Back to old bad habits?

There is a lot of activity out there right now. And, I am detecting a disturbing trend.

During the economic downturn, nearly all of my clients made smart moves in terms of restructuring their marketing priorities. Through the use of tracking numbers and other technologies, we were able to target overpriced and underperforming media and opt out of it. The most broad example is clients dropping low-or-no performance print advertisements in favor of a Pay Per Click strategy.

So, along with this, came a reduction in spending on marketing. Many budgets got reduced but the need for inexpensive, more targeted strategies became more vital. This is right in line with what we recommend in my coaching program: a balance of hands-on, direct and pro-active marketing steps to cut a practices reliance on the high-priced ad that is not pro-active in any way. I saw the reduction in spending as a natural consequence of the economic conditions and it opened the door for many to finally embrace what I consider a strong direct marketing infrastructure.

However, recent conversations make me wonder how many times some people need to stick your hands into the fire before they stop getting burned. Confidence and momentum are back. A lot of people are talking about firing up their marketing or already doing it. In many cases, I hear wiser and smarter clients and prospects who want to put in the right base this time. That is good. But, I am also hearing many people going back to old bad habits. Let’s just throw money at certain things instead of balancing out media expenses with good, solid marketing infrastructure.

I know a lot of you are considering re-establishing your brand with some media purchases right now. If you are measuring those with tracking numbers and technology and there is a clear benefit in terms of calls and contacts, then great. But if you finally have some “feel-good” money that you want to spend on marketing your practice, put in some infrastructure for every major expense you make. Going to buy an magazine ad? How about you start an email marketing program for $20/month at the same time? Going to buy a television ad? How about writing a blog twice a month to add new content to your web site? Going to buy a radio ad? How about reinvigorating your referral network?

Now that things are moving pretty well again, don’t have short memory. One business lesson that came from the recession is to spend only on productive media and be proactive in working your best relationships. If you are being tempted to go back to old bad spending habits, go slowly and make sure and have your marketing infrastructure working for you. We help clients do this all the time in my coaching program. If you want to do it smarter this time around, my coaching program is only $300/month and you will get productive advice that will help you be a healthy small business in good times and bad. If you are interested, please email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

Understanding SEO

Know what you are buying when it comes to SEO. It is an important point we try to stress about SEO around Dog Star Media. Now, granted, there is a lot of required technical mumbo jumbo surrounding the SEO world. So, over the next few months, I am going to post a few basics you should know that might reduce your confusion.

Here is a fundamental foundation of organic search engine listings. A search engine will list you if it thinks your site is relevant to the term being searched. So, there must be a clear connection between your site and the term searched.

Most people who have bought SEO or a web site are familiar with the term “meta data” or “meta tags.” This is code on the web site that is invisible to the user, where you can list terms you want search engines to identify with your site. When you put meta data on the site, it is a way of telling the search engine specificially the search terms with which you want to associate your web site. Seems pretty simple, right? You just put the search terms in the meta data and Boom! ... you are relevant on those terms in the view of the search engines.

Actually, no. That is the first step but you will only be viewed as relevant once the search engine spiders crawl the rest of your site and find those meta data terms actually used in the content of your web site. That is real relevance. This explains why many search engine optimization services (ours included) will increase the density (or the number of occurences) of the key terms in your site content.

I saw an example of this today with a potential new client. He had a lot of meta data which appeared on point for his practice but few if any of the terms in the meta data appeared in the page content. So, of course, those meta data terms were doing him no good.

Why do some SEO companies do this? Who knows? Maybe you only bought the low end package and site changes were not included. Maybe they are working other strategies. Who knows? But now you know that tagging those words in meta data is like pointing a flag to the terms with which you want to be identified and then those words need to be worked into the content of the site. That is one part of basic keyword SEO.

Our program does this and other site manipulations. The trick is picking keywords that will improve your traffic if you improve your listings. In our program, we find these efficient words and apply this simple, yet predictably beneficial method of optimizing keywords to improve site traffic.

So here is a question for you. Does your meta data appear in your page content? Are you even relevant on terms you thought you were optimizing? If you are not, let me know. We can help.
Just email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

Web Design Techniques

It seems many people are making changes to their web sites. That is good; it is a sign that big picture marketing is coming back into the forefront. But as you shake down your web site, there are some design basics you should keep in mind. Web design has become so complicated with options these days, that it seems everyone has their own opinions on aesthetics.

It is great that you can have a site look any way you want and animate any way you want but there are some basics you should keep in mind. Here are three common design squabbles that we see. In each case, these should be reflected on your web site.

1) Screen resolution should be sized at 1024 x 768. The majority of web users view the web at this size or larger. If you do not, you are in the minority and the trend is moving away from you. So, do not handcuff your site because you are viewing the web smaller than the growing majority. You don’t want your site to appear small and this is a sure fire way of doing that if you don’t listen to your designer. If you want some data to back up this trend, click here.

2) Know how browsers work. You cannot control what we call “local conditions.” This is what happens on the viewer’s end. It includes connection speed, browser type, browser configuration, monitor size and viewing preferences. Each of these affects how the end user views web sites. We work with trends and try to stay in the majority but there is no accounting for how people prefer to surf the web. So, there are some standards we use to help eliminate some visibility issues. For instance, with a browser, if the web site is larger than the size of the browser window, the browser loads the site so the upper left corner is visible. This is one reason why designers place ID, call to action and phone numbers in the upper left hand corner. Don’t overrule a designer who is using this rule of thumb just for aesthetic reasons.

3) Know about web safe fonts. If you think your fonts are not exciting enough, you need to consider how fonts work on the web. There are six web safe fonts (Arial, Georgia, Helvetica, Verdana, Times, Courier) These are fonts that can be read on any browser. There are other ways of coding fonts into your web site but these will only be visible on some browsers. True web safety is a lowest common denominator that is visible on all browsers. If you see other fonts, they are graphics or embedded in Flash. In other words, they are not code which can be crawled by search engine spiders. So, if you body copy is not sexy enough font-wise, consider that your web designer is trying to give you readable text that is also search engine friendly. And, a little postscript on this point: These fonts are generally considered among the easiest to read in all mediums and since there are serif and san serif choices, they combine well with any font selection. Good designers can fold these in easily.

BONUS TIP: Listen to your designer. Cosmetic surgeons and dentists have a great sense of aesthetic however, most are not formally trained in the finer points of design. Anything coming from Dog Star Media comes from a professional with a degree in design or fine arts. If you are working with a professional designer, then you should defer to their sense of aesthetic. If you are working with an experienced web designer, listen that person about what is intuitive. Some people can do this and, in the case of our portfolio, these are the ones that are routinely sited as examples of what people want. Best advice I have when it comes to design. Let the designer do their job.

For more on web site design, please contact me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com

Sharpening The Sword

I like to write about trends I see among practices from my coaching meetings. I find that, generally, there are trends in priorities, behaviors and strategies among my clients. I first noticed these cycles long ago. Brace yourself, if you are experiencing this trend, I know it is not something you want to hear.

Nobody in small business wants to hear about sales communications. But, recently, I have had a lot of conversations with clients about sales conversions. This is occurring because of the tracking numbers. Clients have been seeing that the phone is ringing and that many of the calls are quality calls (longer than 90 seconds). Now they want to know what is happening to all of these calls. If you are in this boat, listen up.

For starters, this is why you do not measure return on investment (ROI) on line item purchases. When we are tracking incoming calls and few consults are being booked, you have to look at what is happening on these calls. If the incoming calls are being handled poorly, then it is not the marketing purchase’s fault. It is actually your fault. Yep, that’s right. You should make sure that whoever is on your front line is trained properly and plugged in each day. That is up to you. It is something you can control.

Economically, here is where we are for the most part. Wallets are relaxing and businesses have adjusted to becoming more lean. We are tracking a lot of incoming quality calls in nearly all the markets in which we have tracking. But, there is a lot more shopping going on than before. This means that you have to be prepared to sell. That means being more than just a “good people person.” When I hear that used to describe a sales person, my antenna goes up for that client.

There are some basics in sales that can be taught, should be rehearsed, practiced and modified for personal style. However, they must be in place. Another red flag is if you (as the practice owner) or your sales people are order takers. In other words, you only close the easy lay-downs. That will keep your billings frustratingly low in any economy and it will get you killed in this environment.

I am not saying that you need to hard sell, be convincing, be aggressive or sell with pressure. But I am saying you have to sell and know how to give yourself a chance if objections come up. The Dog Star Media definition of sales is “an exchange of information leading to a resolution.” Here are the two important parts: stay in the exchange and come to a resolution. Whoever finds themselves answering questions for prospects needs to have the skills and mindset to do this. Otherwise, opportunities are slipping by.

Why? Because in the exchange of information, you are able to isolate and overcome objections. You are able to make sure that the proper information is being conveyed to make a decision. A client told me recently that they had a lot of people wanting surgery but they didn’t have the money. I can tell you categorically, that is not the case. Sure, maybe price will get in the way on a handful legitimately but it is not widespread. Price is only one element of the equation. If you back off and quit on a price objection, you bring a sudden resolution to the conversation. Why? Because you did not ask the kind of question that frames the price properly within the context of the prospect’s desire to have the procedure. A question like, “What is it about the price that would keep you from doing this?” Who knows what their answer would be but it will give you more information to deepen your (and their) understanding of the value of the purchase.

A lot of elements are competing for the discretionary dollar these days. You have to sharpen the sword or you will find yourself on the outside of the conversation. If your sales people are helping your prospects sort information, getting down to a real resolution and not taking no for answer or taking orders, you are in good shape. If you want to learn how this works, sign up for my coaching program. As we emerge from the downturn, you can be more effective up front or you can go back to the way it was. I hope that you value all the prospects that come in a little more after the downturn and are ready to be the best selling organization you can be.

For more information on sales skills, please contact me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.