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5 Inbound Marketing DO’s and DON’Ts Inspired By Car Shopping

October 20, 2015 By Matthew White 1 Comment

Had the pleasure of buying a new car lately? It’s not much more fun that it was twenty years ago. The cars have a lot more bells and whistles. The dealerships have some new toys at their disposal, including 84-month financing.

In short, the process is still very painful. However, there are lots of marketing lessons – based on what not to do – for small businesses and organizations everywhere.

The 1960 Corvair - Is your inboud marketing stuck in 1960? — The 1960 Corvair. For many car dealerships, it might as well still be 1960. Don’t make these same mistakes with your inbound marketing.

Inbound Marketing

The advent of inbound marketing changed the way organizations attract, convert, and nurture customers. Past marketing efforts relied on a “spray and pray” approach – advertise or send direct mail and hope for leads to come in.

Attract and Convert

Inbound marketing’s focus is on generating useful content that attracts customers and then utilize tools as simple as calls-to-action, forms, or chat to convert those customers. This approach wouldn’t have been as effective before the Internet or social media eras, and the outbound approach was really the only marketing approach available in one-way communication environments like snail mail, radio, and the newspaper.

Close and Cultivate

After the attract and convert stages, you have two final stages we’ll call close and cultivate. Once you convert a prospect to a lead that you close, you want to continue to cultivate that relationship. Why is cultivate the last stage? In most businesses, and especially the car business, the goal is to cultivate a long-term relationship where customers trust you and actually want to return to you for ongoing needs in your area of specialty.

Needless to say, beating up the customer “in the box” over a $1000 “Fabric Protection Package” doesn’t bode well for future business.

The Human Part: Going Beyond Inbound Marketing

Text from an inbound marketing email confirmation — Here’s a sample follow up email I received from one sales manager. The grammar teachers among this dealership’s prospects won’t be thrilled.

The problem with car dealerships is that for the most part, they have some of the tools of the Internet and social media eras but still do business like they’re selling the Corvair.

In our four stage process of effective inbound marketing (attract > convert > close > cultivate) dealerships have some of the tools necessary for attracting and converting, but they’re generally lousy at closing and cultivating.

That’s where the human part comes in.

Based on my recent experience with car dealerships, the follow-through via conversion tools like chat or web forms is problematic in two ways: Follow up isn’t a) timely or b) tailored to my needs as the customer.

Timely Follow Up

What does this mean exactly? On several occasions, submitting a web form did not result in follow up from a human being that knew what to do with my needs. On at least one occasion, I received no follow up whatsoever beyond the automated response email (at the time of writing, it’s over 63 hours and counting).

Tailored Follow Up

To add insult to injury, any resulting email thread so far has resulted in a scripted path, despite my questions. It’s as if my questions are secondary and putting me on the path is the most important objective. This is also true with any web chat thus far: The goal it would appear has usually been to follow a script or convert to an appointment on-site instead of sell me a car.

5 DO’s and DON’Ts

So, what can be learned from car dealerships on how not to use inbound marketing effectively? It’s almost difficult to know where to begin. But, here are five do’s and don’ts to take away:

Don’t Forget the Human Element
Just because you have decent tools for converting, don’t forget the human element. Try being a secret shopper and see how effective your tools really are.
Don’t Let Following Scripts Become The Goal
Scripts can be effective when working in conjunction with conversion tools . . . but only when they serve as roadmaps for converting and closing a customer. Scripts work better in some business models than others, and all business models require various levels of “scriptedness.” Don’t let following the script be the end goal.
Do Follow Up in a Timely Manner
A confirmation email is good for exactly that: confirmation. It doesn’t count as follow-up or response. Anything over 24 business hours for real human response to a direct inquiry is absolutely ridiculous.
Don’t Think That You’re Done When You Close
It’s many times easier to sell to an existing customer than convert and close a new prospect. Once you attract and convert, treat your customer with honesty and respect through the close and you might just have a customer for life.
Do Continue to Cultivate Your New Customer
It’s easy to focus on attracting and converting prospects, but what are you doing to enrich the ongoing experience for your existing and future customers? Cultivate new customers to become customers for life by being useful, helpful, and available.

And no, I still do not have the new car I want.

Got an experience with inbound marketing that drove you nuts? Need help with your organization’s inbound marketing? We want to hear from you.

Should You Put Content Behind a Form?

March 23, 2015 By Matthew White Leave a Comment

Regardless of what you do or offer on a web site, the question inevitably comes up:

Should we require a form to be completed?

So, do you remove all obstacles and lead more people to the promised content? Or, what? — So, do you remove all obstacles and lead more people to the promised content or what?

Contact forms, support forms, and other kinds are necessary of course. But, what about content – videos, eBooks, free software, and other types – that you work hard to produce for consumption? You should get something in return for that right?

Maybe. There are different schools of thought and some great studies on the topic of gated content, including one by a personal favorite, David Meerman Scott. I also agree with another perspective out there urging that you ask not if you should gate, but when.

A Real-World Exercise in Gating Content

Recently, I was part of a real-world exercise in comparing gated versus ungated content. The results were surprising and actually close to the results David Meerman Scott theorized in the above link. Removing the required form got the content in front of a lot more people – almost doubling the audience.

The downside of course is that you limit long-term engagement opportunities. But, there are other considerations as well: What is the real value of that long-term engagement? Are you counting conversion of prospects? Or, maybe you’re after a softer metric like future newsletter shares or likes on Facebook.

Some Parting Thoughts

We all offer free content – nobody gates an entire web site. Therefore, we all treat the prospect engagement process as a funnel with different stages. At some point in those stages, we need to know who this person is. The question is when and where in that funnel. Products and services are different and require different approaches to audience engagement. For this reason, be wary of any one-size-fits-all recommendation.

I believe attitudes on content access are changing. People are expecting more and more for free. They aren’t as willing to share their information – or invest the time to share it perhaps – if the information isn’t reasonably perceived as necessary. And, often if they are willing, it turns out to be I.P. Freely completing the form again.

The best approach is to maximize free, useful content for as long as possible in the funnel. Then, gate the content for which there is a reasonable justification for the audience to spend time completing a form.

Meanwhile, provide as many opportunities – and varied methods – for prospects to reach out on their own. The resulting interactions will be the most authentic, most engaging, and most rewarding for all parties.

You’re also less likely to hear from I.P. Freely or Jacques Strapp.

What do you think? Do you have a place where content could be made more easily accessible to a wider audience? Also, be sure to take a look at these content marketing tips for more ideas.

A Search Engine Optimization Tip: Don’t Forget The User

July 7, 2014 By Matthew White

Organizations pay countless amounts of money and time on search engine optimization. For years, the results justified the investments. As the search engine optimization field changes however, the best search engine optimization tip may become this simple one: Don’t forget the user.

Search Engine Oriented vs User Oriented Content

As previously discussed here regarding search engine optimization and business blogs, the landscape continues to change dramatically for the search engine optimization industry. Recent developments in search algorithms are putting more pressure on the quality, quantity, and timeliness of content. Meanwhile, many search engine optimization strategies produce content that isn’t user oriented but instead search engine oriented.

Search engine optimization tip: Optimize for your search engines and your audience. — The best search engine optimization tip may now be this simple one: Don’t forget the user.

What does that mean? The optimized content results often include repeated use of target phrases carefully calculated in relation to the total word count of the page. Links are often added not in a logical order that would be attractive to an actual user but instead aimed at criteria that the search engines find attractive. Content often isn’t readable, appealing, or actionable.

This isn’t always obvious to web site owners that are happy about their newfound search engine traffic. Sure, search engine attention is great, but what happens when the content isn’t useful?

Leveling the Playing Field

Like Google or not, I do believe that their efforts are well intentioned when it comes to search algorithm updates. Weeding out lesser quality content in searches is a good thing. The intention is to level the playing field for content creators while producing more meaningful search results.

Unfortunately for those invested in the search engine optimization industry, “overly optimized” content is falling into this lower quality category more and more. Therefore, many smaller businesses who have invested in optimizing content find that they are being hit with the cost and hassle of re-optimization in order to keep content fresh and timely. For them, the playing field can’t be leveled enough, soon enough.

Looking at the timing and impact of algorithm updates such as Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird, the quality of results will continue to improve but are still far from ideal.

Discoverability vs Usability

For many who have used search engine optimization services, they’re left with a web site people can find but that people don’t want to use. That’s a problem.

The key to benefiting from our basic search engine optimization tip here is understanding the differences between discoverability and usability.

As much as I would like to believe it’s all about the content, it isn’t. There are still many search engine optimization tricks that can (and perhaps unfortunately) must be employed. However, content usability and future growth should always be taken into account first. Optimization can be done later.

The user must come first. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Leveraging This Simple Search Engine Optimization Tip

In the interest of supporting our single “don’t forget the user” search engine optimization tip, here are some ideas to keep in mind:

Search Engine Optimization Services Are Fine, But . . .

Be clear upfront and vigilant throughout the process that the quality of your content comes first. Many of these organizations sub-contract work to contractors whose primary language may not be the same as your end user’s.

Establish Logical Site Structure Early

Understand what logical structures your audience might seek while on your web site. Do you offer products and services, for example? How are those listed separately in different areas of the site? Identifying this early can actually help both discoverability and usability. Layering content on later as an afterthought can produce disastrous results.

Know the “Must Have” Content Your Audience is Seeking

What are the things that your customers and potential customers must get from your site? Keep this in mind throughout any optimization process.

What Actions Do You Want Your Audience To Take After Engaging Content?

Search engine optimization helps get your audience to your site, but then you must engage them. And, ultimately, you want them to do something. What is that? Do your search engine optimization efforts hinder them in any way?

Remember: The user must come first.

Is this a good search engine optimization tip? Disagree? Got a better search engine optimization tip?

Small Business Tips: Best Marketing Strategies for Small Business

February 16, 2014 By Matthew White Leave a Comment

I’ve seen it asked in more than one place – what are the best marketing strategies for small business?

There is no easy – or quick – answer of course. However, there are several factors to consider that help narrow down the possibilities on what those best marketing strategies for small business are.

One Question to Ask Before Determining the Best Marketing Strategies for Small Business

A best marketing strategies for small business dartboard — Determining the best marketing strategies for small business feels like playing darts blindfolded. However, asking one question can help get you on your way.

I always – always – say to ask who your audience is first. No other discussion or questions matter until this question is answered. Many take this question so seriously that they create a composite customer they use to test all of their marketing ideas. This is a great approach – just remember that your customer base may be more complex than usual.

Perhaps it is best to think in terms of who you’ve found to be your ideal customer. Whether or not you’re aware of it , you know who this is. Just look in your business’ history or ask others in your business. You know very quickly who the problem customers and prospects are versus the customers you look forward to hearing from.

Is Your Ideal Customer Global, Regional, or Local?

The best marketing strategies for small business differ based on the physical location of your customer. Yes, geography does still matter. Some even argue that it matters more now than ever, because of all the noise generated by social media and the web.

Global?

For example, if your ideal customer is global, are you providing everything they need in terms of information? Could you do more? If so, look at your blogging efforts. This is a great way to serve your existing customers better while winning new ones. How strong is your social media effort in engaging those customers? Are you using the right – or wrong – social media channels for engagement?

Local?

If your customer is local, you can probably do more with regard to your Google Local profile or Google+ account to hone in on prospects.

And, of course, don’t forget what we now call analog marketing. What does that ideal customer do? Where does she go regularly?

What’s Next In Your Strategy?

When determining the best marketing strategies for small business and how they can help you, the devil is of course in the details. But, revisit who your ideal customer is. Then, use that line of logic to guide your decisions – all of them. You’ll discover that you already have many of the answers.

No? Do you feel that this might let me off the hook a little too easily? Reach out or comment below. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

How I Learned to Love WordPress and Stop Worrying (Part 2)

November 21, 2013 By Matthew White Leave a Comment

In Part 1 of “How I Learned to Love WordPress and Stop Worrying” I focused on web site design and management and the accompanying people problems.

Often, a web site that has been built using a content management system or arcane “easy” web site design platform causes either:

1) a continuity issue – the tribal knowledge of managing that particular web site goes missing

2) a growth issue – the existing web site can not handle new desired features or capability

So, Why WordPress?

These are the two big reasons I’ve found that WordPress makes sense for most organizations. People who know – or are at least familiar with WordPress – are easy to find. Plugins are plentiful. And, in a worst case scenario if you have to contract with a PHP programmer to develop some custom plugin for your organization, they also are easy to find.

A plan for web site management. — “Sir, I have a plan . . .” WordPress helps address a few of the biggest issues that businesses face in web site management.

WordPress was initially designed as a blogging platform for our increasingly content hungry digital culture. Since then, it has evolved into what most would consider a web site platform. As a result, WordPress makes sharing blog and content duties very easy. And, that helps satisfy the delegation issue – the number one web site related people problem.

All of this ties into the blurring of lines between what exactly it means these days to “blog” versus “build a web site.” But, I explore this in future posts on the subject of content marketing. (See what I mean?)

Not So Fast

WordPress isn’t without its share of problems. For example, a bad plugin, failure to back up data, or an ill-chosen opportunity to upgrade the core files can bring about another kind of shock and awe. Moreover, layers and layers of custom features and functionality installed via plugins can create new tribal knowledge scenarios for an organization.

However, there are ways though of getting around all of the downsides of a WordPress implementation. And, for most, the advantages far outweigh any disadvantages.

Got a web site or WordPress horror story? Please, tell me about it.