5 Reasons You Should Consider Contests

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Welcome to another edition of the “5 Reasons” blog series. This will be a weekly blog series, with a fresh post every Monday. Last week’s topic was “Five Reasons Your Website Isn’t Trustworthy”.

This Week’s Topic = Five Reasons You Should Consider Contests

Contests are fun! But that’s not the reason that your company should strongly consider making contests a part of your marketing strategy. Alright, it’s not the only one. If you’ve never considered a contest to be a good marketing tool, here are five reasons to reconsider.

  1. It’s news. Contests can generate widespread interest. It gives you an excuse to promote yourself in a way that’s not “spammy”. Send out a press release, write a blog post, contact local reporters or bloggers. Get the word out.

  2. It’s lead generation. People that enter your contest are people that you can follow up with after the contest is over. Make sure you’re collecting information that will tell you what they’re interested in and how to best reach them.

  3. It’s branding. It puts your company front and center, and ensures that more people are exposed to it than more traditional advertising would allow. And because contests are fun, they’re likely to be shared by people who enter, giving you even more exposure.
  4. It’s content. Or at least it can be. Certain types of contests ask entrants to submit something; testimonials, writing, photos, etc. When you collect that, you can use it in any way you want (assuming you get permission as part of the entry process). What better way to go to market after a contest than promoting all the people who wanted to win something from you!
  5. It’s relationship building. Contest winners are likely to become brand advocates for you. Maintain a good relationship with them and be sure to follow through on the prizes so that you don’t piss them off.
As always, if you have your own tips, please include them in the comments below.

5 Reasons Your Website Isn’t Trustworthy

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Welcome to another edition of the “5 Reasons” blog series. This will be a weekly blog series, with a fresh post every Monday. Last week’s topic was “Five Reasons to Create Content”.

This Week’s Topic = Five Reasons Your Website Isn’t Trustworthy

Trust between a company and its customers is vital. Fear is the number one emotion involved in all purchasing decisions. Customers ask themselves all sorts of questions before they commit to buy something from you.

Will I get what I’m paying for? Is it worth the money? Am I safe?

If your website fails to build trust, you could lose the sale. Here are five reasons your website isn’t doing the job.

  1. You don’t have an SSL certificate. Without getting very technical, SSL is a security protocol that protects sensitive information when provided online. Having an SSL certificate on your site allows you to collect credit cards and other payment details without risk to your customers. It provides you with the “s” in “https” URLs that signal to the consumer their information is secure.

  2. You are not accredited. There are a number of accrediting bodies that you can apply to, depending on your industry. But the most widely known is likely the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Accreditation and good standing with the BBB allows you to add their seal of approval to your site and makes customers feel safe.

  3. You don’t have any reviews. Amazon disrupted the ecommerce industry by allowing positive and negative customer reviews on all product pages. Prospective customers can see what real people like them thought about their purchase. Today, if your company does not provide reviews, it tends to signal that you have something to hide.

  4. It doesn’t match your marketing. If I land on your website expecting one thing, and I see another, I’m immediately going to question if I’m in the right place. That’s not a good trust builder. Make sure your name and branding matches on all promotional material, and carry that over to your website at all cost.

  5. It is out of date. Check the copyright in the footer of your site. It better be current. But that’s not all, even an “old-looking” site, or one that does not function properly, can appear out of date and poorly managed. That is a big turnoff among people who use the web regularly for business and shopping.

As always, if you have your own tips, please include them in the comments below.

5 Reasons to Create Content

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Welcome to another edition of the “5 Reasons” blog series. This will be a weekly blog series, with a fresh post every Monday. Last week’s topic was “Five Reasons Your Facebook Fans Don’t Purchase”.

This Week’s Topic = Five Reasons to Create Content

Cue the buzzword…content marketing. Using content to market your business is in, and it’s in for a reason. In fact, here are 5 reasons:

  1. Improve Your SEO. Writing content improves your SEO in a couple of ways. First, it allows you to write about a variety of topics related to your products and services, hitting on keywords you want to rank for. Second, it allows you to build out internal links from articles and blog posts to other pages on your site. Third, it makes it more likely people will link back to your site, by giving them more content to link to.

  2. Prove Your Expertise. Writing content for your site and for distribution across the web ties your name and brand to articles and blog posts about your industry. It offers an opportunity to prove your knowledge and experience without actually working with a customer or client.

  3. Attract New Visitors. By improving your SEO and adding new content to your site, you increase the likelihood that people searching the internet find you. And you can use your content to pull in new visitors from social networks and articles sites. You can even think about writing content for other sites that already have an audience, to help spread awareness for your brand.

  4. Create Something Shareable. People like to share good content. It could be funny, informative, interesting, or helpful. Infographics, videos, top ten lists, and how to articles will attract readers and will likely lead people to share your content with their friends and networks. This becomes free marketing for your company.

  5. Make Your Company More Human. Most company websites are dull. In today’s world, consumers want to form a relationship with companies they do business with. Creating content for your site gives you a chance to showcase the people behind the brand, and make your company more relatable.

As always, if you have your own tips, please include them in the comments below.

5 Reasons Your Facebook Fans Don't Purchase

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Welcome to another edition of the “5 Reasons” blog series. This will be a weekly blog series, with a fresh post every Monday. Last week’s topic was “Five Reasons People Are Unsubscribing from your Emails”.

This Week’s Topic = Five Reasons Your Facebook Fans Don't Purchase

So you amassed a ton of fans (or likes) on Facebook? That’s a goal of many companies. Congrats. Now you’re wondering why those fans are not driving profits for your business. You had the right strategy to get fans, you just aren’t quite sure what to do with them.

Here are five reasons they might not be buying:

  1. You don’t sell to them. Don’t assume that these fans will magically visit your website and purchase something. Message them with links to new products. Create offers specifically for Facebook fans. You’re not done marketing to them just because they decided to like you.

  2. All you do is sell to them. This will turn any group off. Social media is a great tool to communicate with consumers. But if it’s a one way communication, where all you do is blast them with sales and calls to action, you may be creating angry fans.

  3. You’re not involved in the community. Like reason #2 above, if you’re not active in the community, you’re less likely to attract customers from it. People may be asking questions and expecting a response. When you don’t respond or comment, you’re seen as an absent brand. And an absent brand is not necessarily one you want to do business with.

  4. You got them by some other means. Too often a strategy to get fans only works to get fans, but does nothing to ensure that these are the “right” fans. Maybe they liked your page because you offered them something, or you were giving something away. It’s easy for anyone to go around liking pages just to get freebies, and it doesn’t mean they ever planned on purchasing from you.

  5. They’re not really your FANS. Like reason #4 above, some “fans” of your page are not really fans. They may have liked the page long ago but your messages have been removed or filtered from their news feed. In other words, their name is on your list but they will never hear from you. The number of likes you have is just that, a number.

As always, if you have your own tips, please include them in the comments below.

5 Reasons People Are Unsubscribing

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Welcome to another edition of the “5 Reasons” blog series. This will be a weekly blog series, with a fresh post every Monday. Last week’s topic was “Five Reasons to Hire a Marketer”.

This Week’s Topic = Five Reasons People Are Unsubscribing from your Emails

Successful email marketing is all about getting your email delivered. Or is it all about getting people to open? Or click? Okay so by now you should know there are a lot of elements of email marketing that need your attention. But one thing you really don’t want to see is a large number of people unsubscribing from your mailings. If you do, something is wrong.

  1. You didn’t get their permission. In this day and age, you should only be emailing opt-in subscribers. If you’re emailing people without their permission, you deserve what you get (likely your name on a blacklist).

  2. They forgot they gave you permission. This happens more often that you might think. People sign up from something they didn’t mean to, or they forgot about by the time you email them. That’s why I recommend sending something shortly after people sign up just to help set their expectations.

  3. You didn’t deliver what they expected. Be clear about what you will be sending people, and then stick with that promise. Don’t offer a monthly newsletter and then start emailing daily deals after they sign up.

  4. You email them too often. The emails I get from the Democrats will always be the campaign I point to when I tell people how NOT to run an email campaign. If you email someone too often, even if it’s something they’re interested in, you risk driving them crazy and losing them from your list. Again, it’s best to set expectations early about the frequency of your emails and don’t stray too far from that plan.

  5. Something has changed. I know, real specific right? But this is the kind of reason that is not necessarily anything you need to worry about. Maybe they purchased from a competitor and they’re not interested anymore. Maybe they moved and don’t need your local deals anymore. Something about what you’re offering no longer applies to them. So losing them from your list is not as bad as you might think.

As always, if you have your own tips, please include them in the comments below.