INTEGRATION QUIZ - and Ideas


1.   How Well Do You Integrate Marketing Activities -- with Your Web Site?
"Your Web Site is the Hub of All of Your Marketing Activities"

Do you really tie all of your marketing activities together - with consistent messaging and a consistent brand look - through your web site?

Cuisinart is running print ads targeting 20-somethings, featuring good-looking guys and gals having a party. The headline is "When the burgers and 'ritas are as good as the gossip!" No landing page is listed, just "cuisinart.com for great recipes." When you get to Cuisinart.com, there's no mention of the 20-somethings, no "burgers and 'ritas" tie-in. And you really have to search to find the recipes on the site. Clearly no integration between this print ad campaign and a relevant landing page.

a. Every time you launch a new campaign - whether email alone, direct mail alone, print ad alone, banner ads alone, some other vehicle alone - or a combination of advertising vehicles - do you set up a landing page for that campaign?

b. Does your landing page repeat the messaging and the design "look" from the campaign? Using the same headline on your landing page as you use in your advertising campaign is a proven way to get better response.

Be sure the landing page looks like the email, direct mail, print ad, or banner ad that sent me to the page. (Yes, that may mean that the landing page does not match the look of the rest of your site - that's why it's called a "landing page" - it's there specifically to match the campaign look.)

c. Have you placed the offer you promised in the campaign - and how to get it -- high up on the page, so I can easily locate it without scrolling?

d. Is your campaign messaging and design also featured on your home page for those who may not enter your site via the landing page? You may not want it to be the main feature, but visitors should still easily be able to find information on the campaign on your home page.

e. What if I enter your site on an interior page from the organic (non-paid) search listings? Do you have a link to the key action from the campaign in the right column "above the fold" of every page on your site? The key is to not make the visitor search for that key action from your campaign.

FACT: 98% of Web Visitors Take No Trackable Action At Your Site
Why? One key reason is that many marketers don't follow the 5 key ways listed above to integrate campaigns with a web site.

2.   How well do you integrate your campaign theme - with pay-per-click?

When GMC ran ads during the Academy Awards for its "crossover" vehicle, the Acadia, they neglected to purchase the keyword "crossover" in a paid search campaign. They forget to integrate their television campaign with PPC, and missed opportunities to capture web response during the Oscars. Most of their competition, however, did appear in the search results pages for "crossover" that night. Oops.

When you launch a new campaign with print ads, direct mail, or other media, do you consider purchasing keywords mentioned in the ads or mailers? Think no one will be searching on your ad wording? Think again . . .

When Loreal ran a television campaign using the word "redensified", I blogged about this strange choice of term. I actually got comments from others who had searched on the term "redensified"! (See blog.SMAresource.com for the Loreal article.)

3.   How well do you integrate email into your marketing?

Do you use email to boost results from your direct mail? Especially when mailing to customers or past responders, an email sent to arrive around the same time as a direct mail offer can greatly improve results. Be sure to use the same messaging, look, and offer in the email as in the direct mail.

Have you considered using email to support a limited time offer in newspaper inserts? Target Marketing magazine reported that JC Penney includes a link in its emails to a "This week's store ad" web page that replicates the offers made in that week's newspaper insert.


An Email Message Series Can Be Highly Effective for Lead Conversion

You've generated a response and acquired a new email address. Now what? Does that new name merely receive your monthly newsletter? Newsletters can work well for educating prospects and customers about why they should do business (and continue to do business) with you, and can help differentiate you and build trust in your brand. But if the new name is a prospect for your product or service, a more frequent email series - rather than a monthly newsletter - may be a better conversion tool. So where do you start in an email series? Think of it as a series of personal letters to your prospects.

• Always include a "Welcome" email that actually delivers useful information, not just a "Welcome." Write it as a personal "welcome letter" from an individual to an individual. Mention, "I thought you might be interested in . . ." and include information on your new product release, your latest white paper or webinar, or your new case study.
• Make a list of the key questions or objections that most prospects have about your product or service. Each topic might logically become one focused email, again written like a personal letter from an individual to an individual.

1. Customers who are regularly clicking on your email messages are actively engaged with your product or service. They are likely seeking information or a solution, and are most likely to convert to customers or donors when they are most actively clicking on your messages.
2. Customers who were clicking, but no longer are clicking, may be disengaged with your product or service. If you see a pattern of no clicks for several months, that probably means you need to send those names a different series of emails. You might consider sending this group:
   • Email messages that don't look like your regular email communications, and that feature a more engaging Subject line.
   • A simpler one article "tip a week" email, if you've been sending a "newsletter" format with many topics.
   • A simple "what topics would you like to know more about?" email, that links to a simple form where they can choose topics they're interested in.
3. If you're sending weekly emails, but see customers who only click once or twice a month, that may be a sign that this group needs a reduced frequency of emails. How to tell? Ask them. Send them a simple email that allows them to select frequency, by giving them a few big buttons to click:

• Clarify that the visitor is on the right page. If you've set up a landing page from your pay-per-click ad, direct mail package, email message, print ad, banner ad, or other advertising vehicle, be sure your landing page looks like - and has the same offer as -- the promotional effort that drove the visitor there.
• Give the visitor a reason to stick around. So promise a specific benefit.
• Draw the recipient into the copy. Give me a reason to read further or check out more things on the page.

• Think of what you would say if you could only say one sentence to get me to read your page. Don't worry about the number of words at this point, but create one sentence that gives me a very strong reason to read your page.
• Be as specific as possible, to prove or illustrate your benefit. Specifics sell - if you can work a number into your headline, the number will really draw the eye and add believability. Be sure to use uneven numbers: "3,479 customers continue to work with us after 5 years" is much stronger than "Thousands of customers continue to work with us."
• Edit your sentence to remove any unnecessary words and make it crystal clear. Read your sentence out loud - is that what you would say to me face-to-face? Simplify your statement until it reads exactly the way you would say it.

• Do you have a "Key Action" on every page of your site? One simple way to improve conversion of visitors to registrations or purchases is to place the key actions you want visitors to take on every page of your site. If you want to gather email addresses for follow-up:
  • Where is your sign-up box? If that's the most important action you want visitors to take on your site, that sign-up box should be right on your home page - as well as in a prominent location on most other pages on your site.
  • On a search engine, any page on your site could be displayed. If I entered your site on any page, is your "key action" on that page?
     
• Is the "Key Action" high up on each page?
  Don't make me scroll down to find your registration form or "purchase now" button. Put it high up on the page, so I can see it as soon as the page loads.
   
• Have you given me a strong reason to take the "Key Action"?
  What is your offer - or the benefit I get for taking the action you want me to take? Have you made that e-newsletter or webinar or white paper sound irresistible, to really motivate me to register?
   
• Make your registration form simpler
  Do you really need mailing address if the requestor is registering for your online white paper or signing up for your e-newsletter? If you just ask for the information you need to fulfill the current request, you will generate more completed requests.
   
• Consider separate conversion paths for different audiences
  You're driving potential car buyers to a landing page. But some may be in-market for a new car while others are looking for a used car. Why not separate the traffic right on the landing page? Physically separate the page vertically into "New Cars" and "Used Cars," and let visitors to the landing page click the category they're interested in. Then, subsequent pages can be tailored specifically to each audience's needs.