Archive for December, 2008

Holiday Shopping Sales Fell 3%

According to comScore - holiday e-commerce was down 3% year-over-year - spending totaled $25.54 billion, from $26.33 billion during a similar period last year.

First time since 2001 when they started tracking this.

Some winners: HP site visitors jumped 28%; Amazon’s traffic increased 7%.

Ebay was the most visited site but was 4% down from last year.

No surprise Circuitcity.com visits were down 21%, and Dell dropped 17%

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“The Great Disruption”

The Great Disruption. Is this how we will be referring to our current economic times?

Scott Anthony poses that question at Harvard Business Publishing.

He goes on to discuss how to Thrive in the Great Disruption stating it requires a particular breed of innovator.

Specifically, innovators should look to master three disciplines:

1. Placing a premium on progress.
2. Mastering paradox.
3. Learning to love the low end

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I only care about doing.

I don’t care about Steve Jobs or Michael Dell.

There I said it. I don’t even care about the guy who just secured $9 million in venture funding. I don’t care about Tim O’Reily waxing philosphical about online serendipity. I don’t care that TechCrunch says Google and Adobe are great places to work.

I care about the guys (and women) in the long tail of it all. Not making a million bucks, but making it. Cashing a $2,000 adsense check? Good for you! How? Getting by on 8 new customers a month? Great! How? Figured out how to make a living without going into an office? Fantastic! How? Moved your brick-and-mortar successfully online? Awesome! How?

Look there is a tremendous amount to learn from the analogs of Steve and Mike and the rest - no question - I’ll watch, I’ll read - but for the love of God, stop letting internet media stay at the 30,000 foot level - You want to succeed? DIG DEEPER!

Philosophical diatribes won’t help you succeed in the trenches. Vague predictions about “new media” or “social marketing” aren’t going to put food on the table.

Tactics, execution, dedication - How are you doing it? Be specific! Speak up!

[Author's note: No one is going to respond to me. I know it. Either no one is listening (possible, this site is only a month old), no one cares - that too, then you might as well go back to solitaire, or no one has any idea how to really do it...Then tell me that.]

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No Budget Advertising

Oh no! You’ve invested all your cash getting your business started but you failed to set aside a budget for advertising. You could have a cure for the common cold and still die broke if people don’t know you have it. Fortunately there are still ways to get your business off the ground. The key is you have to start today, and you have to continue everyday.  

Oh, I can hear you now. What could I possibly do with a budget as low as $10? Well I’ll tell you just to give you a few ideas. Of course like I said above you will have many more options once your account grows but for now let’s assume its your first month in business and that is literally all you have $10, period. So you work with what you have. Sit down with paper and pen and start thinking. Make a list of any ideas you can come up with to spend those bucks to get you even one or two new customers this month. As I write this I am doing that right now to come up with a few ideas for you. How about… Getting as many flyers as you can copied advertising a sale of some kind. Then you could distribute them on weekends at car shows or even on car windows at flea markets and places like that.

How about having a bunch of simple business cards printed up. Instead of just your name or phone number, they can offer a new buyer discount. If you have the equipment you can even print them yourself. Then just leave those cards everywhere you go. On counters when you stop for coffee. In phone booths, all over in nightclubs, in men’s rooms and any place else you happen to be in your marketing area. Get the idea? Getting any other ideas now?

As your budget grows so will your options for advertising. You will also find that now salespeople will be calling on you because they saw your ad or promotion somewhere. You’ll be getting offers to advertise and most of these will be fairly expensive. Here’s an easy way to remember what to do: forget em! When you’re just starting out investing a large sum of money in a single place is just not the smart way to do things. Right now you should be placing smaller bits of advertising in as many places as possible. The objective here is to find out what mediums work best for you. As results come in you then invest more in the most productive ones. By working in this fashion you are always building from a position of strength and knowledge. That is always more desirable than experimenting.

Do it and watch your business grow every day. Anyone else have any “no budget” ideas?

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What Obama needs to do to create momentum

From a recent post at discussionleader.com: Memo to President-Elect Obama: 7 Moves to Create Momentum

Michael Watkins writes an open memo to President-elect Obama.

He begins by citing the “contrast effect” , which basically says we distort our perceptions of something’s performance based on immediate previous exposure, in other words, Obama may have an easier time changing things since things are so desperately in need of change.

Michael also cites 7 principles Obama, as a strong leader, should put into action after assuming the Presidency:

1. Organize to accelerate learning.
2. Establish your A-item priorities.
3. Define a compelling vision.
4. Get your new team in place fast.
5. Secure early wins, in the right ways.
6. Build a ruling coalition anchored in the “middle third.”
7. Leverage a balanced advice-and-counsel network.

To Obama: Your transition has to be the best the nation has ever seen.

Michael Watkins, is the same guy who wrote: “First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels”.

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Will the economic downturn drive an increase in online sales?

I started writing this thinking, “yeah, sure - uplifting news to follow. Not so much - looking at the November 2008 Monthly Retail Sales Comparison, I expected to see a clear uptick. I then headed over to emarketer.com and I was greeted with “2008 was not a good year for e-commerce.”

Granted we are looking at a 10% increase over 2007, but overall we are looking at a growth rate decline of about 20%.

I mean, all the earmarks are there for an upturn. At no time in history have consumers had more access to more choices in terms of product and price.

With e-commerce sites becoming easier and easier to search, browse and checkout one would expect to see that upturn in online sales.

The unfortunate news is, it has not happened. In 2007 we saw a 20% increase over 2006. This year we are seeing just a 10% increase over 2007. And we know the stakes are high for many of these retailers who are teetering on bankruptcy.

Happy New Year?

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SEM in a down economy webinar

The people over at ‘Target Marketing‘ magazine are hosting a webinar entitled 18 Ways to boost your SEM Performance in a down economy. Its January 13 at 2pm EST.

They plan to cover:

• How to increase your ROI even as CPC costs continue to clim
• How to beat your competitors‚ keyword rankings with lower PPC bids
• How to increase your campaign’s conversion rate
• How to save money on testing by utilizing past data

You’ll be able to submit questions directly to their speakers for a live Q&A session during the hour.

Click here to register.

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5 tips for effective blog optimization

Lee Odden over at TopRankBlog has a great new article outlining 5 tips for successful business blog optimization.

After writing the Virtual Ad Agency blog for just a little over a month - I have to agree with this point wholeheartedly:

Without proper planning, oversight and passion for the topic, blogs implemented purely for SEO objectives are doomed to fail. Additionally, social media referrals and recommendations are becoming a notable competitor to search traffic which can place SEO as a secondary promotional effort in some situations.

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Find a niche now.

“Anyone can use my product/service” - If I had a nickel for every time I heard a business owner say that…I’d have about $7 and that would be enough for about 6 targeted ppc ads. As a marketer I am repeatedly asked to broaden a concept or add items to reach a wider customer base. Kitchen sink marketing - pack in everything in order not to lose anyone, when in fact they really are losing everyone.

As a scrappy upstart now is the time to really think about your target audience, your niche.

If you continue to market to everyone your ad dollars are likely to be wasted. You need someone to engage with what you’re saying, only those truly interested in your product will spend the time and money on them. It’s not enough to say your target is “Fishermen” You want to get it down to “lake fishermen…who use lures…and are likely to just fish on weekends”

Target your limited ad dollars to those publications and web sites your niche use while honing your message to speak directly to them, no more shotgun blast marketing. Get targeted.

Define what your customers want to hear - how will your product or service benefit me? Be specific. Talking to weekend-only lake fishermen? Don’t just say “You’ll catch more fish” get in their heads, “More fish in less time!”

Do some research and determine what other interests this audience might have. Get to know them. Join a fisherman forum, not every single one, just where you can be most effective. Remember, targeting. Eventually you can start directly asking what their needs and concerns are, make sure the dialog is two-way, let them know what you plan to do next with the information.

When your efforts are targeted and more focused its easier to gain conversion and in this economy every dollar counts. So stop trying to be all things to all people and target yourself to those you really can reach. And when you think you have a target drill down some more, don’t be satisfied until you know exactly who your customer is and what they want - only then are your limited ad dollars going to do the most good.

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The 2008 Election - In Marketing Dollars

As a marketer I am often asked to analyze the potential ROI of a particular campaign or marketing venture. This can often be a lot harder than it looks. Many parts of the ROI are embedded deep under the skin of the consumer and don’t show up on a dollar and cents spread sheet.

If you look at the 2008 election in terms of return on investment there is something deceiving about the numbers.

Looking at the dollars spent and votes cast we see McCain spent about $3.50 less than Obama. But in the end we know the net result and the brand that Barrack Obama has built.

Among the things not factored in is the general intangibles - in this case Obama’s win plants him not only in the White House but firmly in the American zeitgeist as well. How do we measure that? If that were a point on the metrics when establishing the ROI what dollar figure would be appropriate?

In the end marketing investment metrics need to not only ask what is the “sales goal” but what is the intrinsic value to the brand? The hardest part will be quantifying that.

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