I had a very interesting conversation with John Rose, DDS and Sarah who does his on-site marketing work in our coaching meeting this month. Now, granted, Dr. Rose has been a client for a while and they are very active, so don’t be intimidated. However, I wanted to tell this example to everyone because it shows how easy it is to put in a strong campaign with little effort once you have bought into the idea of database marketing.
Database marketing is at the heart of One-to-One Marketing, which is a Dog Star Media staple. It is the idea that we are going to touch people in our circle of influence on a regular basis, collecting information from them about there specific wants and needs from what they tell us but also based on measurements of what they do (such as click through specific links).
Dr. Rose is a regular email marketer. His practice posts numerous blogs and regularly sends email marketing in addition to what he receives from our monthly marketing email. In addition, they are one of our better Facebook users. It didn’t happen over night but he has worked up to it.
In our meeting, Dr. Rose asked about an information campaign that gives specific reasons why to choose his practice over others. We call this an Image of Difference campaign. There are usually multiple points in an Image of Difference campaign and he already had ideas on several talking points. The best way to do this is one idea at a time, separating the ideas so we can measure specific responses to messages abou those topics. We quickly put this into his two database marketing strategies: email marketing/blog and Facebook. In the next few weeks, we are organizing the topics, assigning dates and coordinating his blog/email marketing with his Facebook posts to create an Image of Difference topic for each week or two-week time period. Everyone in his circle of influence will be touched several times in those intervals with different versions of the same message.
The best part is that this can be organized up front, written up front and pre-programmed for the most part to avoid it becoming a laborious task that can be forgotten and blown off if things get busy. Messaging strategies work best with familiar audiences. This is a simple plan for messaging to his circle of influence but it will be very effective. We are taking a simple and segmented message to a familiar and friendly audience through free and very low-cost media. I really like this strategy, too, because with both mediums we can get feedback based on behavior, giving us further insight as to who is interested in what.
Great work, Dr. Rose, Sarah and the rest of his team. You are earning your One-to-One Marketing wings. Now just keep feeding that database!
If you have any questions about database marketing, circle of influence marketing, email marketing, social networking strategies or Image of Difference campaigns, please email me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Importance of Tracking Numbers
In July, Dog Star Media clients recorded 1,173 phone calls from media placements and web sites. Even in July, which is typically the slowest month of the year, call volume remains steady. This is pretty important knowledge for those clients as they gear up for the stretch run on 2009. Knowing who is calling from which medium is giving these clients an advantage on sharpening the sword on their marketing coming out of the summer. Again, this is one of the many benefits of using tracking numbers for your phone calls.
A few examples of how our clients are using tracking numbers:
1) One is using it to measure how two competing television campaigns are paying off in direct calls. One station is performing consistently, the other is not.
2) Two are measuring an ad placement in a regional magazine that is being shared with other doctors from the region.
3) Dozens are measuring the calls coming from their web sites. Nearly all are finding out that the number of calls coming from their web site far exceeds what they thought was coming in.
4) One client is placing tracking number in all their yellow pages ads to determine the effectiveness of all the placements.
And, there are many other stories. In July, those stories add up to 1,173 calls. How many calls did you get from your ad placements and web site last month? Do you know for sure? If you do not, why would you not want a tool that tells you EXACTLY what you are getting?
For more information on tracking telephone numbers, please contact me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
A few examples of how our clients are using tracking numbers:
1) One is using it to measure how two competing television campaigns are paying off in direct calls. One station is performing consistently, the other is not.
2) Two are measuring an ad placement in a regional magazine that is being shared with other doctors from the region.
3) Dozens are measuring the calls coming from their web sites. Nearly all are finding out that the number of calls coming from their web site far exceeds what they thought was coming in.
4) One client is placing tracking number in all their yellow pages ads to determine the effectiveness of all the placements.
And, there are many other stories. In July, those stories add up to 1,173 calls. How many calls did you get from your ad placements and web site last month? Do you know for sure? If you do not, why would you not want a tool that tells you EXACTLY what you are getting?
For more information on tracking telephone numbers, please contact me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Great New Web Site from Dog Star Media
Congratulations to Dr. Robert Rho on the launch of his new web site at www.labiadoctor.com. The Flash and HTML site is our most popular format. It has the aesthetic presentation that is expected of a high end cosmetic practice and an HTML format in the body of the site to enhance the potential for results from Keyword Search Engine Optimization.
Dr. Rho did this exactly the way we recommend it. He had two goals: 1) to improve his presentation and 2) to improve his search rankings. We recommended he begin the Keyword SEO work on his old site while he designed the new site. This allowed us to begin the optimization improvements right away, taking full advantage of the redesign time. This also allowed us to manage the content of the new launch to maximize the optimization of his keywords. The results, higher optimization, better rankings on those terms and a much better presentation.
Just thought everyone would want to see an example of how to go about achieving your Internet strategy goals the right way.
For more information on web site design or keyword optimization, please contact me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
Dr. Rho did this exactly the way we recommend it. He had two goals: 1) to improve his presentation and 2) to improve his search rankings. We recommended he begin the Keyword SEO work on his old site while he designed the new site. This allowed us to begin the optimization improvements right away, taking full advantage of the redesign time. This also allowed us to manage the content of the new launch to maximize the optimization of his keywords. The results, higher optimization, better rankings on those terms and a much better presentation.
Just thought everyone would want to see an example of how to go about achieving your Internet strategy goals the right way.
For more information on web site design or keyword optimization, please contact me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The Watermelon Seed
One of my favorite analogies that I use in my coaching program deals with eating Watermelon. Eating watermelon is a lot like explaining why to choose your business or service as opposed to one of your competitors. You can feed your listeners the watermelon or you can feed them the watermelon seed. Which is easier to swallow?
Of course, it is easier to swallow a watermelon seed than a watermelon. The more complicated, detailed and involved the message is, the bigger it is and the bigger the watermelon. The more simplified the message, the more streamlined, the more broad and easy to understand, the smaller the watermelon seed.
Every day, I see attempts to jam a watermelon down the throats of cosmetic dentists’ and cosmetic surgeons’ prospects, web site visitors and referral networks. The more you explain, the bigger the watermelon gets. And, the bigger the watermelon, the fewer people who can swallow it. So how do you streamline your message? What does branding have to do with it? And, how can I avoid this in the future?
There are many ways to make your advertising messages into a watermelon seed. I can’t explain it all here because every situation is different but I can give you a classic to mull over. It is the difference between features and benefits. One way to puff up the watermelon is to include a lot of details that are not important to the audience. You have to remember that features are what are important to you. Benefits are what are important to your market. So, for starters, if you don’t focus nearly exclusively on benefits, you are complicating your message unnecessarily.
I recently designed an ad for a client, not a regular client and not a client who is in my coaching and retainer program. I isolated an image of difference, pointed the message to a call to a large call to action and focused the brief content on one idea that a broad audience would understand. The client then insisted I change the ad, reducing the call to action and image of difference in favor of a list of features he understood. This blew up the ad into a full blown watermelon. This is not an isolated occurrence. I see small businesspeople doing this all the time in advertising. Focusing on features in your advertising instead of benefits is quite simply a mistake. When creating or reviewing your advertising, I suggest you consider the watermelon. Is your message a seed or a full grown watermelon? A good way to find out is to run it past an unbiased person who is not educated on the topic.... or an expert who knows what he/she is doing. Or you can ask yourself about your content and message: “Is this something they would be interested in?”
This is one example. There are many more. If you have any questions about watermelons and watermelon seeds, please email me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
Of course, it is easier to swallow a watermelon seed than a watermelon. The more complicated, detailed and involved the message is, the bigger it is and the bigger the watermelon. The more simplified the message, the more streamlined, the more broad and easy to understand, the smaller the watermelon seed.
Every day, I see attempts to jam a watermelon down the throats of cosmetic dentists’ and cosmetic surgeons’ prospects, web site visitors and referral networks. The more you explain, the bigger the watermelon gets. And, the bigger the watermelon, the fewer people who can swallow it. So how do you streamline your message? What does branding have to do with it? And, how can I avoid this in the future?
There are many ways to make your advertising messages into a watermelon seed. I can’t explain it all here because every situation is different but I can give you a classic to mull over. It is the difference between features and benefits. One way to puff up the watermelon is to include a lot of details that are not important to the audience. You have to remember that features are what are important to you. Benefits are what are important to your market. So, for starters, if you don’t focus nearly exclusively on benefits, you are complicating your message unnecessarily.
I recently designed an ad for a client, not a regular client and not a client who is in my coaching and retainer program. I isolated an image of difference, pointed the message to a call to a large call to action and focused the brief content on one idea that a broad audience would understand. The client then insisted I change the ad, reducing the call to action and image of difference in favor of a list of features he understood. This blew up the ad into a full blown watermelon. This is not an isolated occurrence. I see small businesspeople doing this all the time in advertising. Focusing on features in your advertising instead of benefits is quite simply a mistake. When creating or reviewing your advertising, I suggest you consider the watermelon. Is your message a seed or a full grown watermelon? A good way to find out is to run it past an unbiased person who is not educated on the topic.... or an expert who knows what he/she is doing. Or you can ask yourself about your content and message: “Is this something they would be interested in?”
This is one example. There are many more. If you have any questions about watermelons and watermelon seeds, please email me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
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