I visit hundreds of sites every month and am noticing a disturbing trend; 'the assumed knowledge error'. In our rush to achieve an 'expert' or 'latest and greatest' position in our markets' mind, we forget that not all visitors have an intimate understanding of 'what' we produce. Our focus on being smart is, at times, at the expense of being clear. We go on at length describing our expertise in 'X' industry[s] and will allude as to what we sell, but don't actually come right out on our landing pages and say 'we produce/provide Y to accomplish Z'.
Among the many offenders of 'the assumed knowledge error' are software and app providers when they invite visitors to download a trial version with out really explaining the product or offering a walk through on their site first. Unless the product is well known and comes highly recommended from a trusted source, our prospect needs to be convinced of value before exposing their computer to blackbox, and always at the back of their mind, potentially malicious code. This is true of SaaS or cloud products as well, as they too need to interface with our internal systems.
A simple example I ran across yesterday is a site 'twinfluenza.com'. Evidently it's some sort of game. The only descriptive content, letting us know what it is, is on the home page. It goes as follows:
Welcome!
Are you bored because you can't go out?
Are you quarantined? paranoid?
Then just login using your twitter account and start infecting people with twInfluenza!
For all I know it's a really great, fun, useful, etc app. Given the only description intimates that the goal of the game is to infect my Twitter followers, there's not a snowballs chance in _ _ _ _ that I'm going anywhere near it though. Had they explained what the game actually does and effectively removed perceived risk I may have tried it out. After all I'm an active Twitter user and new media enthusiast. It's not my intent to embarrass or discredit teams such as twInfluenza, rather the opposite. Presumably they've invested alot of sweat equity in creating their app and it's not actually malicious [or Twitter would shut them out] and subsequently deserve a shot at success. I suspect with a little tweak of their descriptive content and maybe a little show-and-tell they'll be much better positioned to achieve the goal.
In short... understanding of what it is we specifically produce is an absolute precursor to making the sale. Accepting this to be true, it is a mistake to assume our prospects already know what it is.
Showing posts with label web strategy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label web strategy. Show all posts
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
The Twitter Challenge
...and similar social platforms!
This post is for those who utilize social media for lead and/or revenue generation. Not for those, such as myself, who simply utilize the platform for shared learning.
In a B2B business arena, where our marketing efforts are designed to inevitably lead to profitable revenue generation, is our fixation on social media somewhat paradoxical. Shouldn't our efforts produce more than what they cost? For some, the very few, their social media efforts are richly rewarded. But for the large majority the opposite is true. Why?
Consider this, among Twitter users, the median number of lifetime tweets per user is one. This translates into over half of Twitter users accessing their accounts less than once every 74 days. [source Harvard Business Review ] These are most likely the users noted in Barracudalabs 2009 Annual report which states that 51% of Twitter users follow less than 5 people and 60% follow less than 10 people [view report]. Why? For one reason or another they're not engaged in the service; therefore not absorbing and increasing their interest in you or your brand.
Now you might say "I am targeting active users". Doug Kessler, Creative Director and Co-founder at Velocity Partners sums up the folly of this strategy very well in a post '7 Incredibly Rare Mistakes in Social Media Marketing'. Here he sites mistake #5 "Forgetting that your ten thousand ‘followers’ on Twitter aren’t really following you at all". Why?
Well let's disregard the 60% of users who aren't appreciably active. How about the most prolific contributors? Those who account for 90% of all Tweets. Surely you are seen by them! Hmmm... not so much. These users typically utilize applications such Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, etc.; tools that allow users to create numerous Tweets and schedule them to publish at set intervals during the day. In this instance, with this group, Twitter is not an interactive community for shared learning/conversation. Predominantly it's a broadcasting tool with the app helping them to execute a high volume, saturation strategy. Therefore, users of said applications are not actually on Twitter viewing your contributions as their Tweets are being published.
You might say "This doesn't matter. They view my Tweets through their chosen application." To this, I say 'not likely'. The lions share of these contributors, atleast the majority of successful and subsequently influential in the bunch, follow upwards of a thousand -to- tens of thousands of people. Maybe they're just being polite, following those who follow them [again, not likely]. Or it's the result of their 'build their follower base strategy'. A strategy which does not include their hanging on the edge of their chairs waiting for your next Tweet and/or searching it out. Either way the result is the same; a tonne of competitive noise. Unless you Tweet or are ReTweeted at the exact moment they happen to be viewing their incoming Tweet stream, you'll never be seen.
So how can you increase your odds of an appreciable ROI? First find those remaining 30% of users who are personally engaged in the medium. People who are following say upwards of 30 and downwards of 100 people. They are active[ish], more accessible, and significantly - probably the real person whose name is attached to their account. They are what I define as the Twitter longtail. The probability of these individuals seeing our Tweets is much higher because there's much less competitive noise a.k.a other Tweets that will nudge ours out of view. Think of a Twitter users incoming Tweet stream like the results of a Google search. You want to be on the 'first page' so to speak. For example, per iProspect, if 'you/your company/what-not' are presented on the first page of Google results the probability of getting noticed is 68%. Hence if you are connecting with individuals who are following a lower number of Twitter'ers, your odds of presenting on their first page and subsequently achieving your conversion goal are greater. Timing, activity, etc play a very important role of course, but determining your target market is step one.
In closing, if a significant objective of your Twitter involvement is to generate leads, just showing up and contributing won't cut it. In sales and marketing, social media is a tool... not an end result.
This post is for those who utilize social media for lead and/or revenue generation. Not for those, such as myself, who simply utilize the platform for shared learning.
In a B2B business arena, where our marketing efforts are designed to inevitably lead to profitable revenue generation, is our fixation on social media somewhat paradoxical. Shouldn't our efforts produce more than what they cost? For some, the very few, their social media efforts are richly rewarded. But for the large majority the opposite is true. Why?
Consider this, among Twitter users, the median number of lifetime tweets per user is one. This translates into over half of Twitter users accessing their accounts less than once every 74 days. [source Harvard Business Review ] These are most likely the users noted in Barracudalabs 2009 Annual report which states that 51% of Twitter users follow less than 5 people and 60% follow less than 10 people [view report]. Why? For one reason or another they're not engaged in the service; therefore not absorbing and increasing their interest in you or your brand.
Now you might say "I am targeting active users". Doug Kessler, Creative Director and Co-founder at Velocity Partners sums up the folly of this strategy very well in a post '7 Incredibly Rare Mistakes in Social Media Marketing'. Here he sites mistake #5 "Forgetting that your ten thousand ‘followers’ on Twitter aren’t really following you at all". Why?
Well let's disregard the 60% of users who aren't appreciably active. How about the most prolific contributors? Those who account for 90% of all Tweets. Surely you are seen by them! Hmmm... not so much. These users typically utilize applications such Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, etc.; tools that allow users to create numerous Tweets and schedule them to publish at set intervals during the day. In this instance, with this group, Twitter is not an interactive community for shared learning/conversation. Predominantly it's a broadcasting tool with the app helping them to execute a high volume, saturation strategy. Therefore, users of said applications are not actually on Twitter viewing your contributions as their Tweets are being published.
So how can you increase your odds of an appreciable ROI? First find those remaining 30% of users who are personally engaged in the medium. People who are following say upwards of 30 and downwards of 100 people. They are active[ish], more accessible, and significantly - probably the real person whose name is attached to their account. They are what I define as the Twitter longtail. The probability of these individuals seeing our Tweets is much higher because there's much less competitive noise a.k.a other Tweets that will nudge ours out of view. Think of a Twitter users incoming Tweet stream like the results of a Google search. You want to be on the 'first page' so to speak. For example, per iProspect, if 'you/your company/what-not' are presented on the first page of Google results the probability of getting noticed is 68%. Hence if you are connecting with individuals who are following a lower number of Twitter'ers, your odds of presenting on their first page and subsequently achieving your conversion goal are greater. Timing, activity, etc play a very important role of course, but determining your target market is step one.
In closing, if a significant objective of your Twitter involvement is to generate leads, just showing up and contributing won't cut it. In sales and marketing, social media is a tool... not an end result.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Value of a website?
The world-wide-web [www] is an immensely powerful engine. And your website is one of many tools that can be effectively applied in harnessing its value. Should someone interpret this to mean a corporate website is not entirely necessary I offer this advice...
Creating awareness: poor
Given a website is a destination, so to speak, it doesn't make sense to say it is a tool for creating awareness. After all how can you consciously decide to go some where, when you are unaware of its existence. Now of course one can argue a corporate site is an effective vehicle for building awareness of new products, line extensions, etc that exist under a corporate or brand umbrella. To an extent this is true. We can expect a small lift in awareness resulting from piggy-back or switch-and-bait tactics where a visitor navigates to our site to view 'A' and, via good creative, be positively exposed to 'B'. The problem with any reliance on this, is the lift in awareness is a residual outcome; based on something of a 'wish-and-a-prayer' strategy. Perhaps I am being a little harsh, but I want to bring home the point to small and medium sized business in particular, entities with precious few marketing dollars, your website should never be thought of as the primary tool for creating consumer awareness. The world-wide-web however, can be a spectacular tool. That's an entirely different topic I'll leave to future posts.
Creating conviction: excellent
As producers we have to earn buyers' trust or conviction that 'purchasing our solution is their best investment'. This holds true whether we produce goods or services for purchase by integrators, value-added resellers, or end-consumers. Think about the last purchase you made that involved what you considered to be an important investment. Now by investment I don't just mean monetary; more often than not the sticker price is just a filter. Perhaps your career advancement, the safety of your family, or even just the best holiday experience rested on the decision. Did you visit a few websites to do a little fact finding before deciding on your vendor? Odds are extremely good your answer is yes. Today, few purchase decisions of any importance are made without at least one key stakeholder investigating our competence via the web. Do you really want to leave the critical job of building trust in your solutions entirely up to the social web, or is the appropriate strategy to invest in developing your own content on your own site?
Conversion: it depends
Some products/services require much more consideration and interaction than others before a purchase decision is finalized. In this case conversion is typically the result of some form of one-on-one communication. This said repeat sales may be most efficiently served by some form of e-commerce on your site. For producers of products/services in the low-to-moderate risk category, all we have to do is look at companies such as EBay and Amazon to see the power of a carefully crafted site for conversion.
Regardless of the sales cycle one important conversion tool should be common to virtually all sites - your readily accessible contact information. Unless you're a household name, with a stellar brand reputation, you can't hide behind automated contact forms. Prospects need to feel confident you really exist and there is a means of contacting you, including some form of real-time conversation. If you don't trust your customers with your contact information, why should they trust you with their money?
Don't let the prospect of building a productive website overwhelm you. Given the markets we sell in to are dynamic, so too should our websites continually evolve. Providing you 1. partner with a talented [a.k.a. proven] web development company, and 2. ensure you have great web analytics in place, you should be able to quickly evolve your site into a really valuable tool that assists your prospects in selecting you as their solution of choice.
Understanding the strategic role and subsequent value of your website is the first step in building an effective web presence. With a little nurturing and solid commitment to performance, your site can be the catalyst for success beyond your wildest dreams.
Neglect your website and you become the architect of your own demise.Now that's a pretty strong assertion deserving of an explanation. There are many models describing the various stages a consumer experiences, and marketers target, throughout the purchase process. I like to keep it simple and focus on three 1.awareness 2.conviction, and 3.conversion. The following is my breakdown of the associated value and function of your website at each of these three stages.
Creating awareness: poor
Given a website is a destination, so to speak, it doesn't make sense to say it is a tool for creating awareness. After all how can you consciously decide to go some where, when you are unaware of its existence. Now of course one can argue a corporate site is an effective vehicle for building awareness of new products, line extensions, etc that exist under a corporate or brand umbrella. To an extent this is true. We can expect a small lift in awareness resulting from piggy-back or switch-and-bait tactics where a visitor navigates to our site to view 'A' and, via good creative, be positively exposed to 'B'. The problem with any reliance on this, is the lift in awareness is a residual outcome; based on something of a 'wish-and-a-prayer' strategy. Perhaps I am being a little harsh, but I want to bring home the point to small and medium sized business in particular, entities with precious few marketing dollars, your website should never be thought of as the primary tool for creating consumer awareness. The world-wide-web however, can be a spectacular tool. That's an entirely different topic I'll leave to future posts.
Creating conviction: excellent
As producers we have to earn buyers' trust or conviction that 'purchasing our solution is their best investment'. This holds true whether we produce goods or services for purchase by integrators, value-added resellers, or end-consumers. Think about the last purchase you made that involved what you considered to be an important investment. Now by investment I don't just mean monetary; more often than not the sticker price is just a filter. Perhaps your career advancement, the safety of your family, or even just the best holiday experience rested on the decision. Did you visit a few websites to do a little fact finding before deciding on your vendor? Odds are extremely good your answer is yes. Today, few purchase decisions of any importance are made without at least one key stakeholder investigating our competence via the web. Do you really want to leave the critical job of building trust in your solutions entirely up to the social web, or is the appropriate strategy to invest in developing your own content on your own site?
Conversion: it depends
Some products/services require much more consideration and interaction than others before a purchase decision is finalized. In this case conversion is typically the result of some form of one-on-one communication. This said repeat sales may be most efficiently served by some form of e-commerce on your site. For producers of products/services in the low-to-moderate risk category, all we have to do is look at companies such as EBay and Amazon to see the power of a carefully crafted site for conversion.
Regardless of the sales cycle one important conversion tool should be common to virtually all sites - your readily accessible contact information. Unless you're a household name, with a stellar brand reputation, you can't hide behind automated contact forms. Prospects need to feel confident you really exist and there is a means of contacting you, including some form of real-time conversation. If you don't trust your customers with your contact information, why should they trust you with their money?
Don't let the prospect of building a productive website overwhelm you. Given the markets we sell in to are dynamic, so too should our websites continually evolve. Providing you 1. partner with a talented [a.k.a. proven] web development company, and 2. ensure you have great web analytics in place, you should be able to quickly evolve your site into a really valuable tool that assists your prospects in selecting you as their solution of choice.
Understanding the strategic role and subsequent value of your website is the first step in building an effective web presence. With a little nurturing and solid commitment to performance, your site can be the catalyst for success beyond your wildest dreams.
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