Meat and Potatoes

I am frequently asked high level marketing questions regarding best practices and the latest tips and tricks. Everyone seems so interested in whatever is trending and trying to stay ahead of the competition. And, why not, it‘s fun and exciting. It certainly is not the meat and potatoes of marketing, which unfortunately, most people take for granted.

So, every once in a while, I like to stop down and remind everyone of the basics. Today, that is top of mind as we are going through an annual rite of renewing the most basic and integral marketing tools: Tracking Telephone Numbers. There is a daily conversation about tracking telephone numbers at Dog Star Media and I wish the focus remained this intense all year long. You see, the fact is, there is one common thread that runs through all our successful clients’ marketing programs: a diligent eye on metrics. And, nothing provides a more specific measurement of results than tracking telephone numbers. Basically, if you are not using them, then you are flying blind.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with how this tool works, a tracking number is a unique telephone number that routes to your main number. The unique number is placed in one location such as a web site and a print ad. When that number is called, a switch is flipped electronically and all the information about the call is recorded. The call can even be recorded for training and review purposes. At $40/month, this is the least expensive marketing tool out there and by far the most valuable because it shows EXACTLY what is happening.

Our most successful clients use tracking numbers for the following:

1) Make sure response/call benchmarks are being met.
2) Evaluating the effectiveness of advertising buys.
3) Evaluating how well calls are being received by their front desk staff.
4) Negotiating prices with ad sales reps.
5) Making operational changes to make sure calls do not go unanswered.
6) Evaluating quality of incoming calls from a given ad placement.
7) Understanding how multiple marketing investments work together to create responses.

There are other specific ways that tracking numbers are used but the bottom line is that they give you REAL numbers and REAL results. I tell clients all the time that tracking numbers are by far the most important tool out there. I have several clients that use multiple numbers and they know exactly what is happening. Nearly all of our clients use the call recording features and most have instituted some sort of change after hearing the first group of calls. We have had multiple clients make changes in their phone answering procedures after seeing how many incoming calls from their marketing go unanswered. And, nothing sharpens the sword of selling than knowing that phone calls are being recorded for review.

Tracking numbers are all about accountability. This is the meat and potatoes of marketing. Choosing to measure and then following up to use the information yielded allow you to make the best business and marketing decisions. Here is my challenge to all business owners: Try tracking numbers for a year and pay attention to the results. It is $480 that can change the course of how you do business.

If you are interested in tracking numbers, try one by adding on to your web site. It will be the source of at least 75% of your calls and will give you great first experience with this technology. If you want to order a tracking number, please email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com and we will get you set up with this tracking technology with monthly reporting and online, real-time access to your calls.

Lifetime Value

Most of our clients know that a treasure trove of business resides in their own database. Many aspiring cosmetic dentists are drawn to LVI because they hear that often more than $1M resides untapped in their patient bases. Our cosmetic surgeons know that birds of a feather flock together and a solid referral network can be the fast track to a successful and established practice. And our general business clients know that a good database is the gift that keeps on giving.

So, let’s start off 2011 talking about an important principle of 1:1 Marketing: Lifetime Value. There are many ways to evaluate a contact’s lifetime value: 1) in the dollars they spend, 2) in projecting the dollars they spend regularly with you for ongoing services and 3) in the new business they help you attract. There are other ways but these are three practical ways of evaluating Lifetime Value.

A smart businessperson does not see each client relationship as a single point in time. Just like a good car salesman or realtor, you should be after relationships with clients. A good salesman knows that if trust and value can be maintained that the same person will buy from them over and again as their needs change or renew. If you are not doing something to engender long-term relationships with your clients or patients, you are doing your business the hard way.

So, it is advisable to begin assigning Lifetime Value. The accounting part is easy but the networking part... that takes some work and smarts. Your best case scenario is to get as many of your satisfied patients/clients (I call them “Friendlies”) working on your behalf as foot soldiers. In other words, turning the passive activity of networking into an actively directed activity. Direction comes from you, the activity comes from your directed network of high Lifetime Value helpers.

1:1 Marketing has everything to do with metrics. We measure and adjust. You can measure what is on the surface and obvious to everyone or you can look for the telling statistics that guide you to great success on a relatively easy path. Lifetime Value is one of those metrics that is not on the surface. While most only focus for cash flow, it is important to take a little time out for analysis and develop some info on the Lifetime Value of your patients, clients and contacts. This sort of analysis will help you define what to do and who to do it with regarding building a sales effort based on a network. If you want guidance on developing a Directed Referral Network, please email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

An Accessible Social Networking Strategy

One of the issues about using social networking as means of marketing is that it is very difficult for people to grasp how it works. If you think back, this is very similar to the Internet when it first became accessible to the masses. People could not understand how information was simply available. Where was it coming from? How is it organized? How can we find it? At first, even I remember there being this ethereal and not at all concrete feel to the Internet. Now, it is rock solid. If you are shopping for a holiday gift at a major retailer online, you feel like you may as well be in the store. The concreteness of the medium is established because we understand how it works.

Right now, people do not understand how social media works. There are power users but who are they and do they have any real value to you? The whole mobile aspect of social media makes it seem even more abstract. Ideas are flying into social media sites from all over, people are on the go. It is opinion, interpretation, reposted facts, verified news from legitimate sources... its everything and an abstraction all at the same time.

So how do we use this new format for information exchange for marketing purposes?

There are several ways but after playing with this for about six months, Dog Star Media now has recommended method. And guess what? It all goes back to the basic principles we teach on the flow of information. We have applied the same principles to communications and relationship building. In January, we will begin enrolling clients into a new Social Networking Communications strategy. It will include an integration of the benefits of Twitter, Facebook and Blog/Email marketing. This integrated strategy is based on the most successful examples of what we have witnessed from clients and others in the market of cosmetic dentistry and cosmetic surgery.

Right now, we have a few more social-network-ready clients who are working through the first steps. For now, here is what you can do to get ready if you want to try it after the new year. Open Twitter and Facebook accounts if you do not have them already. Start a blog if you do not have one. You will need all three.

We will demystify social networking for you as we work through this strategy. Soon, you will see it just as you see the Internet, as a concrete way of passing your information along and attracting new business. If you are interested in more on our upcoming intergrated social networking strategy, please email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

Last minute shopping

At this point, many of us have had that meeting with our accountants and bookkeepers about the tax picture for 2010. It’s a time of year when Dog Star Media has a lot of last minute holiday shoppers who are looking to spend now to get the marketing expense on this year’s books. If you are looking for a long-term benefit for a short-term expense, here are a few suggestions.

Mobile Web Site
I have written often this year about the emerging need for a mobile site. We have watched the percentage of mobile users rise on our clients’ sites all year long. A starter mobile site is affordable ($1000) and puts the most critical information about your practice into a mobile format. Additional pages cost $100 each and three before/after photos fit on a page.

Video Drops
Dog Star Media is known for video drops. These are the short snippets of video where the doctor appears on a transparent background that blends into the web site. In that 45 seconds or so, the doctor acts as a host for the web site. This is great for establishing a sense of personality and separating the doctor from the competition by making him/her more accessible. Four minutes of video drops are $4800. It is the ultimate way to begin building trust over the Internet.

New Web Site
Maybe a totally new look and feel is what you need to jumpstart your marketing. Web site redesigns bring you up to date and allow you to correct mistakes in your Internet strategy. Sites range from $5000-$12,300 at Dog Star Media and all work is custom.

Prepaid Contracts
It is not unusual for a client to pre-pay for a year of Search Engine Optimization or our Coaching program. Coaching is a $300/month program and SEO ranges from $300-$800 depending on the level of aggressiveness. Clients also prepay media contracts for radio and billboards at this time of year in the case of major writeoffs.

So, if you are looking for a way of getting long-term value for your short-term need to vent cash at the end of your tax year, please consider the many benefits you get from investing in your marketing and Internet infrastructure. We look forward to helping. If you want to discuss these or other services we offer, please email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

A Year Ago...

A year ago, Google added mobile web site statistics to the Analytics dashboard. Since then we have watched mobile traffic stats steadily climb upward on nearly all of our client’s web statistics. This time last year, a few sites we watched had 3-5% mobile use. Now, its hard to find a site that is trafficked less than 5% on mobile devices. And, most sites we watch are having between 7-12% traffic. I even saw one hit about 15% recently.

Nobody knows where the ceiling is going to be on mobile use. Highly reputable tech companies are forecasting compounding growth in mobile Internet use for the next several years. All indications are that more and more people will be using mobile devices for more and more Internet access. That is why we have seen a landrush of early adopters get some sort of mobile web sites this year.

A year from now, we will be talking about 20-25% site visits from mobile users. Right now we have some clients who have hundreds of mobile users visit their web sites each month. The period for early adoption is over. We are in the middle of the bell curve and if your site doesn’t fully show or show well on mobile devices, your Internet strategy is leaking.

There are four weeks left in the year. Why not say you are going into 2011 ready for all the mobile users. Dog Star Media makes mobile sites affordable and easy to get launched. No additional servers are needed, only a specially developed site that works best on mobile devices. If you have video, we can make it play on your mobile site where it will not play on your standard web site. Dog Star mobile sites start at $1000 for a 7-page starter site. Those 7 pages are the most important pages from your standard site, reformatted for best presentation on mobile devices.

Here is a great test. Just look up your web site on a mobile device. If you have to size it, scroll all over to get it to display all your content, can’t see your Flash, can’t see your video or have to wait forever for your graphics to load on your phone, just know, that is how everyone looking on mobile devices is seeing your site. You are probably paying for those visits somehow and every bad visit is marketing money wasted.

We want to encourage all our clients and prospects to make this your last important marketing purchase of 2010. Even if you do it in December, you can say your got your mobile site at the early stages of the mobile boom and that your 2011 Internet Strategy can be seen well by everyone. To get your mobile web site, please email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

Its all about numbers

It was great meeting a new group of cosmetic surgeons last weekend in Tulsa. The presentation I made on marketing went over pretty well, so I thought I would share the subject here, too. It is about using metrics in your marketing.

If you know good benchmarks and how to interpret them, metrics are the key to success. If you don’t measure and you don’t pay attention to your metrics, you are taking a huge risk with your cashflow and with the future of your business.

My presentation was called “It’s a Numbers Game.” In it, I identified six key numbers business owners should know. They are: 45, 3, 2, 50, 1 and 0. Here is why these numbers are important.

45 - As in 45 seconds. This is the length of a quality incoming call. Anything less is a low-value exchange of information or no exchange at all. The tool required to measure incoming calls is a tracking phone number. Tracking numbers let your record all details of your incoming calls form unique placements (web site, print ad, etc.)

3 - As in 3 page views. On a cosmetic surgery or dentistry web site, this is the minimum average number of page views you want people to see. An average of 3 tells us that longer visits are occurring among interested users. Why? Because of your bounce rate. We will get to that.

2 - As in 2 minutes. This is the minimum average length of time users should be spending on your web site. An average of less than two minutes usually correllates with a low number of page views and a high bounce rate, which means... sorry... time for a web site redesign. People are not liking what they find if they are leaving so quickly.

50 - As in 50% Bounce Rate. A bounce is when someone comes to your web site, sees the first page and leaves. 50% is the maximum bounce rate you should see. The lower it is the better but statistics show that 50% is very common. That is why we want to state it as a maximum acceptable bounce rate. You should be doing better.

1 - As in 1 First Impression. That’s all you get. So if the first impression someone sees is your web site, make sure it is a good one and make sure it accounts for the hardware they are using. Standard web sites are not made for mobile devices and if you make someone fight through your standard web site on a mobile device, you are not making much of a first impression. And, if your Flash and video cannot be seen on mobile devices, you are probably making a bad first impression. If you care about every first impression, you should have a mobile web site backing you up on this one.

0 - As in 0 Growth. If you do not measure your marketing results, this is what you are likely to get. The only way to really be successful in marketing is by understanding the productivity of all the elements of your marketing plan. With the advice I give in this blog, you at least have some benchmarks and tools identified.

If you need help with any of the above or want to start measuring your marketing, add a mobile site or begin using tracking numbers, please email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com. I look forward to helping you.

Not convinced about mobile use... read this.

We’ve had another spike of interest by clients regarding mobile web sites. Trends in mobile use continue to pick up steam, convincing stats are building and the discussion is brimming over once again. And, as we head down the stretch toward 2011, it’s a good idea to make sure that your mobile strategy is online and ready to play an important role in your overall Internet strategy.

It was just about a year ago that mobile use stats started showing up on Google Analytics. This put some serious light on mobile users. Among our clients, the early adopters jumped right in and we began producing our first mobile sites for cosmetic dentists and cosmetic surgeons in January. Their action was triggered by the very appearance of mobile stats. Early on, we formulated the opinion that, when your mobile traffic hit 5%, you needed to add a starter mobile strategy. And, if you hit 10% mobile traffic, you definitely needed a mobile presence in place. In the last 10 months we have watched most of our clients climb into the 10% range with some on their way to 15%. I am already being asked where this will top out. I think the better question is when this will top out and when it does what will the Internet look like.

So, here is what some others are saying about that.

In a June 2010 Forecast published by Cisco, it was noted that “Globally, mobile data traffic will double every year through 2014, increasing 39 times between 2009 and 2014. Mobile data traffic will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 108 percent between 2009 and 2014, reaching 3.6 exabytes per month by 2014.”

And, in a very interesting marketing conversation on Twitter last week via MarketingProfs, guest expert Christina Kerley made some very good points about the acceptance of mobile technology. Here are a few gold nuggets she dropped:

“CKsays

And here's a neat stat: Twitter grew 40mm users from Apr-Sept. Main reason? Users can access via their mobile twitter apps!”

“CKsays

3.4 billion (BILLION) ppl on mobile. And their phones are always on them. For comparison? Facebook accounts? 500 million.”

“CKsays

This is KEY: Within 3-5 years, mobile devices will be the FIRST screen for users accessing the Web. That's not far off folks”

These comments about acceptance are staggering. CK’s forecast and the Cisco forecast are in line. Think about what is needed for the mobile screen to be the first screen (aka the preferred screen) for users accessing the web. The hardware must be pervasive. Using that technology must be hands-down more convenient. And, use of that hardware must be socially acceptable. If you haven’t noticed, most of us are already there. We are only waiting for the Internet content to catch up with us.

Right now, one of my favorite commercials is the “Really?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-mo_Qpy6eM

This pokes fun at the fact that mobile surfing is not socially acceptable yet. It’s funny because most of us see folks like this every day and may even be that way ourselves. But, this ad is also a shot across the bow because it indicates that we are working on the social acceptance factor. Pervasive mobile technology... check. Coming social acceptance... check. So, are you working on making your Internet presence hands-down more convenient? You better be.

The fact is, for most businesses, your web site is the first impression you make on potential new business. You mess that up and it’s easy for them to move on to a competitor. The wave is already cresting and it’s not going to stop for several years. That wave of mobile users is going to get higher and higher. Early adopters are there already. If your business does not have a mobile site by... say... today... then you are either in the middle of the bell curve or you are a late adopter. Hopefully, you are not a resister. So, how do you determine the damage of waiting? Here is a quick guide:

1) If you have Flash on your web site, it cannot be read on iPhones. iPhones make up a large share of the mobile market and the conflict over Flash has been well documented. If you saw the release of the iPhone Skyfire ap as a work around, read the fine print. Skyfire works only on Flash video, not Flash. Your take-away here is that the Flash on your standard site is problematic in mobile use.

2) Orientation. Standard sites are landscape-oriented. Mobile devices are portrait orientation. Sure you can size and scroll and turn your phone over, then resize... Boy, that’s a lot of work compared to a site that displays a site that is ideal for a mobile device. Your takeaway: One size does not fit all. Your site should be designed for the hardware used.

3) Graphics. Mobile sites are less graphic and more geared to navigation on mobile devices. We see a tremendous increase in time spent on site for mobile users in our clients’ pre-mobile site stats. These are understanding users who are willing to wait on a cumbersome download just because they like using their phone. This good will is going to start running out as more and more sites load faster, easier and work better on mobile. Your takeway: Get ahead of the curve because this is a survival of the fittest issue. If your site is not as good as others on mobile devices, you are going to lose the interest of mobile users. These are the people you are spending your marketing dollars to attract... and stats show most are more likely using mobile devices more often... and longer.

Like I tell clients and prospects all the time, you don’t have to listen to me about mobile devices. Just pull out your mobile device and look up your web site. Does it load right away? Does it fit on your smart phone? Do you see areas that aren’t loading? Is your video playing? If yes, congratulations for being an early adopter. If no, watch out for that wave. It‘s big enough to capsize an ocean liner.

If you are ready to add a mobile site to your Internet strategy, please contact me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com. We look forward to helping you.