLINE MARKETINGJust wanted to reiterate a couple of points, which you can see on the slide, and like social media/networking
• #110: Which now brings me to the following pointsTracking and traceability capabilitiesKnowing which products are being viewed, by whom and how often can help your business see what is selling and what is not. Capture consumer interest dataQR codes let companies connect with consumers in real-time and gauge interest in a particular product or campaign immediately.Google analyticsCampaign Specific Landing pages help with tracking in your Google analyticsOld way - Call Tracking – phone linesOne of the best options for offline ad tracking is Call tracking, but it also offers great value online. Your web developer can embed javascript which will detect the referring source of the visit and display tracking numbers accordingly. Talk to your web developer
• #111: Now there are companies where you can create a QR Code and then track it, which includes the below resultsHow many people scan your QR barcode. Where people scan your barcode. – locations ad workedWhen people scan your barcode. - time sensitive How long individuals spend on your website after scanning your QR code.Total number of website pages individuals view after scanning your QR code.Types of devices and decoders used to scan your barcode. (i.e. droid, blackberry, iphone, nokia, etc.)
• #112: Matterhorn Marketing SolutionsI am not going to get right into but it shows what information you should be tracking or wanting to find out about your website or mobile marketing campaigns
• #113: The overall goal in MCM is relevancy and consistency across all channels.In the end, you want actionable reporting that enables you to make a decision based on what you’ve measured. Its all driven by the data points you’ve set out in your goals. Marketers that effectively turn those data points into insights and apply them to campaigns will be successful in making a more relevant campaign, ultimately leading to increased ROI.Traditional measurement – volume sent, open rates, click through – is not enough anymore. Measuring to the click is easy, but it is also where too many display campaigns go off track. Social Media takes measurement to the next level. Understand the viral reach of your campaign by looking at what is being shared within social networks and who is doing the sharing. Tracking the full tail of social sharing provides true insight into what the customer cares about and how they prefer to communicate with and receive offers from a brand.Your campaigns should be geared towards driving your target audience to take desired actions, and should be optimised to meet conversion goals.Refine Segmentation – Craft more targeted, personalised messages with specific CTAs. The content and promotions offered in future email campaigns can be tailored to those customers and subscribers who interact on social media. On the other hand, you can help drive a relationship with those that don’t interact via social with a compelling CTA.~~You've just realised that your visitors are searching with their phones.Conclusion: better make it easy for them to call or find me.Decision: better invest in that mobile template Emmy keeps bugging me about. You've just realised that your visitors preferred media are tablets.Conclusion: better make it easier to browse the website.Decision: Better use that Flash file somewhere else You've learned that more people are getting to know QR codes, what page can I best direct them to so I know they found me with that QR code?
• #114: Make it easy for them to prefer to refer you
• #117: Is your customer at work?
• #118: Is your customer at work?
• #119: Is your customer at a coffee shop?Is your customer multi-tasking?
• #120: Is your customer at a coffee shop?Is your customer multi-tasking?
• #121: Is your customer idle or waiting?Is your customer at a loss?
• #122: Is your customer idle or waiting?Is your customer at a loss?
• #123: Tablet: emotional decision making by use of romantic video of the property, move from the hectic pace to tranquility - even just for a weekend. Smartphone: make it easy to contact you to make a booking, make it easy to paint a picture of how your BnB can meet their needs w a descriptive photo gallery. Flyers: QR Code to your booking form, make sure your booking form is easy to complete whether it's on a smartphone, tablet or screen. Photo Gallery: Download a folder of photos to use as screensaver - you already have the photos, re-use them to heighten your customer experience.-Apply to clients:Kookas Bed & BreakfastMarlies Gehrig4053 3231Bed & BreakfastGrub's Personalised Trike ToursGrub Hewson0407 392 876Specialised trike toursShannonvale Tropical Fruit WineryTony Woodall4098 4000Fruit wines